San Francisco

Tonight I am in San Francisco for an interview tomorrow. It was a bit of an ordeal getting here, mainly because I needed to get someone to cover my shift at the hospital tonight and it became very complicated. At the last minute, we got it figured out and with a combination of frequent flyer miles and a one-way plane ticket purchased less than 24 hours before I was to leave here I am. I had to fly here via Portland, which I realize doesn't make much sense but it was the only way to get the ticket with miles. Luckily, an earlier connecting flight was running late and was still in the boarding process, so as soon as I landed I walked to the gate next door to see if there were any seats left. Lucky me, after only 5 minutes in the Portland airport I was on my next flight, and arrived in SF an hour before I was originally scheduled to leave Portland.

It's raining in San Francisco. Really really raining. My first stop upon arriving here was Wallgreens, to buy an umbrella. Now I'm holed up in my hotel, watching Seinfeld, and trying to think of questions for my interviews tomorrow. I love San Francisco. Which is kind of funny, because I've never really spent any time here. It's like my Paris--people dream of living in Paris, right? Well, I dream of living in San Francisco. I love how the city is all tucked into the hills, surrounded by the water. I love the houses, stuck up right next to each other but each with its own personality. It's really not practical, I realize that. We would never be able to afford to buy anything in this city, probably couldn't afford to rent either. It's crowded. I'd probably have to give up my Toyota and get something in an automatic. And parking. Bleh. But there's something about this city... even when it is pouring down rain.

I'm staying in a little hotel in the Cole Valley neighborhood. It's up near Golden Gate Park. It's a perfect little hotel, pretty cheap as far as hotels go in big cities. It's very European--small, simple, basic. That's really all I need. I always feel I'm wasting all that space (and money!) in the big chain hotels. The front desk guy here has been very helpful. He directed me to Walgreens for my umbrella, recommended the Thai restaurant around the corner, and then loaned me some silverware when they didn't give me anything to eat my takeout with.

More tomorrow. I may have many hours to hang out in the airport. My interviews are done at 3 pm. They have me scheduled to have dinner with some faculty at 5:30 pm, but my flight back to SD is at 8 pm, so I don't know if that is going to happen, or if I will just head to SFO at 3 and try to get on an earlier flight. I hope it stops raining by tomorrow morning, I have to walk 3 blocks to the hospital and even with my new umbrella, it will be a very wet walk in heels if it is still raining.

Ice Cream and Birthdays

Yesterday was Adam's birthday. This week I have have been working a schedule which is pretty much the opposite of his, so I haven't actually seen him since Sunday and won't see him again until Friday. Thus, we did not get to spend his birthday together. I did however attempt to make him a cake. Adam doesn't like cake. What Adam likes is ice cream. One year I attempted to make an ice cream cake, which did not turn out quite as expected. The ice cream melted, and soaked into the cake, resulting in a melted ice cream soaked chocolate cake. Adam ate it anyway. This year I decided to take a different route. No cake, just ice cream. It didn't turn out too badly, but next year I think I will try to incorporate some cake. Because I do like cake.

Better late than never

Pictures from Christmas.

And still, I knit.

I haven't been to my knitting group in about a month. Maybe more. First it was the holidays. Then Adam and I had a date to see Garrison Keillor. And then, this week, I just didn't feel like going. I'm not going to be able to go the next two weeks either: next Monday I'm working nights, 8pm to 8am, and the following Monday I'm working the day shift at the ED, 10am to 8pm. So it looks like it will be mid-February before I make it back again. Hopefully they will still welcome the outsider. I'm the only one without kids, the only one not in their playgroup, etc.--but they are a great group, who don't seem to mind including me. Although I think they may have frightened me out of parenthood.

Despite my lack of attendance at knitting, I continue to have a number of projects in the works. Baby blanket for a friend who had better not have her baby tomorrow because I am nowhere near finished. A crocheted shopping bag from a sweater Michelle gave me while I was in Portland which I promptly frogged and am now recycling (she gave me the sweater for that purpose, I promise). And a request from Mom, who lives in chilly (but beautiful) Lienz, Austria--mittens! My first thought was to try a beautiful cable knit pattern I'd been wanting to use. It's a traditional Tyrolean pattern, which seemed perfect, since Lienz is in East Tyrol. Mom would fit it with all the traditional Austrian ladies and their mittens! But something wasn't quite right.

It is enormous and somewhat malformed. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my knitting, so I could not give this to her. Despite the wonderful twisted ribbing and intricate cables (which I did without a cable needle!), it had to be destroyed. Instead, I went with some leftover wool from my stash, double stranded to make it a bit bulkier, and voila! A very very warm mitten. Just one so far, but I'll get around to finishing the other shortly. I suspect it will be cold in Austria for awhile.

Things I Miss

Adam and I spent the weekend in the Pacific northwest. It was cloudy. It rained. It was damn cold. But I loved it. We stayed with Michelle and Matt, who were excellent hosts and tour guides. We also managed to meet up with a couple of other firends who are also living in Portland. It was a great weekend, that made me realize even more just how much I miss the northwest. I miss green. Portland has lovely parks with extensive trail systems. I miss good beer. There seem to be breweries on every cornor in Porland. We even made the drive up to Hood River and had lunch at the Full Sail brewery.

I miss being able to shop at REI and having those clothes be acceptable "going out" clothes. I miss yarn stores. Seattle had 5 or 6 yarn stores within 15 minutes of where I lived. San Diego has two. And only one of those is any good. Portland seems to have a yarn store in every neighborhood. The one we went to Sunday was fabulous, 4 rooms and a cafe full of yarn, patterns and very helpful people. I got some great recycled cotton yarn to make a mesh shopping bag, but have gotten myself into a bit of a mess. Should have gotten that yarn swift I wanted for Christmas. Besides enjoying my time in the rain and dragging Adam to yarn stores (he's such a good sport!), I interviewed at OHSU for endocrine fellowships. I really enjoyed my interview there. The faculty was great, so friendly and seem to genuinely enjoy teaching and working with the fellows. The fellows are also very happy and enjoy working with the faculty. They have a great clinical education, and also have a center dedicated to the study of weight regulation, which is my area of research interest. You spend the first year of the program with clinical resonsibilities--6 months in-patient consults, and 6 months on outpatient clinics. Then years 2 (and 3 if you choose to do a 3rd year) are all research, with only one half day of clinic per week. OHSU is a beautiful hospital, Portland is a beautiful city. It would be a great place to go.

The only downside is OHSU's reputation. It's not quite of the same reputation as UW, UCSD, UCSF or U of Colorado (my other top contendors), so I wouldn't have the name and reputation to help me out in the future as much as I would with the other programs. It is still a well known and respected program, so I don't know how important that will be. We'll see what happens with the other prorams. If I like them (and their cities) as much as Portland, it becomes an easier choice. My next interview at this point is UCSD on February 15th, but I'm still trying to schedule UW so that may happen in the meantime. It's going to be a long process. My last interview is in April, so I have a few months of this ahead of me still.

Frustrations

I had a suspicion that trying to schedule fellowship interviews, without actually having any time off in order to participate in said fellowship interviews, would be a frustrating experience. But I had no idea. I ended up applying to 10 programs, mainly because it cost the same amount to apply to one program as it did to apply to 10. So far I've gotten 7 interview offers, but due to many scheduling constraints, I've only managed to schedule two.

I think it would be easiest if they contacted me and said "hey, dr. tylee. we like you. here's the date we want to interview you." but they don't. They all ask me to send them a selection of dates that I'm free to interview. Maybe that works for programs where they actually give their residents time off for interviews, but not here at UCSD. I'm not available any days. I have to rearrange my schedule, get coverage, and get approval to take the day off for whichever day I plan to interview. So scheduling each interview involves sending emails to at least 2 different people, usually 3, waiting to hear back from everyone, and then finding a plane ticket that doesn't cost a fortune. Thus I have only managed to schedule my interview at OHSU and UCSD. The rest of them will happen, I'm just very frustrated with this whole process. I wish our program were more accommodating.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm off to Portland. It's nice that I was able schedule it on the weekend, so Adam and I will have time to do a bit of exploring. My top choices right now (having not actually interviewed anywhere) are Seattle, Portland and Denver. I'm hoping to schedule my Denver interview on a weekend too, so Adam can come (and we can go skiing!). I suspect these interviews will be a bit more stressful than residency. Friday I have to interview with 5 different people. At least they feed me. I do like to eat.

Resolutions for 2008

I've never been big on new year's resolutions, probably because in years past when I've made them, I've failed to follow through with them, so they always seemed somewhat arbitrary. But this year there are actually some changes I'd like to make. And since Adam and I are embarking on our lives together this year, it seemed a good time to really try to change things.

1. Procrastinate less. I'm am a world class procrastinator. I don't feel it has really held me back in life. I work very well under pressure, and am most productive when facing a deadline. But I've come to realize over the last year that my tendency towards clutter stems from my procrastination. I don't put things away when I'm done using them, I pile dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher, I do my laundry but never fold it or put it away. Here's what I'm going to try:
- when I have a day off, get all my errands done in the morning
- clean up after myself
- answer all emails that require a response as soon as I read them
- open my mail everyday and either respond, recycle or shred it

2. Cook something new every week. I currently have approximately 200 recipes bookmarked on my computer, as well as 2 years worth of Cook's Illustrated and an entire pile of Gourmet magazines that the previous residents left in the garage. So many things to cook! I need to start working my way through these, and keep track of the ones I like.

3. Exercise. Those who did not know me back in my college days might be surprised to know I was once quite the athlete. I even did a few triathlons back in the day (not well, but I did in fact complete them). Now my rigorous exercise regimen is hindered by the quality time I spend sitting on various pieces of furniture while I knit. I do miss being in shape. I don't so much miss the exercise, but you can't have one without the other. So after spending a ridiculous amount of money on a pre-paid gym membership this weekend (it actually works out to be quite a good deal, it just required a big up-front payment), I'm going to try to be better about working out more than once a week. I'd like to run a 5K sometime this year. And one day I will again do a triathlon, because I love the reaction I get from people when I tell them I do triathlons. And how will I accomplish this exercise?
- no knitting unless I have exercised that day

If that's not motivation, I don't know what is.