Shell Shocked

Today I only had to work a few hours, so I had the whole day to hang out with Adam. We recently put a deposit down on a puppy, and Adam thought we should check out some bigger cars in preparation for dog ownership. Sure, some people buy bigger cars when they are expecting children, but we decided dog ownership requires a car suited for dog-toting duties, so off to check out the various small SUV's on the market. We had a few requirements: 1) 4-wheel drive, since next year we will either be living in Seattle or Denver 4-wheel drive will be important for those jaunts to the mountains, 2) fold down rear seats, need to have lots of cargo room and space for the pup to hang out, 3) moonroof, Adam *loves* his moon roof and 4) not ugly (this was my requirment, but a very important one I thought).

First stop, the Subaru dealership to check out the redesigned Subaru Forester. This particular vehicle has the added benefit of being one of the only small SUV's available as a 5-speed, and given our love of the manual transmission, this was defnitely a selling point. It also had a huge moonroof, and was quite reasonably priced. Good start, but I was hungry. And a hungry Tracy is a grumpy Tracy, so off to In-n-Out Burger to refuel before our next stop--the Honda dealership.

This was the one Adam was most interested in, as he had decided he wanted a Honda Element. The main problem with this car is it is in blantant violation of rule #4--UGLY. And very weird inside. After experimenting with the hanging up of the back seats, we decided this wasn't the car we wanted, and on we went to check out the CRV. While not as spacious as the Forester, Adam enjoyed driving this one more, as it handles more like a car than the Forester. But I still liked the openess (and expansive headroom!) of the Forester. So no clear winner.

Third, was the Jeep dealer. Adam was interested in the $2.99 gas guarantee, I wasn't really interested in anything. We looked at the Compass (I think) but too much plastic, too small windows. Although it was the cheapest, it looked the cheapest, and by this time, my boost from the In-n-Out cheeseburger was wearing off. I could only handle one more dealership, so Toyota it was. And luckily they were having a President's Day BBQ, so I had a hot dog, and a hamburger and got my energy up for the 4 hour marathon that followed.

Here we looked at the RAV-4. The first model we looked at was the highest-end one they had on the lot. V-6 engine, 4-wheel drive, leather interior, dual climate control, heated seats. Very fancy. It had some nice touches, like the ability to lay the seats flat from the far back, rather than having to go through the middle doors. The back door opens out, rather than up. It's very similar to the CRV, but a bit more spacious. We test drove two different cars--the sport model with the standard engine, then we took the V-6 for a spin. Adam was hooked. Since he was planning on replacing his car with the new car, he wanted one with similar performance. We asked the requisite "can you run the numbers" question, for the sport model, 4-wheel drive, V-6. But quickly learned unlike Seattle, where 4-wheel drive cars are everywhere, no one in Southern California really has any need for them, so there were no 4-wheel drive RAV-4's anywhere in the greater LA or Phoenix area. They did however have that super fancy model we had looked at when we first arrived. And if we were interested, they could sell it to us for the price of the sport model...

So after much negotiating, pricing of trade ins, adjustment of payment schedules, and addition and removal of various options, we are now the proud owners of this car (yes, it is green):And I no longer have my Corolla. Apparently Toyota dealerships are more interested in taking Toyota's in trade-in than Mitsubishi's, so Adam still has his car, and I get to drive the big fancy one. Strangely, I miss my little Corolla. I'm sure I will get over it though. We're both a little shell-shocked right now, as we didn't really mean to buy a car today. I hope the dog appreciates what we've done for him.

The Countdown Begins...

The next 6 weeks are going to be rough. Intern year was month after month of this schedule, and I survived but this year I've only had 3 1/2 months of in-patient so far and I had gotten very used to the fairly normal schedule of consult months. The in-patient schedule is hard, because as a resident you only get one day off a week, it is never a weekend, and you rarely get to come home early. But tomorrow is my day off, and I have grand plans for getting up early, going running, completing all 15 things on my to do list and still making dinner. But enough of my whining...

This weekend was hot. I did manage to get home early on Sunday, which allowed Adam and me to walk over to the farmers market near our house. Now, I don't bring this up to make those of you who live in the midwest where produce is not so plentiful feel bad about your fate in life, but dear lord are the strawberries beautiful this time of year! And we got some delicious asparagus. I seriously love the fact that you can get produce year round here. I will miss that if we move back to Seattle.

Which brings me to the countdown portion of this post. It is 30 days until Match Day. For those of you who missed out on the first Match Day, let me tell you how it goes.
- I applied for fellowships: UW, UCSD, Stanford, UCSF, OHSU, Colorado, Beth Israel, Mass General and the NIH
- I interviewed at all the west coast institutions (except Stanford), but turned down Beth Israel, Mass General and the NIH because I realized I didn't really want to live in Boston or DC. I'm very much a west coast kind of girl
- I liked all of the places I interviewed, Seattle and Denver most of all
- Now I have to rank them. I haven't figured out the final list yet.
- June 5th I have to submit my rank list
- The programs submit similar rank lists of the applicants that they liked, in their order of preference
- A giant computer (I imagine it to be a giant computer) matches me up with my highest ranked program that also put me on their list
- On June 15th, I find out where I'm going for fellowship starting July 2009

I have a pretty good idea where I will end up, but for fear of jinxing it, I'm not saying anything until I have the letter in my hand. So the countdown begins... 30 days until I know where I'll be going next. And hopefully I'll have something more interesting to write about in the upcoming days. Tomorrow for instance, Adam and I are going dog shopping. Much more interesting than my whining about how tired I am, don't you agree?

Ugh.

I have been delinquent in blogging. I apologize. Suffice it to say, I have been busy. I'm back on wards, which means I'm working 6 days a week, anywhere from 8 to 15 hours a day. The one day I have off, I'm usually running around all day trying to get all those little errands done. Lots of little errands manage to accummulate in the course of a week. In addition, I have a number of larger tasks to complete, including but not limited to:

--Research presentation tomorrow. The effect of SIRT1 agonists on insulin resistance and macrophage population in adipose tissue of rats. Is that exciting or what? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll make a fool of myself.

--My car needs a new clutch. Really this time. It no longer likes to go into fifth gear. This makes me very very sad. And very poor too. I suppose I'll get my alignment fixed while I'm there as well. *sigh*

--Dogs. Adam and I are going to a breeder next week to look at puppies. He wants a Viszla. They are cute. I'd like to have a dog.

--Invitations. I'm starting the assembly process. I've already gone through 3 things of double sided tape (and watched the entire A&E version of Pride and Prejudice). And that was just with the RSVP cards.

Things I have not done:
--laundry
--cleaned. anything. in weeks.
--grocery shopping
--slept more than 6 hours in a night
--replied to any email I have received in the last 5 days
--gone to the gym in more days than I care to admit to

It's going to be a long couple months, but I'll make it through. And then, finally, it will be my last year of residency. The end is in sight! I think I'm going to make it! Thank you for your patience.

Hobbies and Other Diversions

I was in Seattle the last two weeks, working on wedding details and spending a wonderful weekend with my girl friends. At some point in the weekend, the topic of hobbies came up. My friends are all brilliant and talented. They garden and make their own salsa. They are gifted photographers and writers. They are competitive cyclists, and win triathlons (not just compete in triathlons, but WIN triathlons!). They are professors and lawyers and financial geniuses. Between us all, I think we've been to every continent at least once (except Antarctica).

There are so many things I enjoy doing, but I feel inadequate at all of them. I wonder if I just haven't found my true calling, or if I just need to devote more time to these activities in order develop my skills? Then there are all the things I wish I were good at. And how do I find the time to take on new hobbies?

I have knitting, which I love, but there are only so many knitted things I can make before everyone I know has a knit hat, or a pair of mittens. I now enjoy trying new, intricate stiches, trying different patterns, but not really making anything specific. I do want to try making socks. But I don't think I will ever design my own patterns, and I will certainly never get into spinning my own wool.

I also enjoy cooking. I'm not a very adventurous cook. I rarely deviate from the recipe. I don't trust myself. But I love the time I spend in the kitchen, chopping and stirring and mixing. And I love that Adam loves my cooking. It makes me happy. I wonder though, what it is about cooking that makes it a hobby and not a chore? I wash dishes every night too, and I do actually enjoy it, but no one would consider washing dishes a hobby. Would they?

And so many other things I want to be good at: photography, or at least figuring out how to use Photoshop. Gardening--I want to grow my own vegetables and have a little herb garden. I want to do another triathlon one of these days and I certainly wouldn't mind making that a regular form of exercise for me. I want to start playing my flute again. And I'd love to learn to play tennis and golf, but I don't think those need to reach "hobby" status. Just something to do...

Luckily, I have many many years of life ahead of me to work on my "to do" list. And my last day of residency is officially June 11th, 2009. I fully plan to embark on the development of my extracurricular activities once I am done with this ridiculousness.