New Car

Well, today, on a whim, my mom and I went to the Toyota dealership to look at the car I would buy, if I had the funds. Mostly I wanted to look at the 2 colors I was interested in to determine which one I preferred. The cactus mica is my choice. The dealer made me drive the car around the block but first I had to drive through the gauntlet of new cars. I'm sure I had lots of space, as he kept telling me but the last thing I needed to do was ding up a bunch of new expensive cars on a day I had no plans on buying anyway. The car, by the way, is the toyota corolla LE. I'm basically going for the exact same car I have now but newer with fancier things like side and front airbags with ABS, and other stuff I'm sure I would want if I cared that much. I just wanted to see which color I liked best since I had already done my important research online. The car is about $18,500. Or almost half my yearly salary before taxes. So now I must decide which I want first, a new car or a new computer. I really want a new computer (to salivate with me go to apple.com and look at the macbook pro) but this is also probably the best time to put money down on a new car. So my plan is to see what sort of tax refund I get back this year. And if after setting aside money for property taxes and house insurance I have enough money, I may consider a new car or a new computer...or both. Or maybe I need to marry a rich guy so I can easily get both...and yes, even if I were to marry a rich guy, I would still go for the corolla cause then I could get the really fancy accessories for it. I listen to all the specialists at work complain about having to take in their fancy cars for servicing all the time. Just cause I would be rich doesn't mean I'd want to spend my money on car parts and mechanic labor times. Gotta save the imaginary richness for other more important things, like a new ipod, clothes, someone to do the ironing, cooking, and cleaning...oh wait, mom is doing those last 3 things for free. You get the idea. Time to update my pda

New Car

Well, today, on a whim, my mom and I went to the Toyota dealership to look at the car I would buy, if I had the funds. Mostly I wanted to look at the 2 colors I was interested in to determine which one I preferred. The cactus mica is my choice. The dealer made me drive the car around the block but first I had to drive through the gauntlet of new cars. I'm sure I had lots of space, as he kept telling me but the last thing I needed to do was ding up a bunch of new expensive cars on a day I had no plans on buying anyway. The car, by the way, is the toyota corolla LE. I'm basically going for the exact same car I have now but newer with fancier things like side and front airbags with ABS, and other stuff I'm sure I would want if I cared that much. I just wanted to see which color I liked best since I had already done my important research online. The car is about $18,500. Or almost half my yearly salary before taxes. So now I must decide which I want first, a new car or a new computer. I really want a new computer (to salivate with me go to apple.com and look at the macbook pro) but this is also probably the best time to put money down on a new car. So my plan is to see what sort of tax refund I get back this year. And if after setting aside money for property taxes and house insurance I have enough money, I may consider a new car or a new computer...or both. Or maybe I need to marry a rich guy so I can easily get both...and yes, even if I were to marry a rich guy, I would still go for the corolla cause then I could get the really fancy accessories for it. I listen to all the specialists at work complain about having to take in their fancy cars for servicing all the time. Just cause I would be rich doesn't mean I'd want to spend my money on car parts and mechanic labor times. Gotta save the imaginary richness for other more important things, like a new ipod, clothes, someone to do the ironing, cooking, and cleaning...oh wait, mom is doing those last 3 things for free. You get the idea. Time to update my pda

the dream

So I decided to check out the apple rumor site to see what new things have been released and are predicted in the future...the new macbook pro (still hate the name) is now available in even faster speeds! 2.16 ghz! And so now I must be patient to see how good or bad these new computers may be although it's pretty hard to be this patient. My computer still works fine but it's nice to dream...we'll have to see how much of a tax refund I get since my plans for that money are to use it to pay property taxes in november, pay off some of my credit card debt (not too much left), maybe put it in some long term savings thing that earns lots of credit, and lastly, help pay for this new computer. With the Tulane education discount, it's $2929 and without it the computer costs $3199. I suppose at those prices, getting the education discount is somewhat helpful because I can spend the extra money on product extended warranty. Not sure if it's better to get the apple warranty or compusa. The compusa plan is somewhat better since apple sometimes takes forever but still not sure.

Payton Turns 1

Tomorrow my niece will be 1 year old. I'm a little sad about not getting to be there but I sent her present on time (which is a major accomplishment for me). I went to the Build-a-Bear store and made her a monkey, dressed it in the scrubs outfit they sell, put a little pink bow on it's tail (to mark her as a girl monkey doctor), and called her "Bananas, MD." Dorky, I know, but she's a cute little monkey. And when Payton figures out how to press the left arm, Bananas will make her monkey sounds. My mom still hasn't sent me any pictures of my niece since she was about 8 or 9 months old. She told me she'll send me some but I think I'll end up waiting until she comes next month. My brother and sister-in-law aren't too great about sending photos either. Geez! What does a doting aunt have to do to get some pictures of her one and only niece!?! I'll be going home in april for my next vacation so I'll get to spend time with her then. She'll be walking by then, if she hasn't already done that (isn't it sad that I don't get ANY news of my niece? And since only dad reads this, maybe he'll send pictures.

wow

I want to cry...that's how much I'm in love with the new powerbooks...okay, it's called a macbook pro which is the most retarded name for an apple computer to date. So when I finally get the money and the 2nd rev is out, I'll still call it a powerbook. Macbook...I still can't believe that a company known for style would call their newest innovation a "MacBook Pro" Bleh. It's so hard to decide if I should work on my clinic notes or watch the replay of the presentation...choices choices choices.

snowing

So it snowed last night while I was on call so I didn't get to play in it...at least it didn't keep me from leaving post call...that blame goes to the attending who decided to do things his way rather than the protocol. So instead of seeing the sick babies first and then the kids up on the peds floor, we saw the well babies because there was a nurse who kept harassing us to see one of her patient's baby so they could leave. I told the attending that they could wait since we needed to see those who were the sickest first and he said "we need to see the discharges first." BS. No other attending runs things that way. The other complicating factor was someone who felt that moving the weekend that she made 39 weeks from her previous home in utah without any of her prenatal records would be a smart thing. You do sense the sarcasm right? Anyway, she delivered this morning around 10:30 so that kept me there longer. I did 2 deliveries on my call shift so I suppose that's not too bad. Anyway, i missed playing in the snow but I did go out and stand in the falling snow for awhile. The nurses all laughed at me. I don't care. One of the nurses slipped on the ice and whacked her head hard and got rolled over to the ED. Oh and I got some excitement when the patient who delivered when I first started out on sunday decided to have a hemorrhage at 4 pm. I was told I handled the situation well but it was with assistance from the experienced nurses who asked me if I wanted certain drugs...in other words, I just needed to say yes. I did know about 2 of the meds they were pulling out when I got to the room and ordered those doses so I suppose I needed some brain function. And in my head I kept saying "please stay alive until my attending shows up." Anyway, I'm rambling...

Oh, one more thing, I bought a snow shovel so I could shovel my steep driveway. There is the possibility that my driveway will be one ice slide in the morning and I will need to call about being late (oh darn...sarcasm again) but oh well...
I have decided that snow is pretty when it's not on the road.

crazy

well, my cousin carly and her husband just found out they were having twins. Yep, this is the younger sister of my other cousin Erinn, who just had twins in april. Hmmm...this could make getting pregnant for any member of our extended family potentially dangerous... or fun. Crazy will be if laura gets pregnant with twins at some point, their mom (my aunt) told her to just adopt. Perhaps the proud grandparents are already burnt out on helping with twins? I now have to make 2 receiving blankets instead of the one I just started. anyway, I need to shower and eat some lunch then go meet chris. we're going to see the harry potter movie.

exhilaration

I don't know what it was about today's delivery but it felt so exciting and rejuvinating. Maybe it's because I hadn't done a delivery in the past week and had kind of gotten bored after doing a month of ob and having to stay one more month - a slump. This woman wasn't any different than anyone else I had delivered and I didn't exactly feel any more connected to her but it was just a great feeling after getting that baby out. It was kind of a big kid too: 9lb 10 oz and the placenta was huge too! Thankfully she didn't tear so no stitching required. Maybe it was happiness that although I stayed late to deliver her, I didn't have to stay later to repair any tears. I predicted her delivery around 5 pm and he was born at 5:01 pm. It was fun.

I also got a thank you note from a woman who I helped deliver a couple of weeks ago (she had a c-section because her baby was breech). I had taken a picture with her son so they gave me a copy of the picture. I also circumsized him. Very much the continuity and full service a family physician provides.

shopping and salivation

Good News! Today I went shopping at my new favorite place - Bridgeport Shopping Center in Tigard (that's the place we met your airline friends, Dad). It's So Amazing it's probably better that it takes a while to get there...relative to how close Clackamas Town Center is to my house. Anyway, there's J.Crew, Banana Republic, a fun Container Store...And the best thing - APPLE STORE!!!! Yippeee! I love the apple store! Today I spent an hour in there salivating over all the things I wish I could buy and can't afford...mostly the new powerbooks. There's supposed to be a new update in january or february possibly with the new Intel chips so I think I might buy a new computer after the first batch comes out with whatever problems may arise. I don't have time to be an early adopter and deal with any little bugs the first intel powerbooks might have. My computer now still works but the screen is messed up and for a brief time, one of the usb ports didn't work and in february, it will be 4 years old. And I can still get the education discount with my tulane id...I wonder where I put that thing. Actually, I would probably order it online since I'm going to customize it with a bigger and faster harddrive and more ram. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the silver colored keys but overall it looks like a great product. Oh and I also might buy a new PDA with my $500 of CME money. I'm waiting to see any updates next spring since I have the whole year to use that money plus the $100 from Compusa cause they initally ripped me off when I had my old ipod replaced with the one I have now. So far buy.com has the cheapest price and I also have a $15 off coupon to use but it expires on Dec 15th. I wish I were rich so I could buy these things sooner.

Anyway, I got a lot of christmas shopping done today so it was a big accomplishment for me considering I was post call today (i got a decent amount of sleep in last night)

Blogthings - What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I saw this on Robin's site so I thought I'd see what my birthday meant. I think it's pretty accurate...not so sure about the color and shape...
I should sleep. I get to sleep in tomorrow!!! Yippeee!

Your Birthdate: July 22

You tend to be understated and under appreciated. You have a hidden force to do amazing things, doing them your own way. People may see you as strange and shy, but they know little. Your unconventional ways have more power than they (and even you) know. Your strength: Standing up for what you know is true Your weakness: You tend to be picky and rigid Your power color: Silver Your power symbol: Square Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Bergy is Here!

Christina came in last night. It's nice to have someone around to talk with and have some fun...okay so far we haven't done much except eat out tonight and then work side by side with our powerbooks - she's studying for step 2 and I'm working on my clinic notes. I was hoping to have fun this weekend but I was essentially pressured into switching my call from monday to sunday so the other intern could go to the ALSO class because they didn't want to bother the person on jeopardy because he had a problem last year involving extra OB time or something incredibly stupid. I should have held my ground better but I didn't want to be seen as the inflexible visiting resident. It's bad enough that I'm not one of them (by that I mean a resident in their program). So I won't get to sleep in this weekend and I desperately needed that after doing q2 for 3 call shifts in a row and now I'll be doing q2 for 2 call shifts. Screwed over, yep, that's how I feel right about now. Well, speaking of needing sleep, I'm going to bed now so I can get my 7 hours in tonight. vacation is soooo far away.

tired

I'm so tired tonight. Add to that the fact that I neglected to change my clock in the living room and so now I find myself with an extra hour before needing to sleep for tomorrow. I start OB and according to one of the attendings, there are days when I don't go into the hospital (other than weekends) but I don't remember the other interns mentioning that. All I know is that it's back to getting up early so I can get from my home to vancouver by 7 am. And since it's raining now, gotta add on extra transit time since oregon drivers seem to go really really slow even though it's only drizzling. Oh well, we'll see how my first day of 2 OB months will be. Then I do 2 months of family medicine service then ICU...then I die. The fatigue I'll have at the end of these next 5 months is scary to think about. Especially when I realize I'll have all of 1 week to recapture that lost sleep.

Christina comes next week for her OHSU rotation so it will be fun to have her here. I think I wrote that already but that shows you how tired I feel right now. Time to shower then sleep I think since I need to give myself enough time in the morning to drive up there and possibly get lost trying to find the family birth center not to mention the thought of delivering babies tomorrow having not caught a baby since November 2004. I'm told it will all come back to me. Um, I didn't exactly know how to catch the baby correctly back then. I sort of grabbed the baby as it came out then pulled it into my arms and tried not to drop it. This approach makes it impossible to do the next step of suctioning out the mouth and nose and then clamping off the umbilical cord. I guess by the end I will be able to catch and hold with one arm and use the other free hand to do the necessary things. I'll also apparently be able to look into the birth canal and somehow identify where the tears are and bring together the tissue to fix it - my last memory of a tear was that it all looked like chewed up meat without any apparent landmarks. Of course, that too was greater than a year ago and my memory is probably fuzzy. It should be fun though. I need to let Renae know when I'll be on duty so she can sign up for her hospital tour. I think Laura will be there when Renae has her baby. Of course, I'm referring to Laura the intern because I'm sure Aunty Laura (renae's mom) and perhaps our cousin Laura as well will be there at some point. That could get confusing.

where was I...oh yes, bedtime.

Here's my cute little niece Payton. She's around 8 months in this photo. My mom brought up a bunch of new pictures since Payton's mommy and daddy no longer have the time to keep her site updated now that they're back home. She's getting so big! The other night I went to Aunty Debby and Uncle Chuck's for sunday dinner and saw my cousin's 3 boys. They're all getting so big. Evan put on his little show. The twins are both very talkative. Elliot is scooting around on his bum. For some reason some people think they look alike...they may need to see an eye doctor. Anyway, I need to read some stuff (aka study). I'm having fun with my piano.

I went to see if I won any money from the lottery...one ticket had 2 matching numbers but it didn't register a win. Oh well. It was worth a shot. Maybe the numbers had to be in the same order to win. Or maybe I was supposed to cash them in on sunday or saturday. My inability to understand lotteries is perhaps the reason why i don't buy the tickets.

Only a few more days on surgery. I still have issues trying to do the damn subcuticular stitches. Maybe I focus too much on finding the point where the epidermis meets the subepidermal layer. I get most of them in at the right spot but I take forever. And then when I try to take small segments, I'm told to take more cause I'm going to slow, then at the next opportunity I'm told I'm taking too big of a bite. For Crap's sake! Make up your mind! The surgeon's been very patient with me though so for that, I am truely grateful or I would have lost it by now. Certainly not the same kind of surgeons I had to work under as a med student.

Piano

Thanks to Kevin, Jodi, Mom and Dad, and perhaps Payton too, I now have a digital piano! Yea! Now I can have fun playing piano when I get home from work. Well, time to have some dessert.

Oh and finally got to intubate a couple of people. It was on my oncall night this week. They both had no teeth so no worries about breaking teeth and were both surgery patients so there was no "life or death" anxiety. I amazingly wasn't very shakey either.

Tomorrow mom and dad head home - it was a quick visit but at least I got to see them and hang out for a couple of afternoons (2 post call afternoons). THey leave super early tomorrow but I guess since I have to get up early for a 7:30 operation anyway, I can handle getting up at 4 am for a brief moment to say goodbye.

bergy comes next month so that will be fun. We can explore portland on the rare day we both have off at the same time. It will be nice if she ends up here for residency since she also kind of got tired of the late night bar scene towards the end of med school.

Surgery

Well, now I'm on my surgery rotation. And I think I have PTSD from doing general surgery with Jaffe as a med student. Anyway, I get all nervous about messing up when suturing and so I go pretty slow at it. I mean, really, the last time I sutured anything was in november of last year! And the surgeon I'm with has done this for years so I suppose I shouldn't be too concerned at how fast he can do the same task. And I have memories of interns going just as slowly as I do so I suppose I'm still on the right pace. Okay, time for breakfast then off to surgery clinic. Didactics this afternoon so hopefully that will be interesting.

Piano

Well, costco has the 88 key digital piano that I want. It costs $540 which mom was shocked at cause she thought it would only be $100 or $200 I guess but that price is VERY cheap since similar products that I had researched easily cost $1000 and that often doesn't include the bench, stand for the piano, pedal, etc. It's a steal. Well, I guess I need to save up since I'll probably be paying for at least half since I was promised this piano for christmas but the price was unexpected by mom.

My internal medicine month is coming to a close. Tomorrow I have to call the surgeon I'll be working with to find out the schedule. I'm hoping that weekends are off but we'll see.

time to eat then study a bit.

it's a boy!

Renae is having a boy! She is supposed to deliver at the hospital where my fellow interns and I do our OB rotation so I guess I'll have to butter up the nurses so that they'll be super nice to her when she freaks out during her delivery in february...cause renae does not deal with blood very well. Though I suppose the excitement of the delivery will perhaps distract her from the amount of blood and other fluids that come out with the baby (sorry for description dad). I'm hungry.

what's up

I did my first death pronouncement yesterday. It was a DNR/DNI situation so there was no code that preceeded the event. Just me and our team's excellent sub-I (4th year med student). We went and looked at pupils, listened for a heart beat for a minute, looked for signs of spontaneous respirations for a minute, then wrote down a time. Doesn't seem like much of a way to state the death of a person who may have had such an incredible life experience. Formalities I guess.

Apple - PowerBook G4

I wish I could spend money without worry. If so, I would buy a new ipod nano just cause it would be handy to have music with me at work when all I'm doing is writing my progress notes...without having the larger ipod i have now. I would also buy a new powerbook g4. I don't know why I torture myself like this. I look at it online and I swear I start salivating over the thought of a new computer. Oh and I would probably buy a desktop computer too...you know, just cause I have the money to spend. Oh and I would buy a new car too. just cause. Not to mention a digital piano...a real piano would be nice but there's no space and um, it would be pretty difficult to get a regular piano up the stairs into my home.

sigh...it must be nice to be stinkin rich.

huh?

I think someone actually put a spam post on the comment section for my previous post about spamming my comments section. huh? did you follow that? Argh!