Still Alive and Thriving

I have continued to obsessively check the blog for peoples' updates, but this past month I simply haven't felt I've had anything worth sharing. I'm living in La Crosse, WI and haven't made many friends here. For awhile I was able to hang out with a couple pharm girls from Drake, but their time here already ended and now I'm alone. A few classmates are in the area, but I'm not close to any of them and so haven't seen them outside of the hour-long weekly seminar. I joined a gym when I moved here and thought I could meet people at fitness classes, and once went kayaking with a group organized by a local outdoors store, but the only women in my age bracket I met have been married 5 years and have 2 kids. Today I then went to church because it was recommended as another place to meet people. The saddest thing is that I'm not actually lonely. In fact I'm frustrated with myself that I have no problem being without friends here.

My first clinical rotation is in the hospital with one of the general medicine teams. Acute care drugs are not my strong area, nor the mechanisms of actions of some of the common ones. Physiology has always been a little hard to conceptualize. I've made a lot of improvement since I've started, but my preceptors often look like they're a touch disappointed in my knowledge. It's not that I don't try, it's just that it takes me awhile to get into the groove. Luckily, I only have two more weeks in the hospital, then I start in the clinic/ outpatient pharmacy of the same health care system.

Back to my free time - the gym I joined is nice, but doesn't have a pool. The only gym in this town with a pool is the Y, and that was the most expensive membership so I had to do without. There are several outdoor community pools, but weather here has been difficult (random torrential rains). Kayaking was a lot of fun, but they only have trips Monday and Tuesday nights, which makes a long day by the time I get home from it at 9:00pm. I get up at 5:30 for work, so early bedtimes have been the norm this summer. I finished a pillow (hawaiian quilt style... see pic) that I started last August but hadn't had time to finish. The next day I started a quilt for Mary. It'll be a large throw, 65"x75", as a graduation/ birthday gift, but probably won't be done until end of summer (or end of fall if it's not done before I leave for Hawaii). It's going slow but well, and unfortunately I can't share any details except that it's a Julie original design, because Mary has to be kept surprised.

This weekend I've been trying to get a lot of pharm work done so my 4th of July weekend is totally free (I'll be going home to hang out with the fam minus Mary). Tomorrow I have to present a case presentation about complications with an intrathecal pain pump to my "colleagues" and not quite done preparing for that. It's been difficult finding pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic information about most of the drugs used in the pumps, because only the use of morphine in them is FDA approved. But I have to figure out if other drugs could interact with them, since there's apparently no systemic absorption. THEN I have to write a short research paper on use of sodium bicarbonate vs. other oral hydration for the prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy. My research for that is essentially finished, so hopefully it'll just take a few hours of focus this week to get that finished up. So then all I'll have to do is pray to the weather gods for a gorgeous weekend.

I'll stop typing now. Ironically, I could probably keep typing. How about I just write shorter, more regular blog postings?

Ashley, your bloggings have been lovely. It sounds like you've had a wonderful summer so far!

Friday musings

It’s Friday afternoon and I’m miraculously caught up on my projects for the week; therefore, I can justify blogging in the middle of the afternoon. : )

I fell in love with San Diego last week. I went there to be the “face of UNL” at a biotechnology trade show – scary thought, huh? Anyhoo, every day I ate breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the San Diego Bay and even made it to Coronado Island and the Pacific Ocean twice. I taught my coworker Joel how to boogie board. Being in open water feeds my soul like few things do. I wish it were easier to catch a wave in the Midwest.

We’re spending four of the next seven days at the lake (yay for three-day holiday weekends). I won’t be able to boogie board, but my father-in-law has the pontoon boat up and running. Aces. As Hayley says, pontoon boats are the new yacht! I think that’s a lot of wishful thinking on her part.

As Paul pointed out, we liberals love to watch our carbon footprint. To reduce our gas consumption and get in shape, Andy has been biking to work at least three days a week. I think I have enough endurance to do the same, but I’m concerned about being a hot, sweaty mess by the time I arrive at the office. Who wants to sit next to the smelly girl in a meeting?

I’ve dedicated this summer to eating better and getting into shape. Slowly but surely, I’m changing my lifestyle, but I haven’t totally eliminated my cravings for ice cream and naughty summer treats.

I love Pandora Internet radio. Plug in a few of your favorite songs, and Pandora magically predicts your musical tastes. This afternoon, my radio station consists of U2, Counting Crows, Coldplay, John Mayer, the Fray, and Snow Patrol. Rock on. (Or rather, mellow out.)

Mary, we’re invading Denver in mid-July next year. We looked into getting tickets for the Mile High Music Festival on our anniversary, but Andy gets back from a conference the day before it starts and we can’t get our travel schedules to work out. So, we’ll do that next year.

Andy turns 30 on July 7 and we're celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in less than a month. When did we become full-fledged adults, and how do we make it stop?

In all honesty, life is pretty damn great right now, even if it does require acting like a grownup. ;)

Julie, how are your rotations going? I miss hearing from you!

Paul's Post

Andy: Since you're a pretty clever fellow, you might want to take a look into adding an HHO generator to your vehicle. They can increase fuel efficiency by 50-75% I hear. Liberals like yourself always want to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint :P http://www.water4fuel.info/

Julie: I finally ate your partial box of Special K cereal and I have to say that it tasted wonderful.

Mary: I didn't forget about your birthday. I tried calling you on sunday, since you were busy monday, but you didn't answer :/

To anybody: Heres a few good songs that you may appreciate

Category 1: Light and Beautiful songs

The Cure-Friday I'm In Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSmfNxmaQHc

Someone Still Loves you Boris Yeltsin- Glue Girls
http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/media/prc-151-01.mp3 (takes awhile to load)

Sugarbomb- Hello
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qer498uC0jc

Yes- Roundabout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyR-BNo-tUk

Category 2: Ghetto

Nelly- Heart of a Champion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bh7AsIZRMw

Category 3: Heavy Metal
Hate Crew Deathroll- Triple Corpse Hammerblow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWTBsncVr38

Scrubs, Pilot Episode

Gah. (strangled gasp). Orientation week is over, and, not feeling very oriented, I am starting on the VA wards on Monday.

This past week has been spent trying to forget this fact. This past Monday our intern class had a ropes challenge course as a team-building exercise. It was a great way to meet people, and I really like our class. I recognized several other interns from interviews. Monday night we went to a bar called Forest Room 5 for the evening social event. It was a beautiful evening out, with the distant sound of Blackhawk helicopters swarming through downtown and military peeps rappelling onto the top of skyscrapers, purportedly in preparation for the Democratic National Convention come August. Tuesday we all got our embroidered, long white coats that are all a size too big for us. Wednesday through Friday were spent getting parking, getting computer orientation on about ten different programs, and collecting our stack of ID badges which we will wear around our necks on no less than three lanyards. Highlight---I also received my business cards that I can hand out to people in the ER if I like them and want them to be my patients. Friday night we had a pool party at the Stapleton Puddle Jumper Pool, by the old Denver airport. We had the best BBQ from Famous Dave's there. Today, Saturday, about ten of us interns drove out to Boulder to hike up to Bear's Peak, in the Flatiron Mountains. It was seven miles round trip, and we gained about 2500 feet in elevation over the last mile. SO HARD!!! But, the view of snow-capped mountains and the clear blue skies was so worth it.
We stopped at the 7/11 on the way home for Cherry Limeade Slurpees. Delicious and very summery. Then I put on my suit, swam for about 45 seconds at our apartment complex pool, which was very frigid, and afterwards sat in the 90 degree heat reading my "Intern Survival Guide." Hah.

Here is a picture of my roommate, Lauren, me, and my classmate from med school, Ben, on the top of Mount Evans last week.

Ashley, Andy, and everyone else, thank you for the lovely birthday card! I would love to host you at the end of October. My vacation is from October 11-19. I am starting on the cardiology floor at UCH after that, but we can definitely still hang out in the evenings. Did I mention that I am on call overnight at the VA on our very first day, June 23, which also happens to be my birthday??? I am hoping that means I will be a white cloud. Bless you if you actually read this whole blog, and wish me luck because I am scared!!!

Overshare of the Century and Other Assorted Thoughts

Dear all,

Well, I am all settled in to my new apartment and awaiting my roommate's arrival the end of next week. I decided to be productive and went earlier this week to the Denver DMV to procure my Colorado driver's license. Seriously, it was just like it was portrayed in sitcoms. I expected to just go in at 11:00 AM and be out in time for lunch. Hah. It was a huge room with two hundred people inside. Three hours later, they finally call my number for me to go up to the counter! To make matters worse, I unwittingly sat down next to a nut case. This fifty-year-old woman starts telling me all about her anxiety disorders that her doctors told her were "messing up her brain," how her knees and hips hurt, how she was unemployed, and how she had gone bankrupt because she lent some money to her ungrateful daughter. Not wanting to be completely rude, I nodded weakly at the appropriate junctures and tried to look away as often as I could. I was just about to tell her that she didn't really need to tell me all about her private life when her number was called, and I sneaked off to a seat further up towards the front of the room. After this delight, I went to get an emissions test on my vehicle. The next day I got my car registered and my new license plates. A lot of random things to take care of when moving to a new state that I didn't anticipate! I spent today watching Lost episodes because it is rainy and only 55 degrees outside. However, it is supposed to be back in the 80's this weekend, so my summer resolution is to try to make the best of my last week of vacation! Specific goals are still pending...

A Dream Come True...

Feeding a real live giraffe at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo! My life is complete.

Summer Resolutions

The blog has been silent lately, so I thought I'd resurrect a post from 2006: summer resolutions. Who wants to wake up on August 15 and realize that summer is almost over and nothing fun has happened?

1) Finish planting flowers. I got off to a slow start this spring.
2) Go to the lake often. Host many get-togethers at said lake.
3) Get to the Jazz in June festival as much as possible.
4) Try new farmers' markets in town. Lincoln's original farmers' market is nice, but it's gotten super-crowded and isn't held at the most convenient time.
5) Go to Roca Berry Farm and pick strawberries. Hmm. I bet I need to do that next week to get the best berries ...
6) Once a week, go on a walk or a run outside my neighborhood.
7) Take a mini-vacation. I'm not sure where, though.
8) Get back in shape. This really should be my No. 1 goal. ;)
9) Go boating. This is dependent on my father-in-law's willingness to get the boat ready; therefore, achieving this goal will be difficult.
10) Take 1-2 vacation days for no reason, other than to enjoy the beautiful weather.

What are your summer resolutions?