First Weekday of Med School Freedom

05/09: And I spent it working on my loan repayment situation/apartment hunting.
It was quite depressing. The loan repayment situation, not so much the apartment hunting.
So far, I have organized my loans into groups according to which entities I will be making my payments to. OK, 3 so far. Not too bad. Now, comes the tricky part: which payment options to choose. Right now, I'm trying to figure out what my new cost of living will be in my new place of residence. More stuff to follow tomorrow.
Apartment hunting is going. The one apartment that I wanted, a school building rebuilt into a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, new kitchen with brand new appliances (dishwasher, range, microwave, fridge), washer/dryer, with hardwood/tile flooring and really good natural lighting (open floor layout with lots of windows) is $1200. Unfortunately its not in my price range. Will be looking at much more approachable living accommodations on Wednesday.

05/13: Wednesday has come and gone. And sad to say, the other places still didn't pan out. It's either too expensive or the move-in date is too late. I fear, I may have waited too long and all the good places are rented. Still, I remain hopeful. I'll try again next Monday.
In other news, I floated the idea of doing a Tough Mudder event to my girlfriend earlier this afternoon. A few minutes ago, she told me that she has a tentative team ready and would undertake the next year to train for the August event in her neck of the woods. To make things more interesting, she "invited" or rather "challenged" me to join her team. I admit I am very intrigued at the prospect of training and getting fit for such an awesome obstacle course, but it is not without some doubt that I made my mind about it.
So here's to me and my big, fat mouth. :)
Hey, I got through med school...what's a little 12-mile run with 16 obstacles, right? Right???

Song of the day: "Serpentine" - Chris Bathgate

Ankle

So there I was, playing volleyball. I jump for a block @ the net, and next thing you know, I'm landing on the opponent blocker's foot (he had stuck it out past his side of the net, which might technically be a no-no), causing me to roll my right ankle.

Yea, its nice and swollen. By tomorrow, it'll be all black and blue-like...rotten banana-esque I should say.
And to make things worse, I spilled the ice water on my bed.

My night is really starting to shape up.

Song of the day: "Fixed" - Stars

Post post

Roughly a month to go before my match...chomping at the bit.

Some new things.
- joined 2 volleyball intramural leagues. Now I'm coming home with sore shoulders and backs and thighs, oh my. It's good tho. Can't complain. I still need to lose the Christmas and pre-christmas weight.
- Finished my ED rotation today. My eval reads: all excellent except for the final grade - high pass. The preceptor doesn't give honors grades. Grrr. If I didn't like him so much I would've slapped him right then and there. Well, maybe not. But still, that's just messed up!
- Going home tomorrow to see the 'rents and the doggies. That should be fun!
- My check engine light needs to be addressed soon before my next inspection this month. Either I need a new catalytic converter or an O2 sensor or some sort of spacer, which could mean the difference between paying by the 10s, 100s, or 1000s. Vehicle upkeep is such an expensive pain in the ass.
- Found out a few days ago that some of the programs I applied for had never received my Step 2 scores...well thanks for letting me know sooner, Pa! I hope that doesn't affect my application, tho.
- I have developed a new affinity for shortbread cookies.
- I heart Netflix. Period.
- There are plenty of very ripe bananas in my fridge that require my immediate attention. Looks like it's banana nut bread for the weekend.
- Hearing things from nice people that presents are forthcoming. AWW YEAH! Those nice people are the bestest! Hope to see them, and you, soon =).
- Starting a new rotation come Valentine's day: Pain and Palliative Medicine. Woo. Hoo. Quite the depressing change of scenery. I'm already missing my strokes and CHFs and Lacerations =(.
- Too many friends are getting married. No, I'm not in a rush to get married myself. I just have a limited budget and so I can't exactly splurge on wedding presents as I'd like to. I like weddings. Weddings are cool.

OK, I think that's enough for now.

Song of the day: "Sugarfoot" - Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

ER and things

In the ED rotation now.
Long weekend (two 12-hr shifts).
Sutured 2 lacerations today. Need to be better, be more organized, more confident.
Went 0 for 2 on the venous sticks today. Quite the disappointment. There's still more veins out there.
Then lost 4 times on the Volleyball field today, despite a valiant and a very much improved effort by my team.

But I feel good.

In other news, Match is coming up. Yea. Cue ulcer.
For those of you who don't know what Match is, let me s'plain...
It is that fateful moment when all the medical programs we medical students applied to get to tell us that we are hired!
So as a med student, I apply to X number of programs. They, in turn, receive many med school applicants (myself and the thousands of others applying for a job) for interview. In the end, there can be only one!!! Wait, got movie side-tracked...
In the end, each medical program participating in the match ranks their medical applicants from 1 to whatever. And each one of us applicants get to rank the programs we applied to from 1 to whatever, as well. So, a match happens when a program and an applicant rank each other evenly. This is done by a big computer in the sky. Whatever. The rub is this, I'm competing against many (hundreds) medical students for a limited number of positions (it can be as low as 1 or as high as 60, mine is between 6-24) in my top ranked programs and each of my top ranked programs gets to generate their own rank list of applicants.
Now, I interviewed in 12 pediatric residency programs. I'm ranking all of them. It is my hope that my top ranked programs put me within their high rankings, so come match day, I get into a residency program that I like and of course, a job come June/July.
So there are multiple types of matches (military, San Francisco, ACGME, AOA, etc). I am going for the allopathic match despite me being a DO student. It affords me greater geographic range and more options for residency (not all residencies are the same). Disadvantages, both DO and MD students can apply in the allopathic match, so the competition gets larger and stiffer.
This is the ulcer part: Worst case scenario, I don't match and I have to scramble, meaning I get on the phone and call every program that has an available opening to see if they'll take me. It's not very pleasant, nor pretty, and it certainly puts you in a program that is not necessarily your specialty let alone choosing.
Allo match goes down some time in March (DO or AOA match happens in Feb). Until then, I cross my fingers, write my thank you letters, and pray to God I didn't screw up my interviews/rank list.

And that's the update.

Song of the day: "Kids" - MGMT

2011, here we go!

Finished my ICU month, fairly unscathed.  Learned a few things which were really good.  Going to do an Emergency Medicine rotation month next.  Wish me luck!  The rest of my 2011 is also looking good so far.  My last interview (Massachusetts) is in sight.  The end of my interview road is near and I am really happy its close by.  All this traveling and spending is really taking its toll on me and my car.  I'm also in the process now of making my rank list of residency programs that I want to go into.  Yet another stressor and source of headache for me, but it must be done.  Match day is this coming March.  Wish me luck!
In other news, I joined an intramural volleyball league that should help me be less sedentary.  Lots of fun and makes my weekends less crazy.  And also there are other new changes that are making me smile more nowadays, so that is always good.
That's all for now.
New Year's Resolution: Less procrastination.  Seriously!

Song of the day: "Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)" - The Old 97s

You gotta be kidding me!?!?!

I think Nike Running App is F***ing with me. Last week it told me that I ran 4.44 miles in 51:09 minutes. This time, it tells me that I ran short of 4 miles in about 45 minutes, but here's the kicker...I RAN THE SAME ROUTE AT A FASTER PACE (At least I think so anyways). This app needs to be calibrated right.

Run 3: 05/17/10
Distance: 3.79 miles
Time: 44:47
Pace: 11'47" per mile
Calories: 429
Weight: Dunno...
Short-term Goal: Do 3 miles at a steady jog pace. I got side cramps tonight.
Long-term Goal: lose 15 lbs.

Not really sure how accurate this run was, except for the time. It was almost a whole Ray LaMontagne Album.

Song of the day: "Flim" - The Bad Plus (orig. song by Aphex Twin)

Happy frustration

It's great and all that I finally, actually found what I really want to do in this medicine business, but why did it have to come at the tail end of 3rd year? Problem is that I need to set up elective rotations (5 of them to be exact). Early on in April, I was toying with the idea of going into Internal Medicine (specifically, GI). So I began setting up GI rotations and am almost finished until I got into my Pediatric rotation, where I found out that I actually like working with the little buggers. I tried switching those GI rotations to peds ones, but unfortunately the pediatric elective positions for 4th year are all but taken. Now, I'm scrambling just a bit to look for hospitals with peds programs that can fit my schedule, and are hopefully potential places of employment for me after 4th year. This has become the new thorn in my side. Sigh...for once, can't I have things just a smidge easy?

At least, I'm getting some really nice comments from my attendings, so that's boosting my confidence/ego a tad. I still mess up a little sometimes, but they provide good learning opportunities and the Doctors are nice enough to give important pearls of wisdom.

As for my running, the past couple of days have been fairly cold and rainy. Today was the first nice day so I laced up and hit the pavement. Did a hell of a lot better this time around. I like this running @ night schedule. Not too many distractions, the occasional cat or wild hare crossing your path, and the sweet smell of grass and dew is so much cleaner during this time. Traffic is low, everything dials down the volume and there's nothing but streetlamps and my footsteps keeping time with the soundtrack in my ipod.

Workout Day 2: 05/13/10
Distance: 4.44 miles
Time: 51:09
Pace: 11'31" per mile
Calories: 501
Weight: 152 lbs.
Short-term Goal: Maintain a 10 mile-minute pace for 3 miles.
Long-term Goal: lose 15 lbs.

Song of the day: "Believe In Us" - Jay Jay Johanson

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

My friend balked at me yesterday that blogs aught to have specific subjects in order to garner support from like-minded readers. This was after I told her that I added a running/workout journal component to "The Scrap Paper Manifesto." She was adamant that I should put this running journal as a separate blog, to which I responded with the following list:

1. It's my blog.  I'll do whatever I want with it.
2. I don't want to deal with yet another blog. I have a lot on my plate already.
3. I like to condense things.  A running journal is just another subject I use to buff up TSPM.
4. If people are THAT curious to chart my progress, all they have to do is click on the label "running" or "workout" and all my running entries would be chronologically displayed.
5. I don't think anybody cares whatever I do with my blog.  I can count the number of my followers in my left hand and they're not complaining.

And with that, we went to Wawa for delicious flatbread sammiches.

Questions? Concerns? Snide remarks? Let'em fly!

Song of the day: "Paradise Circus" - Massive Attack

And...cue training montage!

So instead of using this blog as my bitch post/school progress update thingy, I have decided to put it to better use. I propose to add a physical fitness tracker journal in this piece so I can chart my progress as I get myself back into shape. Tonight is my first night in what I hope to be a long list of days/nights of sweat and hard work. As I told S&P tonight, I want to look good in time for my residency interview. Well, that and I want to look good, naked.

Tonight, I went for a walk/run. Mind you I haven't really worked out since this past fall, so my time wasn't exactly the best. But I did it...mostly walking, but I ran the last mile, so it felt good. Real good. Expect the next stats to be a bit better.

In order to accurately gauge my training, I have employed the help of my handy dandy ipod touch using the Nike Workout App to see how I measure up from day to day. I will post the results here along with my goals and random musings.

Allons-y!

Workout Day 1: 05/10/10
Distance: 3.73 miles
Time: 51:26
Pace: 13'45" per mile
Calories: 422
Weight: 154 lbs.
Short-term Goal: Get to running most of the 3 miles on the next run.
Long-term Goal: lose 15 lbs.

"The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted." - S. Kierkegaard

Song of the day: "Hearts On Fire" - John Cafferty


Rocky IV training montage - you know you love it!