A quick summary

It has been such a long time since I've posted--so long, in fact, that I may be sending this out to the void because probably no one checks our page anymore. But, when we miss our old friends it's nice to read their stories, check up on them. So maybe one or two of you want to check up on us too...

I feel like so much has happened this year (obviously, I'm still in academia-- since I am referring to the "school" calendar year, which for residency, is July to July), yet I find it difficult to really expand on any one thing. The truth is, I can't believe how fast it has flown by. My last post was right after my first vacation in intern year. I still find my job as overwhelming and terrifying as I did back then, but I am surprised by how much more manageable it seems. "The Match" was last week for the incoming class of interns--meaning we have now hired our incoming 1st years. I will still be a 1st year until July 1, but it made me realize how soon I'll be a 2nd year resident. It's scary how fast it went.

So, since my last post a lot has happened. Nothing ground-breaking. No babies. But we've had some pretty good times with each other and our friends in this crazy city. So here are some highlights (ok, they are the only events in which a camera was present--otherwise, I would be lost in a sea of memories all afternoon trying to sort them out).

In chronological order:

We saw the last series at the original Yankee stadium



The Self Family tailgate grew a LOT. Our small contribution, a beer pong table...





Alvis met a new Hoyer



The Village Halloween Parade (John and Jim)



Thanksgiving with Lori



Around this time, Niki came to visit, but since there are no pictures, I will have to pretend like it didn't happen...

Christmas with the Fam...look closely, they're all there



A visit from the Huffines



A trip to Hershey, PA to see Dave as Sweeney Todd in the Broadway National Tour (of Sweeney Todd)





We residents took a ski trip



We got Guitar Hero (and yes, I rock)





I dyed my hair again (I know...I don't have a picture of my sister visiting, and I have a picture of this?)



So there is the brief synopsis of our recent lives. I will try to post more often. But more than likely I will stop for another 6 months and just continue to enjoy the blogs of everyone else.

Mountain People

I haven't posted in forever...I usually only have one day off a week, and that is spent away from the apartment in order to feel like I have some kind of life. But I had some vacation time a month ago--Alvis and I wanted to get out of the city for a weekend, so we rented a car and headed to the Catskill Mountains. The beautiful bed and breakfast we stayed in seemed light years away from the city, but was a quick 2.5 hour car ride (including traffic). Ever since living in West Virginia, I have come to really love the outdoors (I didn't know this in Florida, because it was too hot to even walk to the mailbox without sweating profusely). We frequently went hiking, rock climbing, and many other tree hugging activities. So with a weekend off, getting back to the mountains sounded really refreshing. We went to pick up "our" car for the weekend, which of course wasn't ready for us when we got there. The cars were coming in from Jersey and were super late, so instead of getting out of the city at 2:30, we got out around 4:00--just in time for the Friday afternoon rush. But, no worries, we were headed for the boonies, where people aren't in such a hurry, and the car horns only blow when there is a cow obstructing the path. When we pulled up to the B&B, the fog was settling in, and there was peace and quiet. Ahh, at last...




After breakfast the next morning we hit the trails. We did a short morning hike through some waterfalls then had some lunch, which I almost lost on our next excursion. We took a skyride (a ski lift) up one of the mountains which was very steep...I'm a little afraid of heights...



After making it safely back on solid ground we headed out on another trail. It was about a 6 mile hike round trip with some decent climbing involved (ok, no ropes were necessary, but it was a good climb up). When we finally reached the top, we were greeted with great views and even more peace and quiet...we were the only ones up there, and it was a great feeling.



The next day we were going to go mountain biking, but opted for a long, winding drive through the mountains instead. We even made it to Woodstock, which just proves what tree huggers we were becoming. I think that's the wrong kind of hippie though...no free love or anything...
Alvis and I often ask ourselves (and lots of other people ask us too...like our parents...) where we see ourselves after residency. It always seems to come down to water or mountains. After this weekend, score one for the mountains...


this is my "please stop taking my picture" face...

Red

I have red hair now...

Apt Pics

I finally took some pics of our new place. The move was great by the way...I left work from our old apartment, and came home to an already moved-in apt in the Village. I think we will have to hire movers from now on. Anyways, we have been here for a little over a month now, and we love the apartment. Anywhere else, and this apartment would still be considered pretty small, but we feel like we could run laps in it compared to our old studio apt.







Here are some views from our back fire escape...

1 month down, 35 to go

So, I have officially completed my first "block" in residency. A block is a 28 day period in which we work a set number of shifts. That's the beauty of ER--shift work. I have a pager, but I never wear it unless I am on sick call. Which means when I leave that hospital, I am done. No looking back.

The first couple weeks were pretty tricky. It's hard enough applying all the knowledge you spent learning the last four years of med school, but when you throw in a cumbersome computer system, nurses with the strongest union in the country (meaning they are on break, like every 2 minutes), and learning how to call a private attending at 3:00 in the morning without making him want to shoot you is a whole other thing. Not to mention the fact that the other interns and I kept saying to ourselves things like "am I allowed to sign this script?". This is why you should never go to a teaching hospital in the month of July. I'm not really kidding...

Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that things are much easier, I am starting to get the hang of things. I guess I am starting to feel more like a doctor. For the first two weeks, I had a hard time walking into a patients room and introducing myself as "Dr. Duncan", or answering the phone "this is Dr. Duncan". It sounded really weird. I once looked forward to being called "doctor", but now, just as an attending once told me a couple years ago, I dread hearing my name over that intercom--because it usually means I have to talk to the pharmacy about a drug we don't have on formulary, or a patient of mine is deteriorating, or some other unpleasantness.

I have been on night shifts for the last 7 shifts, and I have nine more to go until I get days again. My circadian rhythm is all off wack. Especially when you have 4 nights in a row, then you have a "day off"--which isn't really a day off, it's just a day to sleep, and then the next day you have to go to conference all day, and then you go back to nights. Sometimes I think "I actually chose to do this with my life?".

But, I do love this program. For the most part all of the attendings and other residents are great. We all get along. And I'm pretty confident that this feeling of incompetence will one day fade. I just hope that comes sooner than later.

Village People

As of July 1st, we are Village People. We will be moving to Bleecker St in the heart of Greenwich Village. As sad as we are to leave our current neighborhood, we are excited about our new place. It is a great part of town, but not quite as peaceful...however, our apartment is HUGE compared to our current one-- a "true" one-bedroom (a pathetic label necessary for NY real estate; they will actually try to rent you a studio under the pretense that it is a one bedroom apt, because, after all, it has one bedroom.) with high ceilings, and lots of light. We really love the place--minus one minor detail...the place is a fifth floor walkup. We will have buns of steel. And since we don't plan on moving out until our departure from Manhattan (most likely 3 years--after residency), we will just have to get used to it. The new space means that we will actually have room for our queen sized blowup bed if anyone decides to visit.
Unfortunately, this means we have to pack and go through the actual moving process yet again. On the brighter side, we hired movers to do our lugging (can you imagine...five flights?), and packing has afforded me to rekindle my relationship with Felicity Porter and all her troubles. So life isn't so bad...except, as we are decidedly not cool enough for "The Village", Alvis might have to start wearing skinny jeans...yikes

Greece

When Alvis and I decided to take a trip before residency took over my life, we came up with a list of the top five places we wanted to go, and Greece topped both of our lists. So we booked some flights and headed across the big blue ocean after graduation. We wanted to see the sights but also wanted a bit of a second honeymoon, so we flew into Athens where we stayed for 2 nights, then flew into Santorini (an island off the coast) where we stayed in a traditional cave house with the most amazing view I've ever had. Athens was fantastic-- truly incredible to walk around the Acropolis with structures that were completed nearly 500 years before Christ was born.
So, after 2 days of exploring and eating our way through Athens, we headed to the "Romantic" island of Santorini, where we stayed in a small village named Oia-- a place that boasts "the most beautiful sunsets in all of Greece". The village is at a pretty high elevation and is flanked by the Aegean Sea on one side and the Caldera (spanish for "bowl" meaning "a volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption-wikipedia") on the other. Our room was about a thousand (maybe an exaggeration) steps down from where our taxi dropped us off. Thankfully, our porter quickly came to claim us, and our bags, and to assist us in our trek to the resort. Which, aside from the sheer difficulty of walking down marble steps in slippery flip flops and cumbersome luggage (by the way, we actually packed pretty light--one, albeit large, bag between the two of us...plus a backpack and camera bag), I couldn't keep from stopping every two seconds to take in the breathtaking views. This prevailed throughout the entire week--we couldn't refrain from stopping mid-step to just look.
So, I think I might be, like part Greek. I mean, a culture that is famously exuberant and friendly, full of amazing comfort food like fried zucchini, tzatziki, and gyros, and blessed with temperate climates and breathtaking scenery--that's my kind of place. Maybe one day we will make it permanent.
Check out our pics with the link under "check it out" on the right...