Matchy Matchy

So today was "The Match". For those of you who are not familiar with this exhausting process of applying for residency, The Match is the day you find out where you got into residency. We all submit our "lists" of desired programs, and the programs submit their "lists" of desired applicants at the end of February after a long application and interview process. Then we sit and wait while the algorithm matches you up with your best program...the algorithm takes 6 minutes, but of course we have to wait 3 1/2 weeks for the knowledge of our fate. Needless to say, this is a stressful process. Programs are not allowed to tell you how they will rank you and most programs tend to be tight lipped on where you stand with them. And there is always the horrifying possibility of not matching and then entering the Scramble...which I won't even go into... So it can be pretty nerve-wracking. But anyways, I Matched! Woo hoo! I am going to start my residency this summer at New York Methodist Hospital in Emergency Medicine. I love this program so much, and can't wait to become a part of their team. I am really so excited, I can't believe how great everything has worked out. Alvis and I will be New Yorkers for at least 3 more years... We will have to move, and to tell you the truth we are really excited. We are going to upgrade to a bigger place, and we have so much more time to really look and get everything (or as close to it as possible) we want in an apartment. We will move further downtown to be closer to the hospital...either SoHo, Chelsea, The Village...not sure yet. But we will miss our neighborhood--nothing beats it. But with two salaries instead of one, at least we can get an apartment with bigger closets...

Gotham VIPs

You know those really cool people who get to butt in front of everybody in line at clubs and bars with phrases like "I'm on the list" or "here's a fifty"...? Well, this past weekend I enjoyed being one of those very important people. A friend of ours knows a guy-- as it happens, a fairly Big Time guy. He owns a talent management company and invited our friend (plus guests--that's us...) to a taping of "Live at Gotham" for Comedy Central. When we showed up there was a terribly long line (in the cold outdoors)--uggh. But wait--we followed our friend right up to the front (avoiding the hatred in the eyes of all the other line-waiters) as he told the stern-looking bouncer with his clip board and headphones "I know so and so Mr. Big Time guy, and I'm on the list" and our friend's girlfriend, Alvis, and I followed with "um, we're with him...". The guy begrudgingly ushered us in and sat us at a table very near the stage-- we could definitely see nose hairs from our vantage point. We were excited--so close yet not right in front of the stage--important, because I hate when comics pick you out and start making fun of you the second they are at a loss for material (I have iron clad social fears). Soon began the crowd warm up where they prepared us for the taping. We actually had to practice laughing and clapping for them...like seals or something. But the drinks were good, and so were most of the jokes. By the end of the night, I had laughed and clapped so much that my face hurt. But I was so aware of the cameras in my face, I had to keep smiling--even if they were joking about the poor guy's haircut at the front table (well, okay, that guy's hair was pretty bad). We had a lot of laughs, whether real or slightly forced, and come Friday after Labor Day, you might just see our exhausted smiling VIP faces on TV...

A Bean-town B'day

Well, my husband is officially old. We recently celebrated the passing of his third decade in life--and sorrowfully said goodbye to his twenties...So, the big 3-0 is kind of a big deal. I wanted to make sure it was special--then I realized that going out in NYC with our friends would basically be just like every other weekend we spend here. So, I surprised him with a trip to Boston for his "Super Birthday Spectacular Weekend" (this is what we had to call it- all weekend). We took the Chinatown bus (a brilliant mode of transportation...$15 each way) which on any other day would have been great--but we ended up driving through the blizzard of 08'. It has hardly snowed in NY this whole winter, and the one weekend we need to be on a charter bus with a man who doesn't speak English and drives like a maniac, the Great Nor'Easter descends upon us. I might be slightly over exaggerating this...




So, aside from a few nail biting moments on the way over, we made it to Boston alive. The Super Birthday Spectacular Weekend could officially begin. We stayed in the South End--very trendy we hear (that's really all that matters to us anymore..) in a really beautiful B&B. That night we headed to the pubs. The next morning, in keeping with the spirit of the weekend (all things Alvis) we went off to Fenway Park for a tour. Alvis says it was the last of the Holy Trinity of baseball stadiums (Wrigley, Yankee, and Fenway) he had yet to see. It had snowed so much that we weren't allowed on the field or in the Green Monster, but we still enjoyed ourselves.




Ok, so what goes better with baseball than beer? Well, nothing. So we headed over to the Samuel Adams Brewery. They gave us a tour, showed us the Hops, Barley, blah blah...then we got to the tasting. The beer was fresh and plentiful. They gave us our own glasses (even if they were on the small side) and passed around pitchers of several different types of beers. Not surprisingly, my favorite was the Wheat, while Alvis preferred the Lager. I think Samuel Adams Beer, although already regarded fairly highly in our eyes, won a new place in our hearts...




We ended the day with a Smorgasbord at Legal Seafood. We hadn't had great seafood for a while, and we heard from friends who are natives, that Legal is the best. Alvis went all out and got the surf and turf with steak and shrimp. They messed up his order and brought him steak and lobster. Since he was so excited about the shrimp, he asked them to fix the mistake (nicely...we don't like seafood a la spit) so he got the shrimp as well as the lobster, which by the way, was a 3 1/2 pound lobster--ginormous. We finished the night off with equally large pieces of cake, then rolled home on our enormous bellies. I've been working off that weekend for the past 2 weeks...

Our trip ended with a slightly more successful bus ride back to the city with talks of newfound appreciation for NYC's "snobby little sister" (I read that somewhere...I'm not that obnoxious). Alvis has taken to saying that he loves Boston-- "it's like a small town!"...he may have been in NYC too long...

yeah, he's kind of a big deal...

A good friend of mine is The Wedding Singer (he plays Adam Sandler's lead role of Robbie Hart) in the Broadway National Tour. Alvis and I finally got to see his show last night, which I loved. It was pretty cool seeing his name in lights and watching him on stage. We went out to a bar in Hoboken, which was pretty cool. Alvis hadn't actually left the island of Manhattan since we moved here (minus one flight to Florida), so he appreciated the new perspective-- we could see the skyline of Manhattan from the bar...incredible. When you live and work there everyday you forget how imposing it looks from afar. When Alvis and I first drove in for his first interview here, I remember being overwhelmed. Driving in (from WEST VIRGINIA) to a city of 8 million people, I feared we would be run down by cabs and angry, mean New Yorkers. Once inside the city, it seems smaller, you get your bearings, and you acclamate to the hustle and bustle. Seeing it from across the river last night, I remembered that feeling of amazement at the monstrosity of it all. Oddly enough, on the train ride back, it felt like coming home...how did that happen?

Speak-easy peasy

I haven't posted for a while, because I feel the need to rely on pictures to tell my stories-- and we are very bad picture-takers. To be honest, I hate bringing my camera out with us whenever we go out, although there are many times I wish I had taken it with us. Luckily, I can rely on others for this task-- some friends came to visit and naturally brought their camera with them on our outings. Nate was interviewing upstate and he and Jenny decided to stop in the city to see us and another friend, James. We went to a few bars and caught up on old times (ah yes, those old times...which occurred about 2 years ago...). Oh, p.s., I just had to include that third picture, because I have absolutely no idea what i was doing (and no, I wasn't drunk...just weird) During the day, Nate of course had to prove his masculinity and go bouldering in central park. He is the only person I know who comes to the urban mecca of the country to go bouldering. So James, Jenny and I (Alvis had to work) sat on a bench and made fun of him...appropriate. It was really good to see them though, I really do miss hanging out with those guys.
In light of my title, I must add that last weekend, we went out with some friends. We decided to go to this place I had read about called P.D.T. (for "Please Don't Tell). It doesn't have a door. You have to enter through a phone booth located in the next door hot dog dive called Crif Dogs. You enter, one at a time through the phone booth--you use the phone to call the hostess, and she lets you in. Very New York. We are now very hip and cool. It's official...

Christmas Time in the City

Christmas has now come and gone and, looking back, most of December seems a frenzy of activities which have somewhat blurred together. I will try to sort it all out...So once the Van Dorans left us, we geared up for our second round of visitors--my mom, her friend Janet, and my brother were coming. I was really excited, and happy that we were only housing one guest (my brother), while mom and Janet roughed it at The Waldorf Astoria. In all they were here 4 days, 3 nights and it truly was a whirlwind. Alvis had to work during the days so I played tour guide--a title I use very loosely (considering I still get turned around south of Houston...). Our days consisted mostly of shopping and sightseeing, and we had beautiful, albeit freezing, weather. Jamie even scored some watches for a "bargain" on Canal St. Although, next time he's in the mood for some shady business dealings, we might need to leave mom behind---when my brother accidently shorted the "shady businessman" five dollars, my mom proceeded to tell the man embarrassing childhood stories of my brother to prove his credibility. So now we have a "friend" on Canal that knows way too much personal information about my family...Otherwise, things went well. I didn't lose my mom on the subway, which was a near miracle at times...she and Janet even navigated their way to my apartment from their hotel via subway all by themselves---I was so proud. We saw a show for each night they were here and really enjoyed ourselves. But next time they come I relinquish my title...we will chillax...(that one is for Alvis...)



After my family left we had a few days to regain our strength for our third and final set of guests for the holidays-- Alvis' parents were coming and staying through Christmas. Luckily, they stayed on the Upper West Side near our apartment, so it was easy to get to them and vice versa. Mr. Len had a broken toe, and Ms. Diane was getting over the flu, so they wanted to keep a slower pace...I couldn't have been happier. We didn't do too much running around, but we did get into the holiday crowds--I was a little worried we might lose Mr. Len (Ms. Diane and I had to keep looking back to make sure he was still with us...) But to be perfectly honest, Alvis and I were pleasantly surprised-- we were a bit concerned about how his dad would handle the big city...he once got a nosebleed when we painted his living room (he doesn't exactly like change). But we really had a great time with both of them. We went to the NYC Ballet's The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve, and we all (yep, all of us) loved it--it was truly spectacular. Christmas was a lot of fun as well--we made a big breakfast, had mimosas, and opened presents. We spent the rest of the beautiful day in the park and finished it off with dinner at a french restaurant (which by the way was frequented by none other than THE Carrie Bradshaw...). And although the holiday season is not quite over, all my running around hopefully is for a while...except for all those returns I have to make...

The Van Dorans Come to Town

Orie and a slightly larger Lacey came to visit last week. For those who didn't get the memo, Lacey's got something cookin in her belly. I had to work half the time they were here, but we had a lot of fun. For the first two nights they stayed in a hotel, the second two nights with us--which was an adventure. Our apartment is not exactly the chateau le magnifique (yeah, I speak french...) that we like to imagine it is. So,before they came I went out and got an air mattress from Bed Bath and Beyond. Not just any measly air mattress...the kind that blows up with the press of a button and is doubled so it is as tall as a normal bed. I also picked up thick, flannel sheets so they would be all warm and toasty. However, I didn't actually plan how I was going to get home with all this. Alright, so it might not be the longest trek of all time, but four and a half blocks is too far with a fifty plus pound, bulky bag. I decided to cab it, but had like, hardly any cash. So when my cabbie went down CPW instead of Broadway (meaning he would not be able to turn onto my one way street without turning around/doubling back) I knew I was in for at least a walk down one full long block. I am sure I looked ridiculous. I had to take 5 steps then put down the bag. Pick it up, 5 steps, put it down...lame. But at least the Van Dorans had a place to sleep.