Restoring Sanity!!!

I just purchased my bus tickets, $35 round trip from NYC to Washington DC. Killer deal courtesy of the Chinatown bus system. Never rode on one before, but the asians and broke college students do it all the time so I figure why not. I'm just hoping that the ride is smooth and that I don't get car sick (dramamine packed and ready to be taken at 6:30am tomorrow morning). And why I am trekking to DC....to RESTORE SANITY....or march for fear, I haven't really decided yet ;)

Since watching Jon Stewart live and hearing about his march on the capitol, I have waited for this weekend with excitement. How many other time in my life will I have the time to hop on a bus for fun and do something totally crazy like partake in a Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert march. I know its Halloween weekend, but I will have plenty of other halloweens to attend, but only one march for sanity. So, my bag is packed (very lightly) and my friend Jesse and I will be heading out tomorrow.....2 medical students on a simple mission to bring sanity to the world/DC!! :)

In other news....this week in Cardiology went quickly....slowly while there, sitting in the conference room waiting for something to do...but quickly now! Two more weeks of cardiology and then a very long break where I focus on my interview skills and selling myself to all programs that walk past my street corner (5o dolla make you holla).

Speaking of programs....I received an interview at St. John's hospital in Detroit. REALLY looking forward to it because I hear its a great program. Also received an interview at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. I am still patiently awaiting monday when my application will be complete and then I can expect 50 interview offers waiting in my inbox. Although not from Medical College of Georgia or LSU New Orleans, sadly they rejected me this week. Can't win them all on paper I guess.

Last bit of news, and this may be shocking to all who further read this....but I changed my name. Yes, you read that correctly. I spent almost 7 hours today in a court in Brooklyn, NY. I furnished all my papers (birth certificate, passport, address), filled out the necessary paperwork, paid $65 and waited. Lots of cases today before the judge, mostly banks vs. the common person who does not pay their outstanding credit card bills. Finally, my name was called and my paperwork was complete and I didn't have to go before the judge at all...7 hours not to go before the judge!! I know, it really sucked especially because I left my book at home in my other bag :( So, on paper furnished by the civil court in Brooklyn NY, my name has changed. I now have to have a legal notice printed in the newspaper, The Brooklyn Eagle next week, and return to the court with the affidavit of the printing, and then I will officially be Jill Marie S______. I'll fill in the blank for you all later :)

Have a wonderful and safe Halloween weekend. I will post all about my wonderful DC adventure on Sunday night! Take care :)

And there goes the weekend.....

I'm sick.....and it's that time of the month. Could my life be anymore crappy? I can pinpoint the exact time when I thought to myself "I'm going to be sick soon". It happened Thursday night, when I was out in Gowanus at a Burlesque show with some of my friends (by the way, the show was fantastic!!!). I felt this slight tickle in my throat, grabbed my beer, took a few sips yet the tickle remained. I sipped some more and swallowed hard....tickle still present. That is when I first thought about it. By friday morning, the tickle was more like a small Gillette razor blade. Of course the cramps on the other end weren't helping. By friday night, full blown head cold...hardly any sleep. Saturday, still sick and still not a good night sleep. Today, throat is much better....but my nose is another story, and the entire box of tissues I have used has made me look like Rudolph! I am just really hoping for some sleep.

Okay, on to more positive things:
- Did I mention that the burlesque show was awesome!! It was intermixed with german polka music, dancing, beer, and of course bratwurst.
- I am currently on my Cardiology rotation which so far is very good (1 week down). Lots of ekg reads, and I'm getting good at it :) On friday, I had my very own ekg done and a echocardiogram...results of both were very good.
- I did make it out of the house briefly yesterday morning for my first volunteering session at Prospect Park. I helped to clean up Lookout Hill for this coming Saturday's Halloween Spectacular. I won't be able to volunteer for that because I will be in DC!! Have to March to Keep Fear Alive and Restore Sanity :)
- Today, I managed to venture out of the house for my tanning session. Have to look good for my interviews; no pasty whiteness here.
- I got an interview offer on Friday....WOOHOOO!! Traveling to Detroit on December 7th.

Speaking of interviews, this whole process is crazy. I spend all my time throughout the day checking my phone/email for interview offers. So far, I have 3 offers, and 2 rejections. But the real bulk of the offers will come after Nov. 1st when the Dean's letter is released. And I can only imagine the phone checking OCD that will occur when that happens. I may have to charge my battery every night!! Or, bring my charger to the hospital and charge it there!! I will have to go into more crazy detail about this whole interview process another night. I'm starting to get tired, and its only 8pm!! Hopefully, I can sleep tonight. Take care everyone :)

MICU OUT!!

Today at 1:30pm marked the last time I would set foot in MICU as a 4th year medical student in an elective on the 7th floor of Coney Island Hospital...can you tell how happy I am?? ;) The fellows were great, the patient diversity in terms of disease was great, the attendings were great but the 4 hour rounds in the morning were dreadful. The only good thing...I found a new game on Itunes called Pocket Frogs and now I am addicted!! Basically you have to grow and tame frogs, then breed them, then sell them for money. Its like the stock market for medical students on ICU rotations!! So far I am up to 4 scenaries and 32 frogs!!

Monday, I start Cardiology and I am hoping for the best. My main goal is to become more comfortable with reading ekg's and knowing which medications to use for the different cardiac pathologies. I will keep you informed of my progress...

By the way, I am celebrating my end of the 4 week rotation in MICU by drinking (and finishing) the half a bottle of Saki in my refrigerator while simultaneously cleaning up my external hard drive from the endless crap I have stored over 4 years. Panic set in at one point when I thought I deleted an entire file of really, really, REALLY important information.....only to realize that in my buzzed state I had the wrong file open....haha!!!

Tomorrow is a very busy day which includes: getting up, drinking coffee, eating breakfast, working out, going to the post office, tanning, taking my suit jacket to the tailor, and eating lunch. And that is all before 1pm, so the remainder of the day has yet to be determined. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe friday night!!! :)

That sucked....

So, last night I was in the middle of blogging about my weekend and my Columbus Day off, when a giant storm composed of thunder, lightning, rain, and hail swept through Brooklyn. I didn't lose power (Go National Grid) but Comcast was not so reliable....internet gone....blog gone. I really can't remember my entire blog and don't want to spend the time trying to remember, so today is a new day which means a new blog.

First things first...I hate my school. Even more now then ever before. On Friday I got a nice email from my clinical coordinator informing me that the Family Medicine elective I scheduled in Schenectady is out of network. That basically means that I would have to spend a ton of time, energy, and money trying to get the elective approved. Family medicine is in very high demand because you need the elective to practice in California and Texas AND there are not enough spots for all the students that want it. I was a little pissed, so I emailed the associate director of ClinEd who back in March had told me about this rotation and asked her what was going on. I heard back from her today. Good news....the elective is still an affiliated elective and I should have no problems with paperwork. Although I am happy everything has worked out, I still feel like making a voodoo doll of my clinical coordinator and poking it about 100 times for the scare she gave me!! If only I knew what she looked like....

This is my last week in Medical ICU. I'm kind of happy about it because these daily rounds that take 4 hours are killing me. Although, I have found a way to make the time go by alot faster. I downloaded Angry Birds from the Itunes Store last night and spent all morning playing. I am on level 14....and the time flew by!!!

Tonight I am in a mental tug of war as to what to do with myself...specifically where to eat. I have been extraordinarily good in my eating and thanks to Insanity I have slimmed down and I am looking good :) Tonight is an off day where I get to rest and I am thinking that sushi is in order. Of course, where there is sushi there is saki!! My other option is to order in some chinese (steamed of course) and watch a movie...and I have saki in my fridge as well :) :) Right now....sushi is winning.

Well, I hope everyone as a great night. Talk to you soon.

7:19am

Here I sit, all dressed up at my computer, trying desperately to convince myself that I should get on the subway and go into work. I'm not too convincing right now. I haven't been too convincing over the last hour. I've been up since 5:30am....showered....full of delicious breakfast (eggs, english muffin, coffee). I have even checked every email account, all my regular internet pages (ESPN, uticaod.com, CNN, Facebook, Foxnews, nylottery.org) and I have searched wikipedia for Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Mark Zuckenburg, Jon Stewart, and some atheist (see below). I have also searched for all the scoop regarding Mark Sanchez and listened/read all the gossip. I was about to leave and get on the subway when I thought "I should blog". So, here I am...:)

Why Mark Sanchez you ask? Well, I went to the Daily Show last night and it was awesome!! I love Jon Stewart and although the whole process was long (waiting in line, going through security, waiting for the show to start), it was worth it. Of course, he talked about the whole Sanchez fiasco, poked some fun, had everyone laughing. Then he had some atheist on to talk about his new book. Don't misrepresent my last comment....I myself am an atheist, I just felt that this guy did not represent me AT ALL!! He was stiff, like a deer in headlights during the 10 minute interview. I really don't recall what he said because I sort of zoned out, although I was brought back to laughter when Jon made a comment about the 10 commandments being put on Styrofoam for easy toteability! After the interview I thought, "I should read his book maybe it will be more entertaining" but then I forgot the name of the book and spent this morning searching the internet for the details which I found easily because I am a super internet sleuth. His name is Mark Harris and the book is entitled The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values. All this effort makes me want to read the book more.

Of course, after the show I got some really good Thai food at a place whose name escapes me...I tried to google "Thai food in NYC" and got like 500 restaurants...maybe I should google "Thai food 9th ave".......nope, still can't find it. The food was really good and the wine was even better ;) I thought on the subway ride home that I should blog not only about last nights adventure but my super fun weekend in the city. On saturday I went kayaking at Pier 40, had a homemade ice cream cookie sandwich at Milk and Cookies in the West Village, and then proceeded to lose my metrocard, got really angry, ordered some chinese, bought a bottle of Sake and went home and drank my $89 investment away (currently working on getting reimbursed by MTA). Sunday felt better, worked out, went to the movies to see The Social Network, had really good pizza and a cupcake and went home.

So the point of this entire blog today is to point out the fact that 4th year medical students really have way too much time on their hands because not only can they leave their rotation at noon to get into the Daily Show line but they can also sit in front of the computer and search endlessly for things just to fill time and blog about their NYC adventures so they can put off getting on the subway to go to work. Okay, 7:42am....time to get going. Have a great day.