I was delaying this post until I could get my camera cable unpacked from my car (another post), but now that almost two weeks have gone by without an update, I think it's time to talk about my awesome trip to SF last weekend sans pictures. I will post them to FLIKR though, promise.
Last Friday, I went to San Francisco for a facial plating course. The course was awesome and I learned a ton. The nicest thing about the course is that it focused a lot on biomechanical forces and technical considerations in choosing surgical approaches to various fractures. It complemented a course I took earlier in the year at NMCSD that focused more on soft tissue approaches to the fractures (translation: don't jack the person up even more due to your surgical intervention). So if you have any questions about lag screws, load-bearing/load-sharing osteosynthesis, and assorted plates- I'm your girl! Now I just need to get into the OR and actually do it.
But the best perk to the course was that it was in San Francisco and I got an extra day added to the weekend for my "travel day." So, I took the soul-crushing, intensely time-consuming 1.5 hour flight up to SF as early as possible so I could be an uber-tourist. I went to the Embarcado and Mission neighborhood. The Embarcado Farmer's Mart is on Tuesday, but there are some fixed shops that are open all week so I did eat some cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, which I had read about in Food and Wine awhile back. I had two delicious cheeses, one similar to Manchego and the other a semi-soft Italian truffle cheese. Both were great and it was such a treat to be able to have a little gourmet cheese experience. Then I went to the Mission neighborhood and saw a lot of murals painted on various buildings and alleyways. The artistry was pretty amazing, especially having such a high concentration of highly talented street art.
After that, Chris and I met up downtown at the hotel but not before I made a quick stop-in to Fiona's Sweet Shoppe, a lovely closet of a shop specializing in British sweets. I bought grapefruit gummies and anise flavored hard candies. Yum!
Chris and I then took the trolley to Fisherman's Wharf. We were initially seated inside the trolley (boo!), but I talked the conductor into letting us do a quick Chinese firedrill at a light and we got to spend the rest of the time standing on the side plank, holding onto the pole. Awesome-o!
We only spent a few minutes at Fisherman's Wharf, then we wandered into North Beach where we had the best!meatball!sandwich!ever! Chris said it was so good, he didn't think he could tell his Sicilian mother for fear of offending her. Next we went to Coti Tower, followed by a hike up Lombard St. After that, we were pseudo-hungry so we walked to Chinatown and had some (so-so) dim sum. After Hong Kong, I think I may be ruined for any dim sum stateside. (I know, I'm so worldly, it almost pains me). We were cutting it close to our next reservation time, so we took a cab and hightailed it over to Bo urban & Branch, a terrific speak-easy themed bar complete with password! Chris had a delicious old-fashioned, and I had a great Bourbon based specialty drink. Our second round was not as successful as our first but that's ok because at least we were adventurous!
At that point, it was time for bed. My room was lovely, the bed comfy, and I fell asleep in about 2 seconds after required water downing as preventive measures.
The next morning, Chris and I met for a delicious, huge, FREE breakfast spread included with our room plan. Then we were off to the course. On Sunday, we had a little time afterwards and went to the Presidio but we were still a little walked out from Friday, so we were much more chill. Then we made it to the airport (barely) and headed to SD.
Ok, next post topic? My real estate debachle, with a surprise happy twist at the end!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Santa, Unicorns, Shamu
"Um, the question is 'What do not [redacted]?' Alec"
EXACTLY! I don't think there are any impressionable children who read this blog (please, no), but still, I can't type out the question but you KNOW what I mean. Yes, you do.
And how did I find out about this? Well, the first two belong in the land of childhood minor trauma but I felt the same way at age 28 when I realized that Shamu is a STAGEname for all killer whales at SeaWorld and that the original Shamu died in 1971. Unreal! I thought something was up when they were throwing the name Shamu around rather generically with the 3 killer whales were performing tricks. I mean, I know they know their animals but why would Shamu be doing everything while the other two slackers float around and eat fish again? So, I Wikipedia'd it during the show (I know!) and found out the truth. While sitting in the "Splash Zone" because I live on the wild side, yes I do!
EXACTLY! I don't think there are any impressionable children who read this blog (please, no), but still, I can't type out the question but you KNOW what I mean. Yes, you do.
And how did I find out about this? Well, the first two belong in the land of childhood minor trauma but I felt the same way at age 28 when I realized that Shamu is a STAGEname for all killer whales at SeaWorld and that the original Shamu died in 1971. Unreal! I thought something was up when they were throwing the name Shamu around rather generically with the 3 killer whales were performing tricks. I mean, I know they know their animals but why would Shamu be doing everything while the other two slackers float around and eat fish again? So, I Wikipedia'd it during the show (I know!) and found out the truth. While sitting in the "Splash Zone" because I live on the wild side, yes I do!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Working Out!
My first year of med school, I lived with four guys in an Adams Morgan house. The whole situation emerged from Craigslist.org and emails so I'm lucky that I didn't live with a group of serial killers. Overall, they were nice guys although the condition of the kitchen and general "permanent acquaintance" level of our living arrangement led to tension by the end. I mean, really, just because you can place a piece of trash on a carefully balanced mountain emerging from the full trash can without causing it to fall over, doesn't mean you should say, "Ha! Someone else will have to take out the trash. Sucker. In your face!" Playing Jenga with the kitchen trash is not my idea of a good time.
But anyway, back to the title of the post. One day, my roommate whom I thought looked like a male Olive Oyl because he was so skinny and tall announced he was going to the gym. "Have fun getting buff!" I said.
"Buff-ER," he said, woundedly.
Well, really, I don't think his feelings were hurt until he saw the look that crossed my face at the response. I believe it was an expression of complete incredulity that he would actually be serious in thinking buff applied to him in any way. I didn't MEAN for that expression to cross my face- it just did.
Anyway, my fitness routine has been a little lackadaisical during my time in SD. I never really tried too hard to fit it into my new schedule. I mean, I did workout, just much less frequently than before. Although there's no permanent damage, in the spirit of all that is New Year's, blah, blah, blah, I've resolved to be better about the whole deal. (I'm actually a HUGE New Year's Resolution fan, just not on a blog).
PLUS, I need to start training for the Camp Pendleton Mud Run! I am so excited! I have wanted to do this ever since running a baby Mud Run (still 5 miles) at Little Creek, VA during my internal med rotation as a third year. Today, I went for a run near Sunset Cliffs and Cabrillo National Monument. It was great but WAY hilly. There was a particularly gnarly hill smack in the middle of the run. But I got through it.
At one point though, my heart was beating pretty quickly. It made me laugh because a workout dvd I've been doing recently has one section where the woman states she wants me to work so hard, I should feel like I am "gargling [my] heart." Eeewwwww! I haven't quite gotten to that point anytime in recent memory. Really, the only times may have been high school cross country and during the mud run in 2005. Competition does that to me. Although I never ran so hard that I threw up. I've come close on a few occasions, but that's a line I completely refuse to cross.
But anyway, back to the title of the post. One day, my roommate whom I thought looked like a male Olive Oyl because he was so skinny and tall announced he was going to the gym. "Have fun getting buff!" I said.
"Buff-ER," he said, woundedly.
Well, really, I don't think his feelings were hurt until he saw the look that crossed my face at the response. I believe it was an expression of complete incredulity that he would actually be serious in thinking buff applied to him in any way. I didn't MEAN for that expression to cross my face- it just did.
Anyway, my fitness routine has been a little lackadaisical during my time in SD. I never really tried too hard to fit it into my new schedule. I mean, I did workout, just much less frequently than before. Although there's no permanent damage, in the spirit of all that is New Year's, blah, blah, blah, I've resolved to be better about the whole deal. (I'm actually a HUGE New Year's Resolution fan, just not on a blog).
PLUS, I need to start training for the Camp Pendleton Mud Run! I am so excited! I have wanted to do this ever since running a baby Mud Run (still 5 miles) at Little Creek, VA during my internal med rotation as a third year. Today, I went for a run near Sunset Cliffs and Cabrillo National Monument. It was great but WAY hilly. There was a particularly gnarly hill smack in the middle of the run. But I got through it.
At one point though, my heart was beating pretty quickly. It made me laugh because a workout dvd I've been doing recently has one section where the woman states she wants me to work so hard, I should feel like I am "gargling [my] heart." Eeewwwww! I haven't quite gotten to that point anytime in recent memory. Really, the only times may have been high school cross country and during the mud run in 2005. Competition does that to me. Although I never ran so hard that I threw up. I've come close on a few occasions, but that's a line I completely refuse to cross.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
Yay, January 1st! I love the New Year. I love the opportunity to reflect on things, at least until I get distracted by something. I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm sleeeeeee-py! I like to think about new resolutions and how much potential the New Year has. And I get to do it twice a year: once on 1 Jan and again in August when the new residency year starts.
Last night, I went to a party in downtown San Diego, which is not my normal scene but was an awesome, over-the-top party that felt very "New Year's-ish." I went with the nurse from the clinic and her sister and had so much fun. Champagne in the room, dancing downstairs and best of all, room service breakfast. I think anytime I'm at a hotel for a special occasion, I will order room service breakfast; it is that awesome. It was so decadent and fun. And pretty tasty!
So, today, I've been a little bit lazy. The highlight of my day was talking to my sister on the phone. She's off to Switzerland. So exciting! I think overseas adventures are the best and we decided to continue our tradition of visiting each other in places we live. I saw her in Spain, she came to Japan, and sometime in 2009, I'll head over to Switzerland. I'm not sure when, but it'll happen. For now, the only travel plans I have are San Francisco next weekend for a facial fracture plating course and a trip back East in February. Oh, and Colorado in July for an allergy course. I love my job!
Last night, I went to a party in downtown San Diego, which is not my normal scene but was an awesome, over-the-top party that felt very "New Year's-ish." I went with the nurse from the clinic and her sister and had so much fun. Champagne in the room, dancing downstairs and best of all, room service breakfast. I think anytime I'm at a hotel for a special occasion, I will order room service breakfast; it is that awesome. It was so decadent and fun. And pretty tasty!
So, today, I've been a little bit lazy. The highlight of my day was talking to my sister on the phone. She's off to Switzerland. So exciting! I think overseas adventures are the best and we decided to continue our tradition of visiting each other in places we live. I saw her in Spain, she came to Japan, and sometime in 2009, I'll head over to Switzerland. I'm not sure when, but it'll happen. For now, the only travel plans I have are San Francisco next weekend for a facial fracture plating course and a trip back East in February. Oh, and Colorado in July for an allergy course. I love my job!
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