Freezing!

I am so cold. Like, hoodie-wearing, why-is-the-AC-on cold. I am shivering outside, I double up on layers when I'm overnight at the hospital (Aside: WHY are there 8 inpatients on the ENT service?!?! That is CRAZY talk!).

It is, BTW, 58 degrees in San Diego. With no wind chill. I am such a West Coast weenie now.

Time to study anatomy. Oh, middle and inner ear, why are you so small and complicated?

Escrow!

I'm in escrow, a state of being that I didn't even knew existed until about 2 weeks ago! A little background? Let me explain...

So, even though I'm in a sweet roomie situation right now, I decided that since I'm going to be in SD for awhile and I still get a free move from the government (read: all my stuff is still in storage), I decided that I wanted to get my own little space that I could move my stuff into and stay awhile. And experience the joys of homeownership, I guess.

I looked on Craigslist and found a really cute cottage-like condo about a mile from where I currently live and three miles from work. These units were totally redone in 2007 and I thought one was particularly awesome so...I went for it!

Yesterday was the house inspection by Mac the Inspextor. Just kidding about the X, he spelled it correctly. He was pretty impressed with the work that went into the house. The completely redone wiring is an especially nice touch since most conversions don't have new electric since it's rather expensive. After the inspection, Mike and I went over even more documents regarding contingencies, etc. Mike is my realtor. If you're ever in SD, I definitely recommend him.

Also, another nice thing is that I feel karmically harmonic since I'm getting place that isn't empty due to someone else's misfortune. Well, actually, the investors apparently lost their shirts in the whole complex deal but I don't feel too badly for them unlike a little cute family, for example.

Other events from the weekend:
* Call: My white-cloud incident-free call weekends were definitely a thing of the past this weekend. Two cases added for Monday and two admissions. I'm glad I don't have any gen surg friends who read this as they would be crying so many buckets of tears for me, they'd turn into little raisins.

* Office Christmas Party: It was fun. We had it at our department head's house, which was beautiful and well-decorated. It was a lot of fun. I love parties with lots of mingling although sometimes I feel I leave some conversations more gracefully than others. Like if I see something bright and shiny? Forget it, I'm done.

East Coast Holiday!

So, I'm not even sure if anyone reads the blog anymore since my own Dad asked, "Is your blog still on the web anymore?" It ended up he was typing in the wrong address and getting some trade journal. But still, further proof that my life was way cooler to write about when I was in Japan.

But I still get to take vacations so maybe once every 3 months, I will seem cool. And also! The second week in January will be San Diego restaurant week so I will (hopefully) have lots of updates then although I don't exactly see myself taking the foodie blogger route. Unless I get a sweet site design. And start eating more interesting food. Although I love to cook and I like many different types of food, it's hard to find a dish I love so much I can eat it for several days straight. For example, my pumpkin/black bean soup was delicious but a little too black-beany after 5 days of it for lunch. If that makes sense.

So, I just got back from an awesome Thanksgiving holiday. I went up to Newport and walked part of the Cliff Walk, including the 40 Steps. I also checked out a little bit more of the town, which was cute since I love New England villages. I even saw the Naval Academy (1861-1864), Newport-style when the Middies were shipped up to RI to protect them from the Confederates.

After a too-short visit in RI, I headed down to NJ to spend Thanksgiving with my family + Brady's nice boyfriend. Thanksgiving dinner was AWESOME, despite my best efforts to over-citrify the creamed spinach with ~4x the amount of lemon juice required. And my Thanksgiving sandwich two days later was amazing. Why did I wait two days, you ask? Because on Friday, we went into the city for an awesome Broadway show/dinner combo. We saw Boeing, Boeing, a love quadrangle comedy featuring a 1960s suave man trying to juggle 3 fiances that are all flight attendants flying in and out of Paris. Guess what doesn't work out too well over the course of the play?

Then we went to the Rainbow Room for dinner, which was amazing. The view is incredible and the visibility that night was perfect. It's funny, I thought New York was taller than it is. We were on the 64th floor and over most of the buildings, although the density of the buildings is unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, they are still towering and huge at street level. I think I still had my child's view of NYC as having buildings that, literally, scraped the sky. I've only been to New York a handful of times so I guess that's why I've kept my younger self's perception for so long.

I came back Sunday night and now I'm back at work. I'm so excited for the holiday season. Joe is visiting later in the month so I'll still have family around on Christmas. Maybe he can help me adjust to California weather + Christmas!

Isn't it Grand!?!?

Grand rounds are over! I presented on Friday. The talk was pretty solid but it was a difficult topic since I was trying to pull a whole bunch of retrospective case series into supporting a coherent conclusion. Tip: if you have a carotid body tumor, get it out early and just say no! to preoperative embolization!

And then I had the nicest weekend. I went out on Friday for an after work beer with Chris and Dan. It was a quick one, but delicious! Then on Saturday, I kind of lazed around then went to a Swedish vampire movie and Thai with my roomie and friends. The movie was very Scandinavian- lots of moody ambiance. Until vampire girl attacks!

Then on Sunday, I went to Cabrillo National Monument and went for an awesome, slightly hilly 5 mile run on the most beautiful day. 80 and completely clear. But never fear. I just got a box of clothes today filled with cold weather attire for my Thanksgiving holiday.

Beware being too chatty with patients...

Scene: 7 o'clock p.m. while sticking a scope in a guy's nose.
Guy: So S.O. thinks you look kind of young for a doctor.
Me: Well, I'm about as young as you can get without being a Doogie.
Guy's S.O.: Late 20's?
Me: Yup
Guy's S.O.: I have two family members who are doctors but they're in their 50's. One's a *mumble*ologist and his wife is a general practitioner.
Me: Oh, a urologist! That's a fun specialty. Yes, I always thought that would be a cool specialty but I felt that when I told my family, they'd always seem to think, "Why does a nice girl like you want to deal with penises for the rest of your life.

**Me, suddenly sensing that maybe, once again, my hearing got the best of me**

Me: Wait, you did say urologist, right?
S.O.: Actually, neurologist.
Me: Oh. That's nice too!

So, do want one of these one day?

Have you ever met a person who, while superficially socially capable, gives off a slight air of a.) awkward b.) odd c.)off or d.) all of the above? This weekend I was up in Del Mar (BEAUTIFUL, I wish I could live there sans 22 miles from work) for the toddler birthday party. Like I mentioned in the previous post, I had a nice time and the kids! They are so cute!

But during a space out moment, I heard "So, do you want one of these one day?" Thinking someone was talking to a kiddo, I remained my preoccupied self. Again, "So, do you want one of these one day?" Still zoned. Finally, this guy whom I had just met a few minutes prior is holding his gorgeous little girl and repeated the question. Oh! He's talking to me! And, I'm sorry, who are you to be asking? And are you offering your daughter or (god forbid) you to help with my Sad Single Sallyhood? Well, thank you very much good sir, but I'll have you know that I am currently the owner of zero cats so my situation isn't that dire yet.

Of course, I'm sure he was just trying to strike up conversation and perhaps offer advice along the lines of "Well, you won't find your dream guy there," when I told him I lived in Hillcrest. Hmmm, answer to the quiz above? D. Definitely D.

Whew!

Ok, time to get serious. It's grand rounds time bay-bee and I need to create the best! presentation! ever! Ok, maybe not but I am working hard this weekend to avoid embarrassing myself and the family name at grand rounds this Friday. But I think it'll be ok b/c I'm really excited about my topic and while doing my lit search, I came across some surprising findings that I think will make the talk a little more interesting than a simple topic review.

But...I need to focus! I'm doing ok, but it's been a little while since I've given a talk and there are so many other exciting things to do. Like laundry. Making coffee. Going to a 3 year old's birthday party, which I just came back from. The residency here has so many people with little kids that most of the get-togethers involve grown-ups arranging their social time to coincide with their kids. Which is cool. Little kids are super cute and the whole crying thing? I don't really have to deal with it!

But now, it's Saturday afternoon, power-point presentation time. I can't wait until the talk is over because then, I'm only a week away from an East Coast family reunion! I'm so excited! I love when the six of us are together. And Mom and Dad have something up their sleeves for Friday so I'm sure it'll be a treat. Thanksgiving is going to be at Grandpa's place, sans Grandpa. Just the house. It'll be like old times since B and I will get to share a room. I just hope I'm not too much of an old lady. "It's 10, I'm sleeeee-py!" That would be a total sleepover Debbie Downer move.