Almost over

Hard to believe, but I will be done with school in a mere two days. That's right, Friday is my official last day as a student intern. I've already sent in all of my final documents so the next two days should be just clear sailing. Then I can start to study for taking my OB registry exam :-)

The Perinatal Clinic where I am interning now has posted a per diem job which I've applied for. At least, it was posted two days ago. When I checked on it today, the job was no longer there, so I have no idea what's going on with that. My application went through okay, and nobody said anything to me today about there being a problem, so I'm wondering if they took it off the external site and only put it on the internal site for now. I guess usually they have to do that in case there are any internal candidates that are interested. From what I hear, that shouldn't be a problem. I hope that's right, because I would really like to work there, and per diem is just fine for now.

Tomorrow I attend a fetal autopsy conference which should be interesting. Then more scanning. I have to admit, my mind has mostly been on Hawaii this week. We leave on Sunday and I am just so looking forward to going on vacation and seeing all of my family members and relaxing at the pool and on the beach, and well.....just everything. Two weeks of just breathing :-)

Oooh, shiny

I am making the jump into the 3G world with my new phone, the MyTouch, reviewed here. That's even the color I got, "merlot" :-) I'm very excited, way more than I should be about a phone...it comes next week, so I'll be busy learning how to use it just in time to go to Hawaii where the 3G stuff won't work because they don't have a network there yet.

Mom and Aunt Mare left yesterday morning. We had a very busy trip. Highlights included a Ride the Duck trip around the city; Pike's Place Market with drinks at Kell's bar but no mini donuts; U Village shopping with dinner at the Ram; a day at Greenlake people watching; Mom and Aunt Mare's solo trip to the Space Needle; my graduation ceremony followed by a lovely picnic at Jay's office; and a brunch cruise on the Argosy around the Sound. Whew! I think everybody was pretty warn out by the end of the visit. Luckily the weather cooperated and it was pretty nice the whole time they were here. It continues to be warm and sunny, and there are actually supposed to be a wave of 95 degree days at the end of the week and through the weekend. I think I'm going to stay in and sit in front of a fan.

Visitors

Mom and Aunt Mare arrived almost on time, at 10:10 yesterday morning. We picked them up from the airport, went home so they could drop their stuff off, and then went to BlueWater Bistro for brunch. It was a gorgeous day yesterday so after eating we headed for downtown and some touristy fun. We went on the Ride the Duck tour which was a really good time. We had a one hour tour of the city followed by about half an hour in the water on Lake Union. The tour guide was very upbeat and kept everyone laughing. By the time we were done though, the visitors were worn out so we came back home so that they could nap. After a light dinner, everyone enjoyed the Harper's Island finale and then bed.

This morning I woke up before everyone, which was a surprise because I definitely expected Aunt Mare and Mom to be up way before me due to the time change. Turns out they didn't get up until about 8:30. It was pretty gray and overcast today so we did Pike Place Market since you can stay undercover if it rains. Then I took them to mass afterwards and made some good chicken corn soup.

Tomorrow I'm back to work and I think their plan is just to stay home and rest :-)

Update as requested.

I apologize, I've been remiss. Seems since more and more people are using facebook, I've been mostly updating that and not beaglehaus. However, I have been asked for a blog update and I am nothing if not accomodating.

Let's see...it's been since San Diego and my birthday weekend since I updated. I started a new clinical site since then. I'm at Swedish Hospital in the Perinatal clinic, so I do OB all day long. And I love it! I thought maybe it would get boring after a while but so far it is not at all boring. I really like the sonographers that I work with, and the doctors are fantastic. It's cool because the docs are also these ladies obstetricians most times so they are pretty familiar with the cases and why the scans are being done. It's a high risk site, so we get a lot of older women or women with physical or chromosomnal problems with their babies. It's very interesting.

Mom and Aunt Mare are coming tomorrow for 10 days. I graduate on July 18 so they're coming in for that. The weather is supposed to be okay while they're here...mostly in the 70s with a showery day here and there. We pick them up at the airport at 9:40 tomorrow morning. I rented two single rollaways for while they are here, but in typical Weiler luck, when Meg went to pick them up they only had a single and a double. That won't work of course, because there is not enough room in the back bedroom for those two beds. We have to take the double back tomorrow and pick up another single. Like I told Jay, at this point I just heave a big sigh because I'm getting so used to things not going right. He says everytime I sigh it's the sound of my soul dying just a little more :-)

Our friend Simon is staying with us for a few days while he sorts some things out in his life, but unfortunately he'll have to vacate the spot by tomorrow so we can get ready for Mom.

And it's countdown to Kauai time - 30 more days!

San Diego trip

We're in the San Diego airport waiting to depart for Seattle. We had a wonderful weekend at Kirk and Krispy's place and saw a lot of the city, although I'm sure there was a ton that we did not get to see.

Friday night Krispy and Rip picked us up at the airport. Rip was pretty shy but when we got back to his home base he perked up and started talking. It was a fairly early night, and then up early the next morning. On Saturday morning we went to the San Diego Zoo for a bit, then some quick lunch and then we headed to Coronado to the beach and to see the Hotel Del Coronado which was totally awesome. The morning was cloudy but by the time we got to the beach it was sunny and warm. The resort is fantastic and I sure wish we could afford to actually stay there :-). Disaster on the way home after Riley consumed an entire bag of gummy bears (Thanks Aunt Kelly and Jason!) and chased it down with a big glass of lemonade. Some dramatic drooling preceded a veritable gusher of liquid and half digested gummy bears making a quick exit from Riley's tummy. Ummmm, yuck. Good thing it was me sitting next to her and not Jason. Surprisingly, she managed not to actually hit anything but her own carseat.

Saturday night we took Kirk and Krispy out to dinner at the Prado restaurant in Balboa Park. It was about perfect as a place to eat. The food was fantastic, the service was fantastic, and the ambiance was totally 5 star....outside on the patio, overlooking a beautiful courtyard, with lights strung up all over, it just could not have been nicer. We all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Sunday we got up early and Jason, Krispy and I climbed Cowles Mountain (along with Camden) while Kirk stayed back with the kids. Then while Kirk went to play softball, Jay and I took a trip to Old Town San Diego and walked around there for a bit enjoying the touristy and arty theme. We came home and joined up with everyone else for some more sightseeing, including Seaport Village and the Sunset Cliffs. Everybody was totally exhausted by the time we got home and it was an early bed night for all.

This morning Ripken started his new preschool and the nanny came over to watch Riley so the four adults went to breakfast at Pipes, then took a nice drive back down the coast stopping at the gliderport and the Soledad mountain monument before heading back to the airport. The trip was tiring but way too quick and we really enjoyed ourselves and our hosts :-) Can't wait to come back again! I'll try to post some picture after we get home and download them off the camera.

Hey! It's hot.

Seattle's been going through a little bit of a heat wave the last few days, and in fact we have had record temps yesterday and today. Actually hit 91 degrees officially today, 1 degree higher than the previous June 4 record. I think our bedroom was quite a few degrees higher than that though. It has already cooled down substantially though, and is supposed to be back in the high 70's by tomorrow. I'm not complaining, it's wonderful to have such summery weather so early here and once Jay had put the AC unit in the bedroom I was able to sleep just fine :-)

I ran another two miles yesterday so it wasn't just a fluke people...yay for me.

Jason has an appointment with a podiatrist on Monday to find out why his foot still hurts. Good thing too, because we have the Furry 5K on Sunday so his foot will probably really be hurting on Monday.

Kelsey is winding down her junior year, knockin' out the finals, and finishing up her first college class. Meg is almost done with this quarter too. I know they're both ready for a break.

I have two more weeks to go at the clinic and then I switch back to Swedish for my perinatal rotation. I'm going to miss the girls at the clinic, but I'm also looking forward to driving into work with Jay again in the morning - I miss that little bit of time. I'll have to take the bus home though, our leaving schedules don't match up. But it'll still be better than driving every day.

One more week until we leave for San Diego for my birthday weekend!

I RAN TWO MILES!!!!!!

Let me say that again:

I RAN TWO MILES!!!!
I RAN TWO MILES!!!!

HOLY F*&^#NG SHIT I RAN TWO MILES!!!

In case you're not getting the drift...today was Week 5 Day 3, so the first day where it was just 20 minutes of running and no walking intervals in between. I'd been dreading it, but I got dressed and headed for the track this morning to take advantage of the beautiful weather before it gets too hot. I had the track all to myself, which was very nice, and off I went.

My podcast got screwed up though, so I couldn't quite time myself. Actually I had decided to just use music instead of an interval podcast today so I could have my own music. I put a playlist together with 5 minutes of walking songs, and then 20 minutes of running songs, but my shuffle apparently shuffles playlists too so my plan was foiled almost immediately. And of course I forgot to wear my watch. So I walked through two songs and then I started running on the track and after 1.75 miles thought I was probably done with the 20 minutes (because the songs started repeating, and also because of my previous slow times) but I ran another quarter mile just to be safe, so two miles altogether!

People, you don't know how momentous this is....I have never in my life run even 1 mile before. 2 miles is crazy talk! I'm sweaty but happy right now, and am ready to shower and party tonight at a friend's house. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Surprise

I had a fetal survey to do tonight at 5..well technically it was another sonographer's patient but she asked me to start it since the woman was early. It didn't take too long before I realized that there were actually two babies in there. I told the couple they were having twins, but it took them a little while until they believed me, and then I think they were just in shock for the rest of the exam. That was kind of fun, but also tiring, because I did the whole survey on both twins, and it took almost two hours total.

Ran yesterday, Week 5 Day 2. This was 8 minutes running, 5 minutes walking, 8 minutes running. I got through it just fine with my usual slow pace. Turns out I can run 5/8 of a mile in 8 minutes....yeah, I'm zooming! I did see one woman the other day who ran slower than me, but that's a rarity. Most of the time the runners are whizzing by me. But that's okay, I'm still running and that's what counts. Saturday is the big day, when I do 20 minutes of running straight through. I'm a little scarred and I'm trying not to think about it.

Let the sun shine

What a gorgeous three day weekend we've had! Saturday I got up early and did my run, then I cut the grass and depooped the back yard. When Jason got up we took the dogs for a walk at Golden Gardens beach, and then took the kids to Agua Verde for late lunch/early dinner. We sat by the water and enjoyed the warmth.

Yesterday we went back to Golden Gardens for a picnic. It was so nice out, and so relaxing to just lay on the beach by the water enjoying hot dogs and burgers and all the stuff that goes with it. Megan came for a while as did Kelsey and Ayla and Natan, and Simon showed up too so we had a nice little group. We stayed about 5 hours, and the sun had really wiped us out by then. We went to bed rather early which was a good thing because the guy I had hired to edge the sidewalks showed up at 7:45 this morning! That got me out of bed, so I went for my Week 5 Day 1 run today. This was run 5 minutes, walk 3, run 5, walk 3, and run 5. I made it through that just fine, and came home in time to find the edging done and the guy trying to get me to pay him $300 to weed the front flower beds. I decided I could save $300 and not be so freakin' lazy and do it myself.

So Jay and I weeded and trimmed hedges and got the yard looking all purdy and now we're going to shower and head down to the nursery on 85th street to look for yard ornaments. I'm partial to the big iron rooster, but I think that will take some persuasion on Jason's part :-)

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and let's all take a moment to think about all of those that have served our country.

Good news, not broken

Jay's foot hurt even more this morning so after I went for my run at Greenlake we went to the doctor and then for an x-ray. Turns out it doesn't look like there's a fracture but they'll have the radiologist look more closely at it later and let us know if they find anything. In the meantime, he's to stay off it if he can and elevate it when he can. So no cast, which is good, but he's not sure he'll be able to drive himself to work tomorrow.

Today I'm working on cleaning the house since we didn't get to it this past weekend. My run today was good...Week 4 Day 1, which is run 3 minutes/walk 90 sec/run 5 minutes/walk 2.5 minutes/repeat. As much as I was not looking forward to the 5 minute runs, I'm happy to report that there was not so much as a fleeting moment when I thought I couldn't do it, and completed both sets with comparative ease. So, the dreaded week 4 has begun and so far has been fine. Day 2 looms on Wednesday though, and Day 2 is always my hardest. I'll keep you updated!

Owww, my foot!

This weekend was picture perfect, weather wise. It was sunny and warm on Saturday, so Jay and I walked down to Greenlake for Week 3 Day 3 of the C25K, where we competed with about 1000 other people for space on the jogging path. Then we decided to take advantage of the nice weather to work on the backyard. Off to Home Depot, where we got bags and bags of sand and stones and yard stuff, home to weed and spread paper and tarp and sand and stones, clip hedges, cut grass, and all other manner of yard maintenance. We were totally wiped by the time we finished, and both fell asleep on the couch by 9:30.

Woke up fairly early today and actually didn't feel that badly. Just a bit of a headache but that was it. Jason had a soccer game at 2 so I grabbed my physics book and some trashy magazines and we headed back to Greenlake for the game. He played great! I was really impressed with his skill considering it's been a while since he played...but then he twisted his foot in the second half and had to be benched.

I drove him home, since his foot was hurting so bad. We are debating whether or not to go to the doctor tomorrow to see if it's broken. We don't THINK it's broken because it's not really swollen or discolored, but he can't put a lot weight on it. I propped him up on the couch with some frozen veggies on the foot while I went to the grocery store, and then fired up the grill for the first time this season for hot dogs and brats. He's playing Fallout right now, and we're hoping that by tomorrow he's feeling much better :-). Too bad, he was doing really well at the game. Final score: 1-1.

Abdomens and such

I've been working on abdomens the last week. The plan at work was to get proficient in abdomens by doing all the abdomens I can do in one week, then the next week I'll move on to pelvic exams, and then for the last 5 weeks at the clinic I'll do as many OBs as I can to prepare for my next rotation.

I think this was a good plan. I have probably done about 6 - 8 abdomen or renal exams a day for the last week, and I even went in this morning on my "day off" to do 5 of them that were scheduled today. I felt pretty good about my progress by the time I left today.

Came home and went for my Week 3 Day 1 run. Today was two repetitions of run 90 secs/walk 90 secs/run 3 minutes/walk 3 minutes. I didn't think I was going to have any problems with it because I knew I could run 3 minutes (did it on Saturday) but I didn't go to Greenlake and I didn't go to the Roosevelt track, I just ran around the neighborhood. My biggest worry was that I would wind up running in a pretty small circle but it actually worked out very well, and I finished up with no problem. I have no worries that this week will go just fine. Apparently it's week 4 that people have the most problems with, as it is alternating 5 minute and 8 minute runs with 90 second walking breaks in between. It seems like a pretty big jump to go from 3 minutes this week to 8 minutes next week. Seems like there should just be alternating 5 minute runs - but I didn't design this program, somebody else did, and if it takes me a few weeks to get through it, so be it.

Came home and had a lovely bath, and then made dinner which I don't do nearly enough of since clinicals. I also worked on my presentation for CCD day on Friday. It was a fairly productive day overall, and that's a good thing.

It's the same old, same old....

Not much new to report. Things here are just chugging along like always. I'm still in clinicals (although the end is definitely in sight now!) and busy as anything. The clinic is so much different than the hospital and both have pros and cons. The clinic gets only relatively healthy people who can mostly walk in on their own, but boy are they busy! It's all about time constraints and getting things done and there's barely time to go to the bathroom most days. I can't decide which I like better right now. I'm glad to be going to neonatal next month so I'll have another experience (all babies with this one) to help me decide where I would really like to work. Of course, I'll be lucky to get any job offer so I can't be too picky.

Megan is working her butt off recently at Zeek's and making tons of dough. Both kinds (pizza shop pun). We barely see her anymore especially since the weather is starting to get nice. When she's not working she's out with her social crew.

Kelsey is doing pretty well with her college course at North Seattle Community College. There is a lot of writing involved in this course which was never her favorite thing to do but she's holding her own with the older kids and we're proud of her.

Jason and I went to Greenlake today and completed Week 2 Day 3 of the Couch to 5k program I'm working on. The idea is that you are supposed to be able to run a 5k in 9 weeks by doing a combination of running/walking and gradually working your way up to running the whole way. I started 2 weeks ago, and I'll be on day 1 of Week 3 next week. I run pretty slow though....I think the C25k people call it "wogging". Not quite walking, not quite jogging. But for those that know me and know how much I HATE to run, know this is terribly hard for me. Doing the Greenlake circle is actually over 5 miles when you add in the walk there and back from our house, but it's nice for a sunny Saturday. I try to do Greenlake once a week, and then run around the track at Kelsey's school the rest of the time.

We're off now to the UVillage to do some shopping. Tomorrow we are going to see Star Trek at the IMAX theater, very excited!

And his accomplice is named Fusilli Jerry

From today's Seattle Times:

"Man Hands Bandit" strikes in Seattle

The "Man Hands Bandit" has struck again — and this time in Seattle.

According to FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs, the robber who disguises himself by dressing as a woman and wearing a black wig entered a Wells Fargo Bank in the 14500 block of Greenwood Avenue North at 9:48 a.m. today.

He used a note and did not make threats or display a gun, Burroughs said.

The robbery is thought to be the man's third.

The first was at the Kitsap County Credit Union in Poulsbo April 13; the second at the 1st Security Bank in Edmonds April 20.

He is described as a white man, about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 206-622-0460.

The nickname comes from an episode of the comedy series "Seinfeld," in which the character played by Jerry Seinfeld displays dismay about dating an otherwise attractive woman who has big "man hands."

Thievery!

So last night I was checking out our credit card statement online, as I am wont to do each evening, lest the budget go awry. Imagine my surprise to see a $1398 pending charge from some company called Reliable Solar K. This was following a $1 pending charge from Apple iTunes. After checking with Jay to make sure he didn't make some weird large purchase, I called the card company. Turns out that it is quite common to see a fraudulent charge from Apple for $1 or $2 just to make sure the card number is valid, and then the large charge.

Luckily, I caught it before it was put through, and the card company cancelled my account and reissued new cards right away. Now I just have to go through the hassle of changing all of my automatic bill payments (we put everything on the credit card to get the miles, and then pay it off weekly). What a bummer.

I post this as a cautionary tale for any of you using credit cards to keep an eye out for some very small charges that you don't remember making - it could be a harbinger of bad tidings!

Birfday and stuff

Yesterday was Megan's 24th birthday. Wow....right? She requested tuna noodle casserole for dinner, so that's what we had along with teriyaki chicken salad and warm bread. I made a fairy castle cake for dessert. Ayla came for dinner and Carmel came for cake and then we all played games afterwards for a few hours. It was a fun evening, very low key.

Tonight Jason and I are going to Unwigged & Unplugged, kind of a Spinal Tap reunion tour with some Folksmen stuff thrown in. We're going to meet downtown for dinner at the Dragonfish Cafe first and then on to the show. I'm watching A Mighty Wind right now in preparation :-).

The weekend here was beautiful so we took advantage to do some yard work and clean the house and do a little shopping. I'm hoping that this change in the weather is somewhat permanent now and that we will really start to warm up a bit. If not, I still have San Diego in June to look forward to! I talked to Krispy yesterday and they are happy to be back and looking for someplace to settle in. I can't wait to go and visit and check the city out.

Happy Easter

Oooof. We just got done with Easter dinner and I am so full. We had pineapple and ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, peas, and rolls with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Last year at this time I was in Austin and Jay and the girls had an Easter meal courtesy of QFC. This year I got to cook, but it was pretty easy and I haven't been cooking much so I didn't mind.

Kelsey is now working on her first English 101 college paper, Jason is working on his laptop, Megan is getting ready for work, and I'm just chillaxing. It's rainy out and we did all of our walking and running around yesterday so today is for inside stuff. I think I might eventually get up and do some cleaning, but maybe I'll save that for tomorrow. I like having Mondays off, because then Sunday doesn't have that sad back to work feeling.

We're in the process of looking for new dining room chairs, but holy cow! I can't believe how expensive the ones we've seen so far are! It's just totally insane how much manufacturers want for one freakin' dining room chair! I think it's a big rip off industry, that's what I think. I'm turning to the internets to find something cheaper. It'll be a while I think until we get some new ones. We're also on the lookout for some new stand lights for the living room. I'll keep everyone posted :-)

Sunny Day...Chasing the Blues Away

What an awesome weekend we've had in Seattle. The weather was fantastic, around 69 and beautifully sunny. On Saturday we picked the girls up at the airport and then Jay and I went to Blu Water Cafe to have some brunch. We had invited the girls but they were tired and didn't want to go.

The Blu Water is one of those reasons why I love living here. It's just a funky little restaurant right on Green Lake, and like most restaurants here they throw open all of the windows and doors on sunny days and they put lots of tables outside and everyone just enjoys being outside and getting some fresh air. Plus, they had sent us a $20 gift card to come and eat there, so our delicious brunch, including mimosas, cost us only $13 plus tip. We got home early enough to do some yard work so we got the grass cut for the first time this season.

Today we got up really early, thanks to the beagles of course. Decided to stay up and take advantage of the great weather. So we headed to the grocery store, and then we walked the dogs down to and around Green Lake. Boy, was that place crowded! So many people and dogs everywhere! But it was a great walk and the dogs were tired out. I made some wonderfully delicious french toast ala' Alton Brown for dinner to wind up our weekend. I have another day tomorrow to enjoy the sun because it's supposed to be even nicer then. Too bad Jason has to go back to work. I think I'll head to Green Lake again for another nice walk.

1st Week Done

My first week at my new site is over. Boy is it ever different than the last place I was. They are so busy....there are patients scheduled literally every 45 minutes from 7 am until 7 pm. They bring someone in around 12 to cover while people grab a quick something to eat, but many times the sonographers only get a break for a few minutes. Nothing like working at the hospital, where there was often lots of waiting time for your next patient.

So far they're not really letting me scan whole exams because I'm still too slow. They give me like 20 minutes to get as much done as I can and then they take over. I did manage to do a renal exam in my allotted time, and last night for my last patient of the week I did a whole abdomen in 30 minutes which was amazingly zippy for me. The patient scanned like a dream which made it fast, but there was also some pathology to note so it's not like it was totally easy.

Anyway, I'm trying to get used to this new pace and new environment. They were nice enough to change my hours so I work now 8:30 - 7 instead of 7 - 5:30. That lets me sleep in a little more in the morning which is awesome and the traffic is not bad either coming or going. Still takes me about 25 minutes to drive it, but it's not horrible.

The girls are coming home today! Yay for that, because I've really missed them this last week. It'll be good to have everyone home again.

I can haz pet feeder?

I am lusting over this product I saw today, called the Perfect Pet Feeder. It's a pet feeder that dispenses dry food on a schedule in preprogrammed amounts. Apparently, it's top of the line, and much better than similar models because it's designed that pets can't get into it and it feeds one or two pets. Here's a beagle enjoying it:



The motivation is mostly so we can maybe sleep in on the weekends once in a while instead of being a slave to Zac's stomach, which insists on being fed at 6:30 on the dot.

But $500? Criminy. They got me all excited, and then they knocked me down.

It's Alive!

It's been a long time dear readers. I apologize for the lack of updates, and I have no excuse for it really. I just have not felt the motivation lately to write, and I haven't had anything really interesting to write about either.

I still don't have anything interesting, but I'm going to update anyway. I just returned from a week in PA visiting my family. It was nice to go back but it's always so tiring, and I'm happy to be back home in Seattle and sleeping in my own bed surrounded by beagle love. I did get to spend some good quality time with mom, and my brother and sister (Kirk was visiting from Austin) so that was nice. The weather was pretty good too.

The girls are getting ready to fly there late tonight. Their flight actually leaves a little after midnight, and they have a long traveling day ahead of them because they have a sucky flight with two plane changes before they get to Harrisburg. At the time I made the reservations it was the cheapest available way to get there, and now there's no backing out or changing. On the way back they only change planes once though so that's not so bad.

I start my new clinical site on Tuesday so I have a couple of days to take advantage of my break before I start in again. I also really have to start studying physics hard core because I have to take the Physics exam soon as part of graduation. I have all of the study materials, it's just a matter of ...um....motivation. I see a theme here.

Well, this hasn't been much of an update, but at least it's a start.

I heart the fetus

I've been doing lots of OB work lately and I'm really liking it more and more. It's a challenge because there's lots of stuff to get, but it's also interesting because every one of them is different in some respect and it's like a new box of Whitman's chocolates with each scan. What's inside this one? Will it be head down or head up, a clear picture or a fuzzy hot mess? Even going out to the waiting room to get the patient is filled with anticipation. How many people will the new mom be bringing with her? Because it's rarely just her. There is almost always at least one, two, and I've had as many as 6(!) extra people show up to watch the big event. It's like they're going to the movies, but for free.

Also, 99% of the time, people are happy to be there. Unless it's an emergency appointment where there has been bleeding or cramping or God forbid a non-existent heart rate at the doctor's office, most patients like getting their fetal ultrasounds. Unlike the other patients who are mostly there because something is wrong and their doctor is trying to figure out what. Then they're more nervous or scared and you have to be sure not to hang around in one spot too long or they'll start shouting out stuff like "What's that? Why are you measuring it? Is that normal?"

Except for the testicle exams. Most men don't even watch the screen. Some fall asleep and others (the younger ones) lie on the table with their arm thrown across their face or their eyes shut so they don't have to actually see what's going on down there. I'm actually starting to like the testicle exams too because they're usually pretty easy. In fact, I like to do them better than thyroids....but the other student is starting to call me a ball hog because I sign my name next to most of them and she doesn't get any testicle experience.

So back to OB. I got my new rotation assigment and I'm going to be going to two different sites, one in the spring quarter and one in the summer quarter. My summer quarter rotation is at Swedish again, same hospital I'm at now, but in the perinatal group which is for more high risk OB patients and is in a separate location from our department. I'm very excited about that one because it's the one I really wanted. The spring quarter however I'm assigned to a clinic in Everett which is about 30 miles or so north of where I live and in Seattle traffic terms that's about an hour away. I'm considering the bus, even though I have to transfer 3 times and it will take about an hour and half each way. I'd do almost anything to avoid driving that much though, even though it would technically be against the flow since I'd be heading North in the morning and South at night. Oh well, it's only for about 2.5 months. I just hope I get some good OB experience there so I'm ready for perinatal in the summer!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a nice Valentine weekend. We took the beagles to "Beagle my Valentine", the most recent Beaglefest held in Bothell yesterday. I am pleased to report that we now have two award winning beagles! The first Beaglefest we went to, Zac won for Biggest Beagle. Yesterday, Trixie won for "Ability to sit the longest". How about that, huh? She got a certificate and a big box of dog biscuits to share with Zac.

Afterwards we came home and all had naps and then Jason and I went to dinner at the Pink Door were we shared a bottle of champagne and a delicious dinner that put no fewer than 3 pounds on me overnight.

Today we met Darci and Simon for brunch at this cute little restaurant called The Wild Mountain Cafe, which is actually a house that somebody turned into a restaurant without actually doing too much to change the house, so it's small and tables are spread out amongst several rooms but the food was great and it was a pretty cool space. Then Darci took us to see her new office and Simon took us to see his new office.

When we came home I put lots of purple streaks in Kelsey's hair and just a few purple highlights in Jason's hair and now Jason and Simon are playing video games while I am patiently waiting for the Amazing Race to start. All in all, a pretty good weekend.

No real updates on the work front. I still don't know where my second rotation will be, although I hope that it's someplace that does lots of OB, as that's what I'm really interested in. Things at my current rotation are going well and I got a really good review last week from my clinical coordinator and my instructor at Swedish so that was cool. I'm just really worried that they're going to put me in the VA hospital or someplace else that doesn't do any OB and I'll lose all my skills in that area, poor though they may be. I wish they would tell us already....I heard a rumor that we might find out within a week or two. I figure it has to be sometime soon because there's only about a month left for this rotation and people have to start making plans, especially if they have to move. I'll try to keep everyone updated as I find out more.

Happy Birthday to Jay

Officially it's not until tomorrow, but we celebrated today. We actually started last night with dinner, where we met Heidi and Ray and they insisted on paying. Nice generous friends :-). We came home relatively early to a houseful, as Kelsey had another of her 4 person sleepovers again yesterday.

This morning we slept in way too late, and hit the grocery store which was positively PACKED! I guess everybody waited until the last minute to pick up their Super Bowl snacks and the lines were actually down the aisles. Crazy!

I spent most of the day yesterday cooking chimichangas for Kelsey's sleepover and making Jason's birthday treat which was a turtle cheescake. Today I spent more time cooking, making ribs, cornbread, fried potatoes and peas for dinner. The turtle cheesecake was absolutely fantastic, and I am making him take the rest of it to work tomorrow so I'm not tempted to eat the rest of it by myself. I had purchased Kelsey a piece of chocolate cake since she doesn't like cheesecake, but Trixie helped herself to most of it while we were getting the rest of the plates and coffee ready. She's such a bad dog.

Then we went down to the U Village to the bookstore and Jason got to pick himself up a new book for his birthday present. Back home in time to see the Steelers win the Super Bowl and then a new episode of The Office. All in all, a pretty good day.

Earthquake!

This morning, we experienced our first earthquake (and by we, I mean our little family, not Seattle in general). It turned out to be just a very small 4.6 one and the epicenter was a bit north of here. I woke up with the bed shaking..just a little bit but enough to notice. I was half asleep, and I thought it was from Zac, that maybe he was kicking the bedpost while scratching or something. Then I went back to sleep and didn't even remember it. I read about the earthquake this morning on the Seattle Times news site, and thought wow we didn't feel it here.

Then Kelsey came home from school and asked if I felt the earthquake this morning. I said no, and she said it woke her up and her bed was shaking. Then I remembered that my bed was shaking too! So yes, I did feel the earthquake! No damage, no lasting effects, but definitely felt by at least me and Kelsey. Jason slept through it, and I haven't talked to Megan to see if she felt it or not.

So we've lived through our first earthquake. I hope it's the last :-)

Tales from the bus

I've been riding the bus a little more often recently because Jason has been working late. The bus home isn't too bad, it takes about 30 minutes, and since I get a bus pass from the hospital it is also free. When I take the bus, I really try to get the 73 instead of the 71. They're almost at the same stop except the 73 stops at the underground tunnel at 6:42 and the 71 stops at street level at 6:47. The 71 however makes a lot more stops on the way home and for some reason is usually filled withmuch louder and rowdier passengers.

I've been managing to skip out of work around 6:20 so that I can get to the tunnel in time to grab the 73. The bus stop is 2 blocks over and then 8 blocks down from the hospital. And I mean down. It is a fairly steep downhill grade on James St. and I wind up almost trotting the last couple of blocks because of it. On Wednesday though I didn't leave until amost 6:30 and I was pretty resigned to taking the 71 but somehow decided to run and try to get the 73 if I could. I ran almost the entire way to the tunnel, and ran down the 4 flights of stairs and got to the bus stop exactly as the same time as the bus. One more light on the way and I definitely would not have made it.

This was an interesting ride home because I learned of a new phenomenon taking place when the bus is crowded. And this one was very crowded for some reason tonight. Apparently it is now alright to enter a crowded bus and start bleating "Seat please, seat please" until somebody stands up and lets you sit down. I witnessed this with no less than 3 people in the space of 2 blocks. And it worked for each one of them, even more surprising. The first one I could understand, she was older and definitely in need of a seat since she could barely walk. The next guy was "special" if you catch my drift, so he got a seat. The third guy was maybe 50, but looked pretty spry and healthy to me, but he got a seat too, right next to me. Hey....my feet hurt and I just ran 8 blocks and I wasn't about to get up. I still don't think I would have been able to chase someone else away from their seat if I was the one that had to stand.

The "special" guy sat down across from me and immediately pulled two small green rubber balls from his pocket which he then proceeded to sniff repeatedly the entire way home. He would bring one of the balls up to his nose and just move it back and forth while he sniff, sniff, sniffed at it. Then he would switch hands and sniff at the other one for awhile. He was still sniffing when I got off the bus at my house.

Oh, and the other interesting thing which I don't remember happening before is that when the bus is that crowded, the driver just opens the back door as well as the front door, and if you use the back door, you don't have to pay. I wonder how many free rides the metro service is giving out each day because of that plan.

Clickety-Click

So it occurred to me today, well into January and the second quarter of my clinical rotation, that I think things have finally really clicked for me when scanning. These past couple of days I've been rocking the transducer and really starting to feel confident in what I'm doing. I will admit, sometimes during an OB exam, I still feel like I just "lucked into" a good shot of something, but more and more I'm really getting them on purpose. I did 7 sets of kidneys today, and I'll tell ya...by the last one, I was almost on autopilot with the images.

The most challenging to me are still the 1-2 year olds. They sure are squirmy, and I'm chasing them all over the exam table to get the shot I need. We bought a TV/DVD monitor for the young ones and sometimes Barney will get them to settle down but usually they're more interested in what I'm doing and they keep trying to grab the transducer from me. So I still have to work on that, and I still have to work on my trans-vaginal images, but I'm feeling pretty good about everything else. I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Happy (5 days after) New Year!

Whoa...you'd think with all the free time we had over this Christmas/New Year holiday that I would have posted a lot more. I have been remiss. And by free time, belive me, I mean free time. First, since we did not go back East this year, we had an abundance of couch sitting opportunity which was only compounded by the snow that literally shut down our city. Oh, it snowed...and snowed...and then snowed some more. The likes of which natives say hasn't happened for decades. And Seattle being "green" and all, the mayor chose to plow only main roads with some kind of rubber scraper thing while putting down some sand, creating some hardpack icy nightmare. No nasty salt for us! And real plows hurt the road!

We did venture out for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at Six Seven, which is downtown right on the water. It was nice, we all dressed up and pretended we were at the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh. It didn't quite measure up, but it was nice to have a special dinner on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was very quiet, and I don't think I actually even changed out of my pajamas all day. We got up and opened gifts while we drank mimosas, then we played some games, and then we had Christmas dinner early afternoon. We had invited Darci and Simon over for dinner but they, like most Seattleites, chose to stay indoors and off the roads until the white stuff was all gone.

Pajamas were the order of the day, as we may have bathed, but only to put on fresh PJs for the next few days. Saturday night Jason and I went out to the movies to see Gran Torino, then met up with Darci and Simon afterwards. We wound up at a country bar by Greenlake, then after that closed we tried to get some Dick's hamburgers but we didn't make it to the window in time, and they put the closed sign right in front of us when we got to the front of the line. Bummer. So we headed to the grocery store and loaded up on oven baked snacks and then back to the house where I can't quite remember what we did. Darci and Simon stayed overnight and the next morning we watched a lot of trash TV.

Monday was back to work for Jay and me. He only had to work Monday and Tuesday, but went in on Wednesday just to drive me (how sweet). New Year's Eve was incredibly quiet. Megan was out with friends, Kelsey went to the Space Needle for the fireworks, and we stayed home with the beagles. Of course, I fell asleep at about 8 and woke up at 11:15 in time for the celebration. Kelsey got home shortly afterwards with her friends. They decided they were bored downtown and came home to watch the fireworks on TV and drink sparkling apple cider. We had some champagne at midnight, gawked at what's become of Dick Clark and went to bed.

And so ended our Christmas in Seattle. The tree is down, everyone is back to work and back to school, it snowed again last night, and we're ready now for the summer. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday!