Two days until I begin Ophthalmology!
Got back yesterday early afternoon from H-town. I liked it there a lot, and of course staying at my sister's actual house made it a comfortable and fun trip. I can't wait until I can have a little patio and a garden like she does. Until then I'll try to make the most of my beautiful 1br apartment in the city, and share the outdoor terrace with the sunbathers and picnic-ing families.
Today is a reading day and definitely a cleaning day. Dishes, laundry, bathroom cleaning, vacuuming... lots to do! Ooh and at some point we'll be heading to the Taste -- it's that time of year again! :-)
In interesting and completely unrelated news, my new workplace is including health, eye, and dental insurance with my income, so I wanted to get rid of my current insurance that is currently through my husband's work. Well when I called to office to take my name off of his insurance, they said that they can't do that. Rather, I have to have him turn in my proof of new insurance to them, and only after that will they take me off of his insurance. Its weird because insurance isn't mandatory, but suddenly in this case it is. What if I just decided that I no longer want to pay for vision insurance? Can't I just go without it? The lady at that office says no. I think she's not telling me the whole truth. Anyways, I'm probably going to end up just doing what they want because I don't want to go into a whole against the grain insurance struggle. That is all.
Time to get workin!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Travel Frenzy!
Left the burgh after a fun 3 days at home, now spending 3 days with the other sissy in H-town! I like it here a lot. It's a city with a more suburb-like feel. Also, I woke up this AM to the sounds of birds chirping and playing.... I'm pretty sure I also heard some frogs! I loved it. Sissy keeps her place awesomely clean so its also very comfortable.
Yesterday we explored the city and spent lots of time in a local park. After living so long in the City, in a place kind of a long walk to a big grassy area, it was so nice to feel grass under our feet. This park also had a miniature version of the Washington monument and a reflection pool -- a nice reminder of my DC past!
Anyways, having a good time here. I love summer. :-)
Yesterday we explored the city and spent lots of time in a local park. After living so long in the City, in a place kind of a long walk to a big grassy area, it was so nice to feel grass under our feet. This park also had a miniature version of the Washington monument and a reflection pool -- a nice reminder of my DC past!
Anyways, having a good time here. I love summer. :-)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Burgh it Up
Came home for a few days. There's no feeling like being back in the cozy cocoon that was my home as I grew up. I wanted to spend time with my sister and parents before things got really busy.
My mom's on the phone with the realtor right now who's working on selling this house. It's kind of sad to hear and think that this house may be sold, but it's understandable that my parents want to downsize now that my sisters and I are out of the house. I learned during our last move that it's not so much the house but rather the things inside it and of course my family that mean the most to me. So that's good. That didn't stop me, though, from feeling outraged when the people who moved into our old house painted the front door red and put up a fence under the deck for their dog. Obviously they have terrible taste. Obviously.
I read a book recently called The Geography of Bliss and it had the same thesis - that it's not the place in which you live but rather your outlook on life and the quality of the cultural atmosphere around you that makes you happy. People in Iceland are high on the "happiness index" when people of the world were surveyed, and they have days where there's only 1 hour of sunlight in 24 hours! It was a really interesting book. I thought Quatar / U.A.E. had a compelling story too because they have all this ridiculous amounts of money from oil, so everything is super-posh. But despite being able to stay in all this luxury, the author kept feeling incomplete and as though the place was just kind of sterile. Good stuff.
OK! Going to try to enjoy the little time I have here with the fam!
My mom's on the phone with the realtor right now who's working on selling this house. It's kind of sad to hear and think that this house may be sold, but it's understandable that my parents want to downsize now that my sisters and I are out of the house. I learned during our last move that it's not so much the house but rather the things inside it and of course my family that mean the most to me. So that's good. That didn't stop me, though, from feeling outraged when the people who moved into our old house painted the front door red and put up a fence under the deck for their dog. Obviously they have terrible taste. Obviously.
I read a book recently called The Geography of Bliss and it had the same thesis - that it's not the place in which you live but rather your outlook on life and the quality of the cultural atmosphere around you that makes you happy. People in Iceland are high on the "happiness index" when people of the world were surveyed, and they have days where there's only 1 hour of sunlight in 24 hours! It was a really interesting book. I thought Quatar / U.A.E. had a compelling story too because they have all this ridiculous amounts of money from oil, so everything is super-posh. But despite being able to stay in all this luxury, the author kept feeling incomplete and as though the place was just kind of sterile. Good stuff.
OK! Going to try to enjoy the little time I have here with the fam!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Walk straight.... no need to mutate
A GIANT finding online today!! I just found all of the tracks from the tape entitled "Comin' Out of their Shells" on YouTube. First, this is one of the greatest tapes I ever owned. Secondly, this find makes me think that YouTube may be one of the greatest inventions of the last decade. Seriously. Now, about this tape and what makes it so special...
When I was in elementary school I, like most of my peers, frequented Pizza Hut due to the Book It! program. This program rewarded reading by allowing teachers to give out these little slips for a personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut if you showed evidence of having read a certain number of books (at least that's how it worked in my school). I loved reading, so naturally I was there at least every month and a half. OK so during all those years in the early 90s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies had come out and there were all kinds of promotions going on where you could spend a couple more bucks and get a toy or basketball or tape or poster with your meal. So my parents spent the extra $3.99 on me one day (obviously they loved me a lot), and I received a tape entitled "Comin' Out of their Shells" with my dinner. It is supposedly sung by the TMNT themselves.
I took the tape home, listened to it, and it turned out to be AWESOME. My favorite song: Walk Straight. A ridiculously good song. My sisters and I had dance marathons to this tape, and afterwards would collapse into a happy, exhausted slumber. I had some great memories made while playing this tape. Here's a link to the track, complete with the tape's cover art shown in the video!:
In addition to songs like Walk Straight, there's a rap on the tape, April sings a ballad, and even Splinter gets a chance at the mic at some point. Every song sounds distinctly and awesomely early 90s. This made my day.
When I was in elementary school I, like most of my peers, frequented Pizza Hut due to the Book It! program. This program rewarded reading by allowing teachers to give out these little slips for a personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut if you showed evidence of having read a certain number of books (at least that's how it worked in my school). I loved reading, so naturally I was there at least every month and a half. OK so during all those years in the early 90s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies had come out and there were all kinds of promotions going on where you could spend a couple more bucks and get a toy or basketball or tape or poster with your meal. So my parents spent the extra $3.99 on me one day (obviously they loved me a lot), and I received a tape entitled "Comin' Out of their Shells" with my dinner. It is supposedly sung by the TMNT themselves.
I took the tape home, listened to it, and it turned out to be AWESOME. My favorite song: Walk Straight. A ridiculously good song. My sisters and I had dance marathons to this tape, and afterwards would collapse into a happy, exhausted slumber. I had some great memories made while playing this tape. Here's a link to the track, complete with the tape's cover art shown in the video!:
In addition to songs like Walk Straight, there's a rap on the tape, April sings a ballad, and even Splinter gets a chance at the mic at some point. Every song sounds distinctly and awesomely early 90s. This made my day.
Akshay Kumar
Just watched a BBC clip featuring one of my favorite Bollywood actors, Akshay Kumar. He's funny in his movies and, well, he's not ugly. Unfortunately, based on this video alone, he's kind of a boring guy. Spoke in monotone the whole time, didn't seem very interested even though the interviewer was asking thoughtful and well-researched questions. Upon being asked about his wife (Twinkle Khanna), who the interviewer referred to as "also a big Bollywood star," Akshay corrected him -- "WAS a big star." Oh, ok. Maybe some may not find that a big deal, but I've always found it important for members of a couple to make each other look good in public. Why make his wife seem less "big"? It doesn't detract from his fame. I'd still be starstruck if I met Twinkle Khanna.
So I also just did some Wiki-research on Akshay, here are some interesting facts:
1. Akshay's given birth name was: Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia. Wow.
2. He studied martial arts in Bangkok early in his life and initially worked as a chef.
3. He was a playa! Dated Shilpa Shetty and Raveena Tandon, then got engaged two different times to Twinkle Khanna.
4. Twinkle Khanna stopped doing Bollywood acting after she married Akshay citing that she no longer enjoyed the acting profession. Now she's an interior designer and owns a store in Mumbai called The White Window. She just recently did up Rani Mukherjee's interior for her. Interesting.
----
In news that actually pertains to me, last night there was a graduation dinner in a nice Marriott for the graduating ophthalmology residents from my program. It was really nice. It was emceed by various members of the program, and they were all hilarious. Sat next to Dr. K, she was really friendly. Got to meet a bunch of current attendings. Seems like a nice environment to work in. I'm looking forward to being part of that group!
So I also just did some Wiki-research on Akshay, here are some interesting facts:
1. Akshay's given birth name was: Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia. Wow.
2. He studied martial arts in Bangkok early in his life and initially worked as a chef.
3. He was a playa! Dated Shilpa Shetty and Raveena Tandon, then got engaged two different times to Twinkle Khanna.
4. Twinkle Khanna stopped doing Bollywood acting after she married Akshay citing that she no longer enjoyed the acting profession. Now she's an interior designer and owns a store in Mumbai called The White Window. She just recently did up Rani Mukherjee's interior for her. Interesting.
----
In news that actually pertains to me, last night there was a graduation dinner in a nice Marriott for the graduating ophthalmology residents from my program. It was really nice. It was emceed by various members of the program, and they were all hilarious. Sat next to Dr. K, she was really friendly. Got to meet a bunch of current attendings. Seems like a nice environment to work in. I'm looking forward to being part of that group!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Little Miss Muffet
I was sitting at the breakfast table this morning eating my Frosted Mini Wheats when a little spider cruised straight down from the ceiling and hung by its thread about a foot from my eye level. Creepy! I can't handle picking up those things, even with a napkin, to throw them somewhere (and attempt to let them live). So I did what my husband does - pulled out the vacuum and sucked it up with the tube attachment thing. Hopefully, the spider is having fun in the collection canister with the previous bugs that were transferred into there. Right?
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Great success!
Yesterday was great. Finally (!) the sun was out full-force, instead of the cloudiness that had lingered for days. Got to exercise in the morning, do some reading, cleaned and vacuumed the whole place, ate a nice Mediterranean-style lunch, and even took a nap! I awoke with Jamba on my mind, so walked over to Jamba Juice for the $1 smoothie. I was kind of anticipating either a ridiculously long line or that the promotion was already over because I was going there in the late afternoon.
Lucky me! I got there and was the third person in line. The lady who works at the Jamba near me is a little nutty/weird. I asked her which flavor of the 5 that were on sale was the best, and she gave me a good answer (Pomegranate Paradise, if you like tart; something else I don't remember if you like sweet). So I ordered my Pomegranate Paradise and saw $5 pop up on the register. Hoping to understand what was going on before things became awkward, I asked "Oh, it's not $1 anymore?" Her response: "IT IS. I'm changing it next, if you didn't ask so many questions!" Ha! OK then. No more questions. I did, in turn, receive a really good Pomegranate Paradise and sipped it all the way to the Park.
Walked to Grant Park for the Vivaldi Four Seasons free outdoor concert -- I got there an hour early, laid down in a nice fluffy grassy spot, and read a magazine. Soon people were all around me, setting up some really beautiful dinners for themselves and their families. Too bad the husband was on call, would've loved to picnic there with him. Got some great ideas though -- this one family brought 4 milk crates and put them in a big square over a nice blanket. They covered the crates with a white tablecloth. They sat around this "table" with lawn chairs (the older family members) or sat directly on the blanket. They had several homemade submarine sandwiches (looked like pesto, tomato, and fresh mozzarella inside an Italian roll) that they brought over in a cooler, individually wrapped in saran wrap. They also brought over wine and wine glasses. It looked so simple yet so elegant. I've gotta try that sometime.
The concert ended just as the sun was setting. It was so nice to enjoy the outdoors for that long, especially with all that beautiful music in the background. I need to make sure I spend all the time I can outside these next few days before residency begins, so I don't feel like I missed out. OK! Hopefully another good day today!
Lucky me! I got there and was the third person in line. The lady who works at the Jamba near me is a little nutty/weird. I asked her which flavor of the 5 that were on sale was the best, and she gave me a good answer (Pomegranate Paradise, if you like tart; something else I don't remember if you like sweet). So I ordered my Pomegranate Paradise and saw $5 pop up on the register. Hoping to understand what was going on before things became awkward, I asked "Oh, it's not $1 anymore?" Her response: "IT IS. I'm changing it next, if you didn't ask so many questions!" Ha! OK then. No more questions. I did, in turn, receive a really good Pomegranate Paradise and sipped it all the way to the Park.
Walked to Grant Park for the Vivaldi Four Seasons free outdoor concert -- I got there an hour early, laid down in a nice fluffy grassy spot, and read a magazine. Soon people were all around me, setting up some really beautiful dinners for themselves and their families. Too bad the husband was on call, would've loved to picnic there with him. Got some great ideas though -- this one family brought 4 milk crates and put them in a big square over a nice blanket. They covered the crates with a white tablecloth. They sat around this "table" with lawn chairs (the older family members) or sat directly on the blanket. They had several homemade submarine sandwiches (looked like pesto, tomato, and fresh mozzarella inside an Italian roll) that they brought over in a cooler, individually wrapped in saran wrap. They also brought over wine and wine glasses. It looked so simple yet so elegant. I've gotta try that sometime.
The concert ended just as the sun was setting. It was so nice to enjoy the outdoors for that long, especially with all that beautiful music in the background. I need to make sure I spend all the time I can outside these next few days before residency begins, so I don't feel like I missed out. OK! Hopefully another good day today!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Second Post!
A very busy day yesterday! I was going to start this post last night after dinner with a quote from the Olsen twins, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... actually, it was dinnertime." Haha. Well it was appropriate at the time.
The husband had a day off yesterday, so we took the chance to head out to the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, IL. We're not even Swaminarayan but its always a treat to go there when we get the chance because of the nice environment and Indian food downstairs. As usual it was beautiful and obviously meticulously cared for. After darshan, we went downstairs to the Shayona restaurant -- the food was so good! The menu was rotlis, mattar paneer, rice, and daal. We even packed up some of their frozen foods to go! Outside there were fountains and hanging flower baskets everywhere. Too bad it's an hour drive from our apartment. We'd go there all the time if it was closer!
Anyways, we did a couple of other errands and picked up a Matt Damon movie called "The Informant!". The husband used some new frames that we bought to put up pictures at home while I made homemade pizza and salad. (Actually, a little side note -- while we were trying to get the pictures in the frames, we realized that the picture of flowers that were already inside the frames as the filler pictures were really nice! We contemplated just putting up the flower pictures instead of our wedding pictures, haha). Dinner was tasty and so filling we couldn't handle dessert. The movie turned out to be a bit of a dud... too much to concentrate on in the evening and things weren't really going anywhere when we just turned it off. Then we fell asleep. Heh.
So all in all it was a great day -- it was so nice to have lots of things to do and spend some QT with the hubster. I woke up this AM and walked into the living room -- the photos on the wall look awesome. We had this one blank wall behind the half sofa that was kind kinda sitting there, and I think the frames really spruced things up.
This morning I'm watching Saved by the Bell and eating Cheerios and banana slices (inspired by the picture on the box!). According to people.com (another favorite), Tiffany Thiessen (aka Tiffany Amber Thiessen aka Kelly Kapowski) just had a baby girl named Harper yesterday. How nice. I thought I had more to say about that but I don't, heh. Anyways, in this episode that I'm watching right now, Jessie used the terms "sexist pig" and "sexist pigism" like 10 times just now. She just used her high school radio show to get a female student the chance to try out for the wrestling team. The wrestling coach initially turned down the girl by telling her she'd be better upstairs in home ec. class and that while she's there she should bake him a cake. Ooh the discriminatory tension. This is too good to be missed.
OK. The cool thing of the day that I'll be trying to catch is $1 smoothie day at Jamba Juice. Will let you know if I was successful!
The husband had a day off yesterday, so we took the chance to head out to the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, IL. We're not even Swaminarayan but its always a treat to go there when we get the chance because of the nice environment and Indian food downstairs. As usual it was beautiful and obviously meticulously cared for. After darshan, we went downstairs to the Shayona restaurant -- the food was so good! The menu was rotlis, mattar paneer, rice, and daal. We even packed up some of their frozen foods to go! Outside there were fountains and hanging flower baskets everywhere. Too bad it's an hour drive from our apartment. We'd go there all the time if it was closer!
Anyways, we did a couple of other errands and picked up a Matt Damon movie called "The Informant!". The husband used some new frames that we bought to put up pictures at home while I made homemade pizza and salad. (Actually, a little side note -- while we were trying to get the pictures in the frames, we realized that the picture of flowers that were already inside the frames as the filler pictures were really nice! We contemplated just putting up the flower pictures instead of our wedding pictures, haha). Dinner was tasty and so filling we couldn't handle dessert. The movie turned out to be a bit of a dud... too much to concentrate on in the evening and things weren't really going anywhere when we just turned it off. Then we fell asleep. Heh.
So all in all it was a great day -- it was so nice to have lots of things to do and spend some QT with the hubster. I woke up this AM and walked into the living room -- the photos on the wall look awesome. We had this one blank wall behind the half sofa that was kind kinda sitting there, and I think the frames really spruced things up.
This morning I'm watching Saved by the Bell and eating Cheerios and banana slices (inspired by the picture on the box!). According to people.com (another favorite), Tiffany Thiessen (aka Tiffany Amber Thiessen aka Kelly Kapowski) just had a baby girl named Harper yesterday. How nice. I thought I had more to say about that but I don't, heh. Anyways, in this episode that I'm watching right now, Jessie used the terms "sexist pig" and "sexist pigism" like 10 times just now. She just used her high school radio show to get a female student the chance to try out for the wrestling team. The wrestling coach initially turned down the girl by telling her she'd be better upstairs in home ec. class and that while she's there she should bake him a cake. Ooh the discriminatory tension. This is too good to be missed.
OK. The cool thing of the day that I'll be trying to catch is $1 smoothie day at Jamba Juice. Will let you know if I was successful!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Can I keep this up?
I'm new to blogging, but I've been following blogs for probably 8 years now. Some people start blogs when they reach milestones like getting married or having a baby. A blog I read often, theunderweardrawer, was started by a now physician during her M2 year to stay creative and keep sane. I'm kind of in the middle of all these things. I graduated medical school last May (2009), and got married 2 weeks after that. I just finished my intern year, and ophthalmology residency begins in 2 weeks. Until then, I'm home - working on projects my mind keeps coming up with, reading some ophtho texts, and generally thinking about a lot of stuff. I've learned over time that I ruminate over things a lot, a habit I most likely got from my mother. I also love telling stories, and both of my parents can take credit for that one.
I think blogging could be a good place for me to let out some of the things that I think about. Maybe someone else will read this, and maybe not. Hopefully, it'll just feel good. I titled this blog "Bring Your Own Sunshine" because in college, an upperclassman once told me, "No matter where you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." I was under a lot of stress at the time, and getting that advice was a good reminder to stay positive. I still think about that quote sometimes. Also, doesn't the idea of carrying around sunshine just seem awesome?
Oh and by the way, the sunglasses part is a reminder to always wear protective eyewear in the sun - I am a future ophthalmologist of course (haha). Well, in reality "bring your own sunshine" was already taken. I guess that gave me a reason to further customize.
Aside from introducing myself, I want to use this post to talk about blogs in general. I think they're such a great way for normal people to exchange news, ideas, and opinions. They've made me think more about my own stance on many occasions, and have opened me to brilliant minds that are out there. Here are a couple blogs I check on almost every day:
1. theunderweardrawer: The author started blogging as an M2, and continues through today as an anesthesia attending. She's clever and writes in a way that reliably makes me laugh. She seems to be handling career and family in a way I'd like to in the future.
2. bookofjoe: Interestingly this is another blogging anesthesia attending. He posts multiple posts every single day with new, cool, and interesting inventions and art pieces. He also occasionally has articles he reposts from WSJ, NYT, or The New Yorker that are just fascinating. This article about Bill Gates and his Think Week was probably one of the most interesting things I've ever read.
3. Sepia Mutiny: I'm really proud of all things Indian. I grew up in a strong Indian community and I value keeping up with what's going on with other Indians in the world who are trying to do big things. It's awesome to have an online desi community -- and this one is well maintained and frequently updated. Some of the writers are brilliant writers too.
4. Om Sweet Om: I'm a proud Hindu as well. The author was the Hindu chaplain at my University as he finished training as a lawyer. How cool is it that we even had a Hindu chaplain? Anyways, he writes with humor, clarity, and includes all sorts of current day references.
5. mental floss: A great one stop shop for any and all interesting factoids. I've quoted many of their interesting facts and I'd like to think that knowing unusual things makes me an interesting person. Actually, not "I'd like to think" -- I KNOW I'm an interesting person. Heh.
6. feministing: OK. I struggled with whether I wanted to put this on my page, because I don't agree with everything on that site. There's a fair amount of gender and sexual identity stuff on there as well, which I think is unrelated and shouldn't be on that page in the first place. Nevertheless, there are some thought-provoking articles up there that are worth a read. And for anyone who's afraid of this -- there is no male bashing on the site. Just FYI.
OK! I'm looking forward to continuing this blog. Hopefully I'll keep it up!
I think blogging could be a good place for me to let out some of the things that I think about. Maybe someone else will read this, and maybe not. Hopefully, it'll just feel good. I titled this blog "Bring Your Own Sunshine" because in college, an upperclassman once told me, "No matter where you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." I was under a lot of stress at the time, and getting that advice was a good reminder to stay positive. I still think about that quote sometimes. Also, doesn't the idea of carrying around sunshine just seem awesome?
Oh and by the way, the sunglasses part is a reminder to always wear protective eyewear in the sun - I am a future ophthalmologist of course (haha). Well, in reality "bring your own sunshine" was already taken. I guess that gave me a reason to further customize.
Aside from introducing myself, I want to use this post to talk about blogs in general. I think they're such a great way for normal people to exchange news, ideas, and opinions. They've made me think more about my own stance on many occasions, and have opened me to brilliant minds that are out there. Here are a couple blogs I check on almost every day:
1. theunderweardrawer: The author started blogging as an M2, and continues through today as an anesthesia attending. She's clever and writes in a way that reliably makes me laugh. She seems to be handling career and family in a way I'd like to in the future.
2. bookofjoe: Interestingly this is another blogging anesthesia attending. He posts multiple posts every single day with new, cool, and interesting inventions and art pieces. He also occasionally has articles he reposts from WSJ, NYT, or The New Yorker that are just fascinating. This article about Bill Gates and his Think Week was probably one of the most interesting things I've ever read.
3. Sepia Mutiny: I'm really proud of all things Indian. I grew up in a strong Indian community and I value keeping up with what's going on with other Indians in the world who are trying to do big things. It's awesome to have an online desi community -- and this one is well maintained and frequently updated. Some of the writers are brilliant writers too.
4. Om Sweet Om: I'm a proud Hindu as well. The author was the Hindu chaplain at my University as he finished training as a lawyer. How cool is it that we even had a Hindu chaplain? Anyways, he writes with humor, clarity, and includes all sorts of current day references.
5. mental floss: A great one stop shop for any and all interesting factoids. I've quoted many of their interesting facts and I'd like to think that knowing unusual things makes me an interesting person. Actually, not "I'd like to think" -- I KNOW I'm an interesting person. Heh.
6. feministing: OK. I struggled with whether I wanted to put this on my page, because I don't agree with everything on that site. There's a fair amount of gender and sexual identity stuff on there as well, which I think is unrelated and shouldn't be on that page in the first place. Nevertheless, there are some thought-provoking articles up there that are worth a read. And for anyone who's afraid of this -- there is no male bashing on the site. Just FYI.
OK! I'm looking forward to continuing this blog. Hopefully I'll keep it up!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)