Vacations in my family are something that didn't happen that often when we were kids - for a while we drove to Ocean City, MD, every year for a week. Then we had a few years of really horrible weather there and stopped going. We went to Sanibel Island once, but my mom got eaten alive by no-see-ums, so we never went back. We went on a cruise when I was 12, which was one of the best vacations, because The Sister and I were busy with the pre-teen group most of the week. After I graduated from high school, we went to Duck, NC, where we had one of the worst family fights I can remember. My friend vacations have been much better. First year of college, four of us went to Disney World (one of the few places where our parents didn't worry about us doing illegal things like - gasp! - drinking!). We had a great time. Senior year of college, three of us drove up to Montreal for a long weekend, which was lots of fun (even with the two hour detour on the way back when CCE left her wallet at the McDonald's we stopped at). First year of medical school, ten of us rented a beach house in Mexico, halfway between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. That was fantastic. And after The Sister graduated from college four years ago, the two of us went on a cruise to Bermuda. Both of us agreed that we'd love to go back to Bermuda, but not on a cruise. The Atlantic Ocean was pretty rough.

Birthday Boy and I finally planned our first real vacation together (yeah, we went to Boston for a weekend last summer. Doesn't count.) the other night (since my thesis defense is set for May 29!) We had thought Mexico (he had never been there, my only requirement for this trip is a beach and 85 degree weather), but the airfare was pretty high. On a whim, we looked at air fare for Puerto Rico. Turned out we could both go on his miles, and all of a sudden, we were flying to San Juan for 5 nights! We finished booking the trip quickly after that, and then it came time to decide what to do while we're there, other than sitting on the beach and getting a tan :). I think we're going to do a rainforest hiking / ziplining tour one day, which should be amazing. The other three and a half days? We'll walk around Old San Juan - maybe even the afternoon of our first day - but mostly just hang out at the beach and get a tan (while wearing my SPF30 Neutrogena sunscreen so as to prevent too much skin cancer in my future.) We leave in less than a month, and I can wait.  

I am so ready to be done! My advisor told me that my thesis is in good shape, which means after I talk to her about times and dates, I can schedule my thesis defense, woohoo!!! I got my rotation schedule for next year, and I got my first choice, double woohoo!!! Once I have my thesis scheduled, Birthday Boy and I can plan our Mexican getaway, a week of nothing but sun and sand and ocean and lots and lots of books (don't worry, this is Birthday Boy's desire as much as it is mine, we're planning on packing about 15 books total between the two of us!). I'm starting off this summer with a triple rotation. Our clerkships are broken into twelve week blocks, roughly based on the university quarter system. Internal Medicine and Surgery are both 12-week blocks, the other two 12 weeks are split into the other five rotations. So this summer, I'm starting with 4 weeks of psychiatry (a nice way to ease back into medical school, I've heard), then 4 weeks of neurology (probably pointless, considering that it's one week each of inpatient, neuro ICU, peds neuro, and outpatient, followed by a shelf), and 4 weeks of OB/Gyn. Things I'm looking forward to about the summer? Having my birthday weekend completely off! I'll do medicine in the fall, then start off the new year with 8 weeks of peds (4 inpatient, 4 outpatient) and 4 weeks of family medicine (should be a breeze since I will have already done peds, medicine, and OB/Gyn). Then finish off with surgery in the spring. It's exactly what I wanted, and I am so excited about it! I've already pulled out my psych notes from second year and the psych parts of my pharm cards! No such thing as starting too early to get ready for these rotations! :) 

Recently, I was asked by my Church to serve as a speaker at the 8th grade Confirmation retreat - to share how my Confirmation has affected my life. I couldn't even bring myself to answer the email, because of the events that happened immediately following my Confirmation. I was confirmed in the Diocese of Pittsburgh by a visiting bishop - Bishop Al Jolson - who came all the way from Reykavjik, Iceland, just to confirm our class. He was the nicest guy - gave each of us his card with his address on it, and said that anybody who wrote to him would without a doubt get a reply. I was pretty excited to write to someone in Iceland at age 13. He confirmed us, went back to the rectory to take a nap, and never woke up. He had a massive heart attack and died - thousands of miles away from his home in Iceland. 

Five years later, my friend SD died in a car accident. It was 6 days after we graduated from high school, three days after my graduation party. He was on his way to a grad party on a wet road, in a site where there had been previous fatal accidents. He skidded off the road into a telephone pole and was killed instantly. I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper about SD after he died, and a group of us spent that summer successfully petitioning the community for a guard rail at the accident site. The next summer, a permanent memorial to SD was put in place at our high school. His mom died of cancer a few years ago. I hope that his family is finally done with death.

Since 2001, I've lost three grandparents - both of my mom's parents, with whom I was extremely close, and my dad's mom. My dad's dad probably won't last a whole lot longer.

We lost a friend in February - I wrote about it back then.

With every single death, I'm brought back to Bishop Jolson. Every time. So is it any wonder I couldn't say yes to being a motivational speaker for Confirmation, when every time I think about Confirmation, I think of all those I've lost since then? 

Ever have those days where you can't do anything because people who are supposed to get stuff done in order for you to finish things haven't done it? That's where I am right now. Stuck. I can't leave because I have to pick up Cute from school today around 4. My thesis is written and I need to turn it in, but my advisor isn't here today, so I can't do that either. The only thing that I have to work on is my thesis defense talk, and to be honest, I just don't feel like it. The lottery results for the third year clerkships are supposed to be posted today, and they're still not up. So I am stuck. Stuck with an empty powerpoint presentation - at least I have a title slide - and hopelessly checking the lottery website - where of course there are no results. I don't even care what order I do my clerkships in, I just want to know so that I can start relearning material for whatever one I'm starting with! No point in relearning all of the psychiatric and epileptic drugs if I'm starting with surgery! And no point in relearning the horror that is the brachial plexus if I'm starting with OB/Gyn! So please, powers-that-be, post the results so this girl can stop compulsively hitting refresh on the lottery homepage and get herself UNSTUCK!

I visited SIG in Washington, DC, this past weekend. It's a trip that's been planned for almost a year, as it initially started with a goal of running the National Half Marathon together. I was signed up for the race, signed up for the training program, and then the injury took hold, and I couldn't train, and therefore, couldn't run the half. SIG was not-so-secretly pleased by this development - she had decided a while ago not to run it, and this provided more time for both shopping and going out. Oh, and eating, three things we did in vast quantities this weekend.

I got into DC on Thursday night after a delayed flight due to the crappy weather in Chicago (snow on March 27 = NOT COOL, especially when it's the 42nd day of measurable snowfall this season). After getting to their apartment, SIG and her husband and I went to a local sports bar for a quick bite to eat, then we of course stayed up way too late catching up. I had the place to myself on Friday, and I took full advantage of that by sleeping in, going to get my race packet (because if I paid for the stupid race, I at least want the race shirt!), then taking a long nap that afternoon. When SIG's husband got home, we started looking at places to go for dinner, and he decided to check out a place called Zola's, which is in the same building as the Spy Museum. It was AWESOME. The food was great (I had tortelloni with ricotta and manchengo cheeses, then black cod with golden beets, blood oranges, and barley), the drinks were strong (mmm, Zola martini), and the decor of the place was amazing - very modern with quirky little "spy" touches - our booth had a secret window into the kitchen, and SIG's husband said he thought there were some other touches. Then we headed a few blocks away to a lounge called IndieBlue, where we met up with some of their friends. All in all, a great night.

On Saturday, SIG and I headed to Georgetown for some major shopping - our goal was to find me a cute outfit for my thesis defense. Success! I got navy blue pants and a cream jacket from Benetton, then a light blue shell to wear under the jacket from Ann Taylor Loft. I have my mother on the lookout for silver flats, so hopefully she comes through for me. We stopped for a very late lunch at a little place called Sweet Greens, where I got the best salad I have ever had - it was called the Le Parisienne, and it was arugula, turkey, brie, apples, and almonds with a champaigne vinaigrette and a slice of warm bread. Delicious. I wish I could eat lunch there every freaking day. On Saturday night, SIG and I went to dinner at a place called Equinox. It was an interesting experience, because the food was as good as Zola's (I had a crab cake with grits, then had veal raviolini in a lentil ragout, and molten chocolate cake for dessert), but the ambiance was very... stale, I guess, is the best word I can use to describe it. I almost felt like I was eating dinner in the dining room of a very nice nursing home - lots of taupes and pastel colors, onion sconces (!) on the walls. So although the food was very good, I don't have a strong desire to go back there like I do for Zola's. 

After dinner we went to a club called Five. Wow. What an... interesting... clientele. We saw prostitutes, transvestites, a whole lot of people who were completed strung out, one guy who we think was an undercover cop. It was bizarre. Let's just say that I won't be going back to Five anytime soon! We all slept in on Sunday before having what might actually be my favorite meal of the trip - brunch at a place in Arlington called Tallula, where I had these amazing ricotta and sour cherry pancakes that were mouth-wateringly good. I want some right now.

It was a great weekend in DC, awesome to be away from Chicago and the lab for a few days, and now I'm trying to motivate myself to get back into the writing groove. So off to the library I go!