Is...is that my face?

http://www.oldnewcastlerun.com/index.html

How bizarre is that? I guess I'll have to do the run now.

I met the most awesome guy today. He was an older Indian, and probably the most talkative person I've met so far. I really like the older Native Americans, they have a wonderful sense of humor. I'm going to do their Sobriety Run this Saturday, it's a 10k and it's fairly local (maybe 20-30 miles away). Plus, I like the cause. Most charity runs are for good causes, but I feel more strongly about this one than most.

Anyway, the guy was really cool - he told me about being shipped off to a government school when he was a child and asked lots of questions. It was very, very interesting and I just liked him. He had a great poker face. I would really like to get to know these people better, but I've found they are fairly close-mouthed. I think he was also a prescription-pain-pill addict, too.

I've really enjoyed my time with Dr. M. He's a great guy - he makes me look up stuff, and write H&Ps for him to look at. He teaches a lot and he's just a nice guy. And I love his baby - absolutely adorable. I've really enjoyed the ED as well, I think I've seen a lot of interesting stuff and I feel like I'm learning a lot.

Anyway, I'm going to sew, write up that H&P and then sleep.

Petty Annoyances

So, I got talked to today...for leaving my towel in the bathroom. Am I right to be irritated over this? I mean...who in the world actually cares? Half the time I wear my towel back to my room and end up slinging it over the closet bar. Apparently, someone else complained about it. I'm trying to figure out how in the world I get into these situations. I mean, aren't these people supposed to be adults? Why do they care if I leave my wet shampoo bottle in a shower that they only use once or twice a week? I have to frigging live here, it's not that great and it's downright spooky at night. If I have to put up with that, then surely someone unknown tech can deal with me leaving stuff in the bathroom.

Yeesh, I'm annoyed out of proportion about this. I didn't appreciate being pulled into a private exam room, in front of my attending, whom I just met, to be told that I can't leave my stuff in the bathroom.

The really...confounding...part is that they can take time to track me down (and I know the lady that pulled me aside comes from another building) about this crap, but can't be bothered to fix the leak in the roof. I emptied out two filled to the brim basins of water last Friday. Which, incidently, are leaking through the roof, the second floor ceiling, the first floor ceiling and into the carpet in the first floor. Obviously, it's important that we keep the bathroom clear of pesky towels, but not so important that we keep the roof, second and first floors from rotting through from persistance water damage. If we get mold, I will be very irritated. I reported this the second day I got here.

Maybe I'm just not friendly enough and don't get the benefit of the doubt or something. Who knows, I'm still feeling annoyed over it. In a passive agressive move, I am leaving the shampoo bottles there. Take that anal-retentive radiology person.

Things I have learned so far.

1. You can remove the security tag from a pair of jeans using a plastic knife, tweezers and a pair of nail clippers. If you have enough patience.

2. You can kill a spider with Febreeze.

3. Pelvic exams are very awkward. Especially when the patient is rooting you on ("push harder?" holy crap.)

4. Hemoglobin A1C does carry oxygen.

5. Retracting is a pain - and it is possible to doze on your feet, especially if the room is dark and all you have to do is watch a lap monitor.

6. Small town people aren't all friendly, but they do like to gossip. Particularly if you screw up.

7. It's possible to live in a house without a mailing address.

8. I can drive stick.

9. The Copple procedure.

10. Never drop the peduncle during a hysterectomy.

11. Thermal Abalations.

12. How to scrub in.

13. Some pharmacology stuff that isn't worth repeating here.

14. How to do a pap smear.

15. DVTs can occur in teenagers. Go figure.

16. H&Ps - old people don't want to do them. Especially if they are established patients.

17. Other stuff. Tired now.

Pictures!

...sadly will be delayed. The dial up connection doesn't think it's necessary. And I've been up since 4am so I think I'll go to bed now.

From Yellowstone

So, I discovered I can get access to the internet through the hotel in Yellowstone. Now I have between five and six e-mails, a journal entry, a buttload of pictures to upload, and other stuff....like the Delaware marathon entry that I started, then stored as a draft and never got back to. Darnit.

The drive was a lot longer than I had thought. We saw some neat stuff - town with ten people, horses, pronghorn, etc.

The most notable thing was driving through the Big horn mountains. It was my turn to drive, and it was one of the scariest things I've done in the last year. It was a 9000 foot climb, I had the car floored and there were still cars on my ass. There were two switchbacks going down that mountain, which were unbelievably scary. Try going down a 6% grade and then do a 180 degree turn. There were flashing lights and everything. We were so far up, there was still snow on the ground. I was very aware all there was very little between us and the edge of a mountain. The "Falling Rock" and "Open Range - watch for livestock" signs added an extra element of scaryiness to the entire thing.

Okay, I'm doing to take a crack at uploading pictures now.

Journal Entry via Word.

June 3, 2006

I’m currently sitting in our room in the Badlands. There isn’t an internet connection (or phone, for that matter), so I’ll have to upload this later. We went hiking this morning/afternoon and I took a bunch of pictures – hopefully I’ll manage to transfer them onto the blog later. I decided it would be better to do it that way, rather than try to e-mail them to people. I know many people (including myself) are on dial-up or unknown internet connections this summer – I think this will be easier, for everyone. The pictures of the Badlands came out wonderfully…sadly I can’t say the same for the photos of Southern Illinois. I tried, but there’s a limit to what you can do when you’re trying to photograph through the window of your Aunt’s Grand Marquis, which is, incidentally, going 70+ miles/hour. The Collins women have heavy feet.

I’m not even sure where to start; the last few days have been very hectic. The last time I checked, on Thursday, I hadn’t received an e-mail telling me I failed psych, so I suppose I passed. .25MD, baby.

Leaving Pennsylvania proved more stressful than I had anticipated. Somewhere along the line, my mom decided we were leaving on Monday, instead of Tuesday. Her siblings had already made plans to come down, so it was set in stone for her. Of course, then my car “broke down.” When I say broke down, I mean the turn signal stopped working. But through a series of unfortunate events, we weren’t able to get it fixed and it was decided that we would take the Subaru instead. The subaru is a manual transmission. I kind have the hang of it, but I tend to panic in stressful situations. Turns out the problem was just a loose wire and a $12 part, but we didn’t know that when we had to leave. I was toying with the idea of getting a different car, but since it was nothing too serious, I’ll hang on for a while longer. I would prefer to wait until residency, when I have income, to get new bills.

So, we hit the road on Monday and made it to Illinois that evening. Did the whole visiting-with-family thing until Thursday, and then drove to South Dakota on Friday. The drive was uneventful – Iowa looks a lot like Missouri, which looks a lot like Illinois. South Dakota looks a lot like Iowa, but has some pretty moments. Very, very empty country…there were a handful of exits that had no name. “Exit 142” no town, no billboard, no nothing. And as far as I could tell looking out the window, there really wasn’t a town – I couldn’t see lights at all. I find this all terribly interesting, but that’s just me. I liked the giant steer head someone built, I saw a camel, of all things, and a T. Rex skeleton being led by a human skeleton on a lease. Oh! And I found Wall Drug. I swear, they have the most exhaustive advertising campaign of any drug store I’ve ever seen. I’m tempted to try and stop tomorrow morning. The ads nearly started in Iowa and kept coming for about 200+ miles. I think I’ve been successfully brainwashed. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out exactly what they were selling.

Tomorrow we are driving through Wyoming to Yellowstone. It’s only a seven hour drive, so the plan is to stop along the way. Of course, there will be pictures.

Oh, one last thing….

Taking the Long Way, the latest from the Dixie Chicks is fabulous. I haven’t bought a cd in ages, but this one was completely worthwhile. Good traveling music, especially if you like string instrument and lovely harmonies.

Books Finished So Far:
Needful Things, by Steven King. 736 pages.
Books In Progress:
Comfort Me with Apples, by Ruth Reichl. 88 of 299 pages.