the glory and the horror

With the match just over two weeks ago, we are knee-deep in preparations for the next stage in our life. We had all sorts of paperwork and verification forms for this and that to fill out for our new indentured serva… er… job. We also have to try to decide when we want our vacations for the next year. That’s all the way until June of 2007. I have no idea when I want my time off next year, much less this fall.

We took a trip down to H-town this past weekend, and spent a lot of time driving around town with a realtor to try to find a place to live. We were looking in almost every direction except for east of the medical center. We went north, south, and west, and initially found something in each direction. As the weekend wore on, it became clear to us that there were a few places that weren’t going to quite cut it. They were usually too small, too far away, too expensive, or too old. For our purposes, we need a place that requires relatively little maintenance (at least initially), is not too far from work (who wants to drive half an hour home post-call?), and has room for a little extra (say, a dog or two, and maybe more in the future). There are a lot of smaller condos/townhomes close to the medical center, but they’re really designed more for roommates than for a young couple looking to have a little space for pets and a future family. Single-family dwellings (i.e. a house) are a little more maintenance-intensive and a little farther away from the medical center, so that makes them a little less attractive that way. There may be a couple nice places that blend everything. None of them are quite perfect in every category, but there are some contenders that we’re working on.

We both really wish we lived closer to our families now. There’s a lot that we are realizing that our friends have that we’re missing out on because of our distance – the ease of celebrating holidays and such with family, and the help that they can be in getting through some of this. It’s not that we don’t talk to our parents – we’ve been in touch with them throughout this process so far – but it’s just not the same over the phone.

Anyway, we’re very excited about the possibilities. We’re actively looking for a place, so if anyone has any connections, let us know. Our realtor has been a lot of help, but we’re always open to more suggestions.

How do you get a sweet 80-year-old lady to shout out a curse word?
Continue Reading »

The generous Geof of rocksmyfaceoff.net had some issues with Apache, but we’re back.

Here’s an article from the Washington Times about an Afghani man on trial for converting to Christianity 16 years ago. I am both encouraged and bothered by this situation. Encouraged because this man is braver than I will probably ever be. He is facing death for his faith. Amazing. Bothered because it’s a sign of the control the more conservative Muslims still have in parts of the world. I suppose the news coverage is good, in that in brings attention to the situation.

I am always amazed when I read about men and women like this. They grew up in the culture, and they have an intimate understanding of the culture and the unspoken rules and expectations. And they’re willing to go against all of it for the sake of Christ. May God richly bless our brothers and sisters who face this, and may we love to pray for them and support them.

So, I don’t think I have confessed to this yet, but I thought I’d come clean.

I love Pride and Prejudice. In particular, the 2 DVD A&E version.

It’s smart, witty, intelligent, and funny. The characters are interesting, decently developed, and generally real. A couple of the sisters are a bit one-dimensional, but Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy are simply fantastic! Mr. Bennet is a hoot as well. It’s interesting how social boundaries were sorta crossed, but not totally crossed. The status quo was challenged, but entirely to restructure all of society.

Anyway, HIGHLY recommended.

We matched in Houston, at Baylor’s pediatrics and internal medicine preliminary programs. We’re very excited, as that was our first choice. The Match worked out very well for us. We’re also excited because many friends of ours are also going down to Houston with us. It’ll be nice to be with them.

Congratulations to all of you fourth year medical students. We’re about to be real doctors. A very scary thought, but exciting all at the same time.

We matched somewhere! Now just 72 hours before we find out where!

And just in case you missed this before, show me where you are.

William Shatner is a paid spokesperson for a law firm known as Malaise and Davis. The funny thing is, they’re personal injury attorneys. And this isn’t even the closing credits of Car Talk.

Speaking of which, here’s a pretty good list of those closing credits. Corporate Spokesperson – Hugh Lyon Sack. Director of Photography – Len Scapon. Hehe.

Not the TV show, but the real thing. I’ve been on 4 shifts now, and every one is a little bit different from the others. Today, I only had a couple patients, mostly because I was with the teaching resident today, so we took a little more time to talk about patients, the work-up, etc. We also had 3 of us students to 1 resident. Not the most efficient, since everything still needs to be signed by the resident. Such is the life of a medical student. We can ask the questions, do the physical exam, and even come up with a plan and present to the attending. However, we can’t sign for jack squat, so we have to find the resident and make sure things get signed so things get DONE. The power of a scrawled loop and line.

A few of the crazier cases so far this rotation: Continue Reading »

You may have heard about this by now. It’s a student film, only 5 minutes long, on what happens when 4 cars decide to follow the speed limit in Atlanta. They just all happen to be doing together, at the same time, across the freeway, in every lane of traffic.

Funny.

And yes, they misspelled “obedience.”

John Piper said:

If you’re not a little bit crazy, you don’t believe the promises of God.

This was a line out of a larger sermon about the nature of the Church as heirs to the promises that God made to Abraham (and the Jews). It seems to be pretty true. Many of the things God promises aren’t exactly the sorts of things people would want. Who wants to be persecuted? Who wants to be tortured, often with not benefit to be seen for decades, or possibly centuries? Who would want that sort of promise?