Sunday, September 30, 2007

Quick post because I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have this week...

Friday I was trying to calculate if I'd save enough money by switching to the employee health insurance to make it worth it since I'll have to switch back to the school insurance in 8 months anyway (as an aside, I'm going to save over $1,500 in just the 8 months, sooo worth it). I needed to know how much I spent on the school insurance but of course part of the Jefferson website was down (not at all uncommon); I realized I was actually in the same building as the financial aid office so I ran downstairs. I was wearing a pair of my dress shoes that I just got back from the cobbler (he did an amazing job repairing every little thing that was wrong with my old shoes, so I love him even though he was MIA last Friday). I was walking through the basement which has tiled floors and the loudest echo anywhere in the world; Glen has been embarrassed just to walk next to me in dress shoes down there. I was approaching the ancient lecture hall down there, remembering last year how Glen and I for the first time ever had overslept our alarm on a test day and walked in late. There weren't any seats left so the proctor stopped the exam and made people get up and rearrange themselves so we'd have someplace to sit (with an empty seat on either side). I was horrifyingly embarrassed for disrupting the entire test. Luckily for me and Glen, that was the very same test where a mysterious pipe broke at the very back of that steep lecture hall and some sort of black liquid came pouring out over the top of a doorframe and down at us, causing everyone to grab their tests, stand on chairs, and run for their lives (no one remembers that Glen and I made everyone stop at the beginning). I was thinking this just as I passed the first door to the hall and trying to remember its funny name -- Herbut!

As I remembered it, I flashed back to that very morning, about an hour earlier, when I bumped into Chris on the corner who explained to me that he had thought he had his shelf exam in Bluemle, but when he got there he found out he was actually assigned to Herbut so he was running over there. I had this realization just as I was in front of the second door to the lecture hall and I looked up and there were 100 of my classmates taking a very important test, half of them looking up at me clip-clopping loudly by their room. UGH. I felt sooo bad.

On the way back I had to walk by again, so this time I took off my shoes and walked by in my stockings, only to discover they had closed all the doors to not be disturbed twice.

My apologies to all of the Herbut kids x2.

Friday, September 28, 2007

I'm walking in a spiderweb..

I have a sneaking suspicion that I left my home phone number as my contact number on a voicemail a few calls back...

Thursday, September 27, 2007

my pen needs a "backspace" option

how frustrating is it to hand write an entire letter and then write your wrong phone number at the bottom?

p.s. i'm getting business cards!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I'm leaving on a freight train...

I haven't been writing mostly because it's been way too busy. School is getting crazy and is going to get worse for next week. That'll be combined with my day-off-to-study, Tuesday, being replaced by going to Harrisburg for a conference with the head of my department and a couple of the other fellows... I'm not going to present or anything like that, just observe. A 'ROADTRIP' as the e-mails have been labeled.
This past Saturday Glen and I put aside a few hours to go through the wedding stuff and figure out what should be a priority. We decided that we need to start looking at stationary if Save-The-Dates are going to go out in December, so we made an appoint for Paper On Pine the next day. Saturday night was the last night of summer so I went and sat out on the front steps for a little while to enjoy the weather. I could still sit there in a tank top pretty comfortably, but that was nothing compared to the heat wave we got this week. Anyway, we went over to the stationary store on Sunday and we looked through books of invitations for three hours. I think we have a pretty good idea of what we want now, and happily our ideas are spreading to the rest of the wedding. We're thinking there's going to be a lot more green involved and a leaf/leaves are going to be featured to emphasize the summer season. I'm actually starting to see it all in my mind's eye and that was lacking before. It's fun to be excited again.

This morning, I had my last cup of ginger peach tea from the canister I bought at Everything But The Kitchen Sink the day that we bought my wedding dress. I'll have to buy another one when we go back to visit it at the end of October!

And now, for your procrastination pleasure,

The Campaign to Abolish the Apostrophe

Friday, September 21, 2007

CNN.com - Telemarketers: they have your number
Phone numbers will begin dropping off the Do Not Call list in June when the five year re-registration date is reached...(click for more info).
first of all, Nine Months To Go!!!

second of all, all of my good shoes are at the cobbler to be resoled and they were supposed to be read to pick up at 10am.  I just went over there and he's closed!!  He was supposed to open at 8am.  I am wearing sneakers with my dress pants because I thought I would get to switch to my nice shoes in the morning.  We're going out after work and I don't want to wear sneakers and dress clothes.  I guess I'll go back to the cobbler this afternoon, or run home and get shoes if that doesn't work.  Sigh.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

one more quick article. I can't believe this one was published.

CNN.com -- Signs you may be misdiagnosed

First, look at these pieces of advice... if your symptoms don't match your diagnosis, it might not be the right diagnosis. I don't know if that's the most overly-obvious thing I've ever heard or the most ignorantly simple.

Second, I'm pretty sure a good chunk of people diagnosed with cancer refuse to believe it and go to find a second opinion -- they just found one of the few people where the second opinion disagreed. In her case, the original labs came back positive twice and she had the symptoms... but by some very unlikely chance, the labs were wrong twice in a row and the symptoms were due to something else; and yet all this is presented to make the doctor look like an idiot somehow. Yeah, we doctors are always jumping the gun to diagnose our patients with a rare fatal cancer. But imagine if the doctor had insisted her tumor was benign and her symptoms were due to menopause and actually she turned out to have cancer -- that doctor would have been painted a fool too.

Finally, I love that they give you the signs so you can diagnose yourself with misdiagnosis.
Somehow, this is not an Onion article:

CNN.com -- 'God' responds to legislator's lawsuit


Also, could this guy look anymore like God? Some might claim that's a rotary fan, but I believe it's an awesome halo.

The Onion

Exhausted Doctor To Wake Up Early, Finish Surgery In Morning

LOS ANGELES—Just moments after successfully stopping his patient's heart at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, bleary-eyed surgeon Dr. Dennis Kelly called it a night...

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Oh! and I got a shiny name plate to hang on the outside of my cubicle.
I'm so official!

Smoooooooth

I was talking to my friend at the copier, opening and taking my first sip of a coke when Dr. Nash who runs the whole department (my boss's boss) comes up out of nowhere (maybe I should have seen him coming but I didn't have my glasses on) and says Hey! Alyson! and I promptly spill soda down my blouse as he begins to tell me a story.

A great way to impress your superiors.

I'm Useful!

I just made a tangible contribution to the research project.

We've unfortunately sent out our letters about our study during the middle of the summer, so our response rate has been pitiful.
So, as Plan B we've been calling each blood bank director individually to ask them if they got the letter, if we can send them more information, etc.

We leave a lot of voice mails, and basically no one ever calls back.
So I tongue-in-cheek suggested that we stop explaining so much in the message and instead just say something like, Hi, this is [name] calling from Jefferson Medical College.  We're conducting a study in which I believe you'll be interested.  Please call me back at 555-555-5555.
Basically, be as mysterious and intriguing as possible.

My coworker tried it and it worked!  We're 100% in call backs with the "act like a secret agent" technique!  I mean, it's only 1 for 1, but that's still 100%.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

CNN.com -- Deadly amoeba lurks in Florida lakes
By John Zarrella and Patrick Oppman
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN)-- Something in the lakes around Orlando, Florida, has claimed the lives of three boys this summer.

I had to post this because N. fowleri was one of the scarier things we learned about in med school, and everyone should know about it.

If you've talked to me in the past two days, I've complained about tonight's class and how we had three week's worth of reading and 5 written assignments due today. In class he realizes it's way too much to talk about in one class (yeah, duh, and too much to accomplish in 6 days) and he decides not to collect two of the assignments and cancels all of the reading for next week so we can catch up with discussion. You know this means that eventually weeks of reading are going to get scunched (a real word) together again.

I finished my awesome Health Policy Survey presentation (thanks to all, copies will be distributed) and now I'm going to search for an article to do my article summary on for Information Systems... we have several articles to read each week, but we have to find a unique one to read and analyze for our homework.

On the bright side, I'm not currently studying for a shelf exam (sorry guys).

Wedding stuff has gotten totally pushed to the side, except for a colossal to do list that I made up. Nonetheless, I've been extra excited about it lately -- it's nine months from Friday! I got to show a new co-worker my wedding dress pictures :)

I feel like I'm leaving something out, but it's impossible for it to be important.

I remember!
I'm buying this:
Cookie cutters for 3-D cookies! Awesome!
CNN.com -- :-) turns 25

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon.

art.smiley.professor.ap.jpg

Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman was the first to use the :-) in a computer message.

:-)

Twenty-five years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says, he was the first to use three keystrokes -- a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis -- as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message.

Discovery Channel--
Medieval Diaries Shed Light on Climate Change

Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press
Sept. 17, 2007 — A librarian at this 10th century monastery leads a visitor beneath the vaulted ceilings of the archive past the skulls of two former abbots. He pushes aside medieval ledgers of indulgences and absolutions, pulls out one of 13 bound diaries inscribed from 1671 to 1704 and starts to read about the weather.

Looking Back
I got paid for going to orientation!  Awesome!

Monday, September 17, 2007

If you have trouble opening a banana, does that mean you're stupider than a monkey?

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Sigh. I'm afraid the blog is going to die because whenever I have any free time I've been staying as far away from my computer as possible, because I feel like I'm on it the rest of the day. That plus I also haven't been hanging out on GTalk, where the link is posted, so I don't think anyone is reading it anymore anyway. I guess towards the end of last week I started sending in a lot of little one line posts via e-mail, whenever something hit me at work, so maybe it will survive in that way.

I have this really funny story about orientation, but I don't have the energy to retell it here... it might go the way of the story about me watching someone's butt catch on fire -- just never made it on to the blog.

I will briefly say that last week I was wikipedia-surfing and discovered that the IP address at my new work computer has been blocked from editing Wikipedia!! At first I wondered about the guy who had my cubicle before me, but then I made it to a page that said that my IP address is registered to Jefferson and may represent more than one computer. So I still wonder if it's like the University as a whole or just the Department of Health Policy. My IP address has been cited with many infractions, but here's one that was particularly funny -- these are the inappropriate additions "I" made to an article about a town in Pennsylvania:

  • Zip code: 17545
  • Area code: 717
  • Most apt description: Cesspool
  • Political leanings: So right they should start handing out brown shirts any day now
  • Cultural activities: Whatever was popular in 1987
  • Gratuitous wastes of money: The high school football team
  • Most prominent figure who will never realize that high school football means nothing: Coach Mike Williams
  • Most popular trends: Getting married at 19, never leaving, getting preggers real young

OK, time to give Glen a haircut and then cram in a few more articles of business school reading before bed. I miss you guys!

Friday, September 14, 2007

I just figured out what's going on.

I kept hearing all this yelling from outside, and I don't even sit next to a window.
I went into the conference room and looked out that window, and there are cops everywhere.  The emergency room is right outside.
I started to actually get worried.
Then I finally saw two youngish people wearing fluorescent pinnies, and I realized it must be a disaster drill like the one I participated in first year of med school.  That explains what all the yelling was slightly theatrical.

OK, back to my phone calls and my brownie (not actually a very good combination).

P.S. I am so excited we don't have class tonight!
Now, that I'm working in an office, I think watching The Office is going to be even more hilarious this year.
crap, Ann Taylor wasn't already high end enough?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070914/bs_nm/anntaylor_line_dc

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Alliterative Hurricanes

Humberto is a real name?

I have a lot to write, but no chance to write it.  I don't want to go on blogger at work, so I'm sending this via the e-mail option.  Hopefully I actually have a free moment this weekend.

Monday, September 10, 2007

At home for lunch during my orientation today -- kinda thought lunch would be provided, but it was nice to skip home and get to eat soup in front of the TV.

I tried to watch E! weekend update or something for a while (for a real lack of anything else), but they stay on each story for about 45 seconds and then cut shots with flashes of light and crazy colors and I thought I was going to have a seizure. I switched over my college staple, The Young and the Restless. Too bad I didn't get home in time to see who's hosting The Price is Right. But, if anyone wants to hear the latest dirt on Nicole Kidman, call me.

For some reason, I can't stop sneezing! And everyone at orientation is so nice, I get about a dozen "bless you's" every time. And then I forget to say "bless you" when someone else sneezes and I feel bad. Wish me luck this afternoon.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Tomorrow is our first day of work at our respective jobs; I just go to Jefferson orientation all day. It's also our first day of figuring out how to fit dinner in between work and school -- a big meal at 4:45pm before we leave? a snack and then a big meal when we get home at 9:45pm? a small meal both before and after? I think I'm going to work for the big meal before, because no one likes a huge meal right before they go to sleep (except the huge meals that make you fall asleep). There just might not be enough time if I'm getting home at 5 and we should be leaving at 5:40pm. We'll see over the next week or so!

For your procrastinating pleasure, I just found this website of the waterfalls of the Blueridge Parkway. Glen and I drove most of the length of the Parkway when we drove to Florida last summer and it's so beautiful; I'd love to get back.

Time for bed so I can be fresh and lovely to have my PPD read first thing in the morning!

Friday, September 7, 2007

I had two good phone calls yesterday. First was Bank of America trying to get me to sign up for some kind of $13/month identity theft protection. The girl said they would send me three versions of my credit report and she'd like me to overlook them. Sure! That'll be easy.

Then last night I finally responded to Hopkins' requests to update my alumni directory information. Every five to seven years they publish a compendium of every alum back to the 1880s. Because the list won't be released until March and then will be the official copy for at least five years, Glen and I had some decisions to make. We decided to put our occupations down as students at Jefferson because even after we graduate in three years, as residents we'll still be students so that'll stay pretty true. We put our careers down as Physician/Surgeon, which was kind of exciting. But then the really excited part came when decided to take the leap and list ourselves as married, with my married name going into the directory! (I'll be searchable under both Liedy and Quigley) Our names are crosslinked. The woman verified my information and said, so you're listed as Mrs. Alyson Shannon Quigley... and I just laughed.

Finally, check out this awesome wedding bingo. The more things go wrong, the bigger chance that you're a winner!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

We're back in Philadelphia, and slowly settling into civilian life. First and foremost on the news front: my mom got a puppy!He's a lhasa apso and his name was most likely going to be Murphy until my grandmother got upset that we always celebrate our Irish heritage but ignore her Scandinavian roots... so now we're working on a compromise. Fritjof is currently in the lead.

Going back in time a little bit, we spent the last two weeks on vacation. First we were in Chincoteague, Virginia (where the wild ponies live) with my mom, my sister, and a small pirate kite named Kitey who ruled the skies like Blackbeard ruled the seven seas.We had two pirate-themed kites, a big one and small one, and spent the better part of an hour flying the kites at each other, trying to knock the other out of the sky (much to the chagrin of the people seated around us). The little kite (Kitey) always won... Glen will claim it was his skill as captain of Kitey, but I maintain it had something to do with the odd wind patterns.Us with wild pones.

Speaking of wild ponies,oh my!

The three of us above, and Amy looking lovely:
And, we also rented scooters!

Then we left for Disneyworld with Glen's mom for one week.
Me and Glen our first night, after the Epcot fireworks.

The three of us before the Magic Kingdom fireworks show our second-to-last (penultimate??) night (we saw a lot of fireworks). There is Mickey-shaped confetti sprinkled on the table. I had one stuck to the middle of my forehead for most of the rest of the night, but not in this picture, thankfully.

Me, with my Almost Just Married button getting a call from Mickey and Minnie congratulating us on our engagement while waiting on line for the safari in Animal Kingdom.

Glen chillin out in the Norway exhibit at Epcot with a troll.

Us trying our hardest to emulate the late, the great, Thomas Jefferson (this was take 18 or so).

And finally, the coolest attraction ever, the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground! We both climbed through this when we each first visited Disney over 15 years ago when it had just opened (just after the movie came out) and were so excited that it's still there! Unfortunately it's recommended for kids ages 10 and below, so we had to enjoy its splendor from outside the eight foot fence. That SuperSoaker really squirts!!!

Well now it's time for me to get to bed because I have SCHOOL tomorrow! It's weird to be starting this whole year that we've been talking about so long. I can't believe it's here. I don't start work until Monday so I have a little more time to adjust to that idea.
We'd love to get to Quizzo tomorrow, but we probably won't be back to the city until closer to 10pm, missing the first round or so :( But at least this week, we don't have anything to wake up for the next morning. I don't know if we'll be able to go every week, but I hope we can start having people over Friday nights to relax, because that's our early day -- get home after work at 5 instead of after class at 10 :)

Hasta manana!