Happy holidays

I hope everyone enjoyed their time over Thanksgiving, with family or where ever you were. I was lucky enough to spend time in North Dakota with my "second family," which gave me a good few days to relax, which I haven't seen in months. Since I last blogged I was on the interview trail. I finished my rotation up in Michigan and started another orthopedic surgery rotation down in Oklahoma. In the meantime, i had a few more interviews, one in Riverside, CA where I had a short chance to visit with Bellomy and one in Oklahoma where I was at. I finished that up a week ago, drove back to KC and flew out for the holidays. Now I am in New Jersey for an interview that I have tommorrow. I got into Philadelphia last night and drove to a high school buddy's house in central jersey, whom I haven't seen in probably 6 years. He moved out to Jersey from WA a year and a half ago to help his dad open up and run some Jewelry stores. Look for their stores to dominate the NJ/NY area in the next couple years (Ashton & Grace). It was definitely good to see him and catch up with old memories. Tonight I will drive back to the Phily area and stay with some friends from medical shool, whom have a place closer to my interview site tommorrow.

I could really care less about this interview tommorrow, which will probably be good, cause I'll be more relaxed. I booked the flight and interview over a month ago, and my interest level has decreased greatly since then. The most likely places I will end up for residency will be either in KC or in Oklahoma. That will be at least another 5 years in the midwest, most likely 6 if I decide on a fellowship. So sadly, I won't be headed back to the sunny NW anytime soon, but my plans have not changed as far as future goals to end up back in WA.

At the end of the week, I'll fly back to KC and start a physical medicine and rehabilitation rotation, which will be beneficial for me if the physician does orthopedic rehab. I'm not really sure what type of rehab he does, but I chose it cause it's near the holdays and a block from the apartment I'll be staying at. Most importantly with all of this is that I'm done with all my months of ass kissing and scut work. The remainder of the year I can relax, and learn what I want to learn only for the sake of learning.

Lastly, I have some short future plans if anyone else is interested in joining me and some other peeps:

1) New Years in Times Square - I'll be in NY for January doing a rotation
2) A Duke basketball game in February - I'm trying to set up a rotation at Duke so I can kick it with Devo and Co. (I know you want to go Mike)
4) Back in Seattle!!! (most likely) --> I need a home for the month
3) Europe - specifically: Italy (rome--> cinque terre --> venice) --> Switzerland --> Austria --> Czech Republic (prague) --> Germany (munich and southern germany) . The dates will be May 21st --> June 16th; I am traveling with two other friends from medical school, and they will be leaving the 11th, so I'll be traveling by myself for the last few days or so. I might go to Weisbaden and visit Brando's adopted brother Cliff

That's all for now.