Andy's First Visit

So, my boyfriend Andy is a Yankee....yes, a real-live Yankee doodle boy. Ok, that might be a little much, but his only trip to the South involves Georgia, an excess of peaches and intense memories of the subsequent gastrointestinal experience. Despite this, he braced himself and flew to Alabama for his first adult deep South experience.

The first night he got to meet some of my resident classmates, which is good because they will basically be my hospital family for the next 4 years. He entertained them so well with his story of carrying a moon rock through airport security (ask him sometime, it's a good story) that they are still talking about it! We also checked out my local pub, which is approximately 100 ft from my apartment, which boasts the largest draft beer selection in town.

The next day we explored Sloss Furnaces. Birmingham is a relatively new Southern city; it basically exists because this area has the highest concentration of the 3 ingredients of iron (iron ore, coal and limestone) in the world.

This giant thing brought huge amounts of raw ingredients from the railroad at the bottom to the top of the furnace.

Sloss was one of the largest producers of iron in Birmingham in their heyday and remains a very prominent part of the Birmingham landscape. We never quite figured out what these were, but likely related to huge amount of gas and steam that was created, and used, by the furnace.

Subsequently it became a historical landmark and also has an art focus, with classes, studio space for artists and a yearly iron pour.

Sculptures near the first stage of the water treatment part of the furnaces.

That's one big wrench!

What is it about boys and trains?

The next day we visited another prominent Birmingham landmark, The Vulcan. Vulcan is the Roman god of "beneficial and hindering fire, whether helpful or harmful, including the fire of volcanoes" (dontcha just love Wikipedia?!). The statue of Vulcan in Birmingham was made for the St. Louis World Fair to commemorate the productivity of the area's iron industry.
Vulcan has had quite an eventful life in terms of traveling to St. Louis for the fair and has resided in several spots in Birmingham. It now lives high atop Red Mountain, which is about 1/2 a mile from my place and you can get a great view of the city from the observation deck (which you can see at the bottom of the above picture) if the heights don't terrify you.


Speaking of bottoms, Andy really wanted to visit the Vulcan. Why? Well, the most recent renovation to Vulcan required a large fund raiser, part of which involved making numerous bronze replicas of the famous guy. Andy worked at the foundry that made the replicas....small world, eh? Anyway, his strongest memory of this task was the time he spent shaping a particular portion of the statue.

I'll leave it to you to figure out which portion. This is also a story worth asking him about, but if your time is limited, go for the moon rock one.

All too quickly it was back to the airport, but I'm sure we will have some more fun in B'ham together.

Small Victories

Some large tasks are best thought of in small steps....no, I'm not talking about becoming a doctor, I'm talking about setting up one's home. This week I had several exciting small victories:

After two weeks of phone calls, some requiring syrupy sweetness and all requiring undying persistence, I finally have fully functioning appliances in my home:


I made mac n' cheese to celebrate.

Some of my favorite art pieces are finally hanging on the wall.

And the pièce de résistance....drumroll....a dining room table!

(yes, I put the whole thing in my little car!)

It is a steal from the Salvation Army and needs a small amount of cosmetic work, but it is very useful, you know, like for eating a meal I have cooked....on my new stove!

I also started another large endeavor this week, residency. For those of you who are still confused, residency is post-graduate training for medical graduates so we can actually learn how to be a doctor (which does beg the question...what have I been doing for the last 5 years? It's better just not to ask). Most residency training is fairly general and you can continue on after residency to do fellowship in more specialized fields. ANYWAY, I'm doing my residency in Internal Medicine AND Pediatrics, which means I will be trained to be an internist and a pediatrician. Sort of being a double major in college, after this is over, I hope to be board certified in both fields. The way we accomplish that is by alternatively rotating for 3 months on Pediatrics and Medicine.....for 4 years (straight Internal Medicine or Pediatrics residencies are 3 years).

BUT to start residency, you must be trained to resuscitate patients who are having trouble breathing or getting their heart to pump. Due to my combined program, I had to get certified to resuscitate neonates (newborns), children aged 1 mo-18 years and adults....whew! PLUS there is a ton of paperwork, logistics and social functions. I've been busy!

My favorite activity this week?!? Well, beyond being served BBQ about 12 times (a little tough for the veggies), I intubated (put a tube down the trachea of) a ferret. Yes, a ferret. They are actually a very good replica of the neonate respiratory system, so it was pretty cool. (they were sedated, no animal cruelty, promise)

My least favorite activity of orientation? Thinking about June 24th, my first day of working as a real doctor AND my first night on call, when I will spend all night in the hospital, admitting patients and answering nurses call (and hopefully not using ANY of that advanced life-support training).

Andy also made his venture into the South this past weekend....and that will be the next post! Come back soon to see it!

Texas, Arkansas, Alabama...oh my!

After our day of rest in Austin we visited our way through Texas stopping in Jarrell (small town where I grew up) , West (zech town with great Czech treats like kolaches and pigs in a blanket) and McKinney (north of Dallas). My oldest friend, Pam, lives there with her husband, 4-yr old son Noah and brand new Logan (baby boy, born 5 days prior to our arrival).

Babies always seem to make visits more fun.

Isn't he tiny?!

Big brother proudly holding Logan (this lasted ~20 seconds).

After a few hours, Pam and Ken sent us on our way to....Texarkana. Well, it was a place to stay for the night. The next day we crossed the border into Arkansas and veered North from I-30 to near Hector, AR. Back in the day (i.e. prior to my birth), my parents bought a piece of land in rural Arkansas, built a home with no electricity (no power tools) and lived there with 2 children, goats, pigs, a few snakes and more than a few bugs. Eventually they decided to move away and sold their home to their friends, which still there today.

Nice work, mama and papa.

Hans and Susan are very committed to living off their land from keeping goats for milk and cheese to growing enough vegetables to eat throughout the chilly winter. Yum...and very inspirational for me.

We also checked out where my fam bathed (spring-fed)....looks chilly, eh?
(It only looks sinister due to my flash.)

They have a really lovely farm and it was great to meet this extension of my family.

Hans sandwich: Susan Heaney, Hans Heaney, Susan Rain

Next day, onward ho! We spent another day in the car speeding through eastern Arkansas, across the Mississippi River into....
Then across the state of Mississippi and into Alabama and FINALLY arrived in lovely Birmingham:

What a trip! It was great and now my next adventure will be.....
my apartment.

The Great Trip to the Deep South

This week I've been packing up, moving out of Arizona and starting my road trip to Alabama.

First, I gathered a few bare essentials from Trader Joe's (I'll be living 2.5 hours from the closest one) and the local Mexican food store:

It's possible I've gone overboard, but you can never have too much mac and cheese, right?

Next step was to pack the large steel box with all my stuff and let someone else transport it across the country.

Andy demonstrated the size of an empty cube....

...and then dutifully packed all my stuff in there!

A few days later, after some tears, I packed up my little car and headed up to Flagstaff to pick up my mother to begin our roadtrip. First we hit Albuquerque and stayed with my friends Autumn and Enmanuel, who put us up and style and then sent us on our way Saturday morning (only after answering the state question, green or red?, at breakfast). Saturday was a long day, when we drove from Albuquerque, NM to Austin, TX, about 700 miles. But we had loving arms to greet us there, where we stayed with my Granny (my mother's mom). Sunday morning we had lots of visitors, including the Tuckers: Peter, Trish and their adorable daughter, Francis.

Francis is learning to walk on her own and is quite enamored with being mobile.

Tomorrow we move on to Dallas to visit with more friends and then Arkansas, where we will be visiting an old family home on Tuesday....