"Do Something That Scares You Every Day"

Little known fact:

I'm somewhat leery of heights.

Better known fact:

I rarely refuse a challenge.

So when DRob, my very favorite partner in crime and adventure, says "Hey, let's have some fun this weekend and go to MOSI to do the new high ropes course!" I, of course, say "Great!" - all the while thinking, "Are you nuts?!? THIS is your idea of fun? How about just dinner and a lovely bottle of wine? I'm FUN with wine!"

So this weekend there we were... scampering around a three story girder structure criss-crossed with various rope and/or plank bridges. Felt like a cross between a high steel construction worker and Indiana Jones being chased by angry natives across the gorge. More importantly it was a BLAST!!!

Oh... there was dinner.

And wine.

:)

BSO Date Night

This past weekend Chuck and I drove up to Boston to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform as an early Valentine's Day celebration.  We met up with our friends Jason and Dani for drinks at the Top of the Hub which is a restaurant/bar at the top of the Prudential Tower skyscraper and then headed out to dinner together.

Three hours and a fair number of drinks later it was time to go to the symphony.  Jason and Dani hadn't been able to secure tickets but we convinced them to walk us to the concert hall anyway and when we got there we snuck them in!  Here is a picture of us, flush with success (or perhaps that flush could be attributed to the champagne), you will notice that Chuck and Jason are both holding authentic batons:

Julie: I was published in the Wall Street Journal Today!

I think I can now officially retire...I've been quoted in the Wall Street Journal! Well, maybe not quite retire but it was cause for an official celebratory mani pedi today!!!

Link to article

In November, Sheldon took me to do trapeze for my birthday. It was a ton of fun, and this Friday I got to go again! I talked one of my friends from college into coming with me. Her name is Katherine Chan too, which caused much amusement and confusion amongst the trapeze school staff.




We had a blast, and I got to learn two new tricks!

A Proclamation!

Mayor Bloomberg has proclaimed January 22nd-28th 2012 in the City of New York as "NURSE ANESTHETISTS WEEK"!  Just like that.  In all caps.  He is SERIOUS people.

New York City

I didn't make this but someone with waaaaay more free time did! I would recommend watching it full screen:

Metropolis - A New York City Timelapse from Will Boisture on Vimeo.

Westchester Medical Center

I have made it to rotation number five! (recap: one, two, three, four)  I am at Westchester Medical Center which is north of Manahttan: (my apartment is point A, this hospital is point B)

There is a metro north train that would get me pretty close to this hospital (close enough to take a shuttle) but it doesn't run early enough in the morning for me to get to work on time so for this rotation I will be using a Zipcar to get to and from the hospital!  Zipcar is a car sharing company that basically lets you rent cars by the hour.  I thought about renting a car (from Avis, Budget, etc) for the two months I have this rotation but the problem with that is finding a place to park it.  Street parking is not always dependable and paying for the privilege of parking in a garage around here will cost about $400 a month.  Ouch.  With Zipcar you pay a membership fee ($25) and then you are allowed to rent a Zipcar by the hour (usually $8-$10).  Gas and insurance are included in your hourly rate.  You sign up online for the day and time that you need and then it will show you cars that are available at that time.  There are a bunch of people in Manhattan that use this so there are Zipcars in nearly every parking garage which makes it really easy to go pick one up.  I am at this hospital with another student (who lives on the Upper East Side) so we trade off who rents the car and then that person comes to pick-up the other one and we drive to work.  It takes us about 45 minutes to get there as long as there is no traffic (which there hasn't really been since we are doing to reverse commute of most people coming to work in the city).  I am spending my first month at Westchester doing a cardiac rotation (so I will be in heart-related surgeries like bypass or valve repair, etc) and then in February I will be doing a pediatric rotation - keep your fingers crossed that we keep having such a mild winter so that I can avoid driving in the snow!