Interview Season

I am writing this while on the airplane flying from Denver, Colorado to San Diego, California. I was at a dermatology residency interview today in Madison, Wisconsin. For the last several weeks I have been flying to cities all over the U.S. to interview for dermatology and transitional year residency programs. I am half way done and have my last interview February 1. Last month we were in Boise for a dermatology rotation with Dr. Randy Burr that was so much fun. We had a great time with my family and enjoyed celebrating Christmas and New Year’s with them.

The day after New Year’s I flew to Washington, D.C. for a dermatology interview with Washington Hospital. My cousin Tiffany Perry picked me up from the airport and let me stay at her place. She also took me on a car-ride tour of downtown D.C., which was really neat. We parked and walked up to the Jefferson Memorial, but it was really cold out and we went home after that. My interview was on Thursday, so I got to experience getting around on the metro and bus systems in D.C. I managed to make it to my interview location and had a nice day.

I flew back into Salt Lake late Thursday night, where my dad picked me up (thanks Dad) and dropped me off at Grandma Faun’s house, where Steph and the boys were (thanks Grandma Faun for letting us use your home). Steph and the rest of the family had driven to Utah earlier in the day for Jennie’s wedding open house the night before her wedding.

We got up early enough on Friday to get the kids all dressed and ready to go to the temple. They stayed in the waiting room with Annette, Mindy, and some other cousins, while Steph and I were able to go inside the temple for Jennie and Dalin’s wedding and sealing ceremony. The ceremony was so neat and wonderful, especially since the man who performed the sealing was an old friend from when we lived in Utah several years ago. He gave some really good advice about learning to love your spouse even more as you came to know more of their faults and shortcomings. It is still weird to think that Jennie is now married – I still think of her sometimes as barely a teenager. But we are so happy for her and Dalin.

Pictures outside after the ceremony were crazy. We had gotten new white shirts for the boys to wear in the picture, but then it was so cold out that they ended up having to wear their coats. There was a cold wind blowing, which made the dresses and hair fly all over the place and kept the babies crying – hopefully they got some ok pictures. Then we went to a church for a wedding lunch and then later to Mel and Christian’s to hang out for a little. It was so much fun to see everybody and just enjoy a good time together.

That night we had to get everything packed up to catch a plane Saturday morning for San Diego. My aunt Sue took us to the airport (thanks Sue) and taught us a nice way to get through security more quickly. We made it down to San Diego without too much trouble and rushed back to Steph’s parents’ home. Once there, we quickly changed into our Sunday clothes, just as the bishop arrived. We did Isaac’s baby blessing on Saturday in the Chidester home, since all the family was together only for the rest of that day. It was so neat to have everyone together for that event. I felt impressed to bless Isaac with continued health and growth; with the knowledge of how he ended up here on Earth and how blessed he is to be born into a home with the gospel; that he will be a calming influence for the family and his brothers; that he will serve a mission and seek to marry in the temple; and that he will stay close to the Lord through prayer and personal revelation.

We had a little bit of time afterward to exchange Christmas presents – the boys got some trains and a train set that they love from Nana and Papa, and we appreciate all the other gifts too. Then the adults were off in the cars to Newport, about 1.5 hours north, to do a sealing session in the temple there. Our boys stayed with Matthew, Aaron and some family friends who are living with Steph’s family (thanks to all of you for watching them). We got up to the temple and Grandma Faun realized that she had left the paper behind that she needed – but the temple staff were still able to help us. For some reason there was a miscommunication about us coming, so they didn’t have us on their schedule, but then a sealer/recorder happened to still be in the temple just at the right time to help us. Everything seemed to work together so that we could get those sealings done that night, and we had a wonderful time spending the night together as a family. We realized that it was the first time in about 3 years that the entire family was together.

Sunday morning I took off early for an interview on Monday in Marshfield, Wisconsin and then the one today in Madison, Wisconsin. My flight went through Denver and was supposed to land in Madison, but due to fog, our flight was diverted to Chicago O’Hare. I was pretty flustered -- especially since we have made an effort to avoid the O'Hare airport at all costs after the last time I got stuck there and missed some interviews because of their delayed and cancelled flights. I had to then wait for some time to catch a bus up to Madison, which took about 3.5 hours to get there. In Madison I picked up my rental car and then drove the 2 more hours to Marshfield. I have never driven through such dense fog before. I was glad to have the GPS that I decided to rent along with the rental car, because otherwise I probably would have gotten lost. I had been planning on getting there around 3pm, but instead arrived at 11pm. I missed the dinner that night, which I was sad about, because that is when you get to spend time with the residents and learn from them in an informal setting what the program is like, but at least I made it there for the interview on Monday. Marshfield is a pretty small city – about 22,000. I really enjoyed my interview day there. The program director there is very committed to education and teaching residents to become excellent clinicians. They have a very strong medical dermatology and dermatopathology program, with an ok surgical derm portion, though not as much surgery experience as I would ideally like. They use an electronic medical record system and each resident is loaned a digital camera, a dermatoscope (kind of like a magnifying glass with lights that help you to look more closely at the skin), and a notepad laptop. The place seems very family friendly and has a very low cost of living. I liked it there.

Once done in Marshfield, it was back to Madison last night for another dinner. The fog was still present and made for an interesting drive – at least it kept me on my toes. After checking in at the hotel I walked to the Italian restaurant and met the Madison residents. We had a pleasant evening and then an enjoyable interview day today. All of the faculty again seemed very nice. Madison is a nice city, a little smaller than Milwaukee, but cost of living is about the same as Milwaukee. This program seems to have a little more surgery opportunities, but it might be a little harder to find a house that we could afford. This is going to be a tough decision as we try to decide how to rank all the different programs. There are so many things to think about – the program itself, the city and surrounding area, cost of living, schools, weather, and so much more. I am excited to find out in March where we will be for the next 4 years. We’ll continue to keep you informed.