Last Dermatology Interview

I had my last dermatology interview this week and got to see New York City for the first time – too bad I didn’t have more time to enjoy the sights. I guess I’ll have to return with the rest of my family so they can enjoy it too. I flew out early Tuesday morning on a direct flight from San Diego to JFK in New York – a very long flight, but nice not to get stuck in a layover city. I then proceeded to use the NY subway for the first time and did fine. I had to go straight from the airport to the interview dinner. The residents were really nice and the food was really good.

I stayed with a friend of a friend on the upper northwest side of Manhattan, just off of 168th and Broadway. Erin McKinley is a girl I have met on the dermatology interview trail, and she said if I ever got an interview in New York City to email so I could have a free place to stay. Well, it turns out that she was out of town this week interviewing, but she emailed some of her friends from school and found another couple, Jordan and Mary Jacobs, who volunteered to let me crash at their place. They are probably one of the nicest couples I’ve ever met and were so nice to let me stay and have a fun time while in New York – thanks you guys. They have an 8 month old, Manny, in a 1 bedroom, so it is pretty cramped, but they are on the 26th floor with a really cool view of midtown Manhattan.

My interview went well on Wednesday. I really liked the program, but it would be very difficult to live with 4 kids in New York City. The program offers subsidized housing, but even then a 2 bedroom apartment would cost about $2200/month – ouch!! (And there aren't any 3 bedrooms). But New York City is a cool place. After the interview, I walked along the south side of Central Park and over to the Rockefeller center, where I rode an elevator up 87 stories to get to the roof, where I was able to get an awesome 360 degree view of Manhattan, with the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty off to one side and Central Park on the other – way cool. When I got back to Jordan and Mary’s, they ordered some Dominican food and we had a fun night just talking and enjoying delicious food.

It has been nice to spend the rest of this week with the family here in San Diego, especially with the wonderful beautiful 50-70 degree weather. I have really enjoyed just getting up in the mornings and playing with the boys – both here at the house and around the area. Friday we walked to a park that is near the home and enjoyed the pleasant weather while the boys played in the sand and on the playground. Then we had some fun looking through some model condos there by the park – very nice. And yesterday was the 160th anniversary of the Mormon Battalion arriving in San Diego, so they had lots of fun activities for the kids down in Old Town San Diego. The boys got to make bricks, rope, biscuits on a stick that they could eat with freshly churned butter and jam, and pioneer dolls; play pioneer instruments; pan for 'gold;' and take pictures dressed at pioneers. Then we had lunch at a really yummy Mexican restaurant. Last night Matthew, Aaron, and I enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub while it was raining. We challenged each other to do different things in the cold swimming pool water (which was about 50 degrees), like sliding down the slide, or seeing who could sit waist deep in the cold water the longest – it was really fun.

It was also nice to go to church together today again as a whole family. I have been on or traveling to interviews for several of the past weekends so have not been with the family for church. We heard some really good talks on forgiveness and learned about the early life of Joseph Smith and his vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus that brought about the restoration of His gospel to the earth. Such a neat story.