This has been quite the busy week. Steph’s mom went home on Monday – we already miss having her here. The boys especially had so much fun playing with Nana. We are so grateful for all the help you gave us during these trying few weeks and can’t wait to spend more time together in January.
On Tuesday I took my second biggest test of medical school – it is called the USMLE Step 2 CK (United States Medical Licensing Exam, Step 2, Clinical Knowledge). I had to go to a testing center about 20 minutes away. The test consisted of 368 multiple choice questions divided into 8 blocks of 46 questions, with an hour to do each block – so 8 blocks total. You also get 1 hour of break time that you can use throughout the day as you want. Needless to say, it is a very long and mentally exhausting exam. I feel pretty good about my performance and hope that when I get my score back in the next 6 weeks it will reflect those feelings. :) Now I have some time off before the next “big” test – Step 3 of the licensing exams, which most people take near the end of their first year of residency (the internship year).
It felt so good to get that test done – no more having to spend every free minute doing practice questions online. Grandma Faun is here visiting and helping out with baby Isaac and the other boys, and she offered to watch the boys Tuesday night when I got home so we could go out to dinner to celebrate. We took her up on her offer and enjoyed a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Thanks grandma!
I had my first interview this week for a transitional year program at St. Luke’s, a hospital here in Milwaukee. Just as a reminder, I am applying to one year transitional year (intern year) programs and 3 year dermatology programs that will begin after I finish the transitional year. So far I have 6 transitional year and 7 dermatology interviews scheduled over the next few months. My first dermatology interview is the end of this month.
So for my interview Friday I had to be at St. Luke’s at 8:00am. There were 5 of us interviewing. This program has 13 spots available, and they said they interview about 80-100 people for those spots. They showed us a PowerPoint about the program, and then we were each interviewed by two doctors – the director and his assistant. One of the two had previously looked over our application and so already knew quite a bit about us, and the other was meeting us fresh for the first time – that way, they could get two different perspectives on us to help in choosing who they wanted. I think the interviews went really well and we had a lot to speak about in each one. Then we were taken on a tour of the hospital by two of the interns currently in the program, and then they took us to lunch, where we could sit and casually ask questions about the program. I am really impressed by this program – how much time and effort they put into the interns, the variety and flexibility of schedules, and how happy the interns seemed. It helps that several people in the ward are currently in the program or have been in the past, and so we have been able to talk with them and get their opinions, and everyone that has done that program really likes it.
Yesterday was our stake temple day. I ended up going down with a friend from the ward, Keith Wells, since both of our wives had just recently given birth and needed to stay home to feed the little ones. We had fun getting to know each other a little better on the drive down and back. I love going to the temple because I always learn so much while I am there and come back feeling so refreshed and full of peace. I can enter with lots of thoughts or troubles on my mind and leave with answers to my questions and feelings of comfort that things will work out. It is a small sacrifice to make time to get to the temple, but the blessings that come from the experience are so much bigger.
When we got back Keith helped me to set up our network between my laptop and our desktop so that I can print and share files over the wireless connection through the router (thanks Mom and Dad Bradshaw – we love it). So now I can sit on my couch in the front room and write things on my laptop (like this blog), save files to our shared file that Steph can access over on the other computer, or print a copy of my blog entry for Steph to add to the journal she is keeping of our blog entries – pretty cool. I love technology.
Today at church the theme in sacrament meeting was on gratitude – fitting, with Thanksgiving coming up this week. As the speakers were talking, I just started to reflect on all the things that I have to be grateful for. Heavenly Father continues to bless me and my family with all the things that we need. He makes sure that we are taken care of while here in Milwaukee, away from most of the family, with four little kids, surviving on medical school loans, and trying to get into a really competitive residency (dermatology). I am so grateful for my knowledge of a Heavenly Father who loves us and knows us personally and who we can talk with in prayer; of His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, who sacrificed everything so that I can be happy and return to live with them; for a living prophet who receives revelation in our day to lead the church, for the scriptures that we can go to for answers to life’s big questions, and for all the blessings that come through the plan of salvation and being a member of this church.
Now we are listening to beautiful music by Jon Schmidt while I write this blog. Camden is dancing in the background and Isaac is watching with wide eyes. Sundays are so wonderfully nice and relaxing – a day away from the commotions of the world and everyday life; a day to spend with the family and just enjoy being together.
Showing posts with label St. Luke's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Luke's. Show all posts
18 November 2007
09 October 2007
Random Unrelated Topics
So, I’m wondering if I started to feel Braxton Hicks contractions yesterday. You would think that by the fourth kid I would know for sure, but each one is different. It felt like the pain of contractions, and they were spaced out like Braxton Hicks, but instead of being a pain down low like with cramps, it was painful all over my belly. And they happened every once in a while all day yesterday. So, we’ll see. It’s interesting that I haven’t felt anything up until now – except with my first pregnancy, I felt the Braxton Hicks contractions much earlier on in the other pregnancies.
On a different subject, I think there is something seriously wrong with our VCR. We have a nice VCR-DVD player combination machine that we got when we were married, and we have really liked having the ability to play both types of movies. The DVD part of the machine is working fine, but the VCR has started having problems the last couple of days. A couple days ago I taped a show from tv and when I went back to watch it, every time I tried to fast forward through a commercial, the tape paused and wouldn’t let me hit play. If I stopped the tape it would let me rewind or fast forward, but even if I only hit the button for a couple of seconds it would quickly jump through most of the tape all at once. I figured that the tape was done for – we must have just taped shows on it over and over so many times that we needed to use a fresh tape. We tried that last night, but found that the machine had the same problem with a different tape. After messing around with it for a while, we finally found that the tape would only play correctly if Michael sat on the floor a foot in front of the VCR – if he would get up or even shift his weight a little, the tape paused. So, he sat on the hard wood floor last night for an hour while we watched our show that we had taped. It was actually rather comical to watch, although I’m sure it was less than comfortable for him. We have never heard of a problem like this before – any suggestions?
And on an entirely different topic, I had to mention something that happened to me yesterday. The other day I wrote a lengthy post about always getting negative comments from strangers about having all boys. So, I was getting all the boys out of the van yesterday morning to take Kolby into his preschool class at the YMCA, and a middle-aged man walked by and very jovially announced, “Three boys – you are so lucky! And probably another boy on the way. That is great!” I smiled and he just kept on walking by, and I felt like that nice comment from a stranger maybe (in some small way) redeemed all the other strangers who have said such thoughtless things when they saw how many boys we have.
Oh, and I just wanted to mention a cute thing Eli said last night. We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant last night to celebrate Michael finishing one of his Step 2 Board exams, (Pedros is quickly becoming one of our ‘favorite’ restaurants. Not so much because of the amazing cuisine – we like the food fine – but more because they keep sending us buy-one-get-one-free dinner coupons. They serve tortillas and chips and salsa and we usually take sandwiches and some snacks for the boys, and then Michael and I each order a meal and one of them is free with the coupon, so it ends up being a pretty cheep dinner for our family. No, we have no shame, we are not to proud to take sandwiches to a restaurant for our kids – but kids can be picky sometimes and not eat the restaurant food anyway, so why waste the money? We are just wondering how old our kids will get before they start demanding ‘real food,’ I guess when it gets to that point, we will just have to stop eating out altogether). :)
Well, I was going to tell about the funny thing that Eli said. We were at the restaurant and at one point in the meal the boys noticed a painting of a rooster hanging on the wall behind them. I said something about the rooster, and Eli said, “No, it’s not a rooster.” (I just assumed that he thought it was a chicken, and that maybe he wasn’t familiar with the word ‘rooster.’) Kolby told him that it was a rooster, and he said, “No, a moose.” I smiled and Kolby corrected him and told him it was a rooster again, and Eli said, “No, a mooster.” I thought that was pretty cute.
Ok, last thing. While I was writing this, Michael just called and said that he got another interview for a transition year program here in Milwaukee. It is at St. Luke’s Hospital, which is supposed to have a nice transition year. He set it up for November 16th. It has been nice to get a few invitations already. We’re just waiting until next month to start hearing back about dermatology residency interviews. Hey, here’s a question for any of our fellow medical students, residents, or fellows that may happen to be reading this: As you may know, most of the interview invitations are done by e-mail, and with many of the programs it seems that if you don’t respond to the e-mail invitation immediately, all the interview dates may already be full by the time you call. We heard of another student setting it up so that she receives a message on her pager when she gets a new e-mail (so she doesn’t have to worry about checking her e-mail every 20 minutes each day). Does anyone know how to do this? Is this something you do through your e-mail settings, or something extra that you have to pay for through your pager service (or both?) If anyone knows about how to set that up, that would be great, thanks!
On a different subject, I think there is something seriously wrong with our VCR. We have a nice VCR-DVD player combination machine that we got when we were married, and we have really liked having the ability to play both types of movies. The DVD part of the machine is working fine, but the VCR has started having problems the last couple of days. A couple days ago I taped a show from tv and when I went back to watch it, every time I tried to fast forward through a commercial, the tape paused and wouldn’t let me hit play. If I stopped the tape it would let me rewind or fast forward, but even if I only hit the button for a couple of seconds it would quickly jump through most of the tape all at once. I figured that the tape was done for – we must have just taped shows on it over and over so many times that we needed to use a fresh tape. We tried that last night, but found that the machine had the same problem with a different tape. After messing around with it for a while, we finally found that the tape would only play correctly if Michael sat on the floor a foot in front of the VCR – if he would get up or even shift his weight a little, the tape paused. So, he sat on the hard wood floor last night for an hour while we watched our show that we had taped. It was actually rather comical to watch, although I’m sure it was less than comfortable for him. We have never heard of a problem like this before – any suggestions?
And on an entirely different topic, I had to mention something that happened to me yesterday. The other day I wrote a lengthy post about always getting negative comments from strangers about having all boys. So, I was getting all the boys out of the van yesterday morning to take Kolby into his preschool class at the YMCA, and a middle-aged man walked by and very jovially announced, “Three boys – you are so lucky! And probably another boy on the way. That is great!” I smiled and he just kept on walking by, and I felt like that nice comment from a stranger maybe (in some small way) redeemed all the other strangers who have said such thoughtless things when they saw how many boys we have.
Oh, and I just wanted to mention a cute thing Eli said last night. We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant last night to celebrate Michael finishing one of his Step 2 Board exams, (Pedros is quickly becoming one of our ‘favorite’ restaurants. Not so much because of the amazing cuisine – we like the food fine – but more because they keep sending us buy-one-get-one-free dinner coupons. They serve tortillas and chips and salsa and we usually take sandwiches and some snacks for the boys, and then Michael and I each order a meal and one of them is free with the coupon, so it ends up being a pretty cheep dinner for our family. No, we have no shame, we are not to proud to take sandwiches to a restaurant for our kids – but kids can be picky sometimes and not eat the restaurant food anyway, so why waste the money? We are just wondering how old our kids will get before they start demanding ‘real food,’ I guess when it gets to that point, we will just have to stop eating out altogether). :)
Well, I was going to tell about the funny thing that Eli said. We were at the restaurant and at one point in the meal the boys noticed a painting of a rooster hanging on the wall behind them. I said something about the rooster, and Eli said, “No, it’s not a rooster.” (I just assumed that he thought it was a chicken, and that maybe he wasn’t familiar with the word ‘rooster.’) Kolby told him that it was a rooster, and he said, “No, a moose.” I smiled and Kolby corrected him and told him it was a rooster again, and Eli said, “No, a mooster.” I thought that was pretty cute.
Ok, last thing. While I was writing this, Michael just called and said that he got another interview for a transition year program here in Milwaukee. It is at St. Luke’s Hospital, which is supposed to have a nice transition year. He set it up for November 16th. It has been nice to get a few invitations already. We’re just waiting until next month to start hearing back about dermatology residency interviews. Hey, here’s a question for any of our fellow medical students, residents, or fellows that may happen to be reading this: As you may know, most of the interview invitations are done by e-mail, and with many of the programs it seems that if you don’t respond to the e-mail invitation immediately, all the interview dates may already be full by the time you call. We heard of another student setting it up so that she receives a message on her pager when she gets a new e-mail (so she doesn’t have to worry about checking her e-mail every 20 minutes each day). Does anyone know how to do this? Is this something you do through your e-mail settings, or something extra that you have to pay for through your pager service (or both?) If anyone knows about how to set that up, that would be great, thanks!
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