22 Wednesday May 2013
Posted in Regular Life
Tags
Last Thursday (the night before the final exam) a tree hit our house and took out the power. Power is finally back as of yesterday, but the computer was blown out in the surge.
So there are many updates, but they will have to wait a little while longer!
16 Thursday May 2013
Posted in Air Force, DoctorSpouses, Regular Life
Tags
Air Force, Boot Camp, COT, DoctorSpouses, Fellow Med Students, Friends, Lonely, Maxwell AFB, Thankful
New DoctorSpouses post is up.
Well, I was worried about being lonely for five weeks, but now that I’ve put travel and visits and everything on a calendar, I’m not sure I’ll even have time to get any projects around the house done!
There are two days “alone” when P. first leaves and then it’s non-stop action until he gets home except for five days “alone” at about the 2/3 mark. I say “alone” with quotation marks because those will also be jam-packed with all the other plans with friends that haven’t yet been officially scheduled.
So the bedroom will get painted (my aunt offered to come and help) but I don’t think any other projects will really get finished.
It’s a nice problem to have.
This experience of P. leaving for boot camp has really made me aware and grateful of how awesome our friends are. It helps that med school ended up being approximately an hour from our college, so we are thankful for that too.
But even if our college friends weren’t nearby, I’m confident my schedule would be nearly as full. There is a real camaraderie among the medical students and the spouses. It makes sense; we’re all in this crazy, stressful experience, unlike anything else in the world, together. And it’s brought out the best in people. (And also brought out a lot of beer, but that’s beside the point.)
We/I’ve had so many offers for things like babysitting, walking the dog, driving us to the airport, picking us up from the train station, going out to lunch, the park, and so on.
Read more here.
15 Wednesday May 2013
Posted in Air Force, Med School, Regular Life
You really never do know what is about to come out of someone's mouth.
I was on a consult month and had just gotten a new patient. Now, I will admit that the feisty patients are some of my favorites- they really break up the day and are by far the most memorable.
This lady was FEISTY. I walked in and was immediately informed that she was doing things her way (as she always had, thank you very much).
11 Saturday May 2013
Posted in Air Force, DoctorSpouses
New DoctorSpouses post is up.
In honor of National Nurses Week, I wanted to write about the people my husband will spend most of his time with in three more years: military nurses.
The military path for nurses is very similar to the path for doctors. The Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) is available for current and soon-to-be nursing students, just as it is for medical students. The HPSP pays for school, mandatory supplies, and a monthly stipend during school. The HPSP program only covers graduate-level schooling though, so those in BSN programs aren’t eligible.
Read more here.
09 Thursday May 2013
Posted in Air Force, In the News
Around the time we got married, The Husband and I had a roommate, M. For reasons unknowable (or at least un-understandable) by me, the two of them had a thing for camouflage. Well, as much into camouflage as two guys can be without going hunting, joining the military, or even owning any camouflage at all for that matter (until Christmas that year with the gift of a camouflage wallet).
They just really liked talking about an pointing out camouflage.
Why the camouflage obsession? According to The Husband and M, it was because “chicks dig camo.” Nevermind that The Husband had a fiancée/wife and M had a girlfriend, neither of whom “dug” camouflage. It was just their inside joke that generic “chicks” apparently love camouflage.
Except it’s not really an inside joke. Apparently it’s an everybody joke. The Air Force’s camouflage is actually terrible camouflage. In war zones like Afghanistan, airmen are told NOT to wear it and to wear Army uniforms instead so that they blend into their surroundings instead of sticking out like the chick-and-RPG magnets that they are. You see, Air Force camouflage was designed with CDI Factor complete with “tiger stripes,” with CDI meaning “Chicks Dig It.”
There’s a whole article about it and the exploding number of camouflage patterns (and government redundancy/waste) at the Washington Post.
Some favorite quotes from the article:
The Army has its own “universal” camouflage pattern, which is designed to work anywhere. It also has another one just for Afghanistan, where the first one doesn’t work.
This is the one that is apparently still better than the AF version.
Pattern No. 7 came from the Air Force. On the surface, that did not make a whole lot of sense: Only a subset of Air Force personnel fight on the ground.
This is apparently why they went with the CDI Factor instead of the usefulness factor. And why not? Everyone else got a new camo pattern!
The Navy spent more than $435,000 on three new designs. One was a blue-and-gray pattern, to be worn aboard ships. Pattern No. 8.
Sailors worried that it would hide them at the one time they would want to be found.
Not really sure why the people on the ships need camouflage. It’s pretty obvious to an enemy that if there’s a ship there are people on it. Now, if the Navy could get one of those whole-ship cloaking devices like on Star Trek…
Anyways, the article is worth a read. It just confirms the idea that the military is just boys with toys.
02 Thursday May 2013
Posted in DoctorSpouses
I was out gallivanting with The Toddler and Kilo last week and never posted the blog I wrote for Doctor Spouses, so you’re getting my ode to Tobias Fünke, M.D. now, along with this week’s installation, the master pack list for COT.
02 Thursday May 2013
Posted in Med School, Regular Life
Tags
Closet, COT, Date Night, Family, FCM, Histology, Immunology, Library, M1, Maymont, Metro Richmond Zoo, Naps, Neuroscience, Organization, Physiology, Restaurant, Shopping, Storytime, Studying, The Toddler, Tour Guide, Zoo
The past few weeks have been busy! First there were final exams in Histology, Physiology, and Immunology, so The Husband is now done with all M1 subjects except Neuroscience and technically FCM, but I’m not sure that really counts since there’s no real studying for it. (FYI, “real studying” means 8+ hours per day. Anything less is kid’s play.)
Then my dad came for a visit so we were out of the house Toddler-in-Richmond style. We did the zoo, Maymont, and library story time. During nap times we got some house projects out of the way (including my personal favorite, installing a new closet system with a tie/belt rack), so that was super helpful and a nice reminder to get some other projects in the pipeline started. That Friday night, The Husband took The Toddler to the Tour Guide party* so Dad and I went out for Indian food. Delicious, but they do not tone the spice down for Americans! “Medium” is the equivalent of “hot” everywhere else. You have been warned.
And now we are two weeks and one day away from the end of M1 year! The Husband has a Neuro test tomorrow, so this weekend is free and I have lots of plans! Some friends are coming over for dinner on Friday. I’d like to finish shopping for COT on Saturday. I’ve made it our mission this weekend to finally finish hanging curtains in the living room and The Toddler’s room and fix the weird curtain rods in our bedroom. One of The Husband’s classmates offered to babysit, so I think we’ll have a date picnic on Sunday and then I’ll gym it up with the workout buddy on Sunday evening.
Monday is going to be nap day.
* The Husband is a tour guide for next year’s interviewees. He is looking forward to scaring them away from med school.
18 Thursday Apr 2013
Posted in Air Force, DoctorSpouses
New DoctorSpouses post is up.
The Commissary is the military equivalent of a grocery store. The difference between The Commissary and a regular grocery store is the grocery store sells things for profit and The Commissary sells things at cost plus 5% for overhead.
There can be some great savings, but not always. It pays to be compare prices to the local grocery store. I’ve been a few times, and only to one Commissary, so this shouldn’t be taken as “The Commissary Bible,” but here are some of the things I’ve learned.
Generics, Coupons, and Loss Leaders
The Commissary does not sell generics. Everything is name brand. The prices are comparable to generics at regular grocery stores, so if you’re already buying generic, you won’t save much money.
The Commissary accepts manufacturer coupons. However, since they are operating basically at cost, they do not double them like other grocery stores sometimes do. There are also no loss leaders for the same reason. If you’re an avid couponer, you may get better deals at a more coupon-friendly/rewards type of store.
If you’re a not-so-avid couponer, The Commissary is a better deal. There are rarely coupons for generics, but brand names have coupons all the time. Since the starting price is roughly the same, name brand plus coupon works out cheaper.
Read more here.
16 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted in Air Force, Regular Life
Tags
9/11, Air Force, Army, Complaining, COT, Evangelicals, Gay Porn, Google, Jingoism, Packing, Patriotism, Socks, Towels
Yesterday or the night before we were out driving and we saw a funny license plate. I can’t recall now what it was, but that’s not important to this story. Around the license plate was a holder that said “Proud to be an Army Wife.” The Husband asked if I wanted one. I responded that it would be a little awkward having two husbands who were in different branches of the military because which base would we live on, but seriously, I’m not really that jingoistic.
Sure I went looking to buy a flag the evening of 11 September 2001 (they were sold out) but for the most part I don’t feel the need to advertise the fact that I’m American to all the other Americans on the street. I am secure in my American-ness. I don’t feel the need to convince other people of my patriotism or shove my beliefs down people’s throats, and I hope others extend me the same courtesy. This is part of the reason evangelicals (of any sort) tend to annoy me.
So this won’t be such a surprise when I say I think the military is full of crap.
I understand the need for a sense of conformity and group-over-self, but I fail to see why this must extend to towels and socks. The Husband needs three (3) pairs of white cotton athletic socks for PT. Either ankle socks and definitely not crew socks, or crew socks and definitely not ankle socks, depending on which official list you look at. He has white cotton ankle socks and white cotton crew socks, but we have to buy new ones because they have tiny logos on them. So now we have to go buy plain white cotton crew socks and plain white cotton ankle socks even though he has otherwise perfectly good socks.
But it’s okay because he will use the socks and some of the old ones are getting holes and need to be replaced and they are a visible part of the PT uniform, which is supposed to be, you know, uniform.
See, you don’t even notice the color of the towels.
But towels are not. However, right there on the official purchase list is one (1) towel, white. I don’t see why. They do their own laundry. The towels don’t leave the dorm. At no point in their training do the officers, fresh from the shower, march around the field in their matching uniform towels. (Now that is a parade I’d like to see!)
We have towels. We have lots of towels. We have lots of nice, absorbent towels. We do not need more towels. We should actually be getting rid of towels because some are old and falling apart and have holes the dog chewed in them when she was a puppy seven years ago. They don’t fit in our closet. But no, I will be going out to buy more towels because ours are not white. Green, pink, blue, brown, plaid, and off-white (ecru? mother of pearl?), but not white.
And that, my friends, is why I think the military is full of crap.
Also, do not go to the site that photo is hosted on at work. It’s totally gay porn. You have been warned! I should have known; I searched for “men in towels.” Oh Google Image Search, you give and then you frighten away.
14 Sunday Apr 2013
Posted in Med School
Apparently, Graft vs. Host is a real thing, and the M1s were learning about it on Friday when The Husband overheard someone mutter “You can’t get it from a hair transplant!“
