Likes and dislikes

• I like cold-brewed coffee! I tried what that article recommended and it turned out well--I'm not sure it is "better" than hot-brewed, though (coming from someone with fewer functional taste buds than the average person, mind you).
• I don't like cooking for myself. I've gotten very lazy and just end up eating "whatever" once I get home--recent dinners have included soup, peanuts and raisins mix, turkey and cheese wraps, a hodge-podge of corn on the cob/mangoes/oatmeal, etc. I should gear up and do some "real" cooking one of these days. And this is an easy month, so "being busy" is not a legitimate excuse. Blah. I miss being invited over to others' houses to eat...
• I like Crystal Light "on the go" packets, which I add to my water bottles while at work.
• I really like the people in the OB department! Saturday night was the "OB roast," where we did a lot of "roast'n and toast'n" to honor the outgoing chiefs and enjoyed lots of great food (sushi, the most delicious-looking cakes I had ever seen in my life [from the local place Rick's Dessert Diner, which I have yet to try!], etc.) and fellowship at the house of one of the attendings.
• I really like the Arcade Church that I attended this past Sunday morning and think that I might have found a church to call "home." I enjoyed the contemporary aspects, such as the mellow guitar music and worship songs (loved the lead singer's voice), but also the traditional feel (we sang "How great thou art" to a more contemporary accompaniment at the end).
• I didn't like the Flood church service I attended later that day just to try out another group. It was too casual and new-agey-feeling.
• I like my short hair, but I hate how I can't really put it up. It's so warm here that I've been trying to get it off my face with things other than headbands... but I end up with a small poky pony-tail with the short "bangs" parts being held off my face with various clips... I think I'm going to try to grow it out for a while.
• I don't like my current AT&T bill-- it included lots of one-time charges and taxes that I was unprepared for. I'm thinking of trying the measured service plan, where you pay less for the landline but pay per local call (3c for the first minute, 1c/minute for time thereafter). I haven't quite gotten a feel for how much I will use the landline for local calls vs. how close I am to going over my daytime minutes on my cell, but this switch may be in my future...
• I like running more than I ever used to. Yesterday, I signed up for the Fleet Feet fall training program, which could technically whip me into shape for an October half-marathon. We'll see how that goes.
• I don't like my closet size. My clothes are too smushed and yesterday, I was looking everywhere for a pair of pants I wanted to wear (which I didn't find in the morning) that I later remembered live in my dresser because they didn't make the "closet cut."
• I like wearing "normal" clothes to work every day. I can actually choose the pants or skirt and top that I want to wear and make an "outfit" out of them (and accessories, of course), instead of having my suit supply dictate what I wear. I wore my purple and green "Nigeria" skirt today and got a ton of compliments!
• I don't like Lotus notes, the UC Davis e-mail program. I haven't figured out the millions of icons, and when you reply to an e-mail, it doesn't show the text of the original e-mail directly below it. It takes forever to load and log in. You also can't access it (without going through slow webmail) if someone other than yourself is logged onto windows on the computer you're working at. And my domain name is so long that I haven't given it to anyone to use as a real "contact" for me.
• I like gmail instant messaging! I briefly talked to Jesse yesterday while I was catching up on e-mails, which was fun!
• I don't like how gmail labels things as "conversations" so that, even if you've responded to one person on a group e-mail chain, if someone else on the list writes you back, it comes back as the same whole conversation. Or if multiple people in the group reply at different times, it shows up as one e-mail "conversation" even though there might be more than two unread messages in the "trail." I'm not sure I'm explaining this well, but this aspect of gmail is kind of irritating. I feel like I can never clean out my inbox (and yes, I'm compulsive like that)! :)
• I love speaking Spanish with patients. Yesterday, I was basically running the OB/GYN Spanish-speakers-only clinic. I even surprised myself with how comfortable I felt being the sole provider with no interpreters present-- I did a whole new OB visit with genetic and other history, talked to a woman about her IUD and having it out, and did a few OB checks.
• I don't like being slow and staying at work late. I had two new OB visits this afternoon (one Spanish-speaking only), and the paperwork took forever... since FP is "online" but still has OB paper forms, it seemed like I had to do double the work... and I was there till well past 6:30. I left the building and then forgot that I was still wearing a fitted skirt and would need to change back into my shorts... except that the building was closed. So I tried to change quickly and discretely behind a bench :)
• I love riding home in the sunshine. The good part about it being late was that it was cooler and there was little traffic.
• I don't like being heckled by drivers while I'm biking. I know the helmet is sexy and all, but honestly. I don't need any more distractions that might cause me, the klutziest girl alive, to turn my head to give an evil look and then crash. I almost wiped out yesterday waving to my intern classmate, Adeel, when I saw him walking on the sidewalk as I rode home.
• I like having access to the EMR while at home (can check daily schedules, finish up notes you didn't get a chance to do in clinic, etc.). But this is also slightly dangerous, because it may lead to "bringing work home" with you.
• I like the book Freakonomics, which I recently started and which argues some controversial points such as: teachers and sumo wrestlers have a lot of incentives to cheat, crime rates in the 80s and 90s dropped due to the legalization of abortion with Roe v. Wade, real estate agents are like the Klu Klux Klan, and more. I'm not that far into it yet, nor do I generally read much nonfiction, but I think this one has sucked me in.
• I love holidays!!!!! Meanie Mayo never gave us "normal" holidays off... I think this is my first real "July 4th" holiday in years! :)