Three-day Freedom!

Residency has been good for at least one thing-- appreciation for time off. I still am so envious of people who, on a regular basis (if not every week) have two protected days off which they can call a weekend. I still am surprised every time that someone tells me that I have a free "holiday" off from clinical responsibilities (who knew that Cesar Chavez was such an important guy? And how awesome is a three-day Memorial Holiday?!), as it still boggles my mind that "normal" people can count on having federal holidays off.

Since this was our rotation-switch weekend and I start a new outpatient rotation (SURG 2), this week, I realized that I had the Memorial Day Monday holiday off! Although I have been a bit spoiled this spring with most weekends off, I haven't had a scheduled three- day weekend in a while, which increases significantly the possibilities for travel! :)

Kelvin and I took off on Friday for Orange County; it was a smooth drive down the I-5 and we enjoyed a fun evening of Korean food with friends of his from junior high and HS. Saturday, we hit up the local swap meet (a favorite of mine) before eating Pho for lunch (mmm... the food down south rocks!) and heading out to Riverside for the wedding of Rick and Debbie, a college friend of his.

The wedding was beautiful, complete with the groom singing to his bride during the ceremony and touching toasts. We then had dinner with Kelvin's family at a great ramen place, followed by scrumptious home-made desserts.

Here are some photos of us, all dressed up! (Thanks so much to Char, who found this awesome dress at a yard sale and gave it to me and to K's little sis Katherine for her expertise with make-up and hair-styling!)

Us with the lovely Bride

K and another college bud, Stephanie, with the happy Bride and Groom

We had to leave OC early Sunday morning to make a 6 am hot air balloon ride in Santa Paula, which is just south of Santa Barbara. If you recall, while in Cambodia in February, we did go up in a fixed-line balloon which, although kind of lame, was cheap and, at that time, was the closest I've come to riding in a real hot air balloon. However, we agreed that had to do the "real deal."

We rode the balloon for 40 minutes or so over the Limoneira Ranch close to the coastline, with really nice sunrise sights. I must say, though, the blowing up of the balloon (and then seeing the fire) was almost more impressive to me!

Getting ready...

... to go up, up, and away!

I loved seeing the shadow that we cast on the fruit orchards below.

The balloon experience concluded with a light breakfast and champagne (mimosa) toast, which was quite lovely.

With the whole day ahead of us, we headed into the classy beachside town of Santa Barbara, where we first got to attend mass at the Santa Barbara Mission (the 10th California mission), which was established in 1786.

We then ambled around the pretty Botanical Gardens, sections of which were blooming with wildflowers.

We had fantastic weather, and after a yummy Italian lunch on the patio at Palazzio's, we spent some time snoozing on East Beach before stopping by the still-functioning and impressive 1929 Courthouse and getting great views of the city from atop the Tower.

Our day concluded in the quaint (and touristy) town of Solvang, which was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish educators and whose buildings and downtown are all constructed in true Danish style. Having spent a good amount of time in Denmark, where my parents lived for several years, as did my sister, and despite the cheesiness of it all, I really got a kick out of wandering around "Copenhagen street," as well as seeing familiar names (we stayed at the Kronborg Inn) and various Hans Christian Andersen tributes.

Our weekend was capped with, today, a visit to Hearst Castle, a spectacular structure and top CA tourist attraction (which I have wanted to visit for three years!) outside of San Simeon, a little town on California Highway 1.

The castle was built in the 1920's for both a residence and guest house by the newspaper/journalism tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who both inherited and cultivated wealth and wanted to display beautiful art modeled after many of the Spanish and Italian styles he had viewed on his many European adventures.

It was truly breathtaking. I am not sure actually how many rooms exist in the whole place, but we toured the Casa Grande, complete with guest bedrooms, the refectory (dining hall), and "morning room," as well as the grand pools (indoor, and outdoor Neptune pool) and spectacular gardens and fountains.

I must say, it was worth the visit!

Top Plaza

View from the Hill

Gardens

Our tour guide by the Casa Grande

Indoor pool

Neptune Pool

... and as viewed from the Neptune Terrace

The drive back to Sac was perhaps my least favorite part of the weekend trip.

While we did see a colony of Elephant Seals (awesome! See below) on Hwy 1 just north of Hearst Castle and while the drive past Big Sur and up the coast is beautiful, it is also very slow and (it being curvy) nauseating at times. We then hit traffic leaving Monterey and didn't get back until 7 hours after we left San Simeon. Nevertheless, it was worth it!

Can't wait until the next trip!

Elephant Seal colony

Road humor: is this dog really driving?? :)

Chief-time already??

Lucy, Priyal, Charmian, Julia, and me (minus Gaea and Alex)- 2010- 2011 chiefs!

It is almost June of my third year of residency... which means that, while many of my former med school classmates and all of my original FP classmates are graduating in a few short weeks, I get to look forward to another year of residency "jail"... [OB] "CHIEF YEAR."

I just got back from the CREOG (Council on Resident Education in OBGYN) Resident Workshop and Conference in Pasadena, CA where six out of seven of us soon-to-be-OB Chiefs (Alex was on fellowship interviews and couldn't be there) convened with residents of many other OB programs to learn effective management, leadership, and "conflict resolution" skills to prepare us for next year.

It was a great weekend! Not only was it great for our bonding (due to hectic schedules and required night/day coverage, it is pretty near impossible to ever get a majority of OB residents together, and I had not spent this much time with my OB classmates since starting residency!), but it was very practical.

We learned about different Leadership Styles (The Idealist [me], Activist, Analyst [me in a former life], or Harmonizer). We heard about "Resident as Coach," from Dr. DaRosa, a very motivating speaker from the Dept. of Surgery at Northwestern. We heard about how to create a good learning climate (trying not to let the chaos of L and D take over!). We learned about our individual tendencies in conflict situations ("accommodating," [which I'm high in] "compromising," "collaborating," "avoiding," and "competing."). We learned about effective teaching in the clinic, tips for successful teamwork, and how to give effective feedback to other students and residents (which I definitely know is not a strength of mine). Although residency has shortened my attention span to about 35 minutes and it was very difficult to sit for long periods of time watching powerpoint in the banquet hall, there were enough "active participation" components to the workshops so that we didn't get too comatose. Bottomless pots of coffee also helped.

Thanks to our OB program director, Dr. C, we got to fly Southwest (great airline, I must say!! This was, believe it or not, the first time I'd flown Southwest!), and stay at the hotel (The Langham Hotel in Pasadena) at which the conference was held, which was about as fancy a hotel in which I had ever been a guest! We got to hang out by (and, for smart ones who brought swimsuits [Gaea] in) the jacuzzi, and, in the hours after the didactic and workshop time, look wistfully at the very posh spa (I had a feeling that the department would not be covering what was probably about a $200 massage).

We had some free time to explore downtown Pasadena, and ate wonderful, wonderful food at the italian place Mi Piace and a hip wine bar on Saturday night. I also napped quite a bit in the luxurious hotel bed, which was much needed.

Luz, Charmian, and Julia flew back earlier in the afternoon today, but Gaea and I visited her grandparents in Claremont before flying back to Sac.

Here is Gaea driving our luxury rental convertible :)

I have mixed feelings about next year. It is just soooo hard to believe that we are no longer timid first years running around triage and overwhelmed with the vocera but will now be running L and D! In some ways, I still feel many of the insecurities of being an intern. I am just sometimes not that confident or decisive and worry a lot about how others perceive me. Despite being "eased in" as acting chief on L and D a couple of Sundays ago (and another 24h acting chief call I'll be doing at the end of June), I don't know if I'll ever feel comfortable in the top leadership role. I am downright scared. But somewhat comforting is that my co-chiefs seem to be as nervous as I am. I have worked with awesome chiefs, good chiefs, bad chiefs, and evil chiefs, and I really want to be at least a good one.

I really liked one quote displayed from the philosopher Lao-Tzu: "As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear, and the next, the people hate. When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it ourselves.'"

We all, I think, came away from this weekend motivated and enthusiastic about next year and being as good leaders as we can be. Wish us all luck!

Bands, the Bay, Birthdays, Babies, and Battlestar Galactica!

May has been an awesome month so far!!

Some pictures of things I've been up to recently:

Daughtry concert

Chris Daughtry (former American Idol contestant and now band-leader) and his band, along with Life House, played at Arco Arena last Friday. It was a great concert that Kelvin and I attended with Serena and Brad, and adds to my concert experience (Billy Joel, Greenday) in Sac-town.

Office Party

This past Friday, Wai Kiu and Hanh generously opened up their home to let us host an Office Party. You may recall a former post in which I described my newfound obsession with this TV show; well, Kelvin and I had (for a while) been talking about putting on a theme party.

We asked people to dress as Office characters, had great Mexican food, had fun decorations featuring pictures of the characters and various other Dunder Mifflin paraphernalia, played episodes in the background (to try to convince non-Office-watchers that this is one of the most hilarious and well-written shows ever!), and had people play Trivia (Ashby rocked the house, with Swati a close second). There was also plenty of baby-holding, with Mason now almost 6 months and Madeline about 7 months (I think). Thanks to Wai Kiu for taking so many pictures (a lot of which I stole!).

Some of the group: Kristen (as Karen), Ashby (as Jan), Anika (Angela), Swati (as Kelly), Brenden (as Creed), and me (as Pam) with Mason (as peapod, which is not a character as far as I know of...)

Ashby, me, Kelvin (as Ryan), and Swati

Some decorations:

The Cake (you have to watch this show to get this)

We gelatinized Phi's VA ID card, in the tradition of Jim-Dwight pranks

These posters are made in the spirit of a funny episode where the Office characters debate whether Hilary Swank is, obviously, Hot or Not

My favorite character...

with Mason (in the peapod) and Madeline

Anika/Madeline and Hanh/Mason

Working hard at matching/trivia

This is Ashby with her "fake" prize for winning the Trivia (this rock was what Michael gave to Toby as a going-away present)

Battle of the Residents

The California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) Conference was in San Francisco this weekend. A bunch of us drove up for the day to explore the city and then compete in Jeopardy.

First, we ate fresh Dungeness crab on Fisherman's Wharf. I absolutely adore crab, and this was by far the best I have ever tasted.

Serena/Brad

KV

Serena, Brad, Kelvin, and I then went out to Point Lobos and (on Oliver's recommendation) explored the Sutro Baths, which were a large swimming complex built at the end of the 19th century for the rich and famous; however, they are now ruins (a la those of Roman Baths) after a fire in the 1960s. They were neat to explore, and we hiked a bit around the ruins on a path along the water with view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Jeremy, Michelle, and I then got serious to compete against residents from other California FP residencies in the "Battle of the Residents" where we had to buzz in and answer Jeopardy-style questions, with team collaboration allowed.

The questions were absolutely terribly written, and I think we knew too much to answer them correctly; however, we ended up tying for 2nd with USC (losing to UCSF Fresno). Maybe we will do better next year (if the questions make any medical sense!).

We wandered around a bit (here is the UCD team at the gates of Chinatown) before an absolutely wonderful four-course French four-course meal at Jeanne D'Arc, a nearby restaurant that Michelle picked for us. I think I am still stuffed from the rich food!

(Me, Kelvin, Kristin above the lion, Jeremy, Michelle, Dr. N)

Birthdays!

Today, we celebrated Tom/Betza's not-so-little Rafa and Jeremy/Noelle's little princess Kacey turning one. I can't believe how big they are!

It was a fun afternoon, with tons of kiddos running around everywhere! Thanks to Darina for some stolen pictures.

Me with the ever-smiling birthday boy, who is wearing 2 year old clothing!

Caesar, Kristin (+ Mason), Noelle (with Kacey) and Sarah

We had great food! (Anika, Barb hidden, Kristin [to round out the gray side of the table], Caesar, Tocher, Darina, Cassie, Phi, and me)

What would a CA party be without karaoke?!

Cake!!

(Rafa also had a boy's cake, but I can't seem to figure out on the Mac how to rotate the picture, so I omitted it!)

Blowing out candles with their mommies:

A sampling of little ones!

May is half-over. I hope the second half is just as fun!