Larie's Blog

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Studying and Moving Madness

So I am back again, trying to update my few but faithful...

1) First of all, I've been praying a lot about my first job and God has really been leading. Despite the fact that I was originally told that this wonderful hospital (Providence Newberg) where I am planning to work would want me to sign a year contract for hospitalist work and that they don't have on-call work, God has led such that I was wishy-washy enough at my interview (only being completely honest) and also gave them a list of dates that I was hoping to get off (GYC, AMEN, ?perhaps Bangladesh, etc) that my employer saw the light and offered me an "on-call" contract such that they can provide about as much as full time work if that is what I would like, but I get to call the shots as to when I am available. This is great!!!!!!! That means I will get to come to GYC, AMEN, Bangladesh (if I can get my act together soon enough to prepare), visit Eric and Rachel, and whatever else I jolly well please... : ) Ahhhhhh...... God is good..... I also see a lot of Sabbaths off in my future since I do no plan to work Sabbaths electively (will cover if there is no one else or something comes up and they need me). I also have a clinic "on-call" contract so I can cover for clinic or urgent cares in the area if I want extra cash or just want to keep up those skills.

2) I have been furiously hunting for a place to rent after deciding not to buy this year (due to all the bad economic predictions and my strong desire to pay off my med school debts instead of incur more debt--though it would have been a significant tax deduction). My dream house has been a little country cottage to rent with enough property for a garden and neighbors that are not close enough for me to reach out my window and reach into their window. That is just gross! I originally found something that seemed to perfectly fit this description, but alas, found out that it already had a contract on it, someone had just snatched it up. So I commenced other searching the the Sherwood, Newberg, Dundee area. Those of you who have house hunted before: have you ever noticed that the pictures do not adequately reflect the product that you actually visit? Anyway, I did lots of that... living room too small the fit my couches into, kitchen to small to turn around in, houses that were advertised for the wrong price on line and I get there and find out the reason the house seems like a "steal" is because it actually costs a lot more to rent but they had some major typos in the advertisment (like, only listed it about $500 dollars per month cheaper than it really is). I also learned that you get what you pay for and thus any house in the area with rent less than $1000 is probably not worth paying for....
Anyway, so I had finally settled on the nice house in Dundee that had a decent size back yard at the end of a culdesac with neighbors at least more than 6 inches from my house (just kidding, actually more like several yards away) and got permission the put in a garden. The place is really pretty nice and fairly new and I was only regretting that it was not as country-like as I was hoping.
Then...my Mom happend to call back the little country cottage and see if the contract went through, though I had given up on it. And, what do you know, the contract fell through and the little country cottage was again for rent. So, yesterday I got too impatient to wait and drove out there and fell in love with the property, probably sitting on about an acre or so, surrounded by wheat fields that the owner tends, has a barn and a garage. But I could not see it yesterday so have an appoinment to see the inside of the house today and supposedly I am first in line for the place if I get there a little early...
Stay posted, perhaps the inside of the house is falling apart...

3) So... one way or another I have faith that the moving will commence very soon, whether the little house in town or the country cottage... So I went to a crate place yesterday and bought a bunch of used boxes (only 30 to 90 cents each) and got a ton of boxes for $10 saving myself the dumpster diving...

4) Otherwise I am just studying for boards and starting the packing process... I will say that the amount of books I own is really the most overwhelming part of moving....

Blessings!!! Have a great day!

Friday, July 04, 2008

First Sabbath out of Residency!!!

My last day of residency was June 30th and I have been working nights so actually finished my shift at about 8am. I am so happy to be finished. This week since finishing residency I have working on getting back onto day shift. So far I have not been successful. The first day out I thought I could make it work by letting myself sleep only 5 hours during the day, but apparently that was way too much since I didn't go to sleep that night until about 6 am. Then I really meant to wake up but slept until 2:30 pm. The following night I was tired but lay awake all night, but finally got up at 6 am because I was annoyed that I was accomplishing nothing. Then I stayed up all day even though I was tired. I thought that would do it but you would know that even though I slept last night (making some progress here) I still slept in today until 1:30pm (alarm was set for 9:30am). Well... we'll eventually get back to a normal schedule...
Otherwise I am just trying to start studying for boards but have done very little studying this last week. I have to really get serious this next week.
I am getting excited about coming down to see everyone very soon. I will be flying in to ontario and I think I am getting a rental car. See you all soon!

Goodnight!