Where will I be in July 08?

I'm applying to Health Administration Fellowships this month. They are 1 to 2 yr positions. You usually report to a senior level executive and get to rotate to different areas of a health system or hospital. They are highly competitive. Usually 50-100 or more applicants for 1 job per hospital. I don't have a good feel for how competitive I am compared to other applicants. Originally I was thinking I'd apply to 10 places but got scared by classmates to apply to more. They have phone interviews in Nov, then on-site in Nov/Dec, so I'll keep the blog updated on my progress. Hopefully there is some progress. Here's the final list in no particular order.
If none of these work out, the answer to "where will I be in July 08" is TBD.

Current List:
Trinity Health: MI/OH
UNC Hospitals: Chapel Hill, NC
The Children's Hospital: Denver, CO

Emory Healthcare: Atlanta, GA
Pitt County Memorial Hospital: Greenville, NC

Pennsylvania Hospital: Philadelphia, PA

First Snow

Like I said...always once before Halloween. Yesterday the high was in the low 70s.

Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies are going to the World Series. This is very hard to believe. I went to a few games in 2005 and 2006, none this year. The games I went to I felt bad for them because the stadium was so empty. They did win the games though, so they weren't that terrible. I can't get into the craziness of the city because I've seen it all before. It all too reminiscent of Atlanta in the early 90's when half of my middle-school skipped class to go to a parade downtown when the Braves didn't win the World Series. And now my graduate school classmates are making jokes about requesting to get out of classes to see the games.

In each of the past 2 years, it has snowed here once before Halloween. It's snows, then several days later gets back to 70 or 80. We are getting close to that time. I'm wondering if they are going to have to call off a game due to snow. I do like the Rockies' color though - purple. That's a team I can root for. As you can tell - not that big of baseball fan but still hoping the Rockies win.

Children's Hospital Foundation Gala

I went to my first Gala with my aunt Joan. It was to raise money for the Children's Hospital in Denver. It was a very fancy affair where most women were in ball gowns and men in tuxes. It was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel downtown. They had a silent auction, dinner, then a live-auction and finally "Earth, Wind and Fire". For those of you that are my age...it was before our time. At least 3 members of the original band were performing. I've posted the one song that I recognized (actually a very good song). It's not too often that I have a chance to dress up, so it was fun for a change.

Celebrity Sighting

Twice now I've got out to dinner with Suzanne in NYC and had a celebrity sighting. This one was at a restaurant we walked to from her place, Ottomanelli's NY Grill. We got there early and it's a really tiny restaurant that only seats around 30 people. It was us, a family and the celebrity in there when we first arrived. I recognized her immediately, but couldn't figure out what movie or TV show I knew her from. Suzanne remembered it was "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". I should have known since I own the movie and can even quote some of her lines. It was Celia Weston. She plays Matthew McConaughey's mother in the movie. She was eating alone and reading a script through dinner. She must live in the area since Suzanne mentioned she's seen her before.
We then walked to Central Park and watched the sunset over the reservoir.

Brooklyn Heights

Suzanne and I went to visit Ryan and Jess in their new apartment in Brooklyn Heights.

The Pick-Up Artist

There is this ridiculous new show on VH1 called "The Pick-Up Artist". I saw a few clips of the first episode. It's a reality show where this guy who calls himself "Mystery" is looking to find his next sidekick to help with his workshops across the country. The workshops are for men to learn the "pick-up artist" skills. This is also related to that book called "The Game" published a few years ago. Now that there's a TV show and a book, pretty soon the majority of women are going to catch on to when men are following their steps to pick-up women. It's really all based on psychology and that the majority of people respond a certain way in a situation. Once you know the right thing to say, you can lead someone down a certain path of conversation and interaction. I find the psychology part of it fascinating. I was in NYC for Labor Day weekend and Suzanne and I went out to 230 Fifth, a rooftop bar/club. I told Suzanne I was hoping someone would come up to us and try the pickup method. We met a friend of Suzanne's and her brother at the bar. After about half an hour or so a group approached us with the method. It was all I could do to not make any smart remarks back. I actually was curious to see how many phases of the method this guy attempted.
First step: The initial approach was some ridiculous story that this guy "wanted our opinion on". He didn't do the best job...Mystery would have told him his story was way too long. I wanted to hear him attempt the next steps though unfortunately I could not hear it. There were 2 other guys that came up with the story teller who had only met him briefly before the 3 approached us. Suzanne and I were soon part of a different conversation with these other 2. Then after a few minutes we figured out they had graduated from GT. Well, then it was all talk of the school days. Finally we all headed home. I actually think the first part of the "mystery method" worked because it did split our group up which is one of the goals. Since I rarely go to bars/clubs, I found the whole thing very entertaining, like a social experiment in psychology.

Secret Purse Closet

Suzanne and I spent the day shopping in NYC. One of last stops was a purse store that I believe sold what were supposed to resemble designer purses. Suzanne had been there before when other visitors were in town. It's a really small store about 8 ft x 10 ft. The stuff in the store is pretty terrible and cheap looking. You have to ask to see the good stuff. Suzanne discretely asked the clerk, then before you know it, she leads us to the back wall of the store which is covered in hanging purses. She pushes a small door open revealing a closet size room with purses covering all the walls. We stepped in, then she closed the door behind us. It was all very secretive like a speakeasy. This secret underground black market for purses...who knew.

Back to School

It's time for a rough semester. I'm taking 5 classes and reducing my work schedule to closer to 20 hours so that I can graduate in the spring.
This fall I'm taking:
Marketing Management
Financial Management
Healthcare Financial Management
International Health
Quality and Productivity

I'll also be applying for a Health Administrative Residency/Fellowship. It I get one of these positions, I'll start it in June 2008. It is usually a one year program where you are precepted by a CEO or executive level person.

Red Rocks Movie Night

I love seeing movies at Red Rocks. My goal was to make it to at least one this summer. I went to see Wedding Crashers. I had already seen the movie, but it is just more fun at Red Rocks. Before the movie started, they performed an actual wedding. This way the audience was all "wedding crashers". Yes, very cheesy. I know lots of cities have places to view movies outdoors in the summer. I think Red Rocks is probably one of the best.

Central City Opera

Ellen, Joan and I went to the Central City Opera to see Cinderella. It was the 75th anniversary of the CC opera. The performances occur in the opera house built in 1878 during the gold mining era. Before the opera starts the ushers group up outside and start singing a song as they march into the opera house. It was very amusing.

We then ate at the Face Bar in the Teller House. It's a cute mountain town less than an hour from Denver.

CSO Concert in the Park

Once again it was that time of year to see the Colorado Symphony Orchestra summer concert in the park. Megan packed an excellent picnic as usual for me, herself and Stephen to enjoy.

The menu included:
Champagne, White wine
tomato and mozzarella caprese salad
blueberries
bread and boursin cheese
chicken salad
shrimp cocktail
gourmet chocolates, Pepperidge Farm cookies

The CSO performed:
Rossini's "Overture to Semiramide"
Bizet "Symphony in C"

Unfortunately it was rained out after these two pieces. The good news is that we had finished the picnic!

Harry Potter

Don't worry, no spoilers, but I felt like I should do a blog entry on the final book. I thought it was great. I love that the characters visited many of the locations from previous books. It will make for a good, but perhaps long movie. I actually went Friday night at midnight to get a copy. I haven't done this in the past but thought for the last book I should. I ended up in line at the grocery store at 11:55pm. The line was the entire length of the cereal aisle. I was about halfway down the line. When I got to the front of the line, I checked back again and it was still the entire length of the cereal aisle. I guess that's not surprising since over 8 million copies sold in the US in the first 24 hours. When I think about how many words J.K Rowling made up when she wrote the series - it's very creative yet the story is somewhat simple. I wish I could have thought of it, and then I'd be a billion dollars richer. And yes...I was finished with it by 8:45 am on Saturday. It reminded me of when I was a kid and would stay up all night reading. It's fun to do every once in awhile.

Fur Elise Slightly Different

I found this on YouTube awhile back. How awesome are these guys?

It's so pretty.

The piano has arrvied, and I love it.

Flowers Update

My last post about planting flowers was on May 27th. It's been about a month and a half now - time to check in on that survival of the fittest theory. The boxes of flowers are doing really well. You can compare this picture to the one I took on May 27th. It's the same flower box just turned around.

Not all of the plants have been so lucky. You can see in the pot on the left here that one of them got a little too toasty in the sun. I tried Miracle Grow, but I couldn't revive it.

Critical Condition

I recently read "Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business & Bad Medicine" by Barlett and Steele. The book covered all the problems that you hear about in the news these days - medical errors, expensive drug costs, insurance claims, etc. Mostly though it focused on how market-driven health care is not working.

The last chapter offered a solution which we hear about often from politics - universal coverage run by a government council. Supposedly we could pay for this by standardization and "efficient computer technology". I loved this sentence: "To reduce medical errors dramatically, the council could oversee creation and operation of a single information technology system that links all health care players - hospitals, doctors' offices, pharmacies and nursing homes." Right (sense my sarcasm)... Currently there are RHIOs (Regional Health Information Organizations) working on this. Usually this means a couple of states are trying to coordinate their IT efforts. This is also a huge debate. I heard speakers last semester that were eagerly working on the Rocky Mtn region's RHIO, then I heard another speaker talk of how it is a waste of time because there are too many objectives and no incentive for any one organization to pay for it. I don't necessarily think gov't run universal coverage is a bad idea, but it is much more complicated then these authors led on; they are also very naive regarding IT systems.

The big health care debate is always summed up by considering access, cost and quality. One of the most interesting speakers I heard last semester said that all other countries have picked one of these as their main objective and that the US system won't improve until we decide what is our priority. Michael Moore recently released his new documentary on the health care system. I haven't seen it but have heard he focuses on how supposedly other countries have gotten it right - Canada, France, England and Cuba. From what I can tell - they've all chosen "access". However access may mean you're guaranteed coverage but go stand in line and wait for it.

Digital Piano

I was determined to buy a digital piano this weekend. I realized recently how much I missed playing, and I think it's a better use of my time then coming home from work and sitting in front of the TV. I went to 3 different stores in Denver to try the various brands. My favorite was a Roland HP-207 at Rockley Music Center. The difference was that the keys on that model of the Roland were made of wood. And the material they use on top of the wood is moisture absorbing. It felt more like a real piano. Plus they modeled the outside to look more like a real piano. You can have an orchestra accompany you. It is so sophisticated I think someone could not know how to play a piano and still sound good on it. If you click on the link to the piano, they have video demonstrating the features. It's amazing where technology has taken music.

I am ultimately going to buy an acoustic piano, but for now I'm sure my neighbors will appreciate that I can wear headphones and play.

The Art of Clear Thinking

A speaker in a class this past semester, Jeffrey Bauer from ACS – Healthcare Solutions recommended the book "The Art of Clear Thinking" by Rudolf Flesch written in 1951. He said it was the best book written on critical thinking.

Some interesting points from the book:
1. All thinking is the manipulation of memories. Even 'inspirations' are based on your experiences and nothing else. Don't forget that everybody, including yourself, has only his own experience to think with.
2. Your memories are more or less distorted. Your brain registers experience differently from everybody else's.
3. Translation helps your thinking because you use two sets of nerve patterns instead of one. This includes translation of English into other words.

Translating is the ideal form of intellectual exercise. Whenever we translate, we are forced to abandon the mental patterns we are used to and get the hang of others completely alien to our thinking.

Wedding Celebration

I attended Kerri and Travis' wedding celebration. They got married in Mexico over a month ago. The lunch was held at the Mt. Vernon Country Club which is near lookout mountain.