Eileen & Shawn's Quick Visit

Eileen and Shawn were on their way to Montana for a medical conference (aka ski trip) and the layover flight in Denver was overbooked. They volunteered to take the morning flight in exchange for free tickets. Megan, Stephen, Joan and I all went together with them to dinner at Tomayo.

Oceanaire Seafood Room

Megan and I tried a new restaurant in Denver called the Oceanaire Seafood Room. We first noticed it in November when we went to the opera. There are several of these restaurants around the country; the menu changes daily to match the fish they fly in each day.

Megan also noticed we had a Denver Nuggets player at the table next to ours; it was Marcus Camby.

Back to School

I returned to school yesterday for my last semester!
I'm taking the following classes:
Strategic Managment
Health Field Study (Project at The Children's Hospital)
Legal/Ethical Environment of Business
Global Health Studies: Comparative Health Systems

To give you an idea of the last one listed, we spent 10 minutes watching the first half of this video:

National Western Stock Show

My aunt Ellen had an inclination to go to the National Western Stock Show and myself, Joan and Dave joined her. I had been to a rodeo as a kid but that was a long time ago. It was interesting. I didn't like when they wrestled the calves down. One got injured, and they carried it out on a strectcher. We also saw part of an auction of the Maine-Anjou breed (see pic). Prior to the auction we walked through the staging area....you would have thought you were at a dog show. There was hairspray and air blowers...

catch phrase!

I flew to Atlanta on Dec. 27 before another big snowstorm in Denver. I spent the days relaxing at home. Eileen and Shawn introduced Suzanne and I to the game Catch Phrase. Suzanne and I teamed up and totally kicked butt! Suzane could guess the word with my very short clues.

Here were some good ones:

Clue: Not kidney, but _____.
Answer: Liver (Eileen didn't like my clue because she said kidney was not the opposite of liver. But this isn't a medical game).



Clue: Eileen used to throw a lot of these as a kid.
Answer: Temper Tantrum (Eileen didn't like this clue either but once again, Suzanne guessed it immediately. Hehe.)

Suzanne's clue for me: Michelle is afraid of these.
Answer: Clowns

Christmas

We got quite a bit of unexpected snow for Christmas in Denver. I had Christmas dinner with Joan and Ellen. Joan and I then worked off our dinner by shoveling the snow in the driveway - it was about 8 inches deep!

Christmas Eve

Joan, Ellen and I saw White Christmas at the Denver Center for Performing Arts on Christmas Eve. We then had dinner at Restaurant Kevin Taylor which is ranked "flawless" in my Gabby Gourmet Restaurant Guide. I had the four course tasting menu including Pumpkin and Mascarpone Ravioli, Chilled Main Lobster Salad, Kobe beef and Creme Brulee for dessert. It was excellent.

Where will I be in July 08?

And the answer is....

The Children's Hospital in Denver.




It surprised me in the end. I had this interview on Friday and absolutely loved it. It was what I was looking for all along.

Detroit, Chapel Hill, stuck in Chicago and an elevator

On Monday I flew to Detroit to interview with Trinity Health. I was interviewing for 3 different locations within their system (Livionia, Pontiac MI and Columbus, OH). On Wed I had an offer for the Livonia location, unfortunately this fellowship system is like "Deal or No Deal" and you have to make a decision within a few days. They wanted an answer by the following Monday. On Thursday I flew to Chapel Hill to interview with UNC Hospitals. I had to beat out 100 other applicants just for the opportunity. I interviewed with 9 people on Friday. They aren't finished interviewing until next week. I had a layover in Chicago...they cancelled my flight. United put me up in a hotel for the night but wouldn't give us our checked bags. I made it back to Denver by Saturday. To top it all off, I briefly got stuck in an elevator in the Denver airport.
FYI: Trying to pry the doors open doesn't work.

30

Oh yes, today I turned 30. Not much of a celebration. I flew from Houston to Atlanta to spend my fall break at home. I'm completely overwhelmed with interviewing, school and work, so no time to worry about 30.

Tara's Wedding

My cousin Tara was married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Houston.

Houston Space Center

Prior to Tara's wedding, we took a trip to the Houston Space Center. The tour included checking out mission control and the building where astronauts train (see pic).

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.