i have finished most of my usual pre-drive-to-ithaca preparations. amanda is asleep. she started her inpatient pediatrics rotation at children’s hospital, but apparently she did not really have a busy day today, which was frustrating for her.
amanda has been stressing out about what specialty to do when in residency as it is not enough to just want to be a “doctor” anymore. there are many things she finds interesting, but nothing that really grabs her imagination. in reality, there is no wrong choice, as one can always do something else in life. after all, i still don’t know what i want to do when i grow up.
then there’s always the more practical route: choose the specialty that gives the best return on your investment (i. e. loans) and/or best lifestyle afterwards (lifestyle being money/unit time, hours, work environment, etc.). i am sure people choose their career that way; amanda’s how to get into residency book talks about this method at length.
anyways, i am sure all will become clear.
this weekend was kinda relaxed. amanda was in between rotations so she had the weekend off, but we did not do all that much. yes, i did buy much fitness equipment as mentioned in the previous entry.
we did go out to dinner with lainie to toro last friday and used the gift certificate her parents gave us for the holidays. it was lainie’s cheat day; she is on some famous diet/fitness plan whose name is escaping me… one day a week she can eat whatever she wants whenever she wants.
lainie finally finished her take-home toxicology exam. it was theorectically due weeks ago. woohoo.
that reminds me… i have to finish the holiday recaps so i can get back to preholiday tsunami report and summer vacation recaps. yes, i really will get them done.
there was also our usual brunch at solid grounds with erika on sunday. yes, we probably eat out too much, but food is our main social activity (cooked by us or someone else). but, we hit our budget targets for the last four months even with our decadent december, so we are obviously cutting back on other things. dining out is considered “dicretionary” income and that category for both of us has been cut back for the new year.
of course, i cheated a bit an put my fitness equipment under our “slush” fund. health is not dicreationary! but since i am discontinuing gym membership we will still be ahead overall. besides, my nascent buffness made shoveling our cars out from the weekend’s snowstorm much easier.
eh, this entry seems kinda lame and directionless, so perhaps i will sign off, wake amanda and piglet up from their slumber on the couch and take them to bed. good night.