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21st August 2011

Randomness

Randomness

1. I am exhausted and have a headache. I haven’t been sleeping well recently. I was on night float last week and did a really good job of switching my schedule to sleep during the day and be awake at night. I’m naturally more of a night-owl anyhow so that wasn’t difficult, but the converting back has been dreadful. Add in the stress of looming boards (Aug 24th, as in 2.5 days from now) and the house situation, yeah, insomnia and I are becoming good friends. It’s 19:30 now and I think I’m going to try to go to bed by 20:00.

2. I have 228 unread messages on my email. For those who understand the signficance: I miss you! [info]bjorks_defender has been making me feel all nostalgic and remembering LJ from 5-6 years ago and how much time I spent on here and how few are still around. I’m so glad that I’ve reconnected with [info]shirerain again and I’m going to try really, really hard to start writing here more often.

3. Did I mention that my test is on Wednesday? I’ve done pretty well studying over the last couple of months, getting in an hour or two after work. Haven’t been so good this week. Mostly because I’m emotionally and physically drained. I’ve been studying for the last year for this thing. I will never be able to differentiate between all of the different pulmonary fibrosis/interstitial pneumonias. I will probably miss most of the cardiology EKG questions because I will overlook a U wave or not see that the QRS is widened. I will probably give a patient methotrexate for the autoimmune disease and the answer will be to give the azathioprine. I will completely overlook that the kidney patient has Fabry’s disease or some form of renal acidosis (Type II or IV) and will diagnose them with Wegener’s or something like that.

In short, there is still a lot that I don’t know, it’s overwhelming. I have oncology and hematology left to review and then it will be trying to memorize a few tables and going over questions so that hopefully something will stick. The passing rate is about 85-90%, so I’m trying not to get too worked up, but there is still that possibility…

4. Adjustment to SF has been hard. My roommate and I get along pretty well and she moves in a couple of days, but because of work and board studying, I haven’t been able to see the city at all. I’m lonely, I miss my friends and my very comfortable lift back in Milwaukee so much. So much. I’m making “acquaintances” but things are different. Residency almost came with ready made friends – since we spent pretty much every waking (and sleeping) moment with each other, it didn’t take long before they were your best friends. Here, there’s a smaller number of fellows – there’s only 4 neuro critical care fellows total, and 2 are the year ahead of me and I’ve never even met them – and we’re all on different schedules and at different hospitals. I’m slowly getting to know a few people, but not enough to have somebody to go to the movies with or out to dinner or just wander the city. And I miss that.

I’ve also become somewhat agoraphobic and/or social phobic over the last several months. I’ve talked myself out of taking the bus to the movies or to the grocery store. I’m not sure why, the few times I’ve been out I’ve been safe, but I’m just so completely out of my element that I just cling to what is familiar. I felt the same when I was in the Netherlands and in Ireland that last day and I was all by myself: both times I could barely get myself to leave the room and see the city. In the Netherlands, I met sombody and we ended up spending the rest of the day with each other and it was fantastic. It’s one of the reasons that I don’t think I could do one of the “backpack trips across Europe” by myself – I need to have somebody else with me to share the experience. I’m trying to do better.

5. I made brown rice, black beans and corn for dinner tonight with a balsamic vinaigrette over it. It was not my best experimentation. It really needed cilantro and I didn’t have cilantro. The balsamic vinegar with raisins and mandarin oranges, chopped almonds and pecans topping that I made last week was incredible, however.

6. I go on “vacation” in 3.5 days, after I finish my test. So excited. I’m flying home to Utah, going see friends and family for a few days, go through all of my stuff that is being stored at my parent’s house and then driving back. It’ll be nice to spend almost a week in the same place. Then I work for a couple of days and that weekend, I fly to Phoenix to see my nephews. Who are adorable and are just waiting for their Auntie Julia to spoil them.

7. As of tomorrow morning, my house will be coming off the market and I am so sad about it. One viewing. I thought for sure somebody would fall in love with my house because it is perfect, but it didn’t happen (I thought for sure that someone would fall in love with me and that also hasn’t happened, so I probably should have had lower expectations). I’ve learned from this experience. One is that when I try to sell it again, I’m getting a different agent. I liked her – she’s the one who helped me buy the house in the first place, but she usually deals with more expensive homes and I don’t think really devoted her attention to my home. The pictures that were initially taken were awful (my roof looked like it had holes in it. The rooms looked dark and scary). And she never had an open house and it felt like I was doing all of the work trying to come up with creative ways to get it out there. So next time: new realtor with new perspectives.

I haven’t been able to talk to a rental manager (see #3 above – that’s sort of been my life), which of course is freaking me out, because I really have to get this house rented in the next month (preferably by September 1st). Thanks again for all of the advice and links, it’s given me a lot to think about!

And now it’s 8 and I still have dishes to do and bed is sounding like a really good idea.

Toodles!

posted in Adventures in Home Ownership, All About Me | 0 Comments

12th August 2011

Choose your own adventure: the home owner’s dilemma

(this is sort of to say that I’m alive… More real updates to come, promise)

The story.

Five years ago, our plucky heroine moved to Milwaukee and bought a House. A lovely House with romantic little nooks (built in bookshelves! A little reading bench!) and a lovely backyard with raspberries that were the envy of her neighbors during the summer. Besides the flooding basement (which she eventually conquered as any plucky heroine would), she thrived in her little Home.

Until she got a new job and moved across the country and had to leave behind her little House. She fretted and fretted about what to do with her beloved House. There were many many orphaned houses, ala Charles Dickens, who weren’t able to find owners and so selling the house didn’t seem possible. And of course, somebody would love her House as much as she did and take care of it and nurture it. So she decided to rent. For 2 months, she advertised and kept the Home loaded with flowers and every corner swept and sparkling. A few people came by ad said that the House wasn’t right for them. Initially, that was okay. She wanted somebody who would fit the House too. But then even those few people trickled away and nobody came by to see the House.

By now, our plucky heroine wasn’t feeling so plucky. In fact, she was getting nervous. She conferred with her top advisors. One suggested to “leave it all behind and make a fresh start.” There were a lot of orphaned houses, the advisor argued, so the House wouldn’t be so different. Another suggested to continue to try renting. Her top two advisors finally suggested that if she were to sell, that they would help out. Overjoyed, the plucky heroine contacted her Broker and put her darling little House up for sell.

Days went by. Our plucky heroine moved as she had to, leaving the House abandoned. Nobody came by and visited it. She tried to make it look better by getting fresh pictures and describing it to people, but to no avail. She lowered her asking price. Once and then again. And then again. Orphaned houses around the little House sold, but nobody came by to see the little house.

Our intrepid heroine is now at a crossroads and this is where you can help. She can no longer afford to continue to try to sell the house (unless someone finds her a magical godmother or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow…). Should she

CHOICE 1 (turn to page 86): Try to rent the house again. To get a renter, she would have to cover some of the mortgage every month to make the rent more affordable, which would mean that she would be living on very tight means in an expensive city. She would also have to rent long distance and would be unable to “hand select” the renters and would have to trust that they wouldn’t destroy the place. The advantages are that her credit score would be saved and she could try selling again in a couple of years when the market stabilizes again (hopefully).

CHOICE 2 (turn to page 54): Walk away. Let the bank repossess and foreclose on the loan. This would mean losing every bit of extra time and money that she put into the little House over the last 5 years, all of the repairs and improvements, all of the “good homeowner, paying extra every month to reduce the loan” payments. And it would seriously affect her credit report – a credit report that she had diligently improved over the last several years. It is stellar now. It would potentially affect her ability to rent an apartment in the next year or buy a new car or buy a house in a couple of years. On the plus side, there would no longer be a financial burden to carry and worry about. And there are lots and lots of abandoned homes so little House wouldn’t feel completely alone.

Your choice. Make it wisely and let our heroine know what she should do. Leave a comment with your reasoning. 🙂

posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

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