moving on...

the move's been made, the transition roughly complete. things once again worked out in the 11th hour, and although it's not exactly what we had in mind, it'll work. and we're too tired to think up an alternative at this point.

the drive back from san diego (although i like chip's version better- sandy eggo) was looong. and hot. the central valley is really such drain, a total life suck on so many levels. it was 107 degrees. every last thing was brown. we spent 2 hours in LA traffic before heading into the void, punctuated by a near miss 10 car pileup that was super scary, but probably provided enough adrenaline to keep us awake for the next 8 hours sans caffeine. stopped in marin to visit with friends who provided the boys with plenty of opportunity to play with their numerous dolls and dollhouses (which they were totally into) and we all geeked out on pizza, prosecco, and episodes of the muppet show. it was great. we woke up to views of mt. tam and pancakes, and were on our way again, to a more scenic drive.

which provided plenty of opportunities to reflect on 3 quintessential road trip ponderings really worth answering.

1. how DO you explain to your 4 and 2 year old that you have 8 more hours worth of driving? (and then a fun game is to take bets on how many more times you'll have to explain it before the day is through. it would also make a fun drinking game except for the pit stop ratio would then increase to the point where you'd be adding hours on to your trip.)

2. an obligatory esoteric question like: given a cow's propensity towards um, stupidity, do you think they are susceptible to lonlieness? and if so, then how can CA cows truly be happy? and if they're not happy, then what are they putting in the cheese there to make it taste so good?

3. (my favorite musing thus far) who comes up with the names for RV's?? it's like the testosterone soaked equivalent of the marketing geniouses who are responsible for naming nail polish colors. seriously... a sampling i saw included "hitchiker", "dutch star", "alpine coach", "mountaineer", "windsport"....although my favorites included "patriot warrior", "kountry storm", and "leprechaun". no lie. come on kids, let's hop in the leprechaun and head out for the weekend! honey, it's time to change the oil in the patrior warrior! and do people that own these things call them by those names? i'll bet there are secret clubs.

hours of entertainment right there.

anyways
back in hillsburrito for now. took over the parker family's apartment for the next 6 weeks which will be fine. lots of peeps in the hood this rotation to catch up with. looking forward to it. and looking forward to the next rotation in the ER. day one was today. 2 thumbs way up. i think i might just love it, although i was feeling that it was borderline a little cliche to have classic textbook presentations of the following patients on day one:
1. fractured hip in an elderly woman s/p fall
2. STDs
3. peritonsillar abscess
4. migraine
5. surprise! pregnancy abd pain
6. pneumonia
7. appendicitis

minus chest pain and a good laceration or some sort of trauma, it was nearly EXACTLY what i thought it would be. so i will hope that things will continue on in this manner. cause i actually knew what i was doing and it was FUN.

which is good, cause otherwise this week has been horribly terrible. but i'm thinking that there is a light that is shining a little brighter at the end of the tunnel now. and for the next 6 weeks things will be really great. and then i will deal with another round of chaos and depression and frustration and travel to the middle of nowhere....but i suppose i'll just focus on the good for now.