Hump Day?

Orientation is going well. No running around in the woods and bonding by trust falling or anything like Suhani's program, but we're starting to get to know each other. My group is pretty diverse. Here are our stats:
There are 8 of us. 2 men, 6 women. 3 married with kids (multiple kids for 2). 2 of us are single (me and one of the guys) - the single guy is from here and currently living with his parents until he can find a better place. One girl is born to a Mexican immigrant family, another to a Pacific Islander immigrant family. One guy is 50 years old. I'm the token gay. People are from everywhere: Gig Harbor (here), Oregon, Seattle, California, Minnesota, Arizona, Vermont... most people went to school in a different location than their home towns. There are two DO's and the other 6 of us are MDs.

I haven't formed an insta-bond with anyone yet but everyone seems really nice. I came out on the first day at the very end and everyone is still talking to me which is a good sign. The faculty seem really, really nice and I can tell they have A LOT to teach me. I hear one faculty routinely makes people cry but "that's normal" and that, really, "he's very approachable". Apparently he is just very intense. Everyone here seems really happy with the program. The hardest rotation is FP (family practice). Mostly because of long hours. The OB and Peds rotations look amazing in caliber. All the other rotations look great, but Tacoma stands out in that it trains amazingly well in ALL disciplines and has a famously thorough peds and ob program. It's also great that we are a tertiary care center (people refer here from around the state) but don't have to share the patients with other residency programs. So we get to learn A LOT.

In the next few months I also have to start thinking about where I want to do my underserved rural or urban rotation. The rotation falls in February. I'm a bit conflicted. I can pretty much do it anywhere I want as long as I can arrange a real rotation with a valid experience. That means I can do urban underserved in Detroit or rural medicine in Zuni if I want. However, Detroit in February doesn't sound uplifting and I'm pretty sure Zuni in February isn't much better. One of the things I've picked up from the residents is that the "easier" months like your rural/underserved month and orthopedics tend to be the ones that bolster you - pick you up from the depths of despair. So I'm brainstorming. Next year I will also be able to pick another similar rotation, urban or rural, pretty much wherever I want, just as long as its underserved. Some kids have even gone international but it's much harder to do and may limit your freedom to do more international work your R3 year so it's not ideal. Any suggestions are welcome of course. Where can I go in February that will make me forget about my crappy November-January?

So, yesterday I was feeling a little run down - from both orientation and being down about being on call on the holidays this winter (and being on FP over the winter - kind of a double whammy). So I went for a run. Initially I was tired and down and couldn't muster the energy to run around. However, the motivation hit me suddenly (around 8:30 PM) and I drove to Ruston Parkway (a waterfront drive) and parked beside a long boardwalk. I grabbed my iPod and hit the pavement. It was truly uplifting. I started running into the mountains, the sun setting behind them. There was sea air, thick and salty. People were riding bikes, rollerblading, skateboarding, making out on the beachy areas, walking the length of the piers, going out to dinner at the waterfront restaurants. It was really nice. Then, when it was time to turn around I turned to face the other direction, peeling myself away from the mountains, the water and islands now on my right. In front of me was Mt. Rainier. Huge, looming and all its snow was pink from the sunset. It was unreal! This picture at left gives a great idea of what I saw (but without the Tacoma dome below it - I saw it above water. Ultimately the view was replaced by more mountains, trees lining my path obscuring the mountain. I cooled down on a pier, watching the last of the sun sink behind the mountains, the sky flame red, and stretched while barges and large boats floated by from the docks to the bay.