Another Match Day!

All of the hullaballoo about the Match back in January was to determine where I'll do my ophthalmology training (during the three years from 2011-2014). But before I start in St. Louis, I have to do a more generalized transitional year of medical training first (2010-2011).

The match results for the transitional year were released yesterday, and I'll be going to Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, VA!

Okay, you've probably never heard of Carilion Clinic. It's a bit smaller than Mayo Clinic, but modeled after the same principles. I absolutely loved it when I went for the interview visit because the program and faculty are amazing. So even though it means I'll have to move twice, I'm really excited to be going to Virginia for a year

...Plus, a quick perusal of Google Images tells me that I can look forward to some serious awesomeness from the people of Virginia near the Appalachian Trail!

I'm eagerly anticipating a year of frequent sunburned belly sightings:

And many rousing games of Redneck Horseshoes:

More importantly, today's Match was a really big deal for all of my non-ophtho classmates, because they found out their match results for the first time! Everyone in the class matched at a program they're really happy about, most people matched at their top choice, so the rest of the day (and the rest of the weekend...and the rest of the school year...) is essentially one big continuous celebration! We ate, we danced, we laughed, we stayed up all night, and it felt like we could all relax a little for the first time in 4 years.

17 years later

When I was a wee little wunkin, I had a root canal on one of my molars because of an abscessed tooth. Dr. Calderwood put a flashy gold cap on it and sent me out to impress the world with my bling. Seventeen years later, I finally traded the bling out for a tooth-colored porcelain crown! Now it's just a question of what to do with the gold tooth. - Sell it to a gold dealer? ($15) - Save it for the Tooth Fairy? (Years of fruitless waiting.) - Wear it as jewelry? (Tooth necklace. Classy.) - Give it to somone as the worst birthday gift ever? (Katy? You turned 29 recently, right?)

Because I couldn't afford a Hyundai

I've been car-less (...un-carred? ...in pedestrian purgatory?...) for the last year and a half. I've walked through blazing sunshine, pounding rainstorms, and freakish Minnesota blizzards. Walked to clinics, classes, hospitals, grocery stores, and get-togethers. Fortunately, Rochester is small enough and my car-owning classmates are friendly enough that it's been pretty easy to get by. Unfortunately, I'm moving on to bigger, scarier places where I'll need to drive. Thus, yesterday morning I set out to buy a sensible, affordable, no-fuss, no-nonsense car that will get me through the next 10 years. Criteria: - New-ish (>2003) - Low miles-ish (<60k)

- Fuel efficient-ish

- Very safe

- Rock solid reliable

- Affordable. Something I could buy outright and not have to make payments on.

...And by "affordable," I mean cheap enough for someone who's been an unemployed student for the last 4 years.

...And by "cheap enough," I mean please let me pay for it with Ramen noodles and $0.28 cents in loose change.

I didn't care if it was ugly. I didn't care if it smelled like funky foot cheese.

Result:

- Five dealerships. Zero cars fitting what I needed.

- The flickering hope that if I was lucky and drove a hard bargain I might be able to afford a 2003 Kia Rio with 85K miles on it.

- A tragic moment when I sorely missed my old 1985 Escort, 1996 Accent, 2003 Neon, and even the 1995 bane-of-existence-Sportage. I would never have anything like them again. I would be a pedestrian forever.

And then the clouds parted and there it was at the sixth dealership:

Somehow, I hit the sale of the century on this trade-in! Its engine was replaced 3 years ago after the first owner drove it into a low, washed-out spot in the road during a rainstorm, which means it has a Rebuilt title. Although there can be all kinds of variation in quality and condition for cars with a rebuilt title, this one has been meticulously inspected and has driven perfectly since the new engine was put in. If anything, it's in better condition than the same car of the same age that hasn't been through a rebuild.

Here's why I got lucky: Since most banks won't finance loans for cars with Rebuilt titles, a person who can buy it without needing a loan has a lot of bargaining room. That's how -- somehow, ridiculously, even laughably...

...I bought a Mercedes-Benz because I couldn't afford a Hyundai.

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Shampoo Conservation: Doing my part

When my sisters and I were growing up, my mom usually left our hair long. However, there was one fatally catastrophic day when we were all inflicted with hideous haircuts that subsequently lived in infamy because they were captured on film. In the known universe, there are about eight pictures of me between age 0 and 12. One of them is the first-grade school picture taken shortly after The Haircut. (A haircut so bad that it has become a definitive proper noun in my mind: The Haircut.) The Haircut was bad enough that when you look at the photo, The Haircut actually distracts you from the fact that I'm wearing a narsty blaze-yellow-tropical-floral shirt and that said shirt is buttoned wrong. The next time I risked a haircut was right around the time of high school graduation. Goodbye to 15 inches of hair. Hello cute bob. Then came a "trim" to maintain the cute bob, which horrifically converted itself into a butch manly pixie because the stylist was feeling adventurous and twitchy. I worked at Taco Bell that summer, where even the grand honor of being the Employee of the Week didn't make up for the fact that the unisex uniform + the bad pixie made me look like a dude. Many years of cutting my hair and growing it out and cutting it again ensued. Last Saturday, I risked a pixie cut once again. Pictures coming soon-ish. In the meantime, tell me your haircut successes and horror stories so we can commiserate in the comments!