Whitesburg: Week 1

I've explored all of Whitesburg and beyond.

Wednesday I drove up to Jenkins, about 10 miles north of here, and further off the main road into Burdine (second syllable rhymes with "line" not with "lean"), then turned back on the back road, eventually ending up in Seco and reconnecting to the highway. (You can follow along on Google Maps.) Seco is a tiny town, with, surprise of surprises, a winery. I'd like to go back and check it out soon. For some reason, a man named Bill Thayer who is somehow affiliated with the University of Chicago has devoted a section of his website to his 2005 visit to Letcher County, including Highland Winery in Seco. You can see from his pictures that the winery is held in the town mining company's former company store. I'll be honest; when I was driving on KY-113, I was pretty nervous. I didn't have a map with me, the road was tiny, and I had no idea where I was going. What reassured me, however, was the knowledge that, having looked at an area map previously, I was sure that all roads either became dead ends or ended up connecting to a larger road. And all roads in the area either lead to Pikeville, Hazard (by way of Whitesburg), or Virginia, so it would be pretty difficult to get lost.

That knowledge has served me well this week.

Yesterday I got out of work by 4 and took a little road trip up Pine Mountain, which separates Whitesburg from Cumberland to the south. If you click on "terrain" on that Google map, you can tell that it's a pretty steep drive up -- over 2,000 feet at the highest, with lots of sharp mountain turns.

This was taken from a scenic lookout point on the highway (KY-119 over the mountain is a 2.5-lane -- the extra half-lane is cushion in the middle to allow for out-of-control turn-taking -- well-paved highway; the only thing that limits faster driving is the steepness of the mountain). See that little hamlet of civilization in the valley in the middle of the picture below? That's Whitesburg about 1,000 feet or so below.

The reason I decided to drive to the top of the mountain was because of signs at the bottom indicating that up the mountain was Kingdom Come State Park and Bad Branch Falls -- the names of both of which intrigued me. For some reason, I thought 119 just went to the top of the mountain. I was wrong. Anyway, yesterday I drove about 5 miles up the mountain (that would be 5 lateral miles, not vertical), then saw a turnoff with this sign:

I know it's hard to read, but it says, "Kingdom Come State Park 14 miles."

Well, about a mile prior to that, I had noticed that my gas light had come on -- when I started out, I had over 1/8 tank of gas, but the steep uphill climb had made my car think it had less than that, so on came the light. It made me nervous. Nevertheless, 14 miles sounded pretty short, so on I pressed. (The flaw there was that it had taken me nearly 15 minutes to drive the 5 miles to that point, so in my head it seemed as though I was just as likely to get to the park as I was to get back to Whitesburg before running out of gas.) The road got much narrower -- barely 1.5 lanes wide, making any instances of passing cars (there were only a couple) pretty nerve-wracking. And it was very curvy, with even more steep climbs. Going those 14 miles at no more than 20-25 mph made the distance pass very slowly. Especially with a gas light on. But it was beautiful nonetheless. Here's the view from Creech Overlook, at 2,760 feet up:



Once I actually GOT to Kingdom Come State Park, I was so nervous from being so low on gas that I just turned around. I could have kept going on the road, but I really wasn't sure if there would be gas on the other side of the mountain, if the road would keep going up, or what might happen. On the other hand, I knew it was less than 15 miles back to Whitesburg, and downhill 99.9% of the way. Decision: Turn around. And that's when I noticed what the road I had been driving on was called:

Primitive, indeed. (To be clear, that primitive road is Little Shepherd Trail, aka KY-1679.)

I coasted pretty much the whole way down, which was quite enjoyable for its gas-saving properties and the thrill of letting gravity do most of the work. Unfortunately, gravity and narrow mountain roads can be a recipe for disaster, and I had a close call with a downhill switchback and a pile of leaves... luckily there was a runaway car pull-off to save me. Whew!

Here's what my gas gauge looked like on the way down:
That made me really nervous, because that was heading downhill, which means it was registering all the gas in the tank (my gauge registers as being more empty than in reality when I'm headed uphill, and more full when headed downhill). But when I got back to the bottom and pulled into the gas station, here's what it looked like:
No more gas light! I filled up anyway. I think I took a year off my life worrying about being stranded at the top of that mountain, out of gas with no cell phone reception or battery (oh yeah -- I had started out with only 1 battery bar, since the hospital eats up my battery life every day).

Today I decided to try again. With a full tank of gas, a fully charged cell phone, and a study of Google maps before I got in the car, I was off. This time, I took 119 all the way to the other side of Pine Mountain, rather than taking the primitive road at the top to the park. Along the way, I saw the turnoff for Bad Branch Falls -- I'll have to explore that one another day. Once in Cumberland (KY), I took the main entrance up to the park, which was still a steep climb.

Here's a map of my route (click for larger version):
The red line is what I did yesterday -- there and back along the same route. The blue is what I did today, taking 119 to Cumberland (point B) on the map, then up into the park (the blob of green partially obscured by the "B"). The green line is how I got home from the park.

I initially planned to go to Kingdom Come and find a nice spot to read for a while. After all, hiking alone is pretty stupid. But it was overcast, hot, and humid, not good sitting-and-reading conditions. And after driving an hour (covering a mere 25 miles) to get there, I was tired of sitting. So off I went on a hike. Stupid, maybe. But then, so is driving up a mountain with no gas and no cell phone charge, and I had already survived that, so I figured why not?

Besides, it was only 3/8 of a mile to the top of Raven's Rock, according to the trail map, so off I went. Straight up. Ugh.
I don't know if this conveys the steepness of the trail or not, but here it is. Picture me huffing and puffing all alone in the hot sun, with lots of insects buzzing around, areas of overgrown trail (and I was wearing capris and short socks), and me imagining how I was going to survive if I were to be bitten by a snake or spider. Stupid overactive imagination, aggravated by the fact that in the park there was NO cell phone reception, making hiking alone all the more stupid. I reiterate: Not a smart idea.

Once I got up to the top of the rock, though, the view was gorgeous:
This is looking south/east into Virginia. The pictures really don't do it justice, sorry.

I took a different trail back to the car, allowing me to walk under Raven Rock for the duration:

All told, I hiked about a mile, and it took about an hour. After getting back in the car, I decided to take Little Shepherd Trail to the other end, continuing from where I had turned back yesterday (the green line on the map above). Here's the primitive road heading west (again, coasting downhill most of the way):


I ended up on KY-160, and just kept going, following the philosophy of every road leads back to civilization eventually. A sense of direction helped as well, telling me to turn right when I got to Route 7 in Blackey, rather than left. Despite the map saying that I drove through lots of towns with names, what I actually drove through were at best small enclaves of abodes (some houses, some trailer homes). Blackey was the only town that had any signs alerting me to where I was, until I got to Isom.

Did I mention I was driving with the top down? :)

It took me another hour to get home. All told, I drove about 65 miles today in about 2 hours. That's the mountains for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are some unique things about Whitesburg:

The back of the Super 8 sits along the river:

Which leads there to be a set of ducks who hang out at the water but have clearly learned that people will feed them:

This evening they were sitting in the parking lot, and didn't even blink as I drove past them (rather closely, I might add):
(It's kind of hard to see them, but you can sort of see the light reflecting off the female's eye.)

And this is totally weird, since we're nowhere near the beach, but I've also seen this sandpiper dude:
I added the arrow because he kind of blends in. If he's not a sandpiper, he's definitely closely related.

And here is some small-town humor for you:
(Also taken this evening, sorry for the darkness.) I wonder who the 2 grouches are... Also, I was indignantly informed the other day that the town actually has closer to 3,000 people; the 2000 census was done based on old city limit lines (just around the town center itself) that had been redrawn prior to 2000, but the 2010 census should reflect the new city lines accurately. So sorry if I offended. There is an RC Cola distributor in town, hence the sign sponsorship. And the doctor who owns the Mountain Heart Center alluded to at the top of the sign is quite the businessman; he has an office in every town I've driven through. I'm sure he's the only cardiologist in the area, and only visits each town no more than once every week or so, but still, that's quite a business.

Anyway, that was Week #1 of living in Whitesburg. There's not much to explore, other than the scenery, and with gas at $3.95/gallon, I don't think I can afford to drive around aimlessly any more.

Still to come, Week #1 of medicine in Whitesburg. With pictures, don't worry!

Lost

Head = totally exploding.

Granted, it answered a lot of questions, but there are still SO MANY MORE!!!!!

ps - did you see the promo for Pushing Daisies? I didn't know if it was going to come back after the writers' strike!

Motel, sweet Motel

Well, when I got into Whitesburg Monday afternoon, things were looking good. Although there had been some rain on the drive down and my three-disc mix-made-especially-for-the-drive compilation wouldn't play in my CD changer for some reason, the sun was shining when I got into town and the smell of honeysuckle was almost overpowering (in a good way).

Then I checked in. (Eric has documented this in a much more succinct fashion.)

Although I had been told that I would be paying 300-and-some-odd dollars for my month's stay at the Super 8 (I have a $440 stipend to cover housing for the month and some gas), the desk clerk informed me I would be paying $65.87 PER NIGHT, for a whopping total of $1646.75. I had no choice but to accept it, at least for the night, but I almost started to cry. I don't have anywhere near $1600 to my name at the moment, as I am completely out of financial aid for the semester. And the clerk was so confident that the rate was right, that I felt I had to believe her. When I told her that I was told I would have a special rate, she replied, "We have people who have lived here for 3 years and they still pay $65 a night." At which point I wanted to laugh AND cry. Who lives at a Super 8 for 3 years? And who would put up with that kind of rent?!?!?! Especially in Whitesburg!

On top of that, they gave me a smoking room, and said they didn't have a nonsmoking room I could stay in for 25 nights in a row -- I'd have to move every 3 or 4 days. So for now I'm in the smoking room, which admittedly doesn't smell all that bad, especially since I've had the window open. The room has no refrigerator or microwave (although I can rent them for an additional $5/appliance/night), so I have limited in-room food options. Luckily, there is a grocery store, Wendy's, and Long John Silver's within very short walking distance, and a Mexican restaurant and coffee shop (a real coffee shop!) within not-much-farther walking distance. The rest of town is just a short drive away.

The rent has been sorted out -- it's going to be $320 for the month. The daytime manager wrote me a note apologizing for the mix up, which I appreciated. His schedule and mine don't match, so I haven't gotten to meet him in person. Instead, the only person I ever see is the surly desk clerk from check-in day, who is here every night. I don't like her, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me, so I haven't yet complained about the dresser drawers that don't work (forcing me to live out of my suitcase). I'm waiting to catch that daytime manager.

So, for the next few weeks, this is my home away from home:

Pros:
Housekeeping service every day
Free continental breakfast
It's one of the newer Super 8s with two stories and inside hallways (as opposed to the kind where the motel room door opens onto the parking lot) -- safer.
Free wireless internet

Cons:
It's still a Super 8.
Continental breakfast consists of coffee with powdered creamer (I like milk), bagels, bread, and donuts. Ideally I'd be eating cereal with milk -- and fruit wouldn't be bad, either.
Dresser drawers don't work. Room is tiny.
Housekeeping service every day means I have to keep my clutter to a minimum. This makes using all my toiletries/makeup a pain in the butt.

I actually brought a lot of my own food -- snacks, cereal, etc. I think my new plan is to make a trip to the grocery store every couple of days to buy bananas and a small carton of milk. I can keep the milk cold in the ice bucket for no more than 24-36 hours at a time -- and in the meantime, I'm going to start figuring out how to steal patients' milk from the hospital, like I do back home. This is all one big survival game, only instead of Man vs. Wild, it's Holly vs. motel living.

Lots of fun stuff has happened on the medicine side of things the past two days -- updates to come!

Summer nights

I'm still not done packing. Things are moving along nicely, but I was sidelined by an unfortunate laundry incident yesterday involving two tubes of chapstick and a dryer. Maybe I'll discuss the outcome later, but right now it would frustrate me too much to relive it.

In any case, I've done an amazing job of cleaning out my pantry and refrigerator in preparation for leaving tomorrow -- too good of a job. I've had to eat out quite a bit over the last week, and tonight was no different.

Around 8:30 tonight I realized I hadn't yet eaten dinner, so after some hemming and hawing I decided to get a bowl of pho tai at Lemongrass. After dinner, I walked out of the restaurant and was headed across the street to my car when I took in a deep breath and realized that it is finally summer. It's a gorgeous night here -- warm, with a warm breeze -- and instead of going to the car, I turned and walked down the sidewalk. After a quick stop at Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen for some mint chocolate chip, I took a walk down Bardstown Road. It was a perfect summery night, only spoiled by the fact that I was walking alone. Ah well.

There's still another load of laundry to dry, and some more packing and cleaning to do. It's weird to be moving out of Louisville for 4 straight months. I'll be back for the weekend in a couple weeks, and then for 24 hours to take my final exam at the end of June, and then I won't be back until the end of September. It's going to be an exciting (but busy!) summer!

Are you F*CKING kidding me?!?!?!!?

I went to a friend's cookout last night, and we ended up at a dive bar in her neighborhood, the Old Hickory Inn. On the weekends they do karaoke, which is just what we were looking for -- it was actually a reprise of a similar party last year that went very well.

This is a totally local bar. It's known as being one of a couple of bars in town that refuses to abide by the smoking ban that went into effect last year. The place is FULL of smoke. But most of the karaoke-ers aren't that bad. Unlike us, the drunken medical students who invade to sing "Margaritaville" and Johnny Cash.

So then a local starts singing this song with an upbeat, country kick to it, and people are dancing all around, and it starts to get kind of funny because the word f*ck appears prominently so we all do a double-take. Well, most people keep dancing, she keeps singing, and I happen to keep watching the words up on the karaoke TV. And then I see this line:

Get off the stage you god damn gook
You know you piss me off

And then I did a double-take. Did she really just say that? So I pull a friend over and we keep watching. And sure enough, it's part of the chorus, so it comes up again and again. I can't believe what I am seeing or hearing.

So I came home and did a little research and it seems the song is, "The Rodeo Song," attributed variably to Chris LeDoux, David Allan Coe, and Gary Lee & Showdown. It appears, after some Googling, that Chris LeDoux never sang it, and it was actually put out by Gary Lee & Showdown.

However, on all the lyrics sites I've looked at, all the versions by Gary Lee & Showdown use the word "goof," and it's only where it's attributed to Chris LeDoux that the other word is used. So I don't know what's up with that.

What I really, seriously, can't believe is that anyone would sing a song like that. What I wish is that I hadn't been so far away from the karaoke DJ, because I would have marched up there and caused a ruckus. And maybe it's a good thing I was so far back, but whatever.

SO UNF*CKING BELIEVABLE. And not that it has anything to do with Kentucky per se, but it really doesn't help Kentucky's cause right now, either.

Articles for your edification

I haven't shared articles too frequently here recently, because I've become an avid user of Google Reader. I use it to subscribe to all the blogs I read, as well as certain sections of the New York Times (Science, Health, Travel), Washington Post (Science, Health), Time, and Slate. I LOVE Google reader. It allows you to share things with other Reader users, so I've been doing a lot of that. Yet another reason to get a Google account, people.

But even if you don't have one, you can access my shared items here. Complete with comments by me.

These are the non-personal and non-wedding blogs I read on a regular basis, other than the news ones I already mentioned above. Most are for laughs. I apparently read personal blogs, wedding blogs, health and science news, and funny stuff. I guess that's pretty well-rounded.
Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures, aka icanhazcheezburger
Simply Stated by Real Simple
Stuff White People Like
The FAIL Blog
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks -- they're called scare quotes; I never knew that! I also learned the term "greengrocers' apostrophe" from this site. You may remember that I only discovered the term "Oxford comma" in the recent past as well. Who knew that grammar had almost as many eponyms as medicine! (Haha, just kidding.)
Things younger than Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain
Cute Overload
Ugly Overload

So that's what I read every day, and now you can, too! Say it one more time, everyone: I Love Google.

Whitesburg, KY

That's where I'm going for my four-week AHEC rotation beginning May 26. It's about 4 hours southeast of Louisville, and about 20 miles from the Virginia border. The closest thing that people have heard of is Hazard, which is about 40 minutes northwest.

Even the people who are from Kentucky are telling me that I'm going really hard-core with my rural site.

They're housing me at the Super 8 motel, which has its pluses and minuses. First of all, I was afraid I'd have to stay with a host family, and I'm always really awkward in those sorts of interactions. So it's nice to be able to keep to myself during the evenings. Plus, it's definitely nice to have housekeeping service and free continental breakfast in the morning, as well as free internet. I even checked with Verizon, and I should have cell phone service while I'm there. On the downside, I don't think the motel has a mini-fridge or microwave... I'll give them a call tomorrow to find out, though. I definitely don't want to be living on fast food -- or even restaurant food -- for 4 weeks. Plus, it's a Super 8 bed. For 4 weeks.

The doctor I'm working with is supposed to be really nice and a great teacher, and he's reportedly very excited to have me come.

I've been doing some internet sleuthing and here's what I've found out:

• Whitesburg seems to be about 5 miles long
• In 2000, its population was 1,600
• According to Google Maps, it boasts a McDonald's, a Long John Silver's, a Mexican restaurant, a Pizza Hut and Little Caesars, a Wendy's, a Dairy Queen, Subway, Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken (maybe I'll finally try it, since I haven't tried it in Louisville yet) and 4 local restaurants, including one called "Jumbo House."
• There's a Walmart. I kid you not, when Eric and I drove through eastern KY on the way to visit his sister in Abingdon, VA, last year, I commented that I could survive in any of those towns for my AHEC rotation, as long as it was big enough to have a Walmart. I got my wish, it appears. Whitesburg's Walmart is not a super-Walmart, though; the closest one of those is in Hazard.
• There are a few grocery stores.
• There are two places of lodging: the Super 8 and the Parkway Inn.

It actually looks like a cute little town. I'm ready to be all nostalgic about it from afar, as Eric's sister is about Appalachia (well, she waxes nostalgic from within Appalachia). One week in June, it will host the Seedtime on the Cumberland festival, which I might explore. And it seems to be known for its local hiking trails, which could be fun.

I am not, however, so excited about the patients I'm going to see. Diabetes? Ick. Not that it's all going to be diabetes... but a lot of it will be, I'm sure.

So anyway, I'm being optimistic. While I'm gone, my new roommate is likely to move in, so I'm going to spend the next two weeks making this apartment roommate-ready (that means I have to confine all my crap to the tiny master bathroom and move a lot of my stuff out of the office, dammit) and eating a decent amount of the food I have stocked up in the pantry.

Rural Kentucky, here I come!

Good insurance story

A good, basic explanation-focused story about health insurance.

Insurance model follows American tradition

And please, if you're ever around me, don't call any of this -- not even true, universal health care -- "socialized medicine." Nothing pisses me off more than that term, and I'll punch you for it. Hard.

By the way, I've endorsed PNHP's Open Letter to the Candidates.

Blech

I am such a waste of productivity when I'm at home. I read everything I can on Google Reader, then hit refresh and wait miserably, hoping for something new to pop up. I don't clean because I figure I should be studying, but then when I get distracted from studying after 5 minutes, I go right back to the computer. Sigh.

You know what it is? I just can't think when I get home from a full day of listening to people's crap. It's too much to handle. Luckily, we get released at noon tomorrow and I have a full day and a half to study for real, with no patients to bother me, before the test on Friday. Kind of ironic that the patients, with all of their real-life problems, are what is preventing me from studying for the test, which should be testing me on real-life problems.

• I hate that they took away the little shortcut at the top of Gmail that took me straight to Bloggger. It takes me longer to click over here now.
• For the first time in my short, not-yet-professional career, my signature on a document means something! But I was totally and completely tricked into it, in the guise of being taught! It's a good story, and I'll tell it soon. In the meantime, let's hope this case doesn't get called into court because I don't want my signature to mean so much that I have to testify!
• Speaking of stories, I've been on psychiatry for six weeks and haven't told you a single story. There are some good ones, but they are all completely emotionally draining and I honestly just haven't had the energy to regurgitate it all through the keyboard. If you want to call me, I'd be happy to share. And a large part of me wants to document it here as well, so I'm sure I will, but not yet.
• OK, quick story: One of my patients told me he could predict what I was going to say before I said it. Soooooooooooo tempting to test him on it, but I couldn't. You're not supposed to challenge a patient's delusions. But seriously -- what a fun game that would have been!
• I'm out of financial aid money for the semester, and I don't get another disbursement until July. Boooooo. Don't worry, I won't starve, I'm not down to zero yet, but it still sucks. A stimulus check would be nice right about now, though.
• So would a winning lottery ticket. You have to play to win, I know. Is it pathetic that I'm too lazy to walk to the gas station 1 block away? Or that I don't just stop at the customer service counter on the way out of the grocery store? Just a little over a year until the wedding... I'm sure we'll be wasting $52 in other places that are much more of a waste than buying one $1 lottery ticket a week for the next year with the chance of a big payout would be. If you're a financial whiz and squirming in your seat at my proposal to throw money away, don't worry; I'm sure laziness will still win out and I won't buy any.

So now it's time to do what I always do when it gets to be this time of night and I've accomplished nothing: cut bait. Eat a snack ("your brain needs energy to study"), take a shower ("it's relaxing and will take your mind off the stress"), and convince myself that at least a good night's sleep will be beneficial for me tomorrow ("your brain reinforces the things you just learned in your sleep" and "you won't be able to study/concentrate tomorrow if you're exhausted"). Haha. I'm really good at convincing myself of things.

Bottom line: Although I've liked this psychiatry rotation a lot, I can't be a psychiatrist. I just can't listen to people's crap all day long. Even when it's good crap, the patients are improving and making progress, and are generally doing well (which I haven't seen too often). But especially not when it's bad crap. I absorb too much of it for my own good.

Food cravings

I don't want to study and I'm tired of being inside, but I've already been out to run my errands today.

The problem with studying is that it makes me hungry. I get bored of studying and my stomach starts growling, and I start craving EVERYTHING. Right now I'm very torn among:

-Qdoba chicken fajita burrito (although I just had one last weekend, but I am always in the mood for one of these; Chipotle's are better, but there isn't one in Louisville)
-Taco Bell (the new and improved Taco Bell down the street finally re-opened after months of renovations)
-jam bong (I've been wanting it ever since I had it a month ago)
-udon noodle soup with tempura (although I just had this last Sunday)
-pho tai
-Some yummy congee/jook
-Pad thai
-Buffalo wings
-sushi
-A tuna fish sandwich (my own)
-Macaroni and cheese (either the Kraft blue box version, or the Alton Brown version I just saw the other day
-A burger and a beer
-A Whopper with extra pickles, extra ketchup, and light mayonnaise (Have it My Way)
-A shish kabob from Shiraz
-A couple of slices of pizza from Luigi's
-bubble tea, mmmm....
-bacon
-popcorn
-A Hoagie Haven chicken parm, or cheesesteak, or turkey sub. Thank goodness I'm going back east in couple months, and I'm definitely going to justify some drives to Princeton for this.

I obviously crave savory and spicy more than sweet. I probably crave savory more than anything else; my umami taste buds are damn powerful.

What I would like is for all of this food to appear in front of me magically, and for it to magically not all be bad for me (not all of it's bad, but it would all be bad if I ate it all at once like I want to). Since that won't happen, what I want to do is lie on the floor and mope about it and make it happen.

Since THAT also won't happen, I guess I'll just make some tuna fish. Even though it's on my list of cravings, it doesn't seem as exciting as the others anymore.

I'm eating some "you deserve it" food the rest of this week for sure, though. The Bad Idea Bears would want me to.

First Saturday in May

No Derby for me this year; I declined an invitation to drink at Churchill and stayed in. I wasn't in the mood to be at the track if the weather decided to stay crappy, but the sun is now out and it's a pretty day. Oh well. My liver still thanks me. And in theory, if I open my psychiatry book at all today, my brain will thank me as well.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about this time of year. Two years ago, Eric and Duc ran the Derby marathon, and Duc and Joel and Marjorie all came for a week of Derby madness. One year ago, Eric and I got out of town for Derby for a family wedding and Karen's baby shower. I was studying for boards like mad. Paula got married. A month from now, we went to Alaska.

It's a nice time of year, because the flowers are blooming, the weather is nice, and the whole city gets ready for Derby. On Thursday it took me over 20 minutes to drive the 5 blocks from the hospital to home, because Broadway was already a zoo in preparation for the Pegasus Parade. But it was nice to see everyone out and about.

Here's a funny thing about this city and Derby: Derby becomes like a holiday of sorts. "Have a Happy Derby," all my patients have said to me at the end of their appointments this week. I never really thought of it as a greeting before. It does do great things for the local economy, though. One patient I had this week works at the largest limo company in the city, and he said all 400 limos had been rented out for the weekend, at a rate of about $4,000 each for the whole weekend. And there's another huge limo company in the city on top of that one. Restaurants have been booked up for months, and all the chi-chi boutiques get plenty of business from the celebrities who come in.

One year from now, I'll probably be going to Derby, since I won't have ANY studying to do. I'll be a lazy fourth-year med student who knows where she's going for residency, and it will be the start of graduation week festivities and one week before graduation and my graduation speech (yikes). And three weeks before the wedding. Geez, time flies by.

On the one hand, it feels like the next seven weeks, the last of third year, are going to take FOREVER to pass by. On the other hand, there are all these wedding things that preoccupy my mind as though they need to get done NOW, as though there isn't still a whole year until the wedding.

One weird realization: I have four weeks to get this apartment cleaned up and ready for two strangers to move in. I have to streamline the office and pack up some of my clothes so my new roommates have places to put things. And while I'm at it, it just makes sense to pack some of those things up (books, random stuff) for good, because in "just a year" we'll be moving anyway. Kind of weird to think about.

Happy Derby!