Fell Off the Bandwagon

Oh Dear! Well, at least I posted before a full year passed. I don't even know what happened. Perhaps it was the nice summer weather up here that pulled me out of doors and clouded my mind from blog posts; or the crazy travel schedule for Travis; or just my own forgetfulness. Either way, here is the long awaited update everyone has been holding their breath for (yeah, right).

Probably the best way to do this is with bullet-points (the avid readers will know this is my favorite way to post).

Travis
* Last time I wrote (back in May) Travis was finishing up his 4 months of away rotations (February-May). He was back in June for a Chicago rotation. It was great to have him home, but bitter-sweet when he had to leave again for 2 months. In July he was at Scott and White in Temple, TX and in August he was at UTSA in San Antonio. He was back here for September and October and then he completed his last away rotation in November at John Peter Smith hospital in Ft. Worth.

* In early January Travis took the second part of his boards exam. We found out a month later that he passed! Of course, there was no question that he wouldn't pass. A week after the test he and his other classmates had interviews for residency. The podiatry residency interview process is centralized: all, or most, of the programs come to one central site to complete the interviews. All podiatry students travel to this site. And where is this elusive site? Frisco, Texas! I believe Travis had 6 or 7 interviews (some places do not go to the interview process and instead interview students after their rotation).

* Right now we are waiting for the podiatry match to occur. Match is when the residencies are figured out. Each student ranks their sites and each site ranks the students. Then there is a process of matching. At this time there is not a set date for the match. We have heard it will be early April. This year they decided to change the process to allow students 2 chances to take the board exam---of course, this change would happen this year. As soon as we know where we are going, it will be posted everywhere!


* Once the test and interviews were over, Travis was so relaxed. He has been enjoying coming home and not studying. Video games have been played. He might as well get it in now, because the start of residency will be time consuming

Erin
* Not as much has happened with me. While Travis was gone in August, my sisters came up to visit. We had some great girl time...and we stayed busy. One day we went downtown to the Sears Tower (some may wish to call this the Willis Tower). Another day we went to the Six Flags up here--we got there when it opened and left when it closed. It was a great time, but man, they wore me out. :)

* Work has been good. I got through the stressfulness of fall. At least for the medical school program, fall is the worst admissions time--everything is happening at once! The interview season is winding down--only 5 more days over the course of a month. I have a couple more recruiting events to go to in the Chicagoland area: the first at University of Chicago and the last at Northwestern University. I have really been blessed with this job and the opportunities it has provided me.

* We just hired a girl to replace me. She will start in two weeks. My boss wanted to get someone in soon so that I would have a couple of months to train her. I've been busy getting procedure manuals and all other kinds of tips prepared. I'm trying to think of the best approach to explain all that is done in this position without scaring her away. :)

Us
* We were unable to make it home for Christmas this year. Travis had a rotation at Cook County Hospital in Chicago which was time consuming. On top of the rotation he was studying for boards and interviews. We were able to have 2 different Christmas celebrations with some classmates who were also unable to make it home. It was a little weird not being with family, but we realized this was, hopefully, not a common occurrence.

* On April 9th Travis and I are going on a cruise! Travis has the month of April off. We decided during our first year that we wanted to go on a graduation celebration trip. We have been saving up for about 3 years to make this happen. Neither of us has been on a cruise before, and we are truly looking forward to it. It is a week Royal Caribbean cruise leaving from Galveston with port stops in Cozumel, Belize, and Rotan. We will be sure to take lots of pictures.

* The winter this year has been very mild with very little snow. It's about time, Chicago! Even with the mildness for this area, it still was too cold for me. I'm ready for Texas winters!

* Travis's graduation is June 1st. Our families will be making the trek up here, and then helping us truck all of our stuff back to Texas. It's hard to believe it is only about 2 months away. Where did those 4 years go to?