what's up super-penel? not much wolfman

I believe every human has a finite number of heart-beats.
-Buzz Aldrich

It's been a great week back in Vancouver. The sunshine held out and it was a full-on faux february spring here. We had lots of time to catch up with friends and get outside to enjoy the mild weather. I hate to think of myself as a Weekend Warrior, but that is more or less what I've become. I was almost entirely sedentary during my interview tour. Except for lugging my bags and a short stint on a treadmill, I did zero physical activity for 3 weeks. Upon my return to Vancouver, I started riding my bike every day to UBC, and then Yoga or Soccer or Ultimate in the afternoon/evenings. It was fun to get back into everything, but as I've posted earlier, this sort of behaviour leaves me more or less crippled. I'm going to try and play squash tomorrow, but I'm a little bit afraid....usually my first squash game after a rest makes me wish I had a wheelchair and a parking pass for the next couple of days. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that kind of pain again so soon.

Also, we have our OSCE (clinical exam with actors playing patients) next weekend and I should probably start exercising the old noggin a little as well.

the private parts of our lives

To be a remain, remain, remain, remainder
-Long Division, Death Cab for Cutie

Ahhhhhh.... it's nice to be home again. Whatever you might like to say about Vancouver, when it's nice here, it's really nice. Arriving home on a flight from Toronto yesterday, it felt like instant spring. I have missed having proper winters since being in Vancouver, but it would be a stretch to say that I'm not usually sick of winter by the end of january.

Anyhow, we had a great tour. It was awesome to see so much of my family and friends and after seeing all those people, I've been feeling lucky to have such an amazing crew of people in my life. Thanks to everyone who housed, fed and ferried us around for the past couple of weeks. Having you around made the whole trip enjoyable and worthwhile.

As for the residency interviews, things went about as we expected. We now have to rank UBC, U of C, U of T, Ottawa, Queen's, Dalhousie and Memorial and all the sub programs within each of them. We have a good chance of going somewhere within the top 3 programs we rank, and probably the top 5-7 are important in terms of what order they go in. We're still undecided about how the ranking will go (read: we're still not sure if we'll be in BC, Ontario or the maritimes) but it has to done in 2 weeks or so, and then we find out where we'll be going on March 9th. We'll post the results here after we match.

chickety chickety pow pow

but never more 'here'

expanse getting broader
though bigger boats been
done by less water
-The Tragically Hip, The Dire Wolf

Courtney has been blogging up a relative storm lately. Go check it out if you are interested in reading some of what we've been up to.

Right now, we're in Ottawa, staying with my Aunt and Uncle. It's about halfway through our interview tour, after our Ottawa U interview taking place tomorrow, we will be done 6/8 of our interviews.

So far we've been to Calgary, Edmonton, St John's, & Ottawa. We go to Kingston on friday and then finish up in Toronto before flying home on the 13th.

The interviews have gotten easier as we get more experienced. I don't think I'm necessarily getting any better, but I'm getting less anxious about them. We have learned a lot about the different programs, but don't feel that much closer to figuring out where we would like to be next year. Everywhere has it's pros and cons, and we'll haveto really decide what's important to us.

The best part of the tour is being able to get around and visit with people. By the end of these 3 weeks, I'll have had the opportunity to see most of my extended family and friends across the country. It is also a nice opportunity for people to meet Courtney before the wedding.

We've also had the chance to do some cool touristy stuff. We went to West Edmonton Mall Waterpark, stood on the most Eastern point in North America (Cape Spear), been taken on an impromptu tour of the Battery in St John's, toured the parliament buildings in Ottawa, and ran into friends in most major airports in the country. Except for the occasional stress of interviews, it's actually been a sweet vacation and a great opportunity for Courtney and I to see this big country of ours.