Sam is Trouble

Sam found the blogging app on my iPhone and he posted Saturday's gem. We were perusing cars with our good friend, and car enthusiast, because I am beginning to think about purchasing a new set of wheels. My car has +112,000 miles on it and there are beginning to be some issues with it's performance, e.g. (it takes a few tries before it starts up in cold weather, the starter and battery needed to be replaced in the last year and a half, etc.)

We didn't actually go with the intent of purchasing anything, and we were looking at Acuras, Infinities, Lexus. Definitely no Range Rover for me!  I'm also NOT getting this car as a present from my parents (honestly, no hard feelings because they bought me the car I currently drive and I was lucky for that!).  I'm going to head to the Honda, Volkswagen, and Toyota dealers hopefully sometime in April to check them out.  

The idea is to figure out where Sam and are going to be living, and what my commute will be, and then to figure out what would be the best car given those variables.  I must admit, I am really digging the Acura TSX right now, though.  :-)

Car Shopping

I am so tired today. But it's ok because we are going car shopping, Porsche, Lamborghini, and land rovers if there's time. Thanks mom and dad!


-Sam

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's only Thursday

I tell you honestly, I am so over this week.  Between the 5 hours of training to bring the Inside Sales department up to speed on Customer Service procedures and all the projects due in my class, I am ready to call in quits right here and now.

I forgot how stressful it can be learning new things at work and how cranky I get during finals week. Combining these two things together has not been fun for anyone (I'm sure least of all Sam).  The house is getting messy, I've been having to force myself to go to the gym, and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed again.  At least now I've got my priorities straightened out after some cathartic list making.

1. Post to Discussion Forum
2. Take Final
3. Figure out Picnic Day plans
4. Book hotels/activities in Bali
5. Nail down graduation plans

I do much better when I have a list.  Tonight, however, I am taking a break.  And tomorrow.  Tomorrow two of our friends in Sam's class are coming over for dinner.  I am making awesome Tomato Basil Soup (a la Alberton's fresh soup section) with steamed broccoli and they are bringing garlic bread.  It will be amazing.  :-)  I'm not lying.  Especially because the weather has been so crummy lately.  Anyway, I am off to relax and watch TV, or maybe just stare at a wall for a while.

Mama said...

My name is not Alexander, but I am having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It's no one's fault in particular but I tell ya, it seems like Murphy's Law is out to get me!

There was a car accident on my way to work which backed up traffic and made me 20 minutes late to work.

My coworker called in sick after she'd said she would pick up cakes at Costco for our monthly birthday cake celebration and I was left scrambling to find someone to replace her.

My customer service review was postponed twice due to more important meetings that were previously unscheduled. So I could have gotten the cakes after all.

I missed the cake celebration while taking my lunch 2 hours late due to the postponed meeting, so I had to enlist people to run the show for me.

My brain feels completely fried after submitting my final paper and my reading log in my online class. Tomorrow I have to post my last discussion forum topic on the website and then I have to take the final sometime before Sunday at 11pm.

The dishes need washed, the house needs picked up, and I am waiting on a pair of dress pants at the dry cleaner I have wanted to wear the last two days.

I am cranky. Thanks for letting me vent. Goodnight.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Back to the Grind

And now it's back to the reality- meaning work. It was pretty easy getting back into the swing of things at the office- thankfully Thursday and Friday were quiet days last week so there weren't huge piles waiting on my desk this morning.

The gym will be a different story! My 4 week training plan with Amanda kicks off with a run and body resistance exercises when I get home. My suspicion is that I will be in a bit of discomfort tonight and tomorrow, but stay tuned.  Maybe I can even get Amy to do the post run exercises with me... we'll see!

Sam is finally feeling a bit better after sleeping close to 6 hours yesterday afternoon. I am hoping I was able to avoid catching whatever is ailing him, and thankfuly he didn't snore as much last night as he did while he was napping.  I could hardly hear the Harry Potter movies!

Sam's Match Surprise

A couple of weeks ago, I invited Sam's college roommates down from Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Upland to surprise him and help him celebrate his match.  The turn out was better than I had expected it would be!  Not only did Nathan, Ryan, and Kevin make it- Drew came down from Long Beach, Pfleger made it down with Kevin, and Eric drove Ryan in for us since his car has been in the shop. We definitely surprised Sammy, and I think it was a really, really great weekend.  The boys went golfing Saturday and then we ordered in Pizza's from Gina's- one of the favorite chains in college.  After dinner, we headed down to the peninsula in Newport Beach to hit some of the bars.  All in all, it was a great night, and the foul weather held out until we managed to back home.  We squeezed six guys into the apartment in addition to Sam and myself, which is by far our largest crew yet.  

Sam was able to iron out the details of our A's v. Angel's baseball game at the end of April, so we know we'll be able to see the boys again at least once before we leave on our vacation.  And then, almost as soon as we're back, it's Sam's graduation and hopefully the boys will be able to come down for that.  

Now, Sam and I are a busy doing laundry (the last load is in the drier) and cleaning the house.   I am looking forward a quiet evening after working on the first few pages of my final paper for my online class.

Match Celebrations Continue

Yesterday was a day of acclimatization for the majority of our friends.  The initial shock of Sam matching at UCI wore off yesterday morning, and we started thinking about our next 5 years in Southern California.  It was a little overwhelming to think about all the changes that will be taking place in our life over the next three months, and we are taking it slowly as we figure out how to best accommodate Sam's impending internship schedule and make it easier for me to see my trainer on occasion. 

Last night, after we had a few of the medical students over for pizza and beer, Kev and Pfleger drove down from Santa Barbara and Nate drove down from Los Angeles to surprise Sam and help him celebrate his match.  We stayed in and caught up and Sam was so excited to spend time with the boys.

This morning, after yummy scrambled eggs, the boys hit the links to get a little game of golf in.  I stayed home so that Sam can have some time alone with the guys, and I should be working on my final paper (due a week from tomorrow).  I'm looking forward to going out on the town tonight and enjoying the company of our buddies.

Match Day 2011

Here's the video of Sam matching so you can all be a part of the moment with us

We are staying in California!

Sam and I could not be happier about staying in California close to our family and friends.

We were both expecting Sam to match at USC, so it was quite a surprise to open the envelope and see that we were staying at Irvine.  Just after match ended, the ortho department chair and one of the surgeons called Sam to welcome him to the department and tell him how excited they are to have him joining the team.  Again, we are THRILLED.

Matt, Emily, Ethan, Sam, Gianna

In another turn of GREAT NEWS: our very good friends, Matt & Emily, will also be staying at UCI for her pediatrics rotation.  We're heading to dinner with Matt's parents, sister, and brother-in-law in a few hours so it will be very fun to celebrate with them and look forward to many more years hanging out together.  

A huge thank you to our family and friends- you have been amazingly supportive throughout the journey that was medical school (and hopefully will continue to be now that we are entering this exciting new chapter of our lives). 

Marty Morris Pre-Match Party

Of the 7 orthopedics applicants from UCI this year, Sam was one of four to successfully match to a residency program.  Keeping that in mind, I am so thankful we did not have to go through the scramble process.  Dear God that would have been more than I could have taken.  Sam matching in Orthopedics is amazing regardless of what program takes him, and I am so proud of him completing this journey.  

Tonight, the medical school sponsors the Marty Morris Pre-Match Party at Sutra with funds donated to the medical school by Marty Morris.  I don't know who Dr. Morris was, but I know that he left a HEFTY sum of money to the school that can only be used for social (non academic) purposes.  The pre-match party is an annual tradition held at Sutra in Costa Mesa where medical students, their guests (1 each), and the faculty enjoy a private party to celebrate the impending match day.  It's always been a really good time, but this year seems much more poignant to me since it's the last one and it's all of my friends who are going through the match process.

Obviously it's been tough day to focus at work today since my mind is on other things.  My boss keeps insisting that I'm going to be out of SoCal soon because Sam will match to Stanford.  Unfortunately, I think it's a bit of a long shot for Sam to get into Stanford, but my fingers are crossed for him anyway.  In my heart of hearts, I really hope he matches to USC.  I haven't lived in a big city before (Moraga, Davis, then Irvine) and I feel like I'm really ready for a change.  What better time will there be to try out city living?  Plus, LA is not far from my family in NorCal and my parents have been really, really supportive and made it clear they are willing to travel to visit Sam and I regardless of where he matches.  (Thank you Mom & Dad for all your support!)

Tomorrow morning, we're planning on having a few friends over to do some pre-match mimosa drinking.  We're going to walk from our apartment to the match site since both are on campus.  After a short breakfast, students will be called to the podium to read their match location.  After matching, the 3rd year medical students throw a BBQ for the 4th years and their families and friends.  Hopefully we'll be able to come back to our apartment for a bit after lunch because I'd love to make it to the gym and take a nap before dinner with the Grants.

Calm Before The Storm

Last night Sam and I kicked off celebrating his successful match by hitting the gym before dinner. I have a very hard time sticking to healthy eating habits when I am under stress and  unfortunately that's been the status quo in the last several weeks.  After the gym, I made pancakes for dinner, and Sam and I headed over to Dan and Tina's apartment to watch a movie.  We watched Toy Story 3 (awesome film) and the majority of the film deals with how to cope with transitions- a very appropriate subject at this moment in our lives.

I turned in my take-home final for my lecture class tonight and then went to play laser tag with some of Sam's classmates.  In our first game, I ranked 8 of 33 people (the highest girl).  In the second game I only ranked 14, but it was a team game as opposed to the first game which was a free for all.

I realized this morning that today, Tuesday, is the calm before the storm.  Yesterday was the anxiety over whether Sam would match outright or not.  And tomorrow is the Marty Morris Pre-Match party thrown by the medical school.  The excitement of match will begin building tomorrow afternoon, as Sam and our friends celebrate their own class's pre-match party.  It's so insane to me how quickly the last 3.5 years have gone.  Wow.

I now have 7 boys in the living room having some beers and whiskey post laser tag and celebrating BYK's birthday.  I need to get to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a VERY long day.

Judgement Day

Sam was measured, weighed, and NOT found wanting.  He received the following email today:

"Congratulations!  You have matched."

Those in the medical field are clearly very expressive.  LOL.  I cannot speak for Sam, but I feel so relieved.  As he said while we were Skyping with his parents last night, any of the programs he ranked would be great programs to be a part of, so matching or not matching is a much bigger concern than where specifically he is going.  That said, keep your fingers crossed for Thursday- it will be here before we know it!

Fingers Crossed

A couple of important orders of business to kick off this post:

1. Happy birthday Sue!  Today is Sam's mom's birthday, and I hope she is having a great day even though we couldn't be there to celebrate with her.
2. Also, happy Spring forward!  I am not looking forward to the next few weeks of dark mornings of wanting nothing more to sleep in another hour or two.  Hopefully the longer days will be here soon and it won't be so depressing to get out of bed. 
3. Thank you to Carrie for a wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating girls night out in Long Beach last night.  Our hotel room was perfect, the comedy club was a much needed barrel of laughs, and it was so great to get away from the med school/match insanity for a little bit.

Tomorrow Sam finds out if he successfully matched to a residency program.  If he doesn’t match outright, he’ll have the option of taking a year off to do additional research and away-rotations, or "scrambling” which means contacting any ortho programs with open spots to get himself accepted into their program.  Nether of these are particularly great options so I hope and pray, for the sake of our sanity, he makes it this year.  Whether you are a spiritual person or not, it wouldn't hurt to give a shout out to whatever higher power you believe in on Sam's behalf tonight.

TIGF!!!

I can't believe a week from now I will be waking up and everything will be decided.... deep breaths Gianna.  Deep breaths. 

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the enormity of the events over the next 6 days.  All of Sam's hard work (and my less obvious support) these last 3 1/2 years comes down to getting into the residency program of his choice.  it seems so unreal, and I just really want him to be happy.

Tonight's distraction is the medical school talent show and retirement party for one of the school secretaries, Gayle.  Sam's part of the first act, Celebrity Jeopardy.  Tomorrow, I head to Long Beach for a girls night out with Carrie.  I cannot wait!  It will be really good to get away from the stress of Match and spend some girlie time with one of my dearest college girlfriends.

"Call Me Anything But Easy"

Amanda's last UCI spin class was tonight and I had a surprise for her...

I not only wanted to show off my shirt, but also a photo of Amanda since I have talked so highly of her.  She thinks she looks like crap, but her first spin class was at 5:30 this morning, she worked with clients all day, and this photo was after her 6:30pm spin class, so let's all cut her some slack.  The back of the shirt says, "Call her anything but easy," which I would say is one of my favorite Amanda Ebner quotes followed closely by, "here's the business," and "don't be afraid to get a little reckless."  Let me also say looks are deceiving.  Amanda may appear cute and nice, but she is guareenteed to kick your a$$ for the full hour you work out with her.  Post my Amanda workout nights I am most often in bed doing homework aka falling asleep with my book open like I will probably be doing in a few minutes.

What to Expect When You're Matching

With only one week (YIKES) until Match Day, I have gathered as much information about what to expect as possible.  I now share this info with you:

First of all, Match Day (March 17th) is not the only day to be worried about.  Monday, March 14th, is the day that all graduating medical students find out if they did or did not match.  We will be assuming Sam successfully matches because, honestly, I am about to lose my mind from the anxiety and stress of this whole process just worrying which program he'll get into let alone if he'll get into one at all.

• Match is preceded by breakfast (I assume bagels, croissants, pastries, etc.) donated by UCI the medical school
• It takes place outside on campus, but I'm not entirely sure where
• The match results are made public across the country at 9am PST, at which point students are called one at a time in alphabetical order by last name to read their match in front of their classmates, friends, and family. 
• If you’re not the first or second person in the class you can actually log into the match website and find out where you are headed prior to stepping on the stage.  (If you, like me, wondered if Sam would do this let me put your mind to rest. Sam assured me neither he nor I will be checking the results before hand.)
• Immediately following Sam's big annoucement (which I promise I will take pictures and video of) we will call/text loved ones, so if you want to put yourself on the list please let me know.  I don't want to offend anyone who ends up reading the news on my facebook.  :-)
• Match is followed by a BBQ put on by the current 3^rd year students.

Later that evening, Sam and I are looking forward to having dinner at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club in Newport Beach to celebrate with our very dear friends, the Grants.  When they found out we didn’t have family coming for match day (I also just found out families/friends come to Match Day), Matt and his amazing parents extended an invitation to Sam and I to join  them for dinner.  Emily will be matching into Pediatrics, and she and her husband (both Lamorinda kids themselves) have been incredible friends to Sam and throughout the whole medical school experience so I think it's very fitting to be celebrating the end of the era with them.

The post-Vegas lack of sleep and building suspense RE: Match are a bad combination which has tensions running HIGH this week.  Not to mention, I had my final presentation for one of my classes on Tuesday and one of my group mates completely botched his portion.  It was epically bad, like the worst group presentation I have ever been a part of.  And since I spent so much time last week working on analyzing our data, this week I'm playing catch up with all my reading and also trying to fill in my take-home final.  Can't this whole Match thing just be over?  Pretty please?

Body By Amanda

With a very heavy heart, I walked home from the gym tonight after my last (for a while) in-person workout with my personal trainer, Amanda.  In the last 18 months she has pushed me beyond my limits, taught me new training techniques, and encouraged me stick with Weight Watchers since for me, diet is a more challenging lifestyle component than exercise.  Amanda trained me for my first (possibly only) 5K, turned me on to studio cycling classes, and supported my with out-of-the-gym struggles.  After making the decision to leave the graduate program at UCI in order to train full time, she is now scaling back her commute to increase her client volume.  I am so happy for her and wish her all the success in the world. 

From now until Sam and I leave for Southeast Asia, I’ll be training online with Amanda- completing the programs she gives me and reporting back to her the stats.  I can't believe I won't be seeing her twice a week, but I’m comforted to know that we’ll be able to work together online no matter where I move in June ( LA looks pretty appealing from the perspective of fulfilling my fitness needs.)

Before Amanda, and after Amanda

I know it was my blood, sweat tears that got me here, but Amanda made that possible.  She put in the time and effort creating challenging workouts, setting new goals for me, and reminding me that I am capable of accomplishing anything I set my mind to.  I can say this, “Amanda, our work together has not been easy, ever.  But it has been the most rewarding personal journey of my life, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

We're Home!

First and foremost, happy 26th birthday to my college roommate Marlena- I hope you had a wonderful day and that this trip around the sun is a prosperous one!

After a wonderful weekend in Sin City, I am happy to be writing this from the comfort of our living room while watching Robin Hood with Sam.  We made it to Las Vegas on Friday night around 11pm.  After changing our clothes and dropping our bags off in our room at Palazzo, we met up with Sam's classmates at Lavo. 

My fabulous roommates for the weekend

It was really fun to see so many of the 4th year medical students, especially since we haven't seen some of Sam's classmates since before the holidays.  Also, Mario Lopez was partying in the VIP area of the club so that was interesting.

Saturday night, five of us had dinner at Bouchon in the Venetian.  I had the most amazing soupe a l'oignon and Sam had a great chicken dish.  I am excited to check out their sister restaurant in LA next time we are up in the area.  After dinner, we headed out to club XS in Encore.  

Tequila shots to celebrate Dan & Tina's engagement

Club XS was amazing!  I loved that it was a covered, but open air dance floor that looked out at the pool.  It was so refreshing to have adequate ventilation since so many people smoke indoors in Las Vegas.  

We also got to buy our good friends Dan and Tina tequila shots to celebrate their engagement a few weeks ago.  Dan organized the trip, and he deserves huge kudos for making sure Sam and I had a room when our previous plans fell through.  

All in all, it was a great trip with great people, and a very fitting way to celebrate the 2011 match.

Sam & I in XS on Saturday night

Waking Up In Vegas!

Sam and I are headed to Sin City this weekend! We're leaving when I get off work, so naturally it's felt as if the clocks are ticking backward today. 

We are going with a large group of the medical students, who have been going on average 4 times a year over the last 4 years.  My last trip was relatively mellow since none of us had ever been before, but this trip is going to be very different.  We'll be staying at Palazzo and tomorrow the ladies are doing some bachelorette activities for one of the girls in Sam's class.  One of my co-workers is staying in the same hotel, and my boss was teaching me the rules of Black Jack at lunch.  So I would say I'll be a little better prepared this time than I was last time. 

It's hard for me to believe that 2 weeks from today Sam and I will (hopefully) be celebrating his match and looking into when his orientation starts and trying to figure out when we're going to look for housing.  Well, realistically I will be doing that, and Sam will be recovering from the Match & St. Patrick's Day festivities.

Happy Birthday Nonna Scandelosa!

Happy Birthday to my scandelous grandma, Lucille. She has been, and continues to be, a source of great confort to me and an unbelievably good role model I could not have hit the grandma jackpot more than being born into her family.

Also, March?!?! I know February is the shortest month of the year, but seriously, how is it March already?

Update on Sam from last night: he got impatient and opted to not have the CT so we could leave and go home. Today he's doing okay but has a purple bruise on his upper lip. I imagine his head is still a little foggy and achy too. Of course, this is just in time for Vegas.

An Exciting Start To March

I am posting this from the Irvine Kaiser Perminente ED (in real life medicine the 'ER' is really the Emergency Department). But let me start at the begining.

Sam booked our flights to Thailand and Bali today. We leave May 1st at 1:30 AM and return May 31st in the evening. We still need to figure out our travel plans to and from Cambodia but that will be cake compared to all the SCUBA and hotel arrangements. I will update the improtant dates on the sidebar ASAP.

Then,I was sitting in class when I got a call from one of Sam's teammates and a voicemail. I texted him back "Did something happen to Sam?" and Ryan texted texted "Everything is okay now." Turns out Sam took a knee to the head as the goalie took the ball and Sam hit the ground hard. There is also a laceration deep in the soft tissue inside his upper middle lip. Gross.

We're waiting for him to have a head CT, get antibiotics, have the CT cleared by the doc, and then I promised I would buy dinner. Which at this point is going to have to be whatever is still open. Think good thoughts!