2010 Feb: North

It has been a crazy month. I had a test 3 weeks ago and we still don’t have our scores back yet. We are taking the final test for this class in 1 week, and we don’t know what our grades are. It’s a little scary to go into the final like that. I guess it helps us each do our best instead of brushing it off if we know we did well on the midterm. Let me tell you about one little stressor in my life over this last month. In my course of study we are put into small groups for 10 weeks at a time. In those small groups we choose what we want to study, we compare notes, we teach each other, etc. We work very closely with our group, so it’s important for the group to get along. Well my current group has not gotten along very well. We have struggled the whole time in our meetings. There is a lot of interrupting, discord, and chaos. There have been accusations made about people playing favorites, and ignoring other’s opinion. It all came to a head on Friday. We had our most tense discussion. Some cutting personal attacks were made; luckily I was able to avoid that. It even got so bad that a faculty member was called to come in and settle the matter. He used some strong words to tell some of the group members to grow up. He reminded us that we are in medical school, not junior high anymore, and that we need to be willing to work, or we should find a new school. It was very tense for awhile. Fortunately we won’t be meeting again in our current groups; we get new ones next week. Not every day is that bad, in fact we’ve had some very productive days, and I will have some good memories of this group. Although painful, this is an important experience because we will spend the rest of our lives working with disagreeable people. Doctors are notorious for being arrogant, and we will have to work with them every day. It is important to learn to disagree but not be disagreeable.

Last night was our school talent show. Because I am a member of the club that sponsored it I was involved. My main duties were with the fundraising aspect. We held a silent auction and a raffle. I believe we raised well over $1000 last night. We are donating it to local charities and performing arts companies. The talent show was held in a building that was originally built by Andrew Carnegie, so it is technically a “Carnegie Hall,” and my club opened the show with a dance number, so I can now truthfully say that I have performed at Carnegie Hall! My debut was spectacular. The crowd cheered and cheered, well, at least my wife cheered. The closing number was very unusual. It was a faculty “band” made up of 2 accordions, a banjo, a tuba, a saxophone, and a French horn. They played the chicken dance song. I never thought I would see the Assistant Dean wearing a chicken hat and playing the accordion. It was a fun night, and a great learning experience. I think Becky will be posting a video of my brief dance solo on our blog soon, so swing by and check it out.

All things considered we are doing well. Becky is learning lots at her work. She has already moved up the totem pole and is training another worker on how the office works. In church she has been released from the nursery and called to be the Relief Society secretary. She didn’t think she would miss the nursery, but she does. I think she enjoys mingling with the other women her age and getting more spiritual nourishment than the little children can provide. We feel blessed and happy and we hope the same for you.