We went to see Wicked at DPAC last night, and it was fantastic. Highly recommended to anyone thinking about going!!! :) I think Kelsey has the soundtrack, so I'll try to restrain myself from buying it on iTunes until I can get it for free. Liz was in tears during parts of it... it was that good.

Anyway, today I'm having another of those insane Fridays where I try to get everything done at once. Liz and I took her car to the mechanic this morning (tire problems), and after I dropped her off at work, I went to Lake Johnson and ran my usual 6-mile circuit (two loops of the lake). After coming home, showering, and grabbing a snack, I went to our leasing office, signed the Intent to Vacate papers, and turned in our official 60-day notice. Our lease ends June 29th, and the woman (who is new and doesn't know us) tried to give me grief about coming in today (the 30th) instead of yesterday. I argued as politely as I could that May has 31 days, that today is exactly 60 days from our move-out date, that we had counted carefully so that we'd know exactly when this needed to be done -- and, finally, that if they had wanted it yesterday, that perhaps tenants should be asked for a 'two-month notice' instead of a 60-day notice. Anyway, it wasn't really a big deal, and the worst-case scenario is that we'll end up paying one extra day of rent, but I seriously doubt that's going to happen.

After getting that taken care of, I drove to our new apartments in Durham, turned in our applications, and got a look at an empty model of the floor plan we're going to be getting. It isn't quite as nice as the one we wanted (no double vanity in the master bath, etc.), but it's certainly as good, if not better, than what we have now... and the location (Southpoint!!!) can't be beat. It's a third-floor, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment, with a walk-through kitchen and an L-shaped balcony which overlooks a quiet green courtyard space with lush grass and skinny pine trees. I can see us spreading out a blanket down there and hanging out for hours, when the weather's as nice as it is now. I think we'll be happy there.

Anyway, I'm home now, and about to start on the rest of my massive to-do list. I'm currently folding up our winter coats and other heavy clothes that we won't wear again until the fall so that I can put them in suitcases and stick the suitcases in the coat closet. That'll mean (a) more space for the clothes we ARE wearing right now, and (b) one less chore to do when moving day actually arrives. I might stick a few other things in boxes, too -- we've been stockpiling cardboard boxes for over a year in preparation for moving day.

After all that, I have to:

- work out a final budget for Duke
- complete and submit my immunization papers to Duke
- send a couple of emails, including one to my car/renter's insurance company
- watch a documentary on vaccines that I missed earlier this week
- write cards to Liz (birthday) and my mom (Mother's Day)
- figure out where and when I can donate blood (I want to know my blood type)
- do laundry, wash dishes, and generally clean this disgusting apartment... LOL

We'll see how far I get...

I've only got 39 workdays left, and I'm starting to think about how sad it's going to be when someone else is working with 'my' doctor and 'my' patients instead of me. That's not to say that I love every single minute of my job, but Dr. H and I have been together for so long that we've got a rhythm going; we can anticipate each other on the umpteen million tiny details that tend to rear their ugly heads throughout a day, and as such, our little corner of the office tends to operate at a relatively low stress level compared to many of the others. I know, without asking, that when a patient shows up half an hour late, I can tell the front desk that he'll see them anyway; he knows that I check each patient's immunization records ahead of time and type what they're missing under Patient Notes, so that we can double-check each other. I know that if a toddler shows up with unexplained fever, that I should go ahead and stick a urine bag on him/her; that if a kid is freaking out about a strep test, he'd rather assess the situation himself rather than have me force the issue; that he strongly prefers to defer the Menactra vaccine until high school; he knows that I take very detailed histories, that I usually draw up my vaccines before he orders them, and that if he's doing a physical on a school-age child, that when he opens the door, there will be a generic health form in the slot for him to sign. I know that if a child is completely freaked out about their shots when they arrive, that I can autonomously discuss the vaccines with the parent, order them in the computer, and administer them, all before he even enters the room. And, perhaps most importantly, he knows that I care about our patients (and parents) as people, just as much as he does. Again, I don't love every single one of them, but in some strange way, they're 'mine' nonetheless. It makes me a little sad to think of someone else swabbing "Joy"'s golf ball-sized tonsils or giving "Peter" his two-year vaccines or testing the eyes of our multiple sets of identical twin girls, just as it's hard to contemplate no longer discussing books with "Nora"'s mom or swapping football jibes with "Alan"'s family. I'm glad to be moving on (and up) in my chosen field, and I wouldn't change a thing, but at the same time it's going to be hard to let go of all these relationships I've built over the past nearly-three years. *sigh*

Other stuff:

- Liz got the job!!!! She'll start in early July (we think).

- She also defended her thesis on Wednesday night, and did a fantastic job. The paper itself is almost entirely complete, just a little bit of work on the conclusion still to go. So all that's left for her now is graduation (5/15).

- Oh, and her birthday, which is 5/4. I finally got her present in my hot little hands yesterday, and it is perfect. She doesn't know what it is yet, and I've promised her (and myself) that this time I am NOT going to spill the beans early! Her only clues have been the following: (1) it's something she's wanted for a long time but has never written down on any kind of wish list, (2) it's something I've been planning to get her as a combination birthday/graduation gift for a long time, but initially didn't think I was going to be able to swing due to the cost -- but then I found it on craigslist/half.com/eBay for very cheap, (3) it will help fill up 'all the extra time' she's going to have on her hands (LOL) now that all she'll have to worry about is a job, rather than school, and (4) it's related to something she's already good at, and will foster her ability to learn more and/or get better at this particular skill if she so chooses.

- I got my technology package info from Duke, and the laptop is exactly what I thought it would be: the stupid Dell Latitude E6400. The reviews call it "fast, but lots of bugs, and pretty heavy." I was holding out hope for a netbook option, since Dell has so many cool ones, but no such luck. Wish they'd just let me use my Mac. *grumble*

- The Tar Heel Ten Miler was FANTASTIC, and I think it's going to become my new Gate River Run (i.e. the race I do every spring). The course was beautiful (right down Franklin St., through the UNC campus, through some of the historical districts with gorgeous homes, etc.) and the weather was perfect. I was halfway done and felt like I'd only been running for ten minutes. And the stadium finish was awesome, too; you do a sort of 'victory lap' around the stadium, they announce your name, and then you cross the line. The post-finish was a little disorganized, but they'll do better next year. Anyway, I loved, loved, loved it and definitely plan to make it a 'regular'.

- I've done all the scholarships I can possibly do -- my last four searches have turned up nothing new -- so now it's just a matter of waiting for the results of the ones I sent out. No news yet.

- I got Duke's immunization requirements late last week, so I got my HepB and varicella titers drawn at work on Wednesday, and got my Menactra vaccine too. One of the many perks of working in the medical field!

- Earlier this week, I tried to be in a Duke clinical study (using healthy volunteers who have never had a migraine to test a drug for migraine headaches), but got turned away for being 'too healthy'. :) Apparently 90% of the population has a small amount of tricuspid regurgitation, or TR (meaning a small amount of blood 'backflows' from one particular valve in your heart rather than getting pushed through in the right direction), and that's what they were going to use as a marker for their study. I, on the other hand, don't have any TR at all, so I can't participate. (As the echocardiogram techs put it: "It's good for you, it's just bad for our study!") Amusingly, one of the techs also asked, "Are you pretty athletic? Like, do you run, or do sports...?" When I answered in the affirmative, she replied, "Yeah, we can usually tell -- because your lungs are so big that we're having a hard time getting a good view of your heart!" :) I also have a very low resting heart rate -- between 50 and 60 for most of the time I was on the table, but dropping to 47-48 during the portions of the test where I had to hold my breath, roll to the side, etc. So I don't get the $1400 I'd have gotten if I'd been eligible, but I do get the knowledge that my heart is in tip-top shape... and I think I'd probably rather have that knowledge over the financial reward, anyway. :)

Spring is here -- as evidenced by the clouds of yellow pollen hanging in the air for the past week. (It's supposed to rain tomorrow night -- not soon enough, if you ask me.) My life is stumbling along quite as usual. High points:

- I have only 49 workdays left, which is a big milestone.

- I've gotten a few additional pieces of info from Duke -- nothing super useful, but some interesting details nonetheless. (Example: the 2011 American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) national conference is going to be in Las Vegas, and students are encouraged to attend -- to the tune of Duke canceling our classes for that week and partially covering our travel expenses. Nice.)

- I'm running the Tar Heel Ten Miler this coming Saturday with 4 other people from my office, which should be lots of fun.

- Liz will (hopefully) find out about her job on Friday, which is good timing, considering we're heading out to (probably) commit to our new apartment complex on Saturday after the race. Since I won't really have much income, knowing what her salary will be is a crucial piece of the apartment-hunting puzzle.

- I'm still hunting for outside scholarship applications -- the pickings are incredibly slim, but I just found one that actually seems tailor-made for me: bilingual students entering the healthcare field. The essay should be pretty easy; the only catch will be if they'll accept the certificate of fluency I have from the Dutch government (because I'm definitely not paying $90 to take a second fluency test here in the States). We shall see... it's worth a try, anyway.

- Liz defends her thesis two weeks from today. Needless to say, the stress level in this apartment right now is pretty much through the roof.

That's pretty much all I've got as far as a Life Update so far. Stuff should start rolling in from Duke pretty soon as far as required textbooks, instruments, immunizations (I have to get varicella titers drawn, bah), and other such nonsense, and financial info should start coming in about six more weeks, around the end of May. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about once that all starts happening.