Another stamp in my passport

Having just spent the last 6 days in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, I have arrived back in the US with a new stamp in my passport, a blotchy sunburn and a strong desire to sleep. There were 11 of us on the trip and we snorkeled, sunbathed, kayaked, rappelled, zip-lined, swam in a cenote, played water volleyball, and visited the Mayan city of Tulum.

I got a rather impressive sunburn on day 2, which has thankfully stopped hurting and started to turn more brownish than red. Don't get me wrong, I still look white, but now I can prove this is tan for me. The only part that has started to peel is my earlobes (I really did burn all over).

There was, of course, also plenty of partying. We spent one night in the resort's disco, which was so awful it was funny. They played rock around the clock and greased lightening, not exactly the clubbing music we're accustomed to. We spent another night in Playa Del Carmen, the local town, which was a mix of fun international chains (senor frogs - yay for the swing chairs) and local places (beautiful open air bars). We collected enough plastic cups to have our own flip cup tournament, but never ended up actually playing.

All around it was a really good time on beautiful beaches with great company. It will be nicely bookended with the upcoming trip to Alaska (July 4-11).

Loose joints

With relative frequency one of my PIs points out small genetic aberrations I have - apparently my pupils are unequal, I have (benign) nystagmus and my nasal openings are narrow. If I had been developmentally delayed or ill these might have been taken in aggregate to try and identify a genetic diagnosis.

The latest finding was less direct. We were meeting a new patient and Dr. __ kept pointing out to me little things this girl could do that were more flexible than average. She could bend her fingers 90 degrees (see photo, my finger - you try), her elbows rotated more than 180 degrees and she would W-sit (sit like the japanese, then put your butt on the ground between your heels). I can do all of these things. At this point I am silently panicking... whatever this little girl has, I clearly have it too. Connective tissue disease? Autoimmune? I'm really a genetics case after all?!

None of the above. Turns out, to the degree we (little girl and I) have this flexibility is unusual, but not harmful. It can cause "clumsy kid syndrome" and mildly delay fine motor development, but prognosis is: normal kid. I've never been so glad to be normal.

Drumroll please...

The deposit has been paid and all other applications withdrawn. Starting August 3, I will be attending the University of Michigan Medical School. Go Blue!

For the Lost addicts: This was foreshadowed years ago... when I was 6 and lost part of my finger in the door and it grew back ala Wolverine in X-men... and the Michigan football team is the... Wolverines.

Everyone else is doing it...

Apparently I'm the last person to jump on the lets-get-back-in-shape bandwagon (but at least I jumped on). I tried going for a run this evening and tried is the correct word. Since a full length run is still a bit of a struggle, I've decided I'll do a short run in the am and a short run after work. I've further decided to declare this publicly so that I am motivated (by humiliation).

And yes, those are my running shoes.

Comings and Goings

I was up in NYC this weekend and while walking around saw a cage full of kittens waiting to be adopted. I have a huge soft spot for kittens (who doesn't?) and had to stand and coo for the requisite 5 minutes.

Otherwise, my lack of posting can be attributed to finishing up classes (they're done, hallelujah!), working lots (stupid NIH Progress report), major school choice indecision (UPitt vs UMich), and my discovery of Battlestar Gallactica (is it just me or are the cylons obsessed with sex?).

I'm trying to pull together an entertaining summer... starting with a few days in Mexico, then a friend's wedding in NYC, maybe some time in Cali (Northern and Southern) and hopefully a family vacation to Alaska. If anyone wants to go to Istanbul I think I could be convinced to make time for that.

Of course, somewhere in there will be moving to medical school; white coat ceremony Aug 3. For those of you who miss the travel posts, hopefully my summer will provide adequate fodder. Past Aug 3rd though, I think the distinctly medical/academic bent will return.

Good, clean fun

According to this month's issue of Women's Health magazine, who heard it from the University of Cambridge student magazine, medical students have more sex than their other graduate school counterparts.

Field of study # of partners
Medicine 8
Political science 7
History 6
Language 5
Theology 2