Internship graduation

Last week, we had internship graduation, which is a little like kindergarten graduation--it doesn't really mean much, except they got to get us dressed up in uniform and line us up for yet another graduation ceremony (because clearly, by the time we become doctors, we haven't had enough graduation ceremonies). I took a few random pictures of us "lining up" so you can appreciate a bunch of interns and residents more dressed up than we would normally be (ie, not in scrubs or camo). People in white are in the Navy, those in dark blue are in the Army, and I don't think I have any pictures of the few people in the Air Force who were graduating.

So we got all lined up, proceeded into the concert hall (yes, fortunately, it was indoors... it was probably 95 degrees at 1000, when the ceremony began), and sat through yet another graduation ceremony. The host was the commander of NNMC (Bethesda), so a two-star admiral in the Navy, and the graduation speaker was LCDR Jardik, a Navy urologist who wrote a book (On Call in Hell) about his deployment to Iraq, back in the early days of Iraq. Then we marched across the stage to receive our certificates, which say "Please go to the GME office to pick up your diplomas". Yeah, completely useless.

Since then, I haven't really done much involving a hospital. I had a few more days of dermatology, but then Thursday NNMC was closed (there was a big ceremony opening the Intrepid Center, whatever that is, and the President was there, so they closed the outpatient clinics to keep security risks down) and I was supposed to help with the transitional year interns (next year's class) orientation on Friday, but that was cancelled at the last minute. Tomorrow, I'm going into WRAMC to outprocess (that should be a fun time...) and then on Thursday, I officially start my preventive medicine residency.

Marine Corps 17.75K

I got up ridiculously early this morning to drive down to Quantico (about 35 miles away), which took me about 1.5 hrs this morning thanks to Beltway construction, to run the Marine Corps 17.75K (about 11.1 miles). Yes, that is a random distance--1775 was the year the Marine Corps was established, so that's where that came from.

This was the inaugural race of the 17.75K (by the way, it's the only 17.75K race in the world), so nobody really knew what to expect. It's part of the Marine Corps Marathon training series, which is how I heard of it.

Anyway, here's the course map:

So as you can see from the elevation map, there were quite a few hills. Fortunately, probably nine of the eleven miles were in the park, so there was good shade cover, which was definitely necessary. By the time I got back to my car (about 10:30), it was 85 degrees and rather humid.

Overall, slower than I wanted to run (1:52ish, which is about a 10:07 minute/mile pace), but I survived, which makes it the longest run I've done in over a year, and a good way to kick off my training for the Marine Corps Marathon.

West Point, and onto Dermatology

My friend Yolanda is moving out to California to work at Travis Air Force Base next year (which means, in two weeks), and she decided that she wanted to see all the service academies at some point. She had done a rotation at Annapolis, so she wanted to see West Point before she moved. We would have taken my friend Jen, who went to West Point, but sadly, she was on vascular surgery and was working all day.

Here's a picture of the quad, which is right outside the barracks (dorms), and where the cadets have accountability formations 2-5 times a day. Obviously, in June, after graduation and before the new plebes (freshmen) arrive, there weren't many cadets to be seen.

Here's the roof of the field house. The other side says "SINK NAVY", but I just couldn't get a good picture of it.

And this is the West Point Chapel, which is an absolutely beautiful building. Overall, a very beautiful campus, although Jen informs me that it's bitterly cold in the winter, with the cold air coming in over the Hudson.

So that was my Saturday. Didn't really do much on Sunday, and then yesterday I started my dermatology rotation--last rotation of intern year! So far, I haven't really seen much, but we (as in, me and the dermatology residents) did get a lecture this morning on how to moonlight as an attending and make a lot of money in the outside world. The main point, which was repeated over and over, was "This isn't the time for interesting cases and expanding your education. This is for making money." Gotta love dermatologists.