Gonna do that next year.

Nobody's better.

Correct.

I wonder how hard it would be to implement a forums rule that prevents anyone other than the OP from bumping a thread that is more than, say, 1 year old??

New Year's resolutions are self-induced Utter Fail.

Generally so. When my kids used to do synchronized swimming at the local Y, I used to DREAD going there during January. The parking lot would be full of cars and the place was practically mobbed. By February it would be back to normal. I call those folks "resolutionites."

I refuse to go to the gym until after Valentines Day each year. First you have the resolutioners and then you have the desperate singles.

Sounds like a gun range in Texas in January.

You said that like it's a bad thing. Those are the best kind of singles.

Nah - most of them are making promises to their significant others or...just aren't my type...

Last year, I unsuccessfully gave up irony.

Hospital administrator comes to find me this afternoon, wants to know if I can interview an intern applicant. She is a vet student currently spending time on the ER service and has applied for our internship for next year. One of the surgeons was supposed to conduct her formal interview but he is tied up in the OR.

Sure, just let me glance at her application first. Good letters of reference but her GPA is 2.51. Not necessarily a deal-breaker as long as all she's looking for is an internship. That's a year of clinical training, there's no test-taking involved. So if the issue was some kind of standardized test phobia, she might work, as long shes smart and savvy enough.

She brings up the weak GPA and I tell her quite honestly the most important thing, since she's been with us a month, is the opinions of the ER docs she's been working with. If they think she can do the job & fit in well, we will de-emphasize the grades.

Then she tells me she'd like to go on and apply for a surgery residency after her internship. Oy. There are 50 applicants easy for every surgery residency. Grades hugely matter because there's a very difficult board-certification exam at the end and no one wants to spend 3 years training a resident who never passes boards. Plus with the huge number of applicants for every position, the programs are looking for easy ways to whittle down the applications. It's hard to even get your application looked at with a GPA below 3.5.

I explain all of this to her and she is shocked. She asks me, "So Dr Heathpack, these grades are just going to haunt me for the start of my career?!"

I tell her yes, that's how it is.

"What do I do about it?!"

Theres no answer to this, I tell her a few strategies but nothing that is sure to work. She might catch a break somewhere along the line but the odds are not good. For the most part that ship has sailed.

Interesting conversation in light of the posts I had made recently about young veterinarians and their resiliency issues. I feel badly for this girl because her mentors have encouraged her to want to become a specialist but no one has mentored her in how to strategize that- you've got to take your grades seriously and start building your residency application very early on. Just seems like another aspect of that same issue- a disconnect between expectations & reality. The idea that there is no do-over was just a big fat shock to her.

Anyway, nice girl, it will be interesting to see what the ER docs think of her. If we take her as an intern, we'll of course do what we can to get her placed somehow into a residency but it's really a long shot.

I don't go to the gym to socialize, so it doesn't matter who comes and goes and what they are all about. I just do my own thing, but it does help to have some nice scenery now and then.

I go there to do my thing as well - I just don't want to wait an extra 10-12 minutes to grab a bench or machine because Big Mike or Bertha decided to give the gym a go for a few weeks before they call it quits.

It will be interesting to see if there's the ny resolution surge, but at peak time (5-7pm) I just select another machine or bench that's open, then move on to another as it opens up. Fortunately, my gym isn't too slammed that its a problem - yet.

No fun.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, there are football games all day today, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday & Sunday. :bday:

Correct

Just one day left to 2015.

Mrs. rpen has been predicting the Dow will get back to 18,000 before year end. That one remaining day is gonna be some exciting if she's right. Me, I'm not holding my breath.

Does that mean that the end is near?

More or less.

Hmmmm...

Which is it?

More?

or

Less?

Only datlas knows for sure.

True.

I guess I'm done riding for the year as tomorrow I'm off in prep for the NYD ride. 9,200 miles, 550 hours. Decent year on the bike.

I hope your passion is reignited, [MENTION=29415]BillyD[/MENTION]! Good thoughts towards all that stuff.