Electronic Failure!

I had the afternoon off today, which was delightful. It gave me a chance to finish up most of my studying for the end-of-rotation exam on Friday. I also took Jasper out for a long walk while the day was at its warmest. Within the first five minutes of leaving the house, I pulled out my ringing cellphone, lost it through my mittened hands, and watched it splat open on the sidewalk. After I stuck all the pieces back together, it still refused to work. So then I turned on my iPod...which promptly died, probably because the very old battery was unhappy in the 20 degree weather. Jasper then enjoyed my technology-free full attention for the remainder of the hour or so that we were out! He had a wonderful time romping in the snow, and he's getting very good at running full speed for me when I call "come!" Though he doesn't always stop once he gets to me. Once today, he grabbed his treat and took off again, which I suppose fulfilled the letter if not the spirit of the command.

Pediatrics is wonderful. I really enjoy the patients and my coworkers, and have become very excited about the pediatrics part of family practice. I'm also pleased to report that I have now finished my last on-call night of third year! The only rotations I have left in the spring are family practice (2 weeks), psych (4 weeks) and surgery (6 weeks in Arizona). I'll also have 9 weeks of research time to work on the anxiety/defibrillator project.

Right now I'm really looking forward to finishing up the peds rotation, getting the exam over with, and heading off to meet up with our families and some friends in Puerto Rico! Jasper is going to go to puppy camp—he'll be staying at the dogsitter's house and playing with her dog until we come back to Minnesota just before Christmas.