Interview Trail, Day 2
Ah, the south. It was 60 degrees today.

The drive from Chattanooga was uneventful, with a little sidetrip to Ruby Falls a very groovy 10-story tall waterfall in a cave in the middle of a mountain. Atlanta was mercifully free of traffic at 12:30 PM and thus I meandered into town with enough time to relax before dinner with three of the residents here.

As for dinner, let me just assert that more foods should be stuffed with crab and wrapped in bacon. I can't think of a single food that wouldn't benefit from that treatment, and I'm including all desserts - if you can keep the bacon from deflating the meringue, all the better.

I'm finding that resident dinners before interviews have a few common elements - there's lots of inside joking about attendings and people they work with (because now you know that Dr. J won't unexpectedly walk up behind you), which is immediately followed by "Wait, we should be telling you about our night float system/call rooms/ICU rotation!" and then ultimately fades back into the first conversation. And the restaurant is tasty/representative of interesting local cuisine.

The real key of the matter is that students can learn more from the non-sanctioned conversation than anything else. A set of residents who will apply gentle ribbing to their superiors and colleagues are generally happy - I have seen the sullen resentment and outright hostility of unhappy residents, so seeing people who are able to have a laugh at their work environment is a plus for the program.

However, I must take a moment to talk about something entirely non-medical for this trip.


An early Christmas present from my loving, if fretful parents that I originally greeted with "Thank you, but I do think you're being overly anxious here." Because when the GPS units first hit the market, my response was simple and direct "Learn to read a map, you sissy."

What can I say? I'm the daughter of a sailor, maps and charts are comforting. I wasn't about to trade in reliable atlases for some gadget that told me to turn left in 0.5 miles, even if it did so in a nice British accent. (Brits are innately reassuring in a crisis and they bring tea, so in my mind there is no better civilization if you're in a spot of bother.)

However, I was basing my original statements on the premise of being the navigator, or having one - someone who can cozy up in the passenger seat and endlessly examine back roads and alternate routes while the driver attends to the job of not running off the road. While one can do both jobs, it involves either a bit of swerving or pulling off to the side of the road entirely. So I retract my initial statement - when you don't have a copilot it becomes very, very nice to have a little machine direct you cheerfully to your destination.

My advice to all applicants driving to their interviews is to get one of these - the new models will even search local businesses for you, which was especially useful when I realized I needed to buy nylons. 5 minutes down the road from the hotel, I had set foot in my first piggly-wiggly and a pair of sheer-toes.

Note: my model has a nasty habit of directing me off the highway after it sees billboards for things like "The best barbeque in Macon Georgia". Honest, I didn't know what was happening until I was stopped in front of a little building and thinking "This doesn't look like 24 south...." But, since it was around lunchtime, I decided to take a break.

Right. Must eat vegetables tomorrow.