The 1st Step

From the first day of medical school, all you hear about is the Step I exam. Advise from upperclassman all comes down to one thing: Learn it well the first time around. Easier said than done. It occurs at the end of second year and covers all of the material taught up to that point. It is a right of passage. It consists of 7 50-question blocks that last an hour each with 45 minutes of total break time, adding up to an 8-hour marathon exam.
Jordana and I took the exam this exam two days ago, thursday, and it was everything we had heard it would be. It was the toughest single thing we have ever done, but now we're finished! And as long as we passed (fingers crossed) we will be starting 3rd year in 3 short weeks and finally working in the hospitals with real life patients! We're both very anxious and excited. We feel completely unprepared and overwhelmed, but in a good way. We know we'll learn quickly.


Here a snapshot of what the last 2 years of our lives has been like. The book is a succinct review of our first two years and we've become quite close over the last couple of months.


My roommate Joe hard at work.


Joe likes to study at home and he also likes to takes breaks every now and again to stay sane. This was one of his better projects while taking a break that allowed hiim to be a bit more productive while studying on the porch. He's quite good with wood, something that may or may not have gotten us kicked out of our last apartment!

Our cozy study porch.

Dr. Joshua David Hawkins

Congratulations Josh! New York Medical College's class of 2007 graduated this past Thursday at Carnegie Hall and it was quite an experience. Only two more years until we'll be walking that same stage and being congratulated by our professors and mentors. And then who knows?






You think the degree's big enough?? Sheesh.

Wine Country

Just to start things off, here's Bryan finishing off one his many tastings of the day at Benziger Winery in Sonoma Valley. There'll be plenty more to come soon!

Match Madness!

This last Thursday was National Match Day, the day when, at the same time all across the country, 4th year medical students find out where they'll spend the next 3-7yrs of their lives in residency. It's the day they've been waiting four years for! This year it was Josh's turn, and in two years it will be mine and Jordana's.


Josh matched at an incredible program in Seattle, Virginia Mason, where it seems he will be a perfect fit! So come May he'll graduate in Carnegie Hall and then it's another cross-country road trip back to the great northwest. Jacqueline couldn't be happier to be moving back to family, friends, and drizzly Seattle weather. There's always Zokas on those drizzly Sunday afternoons after Bethany!



Josh with two of his classmates, both heading back to the NW as well! So it can be done!! Guy is going into Radiology and Sharon is doing General Surgery. Mark my words, Josh and Guy will be climbing Pilchuk, Baker, and Rainier together before you know it.

The Real Top Chef

Jordana's mom, Jane, making these incredible little stuffed shrimp. She'll say something like, "oh, those are easy to make", but that's just her. Let me tell you, they're not that easy to make and they're super tasty! It's got to be the professional chef coat!

New Phones and New Service!

Finally my horrible contract with Cingular/AT&T/Cingular/AT&...Yeah, they can't even pick a name! Jordana and I have been waiting for this day for quite some time now, lugging around heavy, fat, ugly phones for the past year-and-a-half. Finally, she got her cute little RAZR and I invested in a smartphone. It's smart, see, it can do anything! Phone, internet, drug reactions, differential diagnoses, calculator, calendar, games, etc. Plus I'm planning on getting one of those snazzy leather belt cases that all the important doctors wear. That'll be us in just a few short months!
Oh yeah, and we switched to Verizon which everybody says is the best. We'll see. We'll probably be counting down the 24months until we can switch again. I'm not expecting any miracles here.

So my new # is 860-866-8433

Valentine's Day

In spite of the fact that Valentine's Day fell right before two exams this year, Tyson still managed to surprise me with a gorgeous bouquet of roses! I admit I am a bit hesitant to leave them alone (they "grow up" so fast!) while we bounce between apartments, cooking dinner, watching movies, and drinking wine during our short burst of freedom, so they have made a few trips back and forth in the car in the past couple days. Considering the below-freezing weather and the howling wind, I have been a little tempted to wrap them in a little snowsuit and blanket, but I suppose that would be a BIT extreme...


Tyson has an amazing ability to surprise me and constantly make me feel special. Valentine's Day last year found us wandering through Central Park about two days after a huge snowstorm while I scrambled over patches of snow and ice in my high-heel boots asking, "Are you SURE this is the way to the restaurant?" A quick check with an officer who happened to be passing through finally sent us toward our final destination: Ice skating in Central Park!

When we're not studying

So my blog is pretty different from most. Everybody else I know seems to have all this time on the weekends to go and enjoy nature or celebrate big life events w/ friends up in the mountains(turning 30). Me, I only have a life once every 6 weeks because of those pesky exams. Sure, I still get to watch an episode of Scrubs every once in a while, and we never miss an episode of Grey's Anatomy, but our weekends can be pretty boring. Fortunately for us (and all of you loyal readers out there) we just finished exams yesterday and have a couple weeks to take it easy. The problem is, it's freezing cold out, there's a 3-inch crust of ice on the ground, and all we want to do is be outside. So to celebrate better days I'll post some photos of the kinds of things we like to spend our time doing when it's not 15 degrees and icy. (I knew it was going to be flat out here but I at least expected some snow!)


The first photo here shows Josh (belaying Jacqueline) and Jordana up at the Shawangunk Preserve, a sweet climbing mecca about 1.5 hrs from where I go to school. We try to make it up here 3-4 times in the fall before the weather changes/exams start to rule our lives. We're looking forward to spring again!





This is my roommate Joe from Virginia. He's doing the Navy thing, which means the Navy pays for his medical school and he owes them service after he graduates. It's a pretty sweet deal if you don't have an aversion to the Armed
Forces, and it's something a lot of us consider and only a few actually do. All those loans paid off in 4 years sure sounds pretty nice though! Oh, and he's shown here climbing at our local rock, about 20 minutes from school. It's a sweet place to go after class on weekdays but you have to do a thorough tick check when you're through. Joe counted 6 the last time he went!! (Lyme disease capital of the world)

And lastly, and not related at all, is a photo of Jordana's first attempt at surfing in Montanita, Ecuador. She was quite a trooper. Maybe we can plan another surfing vacation to Malpais, Costa Rica Trisha? You've got another surfing buddy!

Jordana's First Ski Trip

This was Jordana's first day of skiing up at Crystal Mt. over Christmas break. She had a great time after she figured out what turning was for. After having only one lesson, I coerced her to ride up the big person's chair to mid-mountain and take a run with me. Unbeknownst to me, her instructor had never conveyed to her the real purpose of turning, she later told me she thought it was just to look cool. So as we started the run, she bolted straight down the slope, wedging the whole way but gaining more and more speed while I chased after her screaming "Turn! Turn!" until finally she bit the dust. It was really quite a site to see! She was ok though, with only her ego a little bruised thanks to the man who stopped to laugh at her expense. In the end, she was quite impressive after only two days of skiing and, most importantly, says she loved it! (boy was I relieved)


She's riding the conveyor belt here, the modern version of the rope tow. As you can see, they don't give you poles at first. (And I know the photo's sideways but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to permanently rotate it. Any advice from you professional bloggers?)

My first post. What a historic moment for me. I don't have time to pick up the phone and call my friends but somehow I'm going to find time to update my blog? I highly doubt it. But thanks to Kristen, Trisha, and Melissa, whose blogs I check frequently when in need of a study break and I've already read the entire espn.go.com website, I've decided that even though I can't imagine anybody actually taking the time to read my blog about my horrendously boring medical school life, I'm going to give it a shot. It may not be every day (most certainly not), every week (getting there), or every month (most likely), and it might only be pictures, but hopefully it'll provide a much-needed way to stay in better touch.