I haven't updated my blog in almost a year. That is a bit ridiculous. Obviously I'm busy in PGY-1 but I'm not sooooo busy as to not post anything. I'm going to try and do a bit better. Cause, really, that's pretty pathetic.
Life for me is pretty good. I'm almost done PGY-1. Close enough to being done that I've crossed it off my 101 list. I'm in my 2nd last rotation right now and I don't do call in my last rotation (ICU) so really it's pretty smooth sailing from here. Then I'm in my ... PGY-2 year :S. Where I do 9 months straight at the most difficult OB hospital in Winnipeg. I might die. I need to get a debilitating illness so I can go on stress leave just to survive. It's going to be crazy. But everyone tells me I'm going to get through it and that it's not really that bad so I'm going to believe them. PGY-1 was far better than my timid expectations would have had me believe so I'm going to have faith, it is my middle name after all.
Foreman and I are doing really well; loving spring in the Peg. I'm really looking forward to the summer here. Winnipeg has been a really easy transition for us and we love our friends and our life here which is super great. He's working 86% of the time which is awesome for him and teaching math and chemistry so life is pretty sweet. And he spends a lot of time in the Geek Room which he loves.
I just came back from vacation with my dad in China (that's info for another post) and it was INCREDIBLE. I loved it and it was really wonderful to be able to go on another adventure with my father. I'll definitely post pics.
Coming up for us: I'm going to Calgary at the end of June for a conference and then starting PGY-2 and the onslaught of weddings over the summer and Foreman will be a teacher-bum in the summer months. Should be good times.
I'm really going to try to work on posting more.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Sunday, August 05, 2007
PGY-1
So I know it's been a long time since I posted anything but I've been a bit busy with Cuba and the house and starting residency, etc. Anyway, I thought I'd write a bit of an update on my life since July 1st (before that was a bit hectic and more than a small update on call can afford). However, as a side note our house is AMAZING and I am completely in love with it. I love going home every day (also in part to the great guy who lives with me there). Thanks to Debbbbbie, Katie, Elisabeth and Dave (and the movers) for helping me transition to life in the Peg and life as a homeowner.
Okay as for work. It's been slightly hectic to say the least. My first call was July 2nd which was a hospital holiday and one of my craziest call shifts to date. I did not even see the call room that night. This story sort of sums it up: I saw a lady who was breech and fully and pushing so I personally wheel her from triage to labour floor at 3am and then think I'm going to scrub in on her section but noooooo - the charge nurse tells me I need to come for a delivery. I thought the staff would be there but noooooo I was standing in front of a woman who was fully and pushing at 35 weeks gestation (pre-term). She'd had a previous 35 weeker that was 3lbs and needed to be in NICU. Pre-terms don't usually go to R1s but the other resident and the staff were in the breech section. So I'm doing ok - getting this woman to push - even though I haven't done a vaginal delivery in almost 6 months and then the charge nurse comes back in and asks if the baby is out yet and I said we had at least another 20 minutes of pushing. She tells me I don't have time I have to scrub for a crash section for NRFHR (non-reassuring fetal heart rate) so I run down the hall, I don't even have time to properly scrub (don't worry I did wash my hands) and I'm first assist on a crash section across from Dr. Morris who did my interview. I haven't been in a section room in at least 4 months and I don't think I've ever been first assist. It actually was pretty good though and I got to close the fascia. But that was my FIRST day as a resident (and really only the early morning hours). It was INSANE.
Things since then have been slightly less overwhelming. I have however had a couple of intrauterine fetal deaths which have been awful and a very sad Gyne Onc case. For the most part it's very busy but good. I'm liking Gyne a lot more than Obs but I think it's because with Gyne you only have to worry about one person's life. So anyway, I'm surviving. And looking forward to my vacation with Foreman coming up in the middle of this week.
Okay as for work. It's been slightly hectic to say the least. My first call was July 2nd which was a hospital holiday and one of my craziest call shifts to date. I did not even see the call room that night. This story sort of sums it up: I saw a lady who was breech and fully and pushing so I personally wheel her from triage to labour floor at 3am and then think I'm going to scrub in on her section but noooooo - the charge nurse tells me I need to come for a delivery. I thought the staff would be there but noooooo I was standing in front of a woman who was fully and pushing at 35 weeks gestation (pre-term). She'd had a previous 35 weeker that was 3lbs and needed to be in NICU. Pre-terms don't usually go to R1s but the other resident and the staff were in the breech section. So I'm doing ok - getting this woman to push - even though I haven't done a vaginal delivery in almost 6 months and then the charge nurse comes back in and asks if the baby is out yet and I said we had at least another 20 minutes of pushing. She tells me I don't have time I have to scrub for a crash section for NRFHR (non-reassuring fetal heart rate) so I run down the hall, I don't even have time to properly scrub (don't worry I did wash my hands) and I'm first assist on a crash section across from Dr. Morris who did my interview. I haven't been in a section room in at least 4 months and I don't think I've ever been first assist. It actually was pretty good though and I got to close the fascia. But that was my FIRST day as a resident (and really only the early morning hours). It was INSANE.
Things since then have been slightly less overwhelming. I have however had a couple of intrauterine fetal deaths which have been awful and a very sad Gyne Onc case. For the most part it's very busy but good. I'm liking Gyne a lot more than Obs but I think it's because with Gyne you only have to worry about one person's life. So anyway, I'm surviving. And looking forward to my vacation with Foreman coming up in the middle of this week.
Monday, May 28, 2007
#54 - Bikini in Cuba
It's something that I've wanted to do and thanks to the love and support of my great husband and friends I finally did it. You might think I'm talking about med school but no...
Monday, April 09, 2007
WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!
We bought a house!!!!! It's a 2.5 storey house built in 1912 and completed redone inside with all new plumbing, electrical, etc. and completely redone rooms. It has a gorgeous loft with skylights and a circular wood staircase up to it. It's BEAUTIFUL and I fell in love with it when I walked in the door. It's in Wolesley which is close to downtown and close to the hospital. It's less than a block to the Assiniboine river. It's perfect for us and we both loved it and we got it!!! YAYAY!! Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Update
Now that I've calmed down from last week (I know, it's shocking that I would be passionate about injustice) I thought I would update my blog about important things.
#1: I MATCHED TO OB/GYN!!!!!! I have a residency position in Ob/Gyn at the University of Manitoba which is great. It was my favourite interview and a great training ground for international women's health.
#2: Foreman and I are buying a house. We're going to Winnipeg this weekend to look at houses (along with my family who's driving down from Edmonton - poor real estate agent) and hopefully put an offer on one. This is very exciting and "grown-up".
So now all that's left before CUBA 2007!!!!! is the dreaded LMCC.... :S.
#1: I MATCHED TO OB/GYN!!!!!! I have a residency position in Ob/Gyn at the University of Manitoba which is great. It was my favourite interview and a great training ground for international women's health.
#2: Foreman and I are buying a house. We're going to Winnipeg this weekend to look at houses (along with my family who's driving down from Edmonton - poor real estate agent) and hopefully put an offer on one. This is very exciting and "grown-up".
So now all that's left before CUBA 2007!!!!! is the dreaded LMCC.... :S.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Bigotry in Medical School
I've been pretty incapactitated most of the afternoon and evening today because of my visceral reaction to the prejudice expressed through direct and indirect ways in lecture today.
The majority of this toward gay and lesbian populations and how a presenter lecturing on gay and lesbian health issues could be "offensive" to "faith-based" people. We are talking about how someone discussing health issues for a population that could be up to 10% of thier patient population and some people felt that this should not be discussed because they have personal feelings on how homosexuality is wrong. For most of you that know me - you know that I have VERY strong opinions on gay and lesbian issues and so this kind of bigotry arises a fire in me that is so strong that I usually try to choose my words very carefully. Today I had to choose them so carefully that I didn't even speak them. We're talking about a group of people that have approx. 10 years of education each and who still felt that it was "morally right" for them not to want to become educated on specific health concerns of this population. No one could see how awful this was if you paralleled this type of prejudice with prejudice against a particular race or a particular gender. I was absolutely mortified that these are my colleagues that in 2 months will go out into the world (at least the residency world) with these beliefs. Granted these were certainly not the majority of my classmates but it still upset me that this belief was held at all. I was certainly not naive enough to think that all my classmates were "against" homosexuality but now we're talking about medical practice.
This has upset me so much that I have not been able to focus all day, I have felt sick and I feel that I may not be able to go to lectures tomorrow so that I can give myself a break from the outrage and disappointment I felt this morning.
The majority of this toward gay and lesbian populations and how a presenter lecturing on gay and lesbian health issues could be "offensive" to "faith-based" people. We are talking about how someone discussing health issues for a population that could be up to 10% of thier patient population and some people felt that this should not be discussed because they have personal feelings on how homosexuality is wrong. For most of you that know me - you know that I have VERY strong opinions on gay and lesbian issues and so this kind of bigotry arises a fire in me that is so strong that I usually try to choose my words very carefully. Today I had to choose them so carefully that I didn't even speak them. We're talking about a group of people that have approx. 10 years of education each and who still felt that it was "morally right" for them not to want to become educated on specific health concerns of this population. No one could see how awful this was if you paralleled this type of prejudice with prejudice against a particular race or a particular gender. I was absolutely mortified that these are my colleagues that in 2 months will go out into the world (at least the residency world) with these beliefs. Granted these were certainly not the majority of my classmates but it still upset me that this belief was held at all. I was certainly not naive enough to think that all my classmates were "against" homosexuality but now we're talking about medical practice.
This has upset me so much that I have not been able to focus all day, I have felt sick and I feel that I may not be able to go to lectures tomorrow so that I can give myself a break from the outrage and disappointment I felt this morning.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
New York! New York!
One of my major goals while living here in Ontario has been to visit New York City. In fact this and seeing a Broadway show were #5 and #6 on my 101 in 1001 days list. This weekend I achieved this dream and it was even better than I thought it was going to be. I think I've decided that I'm going to give up my silly dreams of medicine and quit and go back to my true love of musical theatre. :) Why did I even leave that in the first place??...oh right I wanted to eat. Still basic human needs don't seem as important in the light of how amazing Broadway was. Here's a recount of our trip this weekend. An advanced warning...it's probably going to be long so bear with me.
Foreman and I drove down to Buffalo after he got his rushed passport. We got to the Buffalo Airport in plenty of time and I had spent a lot of time on Friday figuring out the stupid new liquids and gels rules for flying so we could take everything as carry-on and they were WAY less strict than the freakin' Hamilton airport. So, after traveling with Westjet across Canada in the past few weeks for CaRMS interviews I have been hugely spoiled as NONE of my numerous flights lost my luggage or were delayed or canceled. Not so with Delta. The flight to NYC was 2 hours later most of which we spent on a flight that was very small (I could barely stand in the aisle). But it was worth it to see NYC from the airplane - that was incredible.
After we got to JFK we took a cab ($45 from JFK to anywhere in Manhattan) and got to our hotel in Downtown Manhattan. 
In the morning we went walking around our new neighborhood and wandered into the World Trade Center. It was so strange to see this big hole in the skyline and it's so strange because you get there and think that this couldn't possibly be where 9/11 happened. It just seems surreal. The city has done this incredible job of enlarging paintings and photographs from during that time and also has every name of people that were lost during that day. It was a very spiritual place to be. I didn't take pictures of those pictures because it seemed too intimate but some of the pictures that really touched me were the following: a police officer in full dress, probably at a memorial, saluting trying to maintain a stiff upper lip with a single tear running down his cheek, children sitting amongst memorial pictures, people of all colours and creeds grieving and the most haunting for me was a picture of the staff at a local hospital - doctors and nurses with stretchers ready to treat the injured and nobody arriving. It was a haunting memorial.
We then walked through surrounding streets - past the American Stock Exchange, Trinity Church and through Battery Park. There are beautiful memorials to people who had been lost in the waters of the Atlantic during battle. There we also saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time. Foreman suggested we take the boat to Liberty Island and Ellis Island which was wonderful. We also got the audio tours so that we could learn about the two islands. I knew that the Statue of Liberty was a gift to America from France but I didn't know Eiffel (of the Eiffel tower) was one of the people that built it. Ellis Island was very interesting especially because my grandparents are refugees and Foreman's parents are Irish immigrants. Here are pictures of that boat trip.
After we got off the boat we had one of Foreman's goals for our trip... we ate NYC hot dogs.
Then we went to the South Street Seaport and hung out there by the boats and basked in the beauty of a sunshiny day in New York City.
Then my big dream...to see The Color Purple on Broadway!!! (Note: Kristin Chenoweth was playing in the Apple Tree around the corner!) It was playing at the Broadway Theatre and we had seats at Stage Left in the Orchestra section - 10 rows from the stage. They started singing and I started crying pretty much. It was just so beautiful to be there and to hear such incredible singing and to hear this story I had loved growing up being put to music. To try to describe it would do such a grave injustice to the artistry of the performers but it was a spiritual experience and I just kept saying that my heart was full to overflowing. Sheer Joy.
http://colorpurple.com/index.php
Foreman and I had dessert at this local diner down Broadway from the theatre and had another one of his goals...NYC cheesecake (are you seeing a reoccurring theme?) We walked down Broadway and went to Colony Music where I had to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth because they had EVERY piece of sheet music including EVERY Broadway show EVER. I'm not going to lie to you...I was hyperventilating. We went back there the next day just to bask in the glory. We then tried hailing a taxi at 1am on Broadway on a Saturday night which was an adventure but after a long time trying we finally got one and found our way home.
The next morning we took the subway into Midtown (Broadway, Times Square, etc.) and had breakfast at Pigalle (yay Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon!) and we walked down W49th and saw theatres for Chicago and Spring Awakening, which I had heard about on TV the week before. I don't know what possessed me but I went in to talk to the people at the Box Office to see how much the tickets were and they had "on-stage" seating for $30 so I asked about this and the guy said that those seats were sold-out until May but as he was telling me this he was looking it up and said "Except today, we have 2...do you want them?" YES PLEASE! So at 1230pm I bought tickets to a Broadway show at 2pm that day for $30 a piece ON STAGE! I was going to actually BE on a BROADWAY stage. Foreman was a little nervous about this because he didn't think he was dressed appropriately so we bought him a $15 shirt at Banana Republic and he felt much better.
In the interim before the show we went to Rockefeller Center. We saw Radio City Music Hall and the NBC studios and saw the skating at the famous skating rink.
At 2pm we went to the Matinee of Spring Awakening. I was so excited I took no pictures of the theatre or anything. We had to put our coats and bags and everything we had in lockers at the side of the stage and then we were seated ON THE STAGE!!! There were about 10-15 of us on the stage and interspersed were empty chairs that the actors used when they were not performing because all of the performers were on stage 90% of the time. What was also interesting was that some of the people that came on stage with us audience members were actually in the show too - they just whipped out mics and sang along (which was crazy amazing). We also got to be right beside the band and have actors all around us as they sang - there were times that there were people singing behind us waiting to go on and one of the actresses stood right beside me on the platform. Foreman loved that as part of the stage there was a blacboard on the back wall and on it were the names of the songs in order like a CD (something you probably couldn't have seen in regular seating. I could talk about this for a long time so I won't bore most people with a play-by-play (except my theatre girls who I'll probably talk to about this later). The show itself was based on a play written in 1891 about adolescence and sexual awakening and the songs were the inner monologues of the characters. The adults were all played by one woman, Christine Estabrook http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0261452/ and one man, Stephen Spinella http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Stephen_Spinella/193055
The music was incredible and it was a perfect compliment to the Color Purple because it was its complete opposite: started off-Broadway, younger actors, eclectic, rock/pop music. It was also cool to see the Original Cast so what's on the CD (which of course I bought) is what I heard on stage. Here's the link for the show so you can also bask in the greatness - it's brilliant. http://www.springawakening.com/home.php
After that we were full to the brim with happy Broadway goodness. Foreman loved Spring Awakening and we talked about the technical aspects, the music, dance, the story - I don't think I realized when I married him how much he likes musical theatre too. How awesome is that?
We got back on the subway and this is where things went downhill a bit. We were on the E train to the WTC because that was close to home and we couldn't find an A train. Then there was a mix-up about tracks and we were on a train to Brooklyn and had to get off to try to get back to our hotel. So we got off on 2nd Ave close to the Lower East Side close to Chinatown. Anyway, we emerged out of the subway station into blackness and graffiti as none of the streetlights were on. Foreman took some cash out of an ATM that was on the street so we could take a taxi and luckily we got one quickly as it seemed to be a seedier part of town.
We took another taxi to JFK and it started snowing on our way to the airport but we really didn't think anything of it. We get to JFK and it's completely dead and the Delta agents are looking at us like they can't understand why we're there. The woman then tells us that our flight is canceled and the next available flight is Wednesday at 630am. All of the color drained out of Foreman's face. It was 8pm on Sunday night. No flights were leaving JFK because of the "storm" aka one hour of snow. It hadn't even occurred to us that the flight would be canceled becuase the weather had been gorgeous all day, it was not very cold and it had JUST started snowing. Plus, American flight operators say that weather is "outside of anyone's control" so they don't pay for accomodation. (I miss you Westjet). So we had 3 options: stay in a hotel and come back when there were flights at our own expense, go into Midtown and try to find a bus to Buffalo or rent a car and drive to Buffalo. The last option was my #1 choice. The Delta agent was not very helpful and thought there weren't going to be any cards because they had been canceling a lot of flights that evening (FOR ONE HOUR OF SNOW!) So I called Budget and got a rental car (for $200). Here's how happy we were about our impending night of driving.
I drove through Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx, Albany and into Buffalo in a SNOWSTORM through the night because I AM CANADIAN!!! Foreman got about 3 hours of sleep and I got 2 but we survived and got to Hamilton at exactly the right time for him to drive to work. He actually called in sick (because no one can teach on 3 hours sleep) but was worried about the teacher's having lesson plans to teach his kids so we drove into Milton (40 min each way) so he could work on them in the car and give them to his subs (he's such a good guy). We spent most of yesterday sleeping and now Foreman knows what it's like to be on call (and he says he doesn't like it one bit). So, all in all we had a fantastic time in New York and can't wait to go again!!!!
Foreman and I drove down to Buffalo after he got his rushed passport. We got to the Buffalo Airport in plenty of time and I had spent a lot of time on Friday figuring out the stupid new liquids and gels rules for flying so we could take everything as carry-on and they were WAY less strict than the freakin' Hamilton airport. So, after traveling with Westjet across Canada in the past few weeks for CaRMS interviews I have been hugely spoiled as NONE of my numerous flights lost my luggage or were delayed or canceled. Not so with Delta. The flight to NYC was 2 hours later most of which we spent on a flight that was very small (I could barely stand in the aisle). But it was worth it to see NYC from the airplane - that was incredible.
After we got to JFK we took a cab ($45 from JFK to anywhere in Manhattan) and got to our hotel in Downtown Manhattan. In the morning we went walking around our new neighborhood and wandered into the World Trade Center. It was so strange to see this big hole in the skyline and it's so strange because you get there and think that this couldn't possibly be where 9/11 happened. It just seems surreal. The city has done this incredible job of enlarging paintings and photographs from during that time and also has every name of people that were lost during that day. It was a very spiritual place to be. I didn't take pictures of those pictures because it seemed too intimate but some of the pictures that really touched me were the following: a police officer in full dress, probably at a memorial, saluting trying to maintain a stiff upper lip with a single tear running down his cheek, children sitting amongst memorial pictures, people of all colours and creeds grieving and the most haunting for me was a picture of the staff at a local hospital - doctors and nurses with stretchers ready to treat the injured and nobody arriving. It was a haunting memorial.
We then walked through surrounding streets - past the American Stock Exchange, Trinity Church and through Battery Park. There are beautiful memorials to people who had been lost in the waters of the Atlantic during battle. There we also saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time. Foreman suggested we take the boat to Liberty Island and Ellis Island which was wonderful. We also got the audio tours so that we could learn about the two islands. I knew that the Statue of Liberty was a gift to America from France but I didn't know Eiffel (of the Eiffel tower) was one of the people that built it. Ellis Island was very interesting especially because my grandparents are refugees and Foreman's parents are Irish immigrants. Here are pictures of that boat trip.
After we got off the boat we had one of Foreman's goals for our trip... we ate NYC hot dogs.
Then we went to the South Street Seaport and hung out there by the boats and basked in the beauty of a sunshiny day in New York City.
That night we had tickets to see The Color Purple. This was one of my favourite books during my adolescence by one of my favourite authors of all time, Alice Walker. I wore my purple dress (of course!) and we took a taxi to BROADWAY!!! We had dinner at the Playwright Restaurant, an Irish establishment where I had a Cosmo in honour of my girls that I wish were with me.
Then my big dream...to see The Color Purple on Broadway!!! (Note: Kristin Chenoweth was playing in the Apple Tree around the corner!) It was playing at the Broadway Theatre and we had seats at Stage Left in the Orchestra section - 10 rows from the stage. They started singing and I started crying pretty much. It was just so beautiful to be there and to hear such incredible singing and to hear this story I had loved growing up being put to music. To try to describe it would do such a grave injustice to the artistry of the performers but it was a spiritual experience and I just kept saying that my heart was full to overflowing. Sheer Joy.
http://colorpurple.com/index.phpForeman and I had dessert at this local diner down Broadway from the theatre and had another one of his goals...NYC cheesecake (are you seeing a reoccurring theme?) We walked down Broadway and went to Colony Music where I had to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth because they had EVERY piece of sheet music including EVERY Broadway show EVER. I'm not going to lie to you...I was hyperventilating. We went back there the next day just to bask in the glory. We then tried hailing a taxi at 1am on Broadway on a Saturday night which was an adventure but after a long time trying we finally got one and found our way home.
The next morning we took the subway into Midtown (Broadway, Times Square, etc.) and had breakfast at Pigalle (yay Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon!) and we walked down W49th and saw theatres for Chicago and Spring Awakening, which I had heard about on TV the week before. I don't know what possessed me but I went in to talk to the people at the Box Office to see how much the tickets were and they had "on-stage" seating for $30 so I asked about this and the guy said that those seats were sold-out until May but as he was telling me this he was looking it up and said "Except today, we have 2...do you want them?" YES PLEASE! So at 1230pm I bought tickets to a Broadway show at 2pm that day for $30 a piece ON STAGE! I was going to actually BE on a BROADWAY stage. Foreman was a little nervous about this because he didn't think he was dressed appropriately so we bought him a $15 shirt at Banana Republic and he felt much better.
In the interim before the show we went to Rockefeller Center. We saw Radio City Music Hall and the NBC studios and saw the skating at the famous skating rink.
At 2pm we went to the Matinee of Spring Awakening. I was so excited I took no pictures of the theatre or anything. We had to put our coats and bags and everything we had in lockers at the side of the stage and then we were seated ON THE STAGE!!! There were about 10-15 of us on the stage and interspersed were empty chairs that the actors used when they were not performing because all of the performers were on stage 90% of the time. What was also interesting was that some of the people that came on stage with us audience members were actually in the show too - they just whipped out mics and sang along (which was crazy amazing). We also got to be right beside the band and have actors all around us as they sang - there were times that there were people singing behind us waiting to go on and one of the actresses stood right beside me on the platform. Foreman loved that as part of the stage there was a blacboard on the back wall and on it were the names of the songs in order like a CD (something you probably couldn't have seen in regular seating. I could talk about this for a long time so I won't bore most people with a play-by-play (except my theatre girls who I'll probably talk to about this later). The show itself was based on a play written in 1891 about adolescence and sexual awakening and the songs were the inner monologues of the characters. The adults were all played by one woman, Christine Estabrook http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0261452/ and one man, Stephen Spinella http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Stephen_Spinella/193055
The music was incredible and it was a perfect compliment to the Color Purple because it was its complete opposite: started off-Broadway, younger actors, eclectic, rock/pop music. It was also cool to see the Original Cast so what's on the CD (which of course I bought) is what I heard on stage. Here's the link for the show so you can also bask in the greatness - it's brilliant. http://www.springawakening.com/home.php
After that we were full to the brim with happy Broadway goodness. Foreman loved Spring Awakening and we talked about the technical aspects, the music, dance, the story - I don't think I realized when I married him how much he likes musical theatre too. How awesome is that?
We got back on the subway and this is where things went downhill a bit. We were on the E train to the WTC because that was close to home and we couldn't find an A train. Then there was a mix-up about tracks and we were on a train to Brooklyn and had to get off to try to get back to our hotel. So we got off on 2nd Ave close to the Lower East Side close to Chinatown. Anyway, we emerged out of the subway station into blackness and graffiti as none of the streetlights were on. Foreman took some cash out of an ATM that was on the street so we could take a taxi and luckily we got one quickly as it seemed to be a seedier part of town.
We took another taxi to JFK and it started snowing on our way to the airport but we really didn't think anything of it. We get to JFK and it's completely dead and the Delta agents are looking at us like they can't understand why we're there. The woman then tells us that our flight is canceled and the next available flight is Wednesday at 630am. All of the color drained out of Foreman's face. It was 8pm on Sunday night. No flights were leaving JFK because of the "storm" aka one hour of snow. It hadn't even occurred to us that the flight would be canceled becuase the weather had been gorgeous all day, it was not very cold and it had JUST started snowing. Plus, American flight operators say that weather is "outside of anyone's control" so they don't pay for accomodation. (I miss you Westjet). So we had 3 options: stay in a hotel and come back when there were flights at our own expense, go into Midtown and try to find a bus to Buffalo or rent a car and drive to Buffalo. The last option was my #1 choice. The Delta agent was not very helpful and thought there weren't going to be any cards because they had been canceling a lot of flights that evening (FOR ONE HOUR OF SNOW!) So I called Budget and got a rental car (for $200). Here's how happy we were about our impending night of driving.
I drove through Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx, Albany and into Buffalo in a SNOWSTORM through the night because I AM CANADIAN!!! Foreman got about 3 hours of sleep and I got 2 but we survived and got to Hamilton at exactly the right time for him to drive to work. He actually called in sick (because no one can teach on 3 hours sleep) but was worried about the teacher's having lesson plans to teach his kids so we drove into Milton (40 min each way) so he could work on them in the car and give them to his subs (he's such a good guy). We spent most of yesterday sleeping and now Foreman knows what it's like to be on call (and he says he doesn't like it one bit). So, all in all we had a fantastic time in New York and can't wait to go again!!!!
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