Earthquakes and Hurricanes

As you probably know there have been some weird acts of mother nature going on here in the Northeast.  Earlier this week, an earthquake that started in the DC area made its way up to Philadelphia.  I was in a meeting at the time in the basement.  A lady sitting about 4 feet from me said she could feel the ground moving and after a couple seconds I felt it, too.  It was almost like you could feel the shaking traveling up north.  Apparently, it could be felt all the way up to Canada.

And today we are in a hurricane watch.  Our hurricane threat level is extreme.  It started raining about noon, but starting about midnight it's supposed to really go crazy with pouring rain and high winds.  There are concerns that the river (that I can see from my apartment window) is going to flood and that the electricity will go out.  In order to prepare for my first hurricane, I headed to the store today and got some food.  As one can imagine, many people had the same idea.  There were many empty shelves at Trader Joe's.  I also filled all of my water bottles with water, and tonight I plan on moving my mattress into my walk-in closet to avoid sleeping close to the windows.  I'm sure I will be writing a post-hurricane post, so I can let all of my Missouri friends know what it's like to be part of a hurricane.

On a different note, I decided to run with the Philadelphia Runners group today.  I have been nervous about going with the fear that I would make a fool of myself.  They run 8.5 miles, and I haven't done that in a while.  But I ran the whole way with no problems and got to talk to some fun people, so I'll be joining them again in the near future.  It was fun!

The World of Public Transportation

People in the Missouri do not take public transportation, unless it's taking the train from KC to St Louis or for a trip to Chicago.  But it is not a daily form of transportation.  When I moved to the Northeast, I decided that I would not be bringing a car because it would be expensive and overall inconvenient.  As a result, everyday is an adventure as I try to get around the city using SEPTA (Southeaster Pennsylvania Transportation Authority).  I'm getting the hang of the system, but sometimes I'll take the bus somewhere and then not be able to figure out what bus from what stop at what time I'm supposed to get back, so I'll just walk home.  Fortunately, most places I go are less than 2 miles from my apartment, and every time I manage to get home on public transportation it's a cause for celebration.

Here is one of my recent adventures with public transportation: My apartment has a shuttle that goes to UPenn, which happens to be right next to my hospital, that I am able to take in the morning to work.  I had been taking the shuttle without fail, until one morning (when it was sprinkling, of course) I went downstairs and the concierge informed me that the 6:40am shuttle would not be coming that day.  One of the downsides of the bus, trolley, or subway is that they only run north-south or east-west (or vice-versa), so I have to take 2 buses to get to the hospital.  I text my co-resident to tell her I'll be late and walk to the bus stop for bus #1.  I stand next to the sign, and the bus is going pretty fast so I give a little wave to let him know that I am standing here for the bus.  And the bus just goes right on by.  Fortunately, at the next intersection the bus gets stopped at a red light, so I run up to it and get on. When I get on the bus driver says, "I wasn't sure what that wave meant."  Alright.  I get off and wait for bus #2.  I finally get on another bus, which is standing room only.  I grab onto one of the handles, but I feel like a drunken sailor standing on this bus as it whips around turns and screeches to a halt at every stop.  It takes all of my upper body strength not to end up in the laps of the people sitting by me.  I finally make it to work about 15 minutes late.  It may be crazy somedays, but only spending $53 on transportation each month is pretty great.

One Month Down!

As most of you know, I'm in a one year program.  So the fact that my first month is already over is pretty crazy.  What's also crazy is that we're still training, so it doesn't even feel like I've started my residency yet. I don't want to complain because I know that about November things will be super crazy, but I'm excited to get into the real rotations- the reason I'm here.

Also this week I found out that I passed the MO law test.  Yeah!  I just have PA law to go, which I hope I will be taking soon.  The continued training and no more tests to study for (right now) means I have a lot of free time.  I've been doing some fun reading, so I read The Help- and the movie comes out Aug 10th.  Next up is Love in the Time of Cholera.  I'm open to suggestions.

My coresident and I are both from out of state, so we thought it would be a good idea to try to connect with some of the other pharmacy residents here in the city (there are tons of hospitals here).  We met up with the pharmacy residents from the University of Pennsylvania Hospital (HUP).  They are 4 ladies about our age who are also new to the area, so we are hoping to be able to hang out more in the future.
And as always, I love hearing from people in Missouri... :)