Hello from Vancouver!

Let's be clear, because we've been questioned several times - we didn't move to Canada. We're writing to you from Vancouver, Washington where we're living for a year while Scott completes a Sports Medicine Fellowship.

Backing up to Match Day (1.3.18)... We were on pins and needles to learn our match to one of the 10 Primary Care Sports Medicine fellowship programs where Scott interviewed. I was sitting at my work desk, yoga breathing, stressing out that we would experience something similar to the last match we went through for residency. DrH was cool as a cucumber waiting for match results and was elated when at Noon Eastern Time he received an email that he would be working with one of his favorite program directors at PeaceHealth in Vancouver, Washington. We love us some PNW!

I didn't as much about the fellowship application, interviews, and match process, but please send me a message if you are ever in the same position and would like some details and moral support. We're already advising medical school friends who are a year behind but going through the fellowship application process. We feel so much satisfaction when we can use our trials and experience to help someone have smoother transitions in their medical training.

After the match, DrH still had to finish up his last year of residency. Back in the day when we were interns and 2nd years, I remember hearing stories about graduating residents that complained and refused to come in for extra shifts. Hearing those stories I would comment to my husband, "Why are they being so difficult with staffing at the end of the year?" Now I know. Once a resident has their contract for a future job or fellowship, their mind is already in summer vacation mode. All of a sudden, staffing with your attendings seems so tedious! I know this, because DrH did the same thing. He's always been a little passive aggressive, but snark was coming out of his ears by the end of residency when Medical Assistants were giving him extra drop-in patients. EVERYONE could tell that he was looking forward to (read: needed) a month long break before fellowship began.

The "Brother Friendly" jacket strikes again.
Aurora Family Medicine Graduation June 2018

As graduation came closer, though, the realty of our move began to hit. We hadn't even left, and we were already missing the friends and the cheese curds that we would be leaving behind. It was really poor planning on our part to schedule two vacations in the last two months of residency, because every week we had friends that wanted to hang out with us before we moved and there was so little time to fit everyone we loved in. Milwaukee was SO good to us! Aurora Healthcare was so good for DrH. We've said it before, but the SOAP was the best thing that could have happened to our medical journey.

The day after graduation, we struck out in our moving van to make the 33 hour drive, just DrH and I. This move went much better than expected (minus one Honda window fiasco and the fact that the Vancouver/Portland housing market is crazy). We're now settled into a really comfortable apartment overlooking the Columbia Rive. It's only fellowship orientation week, but we're crossing our fingers  that this will be a perfect location for us over the next year.

Also, here's hoping that I do a better job of documenting our adventures here!

Wisconsin Love: Farm Views

Approaching third year of residency, we realized that this could potentially be the last summer we would be living full-time in Wisconsin. Scott is applying for sports medicine fellowships that following a successful match will unfortunately take us out of state. From there it is always a possibility that we could return, but the current plan to settle out West.

We have LOVED our time in Wisconsin. We believe that it truly was divine intervention that brought us here, when we had only considered programs west of the Mississippi during the residency match process. The residency program has been astounding and exactly what Scott needed, we've made life long friends, and I found the perfect job for me to take with me wherever I go. Not to mention the wonderful adventures and lovely quirks of Wisconsin that we have come to adore.

So as an ode to Wisconsin and to remember the long list of things we've loved here, I'd like to share some of the things that we will miss most. And if the match doesn't go well and we continue to stay here for awhile, I'll continue to post Wisconsin love... but let's be optimistic for a match, okay?

First on my list of Wisconsin loves, is this view:

Stepping Stone Farms

Red barns, silos, chicken coops, and herds of cows have a surprisingly calming effect on me. It's like I've traveled back to a time of slow days, early morning milkings, walking miles to little a school house, riding horse and buggy, barn raises and square dancing.

Old World Wisconsin Historic Site

It's an image that when seen frequently on the road makes me sigh, relax my shoulders, and take life in stride.

Making Christmas Wishes Come True

I know it was your secret Christmas wish to celebrate my birthday with me!

My brother asked me what kind of special plans I had going for my birthday, and I told him I've kind of gotten used to celebrating holidays and birthdays on unofficial days or over a span of time because of medical school. Residency is apparently no different, because Scott was on nights this week, which hindered our normal dinner and a show birthday plans. But he sweetly gave up an hour of his morning to take me to breakfast before I started work!



Happy birthday to me!

Life Snapshot: November 10

At the base of Holy Hill October 2016

Wisconsin Tidbits: When we first moved to Milwaukee, I was told that Holy Hill is a must see in the fall, because there are incredible views of the foliage. We decided to drive up there one Saturday when we were both free before all the leaves had fallen. Our visit was probably a week or two too early because the leaves were prime when we came back from NYC at the end of October. Plus, the day we went in mid-October was overcast and foggy, so you really couldn't see across the countryside much. Still worth the visit, though! Be prepared to hike a little uphill from the parking lot to the basilica and back.

What I'm Reading: Still slowly making my way through Gilead by Marilynne Robinson while I should be getting started on my November book club read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng 

Part of My Spiritual Study: There Are Many Gifts by Marvin J. Ashton

Church Calling: Young Women's President for our ward (just sustained a couple weeks ago!)

On the Telly: Poldark and The Durrells in Corfu

Dr. Hubs: He's back at Children's Hospital this month in the Emergency Department. He seemed excited about the rotation until he came back from his first full day in the ED. It's not the children, he says. The countdown begins, I guess!

Goal for Next Week: Even before the election results were announced I saw the need to listen more than I speak and not assume that everyone shares my perspective on life. So I'll continue my goal to listen first and respect new perspectives.

My favorite moment from this last week: Not exactly last week, We traveled to New York City with friends for a long weekend over Scott's birthday and had a blast. I am making a video, but haven't been able to record the commentary yet. Excuses, excuses!

On My Mind: Do all Hallmark Christmas movies have to include: a heroine who should forgo her ambitious career to pursue love, someone who has never once had a real Christmas tree, and intrusive small town neighbors? Shame on you for perpetuating stereotypes, Hallmark!

Also, while we're talking about it, there are SO many things wrong with Christmas Under Wraps. I realize that these are low budget productions, but I'm sure it doesn't cost much to do a little research! To be clear, I'm talking about:

• Alaska in the winter morning should not look like it's noon (more like midnight)
• Fellowships are typically matched into 
• No general surgeon would be so daft as to only apply to one fellowship if they were truly driven enough to pursue that specialty in the first place
• Fellowships in Family Medicine don't exist, especially ones where you're running a rural hospital with no attending
• No local in their right mind would go have a "picnic" in the frozen tundra to watch the northern lights (which look totally fake, by the way) with no hat, gloves, lightweight clothing, and only a thin blanket for extra warmth

 I'm disappointed, but this in no way will stop me from watching all Hallmark Christmas movies that are playing when I happen to be watching TV.

Life Snapshot: August 15

Catch 22 Escape Rooms in Brookfield, WI

Wisconsin Tidbits: I intend for this section to include information about places we've discovered in Wisconsin, but today I'm posting this linked story about the riots that have been going on the last two nights north of downtown Milwaukee. We live 20 minutes southwest of the city, so we haven't seen any of the violence first hand, only heard about these events from friends at church and in the news. Sad and a little too close for comfort.

What I'm Reading: Amy Snow by TracyRees

Part of My Spiritual Study: I realized this week that meekness may be my weakest link. I was in a meeting and was way too stubborn with my expectations. So now I'm studying how to be more meek. Reading suggestions are welcome!

Church Calling: I was just released from my other two callings, so I am now only the Relief Society Secretary for our ward.

On the Telly: Gilmore Girls Season 6, Episode 9 - the omega and alpha of awkward episodes. I remember enough about the immature mistakes that Rory made from watching this series the first time to fast forward through the silent treatment and life mistakes of this season. Episode 9 brings back the happy, witty banter of Gilmore Girls, though I know more awkward episodes are around the corner. 

Dr. Hubs: This last week was the first time that Scott spent the night in the hospital because it wouldn't be worth driving home and then driving back again for his next shift. He texted me in the afternoon that he felt like he would be lucky if he could get out of there before midnight, and I thought he was exaggerating per his usual. I expected him home around 8:00 Pm. He called me at 11:00 Pm, waking me up, to tell me that he had just finished and had decided to spend the night at the hospital since he had to work again at 7:00 Am. I felt so bad for him. This rotation has been rough, schedule and patient-load wise. 

My favorite moment from this last week: Okay, not quite this last week, but a couple Saturdays ago we went with friends to an escape room. When Scott has a free weekend, we like to play strategic board games (like Power Grid or The Castles of Burgandy) with a few couples from our stake. Before meeting them, the most similar games we'd ever played were Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan. I mention all of this just to say, that this might have been the best group to go with to our first ever escape room. When we came out with 2 minutes and 50 seconds to spare, the company rep could not stop mentioning how smart everyone was. Sure, it was a tad crazy at the end with six different theories and strategies being yelled out (five really, because at that point Scott decided he was confused and let everyone else take over). But we conquered!

Wisconsin Dells in the Winter

In this residency, during intern year, each of the residents has four months where they do not have to take call and can take vacation time. Scott took some vacation time around his birthday and we had a week visiting family for Thanksgiving. We've discovered that with all the long hours at the hospital and general lack of sleep for Scott, the best way for him to take vacation days is to have long weekends throughout his vacation months. A whole week off is nice, but it seems like you take the time off for granted when you have a full week. One extra day or a long weekend to sleep in, exercise, and get caught up on his work is surprisingly more effective and valued.

So when Scott had vacation time available in February after two intense rotations, he elected to have Fridays off throughout the month and a long weekend at the end for us to get out of town. Knowing that Scott wanted to get away, we arranged with a couple a friends to drive a couple of hours to Wisconsin Dells, which according to the tourism site "may be known as the waterpark capital of the world."

When I was five, my family lived in Minnesota (this was before we moved to Alaska) and we visited Noah's Arc in Wisconsin Dells for some summer waterpark fun. The Dells draws a crowd in the summer, but the resorts that are full in the summer also offer indoor waterpark and indoor theme park fun. We just missed the best rates of the winter season. When we booked at Mt. Olympus for the last weekend in February, we were told that was when Spring Break rates began.

It was fun to get away and spend time pretending to be warmer. I wouldn't choose to go to Mt. Olympus again. There wasn't enough to keep us entertained for more than one winter day - two water slides, two tube slides, one small lazy river, one small pool, a kiddy pool with pirate ship, and a hot tub - but my disdain was more likely caused by the impromptu party SLASH drunken volleyball game that was allowed to happen in the hotel hallway Friday night.

To their credit though, the indoor theme park at Mt. Olympus had the best ball pit I've ever seen. No joke!

We could have spent the whole afternoon having nerf ball fights in there with the kids. There were two levels with air blowers to send balls up to the second level and air blowers on the second level to shoot the balls back down.

Uniquely Milwaukee, Christmas Edition

Funny story - A few weeks ago I went to Target to pick up some groceries and stopped by their seasonal Christmas display to check out what Target was putting out for holiday décor this year. While I was walking around I saw a bunch of signs posted around the store that said:

Remember, St. Nick is coming tonight!

Target was REALLY busy. A lot busier than I'd seen it before, and initially when I walked in the store I thought that was because the holiday shopping bug had suddenly hit the suburbs of Milwaukee. But when I saw those signs, the thought occurred to me that maybe Target had set-up a picture area for kids to sit with Kris Kringle.

When I was checking out with my groceries, I made a similar comment to the Target checkout girl. "It sure is busier than usual! Everyone must be here because Santa is coming to the store." "WHAT?!" She got all excited, almost jumping up and down, looking toward the front of the store.

I looked too. No Santa chair set up at the front of the store, that I could see.

She turned to the cashier next to her. "Did we get Santa to come to the store tonight?"

"Oh! You mean the signs?" asked the other cashier Target girl. "No, St. Nicholas is coming tonight."

"OH!" Everything suddenly made sense to Target checkout girl. "St. Nicholas is coming tonight," they explained to me.

Uh, yeah... still confused. Repeating the sign wording to me doesn't clarify things.

Until I got home and googled it. Though the tradition has died a bit over the years, apparently there are still remote parts of Europe and of course Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Saint Nicholas (not to be confused with Santa Claus) still visits the homes of good little boys and girls in early December and leaves a treat for them in their shoes.

We must not have been good this year, at least on a saintly level, because St. Nick did not visit our Milwaukee suburb apartment. We'll try harder for next year.

Uniquely Milwaukee

Besides the O's that have their roots in northeastern Europe (A's are a bit odd too, where bag sounds more like beg), we have come across a few tidbits that we feel are unique to this area, dOncha know!

1. Fish Fry Friday/Friday Fish Fry: We've found that the people of Milwaukee love to eat out. Restaurants around here have a pretty great turn out most nights. But THE MOST packed night of the entire week is Friday. Almost every restaurant in town hosts a fish fry on Friday, where their entire menu revolves around fried fish. I'm not exaggerating when I say every restaurant. They advertise it on their billboards, but it seems like the locals have their favorites.

It's not local fish. Icelandic cod is what we had, I'm pretty sure. So it's not like this tradition stemmed out of an overabundance of fish.When I took my parents to Fish Fry Friday in Franklin, WI I told them that the tradition came from Lent, where Catholics abstain from eating any meat except fish. They corrected me and said that once upon a time, that was the case every Friday, not just during the period of Lent.

I am a fish snob. I grew up in Alaska, so fish rarely impresses me. I thoroughly enjoyed my fish meal at St. Martin's Inn. I asked the waitress if they shared their recipe for clam chowder. BEST I've ever HAD! It will be a difficult experience to top, but there are a million restaurants in Milwaukee that are willing to try.

2. Trick-or-Treating, NOT on Halloween Day: Sometime in October I was warned that I should check my city's website to see what day trick-or-treating would be. Uh... is this a trick question?

Nope. Apparently cities in the Milwaukee area (can't vouch for the state) decide what day kids will go around to collect candy, doors can only be knocked during a certain time frame, and kids can only knock on doors of homes with Halloween decorations and lights on.

Which means that people really go out when decorating their homes for Halloween. It's kind of a big deal.

Found this historic gem from Bayview, south of Milwaukee, 2013

3. Cheese: We've eaten a good amount of cheese here. I like cheese with flavor and Wisconsin has some good options. If I said, you could get good cheese anywhere though, I may get in trouble by Wisconsinites and Oregonians alike. So I won't say that.

The other day I was driving around town and I heard a holiday radio ad for Crystal Farms Cheese, that unfortunately is not available for me to play for you. So you'll have to bear with this script that I remember, because this ad needs to be documented.

*upbeat Christmas music in the background
Wanda: O, Tracy. I'm sO glad ya came to Cindy's Christmas party this year. But can you believe she didn't put out one cheese ball!
Tracy: O, I knOw! That's why I carry Crystal Farms Cheese around in my purse during the holidays. That way I can nibble on my favorite cheddar any time I get a hankerin'.
Wanda: You smart cookie! Break me of a little bit of that Crystal Farms cheddar.
*sounds of chewing and cheesy satisfaction
Cindy: Ladies! It looks like you found the appetizers just fine.
Tracy: Right... the appetizers. *teehee
Crystal Farms Cheese - Don't Leave Home Without It.

It was epic. And if I wasn't driving I would have a recording for you now. Sorry, folks!

4. Passing on the Right: Speaking of driving, I hope that the native drivers of Milwaukee never rent a car in any other state in the US, because they have some crazy unwritten driving rules. If a car in front of you wants to turn left, instead of politely waiting behind them until the time when they do turn, Milwaukee drivers keep driving at the same speed and pass the turning car on the right. There are very few middle-of-the-road turning lanes as you get closer to downtown Milwaukee. Even where we are in the suburbs, where there are often turning lanes, city engineers have designed right hand passing lanes on small neighborhood streets where traffic commonly stops to turn left. It also means that sometimes one lane turns into two lanes or two lanes turns into three lanes because someone thinks you might be turning and they aren't patient enough to wait and find out.

It's bizarre, and takes some getting used to. I solemnly promise to only pass on the right in this fashion while driving in Milwaukee.

5. Jewelry Refunds for the Holidays: I was just reminding Scott the other day of deals I've heard on the west coast where you buy jewelry during the holidays - if, for example, it snows on New Years Eve then you can bring your receipt in and get a full refund on all your purchases. They can offer those kind of deals in California and Oregon because they've calculated the odds and looked at the history of it snowing on that day, and feel pretty confident that they won't go bankrupt.

The other day I said to Scott, "No jewelry store would ever offer that deal in Wisconsin."

Then just last week I heard about this deal: FREE Jewelry if Green Bay Packers pass for 400 yards this Thanksgiving. 

That definitely has Wisconsin written all over it.

Toto, I've a Feeling We're Not in Oregon Anymore

Dr. Chandler and I are becoming official Wisconsinites. Boxes are unpacked, and our apartment in a southern suburb of Milwaukee is feeling more and more like home. I even went out and secured a local library card and Wisconsin driver's license! Dr. Chandler is in the throws of intern-year orientation and loving it. We checked our first Summerfest concert off our bucket list, and I volunteered at Bastille Days downtown. The real kicker was getting asked to speak last Sunday in church. That's when you know you're a true newbie.

Everywhere we go (quite literally), when we mention that we've recently moved out to the mid-west from Oregon, we are inevitably asked "What have you noticed is different about Wisconsin?" Being asked this on an almost daily basis, we've come up with a decent list:

1. Midwestern charm is real, my friends. When we initially came out to Wisconsin to scope out the area for housing, we were surprised to have strangers start up conversations with us, like we were old friends, in the hotel elevator or store lines. Wisconsinites don't believe in looking at the floor when waiting if there's anyone else in the vicinity. They are the kings and queens of small talk!

I've discovered that when you walk into a business, you shouldn't blurt out you're name and why you're there after saying your initial "hello." Oh no! If she's a true Wisconsinite, before the receptionist even knows your name she'll will want to know how you're day's been, and don't be skimpy on the details. There are many reasons why I am not yet an official Wisconsinite, but my West Coast reflexes are likely the biggest culprit. I wonder if the community college offers midwestern charm classes?

2. It may be social unacceptable in Milwaukee to be a teetotaler. How it didn't occur to us before that Milwaukee would be a beer capital is beyond us. I mean it's known as the "Brew City" and is home to the Brewers baseball team, who play in Miller Park! I've been told that the reason Milwaukee has so many festivals in the summer is to have a weekly excuse to party and drink.

We've been to several residency welcome get-togethers where alcohol is offered, and everyone is always perplexed as to why we don't drink. There's a chance we might not get invited to any more BBQs. Just sayin'.

3. Cheese outranks organic produce. When we lived in Oregon, I had no problems locating great quality organic produce. In fact, in Oregon organic produce that's in season often costs only a few cents more than conventionally grown produce.

I've been to several chain grocery stores in Wisconsin and I've been lucky if I've found two feet of organic produce space. There's generally a good produce section, which often butts up against the specialty cheese section. A store here might have four organic limes and a handful of organic green apples, but I guarantee you they will have three cheese coolers. One cheese cooler for local cheeses, one cooler for cheese spreads, and another cooler for specialty cheeses.

Behold the Wisconsin local cheese cooler at Pick 'n Save

The love of cheese is strong here.

I'm sure this list will continue to grow. I've heard over and over again that we should take advantage of the hot, humid weather while we have it. Though we haven't experienced it yet, I'm told that come winter it will be -30 F. Yeah, I had to ask for clarification. They said NEGATIVE 30 degrees, below zero. It surprises me then, that so many people who were born in Wisconsin stay in Wisconsin after experiencing its winters. I guess there must be a lot to love.