DHMC House Staff Partners

The first ever DHMC HOUSE STAFF PARTNERS ORIENTATION TO THE UPPER VALLEY was held in the new Health Education Center at DHMC on Saturday, June 25. The HEC is a beautiful, sun-filled, open space!

A little backstory ...

This past spring I took a course on entrepreneurship at the Tuck School. Through the course I met Lindsay Koenig and Carrie Newton, both very interested in starting a young professionals social network for the area. In addition to this common interest, we also found out that the three of us had spouses in residency or fellowship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.

We realized one of the largest groups of people in the area who needed to find work and find a good social network were spouses and partners of medical residents. These partners included people who were leaving established jobs and looking to continue their careers in the Upper Valley, or were switching careers because of the move, or had just become first-time parents. We wanted to create a support group to help with the transition to this area, and put partners in touch with resources that otherwise would have taken them months to find.

Enter the DHMC HOUSE STAFF PARTNERS NETWORK.

With sponsorship through the GME Office, we got funding to put on an orientation for the families of the incoming residents and fellows.

It was a great success! We had old partners and new partners there, as well as panelists speaking on volunteering, job search, child-related resources, and recreational activities. We're looking forward to putting on more events - educational and fun - in the coming year.


Partners checking in. We had 26 new partners RSVP, including 5 husbands! Awesome representation! Several DHMC House Staff Partners (DHPs) from our planning committee helped out that day. Carrie Hughes (DHP, surgery) and Janeece Ansevin (DHP, neurology) manned the registration desk.


More people. We had a great turnout from the newbie group! Lots of babies, lots of people eager to talk.


We even had a play room for the little ones, just to the side of the main space. Stephanie Byrd (DHP, pathology) and Tina Conklin (DHP, pathology) entertained our younger guests.


Orientation organizers, and founding members of the DHMC House Staff Partners Network: (l. to r.) me (DHP, cardiology), Lindsay Koenig (DHP, orthopedics), and Carrie Newton (DHP, psychiatry).

Cuadrangular que los deja en el terreno

From today's Boston Globe,

Spotting teammate David Ortiz, the master of the walkoff piece, [Kevin] Millar shouted, "Papi, how you say 'walkoff' in Spanish?"

Normally, we're not big fans of the Dan Shaughnessy -- he of the C*rse of the Bambino fame. But I did like today's article about the origin of the term "walkoff" -- maybe it's the English major in me. I also liked how the article shares a glimpse of the Red Sox clubhouse (e.g., Ortiz and Renteria playing cards) and logs the linguistic talents of former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley (whom I had watched when he was with the A's).

Last Game of the Night

Angels vs. Nationals

From www.ball-wonk.com:

What is the ultimate challenge for a closer? Start with a one-run lead. Then put three men on base with no outs. Any normal fly ball, or a wild pitch, or a walk, or a hit batsman, or a balk, scores the run and blows the lead. Any hit scores two and loses the game.

Bottom of the ninth, Nats lead the Angels 1-0. Nats closer Chad (20 saves) Cordero allows a leadoff single to Angel Darin Erstad, then falls down while delivering a pitch to Vladimir Guerrero, whom he eventually walks.

Cordero picks himself up, smiling even or laughing at himself, but Garret Anderson follows with a single to right, loading the bases with no outs.

Washington Post:

This had to be it, the time when Cordero's streak ended, and the Nationals went down with him.

But no! He strikes out Steve Finley and get Bengie Molina to pop up to shallow center, not deep enough to score Erstad from third. And then next at bat is Dallas (Rookie-of-the-Year) McPherson, and Cordero throws a 1-2 fastball by him.

Woo-hoo! Win for the Nats! Win for Frank Robinson!

All this one day after Pine Tar-Gate.

Roger and I stayed up to watch that final out. It was great.

No walks ... but he runs!

We had a fun weekend watching the Cubs vs. Sox matchup in Wrigley Field. When Roger was asked by a friend whether he was conflicted over which team to root for, Roger said, "No, this one is easy. Either team wins, I'm happy."

I like Derrek Lee, but I really wanted Tim Wakefield to come away with the win. And he did! Not only by throwing his unhittable knuckleball, but by hitting (1 RBI) and baserunning too (coming in to score all the way from 1st base)! And he issued no walks!

As Boston Globe reporter Chris Snow wrote, "Tim Wakefield didn't throw a complete game last night. He played one."

I like it when our pitchers can hit. Wade Miller got two base hits on Saturday! He became the first Boston pitcher to have a multihit game since Sonny Siebert did it against the Yankees in 1972.

Boston, bite by bite

Quick rundown of our recent 24-hour visit to Boston this weekend:

6/3, FRIDAY

• 9:00PM - Pick up Lara, in town for a site visit, in front of Copley Marriott in Back Bay.
  
• 9:30PM - Drive to B&G Oysters in the South End for dinner. Good calamari and great clam stew!
  
• 11:00PM - Failed attempt at getting chocolate mice at L.A. Burdick in Cambridge. Zut! Return to hotel.

6/4, SATURDAY

• 6:00AM - Lara gets picked up to go to Logan, to return to Chicago.
  
• 9:30AM - Roger and Gen, needing coffee, go in search of alleged local Boston outpost of Burlington-based Speeder and Earl's in Copley Square. Settle for Starbucks instead.
  
• 10:00AM - Roger and Gen consider buying tickets to Coldplay concert in August. Ixnay.
  
• 10:30AM - Meet up with Anita in back of Back Bay T Station. Head out to Tremont 647 in the South End for brunch. Yes, we love the South End.
  
• 12:00PM - Begin "ambitious" trek to the Fens. Feeling slightly dehydrated, stop by Cassava Boba Lounge for refreshing drinks.
  
• 12:30PM - Tour a small corner of the beautiful Victory Gardens. Loved the poppies!
  
• 1:00PM - After a failed attempt to walk down Yawkey Way, the three walk through Kenmore Square and back toward Newbury Street. Assuaged our disappointment with a visit to Newbury Comics.
  
• 4:00PM - Drive to Cambridge and tour the year-old Stata Center (see picture above).
  
• 4:30PM - Roger and Gen drop Anita off in Central Square and begin two-hour trek to Coolidge Corner. Ack! Where is Soldier's Field Road? How do we get from North Harvard Street in Allston to Harvard Street in Brookline?
  
• (ANSWER: Take JFK Street over river; JFK becomes N. Harvard Street; Take N. Harvard Street to Cambridge Street; Right on Cambridge Street; left on Harvard Avenue; Keep straight and Harvard Avenue becomes Harvard Street. Yuck.)
  
• 6:30PM - Finally made it to Harvard Street! We park and enjoy last bit of the sun by walking down to Brookline Booksmith.
  
• 7:00PM - Ah! No visit to Boston is complete without a day-ending meal of carnitas burritos at Anna's Taqueria.
  

Cookie Monster

Clutch man David Ortiz, after blasting a walkoff three-run homer off Orioles closer B.J. Ryan on Thursday: "I don't do anything but go out there and hit once in a while, so I've got to get people to know me. The best way to get people to know me is to produce at the right time."

And don't forget the bunt that allowed Papi to step up to the plate!

Leather Is Standard

Here is a picture of Roger's latest auto-obsession - the Subaru B9 Tribeca. Leather is standard.