Using Play-Doh to explain minimums and maximums of a 3 variable plain using derivatives

2003-02-24 - 8:14 p.m.

Ten days ago I went to Stockton. While I was there I stopped by the hospital to visit my old preceptor. She wasn't there, but I was using my business card as a bookmark in a book I had with me so I wrote a note on the back of the card and slipped it under her office door. It was short and to the point. I basically said I dropped by to say hi, things are going well with my residency and I hope things are going well with her. Several days later I received an e-mail from her saying sorry she missed me, what am I going to do after my residency, and have I stayed in touch with any of my old classmates. I wrote back saying that I had not kept in touch with anyone who had done rotations with me and I gave her the three sentence version of my plans for the future. She responded with, "Just remember your first job you take will not be the job you have forever. But the important thing is that you need to make sure that job will be a stepping stone to something greater and not the other way around. You are a very bright person and I'm sure you will make the correct decision." While I'm sure this was meant as a comforting vote of confidence, it really made me more unsettled. First of all, I want the first job I take to be the job I'll have forever. (I'm thinking early retirement!) But if there is a correct decision there must also be an incorrect decision and I should be able to tell the difference. If I can't, well then, I'm not as bright as she thought I was. I wonder what she thinks is the right choice. I know she's big into clinical stuff, but then she lives on a farm and went into teaching so she has a decent schedule. Sometimes I wish someone would just tell me what to do. Specifically. Because if someone told me what to do I would react to that and then I would know what I want to do. Does that make any sense? Or I wish I could fast-forward to a time when all of the decisions have been made regarding where I'll go next year. Except there are a few thing between now and then that I'm looking forward to.

On Monday I started a diet of sorts. My diet consists of not eating anything I didn't buy myself, such as candy, donuts, bagels, and whatnot that is always available in the pharmacy. I have been very successful without any lapses so far. Today was a close call though. I went into administration just before lunch when I was hungry. It's Girl Scout cookie time. If the package of thin mints had been open I might've given in, but it was the only unopened package so I was able to resist. I didn't start this diet because of anything the scale was telling me. I started because of visible pudginess on my ribs. And somehow I've gained two pounds. Sometimes life just isn't fair.