Sunday, October 24, 2010

Interview, Inspection, Acceptance, and Brett Favre

So on Friday Daniel woke up at 4:30am to catch the 5:30am bus up to Salt Lake for his Utah interview. He got there at 7am, went to the admissions office, and waited for it to open at 7:30am. There were 4 people interviewing that day, 3 from BYU and one from Utah. First they all went to a brief meeting outlining all they were going to do, then Daniel had his first interview at 8:30am, with a neurosurgeon, which went really well, he felt.  His office was in the Huntsman Cancer Institute and after the interview, he walked Daniel down to the Admissions Office talking the whole way.  His next interview was at 10:30, so he had time to observe a class on ulcerative diseases, which he enjoyed (he would).  His next interview was with a physician working at a nearby hospital, loosely affiliated with the University of Utah.  This interview was much more intense, with a more ethical/hypothetical emphasis as opposed to mostly focusing on Daniel's experiences.  He felt he did pretty well, although there are several questions he felt less positive about.  Afterward he went to another class and then had lunch with some medical students.  In order to catch the right bus, he had to leave early but one of the medical students decided to go with him and make sure he got to the right place.  Unfortunately they didn't make it in time, but the med student very kindly drove him to his next stop and Daniel made it out of SLC on time.

So Daniel caught the bus down to American Fork and I caught the bus up to American Fork and we checked out a car we found on KSL. It's a 2006 Ford Focus and we took it to Tunex for an inspection. We took it for a test drive and the AC is cold (and functional!), it has a good turning radius, it only has 55,000 miles, and it's a pretty color (which is really important, I know). However, it's more scratched up than we thought, it needs a new battery and some flushes, and it's a 4 cylinder (which I don't mind, but Daniel doesn't like it). We made an offer though, so we'll see what happens this week.

We picked a sucky weekend not to have a car. It started raining Saturday morning, stopped for the 2-3-ish hours for the football game, started up again and hasn't really stopped since. Daniel and I walked to church in the sprinkles, but it had picked up by the time 1:30pm rolled around. Luckily we got a ride from the Hartley's, who luckily also live in Parkside.

This afternoon I made these cookies. Usually I don't bake things that are even semi-labor intensive, but these looked amazing and I felt like procrastinating my homework. They look awesome, but they taste even better! Make sure you have some milk though, you're going to need it!

Also, Daniel got his first medical school acceptance! MCoW is a solid school, but right now it's a safety school and not our top choice. But Daniel IS going to med school next year, and we're stoked about it!


The Packers are playing the Vikings tonight. Have I ever mentioned my dislike of Brett Favre? I dislike him greatly. I'm not a crazy Packers fan who hates Favre for leaving Green Bay, I just think he's an old man and he needs to retire and go away. I kind of love this a lot...



For the record, Daniel thinks that even though Favre is old, he's still a great football player and that should trump everything else.

Also, the Panthers finally won today. Way to go boys!

-Daniel and Jenn

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

An Ode to Vladimir

Vladimir the minivan was purchased in Wisconsin shortly after Daniel arrived home from his mission. He needed something big enough to get his drum set back to Provo, and this 1997 Pontiac TranSport fit the bill. Vladimir has conquered the 1,500 mile drive from Appleton to Provo, the mountainous terrain of Utah, several trips to Las Vegas, and three Utah winters. Daniel first told me he loved me in this car. In short, the van is a beast.

There have been lots of little problems with Vladimir, but as long as we got from Point A to Point B we didn't worry too much. The least fun thing about Vladimir is the lack of air conditioning, which is very bad in the summer time. Don't ever go to Vegas in the summer with a car that has no A/C. It is no fun.

Over the last few days, Vladimir has had trouble switching gears, usually between 60-70mph. There would be a slight stall, the RPM would jump up, but then things would fix themselves and that was that. Unfortunately, last night was a different story.

After picking Daniel up at the airport we (Daniel, Mark, and I) started back to Provo. Vladimir really started having trouble, but Daniel managed to get to a comfortable speed and we didn't have much problem once we started going on the highway. I was afraid that Daniel would push Vladimir too hard and suggested we take the University Parkway exit to avoid the high speeds at the expense of the car. Big mistake.

As we started up the hill heading east, Vladimir couldn't get past 20mph. We realized that we wouldn't be able to make it up the hill. So we pulled in to the parking lot of the Krispy Kreme in Orem. We smelled burning rubber, and when we opened the hood we could hear the coolant boiling. Vladimir had been working so hard to get us up that hill that the inside started burning up.

We waited for half an hour to see if the car would cool down, and it did, but the needle was still in the red. We waited a little longer and illegally bought doughnuts from the window. Mark finally called his roommate with a car and we left Vladimir at Krispy Kreme. On the way back we decided that something must be wrong with the transmission and probably a belt. Daniel and I got to bed around 2am, and it was not fun to wake up this morning.

I called a mechanic this morning and he told me that his store doesn't even touch transmissions. I asked Kimball and he referred me to his car place in Orem, which specializes in diagnostics. I called that place and explained the situation, and he referred me to another place in Provo, J & M's Transmission Clinic. After calling Krispy Kreme and making sure Vladimir hadn't been towed, I made plans with Curt at J & M's to bring a set of keys and work out towing. Daniel came with me and Curt said he'd call later that afternoon.

Here's what Curt said...

1) Just from eyeballing the transmission, everything looks pretty worn out
2) To get in there and diagnose everything would cost about $375
3) Chances are we'd have to replace several parts or even get a whole new transmission. All of that would cost between $1500-$2300

Daniel looked at Vladimir on the Kelley Blue Book website and in good condition, we'd get about $1500. And Vladimir is not in good condition. Fixing the transmission would cost as much as Vladimir is worth.

So now we're on the hunt for another car. We've found a few we like, and I checked out the 2010 Consumer Reports Guide to Buying Used Cars from the library so we can decide what's safest and what we should be seeing regarding prices.

We'll probably donate Vladimir and get a tax exemption. We don't know what will be done to our minivan, but we've enjoyed the trips and experiences we've had.

And now whatever car we buy will have Utah tags. Dumb. We don't want to be associated with Utah drivers!

See you later, Vladdy...

(This one looks most like our Vladimir)

-Daniel and Jenn

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sister Spotlight

Today, my spotlight was chosen in Relief Society. It was fun, but the lady doing it didn't get to the good stuff. So here's my spotlight, in Daniel's own words (and mine in the parentheses)...

SISTER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Jenn Yankey (we'd been married like 2 months at this point, I don't know why he put my maiden name)

Birthday: 9 November 1989

Her hometown: Wilmington, NC (the lady reading today made it seem like Daniel wrote that for
where I was born, birthplace and hometown are two separate things!)

When were you married: July 10, 2009

Where: Washington, DC

Where does she work: HBLL

School: BYU

How did you meet: She was the cute girl in my dance class. I didn't out she was a freshman until after I was smitten (uh-huh, sure)

What was the worst date: Lunch at the MOA. We weren't clicking. I found out later it was because she was feeling guilty about cheating on her long distance bf (guilty. I love that he used "bf" here)

What us her favorite candy: Crispy M&Ms (unfortunately they're only sold in Europe now)

What is her favorite food or restaurant: Thai lemon grass soup (is he good or what?)

What is your pet name for her: Babe

What is her pet name for you: Cinnamon Buns (thank you Demetri Martin)

What do most people not know about her: She was a teenage bride (yup)

If she was a fictional character who would she be: Princess Leia (props for correct spelling)

What is her favorite movie: The Wedding Planner, or some other ridiculous chick flick (no comment)

What is her dream vacation: Caribbean cruise (or a cruise to the Bahamas, I'm not picky)

What do you love most about her: Her discipline and her ability to organize time effectively
(um...thanks?)


Daniel will be home tomorrow, YAY!

-Jenn

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Heday's Story

This is one of my favorite things on The Office. Heday is a warehouse worker with an amazing life story:

In Japan, heart surgeon.
Number one.
Steady hand.
One day, yakuza boss need new heart.
I do operation.
But, mistake!
Yakuza boss die.
Yakuza very mad.
I hide in fishing boat, come to America.
No English, no food, no money.
Darryl give me job.
Now, I have house, American car, and new woman.
Darryl save life.
My big secret: I kill yakuza boss on purpose.
I good surgeon.
The best!

FYI, yakuza is like the Japanese version of the mafia.


Today was FABULOUS! More details to come later...

-Jenn

Friday, October 15, 2010

So here's the deal

We can go to a "cold school" for med school (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, etc.) if we can go to a warm place for residency. And vice versa.

I think that's one of the first things we've agreed on when it comes to choosing schools.

Ben's home from his mission to Taiwan!

Daniel is in Wisconsin for the weekend and I am jealous. He had his MCoW (Medical College of Wisconsin) interview today and his Madison (UW-M, or you-dub-mad, Daniel hates when I say it) interview on Monday with Ben's homecoming in between.

I'll be ok though. Here are the cool things I did/am going to do today...

1) I cleaned/tidied up the apartment and it looks AWESOME
2) It's laundry day and I love having an empty hamper and a full closet
3) I'm going to get my homework done tonight (except for a take-home midterm that I'll work on probably tomorrow evening)
4) Nachos for dinner. Mmmm :)

Tomorrow I'm going to Sandy with Michelle and we're going to go to Firehouse and then go shopping at the mall. I need more sweaters and I'm going with someone who actually cares about shopping. I'm excited!

On Sunday Mark and I are going to Grandma Larson's for dinner with the family. I'll get some leftovers and have my lunch all ready for Monday.

It's going to be a fun weekend. Woo!

-Jenn

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Updates!

So here's what's been going on lately...

1) We scheduled all of Daniel's interviews for the rest of the year
* 10/15 - Medical College of Wisconsin
* 10/18 - University of Wisconsin-Madison
*** It's really nice that Daniel was able to schedule these interviews back-to-back! His brother also gets home from his mission tomorrow, so Daniel will be there for his homecoming and open house!
* 10/22 - University of Utah
* 11/1 - Mayo Clinic
* 11/3 - Washington University
* 11/8 - Georgetown
* 11/15-16 - Case Western Reserve University
*** I have family in Cleveland, so I'm going with Daniel to his Case interview! It'll be a nice break from classes for a couple of days

2) We paid for all of Daniel's interviews. Now we have to work as much as we can to avoid debt

3) Jeff came in last weekend for the annual BYU Chemical Engineering Alumni Homecoming Banquet and Program. It was at a fancy restaurant and we got to dress up and the food was AMAZING and people thought we were Chemical Engineers and there were some great talks and I got a rose from Ecuador. It was pretty fun, even for an English major!

4) Jeff took us to Cascade Springs on Saturday and we walked around for a bit, it was really pretty to see all the leaves changing colors. We went to a Korean restaurant by Smith's for lunch and it was good, just slow service (lunchtime on a Saturday with one waitress will do that).

5) BYU won the homecoming football game! Daniel wore his cheesehead and Mark wrote "Go Pack" on his face, and together they channeled the success of the Green Bay Packers to LaVell Edwards stadium and we won! The cheesehead has thus been deemed magic, so Daniel and Mark will continue their tribute to the Packers and hopefully we'll continue to win!

6) Over the summer Daniel's mom's side of the family had a reunion at Bear Lake. Everyone met in Sandy and took a family picture before heading up there, and Jeff brought us our pictures while he was here. Here we all are...



I won't bore you with listing everyone's names, but I can do it if you ask! Also, please note how well Ben was Photoshopped in (he's two over from Daniel in the back row).


The Lindsay's...



I have the cutest niece and nephew of ALL TIME. Too bad Ben wasn't special enough to get Shopped here.


Our little family...



My skin isn't that great in real life.


One last thing for now. My boss's cousin's daughter (so his cousin once removed) has been having some health problems for the last several weeks. She's only 2, so her mother (my boss's cousin) has been blogging and keeping everyone updated. I read some of her stuff today and even though this little girl has experienced every medical setback under the sun, her mom is still able to appreciate the tender mercies and see the silver lining is every obstacle. Here's the link so you can check it out: Click me!

Ok, I lied. This is the last thing...



-Daniel and Jenn

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

My Duke Interview

Wow, my first post on this blog. Jenn is way more proactive about this stuff than I am, for real. Anyway, I interviewed at Duke a couple weeks ago, my first interview. I have many interviews in consecutive weeks starting next Friday, so it is helpful to reminisce about the experience and you get a front row seat to the casual meandering of my memory.

Overall the experience was very positive. Prior to the interview, Duke was tied for first place in my list of medical schools, and this interview went a long way to solidify its place at the top of my list. My experience started in the Raleigh-Durham Airport. I was picked up by a medical student in his fourth year and he took me back to stay with his family for the night. This family was amazing and they provided much essential information about life in Durham as well as the Duke Med experience from the scholarly as well as the wifely perspective. I was particularly impressed that the wife was especially fond of their past 4 years. Even though she had two children during the time her husband was in medical school, the ability to stream lectures and Duke's flexible third year curriculum allowed him to be at home when she needed him to be. Additionally she fell in love with the ward and the surrounding area. This was great to hear because there is a good support group already in place to help Jenn during the times I am completely occupied.

When I arrived at the Admissions Office, I was immediately intimidated. Not to malign the qualities of BYU, but all of the individuals in my interview group were from much more prestigious universities, including Harvard, Duke, and Stanford. Although not the most important aspect, my host did make it clear that it did put me at a disadvantage right off the bat. I did get along with these other interviewees really well, however, and that helped take some of the tension off. Throughout the presentations and tour, I really came to appreciate Duke's unique curriculum, compressing the basic science portion to the first 11 months as opposed to 2 years at most schools, freeing up a year for research. The financial aid presentation helped reduce anxiety about the high cost of tuition as well.

We had a lot of opportunities to interact with students in each class. It was unanimous among those we met that although the first year was difficult because of the accelerated curriculum, it was worth it. They all felt a camaraderie with one another and felt that there was very minimal competition between classmates.

Finally, the time had come for the actual interviews. Throughout the day I had a persistent case of the nerves and waiting for my interviewer to come through the door to call my name was the worst. However, as soon as I met my first interviewer and walked to the interview room, I was immediately calmed. I don't really know why that was; maybe it was the interviewers charm and ability to make it feel like a normal conversation (interspersed of course with difficult questions about my views of medical ethics) or maybe I was more prepared than I though. My first interviewer was a third year student and I was the first person he had interviewed, which I found interesting. I felt that the interview went pretty well and I'm pretty sure the interviewer felt the same way. During the interview I mentioned that my wife loves North Carolina and was back in Utah undoubtedly praying for the interview to go well. As I left, he mentioned that my wife doesn't need to worry any more, a casual observance that makes me think he felt positively about the interview.

I went back to the admissions office to wait for my next interview, but this time my nerves were gone and I felt confident. Even the half hour wait was unable to shake me out of my groove. I met my next interviewer, a faculty member who I just now found out is the Director of the Multicultural Resource Center. Interesting. Anyway, she was a really nice lady and we had a really good rapport. Throughout the conversation, we talked a lot about marriage because I mentioned my wife and the difficulties we will have with having children in medical school, but how we are prepared for it as well as we can be. I was really impressed with her, and I felt that she enjoyed the interview as well. In parting, it seemed almost as if she was trying to recruit me, but that might be standard operating procedure, I don't know.

All in all, it was a very positive experience, with only one downside: I won't find out about acceptance until March, because Duke waits to interview everyone before admitting anyone. Lame. But I am very optimistic about my chances and I enjoyed my interview experience to the point where I really hope I get accepted.

-Daniel