Time for rapid fire catch-up.
San Diego
Gwen and I spent a week or so in San Diego in late February. I was doing several more job interviews; Gwen was doing some stuff for the hiring process regarding her new job. We were also starting to look around at houses in the area.
Thoughts:
-Interviewing is fun in some ways, but quite laborious. There is a lot of variety out there in terms of jobs and luckily I had several decent offers to pick from. By the end, though, I was starting to forget who I had told what, and which specifics went with which job. The process is tiring, but obviously necessary. I think I interviewed for about ten different positions and with more than twenty-five people when all was said and done. (That's a lot of time forcing good posture and being "serious" - not my strong suits.)
-With Scripps Green Hospital pushing off their hiring process until April because of budget issues, my top two choices became an academic hospitalist position at UCSD versus a Government Service (GS) academic position at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego (right next to the world famous zoo). Both seemed great. In the end, both offered me jobs and I went with the Naval Hospital. It boiled down to two things. One is that I already have seven years of service time which can be applied toward a government pension. Two is that I wasn't quite ready for a week on, week off schedule forever, which basically means one spends every other weekend at work. (This includes EVEN the football season. Shocking, I know.)
-So I'll be working with the Navy and I'm already building an arsenal of proper Navy Jokes. Most of them revolve around that Village People song and me clapping, often in a taunting manner. The job itself is about 3/4 clinic, and 1/4 inpatient, nearly all of it "teaching", i.e. with residents. I'm pretty excited about it, especially after slaving, not unlike a resident, at Landstuhl these past four years.
-Regarding housing, there is a ton of stuff on the market, it's all relatively cheaper than the average San Diego market - it's a total buyer's market. And since Gwen and I don't have to sell anything in the same market, it's basically an ideal situation. All that said - San Diego is still way too expensive. But I'll pay - yes I will. I just keep telling myself there is a small "sun tax". I can live with it.
-The rest of the San Diego trip revolved around the usual antics with the San Diego posse. Complex (and not so complex) board games at Eryn's (Best games in order: Wyatt Earp, The Space one that we played until 2 am, Space Alert, and then on down), Rock Band, dinners out, and general hang around time. Always a blast.
-We also had the first annual Iwan versus Adam Mile Race. Not sure how the concept started, but both of them thought they could beat the other in a mile race, or at least were interested to see how it would turn out. Somehow the event took off with a promotion scheme not unlike a heavy weight fight. Going into the race it seemed like no one had any idea who would win. In the end, Iwan won handily, which was attributed to his multiple sessions of weekly soccer as compared to Adam's multiple sessions of weekly Rock Band. But good fun was had, and the race itself is starting to generate ideas of a similar nature - who knows where that could lead. We could be in for an old man decathalon next summer.
Mallory's Visit
Following our return from San Diego my sister came out for her Spring Break from second year of medical school and so she Gwen, and I took a trip to France. The first half was spent snowboarding in Chamonix, and the second half was spent gallivanting about Paris. A good time was had by all.
-I'm going to miss the Alps. I won't miss Euro Herding at the resorts, but I'll miss the natural beauty of the place and the far more open "Off piste" setting of Alpine skiing which allows for more off-trail exploration than in the States. Also the "apres ski" scene in Europe is much better and I've grown to enjoy a tall fat beer in the late afternoon while watching the sun go down over the scenery, followed by a giggily, slightly clumsy last run of the day down to the base.
-I will also miss the restaurant scene in Chamonix, which includes some ridiculously good french food. Once again we made our trip to the Albert Premier restaurant and gorged ourselves on fine cuisine followed by heavy handfuls of bliss from the ubiquitous cheese cart which was followed up by the equally ubiquitous dessert cart.
-We have probably taken our last trip to Paris now, for the foreseeable future I would guess. Great city. I hate to say it (damn Frenchies), but Paris is one awesome town. (Though I could have used a few more "thanks for bailing us out in WWII" comments than I actually received.) I guess I'm not fully decided on how my power rankings of European Cities I've Been To will settle out, but one could safely bet that Paris will be right at the top.
-Always good to see my sis who's in stressed out second year med school mode. How I don't envy those days. Seeing her going through it is just another reminded of how the long the road through medical training really is.
And there it is. Hopefully I'll get some pics up in another post. Things are starting to move pretty fast around here. In just three months I'll be on terminal leave on my way out the Army door. It seems like there is still a ton to do to get properly transitioned, not to mention continue working here and there. If only someone task-oriented were around to help me plan these things...
Lastly, saw Watchmen last night and I really enjoyed it. My take is that if you've read the graphic novel (Joel!) you'll be pretty pleased. If not, good luck getting into it.
And now you're caught up on the essentials.
Showing posts with label chamonix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chamonix. Show all posts
Chamonix
Last weekend Gwen, Pete, Margie and I headed to Chamonix, France, and the Alps, marking the second time in consecutive weekends that Gwen and I went to France (I'll lay off the surrender jokes this time - give Frenchy a break) and the first and only time Gwen and I went snowboarding this "season". (In stark contrast to Pete, who must have gone skiing about 15 times this winter - not sure how he managed it really - and who, as I type this, is doing a week-long hut to hut ski/hike between Chamonix and Zermatt, Switzerland. The guy likes to ski.)
I have been to Chamonix before, last winter, and though on that trip we had very little new snow to speak of, we did indulge heavily in phenomenal French cuisine. I was eager to duplicate that experience this time (the eating part), and was hoping for some fresh snow to boot.
We got to experience both.
After a full work day we drove down through Switzerland, and winded our way into France, the entire trip taking about six hours or so. We got a little bit of a late start, and because of this there was some worry that we would be unable to check in at our hotel for the night, (for complicated reasons we were staying in a different hotel Thursday night than the other three nights), as we realized we'd be arriving quite late. We tried calling but no answer (some of these mountain town hotels are weird that way). We reviewed the reservation email in the car at this point which said (please call before 9 pm if you're going to be late!) and we looked at the clock and it was, in fact, 9 pm, and we were getting no answer. Uh oh. We drove on, not knowing what was going to happen.
It all worked out. When we arrived at the hotel, we used the emailed "code" to get open the front doors. On a shelf nearby was an envelope marked "Brophy" with a welcome letter and room key. Wow. Anyway that's kind of a long story told simply to state that this sort of thing wouldn't happen in the States.
I would say that the rest of our lodging experience proved uneventful, but that would be a lie. In fact, I'm happy to say, the second hotel had on its grounds an actual jacuzzi - which is quite the rare find on this side of the pond. For whatever reason, saunas abound in Europe (and this hotel had one of those too, as well as a steam room), but jacuzzis are almost never to be seen. And nothing soothes sore snowboarding muscles like a hot tub.
Between that, the beautiful mountain scenery, the quaint little village, the phenomenal food, the company, the spa treatment, and the pretty damn solid if not spectacular snow, we had ourselves quite a nice little holiday.
Friday was the best snow day and Pete and I got up early to attack the slopes. Unfortunately, attacking any ski slope in Europe means gondola lines and a lot of patented "Euro Herding", which is the art of masses of people shoving toward a small outlet with minimal sense of order or fairness. There's lots of pushing and a Darwinian sense of survival of the fittest.
Once up the mountain, things settled out. On the first day, the upper mountain was not open because of an avalanche risk, so Pete and I settled for the next highest spot. Pete led, with his snow radar (and not to mention his willingness to traverse 46 miles to find 3 good turns in fresh snow), and I followed. Luckily on the first day there was fresh snow all around and finding snow wasn't difficult - we managed to get pretty good fresh areas just about all day, even without the upper mountain open. The weather was warm and spectacular bluebird conditions prevailed.
The Chamonix mountains, as with the Alps in general, are simply incredible. The word on the street is that the Alps are a relatively young mountain range, say compared to the Rockies, and that tectonic youth (which I like to think of as a sort of geologic sass) are what makes them so damn jagged and dramatic looking. They really are unlike any other mountain range I've seen. Just awesome and breathtaking ever time I see them.
That first day on the slopes, hanging with Pete, was a solid reminder of why I snowboard. Not only is the actual activity thrilling and fun, but every time I go - especially when the weather is nice - I have a few "moments" on the mountain, which entail me just sitting on the slope, board strapped on, leaning back on my hands, taking in the view, smelling the clean air, and just basking in the aura of it all. Such a stress relief. Those moments make the actual logistics and expense of a snowboarding trip so worth it. (And with the dollar rate these days - Euro ski trips are NOT cheap.) Something to remember.
The second day there was no new snow, but the upper mountain was opened and so the prior day's snow was still fresh and there was still plenty to be had. My legs were a little sapped on day two early, but they settled out through the soreness (thank you hot tub) and we had another great day, with some of the untouched snow at the higher altitudes being simply awesome powder conditions in parts. It was sunny early, and then clouded up later, but still another great day, complete with Pete and I singing on the lifts, cracking jokes, the whole bit.
Our third day we woke up to rain - boo. It stopped by mid-morning, but we all decided (even Pete) to skip that morning and wait a little. It started to look sunny so Pete and I went up on a different part of the mountain, only the weather turned crappy again. We ended up skiing a half day in rather blustery conditions and on crusty, mostly un-fun snow. I actually brought my iPod out on day three for a trial run with music - something I've never done in all my years on the slopes. I only put one earpiece in to be cautious, and overall I'd say it was pretty cool - definitely neat to have a little fast music pumping away as you attack the run. I may try it again someday.
At nighttime we attacked (we did a lot of attacking - it's part of my ninja background) the village and the restaurant scene, which is second to none in terms of mountain-town eats. On Friday we went to a place called Four Seasons. On Saturday it was the Albert Premier restaurant, a two-Michelin star deal which I had been to before, and which once again was out of this world. The meal has at least three courses complemented by French wine and then after that they wheel out the cheese tray, which has over 30 types of local cheese. Not only that, they let you have as much as you want and they all look so damn good. And after gorging yourself on cheese, they wheel out the dessert tray, with about 15 selections, and again you pick as many as you would like and can handle. Everything looks so good that it's seriously a form of torture - impossible to say no to exotic cheese and dessert but of course there's a price. Stomach pain, but not just stomach pain. Turns out you eat so much there are other more mysterious manifestations of the meal. Both Pete and I noted that we broke out into an "odd sweat" which just sort of came out of nowhere - we're both doctors and we have no explanation for this type of occurrence. But it doesn't matter. You simply notice it, and the coinciding stomach discomfort - and then you shrug and keep stuffing your maw with the planet's best cheese.
If I had to pick my favorite place to go snowboarding in the Alps, I'd narrow it down to St. Anton and Chamonix. I had my best snow day in Europe two winters ago at St. Anton, which is in Austria, however not by much. And given the fact that the food in Chamonix is so good - like New York City or Paris good - simply pushes it over the top. I could easily see myself heading back next year.
And with that - pics! (These pics came out pretty well. Still, pictures of mountains and mountainscapes, in my opinion, simply never do the experience justice...)
I have been to Chamonix before, last winter, and though on that trip we had very little new snow to speak of, we did indulge heavily in phenomenal French cuisine. I was eager to duplicate that experience this time (the eating part), and was hoping for some fresh snow to boot.
We got to experience both.
After a full work day we drove down through Switzerland, and winded our way into France, the entire trip taking about six hours or so. We got a little bit of a late start, and because of this there was some worry that we would be unable to check in at our hotel for the night, (for complicated reasons we were staying in a different hotel Thursday night than the other three nights), as we realized we'd be arriving quite late. We tried calling but no answer (some of these mountain town hotels are weird that way). We reviewed the reservation email in the car at this point which said (please call before 9 pm if you're going to be late!) and we looked at the clock and it was, in fact, 9 pm, and we were getting no answer. Uh oh. We drove on, not knowing what was going to happen.
It all worked out. When we arrived at the hotel, we used the emailed "code" to get open the front doors. On a shelf nearby was an envelope marked "Brophy" with a welcome letter and room key. Wow. Anyway that's kind of a long story told simply to state that this sort of thing wouldn't happen in the States.
I would say that the rest of our lodging experience proved uneventful, but that would be a lie. In fact, I'm happy to say, the second hotel had on its grounds an actual jacuzzi - which is quite the rare find on this side of the pond. For whatever reason, saunas abound in Europe (and this hotel had one of those too, as well as a steam room), but jacuzzis are almost never to be seen. And nothing soothes sore snowboarding muscles like a hot tub.
Between that, the beautiful mountain scenery, the quaint little village, the phenomenal food, the company, the spa treatment, and the pretty damn solid if not spectacular snow, we had ourselves quite a nice little holiday.
Friday was the best snow day and Pete and I got up early to attack the slopes. Unfortunately, attacking any ski slope in Europe means gondola lines and a lot of patented "Euro Herding", which is the art of masses of people shoving toward a small outlet with minimal sense of order or fairness. There's lots of pushing and a Darwinian sense of survival of the fittest.
Once up the mountain, things settled out. On the first day, the upper mountain was not open because of an avalanche risk, so Pete and I settled for the next highest spot. Pete led, with his snow radar (and not to mention his willingness to traverse 46 miles to find 3 good turns in fresh snow), and I followed. Luckily on the first day there was fresh snow all around and finding snow wasn't difficult - we managed to get pretty good fresh areas just about all day, even without the upper mountain open. The weather was warm and spectacular bluebird conditions prevailed.
The Chamonix mountains, as with the Alps in general, are simply incredible. The word on the street is that the Alps are a relatively young mountain range, say compared to the Rockies, and that tectonic youth (which I like to think of as a sort of geologic sass) are what makes them so damn jagged and dramatic looking. They really are unlike any other mountain range I've seen. Just awesome and breathtaking ever time I see them.
That first day on the slopes, hanging with Pete, was a solid reminder of why I snowboard. Not only is the actual activity thrilling and fun, but every time I go - especially when the weather is nice - I have a few "moments" on the mountain, which entail me just sitting on the slope, board strapped on, leaning back on my hands, taking in the view, smelling the clean air, and just basking in the aura of it all. Such a stress relief. Those moments make the actual logistics and expense of a snowboarding trip so worth it. (And with the dollar rate these days - Euro ski trips are NOT cheap.) Something to remember.
The second day there was no new snow, but the upper mountain was opened and so the prior day's snow was still fresh and there was still plenty to be had. My legs were a little sapped on day two early, but they settled out through the soreness (thank you hot tub) and we had another great day, with some of the untouched snow at the higher altitudes being simply awesome powder conditions in parts. It was sunny early, and then clouded up later, but still another great day, complete with Pete and I singing on the lifts, cracking jokes, the whole bit.
Our third day we woke up to rain - boo. It stopped by mid-morning, but we all decided (even Pete) to skip that morning and wait a little. It started to look sunny so Pete and I went up on a different part of the mountain, only the weather turned crappy again. We ended up skiing a half day in rather blustery conditions and on crusty, mostly un-fun snow. I actually brought my iPod out on day three for a trial run with music - something I've never done in all my years on the slopes. I only put one earpiece in to be cautious, and overall I'd say it was pretty cool - definitely neat to have a little fast music pumping away as you attack the run. I may try it again someday.
At nighttime we attacked (we did a lot of attacking - it's part of my ninja background) the village and the restaurant scene, which is second to none in terms of mountain-town eats. On Friday we went to a place called Four Seasons. On Saturday it was the Albert Premier restaurant, a two-Michelin star deal which I had been to before, and which once again was out of this world. The meal has at least three courses complemented by French wine and then after that they wheel out the cheese tray, which has over 30 types of local cheese. Not only that, they let you have as much as you want and they all look so damn good. And after gorging yourself on cheese, they wheel out the dessert tray, with about 15 selections, and again you pick as many as you would like and can handle. Everything looks so good that it's seriously a form of torture - impossible to say no to exotic cheese and dessert but of course there's a price. Stomach pain, but not just stomach pain. Turns out you eat so much there are other more mysterious manifestations of the meal. Both Pete and I noted that we broke out into an "odd sweat" which just sort of came out of nowhere - we're both doctors and we have no explanation for this type of occurrence. But it doesn't matter. You simply notice it, and the coinciding stomach discomfort - and then you shrug and keep stuffing your maw with the planet's best cheese.
If I had to pick my favorite place to go snowboarding in the Alps, I'd narrow it down to St. Anton and Chamonix. I had my best snow day in Europe two winters ago at St. Anton, which is in Austria, however not by much. And given the fact that the food in Chamonix is so good - like New York City or Paris good - simply pushes it over the top. I could easily see myself heading back next year.
And with that - pics! (These pics came out pretty well. Still, pictures of mountains and mountainscapes, in my opinion, simply never do the experience justice...)
 |
| Chamonix April 2008 |
Back from France
Had a great time in Chamonix this past weekend, despite only mediocre snow. But I'll get to that later - right now I'm working on finishing up the other posts regarding Eryn's trip out here. The Berlin piece is turning into quite a doozy on my word processor - five pages at this point - yikes. Unfortunately, its not ready yet; hopefully tomorrow.
A couple of pics from this weekend's trip in the meantime:
A couple of pics from this weekend's trip in the meantime:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)