Beantown Trip: Part the Last

So, I've been meaning to finish writing about the Boston trip. Really, I have been meaning to write. Its amazing what happens when school gets in the way. As of writing this post, I still haven't heard anything back from MGH. I assure you, once we know something, you, the intertubes, will know something also.

Out of laziness, this update will be the picture show of random pictures I took for the sole purpose of putting them on the blog. If you make it to the end, I might just a bit more about the interview. The pictures are from my day of wandering before the "get to know you and over-analyze every behavior and what you order" dinner with the other interview candidates.

Right, a guy with a pigeon on his hand. Right before I got this picture, he had a squirrel crawling up his leg to get food. I thought it was a pretty neat trick so I tried to pretend to feed a squirrel also. The little fellow (read fat rodent with fur and a big tail) walked up and grabbed my finger before realizing it was empty. Then I met a very nice guy who told me UNC lost to Boston College.


As a random thought, Boston has a lot of colleges and universities in it. One would think with that amount of academics, they would tell someone a square has four sides, not three.


One of the highlights of going to Boston is being able to see "Old Ironsides". That is her looking sad with her masts down and some strange cover built on top of her main deck. I guess it is there so tourists don't have to be exposed to the elements and the sailors stationed on her don't have to shovel snow every day. Wusses.

Right. After wondering around all day and getting lost in the North End (Little Italy), I went to the aforementioned dinner. These are supposed to be casual get-togethers where you get to meet the people who currently have the position and meet the other people who are interviewing. One, I have food issues--I don't like to eat in front of people I don't know very well. And even if I do know you well I may not want to eat in front of you. I think it took about five dates before I asked The Wife to go to a restaurant with me. Two, I don't like the feeling of meeting "the competition". I don't feel the need to prove anything to them--I don't. I hate the small talk that is inherent in meeting new people. I don't care where you go to school or what you have done during your degree program or that you are from the area. I just want to interview and go home. But, I have to pretend to be interested to show the current job-holders that I can play well with others. But, in reality, the whole night I was thinking, "I'm only ever going to see you tonight unless we both get this position and then I will care about your new puppy dog".

One good thing about the evening though, besides delicious free food, was watching one of the interviewees who missed the memo about what to order when at a professional dinner. There were eleven people at the table so I only knew what the people around me ordered. When the food was served, someone had ordered the lobster. The whole lobster. And to make it even better, she didn't even know how to get into it to eat it (which I learned the correct phrase is "to crack the lobster").

The next morning, we all met back up for the marathon day of tours and interviewing. Luckily they went alphabetical by first name and I got to go first even though I did miss the tour of the emergency room. Some of the questions I was asked included identifying two portraits that were painted by the same person who painted Washington Crossing the Delaware, why I wanted to be at MGH, why healthcare administration, examples of working as a group, and life-lessons learned from working in the ER and OR. To give you an idea of the interview environment there were nine senior executives at a conference table and they made me sit at the head of the table. I was myself for better or for worse even though I think I spoke more about The Wife and The Boy than I did about myself (I was really missing them at this point in time and it was The Wife's birthday and unknown to me at the time, The Boy's first tooth day).

The rest of the day was spent on tours of the hospital which is massive. A couple of things that stood out from the tour--seeing where the first surgical case where ether was used occurred, seeing some of the original pier from when the hospital was on the Charles (which was later filled in to give more building room), going to the roof of one of the hospital buildings for a great view of the city (which we left our coats in the conference room and it was cold), and seeing some of the "behind the scenes" areas of a research lab--the water purification system and the boiler room with some really big pipes.

At the end of the day I was supposed to go rock climbing with the friend we will dub The Russian Bear but instead I veged out, ate Thai noodles, and packed to come home. Going to the airport I felt that I was leaving everything there (emotionally)--which is not an adequate description of feelings. So, I will re-word it as, I felt that I had done everything that I could and now it is in the hands of others (interview panel and Deity). The flight home was unremarkable and I am still very glad to be home. Not so glad to be starting school though. I miss reading Winnie the Pooh before morning naptime.

Lastly, here is a picture of The Russian Bear doing what he probably would have talked me into doing had I stayed in Boston for an additional day. Why yes, he is climbing up a frozen waterfall.