Ever have that problem that there are some words that you just can't spell? For my entire life I have been unable to spell "Shiny" I always sit there and debate whether there's an 'e' between the 'n' and the 'y'. Even after I look it up, I forget for the next time. I am missing the part of my brain that is dedicated to spelling the word shiny. Even as I look at it now it looks like it's spelled wrong. I'm glad I won't often need to write shiny in a medical chart because then I'd have to carry a sticky note in my pocket as to how to spell it and because there are several other words I have trouble with, I'd have a huge collection of sticky notes. I'll probably just need a PDA with a dictionary on it (although how I feel about PDAs is a subject for another day).


Today I had an interesting experience. I interviewed a candidate for the new head of the family medicine department at my med school. Every time there's an important interview, students are encouraged to come along and talk to the candidate and ask them the questions that they feel are important. As the student rep on the undergraduate family medicine committee I felt that I had a few things I wanted to ask, so I went along. I was the only student who showed, so I had a nice one on one conversation with the first candidate. It is an interesting thing to interview someone who is already in a position of authority with respect to one's self. I think it's hard for them to step out of the role of advisor and teacher and into the role of answerers of the freaking question. Some people get carried away with getting their own agenda across and don't really address the questions asked. Some people are very good at staying on track to what you say and tell you exactly what you want to hear. This candidate was a mix of both. I think he would do a good job, but I'm looking forward to hearing from the other two candidates in the next month. All of the candidates are internal, so I have the advantage of knowing most of them already. It's hard not to be neutral going into the interview though with people you already know. Overall it was a really positive experience. Too bad the free lunch landed on a day that someone else was buying me free lunch. I gotta spread my free lunches out more!