Telluride Snowshoeing

HD, music free, version on youtube:

http://youtu.be/Rg7sfNy9UGo

Telluride Sunset Timelapse

From my last night in Telluride.  I had the perfect sunset balcony!

Back to Work

Do not be alarmed. This post is going to be a lot more photos than text about work. But since the world requires $$ to live in it (and I like good beer, nice hotels, and lots of travel) I needed to go back to work. I am lucky enough to also enjoy my method of earning money, surgerizing!  So to combine all of my loves, I found a "part time" surgery gig in North Carolina.

For reasons that are not clear, I was fortunate enough to find a practice that agreed to my terms of working when I'm working, and off when I'm off. And I make my own schedule. And I live in Pinehurst, which is smack dab in the middle of DC, Charlotte, Conway, and Chesapeake. Where the vast majority of people that mean a lot to me live.  (Still require some plane rides around the country and to NZ, but DCA is a good hub)

In addition, I managed to find a one bedroom condo, on Pinehurst #5, furnished, for pretty cheap rent. And great sunset views. On my first night in town I enjoyed a lovely walk around my new neighborhood. 

I added some personal touches to the condo. My favorite was the pillow cover Lucy made me as a going away present. When the maids came last week, they put the country upside down. But quickly fixed :) 

While here, I generally work every other day. That means on my work days, I go for a run at 7pm. And get great sunsets. Although in the below, I took sunset pics on my way to the village for st Patrick's day, the night after my first 24 hours of work. 

I guess I should write a little about work. My main adjustments back to US medicine involve billing. I am getting used to billing for everything (and documenting appropriately). In a typical insurance twist, Medicare will only let a doctor apply for "priveleges" to see there patients (ie get paid) 30 days in advance of their start date. However, Medicare has 60 days to approve the  application 

And many insurers follow this rule. So this means that I still (2 weeks after my start date) can't see patients with Medicare and other insurance. So my partners come in and see them and bill for them. Ridiculous. 

So back to sunsets, they really are wondeful in North Carolina.  

I also exist in Pinehurst during the day. After some trial and error I've found good running routes. But even when I was running on the side of the road, the tulips are fabulous. 

I went ony first long run in awhile around lake Pinehurst. I mapped my run in miles. But ran in km. luckily knew a shortcut home after 10k so I didn't run 13 miles instead of 13k!

More late night runs after work!

I'm also lucky to have Raleigh nearby, as well as good friends there. After a nice morning excursion to trader joes and target (not in Pinehurst), I headed to lake Jordan for a trail run. 

Forgot about ticks :/. But a great run. 

The only issue with my place is some hornets coming from below the balcony. I created a fake nest in hopes of deterring them. I don't know that it worked. But I was proud of my effort. 

And I'm slowly finding more runs. Below is the arboretum. 

And the greenway. 

Love th tulips! 

Tonight, 2/3 of the way thru my stretch of work, I had resolved to walk to the village after work. It was rainy and cold, but I was motivated. 1.7 km to the pub is totally normal in my auckland world. But over a mile to the bar in the U.S.  sounds more extensive. Either way, good wLl, good food, good beer, and good live music.  I could have a worse life. Cheer!s!

Pinehurst

After a week of travel and babysitting, I headed down to Pinehurst to actually start working again. I found a great condo on course #5 that is furnished and ready for move in. My backyard: 

The first night I took a walk around my neighborhood. Not bad! 

And set up my condo with plenty of kiwiana! The pillow cover below was hand made by my friend Lucy. 

The best thing about being back in NC is the sunsets. They really never get old. Some from monday night (my first night of work) 

I did work that night, in the hospital from 930-1am and then back for rounds at 730am. I had a few consults and cases. With the insurance rules I can only see certain people until each individual insurance company approves me. This makes for a few less people to see. In standard ridiculous insurance company fashion they only let me apply for credentials 30 days before my start date (we had all the paperwork ready well before then). But they have 60 days to approve. So that means most people can't see various patients like BCBS and Medicare when they first start work. Ridiculous.

But I made it through my first day without getting too lost in the hospital. And finished at 7 pm in time for sunset and a walk to the Irish pub for St Patrick's Day. Cheers! 

Goodbye Telluride

This is what I woke up to on Saturday. Not only an excellent view for sunsets, but moonsets as well! 

I went for a short walk around the village before my 8:15 shuttle. My flight wasn't until noon, but the shuttle take 2 hours with picking everyone up. And since I've returned from NZ, I have a very hard time maintaining my previously level of activity. There I walked on average 12k a day, not including running/exercise/hiking. Here in the U.S. I'm having a tough time keeping up! 

Gorgeous morning to explore some of the surrounding neighborhoods. 

And back to the resort to get on the shuttle! 

I got to MTJ at 10am for my noon flight. I took this opportunity to walk 5k around the airport. Fyi a lap around the airport carpark is 800 meters :).  Before starting my laps, I walked over to a gas station s block away or so. Being America, there was no footpath to get back and I ended up walking thru massive mud. My next 6 laps around the carpark included an elaborate combination of grass and now in an effort to clean my boots.... 

I was happy and set to breeze into the gate at 11:20. Except TSA pre was closed. I understand when small airports don't have it, but this one made it look like the would have it and then closed!  The most ridiculous thing was that hey gave us a card so we didn't have to take off our shoes if we we TSA pre. However we still had to take out our laptops and liquids. I fail to understand how the card can only be used to fulfill half the normal TSA pre benefits.... #firstworldproblems. (However, in most other countries flying domestically is so easy you don't need to pay extra to be "pre")

Despite my long queue, my plane to Phoenix was delayed so I went to the horsefly saloon, mainly because I found it nice that such a tiny airport had local craft beer past security.  However, I didn't actually get my 7.5% abv beer until about 5 minutes before I needed to be in my seat on the plane. Fun to chug!  MTJ leaves a little bitter taste from the TSA situation, but the good beer past security aat a reasonable price makes up for it. :) 

Sunset at the peaks

I left the afternoon session a few minutes early to catch sunset from my balcony, as I had worked out that it was pretty much due west (thank you iphone compass) I also had a quart of beer left to drink. 

And now, a bunch of sunset pics :). There will be a hyper lapse gopro video as well once I locate my gopro cord (or buy a new one). Enjoy :)