Pennsylvannia Hospital

Pennsylvania Hospital was the first hospital built in the US, and part of the Penn Medicine system. While the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvannia gets most of the hoop-la, because it is one of the best hosptials in the US, really my favorite is Pennsy. It's small, in the center of things and kinda scrappy - just like me ha ha! They are also in a perfect position to be a petri dish of experimentation, which health care really needs.

One afternoon, I had a presentation to make, but then snuck out afterwards to do a little tour. This is the first operating theater built in the US. Clearly it is no longer in use, but the wood work is amazing.

"Relax, I'm a doctor's wife and have heard so much about this over BBQs I'm sure I can operate..." HA HA.

Really the pictures don't do it justice. The old medical library is equally as detailed in the woodwork. The books were just gorgeous, even though you could only gaze at them behind the glass. The room is mainly used now for meetings, though it is open to tourists.

Always fun to see something off the beaten track at work!

Maine in August...

Hello - Okay, So I am very behind on posting. In late august (ahem, I know, it's oct as I write this) we took a much needed weekend trip up to Maine. It was so good to get away and see our friends from Dartmouth.

I do have to point out that it was relatively clear driving through NJ, NY and ME but just as we were approaching the CT - MA border what was before but like a massive traffic jam. It was like that state's way of saying, "and stay out!"

Ha ha. Now, I was crushed when we got to ME and realized we forgot the camera! So pictures of Ben's rope bridge and Jen's perfect house - yeah sorry don't have them to share. With the Iphone camera though I did take a few shots. First off here's Noah, James and Matt sitting to lunch.

Aren't they so cute? Matt actually sat down to lunch which was huge but he only ate blueberries. He played so nicely with Noah and James, and it was so good to see Jen. Really Jen, no one that pregnant should have a house that clean.

I also snapped a picture of Ben and Alexis as we settled down to eat our sushi feast.

Just like old times, aye?

We just got an Iphone 4, and so hopefully that will help me take more pictures.

Update- How did it get to be July 2011?

Hello- Somehow, it got to be Dec. from my last post. Well, I made the switch in January from stay-at-home to full time working mom. I am working full time now in the financial department of Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine encompasses three hospitals, a series of satellite facilities and provider networks. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is one of the best hospitals in the country, and from this vantage point I'm learning tons about the healthcare business.

Ger is now a third year resident - one year to go for him! We have settled into a new routine and Matt is now in day care - he really ramped up his talking after the first week, so it's been good for him to play with and be exposed to other kids.

Throughout this transition work on projects slowed, but that will turn around a bit since with my salary we'll be able to tackle some longer projects. We've been back in Philly 2 years and it feels good to be back in a city. I am a city girl born and bred and am grateful that I can take the train to work, walk to Matt's day care, stop at the grocery store on the way home and then walk home all without using gas or having to share the street with cars (i.e. there are sidewalks, although granted not always in the best of repair). We are hoping to enjoy a bit more amenities that being in a major city offers.

Self-improvement and projects continue.

Thanks Gwyneth! (Also: Abstract Painting is Hard!)

So as you know, I have a girl crush on Ms. Paltrow. I don't normally watch television, but I made an exception for my girl Gwyneth on her guest appearance on glee. That's when I saw it in the background:

There it is! Behind Gwyneth's head is the perfect painting for our hallway! Thanks Gwyn!

So, out came the oil pastels. However, anyone who says abstract painting is easy never tried it. I liked the simple cleaness of the painting, but it also has a bit of shimmer. I didn't quite get there:

Of course, I have to stop at the art store to get a bit more supplies and varnish to finish it, but making something look professionally abstract is actually quite difficult!

Matt now has a "boy" room...

When we bought our house, there was a little girl in Matt's room, and they had set it up like this:

Which is perfectly sweet for a little girl, but now that it's been a year and Matt is a full fledged toddler we decided to go ahead and change it. So with the help of my in-laws, Ger painted it blue...

I had a hard time picking the color, but since I knew Ger only had one coat in him, I decided to go with a darker blue.

We were finally able to roll out his rug, that we bought during our honeymoon in India. Ger remarked at the time, that it would be a good rug for a kid's room. I agreed, and we bought it and saved it.

It feels good to finally get the go-ahead to start doing some beautification projects, as I have so many ideas. So much of our work up to this point has been functional and not visual impact. With the recent painting spruce up Ger and his dad did, we are hoping to change that!

We weren't doing anything...

Okay Mom's not looking...

Women Don't Ask

... I just finished reading a book called "Women Don't Ask" researched and written by two women who were involved in running a PhD program. When confronted by female PhD students about why the guys were given more classes to teach, they looked into it and found that the guys had ASKED to teach class and even suggested new classes to teach, while the women basically waited to be assigned classes to teach.

This was pretty eye opening, and I agreed with everything in the book. Some stats:

When looking at starting salaries for Master Degrees, the men negotiated themselves 4K more on average than women. Only 7% of women attempted to negotiate, but 57% of the men did.

NOT negotiating salaries can cost up to 568K over the course of a career.

Women, when asked to work on a task "till they feel they've earned their pay" will work up to 22% (on average) longer than a male and with 32% higher accuracy. If they are observed, they will work up to 50% longer. Being observed makes no difference in the length of time the men worked.

When asked to do a simple task and told to "pay yourself what you think it is worth" the men paid themselves up to 63% more, on average.

Women are in a catch-22 because if they do ask, then they run the risk of being perceived as "unlikeable". Being perceived as "unlikeable" had more implications for the women in the study. Asking for things did not change the men's "likeability".

Women on average find negotiating very stressful.