Endorsement of the Week: Free WiFi @ Starbucks

Caffeine, the most widely used drug on the planet, has its hands around our necks.  This is why there are so many places to buy it.  Of course, you could make your own coffee, cheaper, at home.  However, the social implications of coffee are much wider than simply consuming the drink.  Drinking black instant coffee alone in the dark is for sleep deprived medicine and surgery residents on call.  So let's just assume you embrace the financial premium of "premium coffee." 

Enter Starbucks.  As I sit here, I stare around and see the same regulars I always see.  There is guy who talks to himself pretending to be on a cell phone.  There is the guy who talks to himself wearing orange noise reduction headset and brings a suitcase of papers and a thermos from WWII filled with god knows what.  Then there is old guy with a briefcase from 1960.  
    Then there is me, getting free wireless guy.
    It could be you too.

In case you are always the last to know, just like me, you can get ATT WiFi for free at almost any starbucks.

Instructions
1.Getting a gift card at starbucks for like 10 bucks
2. Use it to buy a grande non-fat iced coffee with milk
3. Register it at THIS LINK TO FREE WIFI. 

Free wifi is a scam designed to get library-phobic freeloading college students and other social miscreants to come to your establishment, buy something to drink, and make it look like you have a busy worthwhile business filled with customers.  It used to be that only kitchsy places like Muddy's (for anti-establishment types) and Roasterie (for established types) gave out free wifi, but the connection kind of sucked.  Of course, there has been wifi at Starbucks for sometime, but they charged for it!  Then they had to close 600 stores and realized they had to start working for clients again.  When I was in New York for three days, I saved $48 by not purchasing hotel internet access and opting to get my caffeine and email fix at the same place.  I realize that for the fat cats with iPhones, this service does not have the same value but I didn't really know what else to endorse this week. 

How to get a free iPhone, iPod, Nintendo Wii, or $300 cash back!

Just kidding.  But what if I could save you $300 dollars.  With an extra $300 dollars maybe you could shore up your budget, spend it on rent, food, clothes, AIG stock, whatever.  The point is, I know that during the interview season this year, I made a lot of poor decisions because of ignorance.  Given a second chance there are many things that I could have done that would have saved me enough money to buy an iPhone, iPod, and a Wii.  So, here are my tips on how to save money during residency interviews, although they can be applied to many types of trips.

1.  Priceline, Priceline, Priceline
This website saved me 50% on almost all of the hotel reservations I made through them.  That means I spent 100% more than I needed to on every reservation I made without them. The best deals come through naming your own price.  The key is to start low and aim for places with greater than 2.5 stars to ensure you aren't sleeping in a crack den.  Amazingly, the Holiday Inn Express is 2.5 stars, yet they were the cleanest, nicest, and most comfortable rooms I stayed in. 

2.  Choose one or two airlines and stick to them.  I prefer Southwest.
Brand loyalty is rewarded in the airline industry and although NWA and Delta are merging their frequent flier programs, you can't always be guaranteed your miles will live long enough to be redeemed.  Southwest is stable though, and after only 8 round trips you earn a reward.  I was able to use one of my awards to buy a last minute $400 ticket to New York 36 hours before take-off for free.  Don't waste it on a sweet $89 one-way deal.  Also there will be times Southwest is much more expensive or does not fly to your location (e.g. Atlanta).  Other things to consider, Southwest has more leg room, does not charge to check bags, and is much more generous about rebooking.  I once slept through a 7am flight and they had me on the 9:30am for no charge.  Meanwhile, United wanted to charge me $50 to shorten one of my layovers by taking an earlier flight that was virtually empty. 

3.  Don't Rent A Car
Rental cars are scams.  The only way I would do it is if you could drive it from one location to another in less than a day and save over $200 in airfare.  Even in a big city, if you have to pay a premium on a hotel room to be near the interview, you can take a cab or walk, trust me.  The cost of an airport shuttle and a couple cap rides might come out to the price of one day of car rental, and thats only if you get a great deal on the rental.  If you must rent though, never pay the under 25 fee, you can get out of it by using a corporate ID AMSA with National or Alamo.  Just use google if you have to find out what perks you can get from AAA or your professional organizations.  Also, there are some lottery car rentals where you can get the car for 10 bucks a day but you risk getting a 1997 Dodge Caravan.

4.  Make friends with your fellow interviewees during the sub-internship season
You can get another 50% discount on hotel rooms if you split the room with a trusted friend you've established rapport with during your rotations.  Even see if you can coordinate when your friends applying for other specialties will be at interviews as well.  My roommate applying for Ortho and I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Tampa that wound up costing us $15 a piece. 

5.  Don't buy internet access from your hotel
It's embarassing what a rip hotel internet can be.  Decent places will have free wireless.  In NYC, forget about it.  I know you want your A boarding pass but its not worth it.  There are a lot of places that wanted to charge me 17.95 for noon-noon access to an ethernet cable.  It makes the iPhone look cheap.  Screw that, get a starbucks gift card, sign up for the free att-wifi using the code on the back to get free wireless at any Starbucks that displays the ATT decal in the window.  I guarantee you can find a Starbucks walking distance from either your hotel or interview location.  If you can't, consider whether you really want to live in such a place.

The biggest money mistakes I made during interviews came from being ignorant of those five tips.  As long as you don't strut into a South Beach night club with lots of cash in your blazer that is mysteriously spent by the next morning you will be in good shape.  You will feel some pinch, but these tips aren't nearly as extreme as those who advocate bartering on Craigslist or using Couch Surfer to find places to stay.    

If you save $300 bucks, put it towards your loans or buy yourself or me, a Wii. 

If You Are Having A Bad Day, This Should Make You Feel Better

My dad always says we live in a third world country.  That the people here are ridiculous.  That too many slugs are living off the taxpayer teat.  There may be grains of truth in all that.  Now the next time he tells me how horrible this place is and how ineffectual his primary care physician might be.  I can fire back with this.

Traditional healers in Zimbabwe have been perpetuating a myth that AIDS can be cured by having sex with a virgin.  Logically, men with AIDS began having sex with virgins.  Talk about standing on the shoulders of giants, I'm only a week out of medical school, but I bet my 10 year old sister could tell you that that is the most bogus thing imaginable.  This goes even above and beyond the stupidity and danger of the conspiracy theorists who think that HIV was designed by the government to eradicate blacks and homosexuals.  These men are raping children, HELLO, CHRIS HANSEN WHERE ARE YOU.  This isn't isolated either, this is thousands of girls just in Zimbabwe.  This isn't the benign traditional healing of cupping or coin rubbing. 

Put aside what you learned in cultural sensitivity class and wake up.  Even if you think America sucks, at least we don't tolerate that kind of crap.  Oh the dirty water, malaira, famine thing, we don't have to worry about that either.  Even if these healers went to Kansas City Public Schools it would make them more educated.

This is what they teach in KC public schools? No wonder they are failing: a.k.a. What I Won't Miss About Kansas City

1.  If sitting at an intersection punch it off the line making an ambulance going lights and sirens stop just to avoid you.  I almost guarantee you that you have more important places to be. 
2.  Run into crowded traffic with a smile on your face. Also, if j-walking, walk slower when cars are waiting unnecessarily for you to increase carbon emissions.
3.  Be the third or fourth car to run a red arrow at the intersection of 47th and Main.  I hope you also stop on train tracks.
4.  Let everyone at Power and Light see you be escorted out in cuffs by the cops while you are wearing a trucker hat, aviator sunglasses, distressed jeans, and an Ed Hardy Tshirt at 11pm. You could be on TV, specifically,  Tool Academy Season 2.
5.  Ask people for a down payment on a cheeseburger. You don't need to lose weight.
6.  Tell people who don't wear exposed undershirts while wearing a collared shirt and blazer they are underdressed. 
7.  Sync >25% of your iPod with songs sung by former American Idol contestants. 
8.  Ride your bike or motorcycle, without a helmet.  Actually, as of Wednesday, there are 101,972 people on a waiting list for your organs.
9.  Stand up for your principles, Chipotle is the best Mexican restaurant, don't let the damn liberals take it away from you.   
10.  Smoke inside bars, it smells better that way. 


That's all for now, there are other things that people don't control.  Like how all the streets in KC, MO are too narrow for left turn lanes.  Or how the athletes here like to spit in people's faces at bars, but, I'm guessing those people probably legitimately deserved it.  At least I'd rather get spat on then ran over like they do in Miami. 

P.S. Your Jayhawk looks like Woody Woodpecker anyways.  Thanks to Amy for pointing that out. 

New York Moments

No time to post.  But I'm typing this at a starbucks in times square, so you know something good will follow.

Event Time
00:02  Use bathroom at La Guardia, guy shake-dry hands off into my face
02:30  Drunk falls straight onto 5th Ave in broad daylight blocking traffic, we are not doctors
04:00  Guy looking at ground walks straight into me while standing on corner
36:00  Woman next to us at dinner sneers about our discussion of High School Musical, "I have no words."
48:00  Upon learning that I am moving to Miami, someone recommends I go to Gordon Biersch when I get there

Some weird things I saw in NYC
That's a freaking panda staring at the ass of a 9 foot tall golden bull

 

 

Don't even know what to say about this

 Hey, another I know another eye surgeon with a similar name