Living off the fat of the land…
31 May 06So, what a day!I know I’m paying for this, but today shall be known as the day of infinite freebies.
We went to our daylong orientation—Mon Dieu, quel drag! Speaker after speaker, blah blah blah…yadda-yadda-yadda, no one really gave us any real info, just who they are, what they do, how to get in touch with them, that sort of thing.
One thing that I found really interesting is that the police department here on campus sells good locks for your bike, locks for your laptop, etc, for cost—and they also engrave your laptop with an id number, and place a sticker on it, informing would-be thieves that they won’t be able to sell it, and if they’re caught, they’ll go to jail. They also have a software (like a lo-jack for computers) that tracks it in NYC and they’ve had 100% recovery rates for people who’ve had it installed, and have had their laptops stolen!
During the lunch break, which was 2 hours long for most students, but not for the anesthesia students, we met our coordinator for the anesthesia department, Tim Lehey, an elegant man, pushing fifty (perhaps) with a very nice, calm demeanor. I was sad to hear that he’s stepping down as coordinator and the rumors I heard back in San Fran were, in fact, correct. He assured us that the transition of coordinators would be smooth, however—and one person I talked to said he had heard a rumor that it might be a good thing he’s stepping down—but, I dunno, I got a good vibe from the guy—he had intelligent blue eyes that seemed to be smiling, and the posture of all tall doctors—hunched over at the shoulders in his grey suit. He radiated “mentor” (damnit-he’s leaving. I can only pray his replacement will strike me as well.)
He ate up an hour of our lunchtime, but then set us free to have whatever was left on the caterer’s tables. Of course, the reason they had given everyone two hours is because there was more than just lunch to be doing—there were people to meet regarding registration holds, Citibank had reps there, the campus police, the heath center, the Greek society related to doctors and nurses—basically, there were about 20-30 tables, all of them with freebees and handouts; I wanted swag, but mostly I wanted to clear my registration holds so I could register for classes ASAP!
So, I did all of that, loaded up the booty bag—a nice blue Cordura bag with the Columbia logo on it, full of booklets and pamphlets and forms for us to fill out—with all the swag to be had; a blue highlighter, a nifty desktop calculator, a guide to all the cool stuff in New York, granola bars, cookies, etc. I got what I thought was worth toting around, and then headed for the lunch table—there was every sort of sandwich under the sun, pasta salad and green salad (how my heart skipped a beat at the sight of fresh, green, non-iceberg lettuce!) and more cookies. Since there were about 20 minutes remaining, I wolfed down the food, and then as I was leaving, the dejected leftover sandwiches all looked sad and lonesome, so I grabbed one veggie sandwich, that was nicely wrapped in a plastic box, for dinner later.
I had to stop writing there for a second, because I was enjoying the first cool breeze I’ve felt since arriving! I have the window open in the bathroom on my left, as I sit here writing this, and the room windows open behind me; the beautiful cool air is just slightly moving—ahhhh!
So, where was I? Oh yeah—so, orientation was long and boring, except for breakfast, lunch and free stuff.
Afterward, I came back to the dorm room, and set all my junk down—I called George again and asked him to take care of some stuff for me on that end, to help clear my registration hold—my GP never sent the hard copies of my physical results and blood titers, not surprising.
I headed back out into the heat to go buy some more food and water, and a look for a shelf to act as headboard (a place to put my alarm clock, eyeglasses while I sleep, clamp my reading lamp, etc) and see how much one of those rolling shopping carts I saw at the hardware store cost. Two feet outside the dorm exit, is a blue shopping cart, left on the mountain of trash the students who moved out have left. I brought it in, and left it at the security desk, telling them if anyone had left it and came in looking for it, this was probably theirs, but if no one claimed it, that I just found an item in the trash that I was on my way out to buy.
He said he’d hold it for me, but made it known that he wanted it. I left the building again, thanking my lucky stars for the sudden good luck. I rounded the corner and found a perfectly new ironing board! I carted it back and my Dominican Security Guard laughed and said he wanted that, too. I left that with the cart and headed back out to look for a place I might buy some shelves.
I went down half a block in the other direction and this time I saw two white, 3’ tall shelves, just like I was hoping to find! I carried them back, and the guard laughed and said he was just going to call me “lucky lady” from now on.
I left again and went down the street, scanning all the piles of stuff people have discarded as they move out and head toward better apartments, or back home after graduation; all of them, heading for six figure salaries—they can’t be bothered with this student ghetto crap.
It’s sickening to me, as a militant recycler; as eco-conscious and “green” as I am, having been born on earth day, to see the things people were throwing away—If I were living in a traditional apartment building, I could have easily furnished a one bedroom apartment just walking around 3 city blocks—no lie; a two bedroom, maybe 5 blocks.
I went to the 99-cent store and got 10 plastic hangers for clothes, a glass bowl, for cereal, a glass plate, for food, 4 forks, two white cotton towels; the bill came to $6. I couldn’t believe it.
We don’t have places like that in San Fran—that must be why everyone says it’s so expensive there.
Then I went and bought more water and more bananas (living on those lately) and as I was coming back to the room, I found a brand new toaster oven. Maybe it’s been used once to make dry white toast—it was dusty on the outside—but that’s it! One less thing for George to ship me! (Actually, now that I think about it, there was a little bend in the face plate where the dials were—someone had pulled the door open and it snagged, and out of frustration, they probably never used it again—I took my leatherman tool and bent it back in and now the door swings open effortlessly.
In the lobby I met a girl named Rachel from Miami, who told me that she had bought a fridge off the guy on the third floor that has three outside his door. I came into my room, and wrote a little note, saying I wanted to buy one.
About an hour later, I got a knock on my door, and it was Chris, the owner of the fridges, who’s working on research this summer while working on his pediatric orthopedic surgeon courses. He was super nice and told me he’d sell me the bigger fridge for $50, and the little one for $25. I had thought about it, and looked around the room and could not think of where I’d cram the taller fridge (all of 3 feet tall) so I got the tiny little one and put it atop the dresser.
I figure that if I get to move over to the Georgian residence, where the rooms have kitchenettes, I can probably find someone moving out that will want to get rid of a bigger one.
In all, it’s been a day of infinite freebies and good deals. I spent something like $30 and have a room full of modern conveniences. Funny how little it takes to make one feel happy—hot food + cold drinks= civilization. I’m suddenly fantasizing about my next shopping trip, and being able to buy things like milk, cereal, frozen mini-pizzas or hot pockets, cheese…all the things I don’t really eat much at home, but somehow, when ALL food is hard to come by, even the things which are repugnant are somehow wonderful.
In New York, one could just live off the fat of the land (read “ off the rich white med-school kids who find it easier to discard things, rather than donate them to charity”)
It’s all out there—let me know if you need a Webber grill, a rotisserie oven, a Cuisinart coffee pot or food processor, a microwave, chairs, tables, beds, dressers, headboards, nightstands, lamps, strollers, anything you want—just write it down on your list, and walk outside—I’m sure you won’t have to go farther than a block or two ‘til you find it!
posted by sketchmonkey @ 4:13 PM
1 Comments:
Greets to the webmaster of this wonderful site! Keep up the good work. Thanks.
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