Come for the conference, stay for the vacation: A photo essay

I have been so busy that I was (am) desperate for a break. So when one of the five conferences I am attending in May-June ended at lunchtime on a Saturday, and it wasn't substantially cheaper to fly home the same day, I decided to spend an extra night at the hotel. Originally Dear Husband had to work that weekend but he needed downtime as much as I did, so he took the weekend off to attend our nephew's high school graduation in Ohio. In Florida I had good time connecting with friends old and new; co-presented two workshops; and absorbed what felt like a firehose of information. At last year's conference I had split my time between medical content, publication advice, and career development. This time I live-Facebooked areas in which I am weak, like the musculoskeletal exam, cardiac devices, and hormone therapy. The organization's staff try to keep things light, so that's me with the conference mascot, a stuffed yeti doll wearing snorkel gear. The plenaries were appropriately inspiring. I was a member of the winning trivia team for the second year in a row (and runner-up the year before that), so I've decided to sit out next time and contribute a category of medical history questions. Then I spent ~25 hours recharging my batteries. 

I was tickled to fly out on Maryland One.

Approach to Ft. Lauderdale.

View from my balcony on the 32nd floor. I think that's the highest floor I've ever stayed on.

It was a looong way down.

Society of

General

Internal
Medicine

They ran out of blue Meds Peds ribbons, so I wrote it on the bottom of my badge.

My institution hosts a dinner for current and former members.

I staged photos of the program as part of my posts. The gold rectangle is my business card holder with pearl inlay that was a graduation gift from My Awesome Parents.

George (NYU) and I defended our trivia title!

UPMC Med Peds had a great showing, especially of residents.

I was sad nobody noticed the scarf that I designed using Renaissance anatomical illustrations.

This medical conference prefers pricey hotels, but I was still shocked that the bill for a working lunch at the restaurant was $54 (one salad, one dessert, no alcohol or tip). I heard they were charging north of $20-35 per cocktail. After the conference ended, I walked to the nearby grocery store to stock up for the rest of my stay. Two lunches, one breakfast (sans yogurt pilfered from the conference), one dinner, and snacks cost $48. I figured out how to make hot tea with the espresso machine in the room.

Hotel pool on my way to sunrise yoga. The clouds protected us from the worst of the sun's rays, but we still sweated through our workout while the yogi--a young man from Los Angeles--explained anatomy, philosophized about mind over matter, and reminded us how "dope" our bodies are for the things that they can do or have done.

During my mini-vacation, I played games on my phone and ate dinner in bed while watching a movie. I got to spend time in the ocean waves and in the hotel pool. After showering and checking out I read on the back deck until the sun was high and the temps were uncomfortable, so I moved inside to recharge my devices and write this blog post, a sort of farewell postcard for both you and me.