This past week, things turned a corner, in both my professional (medical) and amateur (do-it-yourself home improvement) lives.

In terms of the doctor life, this past Tuesday was my first day as a pediatric hematology/oncology fellow, and it felt good. All of my co-fellows are incredibly cool — fun, helpful, equally nervous — and there isn’t a single aspect of the training program that doesn’t totally eclipse everything that I’ve experienced over the past three years of training in New York. The staff is not only helpful, they all go out of their way to make sure that everything goes well. The facilities are beautiful, on both the inpatient and outpatient sides, and reflect planning that took into account what would be best for everyone involved. And there’s no other way to describe the support services than simply unbelievable; every time I ask how to get something done for a patient, the answer is invariably to point me to the person whose job it is to handle exactly that. It’s nice to finally start working somewhere that exudes an understanding that patients are the single most important reason we all work as hard as we do. Of course, it also helps that I started out on neuro-oncology, one of the easier rotations I’ll experience this year, which has meant that I’m able to get my feet wet in the new hospital but am also able to get home at a reasonable hour.

Speaking of home, Shannon and I both agree that this weekend was big for us, not because of any sheer quantity of work that we did, but rather because we finally crossed the line between getting basic things done and getting real quality-of-living things done. For example, we framed five photos and hung them along our main hallway, making it feel like a home rather than a sterile passageway, and likewise, we did some decorating in the kitchen that helped it cross into the world of warm and comfortable. And Matt’s visit this past weekend also lit a fire under our asses to work on the bathroom and front room. Shannon tackled painting the bathroom, and then we built a nice armoire and wall cabinet, put up a glass shelf, hung a new curtain rod and shower curtain, and replaced the shower head. In the front room, we got everything painted, set up my desk and computer, moved the sofa bed into place, and hung the curtains on the french doors to the patio; all that’s left is deciding where all the wall decorations are going to go, and it’ll be another room in the bag.

And finally, a spontaneous walk around the neighborhood last night (while waiting for paint to dry) led to the discovery of what seems to be an awesome indoor pool a mere four blocks away from me. It’s in the building which housed the first indoor municipal swimming pool in the United States, which is damn cool; cooler still is the fact that the rates are incredibly reasonable, and the hours look like they won’t conflict too terribly with my packed hospital schedule.

Here’s to another week of progress!