MORE Good News

This week has been full of good news! First, I found out that I passed my exam. Then, as I started job hunting I got a call from the director of physical therapy at LMC, Brooklyn (my first choice) pretty much offering me a job. Perfect timing… I’m so blessed! The position he offered wouldn’t start until June so I was concerned about what the heck I would do until then and what my savings account would look like by then. Literally, a few seconds later he called back to tell me he thought he could get me started in early May. Even better!  

Second, starting this year the (evil) federation that makes the Physical Therapy Board exams began providing a free score report that students can view online ten days after their exam. Yesterday makes ten days so I thought for sure it would be available by today… nope. I’m dying to know just how well I did on my Board exam. It doesn't really matter, I’m just curious. No one will ever ask for my score, it’s the license they care about.

As I flipped open my computer to write an email asking the federation what the hold-up was, I got a text from a classmate that said our license numbers were posted. What!? I didn't expect to have a license number for another couple of weeks. I pulled up the license verification page on the NY State Office of Professions, typed in my last name and there it was, my official license number. Forget the score, I’m officially licensed!

Orientation at LMC is May 6^th, we’ll be in Florida celebrating Jen’s 30^th birthday the 8^th through the 12^th, and I think I officially start working on May 13^th.... so I can’t party too hard. Here’s to a couple more weeks of freedom before I start my career and work until retirement!

POTted Plants

Good news folks, I passed my physical therapy board exam! The actual score report won't be released until sometime next week but, for mental health sake, they posted a pass/fail note to the website this weekend. Well mine said pass, PTL. Don't stop praying though, I need a job now. :)

In other good news, the air quality in and around our apartment has improved lately. We had a few theories regarding what brought on the change, but I think we may have found our answer...

The Queens Courier reports: The NYPD busted a pot growing operation in Long Island City on Tuesday, recovering plants, lamps and growing equipment from inside of 11-27 44th Road, said police. Five people were arrested and more than 1,000 marijuana plants were seized, according to Fox New York. 

Upon looking up the address Jen realized this operation was just a few blocks from our apartment. Could it be related? I think so. Good riddance!

A New Season and Holiday Gridlock

Tomorrow morning by ten AM grades are due and this long semester finally comes to a close. It means the end of my journey at this college, and the beginning a new, better season in our lives. And I wouldn't describe my feelings as at all bittersweet, just sweet. The amount of things I won't miss definitely outweigh the things I will. A lot went down at Laguardia but it's always better to focus on the positives right? I'm reminded of one of my patients that would comically recite, "I am so blessed" when she was having a rough day. Because many of my colleagues and I repeated a class or lab for whatever reason, we were part of not one but two different classes. We now have twice as many friends and a larger group for networking when looking for our PT dream jobs.

It's also a very exciting time for recent grads. My original class just took and passed the national board exam and are finding jobs with no problem. Our college has one of the highest pass rates, at 91%! Things look good. Dr. Engel, our awesome program director, spoke with us about the temporary license application process and different employment options last night. It was very encouraging. It looks like, if I find an employer to sponsor me, I can begin working by the beginning of February. Prayers for that! 

Right now I'm looking most forward to the holidays and having a few final weeks off in the beginning of the new year. I mean after that you enter into the slippery slope of adulthood right? The life of forty hour work weeks, fifty weeks a year, for forty or so years? Eek!

Speaking of the holidays, we're looking forward to our trip to VA. I'll be taking the cameras so plan on watching an awesome Rexrode Christmas video in a few weeks.

Holiday Traffic, 5th Ave and 34th St, 1948

It's nice to be able to just load up a car and drive to VA, door to door. What we are not looking forward to is the traffic that might be involved. We'll be leaving on Saturday, one of the NYC "Holiday Gridlock Alert Days." These so called alert days are part of an oh-so-festive sounding "Holiday Mitigation Plan" from the Department of Transportation.

Two years ago it wasn't traffic that was the problem necessarily, but a historically horrendous blizzard. Our economy car miraculously got us home without getting stuck in the show but we were forced to spend a night in Bethlehem (PA) like the holy family. Looking back it's pretty funny. Our Chevy Aveo was passing 4 wheel drive vehicle left and right (baby Jesus take the wheel!). The hotel clerk specifically told us that there were no dogs allowed so we had to sneak Pup in and out the back door like a hideaway Jew.

What a Christmas that was! And with that being said, all I want for Christmas is normalcy.

Merry Christmas

to family, friends, and readers of RexrodeAndTheCity

Un-Pop Music

This post is taking a particularly long time to write because the American Music Awards are on and so distracting. The performances are so bad that, much like a train wreck, I cannot stop watching. I can’t decide who looks, dances, and/or sounds the worst. Maybe I’m just outgrowing popular music. It’s possible.

As of Friday I’m officially done with all clinical affiliations. ‘Bout time. This past assignment at Lutheran Medical Center was such a great experience. As promised there was medicine, neuro rehab, and just a lot of aspects of therapy that I hadn’t seen before. Leaving the hospital and my wonderful patients was bitter-sweet. I could see myself working there and made sure to leave a good impression. The PT staff continued to remind me to leave my resume with the director when I left, which I did, and I took that as a good sign. If it’s meant to be it will work out.
At this point I’m just a board exam prep test and a temporary license away from finding a job in the new year. I can take my permanent license exam in April (it’s only offered a few times a year, unfortunately).

Those who know me know that I love to have my holidays off. And by that I don’t just mean Thanksgiving Day or just Christmas Eve and Day… I mean the weeks surrounding them. I don’t know what I’ll do when I have a real job (that I like enough not to quit) that only allows Locationa few weeks of vacation time in a whole year. Eek. Luckily it worked out for us again this year. Jens amazing employer has never given her trouble about time off and I’m quitting good ‘ole Bourbon St. before we leave for Christmas. The restaurant has been good to me in many ways and I’ve technically been there longer than any other job… almost three years! But it’s time to say goodbye.


I’m sure you’re still getting earfuls about the ongoing hurricane recovery in NYC area. Other than Staten Island and the low lying beach areas, things are almost back to normal. We donated some clothes that we don’t wear any more to Staten Island families that lost everything which felt good… we really needed the closet space (kidding). Businesses in our neighborhood that were severely damaged, like LIC Bar and City Vet/LIC Doghouse on our corner have just reopened in the past few days. Although we don't visit the bar that often, it really brings life to our block. While it was closed we realized how eerie and quiet it would be at night without them.

Our apartment still doesn’t have heat which hasn’t really been a big deal. Electricity and hot running water are the big ones. Our landlord is supposedly having trouble finding a boiler that will work in our building. Anyway, we should have heat by the time we return from Thanksgiving in FL