moving on.

Tomorrow once again set of to a new place on a new adventure to meet new friends.

I've done it so many times now I have lost count...

Nashville
Cimarron
Gaithersburg
Bethany Beach
Pikeville
Henderson
Greenville
Philadelphia

now Albuquerque.

8 moves since 1998.

I'm used to it now, as much as you can get used to it.

Graduation Speech

Wow.

So here we are, finally.

Pretty sweet.

The main thing I want to say is thank you. There is a lot to be thankful for and a lot of people to thank.

First off, I want to thank Dr Chudnofsky, Dr McGee, Dr Carter and Kelli O’Donnell. I came here after doing 2 years in another program. I was pretty unhappy there. They gave me the opportunity to come here, leave a bad situation behind, and finish my residency in a better place. Thank you for that.

I also really need to thank all my classmates. You guys have been better than I had ever imagined. You took me out in Manayunk when I had just moved here and was sitting alone on the floor in my empty apartment wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into. You explained that I had to do logs for each rotation. You showed me where to go, what to do, told me who was who, what was what, and helped me in more ways that I can count. You are a great bunch of people, and a great bunch of docs. I am proud to have you all as friends and colleagues. I am going to miss you guys.

Thanks also to the rising third years. I started with you guys so I feel like I am part of your class too. You are a great bunch of people. We had some good times at work. I hope I taught you something and wasn’t too much of a pain in the ass of a senior. That goes for the rising second years too.

The two people I need to thank the most are my parents. Like most of us, there isn’t enough time to talk about everything they have done for me. There are about a million ways that today would not have been possible without you. The thing I want to say thanks for the most is that you let me find my own path. I am sure it wasn’t easy raising a kid who spent the first two years of high school mostly in the basement playing with a chemistry set and a ham radio. But, you guys did it. I guess I turned out ok. I love you, you are the best.

There are a few others of you out there that I wanted to say a brief word of thanks to:

Denis and Radford – for coming to get me out of my empty apartment when I moved to Philadelphia

Denis – for all those great 3am emails to the entire class.

Lauren – for not letting me be the only red head

Suzanna –for always having a smile and a “hi Tim Durkin!”

Munchnok – for driving me to the ER when I had vertigo

Julie O’Connor – for loading me up with benadryl when I had vertigo

Quinlin – for being a great friend, and being such a great patriotic American. Looking forward to the road trip brother!

Fischel – for being a great friend, and the being the man. You are like my twin Jewish brother I never had. Stay strong.

Stew – also the man. There were many, many nights in A pod I would not have come even close to making it without you. I would have yelled at the attending, yelled at the nurses, yelled at the junior resident, strangled the junior resident, sabotaged the ambulances, gone out into the waiting room and told them we were out of dilaudid or broken bad in one of a dozen other ways. Thanks for your help

Jose – same goes… we saw a lot of cases.

Jack Kelly – for sharing years of wisdom and many fun afternoons at the gun range.

Matt Salzman – for always saying “ahhhhh… Durka Durka Durka”

Paul Vanderbeek – for always bringing me to tears with laughter at least once a shift.

Gerry O’Malley – for always having a challenging perspective.

The Nurses and staff – you guys are the engine of the department. Nothing could happen without you. Thanks for everything.

There is much more to say, but time is short.

Traditionally, I am told we are supposed to give some advice to the incoming interns. I don’t really have much. You will muddle through somehow. I do have a few lines from American philosopher and satirist Alfred Matthew Yankovic that I think do a lot to sum up the experience of residency that I will share with you.

If one day you happen to wake up
And find yourself in an existential quandary
Full of loathing and self-doubt
And wracked with the pain and isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence
At least you can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that
Somewhere out there in this crazy old mixed-up universe of ours
There's still a little place called

Albuquerque

I hope you all find your Albuquerque.

Thanks.