The Creek Drank the Cradle

[Gut Shot]

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Hey all,

Well, it has been a rather mixed 24 hours. On the plus side, I finally started a pathology rotation (after a mere 36 months of med school). On the down side, that medical school happens to be MCV.

As some of you might be vaguely aware, Richmond got caught with its trousers down yesterday, as remnants of Gaston swept through. The forecast called for 1-3" of rain, and last I checked we had over 10". The Science Museum up the road had 12" registered while it was tapering off.

This would all be fine and good for me, were it not for the fact that my poor vehicle, Pepe (a.k.a. Sherwood), was unwittingly parked at "The Bottom of the Hill." Like so many urban medical centers, MCV has decided to build inumerable shiny new buildings and about 18 new parking spaces for all them. As such, many students and employees end up parking either down the hill or in a lot 75 miles northwest of campus.

If you want to see what I saw upon leaving work at 5 pm yesterday, there is actually a photo of the lot in the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47488-2004Aug30.html

If that lady would raise her damned umbrella slightly you could see the top of my 1998 Forester. And this was before the rain kept pouring for another, oh, five hours.

Fortunately I have good insurance, although I just have $818 put into it on Friday to keep it running for another year. I can't wait to get over there today and survey the damage. I have a feeling it will be time for an Irish wake for poor Pepe (1998-2004). We hardly knew ye...

 

[kem]

Oops, nevermind.

 

[Gut Shot]

Update! One of my classmates documented the flood, and it's aftermath, as it was waged upon his car. It was parked near mine. You can actually spot poor Pepe in the background in a couple of them. Enjoy!

http://www.depewfamily.com/3000GT/

P.S. And like a good neighbor, State Farm will be there.

 

[yaah]

Yikes! Poor Pepe!

Were there the requisite stories on the local news about people who tried to drive through that stuff in order to get to the store for important supplies like condoms and cigarettes? That always happens. Usually the person who gets stuck is paraplegic or an amputee or morbidly obese and it would be tough to get them out of the car on dry land on a sunny day with the jaws of life. And they are floating away in a sinking car with fragments of telephone poles, stray animals, and the contents of the local Home Depot streaming by.

I like those stories. They always seem to have a happy ending, somehow. There's usually a story about a dog stranded on a patch of dry land too.

 

[deschutes]

Dear me. It does look a little wet.

 

[Stinger86]

You should find a way to send a bit of that flood over my way and we'll see if it can take my hospital with it.

 

[Gut Shot]

Today I finally made it out to Pepe. The area has been taped off due to a gas leak in the area. In fact, a faint scent of gas could be detected all over campus. Some hospital workers were taking their smoke breaks in their cars with the windows rolled up. Now *that* is dedication.

Pepe is, in a word, destroyed. The entire interior has been caked with wet mud for two days and counting. It smells like the bottom of a river because, well, that's pretty much what it is.

Fortunately the insurance company has already judged it to be an "obvious total loss," and will be cutting me a check as soon as an adjuster can sign off on its automotive corpse.

Stinger, I don't suppose your hospital is in Florida? You might get your wish...

P.S. Yes, Yaah, the local human interest stories have been plentiful. But there have also been a few folks who have showed up on the wrong side of the sewer grates. The cosmic balance is preserved.

 

[yaah]

..

P.S. Yes, Yaah, the local human interest stories have been plentiful. But there have also been a few folks who have showed up on the wrong side of the sewer grates. The cosmic balance is preserved.

I pity the poor path residents doing ME rotations there. Which is worse? The decomp case or the bloated decomp case? Ah, but that is the pathologist's version of the riddle of the sphynx, perhaps.

 

[Gut Shot]

I pity the poor path residents doing ME rotations there. Which is worse? The decomp case or the bloated decomp case? Ah, but that is the pathologist's version of the riddle of the sphynx, perhaps.

Very true, although sometimes I get the sense that the hardcore forensic path folks are a breed apart, shall we say. And I've been told that the worst is when a morbidly obese individual dies in his/her sizzling hot apartment and isn't found for 2 weeks. I'd take a human popsicle over that any day.

P.S. Anybody know any tricks to get auto loan financing as a medical student? I'm going to have a chunk of change from Pepe, and I will be employed on July 1, 2005, come Hell or high water.