Washington DC

Greetings and Salutations from our Nation's Capital.

I am here at the Student Osteopathic Medical Association's (SOMA) spring conference. I arrived on Tuesday, I got to spend a few hours knitting in the car. I worked on the Union Square poncho, it's pretty brainless knitting. Just prior to leaving for DC I finished the sporty numbers vest. There are a couple problems with it (I need to bring it to the store for help). It fits in the front but there is just too much fabric in the back. I am really at a loss for how to fix it. I don't know anything about taking it apart once it's together or anything like that. It just doesn't fit they way I'd like it to. So we shall see what I end up doing with it.

Wednesday was my birthday (happy 25th to me). I spent the day at the Zoo. I took a million pictures of the panda bears. They are just so darn cute. I can upload some of the pictures if people want to see them. Again I really bad about bringing the cord for my camera places with me, so you have to wait on pictures. I then spent the rest of the afternoon painting pottery, yes I know it's not yarn but we don't have a pottery place near Blacksburg/Christiansburg. I did knit a little bit on the metro. I felt very cool, even if my stop was only 5 minutes from where I got on, minor details.

Thursday was DO Day on the Hill. Osteopathic medical students and DO from across the country come together and lobby the state representatives and senators on the important medical issues of the year. This year our main objectives are medicare payment for physicians, the SCHIP Act which insures children that don't qualify for medicaid, and the resident physician shortage Act. Did you know that physicians medicare reimbursement is not altered for inflation. Many doctors are refusing to take medicare patients or limit the number they see in their practices. If you know anyone who is a medicare patient this greatly limits their access to good quality medical care. But physicians can't afford to pay their staff if their entire practice is medicare patients. The physician shortage act is dealing with residencies programs. In 1997 Congress said the number of residencies programs we have right now is all that we will fund. The country is very aware that there will be a physician shortage the problem is now we have increased the number of medical students but we have not increases the post graduate programs. Ultimately this also goes back to medicare payments because that is ultimately what limits hospitals on the number of residents they take. But basically I talked about that all day. I did get to actually meet Dr. Dave Weldon who is my Florida representative, so that was cool. I had some free time between my meetings and spent a few hours at the National Museum of Art. And of course I knitted in front of the senate building. Really you think I can go anywhere without my knitting... hahah.. no.

The SOMA conference has been uneventful so far. We spent yesterday afternoon exploring Gerogretown. I found a yarn store because really I need more yarn. I went to DC Stitch. They have three stores, it wasn't quite as big as Mosaic and they had some yarns that I never heard of. I had to buy some yarn, sorry Gina. I still love you more don't worry. I tried to buy stuff that I couldn't get at Mosaic, because well that would just be dumb. I got a ball of Be Sweet Ribbon yarn. It's made in South Africa by women in a job creation program. It's pinky/peach mohair with ribbon randomly tied throughout it. I am not really sure what I'll do with it, but it's pretty and I like it. I also bought a cone of the stainless steel wool. Again not sure what I am doing with it, but who can pass up something so bizarre. I got two skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca, one in Black and one in orange to make Hokie Healing squares. I also talked to the manager of the store and gave her the info about the Hokie Healing project. She'd heard about it but didn't have the details. Gina she also knew about Mosaic, just thought you should know.

Tonight we have our banquet dinner at the Watergate Hotel. Then we will be out and about around town. I love how our conferences are planned around social events and then our work. It's a nice change from the usual pace. Well that's my very long update for now. I promise pictures when I get back home.