spring break

I'm on spring break this week. I'm realizing very quickly that I need to do more studying for boards next week than I realized, so there goes the intense spring cleaning I was hoping for.

We went and looked at that house last weekend. It was charming with an amazing backyard. The house had very little closet space (less than we have now). The windows did not look very energy efficient, so that means a sky-high energy bill and also not much hurricane protection. But perhaps the real killer for it was that the landlord lives in and behind the garage. Although he's a nice guy, that's a little close for comfort. So it's a no-go on this one. We'll keep looking!

It turns out our current apartment is going into foreclosure. We received a copy of the summons a few nights ago. Stinks for our landlords. But from looking at the paperwork, they made a stupid investment. The mortgage they paid for this place was $200 more than we pay them for rent, in addition they pay 7% of the property's value in taxes per year, and have an HOA fee of $300-$400 every month. They've been losing money on this thing since the beginning. They offered to sell it to us at a low price, but we're not ready to buy yet. Foreclosure procedures are taking forever in South Florida, so we aren't going to have to move before the end of our lease (June 24th). And our landlords graciously accepted our deposit as a month's rent, so that we don't have to worry about not getting that money back. So now we're worry free, enjoying our last few months in our corner unit with the lovely view.


Next Wednesday at 1:15pm I have an interview for the residency position at Nova. I am terrified. They said it should be just a "brief" interview. I am still terrified. I think the interview will go absolutely fine, but it is the waiting for the interview to happen that drives me crazy. Anticipation is killer! They sent me information about the school holidays, pay, and general info about the residency. Only 5 and 1/2 personal days for an entire year - that sounds like prison! But then I remember that I was just in optometry school for 4 years, and I wasn't allowed a single vacation day that wasn't already built in, switched with someone else, or had to make-up. So in actuality, this is AMAZING! And there are 5 additional "sick" days. We all know that at least once a year I catch something or another that requires a Z pack.


Last night we had tickets to the Miami Heat vs. New Orleans Hornets basketball game. Our tickets were free and we got to enter/exit through the V.I.P. section. We parked under the AAA, right next to the player's cars. We felt like rockstars. As we were walking in, I see Brian maneuvering his way around this guy to get into the place. I immediately realize that he just went right around Jack McClinton without even noticing. With 3 out of the 4 of us being season ticket holders to Miami Hurricanes basketball - we got very excited! This guy is the all time 3 point leader in the ACC! And this past week, he won the 3 point competition! We wished him well in the draft. It was awesome. And after careful scrutiny, we reluctantly agree that he is 6'1" just as he was listed on the Hurricane basketball programs. But barely.We lost in overtime. That was not awesome. But it was a very entertaining game to watch. Much better than the NCAA championship game!

Residency..... me?!?!?

The job opportunities for a graduating optometrist are bleak out there. Very bleak. Especially in south Florida. And you can imagine that I'm worried since I'm a mere 7 weeks away from graduating. There's even more uncertainty in the equation since I will not receive my Florida state license until August or September. Recently I've been telling Brian that I wish I had done a residency. I would love to specialize in a particular area. Also, if I did a residency at a school, I could also teach. Funny thing happened this week... on Wednesday evening during a late night in my contact lens rotation, I spoke with Dr. Wagner (I did research with her after my first year - she is also chief of the contact lens service). She asked me what I was doing after graduation. I told her I sort of have something lined up for the summer, but I wasn't sure what would be happening after that. She pulled me aside and told me that there is one residency spot left at Nova (my school) and that I should definitely try to get it. This was shocking to me for multiple reasons. 1) More people than ever are doing residencies in optometry this year. They had to apply to a match process by February, and everyone was officially matched by March. I thought that ship had sailed and I had missed the boat! 2) I really really wanted a residency at Nova and viola --- one is available!! and 3) Someone believed in me enough to think that I should be the person to fill that position. Unbelievable. It's just remarkable. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The available residency position is in primary care (the sort of style you'd see your regular optometrist in) and low vision. Low vision is a great field, but one that most optometrists would not choose to partake in. It takes a lot of patience. In optometry school, we called it "slow vision". Considering all of the patients in low vision are legally blind, they have to rely on others to get them to their appointments, resulting in lots of no-shows. They still have usable vision in some cases - imagine that they can only see something as small as the big E on the chart, but of course each case is different. Low vision helps patients with vision loss from various causes - macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, Stargardt's, retinitis pigmentosa, albinism, etc. It would be a wonderful thing to have as my "niche" in the world of optometry.

This residency would also allow me to TEACH. I did promise my 2nd grade teacher that I would be a teacher one day. As a resident, I would sometimes work with 3rd and 4th year optometry students when they are seeing patients. I think I'm going to love it. But I'd also have to give a lecture to a classroom full of 100 students, which is slightly more frightening.

So yes I'm thrilled - but it is not yet final. I turned in my C.V. (resume) and a nice cover letter. Since the residency is at my school I have a very good chance (especially since I'm not aware of any other applicants). However, if someone with extensive low vision experience (more than the 1 semester lecutre and 2 weeks clinical that I had), it might not be a sure thing. My next blog might be that it didn't work out. However, so far, so good!! They hope to finalize the position soon. I'll pass on the news, be it good or bad.

Tomorrow morning Brian and I are looking at a house we'd like to rent. It is likely that this house won't still be on the market at the beginning/middle of June, but we are certainly hoping that all the other renters out there hate it (even though that would be completely ridiculous) so that it can be our "home". It is a 2bed/1 bath, 1500 sq ft, 1 car garage, cable/internet/water included, and absolutely at the right price! Here are a few pictures. Wish us luck!

Weekend Picture

Had some friends over on Saturday to celebrate St. Patty's. We all wore green, ate foods that were partially green, and drank some homebrew. It was a nice relaxing evening and we even snuck in a new family photo.

Growing Hops

We're growing a couple different kinds of hops on our deck. The hope is that we'll eventually be able to use them to brew. The Centennial is really taking of, but Zeus is a little smaller. It has only been a few weeks to get to this! We do realize that this plant resembles a particular controlled substance. Brian looked up the difference in the two leaves so that we can explain it to the police in case one of our neighbors (who will likely never have seen hops growing in Miami) calls us in. HA!

Britney Spears, St. Patrick's Day, Kitchen Electrics

Once again, it has taken me a month to make another post! My pediatrics rotation kept me ridiculously busy. Long hours and tons of busy work. My only remaining day of pediatrics is Saturday. I did enjoy giving eye examinations to kids, but I did get really sick of the occupational therapy / behavioral therapy they threw in there. I don't mind training eyes (traditional vision therapy), but the overlap with the genre of occupational therapy drove me crazy. God bless those people who have the patience to be a therapist - for I am not one of them! I hope to never again have to teach someone else's kid the difference between left and right, letters b d q and p, standing on one foot, hopscotch, jumping, skipping, or just how to behave in general... BLEH!!!!! The last 6 weeks I've seen many examples of good parenting and bad parenting. Believe me, I'm taking notes! After all, we all know what kind of genes I'll be dealing with someday - Brian used to throw rock-filled snowballs over his house to try and hit cars on the road!!

Yes, I, Jocelyn Kay Hunerdosse, attended a Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears concert and LOVED it! Obviously the concert wasn't about the musical ability of the performers - it was about the performance! And boy, what a show it was! I highly recommend getting together with a bunch of girlfriends and going to a show like this. We had a blast! I posted some videos I took on YouTube in case you're curious.

Pussycat dolls video

Britney Spears video

And in case you thought the dolphin video I posted on here last month was too small to see, I also put it on YouTube so you can see an enlarged version if you wish.


We had a low-key St. Patrick's Day, but it was just perfect. I made Brian some Irish stew (with lamb) and traditional Irish Soda Bread and of course we washed it down with some Guinness! It was delicious and made even better left-overs. I really think he likes St. Patty's more than he likes his birthday. I guess that's to be expected from a red-headed Irish boy!


I took Barley to be groomed yesterday and I cried a little when I left her. I felt so bad about leaving her with strangers! Oh, but silly me. She really enjoyed herself. She just loves to be pampered!

Since my last post, we have added to our collection of kitchen electrics. We now have a waffle maker (SO much easier than pancakes!!), rice cooker (now we eat fabulous Indian chicken curry on more of a regular basis), and an electric can opener that does not leave sharp edges (this is life changing). And we now use our coffee grinder and coffee maker on a regular basis (I recommend having your coffee with Nonni's biscottis!). And our Food Saver is great, especially since we are Costco shoppers (Costco - another love of mine). Oh, and the crockpot! If you don't have one, you need one! I still dream of the perfect bread maker. I know my family sometimes thinks we eat weird stuff, but I'll post some recipies on here sometime and you can try it for yourself!

We also have a phenomenal new garbage can. No more nasty plastic garbage with a lid that pops open and won't stay closed. I am a garbage germ-a-phobe. I hate touching garbage cans, the handle on the garbage shoot, the door handle to the laundry room, and especially lifting the lid on the garbage bins outside! Our new garbage can is fingerprint proof stainless steel with a step pedal and quiet closing lid! (Did you ever think I was the kind of girl that gets excited about a new garbage can? HA!)

Congrats to Jacob and Katie for buying a house!!! I secretly envy you greatly! Katie, also congrats on your fancy new job!

Kylee - did Dakota pull out some spit bubbles for the new videos I posted?

The Dolphin Video

Here is the dolphin video that I promised!! It is really our first attempt at shooting video with our digital camera, and also my first attempt with editing. It's actually kinda fun! I hope you can see the dolphins in this video. We shot this off our balcony this past Sunday. If your computer has sound, this has music with it. Just a little warning if you're listening at work. (= ENJOY!

It's been a while!

Barley might just be the happiest dog in the world.

The BARLEY CRUSHER. Brian uses this to crush the barley now that he does all grain brewing.



Brian had a birthday! He turned 26 on February 8th. He assures me that being 26 does not make you feel "old".


We've found ourselves pretty busy for the last month! Dad and Kelsey came to visit at the end of January during Kelsey's J-break. It was a nice visit. I just wish the weather had been nicer for them. We took a sailing trip out of Bayfront Park and we each got to take turns steering the ship. The night before they left we found ourselves at a German restaurant with a guy from Peru doing beatboxing on a Karaoke machine and a local Cuban woman (likely a grandmother) singing and dancing as though she was 20! It was a fantastic cultural experience.



I spent the next week finishing up my primary care rotation with a nasty cold. I think I've finally kicked it. But now I'm in my pediatrics rotation, so I might soon catch the next wave of virus that comes around. So far my pediatrics rotation has been a lot of work. We had a giant entrance exam last week. If you didn't pass every single section, you end up with tons of extra work. I studied my butt off! This rotation is only six weeks and I just started week 2. Graduation has never seemed so close or so real!



Last Tuesday I witnessed a terrible car accident. I was on my way to my first day of pediatrics clinic, driving on US-1 (45 mph speed limit - don't expect to see bad accidents here). Just ahead of me a PT cruiser swerved at the last second into a Range Rover that was sitting in the left turn lane. The Range Rover was tossed through 3 lanes of traffic coming in the opposite direction and ended up resting on the opposite side of the road. The PT cruiser continued to slide down the road, smashed to bits. I avoided the debris and parked my car in the left turn lane where the accident happened. I went to help the lady in the Range Rover. The man in the other vehicle was obviously in worse condition, but the accident happened right in front of the fire department and the EMTs were already running outside. The woman rolled down her window, held my hand, and cried. The Range Rover's frame was completely intact. What a safe car!! The PT cruiser, on the other hand, was smashed into about half of it's original length. It took them 45 minutes to get him out of the car, and it doesn't look good. He broke both of his femurs, tore his femoral arteries (LOTS of blood loss), along with significant internal bleeding. The EMT told me he didn't think the man would live. So why did I tell you this story? Three reasons. 1) Please be attentive drivers! Don't text while driving. Be careful if you're checking your cell phone to see who is calling you. Don't take your eyes off the road! In a split second, something catastrophic could happen. 2) If you can help it, drive a safe car. 3) Good samaratins are in short supply these days. Well, at least in South Florida. There must've been almost 20 cars that saw this accident happen. Only 2 of us stopped to help in an accident with obvious injuries. The rest of the people just gawked and nearly ran over EMTs. Unfortunately, the majority of South Floridians are "GO GO GO, HURRY HURRY HURRY, BUSY BUSY BUSY." They'll run you over with their shopping cart. This is part of the reason I couldn't stand to live down here forever. I miss quality midwesterners!

The weather is finally turning back to absolutely beautiful down here. We've been spending some time taking walks or sitting on the deck watching the boats, birds, and dolphins. I took some great video of dolphins playing outside our apartment this past Sunday. It exceeds the size to be posted on this blog, but I think I've found a way to cut out the good parts so that I can put them up.

I have class tonight. I'll try to put up pictures after I get home. Barley's hair is growing back and I've got some great new brewing photos (and if you're lucky, a dolphin video!)

Happy Birthday to Kylee (20)!

and Happy Birthday to Morgan(17)!