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Today we worked on getting a few things accomplished. We went to Barnes and Noble and looked at some of the travel guides for our trip to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in February. We decided to just look things up on the internet for the time being. Gabe ordered the second season of Scrubs. We watched a couple of episodes tonight. We are just a few seasons behind. I think that they are on the fifth season now. We still haven't watched "It"...maybe tonight or tomorrow. I think that Gabe has to work some tomorrow. I might read. Currently I am reading "The Rule of Four". I hope to finish it and a couple of other books over this break. Before I know it, I am going to have to start studying for Boards: Part III. I should really look into registering. Here is an interesting blurb about a grandmother that placed her grandchild on the x-ray machine belt for carry on luggage at LAX.
We returned back to the Chicagoland area yesterday. I decided to partially reorganize the pantry. The pantry is really deep, which is nice until you try to get an item from the back. So, we went to Target last night and purchased plastic totes. I placed the items into the clear totes and they are much easier to access now. I also did the bathroom cabinet. I will probably get the apartment completely organized about the time that we will be leaving. We also watched the movie "The Pacifier" last night. I must say, it is much better than I expected. After I make a grocery list, we are heading out to Trader Joe's and the post office. I am not sure what we are going to do afterwards.
Merry Christmas everyone!
We are currently at my parent's house. Everyone went home for the night after celebrating my Dad's birthday. He and Gabe are currently setting up his new photo printer. I think that my Dad really likes it. We were in Peoria Friday and yesterday celebrating the holidays with Gabe's parents and sister. We had a really nice time while we were there.
Tonight after dinner we painted ornaments for the Christmas tree. I think that we might watch the movie "IT" in a little while. I have never seen it before, but I have always wanted to watch it.
Happy Birthday Daddy!
I have very few items left on my "To Do" list. My goal is to finish it either tonight or tomorrow. I did get another item added on though. I have to wrap all of the new dog Christmas presents after the Clara fiasco yesterday.
I finished listening to "Marley and Me" on CD this week on my last day of driving from the Naval Base before the start of break. It is a really good book. If you haven't read/or listened to it and you are an animal lover, I think that you will really appreciate what the author has to say. The book would have me laughing so hard at points, not just because Marley did something funny, but more because my dogs have done the same thing. I really like books on CD, even though I was really skeptical at first. They keep me entertained during my drive and it doesn't seem quite so long. They also give me the opportunity to listen to books that I would like to read, but I just don't have the time. This week my plan is to actually read a few books once I finish up my list.
Gabe and I went to the Happy Dog Barkery yesterday to buy Christmas gifts for all of the dogs in the family. I packaged all of them into little bags with gingerbread men on them and placed them with the other Christmas presents. Tony and Maren stopped by on their way to Minnesota today. We are at the half-way point between Tony's new rotation site and their parents. We all left to go out to eat and we forgot to put Clara in her cage. Usually this isn't too big of a deal for short periods of time, but apparently it is a different story when dog treats are around. We came back to find all of the packaging scattered around the floor and the treats were gone. Clara managed to eat 10 very large dog treats. They were in multiple shapes, dipped in icing, and some sprinkled with nuts. I guess she just couldn't help herself. She didn't get dinner tonight, she had way too many treats.
I saw my last patient of the year today. I am now officially on "break". I love my current rotation, but I do have a list of things (actually several) that I need to get done. Gabe and I went to Border's tonight to purchase DVDs. It was packed. There was a huge line and they had signs up that said things like "Your wait time from this point is 5 minutes." Gabe made the comment that he felt like he was at Disney World. Too bad the longest line there isn't only five minutes. It was really relaxing to know that all of our Christmas shopping is finished (actually since before Thanksgiving), especially since we were watching frantic last minute Christmas shoppers pick over the already picked over merchandise in search of the perfect present (or at least one that would work). I hope that you all have a great night.
Happy Birthday Anna!
Today Gabe and I made fudge for the holidays and went to a musical. Forever Plaid is the story of band from the 50's that was killed in a car crash on the way to their first "real" gig. They are unable to continue into the afterlife until they actually give their intended concert. The audience serves as the audience in the show. It was pretty entertaining and their was also some audience participation. The theatre was really nice. Afterwards, we went to dinner. When we came back to the apartment we played Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. All of the bongo hitting and hand clapping made my hands pretty red. I fell asleep and Gabe watched "War of the Worlds". I am up now and I am going to bed pretty soon. I am at the recruit site tomorrow, so my start time is even earlier than the hospital.
Today Gabe and I decided that it might be fun to start going to the Drury Lane Theatre. It is pretty close to where we live and they have a couple of productions that look pretty good. So we purchased tickets for Forever Plaid (we are going tomorrow) and The King and I. Since we live so close to the theatre, we might as well take advantage of it! We also went to dinner with Emily and Rob at the Weber Grill. Emily tried to make reservations at Benihana yesterday, but they were booked until later in the evening. The food was pretty good, but the company was great. Overall I think that Gabe and I had a really good time. We also went on a search for bon bon size baking cups. I have a recipe for truffles that I really want to try. We finally found them at Jo-Ann's. We also opened our stocking stuffers. We could either go to bed or open stocking stuffers, so we decided to delay the inevitable sleep for a little while and see what we had chosen for each other.
After the poster presentation on Friday (by the way I was only asked a couple of questions) I took some classes. Gabe and I had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was Gabe's first OSF experience, but I have been to the one in St. Louis a few times. The food is good and it is cheap. Saturday before heading to the airport we went to a mall in Denver West. It was pretty relaxing walking around the HUGE mall and window shopping. The flight home was pretty uneventful (I guess it is good to be able to say that about a flight). We arrived at our apartment around 8:30 p.m. Unfortunately we were not able to get the dogs until this morning. The kennel closes at 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Gabe is currently studying for is final on Monday. I am putting things away and about to put Christmas lights on our balcony.
Gabe and I left for Denver yesterday. Our flight was delayed by several hours and we did not arrive at our hotel until around 2:00 a.m. Needless to say, we slept in today. We had attempted to transfer to the earlier flight to Denver while at the airport in Chicago, but we were told that since our luggage was tagged for the later flight they could not put it on the earlier flight. Since we would have to wait at the airport for our luggage to arrive in Denver, we decided just to keep the later flight. If we had to hang out at an airport for a couple of hours we decided that at least O'Hare had things to do. When we finally landed in Denver and went to the baggage claim area, we found our luggage in the unclaimed luggage section. Apparently it had taken the earlier flight. By the time that we made it to pick up our rental car we had our choice of a mini-van or an HHR. We went with the HHR. We finally made it the hotel and went to sleep.
We had lunch at the hotel restaurant today, since we didn't get up in time for breakfast. Then we went to the convention center and registered for the AAO Conference (I am already registered, but we registered Gabe for Friday so he could see me). For those of you that don't know, that is the reason that I am here. I am presenting a poster on "Trigeminal Nerve Manifestations of Herpes Simplex Virus in Female Siblings." I will be doing that tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. After that, I am going to go to a few classes...Gabe needs to study for his final on Monday. I am debating going to a class before my poster presentation. If I go to two of the early morning classes, I can get a free iPod. I guess it will depend on how tired I am tomorrow morning.
After registration we headed out to Red Rocks. It was really cool to see the natural amphitheater and all of the natural rock formations. Too bad there was not a concert going on. Next we went to Dinosaur Ridge. I had my picture taken with dinosaur footprints. We attempted to go to the Buffalo Herd Nature Preserve where there are direct descendants of the last wild buffalo herd in North America. Our guide book said that we should take exit 250. There was no exit 250. So, we took 251 and ended up at Genesee Park. For those of you that are curious our guide book said that exit 254 was the exit for Genesee Park. We saw elk and buffalo. The elk were not in an enclosed area and we were probably twenty feet from them. The buffalo were enclosed and we were instructed to remain at least three feet away from them...they can be very unpredictable. The sign just made me laugh.
We came back to the hotel and went to 16th street in Denver and walked along going in a few shops along the way. We stopped at Hard Rock Cafe and I ordered Twisted Mac and Cheese...of course. Now we are back at the hotel and I have been studying. This time it isn't for boards, but instead for my poster presentation...I want to be ready for any questions that I might get asked. Well, I am going to start reading articles again.
Happy Birthday Troy!
The annual Army vs. Navy football game takes place tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. I might take a few study breaks to see how the game turns out. They have played 106 times with the Army winning 49 games, the Navy winning 50 games, and 7 ties. I have never really been interested in the Army vs. Navy game before, but since I am currently working at a Naval base...Go Navy! (though I have nothing against the Army, I am just currently giving the Navy recruits/active duty individuals eye exams). Back to the books...I am looking forward to Tuesday (the second day of boards).
Today is a "snow day" of sorts. I left this morning to go to my externship site. There was some pretty heavy snow action. The attending doctor called me on the way to let me know that we would be working despite the weather. So, I continued my 45+ mile journey to my externship site where they were having a blizzard. I was one of very few people getting gas in the blizzard. Around 8 miles from my destination I received another phone call from my attending doctor letting me know that he had just arrived, but he had not figured out how he was going to get out of his car and make it to the building. He told me to go home. So, I turned around (not so easy on the tollway) and came back home. At least the drive got me up this morning and now I have the rest of the day to study. I am going to hit the books and if I make sufficient progress I might go for a swim. What else is there to do in 28 degree weather?