We're back in Philly for about 48 hours, catching up on errands and laundry. Oh, and I should really water the plants. Tomorrow we're heading south to rendezvous with the college crew for a BBQ (that rhymes if you say it aloud). And tonight we may be hosting some of the sojourners in our apartment before we all head down to Columbia MD in the morning... early afternoon? We'll see when we wake up.

It also seems like getting the heck out of Philly is a good idea because the lady at our package store told Glen that American Idol is holding auditions in Philadelphia on Monday... registration starts tomorrow morning. Everyone within two days' driving distance of Center City who would like to make a fool of themselves on national TV is going to be pouring in starting tonight. I hope our house guests can find parking.

On the wedding news front, we may have a band picked out.

And Amy finally got to see me in my wedding dress, and she got to try on bridesmaid dresses. This is our current favorite, but in a periwinkle color.











I also found a cool idea for wedding rings. This artist engraves your partner's fingerprint onto the inside or outside of your wedding ring.I've also starting getting into the idea of asking couples to list their own first dance song on the RSVP card. This might make the reception more personal, and encourage people to get up to dance. However, if the band can't play it or the DJ doesn't have it, I wouldn't want the couple to feel neglected.

Lastly, check out this awesome article celebrating everyone's favorite computer game,
The Oregon Trail.

Whew. Done with the pediatrics rotation. It's very weird now that we've been in the clinic that we won't be donning our white coats and poking people while they sit naked in a paper robe for an entire year.

As an aside, when the doctor asks you to open your mouth, stick out your tongue, and say AAHH, please do ALL THREE of those things. It's not just a cutesy expression to get you to open your mouth wide like 90% of the kids seem to think. We need to see your tonsils and the back of your throat and sticking your tongue out gets it out of the way, and saying AHH lifts your soft palate and uvula to widen the view. All of the kids, 4-year-olds to 17-year-olds would just open their mouths. Then again I would ask, please say AHH, and they would just sit there. "Say AHH" doesn't mean, "open your mouth;" it means actually say AHH.
OK, I'm done ranting, until next year.

Glen, my mom, my sister and I are all on vacation in Chincoteague, VA right now, enjoying a crazy thunderstorm from our hotel rooms. I want to post some photos, but I haven't used my own camera yet.

Glen, Amy and I just finished another rousing game of Apples To Apples, a new favorite. We always end up making up rules to mix it up a little. This time we also discovered that the combination of cards thrown out can give you great inspiration for a screenplay or other such endeavor. We are going to start drafting the script for Spicy: John Travolta Goes to Bollywood; it's going to end in a dance-off, of course.

It's obviously time for me to head to bed. I'm exhausted from fighting the waves today, and we're waking up early so we can all rent scooters before lunch.

One more thing -- Glen and I finished Harry Potter 7 today! Everyone can start speaking freely to us again; I won't have to give the disclaimer that I haven't finished at the beginning of every conversation.

I hope #1 emailed headline on CNN wasn't a freudian slip:

Rescuers Hear Noise in Mind

Napoleon's Sister's Breast Cast in Plaster
Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
Aug. 15, 2007 — Expert male hands applied plaster to the young breast of Napoleon's sister to create an actual mould, according to a new investigation into the marble portrait of Pauline Bonaparte.

Created by Antonio Canova (1757-1822), Italy's most celebrated neoclassical sculptor, the statue is known as Venus Victrix, or "Venus the Victorious," and depicts Napoleon's favorite sister lying half-naked on a couch. [...read more]

In case you were wondering, I did come home and take a nap.

Today I saw this adorable 3-year-old girl for a well child exam. She had this gigantic smile and these long eye lashes and every time I asked her any question, she would nod and then look at me with the huge smile and her eyes opened as wide as possible, and I would just crack up; the exam took forever. She was also running around the room in her underwear because that was more comfortable that the paper gown they had given her. I asked her what she likes to do a daycare and she said, fight with her cousin. I asked her how she fights with her cousin and she said, "I say that he hit me." Good strategy. Her mom is 7 1/2 months pregnant and told me that her daughter recently asked her how her new baby brother was going to get out. The mom called up her own mom to see how Grandma thought she should answer that question; Grandma said just tell her the truth. So Mom told her daughter how the baby would come out, and the 3-year-old says, "Mom, you're nasty!" and runs out of the room. That may be the funniest thing I heard all rotation.

If you are not in the center of a major city, take a look at the sky tonight. We should still be able to see the end of the Perseids meteor shower. There has also been a new moon which has helped with visibility. Apparently during its peak two nights ago, there should have been a shooting star every minute.

We have our last "modules" (homework discussion) tomorrow at duPont. It feels kind of weird because last Wednesday our third hour was led by Dr. Stine, a developmental pediatrics doctor; she had taught us once before. I thought she was quite old, but actually she has only in her late 60's or so but very ill with chronic lymphoma. She died at home the next day. She was very dedicated to teaching and it's a weird feeling to know we were her last students.

Another late night to bed... probably another nap tomorrow :)
I love naps.

This was one of those mornings where I had to lie to myself and say I was going to take a nap as soon as I got home from work in order to get myself out of bed.

Of course I have to share any squirrel news....


Squirrels Outwit Rattlesnakes in Infrared
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Aug. 13, 2007 — Like Wile E. Coyote's hapless quest to catch the Roadrunner, rattlesnakes have attempted to catch California ground squirrels for well over a million years, and now scientists know one reason why the squirrels usually win.

Their tails freak out the snakes, researchers report in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The secret is the squirrel's ability to heat up its tail before flicking it in admonishment at a threatening rattlesnake, the researchers believe. For the first time, the scientists captured the phenomenon using a special infrared camera. [...read more]



In related news, today Glen saw a squirrel jump 8 feet from a fence to a tree, much like Superman.

Glen, after eating fresh cherries: "I look like I just voted in Iraq."

I have this feeling like it's the end of the school year (finally!).

Tomorrow is our last day at the clinic, Wednesday we go to A.I. duPont for our last day of lectures and homework, and Friday we take our test.  Then BAM off to back-to-back vacations!  Summer's not over yet!

It's so much easier to enjoy your weekends on the outpatient service - you know your patients are all at home enjoying their weekends too. Our first Friday on inpatient we all felt so weird knowing we weren't coming in the next morning but our patients were stuck in the hospital.

Either way, this is my last weekend of clinical work for a long time.

I've been looking at a lot of wedding stuff lately, mostly because I've been procrastinating writing this paper I have to do by tomorrow.

I found a website that will design 5 monograms for $15.
Which ones do you like the best?
Then, which ones have an historic/colonial feel and which ones would look good in a lilac color scheme?
See? All this wedding stuff is hard work!

This headline is just so great, even though the article is pretty sad:

Britney Spears Accuses Her Mom Of Sleeping With Kevin Federline

In other news, a tornado went down my block in New York City, knocking down a tree and a telephone pole, blowing out windows, and ripping shingles off the rooves. roofs? We're not in Kansas anymore.. we are in Kansas? The tornadoes aren't in Kansas?

Today I had to be videotaped while interviewing one of the patients at the pediatrics clinic. The woman who agreed to be filmed had brought her son in regarding a delay in getting potty trained, a follow up of his constipation medication, and a new foul odor coming from his stools. So, if anyone is interested in watching a 20 minute tape of me discussing the frequency, texture, color, odor, and greasiness of someone else's poop, come on over this weekend.

My revelation for the day is that if you haven't looked in a mirror all day, you should really try to avoid going to the bathroom right before you leave work. I finally saw myself in the bathroom mirror and was faced with the fact that I had just tried to give parents of patients serious advice (on camera, no less) with my hair looking like THAT. ...imagine a crazy art teacher you had in high school and then make it bright red. I also had some of my lunch stuck to my butt. Only a little piece.

Every time I say or write "revelation" I say/write "relevation" first instead (not a word). I think it's because I use the word "elevation" much more frequently.

This is a pretty disjointed entry and it's way past my bed time so I'm signing off :)

I just had to look up the definition of the Anal Wink Reflex.

Sometimes I don't love medicine.

I think the best thing about wearing pantyhose is how free you feel when you finally get to take them off at night.

Snack Attack!

It's kind of silly that I have to hide my snacks from my attending physician not because I'm not supposed to have them but because he'll eat them all within 20 minutes if I pull them out.

Sing to me!

I just saw a patient named Shakira and a patient named Aaliyah. I can't wait to see what other Pop stars come into the clinic today.

I also pulled ooey gooey smelly sugical packing out of an abscess in someone's armpit. And the girl has a history of and is probably colonized with MRSA, so it was doubly gross.

Back to lunch.

Apparently my health insurance just expired and it's going to cost me $147 to refill my Nexium. I better get on fixing that.