Moving On

We recently made a new discovery. On the way out of our local Pathmark food store (had to take advantage of the $0.79 Sprite and Barq's for Ryan and Yana's visit!) David saw a DVD vending machine. It's the neatest invention. They offer a selection of about 60 DVDs to rent, many of them new releases. You choose the DVD(s) you want and it deposits it(them) through a slot, just like a soda machine. It's a one-night rental and the cost -- a very reasonable $1.49. What's better, D put in his email address to get return confirmations and he also received a rent-one-get-one coupon. So we've taken advantage of this offer a few times and have gotten TWO new releases for $1.49. We rented:

The Contractor (A)
The Contract (A+)
Premonition (B)
Because I Said So (Yet to see)
Pathfinder (Yet to see)

Haven't found a better deal yet! We saw Premonition with Ryan and Yana last night. It was one of those mind thrillers. I'm still confused by it. The first two movies were recommendations from my mom and they actually turned out to be great. Go Mom!

Well, we're heading off to the beach now. And by "we" I mean Ryan, Yana, and me. D'll be joining us when he wraps up his week of Nuclear Medicine (the field his dad is in!). It feels weird to have a day off and not be in CT. I was able to sleep in and get a few errands done this morning which felt great after this whirlwind of a week. Looking at the stuff we've packed, it looks like we're staying for a month. We're not, though, only a night. But it'll be a fun night. I'm excited about eating fried dough on the Boardwalk. Yum.

D was on a cooking spree this weekend. He made hummus from chickpeas (he'll be more than happy to email you his recipe, he already sent it to both of our dads!) and made us blueberry pancakes for lunch today. Considering he doesn't make much, I would call that a spree. Both were excellent, by the way.

We got sooo much done this weekend, it feels wonderful. We dropped the cat off back at her house late Thursday night and picked her up Saturday afternoon. I slept so good those nights, and we shut the bedroom door last night which resulted in another good night's sleep. So that's the trick.

I wasn't really planning to do much this weekend because we have a super busy week coming up, but I guess these things needed to get done. First we went food shopping at Aldi. We LOVE Aldi, not a lot of name brands but a lot of good prices. We spent $63 and that'll last us a month. Yes, no joke, a month. I refresh the fruits and veggies, but that's about it. I have to laugh at people's hundreds of dollars worth of grocery bills because they have to have name brands or some sort of other complex. I guess it helps that I only eat dinner at home (I eat lots at work :)), we don't eat red meat, and don't buy a lot of prepared stuff, but whatever it is, I love Aldi!! We stopped at the post office to mail some books we sold and the bank to get quarters for laundry. Ironically, when we got home, D saw that we sold some more books, so another post office trip is in my future.

All this running around required a nap, so I got some energy back to do some cleaning, ugh. Ryan and Yana are coming on Thursday, so I figured if I started on the weekend, our apartment will be presentable by then. I'm excited about seeing them again. They both have the week off and are in New Hampshire at Mt. Washington at the moment. They'll go home for a few days, then come to visit us as their finale. We're going down to the shore Friday afternoon (I took the day off) and D'll meet us down there when he gets done at the hospital because we're staying the night. I'm excited about using our beach tent and am praying the weather isn't oppressively hot.

The last two weeks of summer camp trips are here, then there is one more week of no trips because teachers have to set up their classrooms. We're going to Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey on Wednesday, which is always a fun trip. And then that night we're invited over our friends' house for dinner. I somehow got away with just making a salad. Busy weeks make me itchy...

David did! I'm so impressed with his God-given ability to know and to remember so much. I have a pretty good memory, but I usually remember most of the details. David, however, remembers ALL of the details and can even offer an articulate commentary on the subject. And he's always summarizing some article or other that he has recently read...by his own initiative. So yay for David, although no one is surprised.

Other happenings include the arrival of my Master's degree diploma. I was expecting some sort of envelope but was greeted instead by a good-sized box complete with bubble wrapping inside. Here it is, all official looking:

So that's over and done with once and for all!

Tonight, we were brave and went into the city (summer and/or weekend nights don't make for ideal city-visiting times). Our beloved jazz station sponsors Smooth Jazz Summer Nights at Penn's Landing each Friday night in July and August. I told D about this a few weeks ago and tonight was the first time we were able to make it...and we tacked on dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Philly, The Mexican Post, to make it a complete date night. It worked out that the restaurant and Penn's Landing were within walking distance of each other. And it also worked out that we had a buy-one-get-one coupon for dinner. And it also worked out that the jazz concert was free. And what also worked out was the weather. It went from being oppressively hot to cold (not cool, cold!) and windy. Can you tell by my hairdo?

David recently got his OB/GYN grade back...

HIGH PASS with the following comments:

"Mr. K is a conscientious, serious, responsible, and bright medical student. He participated fully in all clerkship activities, and gave patient care discussions careful and reasoned attention. He is professional in demeanor. His knowledge base is above average. He gave an excellent student presentation on third trimester bleeding, which was comprehensive and detailed. Although his overall evaluations are only a strong pass, several of his evaluators recommended him for a high pass. His strong sense of personal responsibility and good work ethic, his attention to detail, and his fund of knowledge already evident at this stage in his training make him an excellent candidate for residency."

I'd like to talk to the evaluators who only gave him a strong pass...

Also, I asked D for a list of the residency programs that he was applying to. I told him that I wanted to post them on my blog and he gave me this horrified look. That, to my surprise, is supposedly just not done. So you will just have to be happy with this:

He is applying to 13 residency programs in all. Seven in Connecticut, one in Rhode Island, three in Massachusetts, and two in New York...at this point. He may apply to some Boston ones, but is not sure at the moment. They're all roughly within two hours of our parents, which is certainly better than the 4+ we are at now. Obviously we'd love to be in CT, but any of these locations would be fine, too. It gets more complicated because he has to do a transitional/preliminary year (also called a throw-away year...by me) right out of med school, so he is also applying to those programs. They aren't hard to get into, you just have to coordinate which programs you want to do depending on which residency program you get into. A fractal tree of sorts. Oh and transitional programs are easier than preliminary year programs, but, for that reason, are harder to get into. Get all that? Many of the ways of the medical field still remain a mystery to me. Like, I just found out recently, that after the one throw-away year plus the four radiology residency years, it's highly recommended that you do another year, called a fellowship. Let's add: 4 college + 4 med school + 5 residency + 1 fellowship = 14 years. By that time, if you don't know what you're doing, then you really shouldn't be in the medical field. Nothing to worry about with our David, though, "his strong sense of personal responsibility and good work ethic, his attention to detail, and his fund of knowledge already evident at this stage in his training make him an excellent candidate..." :)

I took on the responsibility of cat-sitting our friends' cat while they're away on a two-week vacation. I opted to bring the cat, Dorie, to our apartment so I wouldn't have to make daily runs to their house ten minutes away. She isn't declawed, so I was wary of her scratching everything to pieces. I covered the couch, the chaise, and the overstuffed chair with sheets so a) she wouldn't get hair on them and b) she wouldn't scratch them up.

After I picked her up last night, we hung out for a bit. I don't think she's even noticed Dougie yet, not that I'm complaining! I showed her where her food dish and her litter box were and that's pretty much all the attention she wanted. She knows her name so when I'd call her, her head would pop up, she'd give me an annoyed look, and she'd lay right back down. That's progress.

I woke up around 4am when I heard her jump off of our bed. Which led me to think about all the things she could get into, even though I closed the bathroom and closet doors. So I had to get up and check--everything was fine--but then I couldn't fall back to sleep. Bad cat. I think the rest of our time will go more smoothly, now that I know her routine and she knows ours.

I plan on bringing her back to her house next Thursday when Ryan and Yana come for their visit. Until then, we get to spend over an entire week together. It's okay, though, because when I watch these same friends' little boy (however cute he certainly is!!) I am very content with the fact there is just the two of us. And now that I'm watching their cat, I am very content that Dougie (in a cage) is our only pet!

Making herself very comfy:

Well we checked a few items off of our (my) Summer To-Do list. We saw Bourne Ultimatum and D is handing in all his yearbook stuff today. I like the page layout. It was supposed to have 4 pictures, plus his professional picture, his signature swatch, and a text box. But I cut it down to 3 pictures because the last two would have been so small I don't know if you could really tell what they were. However, I can't take full credit for the idea. I had all the yearbook stuff spread out on the coffee table when Sara and Ron came over Friday night. I was discussing my dilemma with Sara and she suggested having three instead of 4. It was a Duh Moment. These are the pictures we chose:

The one that didn't make the cut:



We wanted to make sure our family, as well as different Philadelphia hot spots, were included in the pictures, so I think we pretty much succeeded. D's text he wrote for the text box is really cute, but I won't give that away just yet.

And Bourne Ultimatum (A++). I'm only sorry we didn't rent one and two before going to see three. I have a mish mash of movies in my mind and don't quite remember the exact plot of the previous two, but the third one was incredible. We LOVED it and I think I'll be getting one and two at some point this week/end so we can see those.

All in all it was a great weekend because it went by at exactly the right pace. D also started to fill out his Residency Application that can be submitted as early as September 1st. I told him to blog about the process, but he informs me he doesn't have the time. I'll get a list of all the places that he's applying to and post them here...when he has the time to give it to me ;). It's a really exciting time and I'm trying to enjoy it without trying to just get past it so we can move on with real life.

I guess I'm resigned to basically posting weekly entries. Somehow the week always gets away from me before I can blog a few entries. So here is this week's:

Monday night continued on with Bible Study. We figured out that it'll take us into mid-September. It always makes for a hectic Monday, but it is well worth it.

Wednesday our summer camp went to the Philadelphia Zoo in 90-degree weather, which always makes for an interesting day. The kids were awesome, though, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their time there. The last time I was there was in October of 2004 and they didn't have some of the exhibits that they now have, so it was a new experience. I even managed to take 68 pictures. Well I took most of them, I did let some of the kids use my camera because they liked how they could see the picture afterwards. I got a lot of animal backsides and just plain sides because the heat was near-oppressive so most of them were laying down. See?

Oh but my Wednesday did not end there. Some genius planned an Open House for the same night, after a long day at the zoo being all hot and sticky. And Wednesday was also the day that I needed to get my TB shot read. So somehow I survived the day and was home at 7pm and asleep by 9pm. D was productive and changed the oil in his car with the contraption that his parents got him for Christmas. It's come in quite handy and has saved us some dollars over the months.

It was so incredibly hot on Thursday that D offered to take me out to dinner. I actually was not, yes you read correctly--was not, in the mood to go out to eat. Probably because of the heat, but D was insistant because he didn't want me cooking and heating up the apartment, so we ate a yummy meal at Friendly's. D's meal even came with a happy ending sundae: Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream with strawberry topping and a cherry on top. He gave me the cherry.

Yesterday I was so glad it was Friday. I got home around 4 and fell asleep around 5 for an hour. I didn't even hear David come in and the door was but six feet from me. I would have slept longer, but we had to pick up our friends' little guy around 6:30 so they could go out. I didn't have much of a chance to play with him because when we got back here, I fed him, talked with him until his bedtime, swaddled him, put him on our bed, and he promptly fell asleep like the good little baby that he is. We weren't expecting his parents to pick him up for a while, but they came around 10pm. Of course D and Ron got playing the Wii, and Sara and I didn't have any problem chatting, so finally around 1am we decided it was a good idea to call it a night.

And now, I smell the blueberry muffins the D so thoughtfully offered to make. What a great start to a weekend. Be right back...

In other news, D completed his first week of Radiology, Rads as it is known in the field, and is really loving it. Which is a relief because it is what he wants to do for the rest of his working life. I guess in this rotation they grade you weekly, so D already got his grade for Neuro Radiology:

• Attendance: HONORS
• Attentiveness: HONORS
• Knowledge: HONORS
• Comments: "Great job!!"

And he also met with his letter-writer (each med student gets a letter from the Dean of the School of Medicine, except that he doesn't write it. This letter isn't generic...the wording of the letter depends on your grades. D's key adjective is "excellent.") You have to hand in a personal statement, a CV, and a transcript to this letter-writer, who is also a doctor and professor at Temple. Anyway, he was really impressed with David and said that he didn't need to talk with him about a backup plan because he knows D will be able to get into a Radiology program. How's that for a compliment?! Obviously no one knows until they've been matched that they're matched in a program, but it's nice to know that we're on the right track at this point. Rads is highly competitive, so there's always some doubt about getting into a program, but I'm incredibly proud of David. If anyone can do it, he can.

When Sara and Tony came to visit us this weekend, they wanted a tour of Philadelphia. Well I think they got just what they asked for:

First stop, Liberty Bell. All the tickets for Independence Hall had been given out by the time we went to get ours. So we settled for pictures, but got a chance to see the Liberty Bell up close and personal. D and I had visited it back in 2004, I believe, and probably 2005. I remember when we first moved here everyone who came to visit wanted to see the Liberty Bell, so we became fast friends. It has been a while since we've been back, so it was nice to get an updated picture...one that just might make it into the yearbook.



Then, it was on to The Bourse for lunch. It reminds me of the food court part of a mall. D and I shared a Fiesta Salad from SaladWorks, making sure to leave room for the stuff we were going to get at Reading Terminal Market.

And speaking of the Market, that's where we headed to next...after a quick stop at Ben Franklin's grave. Reading Terminal Market is my favorite of favoritest spots in all of Philly. Everyone we bring there can't get over how much food there is, the variety, and how good everything tastes. There was an "ice cream celebration" going on that day where you could sample all sorts of flavors, but I got my tropical smoothie and pretzel and they were quite enough for me! I so enjoy being there. I guess it takes me back decades ago to the era of open air markets and street vendors. Whatever it is, I'll never, ever get sick of going there.

We piled back in the car and headed over to the Art Museum a.k.a. the Rocky Steps. It was incredibly hot outside, but that didn't stop us much. There were some cool, and refreshing, looking fountains nearby. I stuck my feet in one of them to cool down and proceeded to slosh around in my flip flops for the next few minutes. It was well worth it.




That's pretty much where the picture-taking ended. We made one more stop before heading home -- South Philly, Home of the Cheesesteak. D and I stayed in the car while Sara and Tony stood in line at Geno's.

We had such an enjoyable visit and hope they come back soon to tour the other half! Free Philly lodging available until May 2008 :).

August is quickly approaching and there are still so many things I would like to do before summer ends. I figure I will make a list here so I won't forget and maybe if I write them down, they'll get done:

see a Phillies game spur of the moment on one of those unbelievable summer nights made for baseball. Or just settle for a Phillies game before summer's end.

tour the Masonic Temple on Broad Street. Recommended to me by my Auntie Jo, I like the stories of secret societies and she said this tour was a must-do because it was so interesting and filled with a lot of captivating information. You can take the online tour by clicking here if you'd like.

use our beach tent one more time. I think we'll get to do this when Ryan and Yana visit mid-August...if the weather cooperates. We'll be getting a hotel near the Boardwalk and spending our day(s) on the beach, in our cool tent, of course.

turn in D's yearbook stuff. He gets to design an entire page with quotes/text, four pictures, and his senior portrait. I'm excited that he actually gets a complimentary copy of the yearbook, it's the least they can do really with all that tuition money :) in my humble opinion.

see The Bourne Ultimatium. It comes out this weekend, so D and I have a tentative date Friday or Saturday night to go see it.

Well that's all the big stuff. We had such a fun time with Sara and Tony this weekend. It was our first time going into the city in a long time, so that was really fun. We took them on the grand tour, zigzagging all over the city. More about that later, though. We came across this clever shirt in our travels and it took a lot of willpower not to buy it:

We rounded out the week on Saturday night with some Peppered Popcorn. I usually sprinkle some parm cheese on mine, but decided against it that night. Then D remembered that someone in college once told him about popcorn with pepper on it. It's quite yummy, actually. I sneezed a few times and needed plenty of water, but it was better tasting than I had thought it would be. We ate said popcorn while watching True Lies (A-) on the computer. We tap into Mom and Dad's Netflix home page, legally and with their knowledge of course, where they have a "Watch Now" option. You can't find all the movies you ever wanted to see on it, but we manage to find a few good ones. I like to freeze frame these type of moments in my mind because they will one day be fleeting memories...us lying on our bed with the laptop and the bowl of popcorn balanced between us. Because then you have the rest of the week...

Monday was my weekly bible study, which included a chocolate birthday cake for one of our friends. D went over his friend's place in Philly and didn't tell me until much later that he took some amatuer motorcycle lessons during this time. It turns out his friend brought his motorcycle back from Kansas and it was too tempting to just let it sit there. D did tell me that he was wearing a helmet.

Wednesday D was on call til 9pm, so I did some errands which included picking up some ingredients for pepperoni bread, garlic butter corn on the cob, and Garden Vegetable Salad Stackers for a party we were going to on Friday night. On Thursday D went to see Transformers with some friends of his and I went to dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. We were in the same plaza the entire night, just not together. After a 3.5 hour dinner, D and I arrived home around the same time and flopped into bed. Socializing is very, very tiring.

And it didn't stop there. Our friends had moved to DC and we were coming back up for their Farewell Party hosted at the absolutely gorgeous home of our Sunday School teachers'. I know I mentioned it last year: inground pool, screened in patio, really neat kitchen. And their hospitality is just as big as their house. We all stayed past midnight, but I didn't care, the next day was Saturday and I could sleep in!! Sometime during those hours, I offered to babysit our friends' little guy so she could get her to-do list done--finally. It was so self-sacrificing of me, I know. He is the best behaved baby, is always smiling at me, and is very low maintanance, so I always enjoy his company. It's hard not to hold him and talk to him the entire time, but his mommy would NOT like me starting that very bad habit, so I resisted.

So D and I had him all afternoon, while we were getting some things done around our apartment in preparation for his sister and her husband's impending visit. I only really clean out of necessity, so D likes having company because our apartment sparkles. I tell him the same old story: when I'm not working all day, I'll have so much more time to think about cleaning and all that other fun stuff. The baby took a two hour nap around the same time D and I were ready for our nap, but D said someone should stay up to hear the baby. He decided to play the Wii, such sacrifice, and I greatfully fell sleep for an hour. At the end of that hour, I awoke to a little smiling baby floating in front of my face. D said it was the quickest he'd ever seen me wake up, so there is hope for me and my inability to wake up.

I can't believe the summer is halfway through. There are eleven weeks of summer camp and we are now in the middle of week six. Unbelieveable. I was trying to think of some summer-y things to do before we no longer have the option and I definitely want to get a Phillies game in before summer's end. Not the best team in baseball by any means, but there's just something about going to a live baseball game that I'll always love. Fortunately David doens't mind going to one once in a while. They also have an outdoor movie on a huge screen on Penn's Landing for free every Thursday night. So we might do that. Ryan and Yana will be here for part of the third week of August and I'll be taking that Friday off. We'll probably head down to Atlantic City for an overnight and D'll meet us down there when he gets out of work. I love the beach and New Jersey beaches are just wonderful. Plus we get to use our new tent, SPF 50, which makes such a difference.

Then Mom and Dad may make their way down here end of August for a long weekend, which would be a nice way to round out the summer. Can't believe I'm already talking about "rounding out the summer." I like the Fall, too. And every day brings us that much closer to D's graduation date, so how's that for thinking positive about the end of summer?!

I'm reading another book, Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille, it'll keep me busy for a while. And I have two more on hold at the library. Yay for libraries and yay for summer reading and yay for the time to be able to read!!

Our pastor preached about Career and Vocation as part of a series on Forming a Biblical Self-Image. I thoroughly enjoy his insights and his teaching style and how he makes the Bible so interesting and applicable. He also possesses a great sense of humor and infuses it into his messages. Like today, for example, he was talking about the Sluggard mentioned in Proverbs and how many of them exist in the workforce...their motto being, "It's not my job." Well look closely at this picture and you will see the winner of the It's Not My Job Award.

The pastor made another good point: This worker's laziness is there for at least the next 20 years for all to see!

Another crazy week is in the works, but I actually had this bit of fun while getting paid today. Since the heat wave was continuing on with another day in the 90s, we decided to forego our outdoor activity and opted to see the newest and only G-rated movie in theaters--Ratatouille. Look at this face:

He is the cutest rat...so cute, in fact, that he almost makes me sympathize with his kind. There was so much packed into this storyline that the running time was actually a few minutes over two hours. It didn't seem that long, though, and it wasn't boring at all. And I would totally watch it again since so much was going on that I'm sure I missed some things. The campers were very well-behaved, so I can't blame them for any interuptions.

I like the play on words, too: Ratatouille, I learned, is not only a movie with a rat as its main character and narrator, but it is also a real life food dish. It is made up of "all sorts of vegetables, ratatouille is most comparable to a vegetable stew. A versatile dish in its own right: it can be served hot, cold, or even lukewarm. Call it an appetizer, call it your main course, whatever you want to call it, it’s a classic French dish, namely from the Provencal [Southern] region. Some serve it with meat and potatoes, others on a bed of rice. Ratatouille bears no burden of restrictions." It doesn't really look all that appetizing, but the recipe fits nicely into the movie.

I'm usually not so impressed by kid-type movies, but this had it all. And it took place in a kitchen. It was almost like watching one of the many cooking shows I tune into on a regular basis, except this had a plot, an interesting plot even. Really, look at that face again, can you resist it?