play play play work work work
After a super-fun
week touring the city with my parents (thanks, mom &
dad!), a delicious dinner out for our friend Sarah’s
birthday on Saturday (thanks, Jerry & Susan!), and a
Monday night gabbing and crocheting at
Etsy Labs (I am trying to make something similar to
this), I have found myself once again far behind on
my Swap-bot email duties. I know, I know. I am
always behind on the email. It is a never-ending
battle – me against my inbox!
I should probably go get to work…
Over the Hump
It’s been a little over a week now, but I’m happy to report I finally finished my first licensing exam. We wont receive our scores until the evening of July 15th but I was pretty satisfied with my effort so hopefully my results won’t dampen my birthday, on the 16th, too much.
The day of the test went smoothly, though I did end up utilizing pretty much every second of our allotted time. That means I had my brain working at full capacity for seven hours of the day, which is a new record for me. Usually I operate on five minute bursts and set my mind on cruise control for the rest of the day.
Like I said, for me, the day went off without a hitch, which is more than a lot of my classmates can say. The rumor mill has already told me that one classmate didn’t have audio working properly during their exam, another shared a room with a test taker that had a seizure, and finally, one classmate got to her testing center only to find out that it had been struck by lightning the night before and she had to postpone her test. I didn’t tell her this, but my first impression was that an individual might have chosen the wrong career path if God smites their first licensing exam.
The week after the exam I had four days of excruciatingly painful hospital orientation and this week I begin my Neurology clerkship at the VA. Within the next four weeks, you can send any questions you might have pertaining to your brains and I promise to make up something really good.
tons of fun in the big apple!
My sweet, wonderful parents were in NYC this week visiting, which means I have been away from the computer and out touring all the hot spots. New York is a demanding city, but we managed to go to at least one major attraction per day, plus we walked around different neighborhoods and tried out lots of restaurants. I would love to write proper reviews of all the museums and sites we visited, but I am just going to write a quick blurb about each location instead. (There are photos on my Flickr – unfortunately none of me with my parents. darn.)
The things we visited, in approximate chronological order:
Bonnie’s Grill – Bonnie’s is a small hamburger place near our apartment in Park Slope. I had read good things about it on some NY blogs, so we tried it out for dinner on Saturday. I had a veggie burger, so I don’t know if I am the best judge, but it wasn’t the most fabulous food I have ever had. Good, but not remarkable. The cole slaw was really spicy.
Guggenheim Museum – I love the unique architecture of this museum and I was thrilled to experience the spiraling art gallery. The current main exhibit is all about Frank Lloyd Wright (the architect of the Guggenheim) so it ended up being a LOT of info about him. I would have preferred a more contemporary painting exhibit as I have visited a lot of Wright buildings before, but it was not unpleasant. His plans for future cities were very interesting and I really did enjoy traveling through the building.
Central Park – We strolled across the park near the Reservoir after visiting the Guggenheim on Sunday and also checked it out near Columbus Circle on Monday.
Stone Park Cafe – Travis and I took my mom and dad here for Father’s Day (and a late Mother’s Day). It is my favorite restaurant in Park Slope, so far. The food is always excellent and the waiters are always nice. I definitely recommend it. I had the Pork Chop market dinner, which was fantastic except for maybe the dandelion salad starter.
Prospect Park – I forced my parents to come with Crusher and I to doggy time at the Park on Monday morning. We walked quite a long route which may not have been the smartest thing to do before a long day of sightseeing…
American Museum of Natural History – This was my second trip to the Natural History Museum in as many weeks. Thankfully there is plenty to see and I only saw a handful of repeat exhibits. I really enjoyed the human evolution exhibit, but we were very disappointed that the Hall of Gems was closed due to “economic conditions.”
Columbus Circle – Dad needed some ice tea in a bad way, so we stopped by the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle.
Katz’s Deli – We all had Pastrami Sandwiches at Katz’s and debated whether it was in fact the restaurant seen in a famous When Harry Met Sally scene. (It is. Dad was right.) The pastrami was delicious, but the potato salad was gross. I always enjoy checking out the Lower East side, so it was worth the trip.
Metropolitan Museum of Art – So beautiful. This was my first trip to the Met. I was a little apprehensive to go because I had discussed the museum so much in school and I felt like it would be too stressful to try to see everything. We definitely did not see everything, but I had a wonderful time. We saw the American sculpture court, Renaissance paintings, an excellent Francis Bacon retrospective exhibit, the general Modern Art collection, the Temple of Dendur and the Egyptian collection, a very cool Roxy Paine sculpture on the roof deck, and lots of Medieval art and objects. We also ate some delicious Crumb cupcakes from the cafes. Yum! I will definitely be going back!
La Villa – We had calamari and focaccia pizza at this new restaurant near our house.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden – Wednesday we spent the majority of the day at the Garden. It is small, but lovely. As a bonus we got to see the tv crew of Royal Pains taping a scene for an upcoming episode near the visitor center! I also saw a baby rabbit and some turtles. sweet.
JPan – JPan is Crusher’s very favorite restaurant (he can’t get enough of the chicken teriyaki) so we had to share it with my parents!
Times Square – We passed through Times Square on our way to the boat cruise. It was actually less crowded during the day than when I previously visited at night. Still too hectic for me, though.
Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise – We had bought City Passes which included reduced price tickets to a bunch of NYC attractions. One of the included tickets was for a two-hour boat tour around Manhattan. We all agreed that we probably wouldn’t have done the cruise if it hadn’t been part of our ticket pack, but it was a relaxing way to see a lot of the city. We sailed very near the Statue of Liberty, and I feel like I have a better understanding of the many different neighborhoods in NYC after seeing them from a different perspective.
Rachel’s Taqueria – I mostly wanted to check out this Mexican restaurant on Thursday night because it shares my name. It was an easy going place, but the burrito I ordered wasn’t the best. We made up for it by stopping for Italian Ices from Uncle Louie G’s on the way home…
There are lots more places I could list, but basically it was an action-packed week. I had a great time!
We are home
For all of you who have been wondering, we made it home from our New York adventure. We had a wonderful time, and I confirmed that there are 51 steps from the sidewalk to the door to Travis and Rachel’s apartment door!
When we got home, this fellow was waiting for us:
This heron has been traveling between the neighbor’s house and ours for some months now, generally bearing gifts.
Crusher is doing fine!
I know you have all been wondering, so here’s your answer. Crusher is doing just fine at his New York apartment. He remembered us from when he last saw us in February (?).
A report from the Big Apple
Three days in the Big Apple and we’re still alive. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and had to fight our way out of the airport traffic, but fortunately, we had a pair of recent New York transplants to drive us through the maze of roads to the hotel. Here is our room:
The decor is tres modern and sleek. You can see
the blue tone to everything. It’s crisp, and it is all
scrupulously clean, but we honestly could not figure out
how to start the air conditioner and had to call the
front desk. (Turns out we were turning on the heater all
along.) We really haven’t figured out the the huge flat
panel television yet either.
Here are the facilities:
That frosted glass sliding door gives you all the privacy
you need (or are going to get at least). The shower is a
clear glass cube, but since we’ve been married for nearly
30 years, it didn’t both mom or me much at all.
On Sunday we went into Manhattan and visited the Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The exhibit was about . . . Frank Lloyd Wright, which was fascinating to me, but it all seemed a little coincidental. The spiraling structure of the Guggenheim was mostly the experience though.
After the museum we walked about a bit in Central Park and then later in Greenwich Village. By the end of the day we were back in Brooklyn for a Father’s Day dinner at a very nice restaurant just down the block from the kids’ apartment (a third floor walk up—it’s killing me to climb those steep stairs two and three times a day – but it really is getting easier each time). Sometime in the last few days I had my first Yuengling beer (can’t get them in my part of the country).
With all of the walking and stair climbing we’re doing—it seems like at every subway transfer we have to go up to the next platform—it will take us weeks when we get back home to return to the shape we were in before we left.
Tea and Toast Diet
A little while ago, on one of my exams, I had a clinical vignette that started off with some family members expressing their concerns to the physician over their mother’s health. The mother was becoming malnourished because she had been spending all of her money on cat food instead of on food for herself. I rolled my eyes as I answered the question, thinking to myself how outlandish some of the question vignettes are. I mean seriously, it’s just ridiculous to think that there are people out there that would spend more money on animal food than… I’m sorry, what’s that? A picture of my parents’ pantry you say?
Wow, I guess I stand corrected. Not a lot of human food in that cabinet. I’d sure hate to be the one spending an entire week house sitting at that place.
On a lighter note, here’s a pretty adorable video of the Chief Harpooner, himself, partaking in the intoxicating effects of Reese’s Puffs. Looks like I’m no longer the only one in the family that can’t resist. That brings the grand total of things Queequeg enjoys rubbing his face into up to three: animal carcasses, cat poop, and chocolate/peanut butter flavored corn puffs. Not sure what that says about my favorite breakfast cereal.
We are there!
We made it to New York with only the slightest bit of trouble. Our flight was delayed an hour, which wasn’t so bad.
We spent the afternoon walking around Travis and Rachel’s neighborhood, but the best part of the day was seeing Crusher again. After only a minute or so, he remembered us and was soon licking our faces (which we put a stop to after Rachel pointed out other things he’s been licking lately).
Our hotel is very modern—so modern that we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the room air conditioning, but we called the desk and they had a very helpful man up to our room in less than a minute to help us old timers get cooled down. (We still haven’t figured out how to turn on our giant flat screen television!)
Tomorrow we hope to see the Guggenheim Museum, a bit of Central Park, and maybe the Natural History Museum (which will make two visits there for Rachel in one week). Rachel and Travis have a nice dinner planned for us on Sunday evening, then we will gauge our energy and endurance level to see what else we will try to accomplish the rest of the week.
puppy & chickpeas
Crusher had to go get all of his one-year puppy shots at the vet today. Poor little puppy! He is feeling a little tired now, but he was a champ at the vet’s office. We found the new pet clinic just three blocks from our apartment, which is very convenient. (The photo above is the most recent in my highly-compelling daily photobooth portrait series.)
I made a really tasty salad the other day that I wanted to share. I found the recipe in the July 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living. Unfortunately, the recipe is not posted online yet. It is called a Mediterranean Legume Salad and it has chickpeas (Martha wanted me to cook dried beans, but I just used canned), carrots, cucumber, green pepper, scallions, cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley and basil, garlic, and olive oil & vinegar dressing. I added some plain couscous just to make it more of a meal. It is very healthy and even Travis thought it was delicious. I definitely recommend it! If I were going to any summer parties, it is the dish I would bring.
Austin
[caption id=”attachment_172” align=”alignnone”
width=”300” caption=”The tough looking butter cream
yellow PT Cruiser”]
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So I traveled to Austin recently in a rented PT Cruiser (which interesting enough did not have a ‘cruise’ control), I told the guy at Enterprise Rent-A-Car that I wanted the most manly car he had on his lot and well I guess I got what I asked for. I was traveling to Austin for a presentation of the GIS Project I have been working on, well I have been working on the Environmental Module, Kermit Applegate who worked on the Surveying module also was going to Austin.
[caption id=”attachment_171” align=”alignnone”
width=”300” caption=”Waffle from the La Quinta in
Austin”]
[/caption]
While driving to Austin we stopped at JL’s BBQ about 24 miles South of Big Cabin on high 69 in Oklahoma for Lunch. I ordered the Polish plate, thinking I would get some beans and potatoe wedges with it. Nope, I got a plate of Beans, layered over with a plates worth of potatoe wedges, layered over with polish sausage and a slice of texas toast, needless to say it was very healthy.
[caption id=”attachment_170” align=”alignnone”
width=”300” caption=”Where we had lunch on
Sunday”]
[/caption]
Also while staying at the La Quinta Inn in Austin I had waffles in the shape of Texas for breakfeast, yes I know Aaron is especially jealous.
Beyond my few photos we went down to 6th street every night we were in Austin and listened to live Blues Music, including Blues legen Pinetop Perkins. Tuesday Night was spent in San Antonio hanging out with Eric Chase and Jo-anna. Bought some more hot sauces from Tears of Joy in Austin, I will have to try them out.
American Museum of Natural History
Some of my extended family are vacationing in NYC this week, and since I almost never get to see them I took off yesterday afternoon to check out the American Museum of Natural History with them. What a fun place to go with a six-year-old! At first, when we entered the “Mammals of Asia” area with all of the old-school dioramas and taxidermy I was a little worried about how much fun it would be, but the dinosaur exhibits made up for the somewhat boring start and definitely kept Alex (the six-year-old) interested. I have been told that a lot of the dinosaur bones on display are not real, but the exhibit sign said I was touching a real dinosaur egg fossil in the interactive section – that is good enough for me!
cute goings on
When I
am bummed out I do not post on my blog. So, if I haven’t
posted in a while it might be because I am bummed… or I
could just be busy. Anyway, I am NOT bummed out today!
Travis and I accomplished a lot this weekend on Swap-bot and I got to work
on this cute little robot for a super-secret project. I
have named him “robit.” As always, we still have tons of
work to do on our websites, but I have come to terms with
the chaos – at least for the time being.
On Saturday, we also got the most delicious sandwiches from Blue Apron Foods. A good sandwich can really make your day! There are so many restaurants and food places around our apartment. We have not even tried a small percentage of them, but two other places that I can recommend are Root Hill Cafe for sandwiches and Long Tan for Thai food. Travis and I went to Long Tan last night on a little date (against Crusher’s wishes) and we had a lamb curry dish and a noodle dish with scallops. Both were awesome and surprisingly very affordable! We will go back.
Another bright point in my life: Travis convinced me to purchase the Brooklyn print by Jim Datz that I was coveting yesterday. I think it is just so cute and clever! I can’t wait to get it framed.
One more note on fun and silliness: I just started playing around with Photobooth on my Mac. I want to take a photo of myself everyday just for fun and documentation. Below are some of my first snaps. The only problem is that I am usually working at the computer in my exercise clothes with icky hair… oh well. Posterity will just have to deal with the truth. :)
Citizen Snips
This is Citizen Snips, Aaron and Amber’s pet crab. I don’t know what he was doing. Maybe he was conducting music only he could hear. Or maybe he was doing his crab aerobics.
summer
I get to have some fun today doing some summer crafts. I am working on my Summer Matchbox for Swap-bot, while simultaneously working on a review of some cute digital scrapbooking stuff for my new gig as a reporter at Craft Critique. I am happy for the break from answering Swap-bot support email!
Birthday
I am now 27 years old or twenty seven hundredths of a century, or 2.7 decades.
Well for birthday cake I went down to Rolla’s famous Slice of Pie restaurant and had a nice slice of Mint Chocolat Chip Pie, which is the June Pie of the Month. Now you may be asking yourself what goes into a Mint Chocolate Chip Pie? Well here is the ingredients from what I could tell, a Chocolate Rice Crispy Treat Crust, in vaguely crust shape, filled till its overflowing with Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, topped with a unhealthy amount of whipped cream and then drizzled with chocolate syrup. Trust me its part of some new celebrity fad diet.
In other knews yesterday I went Kayaking down the Little Piney river outside of Rolla. Went Kayaking with Ben Johnson, a fellow Rolla Grad student, who has a bit more experience then I do with the Missouri Outdoors. Thge kayaks we used were much large then the ones used on the Upper Nile in Uganda, I guess designed more for stability and going with the current then surviving white water of doing tricks like in Uganda. We kayaked a total of 10 miles, and I did fine the first 6 1/2 miles. And then as soon as we got back on the river I managed to run up on a branch and swamped my kayak. I went under and a saw something long and vaguely rod like underwater and I thought ‘oh that must be my paddle, it would be good to make sure that doesn’t get lost’ and I grabbed for it. Quickly realizing it was much to branch like and slimey to be my paddle I thought about letting go, but then I felt something bump my head, and I looked up and my kayak was flowing past me, and I figured instead of fighting with my kayak for the surface I would just let it mosey on by. I did eventually surface and I did find my paddle which was lodged into some roots. Dragging my swamped kayak to the gravel bar was a bit difficult with my busted right arm though. Only thing lost was my old Graceland U. Sunglasses, which having been free from my sister meant I had had them for about 7 years, and against the laws of the universe I did manage to lose said free sunglasses. A little upsetting because they are one of a few things that I have had for awhile, one of the other being my Mortz baseball cap, which I was able to retrieve. My dry bag worked like a charm, kept all the stuff in it dry, and stayed in the boat also.
Twice more I went into the water on Sunday. Both times the exact same scenario, running up on a branch, though the second time I didn’t swamp my kayak because I jumped out as I felt water coming in. The third time I swamped it completely and managed to have everying flow out of my boat, though my UPS water bottle was rescued by Ben as it headed down stream. All in all I had a very good time, with the swampings just making it more fun for me to laugh about.
long weekend?
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I’m not too tired or sore, but the weekend isn’t over
yet. On Saturday we worked on that never-ending project,
the fence. We just have to finish the arbor and then
replace the gate, and I think we’ll be done for this
year. Then it’s time to stain it all dark green—not just
the parts we’ve replaced but the whole fence! If you’re
free . . .
We also managed to watch an Iranian film called The Mirror, in which a little girl tries to make her way home from school in Tehran when her mother fails to show up for her in the afternoon.
On Sunday morning we had to help someone clean his apartment. He’s really busy and doesn’t have the time to do so himself. As he said, “When I take a break, PEOPLE DIE!” Then it was downtown for a little photo session (see above). And now we are home, contemplating doing more work on the fence (arbor, gate) before finally cleaning up the garage so I can park my truck in it again. But I’ve found that it’s taken me about two hours to make this post, so that got me out of real work for a while.