Where To Begin

So much has happened since my last post. I will never be able to do justice to all the exciting events that have transposed since my last entry. I will do my best to touch on everything, although exceedingly briefly. I was in Philly for 5 days last week and packed about a month's worth of activities into my brief time home. I attended my brother's medical school graduation, which was nearly 3 hours long (only 200 students comprised the graduating class, mind you). Despite the fact that there were about 6 speeches delivered by various faculty members and guests, I was happily surprised that the "real" speaker was Dr. Richard Carmona, Surgeon General of the United States. He was witty and his life story was touching. Raised in Harlem to an immigrant family with 23 kids, he dropped out of high school and joined the Army, only to climb the ladder, return to school, and become a physician. Jordana arrived Thursday evening, just in time for a celebratory dinner out with the family at John Harvard's Brewhouse. It was on this evening that I consumed my first alcoholic beverage of my visit. The next morning, Dave arrived very early from Pittsburgh and our first stop was to lunch (authentic Italian hoagies) with Matt Alexander. Because it rained all day long, we went to the movies to see Cinderella Man. I enjoyed it, especially because I didn't know my boxing history and thus the outcome of the final fight was suspenseful for me.

On Saturday, we all attacked the house like cyclones in order to have it ready for the monster joint graduation party that evening. Dave and I downed our first beer (alcoholic drink #2 of my visit) around 4:30 PM, and the party commenced promptly at 5:00. There were at least 100 people, and I chatted with every single one of them. It was great to see everyone, but I was so busy catching up and making the party rounds that it took me 3 hours to eat one plate of finger food for dinner. All the while, I was making frequent trips to the seemingly bottomless cooler of beer on the back porch. By 2:00 AM, the last guest had said goodbye and I was reveling in the glory of about 7 beers and 2 glasses of wine. 5:30 AM came all too early, and I was out of bed and on the road in order to have Dave at the airport by 6:30ish. There was no time to rest, as the next event on my calendar was my grandfather's wedding. I was sooo tired/hungover, but the ceremony itself was touching and my grandpa and step-grandma were really happy.

I've since returned to Houston and have been delegated extra responsiblity at the lab. In addition to handling my own research, I am now "supervising" 2 undergrads. Basically, I have to teach them certain lab techniques and show them the ropes around the lab. So far we all get along really well and I'm having a fun time. I just wish I had someone to hang out with in the evenings, because sometimes it's lonely at the condo all by myself. Yet somehow, the evenings pass all too quickly and before you know it, it's 12:19 AM (kinda like right now). Time for bed and one more long day at work before the weekend.

Music of the Moment: "If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop?" by the Juliana Theory