Cabo!

Apartment is now clean, fridge is full (with water, juice, and condiments), clothes are folded and put away, and patients are in line for boards. My life has some relative order restored to it. I can't wait until Saturday is over with. I just got the official e-mail from BG's best man regarding the 'gathering' in Cabo. Among those invited are Will Forte (from SNL, BG's fraternity brother from UCLA), Taylor (UCLA volleyball buddy and former AVP player), Argent (Head of Marketing, Red Bull USA), JC, JB, myself (dental school friends), and a number of others that will make this trip a great time. One of the names on the list was a gentlemen by the name of Beavers. Beavers lives in Indy now but is from North Carolina originally. He is known in every pub in indy with a capacity of under 50 people. He has two personal cab drivers, Uncle Tom and Eddie! I have employed the services of Uncle Tom numerous times, but honestly, who has two cabbies? Here is my favorite picture of Oz, baby bro, and myself.

I don't see too well, is that Bill Shakespeare over there!

Baby bro wrote an article for the IDS, IU's newspaper, not bad brother.

Better Late Than Never

State house was pretty lame. Nice building, which is to be expected, but nothing special. I checked my school mailbox and found a nice surprise. I made the Dean's list this semester. I actually got a 4.0! I will be expecting another envelope stating that the school made a mistake any day now. It's a nice feeling to say that I made it. I have never been a great student nor pretended to be one, but I have matured a little and worked very hard this year. I know both of my brothers are way more mature than me but I just don't feel like growing up. I like partying like a rock star on the weekends! Anyway, I had better finish cleaning.

Cool

I have to go to the Statehouse tomorrow to meet with legislators. What the heck am I going to talk about? This reminds me of a story from my freshman year of undergrad. I was 17 years old and decided to declare Biochemistry as my major. I was then instructed to meet with a faculty member within the department who would serve as my advisor during my undergrad career. I went to his office and it was all downhill from there. He had more books and binders (with course numbers like C700, C825) than I had ever seen or will see in my life. He began talking about biology, chemistry, blah, blah, blah. All I could think about was waffles and coke for breakfast. I nodded politely and daydreamed for a while. As the meeting drew to a close we walked down the halls of the chemistry building. We stopped at a display on the wall where he began talking about this protein strain that he developed and how he presented it at a symposium in Chicago. After a few minutes of rambling he turned to me anticipating a well thought out question or remark on this matter. I stood there completely dumbfounded with a perplexed look on my face. I opened my mouth and all that came out was the word 'Cool'. He shook my hand, I left the building, walked to the academic affairs office and promptly changed my major to Biology. The point of the story is that I'm an idiot and if put in a situation I know nothing about (biochem, state legislation) I will resort to fragmented sentences and high school diction. Sweet law! I'm totally amped about being here Senator! That speech you gave was of the chains!

Naptown Ballers

This week has been insanely busy. The next two weeks don't look any better. I am trying to get all my patients in order for boards next Saturday. Baby bro has a small cavity that is ideal for the boards so I get to save the 75 bribe that I would have ordinarily paid to my patient. Let me just give you an idea of what I've had to pay (Oz, stop reading, I'm about to get quanitative). I had to fork over 1600 for the NERB exam (three parts, the clinical portion being the one on March 4th). Three hundo for my assistant to sit and help, 75 for my other filling patient, and 50 for my perio patient. That's right, two g's for this exam total. Now, god forbid I fail or one of my patients doesn't show up (hence the bribe), I fork out another 700 for the retake at Ohio State. On top of that I would have to pay an assistant again, three patients, lodging (for everyone) and food for the group. I hope I pass. Also, I am still trying to finish up my grad requirements. I played basketball tonight and we got trounced by the 'Naptown Ballers'. They had a fellow by the name of 'Gambles' who during warm-ups stood beneath the rim, pump faked twice, proceeded to jump straight in the air and dunk two handed. We have a fellow by the name of 'Slowmar' who with a full court running start, 30 minutes of stretching, 2 days worth of ice on the shins, gets excited when he can grab the rim with one hand. I felt really old. It probably didn't help that I had high tops with velcro, two knee braces, rec specs, and shorts exposing 4 inches of thigh (not really, but I might as well have).

Weekend Update

I had a relatively uneventful week and weekend. I am starting to stress out a little (okay, a lot) about the clinical portion of my licensing exam. I still need to find a couple of patients before March 4th. I drove down south early Saturday for a short weekend with the family. Saturday night I stopped by to visit the cardiologist, the fellow storyteller, the admiral, and the writer with an infectious laugh. Within two minutes of the conversation starting, the writer commented on how my hair was thinning just like my dad, pretty funny (and unfortunately true). The cardiologist was busy watching the heating repair man sit in his truck and talk on the phone, all the while commenting on how he's been sitting out there for seven minutes and he should be in the house fixing the upstairs heat. Storyteller then told us about the time LB's dorm room was so cold that she couldn't type her papers and needed to buy a space heater for her room. Oh, storyteller also commented that I look just like i do on my blog. I was very surprised that she saw my blog. The fact that she knows what a blog is and how to check one makes her exponentially more computer savvy than my mom. Although she did lose a little street cred when she said that the sound wasn't working on the computer. At first I thought I might have to reinstall a sound card or check the drivers. Upon further examination I saw that the volume was on mute. Case solved. I also watched the third season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, I really liked it and will have to rent all the available seasons when I have time. I played basketball thursday night and we beat the third years. Soccer tonight and another victory. Good to be back on the winning track. I just checked my schedule and I only have 12 more weeks of school. It will be a very busy three months though. Boards on March 3rd. Gathering in Nashville on March 11th. BG informed me that my presence is requested in Cabo for the weekend of April 29th. Class graduation party on April 22nd. LB's weekend on April 9th. Graduation May 14th, BG's wedding in Santa Barbara on May 20th.

5280 Feet

I did do laundry, didn't grocery shop, and read one journal. I also watched 'The Green Mile' on TV tonight. Apparently it is really dusty in my apartment and this was irritating my contacts lenses because my eyes were watering occasionally during the movie. I don't think my apartment is as dusty as the movie theatre that I watched 'Forrest Gump' in (especially the part where he is standing by the tree talking to Jenny's grave and pauses and says "he's so smart", I pretty much lose it everytime). A similar reaction can be elicited by Oz when watching 'Batteries Not Included", haha, sorry I had to bust you out brother.

Fire Mike Davis

I had a really good week at school, but now I have lab work that I must catch up on. Sushi last night was outstanding, as usual. The restaraunt is Korean owned but is still a great place to eat. I particularly like the traditional Korean noodles and vegetables (Japchae). This is preceded by a small salad with garlic/ginger dressing and followed by Miso soup. After eating at Hisago weekly for a year, we have narrowed our choice of rolls to the 'perfect five'. Spicy salmon, ebi tempura, new york roll, hoosier roll, and oshizushi roll. Friday and Saturday nights also provide us with the occasional poorly sung version of James Brown's 'I Feel Good' echoing from the back room of the restaraunt where Karaoke is taking place. I have been laying around all day watching college basketball. IU lost again, I fear that we may not make the NCAA tournament, yet alone make the final four (as I predicted three months ago). Mike Davis is a great recruiter but absolutely cannot coach. We have to start winning on the road if we stand any chance at all of making the tournament. I have nothing in my fridge (see picture), sorry for the poor quality, it was taken with my phone. As you can see, I have water, milk, condiments, and the biggest tub of butter available for consumer purchase. I think I will grocery shop today, finish laundry, and read some nerdy dental journals/magazines. I will also try and rent Curb Your Enthusiasm, per Oz's request. One more thing, I rented 'Constant Gardner' two nights ago. I really enjoyed it, as I do most of John LeCarre's movies and books.

Two Step!

I passed National Step II!!!

Breaking News....New Diet Guaranteed to Work!

Another week of school down only 14 more to go! I was at Cottage Corner clinic all week. It is a nice facility that addresses the medical and dental needs of the underserved population in Indianapolis (mostly eastsiders). I really enjoyed the rotation, I had a lot of freedom in decision making and got a chance to see multiple patients. Pretty boring week. Unfortunately, due to circumstance, I can only set short term goals right now. I want to pass National Step II (I should find out in about two weeks), next I want to get my patients ready for clinical portion of NERBs, and finally I have to still complete my graduation requirements. I suppose after achieving these goals I will aggressively start looking for a job. I have a meeting with the Heartland recruiter on the 16th and am also in contact with a friend of a friend who practices in Sydney, Australia about possible opportunities there. I really don't have a single preference on where to practice. I suppose Louisville/Southern Indiana is always an option but Oz has three years of med school left (and endless years of residency left) and baby bro has a year of undergrad and three years of law school before they decide where they want to live. I will probably just end up associating for a few years and hopefully find a place to practice within the next five years.
Well, in early December I reported that I weighed in at a husky 198. Eight weeks later, with a little hard work, a little bit of heartbreak, and some dieting, I weighed in at 190 even! I am pretty excited, only 12 more pounds to go until my goal is reached. After reading the South Beach Diet, studying Atkins, researching the Caveman, cabbage soup, liquid, and Hollywood diets, I found one that works. Eat less and exercise more! I am doing something aerobic five times a week and eating about half as much as I normally do. I go to bed hungry every night, but it's worth it. Time to undo all that hard work, the weekend is here!