Weekend Update

1 nagging sore throat =
24 hours of sleep in 2 nights
2 cups of hot tea
3 movies (Charlie Bartlett, Avalon, About Schmidt)
4 hours of reading
2 trips to the outside world
1 near fainting in public

Overall not the worst weekend but definitely not in the top 5 best weekends either.

This afternoon was redemptive as I sat outside and enjoyed the warm sunshine with a slight breeze. I've realized that when people say "the summers are nice in Michigan," they're not simply stating the obvious - that the summers are better than the winters. The summers here really are wonderful in their own right.

This Morning

After my alarm clock went off this morning, I didn't even hit snooze... I changed the time to 30 minutes later because I knew snooze (9 minutes) wasn't going to be good enough. Then when the alarm went off again, I rolled over and hit snooze. THEN when it went off for the third time, I rolled over and saw this outside my window. So I got up.

Lake Erie

Last weekend, one of my co-workers invited a few of us out to his house for an afternoon/evening cookout. He happens to live right on a channel connected to Lake Erie, so it was like going on a little vacation. I took Kelsey with me, and she had a great time with 2 other dogs, lots of new people, and her first boat ride. While we were in the boat, we entered Canadian waters for a little while. The weather was perfect in that it wasn't really hot out but the breeze while we were cruising in the boat wasn't too cool either.

Kelsey, trying to decide if she likes boats.

Yes, she decides, this is not so bad.

Living large.

The dinner was deliciously grilled salmon, trout, and fresh vegetables. We stayed until the bugs started biting after sundown, but we were there long enough to see a bright orange full moon rise up across the channel from us.

Big Boy

When I came to Ann Arbor for the first time (late May of this year) I was introduced by my friend Leigh to a free Saturday morning workout. Somehow she convinced me, while I was on vacation, to wake up at 6am on Saturday and join her for this "circuits workout" which she claimed to be wonderful. I managed to wake up and did go to the workout, and I really did enjoy it. It was well-organized by a physical therapist at a nice PT gym, several of my future co-workers were there, and after we got going it felt great. So as soon as I moved here, I decided to very quickly make the Saturday morning circuits workout a habit. Now, let's take a quick step back. My Saturday morning ritual in Atlanta was to go to Waffle House at around 8am and enjoy a nice breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns (scattered, chunked, double covered). Problem #1: there are no Waffle Houses within 30 miles of Ann Arbor. I realize that working out is probably better ritural than coffee and a greasy breakfast on Saturday morning, so I'm trying to enjoy the change along with the burst of adrenaline to replace the caffeine. However, as an added incentive for attending these workouts, I decided to treat myself to a local indulgence. For every 4 weeks in a row that I make it to the workout, I get to go to breakfast at Big Boy, a chain restaurant here that kind of reminds me of Shoney's or Denny's. I wasn't really sure if this would be a gerat treat or not, as I had never been to a Big Boy, so I was excited yesterday (after week 4!) to try it out. My friend Meghan agreed to join me after circuits, and we enjoyed a nice, long, lazy breakfast and I don't even know how many cups of coffee. I ordered the Big Boy Breakfast which was your typical 2 eggs, biscuits, hashbrowns, choice of meat. The coffee was tasty and always re-filled before it was half empty, and the eggs were cooked perfectly. The hashbrowns were good but a little dry without the special Waffle House grease and with no cheese on top. Overall, however, I give Big Boy a big thumbs up. And to make the whole experience even better, I was able to pose for a picture with Big Boy himself out in front of the restaurant. Four more weeks and I'll definitely be back!

First Injury

So today I managed to injure myself at work for the first time, on day 8 of this residency. Hopefully it will be the last time, and I have to say I was lucky it wasn't worse. I was cutting a piece of aluminum upright (basically a long thin bar of aluminum) on the bandsaw. I cut less than an inch of the aluminum off and afterwards (after turning off the bandsaw) very stupidly grabbed the small piece to break it off fully from the rest of the AFO that it was attached to. Well, the metal was so hot from the bandsaw that it burned my thumb and index finger right where I grabbed it. Made me say a dirty word. The good news even though I feel like an idiot is that the pain is much less now (a few hours later) and I didn't slice my finger off on the bandsaw, which is always my number one fear with that machine. In addition to starting my period today and having gotten braces two days ago, let's just say my pain level was pretty intense by the end of the day. Ok, sorry for the whining. I'm done.

First Week of Residency

My 5 favorite things about work so far:

1. The lab is really organized. REALLY organized.
2. My commute is a 5-minute drive or 15-minute bike ride.
3. It's easy to stay busy but not be overwhelmed - so far.
4. Free coffee.
5. Our office manager has 7 pieces of flair.

Thirsty?

This evening I somehow managed to pour the perfect ice cold beer into the perfectly prepared frosty glass mug. Couldn't do it again if I tried.

First Day!

Ok, so actually today was officially the second day of my residency. Yesterday we had hospital system orientation, so today was the first day at our clinic. More administrative stuff and orienting took place today, but it felt good to be in the clinic. Tomorrow we start with our one month rotation in the lab, learning the ropes of fabrication.

Sara, Ed, Me

Sunflowers!

Today I experienced the Michigan countryside for the first time, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Most notably, as my roommate and I were driving south towards a small town called Tecumseh (for a used book sale at the library), we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a sea of sunflowers. We just had to pull over and admire the beauty, as were many other passers-by on the country road. If you check out the photos below, you can see that this glorious army of thousands is perfectly aligned with all faces pointing in the same direction, towards the sun. On the opposite side of the road, all faces were pointed away from us. Wow. The sunflowers were all about six feet tall. The flowers themselves had very thick, heavy centers with delicate, silky petals that blew softly in the wind. It just so happened that it was also a gorgeous day outside with perfectly blue sky, white fluffy clouds, blazing sun, and a light, cool breeze.

I must to credit my friend Missy for showing me the value of taking pictures from the ground and looking up towards the sky. I can only credit God himself for how beautiful these flowers are.

Non-Southern Hospitality

I went to pick up a friend this morning here in Ann Arbor. She lives in an apartment that is part of a big house, so there is a parking lot next to the house. I saw one space left and was a little taken aback as I drove towards the open spot and saw this:

Because I had already thought of parking there, I looked around to see if I would be punished for my iniquity. Noone was to be seen. I slowly backed away and vowed to never again look in the direction of that space.