I am very concerned about the disaster in Asia. The death count is 150,000 today and rising, which one cannot comprehend. It's like wiping out half the city of Plano, Texas with one swoop. It's so tragic I can hardly stand it. And now that everyone is dead, the water system is going to fail and all the remaining people are going to get infectious diseases. We need to do something for these people before things get worse.

I am very proud to live in America whose government pledged 2.3 billion dollars in disaster relief alone last year (not to mention the millions and millions in private money pledged from our citizens). George Bush has promised 350 million dollars in aid along with military transport planes, aircraft carriers, and troops. Plus we might give more as the need arises. I saw that The Red Cross has already received 30 million dollars for Asia disaster relief from American citizens alone. I also saw that the British aid organizations had received 70 million dollars from private citizens. I gave money to Doctors Without Borders yesterday, as I am partial to that profession. They have already set up a clinic in one of the towns and are hard at work with medical supplies and such. I encourage all of you to give a little bit to any of the relief organizations, even if it's only a few bucks. That money might buy some desperately needed water, or a vaccine, or a blanket. Seriously, the victims of the largest natural disaster in recorded history need our help.


www.doctorswithoutborders.org


www.redcross.org

Yesterday was typical. Pool then golf. It was my first game in a while, and I wasn't all that great. But David gave me a few pointers and things got better.

Yesterday evening was sort of interesting. David, Carolyn, and I went to the Galley (a casual restaurant on The Reef) for some pizza and pasta. We had to wait for quite a while so we went to the bar (which has pool tables and shuffleboard) and had a few drinks. I met Carolyn's friends from Highland Park. There is a mom, dad, and four sisters. They all looked exactly alike and had names like Suzie, Maggie, Sarah, and Annie. They all seemed very nice. Then we proceeded to meet a billion other people most of whom were very nice. I don't think we paid for a drink the entire night (as the bartender is from Austin and the Highland Park dad bought us drinks), which is very nice because Carolyn looked up and low and behold her buddy Charles Mann was there. He was a sophomore when I was a senior at Pearce and was a star football player. So we had a room full of Highland Park, Pearce, Berkner, and Austin people. I was pleased to see the Texas delegation in full force.

We then went home to change and freshen up. Then it was back in the car and over to the same bar for a little bit. The same people were there, and then there was a mass migration to another place called the Blues Club. There was a very nice cover band there and about a million people packed into to place. It was typical college bar scene, because all the grandkids of Ocean Reef members are in town for the holidays. Christmas and Spring Break are peak times on The Reef, so it's good if you like lots of people and bad if you hate long lines. So we hung out there, drank, listened to the live band, and chatted with Charles and Carolyn's friends. I recall getting my nipple pinched by a very attractive girl who was in a group of four other girls who may have actually been close to my age (most of the people there were 21ish...maybe a year or two plus or minus). I thanked the nice lady for doing that and told her it made my night. Then I walked away. In hindsight, I probably should have stayed and chatted for a bit, but I'm not that smart. At the very least it would have been nice to talk with people my age. Oh well. The evening was enjoyable nonetheless, and all had a good time.

Yesterday was sort of a unique experience. We got up at 7:30, had a quick breakfast, and headed over to Sunset Cay for some fishing. The group consisted of Dad, Carolyn, David, and me. We arrived at Konrad Murrer's place (which is beautiful) and proceeded over to his boat which is a 50-foot Cabo fishing boat (the Rolls Royce of fishing boats) with two 900-horspower supercharged diesel engines. The sound they made when the captain started the engines was the coolest thing I've heard in a long time. Also on the boat was of course the owner Mr. Murrer (who is a very nice German fellow who's been at Ocean Reef for many years), Captain Charlie, and the mate Jen. We pulled away from the dock and headed to the Atlantic.

Our first stop was to catch the bait fish called Ballyhoo. We used little pieces of cut up squid (and fishing rods) to catch those along with a net when they would come in close to the boat. After we caught a sufficient number of Ballyhoo (pictures provided) we headed to 120 feet of water which is just east of the reef (which is why Ocean Reef is called as such, as it is next to the largest coral reef in the continental United States). Then four fishing rods were baited with the Ballyhoo and we trolled along to catch Sailfish. When it was all said and done, each of the five fishermen caught a Sailfish and only one got away (we were five for six). In addition we saw a few other Sailfish but either couldn't get them to bite or they were caught by other boats. After I caught mine, I went up to the tower with the Captain who is probably about my age. The wind up there was probably pushing 30 knots (which is really windy) and the waves were enormous. But it was awesome to hang out up there with Charlie, chat a little, and take pictures of the Sailfish. The conditions were perfect for catching Sailfish but horrible for fishing as the winds were up and very cold and the water was extremely rough. But it wasn't all that bad, and one gladly trades rough seas for catching five Sailfish. Jen worked her ass off like I've never seen. She was constantly baiting hooks, reeling in the hooks with seaweed on them, baiting more hooks, and catching the Sailfish. After a fish was hooked, she would hand the rod to the next person in line, and that person got to reel in the fish. I caught a little baby Sailfish, and Carolyn caught a 100+ pounder which was probably as big as Carolyn is. So it was an exciting day for sure.

It was cool to talk with Charlie about his background and such. He is from Long Island, New York where he learned to fish and such. One thing lead to another, and he ended up in Key Largo. He was recruited by Jen's husband and now works with Mr. Murrer. Apparently they all live in Homestead in the same community, which I thought was fascinating. It is cool to imagine the fishing community all in the same place sort of like a family. And since Charlie is so young (my age), I bet he is having the time of his life. Jen is one of the coolest women I've ever met. She's also rather young (I would bet her early thirties?) and is one of the best fishermen I've ever seen. She hardly took a break the whole trip and has an outstanding personality. You know the personality type: witty, loud, a bit assertive, but very nice and just fun to be around. She's probably the perfect female drinking buddy and at the same time big sister. So when you mixed all the personalities on the boat, you had a nice group of characters.

So we finished the day up and headed home. And what an outstanding day it was. The last order of business was to raise the flags. You put up one flag for each fish caught, so we had five flags waiving proudly as we came in. Had we been in the Sailfish tournament the day before, we would have tied for first. So I really can't express what a great day it was. Plus we saw a few dolphin swimming abound on the way back which was neat.

>>View the PICTURES<<

The rest of the day was sort of lazy. We were exhausted from fishing so we took showers and lounged around. I'm currently reading two books at once which doesn't make much sense, but then again when do I make much sense. I'm reading Complications which is the account of a surgeon's training in general surgery (a task I will become completely familiar with in a few months) and the other is Birds Without Wings which I've spoken of previously.

Then it was time to head over to the Angler's Club for dinner. Dad invited Konrad over and we all met at 7:00 for some din-din. This particular night was a "cook-out" which really means buffet. Of course the buffet is the grandest buffet you have ever seen. We ate lots of food, drank lots of drinks and had a generally good time. Konrad had several stories and shared a few with us which were all very interesting. Then dinner was over, and we went home. Carolyn and David went out afterwards, and I went to sleep. It was a full day.

I don’t know that I have too much to report on from out here in North Key Largo, Florida. Yesterday (Christmas) was lovely and very lazy. We already opened our presents from the previous night, so instead the day consisted of breakfast, laying out at the pool, and preparing the traditional prime rib Christmas feast. The dinner was spectacular as usual and afterwards we sat down and watched a good chunk of Dodgeball with the absolutely fabulous Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. Then I went to sleep.

Today was a bit more eventful but still tame. I awoke pretty early in preparation for sailfishing in the Atlantic Gulf Stream. However a cool front made its way in early this morning and the winds were intense. They never did seem to die down and fishing was cancelled. This is good, because the surf would have been horrendous, but this is bad because the gentleman we were to fish with has a HUGE fishing yacht which would have been cool to experience. Plus it’s been a long, long time since I’ve been off the reef and into the deep, deep waters of the Gulf Stream so I’m sort of disappointed about that. Maybe he’ll call back to reschedule. Either way, we’re fishing on Tuesday and hopefully I’ll end up with a ton of fish to bring back to Houston.

So the day was much the same. I went to the pool (which ended up being the entire family), went to the golf range to get some practice in, then showered and got ready to see The Polar Express a CGI movie with the main voices done by Tom Hanks. I remember reading the book when I was little and still own the book I’m sure. I think it won the Caldecott Award or something. Anyway, the movie was absolutely fantastic! The animation is incredible. Seriously, it makes Shrek 2 look like Titan AE, which all was a computer animation pioneer back in the late 90’s but now is nothing more than a fancy cartoon. The story was nice too, as it focused on the “Spirit of Christmas” as opposed to the actual Santa Claus or if there really is one or not. It was a lovely message, the movie was funny, and the animation is the best on the planet (until next year when something else comes out). Pretty soon, there will be no need for real actors and people will make big bucks doing voices or something.

A couple of funny side notes, when I was at the pool, Mary Mathieu called to return my Merry Christmas wishes from the previous day. She is in Houston right now with family, and apparently it’s quite a zoo. Shortly after ending our conversation, I got a text message from her sister Sarah which said “It’s 11:30, and I’m already drinking. I love my family.” which was the funniest thing I’d read in quite a while. The other note is that my mom was in the clothes store a few days ago and found some cute pink golf balls that she wanted to get for someone, but the store only took the Ocean Reef credit card or cash. She thought she didn’t have any cash and was fumbling through her purse looking for some. The guy behind her pulled out a big wad of money and offered it to Mom to pay for the pink golf balls, but fortunately she found the correct amount of currency. She turned to thank the guy, and it was Frank Gifford who is a resident here. So that’s kinda fun.

Finally there are two tragic things to talk about. One is the horrible situation in Southeast Asia where an earthquake caused a Tsunami which has killed at least 11,000 people and I can imagine well over 25,000 when everything is counted. This must be one of the worst natural disasters of the last century or so and, it’s impossible to imagine the carnage and loss of life out there. I can’t comprehend 100 deaths much less 25,000. My heart goes out to all of those out there who have lost. The other death was that of Reggie White, one of the best defensive ends to ever play professional football. He seemed to touch many lives during his career and after, and that’s sad especially when it’s someone so young (43).

Merry Christmas!

Mom and Grandmother are beginning preparations for tonight's traditional prime rib dinner, Dad is asking me if he can take his temperature with a meat thermometer (as any dude would ask about a new digital toy), and Carolyn is of course asleep. She did beat my ass in gin last night though, so she needs her rest.

I sort of have nothing to do now that I'm on vacation, so my plan is to blog the shit out of this thing. I'm way behind on my interviewing blogs (which won't be published until March 17th/Match Day), but I did a few on the plane ride to Miami. Speaking of which, I had an aisle thank God, and had the luck to sit next to the largest woman on the planet. I think she single-handedly is responsible for making Houston the fattest city in America a few years back. But she was very nice and really didn't spill over the seat too much, so I can't complain. We all have to be sensitive about this sort of thing, because it's a disease just like influenza blah blah blah. Whatever! I think genetics plays into everything by providing dispositions to certain conditions, but we mostly control our own destiny and certainly have control of our bodies when it comes to what we feed it. Back to the trip...I did a few interview blogs and arrived in Miami. When I left Houston it was 36 degrees and snowing this sleet/hail/snow concoction and upon arriving in Miami it was 80 with 85% humidity. I'm glad I didn't wear a sweater, that's for sure.

Jerome who is Mel’s boyfriend of many years picked me up. Mel is my grandmother's personal assistant for twenty-two years. She is one of the nicest people on the planet. She takes care of all her kids and all her grandkids, makes sure the homework is done, cooks the food, and has a job on top of that. Of course my grandmother takes very good care of Mel, but Mel is one of the hardest working and honest people I've ever known. She would sort of be considered a nanny, but that doesn't fit, because we only come here once or twice a year for a week, and she doesn't have to take care of us...she takes care of Grandmother. So anyway, Jerome drove me to Ocean Reef, which is a small private community on the north end of Key Largo, which is the first and largest key from the Florida mainland.

We arrived at 5 PM, and I hopped in the shower and got ready for drinks with the Sladkey's. Ken owns several dental clinics in Florida and Marita is from Austria. They are two of the nicest people in the building. We were joined by Marita (Junior) and her son Jacob who is 6 and just might be smarter than I am. We were also joined by the Duffins who live on the 5th floor. We talked and had drinks and such. Then it was off to the restaurant for dinner. People normally have prime rib buffet on Friday nights, but we are having that tonight so Grandmother called ahead and special ordered. We had soup, salad, and a veal with proscuitto thing similar to osso bucco. It was quite tasty.

We went home and had Christmas. The highlight of the evening was the lavender bed sheets that grandmother got from all the kids (kids being her kids). It's funny how adults react to that sort of thing. They love getting bed sheets, little kids love getting GI Joe's and Nintendo games, and young adults get clothes and money. It's all quite simple. I got a cool sweatshirt from Australia, some power adapters for China, some Starbuck's gift cards, the Napoleon Dynamite DVD from my sister, and some money. After opening presents (which was very fun and cute to have the whole family present) Carolyn and I played gin. Then I fell asleep.

It has become apparent that the city of Houston has gone a bit crazy concerning our current weather situation. Of course, when I say "situation" I mean nothing of the sort. Currently there are partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 45 degrees. There isn't snow, there isn't ice, and there isn't wind. Yet as I drove home from work today 33% of the homes I passed had literally covered their entire lawn and flowers in anticipation of the apocalypse or something. While at the Rice Village today (one of the nicer shopping areas in town) people were literally bundled up in fur coats and scarves. FUR COATS! Seriously people, 45 degrees isn't going to freeze your pipes and kill your periwinkles. The folks in Dallas have reason to get a bit scared, as their low will be 14. And the people in Minneapolis would probably be wearing shorts and dancing in the streets if it were this warm in December. It's all very silly if you ask me.

Today was the last day of PET/CT imaging at school. The experience was very beneficial from an anatomy standpoint. Plus my schedule was flexible which allowed me to interview and such. It was an excellent month. Next month I have off, so my 5-week vacation officially starts now. This is good.

I leave for Key Largo, Florida tomorrow. HO HUM! 80 degrees, golf, fishing, and nothing but the best gourmet food one can imagine. I'll be sure to blog all of it and take lots of pictures so that all of you can be jealous. But seriously I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday with family and friends. I hope all are well.

I'm sitting in the PET Imaging suite at the medical school. The morning was very busy but fun, because both of my attendings were out of the office. So I had an opportunity to read all of the pending PET scans which is enjoyable. In case you didn't guess, this month I'm doing PET scanning which stands for Positron Emission Tomography. Basically, the patient is given a bunch of IV glucose which is then metabolized by the tissues. As the glucose is metabolized, positrons are emitted (the opposite of electrons) from the tissue. This sort of test is considered "functional" because it tells us what is actually happening to the tissue on a molecular level.

This modality of imaging is especially important in the areas of oncology (cancer) and brain pathology. The brain, heart, and kidney take up the most glucose in the body. So naturally PET would be very good at looking at these structures. One can determine if the heart muscle is functioning properly or if parts of the muscle have died from a heart attack. Or one can look at the brain to see if all areas are metabolizing the glucose equally. If one section isn't pulling its weight, it might mean the patient had a previous stroke. So you see how this might be useful.

It turns out there is one other time when tissue will be taking up lots of glucose. Can you guess which kind? This kind of tissue is rapidly dividing therefore requiring tons of energy (or glucose fuel). I'm actually talking about a tumor or cancer. PET is very useful to see where cancers are growing in the body or if the primary cancer has broken off (or metastasized) to other locations in the body. This technology is cutting edge, so I'm quite fortunate to be spending a month here learning how it works. Some of the PET scans are linked to CT scans (or CAT scans) which are very good at teaching me anatomy. So I'm learning on all fronts. Drs. Barron and Joseph are in charge here and have been very nice teachers and people so far this month. I'll try and send you a picture of what this technology looks like.

Also, I have updated the blog to reflect the two weekends ago trip to Austin and last weekend's trip to DC now has pictures.

Hello, who do I know from Windham, New Hampshire using Lightstream Internet??

Drop me a note: tommy "at" tommyroshek.com

Friday

I arrived in Baltimore at 1 PM on Friday and proceeded to the largest rental car garage I have ever seen. In Baltimore they have combined the space for all rental companies and have a common area for cars and the rental counters. I went to the Dollar area to get my car, which was scheduled to be a sweet, sweet Dodge Neon. Well, they were out of Dodge Neons, so I was offered a sweet, sweet Dodge Minivan or a midsize car (a Stratus). Since I'm already dropping $70 for the weekend, the Stratus would have been $30 extra. So I said I'll go with the minivan at the same price. The very annoying man at the counter (who already didn't say hello or really look at me when I arrived at the counter), finally looked up and said, "Are you serious? You mean to tell me that you're going to take a minivan over a midsize?" as if I had disappointed him as a person somehow. He wanted to know how in shit this little dude could take a minivan over a midsize in his presence.

So I got my sweet, sweet minivan and drove to Washington DC. It's an interesting drive down I-95. You get to see the National Security Administration offices and take a drawbridge over the Potomac River. I also got to drive on the I-495 Beltway which circles the city much like I-635 or I-610 in Dallas or Houston respectively. I think there's a political show in DC called "The Beltway Boys" so apparently they talk about traffic conditions and such. I finally arrived at Nikolas and Lacy's apartment and then turned around and went to the new condo, which is just to the south of the old apartment. Nick was installing the wood flooring in the new condo, so I focused on writing everything I remembered about the surgery programs I'd already visited on a piece of paper. This is good, because I have the pros and cons for each program for when this is all said and done. My rank list should be completed immediately after my last interview. Then I had interview stuff that I can’t talk about here.

Saturday

On Saturday after the interview, I arrived at Nick and Lacy's apartment where Lacy was typing a paper describing how the spreading out of society is causing childhood obesity. This is called Sprawl. I think this sort of thing is fascinating as well as the entire field of public health in which Lacy is getting her Masters degree. I would love to do something like this, but I simply can't spare the year out of my life to do such a thing. Nathan Beach would also love the discussion on Sprawl, as he is not a fan of how this concept is ruining our cities. She typed while I napped and played with the little Chihuahua called Picasso. This little dog was the ring bearer in the wedding. So then Nick got home and we began preparations for going out while flipping channels between Startrek: Generations on the Sci Fi Channel, Men in Black on TNT, and something else. We then piled into the now remarkably convenient Dodge minivan and picked up Sean Glass (the best man at the wedding) and his girlfriend Kellee from the Sheraton Pentagon South (being my modifer is misplaced, it should be noted that Sean did not find this girl at the Sheraton Pentagon South--they actually met through business connections). We proceeded to a restaurant called La Tomate (Italian) which is located adjacent to Dupont Circle in the heart of Washington DC. Lacy and I had the trenette nere la tomate* which is black fettuccini mixed with shrimp, shitake mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, fish stock, and a white wine sauce. Nick had a pounded and broiled pork chop covered in truffle oil, and Sean and Kellee had capelinna arangosta* or lobster with angel hair pasta. The wine we chose was exquisite. The first was an Italian Chianti which was ok and the second was an Italian Pino Grigio which was so good, I took a picture of the label that will be provided here. It was called Pravis Trentino Pinot Grigio 2003. It was one of the best white wines I've had since the D'Albola. So the dinner was fantastic and enjoyable.

*spellings may be grossly incorrect

Then we went to a bookstore called Kramer Books which is attached to the Ampersand Afterwards Cafe where I had outstanding walnut Kahlua moose pie and coffee. The actual name of the place is Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe, but it was more fun to spell everything out like an idiot. Our waitress was from the Raleigh/Durham area which is where Sean and briefly Nick are from as well. It turns out that Sean's brother was in the same high school class as this girl who is now a senior at GW University. That was weird.

Next up, we went to the Eighteenth Street Lounge which is a swank "ultra-hip" (as quoted by the ultra liberal reviewers at the WashingtonPost.com) three-story bar which apparently was once owned by Ben Franklin who Lacy tells me was a male whore (and then added "but a smart person"...and then Nick added "a brilliant renaissance man nonetheless"). The location was beautiful and had fireplaces and plush sofas. We had martinis and listened to a live jazz band up on the third floor. The bassist and trumpet players were outstanding. Then we sort of got tired, so it was time to wrap things up. On the way home we drove past the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the US Treasury, the Jefferson Memorial, and a bunch of other stuff. The evening ended with the three of us watching Chris Rock say the "f" word on Comedy Central.

Sunday

This morning I started things off with the dog licking my face in bed. That happened several times throughout the night, which was amusing. Then Lacy made us breakfast which consisted of soft-boiled eggs, toast, strawberry and gooseberry preserves, fresh amaretto coffee, and sausage. It was delightful with the three of us sitting there at the breakfast table overlooking Alexandra, Virginia and discussing politics (two of us defending blue state philosophy and one of us defending red state philosophy). Now the plan is for Nick and I to head into DC to check out some sights and stuff. More to come...

So we went into Old Town Alexandria, where every 1,000 square foot town home is over $500,000. I think that's swell...but not really. We parked and headed into a place called the Torpedo Factory, which is actually an old torpedo factory used around World War I or so. Now it's been converted into space for tons of artists who display their work in their own room. So really it's like a museum, but here the works are for sale. We chatted with several of the artists and had a really swell time. Some of the artwork was absolutely fantastic. One guy did clay vases which had miniature scenes inside. There were little holes in the side of the vases so that you could see the miniature world inside. It was very clever. We also met a guy who's been at the Torpedo Factory since its inception around 30 years ago. There was another guy who made sculptures out of stainless steel. The people's heads were triangles which reminded me of the old Spy Vs. Spy comics from Mad Magazine. I took several pictures with my little phone (because my Kodak LS443 Easy Share camera is broken for the 5th time).

Then we went out back and gazed at the beautiful Potomac river with the Capitol building and Reagan Airport in the background. Along the banks were thousands of trees with no leaves and a little park as well. It was beautiful.

Then we went to visit the woman who made Nick and Lacy's wedding cake. I had this "custard" thing (which is really more like soft serve ice cream) called Mozambique. It was the greatest thing ever. I think my waffle cone had at least 1,000 calories. After that I went back to Nick's, packed, and headed to a bar/grill to have buffalo wings pizza before heading to the airport.

The drive to Baltimore was interesting. Driving in DC is impossible and isn't much fun for a first-timer. I hit downtown only to find everything was under construction. Next thing I know, I'm in the ghetto in the middle of nowhere. I drove for about 25 minutes and finally hit the correct highway. I actually got to the rental car return place with over an hour until my flight took off. But, I forgot to get gas for my minivan, so then I drove around literally for 40 minutes looking for gas. I finally found a place next to a Bass Pro Shop in the mall, filled up, and turned the car in. The bus to the airport took exactly 7 minutes which left me with 15 minutes to get to the plane. Airport security took exactly 30 seconds (no line), and I hit the gate with 10 minutes to spare. Unfortunately, right after arriving it was announced that the flight was delayed 30 minutes, so I had plenty of time. I got on the flight, listened to a baby scream for 2.5 hours, had a free Amstel Light, wrote a thank-you letter to a program director from a previous interview, made a list of the pros and cons of each program, fell asleep, and landed in Houston.

That was Washington DC experience #2. Booyah.

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So I'm here at Nikolas and Lacy's place in Alexandria, VA. I'm drinking "two buck" Chuck. It's awesome. More to come.

So while I was at my interview in Birmingham on Thursday night, I got a call from Omar who was in Austin. He was in town at dinners/parties on Thursday and Friday. So I got home very late on Friday night and decided to drive to Austin early Saturday morning to say hello to Omar and Ernie.

Traffic getting out of Houston was abysmal. They shut down northbound traffic on the 610 East Loop. So I sat on the frontage road for about an hour. It was awesome. The rest of the drive into Austin was uneventful but pretty along I-10/71. Upon arriving in Austin I was informed that I would be having brunch at the Four Seasons. This apparently is the only 4-star resort in Austin, so I was excited about that. I joined Omar, Ernie, and Ernie's girlfriend already at the table. The eggs benedict was outstanding. It was the usual dish with the added twist of a salsa thing, which was interesting and good. The mimosas were flowing as well, which usually makes for a nice brunch.

After breakfast, I took pictures of the train model in the lobby and of Santa who was visiting. Apparently the nice Austin weather lured him in. We decided we'd visit the Lotus dealership up north of campus which was sorta fun. Then we had to show Ernie Austin's Central Market, which was right across the street. He was, of course, very amazed and pleased with the store. Then I sent the three guests on their way back to El Paso. I plan to fly out there sometime in January to visit and play some golf. I've never been to El Paso, so it should be a fun excursion.

After Central Market, it was time to meet up with Janelle, who I have mentioned several times previously in this here blog. I met her at a little cafe off of West 6th Street for an art gallery opening. The photographer's name is Steve Hopson who is the owner of Art Photography. The e-mail address on his business card is Steve_Hopson AT Hotmail.com. This gentleman's work was very cool. Most of it was taken in Costa Rica with beautiful landscapes. However, his best work was of people's faces. He would take face shots of people posing for him. The expressions are amazing. You can almost understand a person just by looking at his or her face. The photographs were truly remarkable.

Then Janelle announced that I would be running some errands with her. Our first stop was The Grapevine, which sells every liquor and wine on the planet. She needed ingredients for chocolate martinis to give to her mother for Christmas. I called Matt Ellinwood to make him miss being in Texas (which is cruel and unusual), but it was nice to chat with him. I'm sure when he comes back to Texas and I'm somewhere else, he'll call me and make me fell homesick as well. Then it was off to Wallgreens for a few items. I purchased some kick ass scissors. Janelle purchased kitty litter among other things. Finally we went to Sephora, which is a perfume place. My sister used to work at the one in Northpark Mall-Dallas. I jokingly said I needed a facial to which the salespeople threatened to give me one the rest of the visit. Admittedly I was very afraid of that occurring, which fortunately did not transpire. Janelle purchased some pretty eye stuff which had some glitter in it (at my request). This was just a faint trace of glitter mind you, so she didn't look like Britney Spears or something. Plus, Janelle is more attractive than Britney in the first place, so no glitter is required. I thought it would be fun, and ultimately she looked lovely wearing it.

Then back at her place we had lots of wine and cheese. The movie of choice was The Virgin Suicides by Sophia Coppola who also directed Lost in Translation with Bill Murray. Virgin Suicides (with an all-star cast including James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, and a brief look at Danny DeVito) wasn't my favorite movie on the planet, because there was little character development if any. There were several events strung together that sort of made a plot, but Coppola focused on the social interactions rather than the characters' backgrounds. So based on the sociology study, the film was interesting. But the overall movie was mediocre I guess. James Woods was his usual fantastic self though.

Then we got dressed and headed to an Italian restaurant called Carmelo's. I had lobster bisque soup and lobster pasta. I totally forgot what Janelle had, but we had a nice bottle of wine (or two?). The meal was good, and the restaurant was very quaint and comfortable. There were several groups of high school kids which were probably out for a winter formal or something like that. So it was fun. Then it was off to The B-Side which I have spoken of several times previously in this here blog. We drank upstairs and talked. It was the usual bar stuff. Then Janelle decreed we would be going to a club/bar off 6th street (on 7th street). I forget the name, but I think it may have been called The Manhattan Bar or something like that. It was your typical swanky bar which attempted to be upscale with plush sofas lining the periphery with a dance floor in the middle. There were also plasma screens throughout showing weird imagery. It was a nice overall place though. We had yet more drinks (don't worry mom, we took a taxi roundtrip) and then the dancing began. I mention the dancing, because I committed a serious faux-pas. First off, it takes a lot of alcohol to get me on the dance floor in the first place, but it certainly can happen. So the fact that I was out there tells you something. We were listening to the hits of the 90's (lots of Humpty Dumpy, Michael Jackson, Young MC, et cetera) and dancing the night away, when I dropped my drink. This drink was already consumed mind you, but glass and ice went everywhere. One dude looked at me weird, and that was the end of that. It's very embarrassing though, because only idiots do that sort of thing. So count me in.

Then we went home and went to sleep. It was a very satisfying evening I must say.

The next morning greeted me with French-pressed coffee and omelet chez Janelle. It was remarkably good, considering she was "cleaning out her fridge" to make the breakfast. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and I drove back to Houston. It was a pretty sweet twenty-four hours I must admit. And it's always such a joy to see Janelle. Besides Ryan contributing himself to my life, Janelle is probably his second greatest contribution.

>>View the PICTURES<<

I haven't done this in quite awhile. I think interviews and such are really going to hamper this blogging thing. Speaking of which, I saw the movie Butterfly Effect tonight with Ryan and April. This film is actually quite interesting and worth seeing. I don't want to say too much about it, but you sort of get the feeling you're not going to be happy about the ending...and you aren't let down.

April was in attendance to cook Ryan and I dinner. The meal came in a box which required us to add water, chicken breast, asparagus, dried ginger, and soy sauce. It wasn't so bad, especially with the two bottles of wine we consumed. I would have taken pictures, but my fucking Kodak LS443 digital camera is in the shop AGAIN, because it keeps breaking. I think it's my last Kodak camera, even though they agreed to fix it for free this time.

Some of the people in my medical school are thinking about having the Christmas party at my house again. Only this time instead of 150 people showing up, 300 will show up, because all four classes are invited. I don't think I want to host this thing. I'll make a decision by this weekend.

I travel to another interview tomorrow. I still need to blog the two previous interviews, but I'm not motivated. Plus I need to blog the trip to St. Arnold's brewery, but April hasn't given me the pictures yet. Soon my children, soon. I guess this will be my third straight interview without the camera for blogging purposes. That really pisses me off.

Coming soon, a Thanksgiving weekend Blog.