Bosom Sisters

My younger sister Meredith visited me last weekend (May 13-18). A glorious time was had by all... except maybe Peter who was lonely and jealous and had to study. :( Pobrecito. Here's what we did:

Friday: Saw the show "Lend me a Tenor." Very funny show with amazing acting by the men in this production. Probably too many sexual innuendos for my taste. Justin Bartha is darling!

Saturday: Stood in line for discount tickets, toured the southern tip of Manhattan (City Hall, Wall Street, World Trade Center, St. Paul's Cathedral, Trinity Church, Battery Park), then shared a pizza with my dear friend Sarah Fulton and raced to see the show "Billy Elliot." The show was good except for the underlying homosexual theme and the excessive swearing by the children. Disturbing how many ppl. find that so amusing - when kids imitate adult vices. On our way home that night, down in the 42nd street subway station, we happened upon a group of musical misfits who call themselves the "Meatles." They sing Beatles' songs and are pretty good, actually. They sell cd's and t-shirts and lectured us plenty on how often we should be leaving them tips. It was like a mini-concert! People were jamming out and singing along! One of the most enjoyable characters was a rather homely, portly fellow with no expression on his face who kept texting people or taking pictures or whatever... during their performances! And he was very serious about getting the crowd to clap when it was time to clap. I posted a picture of him (far right) so that you might imagine how much mirth he gave us.

Sunday: Went to church, then the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then enjoyed dinner at an outside cafe, then wandered along Riverside Park - the Hudson River.

Monday: Slept in, took a boat around the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island where we spent the next 5 hours. This is a museum that I HIGHLY recommend for anybody and everybody to visit. Wow. Later we ate dinner with Sarah Fulton at "Serendipity." Gorged out on an enormous chocolate fudge sundae, then roamed the city for a while and ended up at our aprtment to chat for hours.

Tuesday - Meredith left early, early and I slept in!

It was so fun to have her here. We've always been close, and I'm so grateful for the friendship that we share.

So, why haven't YOU come to visit?

The Dental Deck

So, Peter took an exam three years ago - The Dental Boards Part I - at the end of his sophomore year of dental school. This exam focuses on the academic portion of dentistry: biochemistry (gag), human anatomy and physiology, and a bunch of other -ologies. Bunches and bunches. So many so that there is a stack of flashcards called the "Dental Deck" to study for this exam. These cards are numbered and there over 1,100 of them! Yikes! And the dental deck costs up to $300 and is only about half of the necessary study material to succeed at said test. Peter did fairly well. Three years ago that is. He got a solid B. Unfortunately, his score wasn't as high as many oral surgery programs would like; they've been looking at this score at every interview he's been to over the last couple of years trying to get into a residency program.

So, this past Spring he made the decision to re-take the exam and try for a higher score. What an undertaking! What commitment! In classic Peter style, he's been focused on studying ardently for the past three months. He carries flashcards around with him everywhere and tries to internalize such lofty concepts as:

A presumptive diagnosis of classic hemophilia (hemophilia A) is made, and coagulation blood tests are performed. Which of the following is the most likely set of findings of coagulation screening tests?
A - Normal platelet count and thrombin time; prolonged bleeding time, prothrombin time (PT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT)
B - Normal bleeding time, platelet count, thrombin time, and PTT; prolonged PT
C - Normal bleeding time, platelet count, thrombin time, and PT; prolonged PTT
D - Normal bleeding time, platelet count, and thrombin time; prolonged PT and PTT
Answer - (C) Normal bleeding time, platelet count, thrombin time, and PT; prolonged PTT

This is one of 1,100 folks. Can you imagine having to take a geometry or an algebra test today? How much do you remember fom high school? Double UGH. His brain may have let go of a few concepts over the past few years... but he's doing his best to get it all back in there!

Peter takes the exam on Thursday, May 20. We hope and pray that it goes well, that he gets a higher as opposed to a catastrophic lower score this time around. Your prayers and good "chi" are greatly appreciated. Go Peter!