Eatons in NYC

Peter's cousins were here this past week. We, or rather I, met up with them for dinner on Friday night at some random hole in the wall burger shack in the hotel lobby of an upscale property in Manhattan. Yummy. Good choice Clin. We had some quick catch up conversation and then they were off to see another broadway show. Peter had to work that night. But Sunday afternoon Peter and I were both able to join Alana and Andy for lunch and a cathedral tour of St. John the Divine (which will be located diagonally from us when we move to the city). It was a wonderful afternoon. Except for the boring tour guide that made Peter crazy, and the random waiter who egregiously neglected us and then we caught him watching football when he was supposed to be processing our bill. !? Oh well, it made for a typical customer service memory in the city.
Here I am pictured with Nate, and the group shot features Andy, Clin, Arianne, Ben, Alana, Nate, with Jackie and I down in front.
Did you know that in Italian they pronounce Eaton as AY-UH-TONE? Just as they pronounce President Clinton as CLEEEN-TONE. Very amusing. :)
Thanks for coming out gang, we really enjoyed seeing you!

Memphis!

I saw the musical MEMPHIS this past week with my friend Sara Orlando. It was surprisingly fantastic! The dancing and choreography were superb, the singing was outstanding, and the storyline and acting were great. I have only positive things to say about this show. Wow, it seriously took me by surprise and was more fabulous than I thought it would be.

The show's about a white dj in the 50's who likes R&B or black music as it was referred to in racist Tennessee at that time. He attends a black club regularly, and falls for a beautiful, talented black girl named Felicia. Their relationship is taboo and must be kept secret. Huey, the dj, promises Felicia that he'll make her famous. He makes good on his promise and she goes on to success in NY, but Huey struggles to find himself outside of Memphis.

The funniest characters are Huey's mom, Huey himself and Big Love Daddy.

Worth the $67? Yes, because like I told Peter, it was our anniversary celebration 2 days early (even though I didn't even go with him) and thus he only had to buy ONE ticket, not two. :)

Memorial Day 2010

Plan B turned out to be splendid. Plan A was to go as passenger on friend's motorcycle (Honda Nighthawk 750) up to New Hampshire for a weekend with the Makechnies (Peter's twin sister and her family). After much deliberation, we decided that Plan A would lead to extreme exhaustion and soreness of body despite the excitement of the concept. The bike ride would have taken 6-7 hours each way... and good thing we changed our plans because said friend failed her licensing test on Friday morning, which means we wouldn't have been able to go anyway! Truly, the bus was the way to go for that distance.
So, plan B. Fall asleep on the couch at 8:30pm watching a movie Friday night w/ Peter.
Saturday am - go to the gym, jog, weights, the works. Enjoy a leisurely brunch and pick up groceries and flowers at nearby Trader Joe's.
Saturday afternoon - hang out with Peter all afternoon... walk in the park, dinner at the Smoke Joint (BBQ), and watch a documentary about Tony Blair.
Sunday - go to church, song practice, relax, rollerblading with Peter at Riverside Park along the Hudson River. Stop by new apartment on the upper west side in Manhattan and measure doorways and cupboard space for the big move next month!
Monday - jogging in the am, brunch with Peter, read my book for hours (2nd one in the Hunger Games trilogy), head over to friends' for BBQ preparation. Leisurely afternoon in friends' backyard and hammock. Collapse in bed.
Who doesn't love a 3-day weekend!?

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!

Yankees Game!

Peter and I went to the Yankees baseball game on Saturday, April 17. They played the Texas Rangers. It was my ideal way of celebrating the big 37 and the first day of his vacation. So, we splurged. $60 a ticket, but worth every penny, I told Peter. "This is why I work overtime!" Indeed. So, although I am a Diamondbacks girl at heart (yeah, we won the world series in 2002!), I can appreciate any baseball game.
I love the atmosphere of a baseball stadium. There are so many interesting people to watch, random spurts of dance/ techno music, yummy hot dogs and ice cream, goofy crowd cameras, etc. etc. And the game itself, of course. I think I love baseball games because I grew up playing softball, so I can relate on a very small degree. I played right field and often missed pop fly's or even grounders, but I always had fun.
Peter was a good sport and didn't ask to leave until the 5th inning. :) We compromised and left middle of the 7th.... to beat the crowds. The Yankees were up by 7, so we knew how it would end up. Good thing we did because the subway was already pretty packed.
The only sour note in our outing was a minor altercation on the subway. I leaped to a bench so that we could sit down on our 47 minute commute home. We got separated in my leaping, and Peter was about 3 seconds behind me. I sat down and a young girl (22-ish) told me to move over so that she could sit down. I said that I was saving this space for my husband who was 3 seconds away from sitting down himself. She freaked out and began yelling at me: "don't play with me or someone's gonna get hurt!" In shock, I remained speechless. She pinched my leg to get me to move over (my calf) and then plopped down on top of me! By that time, Peter had arrived and told her to calm down, that nobody was going to get hurt. He remained standing. In a weak attempt to pacify the situation , I patted her leg and said lamely - "you can learn to be nice to people. Someday you will." She freaked out again and yelled: "Don't touch me! Don't you play with me or you gonna get hurt!" What a wack job. Clearly, there was nothing to be done. We all left each other alone and she got off 10 minutes later. I'm still disturbed, thinking, how could I have handled that better. She was belligerent by nature and upset me that she would pinch me. Wow. True, I shouldn't have "saved seats" on the subway... but avoidance is the only way to survive some people and situations.
It didn't spoil our fun day at the ball park, though!

Moving to Manhattan!

Last week I went and checked out our new apartment on the upper W side of Manhattan. We will be moving in either end of June or early July. Its fantabulous! More square footage, more closet space, great location (4 blocks from Central Park and the Hudson; one block south of Columbia University), elevator, laundry in building, and proximity to Peter's work. He will literally be across the street from the hospital which means we'll see each other more often, even when he's "on-call!" Its such a blessing because its somewhat subsidized and although barely affordable, do-able. Thus, we're only moving five miles north of where we currently live.

A friend at work told me that every October there is a blessing of the animals at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine - located diagonally from our apt. building. Check back in 6 months for pics of that! From what I hear, ponies, turtles, dogs, and cats are brought before priests to be blessed. How random is that!? Looking forward to the crazy adventure that will be the life in the city.

If you're not familiar with the terminology and layout of this here parts, we already live in NYC, but in Brooklyn - which is one of the 5 boroughs that comprise NYC. The Bronx (peninsula), Brooklyn (SW tip of Long Island), Queens (NW tip of Long Island), Staten Island (an island) and Manhattan (an island) comprise NYC. Long Island is part of New York state, not NYC. Confused yet? When people say "the city" they are referring to Manhattan, as if Manhattan represented all of NYC... which it practically does. Thats where most of the action is. Manhattan has Central Park, all of the best museums, the financial district, Times Square, etc. etc. and eventually us. Brooklyn has Coney Island, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, and us! The Bronx has the Yankees stadium, Staten Island has nothing really, and Queens is famous for "Julie and Julia." If you want to visit the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, they are both additional small ilslands just SW of Manhattan island, so you have to ferry out to them. Hope that helps!