David Letterman

Peter and I celebrated four years of marriage yesterday, June 10, 2009. In a successful attempt at creating a memorable anniversary, I got us tickets to David Letterman in Manhattan. We had a blast! Talk about funny... he adressed Sarah Palin's recent criticisms of him and rehashed the jokes she had opposed on her website. There was also a funny bit of stupid human tricks which was very entertaining. The whole thing turned out to be a relatively simple process - you register on their website for the days you prefer, and then they call you if they have availability, then ask you a trivia question about the show. Despite the fact that we think DL is hilarious, Peter and I don't watch the show regularly enough to know anything except that his sidekick musician is Paul Schaffer. So, I did some preliminary "research" last week on their website. Didn't think I learned or retained anything except when they asked me what color hair does the announcer have, Alan Kalter. RED! So, we were able to go. I highly recommend this activity for anyone who visits us. It was free and so fabulous - especially learning about the behind-the-scenes filming of the show. Plus, the live band is very, very good, and you're in downtown Manhattan before and after the taping (3-5pm). What a great day! Sure love ya, Petie baby! http://lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/show_info/bios/cast13.php

Here we are in the Big City!

Peter and I currently live in Brooklyn, NY. We've been here for about three weeks, exploring the city and learning the maps of Manhattan, Long Island, Staten Island, Queens and the Bronx. Its exciting and overwhelming. We walk everywhere and hardly use our car. Parking can be tricky and we have to move our car at least once a week when they clean the streets (every street is different). So far, we've only been towed once! Good job, Peter. Now we're very careful to read the signs. We enjoy all of the walking. Its been very rainy and cool, so we still haven't hooked up our air conditioner. We've managed to squeeze in one trip to New Hampshire (Memorial Day Weekend) and we hope to visit the Castletons in Boston this coming weekend. Here are a few pictures of our neighborhood and apartment - its small, but cozy. Peter's in better shape than me right now, so the five flights of stairs sometimes separates us when returning home. He'll often beat me by a flight or two! We look forward to visitors and miss all of our dear friends in Omaha!

Posthumous revenge!

Today at lunch Peter squashed and divided a large wasp in two. With his knife. It was disgusting to watch, especially while we were eating, but I was glad the insect was gone. Well, the bottom half of the wasp's body was lying in a crevice in the table (we were eating outside at Spaghetti Works). About 20 minutes had gone by since Peter had committed the wasp dismemberment. He, conversing animatedly, unintentionally and obliviously put his arm in the crevice and the wasp's stinger got 'em! It was his posthumous revenge. Peter grabbed his elbow and moaned from the pain. Isn't that hilarious? I sure thought so.

Peter's Dental Boards

Peter "took" his Western Regional Dental Boards last weekend (April 3-5, 2009). He had to perform a number of dental procedures on several patients. He did very well, especially under all that stress. I became personally familiar with his stress as his assistant on Saturday and Sunday. The biggest stress is having to depend on the patients... for a grade! What happens if they don't show up? Well, thats where all the fun begins. Peter's Friday afternoon patient did not show up, she did not call, nothing. So, he aimed to do three patients Saturday. One guy, a trucker, called Sat. morning at 6:30am to report that his truck was broken down in Missouri and that he was on his way, he'd just be a few hours late. So, Peter "found" another back-up patient in the lobby and performed a procedure on her. It turned out to be much more complicated that he had anticipated. Four hours and four anesthetic shots later... he aced it. The trucker shows up and we only had enough time to do his preparation, not actually fill the cavity. So, we told him to come back Sunday morning at 7:30am. He must have had a rough night, because we didn't see him Sunday morning.... Peter called a few times. He only had until 11:00am to finish everything to pass his Boards. What to do... what to do...? We snagged another back-up patient in the lobby and asked her if we could do a silver filling, even though she wanted a tooth-colored filling. She reluctantly agreed after Peter promised to re-do the filling in tooth color later on. His examiners required a silver (amalgam) filling. Well, after he's finishing up on Maria (I was the Spanish translator during the procedure), he gets a call from the trucker, now awake and apologizing excessively. Out of the goodness of his heart and after all the stress, Peter invites him to come back in so that he can finish the filling... just because it needed to be done. He'd already taken a deduction in points for switching patients (no fault of his own), but he did TWO fillings, the 2nd just to be nice. We missed General Conference on Sunday morning, but Peter's pretty sure he did adequately on the Boards. What stress! Too much depends on these flaky patients and it seems unfair that the dental students are docked points for things that are out of their control. Oh well, Peter got through it, as always!

Brooklyn it is!

Well, its final. Forget Nashville, forget Philly, we're headed to NY. Peter finalized his decision this morning by turning down the offers from the other two programs. Its nice to know where we're going... again!

Ode to my Father-in-Law

Steve P., his sons call him, with a General Authority ring to it. Mary, his wife, calls him "Noben" from the spanish term for boyfriend. Of course, I call him Stevie or Stevvers. This is the man who started his own computer business, Nelson Data Resources, 30 years ago and it has since morphed into American Healthnet. He is still the President and CEO. He's the big cheese, see. He's important. And.... he's nice. Very nice. He's a true friend to me. He took me to the hospital for my ankle surgery last week because Peter had school and Mary was out of town. He stayed with me up until they took me away for anesthesia. I am so grateful. Thanks, Stevie, you're the man!

Philly Cheese Steak anyone?

Monday, March 16 Peter flies to Philadelphia for yet another oral surgery internship interview! As if Nashville and Brooklyn weren't fabulous enough. So, we still don't know where we're going, but the process has been keeping us humble, prayerful and excited. Where would you go (between the three) if it was your decision, and why?