Knocking Off The Blog Rust

It has been 15 days since my last blog. My life over the last couple of weeks has been devoid of any variety whatsoever. I have pretty much been holed-up in my apartment studying just about all day long.

Since the last time I blogged, I finished up my Clinical Medicine course and did pretty well on the final. With the exception of 6 lectures by visiting physicians from the US next week, I am finished all my classes here. I only have self studying to do and a simulated board exam to take in December that is mandatory, otherwise I'd be on the first flight out of here. So my days recently have been filled watching review videos, doing countless board prep questions, and pouring over notes. It is pretty impressive the vast amount of material we are supposed to know at this point. I have been doing fairly well on the practice questions so far so I am not quite as panicked as I was a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, little miss Rileigh has ceremoniously ended her run as world's best behaved baby by refusing to nap during the day for more than 11 minutes and by waking up at 3:16 am every night just to work out the old vocal cords. I suppose we knew it had to end at some point, but this week has been quite painful. Her usual pleasant demeanor has not been affected by lack of sleep, until today that is. As I write this Kathy is aimlessly driving around the island in an effort to get the little demon to fall asleep. Maybe Rileigh is just as ready as we all are to get off this island and get back home. Who can blame her- 88 degrees and sunny everyday! Yuck!

Here is a picture of Rileigh sitting up for the first time.

More Halloween Pictures

This was one of my favorite costumes:



All I can think about is the Saturday Night Live parody song. "Step 1, cut a hole in a box. Step 2...."

Halloween Pictures

Yesterday the Spouses Organization here at school put together the annual Halloween party and Trunk-or-Treating for the kids. Trunk-or-treating, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is when all the parents decorate the trunks of their cars in a Halloween-type theme and then use this as a base of operations to hand out candy to the children who go from car to car in a big parking lot. This serves to keep the kids safe, in a small area, and in an area where there are sporadically placed houses, like here, it is a good idea. The festivities included pumpkin painting (actually oranges but the kids didn't seem to mind), a Halloween pinata, a pie eating contest, and a few other games the kids participated in for prizes. All in all it was a pretty good time.

Rileigh seemed to enjoy her first Halloween as well. Kathy made her a little butterfly costume.

Kaitlyn

My middle daughter, Kaitlyn, has correctly pointed out that I have not posted a picture of her recently. So with my with my apologies for being remiss, here is my beautiful daughter in one of her famous self portraits. I love you and miss you baby!

Fun With Picture Captions Again

My (winning) caption for this weeks caption contest:

As an aspiring veterinary dentist young Pedro was infatuated with the toothy beast. Unfortunately for Pedro however, the field of prosthetics has not yet advanced to the point of incorporating a dental drill into his mechanical arm.

Hat tip once again to Dazed and Confused for holding these contests. Click on the link to see all the results.

You know you're getting old when...

Your oldest daughter goes to her first high school homecoming dance.

An Evening of Firsts

Rileigh had her first cereal this evening. Only a tablespoon of powdered cereal mixed with some milk, but she took to it pretty well. She eats well- you know what they say apple...tree...not far. Meanwhile her big sister is going to her first high school homecoming dance tonight and I hope to have pictures of her soon.

I Feel Secure Now

While driving today I noticed that our security jeep has decided to cater to the dyslexics on the island. Click on the picture to enlarge and read what number to call in case of "ycnegreme".

Pictures from a Rainy Day

The weather here has been uncharacteristically rainy over the last week or so and today was no exception. here are a few pictures taken while driving to and from the grocery store.



The rain apparently wreaked havoc among the local drives as there was a pretty impressive accident that happened in front of us. Notice the wheel was ripped right off.

Boo!

The Associated Press released the results of a poll it conducted and the results are...well, frightening!

Slightly over 1/3 (34%) of Americans say that they believe in ghosts. Amazingly, 23% claim to have actually seen one. 19% of Americans believe in witchcraft and spells. Let me repeat that last one. One in 5 Americans believe in the existence of Magic spells!

STOP THE STUPIDITY, I WANT TO GET OFF! Magic spells indeed! If I had Harry Potter's magic wand I would wave it at the country and yell "Cogita, Cogita, Cogita!"(yeah its Latin, look it up)

In addition to ghosts and spells, almost half of those surveyed claim that they believe in extra sensory perception (ESP). Despite there existing no credible evidence whatsoever tho substantiate the claim.

If you have any doubts, consider the adage that money talks and bullshit walks:

Since the 1960's James Randi, the one time magician and escape artist(the Amazing Randi), has offered a cash prize to anyone who could, under observable conditions, prove the existence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult event. What started as a $1000 challenge in 1964 has mostly through donations, grown to a MILLION DOLLARS. The contest is handled now by the James Randi Educational Foundation and you guessed it, to date it remains unclaimed! Randi has on numerous occasions challenged self-claimed psychic Sylvia Brown to accept the million dollar challenge and she has accepted on TV but has yet to show up for the test. It has been over 5 years. Click here for more on the Sylvia Brown incident complete with video clips.