Snore-onto

I'm back from vacation and sitting on my couch on a blissful Thursday night watching Mars Attacks! Classes and clinics started again this past Monday and I'm already feeling a little fried. As Katrina put it, it feels more like we had a long weekend than a 2 1/2 week break. It certainly doesn't feel like the beginning of fall semester but I can't complain--watching the new D1's start on Tuesday just reminded me how much better I have it this year than the first two years!

Anyhoobie, Josh and I took a short trip to Toronto last week to get away from Ann Arbor a little bit and to explore a big city. I've been to Toronto a few times recently but Josh hadn't been in a long time so we were both excited. We did a lot of research and consulted a lot of friends as to where to shop, eat, and play. Unfortunately, I think we must have missed something. We were unimpressed with the shopping, shockingly had trouble finding restaurants, and got embarassed saying "loonie" and "toonie". To be fair, we didn't exactly paint the town red after dark or quite have the funds to shop in Yorktown. Even still, we just didn't love it as much as we were hoping. It was great to get out of town for a little bit and we did enjoy visiting the Bata Shoe Museum but I guess we'll have to give Toronto a second chance another time. Here are a few pics:


A drive-by pic of the CN Tower


Canadian geese at Eaton shopping Centre


The heart of downtown on Yonge Street


A self shot in a cozy booth at The Pickle Barrel restaurant

Before coming back to school, we also camped it up with our friends Christin and Bob slightly outside Ann Arbor last weekend. It's always good to see high school friends and newly-married Rod even turned up for a day. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the tent the whole weekend so I don't have any pics but we had a good time. I'm hoping to have one more chance to go camping this year before it gets too cold later in the fall but the outlook is not good; 4 of 5 weekends in September are home Michigan football games. We'll see...I didn't quite get my fix of hobo pizzas and campfire smell this year.

I guess much like my trip to Toronto this post has been pretty snore-worthy. Expect some pics and a recap of The Meltdown, the annual dental school welcome back party tomorrow night, soon.

Have a great weekend!

xoxox

A fall kick-off Friday Five

1. What is your local lake/river/sea?
It used to be the Grand River and Lake Michigan but now it's the lame Huron River. It makes for a scenic canoe trip but is only a good ride if it's rained recently--we grounded our canoe in the middle of the river at least 5 times a few weeks ago. I never thought I'd say this but I miss Lake Michigan so much. Wah!

2. Do you believe in dragons and unicorns?
Um, no. However, I did have high hopes for the Komodo Dragon Josh and I visited at Shedd Aquarium last spring. Josh is pretty into said dragons and briefed me about them before our visit. I guess they are the only animal that preys on humans and are only found in Madagascar. I expected Shedd's Komodo to be taunting and leering at us from behind the glass. Instead, he sunned himself on a rock and barely lifted his head. BOR-ing.

3. What is your favorite fruit?
Pineapple.

4. Do you smoke?
No way. I've never even tried smoking because inhaling smoke never seemed very appealing to me. And now that I've seen what smoking can do to your oral health (in addition, of course, to the destructive systemic effects), I strongly encourage everyone who does smoke to quit! (shout out to Mom here for doing a tremendous job trying to quit smoking right now. I'm very proud of you, Mom!)

5. What are your bedtime rituals?
Jump in bed and fall asleep --> wake up startled --> refuse to get ready --> slide out of bed, usually onto floor in protest --> brush teeth, wash face, floss --> change into pajamas --> moisturize (face, arms, chapstick) --> set two alarm clocks (7 minutes apart) --> turn on white noise-producing machine (fan or sound machine) --> sometimes put on sleep eye mask --> hopefully catch some z's!

Sometimes in the winter, I turn on a heated blanket 20 minutes before I get into bed and then turn it off once I get in. Mmmm, toasty. What can I say? I'm a high maintenance sleeper.

xoxox

Dry socket to me!

Perhaps I jumped the gun a little early in my April 16th post; it's actually now that school's out for the summer. Technically, school's been "out" since August 1st but as I mentioned before, I chose to do a 2 week head start rotation in the oral surgery department. It was kind of slow and yucky at times but overall I learned a lot and also did my first dozen or so extractions! I'll tell you, of all the wild and technique-sensitive dentistry I've learned, extractions are perhaps the most unnerving because there's just no undoing a screw up. Let's just say I double and triple checked which tooth I was supposed to be taking out!

In other news, my sister has returned to Beantown after a brief stint in Grand Rapids to start a new job next week. She'll be working for a non-profit organization called Akshaya Patra that provides mid-day meals to malnourished school children throughout India. I couldn't be more proud of her and am looking forward to watching her career grow and evolve with her changing interests and experiences. I'm also thrilled to have a base in Boston again--I plan on visiting the New England area a lot in the months to come as I start my search for post-graduation opportunities. Yikes!

I went home last weekend to spend some quality time with my parents, my pupster, and my sister before she left. We did a whole lotta nothing which is the way it should be when you're home. My Mom made some sweeeeeet homemade vegetarian Swedish meatballs for me which had been on my mind since I jealously watched Josh devour a plate of the real deal at IKEA a few weekends prior. I just love me some Swedish meatballs.

I did whip out the camera twice during the weekend, once for a brief photo shoot with Raja...:



...and another time to snag a picture of this unfortunately named restaurant next to my sister's tailor:



Ah, Grand Rapids. Speaking of my old stomping grounds, Josh and I are scheduled next weekend for our annual East Kentwood High School camping trip at Bruin Lake. It looks like some of my friends from good ol' EK who haven't been able to make it in years past are in for this year and I'm looking forward to it. We haven't even pulled the tent out of the storage unit yet this summer! Here's to two and a half days of dirty feet, smelling like smoke, and burning the roof of your mouth on hobo pies. Hooray!

I'll check in later during my mini vacay with pictures. Perhaps there will be one or two of the CN Tower if Josh and I can swing a last-minute, el cheapo trip to Toronto.

Au revoir!

xoxox

ICFD, HP, and BBQ (or: my life as of late)

Is it terrible that Josh and I have had ice cream for dinner so many times in the past 2 weeks that we've resorted to proposing it to one another simply as ICFD? Even though I feel kinda queasy after ICFD without fail, nothing in this world sounds better than a small twist in a cup topped with a heaping spoonful of M&M's after a long day of clinic. What's worse is that we've shown up to Dairy Queen four times in the past 10 days in our U of M Dental scrubs. Do you want a dentist who has ice cream for dinner every night? Oy.

Anyhoo, posting was near impossible this past week or so because it would have required me tearing myself away from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which I finished last Wednesday. I won't give any spoilers except to say that I was literally blubbering with tears at some parts. I actually had to remove and wipe off my glasses lenses numerous times throughout the night in order to get through the last 10 or so chapters. I cannot believe how emotionally invested I've become in those characters over the past 8 years. A few of my fellow non-Muggle friends and I went to the midnight book release party at Borders that Friday just for the experience. It was basically pandemonium right up until midnight (at which time throngs of fans chanting "We want the books!" stormed the information desk) and a lot of the costumes were pretty good. I'll try to get a hold of the picture Katrina and I took with an incredibly convincing Voldemort. Sure, we had to pledge to become Death Eaters to get the photo but it was worth it.

Besides Harry and ice cream, I've also been trying to squeeze the last bit of barbecueing and pool time out of the remaining few warm summer days. For some reason, I get very uncomfortable every year after the fourth of July when I feel like summer is on its way out. In reality, we've got at least a month and a half left of great weather but I try to prepare myself way in advance. After Wednesday of this week, I'm technically on vacation until August 20th. I have, however, signed up to do an optional oral surgery rotation for the first two weeks of my precious vacation at school every day from 8 to 5. It's a long story so don't ask but let's just say I'm less than thrilled. It didn't help much to see the glorious weather forecast for this coming week which will see me in a surgery suite doing tooth extractions. Oh well, here's hoping I learn a lot.

Speaking of surgery at 8 am, I should probably hit the hay. In an attempt to enhance the quality of my sleep, I've been trying to do a half an hour of something calming before bed by turning off the TV and/or computer. I'm failing dismally right now seeing as how I'm simultaneously blogging and watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. What, a re-enactment of sharks attacking the survivors of the USS Indianapolis shipwreck isn't relaxing?

And now for some pictures:


Grant brought puppy Koda to our softball game. We tried to snap a picture of him in the mitt but he scurried on out. I want a puppy!


The female Molar Bears and Marty shouting out the lineup with gusto


We were up 6 runs so we decided to do a photo shoot


Finally, a HUGE congratulations goes out to my long-time bestest buddy Christin and her now fiance Bob on their engagement this past weekend! I literally screamed out loud and jumped in place when I got Christin's text message tonight ("Good news. We're getting hitched!") and called immediately for the details. I can't think of a better couple! :)

Congratulations Christin & Bob!

xoxox

Call me Ishmael.

1. Have you ever gone fishing?
Not recently but I used to back in the days when my Mom tried everything under the sun to keep us entertained during the summers. More recently, the friends I was with did some deep sea fishing during Spring Break one year at my friend Carrie's house in the Bahamas. They caught a baracuda and a mahi mahi (which I'm told by Josh made an excellent dinner and breakfast the following morning paired with a Kalik beer and eaten on a partially-submerged beach chair as the tide rolled in).

2. Do you have an aquarium?
No. Fish actually weird me out big time, especially larger ones. My friend Solomon, a.k.a. "The Fish Guy" however, has many. And some crazy, prehistoric, rare fish (fishes?) to boot.

3. Do you eat fish?
No. Some vegetarians do eat fish but I choose not to. It's a major blow to my Mom and extended family as the cuisine staple of our region in India is fish. However, I do madly crave a tuna casserole, tuna salad sandwich, or cold pasta and tuna salad weekly despite never having been a huge tuna fan before (see post from 2/04/07). Curious.

4. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo?
Cha, of course! And now the scene where the aquarium inhabitants give a play-by-play of that morning's root canal makes total sense to me! Do you know what a Gates-Glidden is?

5. What do you think of sushi?
Does the fact that I had cucumber avocado and asparagus rolls for lunch today answer the question?

xoxox

What's white, furry, and shaped like a tooth?

I think Josh and I finally found the solution to our internet woes as of late -- it's a wonderful little invention called Firefox, some of you may be familiar. Anyway, here's hoping I blog a little more consistently now that my connection won't peter out every 35 seconds. Yeah, riiiiiiiggghhht.

At any rate, I'm just getting re-adjusted after a glorious vacation last week which I spent mostly in Bland, er, Grand Rapids. My mom was scheduled to return from her stay in India and my newly Masters Degreed-sister is currently at the ol' nest job searching so I thought I'd get in some quality family time. My Dad was around the entire week too but much of his time was spent pursuing a very Caddy Shack-esque endeavor. Much to his chagrin, the squirrel family in my backyard has been capitalizing on our voluminous bird feeder for years. I personally believe that the lost bird seed is a small cost compared to helping a family survive the harsh winters. My Dad, on the other hand, has his own suspicions ("believe me, they're selling that birdseed back to Meijer for a profit, I know it"). The "slide" he constructed upon which he envisioned the poor squirrels losing their footing didn't quite go as planned. He might as well have built them an elevator; by the end of the week, the little buggers were so empowered that they had taken to sunning themselves on the deck rails just to spite him ("that one's eyeing me down, Sonya, look!"):


Dad vs. Squirrel


Dad: 0, Squirrel: 1

All in all, it was a nice week with my family. I got to catch up on a little sleep and spend a lot of time with Harry Potter on the deck (let the mania begin! Who wants to see the movie tomorrow night?) Thankfully, my Mom made it back from India okay even though her original flight was canceled due to torrential monsoon rains. I even got some homemade Indian food to boot!

Now I'm resting up after our summer softball season opener. We played a double header (against 2 of the other teams from our class). My team from last year grew so much that we had to split into 2 teams and I am now officially a member of The Molar Bears. Hopefully we're not heading for extinction after our double header next Wednesday night (yuk, yuk, yuk)!

That's all I got folks: corny extinction jokes and squirrel stories. Stick with me, it'll get better.

xoxox

p.s. ~ I saw this at Walgreens and had to buy it for my Dad. It's "The King Size" Reese's cups filled with Elvis' favorite: peanut butter and banana creme (PBBC's were his fave sandwich). Naturally, my Dad accepted my gift with a "Thank you, thankyouverymuch."

All my brothers, sisters, and me

I'm back from my quick trip to New Jersey/New York for my aunt and uncle's 40th anniversary party over the weekend. I had a very fun time seeing my extended family (now even more extended since the additions of my two adorable second cousins, Alia and Asha). I'm so fortunate that my family members, although incredibly busy with work, kids, and life in general, all place such an emphasis on spending time together. It's certainly not easy when we're spread out from NY to Atlanta to Wisconsin to Idaho but we've made it happen. What's more, my family always graciously invites Josh to come and loves him so much that they demand at least one karaoke song out of him (and that's sayin' somethin'). I was very touched by the celebration that my two cousins threw in honor of their parents and hope that my sister and I can do the same one day for ours. I'll probably have to book different entertainment though; it might be considered tacky in some circles if my Dad performed "Can't Help Falling In Love" at his own party.

Check out NJ pics below:


I couldn't get enough of these rugrats all weekend. Alia (7 1/2) and Asha (2 1/2) couldn't be more different but both equally stole my heart. I also made sure to check that their respective dental developments were right on target.


My cousins Deblina and Shoma emcee'd the party and my sister thrilled the crowd by singing two famous Bengali songs. I am unfortunately cursed with having no demonstrable talent that could be enjoyed by a crowd so I manned (womaned?) the A/V systems. I am a great packer, however, and have often considered packing a suitcase as my talent in the living room at our next family gathering a la Brad on Hey Dude. Anybody with me on that one?


Tanya graduated magna cum laude from the University of Antagonizing Younger Siblings (UAYS). She hits the nail on the head here by deliberately sabotaging a picture of us I could have potentially framed and given to my parents on a special occasion. Kudos, TKP.


My Dad performed at the party and invited the lovely couple to dance. Man, I do love the whole "Patelvis" routine but mark my words: I plan on thoroughly searching my Dad's bags for and promptly destroying any Elvis costume that might find its way to my wedding reception someday.


Me and A and A. I'll be planning a trip down to Atlanta sometime soon to possibly visit the CDC where my cousin works, scout out some post-graduation opportunities (yikes!), and visit these cuties.


I had a tiny little hope in my heart that we'd find enough time to run in to the city for a day to catch some tourist staples for Josh's sake (he's never been to NYC). We didn't end up getting the chance other than to escort my cousin around the upper west side to find a gift for her parents on Saturday afternoon. We're planning on heading back soon so that Josh can be re-introduced to the Big Apple the right way--by grabbing a slice, visiting Times Square, and staying out until 4 am.

Perhaps I'll post a couple more pictures from last weekend's wedding in GR when my internet isn't being so testy. I also plan on posting musings about why I'm a born spy as my next post so stay tuned for that. For now, I must say adieu and hop into the sack with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix...I have to finish it and #6 before the big day on 7/21!

Sleep tight :)

xoxox