Ski Weekend

This weekend we were in New Hampshire for the Harvard Orthopaedics ski weekend. It was kindly organized by three attending physicians, and well-attended by attendings, fellows and residents alike. It was really fun for us to socialize with Brian's co-workers and their families, and to get to know some of the other doctors with whom he has not yet worked. It was also fun to get back on the slopes, since last year did not afford us the opportunity to ski at all. Friday was very, very cold in New England, so by the time we arrived on Friday night it was -10 degrees. Ugh! But it warmed up for skiing by the next morning, so we were thankful. Several of the attendings had cabins or condos in the area, and all the residents and fellows grouped together in rented condos that the attendings had arranged. The attendings also generously had arranged for ski passes (and rentals for and lessons for anyone who wanted them) and for a private room at the ski lodge for everyone to leave their stuff, have lunch, sit by the fire, have a drink, whatever, during the ski day, which was very convenient. It was all so nice.

On Saturday night, after skiing, Dr. Brick and his family kindly invited everyone to their cabin for a delicious dinner and drinks. Between drinks/appetizers and dinner, we gathered around the fire and the attendings held a slide show program of orthopaedic ski and snowboard injuries, complete with x-rays, which was interesting. It may have been vacation, but the residents (and even some of the fellows and more junior attendings) still got "pimped" during the program. "Pimping" is when attending physicians badger more junior physicians with medical questions about diagnoses, symptoms, treatment options, etc.

I (Sherry) and several other significant others found it hard to watch our loved ones be pimped. (Some of the significant others were physicians themselves, but stated that their "pimping" experience had been much easier than that in orthopaedic surgery-- even though our ortho loved ones insisted that this particular "pimping" was easy compared to a regular workday!) Several of us happened to be sitting near one another, and we rooted for our loved ones (and each other's loved ones) when they were asked questions, quietly congratulated one another and discussed how smart they were when someone's spouse got the answers right, and commisserated about the "unfairness" of the questions when their answers were wrong. We decided that, someday, we were going to make terrible soccer parents. ;) One thing I found very enlightening was that, in some cases, the attendings did not necessarily agree about what treatment option they would take, though presumably each of the tactics would have ended with a correction of the problem at issue. It underscored to me not only how subjective medicine can be in certain instances, but also how hard and stressful it must be to learn when there is not necessarily a "right" answer. We then enjoyed a lovely meal prepared by Dr. Brick's wife and daughter.

Others skied the next day, but we had to get back because Brian was scheduled to work. We didn't bring our camera, but others did, so we'll post some pics when we get some!

The first real snow

Tonight is our first real snow in Boston this year. It has snowed, but this is the first time it has stuck to the ground. Can you believe that?! It's so unusual to have such warm weather here, and not to have had a real snow so late in the season. We assumed when it came, it would come with a full-force snowstorm/blizzard/Nor'easter and really wollop us, but no. It's actually that calm, pretty, steady snowfall that the Department of Tourism, or whatever it is called, would prefer people to picture when they think of winter in Boston. How about that?! I (Sherry) am curled up on our couch with hot cocoa, looking out at it, thinking about the fact that it is first time we've seen snow on our home and our deck since we bought it in June. I'm up later than I should be, in complete denial that I have to fly to New York early in the morning. Brian is on nightfloat, missing the view, probably vaguely aware it is even snowing. He'll be VERY aware when he gets home tomorrow morning, exhausted, and has to shovel the drive. :(

Afternoon tea and the Queen

Just updating on our weekend. On Friday night, we had a relaxing dinner at Boston Beer Works and then caught The Pursuit of Happ'y'ness with Will Smith and his adorable son. It was good. Brian started filling sick that night, and by Saturday was the victim of a full-blown severe cold that left him bedridden the entire day. Sherry let him sleep and embarked on "Girl Day" with dear friend Sherry Hsieh (right, with Sherry, back in October). Sherry and her husband, Jens, are expecting their first child, a daughter, in May. So the Sherrys headed out on a cold, snowy morning here in Boston, to register for Sherry's Hsieh's baby shower (which Sherry is planning). They had fun, then went shopping. Then, they celebrated Girl Day with cozy afternoon tea service by the fireplace at The Four Seasons. It was lovely. Then, it was on to buy the baby's nursery linens. The mama-to-be had fun and got a lot accomplished in one day. The sickly Brian had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. for a (more than) 24-hour shift; he'll be home around 8 a.m. on Monday and will have to be back at the hospital at 6 p.m. on Monday. So Sherry just completed errands and then treated herself to a movie to see The Queen. It was a good movie, and Helen Mirren's award-winning performance was fantastic!

Christmas Report and Welcome To Crystal!

Here's our Christmas recap, as promised. We both had the opportunity to attend fun work events over the holiday period. Brian missed the ortho party to work, but fellow ortho resident Andi threw a fun Christmas party (see right). Sherry had a great time going to a long series of good meals and parties. It was all too decadent, really, and it's time to get a little more disciplined on the eating now! Ha! Sherry's mom and sister arrived several days before Christmas. On the 23rd, we drove up to Maine on a sightseeing trip, and stayed the night in an inn near Acadia, returning to Boston on Christmas Eve. Stacy in particular enjoyed seeing more of New England. She's such a romantic, and always enjoys seeing new places. :) On Christmas Eve, we had fondue and cider (this combo somehow is becoming a Christmas Eve tradition), and each opened one small gift (a long-standing tradition). Then we went to Midnight Mass. We are still looking for a permanent church here, so we decided to enjoy mass at Harvard's Memorial Church. We attended there sometimes when Sherry was a student, and the Rev. Peter Gomes always gives great sermons. (We may end up becoming members there, as many non-student members of the community do.) We came home afterwards and watched The Devil Wears Prada, the gift that Sherry had opened (from Stacy). (Sherry's favorite actress is Meryl Streep.) On Christmas morning, we got up (too) late, opened gifts, and made Christmas cookies. We got started very late with Christmas dinner, and had a brief kitchen plumbing disaster. Eventually, we had a delicious Christmas dinner, even if it was three and a half hours later than planned! Pat and Stacy left on the 26th. For other photos, click here.

In other, more exciting, news, Brian's brother Eric and his wife, Kristen, have taken custody of a long-lost niece of Kristen's, named Crystal. We want to say Welcome Crystal! to our extended family. She came to live with Eric and Kristen over Christmas. She and the rest of the family are getting adjusted and getting to know one another right now. Please pray that, in her new home in California, this promising young lady will find peace and happiness in herself, comfort and warmth in the love of family, and success in school and life. We cannot wait to meet her.

Catching up a little . . .

Our computer is mostly working now, so we'e going to play catch up. And good thing, because Liz tells me (Sherry) that our blog has been "sucking" lately. Gotta love that friend you've had since childhood who tells it like it is. Anyway, we're not skiing this weekend, as discussed below in the last post (which I wrote). That's because we had a communication break-down, via email when I was in New York , so I thought Brian meant that the ski weekend was this weekend, when it's really two weekends from now. So, I calendared the wrong day. On Thursday night, I was starting to get my ski clothes ready and asked Brian when would be leaving the next day, and he looked at me like I was nuts. Ha! Still looking forward to it, though.

So, to briefly catch up: We spent Thanksgiving in California. We flew into Southern California first, where we stayed a couple of days with my sister, Stacy. The three of us were able to visit with my dad and stepmom (see pic with my dad, left). We also were able to meet up with my brother Alan, my sister Kristi, her husband Stan, and two of her kids, Amanda and Austin. We were so excited to catch up that we forgot to take pictures! Nevertheless, I'm attaching a photo of our niece, Amanda, who is a firefighter, in her gear. [If anyone is wondering how it is that I can have such grown-up, beautiful nieces, you should know that Stacy and I (and our late brother Matthew) are the second set of children for each of our parents. So, our other siblings-- Brad, Jodi, Kristi and Alan-- were all adolescents, teenagers or older when we were born.]



Then the three of us drove up to Sacramento. There, we spent time with Brian's dad (left), my mom (right), and Brian's brother Eric and his family (wife Kristen, and our nephews Lucas and Tanner). The boys are growing so fast, and truly get cuter every day. Lucas recently started attending daycare, and was very proud of his artwork! As you can see in the photo (left), he artistically wished us all a Happy Thanksgiving from Lucas! For more pictures from Thanksgiving, click here. Okay, we'll do more catching up later on Christmas and New Year's . . . We don't want to bore you with too much! Hope everyone had great holidays!

Still waiting . . .

We're still waiting for full functionality, so we cannot post any new photos that haven't already been uploaded. It turns out the hard drive on our laptop (which we usually use to post) no longer had the will to live, so it is being replaced. No worries "blog fans"-- we'll get everything up soon. We've been very busy, but doing well. I (Sherry) have been in New York working with some very nice clients. Brian's been very busy both on night float and writing a research article, but (as usual) he never complains. I'm having a hockey night with the girls (box seats to the Bruins game) on Thursday, and we're both managing to (we hope) leave early on Friday and head up to New Hampshire for the Harvard Orthopaedic Surgery Department's Ski Weekend. So fun . . . can't wait!

Since we cannot upload new photos of what we've been up to, I thought I'd post this cute pic of our niece, Allison (daughter of my brother Brad and sis-in-law Adair). Allison is in her early 20's and an aspiring actress in L.A. This is one of her headshots.

Also, Happy Birthday on January 1 to our friend Darrell Parsons (Brian's "big bro" back in his Alpha Delt days at Berkeley). Darrell lives in Sactown, where he is a very respected teacher. We haven't seen him in a long while, and we miss him and his wife, Julie (pictured right in a nice photo we took of them in Maui a couple of years ago).

Happy New Year!

As Father Time marches on, we welcome the Baby New Year, 2007! Hope it finds you all happy and healthy. A special shout out of Happy Birthday to Dale, Brian's stepdad, who was a Baby New Year himself (born on 12/31)! Sorry about the lack of updated postings recently. As we noted in previous posts, we are experiencing computer difficulties. December was an absolutely insane month for both of us in terms of work, so we have not had time to update the blog, let alone get the computer fixed. We'll try to get things up and running soon, and will do a full holiday round-up with photos (we cannot presently post personal photos) as soon as we do. As a brief update, though, Thanksgiving was fun, with a whirlwind trip to both northern and southern California to see family. At Christmas, we were blessed to have Sherry's mom and sister with us.

As for this New Year's weekend: We both had Saturday and Sunday off, which was nice. On Friday night, we had dinner at Paramount with our friend Darren, and then the three of us saw The Good Shepherd. It is a pretty good movie, but really long. And frankly, the guys were a little disappointed that nothing really explodes. Saturday gave us our first snow, and we spent the day relaxing, basically. The snow let Sherry wear her new boots that she received as Christmas gifts from Brian as we picked up his gift that she had pre-ordered from Sears (a tall Craftsman tool chest). Brian was very excited to set it up. We had a quiet evening together watching old movies we own but haven't seen in a while (Rudy and Good Will Hunting), as well as our wedding video, which we also had not seen in a while. It reminded us of how wonderful our friends and family are.

The weather on Sunday (New Year's Eve) was perfect and warm, so all the snow was gone by the evening. Boston offers a lot of fun things to do at New Year's with its First Night Boston festival. We started the night by watching the fireworks from our windows around 7 p.m. Then we got ready for the festivities, which found Brian very amused by Sherry's multi-tasking skills. Having received an email from a partner asking her to edit a brief, she managed to do so in a cocktail dress and curlers while talking on the phone about evening plans, then send the brief back to the partner, put on her make up, take out the curlers, and be ready to go on time. We had a wonderful dinner with Darren and Rosalyn at Spire, which was perfect because it was very close to Boston Common and all the New Year's festivities. (If you don't know them, both Darren and Rosalyn are old friends from Brian's class at Stanford Med; all three matched to Harvard in Boston-- Darren in Orthopaedic Surgery with Brian, and Rosalyn in Physical Medicine and Rehab.) The restaurant was set for a party, filled with balloons and each table nicely arranged with all kinds of noise makers and party hats. We rang in the New Year there, and then joined all the revelers in the Common and headed toward Copley, enjoying Boston's holiday lights and New Year's ice sculptures. We then stopped in at Sola's, an Irish pub we all like. We ended the evening at Darren's, looking longingly through great photos from his December trip to the Swiss Alps (!). It was a very fun, relaxing night; pictures to come later! New Year's Day was spent just relaxing before Brian had to go to work in the evening.

Hope everyone had as great a weekend as we did. May you all have a Happy 2007!