Merry Christmas!

We're spending Christmas in Chicago this year, and after a hair-raising drive back from Iowa City due to snow, wind, and more snow, we decided it would be more fun to play in the snow, rather than drive in it.

Hope all of you are doing well, have a Merry Christmas!

"Song of the day":

A Frozen Lake MacBride

Boneless Boob

This year Thanksgiving was fairly small in the Barwacz household. Emily was forced to work Thanksgiving day, and the friday that followed, so there really wasn't much for Chris to do. Chris' parents decided to make the trek out to Iowa City and keep Chris company while his woman slaved away, and of course help him cook a respectable Thanksgiving meal.

Chris, deciding that a full turkey sounded like too much effort, decided to buy a 4 lb. turkey breast from a local butcher and call it quits. Never before has so little effort been rewarded with such great taste. The boneless boob came pre-brined, seasoned, and nicely nipped & tucked in string (sexy...right?). About the hardest part of preparing this mini feast for Chris was pre-heating the oven, getting up to unwrap the meat, and then using the electric can opener to open the canned cranberry sauce.

Luckily for Chris, Emily had already made a pumpkin pie ala the "America's Test Kitchen" recipe, her family's world famous green salad (not really salad, more like green jello with lucky charms and other marshmellowy things in it), while Chris' parents contributed the staples such as stuffing, mashed potatoes, and other Thanksgiving-ish items.

The best part of the weekend was the chance to spend some time together, go for some hikes, take some photos, and of course to attempt to put up what remains of the ancient Barwacz X-mas tree. Who knew duck-tape could hold up so long, now if only the lights could follow.

Saturday was spend in Michellville and Des Moines visiting Emily's family and grandmother, respectively, for the Thanksgiving holiday, and driving through our first snowfall since leaving for Texas over a year and a half ago...oh how we wish we were back there now during this cold weather. And so goes the beginning of the holiday season here in Iowa!

Never to old to party

As usual, my perpetual state of procrastination overwhelms me and I often never get around to writing a post. So, I thought I'd surprise even myself and write about the happenings of early November. Ok, so nearly a month late, but here I type...

My best gal-pal Johnette and her husband Brooks traveled from North Carolina to suffer through one of the coldest, nail-biting games of Iowa vs Penn State football. I shouldn't need to mention that Iowa kicked some butt (finally) and pulled a much needed win out of their lazy asses. But, that is beside the point. The point being that I had my BFF with me for 2 days.
Friday we thought we'd relive our old college days FACing. This generally involves drink specials at local bars designed for college students to consume large amounts of alcohol Friday After Class. So, we thought, why not, you're only young once. (or twice, err....how old are we?) Well, we feel young damn it! Anyways...

Who would have known that Iowa City doesn't allow drink specials aimed at college students anymore? I mean, isn't that a staple of college life? $1 cups at the Q-Bar (which changed names) or $3 long islands at Brothers were our reward for a week well done. Come on! So, instead we settled at Atlas for a mohito and margarita as well as some great food. We decided to walk around and see what "deals" we could find and came across 808. Did anyone know that it's supposed to be a Hawaiian themed restaurant? (what?) As much as the atmosphere sucked (nearly as much as the burger baskets) they had $4 martinis. Who can pass up a martini called Slippery When Wet?

After too many drinks to count, we went next door to Joe's Place and drank a pitcher of beer (or two?...I'd lost track at this point). But Joe ripped us off when we thought we had purchased a domestic pitcher of Boulevard Wheat beer ($4) and instead were charged more like $14 for the damn thing. Isn't that beer made in Kansas City?

We then went back to 808 to meet up with some more friends. Then hit Bo James for the Big Girl beers. Finally we ended our night at Brothers with a little dancing. Ok, so I've now bored you with a play-by-play of the evening, but too bad for you. :( The grand finale was eating pokey sticks when we got home. All that fatty, salty goodness. It's just so good.

Now the reason I gave this boring replay of the evening was to validate why I could not get up to tailgate on Saturday. Power to the people who can drink all night then get up at the crack of dawn to start all over again. (which Johnette and Brooks did) But, no, I stayed in bed, or in the chair for the entire day. But, at least of crappy antenna received the game. And I'm glad we stayed at home to watch instead of buying tickets. Holy crap was it freezing...like 20's with 30 mile per hour winds. I'm cold just thinking about it.

Maybe on second thought, I am too old to party. After all I think I proved that to myself a few months back...

So, that about sums up the month of November, oh wait, Thanksgiving... I guess we'll publish a post about that soon. I'll let Chris elaborate about that later.

Winter Sunset

After a weekend filled mostly with working and catching up on errands, given that Emily was also working, I managed to find a brief (and let me stress brief) window of time in which to get out of the indoors and smell some fresh (sniff, sniff, is that cow shit I smell?) air.

This last weekend was mostly pretty overcast, but if 28 years of living in the midwest has taught me anything, its that even on the cloudies of winter days, there can often still be snippets of interesting sunsets, if just for a few minutes. This was the case yesterday, as leaving work (on a sunday!) at about 3:30, I had about an hour of sunlight (mostly obscured by the clouds) left. So I grabbed a sandwhich, and with only my dental macro/telephoto lens in hand from work, headed out to Lake McBride for whatever potential photo fodder might be in store.

And the photography gods humored me, as a decent sunset was had, I was just wishing that I had my landscape lens available, as the colors were even better than what I could capture at 105mm.

Drinkin' Palin

Sometimes after a hard, stressful day at work, the best medicine is a good glass of wine (or two) with dinner. So on the way home after a fairly crappy day, it became obvious that a reasonable solution would be a great dinner, with a bottle of wine to boot. Being a thoughtful husband, I called Emily and recommended that she use up the salad supplies remaining in the fridge, and prepare the last of the remaining sweet potatoes.

For my share, I would be stopping at the local Co-Op to pick up some beef tenderloins and a bottle of wine. Both of us agreed this sounded like a plan, and so it was. I first went about the task of finding two grass-fed tenderloins, and then headed over to the wine aisle.

Sometimes when I head to the wine aisle, I know specifically what I'm looking for. Tonight was not one of those nights. No, I was more in the meandering mood, open to anything in the red family, specifically the deep and oaky reds, as we were after all going to have it with tenderloins. So after about ten minutes of mindless staring and reading several labels, I came across a wine that caught my eye...a Syrah named Palin.

No, this was not the wine of an Alaskan vineyard, the organic grapes were not crushed under the feet of a straight talkin', rifle-yielding, high-heel wearing 'hockey-mom'. Rather this wine was from a place below rather than above the earth's equator, a country called Chile, on the continent (not country as some past republican VP nods might have confused it with) of South America.

The unfortunate part about this wine was that despite all its name-based shortcomings, it was really damn good. And according to this article, it may soon be easier to find, as sales of it seem to have mysteriously plummeted since the 'other Palin' from up north arrived on the American political radar. So Emily and I both say emphatically, even if you are like us and didn't have the desire to vote for Palin, it doesn't mean you can't drink Palin. I guess you could say this is our way of drinking in a bi-partisan manner.

"Song of the Day":

CAD/CAM MacBook Pro

At the meeting I attended recently in Nashville, there was much talk of how CAD/CAM processes are completely revolutionizing the way models and restorations are fabricated, but I figured instead of boring you with dental videos, I'd show an example of how a more common product is also starting to be milled via CAD/CAM processes into something more recognizable. And Dell wonders why they continue to lose market share...

Reflections on Obama Win

...HOME

...ABROAD

Incredible!!!!

Rose II

A Nashville Halloween

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel down to Nashville, TN to attend a meeting , and of course, have a little fun. While most of the day was spent listening to the latest technology developments on CAD/CAM and virtual environments in dentistry (pretty cool), the evenings afforded myself and some colleagues the opportunity to get off our butts (literally) to experience an evening in downtown Nashville...it just so happened that this night was Halloween...spooky.

So put together cross-dressing country musicians, banjos, beer, more beer, what seemed like a million Packer fans in town for the Packers-Titans game, a pregnant nun, "Brian Seay in drag" with more tattoos than I can count, the real Albert Einstein, and me eating Sushi for the first time, and that makes for an odd Halloween. Nonetheless, this was the case, and, it was a good time.

Obama loses election how?

Normally when Emily has a nightmare, she has an uncanny ability to recall specific events of her dream. Apparently after her voting experience yesterday, she had a disturbing vision in which Obama lost the election due to one of our friends...check out the video of her dream (isn't technology amazing these days)...

Yes. I. Can.

Today I took advantage of my civil liberty and voted. This actually took place accidentally, not intentionally. I had planned on voting next week at the early polling stations at the hospital. I even had the day of the week picked out for when I next worked. But, alas, this was not the case.

My overtime was cancelled at 11am so I had a day ahead of me with no real plans. I had some library books in my car that needed to be returned (yes, I make frequent use of my local free services) so thought I'd swing by and drop those off and pick up some new. As I rounded the corner of the main entrance my eyes saw the polling booths and tables set up, filled with other enthusiastic Americans.

As a side note, why is it a requirement to be over 70 to run the polling stations? I mean, here we are in a college town, located in the ped mall, in the heart of campus and the only individuals running the station are retired teachers and veterans. (I know because I asked...tactfully). As another side note, did you know that they are required by law to go over the ballot with the voter and provide non-biased information? True enough (I found this out when in my exuberance to get to my booth and told the nice lady that I knew what I was doing, for which I was interrupted and told that she HAD to explain the procedure because it was the law). Now, I don't know if its actual law, or the laws upheld by dedicated Iowan's who don't want to have Iowa subjected to a situation like Florida had. But hey, they take their job seriously, at one point I was fearful that if I didn't seal the envelope correctly I may be led away in handcuffs. (There was a cop voting 2 booths away...so it could have happened.) Oh, and does anyone else get a little nervous that they didn't entirely fill out the ballot fully and that maybe your vote won't count? Or that the damn bubble seems impossibly large and did I really get it filled correctly? These are serious concerns for serious voters. I hear you laughing at me but you just wait until you're in between the plastic walls of a make shift booth, pencil in hand, giant bubbles filling the page with names of judges and district attorneys you've never heard of but hope if you ever end up in your court you voted for the right one, and you just see if you don't have a feeling of apprehension. Did I mention that I had to use the handicap booth...there was a little anxiety here people!!!

So, I voted. And I have the pin to prove it. 3 minutes of social obligation and I've changed the world. If only...

New box to check on health history form...

Some of you may have already heard the news in the last week and a half that I was recently diagnosed with Melanoma skin cancer. Yes, you read it right. For those of you who don't know until now, sorry for not sharing earlier but we didn't want to worry more people than we had to. Unfortunately for those of you who do already know you probably found out when I was hysterical or nearly there. But, today I received good news...the melanoma was successfully removed! Now, some background storytelling...

Upon moving back to Iowa I started to notice an area on my back that would itch occasionally. I didn't think anything of it at first until finally I was conscious of the scratching and asked a coworker to take a look at what I was scratching. A mole. *little pink flag...not red because they said the mole looked fine* So, a few months go by and the mole still itched every now and again. Still seeking medical opinions of my coworkers to verify all is well...no change. Finally one day I thought, you know, it's been about 9 months since my last check, I should get in to the dermatologist. Now, I know most of you have probably never seen a derm doc before but I've had 4 moles biopsied in the past (all ok) but have a high likelihood of melanoma because my father died at 46 from it. So, I'm a worried wart and get in at least once a year if not every 6 months. The last time I had been in I had a biopsy and then excision of the site due to irregular fast growing cells (precancerous, but not cancer...confusing, I know). So my thoughts were, hey stupid, get to the doc when this itching thing continued.

Sorry for all the background, but here's more:

So, finally make it in, get a biopsy although both staff and resident agree the mole looks fine, just irritated, and I quote "doesn't look like melanoma so don't worry." So, I left and forgot about it. Until a week later (9/29) I get a call from the staff doc and he tells me I have melanoma. Of course shock sets in and my nursing knowledge flies out the window and I can't ask one single educated question before I thanked the doc then hung up. Then of course broke down. All I had heard was melanoma, most serious form of skin cancer, and needing surgery soon and the words kept circling in my head. My appointment was two weeks ago this Thursday to remove (hopefully) all the melanoma remaining. They took 1 cm on either side of the mole (an inch total in width) and cut 4 inches in length.

Now, I have a very tight incision on my back that makes it a little hard to bend, turn, stretch, but am otherwise ok. And now that I know they got all the cancer cells I'm feeling pretty good about that too. I now have to go in every 3 months for a year then every 6 after that-if no more angry cells.

So, I'm sorry to keep nearly everyone out of the loop, but I wanted to hopefully deliver good news on the cancer front instead of just increasing the worries of all our readers. For those of you who did know, I am very thankful for all your prayers and concerns and love and support. I'm truly blessed to have caught this cancer very very very early before it had spread.

Election Prediction?..."My Friends"

If The University of Iowa's school of business' Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM) is as prophetic as it has been in the past, then it looks like Obama may be pulling away as the presumptive victor for the White House, as his shares have gone up to $.77 a share as of yesterday....and that's some news that most of us can rest easier with, considering the economic mess that seems to be brewing.

How 'bout Them Apples

This weekend Chris' parents came to town for all of us to catch up, and also for them to have their teeth worked on by Chris. After back-to-back appointments on friday, saturday found us all heading out to acquire produce for a "fall" feast. Thus we headed to a local apple orchard called Wilson's, which is just north of Iowa City by about 15 minutes.

After picking 5 buckets of Lura Red apples by hand off the trees and off the ground (only the good ones), we contemplated all the recipes one could incorporate these excellent tasting apples. What we settled on was apple sauce, and an apple pie to complement two great dinners over the course of the weekend.

Emily went all out and made what was deemed the best apple pie had by all, which was followed promptly by naps on the couch. Now, what to do with the 3 buckets of apples remaining...

Debate This!

With the first of the debates starting tonight (err, that's what I last heard anyway as of this afternoon), I found this column apropo...

"Song of the Day":

Sleepless in Seattle...err...Iowa City

I'm sleepy. Have I mentioned that I have to work night shifts now that I'm back at Iowa? Well, I may have or maybe have not. I'm too tired to care or look back on previous posts. Oh wait, I do remember saying it once or twice before. Oh the wonders of sleep deprivation. And how does one prepare for night shifts. Well, I start the day before. I try to sleep in late. This is usually no later than 9am. Try as I might, I can no longer sleep the day away like I used to in college. (Maybe this is a sign I'm finally a grown up...oh wait...that came while looking into life insurance and disability...) None the less, I sleep as late as possible. I get up, run errands, do laundry or, sometimes do nothing and just read. Then, in the afternoon I attempt a nap. Today, this was not possible. Sleep would not come. I shut the blackout shades, put the fan on and tried to lull myself to slumber by reading a book. To no avail. UGH. Therefore I am sleepy now at 1:30am and know that I have 6 hours to go. Now, when I get home despite my exhaustion, I will be unable to sleep because I drove the entire way home with the glorious sunrise blinding me. This poses a problem since I'll have spent the entire night indoors when I should normally be sleeping, then just as my body thinks it can't take anymore and wants to crash, I shock it with full-on sunshine. My brain doesn't know what to think... "why in the hell were you up all night when you should be sleeping? Whoa, wait, is that sun, guess it's time to rev up for the day..."

Eventually my exhaustion will overrule my brain and I'll fall asleep for about an hour before I wake up, toss and turn, fall back to sleep for another hour...and repeat. And what really rips is I have to do this all over again tomorrow night. So, as the night drags on I'm at least thankful that there have been no major crisis that have occurred to tax my exhausted brain. Although, you would be surprised how well I can perform under pressure. Now if only I can convince my patients it's time to sleep and not call me in for ice chips every 5 minutes...

Going Green

Proof that small changes in attitude can have a big impact, this past week The College of Dentistry had a Go Green campaign spearheaded by a colleague/friend of mine to reduce medical/dental waste...you can read about it here as well as watch the video below.

"Song of the Day":

Pale over Palin

True to form, I've been a little lazy with the blog lately. Mainly because I've simply spent all my time working and secondly, I have little that interests me right now. But I digress..

Something has me a little fired up. Palin. Now, it's obvious that I'm a liberal democrat. I believe in global warming, higher taxes for the rich, better foreign policy, blah blah blah. You know the spiel. So my comments may not come as a surprise regarding the republican VP candidate Palin. Now, besides being a democrat, I'm a woman (well, that's obvious), white and middle class. I may one day be categorized as a white suburban mom. So, given these obvious "statistics" I am outraged with other white, middle class suburban woman and this swing towards McCain/Palin. Now, I know that the woman in our country have fought for equal rights for woman in the work force and have fought for the right to leave their children at home and work in a "man's world." I am thankful for those protests and for the choice to stay at home with my children or go to work to make an equal wage to a man. Go She-rah hear me roar!

However, our current generation of new mothers/soon to be mothers no longer have to prove that we can make it in a man's world. We've fought and won the right to work and not be forced to stay at home. And therein lays my issue with Palin. What mother, with a new infant...let me rephrase that...handicapped infant...would CHOOSE to run for one of the most stressful jobs in our country and therefore leave the care and raising of her baby to another? (I hear the boos and hisses from those of you who support her decision to fight for woman's rights and lead a career in government.) I know I sound like a sexist man or a kept woman but in fact, I'm a woman who loves to work, loves my freedom, but I would hands down ANY day make the choice to stay at home and raise my children myself if financially able. Especially a child with Down Syndrome or any handicap for that fact. So for that fact alone I'm upset with her choice to run as VP.

Secondly, my liberal views on global warming and wanting to leave the world in a better place than I found it is very strong. One of my strongest beefs with the Republican Party as a whole is their belief that global warming is not caused by our treatment of the earth. Now, I'm not a scientist, but you've got to figure that with the industrialization of our world, we're probably not doing the best for mother earth. So, this leads to my second bone of contention with Palin. As Alaska's governor, she allowed (along with the Bush administration) the drilling for oil in our nation's wild life refuges. Oh, and did I mention that she doesn't believe that polar bears are going extinct? I mean, according to republicans, the ice caps aren't melting because of global warming and therefore polar bears aren't dying out. . (Let's just ignore the obvious here and keep raping the world for our own human benefit.) What's at stake here? I guess as long as we have our SUV's in our driveway full of gas refined from our nations wildlife sanctuaries, outside our McMansions filled with crap we don't need, next to our neighbor who bought a house he can't afford and now is being bailed out by the government, we can be happy that we achieved the American dream. (A run-on sentence, I know) After all, bigger is better, the more you spend the better you look, the better you look to others the more self esteem you have for yourself for which you can sit back and gloat..."I got this here with my tax refund check."

Enough already...I'm all riled up now...

McCain on Palin

An interesting interview with John McCain...

Our New Gig?

Last weekend we headed to the west coast to check out a practice and a place in which to relocate. The town is Gig Harbor, the state is Washington, and our general consensus is that barring any extenuating circumstances, this is where you'll most likely find us this time next year. As the year progresses, we'll certainly post any updates as they happen.

Gig Harbor is about 40 minutes from Seattle, and 10 minutes outside of Tacoma via the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Other points of interest readily available from Gig Harbor include Mount Rainier National Park (1.5 hour drive), Olympic National Park/Pacific Coast (2 hour drive), and Portland, Oregon (2.5 hour drive).

View Larger Map

The first two days of our trip were spent visiting a practice and getting to know the immediate area. Since the Narrows Bridge has opened, growth seems to be making its way into Gig Harbor, which as of the recent census had nearly 7,000 people. In time for Emily's arrival, and to meet anticipated growth in the area, there is a new hospital being built in Gig Harbor that will be opening in 2009.

After investigating the Tacoma/Gig Harbor area for two days we decided to venture north to Mukilteo and then back to downtown Seattle, where we headed to Pike Street Market. Luckily, the weather was beautiful with highs in the upper 70's and clear, allowing some nice views of Mt. Rainier.

Unfortunately (depending on who you ask) Chris didn't have many opportunities to take photos while in the area, but below are some sub-par photos of a few areas we drove through. Even though we had 3 full days there, the time seemed to fly, and before we knew it, we were headed back to Iowa.

Weekend Jaunts

Fortunately or unfortunately, the last few weekends have found us away from Iowa City, and thus we've been unable to update the blog in any substantiative way. Not that we haven't been having fun though since being back in the midwest...so here's a catch up on what we've been up to...

The weekend before labor day found us heading east to Davenport for a double-header of get togethers with friends. Earlier in the afternoon we caught up with Eric and Verutzka Haugen to celebrate Eric's birthday. Eric and Verutzka were old dental classmates of Chris', and Verutzka is currently working in a clinic in Davenport while awaiting Eric's completion of his education. Its anyone's guess where the pair will end up after Eric finishes school, at this point Louisville and Atlanta seem to be hot contenders, they just know that it will not be Davenport. After catching up over lunch at Granite City, we decided to take a tour of Davenport, as neither of us had really every been "in Davenport". It just so happened that we were able to catch an antique tractor parade that is held annually in the city. The highlight for Emily was the turn of the century clothing washer that was powered by a small gas engine that certainly would fail any state's auto-emission standards. Lets just say we're thankful for today's modern amenities, sans choking smoke.

Davenport Antique Tractor Parade - 2007

Sad that our parade experience and Davenport tour would have to be cut short, it was time for us to depart Eric and Verutzka's to catch up with another friend of ours, Sara Engelmann. Sara was in town from Raleigh, NC visiting family and attending her brother-in-law's B-day BBQ, so we decided to swing by and catch up with her, as well as finally meet her boyfriend Anthony. After some eats, it was time for some backyard ladder-golf...and of course the guys killed the girls in each round without challenge. We wish Sara well in her job search in Indianapolis.

Chris & Anthony, holding their blue-balls

The next day found us heading west to Des Moines to celebrate Barry's birthday and catch up with the rest of Emily's family. Since we hadn't seen much of Emily's family since before our move to Texas, it was good to see most of her distant family. The weather couldn't have been nicer for both days.

On Labor Day weekend we headed back to Chicago to relax with Chris' family. While nothing too exciting happened, the real story of the weekend centered around us feeding a peg-legged goose that Chris' dad has befriended, and hence named "Web". Every morning for the past few weeks, Rick has been visiting Web to feed him stale bread and give the guy (yes, anthropomorphizing the goose now) a pep talk, as the other geese in the park actively shun him. Is this an evolutionary behavior that the geese exhibit, shunning "the less fit", or are geese really this mean?...concepts to ponder... We also had a chance to enjoy some outdoor time down by Lake Michigan and soak up what little sun would be left before fall begins.

Speaking of which, this whole fall thing seems to be happening a lot sooner than we remember it happening. Now granted, we were in a warmer climate for the past year, but neither of us seem to remember having weather this cold during the first week of September. We can only hope that a strong indian summer trend will prevail.

The next weekend we were off to Gig Harbor, WA to scout out a potential dental practice, and a place to possibly call home in the future...

"Song of the day":

Roses Are Red...

A 12 second exposure of the most attractive rose of the dozen I bought for Emily last night...

"Song of the day":

The Lone Tree

With some excitement due to a new tripod purchase, and Emily working the weekend, I decided to head out east of Iowa City into the area around West Branch and see how well the D200 could perform IR photography...its definitely not as good as my old D70, as it takes ~30 sec. exposures to get any appreciable signal strength. This results in some blurring of foliage due to even a slight breeze, below was one of the better results...

"Song of the day":

Big Dog

If you really want to be scared where technology is taking us, then have a look at this video put out by a robotics company called Boston Dynamics...

Esthetique

Here in Iowa, the evenings have cooled off, and as a result, for the first time in what seems like a long time, we've been able to sleep without the air-conditioning running, and this has been very enjoyable (the crickets/insects have been a bit loud, but if that's all we can complain about, life is pretty good).

Contrary to what many of you viewing our blog may think, this forum/blog of what we've been up to has not turned into a dental exposé...its just that there really isn't anything too exciting that's been happening with us lately (this may change soon). Thus we are limited to posting about topics that are banal to everyone except Chris...teeth.

So last night, after days of pleading with Emily, we finally sat down to have a photo session, albeit a dental one. For those of you unaware of Emily's amazing dentition, she exhibits quite amazing "lobing" texture to her front teeth...and so what better way to frame these beauties than with some pouty-red lipstick, well...see for yourself.

"Song of the day":

PROergo Prophy

If your idea of a fun afternoon is getting your teeth cleaned by an expert hygienist with the aid of a $100,000 Zeiss PROergo microscope hovering over your body, then dentistry is probably a career that you might want to look into...

One might think that being a dentist affords you the ability to have the best dental care, getting a cleaning whenever it suits you. However, this assumption could not be farther from the truth. In reality, I had not had a cleaning in over a year and a half. Mostly this is due to my own schedule, but also due in large part to the fact that I'm blessed genetically to have little tendency for calculus ("tarter") buildup.

Well, for the past few months, I could not wait to get my teeth cleaned, and today it finally happened, with the aid of an invaluable piece of equipment with which I plan to practice with in private practice...the surgical microscope. Even though it took twice as long, Nancy was pretty sure that she had removed every spec of stain and buildup that one can see when teeth are magnified over 20x. Even the Zeiss rep jumped in the chair for some fun...we complimented her on her excellent keratinized gingiva, things only nerds like us could get hot over.

Morning Fog

One of my favorite photographic elements is that of fog. This morning while heading out to work, I just happened to have my camera with me and captured a strong fog that was beginning to lift as the sun came up. The advantage of backing up to a farm field is that the fog is much more exaggerated than it is even a few minutes in towards Iowa City.

"Song of the day"

Return of the Grill!

One of the things we missed the most while living in Dallas was our inability to grill out (our apartment regulations were such that we couldn't have a grill on the deck)...thus upon returning back to Iowa City, one of the first things Chris vowed to do was cook on the grill, and that's exactly what we did on sunday. The first meal we decided to make were shish kabobs, and Emily gets most of the credit for how they turned out, as her "secret rub" that she makes really gave them a nice flavor. Who says Texas is the only place to get Bar-B-Que!

"Song of the day":

Double the Fun

There was a crazy storm that ripped through the northwest suburbs this evening, and I happened to catch this shot of a rainbow afterwards...this was the best I could get without a tripod in such low light.

Sweet Home Chicago

After getting back in one piece to Iowa City (there's a side story to our move that likely will be posted about in the near future) and doing some painting at the condo (which turned out great), I decided to head back to Chicago for a while to catch up with family and friends before starting my new position at the university.

After meeting with a dentist for lunch on monday to look at his office's portrait photography setup, tuesday found me taking the train downtown to meet Jeff Kessler for lunch and some relaxation in Millenium Park.

It has been what seems like a long time since I was last downtown in Chicago, and moments after getting off the train I quickly found myself comparing notes on Chicago and Dallas. It's probably not fair of me to compare the two, but I still couldn't help myself. Both are interesting cities for their own respective characteristics, but you can't help but be taken in by the sense of dynamism that is inherint to Chicago.

At any rate, after enjoying a great burger and conversation with Jeff at the Park Grill, I decided to linger downtown in the park for a few more hours. On the west side of the park there is a great natural area where there are wildflowers framing the skyline along with the concert pavilion, and of course I had my camera, so I spent some time shooting there. The best part of the park though was listening to the CSO rehearse in the pavilion. There's a giant lawn area, and so I just layed down, closed my eyes, and worked on my farmer's tan while listening to some great music. Sitting there listening the symphony rehearse, it reminded me of a great article that I had read from a photographer's website. My only thought was that there weren't enough days like today.

"Song of the day"

Boring

It's been mentioned to me (numerous times) that our blog is lacking in posts lately. Yeah, you're right, we suck. Not that I'm sorry or anything. I mean, we've been freaking busy lately. Doing what you may ask? Well, I can't speak for Chris, but here's a run down of what I've been doing and why I haven't published a post.

1. I only have internet access at work, and very little time to write something while I'm there....unless I'm on the night shift...
2. Since moving back to Iowa I've been working between 50-60 hours per week. Ok, I know others have it worse, but basically, working 5 12 hr shifts a week leaves little time for anything else other than sleep.
3. We moved back to Iowa. (A more detailed post will be added....when we have the time)
4. Spent 5 days in Chicago visiting Chris' parents.
5. Spent a weekend at Lake Geneva Wisconsin boating with Ryan and Megan Aseltine.
6. Drove back to Iowa and unpacked our stuff in the condo.
7. Worked some more
8. Replaced the garbage disposal and painted the living room, halls and kitchen.
9. Worked some more
10. Ran errands consisting of: DMV for new license, Admin building for new auto registration and title (we lost our old one), insurance company to sign new contract for cheaper (yeah!) insurance in Iowa, recycling center, bank to have a letter notarized, post office to mail the letter and find out why we haven't received our forwarded mail, ABRA auto body to get a quote on the damage done to my car before leaving Texas, Core Fitness for new gym memberships, Ace hardware for thermostat (which I later that day installed), Bed Bath and Beyond for blackout curtains for bedroom, lunch with my friend Mackenzie, over to Norm's to feed Olivia, Ann Taylor for new shorts, Target for gift card and back home to finish the laundry.

So, sorry I've been absent and haven't commented on anything like babies, flooding or basically anything else that would interest the few people to read our blog. Hopefully we'll get the internet up and running at home and we'll post more later.

Welcome to the New Coralville Strip

My friend Trent Place sent me this photograph of the Coralville strip that he took this morning from the backside of his girlfriend's apartment in Iowa City. Trent is ironically going to be back in Iowa City for a year as well to complete a Doris Duke medical research fellowship, so it will be nice to have a good friend in town, even if it means paddling a kayak to get together...

Austin Visit

Last weekend I ventured down to Austin for the weekend...in part to attend at CE course in the town of Salado, TX (~45 min. north of Austin), and in part to catch up with an old friend of mine Nate from my undergrad days at Iowa.

On a side tangent...when Emily and I first moved down to Dallas, I had a big decision to make...whether or not to repair my air conditioner in my car (which had already been fixed a few years earlier and had once again failed), or to build character and tough out the heat, thus saving a few hundred dollars from being wasted on an 18 year old car. You have to realize that we only live ~7-10 minutes by car from work, so if ever we were just going to be driving around the metroplex, we always had Emily's AC equipped Corolla to get us around in cool comfort. So I made the decision to build character, save some money, and quickly realized that driving 7-10 min. in the heat really wasn't that bad.

Well, upon heading down to Austin late friday afternoon, it became apparent that there was a big difference between driving 7-10 min. to work, and driving ~3 hours in 98+ humid heat. Lets just say that on more than one occasion, I considered taking a nap on the side of I-35. The worst part of the whole drive was the fact that even if you bought cold water from a gas station, it was to body-temperature within 30 minutes...that's because Emily took our only mini-cooler with her when she drove back to Iowa City in her AC loaded Corolla (see how I coddle her). At any rate, I will definitely never drive my car that long again in that kind of heat...but on with the weekend.

I arrived at Austin in one sweaty piece, and caught up with my friend Nate (who was nice enough to put me up for the weekend) over some local Mexican cuisine. I had met Nate back in Quadrangle Dorm (probably now under water) my sophmore year. Nate was an English major, who after graduation headed back to his home of Charlottesville, VA to work for the National Security Agency. After having enough of that for 2 years, he decided to pursue his PhD in rhetoric, and found his way to Austin at the Univ. of Texas. We had lost touch after undergrad, and one day this past fall, while going through old college photos, came across his picture. I decided to look him up on the net and found him ironically listed on UT's website as a faculty member. Talk about a small world.

After my CE course finished mid-day saturday we hung out inside and watched Big Brown choke in the Belmont Stakes with some of his friends. After things started to cool off in the evening we headed for a drive around the Austin area, and checked out some great views of Lake Austin and saw the skyline at night while going for a walk along the Colorado River.

Sunday morning found me heading to the Texas State Capitol building. The building is quite beautiful, and enjoyed seeing the history of the building. There are many large frescos in the House and Senate chambers documenting the fall of the Alamo, and other battles with Mexico. And yes, there's even a photo of "Dubbya".

After that it was time to sweat in the car for 3 hours and head back to Dallas. Aside from the driving, it was a great weekend...but hey, how many people can say they survived a year in Texas without air-conditioning! (Note: click on the slideshow if you would like to look or download the photos individually)

Iowa City Flooded

Well, with about a week left before I am supposed to move back to Iowa City, what at first seemed like a forgone conclusion, may now be in question...will I even be able to get a moving truck into Iowa City? We'll keep our fingers crossed.

So far Emily has been able to get into work alright, and I've touched basis with friends and colleagues still in Iowa City, and they're doing alright so far (most of them live on higher ground, away from the river), but the river isn't supposed to crest until early next week.

At any rate, we both wanted to keep our readers up to date on what's going on in the area, especially alum from the area who are living elsewhere. On the right hand portion of the blog, under "Blogs of Note", you'll find a link to the Univ. of Iowa Flood Website. You may also want to check out The Iowa City Press Citizen's website or Flickr for interesting photos that are updated daily.

Below though are some photos that I found on their website of common areas around Iowa City (for those of you who have lived there and know the area well). We just hope that not too much damage will be sustained...Iowa City's been through a lot between this and the tornado of 2006. But I'd still prefer living there compared to Dallas!

Flood of '08

So, here I am in Iowa City and to say that I'm sitting on a lone island is pretty accurate. I am currently at the hospital-called in overtime- because the surrounding area of Iowa City through Waterloo is flooded so badly that people can't even get to the hospital. In fact, my drive (which normally takes 10 minutes) took me 40 minutes to get here. And, since arriving here, the coralville strip near 1st ave has officially flooded, so now my drive will have to take me all the way near 218 and back to the strip then on 12th ave to cross I-80. Oh, and speaking of I-80, it closed this evening at 8pm. The exact location of the closing is still unclear but is rumored to be from exit 239-247. For those of you not familiar with the area, it's the entire area surround Iowa City and the connecting exits between going north to Cedar Rapids and east to about West Branch (or so I'm told). The major arteries into Iowa City are also flooded.

Now, a positive note...I am safe from flood waters. My friend's house at which I currently reside is on high ground and our only inconvenience will likely be restrictions on sewer and water. I am going to the store tonight when I get off work (midnight) to stock up on some items such as water and pantry items (should we lose power in Coralville). I will also make an attempt to drive to Des Moines tomorrow to see my grandma who just got out of the hospital today. Hopefully I-80 is not closed anywhere between 239 and Altoona.

For those of you not here (which is the majority of our readership) you can get a pretty good update on how things are going by checking out the press citizen website.

I went out and took pictures with my cell phone (lame, I know, but Chris has the cameras) and Norm took some with her camera, so when I get them uploaded I'll make another post. The pics are from Tuesday before the Coralville spillway went over.

I'll sign off for now and get back to work. Just wanted to keep you all up to date on what's happening here.

Oh, and by the way, the worst is yet to come...Iowa City is not expected to reach it's peak until mid-next week. UH!

Finally...

Today I find myself with a little time on my hands so I thought I'd finally give a shout out from the big IC. I've officially been back since May 11. For those of you who don't know, I am living with Norm, a coworker of mine at the U. Oh, and, then there is Olivia, her cat.

Norm and some goofy chick

A very pissed Olivia following a recent bath

So, I guess you can say I'm not as ronery as Chris. However, I am a little bored without a buddy to trek around with. I basically am just working, and working and working. Somewhere around40-60 hours per week.

I did have some free time over Memorial weekend and went to Chicago to see Rick and Louise since I hadn't seen them since September of last year. We had a great time eating Chicago pizza (my first great pizza experience in over a year), as well as going on a 20 mile bike ride with Rick. I had a great time seeing them and the 'burbs again.

An oldie but a goodie

What else have I been up to....hmm... Well, I've luckily seen my good friend Jess and her family before she gives birth any day now. And I've also seen my friend Kallie and partook of some great Cancun Mexican food. Oh, and I was able to order a Sam's calzone takeout. I can't even begin to describe how great that was. Salty goodness. I'm saving Micky's for when Chris is back. I figure we'd visit it together since it was the place of our first date and has sentimental ties.

That about summarizes the last few weeks in Iowa City. I'll try an post again a little later with a little more of a more personal report (meaning, a little more entertaining and fun).

Brian Visits

With three weeks left to go in Dallas, this past weekend I had the pleasure of having my friend Brian Seay come to visit for a few days in Dallas. I met Brian back in our freshman year at Iowa in the dorms, and for the past two years Brian has been living in Clarksdale, MS. where he is a teacher in Teach for America.

Friday night we went to the Ranger's game, care-of Brian's girlfriend Natalie, a Dallas-native, who is also teaching with Teach for America. We sat on the first baseline, 24th row, with a much better view than the last game I attended with Vamsi in the nosebleeds. And to top it all off, Brian caught a foul ball, only to hand it over just as quickly to a fan peddling his young son. It's amazing what a guy will do to impress his girlfriend...

Upon returning, Brian and I ventured...well, just walked around the block, to a bar called The Grapevine. Emily and I always had the intention of checking out this place, since it is literally around the block from us, but for whatever reason, just never got around to it. So Brian and I decided to check it out...lets just say, it wasn't exactly our type of place...Chris was told he was 'kissable' (by a guy), and after proclaiming his love for his wife, was asked if he was just curious. I think the fact that Brian and I were standing together at a table chatting over our drinks didn't seem to help the appearance of the situation.

Saturday was spent relaxing/sweating by the pool relaxing in the 95+ heat, and the evening was capped with a great party at Natalie's parent's place.

Only two more weekends to go, and then I'll be saying goodbye to Dallas...sniff sniff.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take a moment tovote your conscious on whether or not we should continue the blog after leaving Dallas on the upper left of the screen...believe it or not, we'll actually take your votes seriously!

Munger Historic District

One of the things that we have always enjoyed doing in our spare time is looking at homes, and imagining what type of home (i.e. style, location, etc.) we would one day inhabit. While living in Iowa City we had staked out the few homes that really caught our eye, and enjoyed the annual parade of homes tour during the summers.

It seems lately as though the only time one hears of homes is in relation to the downward spiral that the housing market has taken recently...however we're pretty excited about this downturn. Hopefully looking to buy in the near future (i.e. 1-2 years), assuming the market doesn't instantly recover (which we don't think it will), this could work to our favor.

At any rate, while living in Dallas, we spent many a hot saturday or sunday driving around neighborhoods, just checking out what the city had to offer. We staked out the Frisco/Plano area, which is definitely nice, but is too "strip-suburban" for our tastes. Of course Highland Park, which is right around the corner from us, is about as ostentatious a neighborhood as one can find. Being that Emily and I tend to enjoy the "prairie-style" or "craftsman" or what Chris likes to refer to as "pacific-northwest" style, we were thrilled to randomly discover a small historic district, not too far from downtown Dallas that has the largest collection of these types of homes in the country. The area is referred to as the Munger Historic District, and most of the homes were built in the early 1900's.

We'd like to preface the below slideshow in saying that these homes by no means reflect the general style down in DFW. In fact they are a small minority, and that's why we had so much fun finding them, because most of the homes down here tend to be built of solid brick (perhaps because of the heat?), and we're not really big fans. However, if you're a fan of brick, and hot weather, then you definitely need to check out Dallas.

Perhaps wherever we settle we'll be lucky enough to find a home that suits our style, but in the meantime, we're just building a photocollection of homes that catch our eye. So enjoy your tour of the Munger Historic District (we saved you a plane-ticket and a $15 luggage-fee).

Ranger Game

Well, the first weekend without Emily wasn't all too bad (not saying that she isn't missed). On wednesday Vamsi called and said that he would be able to swing through Dallas for the weekend for the third time this year on his way back from London to Chicago (apparently reaching American's Gold Platinum level from flying so many miles allows you to make such rash travel changes).

At any rate, beautiful weather down here (upper 80's and sunny) afforded us the opportunity to hang out at the pool saturday afternoon, and then catch a Ranger's game in the evening. The Rangers faced off against their rival the Houston Astro's, and won 6-2. Our seats weren't the greatest, we basically sat in the nosebleed section along the 3rd baseline amongst a large number of Astro fans, but it was great to get out and catch a ballgame.

And...as proof that everything is bigger in Texas...it appears as though quite a bit of progress is being made on the new Cowboy Stadium, which will be the largest enclosed stadium in the NFL when it opens.

1) Rangers Ballpark nosebleeds 2) Construction continues to the right on the new Cowboy Stadium

Bush League

This about summarizes the past 7 years...

Billo Blowout

For those of you who watch cable news on even a semi-regular basis, you probably have come across this video of Bill O'Reilly freaking out in the early 90's, but for those of you who haven't, it's pretty damn funny...

Song of the day:

Stylist vs. Barber

Let me let all of our readers in on a little secret...for the past 4 or so years, Emily has been my "stylist", "barber", "hair-cutting person", whatever you want to refer to it as. At first it was just kind of a joke, I decided to one day early in dental school let her have at the buzzer and scissors and cut my hair. Thinking this would be a one-time event, we (mostly I) were pleasantly surprised at how good of a job she did.

I started to think...hey, why should I pay someone $15-20 every month to do this, when we can do it for free at home...thus started Emily's second job of cutting my hair.

Fast forward to the present...for over a week before Emily left me in Texas for Iowa City, she had promised that she would cut my hair before leaving, as it was getting kind of shaggy-like. Figuring that we'd eventually find some time to do it, among her packing and getting things in order, we both kind of blew it off until the last minute. The day before leaving, Emily went and got her hair cut (she had been growing it out for Johnette's wedding in Raleigh) by her "stylist", who in the veign of any good stylist, actually shaves his own head. Suffice to say, we never found time to cut my hair. So in protest, I decided to buzz it all off...yeah, all of it (well almost). Actually I was kind of curious to see what it was like, since I've never done this before, and also because its "fixin" (a Texas term) to get hot down here. With no functional air conditioner in my car, this is the poor-man's alternative.

At any rate, I think we can all agree that Emily's hair turned out better than mine. The good news is that it will grow back in time for me to re-join Emily in Iowa City, and have her once again be my "stylist".

Good haircut vs. not-so-good haircut

Chris a Little Ronery...

Well, this morning Emily took off for Iowa...leaving Chris behind in Dallas. For the last couple of weeks we've enjoyed some good laughs when Emily attempts to compare Chris' six weeks alone in Dallas to Kim Jung-Il from the "Team America" movie...to understand what we're joking about, we thought we'd share the video...

Y'all come back now, ya hear!

So, here I am a week short of leaving Dallas. Yes, one week. Seems like just yesterday Pedro (my car) and Biggie (the moving van) ventured down south to good ole' Dallas. I thought maybe I'd reminisce a little and expound upon my personal experiences here in Dallas and share some things I've learned, experienced and maybe even miss a little...

1. Of course, the thing I'm going to miss most is Chris (awwwww...see, even I can be mushy). Since we'll be apart for over a month I'm gonna miss the little guy.

2. Friends. As much as I didn't want to become attached to people in Dallas, I'm a friendly sort of person and I've met a lot of diverse, interesting and fun people here. In remembrance they are listed here (in no particular order):
* Christi and Jason
* Jen and Ben
* Brandi and Chris
* Kristen
* and maybe even Tina a little...

3. Southern cooking. Not because I actually eat it, but because people in the South eat things I never knew existed or rather, knew could be edible.
* Chittlins (fried pig intestines)
* Raccoon
* Collard Greens (ok, every one's heard of these, but how many people do you know that actually have eaten them)
* Oxtail
* Fried coke, cappuccino, pecan pie...just about anything fried...

4. Texas slang. All y'all (plural) and y'all (singular)? I am now an expert at a new foreign language.

5. Kiddie car driving. Did you ever have an opportunity to drive/ride in a bumper car? You remember, the electric driven cars at the state fair where your main intent was to hit as many other cars with as much force as physically possible by a glorified rubber padded bucket. That's what it's like to drive in Texas. No turn signals, no auto insurance, aggressor takes all drivers in Texas. I'm lucky to have survived. Whew! Notice the green text...yeah, I started writing this post yesterday. Today, I was hit by a Texas driver. No joke. And, to make matter worse, my car was parked. We weren't even in it. Oh, and another ironic note, remember last year, around this time...we had just flown back from Texas (after my interview) and I had dropped Chris off at class then went to run errands and bam! I ate the ass of a Cadillac. This was 2 weeks short of leaving Iowa. Now, one week short of leaving Texas another accident. What message am I missing?

6. Grocery shopping. Normally not a statement you'll hear me utter, but when I'm shopping in the greatness that is Central Market, I can't help but love it. I've never eaten better in my whole life. For those of you lucky enough to experience it, you know what I'm talking about.

7. Pool time, any time. Yes, I can layout in the sun anytime from March through November (and probably any other month of the year is the temp happens to be over 70, which often is the case).

8. Working out. Ok, now who would list this as something they'll miss, but here's my explanation. I have a great, free gym right in my complex in which I can work out anytime I want. I love it! No car needed and it's so close there really is no excuse as to why you can't go. Even if it rains, I just have Chris drop me off on his way to work. Perfect!

9. Ethnic food. I've been meaning to make a post about my weekly lunches with my friend Jen. But, to as you can see, I'm just now getting to mention it. Anyways, we attempt to try a new restaurant every week, and more often than not, we attempt to try something unique. I've had Mediterranean (my fav), Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese (obviously), as well as local joints known for fab food. Yum!

10. Last but not least...the ease of shopping. Anything I ever wanted is within 15 minutes of our loft. It's going to suck moving back to Iowa where I have to drive to another town to buy something I want from a particular store. I hate shopping in general, but since I can just head out, get it and do it under 45 minutes, it's great!

Here ends by summation of all that I'll miss and/or eager to leave in Texas. It's been a great experience to try out something new, spend a year on our own, and become closer as a newly married couple. Now, if only we could decide where to move next...

Take a Deep Breath

Today the American Lung Association came out with a report of the most polluted cities with regard to air quality...and would you believe it that DFW came in 7th place with regard to ozone pollution. If you've ever flown into DFW, this won't come as a surprise...just nice to know that we live in such a clean city.

(Click to smell)

Car Debate

Last weekend we were in the suburbs of Dallas with a few hours to kill while waiting to meet some friends for a dinner and movie. With not enough time to warrant a trip back home, only to leave shortly thereafter, we decided...what the heck...lets go to a dealership and look at cars.

Now normally this is not something that would just pop into either one of our heads as something that is an enjoyable way to kill 2-3 hours, but you have to understand two factors that currently change this equation:

1) There's really not that much one can do in Dallas for a few hours that doesn't include eating, or buying things at a mall (i.e. no forest preserves to go for a leisurely stroll)

2) Chris' car is now reaching the ripe age of 18, and according to some, may reach "classic" status at the ripe age of 20. While once a beacon for obsessive washing, waxing, and the like, the 1990 3 series has recently seen its share of mini disasters...starting with the infamous 2006 tornado that came through Iowa City and decided to pummel Chris' hood with softball-size hail, and more recently with some careless parking by Chris that resulted in some "minor" crumpling of the right quarter panel on a parking cement support beam.

So are we ready to write off Chris' first car? The car that got him through 3 years of undergrad, 4 years of dental school, and now a year of post-grad residency? The car that forced him to learn stick (by some a requirement to be a man). The car that got him so many women (actually just Emily...she couldn't resist it)...well, we'd like to think not. But the reality is that gas prices don't seem to be abating any time in the near future, and while the car has been running masterfully down in the warm Dallas climate, there is the all-to-likely chance that the car won't react kindly to a return to the harsh midwest winter. If that weren't enough, the car unfortunately sucks up only 91 grade premium fuel, now at $3.99 in Dallas, and likely higher in Chicago and Iowa City.

So all of this has gotten us to thinking that it might not be a bad idea to start thinking about the prospect of adding a new member to our family...a car that is. But what car to purchase you ask? We have been completely satisfied with Emily's '04 Corolla thus far, it offers a nice ride, pretty darn good gas mileage (as high as the upper 30's on the highway), and has plenty of room for what we need. This all begs the question...do we be completely boring and buy another Carolla, or do we spend the extra 5G's and get a more fuel-efficient, perhaps less stylish Prius?

This is what drove us (no pun intended) to the local Plano Toyota dealership. 10 milliseconds upon pulling into the lot we had a salesman at our windshield offering to help us. So we told him we wanted to take a look and test drive the '09 Corolla and the '09 Prius. Thinking that a large dealership like this one (it's one of the largest Toyota dealerships in DFW) would certainly have a Prius in stock, we were shocked to hear that the last one on the lot had just been sold within the last hour, and that we would be unable to test drive it as it was being prepped for its new owners. Hmmm...there must be something to this hybrid thing...according to the salesperson, they've been selling like hot cakes lately. We were about to ask if we were still in Texas, because we couldn't believe that hybrids and Texas and sold out could possibly occur in the same continuous sentance...but indeed it did. So we ended up driving the '09 Corolla, which essentially felt just like Emily's Corolla, plus the new car scent...and for good reason, not much has been added or changed since '04, except exterior styling and a power stearing mechanism that is fluid-free.

So here's what we'd like to hear from our readers...some of whom hopefully know more about cars than we do...should it become necessary to replace Chris' car in the near future (a sad day for all), should we go with a Corolla and save 5G's, or spend the 5G's and save the environment and buy the Prius?

Any and all comments are welcomed...

(vs)

Song of the day: