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.