Baldness Arrived

Yes, I went through with it. I went and got my head shaved for St. Baldrick's Day. There were around 110 people getting their heads shaved in Albany today. At the start of the day they had raised over $38,000, and expected to raise nearly that same amount more today. I had raised $195. Thanks to all those who donated!

So, as promised, here are a couple pictures. They didn't shave us quite this close at the event. However, I wanted to see what it would look like really clean-shaven, so I finished it up from there. Let me know what you think.

Baldness Incoming

Yes, I'm getting my head shaved in 2 weeks. How exiting! :) I've shaved my head once before, but that was really just for fun. This time is for a purpose.

It's for St. Baldrick's Day. The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a national national organization that shaves people's heads to raise money for childhood cancer research. They do events in different cities around the country, and Albany's St. Baldrick's Day event this year is March 22. I went last year to observe and provide moral support, but this year I decided to participate myself.

Here's the link to my page on their website.

http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.php?ParticipantKey=2009-336996

You can follow my donations, or even make a donation if you are feeling generous. :) I'll post an after-picture up there later too.

Boards

We just found out our board scores today, and both Becca and I passed our pediatric boards! Yippee!! Now we are board certified in pediatrics and don't have to worry about it again until 2015.

Brain Power

Today Becca and I went to the Schenectady Museum and Planetarium. Thomas Edison set up his factory in the Schenectady area, so much of the museum is about the history of Electricity and some fun kids stuff to go along with it. In the Planetarium we saw a show about astronomy and how it has contributed to our Christmas traditions.

After that we continued walking around the museum. There was a section on DNA, which was really quite basic and not too interesting to either of us. The last thing we did in the museum was to go back to a game that was in use when we went by the first time.

Set-up for the game included each of us putting on a head band which was connected to a computer. The head bands measured brain activity. The games were based on the amount of brain activity in each person. In the first game we played we were trying to stay calm, relaxed and produce as little brain activity as possible.....Becca won that game. Then we switched the rules and competed to have the most brain wave activity. So, while I had a hard time being relaxed, I didn't have much trouble putting my brain into overdrive and proceeded to win that one. All I had to do was take my overactive ADHD brain, turn off all controls, and go crazy. Admittedly I couldn't achieve anything in the form of functional activity in that state, but for the purpose of the game it worked out well.

The Joy of Ice

As you know, we in the Northeast have recently been hit with a pretty big ice storm. So, as a result, we've been dealing with many of the consequences of this weather. One of my interns had a tree fall down on her driveway, blocking her in and making her late to work. Not so bad..... Another intern, not to be outdone, had the poor fortune of a tree falling on her car and in her words, "smashing it all up." I don't know for certain how bad it is, but I wont be surprised if it is totaled.

Of course, the impacts on my residents is only a small part of what is going on. Approximately 300,000 people in New York alone are without power, and it will take quite a few days to get most of the power back on.

One additional consequence of all the power outages is that many of the traffic signals are not working. So, this bears a question: What are the traffic laws for intersections in which the power is lost? Well, the laws are that the intersection turns into 4 way stop signs. That law works great if it is followed. So I was out doing some shopping and got to see what was actually happening. People aren't treating them as 4 way stops. Instead, what is happening is that people are going through the intersections as if they have green lights. And this is happening from any directions. I am just surprised I was out for a couple hours and didn't see any accidents. Subsequently when I got home I told Becca that the roads were clean but I felt they were more dangerous than during immediate bad weather as there seems to be no good sense of order to the roads.

Well, that's the most recent news from here. Hope everyone is having a good week. I, at least, have power and can play on Facebook or Everquest II all weekend. Actually, Becca and I are about to go watch a musical comedy called Nuncrackers. It should be interesting.

The Wedding

As all my reading audience knows (most of you were there) I got married on Thursday, October 9. I'm putting the date in because I feel like if I say it enough, then I might even remember it next year. :) Or I can look in my ring, as the date is engraved on the inside of the ring.

I don't have a picture of both sides of our families together, as those were taken by our photographer and we do not have those pictures yet. So instead I put up 2 pictures so that everyone can be included. Once we get the link to the pictures from our photographer I will post the link up here.

The day ended up being just about perfect. It rained until about 9 AM, then cleared up and was sunny by noon. We had been concerned that it would be raining or cold, but instead we had a beautiful day which allowed us to enjoy the area to it's fullest.

A few of us went and set up chairs in the park at 10, then Joel stayed guard to make sure nobody moved the chairs around while the rest of us got dressed. It worked out well as Joel was the least dressed of the group anyway.... :) Then we stared taking pictures at Mt Philo around 1 PM. After we were finished taking pictures we started the wedding. I don't have much to say about the wedding because I really don't remember much. I'm just glad I did not stumble over my vows. We did have a few wedding crashers. This dog wandered through and there was an older couple who sat back behind our families and watched the whole thing.

Following the wedding we took a few more pictures, then packed up the area and left. Becca's sister Jen and Jen's husband Alan went to decorate the room for dinner, and we took a short nap. Then off to dinner which was at Kitchen Table Bistro. The decorations were gorgeous, including a few baby pumkins. The pumpkins had tea lights placed in small holes which had been masterfully drilled by yours truly. However, the brains behind all the decorations was Jen who did a wonderful job. The dinner was wonderful too. Both Becca and I had Ahi Tuna for our appetizer and Ribeye steak for our dinner. That was tasty.

Guess that about does it. Thanks to all of our families who came, and to everyone else who has sent us encouraging messages.

The Marriage License

As I said on a short term update on Facebook, Becca and I got our marriage license last week up in Vermont. We went up on Thursday to get some finishing touches done.

The first thing we did was to meet with Karen Pike, our photographer. We had picked her out based on the photos she had on her website, then I had talked to her but we hadn't met her yet. She is really quite nice and I think will be able to get some great pictures while allowing the mood to remain pleasantly calm.

Next we went to the Charlotte Town Clerk to get our marriage license. The only requirement was that we got the license from inside Chittenden county, and this was the closest. We were lucky enough to have our license done by a new employee. Our license was the first one she had done on her own. First of all, she erased 2 lines, and used white-out 6 or 7 times. Doesn't seem too official to me. But at least this is the document that needs to be signed on the wedding day, then we will get a new, official document. That's at least some consolation. Here's the fun part. We didn't show anyone there our licenses, or any other form of identification. Instead, we just filled out a paper, signed it, and walked out with the license. Kinda creepy isn't it? We could have been anyone. That just seemed a bit odd to us.

After that we went to see Mt Philo, where the wedding will take place. Assuming the weather holds up it's going to be really nice. Otherwise the ceremony will be inside an enclosed room that will require a bit of decorating to fit the mood.

Lastly we went to the resaurant where we will have our reception. We were pretty pleased with it. Everything was really good and the portion sizes were appropriate. We got everyone's votes on what to include on the menu, but talking to the manager we may be able to keep our options even a bit more open than that. One of our appetizers was mussels, which were quite tasty and may very well chow up on our dinner menu if they're still available at that time.

I'll post if there are any major changes to plans. As of now everything seems to be falling into place.

I think I'll even be able to join in on Game Night this week! Yippee!! I've been missing talking to you guys on Thursdays.