Cheers!

Comfortable at home
I am on mommy call all night tonight, where I take all the pediatric parent phone calls for the hospital. Although I am, as a result, unfortunately kind of chained to my pager, phone, and computer, it gives me an excuse to veg at home-- perfect for a night of blogging, tea, and reading (I have been able to read a couple of Obama auto/biographies [I love that man so much] in the past week and currently have a Picoult book, Change of Heart, from the library)! The only thing is, which I'm JUST noticing, is that my pager's sound alert feature (I usually just have it on vibrate) is NOT working. Uh oh. I better not miss any pages tonight. I'm going to be so paranoid tonight about falling asleep.

Sis's adventures in Europe
I just HAD to share with you some funny excerpts from an email update my sister (recently in London visiting her Italian beau) sent, as apparently the updating-her-own-blog-thing is so last month(s) for her.

["...London was great. It was kinda funny because we were wandering around the city center, which was super crowded, and the first few times I bumped into people, I kept saying, 'Unskyld,' which is 'Excuse me' in Danish. As you can imagine, I tend to run into inanimate objects/people with some frequency [we are most definitely sisters!!], so it's become a second-nature/popular phrase for me here in CPH...'

.... I have to admit, it was really nice to see everything written and spoken in English...so call me a cultural imperialist ("Everybody should speak AMERICAN!"). But at least this way I didn't accidentally buy yogurt instead of milk or have to spend 15 minutes trying to guess what 'nutmeg' is called in Danish....

... I'll be going to Kiev [I'm soooooooooooooo jealous! She might be up on me for total # countries...] for Christmas... I'm a little nervous though, because I think it's going to be about negative 50 degrees (hey! that's like Rochester!! In May!!). So my plan is to bring a big suitcase with all of my clothes and to wear them all at once. Think: Michelin man. Or Joey from 'Friends': "Could I BE wearing any more clothes??'....."

Tell me you have seen this Friends episode! I adore that show, and this is one of the funniest scenes in the history of the series.

So, in any case. Cheers to London/the U.K., and to these holidays!

Good movie
Speaking of England, I saw The Other Boleyn Girl on dvd this past weekend, and now am really into learning about all those crazy people in Tudor times. I thought it was a great drama! According to Shomir, the only movies I like (i.e. chick flicks) all have to include either cheating... or death. I guess this one has both.

Holiday cheer
As far as holiday get togethers: it's going to be a busy social season!
We have kicked off the residency interview season, first with a Pep Rally yesterday, and then first interviews today. Tuesday nights, we are having our dinners for the FP/OB applicants (unfortunately, the same nights as OB dinners. This week, however, the applicant couldn't come so I went to the standing "Tuesday (FP) intern" dinner instead [I don't know HOW these interns get together as often as they do!]). Wednesday nights, Shom is putting together a reading/discussion group (with possible pharma sponsorship of meals) of AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians) journal articles (this is, quite possibly, one of the best medical magazines you will ever read!). Thursday nights will be the FP applicant dinners (Joe hosting this week). This Friday will be a little bday potluck. Saturday I may get suckered into playing some doubles tennis after rounding on newborns and working at the urgent care. This is a lot of social occasions, is it not? Probably more than I've attended all year (!).

We may also be having a "networking" happy hour (these 3rd years have to look for jobs!!), and several holiday parties in there, too!

A week from tomorrow (on Thanksgiving day!) I head to MN!! I'm sooooooooooo excited to see family! :)

Cheers!!