I'm DONE!

Friday, June 27, was our St Joe's graduation. We got out of clinic at 2pm so we could go home and prepare for the graduation reception. Wrong, I rushed to our house to help Em and the Movers get our house cleared out so the buyers could do their walk through.

We were under the impression that they would have the house packed and emptied and all they would do on Friday would be to bring in a truck to haul it off. Thursday we find out that they won't be done packing until Friday. MAJOR PANIC! (Who sends two guys to pack a house and lets one of them go home at 1pm for a doctor's visit! leaving one lone man to pack everything.)Thursday night I was to sign the closing docs and then they would do the walk through in the am and then sign Friday afternoon. We had to get it all shuffled around at the last minute, with a doc saying that they would sign before the walk through leaving the docs in escrow pending their walk-through approval.

So I rushed back and they were not near completion, Dad was stuck in Newport with a dead battery in the van. (I had been pulled over, on TH evening, and humiliated by a police officer for how bad my car was and how erratic and disorganized I seemed for a dentist/military man. He only let me off, begrudgingly, because I was military.) Dad's dead battery in our van turned out to be the car alarm being tripped. Anyway, the buyers did the walk through with the movers still working and we left after that to barely make the graduation leaving the movers to still finish. Well, the graduation was wonderful. The boys were at the Millers, where we were staying after moving out of our home. Dad was there, which was very nice and perfect. It was an overwhelming experience to see so many people there for us 4 residents. The setting was perfect, the top/11th floor with all glass on two of the walls overlooking downtown Providence. The program was extremely nice. Each of us got up at the end to thank everyone. My theme was mostlywas to thank everyone for putting up with my sometimes hard to get sense of humor. Also, about how much I loved my coresidents. It has been a perfect fit for us four, and also eight (including the first years).

I failed to mention, but felt deeply grateful for Emily. She has been such a strength to me and I undervalue her support. I know I couldn't accomplish these things without her. I am so indebted to her. It was so happy and emotional. My checks were hurting so bad by the middle of the affair from smiling and laughing so much. I don't think I've given so many hugs or received so many. The St Joe's/Lutheran group has been a wonderful and dysfunctional family. So many people have made an impact on my life.

It seems so weird to be done. I feel like I will be going back on Monday, but instead will be in Alabama for COT (officer training). Yesterday, I kept getting a little smile thinking, "I'm a Pediatric Dentist!"

Farewell New England

There is a saying here in New England, "If you don't like the weather (or weatha)...wait a minute." This is soo true. A week ago it was in the 90's with 90% humidity and then in the 60's and rainy. Yesterday was gloomy and then this morning was beautiful. Today continued into cloudy and then rainy and the sunny on the way back home. I then had to rush outside to close my car which I had left open for unloading purposes as the wind kicked up followed by thunder, light rain, heavy rain with small hail and the heavy rain with large hail. It was a great storm with some really loud thunder.

I had a video ready to post, but Em called me a blog thief as she wanted to use it so check it out at her spot.

It left small flood in front of our yard in only 5 minutes of rain! The sky was gorgeous so I ran down and took a couple of pictures.

Well, this is my last post for a while. I will be locked up in Maxwell AFB in Montgomery Alabama for all of July. Em will be with family and friends during said time.

Feed The Fowl

I tried to capture how mean this beautiful creature was. It kept on hissing at the boys and getting way too close. I succeeded in keeping them out of snapping distance though. Then I turned it into a lesson about not being the greedy goose, or something like that.

Name This Picture

I was looking through our old pictures and saw this one and thought, "Hey, we could have fun with her!" I saw her at Disney World last year and inconspicuously snapped a shot of it.
So what do you say, let name the photo, or her, or the thing on her head. Take your pick.


Here's a close up if it helps.

Mac Baby

It is nice to see that little #3 already has an affinity for Apple.

Opps...

Saturday afternoon we went down to our little beach on the marina/bay and borrowed our neighbor's kayak. I through boy #2 behind my seat and boy #1 in front of me. It was the perfect day for it. Warm weather with cool water. So we, by that I mean I, paddled around for a while. Then I let Max off at a dock and raced him back to the shore. I stayed in the boat a little longer then Max came and tried to get back on. A big kayak wrestling match ensued. That little bugger was neigh impossible to dislodge. We eventually made it back to shore for a break. I sat down in my chair and tried to find my cell phone to call Em. I couldn't find it anywhere. "Max, have you seen my phone?" A startled look comes across his face as he pats his pockets. "I put it in my pocket," says he. "NO YOU DIDN'T," says I crisply. He decided it would be funny to hide it and then forgot as he came back into the water. So the phone is now lying in the Narragansett Bay somewhere.

I tried to stay calm so I could talk to him:

"Do you know how much a new phone costs?"

Sheepishly, "No, how much?"

"A hundred dollars."

"Do we have that much?"

"You will have to use all of your money and then I will have to pay the rest."

"All of my money? But I've been trying to save it."

"I know, I've been trying to save mine too." (sympathetically.)

He bursts into tears and sobs.

Anyway, no phone was recovered and I got a new one at the Verizon store. Through some sort of renewal of contract and new phone credit, it actually didn't cost anything, but I decided I would keep his twelve dollars anyway. I did let him keep the few pounds of change that we hauled in.

I think that the lesson got taught, but I'm not sure.

Drum Rolls...........

Yes This Evening The Car Did Start!!!!!

also

You know your car is loud when people in the ghetto stop and give you dirty looks!

It was purchased for 6 hundred and the guy at the garage sale will pay 3.

I HATE MY CAR

So I don't really hate it. It's been pretty OK most of the time. Unfortunately it doesn't always want to start when I ask it to, and this is becoming a more frequent experience. It's not the battery, I know a dead battery when I don't hear one. But it just keeps trying and trying and trying and trying to start but doesn't "catch." What do I do you may ask? Well, the first time I called AAA. But when they failed to show up after an hour, I went back out and tried it again and it started right away. Hummm? So the next time it happened, I just waited and then it started again...The 45th time last week when trying to go to the Red Sox game it decided it didn't want to assist me in said endeavor. So I rode with my friend and came back after the game and it started. Hmmm. Then today it happened again and now an hour later it hasn't started!! Why?? Well I try again in the morning after Em drops me off at work.

So, why do I like it? Well, it has some great functions.

• There is a small opening in the driver's side window where I can put the clothes hanger when I lock my keys in the car. (Yes, it has come in handy more than I would like to admit.)
• It has a built in, this is a recent addition, foot massager so that when I accelerate the floor vibrates at a high frequency, thus massaging/tickling my feet.
• The speakers have an auto-volume function. When I hit a bump, the lack of shocks seems to let some speakers take a break and blocks some noises from playing. In combination with the floor massaging unit comes a loud noise, so I get lots of looks in the ghetto without having had to shell lots of dough for a loud muffler.
• It has a moon/rain roof. When I park on our slanted drive way AND it rains, it collects around 2-2.45 gallons of water which is decanted as the car is leveled out and/or accelerates. I'm not sure how to take full advantage of this feature...yet.
• One of my favorite arcade games was spy hunter, so when I found out about the smoke screen function I was wicked excited. I've only tried it on an actual person once as one of the neighbors made the mistake of timing his walk with my departure for work in the morning.
• I think there is one more hidden function I haven't tapped into. The whole time I've been driving the faded blue wonder there has been a cord hanging down underneath the engine area. I haven't reached under to pull it yet, however I suspect it may be attached to a parachute feature. I may try it just before I drive it off the dock into the bay by our house prior to moving!

18 days * 2 times a day= 36 more starts needed!

Please work!

**Sorry, someone already claimed it at the garage sale on Saturday. If you want you can try to out bid him!!

Slobbers

No wonder this little guys always seems to smell like mildew! Each shirt we put on him ends up wet in 2.5 minutes. I'm just amazed at the multiple points of slobber drop formation. Some may credit this to teething, but he's always like this and still only has 4 teeth, when he should have 12.

Introductions

Em recently posted some defaming comments on her blog. And to illustrate that yes she truly finds me incompetent in meeting new people, I will recount a recent encounter she had meeting a coworker of mine. My female co-residents and male co-resident's wives and a visiting student got together the other night to watch an old movie (not the point). This new student told me afterward 'Your wife is so cute. She is wonderful. When she introduced herself she said "Whatever he's done, whatever he's said I am sorry.'" So my "cute" "wonderful" wife is so afraid of my social skills, in which class I got an A in in 8th grade!, that she immediately apologizes for any misbehavior. Allison, the student quickly reaffirmed how cool and nice and fun I am, so there!!!

Another Dental Moment

The other day I had a couple patients not show up, nothing new here that happens all the time (so make sure you at least call us if you can't make it!). So the secretary asked me if I could take on of the emergencies that was waiting. She said he was in pain and looking miserable. I of course said yes. I went out to get him in the waiting room, 8 year old boy, and he came over in horrible pain, crying, but not scared. The poor kid had an abscess (which is what happens when you have 15 cavities diagnosed a year ago and you don't bring your kid back!!!) and was in wicked bad pain. He could barely stop crying to talk. Anyway, instead of just sending him home with an antibiotic to calm the infection down, which is an acceptable treatment and what I almost did, I asked him if he wanted to take the tooth out right now even if it hurt some (Infected teeth don't get numb as well due to the infection). He wanted to do it now and be brave, which he was until he freaked out when I tried put the "sleepy juice" by his tooth (numb his tooth). I eventually talked him through that and got the two offending teeth out without it even hurting him at all.

The purpose of this tale is how nice it was to help this boy so much. The difference between when he came in and left was so great. Also, make sure your kids are getting regular care. It's a lot easier and cheaper to prevent the cavities then to fix them. Then again I benefit more if you wait! =)