The Baltimore Aquarium

A few weekends ago, we finally got to go to the Baltimore Aquarium. They have a really good deal on Friday nights from 5-9pm ($8 per person rather than >$25 per person regularly). The aquarium is quite large, and the exhibits are well done. I liked how the path through the aquarium is easy to follow. I thought I'd show some of my favorite things we saw here.

We saw turtles and lots of fish, and other creepy critters staring at us from the water....



Beautiful pink birds.....

The best thing was that they have a great jellyfish exhibit right now... so amazing!

Cubicle Pranks

I will probably never work in a cubicle again. Many people have negative associations with cubicles, they see them as cages. But there are some benefits to working in a cubicle... most importantly the cubicle prank. The other day at lunch I began recounting all the great cube pranks that were pulled at my old job, and I decided that I needed to honor those great days with a blog post. It all started with a Christmas present...

The holidays are a great time for pranks, as the pace at the office slows down and many people leave their cubes vulnerable as they spend time with their families. It took 6 rolls of My Little Pony wrapping paper to convert Ben's cube into a giant Christmas present, but I think he really appreciated it. At the same time, we used aluminum foil to shield Mark's cube from dangerous electromagnetic radiation:

Just a few months later, I was on a business trip for 2 weeks, giving my beloved co-workers ample time to convert my cubicle into a bathroom:

Note the linoleum. That's not a standard option for cubicles. Unfortunately, they failed to inform me that the toilet wasn't really hooked up to the plumbing, which led to an awkward afternoon. Some months passed, and the group engaged an outsider, with this prank on Sylvia's cube:


I would like to declare my innocence in this prank, this was carried out the day I was married so I have an air-tight alibi. And despite the message on the front box ("Shawn Stone was here"), Shawn Stone was not there, either. That year I left for another 2 week business trip in February, and was somehow surprised to find my cube covered with Barbie Valentine's Day cards on my return. There were hundreds of cards, signed by people from all over the building, and they were EVERYWHERE. I found at least one card every two months for my remaining two years at that job. Really makes a guy feel loved. Somewhere in there, I did a solo job against Ben, changing the following sign in his cube. It took him 3 weeks to notice (you might have to be a geek to get this one)...


I'm proud to say that he chose to leave the modified sign in place, stating that he liked it better than the original. However, he did prefer the original picture of his wife to this one that we whipped up with Microsoft paint:


That's Bryan playing the role of Ben's wife. To his credit, Ben noticed the modifications to his photo right away, while it was a couple weeks before Mark noticed that there was something off about the photo of his newborn son...


Now some of you may have noticed that Ben seems to be bearing the brunt of these pranks. And we were going to give him a break, but then he went and had a baby. And when you have a baby, you need diapers, so we decided to lend him a helping hand:


Like an iceberg, this photo only shows about 15% of the diapers used. We diapered his stapler. And his tape dispenser. We diapered each of his books individually. I labeled a folder "Extra diaper" and put it in his filing cabinet. I bet it's still there.

You would think that after 4 years I would come to expect this sort of thing, but you'd be wrong. I was caught completely off guard when I arrived for my last day of work, and found this little send off to medical school:

I'm sure this brings up a lot of questions. How the hell did you get into medical school? Is that a real human spine? Did you guys ever do any work? Why didn't Ben ever punch you in the face? I'm afraid I don't have answers for you. But I can tell you that I had some great times in my 4 years there, and worked with some of the best people I've met in my life. If any of you are reading this, I miss you all and I hope this inspires you to do something unproductive. Preferably to Dave, it seems like he's gotten away pretty easy...

Yay for Visitors!!

 

A couple of weekends ago, my brother was in town for an interview in D.C. It was so great to have him stay with us! We walked all around the Inner Harbor and the weather was just perfect.

 

Then we went and got our very first crabs. We went to LP Steamers which has won Best of Baltimore for steamed crabs this year. It was an interesting experience- I like the Old Bay rub on the crabs, and I like the legs, but the inside of the crab was pretty frightening. Plus, you can really only get a small bit of meat out of each crab, so we each had 3 and we were still hungry when we left- but that was okay, because we just got some ice cream sundaes!

 

I look really pretty excited about crabs in this last photo.

Books 41, 42, and 43

41) Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty: The 5th book in the Jessica Darling series. This book was good, but not as great as I was hoping the conclusion of the series to be. The section in the middle with the dialogue? (Yawn). I felt like I was reading Plato. First of all it was very difficult to keep track of who was saying what. Also, people my age just don't talk like that. I had a hard time understanding what they were saying half the time. Example "How can I possibly compete with someone who name-checks Jacques Lacan, Oliver Sacks,and Lord Byron?" "So ...more This book was good, but not as great as I was hoping the conclusion of the series to be. The section in the middle with the dialogue? (Yawn). I felt like I was reading Plato. First of all it was very difficult to keep track of who was saying what. Also, people my age just don't talk like that. I had a hard time understanding what they were saying half the time. Example "How can I possibly compete with someone who name-checks Jacques Lacan, Oliver Sacks,and Lord Byron?" "So you do know what a Lacanian theorist is!" Uh, what? There were some good parts though to make up for it.

42) An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: The 7th book in the Outlander series. I loved this book for the most part, and I'm so sad I have to wait for years for the next one! While I loved the different storylines for the most part (The William/Lord John lines could get a little dull, although I like both of these characters), I felt the ending was way too rushed! After such wonderful detail in almost every other storyline in the book- the most important storyline at the end got the least attention, which was very disappointing. Other than that, can I just say how much I love Ian and the storyline with the Quakers? I think I could read a whole new series just about Ian. I also love Brianna and Roger and can't wait to see what happens with Jemmy and Roger- so crazy.

43) The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Okay, so this book was really depressing, but I loved the relationship between the father and the son. Plus the imagery was striking- the desolation just seeped off the pages. I'm not sure how I felt about the ending- it was somewhat hopeful but you can't help but feel that any kind of life in this post-apocalyptic world will be dreadful. This book raised some deep questions: like what is it that drives us to survive even in the most dire of circumstances? What maintains our humanity, and can we fault those people who are the "bad guys" in this world? (The author would say yes). It definitely was thought-provoking.

A View Inside Part II

On to the kitchen! In the back of the first floor is our kitchen. Small, yes, but we love the granite countertops, the gas stove, the walnut cabinets. You can also see the stairs heading up to the second floor here.

As you head towards the back of the first floor, we have a half bathroom and laundry room (which could also seriously use some paint, but that could be a bigger job) and the door out to our tiny backyard area.

Look! No grass! Hallelujah! I'm hoping to plant a bunch of stuff in those pots and in the garden areas next spring- I didn't really have time to do it this year. At some point it might be nice to get a bistro set or a bench out here, but it's not a priority right now.

Done and Done

Friday was my last day in the anatomy lab and this morning was our final anatomy exam. Trying to learn anatomy in 8 weeks was difficult, trying to remember any of it is going to be even tougher. I'm frustrated at the material I've already forgotten from the last test (only two weeks ago). However, the older students claim that we will see the material several more times in the next couple years, and the important stuff will start to stick. For now, let me share with you some interesting facts I've picked up in the last couple of months...

• When we're developing in the womb, our legs initially grow in "backwards", with the soles of the feet facing forward. Throughout development, they slowly rotate into what we know as the normal position.
• The prefix "sartor-" means "pertaining to a tailor". There is a muscle called the "sartorius" that flexes the knee and the hip, laterally rotates the thigh, and abducts the thigh. All these actions together place the outside of one ankle on the opposite knee, which was the common position for tailors back in the olden days. My dad sits this way, and now that I'm becoming my father, I do, too.
  
• Tears from your eye travel out a duct that ends in your nose. This is why you get sniffles when you cry. (To be fair, I knew this before anatomy but only because my father in law explained it to me while I was observing a surgery).
  
• Scalp wounds bleed a lot (as my mom can tell you from a number of my adventures). This is partially because there are a lot of arteries in a small area, but also because they are surrounded by a tight connective tissue that holds the vessels open when they're broken, especially in children.
  
• People who study dinosaur vocalizations believe that dinosaurs honked (as opposed to growling, etc.) For some reason I learned this during anatomy.
• Screws go in clockwise because most people are right-handed and the bicep allows for powerful clockwise rotation of the right forearm. Unfortunately, you don't get this boost from the bicep when you're unscrewing something. And this action only works when the elbow is bent, which is why it's so difficult to set a screw with your arm straight.
  

That should be enough to make you the life of any party.

The most important formula

In recent years, many medical schools (including mine) have moved to a pass/fail grading system, at least for the first two "classroom" years. The idea is to foster a more cooperative environment, and to blunt the insane competitiveness that has gotten the students there in the first place. It can be a challenge to make the switch to a pass/fail mentality after all these years, so there is a simple formula to help remind us of what our goal is...

P = MD

Basically, if you can manage 70% on all the exams you will end up with an M.D. to show for it. It's similar to the old saying, "what do you call the person who graduated last in their medical school class? Doctor." Anyway, I was excited to receive my first legitimate "P" last week, and I hope I have a few more in the years ahead.