2009 WINTER STORM

If anyone had asked me the definition of a blizzard two weeks ago, I would have given them a thoughtful yet inaccurate reply similar to this: "Greater than x amount of snowfall within a given time period? " The question mark would also be included, seeing as how it would be more of a question in an answer form.

In case you didn't know, a blizzard has one key component that a snowstorm does not: wind. Specifically, winds with an average speed of greater than 35 miles per hour.

Winds that blow snow onto the front porch and disable one from take a picture without receiving a gift of multiple ice crystal orbs on the camera lens.





Winds that take ordinary plains of snowfall and coerce them into cute, pinch-your-wittle-cheekies* moguls and hills.

* The cuteness only lasts until you have to remove two-feet of snow from your driveway with a non-snow shovel and until Christmas plans are rescheduled on a day that you are unable to make them.

Winds --with a combination of 15-inches of snowfall and below-freezing temperatures -- that lead to cancellation of holiday festivities. The inclement weather had made the roads too dangerous for travel.

My heart sank at the prospect of missing out on a Christmas get-together, but Jerm and I were quick to make alternative plans.


I cannot remember a single time in our relationship that Jerm and I have played games together, but we spent most of Christmas Eve night trash-talking over games of Yahtzee and Skip-Bo. We even went as far to make a bet that the loser of the final game of Skip-Bo had to run out in the snow in the backyard BAN (you figure it out...) wearing only a pair of shoes. I sure thought this was a great idea until I lost.

Jerm laughed his butt off the entire time.


On Christmas Day, I vowed to make an improvised holiday meal for the two of us.

I even made from-scratch vegetarian cornbread stuffing. (Didn't have any celery so I used carrots instead...)



We even managed to take a bunch of silly-face pictures with a few normal* ones in the mix.

* Please excuse the massively flexed neck muscles -- it was the only way to keep the double chin out of the picture. Oh, and please excuse the gum "discreetly" tucked away in the side of my mouth. Oops.

Happy New Year, everyone!

CHRISTMAS EVE SURPRISE

For Christmas this year, Jerm's side of the family made an agreement to forego giving gifts to each other and instead channel all of our money into one gift for his grandmother. After a little deliberation, we decided that we were going to buy her a TV, since the one she had previously owned died. (It was easily over 20 years old…)

We met for lunch at a local restaurant on Christmas Eve with a plan to go back to Grandma’s afterward. We fabricated a bogus story so that Jeremy and his cousin could leave the lunch a few minutes early to set up the TV.

But we did not have much time.

When we arrived at Grandma's place, we immediately encountered a minor problem -- the TV was too big for her entertainment center!

Fortunately, we found a screw driver and were able to remove the obstructing parts. We texted Jeremy's Aunt Linda to ask her to stall so that we would have more time.



But she replied to tell us that they were almost back. Well, crap!

I opened the box while the boys were hard at work, and we managed to get the TV set up just in the nick of time.



We decided that we were going to hide in one of Grandma's bedrooms, but we wanted to wait to hide until we knew they had arrived.

And so we waited.



And waited.



And waited. Where the heck were they?!?

Apparently, in an effort to stall, Jerm's aunt took a detour to Sonic to order a cup of ice. At this point, Grandma got a little irritated and asked, "What's wrong with the ice at my house?" Linda gave an ambiguous, nonspecific answer, which was returned with this hilarious little Grandma-ism: "Well, a lady's gotta poop sometime!"

They finally arrived, I switched the camera to video record mode, and this is the sequence of events thereafter.

As you can see, we made two very rookie mistakes by turning the lights off (she had left them on for Abby....her cat) and leaving the boards from the entertainment in plain sight. We were too excited and in a hurry to even think of those things, and Grandma is apparently too spry and perceptive to let anything get past her. I was laughing so much in the bedroom that she caught us. I truly lost it when she discovered the boards we left out!

The best part, however, was her genuine reaction to the surprise gift.





We love you, Grandma!

A TRIP TO THE CONCRETE JUNGLE: PART 3

Sorry about the brevity of the last post. Uploading and arranging pictures (and attempting wit) takes time, and I had to take a break since the early morning was sneaking up on me. I also want to apologize (to my one reader...) for the unbearably monotonous and mostly person-less pictures that I've been posting. I can't help it; I looked haggard, tired, and run-down while galavanting around the Big Apple, and a force much greater than myself -- called vanity -- prevents me from posting any unflattering pictures of myself online.

Well, almost.


On Day 2 of NYC, Kristen and I took the ferry to visit Lady Liberty. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to stay since the last ferry from Liberty Island closed shortly after our arrival, but we were able to take a few proof-we-were-here pictures. I'll never forget the first time I arrived in NYC and the statue was the first recognizable landmark from the air. I became giddy and excited and could no longer focus on the Pharmacology textbook that I had previously been studying. I was in New York City!



It rained on our last full day there. Kristen and I -- wanting to pack only one pair of shoes -- wore matching rain boots the entire trip in anticipation for this one day. Fashion faux pas? Maybe, but I care about fashion misdoings about as much as I care about speed limits.

Which is mostly never.

The boots were also a short-lived conversation piece. At our hostel one evening, we got in the elevator with these two European guys, and it was a rather awkward and silent ride until one of the guys, in his thick accent, pointed out that he and his friend were wearing the same shoes while Kristen and I were as well. We all erupted in laughter and that's about as far as the conversation made it. After all, I'm married, and Kristen was only attracted to the street vendors while we were in NYC.(Okay, that's a complete lie. She did get hit on by a street vendor, but isn't it more fun the other way around?)

Fortunately, the rain was only temporary and, surprisingly, the temperature actually got warmer afterwards, which gave us an opportunity to kick off the ol' hat and gloves and make the most of our last day in NYC.



We purchased tickets at the TKTS stand in Times Square to a 2pm off-Broadway play and then to an 8pm Broadway musical.

The play was okay. I am not sure what I expected, but I will just leave it at that. I will say, however, that the woman who was the lead role in the play was much older than the character she was playing and, at one point, she had a line that stated something like this: "What? Don't I look 40?" And, wouldn't you know that someone in the audience actually replied, "No!" loud enough for everyone to hear. I mean, even the blindest person could have seen that this lady was living vicariously through this character, but c'mon, have some tact, people! And then wouldn't you know that she took one of the guns from the scene and shot the blanks out at the audience.

Well, not really, but that is what I would've done if I were her.


After the play, we had some time to kill before the 8pm show, so we visited the home of the best cupcakes I have ever eaten in my life. (Well, this actually wasn't the first time we visited during our trip, but who's counting anyway...)

They are from the Magnolia Bakery, which some might know from the Sex and the City series. However, who cares about the place. Let's talk about these cupcakes. More specifically, let's talk about the glorious, delectable, endorphin-releasing buttercream icing that will steal the thunder of every cupcake in my future.

This icing is that good, people.




The not-so candid candid photo of me devouring my cupcake. In the words of whoever said them: nom nom nom nom nom


While in a sugar-induced coma, we stumbled over to a Broadway musical called Memphis. It's a love story about a biracial couple in the 50s, and it is great. (Click here if you would like more information) It was very inspirational, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a recommendation.


After the musical, we headed over to a comedy show. Like the play, the show was mediocre, but the most fun part was splurging on "girly" drinks. While not totally blitzed, let me just say that we were the loudest people in the subway station on the way home (at 2 in the morning), professing our BFFship and such. Such a good memory!



While I did not take this picture in our alcohol-influenced subway ride back to Brooklyn, I thought it would be a good place to insert now. (Yes, I am in medical school, and yes, I still think things like this are funny. So what!) You better believe that I was eyeing every subway passenger to see who was trying to discreetly enter the number into their phone for safe-keeping.

Of course, only the ones who were standing would even be in need of such an advertisement. Obviously.



A photo from the subway station near the hostel in Brooklyn.





A photo of us together.


I love this last picture because it will always evoke the following memories for me:

It was 3:30 in the morning as we were leaving Brooklyn to go to the train station to make it to the airport by 7. We had not slept.

In my euphoric, sleep-deprived last moments in NYC, I thought that it would be a marvelous idea to dab on some on red lipstick for the ride home. In retrospect, it looked hideous, which is why the picture is now in black and white.

And mostly, I love this picture because it speaks volumes to me about a beautiful friendship that evolved from one of the most wonderful, traumatic, important, and life-changing events in my lifetime.

A TRIP TO THE CONCRETE JUNGLE: PART 2

I am not sure why I took a picture of this theater, but I realized the other day that this same theater is mentioned in an iPhone TV commercial. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Ted Kapusta knows what I'm talking about. (Click on Ted Kapusta's name above if you want to know what I am talking about as well.)

One of the most inconvenient things about booking lodging that is a more than a few subway stations away from the tourist's playground is that bathrooms aren't just readily available. (And, to be honest, I didn't want to have the misfortune of ending up somewhere where I'd have to end up tipping someone after using the bathroom.) However, Kristen and I did discover that there is a place in Times Square dedicated entirely to free restrooms. It is temporarily open during the holidays until New Year's due to the increased volume of tourists during this time of year. They even have mascots outside of the building trying to encourage tourists to use the restroom. This totally cracked me up!



A restroom search on a different portion of the trip led us to FAO Schwartz, a toy store that is currently home to the walking piano made famous in the movie Big. This bad boy was for sale. Guess how much?



Have you made your guess yet?

Last chance....

Friends, this big-ass doormat piano costs a whopping TWO-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY-THOUSAND-DOLLARS!!! (You may now go change your underwear. I'll hold your place for you.)



Across the street from FAO Schwartz, I snapped madly away to capture the home of the Home Alone 2 movie: The Plaza Hotel.





In nearby Central Park, there is a pretty statue. (Wikipedia says it is of William Tecumseh Sherman; I wouldn't have otherwise known...)


And here Central Park and I pose for a casual photo.


We're BFF, Central Park and I.

PARADE OF LIGHTS: BEHIND THE SCENES

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be one of the people in the Macy's Day Parade who is holding the strings attached to the ginormous balloons?

Well, this past Saturday I was almost one of them.

As a medical student, I receive a multitude of emails about volunteer opportunities. Sometimes they are school-related or medically relevent, and sometimes they might be asking for volunteers to help hold a giant helium-filled balloon in a local parade.

I couldn't resist.

Deflated, pre-helium balloon. Can you guess what it is? (For the record, this is not a "Where's Waldo?" convention; those crazy fun hats are just the ones that were provided for us to keep warm.)



Slowly but surely getting there. Now can you tell?





It's a panda! This guy has traveled all over the world for Chinese New Year's parades and such. Word on the street is that he will be in the Holiday Bowl parade this year.



He waved at the spectators the entire time. Either that, or he was parkin' it like it's hot. It's too difficult to tell, really.

A local children's hospital sponsored the balloon. This is their mascot, P.J. Panda.



I didn't end up getting to hold the strings after all. (I said almost!) Instead, I got co-lead the group with another med student by holding the banner throughout the parade, which turned out to be the better gig as I watched this guy fight power lines and try to run away with the wind.

Not to mention that he was full of helium.

A TRIP TO THE CONCRETE JUNGLE: PART 1

Sometime in October, I received an email notification from Southwest about a fantastic airfare sale. I immediately hit up Kristen,a fellow med student who happens to be a very good friend (and who also happens to also be on vacation this month), and we scored $99 one-way tickets to Long Island. Thus, a trip to NYC in December was born.



We left early Monday morning and had the pleasure of devoting an entire day to travel. (One of the many perks of a cheap flight...) While I slept most of the way, Kristen managed to strike up a conversation with a female passenger on one of our connecting flights. As it turns out, she was a pediatrician and, upon our arrival to the next airport, she gave us four coupons for free in-flight drinks. This was extremely generous, considering that alcohol in-flight is around $5 per drink.

We both tried coffee and Bailey's Irish cream. It was much stronger and less glamorous than I had imagined. In fact, I think I grew a little chest hair with the burn of each sip.

I think I will stick to hot chocolate from now on.



Upon arriving in Long Island, we took a shuttle to the closest train station and then boarded a train for a one-and-a-half hour trip to Manhattan. From the train station in Manhattan, we purchased our MetroCards for the NY subway and then were off to our hostel in Brooklyn. We arrived at the hostel around 8:30pm, unloaded our luggage, and then decided to tackle the first thing on our NYC agenda: dinner.

We found a pizza place called Chubsy Wubsy's Pizza and Chicken within walking distance from the hostel. I have been to NYC once before, and let me just say this: no pizza in Oklahoma compares to this delectable, thin-crusted piece of heaven. And it's cheap, too. This humongantic piece came with a drink for the grand price of $3.00, and it was SO GOOD. I haven't decided if I would gain or lose weight if I lived here, but I guess the pizza consumption-to-walking ratio would probably determine the outcome.



After dinner, we hopped on the subway to Manhattan to explore for about an hour or so. The beauty of no agenda combined with a mass transit system is that getting lost has minimal consequences. (Thanks to the handy iPhone GPS and compass applications, getting lost was actually kind of FUN!) Not that you can really get lost in Manhattan, because the city is constantly full of hustle-and-bustle, particularly in the most touristy parts.

A pic of Radio City Music Hall. The Rockettes, unfortunately, did not make it on the itinerary.



This is located somewhere near the Rockefeller Center/ Radio City block. Christmas-time in NYC is absolutely the best!



We only had two full days in NYC to explore and found information about a NYC sightseeing hop-on/hop-off bus tour online. You even save five bucks if you purchase online, but make sure you print the confirmation page -- even though the site explicitly states that you only have to have the itinerary number upon arrival -- because they will try to tell you that you have to pay for internet to print off the voucher. But I'm not bitter or anything. Aside from any negative initial experiences, this happened to be the best way for Kristen and I to efficiently make it around the various parts of Manhattan without collapsing from exhaustion. The tour buses have seats at the top level that are open to the skyline and cityscape for optimal sightseeing and picture-taking.



What about rain? Well, the top-level of other buses were covered in some portions to protect passengers from inclement weather conditions. However, these covered portions weren't the best for pictures, as demonstrated by this one. See the scratches from the tree branches?



The biggest advantage of the buses was that we could hop off at any designated stop if we wanted to stop and look around, and a different bus would arrive in a short period of time to pick us up. Many of the pictures you see in this blog were taken while riding, and we would have never found our way to the many very cool places that we did.

The Dakota, Yoko Ono's place of residence, is one of those gems that we would have never discovered on our own. John Lennon lived here during the last few years of his life and was murdered here on December 8, 1980.



Across the street at Central Park is a memorial dedicated to Lennon called Strawberry Fields.



The date of our visit happened to be exactly 29 years to the date of Lennon's tragic death. Fans had started to place flowers and candles at the site, and we were told that a memorial service would be held later in the evening. The mood was somber, and it was an honor to be there.



Recognize this hot dog chain from any movie/television series? This is one of the few places that Kristen and I had placed on our imaginary itinerary before coming to visit. I'm not sure we would have made it if it weren't for the bus, since there is so much to do in NYC that I often found myself asking, "Now, what was it that we said we were going to do after this?"



NYC is the worst place if you have any hint of ADD, apparently.