Happy Thanksgiving!

Matt, Naomi and I had Thanksgiving dinner this year with my great friend Kellie and her parents, who were in town for the weekend. It was absolutely delicious, and we had a wonderful time!

Earlier in the day, we decorated gingerbread houses. The night before we went to see the Christmas windows in midtown, but forgot the camera. Naomi really enjoyed seeing them this year. :)

So Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving weekend actually did not get off to a super start. I was not so grateful. For one thing I was mad because Matt had to work some (even though I was also working some...whatever, I was just not in the best of moods). And I have been feeling a little down on Manhattan lately. Sometimes I love it, but sometimes I hate it. The main thing I don't like is the thick, dusty air with its toxic aroma that wafts up from 2nd avenue and the cement plant (or so we think) across the street from our apartment. I miss clean air. The light, fresh air of Utah after a storm has blown through and obliterated the winter inversion...or the air at a ski resort, cold but unadulterated. Air that smells like grass and trees, or freshly-fallen snow instead of exhaust fumes, smoke, paint fumes, alcohol, trash, vomit, and cement. I want it, I crave it.

But it is there in some places. After a couple months of not feeling up to a regular running routine, I've been running at least three times a week the past few weeks, and it turns out that while not all parts of Central Park smell wonderful....the air around the Central Park Reservoir cannot be argued with. It is beautiful, as is the sky--almost especially on those gray, wet days when the rest of NYC looks a little more like a combination of wet-scraggly dog and a slop of cement. And I am grateful for those places in NY, those views and nooks that really manage to transcend all the industrialism and noise for the sake of a quiet that is all the more beautiful because of its scarcity. They provide necessary escapes that make it possible to appreciate the rest of IT ALL. And I do appreciate the rest of it all. I just need an escape now and then, a piece of better air, a piece of larger sky. A bit of balance.

Anyway. There are many things to potentially express gratitude for...but since I have now used up my alotted time for posting to our blog, I will simply mention one: THIS BOOK. I love the Pathophysiology of Heart Disease. Not necessarily because I have a thing for cardiology. But I have to admit, there is something very beautiful about the human heart and its complete and utter logicality. I thought this semester that I would be a little more enamored with the brain (and I was at first), but the heart is a good little machine also, just about as elegant as the writing in this STELLAR TEXTBOOK (which I am not going to have time to finish reading, as usual). That and the back of the eye. I cannot get over how beautiful a healthy fundus is, when visualized through dilated pupils. SO AMAZING!

Back to the books....

Not chicken pox, but.... Flavobacterium and Chryseobacterium indologenes?

Both of these two completely bizarre gram-negative bacteria grew out of Naomi's cultures from her mysterious face bumps last week. Not exactly anyone's second guess. Since the bumps went away, they were probably contaminants. But seriously, how the heck did either one even get into the lab in the first place to contaminate Naomi's culture? Sounds like a very exotic lab to me!

Naomi was sent home from daycare yesterday because she threw up and had diarrhea. I kind of think the diarrhea was probably a subjective thing and the throwing up maybe resulted from too much coughing, because she never had a fever, felt and ate fine all day yesterday and today, but threw up again last night in the middle of the night...when her coughing was worse. And she has been having an asthma exacerbation the past couple days. So I think it was an asthma thing, but she couldn't go to daycare today either because of policy, which is tough. It is tough to have a kid need to stay home from daycare. And it is not great news on the asthma front either. We have been using Xopenex (variation on albuterol) as needed, but if you get to the point of needing to use it somewhat regularly, then you really need to go on some type of prophylactic medication. So now we are trying out Singulair, which has a low likelihood of working for her particular flavor of asthma (but is a very nice clean drug unlike crappy prednisone, so it'd be nice if it did happen to work), but if it doesn't work, we'll have to move on to an inhaled form of Prednisone, at least during cold season. I'm a little sad about this. But it is ok. Her life could be worse.

We did have some fun yesterday and today, though (Matt stayed home with her in the morning so I could still go to class). Yesterday we took a field trip to FAO Schwartz, where we met up with Matt.
For some reason there is no giant piano anymore (what?!), but they do have a really, really cute new book area:

On an unrelated note, I got these vegetables from FreshDirect for a roasted fall vegetables recipe, which was really delicious with only one slight problem. Can you guess? The rutabega is practically as big as my head, and none of our knives are sharp enough to cut through it, so it wasn't included in the finished product. How can I cook this thing? I would boil it, but it won't even fit in any of our pots. It is not very delicious raw, so eating it like an apple is more or less out. We had a similar problem when I tried to order some "medium sized beets" on FreshDirect for a beet salad. The beets that came were really huge and we could not eat beets for a while after that experience. This is apparently a "medium sized rutabega". I'm clearly not an expert in vegetables, since I only knew what the celery root and rutabega even were because they were labeled, but....really? Medium?

Family!

My family came to visit last weekend. I had a crappy test that weekend (the mean was about 63%. 63%!! And I scored below even that; how depressing! But I swear I can name all the major drugs and actions we learned about....oh well), so I was not the best host. But we did have a great time. Matt and went to see a movie by ourselves (Slumdog Millionaire--we LOVED it!), thanks to my dad. Then Saturday we all went to the MOMA, then to Max Brenner for a late lunch. Then we walked up Broadway, stopping here and there to Times Square. Then our very nice friend Emma watched Naomi while we all went to Billy Elliot (which I also loved). Sunday we had lunch at the corner bakery after church, and hung out for a bit before everyone had to leave. Naomi was very sad, and kept asking the next day if Jayne, Grandma Becky, and Grandpa Bonk were at home.
My mom and Price Grandparents also made this adorable Christmas quilt for Naomi, and another for Matt and I. Pay no attention to the lingering Halloween decorations in our living room...at least our bedroom is appropriately Christmasy!!
Apparently James Madison is Jayne's hero. Okey-doke.

These Elmo and Cookie Monster characters have got to be bringing in a huge pile of cash each night. I mean really, how cute?!

Naomi eating a most luxurious piece of chocolate cake. Heaven!
I know it's been a trendy place for quite a while, but we only recently discovered Max Brenner sometime this year. I love it because of the desserts (obviously), but also because the meals are surprisingly delicious and kind of overly healthy also...so after eating an enormous, light salad you really feel nourished enough (without being overly full) to fully appreciate an indulgent hunk of chocolate delight.
We also went to the MOMA. This is just for anyone who might worry that Naomi has outgrown her long-held love for bending over to "stand my head" in random locations.
Jayne, Naomi, Grandma Becky:
Studiously examining some of Miro's lesser known work:

Help!

The time has come for us to try to find some type of housekeeping service. We are thinking once every 10-14 days? I don't think very many people in NY really read this blog, BUT. If anyone does, and has had a good experience with a particular cleaning service or individual, could you leave a comment? (Look, we have comments now! We actually apparently had them the entire time, they were just "hidden", but I'm not really clear on what that means).

We have been very reluctant to start something like this, because an enormous part of me thinks: (1) We should be able to clean our own apartment, and (2) it's kind of expensive, and I would rather go shopping (except that I NEVER ACTUALLY GO shopping, so that this claim really rings a little bit hollow), or just be that much more financially secure, or whatever.

But number 1 is false. We can't really do it anymore. We do do it, we do clean, and do our own laundry, and so on, and cook most nights, and so on....but it is killing us, and we sometimes go for very long periods in between, say, having any clean clothes. It is far and away the number one source of tension between Matt and I, and it's really frustrating because we don't have enough time to get everything done *well*, and then we feel frustrated when, for instance, we don't get any sleep, or do get sleep but score below the mean on our pharmacology test (ok, this is obviously just referring to me, but Matt has his own frustrations too) when really we shouldn't. Last year it was a little easier because we had a full-time nanny for Naomi who also did the dishes, made Naomi's lunch, swept and mopped twice a week, did our laundry, and helped clean up a lot of Naomi's stuff. But now Naomi is in daycare, and life is a struggle. So.

Any recommendations?

"Why?"

I love this picture of Naomi. She has officially entered the "Why?" phase. Hopefully this one won't be one she grows out of. Still, it is humorous how difficult it can be to continue answering a series of Why's about even a simple subject. Case in point: I told Naomi not to pick up a wrapper she found on the sidewalk.
"Why?"
"Because it's dirty."
"Why?"
"Because it's on the ground, and the ground is dirty."
---pause---
"Leaves on the ground." ---pause--- "Leaves are dirty?"
"No, leaves are ok to be on the ground, they're not really dirty...."
"Why?"
At first I thought Naomi was just saying "Why?" for the heck of it, without actually understanding what the word means. But she can answer "Why" questions herself sometimes too (ie, "Why are your hands dirty?" "Because I eat my apples"), so I kind of think she does get the basic idea. Anyway. I'm glad we have a curious kid on our hands. The only thing I am not thrilled about right now (because of the temporary childcare vaccuum this creates) is the fact that she looks suspiciously like she may have a mild case of the chicken pox. We did vaccinate, but it's not 100% effective. We shall see....PS--Tomorrow there is apparently going to be a big protest outside of the temple in Manhattan in backlash against the church's impact in encouraging members to donate to the campaign for Proposition 8. I just wanted to mention here I really, really don't support this type of angry backlash against the church. Maybe the protesters will surprise everyone, but my concern is that things will devolve into bitterness and hate. I do believe Proposition 8 (and all the other anti-gay-marriage propositions passed this year) is unjust, and I do believe that it would not have passed without the substantial campaign funding it received from LDS members. But I do NOT believe in fighting injustice with hate. For what it's worth. (So don't associate me with the protesters, just because I support gay marriage! I just want everyone to be happy!)

ABC's

On a Lighter Note...

I just want to post something additional to lighten up the blog, because we really are not trying to have a political blog, but I have things on my mind, and my usual little political discussion group did not meet today, so....out come my thoughts here instead! For ten more minutes. Anyway, I don't have any new pictures of Naomi, and the only other thing I can think of to post about is herbal medicine. Herbal medicine it is, then!

I went to two days of a three day ayurvedic seminar the other week through my school (I was sick on the third day). Then today we had a couple lectures on herbal medicine by a naturopathic doctor. It was interesting! Sinai is in some ways awful, and in some ways great, at exposing students to aspects of holistic medicine and alternative therapies. My one big complaint about Sinai is that I feel we don't learn enough about nutrition. But in terms of holistic and integrative medicine, we did have mandatory yoga last year as part of anatomy, and we have some lectures (such as today), and some student groups that try to bridge the gaps.

Anyway, what I came away from this last lecture learning the most about was how beneficial it is to simply include herbs and spices in a regular diet. We learned a lot about various teas and so on that may help for less acute problems (or in addition to necessary meds...not all medications are necessary, but some are absolutely life-saving), but the lecturer also noted that if someone is not actually sick, probably the best idea is just to include a wide variety of regular spices and herbs (the types of things I ate frequently growing up) in our daily diet. So anyway, ...I suppose this is something I already "knew" in the sense that they do say herbs and spices are good for you...but it was interesting to learn some of the specific evidence on various herbs, and to have one more reason (in addition to taste) to eat flavorful foods!

Election

I have been feeling a little bittersweet about the election results this year. My mom won her race (yay!), Obama won the presidency (yay!)....and proposition 8 passed in California. I had little hope for Utah's analagous amendment to fail this year (though of course it did in 2004 before...the obvious difference between then and now), but California? California is a different story.

I know this makes me a horrible person (or at the very least a horrible Mormon) in many people's minds, but I am deeply, passionately supportive of gay marriage. I believe with every fiber of my being in the separation of church and state, that the idea of "separate but equal" is a lie, that equal rights for SOME are equal rights for NONE, and that equal rights for same-sex couples will never be achieved so long as they are barred from the civil right to be married. Marriage is about more than visitation rights, and adoption rights, and even religious convictions. It is a deeply meaningful union to Mormons, other Christians, Muslims, and athiests alike....recognized across religions and differing belief systems, a core aspect of human culture and a profound culmination of love and commitment. Moreover, so long as gay couples are relegated to a separate "committed" institution from the rest of us, the door will always remain open for differences in related rights to persist or increase. Separation of church and state ensures that religious groups will always be able to maintain their own particular ceremonies of spiritual and doctrinal significance to themselves, to bar those they choose from such unions, and to teach their children whatever they wish about marriage from a religious perspective; but denying *civil* marriage to people on the basis of differing religious beliefs about sexuality is something I cannot support. I am deeply disappointed.

So it is bittersweet to me that at the same time we've elected a black president, tearing down racial barriers to acceptance of black Americans, our nation's largest state has simultaneously seen fit to spit in the face of committed gay couples, reinforcing the reality that in America, we still find it conscionable to treat at least some groups as second-class citizens.

Marathon

We caught a little bit of the marathon coming up 1st Avenue this Sunday. We were out initially to support a friend of ours from our building (a fellow med student who qualified for the Boston Marathon this year....amazing!), but it turned out to be such an inspirational experience just to watch these runners, even though we were just in the middle of the race (about 2/3 of the way through, I guess). I have never run a marathon, but after Sunday, I really, really wanted to. So did Naomi, apparently: here she is trying to escape out into the street.The obligatory picture at the ward halloween party. We had fun. Naomi dressed as a dancer this time (her sheep costume had chocolate all over it, and I was a little sick of it, especially since I could never get her to let me draw a nose on her, so no one really knew what she was supposed to be... oh well!)