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March 31, 2005
Spring Break
Eric was supposed to be on spring break all week but it didn't quite happen. Since he defends his thesis next week he spent most of the last few days finishing his work and meeting with various advisers. He finally completed it and distributed it to the members of his committee yesterday. Let me tell you what an exciting paper it is! It's a study regarding the state of emergency dental services in Massachusetts. I had the great forune of reading through it at a least a half dozen times.
Anyway we decided to go to Cape Cod for a one night spring break trip. It's not exactly Cape season but with only one night our choices are limited. We'll be staying right by the National Seashore. We won't be able to swim in the ocean but it looks like there are some nice places to hike. Plus the hotel has a heated indoor pool.
Posted by Julee at 08:21 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2005
Henry's Lucky Day
As you know, the boys really like to go down to Faneuil Hall and watch the street performers. It was a sunny day so we jumped at the opportunity. We happened to arrive at the same time as one of the boys' favorite performers, Lucky. Now we've seen Lucky's gig a handful of times and I think he was a little off today. But that didn't matter one bit because he picked Henry out of the crowd to assist him with his finale. Here are the pictures.
Posted by Julee at 09:48 PM | Comments (4)
Great Blogger Fat Off
I've decided to take part in the Great Blogger Fat Off. Last fall I had done a fairly good job of getting rid of some of the baby fat I had accumulated with Iris. But then winter struck and we entered hibernation mode. Suprisingly enough some of those pounds crept back on. Well, my baby is now a toddler and I won't be able to hide in my winter coat for much longer, so it's a good time to take up the challenge.
I know, Lisa, I had told you to just embrace your Mommy Body, but easier said than done! :)
Posted by Julee at 04:31 PM | Comments (2)
March 24, 2005
Links
In case you have nothing better to do here are some fun links.
A point and click paint by numbers: Segmation
An interesting test: All Look Same
I know this has made the rounds, but it has been ages since I have posted a Hello Kitty link.
Posted by Julee at 08:18 PM | Comments (2)
Fast Food
I completely gave up fast food after reading Fast Food Nation 4 years ago. Not that I have been tempted, but this article certainly seals the deal.
Posted by Julee at 07:14 AM | Comments (1)
March 23, 2005
Shoes
I never thought someone so small could have such a strong opinion about shoes. Iris will have a throw herself down on the floor, arch her back with a shrill scream tantrum if I even attempt to put on the "wrong" shoes. Usually the shoe of choice is a sparkly Strawberry Shortcake mary jane. Her other choice is a pink ballet style shoe that her friend Gaelyn gave her. She just doesn't understand that if she's wearing red tights that she really should wear her black shoes and her sneakers are more appropriate with her warm up suit.
Posted by Julee at 04:56 PM | Comments (3)
March 19, 2005
Coleslaw Wrestling
When we went outside this morning we saw that these signs were posted on the utility poles up and down our street. Now that is something I would like to see, but I have a feeling it was a joke.
Posted by Julee at 09:11 PM | Comments (3)
March 17, 2005
Honorary Irishmen
They are not at all Irish but we live in Boston. I think that's enough to make them honorary Irishmen just for a day.
(More red eyes, but once again I'm too tired to fix them)
Posted by Julee at 11:15 PM | Comments (2)
More Photos
I'm having so much fun with Web Album Generator that I decided to put together an album of some of my Japanese photos. I hadn't looked at them in a really long time. What a bunch of memories!
Posted by Julee at 02:18 PM | Comments (2)
March 16, 2005
New Photo Gallery
I finally set up a photo album. I didn't use the one that I had previously mentioned. It was just taking too much time to set up. After looking around I found Web Album Generator. It took less than an hour to install and it was free. My main complaint is that when using Firefox, my browser of choice, I have to refresh it a couple of times to get all of the photos to show. Unfortunately it seems to work better when using Explorer.
Posted by Julee at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)
March 13, 2005
On a Much Happier Note...
The eyes are a little red but it's late and I'm too tired to fix them.
Posted by Julee at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2005
It Comes Down to One Test
Eric takes the Northeast Regional Boards on May 5 & 6, which determine whether he will graduate with a license to practice dentistry. For this test he will have to perform a specific set of dental procedures on live patients.
You are probably thinking: "Well, he has been in dental school for almost 4 years so he should be able to pass without a problem." It's actually not so simple. First he has to find his own patients and they must meet specific criteria regarding dental and overall health. Because the school doesn't really help with providing NERB patients he posted fliers and he put an ad up on Craigslist. So far he has gotten a fairly good response and he spent Friday afernoon screening nearly 30 potential patients.
Once he has his patients, he must make sure they are reliable. If someone does not show up he fails the exam. Many dental students all over the nation resort to offering monetary rewards to patients to ensure that they will be present for their licensing exam. This is on top of the $1300 they already shelled out to just pay for the test (which, by the way, is not included in the budget by Harvard's financial aid officer)and the cost of hiring the necessary dental assistant to help out during the exam.
During the test his dental work will be overseen by a single examiner. This one person will have the power to decide whether he passes or fails and it is all based on one exam. None of his work over the past four years will be taken into consideration. Also there is no process of appeals. If he fails he will still graduate but he will not have a license and will have to retake the exam in 6 months.
So that's quite a bit of pressure hanging over his head. And to add to it, he has been told twice by the Air Force recently to make sure he gets his license.
Posted by Julee at 04:07 PM | Comments (4)
March 09, 2005
Fuller Craft Museum
I have six hours every week where both boys are in school. I usually spend this time doing grocery shopping or running other errands since it's easier to do these things with only Iris in tow. But with less than 3 months left in Boston I decided I needed to step up on visiting the places I'd still like to see.
Yesterday Iris and I went to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton. What a great museum! If you live in the Boston area you should not miss the current exhibition, Trashformations East. (It will be there until May 1) If you make it to the show look for a couple of my favorite pieces: a wall hanging made from yarn and cd jewel cases and a park bench made from soldered wrenches.
I also want to mention that the museum, itself and the grounds are beautiful. You would never know that you are just down the street from a Wal-Mart.
Posted by Julee at 08:15 AM | Comments (2)
March 07, 2005
Iris
It has been a while since I have posted a good picture of Iris. This was taken earlier this morning.
Posted by Julee at 10:41 AM | Comments (5)
March 05, 2005
Baby Gorilla
Since it's supposed to snow for the next 3 days we took the narrow window of opportunity to get out and headed for the zoo. It was actually a very nice day: the sun was out and it may have even reached all the way to 40 degrees. Shocking, isn't it? I mean, it's only March! (Sorry, the snow has made me a little bitter these days)
Anyway, we went to the zoo to visit the baby gorilla. I brought the camera this time.
Posted by Julee at 08:41 PM | Comments (1)
March 04, 2005
Protanopia
Henry has a fairly profound form of colorblindness called protanopia. It seems that he sees the world only in shades of blue, yellow, brown and grey. Pink and purple both appear blue to him. He says that orange and green look like a metal color. Once I had mud on my hands and he thought it was blood because red looks like dark brown to him. Of course, he doesn't have a sense of loss because this all he knows. In fact, he gets quite a bit of positive attention at preschool because the other kids always ask him what color he sees.
Most cases of protanopia are hereditary. The colorblindness gene is carried on the x chromosome. So if Henry's protanopia is genetic he received it from me. I asked both of my grandmothers who had seven brothers between them and neither knew of no one in their families who was colorblind. I mention only their brothers because for a female to be colorblind both of her parents need to carry the gene. So I think it's safe to say that it's an anomaly.
Here are some links if you want to learn more:
Colorblind Homepage
Color Phenomena
Color Scheme Generator
Colorblind Web Page Filter
The last two links have interactive tools that you can use to actually see how a colorblind person sees colors.
Posted by Julee at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
Working on the Design
I'm having a lot of fun playing around with the CSS and trying to change the design of this blog. Maybe I will manage to muster up some creativity and come up with a better banner. I certainly need one!
I still have so much to learn but I can tell you that CSS really is so much more simple and clean than html.
Anyway, I wanted to give credit to some of the people and places who are making this learning process a lot more easy:
Learning Movable Type
Squidfingers
css Zen garden - Resource Guide
Posted by Julee at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2005
A Response to the Gerbil Inquiry
Wow! The person offering up the gerbils actually responded to Eric:
They are fed regular gerbil food - seeds, sunflower seeds. There are 6 males pretty big and they have exercise wheel in their cage.
Can you believe she took his email at face value? (See February 26)
And no, we will not be having gerbils for dinner.
Posted by Julee at 09:46 PM | Comments (2)