oh my lord, lord, lord, lord....ah..mmmm......ah.....mmmmm

just completed and turned in all of my required documents and tests for med school. Am now looking forward to my orientation which begins two weeks from yesterday.

What can I do to pass the time until then. Well I am reading a book on the history of the CIA, a book called American Gods by Neil Gaiman and will shortly begin "How Doctors Think" which I believe will be a good book for me to read.

The Sox have an 8 game lead still in the east which makes me feel pretty confident. Was supposed to go to Cooperstown yesterday, but have decided that finding a place to live might be a bit more important right now. To rent or to buy that is the question....in the meantime we are in the midst of trying to find out about shipping a car from one state to another...and looking into DMV registration, title, insurance...all those fun things that come with owning a car.....great fun. I also apparently need to secure a space in the student parking lot asap.

The fun does not appear to be stopping.

I'm sitting in front of the television and I cannot make the decision to change my life. Maybe TCI will be the answer. I could earn more money then I ever thought possible. A college degree or a certificate....damn....that is awesome! I have always wanted to learn automotive repair, air conditioning repair, refrigerator repair, relationship repair, oven repair...WOO HOO! Reminds me of an ad I see occasionally on the subway. I do not recall what "school" it is but it is a bunch of smiling men and women who are learning the ins and outs of Medical Billing.....a certificate for medical billing. Medical billing is important but I can't imagine anyone being that excited about WOO HOO....MEDICAL BILLING!!!!!

Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav? Wow and I never thought that I would rather see Chevy Chase get roasted for a fourth time, not that I have ever seen any roasts, nor do I really care who the hell it is that they are roasting. Actually the idea of celebrity has been bothering me of late.

I have been watching too much television. I have seen way to many commercials for refinancing, personal injury attorneys, technical colleges, flavor flav roasts..and scrubs...
Pachenga or who-who!

QUOTE OF THE DAY
Life is what is happens when you are busy making plans
-Lennon

Yeah so this is really me.....I still like my simpsons avatar better, but whatever....I am learning to play with some of the cool gadgets on my computer...we've come a long way since the commodore 64....I feel so "with it"

QUOTE OF THE DAY
NASDAQ 2599.34, (down 48.83 or 1.84%)



I am so funny...ok maybe not but I guy can dream right?

Well well well, It has been a week or so since we last spoke. We've returned from a trip out west, visiting those in the VH clan and a dear old friend. All is well from what I could gather with grandma VH healing nicely and now in the 21st century with an LCD flat screen TV and HD cable as opposed to the old cabinet television that is older than me. She was very happy to see us and felt that we had helped her heal even more. The folks were busy getting prepared for a family trip to Italy...sans yours truly (not terribly surprised)....I trust that they are having fun although they did not bother to give me the phone numbers for the international cell phones that they had ordered....I suppose I have been relegated to feel like that weired uncle who nobody really keeps in touch with, but is treated well when he goes for a visit. I cannot figure it out. The wife was somewhat incredulous that they would be going on a family trip and not invite their son....but I think she ultimately is not surprised either by the turn of events.

Meanwhile...visiting my good friend RJ down in LA who was busy on a video shoot for a band called As I Lay Dying, I was asked right around 11:00pm or so if I wouldn't mind giving a hand with helping put a set together. Frankly, I wasn't really asked but rather told "hey mil, come here" I back to my folks house around 3am later that morning covered in grime and grease and look forward to seeing the video wherein I will proclaim loudly..."I helped hang that broken television....I hung those wires....I was a stand in for the band" (I am laughing out loud while I right this by the way...or rather rotflmao btw in the "with-it" lingo that these young whipper snappers are oft found to utter these days.) Anyway...it was really, really good to see him and meet his gf S.

Have I ever told anyone how much I love the movie The Natural. Managed to catch it the other night on AMC and taped the last hour or so. One of the best sports movies ever chock full of stars, Robert Redford (he sure looked old 23 years ago), Robert Duvall, Richard Farnsworth, Michael Madsen, and of course who could forget the oatmeal eating, home delivery pharmacy getting diabetic Wilford "my mom wanted me to be a farmer" Brimley. I have to tell you when Hobbs breaks the clock at Wrigley with a home run and the last 15 minutes of the film are enough to elicit some precipitation from the ducts in my occular cavities.

I am less than a hundred pages from finishing that damn book that you see everyone reading on the train, and in the park, and on planes, and at the movies. I would say that I just love to read but in reality I am a pop culture whore and god forbid anyone should ruin it for me. Went and saw the movie this morning as well.

All things seem to be working well on the MD front. Just waiting for my deposit to have been received and some blood test results for Hep B surface antigen...go WBCs go and all things should be about squared away...except of course how I am going to pay for it all.

Went to the kwik-e-mart and picked up a couple of cans of buzz cola, the wife had blue vanilla squishy that tasted like....well....tasted not good. I was disappointed that there as no duff beer to be had....alas.

Had dinner with JC and the wife last night to celebrate JC's recent engagement. Followed by a drink at the place that used to be Boxers on West 4th street...can't think of the damn name now...begins with a C. R, JC's future husband, joined us on the way there. I must say I don't like regular vodka martinis and it was a mistake for me to order one. I did not get drunk off of it or anything, it just tasted like crap to me and my body did not want any of it in me....It took me at least an hour to finish it. My hats off to the music at this place though which turned out to be coming from one of those TW cable music channels, most likely the alternative hits of the 80's or something.....songs from Peter Gabriel, The Sisters of Mercy, Missing Persons, Kajagoogoo, b-52's, violent femmes. It was for lack of a better term brilliant. The most shocking moment of the evening came when lo and behold a circle jerks song came on. "This is the greatest bar ever" I thought to myself aloud as my wife rolled her eyes.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"<sobbing> GREYSTACHE!....<sobbing>...GREYSTACHE!"


I crack myself up...

It is a brand new day. I am sitting on my couch watching ER (have to watch it now before I start to dislike it once I start med school....I'll probably still watch Scrubs though.)
I am still shaking my head and smiling to myself knowing that all the work that I have done over the last three years has been worth it. I am excited about the future knowing full well that there will definitely be a time where I will say aloud "I think I made a big mistake" or "What the hell was I thinking" or "Holy crap I don't know if I can handle this" but I know, truly believe, that I am on the path that I am meant to be on no matter what happens.

Thank you everyone for all of your support!

Post Script

Um.....for those who are interested......we're moving to Brooklyn......

nuff said?

My dearest readers I would like to introduce you to

MVH, MD

Yep...thats right....it happened....I got the call at approximately 4:05pm on the day of my third anniversary.

Don't screw with China

So the Chinese government has executed the head of it's State Food and Drug Administration for corruption that lead to contaminated toothpaste and for a time scared the living crap out of a lot of countries. Can you just imagine if we had that kind of government here? There wouldn't be many people left to manage our country because they would all be executed for corruption!

RIP Fred Thompson's campaign. The NY Times reported on Saturday that Thompson was hired as an advisor by a pro-choice lobbying firm back in the early 90's. Mr. Thompson is currently running on a pro-life stance and has no recollection of doing any work for said firm. Now granted he may still have a shot since I gather that not too many people read that article. In the words of one of my professors "You want to bury a story???...then put in the Saturday NY Times 'cause nobody reads the paper on Saturdays."

Anybody else notice that body spray commercials today are what beer commercials were in the 80's and 90's. "If you use this body spray, beautiful girls will have sex with you." Um....yeah, I guess I don't know anything about women. It reminds me of the following exchange: "A man definitely made that commercial!!", "Of course a man made it, it's a commercial not a delicious turkey dinner!!??" Unilever, the company that manufactures a certain brand of body spray reached a 52 week high this month on the exchange, so I guess the marketing strategy is working and yes people will buy anything.



Quote of the Day
"The ocean's no place for a squirrel"
-Sandy

Quote of The Day

"I have my fears, but they do not have me."

-Peter Gabriel

A visit to DC

So the wife and I made a quick weekend trip to our nation's capital for several hours of walking and sight seeing. I had never been before and the wife (aka moosk or A) had not been in about 15 years. It also gave us a chance to see some good friends that we had not seen in quite some time. We took a bus down on Friday morning. The initial trip began on a few sour notes. The subway decided to have signal problems and was delayed at a stop that was a bit far from where we needed to be to pick up the bus. We jump in a cab and make it in time for the bus, but not before I have had a chance to freak out about missing it. That's me....I tend to stress (not a big surprise to those that know me). The bus ride is smooth for the first three hours of the trip and in fact we seemed to be making really good time. I mention this aloud and realize that I have just jinxed the ride. Shortly before entering the DC area we notice that the bus driver has slowed down and is attempting to cross three lanes of traffic. He stops in a white painted area that is in-between the road and an on-ramp. "This is a little strange," I said to myself as the other passengers started looking around probably thinking the same thing. The driver goes to the back of the bus and comes back on grabs a couple of tools and some gloves. "Oh crap." He lifts a grate at the back of the bus and a small plume of smoke comes wafting out of the back. The bus driver, aptly named "Famous Tony" (more on this later), makes an announcement that there is a problem, but he wants to push forward. The bus lurches forward at about 10 mph in a 40 mph zone and it is very clear we are not going to get very far. A 1/2 mile down the road we stop again at the corner of New York and Fairview. At this point a number of people get off the bus and start making phone calls. A couple of people manage to grab a cab that was filling up at the gas station where we have stopped. Mr. Tony makes an announcement that there appears to be a leak in a tube and he wants to wait 10-15 minutes to see if it will cool down enough for us to make it to our first stop. we are about mile from our stop and a woman decides that she is going to go ahead and walk. Some time passes and the driver decides to go for it. We start up again at our new 15 mph speed and the driver makes a turn from New York on to North Constitution stops immediately and says "we are done" gets everyone off the bus and the wife and I are going to walk. We can see the capitol building and head towards Union Station. Welcome to DC. We meet up with R at work after eating a less than spectacular lunch at Sbarros in Union Station. DC metro is really nice although their metrocard system is a bit confusing, alas we are tourists. We walk with R to their home and S arrives shortly thereafter. Really great to see them both again. Friday night we have a nice Thai dinner walk on the water and mosey past the white house shortly after the sun has gone down. Saturday we get an early start on our epic trek through the monuments. Washington, Lincoln, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Jefferson, J. Edgar Hoover Building, Lunch at the Native American Museum, and a stop at the air and space museum. At the WWII memorial, Bob Dole was there talking with folks and taking pictures. The air and space museum was very cool. The things that stick out in my head: Spirit of St. Louis, Friendship 7 (Glen's earth orbit craft), a part of the lunch counter from a drugstore in Greensboro, NC (google February 1st, 1960 for more information or consult Marable's "Race, Reform, and Rebellion") and Carl Yastrzemski's batting helmet (this actually lead to my saying out loud "Yaz's helmet, that is f**king cool!"...and yes I am a dork).

Saddest part of the weekend? Having to get back on a bus and face the traffic. We apparently missed seeing Al Gore in person who made an appearance at The Native American museum where they were broadcasting the Live Earth Concert. We figured that he must have shown up shortly after we had left the area....Dang. Oh well, we have had to settle with seeing Bob Dole. The evening was topped off with a great sushi dinner (thanks R and S) and dessert at Kramerbooks/Afterwards Cafe. Picked up a book on the history of the CIA.

Sunday the wife and I made an excursion to the capitol building and the botanical gardens in the hella hot sun and moved on to a quick lunch with S (R had to go to Boston, sorry man!) before boarding our bus. Side note: Famous Tony was back to drive us back to NYC. He ended up serenading two people that had apparently just met playing the match maker. As we entered into the city he made the announcement that in the event that these two people get married that he should be invited, he would definitely come if he was invited and that he would borrow a bus and drive all of their friends and family to the ceremony and the dinner. Ah Famous Tony...you are a character.

Thanks again to R and S for a great weekend and good luck with the hunt for shelter!

From the CNN ticker a day or two ago: According to a 47 nation poll the three people best suited to champion work to fight climate change are former vice-president and presidential candidate Al Gore (makes sense), former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (an influential, but perhaps slightly corrupt former world leader and figure head extraordinare), and.......and Oprah. Oprah? Well I guess that does make a great deal of sense, since if she told her followers (hmmm a bit cult like they are) to see a particular movie, read a particular book, jump off a bridge or use the restroom everyday at exactly 2:30pm, I would wager that many of them would.

What is going on world?

So Hamas apparently had a mickey mouse type of character that spent mornings spewing anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment to Palestinian children across the desert. However, Mr. Mouse was recently assassinated, on television, by an Israeli agent and has now been martyred. Strange, strange world.

The Red Sox have a 10.5 game lead over Toronto and an 11 game lead over the Yanks. The baseball fan in me likes their chances, but the Red Sox fan in me can't help but think of 1978 and naturally Mr. Dent. Granted, I was four when that season occurred and honestly don't remember much about that year except perhaps my fondness for blue monsters, a green frog, and counting vampires.

On the train ride north a few days ago, we stopped at Greystone. Naturally, growing up in the eighties, my thoughts immediately turned to those epic half-hour journey's of He-Man, forgetting that the castle was in fact called Greyskull and not Greystone. I am such a dork.

new and improved

I thought to myself that I used to be really funny, that I used to write about a variety of things, and that lately my focus has been on school, studying, getting into schools, grades, school, studying, etc. I want to take this opportunity to tell you all that I actually have other interests as well. And over the next few weeks I hope to share with you all my thoughts on other things other than getting into medical school. Why? I don't know. Because I like you?