To Do List

I thought I'd offer my readers a unique glimpse into my exciting life by sharing my current to do list, at least as it appears on my Palm Pilot.  These are in order of how long the item has been on my to do list (longest at the top).

• Set up a meeting with chief of surgery-  on the to do list for about a month, mostly because the chief of surgery is an uber-famous, hot shot, awesome surgeon who intimidates me.  So I've put off my meeting with him to discuss my surgical career path as long as possible, to avoid the worst case scenario in my mind of literally being laughed out of his office.  I'm totally neurotic- he's a very nice man, I'm just crazy.
• Get a new driver's license- on the list for a few weeks.  My Florida (that's right, FLORIDA) driver's license expires on my 25th birthday, so I've got to get a Rhode Island one before then.  I love that Florida license, because it represents the randomess of how many places I've lived.  Just when you think you know me- "Ok, so you live in Rhode Island, went to college in Chicago, but your parents live in Oklahoma and you went to high school in Kansas, but you sometimes spend the holidays in South Carolina...  ok, I think I've got it-"  then I can BLOW YOUR MIND by letting you catch a glimpse of my FLORIDA driver's license. When my last license expired, back in 2005, my parents were briefly living in Florida, so that's where I got it renewed.  I will be sad to see my FL driver's license go, but I feel like Rhode Island might be equally random in the grand scheme of things.
• Fill out health insurance forms-  In addition to losing my favorite driver's license, I get kicked off the parent's health insurance on my 25th birthday also (so far, it's not looking like a great birthday).  Buying my own insurance makes me feel too grown up, thus I will procrastinate it a little longer.  And don't even get me started on how my sister had a baby when she was 25; or how my mom already had two babies when she was 25.  I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.
• Get new glasses- Through some great fluke in the healthcare universe, I happen to have AWESOME vision insurance until April 1.  I've got my perscription for new glasses, and my insurance will cover most of the cost, it's just a matter of picking them out.  I'm thinking I want a pair with lots of bling, diamond rims, and maybe a gold-plated nose piece. Other suggestions?
• Finish financial aid packet- I equate financial aid to a ride at an amusement park that makes you puke.  You're lured into filling out all this paperwork with promises of scholarships and financial assistance, then you're spun around a million times until you can't tell your interest rate from your telephone number, but you're gonna end up just feel nauseous at how much you have to borrow.  Luckily, this is the last year EVER that I have to borrow money.  That's right.  Next year, at the age of 26, will be the first time that I will hold a full time paying job. I will officially stop being a financial drain on society. You're welcome.
• Buy power steering fluid- My wheels squeek every time I turn the steering wheel.  The noise definitely turns some heads when I'm rollin' down the street- but I just pretend that everyone is checking out my sweet ride. Cars from 1998 are so hot right now.

The Nephew Equation

There's gotta be some mathematical formula which dictates how often you should visit your nieces/nephews based on (1) how far away you live from them (2) their age and (3) the amount of disposable income/time you have available to visit them.  Whatever the equation is- I definitly hit the point last weekend where I HAD to see my nephew.  He's 10 months old, it's an 8 hour drive, and I have no free money or time... but still the Nephew Equation made it clear that I had to see that kid.

SO WORTH IT!!!  HE IS SOOOOOO CUTE!!!  Unfortunatly, my digital camera battery was dead, so I couldn't take any pictures of him.  So I will proceed to paint you a mental picture to help you understand how cute he is- imagine the cutest 10 month old in the world, now add a cute bunny to your mental picture, now add some really cute kittens, and then multiply all that cuteness times a million.  That's about how cute his left toe is.  If you don't believe me- looks at my sister's blog.  CUTE.

Anyway, on my 16+ hours of driving to DC and back last weekend, I traveled through a lot of states, and I paid a lot of tolls.  I've come up with some suggestions for what those states should do with my tolls-

Maryland, I paid you $7 each way.  Please use that money to offer a driving class to all of your residents entitled "Left Lane=Fast, Right Lane= Slow".    They all seem to have gotten confused on this point, driving 55mph in the left lane, and they could all use a refresher course.

Delaware, I paid you $5 each way- but I was only in your state for 5 minutes.  Please use my money to buy some land from surrounding states and make yourself larger.  This is coming from someone who lives in Rhode Island-  your state is embarrissingly small.   Alternatively, you could use my money to pave your roads in gold.  Gold-paved roads would acutally be worth paying $1/minute to drive on.  Your current roads were definitly not worth $1/minute.

New Jersey, I paid you $9 each way.  And you deserved it!! Three lanes highways, 80+mph the whole way!  New Jersey turnpike, I love you.  Please use my money to buy yourself an ice cream cone.

Thank You Notes

Did anyone else see Jimmy Fallon's thank you note skit on the Olympics with Bob Kostas a few nights ago?  I guess Jimmy Fallon always  writes his "thank you notes" for the week on his Friday night show- and he did them on the Olympics this week.  It got me thinking that I should catch up on my thank you notes, too.  So here goes:

Thank you, Hawaii tsunami, for reminding me of how gullible I am.  I watched MSNBC for 2 hours on Saturday, because those reporters kept telling me that you would arrive 'any moment'.    I naively believed them; just as I have believed politicians about healthcare reform.   Tsunami and healthcare reform- you have both bested me; which is not an easy task.  Well played.

Thank you, Olympians who are younger than me, for inspiring me to work my hardest in all endeavors.  Even though I have apparently passed my physical peak and have zero Olympic potential- your discipline and success continuously inspire me to grab another snack while I watch you on TV.

Thank you, man on the treadmill next to me yesterday, for acting like you didn't smell my fart.  It was incredibly disgusting; but you just kept running, albeit with less frequent breaths.  That was true sportsmanship.

Thank you, cashier at my favorite pizza place, for knowing me by name as soon as I walk in for my tri-weekly pizza slice.  I would prefer to be known by name at the gym, or at the library- but I'll take what I can get. Next time, could you cue up the Cheers theme song when I walk in?  Thanks.

Leave a comment with a thank you note of your own.  They are really fun to write!!!

Six Words To Sum Me Up

I found a book at a bookstore called "Six Word Memoirs", which is a collection of six word phrases/sentences that people submitted which they considered their memoir. Some were funny, some were sad.  I'm guessing it was based on/inspired by the story of Ernest Hemingway's six word short story: "For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn."  So I'm trying to come up with my six word memoirs/manifesto, here are a few that I've come up with.

All work, no play, makes Laura.

Tried my hardest, then got lucky.

I make it all look easy.

I've run out of self control. 

That last one specifically applies to Jelly Belly jelly beans, around which I express zero self control and have been known to each entire bags in one sitting; often while being paradoxically simultaneously VERY self-controlled in terms of studying, running, etc.   Because making up those manifestos was so much fun- I made a few six word manifestos for some of my favorite people!!  Leave me a comment with one of your own!!

Danny (boyfriend)

Laid back until negative consequences intefere.

Optimism Defined: environmentalist and Cubs fan.

Ala (roommate)

Rules were made to be followed.
          Loves pregnant women ALOT. Husbands beware.

Dad

Measure twice, cut once, avoid regrets.

All my jokes are very punny.

Mom

I look younger as I age.

Numbers are simple, people are complicated.

Rachel (sister)

Born to run, destined to blog.

I could Fourier transform your face.

Finley (nephew)

Cutest baby ever. Without even trying.

Dan (brother)

I'll get around to it.  Eventually.

Ben (brother)

 FINALLY an only child.  About time!

My Brown Thumb

Keeping plants alive has never been my strength.  Most of the plants in my house growing up were fake ficus trees- so I blame my mother for making me believe that plants required zero maintenece to look green year round.  Danny likes to tell me that I have to keep a plant alive for a year before I'm allowed to have a pet.  And I REALLY want a kitten. I mean puppy.  I mean pony. Let's see how it's going so far:

My newest plant is one week old- I bought it on Danny's birthday to be part of the centerpiece for his birthday dinner.  I'm not sure if it's actually possible to kill a plant in less than a week, but if it is- then I probably would've done it.  So I count this one as an early, tentative success.  The flowers are still pink, the leaves are still green- so that means I've succeeded.  Laura: 1, Death: 0.

Next we have my "money tree".  I don't know why it's called that, but I bought it in July 2009 when we moved into our new apartment.  It had a rough patch a couple of weeks ago, when I forgot to water it, but it's pulled through quite nicely.  I'm proud of this guy- and I'll ignore the fact that I was told that its nearly impossoble to kill when I bought it.  Laura: 2, Death: 0.

Now here's the one that I'm most concerned about.  My mom sent it to me when I took the boards, in April 2009.  That means we are REALLY close to hitting the one year mark with him.  I put this plant on my desk, thinking "I study at my desk EVERY DAY- how could I possible neglect something that I see EVERY DAY?!"  It was a good thought- until I started 'studying' in bed.  Drat. This little guy probably went a solid 3 weeks without water.  I'm desperately trying to nurse him back to health, but those yellow/brown leaves at the bottom just seem to be getting deader every day.  This guy could go either way. Laura: 2, Death: 0, Purgatory: 1.

If you ever come and visit me, you might see a few other plants around the house that look like my handiwork.   Such as these two.  I am proud to annouce that I wasn't directly responsible for either of these sticks' plants' deaths  These belong to my generally nurturing and attentive roommate, Ala.  But this is what third year of medical school will do to you.  So we won't hold it against her.  But it does raise the final score to Laura: 2, Death: 2, Purgatory: 1.  Let's hope that the final plant is a tie-breaker!!  I think keeping paper flowers alive counts. Right?

Walled Off

My sister left a comment on my last post, implying that my wood panel walls were something less than totally awesome.  As I walked around my house, reveling in the beauty of wood paneling, I realized that my house contains no less than 5 different types of wood paneling!!  Let's take a tour!

Blog?!

My sister has a awesome blog, and I am jealous of it.  So I thought to myself, "Looks like the only options are
    (1) inflitrate, terrorize and destroy her super cool blog
    (2) design a blog so awesome and so triumphant that all other blogs will cower in fear...." 
So here's my one blog to will rule them all.  Which she designed for me. And she also took the picture of me that's at the top of the blog.  And picked out all the design patterns.  And added the cool running application over there on the side (which takes my workout from the Nike chip on my shoe, to my iPod, to my computer, to the Nike website, and onto my blog. WHAT?!) . Aw crap.  I don't think I've beaten her blog at all.

But in all seriousness- I'm starting the blog because as I look down the pipeline of the next few years of my life, I realize that there is a lot of awesome stuff headed my way and I want you all to share in it.  I'm running the Disney World marathon next Janaury with my dad and sister and I'm applying to surgical residency programs starting this August (do you get the title of the blog, yet?  the title is actually my only contribution to the blog design...).  O, and I got a super awesome digital camera for Christmas and I need an excuse to photograph everything.  So here's a picture to get the new year of blogging started right- a shot of Danny and I on New Years Eve!