letter sep 27

Dear Everyone

The Bears won! And the Steelers lost! Both weeks! Certainly last week it was a bittersweet pleasure to see the Bears victorious; this week not so much with the Steelers losing to the Bengals - - after the Bengals repeatedly made successful 4th and yards conversions to finally score with 15 seconds left. But last week it was tough with most of the house on the Pittsburgh side. I remained ever loyal to the blue-and–orange - - but pretty surprised when they won. Perhaps the Steelers team is not so good this year? Maybe when the long-maned Troy Polamalu returns from his injury they will play like winners. During the Bears-Steelers game I made some kind of tomato-based soup with chickpeas, chorizo and spinach.

Prior to the football game we celebrated Rosh Hashanah with assorted Siskels, Feigers, Browns, and Alis at the Birchwood country club. Joey and I discussed iPhone apps, that we thought would be of limited use, for instance “Is this number a prime?”, or “Ask a dermatologist”. Anyway, we had a very nice time, and our kids seemed to behave. The previous evening we all watched “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World”. I remember seeing this movie when I was about 10 or 11 years old - - it must have been re-released, since it came out originally in 1963. It was still pretty funny. Ethel Merman plays a shrewish mother-in-law, and steals every scene she is in. Spencer Tracy really seems old and beaten in the movie, he died about four years later, after making only one other movie (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1967). Jodi (Gail’s friend) told us that she had to be hauled out of the movie when she was little because she started crying; she thought the Three Stooges were going to die. I told her to get rid of those old skeletons, only Jimmy Durante dies (although almost everyone in the movie should go – they all end up in body casts by the end).

This was my first weekend on call at work. I had to go in on Saturday and read out cases. I felt like a resident at Hopkins again - - I must have looked at 50-60 specimens, or between 400-500 slides. I’m glad I don’t have to do that every day! Unfortunately, I have a mini-stack in my office for Monday morning, because every time we make a new diagnosis of cancer, it needs to be reviewed by another pathologist for quality control. I have two prostate biopsies, a lung biopsy, a couple of cervical and uterine cancers, etc. Monday is going to busy for me, because beyond trying to fast, I also have to give a deposition. Obviously, I can’t talk about this case. I am not party to the suit, but I was the pathologist of record for the autopsy. I hate these things. They are usually a big waste of time and money. Of course, I am charging a pretty good hourly fee myself to make up for the annoyance.

I got a flu shot, and am eagerly awaiting a dose of the H1N1 vaccine as well as my annual TB test. Somehow, I am working on my second cold since the kids started school. Nicola just finished working the stage in the first play of the year. She got back pretty late from the cast party last night. Lucas’ play is in three weeks, it’s called “The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Assorted Greek Myths in 99 Minutes.” I hope it helps him with his Latin scholarship. I don’t have anything new to say about Jasper, except to say he is now 12 years old. Due to various commitments on his actual birthday we held off having his special dinner of Uncle Bubs hot wings and key lime pie for a couple of days. He has enjoyed several gifts….especially the new DS game Scribblenauts http://games.kidswb.com/scribblenauts/index2.html#/?cc=en&page=home, where you must solve problems by telling the game what item to draw for the character to use in each scene, and a new Wii game, Wii Sports Resort http://www.wiisportsresort.com/#/home.

Love, H.