letter march 21 2010

Dear Everyone,

The top story in our household this week is that Lucas made the freshman/sophomore tennis team at Hinsdale Central. This is quite an accomplishment, considering that the team has won the state championship the last three years in a row, and has players with national ranking. We are really proud of him. It took a lot of effort, discipline, and will - - thanks Cindy!

Yesterday evening, Cindy and I went out to dinner with my college roommate Nienke Prins Dosa, and her husband, Joe. They were in town for a pediatric conference. Nienke is an Associate professor at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, and the head of the cerebral palsy clinic there. We went to dinner at Vie (http://www.vierestaurant.com), a high end restaurant in Western Springs, of all places. The head chef there was on Iron Chef America a few months ago, and although he lost, had an excellent showing. Nienke and Joe have three girls; the oldest is a senior in high school, and waiting to hear about colleges. She was waitlisted for early acceptance to Yale.

This afternoon we took the kids to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie. I don’t really know how to describe it, so I can’t say whether it was good or not. I think Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter have all made better movies. I think the ending was pretty incoherent also. The sets were colorful. Now Cindy and Jasper are at a swim team banquet while I have charge of the two other children. Another night of hot dogs and mac and cheese.

Last weekend I was on call. The Tuchlers came over and everyone but Jim and I went to see Once Upon a Mattress at the high school. Nicola and Lucas had assisted with set construction and Nicola had some backstage responsibilities for the play. Adam fell asleep during the performance. Meanwhile, Jim and I went to the bar in Hinsdale. Actually, it is on a postage stamp sized piece of property just across from the high school, since Hinsdale is a ‘dry’ town. This bar was grandfathered in somehow. It was kind of dark, loud, and not super clean. They did have Guinness on tap. Jim thought that the people that were drinking there reminded him of the people that work for him at Gifts for You Now (http://www.giftsforyounow.com/?gclid=COvt5qH1yqACFZRI5wodph_vaQ) [I hope you appreciate this shameless, blatant commercial plug]. Luckily, I didn’t get called into work Saturday night after our revelry.

I did read the lost books of the Odyssey (see last letter), and I recommend it, especially to anyone who read another similar book that came out last year, Sum, Forty Tales of the Afterlives. Both books made me think of Borges, Calvino, and Lem. I have requested E. O. Wilson’s novel (his first!), Anthill, from the library, but it hasn’t come in yet.

Work is going along pretty well. I have to give a talk about prion disease this week that is going to be broadcast around the different lab sites - - my very first ‘webinar’. I hope I put in enough funny pictures. I think I might use the three-headed Meeko for a final photo (I already have a slide with Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva and Kali; it would take too long to explain why…).
Love H.