CONUMDRUM......

CONUMDRUM......

Okay I chose that as the title for this post for 2 reasons:

1- Had I thought of it, I would have included it on my list of favorite words during our Thanksgiving Extravaganza 07. I think I also would have included baffle, burble and chunky.

2- Here's the real condundrum, I got this out-of-the-blue phone call the night before last from a urologist in Provo last night. He runs a 2 person practice that's loosely part of the same multi-specialty medical clinic that my dad and his group joined a couple years ago. The short story is that both he and the other guy want to retire in 4-5 years and he's looking for a "partner" to work with for a few years as he eases into retirement and will then turn the practice completely over...and he wants me to consider being that partner. He wants me to come see his practice and discuss the possibility while we are out there over Christmas.

Right now there are only 4 urologists in the Provo/Orem area--which is crazy. Ann Arbor/Yspilanti (roughly the same population) has 22 at the U of M and another 10 at the Ypsilanti hospital. Iowa City/Coralville has 8 or so at the U and then 5 in private practice.
So the urologists in Provo do really well and can do pretty much whatever type of cases they want becauses there's enough clinical volume. This guy also has a sweet office and what are apparently state-of-the-art facilities, and it sounds pretty sweet to walk into an established practice with someone that will act as a mentor for a few years and then retire. Really if anyone in, say, Spokane or Denver or Portland were making me this offer, I'd be sigining on the bottom line right now.

So that's the conundrum. Let say this practice is as good as it sounds: great earning potential and the chance to do whatever I want. It's close to family (which has all of a sudden become increasingly improtant in my mind since my mom's diagnosis with Lupus and all my dad's knee problems), it's in a beautiful area with lots of great recreational stuff to do, there are four seasons. It sounds pretty good. But here's the thing, it's in Utah county, we've never wanted to be that close to home. We don't like the Utah county mormon vibe. We don't like the materialism. I'm not sure how I feel about having an office one floor up from my dad and my uncles and working at the same hospital as the entire Jackson family medical clan. Obviously, we don't have to decide this right now, but.........

Anyway, I was hoping you guys would all weigh in. What do you think? What would you do?

May It Move and Groove You

I forgot to include a track list for you girls' CDs. Here it is:

1. Slung-lo by Erin McKeown 2:56
2. I Don't Feel Like Dancin' by Scissor Sisters 4:11
3. Lucky Moments by Bobby Baby 3:42
4. Be Gentle With Me by The Boy Least Likely To 3:50
5. Grace Kelly by MIKA 3:08
6. All the Money or the Simple Life Honey by The Dandy Warhols 4:10
7. Rhinemaidens by The Envy Corps 4:10
8. LDN by Lily Allen 3:11
9. Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games by Of Montreal 4:16
10. For the Actor by Mates of State 4:34
11. Hey Now Now by The Cloud Room 3:30
12. You Only Live Once by The Strokes 3:09
13. New Shoes by Paolo Nutini 3:22
14. Smile by Lily Allen 3:14
15. Love Me Like You by The Magic Numbers 4:51
16. Catch My Disease by Ben Lee 4:14
17. A House Is Not a Home by Field Music 2:37
18. Story Problem by The Envy Corps 4:32
19. Gone Daddy Gone by Gnarls Barkley 2:28
20. Flathead by The Fratellis 3:17
21. Jogging Gorgeous Summer by Islands 2:48

Why Bear Grylls Deserves to be My Hollywood Boyfriend

Some of you scoffed at me when I revealed my Hollywood crush last weekend. To be honest, I was a little offended. Bear Grylls is as deserving, or even more so, of my devotion as Ellen Degeneres is of Brandon's. Of course, I'm a happily married woman, so I'm not in the market for a love interest, but I think Bear and I could be very good friends. Let's put our compatibility to the test:
#1 - We both like sushi.

#2 - We both appreciate a nice fur coat.

#3 - We like salty stuff.

For more Bear clips, check him out on YouTube (don't listen to all the jealous wannabes who call him a fake) or watch Man vs. Wild on the Discoery channel.

Possible Themes For This Year's Thanksgiving Extravaganza

1. To-ga! To-ga! To-ga!

2. Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Vacation -  Scrunchees.  Double layered socks.  Muscle shirts. 

Leis.  Viewing of 1990 VHS recording of "Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Vacation." Added perk: Mr. Belding in shorts.

3. Goth Prom - Unisex black lip liner.  Black carnation corsages. 

4. Cabaret - Liza! Liza! Liza!

5. IOWA - Black and gold.  Corn and lots of it.  Democrats.  Bad haircuts.

6. Harry Potter - Drawn-on scars.  Scarves.  British accents.  Old gay guys.

7. Clue - Colonel Ringger in the basement with a cornucopia.  Or was it Mrs. Jackson in the 

newly painted dining room with a turkey baster?  

8. Alias - Red wigs.  Cowboy hats.  Rambaldi inventions.  Code names.  (Dibs on "Snuffleupagus.")

9. Renaissance Festival - Pan Pipes.  Jesters.  Turkey legs. Unisex pantyhose. "Doth m'lady care for another helping of green bean casserole?"

10. Old School Style - Good food.  Good conversation.  Boys huddled, gossiping in the corner with the school directory.

The Next Vacation?

Driving around Pittsburgh I kept seeing these sticker on cars that said OBX. Finally one of them was kind enough to include the subtitle, "Outer Banks, NC", and the OBX suddenly made sense. Since then I've heard some really good things about this place. Apparently you can rent huge beach houses (not necessarily ON the beach in our price range) that could sleep all 3 families. And apparently there are quite a few activities in addition to the very nice looking beach. I'm just throwing it out there. For a place that may be fun, driveable, relatively affordable, and perhaps able to be done with kids, it may meet a bunch of criteria for our 3 year "half-vacation" before our next big one in 2012. Check it out.

outerbanks.org

Easy Street

Not too far from my house is a lovely cul-de-sac that I thought the Jacksons would be particularly fond of.

Another gem from Craigslist

I was innocently just looking for a double stroller when I came across this:
http://annarbor.craigslist.org/bab/429821645.html
I'd almost go buy it just to meet this person!

God is Good

Does anyone still check this blog? I do. Every day. I have seen Brandon in his loupes so many times that I've forgotten what he looks like without them. It's time for a new post. I'll start - hopefully the rest of you will follow.
My subject is sentimental.
I have been floating on air since the news of little Vivian reached my inbox. The Flickr page with constant images of two darling redheaded sisters bring tears to my eyes and warmth to my heart. It might sound silly, but seeing the way Heavenly Father has placed your children in your arms has strengthened my testimony. Thank you so much for letting us be part of your lives!Congratulations again and good luck getting out of KY.

Real men wear LOUPES

Musics.

This is a very eclectic set of songs, they are some that we've bought recently.

She Moves In Her Own Way (Radio Version) - The Kooks
Do the Whirlwind - Architecture in Helsinki
Heart It Races (Single Version) - Architecture in Helsinki
You Are What You Love - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
Hey Now Now - The Cloud Room
Hermit - Dios (Malos)
You're Not Supposed To - Field Music
Flathead - The Fratellis
Trains to Brazil - Guillemots
most all of the new Kings of Leon album - Because of the Times
Dr. Dog - pretty old school, Beatles meet Grateful Dead meet Beach Boys meet the Format (haven't bought anything yet, waiting to burn stuff from my brother who is friends with the band)
Hang Me Up to Dry - Cold War Kids (also friends of my brother, they are "making it big"...does this make me cooler? didn't think so...)
Open Book - The Rakes
By Heart - Sylvie Lewis
Counting Down the Hours - Ted Leo/Pharmacists
Pressure Point - The Zutons

I am a music junkie

I'm always on the lookout for new music. I spend hours looking up and downloading tunes. It is especially fun to hear your guys' suggestions. Flat out, we need another Reynolds music suggestions post (I wouldn't be enjoying the works of Mates of State or Of Montreal if not for them). In an act of good faith to accompany my request, I will supply you with some of the cream of the music crop in my life right now, with a slant to what I think you'd all like (i.e. the very accessible "pop-y" White Stripes song, not the wicked, ear burning, guitar solo ones).

White Stripes - Effect and Cause (old-school, folky, acoustic, awesome lyrics ("if you're headed for the grave you don't blame the hearse"). If you're slightly more adventerous, check out You Don't Know What Love Is, You Just Do As You're Told - amazing.

Tim Armstrong - Into Action (party jam from the man who brought you Ruby Soho, etc.)

Peter Bjorn and John - Amsterdam (I can't explain why I like this song so much, I just do)

Feist - One, Two, Three, Four - gorgeous voice

Feist - I Feel It All - ditto

The Long Winters (GREAT indie pop band from Seattle, remind my a little of The Format, good REM, etc.) - check out:

Pushover

Fire Island, AK

Hindsight

Stupid

New Girl

Scared Straight

Bright Eyes - For your mellow, folky moods.

Soul Singer in a Session Band

If The Brakeman Turns My Way

Classic Cars

The Arcade Fire - Intervention (really love this one, especially live on SNL last season)

Guy Love

Warning: If I don't post for the next couple of days, CHECK ON ME! Chad might kill me when he reads this post.
Luckily, he is so busy studying for USMLE Step 3, that he might not check the blog for a few days.
I just couldn't help thinking of our guys when I heard this little ditty - of course the content needs to be edited to read "Guy Love Between THREE Guys". Good friends are hard to come by!

Attention all Harlan Coben fans

We just finished reading his latest. As always, he did not disappoint.

(As a sidenote, Khaled Hosseini's new book A Thousand Splendid Suns came out today. I've been waiting for that one for a long, long time. Rob and Julie - you remember when he came and spoke and said that since The Kite Runner was filled with male characters, he wanted his next book to be centered around females? It is. The two main characters are women. I can't wait to read it.)

Speaking of Iowa....

So I got a message from my brother Jared today. He's the one applying to medical school right now. Since today is May 15th he just hit that deadline where you can no longer hold multiple acceptances and you have to pick one medical school. And the winner is: The Roy J. and Lucielle A. Carver College of Medicine. Cool eh? Just thinking abou him going to Iowa and starting medical school is bringing back tons of memories of our first year. Hopefully his set of study-buddies will be a great as mine.....

I do wonder how different his experience will be without Ephgrave and Mandel....oh well, at least he'll still have Joel Gordon...........yikes.

Speak of Iowa, I meant to respond to Chad's post about the Iowa match list--like 3 mo. ago now. Interesting list. Here's my take.
- Most impressive: (tie) Sissy B. doing oto at Iowa or that chick that got into Derm up here at U of M or Mark Abbott doing radiology at Duke.
- Least suprising: (tie) Sissy staying at Iowa, Matt Knudsen staying at Iowa. Matt Karfin doing pathology.
- Most suprising: (tie again) Matt Karafin doing pathology at Hopkins, Terri Nordin going to New Jersey ( always thought she'd stay in the midwest). Nazee Jabarri doing general surgery.
- Creepiest: remeber a certain classmate of ours, an asian guy who extended a year, the same guy who was caught multiple times looking at "naughty" pictures in the computer lab, this same person is now going into.......Ob/Gyn. Just typing that makes me feel icky.

Did I choose the right profession?

So, I was doing my monthly reading of Pop Science mag and noted an article about a 76$ million dollar tissue bank being built in conjunction with University of Iowa. I thought wow, that is cool. They'll probably make a ton on money off it. Then I noticed that quoted throughout the article was the "chief scientific officer"....Tannin Fuja. Maybe I should have applied for the chief scientific officer residency.

On a side note, I was thinking about vacations and the planning the one 2 years from now. I am currently voting for renting a large beach house in Puerto Rico.

And my final comment. I don't have Chad or Rob's phone numbers. So, if you were wondering why i'm such a loser and haven't called, it wasn't for lack of thought. So email me your phone numbers.

To add to Alisa's collection

Alisa, you inspired me to check out the free section of Craigslist. Here is one that got a chuckle out of me :

Vitamins of death
i bought one-a-day weight smart vitamins, thinking that the added bonus of a metabolism boost would make me keep up with taking the vitamins. i'd read reviews that said they were pretty prone to causing nausea, but i've got a super strong stomach so i bought them anyway. i've thrown up both times i've tried them, even with a solid meal and a lot of water first. maybe their trick for weight control is that you can't actually keep food down? if anyone would like to try their hand (and stomach) at them without wasting $8, i've got a full bottle minus a few.

Anyone? Anyone?

Hey Jacksons!

Sing with a neener-neer sing-songy voice: "I found your profile page! I found your profile page!"
It's excellent. Didn't you feel like "BOOYAH!" when you were able to put Rob's occupation as a doctor and not a med student? And Julie as have gotten her Masters in social work not just a student? But my favorite addition/change to your profile since last time is of course, Grace. What a cute major selling point. Ruby saw the pictures and said "Mom! Gracie's bigger now! She's all grown up!" Yes. It's sad. Gracie's bigger now and all grown up.

Pavlov's Dogs

Is it just me, or does anyone else smell ocean air when they eat Haagen Dazs? We tried Mayan chocolate last night. We solemnly thank you for the recommendation. Are we really going to go anywhere else besides back to Maui in 2012? I really want to go back there again, but I can't imagine taking the trip without the rest of you. Thoughts on our post-residency destination??
P.S. Other recommendation thanks include Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. That was my choice for my Spokane book club this month. Hopefully everyone else will enjoy it too :)

Flickr Shmickr

Rob&Julie, I just wanted to tell you that I look at your Flickr page everyday. I wish it was a blog instead so I could post and tell you how cute Gracie is! But alas, it is Flickr and I haven't figured that out yet. But I'm very excited for Julie's new camera - you take such great pictures and they'll be even better now that you have a fancy shmancy camera. I'm pretty jealous.
Ok, CONGRATS ON BEING ELIGIBLE FOR ADOPTION #2 YOU GUYS!!! That's so exciting. Please keep us updated on any/all developments!

Pencil us in for Thanksgiving '07

Anyone feel like gathering in a soothing green dining room for Thanksgiving this year? Perhaps we'll even have a range installed in our kitchen by then, but if not, I hear crock pot turkey can be very tasty. The Reynolds can fight the Jacksons for dibs on bunking in the den. Losers get the basement (unfinished, cobwebs and leaky pipes included). If you can't stomach the basement, you are always welcome to share our pink and purple master suite.
Can't wait for Fall!

Front of House

Driveway leading to garage View from front yardLiving Room
Dining Room
Den

Downstairs bath accessed through the DenKitchen

Heading upstairs... Upstairs landingUpstairs bathUpstairs master bedroom (don't ask me why the 3 year old got the master)
Part of backyard