doctor, doctor

had a terrific weekend in DC for the g'town M'97 reunion. "spectacular", as dave would say.

spent almost every waking hour doing something reminiscent of our time at georgetown- meals at old glory and cactus cantina, beers at garrett's and clyde's, late night cheesesteaks on M street, and about an hour and a half just sitting in the balcony of LA-6, the old lecture hall, rehashing old stories. we even snuck in a visit to the gross anatomy labs, just for old times' sake.

finkbowl XII is right around the corner, so for those of you who we pulled from the woodwork to come to this reunion (that's you, tasha), this is the kind of fun we have every year! come on out to middletown in february, and we'll do it all over again- just without the dead bodies.

shiny! me like shiny

got a new phone yesterday, brought on by the facts that a) my old phone was 3 years old and couldn't hold a charge past 4 hours, 2) some little plastic piece inside the display was hanging down over the battery icon, so whatever charge i did have was nearly unidentifiable, and d) i needed to get my phone on my work account in my continuing efforts to maximize the benefit of being a small business owner.

same old number on a shiny new phone. despite all the whistles and bells, the new phone has about 1/4 of the selection of the standard ringtones the old one did, and the ones that it does have are lousy. so, i did as verizon clearly expected me to do, which was to spend more money and download a few ringtones at 1.29 each. maybe you'd like to sponsor my ringtone library, so you can each have your own unique sound i can identify your calls with.

the bidding for your number to be assigned the "super mario brothers" theme starts at 25 cents.

time for another pic

just a quick post tonight- been a while since i threw up a picture. this one's from last month, at build-a-bear for molly's b'day...

pride of the yankees

despite my general disdain for the yankees, i've always respected joe torre. maybe because of his days in the orange and blue, or maybe just because he's always seemed to be a class act in the dugout. i have no way of verifying this, but i'm willing to wager that torre's departure was a carefully negotiated dance by him and the team. by him turning down the contract offer, the team gets to save face by not firing him and actually offering him a high-dollar contract with great incentives, and by turning down that offer, he gets to save face by not resigning.

no one in the media seems to be offering this at all as a possible explanation. you heard it here first. (remember though, i'm also the budding online sports journalist that told you the yankees would trade a-rod for jason kendall)

i literally hate this word

what good's a blog if you can't rant from time to time? herein starts a new occasional feature- fink's language pet peeves. it's my attempt to better the world through the proper use of the english language.

i'm literally appalled by the literal overuse of the adjective "literally". from radio and TV interviews, to podcasts, to daily conversation, not a day goes by anymore that i don't hear someone incorrectly use the word "literally".

examples:

• "i was literally blown away by that movie". no, you weren't, because you're obviously standing in front of me still using incorrect language.
  
• "they literally moved 2,000 miles just to be near a white castle." maybe a true statement, but a superfluous use of the word.

the word should be used to describe a situation where an action that has a figurative meaning is carried out in the truer yet possibly less likely way.

example:

• "while collecting seashells, i was literally swept off my feet by the waves."

this ends todays complaining. tune in next time for a lesson on apostrophes.

old friends

one of the great things about moving back east a few years ago was re-connecting with some old friends from high school. not that i had lost contact, but the transition from college to med school to residency, and the increasing distance from L.I. that each of those brought, separated me from all but a few.

now, thanks to a few weddings, an annual summer golf weekend, and the wonders of the internet, i've been able to reconnect with most of the crew. amazing to think that friendships that started before any of us could drive are still going strong and continue to grow. recent e-mail threads have ranged from debates on the iraq war and the upcoming election, to star wars vs. star trek and who should have dated who way back when.

the best compliment i think i can give them all is that i can only hope one day my kids will someday have friends like them.

classic fall

finally getting some weather around here to make it feel like fall. after a few weeks of mid-80's, looking like a 65-degree weekend here. perfect for soccer, pumpkins, and maybe even the first fire of the season.

erin's half-way thru her trip to italy, which means grandma and big buddy are half-way thru their trip here with us. good times being had by all.

the sounds of progress

our office is in a building owned by the local hospital. they've just started site work on a new project right next door for a building 4x the size of this one. interesting watching all the work from up close, but it's not without its drawbacks, of course. for 2 weeks straight they've rolled the dirt every day with a vibrating steamroller, and because the new building will be within 4 feet of our current office, every pipe, window, and fluorescent light in this place has been rattling like crazy. on several occasions i had to practically shout in conversations with patients.

but the upshot is, this time next year we should be in that new building, probably shouting while they do the interior work on the floors above us.

i'll have the chicken

made dining reservations today for our trip to disney world. in april. next year.

for those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, because of the popularity of certain restaurants at disney world, it's become necessary now to decide what and where you want to eat six months prior to your vacation. the extreme here is reserving breakfast at cinderella's castle (which we're not doing). the reservations are so hard to get, some guide books give step-by step instructions (see page 337) on how to optimize your chances, right down to synchronizing your watch to be sure you call exactly on time. insane.

all this so i can pay 9 bucks each for my kids to order chicken nuggets they probably won't eat anyway.

greatest nickname ever

erin's off to italy next week- yes, that "once in a lifetime" trip a few years ago has spawned two return trips now. steve and dolores are headed to middletown tomorrow to visit for a few weeks and help out while erin's gone.

the kids are totally pumped about grandma dolores and grandpa steve coming out. last time they were out, through a hierarchy established after brendan was called "little buddy", grandpa steve became "big buddy" and the name has stuck. even molly goes around saying "big buddy is coming!" i hope he likes the nickname as much as they do, and doesn't feel like he's just a guy we found at the boys and girls club.

america's newest rockies fan!

thanks for checking in despite the paucity of updates lately. now that i don't have playoffs to worry about, i hope to get back to my 3-4 updates per week schedule.

went to a show in DC last week with googs and rachel- rilo kiley at 9:30 club. great, great show. never seen a band feed off the crowd's positive energy the way they did. they (especially lead singer jenny lewis) seemed to truly enjoy what they were doing, and seemed genuine when giving the obligatory "you guys are a great audience" salute. made it even more enjoyable.

nice opening set by a band out of omaha called "art in manila". i knew right away i liked them, especially their extremely talented lead singer/guitarist, but didn't know until checking their myspace page tonight exactly why (and it's not because her first name is "orenda").

a new perspective

"perspective" was fine when we had a 2.5 game lead. now i'm back to being as fired up as a fat guy when the stuckey's buffet runs out of home fries.

my only solace is that the braves are eliminated.

perspective

i was watching the mets game the other night (i know, a risk factor for coronary disease right there), content that they were up 3 runs against the marlins in the 5th inning, and so i went to read molly a book before bed. she chose some richard scarry book with scenes "all around town" or something like that. one particular page was of a fire company (staffed by pigs, as is the norm in richard scarry world) rescuing people (actually foxes) jumping from a burning building. the firepigs were using one of those old rescue trampolines to catch the jumping fox. molly was clearly confused (about the rescue effort, not the pigs-as-firefighters thing), and it took a fair bit of explaining on my part to get her to understand why someone would jump from a building.

this immediately conjured flashbulb memories of those horrific pics of people jumping from the WTC towers before collapse. i couldn't get the image from my head, and quickly turned the page to a nice beach scene with a hippo lifeguard and some bears making sandcastles.

in the time it took me to read that book and get molly to sleep, the mets had blown not one, but two different 3 run leads, and proceeded to lose the game in extra innings. i went to bed seething about the outcome. then my thoughts moved to how frustrated the players must have been, and how they would likely be lying in bed having an even harder time falling asleep than i was.

then my thoughts moved back to that richard scarry book, and the jumping foxes, and the jumping people, and i thought that no matter how frustrated i was about the game, or the players were about the game, that we'd all wake up in the morning, and hug our kids, and go off to another day of work.

perspective.

happy molly day

molly's b'day today- she came downstairs with me this AM, the boys were eating their breakfast before school, and said to her "happy birthday molly!". her response: "thank you. where's my cake?"

back to school

boy, i thought i'd be better at this blog thing- gotta post more and keep this interesting.

back to school last week. here's a shot of the boys in their unis:




owen started 2nd grade, brendan 1st. so far, so good. brendan's statement last week: "first grade gets funner and funner every day!" that is, until the grammar lessons start.

next step, her own iphone

put molly in a "big girl bed" this weekend. it's been in the basement for months, but she's had no desire to leave the crib so we hadn't pursued the transition at all. still had no desire to give up the crib, but we finished a room makeover for her this weekend, complete with purple ceiling, pink walls, new chair rail, new mini-chandelier, and felt it was the right time to bring out the bed.

so far, she seems to like it- we'll see how things go next week when the boys are back in school and we're all in more of a routine.

save jeffy!

unsettling report in the delaware news journal today...it seems they've pulled the family circus from their daily comics page! a call to arms has been raised by none other than tom keane, wilmington resident and brother to bill.

so do your part to support family humor in delaware. call the number listed in the above link (last letter on the page), or e-mail betsy price, features editor of the news journal at beprice@delawareonline.com. tell them the finks need the family circus, for their sanity and for blog material.

--

here's my family circus moment from this past weekend- walking out of church yesterday, the kids give the priest hi-fives. molly says, "you know what? i smacked god's hand!" always knew she was strong-willed, but rebuking the hand of god is a whole new level.

the music man

went out today and bought a guitar, bringing the total number of instruments i own but can't really play to 7 (2 harmonicas, 1 acoustic guitar, 1 acoustic/electric guitar [the new one], 1 bass guitar, 1 keyboard and 1 saxophone).

the whole bass guitar thing (and subsequent dads-as-rock-stars band thing) started when my friend wyatt tried to teach me to play guitar. too many strings, so i downgraded from 6 to 4 and picked up the bass. been playing around with the old guitar lately, and felt it was time to try again at 6 strings.

so beware- someday you may see a dilf acoustic show with 3 guitars. "patience", anyone?

first ever finkipedia contest!!!

hey kids- here's something fun to show your creative sides. inspired by uncle googs' comment on the post about maine, and his and my love-hate relationship with "the family circus" (see christmas letter, 2006), i propose to you a challenge:

come up with a great family circus-esque tag line for any entry or part of an entry over the next few weeks. while the world of fink is your material to work with, "the family circus" is your canvas, so their characters should be used. (use googs' post from the 8/19 entry as your example)

post your submissions in the comments section of the applicable post; i'll cull through them all and post as many as i can in a poll at the bottom of the blog in a few weeks.

who posted this entry? NOT ME!

on tap next week- granny's colonoscopy!

kids are off to jersey for a few days with my folks while erin's in DC. during the school year, my mom will come down here to stay with them while erin works, but in the summer, they often go to NJ. fun for them all, because they do a lot of day trips to parks, lakes, the crayola factory- tons of fun stuff.

my mom called yesterday to confirm the pickup time for today. she was on the cell in the car (which, even when not driving, she feels awkward doing), and left a message with owen. she told him that they (she and my dad) were going to a wake at a funeral parlor (my parents are long islanders through and through, and still refer to funeral homes as "parlors"...well, maybe "pauluhs"), and wanted to be sure they were still picking the kids up at the decided-upon time. she then hung up because, of course, it's unsafe to be on a cell phone in a car.

owen passed on the message as "nana and grandpa eddie are picking us up tomorrow and taking us to a funeral". took several hours for us to get through to them again to figure out the real story.