Do you remember how I said in the first post that I would try and maintain the rate of one new post per week? FAIL! Apparently, I forgot, and I also failed to take into consideration the fact that sometimes Gina and I get really busy. As it turns out, we actually have a few people following this blog already, and most of you have taken the time to let me know I have greatly exceeded my new post deadline. I really thought I would make it at least 5 or 6 weeks before I fell behind. As is sometimes (almost always) the case, I over estimated my abilities (insert image of Gina nodding in sarcastic agreement). Therefore, I promise all of you that this post will far and away surpass the others in some way. So please fasten your safety belts, take a deep breath, and prepare to have your minds blown. Disclaimer: Gina and Derek cannot be held responsible if in fact anybody’s mind is blown.
As I stated previously, we have been really busy as of late. Allow me to let you in on what we’ve been up to. First and foremost, on February 6, 2011 there was this little event that hardly anybody knows about, but I think some of you may have heard of it. The event is called the SUPER BOWL and the GREEN BAY PACKERS won it!!! It has been a month and a half since the game took place, and it has still not set in. We were invited to watch the game at the home of our friends Mike and Katie in Port Washington. They are excellent hosts and we have way too much fun every time we go there. We had an amazing time with great friends, and I definitely over indulged in the taco bar. I showed up in my new “Raji Against the Machine” shirt and Gina was wearing her new “I wanna get ‘sacked’ by Clay Matthews” shirt. When the game came to and end I was so inspired and pumped up that I found it necessary to go “Clay Matthews” on my buddy Zac and sack him in the couch. Lucky for me, he was too elated to realize or care what had just happened. Either way, the Packers winning the super bowl is a memory that I will cherish forever and I am pretty sure the 2010-11 Packers are the greatest team in the history of the UNIVERSE with a slight edge over the 1996-97 Packers. In a distant 3rd is the 1999-2000 Wisconsin Badger Rose Bowl Team…wait…what? That’s college football? Ok, well there is no 3rd place then.
The Saturday after the Super Bowl, Gina and I attended a Milwaukee Bucks game against the Indiana Pacers. Not only was it Gina’s first Bucks game, but also at halftime there was a special presentation. In attendance for that presentation were Mark Murphy, Charlie Peprah, Charles Woodson (Yes, that Charles Woodson), and the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I have never heard the Bradley Center as loud as it was when the spotlight on was that trophy. The Bucks played terrible as they have much of this season, but we still had a blast (thanks to the Packers in attendance). I think it is safe to say I won’t have a problem getting Gina to go to another Bucks game with me anytime soon.
Moving forward in time two weeks brings us to another evening of fun as we enjoyed a concert featuring Joshua Radin. In addition, we made sure to kick the night off right with a great Thai dinner at The King and I. We were joined our good friends Zac and Jordan, and Michael and Allison (also dental students and they had just gotten engaged the weekend prior). The concert was held at the Pabst Theater in downtown Milwaukee and it was my first time at that venue. The Pabst is the fourth-oldest continuously operating theater in the United States and has easily become one of my favorite places of all time.
Let’s jump ahead one day, and we find ourselves on our way to the windy city of Chicago. Gina was signed up to attend the Midwinter Meeting at the humongous McCormack Place convention center on the south side of Chicago. The main reason for attending the MWM was for Gina to attain a few continuing education credits. I know, it seems ironic that she would need to get continuing ed credits while she’s still in dental school, but that’s how it works. The other reason for the MWM is a gigantic vendor fair. I know this all sounds really exciting. However, it turns out Chicago would not be all work and no play. We went down on Friday and checked into our very excellent room (which we got for a very excellent price) at the Embassy Suites downtown. Again, we were joined by Z&J. If you haven’t noticed, they are pretty much rock, so we hang out with them as often as they let us. Before we could hang out with all our friends, Gina and I had another engagement to take care of. Recently, Gina has started to make contact with different large group practice dental clinics as she is approaching the final year of school. Well, it just so happens that one of those practices had rented out the upper portion of a cool bar downtown for the evening, and invited us to join them. We spent a couple hours meeting several dentists, hygienists, recruiters, and even the CEO who all made their company seem very welcoming. As chance would have it, there was also an open bar, and being that we were in Chicago where the drinks aren’t cheap, we definitely made sure to have a couple. Then it was off to meet back up with all of our other friends who were also in town.
Naturally, all the bumming around Chicago made us pretty hungry, so we decided to grab some grub at XOCO (pronounced Show-Co). It is a restaurant run by Chef Rick Bayless, who has a couple cooking shows on television mostly revolving around Mexican and South American cuisine. XOCO is very similar to Chipotle or Qdoba, but on steroids. The food was delicious and I would recommend it to anybody visiting Chicago.
The next day we drove over to McCormack Place to see what the vendor fair was all about. Let me tell you, it was crazy. I have never seen a convention of this magnitude. We are talking about 8 football fields worth of Colgate, Listerine, Sonicare, etc… Anybody who sells anything in the dental profession had a station there. We hung around for a couple hours, just long enough to make sure we got our fair share of free samples. Then it was time to hightail it out of Chicago. On the way home, we were pretty tired and looking forward to getting some quality rest in our own bed. But you know me, It would make too much sense to do that. I suddenly felt the need to push it just a little bit more. While heading home, I remembered that the WIAA state wrestling finals were that night. The session started at 6:00 p.m. so if I made it home by 4:00p.m. I could make it to the Kohl Center in Madison on time. We were in the door at 3:58, so I was golden. As I was leaving the snow began to fall…and fall…and fall…you get the picture. Long story short, I made it to the finals a little late, watched all the matches before slowly heading back home and finally resting my head on the pillow some time after 1:00 Sunday morning. Lesson learned? Probably not, but I would like to think next time I will choose my bed over hours of driving in a snowstorm.
Gina made the wise choice to get some rest, but that was because it would only be three days until she would be on an early morning flight to Los Angeles, California. More specifically, Anaheim, California…home of Disneyland! Being a dental student, Gina is a member of the American Student Dental Association and this year they held their 41st annual session in the land of the one and only Mickey Mouse. ASDA is like the student voice of the American Dental Association. Therefore, the point of the session is to discuss topics pertinent to improving dental education for students as well as the profession of dentistry from a dental student’s point of view. Either way, Gina was able to spend 5 days or so in the nice Cali weather with some good friends. One of the events they took part in was a 1980’s dance party. I have seen pictures, and let me tell you…Gina looked AWESOME! I hope to have pictures to post soon.
While Gina was off visiting the Golden Coast, I got started with the always fun task of packing. That’s right, the next weekend would be the move to Kenosha so I tried to get a jump on boxing stuff up while Gina was gone. Don’t get me wrong, I still had some fun while she was away. I went to a Milwaukee Admirals hockey game with my buddies Zac and Greg (also a dental student), and then we entered several fine establishments that serve alcoholic beverages. Needless to say, there was still plenty to do over the next week when Gina got back home, but I did take a good chunk out of the packing. Then before we knew it, the move to Kenosha had finally arrived. I would like to thank those of you who helped us out. You all worked so hard and really made the move so much easier on us. We are very grateful.
So here we are today, in our second week since the move. There are still a few things that need to be unpacked and put away, but so far it is safe to say we really like our new place. The most obvious reason is the fact that this apartment stays WARM. We are getting used to the commute to and from Milwaukee every day. It really is not bad at all. So as you can see we have been occupied by a few different tasks since the last post that have made it rather difficult to get another one up. I hope you all have enjoyed this post (those of you who have actually made it this far without having your mind blown) and I promise to try harder to get the next one up closer to my one week goal.
P.S. Go Badgers in the Sweet Sixteen!!! We’re also pulling for Marquette!
Book you should read: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
(also try The Omnivore’s Dilemma by MP as well)
Other Book you should read: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Album you have to hear: Brother by The Black Keys
Potential upcoming topics:
-This Friday’s pub crawl
-Derek starting chiropractic school
-March Madness
-Brewers opening day and new season
-The Healthy Bakery’s Hearth Thrive Bars
