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Welcome to another thrilling edition of our blog.  Since last we wrote, Nicholas and I have had some splendid adventures.  Last Saturday we went to the Shaker Woods Festival, a craft show in Columbiana, OH.  The festival featured lots of beautiful arts and crafts.

Footage not found

Nicholas was, however, able to capture some of the more interesting exhibits at Shaker Woods.

Fountain

Also a fountain

Whatever this weirdness is

Since this didn't feel sufficiently festive for one Saturday, when we got back to Cleveland we decided to go to the Greek Festival at the local Greek Orthodox Church.  Nicholas enjoyed a variety of Greek delicacies, like gyros, spanakopita, and baklava.  Personally, I indulged in their vegetarian and dairy-free alternatives:

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We had a fun time listening to the music and watching the young children do their dance routines.

This week in school Nicholas had to hand in his first project.  Based on my current understanding it was something vaguely tooth shaped that he created after many hours in the lab.

Artist rendering of Nicholas' lab creation

In spite of his professor's warning that many people do not pass their first project and are often made to redo it in order to obtain a satisfactory grade, Nicholas found out today that he passed with flying colors. (Alternate theory: Professor was consumed by tooth monster shown above)

I, in the mean time, have had a lot of time around the house while Nicholas is at school.  I've been making great use of all of the quiet and solitude.  It's really given me the chance to work on my writing, like this blog...or my manuscript...

Come to think of it, it's probably a good thing that my semester starts on Tuesday and I'll be out of the house more often.  But we have another weekend to enjoy together before the start of the Mandel School's academic year and we're kicking it off with a neighborhood BBQ.  We'll be sure to let you know how everything goes

Picnics and Mommunists: Starting our new life in Suburbia

Well today we went to the dental school picnic at Squire Valleevue and Vally Ridge Farms.

It basically looked that but filled with dental nerds and the people who love them.  Many of our neighbors were there with their wives and children.  First everyone feasted on hotdogs and hamburgers and then Nicholas and the boys proved that their dexterity is limited to creation of wax coatings for fake teeth by throwing a football around.

See, I was so not kidding about that wax coating thing...

While the boys tossed and very nearly caught the old pigskin, I hung out with Mommunists and scads of children under the age of three.  They're actually a very nice group of young women; but they were all terribly interested in when Nicholas and I will start adding our share of children to Rushleigh Road.  It wasn't until after the picnic when our neighbors suggested that we meet up with them for custard that Nicholas and I were educated in the "Curse of Rushleigh Road."  So say the neighborhood men: If you move onto this street you will have a baby...and it will be a girl.  I hate to disappoint you, gentlemen, but this about all of the baby girl we can handle for right now:



Nicholas preparing to nurse Pig



Pi preparing to suck the essence from an unsuspecting human

Besides, the next few years need to be about focusing on my field work. Which is to say, I need to help people fix their screwed up children for a few years before I'll have all of the requisite ammunition to screw up my own.

Okay, well it's time for me to meet back up with the Mommunists and go to see The Help.  Shhhh.  Don't tell them that Nicholas took me to see it already. 

School, school, school, schoo-oo-ool

Bonus points to anyone who can hear the Warner brothers and their Warner sister, Dot, when reading the title of this exciting new blog entry.

(Just in case we lost you on the reference)

Today was Nicholas' first day of dental school--and just in case you're anything like his loving domestic partner, we should clarify that he is not in fact a dentist already.  It's more like one day down and 4 more years to go.  What did Nicholas learn today, you ask? He learned how to wax teeth.  For those of you not in the know, waxing teeth is the elective procedure during which hot wax is applied to the tooth followed by cotton strips.  The dentist then pulls off the cotton strip thereby removing all unwanted hair.

(Editor's Note: Waxing teeth is not the removal of unwanted hair from teeth.  It's actually the painstaking process of creating a hot wax cast of a tooth.)



All in all the process is quite taxing on the fledgling dental student.



After



 

Before



Don't fret.  He had a wonderful first day of classes!



I had my interview today at The Hanna Perkins Center for a potential field placement.  I met with my future supervisor and he explained to me about the work that's done at the center and the responsibilities of and learning opportunities for interns at Hanna Perkins.  Interns take on their own clinical case load right away.  My interviewer told me that he feels like I would be a good fit and would bring a lot to the center if  (when) I accept a field placement there.  It promises to be a very rewarding and challenging experience, since if my interviewer's anecdotes are any indication, I will be helping some very troubled children.



 

 

Pictured above: Very troubled children

All in all, it seems like we're getting off to a good start with our first days of graduate school!



Should you really be wearing white?

Many congratulations to Nicholas on having had his White Coat Ceremony today.  The ceremony took place at the Amasa Stone Chapel on campus.  There were several brief comments offered up by various members of the Dental School faculty and the students learned about the moral and ethical behavior expected of dentists.  At the end of the ceremony each student receives their white coat, which symbolizes their induction into the time honored profession of medicine dentistry.  Once each student had received his or her own coat, they all recited their dental oath--that's the one where they swear to tell the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth (I'll bet right around now you're wishing that I would just take a back seat and let Nicholas author these sans creative assists from yours truly).

Pictured above: Some guy dressing Nicholas

 Nicholas and Karen

 Nicholas, Karen, and Grandma Betty

Enjoy our hideous visages!

Getting Oriented...

Well we're mostly settled into our new home in Cleveland Heights and now it's, quite literally, time to get oriented.  I had my orientation on July 28th and learned that in order to complete my MSSA I'll need to______________ and then once I've received my degree I can use it to begin a meaningful career doing ____________________.  Gosh, I really hope they review those details at some point during the semester because I may not have been listening as well as I could have been.  I was fairly perturbed about the way orientation had cut into my 76th straight hour of reading Kristin Hannah novels (thanks, Molly!) and I think that really pulled my focus.  I will, however, be speaking to my field advisor tomorrow.  I got an email from her today telling me that there's someone at the Hanna Perkins Center, my top choice for field placement, expecting a call from me! 

Nicholas had his second day of orientation today.  He took a tour of the campus and got assigned the lockers for storing all of his instruments.  They also took the class picture for Case Western Reserve University's DMD class of 2015 .  I suggested that he don a striped sweater, red ski cap and glasses so that way all future CWRU dental students can have fun spotting him in the photo.  Suffice to say that my suggestion was ignored and he went with a more traditional (read: boring) look for the photo.  Now he's back home and raiding on World of Warcraft while I write this and take in the dulcet tones of Tolliver and Pythagoras battling each other for dominion over the second floor of the house.

More news to come soon and definitely photos of our new house.  It's nice and roomy and provides us with the ultimate luxury...distance from the kitty litters.