Christmas Card 2006

The contents of our yearly letter:

"Season’s Greetings Family and Friends,

Hmm… did anything exciting happen in our family this year? Of course! Our daughter Paige was born on May 5th, 2006. At 6 pounds and 13 ounces, she began life as quite an averaged-sized baby. Now, she’s feeding well and consistently in the 90th percentile every time her pediatrician weighs her. She’s grown into quite an extraordinary person too. She can roll over, prop herself up on all fours, and sit. She can also sleep all the way through the night… well… more than half the time. We love her. She has her father’s eyes and her mother’s nose and mouth. Her hair is actually somewhere in-between: a dark brown color. Her smile is all her own. She smiles with her whole face: mouth wide open and eyes squinted.

Megan took maternity leave during the entire summer. We took advantage of that by spending nearly half the season in Ocean City, Maryland, with both sides of our family. Megan even had a small family reunion at the beach with her mom, Mom-Mom, aunts, uncle, and cousins.

The last couple of months brought some changes to our work schedule. Megan works two days a week now, so she can spend more time with Paige. Paige’s Pepe has become a welcome, regular presence around the house, caring for her when both parents have to work. Michael is now doing all night shifts. This actually allows him to spend more time with the family.

By the way, Bandit is doing fine. Luckily for him, Paige gets a kick out of watching her parents play with the dog. Therefore, everybody wins!

So, Happy Holidays everyone. Thanks for contributing to a wonderful year.

Sincerely,

Mike,
Megan,
Paige,
And Bandit"

mp3: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love

I Normally Hate Group Dances

Two years ago, back when we were new to Dover, I went to my first Bayhealth E.R. Christmas party. At that event, the DJ called all the docs up to the dance floor to embarrass themselves to the YMCA. Eager to impress, I rushed to the front of the crowd and found that I was one out of only three docs to participate. I wore the construction helmet. The rest of you docs (and you know who you were) just left us hanging. Traitors! Deserters!

Fast forward to two years later, last night's Christmas party to be exact. I was on my seventh beer, babbling to about who-knows-what to the nearest party-goer, when after an indecipherable DJ announcement, the entire crowd began egging be towards the dance floor. A little tipsy and a lot confused, I stood there until the familar trumpet intro and lyrics "Young man..." began, and I realized what I had to do. Fortunately this time, despite being the only doc, I had a lot more supporters. An eclectic mix of nurses, techs and clerks joined me. Honestly, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thanks to all my new friends from the last two years.

2006 The Year In Music

I had a hard time picking the best albums of this year. Honestly, there were so many great ones to chose from and I never had the chance to fully digest them. I mean, I just got the Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury yesterday. Of course, it was awesome, but did it make the top five? When I sat down to write this entry, I didn't know. I needed more time with it. Other notable missing albums from my list included I Am Not Afraid Of You and I Will Beat Your Ass by Yo La Tengo and So This Is Goodbye by Junior Boys. Of course there were many others, but really, there were only so many albums I could digest in one year.

Here were ten great albums that did not make the top five:

St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley
Bang Bang Rock & Roll by Art Brut
Nine Times That Same Song by Love Is All
Rather Ripped by Sonic Youth
Night Ripper by Girl Talk
Blue Collar by Rhymefest
We Are The Pipettes by the Pipettes
Happy Hollow by Cursive
Futuresex/Lovesounds by Justin Timberlake
Boys and Girls in America by The Hold Steady

and my top five:

#5 Fishscale by Ghostface Killah
#4 The Loon by Tapes 'n Tapes
#3 Alright, Still by Lily Allen
#2 Food & Liquor by Lupe Fiasco
#1 The Crane Wife by the Decemberists

I was much more confident on my favorite five songs of the year. That may be because I began posting individual tracks in 2006. Also, sites like AmpCamp's mp3 of the day and Hype Machine helped me consider individual songs more instead of albums. Whatever the reason, there were definitely some iconic tracks that I listened to over and over again. After all, this was the summer "Crazy" came out.

#5 "Whoo! Alright - Yeah...Uh Huh" by The Rapture
Back in September, I declared this to be my favorite dance song of the year, and that still rings true. No other song this year compelled me to involuntarily shake my hips more than this one. Even the video was an instant party.

#4 "Pull Shapes" by the Pipettes
People referenced Phil Spector and 1960's girl groups when they talked about this band, but in this track I also heard perfect ABBA-esque arrangements and Junior Senior's sense of unselfconscious rock-and-roll fun. It was perfect pop. When the Pipettes asked "what do you do when the music stops?" I really didn't want to find out.

#3 "Kick, Push" by Lupe Fiasco
This was ultimate rebel/stoner anthem. Lupe Fiasco romanticized skateboarding, setting his story to the lush string arrangements of modern hip-hop. Nothing appealed more to my inner slacker college kid.

#2 "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley
Of course this song was overplayed, but it deserved to be. What can I say to defend it? You've all heard it and already made you decision about it. Personally, I loved it.

#1 "Formed A Band" by Art Brut
This was the most iconic song of the year. Many considered the film "This Is Spinal Tap" to be the greatest rock-and-roll movie of all time, because it simultaneously celebrated the genre while calling attention to rock's excess and ridiculousness. Art Brut did the same in under three minutes. The song was a statement of unconditional love for rock-and-roll itself, successfully capturing the band's enthusiasm while knowingly winking at the audience. When vocalist Eddie Argos sang "It's not irony. It's not rock-and-roll," he most certainly meant it was both, and yes, he was just talking... to the kids!

A Surprise Success

Megan and I were genuinely worried about turn-out for our annual party this year. Two years ago, our first party was an unqualified success, but last year saw the numbers drop off. Also, early feedback this year revealed that many of our reliable guests were unable to make it.

Well our concerns were unfounded. Many of our friends made it. I'd especially like to thank day shift for coming, despite the fact that I rarely work with them anymore. (I'm working all nights now.) It was nice to see some new faces too. Overall, it was a good mix of coworkers, neighbors and out-of-town friends. Had some virtual guests, by way of webcam too. This was a real make-it-or-break-it year for us and after this one, we decided to commit to this annual tradition. For those of you looking ahead, it will always be the first weekend of December. Although, we haven't decided whether we like Friday or Saturday better.

By far, this was our favorite year. Thanks everyone for coming.


mp3: Clipse - Wamp Wamp (What It Do) Featuring Slim Thug