I *heart* the 80s

I created a new muxtape. This time, I wanted to highlight the most iconic pop music released in 1984. Classic rock may have died in the 1980s, but as you could see from my selections, the post-punk / alternative / indie scene was in full swing on both sides of the Atlantic. Hip-hop was evolving from an underground phenomenon into a mainstream one, symbolized by the first Run-D.M.C. single.C onventional pop music was also doing very well as evidenced by choice cuts from one-named artists like Prince and Madonna. Certainly, I think 1984 deserved to be considered one of the greatest years in pop music.

For future muxtapes, I'd like to focus on other single years. Any suggestions? Please don't suggest anything before the 1960s. I may be a music geek, but I'm not that geeky.

A Vacation at Home

This Memorial Day weekend, I had four nights off work. This originally was unintended on my part. The other doctor who exclusively worked night shifts at the same hospital actually wanted to work, so I happily oblidged. Previously when I had this much time off, we would have had plans (i.e. traveling, family.) However, this weekend kind of snuck up on us and we failed to make any.

I made the most of it and spent the weekend doing as little as possible, although it did start out a little active. Megan, Paige and I took a drive up to the Philadelphia Zoo to meet Long, Alexander, Kaitlyn, and Sarah. I basically learned that I never wanted to go to the Philadelphia Zoo on the weekend of Memorial Day again. It was extraordinarily crowded. I think we spent two hours on the last five miles of our drive in stop-and-go traffic. Having sunny weather without it being too hot or too cold certainly didn't deter anyone from visiting the zoo that day. Traffic-and-crowd-battling left us a little exhausted for a prolonged zoo visit, but we still had fun with my nieces and nephew. In particular, I spent a lot of time with Alexander, pushing his stroller and pointing out animals with him.


On the Sunday, the actual "doing as little as possible" really kicked into high (or is it low?) gear. As soon as Paige woke up, I took her to our backyard and planted myself on the back deck. We spent four hours there, with Paige running around while I "watched" her from a lounging position on the deck. I went through about four cups coffee and two meals with only minimal getting up on my part. That afternoon we walked three houses down to the annual block party thrown by our neighbors, which basically meant more food, drink and sitting in a lounge chair for me. A few of us went back to my deck for a burger dinner that night and you can imagine how strenuous that was for me.


Monday, I awoke still full of food and beer. Our only plan that day was yet another barbeque party. This one was a real blast for Paige. A four year old boy named Brady singled her out to play with her, and later she became the object of constant attention from a twelve year old girl. This girl Samantha was tireless when it came Paige. Samantha was a real natural when it came to playing with and handling a toddler. Megan and I realized immediately that we found a babysitter to hire. We knew Paige was having fun since she rarely came running to us for attention. Our daughter was so exhausted from this event that upon our arrival home, she remained asleep as we transfered her from car to couch to crib, clothing-change included.

So that was my first full Memorial Day Weekend off (without foreign travel) since residency. I'd be willing to repeat it again, but all that beer, burger and inactivity really put some pounds on.

Pictures here.

I'm Listening to Metal Because of American Idol

Megan and I just came back from an American Idol Finale party thrown by our friends Adam, Jana, and Nolan. It was nice for us to spend a few Paige-free hours out of the home together, although we ended up hanging with some other babies.
By the way, Paige was asleep, so she would have missed out anyway. It did make our babysitter's job ridiculously easy.

Anyway, we were really impressed by our hosts' home. The house was located on a 1.3 acre lot which allowed room for a large external two-garage structure that included a rec room, office, future bathroom and a covered front deck where they put the grill. Adam called it his "man house." I just called it "the house behind the house." There was still enough yard left behind that structure for a grassy area that had plenty of room for standard backyard activities (soccer nets, volleyball nets etc...)

As for the American Idol show itself, well, I've been following it more via blog than actual telecast. Working nights didn't allow me to catch every episode. The show didn't really reflect my music taste anyway, but Megan wanted me to share the experience and follow along with her.

Despite my cynicism, I got a little caught up in this episode. The season finale attracted a lot of guest performances from big name acts (a mix of has-beens and current pop stars) and I found myself getting excited over seeing Bryan Adams and George Michael. I am a child of the 1980's after all.

Anyway, all this mainstream talk has me aching for some counter-culture so here's some metal:

mp3: "Get It Off" by Disfear

Yes, I'm listening to metal. Yes, that's Swedish metal. Before I go on, I'd like to note that I know very little about metal. Previously, most metal sounded too droning and weighty for me. I knew the genre had roots in both psychedelia and prog rock, which was cool and all, but that was never enough for me to get into it.

For some reason, this band stood out for me. The production was very bright and clear and the music was so energetic, it seemed to leap out of the speakers. The speed and brevity reminded me more of punk. I'm sure there are many other metal acts that sound like this, but I haven't heard them. Any other suggestions?

Code White

It has been raining very hard here for the past couple of days. It's also been windy. Every time, I've stepped outside, I've been bombarded by splashes of sideways raindrops. The downside was we could not take Paige outdoors. She's loved going outside. Playing on our deck, the swing-set etc.. has been a daily routine of ours. Everyday, she's asked me "Outside! Outside!" and everyday, I've had to distract her with something else.

The upside was that work has been easier. Inclement weather, especially after midnight, really has kept people from visiting our ER. Last night, I found out what a "Code White" was. During mid-conversation with a patient, the power cut out and the entire ER was blanketed in darkness. Computers, monitors, everything went out. Fortunately, this was short-lived. The hospital had a back-up generator for a few essentials. What struck me was how silent everything was. I became aware of how much white noise (i guess from the multitude of computers and monitors in the ER) regularly surrounded me at work. It was quite refreshing. Since we weren't busy, I had a few hours to enjoy the silence.

Unfortunately, it wasn't so silent for Megan at home. WIth the power outage and the lack of white noise at home, all she heard was the pounding of wind and rain on the side of the house, which made it difficult for her to sleep. I found her less than energetic when I came home this morning.

mp3: a Depeche Mode classic

Add Plumbing to Her List of Skills

We recently painted our downstairs bathroom. Actually, Megan painted and I just taped. To complete the renovation Megan installed some matching bathroom fixtures. Despite having never installed a faucet before, her plumbing job turned out great. There were no leaks or anything, and now we have a nifty little faucet to play with.

Informal Dinner Night

It was a busy weekend. Friday afternoon, Paige and I met Long, Alexander and Kaitlyn in Langhorne, Pennsylvania for the season opening of Sesame Place. Saturday, we threw Paige's 2nd Birthday Party. Therefore, Sunday, today, became a lazy day. Previously, whenever the three of us were home for Sunday dinner, we sort of made a formal thing out of it (i.e. multi-course meal, all three of us at the dinner table.) However, tonight's dinner was different. We wanted to give Paige a break from all the "events" we had planned and made dinner as unstructured as possible. Dinner was outside with Paige running to and from the table between playing. After all, the weather was perfect for an outdoor dinner and Paige's Nana and Papi had just given her a new picnic table. It was relaxed fun. Paige especially enjoyed watering the plants.

With the arrival of warm weather, I wanted to show off some Megan's handiwork on our property's botanical highlights.  Check these pictures out.

mp3: "Titus Andronicus" by Titus Andronicus