My (1st) 6 Minutes of Fame

As Megan described, we went to Kohler, WI this past weekend as part of the Wisconsin Surgical Society. I researched with one of the doctors over in Megan's department over the past summer and got to present the research that I'd done. Kohler is about an hour north of Milwaukee and registration was at 7AM. Since I could only stay one night, I chose to stay Friday night since I would be there all day Friday. Therefore, we drove up from Milwaukee early Friday morning, luckily there was no snow, no accidents, no traffic! My fellow student colleague was the second presentation of the morning at 7:40AM. Luckily I was not until 10:40AM. It went well. I was nervous until I got up there and then I was just fine. I felt honored to be speaking to surgeons, some of who were 30+ years into their careers. It was a good 6-minute presentation, my follow-up questions were taken up by a fell0w surgeon's recapitulation of my recommendations.

Kohler is a beautiful little town built on the Kohler brand of home furnishing fixtures. We had a nice big whirlpool tub in our 5-star room with endless amounts of hot water! We also got to visit the Kohler Design Center which is a big IKEA-style showroom with examples of all the neat and new bathroom technology that they are producing. The third floor was a collection of mock-bathrooms that were fun and interesting to look at. Maybe we'll go back many years later to help design our own bathroom. . .

I'm back at school this week waiting for classes and tests to get overwith so that I can enjoy my Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. I can't wait to see how much snow we get this year.

State Fair (yes I know it was in August and it's now November)

A plethora of people! (Most either drunk or becoming drunk). Note: there was a ton of fried food on a stick. Wisconsin may be one of the least-healthiest places to live.

Isn't he cute?

If only my bank account were that big!


Moo! Cows are the coolest. Except for frogs!

Yarn Woes

About, oh I don't know, 3 years ago I started knitting a sweater. My Grandma Morgan taught me to knit over the years and I decided that it was a good time to switch up from scarves. It's not that the sweater has taken me an extraordinarily long amount of time to knit, it's just that I'd work on it and then put it down for 10+ months. When I'd finally pick it up again, I'd have no clue what I had been doing so I'd usually rip it out and start over. So during general conference this year I did two things: I finished tying a lop-sided quilt I made for Spencer out of his old jeans and I cast on the last sleeve of the now 3-year-old sweater. Then I got really busy (so busy I can't quite remember what I was so busy with) and put it down again. Fortunately, my friend Heather turned me on to a new blog: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ . I love this blog! She posts and knits prolifically. I have been reading all of her old posts since she started back in 2004. So far, I'm only 4 months into the blog (she posts almost every day), but I'm loving it! Filled once again with the desire to knit, I finally finished the last sleeve, blocked the pieces, and sat blissfully down to sew them together. (Just a side note, I will be headed to Portland in two weeks to see Grandma and Grandpa Morgan, so I wanted it to be done by then to prove that yes, I still knit). The first problem I encountered was slightly unsettling. I have never sewn a sweater together before so I though maybe that was the problem, but alas it was not. The neck was too tight for my gigantic head! The next problem was that the arm hole on the body were waaaayy to big for the sleeves. Since I know I followed the sleeve pattern, I am now ripping off the top of the front and back of my beloved 3-year sweater. This should allow me correct for both problems, as I will now be modifying the neck. You can see a picture of the finished project here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0609608800/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link It's the 3rd one down.

In other news, Spencer and I spent the night in a five star hotel last weekend and then went a saw a ton of toilets, bathtubs, and sinks. Let's hear it for Kohler, Wisconsin! I'm also now in love with the Bread and Bean Eatery in Sheboygan Falls (right next door). I had the best chicken Florentine panini and chocolate cake there ever!

Wisconsin Weather

You know you're in Wisconsin when the weather has mood swings. For instance, this week we had our first snow flurries and it has been nice and chilly--somewhere around 30/40 degrees. I was just checking the weather forecast and noticed that it's supposed to be 60 or so at the end of this week. Weird. I thought we were progressing into winter, but I guess this state just wanted to tease us. That's how the cold started: it was a wonderful 70 degrees or so, then the day before October the weather suddenly thought, "oh no! It's fall! I have to be cold!" And wham---it was suddenly cold overnight. Of course, last year (with our 110+ inches of snow), we did have one day where the temperature jumped from the negatives to the 70s which caused a killer twister to rip through the area a few towns south of here, so I guess it could be worse. As our local weatherman says, "If you don't like the weather in Wisconsin, wait a few minutes." He isn't kidding.

Just a side note: The days are really short now: the sun comes up fully around 7am and it's dark somewhere around 6pm. Soon we will enter the world where I go to work in the dark and I come home in the dark and wonder if the sun really even exists anymore (that's what you get for working in a cube).

Camping at Kohler Andrae

Megan and I went camping this weekend about an hour north of Milwaukee aloong the shore of Lake Michigan. We slept through the first major frost of the season. We were warm in our newly acquired tent and enjoyed my masterful fire skills. Here are a few pictures of Megan at the beach.

Drumroll please...

So...I bit the bullet and added some pictures to our blog. We still have some on the camera from July/August, but here are a couple that I really liked from June.


This one is from our trip to Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin up near Green Bay. Isn't Lake Michigan lovely? The weather, however, was not. It rained a ton and we did everything from cook to set up tents to sleep in the rain. Needless to say, by the time this picture was taken we were both filthy and exhausted, but I still think we look pretty cute.


Here is a picture from our trip to the Wisconsin Dells. Some of you may have heard of the Tommy Bartlett show. It's the greatest show on land, air, and water. We went with a couple of med school buddies, Steve and Alicia. I think we're winning!


But then again, maybe not...


Here's a picture of what Lake Delton looks like. Yes, I said "lake." We had some rally bad weather back in June that caused some major flooding. This area was, perhaps, hit the worse. See all the mud? That used to be a lake. You can see the water ski jumps left behind. The weird thing was the dam didn't break. The water pushed through the banks of the lake between it and a nearby river to empty itself. The lake was man made, and apparently nature didn't like that. They are attempting to repair and refill it for next year. I don't have the link on hand, but Google it if you get a chance. Several homes were ripped away when this lake emptied. Thankfully, no one was hurt (to my knowledge).

So there you go, a couple of pictures of us in Wisconsin having fun. I will have to nag Spencer to get the others up and running.

Bad with the camera...

OK, so I'm not that good at taking pictures. I'm even worse and getting them off the camera and putting them on the blog. One of the reasons is that since our marriage, I've kind of let Spencer take over everything computer-like. I spend 8+ hours on one at work so I usually can't stand to be on one when I get home. And therein lies the problem. The camera (and the computer) are at home, not at work, so alas nothing gets posted...

Moving Mayhem

So, for those of you who don't know, these last two months have been very busy for the Russell household. I guess it started around the beginning of May. For some reason, I decided that May would be a good month for getting things done. I was due for an eye appointment, so I figured why not get everything else out of the way while I was at it. That meant a trip to the doctor and the dentist. Combine that with breathing problems due to allergies, 5 cavities, our 2 year wedding anniversary, and a brand new gym membership, and I ended up with some sort of extra activity (aside from work) every single day that month! To top that off, the end of the month culminated with a great visit home to my folks while Spencer stayed home and took finals.

June was full of vacation. The fist week, I was looking forward to some time off. Spencer was supposed to be camping with the ward, but through a series of events all of the guys eventually backed out. So, about 30 minutes before they left we were invited to spend the night camping with friends. We went and managed to be out during the only dry part of the week. The following week we trekked up to Door County and did some more camping right off Lake Michigan. The week after that Danny came to visit and we spent the weekend in Chicago. Then, the week after that we went with the Taylors to the Wisconsin Dells, waterpark capital of the USA. And that was June.

July started with a trip back to my parents again (this time Spencer came) for the 4th of July. It was great to get back home and see everyone, though Rachel was in Germany so we didn't get to see her. The following week we were supposed to go camping again, this time to Devil's Lake, but I decided I was worn out and needed a break. Spencer went without me and I stayed home to work out, read The Host by Stephani Meyer, and see "Hancock." Oh yeah, and to prep for our big move. We spent the remainder of our month moving. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending upon how you look at it) we had rented both places for a two week overlap, which meant we didn't really pack---we just made trips back and forth with our stuff. So while we are not yet totally moved in, it all was fairly stress free. Thank you Steve for your help with the Washer/Dryer/Bed/etc.

So on to August. I'd say this month is going to be much less hectic, but then again we've already done so much. Yesterday I had my hair cut, sold my car, and spent the evening at the State Fair. Cows are rather large... SOOOO stay tuned folks! I will try to get some pictures up here in the next little bit and maybe a little more info on our new place. It is definitely a step up from our old place (hurray for air conditioning!!) and it's great to be able to spend 10 minutes walking from my front door to work rather than from the parking lot to work!

Ciao.

Danny

We were fortunate to have a visit from Danny, Spencer's brother, this past weekend. He was only in town for two nights but we still had a great time. On Friday, we had lunch at one of Milwaukee's oddities--The Safehouse. A totally spy-themed restaurant, this place is full of secret messages, passages, and hidden cameras. You need a password to get in after 8pm, but they will still let you in if you do what they tell you. The food is your typical bar fare, but you go more for the experience than you do for the food.

Friday night was spent at a Brewer's game. For some reason it seems like every time we make it out the team loses. We got a few good runs in though, and I indulged in the cheese-covered waffle fries that come in a souvenir Brewer's cap.

Saturday was especially fun. We made the trek down to Chicago to check out the sites. I've never really been downtown, so it was fun for me, too. The city runs a free trolley system in the summers to boost tourism, so getting around was pretty easy. Thanks to Spencer's new GPS, so was parking. No more guessing what road is next! The funny thing was that half the roads around Grant Park were closed to we couldn't get where we needed to go. The GPS really came in handy! We toured the Sears Tower, perused Millennium and Grant parks, and dined at Navy Pier. Unfortunately, Danny had to head off to Uruguay for work so we dropped him off at O'Hare and headed to our favorite place in the world...IKEA!

We are moving to a new, bigger place in about a month so of course that means more stuff! One of the conditions of our tenancy was that we put down area rugs in the living room to protect her lovely wood floors. We accomplished that goal with two beautiful blue square rugs, but failed to pick up the right size padding to go underneath. We also picked up a few items to increase our organization, plus one nifty futon-chair that folds into a twin sized bed that will go in the second bedroom in the new place. So now we have a sleeping arrangements for up to 5 people if we put 2 on the old futon and 2 on the air matress! Visitors welcome... :)

Music

I added a music player at the bottom of the blog with some songs if you want to listen to something.

~Sp

Summer Fun, Flooding, and DHL

This will be my last summer as a student where I am free of educational and occupational demands. Even though I am working on a research project this summer I still am taking full advantage of the summer. Two weekends ago Megan and I went camping with our good friends, the Schmutz family to kick off our summer. We went to Pike Lake, WI and had a wonderful time. Interestingly enough, we left right after some tornado warnings expired for our area, and we returned the next afternoon right before we received more tornado warnings. Good timing on our part!

Last weekend we had a camping trip that we had planned for a few months up to Door County, WI to visit the Peninsula State Park. The night we arrived it was raining but the trees kept most of the rain from falling on us, at least until we would experience a wind gust. We ended up playing Skip-Bo in a large tent with friends after dinner to wait out the storm. The next two days were absolutely gorgeous. We hiked, saw Lake Michigan, went to the beach, and enjoyed our trip. I would love to spend more time in Door County as we didn't visit the small towns up there, nor did we get to go fishing or boating on Lake Michigan.

With these two trips, summer vacation has officially begun. My brother Danny will be flying in to Milwaukee to see us for a couple nights and we will be going to the friday night Brewers v. Orioles game here at Miller Park. We will also go down to Chicago for a day trip and see some sites before sending him off to Uruguay for his work. There is much, much more going on this summer, but I'll fill you in later.

Unfortunately, due to the horrible storms about a week ago, much of Southeastern Wisconsin remains underwater. The devastation is unimaginable. Entire towns sit under feet of flood water. I have never before lived in a county that has been declared a federal disaster area. Our main interstate has even been temporarily shut down in areas, requiring hundreds of miles of detours for many people. The LDS Church sent some semi-trucks filled with disaster response kits that arrived at our church building over the weekend, and many more trucks were sent to Iowa where the disaster is even worse. I hope that the midwest can dry up soon.

Lastly, something odd has happened with a package I am expecting to get today, perhaps it is even slightly comical. I have never really understood the effects of time travel or Casimir effect-type wormholes, but I believe my DHL package has experienced them firsthand:

6/17/2008 6:35 am Arrived at DHL facility. Milwaukee, WI
6:32 am Arrived at DHL facility. South Plainfield, NJ
5:59 am Depart Facility Niles Regional Hub, MI
3:59 am Depart Facility Allentown Hub, PA
6/16/2008 9:20 pm Processed at DHL Location. Niles Regional Hub, MI

Amazingly enough, my package made it from Michigan to New Jersey in 33 mins, and then from New Jersey to Milwaukee in a short 3 mins. It also took a short trip to Pennsylvania early this morning. With this kind of technology in its grasp, DHL should be focusing on more important things than moving my package to each of its east coast facilities on the same day. (Sarcasm noted)

BTW, pictures from camping coming sooon.

~Sp

Chillin' and Grillin

We are moving in the middle of July to a new apartment that will be a little nicer, a little closer, and a little less expensive. That isn't the topic of this post, but rather the catalyst for the big news, I have my very own grill! I have missed grilling on a charcoal grill since I moved away from Provo. I bought this grill on Amazon after signing our new lease agreement as our new apartment has its own large backyard. Here are some pics of the grill that I received, put together, and grilled on today. It's the Char-Griller Patio Pro:





This grill I bought for $80.99 from Amazon.com. One of the nicest features is the grilling grate is made of a nice heavy cast iron. I am very excited to grill more during this summer. Check the grill out there at Amazon: LINK.

And of course. . . that's a Wisconsin Brat. . . delicious.

Quick update about everything else: School's out - yeah! Summer research work started - meh. That's about it. L8R

~Sp

First Class!

I've had a request to blog about my trip home last weekend. I will do my best to post something more detailed soon, but I'm crunched for time so let me just tell you how I got out there.

NWA overbooked my flight on the way out so they bumped me to a much earlier one. Fortunately, I had gone home early from work so I made it to the airport on time. The first leg of the flight was uneventful, as was the stop in Minneapolis. (For never living there, I am intimately familiar with that airport--but that's another story.) The second leg of the flight was wonderful because when they bumped me---dum da da dum!---I got to fly first class! I must say, I was pretty excited and Spencer was pretty jealous. It was a brand new plane and the leather seats were roomy and super nice. I could even cross my legs! The trays were roomy and they serve you drinks right when you get on the plane. We even had dinner with real silverware and real glasses! I had the vegetable ravioli, a side salad, a roll, lots of diet Pepsi, and Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia. It was awesome! Needless to say, all flights from here on out are mildly disappointing. But, in the end, whether you sit in coach or in first class, everyone gets there at the same time. Some of them just get there with fuller stomachs. :)

Tag!

My cousin Bailey tagged me, so here goes!

5 Things I have on my "To Do" list this week:
laundry, dishes, dentist appointment, eye doctor, and make banana bread from soon to be rotting bananas.

5 snacks I enjoy:
popcorn, carrots, apples with peanut butter, nuts, and hot cinnamon bears.

5 things I would do if I suddenly became a billionaire:
pay for Spencer's medical school, rent a nicer place/buy a condo, replace my car, travel more, and invest/diversify my portfolio.

5 places I've lived:
San Jose, CA. Sterling, VA. Provo, UT. Milwaukee, WI. (that's it)

5 jobs I've had:
office assistant for a dentist, Freddie Mac intern, animal care provider, testing center supervisor/proctor, clinical research coordinator.

5 things people may not know about me:
I recently joined the Wisconsin Athletic Club and am loving it, I enjoy baking, I would like a dog but have settled on a hamster since we can't have them in our place and Spencer is allergic, I am headed back to school part time for a masters this fall, and I learned how to drive a stick shift this summer about two days before we moved cross country and I had to drive one straight for five days...lots of stalling and peeling out!

5 favorite musicians/bands:
The Beatles, Blue October, Gnarles Barkley, Imogen Heap, Moxie Fruvious.

I'm not sure how this whole tagging thing works...I guess I'm supposed to tag someone now? I kind of like being "it"...I tag Brad and Becca Reid (and new baby Alexis).

Washing Machine!

Craigslist is a wonderful thing. Our place in Milwaukee has its positives and negative. On the positive side, we are in a great neighborhood with a beautiful hard wood floors with a ton of storage and space in general. On the other hand, we are sorely lack in several amenities that we had in Provo. First off, we don't have a dishwasher. I thought that was going to be a huge deal for us because even when we had one there were always dirty dishes, but not having one and having limited counter space really keeps us motivated to clean up after ourselves. The second thing that was lacking is central air. Since most of our time in Milwaukee has been spent below freezing, that's not too much of a problem. But the first month or so we were here it was unbearably hot and humid. We fixed that problem by getting a window unit for our bedroom and are looking into getting them for the other rooms in the house. The third and final thing that we lost when we moved here was a washer/dryer. We have coin operated ones in the basement, but we usually ended up at the laundry mat. Well, no longer because thanks to craigslist, we have fixed this problem!!

Our new washer is great! It hooks up to the sink and runs on a regular three-prong outlet. I hang my clothes to dry and since we got it last Saturday, I think I've done maybe ten loads of laundry. Portable washers are definitely great for people without W/D hookups and with limited space. My only complaint is that it gets unbalanced really easily so I kind of have to watch it. It's a really cool little machine and so far it's been great. Thank you craigslist!

More on Hurley

Hurley earned the nickname "demon hamster" this week because of a rather odd episode on Saturday. I came home in the middle of the afternoon and tapped on the cage to see if he was in there. He had buried himself under a pile of bedding to sleep and it was impossible to tell if he was there or not. (I'm afraid he will escape) At any rate, it woke him up and he stumbled around all sleepy-like and then went back to sleep. I picked up a comic book and started to read it, still sitting in front of his cage. He woke up about five minutes later, came out, and started to growl. Now, I've had many hamsters over the years and none of them have ever growled (or made any other noise). It sounded kind of like a scream. Click here to hear something like it. He then proceeded to stand up on his little back paws, bear his teeth and lunge at me several times (he growled the whole time). About five minutes later, everything was totally normal again and he has never exhibited this behavior since then or (to my knowledge) before that weird, weird day. Thankfully, Spencer saw it happen so he knows I'm not crazy. But my hamster may be....

Hurley the Hamster

Megan made this video of Hurley running.



Here are some pictures of Hurley as well (click for large picture):

Monday and More Pictures

It was back to school for me this morning. This is the last week before our third set of exams for the semester. Luckily, there is more "study time" built into this week so it will not be a very stressful week. In less than 7 weeks my first year at medical school will be over, and the following Monday I start my job in the Department of Surgery. Luckily, there will be plenty of vacation, camping, and relaxation that is planned for the summer in addition to working.

I uploaded more pictures to the slideshow on the sidebar. If you click on it, it will take you to a bigger picture and the whole album of pictures I put up. These pictures range from right after my mission to my journeys through Southeast Asia, my marriage and on through my start here at medical school. They are some of my favorites.

I am looking forward to American Idol tomorrow and will probably have a few thoughts after the show.

When in Rome. . .

I figure since I don't have the desire to design an efficient place to post thoughts and updates for my friends and family I would place a link to this blog hosted by blogger.com on my personal website. I had been trying to keep up with the website, but it is not as user-friendly as blogger. And, as the title mentions, when in Rome do as the Romans do. Many of my friends and family members use blogger so I figured I should as well. Welcome to all who read the Russell Review.
~Sp

Previous Postings

March 20 2008 - Spencer sat me down a while ago and showed me how to edit this site. A lot of our friends and family have blogs and the comment was made by Brad Reid that the link to our blog was deleted from his website because we never updated it. Needless to say, this sparked my desire to get into blogging. That was a month ago... At any rate, now that I have actually made the attempt to get on and change stuff on my own our website should slowly start to become more up-to-date. Now if only I could figure out how to use the camera.... I remember to take it with us, but we never take any pictures. I know, I know. Defeats the purpose... ~Metr

Feb 18 2008 - I am not a very good writer when it comes to keeping up with the website these days. I seem so busy between school and everything else. It is cold and snowy here in Milwaukee as it has been for most of the winter. This is one of the top 15 worst winters in Milwaukee history. I enjoy all the snow, mostly because I have no commute and the maintenance man shovels my walk so all I have to do is throw snowballs and enjoy :) School will be over soon, May seems as if it is just around the corner. I will be working in the summer for the department of General Surgery, researching some trends in Gastric Bypass. My loving wife will be my boss. Hopefully she lets me have some time off :) (so much for playing sick. . . ) Anyway, that's news from around here. ~Sp

Nov 3 2007 - We have officially settled into Milwaukee. Our apartment is 97% complete. We are still working on putting up accessories such as drapes around the windows and finding/creating pictures to put on the barren walls. I have enjoyed these first few months of medical school and am still very excited to learn more about the human boday. It never ceases to amaze me how intricate the body is but how everything simply fits together with a simple elegance. Megan got a fantastic job working at the medical college and loves it there. We got our first christmas tree in the mail today. Best wishes to all as the holiday season approaches!

Jul 16 2007 - I have decided to go to medical school in Milwaukee and we will be leaving at the end of the month. It will be sad to move away from family and friends, but at the same time it will be an exciting new adventure. In the last 4 months, my wife and I have graduated from college and taken our cruise to the Caribbean. We will soon have more pictures in the Pictures section of the website so check back soon.