Tuesday, February 20, 2007

You know you grew up in Massachusetts when:

1. The Red Sox World Series win was, and will always be, one of the greatest moments in your life.
2. The guy driving in front of you is going 70 mph and you're swearingat him for going too slow.
3. When ordering a tonic, you mean a Coke.
4. You went to Canobie Lake Park or Water Country as a kid
5. You actually enjoy driving around rotaries.
6. You do not recognize the letter "R" as a part of the Englishlanguage.eva!
7. Your social security number starts with a 0
8. You can actually find your way around Boston .
9. You know what a "regular" coffee is.
10. You keep an ice scraper in your car year-round.
11. You can tell the difference between a Revere accent and aDorchester accent.
12. Springfield is located "way out west."
13. You almost feel disappointed if someone doesn't flip you the birdwhen you cut them off or steal their parking space.
14. You know how to pronounce the names of towns like Worcester ,Billerica , Gloucester , and Haverhill .
15. Anyone you don't know is a potential idiot until proven otherwise.
16. Paranoia sets in if you can't see a Dunkin Donuts or a CVS Pharmacywithin eyeshot at all times.
17. You have driven to New Hampshire on a Sunday just to buy alcohol.
18. You know how to pronounce Yastrzemski.
19. You know there's a trophy at the end of the Bean Pot.
20. You order iced coffee in January
21. You know that the Purple Line will take you anywhere
22. You love scorpion bowls.
23. You know what they sell at a Packie.
24. Sorry Manny, but number 24 means DEWEY EVANS.
25. You know what First Night is.
26. You know at least one guy named Sean, Pat, Whitey, Red, Bud orSeamus.
27. McLobster= McCrap!
28. You know at least 2 cops in your town because they were your highschool drinking buddies.
29. Sure there are 6 New England states, but Connecticut really doesn'tcount.
30. You intentionally give wrong directions to tourists, feel bad whenthey drive off, but then say to yourself ,"Ah, screw them."
31. You know at least one bar where you can get something to drinkafter last call.
32. You're sick of the Kennedy's, but you vote for them anyway.
33. You know holding onto the railing when riding the Green Line is notoptional
34. The numbers '78 and '86 make you cringe.
35. You've been to Goodtimes before
36. You think the rest of the country owes you for Thanksgiving andIndependence Day. (...and they DO).
37. You have never been to "Cheers."
38. The words 'WICKED' and 'GOOD' go together.
39. You've been to Fenway Park several times.
40. You've gone to at least one party at U Mass.
41. You own a "Yankees Suck" shirt or hat.
42. You know what a Frappe is.
43. You've been to Hempfest.
44. You know who Frank Averuch is.
45. ADVANCED: You know Frank Averuch was once Bozo the Clown
46. You can complete the following: "Lynn, Lynn ......"
47. You get pissed off when a restaurant serves clam chowder, and itturns out to be friggin' Snows.
48. You actually know how to merge from six lanes of traffic down toone.
49. The TV weatherman is damn good if he's right 25% of the time.
50. You never go to "Cape Cod," you go "down the Cape ".
51. You think that Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon are more evil thanWhitey Bulger.
52. You know who Whitey Bulger is.
53. You went to the Swan Boats, House of Seven Gables, or PlymouthPlantation on a field trip in elementary school
54. Bobby Orr is loved as much as Larry Bird, Tom Brady, and TedWilliams.
55. You remember Major Mudd.
56. You know what candlepin bowling is
57. You can drive to the mountains and the ocean all in one day
58. You know Scollay Square once stood where Government Center is.
59. When you were a kid, Rex Trailer was the coolest guy around.Speaking of which...
60. You can still hum the song from the end of Boom Town
61. Calling Carrabba's an "Italian" restaurant is sacrilege
62. You still have your old Flexible Flyer somewhere in your parents'attic.
63. You know that the Mass Pike is some sort of strange weatherdividing line.
64. The only time you've been on the Freedom Trail is when relativesare in town.
65. The Big Dig tunnel disaster wasn't really that much of a surprise.
66. You call guys you've just met "Chief" or "Boss."
67. 4:15pm and pitch black out means there's just 3 more shopping daysuntil Christmas
68. You know more than one person with the last name Murphy
69. You refer to Savin Hill as "Stab 'n Kill."
70. You've never eaten at Durgin Park , but recommend it to tourists.
71. You can't look at the zip code 02134 without singing it.
72. You voted for a Republican Mormon as Governor just to screw withthe rest of the country.
73. 11pm? Drunk? It means one thing: Kowloon !
74. 2am? Drunk? It means one thing: Kelly's Roast Beef!
75. 5am? Drunk? It means one thing: You wish you had a blanket in yourback seat
76. You know that P-Town isn't the name of a new rap group.
77. People you don't like are all "Bastids."
78. You took school or work off for the Patriots first Super Bowl WinParade
79. You've called something "wicked pissa."
80. You'll always get razzed for Dukakis.
81. Saturday afternoons meant Creature Double Feature with Dale Dorman
82. Sunday mornings meant the Three Stooges on Channel 38
83. You've slammed on your brakes to deter a tailgater
84. No, you don't trust the Gorton's Fisherman.
85. You know that Papa Gino's usually has a jukebox
86. You think Aerosmith is the greatest rock band of all time.
87. Your town has at least 6 sub shops, and none of them are a Subway.
88. You know at least three Tony's, one Vinnie and a Frankie.
89. 20 degrees isn't that bad as long as there ain't no wind- then itgets wicked cold.
90. You were very sad when saying goodbye to the Boston Garden
91. Thanksgiving means family, turkey, High School football, and thelong version of Alice 's Restaurant.
92. You know the guy who founded the Boston Pops was Athah Feedlah.
93. You know what the Combat Zone is
94. You actually drive 45 minutes to New Hampshire to save $5 in salestax
95. You've pulled out of a side street and used your car to blockoncoming traffic so you can make a left.
96. You've bragged about the money you've saved at The Christmas TreeShop
97. You've been to Hampton Beach on a Saturday night
98. Playing street hockey was a daily after school ritual.
99. Hearing an old lady shout "Numbah 96 for Sioux City !" means it'stime for steak
100. You remember Jordan Marsh, Grants, Bradlees, Caldor, Zayres, orAnn & Hope.
101. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friendsfrom Massachusetts

He may not be Dr. McDreamy but he is a great Neurologist

For those of you who do not know, our Gina, has experinced some seizures of late. Ambulance, 911, IVs-- scary stuff, an EEG (with only 4 hours of sleep allowed the night before, what FUN that was) but here is the latest update:

Let me start by saying it finally happened. I had the BIG cry last night I am a big advocate of this, but it was just not coming until last night. It was 2 weeks of worry, fright, sleeplessness, etc. Theo hit my nose with his head real hard and then he “faked” being sleepy so for a few minutes I thought he had a concussion. I freaked. He laughed and came too and I lost it. I cried for a good 20 minutes, but now the Old Michele is back. I have come out of my eating coma and am really myself for the first time in weeks and weeks.


We are back from the Neurologist who is just amazingly knowledgeable yet able to describe everything to me in a way that I clearly understand what is happening. A skill not all doctors have. Cute wise he is no Dr. Derrick Shepard (see Grey's Anatomy), but you cannot really have it all, I guess



Gina definitely had an abnormal EEG and has Epilepsy (defined as someone that has had more than 1 seizure). The abnormal electrical activity can be found in four isolated areas of her brain and the left and right sides of her brain fire off these unusual electronic impulses at different times. These are called partial seizures. Also, the interesting part is that the two lobes of her brain (the kind of wormy looking parts) are not copies of one another like they should be. This could be reason #2 for her seizures (general seizures). This can be found many times in children with genetic disorders. She will be going on a medicine called Keplar, which is the seizure medicine with the least side affects (irritability/drowsiness at first), She is starting with a very small dose once a day (right before bed) and moving up to 2 larger doses twice a day. This will happen over the next month. She will be on a 2 year regime and then the EEg will be repeated. Tests have shown that many kids after 2 years on this medicine do not need it any more (electric stuff figures itself out) and no more seizures. Studies have also shown that it may very well help with her receptive learning. Outside chance it could help with learning but not stop the seizures. Dave and I feel it is well worth a try.

She also needs the MRI repeated (sedation will have to happen) as he wants to greater explore the unsymmetrical lobes of the brain as the picture he was looking at was from her MRI at 18 months. Her brain has done quite a bit of growing since then…

He could show us on the MRI where the separate electrical impulses are shooting off based on the EEG tape. It was totally fascinating.

Overall, he said neurologically she is right on and we should not have a long time worry in this area. She was really, really cooperative.

We then went and had a relaxing Starbucks visit (the new Cinnamon Dolce FF/SF Latte is VERY Good).


I am back on WW track. Feels good to have something in control!

Thanks for listening!

Friday, February 2, 2007

All is almost all right in the world

Tomorrow Providence and Marquette play basketball on national TV so we can watch, Baseball season starts soon, Curt Schilling reported earlier in this week that he will not retire after the 2007 season and that he wants to play for the Red Sox and that all in all he would never be a Yankee and the HOT breaking news Brett Favre announced today that he is coming back to play for another season:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2752040"

Except maybe a cure for cancer, world peace, or a million dollars nothing could make my husband happier. You take all that news along with the fact that Dwayne Wade played really well last night (23 points in the 4th quarter) and his MU jersey is being retired tomorrow and it is like Man Crush on high power.

Me, on the other hand, I am happy with all this news in the sports world (BTW: have you watched My Boys' on TBS-- GREAT show); however, the only thing that would put the icing on the cake for me is if the Patriots were playing the Bears on Sunday in Miami for the Superbowl title instead of the Colts and the "I like to talk a whole lot while I am on the line and be really annoying Peyton Manning." I was so looking forward to reliving 1986 with a different ending..... I would have even enjoyed hearing the "Superbowl Shuffle" and "When the Going Gets Tough, the Pats Get Going" just for old time sake.


1986 was a great year in Boston sports but it could have been the YEAR. The Patriots went to the Superbowl (lost), the Red Sox went to the World Series (lost), and the Celtics (God love them) won the NBA title that year. This exact question won me a game of the 80s version of Trivial Pursuit a few weeks back....

Oh, well guess I will just have to go listen to some Duran Duran and look at my old glossy photos of Craig James....

MBoyd

This is so exciting!

This is MBOYD writing:

I have a confession to make. I love blogs. I love hearing funny stories about peoples' everyday lives. I love the WW blogs I read because it reminds me everyday that I am not alone in my struggle to eat and be healthy. I love my friends' blogs because it keeps us connected. I love readying the Grey's Anatomy Writers Blog because it gives the background on a lot of the story lines in the show. However, I also love the "other" blogs I read too-- NY Hack (a blog by a cab driver), A Year of Working in Pictures, From Chicago to Boston, etc. It is a step up from reality TV because it is real and these people are funny. I wondering if I can be that funny..., but I am excited about trying. Thanks to DBoyd for getting this set up :-)

I have a feeling if Sex in the City came out now Carrie Bradshaw would have a blog. I rewatched the "he broke up with me on a post-it" episode the other night. Good episode.

Okay, here is some stuff I am excited about today:

It's Friday, the Ground Hog did not see his shadow (see poem below), Pitcher and Catchers report in a few small weeks to begin Spring Training, Paul is on the mend from being sick all week, I am pretty caught up on Laundry, Billy Joel is releasing a new pop song on iTunes this month after 14 years and well, its Friday.

Marquette plays Providence this weekend. Dwayne Wade's jersey is being retired. We are going to my brother's house to watch the game. I hope Marquette wins big. The loss at Providence earlier this year really hurt the ego.... (My brother and Dad went to Providence and Dave and I went to Marquette).

The U.S. tradition of Groundhogs day arises from a Scottish poem:

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop


So, as I end my first ever blog, I just want to say that I hope you enjoyed my post and will check back for more. I promise you my thoughts will be random....

What does happen to the socks lost in the washing machine?????

First Post

Check it out - my first blogging post. What a thrill.