A Weekend of Firsts

Hello again.

I know that this is not the norm (i.e. updating the blog within a week of the last one as opposed to the norm of taking a 3 month hiatus between posts) but i felt it was a worthy update.

The first first of this post is that this was the first time since i

was 14 that I was not able to go down to CSSM, aka the Beach Mission. It was kinda strange to not roam the beach dressed up in an old bathrobe from the 70s, matted wig, and Ross Perot ears, while engaging in quite an enjoyable amount of tomfoolery. Alas, all good things must come to an end... sigh... However, we were able to get down for the weekend to visit the team(s) and get the rundown on the first week (and attempt to rid my body of the lab-induced, sun-deprived pasty whiteness that has overtaken my body). Getting down there is not too easy anymore. When we moved to NYC, we relinquished our comfort of our own, personal transportation. Jaime and I are now at the mercy of the public transit timetable (which in all honesty, isn't too bad). We took the train down to Bay Head from the city and then got picked up by my dad to make the rest of the trip. Good ol' New Jersey Transit...

The next "first" for Jaime and I was that we got to attend a wedding as "Mr. + Mrs. James Hayes." Yup, that's right. It was my name on the place setting card. Boo-ya. One of Jaime's best friends from college got married; it was fun to see some school friends again, especially in a happy occasion. And, I had a big slab of steak. Solid day.

Sadly, we had to head home on Sunday evening. We didn't get to stay for the program, but at least we got a little time on the beach. Again, like before, my mom drove Jaime and I up to Bay Head where we patiently awaited our valiant steel-'n-diesel steed to whisk us back to our home. As we were waiting on the platform and the train was pulling up, I saw the conductor lean out of the window and start to wave his hand at me. At first I thought that I may have overstepped the yellow-line and the conductor was trying to heroically save my life. Actually, it was on of our friends from college, At the next stop he came back and quickly ushered us up to the front of the train. Believe me when I say we got some pretty interesting looks from the other passengers when we ran out the front door of the train to the engine, luggage in hand. He let Jaime and I ride up front with him and his supervisor. It was so cool! That was definitely an awesome first.

But sadly, all good things must come to an end (yes, i'm talking about our weekend, as well as this skillfully crafted, artfully worded blog entry). Thanks again for reading.

Until next time.

Jim 'n Jaime

Summer so far...

Most people see summer as a time to relax. However, that's not how the Hayes family likes to run things. Let's have a whirlwind of a recap.

First, school ends. This mostly affects me, Jim, since I don't have to go into class anymore. Come to think of it, this probably affected Jaime too because I had more time to make a mess at home... and believe me (you've seen the apartment tour (and if not, get to it!)) with a home of our size, it does not take too long to trash our whole thing... Actually, in all honesty, since class is done I'm now going to lab every day, pretty much like a job. The good thing is that now I don't have to come home and study. Finally... :)

Speaking of jobs... Jaime has started hers, though for now (and the next 10 weeks) she'll be going through orientation. This consists of some class work and some days in the ER. Regardless of what's going on, her alarm (and thus mine) is going off much earlier than it should for a grad student, somewhere in the area of 6-6:30 AM.

Now that we've both started our "real lives," we get to share stories over the dinner table. She's got stories (with no names or identifying details, of course) of crazy things in the ER. Then she asks me, "What'd you do today?" I give the same answer... "I read..." Hopefully soon I'll actually begin doing experiments.

But i forgot about camp! Thankfully we had a chance to head up for a week after class ended and before Jaime started work. It was only a week, but at least we got to go up for one. We were able to make it back up for the video. If you're interested, you can find them at www.youtube.com/dvmyers6. Check out the Laverine and Shirley remake "Dreams Can Come True at PBBC."

Speaking of videos, here's one of when Jaime and I went to the Highline Park last saturday. The Highline was an old elevated rail line on the west side that they've converted into a park. Enjoy!

~Jim 'n Jaime