Old Bones

I had a cool conversation with Asher the yesterday. This is how it went.

Conversation with Asher, June 21, 2008

Asher: Daddy, dinosaurs are not real.

Aaron: Actually, dinosaurs are real. They lived a long time ago, but now they are extinct.

The dinosaurs died?

Yes, they died.

How come they died?

Well, they think a giant asteroid from outer space hit the earth and it hit so hard that all the animals died.

And the humans died?

Well, the humans weren't around yet.

We were still in heaven with Heavenly Father?

Yes.

Heavenly Father gave us skin?

Yes.

And bones?

Yes.

What else did Heavenly Father give us?

He gave us our bodies. All of it.

He gave us our bodies?

Yes.

T-rex got off the Earth?

Uh, yes.

And stegosaurus got off the Earth?

Yes.

And mooses got off the Earth?

Well, the mooses weren't around yet.

Oh. (Pause) What was the thing called?

Asteroid?

What color was asteroid?

I don't know, probably brown or black.

I think it was brown.

Okay.

Remember in The Land Before Time there were brown things that killed the dinosaurs?

I guess so.

Yeah, those dinosaurs could sing and dance!

Yes. Okay, good night.

New Yaw-kers

Well, it's 0-fish-al. We be livin' in NYC, but there's still quite a bit of St Louis to get out of my sistema. Actually we're in NY state. Most folks up here don't have much of an accent of any sort. I've some people up here pronounce the name of our fair city as Rawch-ster instead of the honky way I say it (Raw-chest-ur). I'll work on that.

The house is great. It has central air conditioning and that's pretty much the only thing a house needs in my opinion. But to make it even better we have a garage, a nice basement where I can (theoretically) spend hours and hours tinkering on bikes or whatever else, a huge front and backyard which will commandeer my theoretical bicycle tinkering time in order to care for it.

Orientation starts on Monday, and the closer it gets the more trepidation I have. I know I'm not alone in this, but as a new intern I feel overwhelmed by suddenly being a "doctor" because like almost all interns I've forgotten the majority of what I crammed into my head in medical school. It's a good thing residency programs get a new class of dummies (maybe I should speak for just myself...) every year and I'm sure they know what to do with us. Or at least I sure hope they do. If I can do it without violating any HIPAA regulations I will be sure to post about a few of the more entertaining ways I make a fool of myself in the next year or so. Stay tuned!