With the blink of an eye, our month in North Carolina has come to an end. I had originally imagined having lots of time not only to study and work, but also to go out and explore the area. But alas, with the free central AC, cable TV, and cable modem access at the apartment, I found myself vegging indoors most of the time. Nevertheless, I did manage to generate some pocket money from freelance work for Kaplan, and also teach some techniques to a collaborator at Duke. The warm weather also allowed for many refreshing trips to the outdoor pool in the afternoons. But after dinner, the back-to-back line-up of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: CI episodes kept us on the couch for much of the evenings. This nightly lull was broken only by the introduction of another addiction: computer games. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is the 4th chapter of a popular role-playing game series. Whether we were shooting at trolls, stealing food, or collecting ninroot, the game offered a vast world of adventures which kept us entranced into the wee hours of the morning. We ate out several more times on our last weekend there, only to be disappointed again. We did, however, enjoy a visit to the Magic Wings butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Life and Science, where the friendly insects happily sat on our fingers for various photo-ops. Our drive back up was much more adventurous, with a bird flying into the side of our car, a speeding ticket from a Virginia trooper, and a sesame oil spill in the trunk which made for a messy cleanup. However, we did get to enjoy a delicious Chinese banquet-style engagement dinner my parents threw for us in New York. Now back in Boston, I’ve got about a week to run a bunch of errands before I start with Peds in July.

This past weekend, we took a short trip down to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium, which had just opened last November. The drive took almost 7-hours, though it was hardly monotonous when we got caught in a rainstorm so heavy we had to pull over to the emergency lane. The aquarium itself was quite impressive. Today the largest aquarium in the world, it features a variety of petting ponds, tide pools, and an enormous deep ocean tank housing the only whale sharks in captivity outside Asia. For lunch, we ventured into Sweet Auburn for some oh-so-delicious barbeque ribs and pork neck bones at Thelma’s Kitchen. Mmmmm… how I can still savor the taste of juicy pig on my tongue. =P After the meal, we toured the World of Coca-Cola and the CNN Studio Headquarters, both of which were essentially hour-long advertising campaigns we had to pay for. We spent the late afternoon at the Martin Luther King memorial park and Underground Atlanta, a historic district of old Atlanta which became sealed off from the surface with the construction of viaducts in the 20’s to accommodate automobile traffic. Today, it has evolved into a garishly ghetto shopping mall. We drove back up on Sunday, but stopped along the way for clothes shopping at an outlet mall, some locally-grown peaches and strawberries from a fruit stand, and a new toy from a monstrous flea market. Back now at Research Triangle Park, I hope my second week here will be a bit more productive. Anyway, I hope y’all secular heathens enjoy the day of the devil. I hear there’re gonna party like there’s no tomorrow in Hell.

My past few weeks have been filled with wonderful events that only now am I finally free to write about. Perhaps the first and most important is that Melody and I are engaged! It happened a few weeks ago at the New England Aquarium, one of the first places we visited as a couple. It came as a surprise to her when I popped the big question mainly because she didn’t think I had the time. In fact, I was surprised myself that I was able to put it all together amidst preparing my NYAS talk, writing for Kaplan, TA’ing pharmacology, working on manuscripts, and writing my thesis. I actually found the whole process of diamond shopping quite intriguing, though doing it in NYC meant that I had to sneak down to the city several times to have everything properly done. Fortunately for me, Melody said yes and all the preparation was certainly worthwhile. The second important event is the final completion of my PhD career. After working in near-isolation for several weeks writing my thesis and preparing the seminar, I successfully defended my PhD dissertation last Friday afternoon. It was an exciting weekend with friends and family visiting from out of town. Friday evening concluded with a big feast followed by pool at the old hangout. On Saturday, I celebrated my graduation with my lab over more delicious seafood, and with my parents over a fancy dinner. Finally, we departed Boston Sunday morning to drive down to North Carolina, where Melody will be spending some time working on a clinical research project. In the meantime, I’m just going to kick back at her one-bedroom apartment and enjoy life as a free man … that is, until I return to the wards in July.