We went to Downtown Crossing yesterday to do some very last minute Christmas shopping at Macy’s and Filene’s, when we came across a fancy-looking device at the Shiseido counter with the semblance of a short endoscope but used to examine one’s skin. Before I knew what was going on, I found myself being interrogated by the saleswoman as she probed me with the device and asked what kind of products I used on my skin. I proudly replied, “Oil of Olay“, thinking how only a year ago, I would’ve answered “water”. With a look of disgust as if I had just told her that I smother dog feces on my face, she repeated my answer, “Oil of Olay?!”. Before long, I was learning all about the nuances of skin care, how I’m supposed to use night cream at night and sunscreen in the day, and the subtle differences between softeners and moisturizers, but not before surrendering our credit cards for a couple of holiday gift sets for our loved ones. The week has otherwise been the same old thing, with the exception of a couple of college friends visiting, one for residency interviews, and the other for an interview at Novartis. We also got to finally use the Restaurant.com gift certificate I bought a while back for a taste of some heavenly foie gras, lobster risotto, and halibut at the 33 Restaurant and Lounge on Saturday night.

The winter is getting colder, but my apartment is getting warmer. If you looked carefully at my photo, you’ll notice my digital thermometer reading a whopping 82 degrees in my room! One of the worst things about living on the top floor of an apartment building is getting all the heat from the units below, even with the thermostat set to the bottom. That, of course, did not stop us from having our very own hot pot holiday dinner this past weekend. With the broth boiling and each armed with our individual sauce mix, my friends and I took down roughly 5 pounds of meat between the seven of us. Meanwhile, my buying spree continues with the arrival of my new laptop. This sexy piece of hardware is a Toshiba Portege R100, probably the slimmest and lightest 12″ notebook on the market now, sporting an Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Centrino processor that is both cooler (in every sense of the word) and less power-hungry. With my holiday shopping still pending though, I have a bad feeling that my next credit card bill will be arriving in a slightly fatter envelope.

Having lived like vampires for the past weeks with Melody on OB nights, we finally found the energy to brave the daylight this past Sunday and head out to Target. We walked in planning only to get some plastic bins for her apartment, but came out carrying a 4.5ft Christmas tree! Granted it’s not a live tree, but nothing beats the convenience of having mini lights already sewn into the tree itself! I know it’s pathetic, but this is already a huge step up from never having ANY holiday decoration (so there!). We also nabbed a small selection of Parker Brothers’ “Nostalgia” edition board games including Monopoly and Clue. They reportedly feature the original boards from the 50’s and 60’s… cause, you know, we sure missed those good ol’ days! (cue theme song from ‘Happy Days’)

Perhaps the most exciting part of this holiday break was not the same old Chinese-styled potluck with the extended family back in New York on Thanksgiving day, or the equally-traditional pilgrimage to the shopping mall the next day, or even the incredibly incredible Incredibles animated feature we watched Saturday night. It was last night, when Melody and I were walking down the very street I live on, when it happened. It was around 2am in the morning and the winter cold was bearing down upon us. The streets were dead quiet as we were crossing an intersection. All of the sudden, we heard the sound of screeching tires as a police car raced down the street, drifting slightly as it turned the corner. As we watched the flashing blue lights speed into the distance, we heard once again the sound of rubber grinding upon the pavement. Before we could even make out what was going on, we saw a small red sedan charging back along the same street, followed quickly after by that same police car but driving in reverse! Behind them were three other police cars, ominously following with flickering blue lights and no sirens. The whole thing happened in the matter of seconds, and we were left with nothing but the smell of burnt rubber. Having grown up in New York City (in Brooklyn, no less), it’s ironic that the first police chase I witnessed would happen in the quiet town of Brookline. Who would’ve thunk?

The past 2 weeks have been extremely intense. I had to crank out a revised manuscript for lab, edit one from our friends from Biogen, grade a stash of exams for the class I’m teaching, and prepare for a thesis advisory committee meeting … all while keeping up with all the movies I rented from Hollywood Video, of course, now that I’m paying $10 bucks a month for their MVP program. I must say that this whole unlimited movie rental business is starting to feel more like a curse, where I just feel like I’ve GOT to get more movies to make it worthwhile. Meanwhile, Melody’s been on night shift so I’ve barely been able to see her for more than an hour a day. Fortunately, things are finally beginning to shape up. I completed my TAC meeting yesterday with flying colors, followed by an hour of free pool for an HST TGIF, and some Indian food to celebrate a friend’s b-day. Today, I got a call from my boss, and despite almost peeing in my pants thinking I was in some sort of trouble, was told that our manuscript has been accepted for publication! Woohoo! (a la Homer Simpson) And just to make life a tad sweeter, my new desktop upgrades finally arrived too. After tonight, my computer will be sporting an Athlon 64-bit 3000+ processor, the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo, 1 Gig of dual-channel Corsair RAM, a pair of Seagate Barracudas for a RAID 0 stripe, and an NEC dual-layer DVD burner. What more can a geek-boy like me ask for? … except maybe a couple of WD raptors just in case Santa’s reading my blog. Anyway, I expect this baby to be running so fast I’ll have to bolt it to the floor! Though the goodies did set me back a couple of hundred dollars, I figure that even little old me needs a bit of pampering once in a while. =)

So it has appeared that the big fat elephant has trampled over our poor donkey once more. With Republicans retaining control of the Senate, Congress, and the White House again, and opponents of gay marriage gaining grounds each day, I’m fearful of what our country will become. The next thing you know, we’ll be banning over-pigmented people from schools, and making Y-chromosomes an eligibility requirement for voting. Resistance is futile… give in to the dark side of the force.

It’s midnight. Driving to work, I looked up into the sky to see the moon slowly being gobbled up into a full lunar eclipse, as police helicopters with their spotlights hovered ominously. Meanwhile, cars packed the streets, blasting their horns in triumph; strangers from neighboring cars giving each other high-fives in celebration. Even now, the experience remains surreal, watching Boston celebrate the Red Sox breaking an 86-year-old curse, taking the World Series Championship title after an astounding comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees and shutting out the St. Louis Cardinals on their own grounds. It’s a night of champagne and fireworks; a night of tear gas and police lines. But in the end, it’ll still be a night for Boston to smile. We got you, Babe. 😉

Portland, OR marks the third destination for this month of travel. Melody had barely recovered from her 2-day exam, when we took off early Wednesday morning to visit her sister and brother-in-law. Since Portland was more or less lacking in big tourist attractions, we were able to take things slowly. We spent our first day bumming around the neighborhood and local shopping mall, taking note of all the other lazy bums who weren’t at work on a weekday. With little knowledge of the area, we just hit some nearby places for lunch and dinner. On Thursday, we decided to bond with nature, starting with a meditative stroll through the Japanese Garden, followed by a photography spree amidst the award-winning roses in the Rose Test Garden, and finishing with a visit to the Classical Chinsese Garden. We had hoped to grab lunch at the upscale Pearl District, but distracted by frequent stops at the various kitchen and home furnishing stores along the way and with most of the restaurants closing between lunch and dinner, we ended up driving to good ol’ Chinatown for some chow. Unfortunately, Portland’s Chinatown turned out far differently from what we expected, populated mainly by Chinese-American imitation cuisine and seedy shops with names like “Hung Far Low” which prompted us to quickly depart the area. Along the drive back for dinner, we witnessed the politically-active atmosphere of this city as we passed by what looked like a protesting fish. Friday, we drove to the town of Newport to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Aside from the captivating view of the shark tank, however, the exhibits were pretty mediocre, with a sorry excuse for a new bat exhibit which featured tons of models, drawings, and videos, but only 4 live bats. A stop at the food court was equally disheartening, with sub-Progresso-quality chowder that left something to be desired. Unsatisfied, we drove into town afterwards to redeem ourselves with some real chowder and fresh, deep-fried seafood at the local favorite, Mo’s Original, before embarking on the drive home. With Emmeline and Eugene, our evening concluded with some outstanding Pacific Northwest cuisine at Wildwood with take-home treats from Papa Haydn for dessert. On our last day, I took the last opportunity to indulge in my first conveyor-belt sushi experience at the aptly-named Sushi Land before our red-eye flight back home. Overall, I found Portland to be easy on the eyes, but with the dirth of some authentic Chinese dining venues, it may prove to be a bit tough on the palate.

We spent a quiet weekend up in New Hampshire for the annual MD-PhD retreat at Waterville Valley this past weekend. Despite the rain and fog that engulfed us on the drive up, the weather improved by Saturday, providing us with some fresh air and a beautiful view of the fall foliage. This year, I was fortunate enough to enjoy Melody’s company, though she had to spend much of her time studying for her Step 3. Beside the usual: our miserable attempt at golf, the overpriced indoor tennis game, and the all-you-can-eat lobster mania that always left us uncomfortably full, we also decided to spare some time for the talks and poster session this year. History did not repeat itself, fortunately, and both the golf cart and I remained healthy after the trip. Meanwhile, with so many distractions from work, I’m gonna have to make the most of my time in lab in the next few days. Of course, now that the Sox have miraculously stayed alive to force a Game 5, I’m afraid productivity will be difficult to keep up.

I just got home last night and found this huge pile of mail overflowing from my mailbox. Apparently, the post office had not been delivering the mail due to some problem with our mailbox. I think I was suspicious enough to notice something was wrong, but too lazy to find out why until now. How many copies of the New England Journal of Medicine can you spot in this photograph? Today also marked the last day of work for my labmate Rajeev, who will soon be starting his cushy job at Novartis. There he will direct his countless minions to pursue great scientific endeavors while being pampered with a high salary and stock options, that poor guy. Btw, it’s amazing the kind of geeky factoids one learns from a mealtime conversation with a group of scientists. Over some yummy Indian food, I found out how asparagine was named (Was it that obvious?). And guess which political figure used to be an X-ray crystallographer? (Answer to follow…)