Year: 2007

Getting a camp physical and vaccinations up to date so Vince can start summer camp on Monday was complicated today. Two referrals to two pediatricians led to two phone calls which said, sorry, no appointments until August! Argh!

So we went to a minute clinic at a CVS and then they referred us to a walk-in clinic down the road. I love the minute clinic, service just like in Singapore. You walk in, no appointment necessary – staffed with folks who can treat ear infections and seasonal allergies – it’s great and (relatively) cheap. Then you can pick up your prescription 10 feet away. Genius.

It’s also a relief to be able to answer in quick succession –

any medical problems – no!
any medications – no!
any developmental delays – no!
any speech problems – no!
any physical limitations – no!
OK – kid you are ready for summer camp – let me sign all the forms….

because I have had many, many, many conversations with medical professionals are much more complicated.

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Well Got in from Boston yesterday. Had a pretty good time. It’s quite sad tho. I don’t know Boston at all. I spent waaaaay too much time on campus. I never had time to do the touristy stuff. Choon would ask me, “What’s here? What’s there?”. I could only say that I had never been to those places. Sigh.

MIT was interesting. I saw the new Stata building. I heard from Amy that everyone hates working in it cause it’s all weirdly shaped. Oh also the new Sponge dorm, apparently all the furniture is made from poured concrete, so if you want to change your room around, you have to call Facilities to have people come and move your furniture.

Oh yeah, there was a wedding. There’s Ken and all the girls. Hahah. Too bad it was on the only cloudy day of the weekend. Oh and I absolutely loved their photographer. She was a photojournalist for a long time, and doesn’t normally do weddings. But since Ken and Lia are easy going folks, with an easy going wedding, she agreed to do it. We bonded over our Nikon kits. Basically I had the same camera that she had, except that she had two of them. 🙂

Too bad we couldn’t get Ken to say “Pianist” in his Austrailian accent.. ha!

Finding a job and new friends make me feel blue. I know that I will find both, but today the tasks seem daunting.

As a kid, my parents took me to the National Zoo almost every weekend. Today we spent one of our first weekends back in Maryland doing the exact same thing.

Edda and I playing in the new kiddy area (we are standing in the middle of a big foam pizza)

Vince, just finished with his blue ice cream.

The treasure of the Chesapeake – the blue crab. I remember going down to the bay with my mother and buying 2 bushels of these guys straight from the fisherman. At home, the table would be covered with a thick layer of newspapers, everyone would get a nutcracker and a mallet and we would have the most glorious messy dinners ever. We’d hand the orange roe over to Mom who would gobble it down..

Washington D.C.
A severe thunderstorm watch
Nice weekend ahead

Off to Beantown tonight. Going to go to YAM (Yet Another Wedding). My friend Ken. I guess it’s time to be a tour guide for all those Stanford folks. Of course, it looks like we’ll crash MIT’s commencement on Friday. Whatever. Chuck Vest is the keynote. How boring is that?

International Rett Syndrome Foundation is formed from the merger of IRSA and RSRF. This is cool news – the Rett Syndrome community has been split for about 10 years now. I’m glad that the two organizations are coming together as one.

We are starting some simple home repairs. Yikes!

We’ve been busy at Johns Hopkins participating in a study for the Pathogenesis of Rett Syndrome. Edda and I stayed at the hospital for 3 days – NIH is funding this study and everything (except the parking) was paid for – including travel. The following tests were done:

1. Neurological exam
2. Neuropsychological exam
3. Gait study
4. Occupational and physical therapy consult
5. MRI
6. EEG
7. EKG
8. Swallow study
9. pH probe study
10. Dexa-scan (bone density)

Whew. We are beat.

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Well this weekend, we all went rafting on the Merced River. Another one of those follow Yi-Ling adventures. I had a great time as usual. We managed to go down some Class IV rapids, watched some dudes pan for gold in the river. I even managed to body surf some of the easier rapids. Our guide, Pam was super cool, and she loved us cause half of the people were Dragonboaters and could actually row.

Saturday, we drove up to Yosemite and did a super short hike up to Inspiration Point – the look out for one of my favorite Ansel Adam’s photographs, Clearing Winter Storm. The length was actually nice, but I think we’re getting old and slowing down… Sigh.