Hal writes:
Anna and I returned from "up north" on Friday after a week away. I still have another week until I start working, but Anna begins her internship tomorrow, so we returned in order for her to pack clothes for her clinical. I still don't know what I will do with myself this week, but perhaps I will journey to the cities for a couple of days.
Things were pretty hectic towards the end of the semester (as it is for all RDs) and we had family staying in our guest room/office, so I wasn't able to get much time to blog. Here are some stories from the past couple of weeks. Anna and a friend hosted a holiday party for all the PT students at Clarke after their finals were over. Typical games were played with a PT twist: "Guess the Goni" (estimate the angle of the goniometer) and "Pin the femur to the pelvis" (I think you get what that means). In the photo below you can see some of the decorations that Anna put together, including my santa hat on the skeleton.
Anna and I had different upbringings when it comes to presents. When Anna was growing up, shaking of presents were encouraged and she has a hightened a ability to shake, sniff, and listen to her presents in an effort to guess what they are. (It also helped that her mom was known to leave the Christmas shopping list out in the open with check marks next to items purchased.) In my house, there was a "No Snooping" sign under the tree and if you were caught touching a present, you would lose one (or so the story goes). Needless to say, I have become patient in waiting for Christmas to open presents and my wife, well, not so much. But she was able to convince me that it would be better to open our presents for each other together instead of hauling them in our car. In the photo below, you can see some of our decorations, including my "360 tree". With an outlet in the middle of the living room, I was able to put a tree over it and plug the lights into it and you can view the tree from all four sides. This was also our first live tree since the silverfish ate the fake one we had in storage.
After leaving Platteville, we went up to Anna's parents house for her birthday, which was celebrated at my favorite steakhouse. In addition to the steak and choice of potatoe, you get fresh baked bread and a huge salad. This place is also known for mixing wonderful cherry cokes (Dale opted for a local brew called "Dihm Whit"). Picture below is Anna and her sisters Kat and Kristine.
Since when it is 40 degrees and no snow for Christmas?
In addition attending Kevin's J-Term class, I also watched him lead worship for daily chapel with a fellow "soon to be pastor" Renee. 
In addition to eating lime chips and watching movies, Kevin and I also met up with Warken-man for dinner (but he is in the middle of flipping 5 houses, so he had to go to bed early). We also shot a 3-minute video for a reality show that we are applying for. I will hold off on the details until later.
Lastly, I spent some time wondering in Rochester yesterday while waiting for Anna to finish up her day of internship. She is working primarily out of the building pictured above (Methodist Hospital) as a part of her Mayo internship. I'll let her type out more of her experiences, including run-ins with some current famous patients (i.e.: the elder Pres. Bush in for a bum knee and the conjoined twins from North Dakota).
