1.6.2009

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2009! I hope you all had a great holiday season and were able to ring in the new year with family and friends. I'll try and keep this update short and to the point, although that never seems to go as planned...

As I mentioned in my last update, I recently took my Internal Medicine Board Exams...and passed!. So what this means is that I am now a fully licensed physician who is board-certified in Internal Medicine (thank-you...please hold your applause until the end). Anyways, I'm excited about it for several reasons. Firstly, because it means that I am no longer in training and have finally moved up on the totem pole. Second, it means that I will not have to write another medical exam for at least 10 years. More importantly however, it means that I will finally be making enough money to get out of debt once and for all. As I mentioned previously, I decided to stay on as one of the Chief Residents at Huntington Memorial Hospital and have been moonlighting with one of the hospitalist groups in addition to running an urgent care-type clinic each Tuesday afternoon. It keeps me busy but, all in all life is very good for me right now.

This year for New Years Eve we celebrated at my brother's house with all of our family and many of our close friends. My brother was born on NYE and his birthday typically gets overlooked each year due to its proximity to Christmas and the fact that it's actually on NYE. This year he turned 30 and we helped throw him a 20s style party where the guys dressed up in zoot suits or in Al Capone style costumes and the girls dressed up as flappers. We had a great turnout and were able to usher in the New Year while celebrating his birthday in style. Coincidentally, my brother also finished his residency this past June and recently passed his Family Practice board exams to bring the number of licensed and board-certified physicians in our family to 3! Anyways, a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY and CONGRATULATIONS to you Shawn!

In less joyous news, the holiday season always seems to bring about a bit of pain with it as well. I received a call from my relatives in Canada informing me that one of my uncles suffered a massive heart attack on Christmas day. In addition to this, Christmas day is also the anniversary of my friend Randy's car accident. So now it seems that I have 2 loved ones to remember and reflect back upon on Christmas day. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and especially to my cousins Jared and Luke. To lose your father unexpectedly like that is something nobody should ever have to endure...

Well that's about it for now. Stay tuned as I do plan on updating the site at least on a monthly basis from now on. More pictures and music to follow as well. Again, I wish you all a blessed and prosperous year in 2009 and will hopefully enjoy the same myself. Until the next update...