The last 10 days have seen me gone a lot with work at the hospital.  I’ve not been around much to talk with the girls about their first days in school.  Oh, there’s been short and quick conversations, but not a really good talk.

So, since both girls regularly look for updated posts to the blog, I want to take this opportunity to tell both of you how much I love you.  Keep doing your best at school; practice your instruments well…and please do as your mother tells you.

We both love you more than you’ll ever know.

Much to Linda’s chagrin, I’ve got my first iPhone.  I’ve been wanting one for several years and anytime a friend or family member pulled their iPhone out of the pocket, my eyes glazed over.  With the recent release of the iPhone 4, my wish became even stronger.

I’ve slowly been converting to a Mac guy over the past 6 months – first with the iPod nano, then the iMac and the MacBook.  Now with the iPhone, the transformation would be complete (don’t even mention the iPad – it ain’t happenin’ around here for a long time per the other half of the finance committee).

In order to move to the iPhone, I’d been waiting for all of the phones on the Verizon contract to be out of contract.  I realized quite suddenly the other day that my phone was out of contract and I could leave the Verizon plan and leave the other two phones as they are.  Problem solved.

I walked into the AT&T store with a big smile and stated I wanted an iPhone 4…the smile was quickly gone when they stated it was out of stock and would have to be ordered.  The non-smile was almost a frown when I was told it could be up to 14 days for the arrival of the phone – but I could go ahead and pay for it all now.  I decided I’d waited 3 years for the phone, I could wait another 2 weeks if needed.  However, fortunately, it only took 4 days to arrive at my house.  After about 10 minutes of set-up, my number was ported over from my old phone and all my e-mails, contacts, and calendar was all in my phone.  Rock on!!!

I’m just beginning to learn the ins and outs of this awesome piece of technology – and I’m sure having fun doing it.

This weekend we had a backyard BBQ with some very wonderful friends.  The Van Tasell family used to live several houses down but moved away a few years ago after Carl finished his residency in radiology (he was also a med school classmate).  The Kimberlings recently moved back to the area after living in the Netherlands.  Jessica was our babysitter 10 years ago.  Her parents, the Curtins, live next door to us.  An additional six adults and five children made for a crowded, but wonderful house.

The burgers, hot dogs, and brats were grilled to perfection.  The baked beans, potato salad, and chips & dip were delicious.  The beer and sodas helped wash it all down.  After the meal, the guys all retired to the backyard (now termed “The Doctor’s Lounge”) and enjoyed cigars and beer.

Despite the Van Tassels only living about 5 miles away, we don’t seem to get together enough.  This weekend helped remind us that we need to try harder to do just that.