As Kansas City area residents, we’ve become all-too-familiar with the Chiefs losing their football games.  In fact, anymore, I expect them to lose and am pleasantly surprised when they win.  Preseason games this year didn’t offer a lot of hope – some glimmers of good, but otherwise looking quite stinky as in past years.

The Chiefs opened their season with a big Monday Night Football game that didn’t start until 9:15pm (second part of a MNF double-header).  They hosted the San Diego Chargers, a team that has beat us handily over the past few years.

Posting a spot in the garage with the TV on, computer at my side, stogies and Boulevard beer at hand – I was ready for the game.  I was joined by one my good friends from the neighborhood and we cheered them on into the late hours of the night.

Finally, at 12:20am, the game finished with the Chiefs winning 21-14.  Very fun game to watch.  Glad I wasn’t there because it rained like a monsoon.  Now let’s see how the Chiefs can follow up this big win.

Also – let’s see how the Wildcats can do in the same stadium in just 4 days.  Go CATS.

September of 2001 found me in my 3rd year of medical school and participating in my surgical rotation.  The surgical rotation has the reputation of being one of the hardest 8 weeks in medical school – lots of hours and lots of studying.  To make the best of it, I chose to spend 4 weeks with the Trauma Surgery team and the other four weeks with the Burn Surgery team.

That fateful Tuesday morning on September 11 was just like any other morning in the surgical ICU.  Monitors beeping, chest tubes draining, ventilators blowing and sucking, and TVs glowing in the upper corner of the room.

As a team of surgeons – the attending (boss), several residents, and a handful of eager medical students – we moved from room to room evaluating the patient and determining the next course of action to be taken for each patient that day.

As the morning progressed, the TVs began to report the initial plane crash into the World Trade Center in New York.  Of course, at first it just seemed like another weird news story.  Then the second plane struck.  Now it was obvious something was wrong.  However, there was no time to sit and watch the TV for news.  There were more patients to be seen.  And so we moved on…to the next room and the next TV in the upper corner of the room.

My memories of the series of events that occurred that day are all blurred for me – a collection of TVs in the upper corners of the rooms.  The World Trade Center collisions and subsequent collapse.  The crash into the Pentagon. The crash into a field in Pennsylvania.  All memories are a series of TVs in the upper corners of the rooms – mixed with the smell of a surgical ICU.

I think back to the many thoughts that went through my mind.  I was worried about my wife and two very young daughters at home.  I was worried about my sister-in-law and her husband who lived in DC.  I thought about my many friends who were still in the military and would very likely be called into action.  But mostly, I thought of the many, many people who lost their lives that day.

Interesting things about hospitals and working in the medical field – there’s not time to just sit and dwell on events.  There was no going home early to be with the family.  There was no closing shop for a few days to mourn.  Patients were still sick and still needed care – so we did just that.  We just kept working.  In the end, I think it was good for me to be able to work through the hurt and shock.  The country eventually did the same thing – we worked through the hurt and the shock.

Things are different today – some good and some not-so-good.  However, we’re still a strong country.  And we will never forget the thousands of men and women who lost their lives in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania.  Never forget.

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.