My sorrows, they learned to swim

...so why can't I?

Another long pause in blogging, I know... and the excuses I could come up are thin. You'll forgive me, I'm sure.

First... congratulations:

Emilie, the Genghis Khan of Butterflies, has successfully defended her PhD thesis, and merely awaits the paperwork in November to certify her as a fake doctor. This from the same girl that told me that she could keep a butterfly in an envelope for three days in a refrigerator and it would still survive. And, while you'd think working for four years on the most efficient ways to kill butterflies individually would take her to a more glorious end point... she's moving on to Indiana to STUDY DUNG BEETLES. Included in this project is an annual trip to replenish the dung stores. Sounds like a terrifying harvest dance.

Jessica has begun the journey towards her jurisdoctorate. Just think... in a mere three years, she'll be slowly dying as she awaits her Bar Exam results.

Jeff and Ryan will be defending their own PhD theses in October and next summer, respectively.

Allison Strick (now Allison Siller) pulled off a gorgeous wedding in Charlottesville, VA. That's my third Charlottesville wedding... it would appear to be a wonderful city to have a wedding.

Updates:

I have arrived in Florida, and I'm pretty sure it's part of a different country. It's always hot (it was 88 degrees F two days ago... at 10 PM), it's always humid, it's in a different time zone, and the insects are bigger and I'm sure more poisonous. The nearest grocery store to me is... a Walmart.

On the other hand... I only have to use a third of my wardrobe (I have worn jeans since arriving here), I live on a golf course, and I live about two miles from a beach. The bars serve cheap beer and food, the seafood is delicious, and I live close to NAS Pensacola, where I spend all my non-home time. It's odd to live in a city that has a large population that comes here primarily for weekends in a resort. The beach is lined with tall buildings that look like hotels, but are really condos for sale and for rent to those willing to pay lots of money to stay on the beach. Half of the beachfront architecture was decimated by Hurricane Ivan... The most popular bar on the Gulf Coast, Flora-Bama, was reduced in size by half. Hurricanes be scary.

Flight Training:

I'm two weeks into Airflight Preflight Indoctrination, aka API. This is a six week course for all Naval/Marine Aviators/Flight Officers designed to provide an academic background in aviation before 22 year olds are put in charge of taking care of $40 million aircraft. Flight surgeons are also required to take the course for a number of reasons, including increasing our credibility with our patients. Apparently, pilots are more likely to trust doctors who have been through the same trials they have.

The course can be broken up into three parts: the lectures, which revolve around aerodynamics, weather, engines, navigation, rules/regulations, etc; swim survival (more on this in a bit); and general survival techniques (helicopter rescue, parasailing, low pressure chamber exposure, spin-and-pukes). Because many of the students in API are right out of college, the each lecture in the first week was preceded by a diatribe on studying hard... OR ELSE. More "you're gonna fail" scare tactics were used than when I was in medical school. And we all know how that ended.

When the swim class is finished, I'll post with my own difficulties, hilarities, and (best of all) pictures and videos detailing "Manish goes to the pool!"

Also coming: funnies from class, funnies from friends, and perhaps some pop culture commentary.