AngieB

Techno savvy

2009-06-11T17:04:04Z

So, I think all of you know by now that I am crappy with cell phones. I didn't get one until the end of med school, then got a pay-as-you-go cell phone in 2004 which I'm still using. I let the phone lapse for years at a time. Lately, I've been using it more often, but I still tend to leave it off and forget to check for messages. The only thing I use it for really is to respond to pages while I'm on call and not at home. I have been thinking about entering the electronic age and getting a real cell phone with a plan that would encourage me to use it regularly. I find iPhones to be very shiny and pretty looking but I'm not sure if I want it because it's pretty or because I would actually find it functional and use it. The other option is to get a regular cell phone with a plan. Someday, I plan to get a real job and have some more money to support a cell phone with and would rather not have to transition phones in one more year. Any suggestions for cell phone? Wait another year until iPhones and other smartphones get successively cheaper? Get with the program now?

Update stuff

2009-06-09T17:11:40Z

So, it seems that I will be coming to Cleveland again in July for a second interview at the Cleveland Clinic. Yay, potential job! We are currently trying to arrange the schedule, so I don't know when it will happen just yet, but seemingly in the second half of the month. In other news, I'm getting a case report published, I'm working on another paper, and I've managed to finally recruit some kids for a study I'm doing. Yay again for the possibility of graduating in a year! Sonia just had her 2 year old checkup and she is 27 pounds, 14 ounces and 33 inches tall, and is perfectly healthy. I think I already knew that, but it's nice to have someone else confirm it. She's been talking more lately, and is generally a happy, funny kid. And slightly bossy. No school for the summer, so I've been able to come home at reasonable hours and not do homework at night, which is also good. Melissa finished up her freshman year at Brown and seems to be enjoying her life a little more. She's coming to visit this weekend, so we're going to try to go to the zoo in Asheboro. And maybe the neighborhood pool. How is everyone else?

Cleveland

2009-02-03T17:22:09Z

It turns out I have an opportunity to go to Cleveland May 6-9 for a conference, and there is a gala on Thursday night at the Cleveland Zoo Rainforest. Brent may or may not be able to join me for this trip. Anyone interested in being my guest for the night?

We did it!

2008-12-07T16:39:04Z

The Jingle Bell Run was yesterday, and we finished the whole 5K with a time of 45 minutes. :) Sonia got sick of the stroller half-way through, so I blame my time on a 25-pound weight lifting stint for about 1 mile! However, we made it, and made $185 for childhood arthritis, so thank you everyone for helping out!

In other news, I have finished my finals, so again, yay! Now to go buy Christmas gifts for people...

The Jingle Bell run is this weekend!

2008-12-02T16:12:24Z

Please help us raise money for childhood arthritis care and research! Sonia and I will be going again (hopefully she will stay in the stroller) and we did really well last year with help from everyone. I usually hate asking people for money, but this really is a cause that I believe in (otherwise, what am I doing with this 3 years of my life? :) ) Anyway, here's the link if you feel like helping.

Jingle Bell Run Raleigh

Happy holidays!

Other news

2008-10-23T14:27:06Z

School is going well, so is working at Duke. I'm much happier with things than I was last year. :) I'm going to the big rheumatology meeting this next week in San Francisco, so I'll be there from Friday to Wednesday and hopefully won't have too much trouble keeping up in the classes that I'm missing. Sonia is now 17 months old and getting more fun every day. I was dragging her around in the laundry basket recently, singing Row Your Boat last week. This week, she's dragging her bunny around in the laundry basket, saying "Row, Row, Row, Row". :) I think this is really cute. Plus, she knows now how to blow her nose, and that is clearly a good thing. :) Grandma and grandpa are still coming down every week from MD to take care of her. Anyway, it's been a while since I posted, so I figured I'd update.

It's Jingle Bell time again!

2008-10-23T14:13:38Z

Sonia and I are yet again entering the Jingle Bell Run in Raleigh, December 6, to raise money for childhood arthritis. Thank you, everyone, for all the help and support last year - we raised over $2000 for the Arthritis Foundation! If you are interested in helping out this year, my race website is up again:

Here

We will most likely be walking, and hopefully Sonia will want to stay in the stroller for the whole 5K!

I am easily distractible

2008-09-30T14:55:44Z

I find that in my classes, now with the availability of wireless websurfing in every classroom, I have a REALLY hard time concentrating on the class. I'm doing fine in all my classes, but I find this to be a bad thing. However, looking back on undergrad and med school, I was distractible then too, but spent a lot of time sleeping in classes. Which is better?

Going back to school

2008-08-21T13:24:04Z

I am currently sitting in the UNC Health Sciences Library between classes. Foolishly (or not?) I am now enrolled as a full time student in epidemiology, getting an MPH at the school of public health. I am doing math again for the first time in several years, which is actually kind of fun. Luckily, this is being paid for out of my fellowship training grant, but I'm still having to put out for books and a new laptop which is my early 30th birthday present from Brent. The good news: I get to go home early on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The bad news: I have homework!!! I'm pretty happy about my classes, but every once in a while, I think to myself "WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?" Any thoughts? Wish me luck!

ayb2 @ 2008-07-22T23:14:00

2008-07-23T03:15:53Z

We are going to be in Cleveland this week, coming in Thursday night and leaving on Friday night after dinner. Is anyone interested in dinner on Friday? 6pm-ish? La Tortilla Feliz in Tremont or Sokolowski's University Inn, also in Tremont? Let me know if you are interested...

Sonia's first birthday

2008-06-01T00:23:28Z

Sonia had a great time in Maryland for her 1st birthday and the Korean relatives had a great time getting her dressed up for her "dol" where she picked dates, indicating that she is destined to be prosperous. :)

Here's Sonia choosing prosperity:

Here's the relatives staring at her:

Sonia's turning 1!

2008-05-22T20:52:18Z

Yes, folks, she will be one tomorrow! I am very excited, since it also means I am on vacation for a week. We are going to Maryland tonight to watch my sister graduate from high school tomorrow, have Sonia's birthday among the Koreans on Saturday, and hang out and not answer the pager until next Thursday. Sonia is doing well, can walk, dance, is cutting some top teeth, and likes to point to objects until you bring them to her. She does not talk, but I think she's decided to concentrate on the motor skills first. Yesterday, she pointed to a banana, and said, "Na! Na!" which is as close as she's getting these days to talking. She can play various Korean and English clapping games, knows how to high five, wave, and clap on command. She is still lots of fun, and a fairly good natured kid, especially putting up with a mommy who spends 30 minutes with her in the morning and 30 in the evening. She likes to turn on the music box in her crib in the morning and wait for us to come get her. I am almost out of here!!!!! P

This made me think of sam16, and gieves...

2008-04-27T20:27:34Z

Take a look at this

Conversation with the secretary

2008-04-15T18:42:28Z

(ring ring) Me: Hello?
S: Hi, this is Sharon. Are you here right now?
Me: Um... Yes.
S: Oh. Okay. I had some questions...

I did not give any of the responses to the first question that were in my head.

ayb2 @ 2008-04-10T11:56:00

2008-04-10T15:58:57Z

I'm on research elective these 2 weeks, and I'm enjoying not being on service. However, this has not helped me get home any sooner because I keep getting caught up in what I'm doing. Melissa got into Cornell, Brown and University of Maryland and is now trying to decide whether to go to UMCP for free or Brown for lots of money and parental guilt. :) I feel like I haven't kept in touch with people lately, but we're doing well. Sonia is walking around like a tipsy sailor, and Brent is working hard as usual on his schoolwork and keeping the rest of us fed.

Life and stuff

2008-03-20T15:37:34Z

I haven't posted in a while. Things have been busy. Thankfully, a severely ill patient has gotten better enough to go to rehab and so I no longer have to wake up at 5:45 every morning to get into work on time. Sonia will be 10 months old this weekend and is a busy little girl as well. She definitely knows what she wants in life and goes after it with both hands. :) Usually, that is for us to pick her up or for her to grab the laptop power cord. Brent just got back from a conference and is having lots of meetings at school. I have not gotten around to figuring out all the stuff I need to for research in the next 2 years, plus I have to figure out what I'm doing for research in April when I have 18 days carved out to write an abstract for the ACR. What on, I have no idea. Well, actually, lots of ideas, but nothing that will be easily written and researched in 18 days. Argh!

updates

2008-02-28T20:03:52Z

Two things:
1. I'm very excited about going to Colorado this week with Brent and Sonia to a rheumatology conference. Not only will I not have the pager, but I will also get to hand with Gieves and sweetypotatoe. :) Very exciting!

2. Sonia took her first steps 2 days ago. She's getting to be a toddler!

Kudos!

2008-02-19T22:39:47Z

Yay for sweetiepotatoe, whose work was referenced in The Atlantic this month! :) Brent was reading the Atlantic, and says, "Hey, look at this!" and it was indeed our good friend in print. Yay!

Sonia is napping right now.

2008-01-13T21:39:42Z

I'm off call this weekend and the holidays are over (along with their ensuing craziness). Initially, Brent drove up to Cleveland and Sonia and I flew up to meet him there. We saw some friends in Westlake, then drove up to Michigan to spend time with Brent's family. We came back to Cleveland on Boxing Day to see friends, then I flew back to North Carolina to take call and Brent and Sonia went back to Michigan to spend time with family. I was LONELY in North Carolina by myself, but got to go to a friend's house for New Year's Eve.

While I was gone, Sonia learned how to crawl, pull up to stand, and get to sitting on her own. We just put up baby gates and cabinet latches. Brent and Sonia have been back for a week, and this week Brent is gone in Washington DC at some sort of governmental civil engineering conference. Sonia and I have been chilling this weekend, which has been really nice. Even better than that, I've gotten some studying and catching up done, which is good (except for the minute that I wasn't paying attention and Sonia started eating one of my shoes).

Sonia is still happy and sleeping through the night and getting into all kinds of mischief now. She has also started intermittently clapping and waving hello. :) I think I hear her waking...

Meeting in Cleveland

2007-12-12T13:28:26Z

So I'm thinking the Moosehead Tavern in Westlake at noon on Saturday 12/22/07. Who's in? Brent, Sonia and I for sure...

Recent stuff

2007-12-03T02:56:33Z

Sonia and I went to the Jingle Bell Run in Raleigh this past Saturday and did a walk for the Arthritis Foundation. I raised over $300 for childhood arthritis and our team raised over $2000. Thanks to all the people who helped! We had a great time, the weather actually cooperated and was in the mid-50s, and Sonia was pretty happy the entire time. I think they actually took some publicity photos of her because she was so cute. :) They had an embarrassing thing where they recognized the pediatric rheumatology team from Duke, but it was nice anyway.

In other news, we then went to a party Saturday afternoon for some other babies that I haven't seen in 3 months. Everyone is so much bigger and more active. Babies were bopping each other and trying to get to the same toys to play with. Sonia is 6 months old now, sitting up well, eating veggies and fruits and cereal and generally enjoying life. Grandma and Grandpa Byun are still looking after her during the workdays.

Brent and Sonia and I will be in Cleveland Dec 22nd for lunch and Dec 26th for Boxing Day on our way in and out of Michigan for the holiday season. Will I be seeing you? Let me know!

Doing the Jingle Bell Run

2007-11-13T18:57:46Z

I will be walking with Sonia for juvenile arthritis December 1st. Now, I hate fundraising, but I do happen to think this is a great cause (hence the reason I'm training in Peds Rheumatology). If any of you are interested in helping out, Sonia and I have a Jingle Bell Run website here . Thanks to everyone and sorry for the spammy post. :)

Holding down the fort

2007-11-08T13:30:30Z

At least 5/6 pediatric rheumatologists in the state of North Carolina are at the American College of Rheumatology conference this week in Boston. I am sitting here holding the fort (and the pager). :) At least we don't have clinic, so mostly I'm doing prescription refills and catching up on stuff that I haven't had time to do in a while (research on HSP, plaquenil and SLE nephritis) for some projects I have cooking. AND, I'm going to get my flu shot today. Woo!

Sonia is 4 months old!

2007-09-23T15:25:28Z

She had a little bit of a setback earlier in the month when she had UTI with associated pyelonephritis, but she is off the antibiotics and doing well now. We tried rice cereal yesterday which went not so well. She is much better on her tummy now and can grab objects and pull objects to her, which makes her very happy. She sleeps through the night and is generally a great baby (which makes me fear to have any future babies...) I think she probably weighs around 16 pounds, but we'll check that out tomorrow. Poor baby has to get shots tomorrow...

ayb2 @ 2007-08-27T13:47:00

2007-08-27T17:51:16Z

This is the first time since starting work that I have some free time, and now I'm not sure what to do with it. I can't go home, since I'm on call for questions until usually 5pm, but nobody needs me just right now. My mom's coming into town tonight and will be watching Sonia for the week and her 100-day birthday is this Friday. I ordered a Korean rice cake for the occasion, so we'll see how that turns out. Brent and I went out on a date this past Saturday while my dad watched Sonia - we went out for Italian food and saw Harry Potter 5 at the IMAX... It was our first date together without anyone else since the baby, and I kept feeling like I was forgetting something. However, it was nice, and I think we'll try to do it again sometime next month. Brent's birthday was Sunday, so he got the Heroes DVD which will be out soon and bedside tables for our bedroom.