Boston Buzz

Some Videos of Elyse

2011-11-13T17:21:00.004-05:00

Here are some recent videos of Elyse.

Elyse chatting up a storm on 11/7:

And playing around today:

Here's Elyse working on standing today:

Christmas and other happenings

2010-12-28T19:14:00.006-05:00

The past two months since the last post have gone by at times very quickly and at others very slowly. We both were so eagerly anticipating Thanksgiving and the opportunity to deliver some good news to both our families it felt like time was not passing quickly enough.

Everyone was delighted about the anticipated arrival of a baby Cahill due June 27th. We had a good first ultrasound and the second check up appointment the baby had a nice strong heart beat and was moving around. January 19th we'll find out whether I am right in thinking that its a boy.

December was busy with the usual holiday preparations and 3 work holiday parties. My two co-allergy fellows (Lora and Tim) and myself celebrated the half-way point of our 1st year and all its call and clinic responsibilities. We've been very fortunate to all like each other and work well together and enjoy some good food and time together outside the hospital.

Our tree this year wasn't as big as Jon would have liked but still beautiful and pleasant smelling.

We celebrated Christmas in New Jersey with both our families. Jon's parents were puppy sitting (explaining the table top tree) giving us a feel for what Christmas might hold for us next year. We made it back to Boston in time to enjoy the Blizzard of 2010 and all the snow shoveling to come with it.

The Other New England State

2010-10-17T19:09:00.008-04:00

Three years in New England and we made our first trip to Vermont one weekend ago for the Columbus Day long weekend. This completes our sampling of all six New England states. From Boston it was a quick 3 hour trip through rolling country side and fall folige to Montpelier, VT - the smallest state capitol in the Union. The town itself is smaller than Lambertville or Flemington, two small towns I grew up by in NJ.

Besides an opportune time to take a peek at the leaves, we also had in mind to catch up with a dear high school friend of mine, Bob, who calls Montpelier and the surrounding Vermont wilderness his home now. We stayed in Stowe in close proximity to the Ben & Jerry's factory, Cabot Creamery, and Lake Champlain Cho

colates - all of which offer free sampling of their products. Bob took us on a wilderness adventure driving up the alpine road to near the ridge of Vermont's highest peak Mt. Mansfield. We then proceeded to hike the ridge to the peak on a beautiful clear, windy, and cold fall day. We had views of the snow capped Mt. Washington in NH and the other mountains of the Preside

ntial Range and the Adirondacks in NY. It's a good thing we went last weekend because this weekend Bob hiked up and skied down!

Our final destination was Vermont's largest city, Burlington, right on the shores of Lake Champlain. What a wonderful small city with great local Vermont food and beautiful surroundings. It reminded us a bit of the Pacific Northwest with the water and mountains. We got a chance to catch a rare sunset over the water.

Things we've been up to...

2010-10-07T21:12:00.007-04:00

As we're nearing the 5 year mark on our life together, it seems we have each decided to take up new hobbies. Both hobbies are very practical in nature, which I believe suits our personalities, but they also offer us a creative outlet otherwise lacking in our day jobs.

Thanks to a wonderful birthday gift in a sewing machine and the encouragement of a few friends who actually knew how to use the thing, I started with a much needed replacement curtain for our pantry and have now finished 2 baby blankets in time for September showers and some lovely (if I can so boast) coasters which came in handy for housewarming gifts on our recent travels. I have a knack for gifting my creations before I remember to document but I was so proud of my first ever sewn piece that I did manage to snag a picture of the pantry curtain. Warning - you may be likely to receive a homemade Christmas gift!

Jon on the other has the self-discipline and patience to engage in a hobby that takes weeks from start to finish. Home beer brewing has taken over our hall closet and basement and sometime the dishwasher when it is time for bottle sterilization. He's joined the American Home Brewers Association and has now bottled the Cahill Irish Stout and will start to brew an IPA, yet to be named.

Here he is with the first brew in hand (a Belgian Blonde - the Jamacia Pond Blonde) and second brew 4 weeks into fermentation getting ready for the bottles! Some how I too was called to bottling duty! Another two weeks in the bottle and we'll get to try the first Stout. It smelled wonderful here. You'll just have to trust me on that.

Reunification in Baltimore

2010-10-07T20:39:00.008-04:00

Jon had a rare week-long work trip this past week taking him to Ft. Lauderdale. While he was enjoying a tropical storm and long days in a conference room I was home alone having to make my own coffee, do my own dishes, and take out the trash in his absence. We were very happy when the week was over and we could be reunited at not quite home. Jon typically has to fly through Baltimore on his way back to Logan and I cashed in on some really cheap fares between Boston and BWI and we crashed at friends Mark and Emalee plus baby Alice who recently departed Boston for Laurel, MD.

The sunny warm fall weekend was perfect for exploring Mt. Vernon and picture taking. Overlooking the banks of the Potomac, its a rather stately locale!

There was time to catch up with mutual friends over dinner and pinochle and explore the waterfront in Baltimore and eat a crab cake before we flew the 56 minutes back to Boston to start another week together!

An afternoon drive

2010-09-26T20:00:00.003-04:00

Jon asked on Thursday evening if I would like to go somewhere on Saturday or if I would rather stay and have a relaxing afternoon in Boston. Of course, I jumped on the opportunity to get out of the house when Jon mentioned it, because its usually me doing the suggesting that we should get out of the house.

87 sunny degrees made for the perfect afternoon for a ride with the top down. He didn't mention where he was taking us - partly because he wasn't so sure himself. We turned off the highway on to some very dusty dirt roads. He's Jon in the "town square" of Washington, NH - the first town in the Union to name themselves in honor of Gen. George Washington in 1776.

One of the many streams, rivers, and lakes we came across on our drive.

We went out of our way to see this national landmark of civil engineering - a set of three stone bridges constructed without mortar built by Scottish craftsman early in the 19th century. Two of them held us and the miata without difficulty.

Also, we passed by the birthplace of former President Franklin Pierce - the only president to claim NH as their birthplace.

But the real reason Jon decided to hop in the car for a 2 hour drive, was the chance to experience Schnitzelfest in Hillsborough, NH. Beer, bratwurst, schnitzel, red cabbage, saurkraut, and potato salad all under one tent with a ompa-pa band and even a few locals in traditional dress made for a very fun afternoon.

the new addition

2010-08-22T21:08:00.003-04:00

Jon found himself a new toy. It comes with flip with headlights and all! Proof that he's not the only one who gets to drive it. I'm not yet sure if I approve, but we're having fun and we'll give rides if you can find a way to get to Boston.Hoping to post a little more often this fall, but only time will tell.

Another try 2...

2010-08-22T20:29:00.014-04:00

Fast forward to May 2010 (because winter in New England wasn't too interesting and this web application is still giving me problems), we crossed the atlantic for a tour of the "G" countries. First it was Germany and then Greece, but the pictures seem to have uploaded in reverse order.

Santorini, Greece

More Santorini - view of the caldera and volcano

Jon enjoying the local brew - Munich Germany!

A reunion of sorts with Jana in Eichstaett

Glorious Heidelberg!

Touring the Weinheim area with Petra!

Our trip was the last time I will have 2 weeks off in a row for at least the next 3 years since now my fellowship only offers 2 weeks vacation for the entire year and was a celebration of sort for the end of 3 long years of residency.

Graduation party - June 2010!

A quick trip to north Florida to visit Granny and Jon's extended family, most of whom I had never met even after almost 5 years of marriage!

The Niederer reunion of the century - July 3, 2010 - a sampling of my great grandfather's belongings and inventions. Note the little black bag - that is all he brought with him from Switzerland when he emigrated in 1910!

Finally, all caught up! I can now get to the real reason I even got the motivation to post in the next post!

Another try...

2010-08-22T20:12:00.007-04:00

So its been almost a year since our last update. Not sure what that symbolizes - nothing interesting to post or just been too busy to sit down and do it or Jon decided it was my time to take over things and forgot to inform me. What ever the reason maybe, this post is long over due. I'm not sure if the lost ground can ever be recovered but will run through a brief overview of what happened between September 2009 and July 2010 before updating the here and now.

We warmed our house and explored our new surroundings!

We hosted both parents and a group of Boston friends for our first Thanksgiving for a party of 14!

And because this web application uploads all the pictures at the top and is a pain to rearrange, more to come in the next post.

Summer Happenings

2009-09-13T21:11:00.006-04:00

We moved this summer which consumed most of our time and energy but we did manage to taken in a few travels (3 NJ trips) and a rare sunny, warm weekend in Boston.

Fourth of July in NJ looking down on the Delaware.

Jill's outdoor wedding the weekend of a tropical storm in NJ!

A rare warm, sunny day in Boston this summer! We suffered a cool, wet summer interrupted by only a couple of hot, humid weeks in August. Despite the poor weather, we're still enjoying our city!

Soon to come, our early September escape to the west coast....

New Furniture in the New Place

2009-08-09T18:07:00.006-04:00

The leather chairs had to be lifted up over the side of the porch and the sideboard just bearly made it through the back stairway but after an hour, it was all inside.

We tested out the leather chairs last night watching a movie and its a good thing we got two so we don't fight over them.

Now we just need to hang up our pictures and paint the spare bedroom and remove wallpaper in the bathroom and we'll be all set. The airmattress for guests arrives this week and we'll be hosting our first guests next week. Our friend Shin who played the violin at our wedding and lives out in Vancouver is coming with his brother from Japan for an overnight. We'll let you know how they rate the bed before you schedule your first trip.

Stuff

2009-06-16T21:16:00.002-04:00

Where did we get so much stuff?

Lot of boxes around... moving day is a coming...

Happenings

2009-06-13T11:04:00.007-04:00

Katie's b-day was yesterday, but alas she is on call this weekend at the hospital. So we found some time to celebrate last Saturday. We started the day at a DIY framing workshop (lot of fun, and much cheaper than other custom options!) and ended at a nice french restaurant in the south end with good jazz. In between we grabbed a picnic lunch at Columbus Park which gave a nice view of the Boston skyline:

Tuesday night we visited Elijah David and family. Very cute kid and proud mom and dad!

Yesterday was Katie's b-day and her program decided to throw her a party (ok, maybe not just for her, but we can pretend). The view of Boston Harbor was spectacular!

And heading back from the T after a fun night!

5 days until closing, 1 week until moving day!

The Buzz

2009-06-07T18:13:00.006-04:00

Here are a few more happenings since February.

In March we took a trip to DC for an allergy conference Katie had. So I had a short vacation while Katie went to work. She did squeeze plenty of time for fun though.

A couple weeks ago, Megan had her med school graduation. I didn't get any great pictures, will have to check with dad for more. It was a nice ceremony (as far as graduations go). She's now arrived in SC at her residency - purchased a new home and graduated med school all in a week - not bad!

Waiting for graduation to start

Sarah and Ryan also waiting.

And the big news for us, is we're also in the process of purchasing our first home - a new condo in Boston. By new, I mean new to us. And new compared to some in the area. Ours will only be 104 years old. It is the second floor in the below building:

In winter:

The dining room and living room in the background.

The kitchen (with pantry to the left, out of view - one of Katie's favorite parts of the place!)

The foyer at the entrance with the first and second bed room doors on the right and the kitchen straight ahead.

The master bedroom.

We're excited to move into the new place. We close in a week and a half and planning to move in on the 20th. More updated will follow (no later than 4.5 months from now...)

Fun in the Sun - Part II

2009-06-07T15:24:00.005-04:00

Here are some pictures from part 2 of our trip in February!

Ruins of Tulum:

We ended the trip with a few days in Fort Lauderdale. A view from our hotel at night and at Las Olas by day!

Fun in the Sun - Part I

2009-02-16T20:07:00.014-05:00

After a few months of snow and cold, we packed our bags and set sail...leaving Boston and Miami behind in search of some sun!

First some formalities after a day at Sea before we could hit the beach!

Island #1 - Grand Cayman with nice beaches, large iguanas, and Cay Brew!

Island #2 - Isle Roatan, Honduras with large waves, wind, and a more rustic atmosphere.

View of the Island and setting sun from the ship!

Belize City, Belize - The sun decided to disappear and the rain forced us indoors to the National Museum filled with Jade, Maya artifacts, and history from the country's time as England's source of mahogany. We also snatched up some local stewed chicken, rice and beans.

A Winter Hike

2009-01-31T17:21:00.003-05:00

Less than 10 miles from Boston is the Blue Hills Reservation, a public area with hiking trails, skiing, and beautiful views of the surrounding area. We took advantage of a cold, sunny winter day and joined up with a group from CityLife for some winter exercise.

Jon looking southwest of Boston.

Here's Katie and part of the crew, most of whom go to our community group on the way up towards the weather station.

A view of downtown Boston and the Prudential Tower from the top of the lookout point.

On the way down!

Wii Fun

2009-01-31T08:05:00.004-05:00

More fun from the Christmas holidays... the nephew and nieces get the Wii!

Little sister to sister competion. Tara came out on top, but word on the street is Katie is looking for a rematch.

Then mom and dad get into the fun...

Long Time No Blog

2009-01-29T18:21:00.003-05:00

Here's some pics from the last few months...

In October we headed to CT to a bed and breakfast for a nice few days away...

In November, Sarah and Dad came up and we made a visit to the Boston Aquarium:

Then along came December and Christmas.

And with December came the snow. Which hasn't really stopped much.

Pictures from Boston Public Garden.

And here we are at the end of January. Last weekend we headed up north to NH for some skiing and snowboarding. We hit the slopes at Attitash where the conditions were awesome and there was hardly anyone there on a sunny (but cold) Saturday.

Building up courage...

Katie's under there somewhere.

With some friends who live up in beautiful Conway.

The next pictures will be from a warmer place...

Warmer Journeys

2008-10-28T19:34:00.006-04:00

After the cold hike up the Franconia Ridge, we were happy to spend the next weekend in warm Tampa! We stayed at Justin and Angela's place on Tampa Bay. It was great, very relaxing.

The view from the clubhouse in Justin and Angela's community.

Even the manatees came out to say 'hi'.

Our main purposes for the visit was to celebrate mom and dad's 40th anniversary. We had a very nice dinner as a family. And after dinner, we were all very excited to see when a cake was brought out.

Mom and Dad were surprised. As was everyone else, since none of us ordered it. Then we saw the writing on the top of the cake.

"Happy Birthday Jimmy Z". Poor Jimmy, I guess he missed his cake.

The following weekend we went to a conference for Katie at Cape Cod. She got a scholarship to present a poster there. Which means I got a free vacation while she worked.

Enjoying the conference center. Just a tad bit chilly. A tad.

The Conference center/resort.

The conference was an allergy one, and speaking of allergy, Katie has decided to apply for a fellowship in the field. Today she had her first interview for a start in July 2010, very exciting!

Been a good foliage fall this year. Brilliant colors!

Hiking Trip

2008-10-06T20:33:00.004-04:00

This past weekend we headed to north towards the top of New Hampshire for some hiking and camping with friends. The foliage network has it between high color and peak up there right now, so we got to enjoy some great foliage.

When our friends suggested we go, we thought it would be a great idea. Unfortunately, we didn't look at the small print. Actually, it was the first sentence on this link. "This very rigorous, 8.7 mile loop is for experienced hikers only." They weren't joking. And of course our friends are these marathon-running, very fit group of hikers, so it was an intense hike. The hike is supposed to take 6.5-8hrs on average, we were about at the 6.5hr range, with a nice lunch (and us slowing down the group!). The hike was about 2.5 miles up, 2.5 miles along a ridge and 3.5 miles down. The ridge went over three peaks, the last was the tallest, called Mount Lafayette.

Here's the 5 of us getting ready to start the hike. The weather at the campground was supposed to be a high of 49 and a low of 35F.

Little chilly, but ready to go!

So far, so good! Enjoying the view of one of the waterfalls.

So, the low at base camp was supposed to be 35. And we heard a rumor that it could be 15degrees cooler at the top. We were doubtful. Then on the hill, we started hearing rumors of snow.

Here we are with the first glimpses of snow.

And, finally at the top of the first peak. Turns out the 15 degrees cooler was wrong. The temperature was close to 20F, with wind chills that were surely single digits. Also, the mount was under a cloud, so we could not see any view - actually, couldn't see beyond 5 feet away much!

Kind of looked like the moon on a snowy day or something. I understand now more what Frodo must have gone through.

Finally, on the way down the clouds broke and we caught glimpses of what was a beautiful view.

On our way down! Hope that there may be an end to the trail yet!

View farther down. This shows the ridge we went across.

From the campground.

At the campground.

The next morning, trying to stay warm, eating a delicious breakfast!

All in all, it was an intense weekend, but it was a lot of fun. Katie can't wait to get out and go camping again. Maybe. For now, we are looking forward to next week's trip to Tampa with the only hiking being to the beach and temperatures in the mid-80s!

More Summer Memories

2008-09-18T20:20:00.002-04:00

Got to downloading some end of the summer pictures. Good reminder of why Boston and New England is so great - especially the North Shore.

Hanging out at a park in Gloucester.

Same park.

Over to Rockport. One of the best towns in New England.

Night out in Boston for dinner and a movie on the harbor. Every Friday night during the summer, the Harbor Hotel shows a movie on the water. Fun time. Way overpriced burger.

And unfortunately, lousy movie (we ended up leaving half way through). But still a great night!

And that's about it for summer. We'll see what autumn has in store...

Bi-Monthly Post

2008-09-12T20:57:00.002-04:00

It's been two months since our last post, so I guess it is time for an update! Been a wonderful summer here in Boston - one of the best places to be this time of year. It's a great city to be outside and walking around in during the summer. The same goes for the early fall here, especially as the foliage begins to turn! The updates started last week here!

Year two has had its ups and downs for Katie. The ups have mostly been better than first year, but some of the downs have been worse! For the most part it is a lot better - better hours, better work tasks, more time to learn. But there is also a lot more responsibility as well as a some run ins with very difficult patients (and even more difficult family members!). But all in all she is doing well and enjoying the year better. She is also gearing up for applying to an allergy and immunology fellowship.

Work is going well with me, keeping busy traveling. I also managed to find time to take a class this summer at GCTS on Holistic Mission taught by Ken Gnanakan (and I only partially took the class because he used to be part of a band known as the "Indian Beatles").

Some highlights of the summer:

We went to a wedding outside of Philly this summer for one of Katie's good friends from high school. It was a great time, although a marathon of a trip - we left for Philly after work friday night, and headed back to Boston Saturday night so Katie could be at work on Sunday morning!

Katie's friend Kim from Pepperdine visited. We took the chance to finally get out to the Cape. It is really nice out there - much less crowded than the Jersey Shore!

Post-Cape chowin' down. Kim learned she likes lobster. I was reminded I should never buy "Maryland-style" crab cakes outside of Maryland!!!

Katie and Kim at Fenway.

Each year on the Common, there is a free performance of Shakespeare given. We had a nice picnic dinner before getting ourselves cultured.

June-July Goings

2008-07-12T13:03:00.006-04:00

Katie has officially completed year one and is now a JAR (Junior Resident. not sure what the A stands for). While the hours are still long, she is definitely enjoying it much more than her intern year. Less of the dealing with very difficult people, less paperwork, more teaching and more learning.

Before the start of year two, Katie got a few days off which we used to take a long weekend in NJ. We got to see both of our families and have an all around relaxing time (except for Katie coming down with a bit of a cold towards the end of the trip). We also got to see the newest edition of the Cruz household. Very cute!

Earlier in the month, we got to do a little sailing. There is a sailing club that has a couple of open houses each year and takes people out sailing on the harbour. It was a beautiful day and got a nice view of the skyline.

We finally made our first trip to Fenway to take advantage of the $5 tickets Katie can get. It was a blazing hot day, but was fun going into the ballpark. We got standing room only tickets, so we hung out for a few innings and then headed across the street to the Boston Beer Works to finish watching the game sitting down and in a/c (nice part about paying only $5 for the tickets!). While there, they switched the tvs to the Belmont Stakes. Before the race began, a kid about 8 years old or so, with an incredible voice, sang "New York, New York". I've never heard an 8 year old kid get booed so loudly. Gotta love Boston!

July 4th had the annual festivities here in Boston. Unfortunately, Katie had to work on the 4th so didn't make it to the fireworks. I was able to make it and got a great view from the Mass Ave bridge. Definitely a good show. Sunday the festivities continued with Chowderfest 2008! We got to taste about 9 clam chowders. Some awesome. Some pretty nasty. I think we've enough chowder to last us a few months now.

And that's the recent goings from these parts...

May - Come and Gone! Another year draws to a close...

2008-06-05T19:42:00.007-04:00

Last we had reported, spring had arrived in Boston! The lawn mowers and the cool shade are now signaling summer is right around the corner. Our first heatwave of the year is already popping into the weekend weather forecast! The NBA finals start tonight here in Boston, which means its already June!

So what were we up to while the trees were growing greener and the window screens were put to use? Well, a little bit of this and a little bit of that, a nice long vacation and a special out-of-town guest!

The first half of the month started out with work as usual for me and Jon found himself making a few more trips to Baltimore. The hospital treated all the interns to a night out at the Harvard Club for drinks, dinner, and a 34th floor view of downtown Boston signaling the coming of the end of intern year!

On the 16th, we head west to start on our much anticipated Pacific Northwest Tour to Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver. We started off with a small Pepperdine reunion in Seattle to attend my good friend from undergrad and my year in Heidelberg, Dave Brown's wedding. The weather was unseasonably warm for Seattle at 90 degrees and our pale new england skin got a little crispy at the poolside before the wedding! No one told us to bring sunscreen with us to the rain pacific northwest!

After a wonderful weekend with old friends and time exploring the coffee capitol of the US, we traveled up the coast for some relaxation and an opportunity to check out the native wildlife! Jon liked the jumbo slugs; I thought the bald eagles were pretty neat. The mountains that surround you in all directions when the cloud cover clears are spectacular!

We ventured on by ferry to Victoria, BC. There we sat in on paralament, enjoyed the pubs, and visited the famous Butchart Gardens.

Another ferry took us back to the mainland and north to Vancouver and the opportunity to catch up with a friend from NJ, Shin, who is now back in his home town. He showed us the highlights of the area and tested our physical limit on our 600m elevation, 2.25km hike up the "Chief" in Squamish - half-way to Whistler. Vancouver was definitely the highlight of our trip.

On our drive back to the Seattle airport, we stopped off to see Ryan and Christine Wasserman and their two children in Bellingham, WA. They were the college and career ministry leaders at Christ Community in NJ when I first moved to Piscataway. Christine was the first person to suggest that Jon might be a good match for me....and the rest is history.

Before my two week vacation ended, we had the priviledge to welcome my best friend from undergrad and newly minted medical doctor, Jennifer Flannery, on her first visit to Boston! We hit the top of the Pru, the Elizabeth Stewart Gardner Museum, the Freedom trail, Cambridge, Harvard Yard (see prior posts for more details about the sights of Boston). I'm still awaiting the photo documentation from Jennifer - pictures to follow.

I'll be ending my last two weeks of intern year working night's at the VA medical center. Good news - I never thought the end would come and its here. Bad news - I didn't think there would be work to do after. Though the hours improve and the paperwork dramatically drops off, I quickly learning doctoring demands all you are willing to give it.

It's been a great year in our new city: new friends, two paying jobs, out-of-town guests, one world series championship, an impressive superbowel victory (for Giants fans), and the NBA finals!

Good night and BEAT LA!

Quin-zee

2008-04-20T20:44:00.016-04:00

Yesterday, Katie and I made our way down to Quincy (pronounced Quin-zee here in MA) for opening day at the Adams National Historical Park. It was pretty crowded there (because of opening day combined with the HBO series most likely) but we had an enjoyable time visiting the Adams' church, John Adams and John Qunicy Adams' birthplace and their later home (The Old Home).

The church was beautiful. Adams donated the land and much of the granite that was used to build the church.

View from the outside.

View from the inside.

One thing I learned which I hadn't known was that both Adams were Unitarians, rejecting the deity of Christ. Both were very influenced by the Enlightenment and felt that God could be 'proven', but the deity of Christ could not. Adams did read the Bible first thing every morning, but apparently he was reading a Christ who was not the Son of God, but a great philosopher/prophet/teacher. While this country was greatly built on Christian foundation and by Christians, it is interesting to realize how some of the key men were certainly outside what would be called orthodoxy (Jefferson, Franklin).

Inside the church, there is a crypt which holds the remains of both presidents and both first ladies.

After the church we went on the National Historical Society tour. It's a 2 hr tour taking you to the birthplaces and their later home (all for $5! can't beat that!).

The birthplace of John Adams. Next door is the birthplace of John Quincy Adams.

The Old Home was a bit less modest than the birthplace home and was in the Adam's family for many generations, and thus contains additions in the house from many generations. One of my favorite parts was the library upstairs, which was where Adams spent much of his time and penned all those letters to Jefferson which are now so famous. It was a large room with a big fireplace. Must have been a great place to read and write. That room was only surpassed by the new library that was built a couple generations later, a dream of John Adams (to protect the books from fire). The building now contains 14,000 books. Those old books covers look so much cooler than the covers these days. It was two levels of books with a huge table in the middle and comfortable chairs around the room. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed inside, but here's the outside:

Library on the left, Old Home on the right.

An inside picture from the website:

Springing Forward

2008-04-18T18:35:00.005-04:00

The first day of 70 plus degree weather in 6 months brings a welcome reminder of why we love living in Boston! The baseball season has started, the early flowers are blooming, and we're even trying to get back in shape by running the local paths. We've been drawn out of the house more than usual. Tuesday we went for a walk before dinner and couldn't pass up a Belgian beer and the best mac'n cheese Jon thinks he's ever had at one of our favorite restaurant/pubs - the Publick House.

Below is proof of the change - Tulips on the side of our house:

Exhibit #1 on why to purchase renter's insurance:

This 9-alarm fire four doors down on Wednesday has definitely been the news item of the month. The propane grill on the top porch started the blaze. Since the fire, our landlord moved their grill off the porch and on to the grass. Lesson learned!

In other news, Monday is Patriot's Day aka Marathon Monday which gets the entire city a three day weekend. The running of the Boston Marathon is quite the happening around here. It seems in Boston, when they want a day off, they find a new holiday to celebrate. March 17th is evacuation day - a convenient holiday to celebrate the British Troop evacuation of Boston and get St. Patrick's Day OFF! Unfortunately, our jobs will not be allowing us to watch thousands of people run 26.2 miles.

Long Hiatus Coming To An End

2008-04-12T11:42:00.006-04:00

So, been a long hiatus here in blog-land. The world is thawing here up in Boston, and with it will hopefully come more common updates on the blog.

Been a busy time as usual since the last update. Katie has been working a lot, coming to the end of a long stretch of some tough rotations. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally coming closer! Next year's intern class has been chosen, and after the next two weeks Katie will have a little easier weeks with some elective time and some much needed vacation! Been a long last couple of months though, for sure. I have been busy traveling a bit. Flying at least every two weeks, often once a week. Fortunately I've had some freedom in my schedule and have been able to work around Katie's

Traveling has also included NJ the last two weekends. Two weekends ago we were in NJ celebrating Mom Niederer's birthday. It was a very nice time seeing family and stopping by Christ Community and seeing friends and enjoying worship there.

Mom ready to enjoy her b-day cake.

Last week I headed down to NJ for the wedding of some friends from Rutgers - Viren and Sarah. It was a great time seeing a couple of old friends that I hadn't seen in years who also came to the wedding. It was a unique experience - a Hindu ceremony followed by a Korean ceremony. It was interesting seeing the cultural and religious differences between those and the classic western Christian wedding. One thing that stuck out was the emphasis on family. You weren't just choosing to enter into a life long relationship with one other person, but were entering into a relationship with an entire family. The wedding was larger than just two people's individual choice. Another difference was the groom giving piggy-back rides to the mother, mother-in-law and bride. Them Koreans make the men work for that marriage!

Viren and Sarah during the hindu ceremony.

Viren giving one of his mothers a piggy-back ride with Sarah in toe.

Well, looks like panning out to be a nice sunny day here in Boston today. I guess that means it might be time for an end to the hiatus from running also!

Happenings

2008-02-23T11:39:00.003-05:00

It's a post-snowstorm day here in Boston (as in much of the northeast) and the first biggest storm we've had since December. I thought Boston people wouldn't go into hiding with the snow so much, but they certainly did - which made for a great commute home yesterday - no traffic at all!

Last weekend Katie had a "golden weekend" (two days off in a row - first time since Christmas break, last time until the last weekend in March!). We took advantage of a nice sunny day to drive up the coast through marblehead and into Salem. It was a beautiful day as can be seen by the below pictures taken at Red Rock park.

Sunday, we became members of our church, so I guess that makes us officially "Presbyterians". Who would have thought?

Thursday we had dinner with some people in Katie's program. The husband of the host is a professor at Harvard named Dan Schrag, who studies climate change. He gave a presentation on climate change which was very interesting. A lot to think about, a lot of issues surrounding the topic (scientific, political, sociological).

Time now for me to clean up our apartment a little and do a little grocery shopping so that Katie has the ingredients she needs to cook a carrot cake for friends coming this evening. Her carrot cake is awesome. Mmmmm...

Perichoresis

2008-02-18T22:02:00.003-05:00

Good quote towards the end of Tim Keller's new book:

"The inner life of the triune God, however, is utterly different. The life of the Trinity is characterized not be self-centeredness but by mutually self-giving love. When we delight and serve someone else, we enter into a dynamic orbit around him or her, we center on the interests and desires of the other. That creates a dance, particularly if there are three persons, each of whom moves around the other two. So it is, the Bible tells us. Each of the divine persons centers upon the others. None demands that the others revolve around him. Each voluntarily circles the other two, pouring love, delight, and adoration into them. Each person of the Trinity loves, adores, defers to, and rejoices in the others. That creates a dynamic, pulsating dance of joy and love. The early leaders of the Greek church had a word for this - perichoresis." p. 214-5

Within this context we see how creation and man fit into the the bigger picture of God's redemptive plan. This is what we were created for. But in the fall, we lost the dance. But through the sacrifice and self-giving love of Christ we can return to the dance and join into God's "dynamic, pulsating dance of joy and love" in ancticipation of the day when all of creation will be restored. May it be so.

February Update

2008-02-14T18:43:00.002-05:00

Been a while since there's been update here on the Boston Buzz, so I thought I'd throw a quick update. Things have been busy here - I (Jon) have been traveling a bit as of recent, spending a lot of time at power plants. It's fun being at the sites, but not so fun being away from home. Katie is staying busy at the hospital. The hospital is packed, rarely any empty beds - this has actually worked out in Katie's favor as far as workload at times since she can't admit new people because no room at the hospital!

Giants. Now that was fun. What a great game. I can't tell you how much fun it was going to work Monday morning, being the only non-New England fan at the office.

That's the quick update from Boston. Hopefully we'll update it more often in the upcoming future!

Big Blue!

2008-01-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

Yeah Giants! NFC Champs! Now commences 2 weeks of trash talking here in Boston...

Staying Warm

2008-01-20T18:36:00.000-05:00

There haven't been many posts here recently, and well, that is simply because not much interesting has been going on here! Katie's been staying busy with work. It was an especially rough first couple weeks for her, but the last week has been a lot better. We're also starting to think about vacations through June 2009(!) because Katie must place her requests in 1.5weeks. And then there is the question of further training in a fellowship after residency which requires additional planning over the next 9 months. I've also been staying busy at work (though not compared to Katie!) and doing a little travelling; mostly to Baltimore where I've discovered I like awesome crab cakes. We had a special night on the town last night, having a nice dinner at a german restaurant and seeing the Blue Man Group which was very entertaining.

We have had a lull of visitors of recent, but this coming weekend we've got some friends coming who are willing to brave the cold! We are planning to take advantage of the wonderful indoor attractions we have nearby, namely the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Speaking of cold, we have discovered a new survival tool - a heated mattress pad! It is a heated paradise!

Jon (with many Katie edits!)

Happy New Year

2008-01-03T22:47:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of 2008 here. It's been a bit of a whirlwind of a last couple of weeks here for Katie and myself. We had a great trip back to NJ for 5 days - just too short! It was wonderful seeing family and friends. We spent a lot of time getting together with people and enjoying time with family. We spent the first couple of days at my parent's place. We joined Christ Community for the annual Christmas Eve service and a time to focus our lives on Christ. After the service we went back to my parents for the traditional Christmas Eve hors d'ouvres.

Katie prepping the fondue.

Sarah and Megan helping get the food ready.

The fam on Christmas Eve

After spending Christmas morning with my family, we headed north to spend the rest of Christmas with Katie's family. Unfortunately, we didn't take too many pictures. I think we were too busy enjoying family, the manhattans and the most unbelievably awesome beef tenderloin that Tara, Katie's sister, made. But here's one pic of us from there:

Christmas Day '07

Upon returning, Katie jumped right back into rotations, working straight through New Years (and tomorrow will be the 8th day straight). She has a long stretch ahead of her (only once or twice will she have two days off in a row until May) and she's going through a really, really rough rotation right now, so as you think about, be praying for her! (it's currently after 11pm, and I'm still waiting for her to get out from going in before 7am this morning). My schedule has been quite a bit quieter. I had a few days off where I was able to relax and get some good reading done. I also was able to reformat our laptop - it's like having a new computer, it's great! We're using AVG anti-virus software - so far working so much better than Norton, and best of all - it's free! (Thanks Shin for the tip!).

We had a nice New Years. Katie did work until 11:30, but was able to make it home for the ball dropping. We had some friends visit and went to downtown Boston for "First Night". We enjoyed some fireworks in the common and looked at some of the ice sculptures on display. We finished off our time downtown with a nice meal in the North End. We joined Katie back at our apartment to watch the ball drop and start 2008! We had 9 people who ended up sleeping in our apartment that night, so was about a full of a house as you can get here! Somehow I was convinced to start a marathon game of Monopoly at 1am which continued until 4am. I can't remember the last time I was up that late...

An ice sculpture in Boston Common

A tree lit up in Boston Common

Again, we hope the best for all of you in 2008, and we look forward to the adventures that are sure to come!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Reflections on the Incarnation

2007-12-22T19:45:00.000-05:00

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
- John 1:14

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."
- Hebrews 2:14-15

Another Christmas season is flying by. The Christmas season is always busy, but this one seemed extra so. There was work, business trips, parties, church events and of course on top of it all Katie is especially busy in the middle of her residency intern year. No matter how many sermons you hear, how many blogs you read, how many times you are reminded to remember the true “reason of the season”, I am amazed at how easy it is to focus more on the traditions and commercialism of the season. But today, the tree is up, the gifts are bought, work is done and social obligations are complete and so I have some time to actually reflect on why as Christians we celebrate on this holiday.

Christmas tells the story of the incarnation, what C.S. Lewis calls the “Grand Miracle”. The incarnation is God taking on flesh as a man in the person of Jesus – both fully God and fully man. It tells of how through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we are reconciled and come into deep fellowship with God.

The incarnation is important because Jesus showed us how to live through his life. God created humanity and it was good, but since the fall humanity has been corrupted with sin. We are inclined to do that which is not pleasing to God, and seek after lovers other than himself. Jesus, more than just telling us to be moral and to do good, came to earth in a particular culture and time (as a first century Jew), and showed us what it means to love fellow mankind, how to be compassionate for the needy, and ultimately how we are to glorify the Father. He was humanity in its most pure form.

But Jesus came not only to live. He also came to die and be raised to a new life. Millard Erickson tells us the incarnation is also important because it deals with our salvation, and it was necessary that Jesus be both man and deity:

“The human problem is the gap between us and God…a spiritual and moral gap between the two, a gap created by humans’ sin. Humans cannot by their own moral effort counter their sin in order to elevate themselves to the level of God. If there is to be fellowship between the two, they have to be united in some other way. This, it is traditionally understood, has been accomplished by the incarnation, in which deity and humanity were united in one person. If, however, Jesus was not really one of us, humanity has not been united with deity and we cannot be saved. For the validity of the work accomplished in Christ’s death, or at least its applicability to us as human beings, depends upon the reality of his humanity, just as its efficacy depends up the genuineness of his deity.”
(Christian Theology, p.722, emphasis added)

It was only through Jesus being both God and man that we can have fellowship with the Father. If Jesus were only one or the other we would not have been able to approach the throne of grace. The incarnation, therefore, should shape how we view ourselves, the world and God. Leslie Newbigin says, “the twin dogmas of Incarnation and Trinity form the starting point for a way of understanding reality as a whole” (Foolishness to the Greeks, p.90 – for more on how the Trinity plays into the Christmas story, check out the great three-part sermon series starting on 12/9 at Christ Community Church: here). Indeed, may we this Christmas see our understanding of reality shaped through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and in the friendship we have with God made possible through the Incarnation!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

After an incredidbly warm fall, it appears the weather is making up for loss time. The weather had definitely turned cold for good, and we've received our share of snow (I've heard totals around 25in., making this winter season's snow totals more than all of last year - and it's just finally officially winter!) All good preparation for snowboard season. The snow was sitting on the trees the last few days, which have made for a few beautiful days here in Boston.

View of our street

Jaimaica Pond

Ducks and geese searching for food. Or just having a big party.

The Jamaica Pond boat house.

Today is Katie's last overnight call, and she is officially off for 120hrs starting at 7am tomorrow! We are looking forward to heading to NJ to see family and friends and to celebrate Christmas with them.

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

O Tannenbaum

2007-12-11T20:38:00.000-05:00

Christmas season has arrived here in Boston. Our apartment is decorated with Christmas decorations including as big a tree as we could fit in our apartment (which unfortunately isn't very big!) and Christmas music is playing non-stop in the Cahill household. Here's a picture of our fine tree:

Other than the busyness that comes with the season, not much new here in Boston. Katie is in the middle of a rotation working in the intensive care unit. Fortunately, December 22nd marks her last over-night call (30-hour shift) ever. Well... at least until 2nd year! Last night I finished up my class on the Theology of the Pentateuch (Pentateuch= first 5 books of the Bible). We almost made it all the way through the Pentateuch, just didn't get to the last 4 books and 75% of the first book. Yup, blazing fast we moved through the first 12 chapters of Genesis! It was an excellent class which I really enjoyed and learned alot. But now that the class is over, I'm looking forward to getting to my growing book list!

If you are interested in the cliff-notes summary of our year, here is the Christmas letter that Katie put together for us: here

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T10:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Katie and I are taking in our first thanksgiving here in Boston, and it's turning out to be a warm one! I've been getting some stuff done around the apartment (and taking in a little football, of course!) and Katie has been... sleeping. She had her first of 5 overnight shifts last night, so she is recovering. She is definitely tired! (I can tell because she just slept through a football game across the street where the play-by-play and crowd blare clearly through out bedroom windows). Later this afternoon we'll go enjoy a nice thanksgiving dinner with some friends here before Katie heads back to the hospital. In addition to today's meal, we had an early thanksgiving dinner this last weekend while we were home in NJ. It was excellent!

Mom working on the finishing touches of the meal.

Dad performing his turkey-cutting duties.

Mmmmmmmmm...

A family picture (thanks for taking the picture Ryan!)

Our big news from the trip to NJ was the retirement of our Maxima. After 153,000 miles it was time for a purchase of a vehicle that we knew would be reliable for the coming years ahead. And what is more reliable than a Toyota? We headed to Lawrence Toyota to visit Ken, Katie's cousin, where everyone was very helpful!

Katie's last picture with the maxima. She's in mourning. It might be hard to tell with the huge smile, but it must be just a coping mechanism...

And the new car is... a 2003 Toyota Camry!

The Camry and Maxima meet.

The new Camry.

The fall foliage season has officially ended (according to the Foliage Network, and what's more official than that?), but ironically, we saw our best foliage of the year down in central Jersey last weekend. Quite brilliant colors on our drive - it was great!

Katie in Titusville.

While we were there we were able to visit Christ Community for the first time in almost 6 months. It was really good seeing old friends. Hard to believe it's been six months already! We do miss our friends and family, but fortunately we are at least at a place we are really enjoying. God has blessed us with good jobs, good church and good new friends. We truly to have a lot to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day!

The Theology of Sermon Design

2007-11-18T22:07:00.000-05:00

An excerpt from Dad's book is now online here.

Boston News

2007-11-16T12:27:00.001-05:00

We had a pleasant visit from Jill last weekend. Both Katie and Jill are on ambulatory (which translates into almost normal work hours!), so Jill made the journey north for her first tour of Boston. Of course, no first visit is complete without a trip along the freedom trail.

At first glance, it may appear Jill and Katie are in Alaska, but no, it is indeed Boston, in front of the Paul Revere house.

Katie and I in front of the Old North Church.

Unfortunately along the trail, Katie slipped and fell. Being the great husband I am, I quickly ran to her, knelt down next to her, and took pictures.

She's down!

But she's OK!

Could be a long winter, once there is actually ice on the ground! Maybe someone will get a nice pair of cleats for Christmas :)

The previous week we grabbed some lunch with Josh and Mandy who were in town visiting with Timo and Theresa. We got our first chance to meet the new addition to Josh and Mandy's family - Micah, and he is a cute one!

A nice day in Cambridge.

The view of Boston from the Mass Ave. bridge.

And today, it’s a quick trip back to NJ for the weekend to see friends, fam and an early thanksgiving dinner! Mmmmm!

Travels

2007-11-01T19:03:00.000-04:00

It’s been a while since we blogged and an update is long overdue. The highlight of the last few weeks is that Katie had a week of vacation and I was able to take a few days off work and we were able to get away and relax for a little while. The vacation coincided nicely with our second wedding anniversary (amazing how time flies!). Well almost nicely, I had my mid-term for my class that night, but the following night we headed down to Newport. We got a great deal on a hotel through Priceline (although not as good as the $25/night at “church camp” the year before). The rain held off and we had a nice day to journey along the Cliff Walk and to go to the Vanderbilt’s mansion – The Breakers. The place was amazing, like a European Palace. For food we had a record of 2-1-1. 2 great places, 1 terrible and one OK. The OK place was a Paris Crêperie. The coffee and atmosphere was great, but crepes not so much (especially compared to our crêperie here in Brookline!). Dinner was terrible. I ordered linguini with meatballs and sausage. Who knew it was possible to go so wrong! Every part was bad, right down to the mushy-hot-dog-like sausage. The good news is it was so bad I ended up not eating much and saving room for a great chocolate fondue dessert down the street. After Newport we headed to New Haven to visit Nick and Beth and then Jill. It was great seeing them all, and with Jill we had dinner in the Italian district which redeemed the dinner from the night before! The rest of the week we spent in NJ enjoying good times with family and friends over meals, coffee and the such. We headed back Sunday morning (through rather disappointing foliage) and was back in time for the afternoon service at our church to see our new pastor the Reverend Michael Keller ordained and to hear his father give an excellent sermon on the “secret” to successful ministry – a humble and broken spirit.

Some pics:

That's a half smile by me. Happy to be on vacation, but how can you mess up linguini!

Us on the Cliff Walk

View from the Cliff Walk

Enjoying year two!

Aunt Katie and Jillian

Hanging with the fam on the Delaware

So that’s a snap shot of our time away. Katie is entering probably the best month of the year right now with all weekends off until (and including) the weekend before thanksgiving. She’s enjoying the more relaxed schedule – even taking knitting back up! Our neighborhood was hopping yesterday with trick-or-treaters, marking the opening of the two-month eating season! Speaking of, I think it's time for me go grab a chocolate chip cookie (it's great having Katie's schedule a little more free!!)...

Work and Fun

2007-10-08T18:37:00.000-04:00

Monday night is usually my class night, but since GCTS is apparently so patriotic (or just enjoys a day off) I have a "reading night" for Columbus Day. Katie is (of course) at the hospital tonight. Been a rough stretch she's going through, but finally there is a small light at the end of the tunnel - vacation in 2 weeks! We are looking forward to getting away for our anniversary for a little bit and heading back to NJ to see family and friends.

Last night, some of Katie's family was in town - Ken, Michelle, Mike and Kyle - so that Mike could visit Emerson as he's looking into different theatre programs. He's crazy talented, so keep an eye out for him a few years down the road! You won't guess this, but Katie unfortunately was working again! But she let them know that they could "settle" for me, so they were kind enough to take me out to dinner on top of the Prudential Center at the Top of the Hub for some great food and a great view (as can be seen in the below pics):

John Hancock tower and downtown Boston

Mike, Ken, myself, Michelle and Kyle

Other than that, not much to report. We're making the most of the time Katie is out of the hospital exploring the local parks, eating some good food (Katie has discovered she has a love for sushi recently!) and getting to know more friends at the church and in Katie's residency program. One note: yesterday we were walking down the street and we went into a local shop which was filled with Christmas decorations already! Earlier and earlier each year...

What's blowing in the wind?

2007-09-29T12:09:00.000-04:00

Tony Stiff has a thought-provoking post he's written at the 'Conn'-versation blog. It's an article entitled: "Mere-catholicity: What’s blowing in the wind?" It's somewhat academic in nature, so won't be everyone's cup of tea, yet very practical and pertinent so some will be sure to find it interesting. He concludes the article by saying:

Is it possible to promote a ‘safe-space’ for theological conversation carried out in the spirit of mere-catholicity in our churches without opening the door to either cultural accommodation or theological compromise? A ‘safe-space’ conversation where the missional labors of the emerging leaders of our churches will not be suspiciously scrutinized for their lack of confessional literacy or appeal; where questions marks are placed on their epistemic accommodations before they speak; and inquiries are manufactured by ecclesial tribunals to explore their assumed narratival neurosis’s? I believe so, but it’s not enough to raise the question of, can change be welcomed.

These younger emerging pastors must ask themselves can their inherited or adopted tradition be maintained thoughtfully and honestly as they seek to be faithful to their Post-Christian contexts. Will they abandon the classics for ‘chick-tract’ theologically shaped innovations, while stepping over the bodies of their father’s polemical labors in estrangement to the dangers their father’s felt, only to stock up on the collapsible IKEA social conventions of their times? Will they ignore the Standards of old Tradition, only to find themselves’ putting on a false sense of relevancy, a Standard of their new Missional proclivities out of conversation with the past? I believe they can absolve themselves from this, that mere-catholicity as a way of maintaining community actually governs them away from this sort of reaction.

There is a way out of this dilemma but it will require the “long obedience” of discipleship modeled by men like Eugene Peterson; a bold, daring, and risk-taking obedience – a humble obedience. These times require a theology that abides in contextual conversation with these emerging pastors Post-Christian setting, as well as a theology that is in chastened-agreement with Westminster Standards. What would such a theology be called, well how about Conversational Confessionalism: A vintage thread for a post-everything times. Where the very curvature of these emerging pastors convictions provoke interest, intrigue, and imagination in the minds and cultural landscapes of their neighbors; while the threading retains the fibers of vigor and truth, the Westminster Standards were meant to cloth them with…

Community

2007-09-29T11:22:00.000-04:00

Beautiful fall day here in Boston! I've been fortunate to have a nice relaxing morning with a good cup of ethiopian coffee and some excellent reading. Unfortunately, Katie hasn't had the same. She is on an elective week, which is supposed to be a great week working Monday to Friday, 9-5pm and weekends off. However, a stroke of unfortunate circumstances with some of her classmates has resulted in her filling in on a late call on Thursday and a working a 12hr shift in the bone marrow transplant floor today. We had plans to go hiking with friends today and then have a couple couples over for dinner from our community group. We're making the best of it though - we plan to hike tomorrow and we are still going to have our friends over for dinner - just now I'm cooking! Yikes! We'll see how that goes. Should be a fun time of community though.

Speaking of community (a smooth transition, I know), that is something I've been thinking about some recently, especially how fortunate Katie and I are to have been gifted with such great Christian community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in "Life Together" speaking of Christian Community:

It is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot by those who have the gift every day. It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God's grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.

Through Christ, in community we have a spiritual reality in which we can experience encouragement and joy, hear the Word of God shared and see the Word lived out. John Piper in a recent Q&A also brought out the point that in community we have our identity shaped and our gifts developed and affirmed. He says:

My identity arose in community. You can’t go out into the woods and figure out who you are. It is just totally ambiguous. So you stay in the church and you love people and you do what you love to do and suddenly you start to discover who you are - in community.

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" Psalm 133:1

Two if by sea

2007-09-24T19:02:00.000-04:00

As the famous poem about Paul Revere's midnight ride goes:

one if by land, two if by sea

we would have had to hang two lights from the Old North Church Tower (if you are not following me here, you need to review your American Revolutionary history) to welcome Jon's parents and sister, Megan. They were able to arrange a cruise out of NYC to Nova Scotia and New Foundland that had a port day in Boston that coincided with my day off - truly monumentous as my schedule seems to maximize the social engagements that I have to miss due to being on-call!

Although their visit was brief, we took advantage of the 80 degree September sunshine and toured the city via the famous Boston Duck Tours, which take full advantage of the WWII amphibious craft and include a ride on the Charles River.

Here we are in the reflection of the Handcock building. If you zoom in, you might just pick out Jon leaning over the side to snag this photo!

After a brief stop at our apartment and dinner at a nearby Belgian Pub which is quickly becoming one of our favorites, it was back to the ship for the seafarers and off to Maine.

Meanwhile, Jon and I are enjoying what has been billed as the best season in Boston! Warm sunny days and cool nights and just the hint of color change on the leaves has marked our first experience of fall in New England. Jon is hundreds of pages of reading deep into his course on the Pentatuch and I am enjoying a week of elective(aka a normal 40 hour work week, which explains why I'm updating you) sandwiched between my last four weeks in the medical intensive care unit and my three week tour in the emergency department.

Autumn Nears

2007-09-09T20:06:00.000-04:00

With yesterday's 90º+ day, it might not seem like fall is arriving, but signs are pointing that it truly is on the horizon. People have different signs that tip them off to the changing of season - maybe it's Labor Day passing, the beginning of School, the start of the NFL season or possibly its your calendar showing the fall equinox on September 23rd. Not for me. For me, it's when the first update appears on the Foliage Network! Yesterday was that day. Been a bit of a dry summer here in Boston, so hopefully we'll get some rain here in September and have some great foliage here for our first New England fall.

Yesterday Katie and I headed into downton Boston so we could visit the Farmer's Market at Haymarket. There were a ton of vendors setup and really great prices. We'd heard that indeed there would be cheap prices, but that you had to be ready to eat the fruit and vegetables within a couple days or it goes bad. Most of what we got (including possibly the world's largest avocado) actually looked pretty good though, we'll see how it looks in the next couple days!

Katie looking for a deal

The Market

I close with a quote from a book I just finished titled "When Sinners Say 'I Do' " by Dave Harvey:

"But sinners who say "I do" have a different road to travel (that is the road of unmet needs focused on me, me and more me). It is the road of astonishing, undeserved grace - a grace so remarkable that is shows us the problem and then delivers the solution. Have you ever been on a scenic drive so beautiful that it was hard to keep your head from spinning from one vista to the next? The road of undeserved grace is like that. It is distractingly beautiful, because all of our true needs are met in breathtaking array in Christ."

Back to School Time

2007-09-03T18:02:00.000-04:00

Back to School time has arrived as can be seen by the stream of students that are returning to the city. It was a good weekend for UHaul, and a bad weekend for driving (as we found out Sunday morning on the way to church)!

Been a while since our last post and as usual, we've been keeping busy and trying to make the most of the last of this great weather! Although, last weekend when Sarah and Ryan visited, it wasn't so nice, but scorching hot and humid! We still managed to make the obligatory Freedom Trail tour:

Saturday evening we took a 2+hr trip to western Mass to Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. We saw John Williams direct the Boston Pops in their annual Film Night. We had lawn seats and got there early with some from our community group so we could have a nice picnic dinner. A lot of fun was had by all. It was good having Sarah and Ryan, and hopefully next time they can stay a little longer (I think they felt they almost spent more time on the bus than here in Boston!)

Dinner on the lawn.

The Boston Pops (fortunately they had some screens so could see what was going on!)

Katis has started back on a rotation that is Q3 overnight (translation: every third day she has to pull a 30hr shift). They are often rough days, but the good news is we often have more time on her non-call days in the evening. The bad news is the other days she doesn't come home (like today!). On a side note, Megan is having her first Q3 weeks of many to come! Her and Katie will be able to empathize with one another.

I spent a couple days last week down south visiting a coal power plant. They are amazing structures - so intricate and jumongous (somewhere between jumbo and humungous). On my interview day, their was one part of the job they failed to mention. Silos. Large silos (to hold ash). Very tall silos. Silos they want me to climb. The first site we went to had a 130foot silo. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about climbing to that height. Fortunately, to my surprise this silo had an elevator (although if the sketchy elevator had stopped - which I heard it did the week before - I would have quickly wish we took the stairs!). When we got to the top we had only one flight of stairs to climb. As I climbed them, I quickly came to the conclusion, that I like dirt a whole lot better than standing on gratings 130feet in the air. The following day, we visited a site that had a silo a 'mere' 100feet high. Unfortunately, no elevator. Just stairs, made of grating so we could look straight down and a handrail on either side. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it all the way up, but somehow I did! And in hindsight, it wasn't that bad, so hopefully a few more trips and I will feel a little more comfortable. Until maybe we get to the 180feet silos, that could be another story...

The "short" silo.

We did have a nice view once we got to the top though!

So, that's a little what has been going on here. We hope all is well with you back home and around!

Christmas in August?

2007-08-21T21:16:00.000-04:00

For all of you sitting at home brainstorming about what you will get me (Jon) for Christmas, I am here to whisp your worries away, for I have just the gift. The "Bibliochaise"...

Have you ever seen something more beautiful before? Apparently, Katie has. She keeps saying "It's ugly. Plain ugly." I have no idea what she is talking about. More pics (including an ottoman!) here: http://www.nobodyandco.it/sito/images/gallerybiblio/gallery.html

(HT: Sets 'n' Service)

In other news, Katie is in the middle of the roughest stretch probably since she's started intern year. She's in the middle of 12 straight day of working, including a nice 19 hour day Saturday. Three days more until a day off!

While she was struggling through those 19 hours, I had the rare opportunity to meet up with some old friends from Rutgers - many whom I haven't seen in years. 6 of us from our freshman dorm floor happened to all be here on Saturday, so we had a nice time going to dinner (some awesome Thai food), playing some Nintendo Wii and hanging out.

The Rutgers Metzger 3 crew (with a couple friends).

Medical Ethics

2007-08-13T21:28:00.000-04:00

CNN had an interesting article yesterday called "Death and Dying: When is it time to let go?" The article claims that "End-of-life issues top the list of medical ethical dilemmas", and in the short 8 weeks that Katie has been in the hospital, she has found this question to definitely be the most difficult and most controversial one.

Coincidentally, Times interviewed Billy Graham last week in the wake of his wife Ruth's passing. The article had this to say:

We asked him whether, with all our advanced medical technology, we perhaps fear death and fight it too much. "I think we often do," he said. "I'm convinced that in some cases we aren't so much prolonging life but prolonging death." Over his long life he has endured some serious medical crises; he now has Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer and a shunt to drain excess water from his brain. "I'm thankful for the incredible advances in medicine that have taken place during my lifetime. I almost certainly wouldn't still be here if it weren't for them," he says. "And I believe God has given them to us because he loves us and wants what is best for us, both in this life and the next. But death is a reality common to us all, and for me as a Christian it isn't something to be feared, because I know what lies ahead for me beyond the grave."

We thank God that he has placed Katie where she is and the opportunities that she has had and will have to encourage and comfort those in their last days as well as the families there with their loved ones. Pray that she will have the knowledge of how to best encourage those in these tough times and the wisdom for the difficult decisions ahead.

Visitors

2007-08-11T11:19:00.000-04:00

We had a busy last few days here in Boston, but they were excellent with the privilege of having a number of guests visit (Katie is a great host!). As mentioned in the last post, Katie's roommate Amy from college visited with her boyfriend Andrew.

They had a layover in Boston on their return flight from South Africa (via Madrid) with a final destination of Montana. There were in South Africa doing ministry as part of a requirement for Andrew who is finishing his MDiv at Asbury Seminary in Orlando and by partnering with YWAM. They shared with us some of their adventures and stories which we know were just scratching the surface of their experience.

Amy showing off her "I love Jesus" hat - a gift from someone in South Africa.

Thursday night we had a couple (Aaron and Susan) over from the community group we've been attending (part of CityLife, the church we are going to). It was a very smart group, between the four of us we averaged one doctorate per person (Katie and Susan have MDs and Aaron has a MD and PhD. I (Jon) asked him if I could have one, it seemed most fair. But, apparently things don't work that way). One of the greatest parts of being involved with CityLife is the large number there in the medical field. Our community group alone has at least 7 MDs in various stages of their career. It is a great encouragement for Katie going through intern year knowing other interns who are Christians as well as those who have made it to the light and are on the other side of residency (not to mention an encouragement for Jon knowing spouses going through or have made it through their husband/wife's residency)!

And that's the Boston Buzz.

Virtual Tour

2007-08-07T20:47:00.000-04:00

Today we thought we'd give everyone a brief virtual tour of our humble abode. We started to do a little cleaning today in anticipation of some visitors tomorrow. A good college friend of Katie's will be in town tomorrow after being in Africa for two months on a mission trip with her boyfriend. We are excited to see them and hear about their experiences!

But back to our apartment... We're living in a third floor apartment in a 105 year old victorian house above our landlords. The windows at the top of the below picture is our place.

We have a little bit of a weird situation. We have to go through our landlords house in order to get to our apartment. Therefore, we enter the back pictured here, and go through the door in the center.

Upon entering our apartment, to the left at the top of the stairs we enter our kitchen. It's a fine example of a 1950's era kitchen. Unfortunately, there are no modern menities such as temperature settings on the stove, but Katie somehow still produces delicious meals!

Where is the refridgerator you ask? Well, one would have to go out into the hallway for that. In the below picture looking from the kitchen you can see the fridge on the right, the bathroom on the left, and at the end of the hallway, taking a right leads to our bedroom and living room.

The bathroom:

And bedroom:

And here we are back in the hallway, looking at the same corner from the opposite side.

Turning about-face we come to the living room:

The best part of the apartment, our new chair and ottoman!

And finally, a view into our study...

And that brings us to the end of this virtual tour. Incredibly exciting, I know. That's all for today from here in Almost Boston!

Boston Escapades Part Two

2007-08-05T20:10:00.000-04:00

After Mom and Dad left, our "vacation" was coming to a close and the start of residency was on the horizon for Katie. Fortunately, Beth Israel Deaconess eased Katie into the process with orientation and a few outings which they were even so kind enough to allow spouses to join. The first of the outings was a dinner cruise on the Boston Harbor.

Boston Skyline at dusk.

We were given one last day off before Katie started her intern year, so we took the opportunity to head north to Hampton Beach to visit Mark and Jocelyn Scott who were there helping run a summer project for Campus Crusade college students. We spent the morning picking strawberries with the Scotts and spent the afternoon catching some rays on the beach.

Turned out we were there during the annual sand sculpting competition.

Enjoying one last relaxing day!

After the trip, Katie jumped into her internship with seven straight days of work followed by a 93+ hour work week! She is still recovering...

In the midst of the craziness we are still finding opportunitites to have fun (and remain sane). This has been helped with some visitors from home, the first being the Cruz's. Adventures included the Sam Adams brewery, a trip to Cambridge, a stop for dinner and jazz at the top of the Prudential Center and of course... the Freedom Trail (notice a theme with visitors).

Katie and Jon with John Harvard on campus

Our final visitors for July from NJ were Katie's sister and family (Tara, Dave, Savannah, Alexander and Jillian). This time we did the tail end of the Freedom Trail with a visit to the USS Constitution. The kids were ready to take 'ol Iron Side out to sea.

The kids scouting the seas for any signs of pirates...

Jillian and Aunt Katie ready to head out to sea.

Apparently the Navy said something about the Constitution being 210 years old and not for pleasure cruises, so we had to settle for the ferry across the harbor.

Boston skyline at daytime.

Savannah and Aunt Katie, the catch of the day.

July finished with a mini-Pepperdine reunion at Quincy Market where Katie got to meet up with some old friends.

Kelly (visiting from exciting Salt Lake City), Katie and Theresa (a Boston native)

So been an exciting first few weeks here in Boston. In addition to our fun with our visitors we've been enjoying the awesome food, making friends and taking advantage of the great weather we've had so far (as seen in the below pictures taken at the Esplande).

Katie enjoying some much needed rest!

So that's a few snapshots from Boston! Back to work...

Welcome to Boston

2007-08-04T21:37:00.000-04:00

After being here in Boston for 8 weeks, we decided it would be nice to keep everyone back home and around up to date on what's happening in our world. It's been a great first few weeks with visits from friends and family and both of us settling into our new home. Here is a whirl-wind tour of our first few adventures.

Moving Day! Dave was very gracious after moving two 20' trucks of a persons house on Saturday to help us move on Sunday, then drive to Boston and help us unpack on Monday (we probably should have mentioned that we live on the third floor of an old victorian house before hand). Here we are on a post-move tour of the city at a stop on the Freedom Trail.

Our first visitors to our apartment after the move were Katie's mom and dad. It was a fun few days with a dinner in the North End (aka Little Italy), a tour along the Freedom Trail, a trip on the historical swan boats and of course a stop at the local cemetary - Mount Auburn Cemetary.

Mom and Dad on a cool Boston day at Paul Revere's final resting spot.

Mom and Dad before impressively doing a job on their seafood platter.

View of Boston from Mount Auburn Cemetary.

Katie and Jon having some fun at the cemetary.

In front of a momument of George Washington in the Public Gardens.

Katie and Jon in Boston Commons with the New State House in the distance.

The Swan Boats.

OK, so this blogging thing takes longer than expected. Further posts to come!