Practically Perfect in Every Way

Last night we saw Mary Poppins downtown. It is nice to be in a big city that gets hit on all the major Broadway tours regularly. The Performing Arts Complex is so cool! Apparently it's the second-largest arts complex in the country, second only to the Lincoln Center in New York.

Before the show, our friends took us to this trendy Mexican restaurant with $1 tacos on Tuesdays. So dinner was pretty cheap, which was nice. We got $25 dollars off our seats from a deal on the Denver Performing Arts e-mails I have been getting since Wicked. So we splurged and got better seats than we would otherwise have been willing to purchase and it was great! We were about 2/3 of the way back on the lowest level very near the center.

Mary had a good voice, but Chrissy thought they should have turned up her mic a little. Bert pretty much stole the show, with a great voice and a fantastic character. I also like Mrs. Banks quite a bit. There were many magical things including the hat-rack, plant, etc. being pulled out of a carpet bag, flying Mary Poppins, and an upside-down tap-dance on the roof during Chim-Chimeree. Overall I thought the stage adaptation was very good, though there were a few things I would have done differently. Most notably, the dancing penguins in "It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary" have been replaced with dancing marble nude statues, complete with marble-colored unitards, drawn-on muscles and attached fig leaves. It was pretty weird...I much prefer the penguins.

They definitely tried to infuse a message into the songs that in the movie were just for fun...or maybe I'm just more mature now. Chim-chimeree was all about enduring hard times and being happy in spite of your troubles. Feed the birds was a powerful moment in the play with a strong message of giving and seeing beyond outward appearances. Also, I really got into the character of Mr. Banks since I am starting a family and will have to learn to balance career pressures with family. I need to remember to take time to "go fly a kite" with my kids. I think the fact that I went to see a show two nights before three consecutive tests is a good start. Now back to studying!

Midsemester Update

We haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would just give a general update on how things are going.

Today we have our final ultrasound before the baby comes. It's supposed to check his position, which is funny because he's getting so big you can pretty much feel exactly where he is and how he's positioned. I won't complain though--ultrasounds are pretty fun. We painted the nursery last weekend. We took little sample cards from Home Depot to Baby's R Us to match the paint to the comforter and crib we have picked out. Coincidentally, the shade we picked is called "Sweet Baby Boy." It looks great. Now we just need to cover up/scrape off a few stray drops on the baseboards. Christina is getting bigger, but really not swelling much. She is a very cute pregnant lady. :-)

The campus a cappella group, the Arrhythmias is progressing nicely. Christina does a great job and we have a lot of fun with that. We just found out the Donor Memorial Service we will be singing at will be outdoors which will pose some interesting challenges for us, but it should be fine. We are glad we have been able to get involved in this way doing something we love.

Our Whitacre concerts last week with Kantorei were fantastic. He is such a wonderful musician. His direction transformed our singing and made the combined choirs sound fantastic at the concert at DU. It also helped that we had a packed house full of very enthusiastic fans who cat-called and snapped photos all night of the young, fashionable composer. I think they liked the music too. :-)

Christina was just asked to conduct Stake Choir which is in two weeks. It's good she's so talented because she can pull that off, as long as people show up. I hope the word got out!

Travis the Trap and Penelope the Pitcher Plant are doing well, especially Penelope. They will have more carnivorous companions as soon as the seeds Chrissy's mom gave me for my birthday germinate. On Monday it will be three weeks since they were sown, so they could sprout any time in the next three weeks. We have a new pet plant, though this one is not carnivorous. Her name is Olivia the Orchid. I gave her to Chrissy for Valentine's Day. She is doing well, but I am worried we are not giving her what she needs. We bought a whole book on orchids and some special fertilizer so we can hopefully keep her alive.

School is going well. Next week will be very busy with finals in both my med school classes and a take-home test for my graduate course. It is going to be crazy, but I am sure I will get through it. There have been new developments as far as my laboratory work goes. I have written before about a lab I was interested in, the Eltzschig lab. Last week we met and decided that since I was so serious about his lab, perhaps it would be better for me to rotate in his lab in Summer 2011 so I could have a seamless transition into my thesis work. So I began to hunt for a lab to rotate through this summer. The lab that was most attractive was Dr. Eltzschig's post-doc mentor's lab, the Colgan lab. After looking into it further, I am very excited about this lab too, since it connects old interests with new ones. I have an appointment to meet with Dr. Colgan next week. Both labs would be excellent choices, which is comforting. It will be nice to have options when I go to choose a thesis advisor.

Well, class is starting. Have a great week!