Thanksgiving and IPOS

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but between work and travel I've been pretty wiped lately. Here's a small sample of what's been going on:

1. Went home for Thanksgiving for a great weekend with the family. My parents usually go to my in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner since we don't have much family in town, so Darren and I don't have to run between houses all day. We played the first annual game of Brey family flag football; hopefully it will get better when the boys get a little older. Laura also had her baby shower on Sunday. I cannot believe that my little baby sister is about to be a baby mama (can't wait!). We also caught up with old friends that we haven't seen in a while. By the way, $10 redbull and vodkas are a fraud.

2. After being back in Philly for about all of 18 hours, I flew out again, this time to the International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium in Orlando, FL. I had won a scholarship to attend the conference along with two of my ortho friends from other residency programs. I also got to know a third resident who has so much in common with me it's scary. She's another resident in town and one of my newest facebook friends!

As for the conference, it was a great opportunity to learn more about Peds Ortho and get to know some of the big names in the field. It's actually one of the smallest branches of orthopaedics, so most people know each other pretty well. Here's an example of one of my encounters. Do demonstrate how big the names of the guys involved are, I'll use NBA references. To set the scene, I had arrived in Orlando fairly early on Tuesday, and most of my friends were supposed to arrive fairly late that night. So, I sat at the hotel bar to watch some basketball, drink a beer, and eat some nachos. As I am eating said nachos, Dwyane Wade walks by. I call out and say, "Hey Mr. Wade, I met you a couple of weeks ago when I interviewed to join the Heat organization. Want some nachos?" So Dwyane sits down and starts eating nachos. A few minutes later, Kobe Bryant walks by and starts eating nachos as well. Finally, LeBron James comes and joins the pary as well. Weird.

AM, M, and I also snuck out of conference a little early one day to visit Disney World. I have never been during Christmas season, and I must say that the parks were actually very pretty. We got to do a few of the rides and watch the fireworks just before closing. The rest of the week we hung around with some of the residents from different programs around the country. Again, peds ortho is a small community, so I will probably work with these guys for many decades to come. It's good to know that there are really good people going into this field.

3. A lot is going on at home as well. I've hardly been home the past few weeks, and then as soon as I got home I was on call the next day. I'm so ready for a change of location at work. It seems that all I do is read and make presentations and I really feel the need to get some of my personal life back. My dog barely recognizes me anymore.

4. Happy 1st anniversary to Washed Up!