Food and drink

I checked a few things off my "to-do" list of things in/around Ann Arbor Saturday. This Saturday was the last of the German Park Public Picnics. There is a fairly authentic German biergarten about 15 minutes north of Ann Arbor that was founded in 1938 where they hold a public picnic on the last Saturday of each month of the summer. Doors open at 4pm and the gates close at 9pm with the "picnic" being over at 11pm. They serve buckets, yes, plastic buckets of bier, as well as fairly authentic German food.













The earlier part of Saturday also consistent of more food and drink with a trip to Slow's BBQ in Detroit. This is a fairly famous place in the area and has been featured in "Man vs Food" as well other food and BBQ shows and blogs. The meal was very tasty and worth the trip. It was, however, a bit sad to see how deserted Detroit has become. After a great BBQ meal, we headed over to the Eastern Market in Detroit. It is a huge open-air farmers market with tons more than just food. I did not really buy much, because I wasn't sure what to expect, but will definitely return and make some purchases. It was pretty amazing how cheap the produce it and all the speciality items that are at the market and in the surrounding stores.














Friday also had its fair share of, unexpected, food and drink. It all started with a tasting of the home-brew brought to the lab by a sales rep from whom we had recently purchased a $4k kit. The beer was pretty good, but I think we all enjoyed the names and labels of the beers a lot. The conference-room beer tasting rolled in to a pub-dinner at Ashley's, Sangria at Dominik's, snacks at Pizza House and a night cap a Bab's. All in all a good weekend!

Such a miracle

She is here, all ten fingers and ten toes, born at 9:29a on 08/20/10, 8lbs 7oz, 21" long. Right now she has to stay in nursery and has not been able to spend too much time with mom. When she was born her O2 was a little low that they were worried about her nursing and since her blood sugar was getting low as well, they had to give her IV glucose. They took an X-ray and blood work and found that that she might have an infection, although they think the sample was contaminated. Needless to say, she has to stay in the nursery for another 48h until the blood cultures come back negative for sure. Leslie is doing quite well with everything and Stuart said it would probably be a lot harder on both of them if this wasn't their third time around ;) So it looks like they will be coming home Monday.

Marissa and Allison did such a wonderful job and have been great through this whole thing. To must of our surprise, Allison is just utterly fascinated with the baby. While outside the nursery, she just stands on the ledge and stares asking for, "my baby." After Stuart took the girls in the nursery to see the baby, Allison could not stop talking about "my baby" and wanted to go back every time Stuart took someone new in. The first words out of her mouth this morning were, "where's my baby." I think instead of Leslie having to worry about Allison being jealous of the baby, she's going to be dealing with a "little mother"

I am so thankful that I was able to be here for such a wonderful occasion. I was not in the hospital myself, as when Marissa was born, or out of the state.

Welcome...

Baby Sherry #3 is on her way in just under 12 hours! I am so excited and grateful that I will be here (and not in the hospital or out-of-state). Pictures and details, like her name, to follow shortly.

Dr. Sherry...Dr. Christina...teach...um professor

I am just about half way through my first quarter as an adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Michigan and have a whole new level of respect and gratitude for all of the teachers I have had during my 21 years of schooling. Overall, I must admit it has been a bit more work that I had originally anticipated, mainly because the PowerPoints I received from the previous instructor needed a bit of work. The quiz and test material, thankfully, were right on target and only needed a tad bit of tweaking. Once I have this first quarter under-my-belt, I think (at least hope) the subsequent ones will be a bit easier. I hope to have time in the future to more of an effort in to the concept and depth of the material, as now, it can be a bit of a struggle to have the basics covered very week. There are a chapter or two that we don't have time to cover currently and I want to find away to integrate this material in throughout the quarter.

After 6 weeks, I'm still not 100% used Dr. Sherry, especially since probably half, if not more, of my class is older than me. Why this makes a difference to me, I'm not sure, but I'm getting used to it. The scores their first quiz were not great, but on par with previous classes. I think they realized this is a serious class and upped the studying for the next quiz and scores improved. Right now, the biggest struggle is figuring out what things they don't understand. Sometimes it is obvious the concept is not getting through, but without people asking questions/making comments, it is hard to determine what material they are struggling with.

My director has formally asked me to continue teaching, so I guess something is going right!

My check book hurts

Between getting a few needed items fixed on my car, mainly the wheel bearing and purchasing a new digital camera...my check book is starting to hurt a bit. I will have to put off the purchase of a new Droid Phone for a few months while it recovers. I am happy to report though that my gig moonlighting as an adjunct will sure help off-set the recent unforeseen expenses.

With that said, I am now the proud new owner of a new sliver Cannon SD 1300. I wish I would have had time to purchase it before heading the Chicagoland this weekend for Desiree's babyshower. Then I would have been able to post pictures of just how cute she is. At 7 months already, she looks closer to 4 or 5, with just cute little bump showing. They are having a boy, and they say boys sit low and to the back, and with her doctors approval that she is right on schedule...I'm sure baby-boy Lavin will be here, healthy in no time.

I needed to take the day off Friday before driving out there just to get errands done, and as with a lab job, "taking the day off" meant going in for an hour or so in the morning and then taking the rest of the day off. I was able to accomplish all on the list, hence the new knowledge of the pending automobile repair. I also picked up a few audio books for the drive. I listened to a few disks of "Beloved" but just couldn't get in to it and follow the story, so it was on to my next selection, "The Next Thing on My List." I liked it so much, I finished listening to it last night and today. In short, a June accidentally kills a stranger she is giving a ride home to from a Weight Watcher's meeting and finds this women, Marisa, has a list of things to do before her 25th birthday - just a year away. June spends the next year of her life trying to complete Marisa's list and, as to be expected goes through quite a life-changing experience. It was, all in all not to heavy of a story, although based on the death of a young women. It was well written and almost suspenseful, because there were a few items on the list that seemed fairy impossible.

Baby Sherry #3 will be here in less than 2 weeks!

# 851 on the list

Even though some days I feel that there are 850 things on my "To-Do" list, I have decided to add another and (attempt to) keep up with my blog.

After completing my first year as Dr. Sherry, I am starting to form a better idea of what I want to do when I grow-up. I am starting to make some moves towards achieving these goals/dreams.

I have recently purchased an electric piano and have been re-teaching myself to play. It has been a bit surprising how much I have forgotten and yet some pieces come back as if I just had a recital last week. If it is a bit of a trip down memory lane to see some of my former teacher's hand-written notes on the music. Right now I am just focusing on re-teaching myself to read music and play with both hands at the same time. I hope to find a teacher and take lessons in the fall.

I have also starting moon-lighting as an adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Michigan teaching nutrition to culinary arts students. We are four weeks in to the quarter and I am really enjoying this adventure. It has been a lot more work than I anticipated; however, I hope that after I get the lessons and planning down this first quarter that the subsequent quarters will be a bit easier. It is still a little strange to be regularly referred to as Dr. Sherry for 3 hours once a week, but I kind of like it ;) Plus, I think my head-chef really like calling me Dr. Sherry.

I do not have many pictures to post since I lost my camera in California earlier this spring, although I didn't really use it. Still a mystery to me; so I am taking suggestions on a replacement.