Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Announcing... Dr. John!
My brother, the brilliant and handsome John Boxberger, successfully defended his dissertation in Biomedical Engineering today. It has something to do with: "Altered and restored function after reduced nucleus pulposus glycosaminoglycan content in the rat lumbar invertebral disc." Which translates to: he's smarter than you. And me. And if you have a rat with back problems, he is the man to call.
This also marks the end of an era for my parents, who are suddenly facing the prospect of a world in which their children are no longer students. As my mother reminds us, John has been in school for 23 years. I made it 24 years. I think we are both done for a while!
Congratulations John!!!

Sunday, April 05, 2009

On Saturday morning Mariel, Noella and I went to an Easter Egg hunt sponsored by a local retirement home. It was pretty crowded and a little overwhelming for Mariel. Surprising, as she is rarely overwhelmed by anything. The Easter Bunny was definately too much for her- we made it to the front of the line twice, and both times she just stood there shaking her head and refusing to move. I guess it is reasonable to want to keep your distance from strange men dressed in bunny costumes. She had fun gathering eggs and enjoying her free ice cream from Serendipity.
With everything going on, we were all pretty worn out by Saturday night. So tired, in fact, that Mariel actually fell asleep curled up in her chair at dinner. I tried to carry her up to bed, but she remembered that we had gotten cake for Papa's last day with us and she woke up pretty quickly!