“I think I just threw up a little in my mouth . . . “

This Wednesday, Holly’s rank list is due. For those who are unsure of exactly what on Earth that means, let me clarify it for you. In November, Holly went to a bunch of interviews at different Pediatric Hospitals around the country. At this time, she now must turn in a list ranking her preferences from top to bottom. At this exact same moment, these different pediatric residency programs are making their own “rank lists” of the various med students who have interviewed at their programs. Both the students and the schools then submit their lists to a central processing system, that then “matches” up students with programs according to the two lists.

For example: Say Student A ranks IU first. IU ranks Student A near the bottom on their list. They will most likely not match. Student A ranks U. of Chicago second on their list. Student A is ranked near the top of U. of Chicago’s list. Student A, despite ranking IU first, is heading to U. of Chicago.

With that said, despite the deadline being Wednesday, Holly went ahead and submitted her list today. The fear of something messing up and the system and getting stuck made Holly decide to go ahead and just do it. Before you ask, I will NOT be saying what she ranked. I will say that, as most of you know, it came down to a battle between Cincinnati, OH (Children Memorial at the University of Cincinnati), and Nashville, TN (Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University), with Riley’s Children’s Hospital (IU) as the wild-card third horse.

This was without a doubt the biggest, most far reaching decision we’ve had to make in our two and a half years of marriage. This decision will put us in a new city, and keep us in that new city for at least three years, if not six (depending on whether Holly goes on to do her cardiac fellowship there or not). It was just a gutwrenching decision, and having to make it left us both exhausted, as it has dominated all thought for many weeks now.

In the end, we said a simple five-minute prayer together, and then Holly submitted the list. On March 19th, I’ll reveal to the world (along with Holly) where the Heaton’s will be living together in 2010!

Other bits:

• Last weekend was College Night weekend. It warms my heart every single time. I dread the day when I’m too old and it would thus be lame to go out and do “Rooster”. It was, great as always, though, to see the side give it it’s best shot. Even though I’ve reached the point where I no longer really know any of the current side members, a Gold’s a Gold.
• The College Night weekend, though, would have been nothing without all of our amazing friends. I say “our”, because I truly feel like Holly has made my friends her as well at this point. Michael and Brandi, Reagan and Meg, Ashlee, JT, Drew, Andy and Mary Beth, Aaron and Martha, Mitchell, Caroline and Bake, Steph and Allen, Bianchi and Blake, Richie and Kathy (and baby!), Chris and KellyBo . . . the list goes on. I love you all, and there will always be a chunk of my heart in the Heart of Dixie.
• The Tiger’s first Spring training game is only two days away. There is nothing that beats the smell of a freshly cut diamond on a dewey Saturday morning. I can’t wait for the day when I’m heading out every weekend to coach my child’s little league team.
• So, I guess I should check out “Slumdog Millionaire”, huh? Seems to have peaked the eye of a good number of the Oscar voters. “Benjamin Button” . . . I think I’ll stay away.
• I miss the rains down in Africa. Not the mud, though. Just the rains And the Tusker.

One love to you all. Holla

Is this the “Change” you signed up for?

The past few days have been quite the trying times for the Obama Administration. It all started last week with his recommendation for the Treasury spot, Geithner, was bogged down by tax issues before ultimately being approved. Then, Daschle started to bob and weave about his own tax problems, revealing that he had failed to pay over $100,000 in taxes. The final whammy came when both Daschle and Nancy Killefer had to withdraw their nominations to administration spots because of tax issues.

Now is Obama to blame for their sins? No, he obviously did not know about these issues, and probably would not have nominated them in the first place if he had. The question, though, is why did he continue to defend them? Why did he continue to stand by them? For an administration that railed about “honesty”, “Integrity”, and a new style of politics for the last year and a half, didn’t these issues immediately undercut the entire administrations efforts.  Doesn’t this send the message that, “Well, ok, you don’t HAVE to follow the letter of the law as long as you have the right background to make a solid contribution to my efforts.”

This is not to say that no one makes mistakes, and I’m not even alleging that these might not have been “honest” tax mistakes. Lord knows that the Tax Code is immensely confusing. But it’s not as if these are problems or mistakes committed years ago by these nominees. These are immediate. They are current mistakes. If they though there might have even been a slight question or problem with their taxes, why didn’t they have someone double or triple check it?

On the flip side of all this, President Obama has now unveiled his plan for compensatory caps. $500,000 is the maximum that an executive will be allowed to make if their company has received a bailout from the government. The capitalist inside me cringes – but you know what, if your company “has” to have government bailout money, then it’s probably justified. I think, though, it will result in companies who didn’t need the money to survive (but probably would have taken it to possibly loosen their lending practices) from taking money like this in the future.  If companies like this stop taking money, lending practices will take that much longer to resume to normal. So . . . is this the best way to enact market corrections?

• We’re are only about a week away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring training. Baseball, return to my life! I need you! College basketball, NBA, and NHL aren’t getting the job done.
• Next week is College Night. Nothing is like it, and I’m completely ready for it.
• Just about three weeks to go till Holly turns in her rank list. ZOINKS!
• In the last few weeks, I’ve seen previews for both “Wolverine” and “G.I. Joe”. This summer will be scrumtrulescent at the theatres.

One love . . . Holla.