Seattle > Pittsburgh > Boston > Cincinnati

Literacy pays off! Who knew?

Seattle topped the list of 75 major cities across the US!  Sorry, Crystal, DC came in second, despite a Facebook quiz telling me that DC should have been the city of my choice. :-(

As the Seattle PI tells me, Dr. John W. Miller developed his rankings based on six categories:

1: Number of retail bookstores/1000 people.
2: % of adults with HS diplomas.
3. Total weekday circulation of a city's newspaper.

4: Number of web page views per capita to a city's "internet version" of a newspaper.

5. Magazine and journal distributions per capita.
6. Library staff and library volume per capita.

So, remember that you local library is also important!

Interestingly,  smart cities usually ranks well against other quality of life indicators too!

"...Most active singles’ scenes (Boston, Seattle, Washington, and Atlanta), are safer (Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Denver, and Cincinnati), more walk-able (Seattle, Washington, DC, Portland, Boston, and Denver), and healthier (Washington, DC and Denver)."

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

What are the five beaches of Normandy?

In early December, I flew back to Cincinnati to clean up and clear out the Wildfell Hall.  My mom was able to join me for four days, and we made it our Christmas and Holiday time together.  Who would have known that my mom is so awesome that she knows that I love to play board games?

The last time I remember playing dominoes on a regular basis was when I was in early grade school, heading off to the library, sitting in way too small plastic chairs, and playing with my dad and sister.  My mom bought me an early Christmas gift of Chicken Foot Dominoes and she even knew games that I didn't - Mexican Train! Pretty sweet!

After a solid weekend of pitching leftover furniture into a dumpster in my driveway, we rested on Monday evening and enjoyed Quiz Night at the Pub in Rookwood (#2, #3).  Our team name: I'm so cool, I can bring my mom to Quiz Night!

My Mom and I

Elizabeth and Todd

Eric and Rachel

Eric and Janice

Amanda and I

Nick "The BBQ Man" and Rachel

Yes, I'm riding that Lion!  Also, when Eric takes your picture, you're 6 inches shorter.

Kathy and Jim

It was Brian's birthday that night too!

(We all sang to him and slightly embarrassed him as well that night)

Despite what you think, Cristina, you still look better then me in this photo!

After attending Quiz Night almost religiously for three years, I finally got my picture taken with Kelly!

The Gang at the end of Quiz Night.

And now a look at all the hard work from Amanda, Nick, Stacey, my mom, and I:

Me, outside of the Wildfell Hall.

My old bedroom...

...complete with gun cabinet!

The Peanut Butter Room.

The Pink Bedroom.

The empty "I love me wall."

How my mom and slept since the first night and after tossing out the two older beds.

Her room.  :-)

The Kitchen.  Spicken clean.

One cleared out basement.

The Office.

Good bye back yard deck...

Goodbye tulips. Goodbye daffodils. Goodbye veggie delights. Goodbye avocado tree (!?)

The aftermath!

BTW, the five beaches are Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.  Our team got 2 of the 5!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

My Google Alternates

Ever try Googleing yourself?  Some people find they have hundreds of Google Alternates (GA), while other find they have only very few.

I feel, I'm one of the lucky ones with very few GAs, and I come across myself quite often:

Finding my name in text across the web:

A Temple University School of Medicine 2005 Rebuilding New Orleans Trip that included a Philadelphia PSR write up about our experience, and a Temple Medicine write up and my personal journal entry (check out page #36.)

My IMDB actors page, where I started as "Redsin's Victim" in The Redsin Tower.

Cincinnati Kiwanis Club meeting minutes about my presentation of One Laptop Per Child.  Along with more Kiwanis meeting minutes.  

When I was first starting to look for information about my family tree.

Alumni Listing of CCHMC residency graduates.

 

Penn State's NASA 2001 HEDS-UP Project: Mining the Foundation of the Future.

I actually made one meeting to the Fort Thomas Corvette Club!

My Race Times!
 

Honorable Mention in the Legible Script for Uncle Alex.

Poster presentation as a medical student entitled Linking Physicians To Their Patients: Using a CQI Model To Improve Continuity of Care In a Residency Practice.

Delta Chi Quarterly write up about advising with the University of Cincinnati Colony.

Temple Times write up, along with a Fox Update write up about pursuing and MD/MBA dual degree program.

Don't forget to look through the images after you Google yourself, you might be surprised! 

 

Also, finding yourself in other peoples pictures and videos can be very enlightening. :-)

A Taft with a Twist event with Ari.  Ariane, if you're out there - I still miss you! (Yes, that is a giant monkey sticker from Enjoy The Arts on my shirt.)

A Senior Roast video from CCHMC w/o sound.

Hitting up Club Bang! with Diane and Greg.

What's the deal with all the Kiwanis photos?  :-)

2009 Hyde Park Blast photo with Emily and Tom.

Finding myself through personal, friends, and networking  services:

Is Twitter ever going to learn how to make money?

My Google Profile.


LinkedIn profile.

Who still uses Friendster?

Lastly, random comments on other blogs (#2, #3, #4, #5, #6)


Over the years, I've found my name bring great respect and honor to many communities, my first GAs has been a junior high honor student, a long jumper and a 400 meter relay runner.  After finding the wonders of  Google Alerts, I've found another GA that is a JHS/HS football champ (#2), also a long jumper and hurdler, a basketball player, and interested in science and soil research (something I did as well in high school!  However, I studied the viability of stocking trout along the Turtle Creek through researchers at IUP)!

What has your Google Alternate done today?

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Ohhh.... poor, poor MTC

This is why the MTC (Midnight The Cat) is so great: She puts up with so much while I'm away...  I owe you big Midnight!

You can tell she doesn't like beer either.  I'm telling you - it's all the bubbles!

I know, MTC!  We'll never speak of this again!

Just a warning for those of you who pet sit, or ask people to pet sit for you!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

How I Love My Food....

All Cincinatians should come to know and love the gals from Cooking with Catlin!  I started my obsesion with CwC on a Tuesday lunch break from CCHMC when I ventured down to Fountain Square's "Market on the Square" (#2) event.  The taste and uniqueness of CwC's burgers and recipes kept me coming back almost every week that summer:


One time, out on the Square.


How many times I you find Dr. Alex eating a burger on a Tuesday in the summer?

Then I found the wonders of Cooking with Catlin's Third Thursday events!  

My first Third Thursday event!  (Yes, the blond is famous - Valerie is a weather woman!)


Third Thursday is also great for first date nights! Those Waffle Sandwiches rocked!


It's OK to get dressed up and come out and eat with Dr. Seuss and Co.


If you're luck you can also get your picture taken with Katie - Catlin's mom!


You can even go by yourself and have a great time!

After such fond memories over these past two years, I realized I was missing CwC's flavor and style of food. So, last night Maria and I tried out three of CwC's recipes:

Fresh Tomato Pizza 

Starting off, Maria did a great job and made her own pizza dough from scratch!

After rolling out the pizza dough, a light glaze of olive oil was added.  Then two oblong tomatoes were cut into thin slices and placed around the middle of the pizza.  

Toppings of Italian seasoning, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar were added.

Careful with that balsamic vinegar, Dr. Alex, it flows very quickly! 

The sides were delicately folded into a ring/bowl pattern and the pizza was baked for ~15 min.

Cut and sever.  Makes 8 servings.

Next course:

Seared Scallops with Tarragon Dijon Mustard

Apparently scallops are in season this time of year.  Who knew?

You can never use "too much" butter when pan frying scallops.  Next time, I'll choose to follow CwC's advise and cut the scallops in half.  I think they'll cook more evenly that way.

Two to three minutes on each side is all it takes to whiten the edges and leaving the middle slightly undercooked.

Just add the Tarragon Dijon mustard mix on top each scallop and they are ready to serve!

Dinner!

Dessert:

Almond Butter and Berries

Almond Butter is hard to find!  Listen to CwC!

Be careful not to burn the toast.  Longer then 3 minutes in the broiler and you'll asking for trouble.  Always make sure you have an egg timer handy.

She likes it!

The two great cooks!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex