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

Five Guys Burger and Fries

After coming across this post from Wine Me, Dine Me in my Google Reader this morning, I got the urge try a new place for burgers. I had spent most of the morning running the OTR 5K, studying for my pediatric boards and answering multiple guess questions - testing my knowledge about the care of babies to adolescents, and pulling down pictures and packing them away in boxes in preparation for my departure from Cincinnati.

The newest location of Five Guys is down in the UC District of Cincinnati, along Calhoun St. I called my dear friend Dr. Elizabeth up and we made a plan to give the Five Guys a try this afternoon.

Overall, I thought the burgers were good. The service was friendly and polite. The place was bustling and bit too loud with background noise for my taste. I would not recommend it as a first date location, but it can make for good alternative for a lunch break if you work in the area.

Lessons learned:

1. There is no need to order the large fries - I wound up taking home a 22 oz cup brimming to the top and over flowing of Cajun flavored french fries.

2. The "Little Burgers" are not that little - one bacon cheeseburger was more then enough to fulfill my deep hunger. Why would you ever need to or want to order the regular size?

3. Check to make sure you get your bacon on your bacon cheeseburger - hard lesson learned from Dr. Elizabeth! Sadly though with the option of "adding extra bacon and/or cheese, since it's already on the burger at no additional cost" maybe the way to ensure that bacon strips make it into your mouth.

Lastly, I came across Liz's get in mah belly blog, rating her experience with burgers in the local area, and noticed that "liz's cincinnati burger rankings for march-june 2009" is clearly missing one the great contenders: Quatman's Cafe!!!

And here's you Liz - I present an open invitation to come and join Steve Miller and the gang and I at Quatman's this Monday June 22nd, 2009 at 6PM. Be there or be square.

Thanks for reading,

Alex