Olympic Post Script

So I've kinda been meaning to post these shots for months and have been distracted by the Election and Facebook...

Anyway, I was intrigued that apparently the fastest man in the world may be aided by NOT being weighed down by big heavy molars....



Note the lack of 3, 14 and who knows what else....



Anyway, I hope Mr Bolt made enough in endorsements and so forth to get some implants or something. Makes you think a bit about the whole differential in standard of living w/ US vs. poorer countries.... more later!

Can You Dig It?

So, here I am, finding my mug in the local news publication yet again... Kind of embarassing, but for a very good cause:

"NEWMARKET — Backhoes and the color bright, construction orange are familiar sights downtown. They are also the part of a new T-shirt to help businesses during this year’s downtown reconstruction.

Local organizations looking for ways to encourage people to shop at downtown businesses during construction were the inspiration for the T-shirts, which were designed by Nathan and Rachel Swanson of Newmarket Dental. Nathan Swanson is on the Board of Directors of the Newmarket Business Association (NBA).

"We were looking for ways to promote the idea that during construction, Newmarket is still open for business. The economy is certainly struggling and given people are detouring (through town) it’s potentially harmful to a lot of the small businesses … the big take-home message is to encourage people to shop in Newmarket," Nathan Swanson said.

Proceeds from the T-shirts go to "We Dig Newmarket," a collaborative effort to help encourage people to do business downtown. The initiative offers Saturday music serenades from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The group has also installed signs along Spring Street pointing people to access points for local businesses, said NBA President Gerry O’Connell."

Read the full article here,
though I have to confess, the caption saying that I "helped design" said t-shirt is a bit generous, given that Rachel did 95% of the work...

Check out her new employer! Click on Vital Work then on Identity to see some cool logos. She's currently enterprising to re-brand a local bowling alley...

Tune in next time for some discussion of Olympic athletes and missing teeth...

If only John Lennon were still alive...

This nice young man:



...is Maxwell Rome. He was recently arraigned in our local court for swinging a hammer at a fellow combatant during a fight in a liquor store parking lot, splitting his scalp.

Now seriously... if you actually KNEW someone named MAXWELL, wouldn't you be on the lookout for his HAMMER? C'mon...

the full story is here.

I'll admit Rachel gets full credit for A) noticing the article and B) making the connection. But she's a bigger blog slacker than me, so someone had to post it...

Package Deal

So, I've long been fairly annoyed by the degrees of inefficiency inherent in our mass-producing, commerce-worshipping, environmentally insensitive culture. At a previous dental office, I had a sort of horrifying epiphany when I saw how much PAPER was thrown away by JUST that office. Plus how much was thrown away by the five identically sized offices in that building. Plus how much was thrown away by the identical three buildings (18 offices) in that office park. Suddenly, I felt as though I was in a film, the camera panning out, zooming ever upward to include my town, then New Hampshire, then New England, North America and the Earth. In each phase, the amount of paper increases exponentially.

Sobering.

You can well imagine my irritation upon ordering a small diamond disk (used for opening contacts between teeth) which came in this plastic case:



That, in turn, was shipped in the following box:



C'mon, dental supply companies! (I'm talkin' to YOU, ironically-named SmartPractice...) You could've shipped that in a small padded envelope!

Stay tuned...I'll keep you all posted on my plan to use corn-based plastic bags as chair covers...

De-Motivation...

Oh, sometimes you just find something on the ol' inter-web that is just too fun for your own good.

Everybody remembers those cheesy motivational posters from the late 90s? "TEAMWORK" and there's a photo of a rowing crew and some pithy saying like, "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." (or is is the sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle? I can never remember...)

I had a faux one of these posters in my locker in dental school. It had a lovely shot of the Leaning Tower of Pisa:

Underneath it read: MEDIOCRITY - It takes a lot less work, and no one really notices the difference 'til it's too late.

Now, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I really try to be anti-mediocre...however, with all the assignments of dental school, my perfectionistic tendencies would have killed me in under two quarters. The poster reminded me to accept a little imperfection here and there, or I'd never finish anything.


Anyway, this site:
Motivator
allows you to make your own. Too much fun!

Here's my contribution, w/ credit to my loving cat-loaf, Kirby:

It's aLIIIIVE!!!!!!!!!

So I can safely say that it's only appropriate that the post noting the birth of my nephew is followed by the post celebrating the birth of......[drum roll]

My Web Site!

yessir.

Be sure to browse about...enjoy the lovely layout...the delightful fonts...the ease of navigation (?)....

Anyway, do let me know your opinions, but mostly we're just hunting for compliments...

Mad props to Rachel and the wonderful people at Hatchling Studios.

Baby!

Nothing to do w/ dentistry, but some cute photos of my brand new nephew, Henry Phineas Swanson.

Here he is sleeping:



Here he is with Rasput... er, Papa Steve:


And here's a charming knit ensemble!


I like the obvious hand motion, like, "Yo, peeps...H-Phin in da hizzie...ya'll feelin ' me?" Or whatever it is babies think.

"Babies," according to Rev. Grayson Atha, "Are proof that God thinks that Life is Good and wishes for it to continue." (I think someone else may have said that first, but I'm sure they didn't sound as auspicious as THIS minister during baptisms...

Fun Signs

Hello, O Bloggites! Tragically, it has been another busy month. Apparently, everyone who was holding off on a crown until their insurance renewed likes to show up in January, PLUS the weather, and I had (in one week) the excitement of the College BCS Championship, New Hampshire Presidential Primary and my Birthday. This resulted in three straight days of disappointment, as the Ohio State Buckeyes, Barack Obama and The Last Vestiges of my Youth (respectively) all performed a bit below expectations.

Speaking of presidential candidates, please take the time to skip down two posts - I've added new VIDEO of the Hillary Encounter. (Hmm...that sounds like something new at the Museum of Natural History...)

For a truly whimsical look at the candidates, please check out this Best of Craigslist Entry.

Lastly, for your amusement... I have lately become mildly obsessed with CollegeHumor.com, ever since their rendition of "Street Fighter: The Later Years." Lots of funny videos and pictures, and I find it MUCH easier to browse than YouTube.
From the Dental Dept:

In the newspaper business we call this "tombstoning:"


Bad Molar? We'll chop it out! Hiiiyahhh!

And people DO sometimes pray.... (Rev. Wallick? You out there?)







Free Bible with Every Cleaning!








Mad props to the guy in the photo who is brilliantly emoting the simutaneous concepts of, "Hallelujah!" and "Owww...my tooth!" (Any guesses, however, on the source of the stains on his shirt?)