Hot Summer in Baltimore

Well conditioned air is perhaps the sole redeeming feature of a desk job. When the temperature outside tops 100, though, it's redemption enough to make me happy that I'm sitting here. For six weeks now I've been working on a research project with Kennedy Krieger Institute, the massive pediatric division of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. The research work is interesting, but flexible enough to leave me a couple days a week to work with preceptors in the neurodevelopmental disabilities clinic here. Clinic has been at least as overwhelming as it has fascinating - so far I've had the privilege to work with families whose kids suffer rare debilitating maladies like ataxia telangiectasia, Fragile X syndrome, hypospadius, Opitz syndrome, autism, Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome, Cri-du-chat, and a couple others. I have a hard enough time remembering all the names, much less coming up with anything substantive to offer the families (lucky for them I'm not in charge yet:)). Summer's been great, though: lots of cycling, some running in the mornings when it's not yet scorching-hot, a trip to the Catskill mountains in New York, a couple jaunts to D.C., and an upcoming trip to NYC to hang out with William. I'll be around New Orleans for a week in August, so I'll see many of you then.