Hello! I write this from the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater as I watch the dress rehearsal of this year's Smoker, "Oh Glaucoma!" I believe I've written about it before, but as a refresher…The Smoker is the annual medical school play that was started in 1918 as the "All-Medic Smoker," and has continued throughout the years as a musical, hilariously raucous roast of the faculty. This year's performance is a Western-style musical, and so far it's promising to be the BEST Smoker ever!! (though I may be biased...) Anyway, it's not too late too buy tickets for those who live nearby! www.galenssmoker.org

This past week was "tech week," the five days in which we move into the theater and put the whole show together. The days of this week are very long, but this is undoubtedly one of the most fun weeks of the year. I am always truly amazed by how talented my classmates are, from the script writing, to set design, to the band, to the singing, acting, and dancing. While I by and large lack most of these talents, this year I am part of the Babe and Stud Dance, the rather modest name of the 4^th-year dance. We've averaged 3-4 hours a week of practice over the last two months, and I think (hope!) we're ready for tonight!

While preparation for the Smoker has occupied most of my time these past few weeks, I'm still busy in the lab and am just gearing up to start a couple of large experiments. I'm also training for the Lansing Marathon on April 21^th, and face the weekly challenge of trying to increase my mileage. I'm currently up to 17 miles and hope I can get to 26.2 in the next 6 weeks!

It's almost time for me to deliver my one line of the play, so I should stop writing and get ready to go on stage. I'll check back in in a few weeks, at which time I can hopefully say that the show was a huge success, as was my classmates' Match Day, which is exactly two weeks from today!!