Happy New Year! And Happy Birthday to my dear Dad (don't worry, I won't reveal your age - haha)!

Unfortunately, I must admit that the new year has been rather hellish. Literally, working on the Comment in the last four or five days has felt like being in hell. Do you remember that Greek myth about Sisyphus, the one condemned in Hades to keep repeatedly pushing the large boulder up the hill, knowing that each time it nears the top, it will inevitably come crashing down for him to do it once again? Yea, welcome to my world. In two days, I slept roughly 6 hours total (in bed and on plane). I finally crashed at 5:30am this morning.

I'm back in Seattle again, and it was snowing here yesterday! Big fat falling snowflakes, and the ground was blanketed with white. Incredible. They say today is supposed to be the coldest day in Seattle in the last three years. Yikes.

Speaking of cold- another exciting development. Jason is now in Anchorage (yes, as in Alaska!) for the start of his six-week rotation in Obstetrics/Gynecology. He will also do his surgery rotation the six weeks following in Fairbanks (yes, as in inland Alaska where it falls below 0 degrees.)

Classes begin tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to taking part in the Immigration Clinic. I'm in a group of 6 students who will be advocating for asylum seekers, and I think we'll even have the opportunity to speak before the Immigration Court - double yikes. No worries, we have an asylum expert as an advisor, so I don't expect any of my mistakes will send some poor refugee back to their home country. And finally! - we'll be putting some of our education into practice!