SEMI-FINALISTS

This month, I traveled to San Jose for the Northwest Regional Futsal Championship with Cate and her team. This was our third trip for a futsal tournament in San Jose, and our girls did not disappoint.

In the first game, we dominated a team from Santa Clara. In the second game, our girls came out on top. It was amazing to see Cate start off the attacks as the equivalent of a central midfielder and pull the strings. She scored one of our two goals in our third match, which we won 2-1 and which sent us into the semifinals.

That semifinal match was a rematch against a larger, more physical group of girls who had defeated us last year. Because of last year's loss, we knew what we would be up against. However, that only seemed to increase the intimidation factor. Their girls kicked, lunged, and pushed while our girls tried to play a game of futsal. We went down 1-0 at half but were still very much in the game. In the second half, we withdrew further into our shells while the other team came out even more aggressively. In the end, we lost 5-1 - an unfair scoreline given that our girls were clearly the more skilled side. However, one does not win on style points; one wins by putting the ball in the back of the net.

Despite, this I am really proud of the way Cate and her teammates carried themselves and the way they tried to play the game. When Pep Guardiola took over as Barca coach in 2008, he did not promise trophies, which he went on deliver anyway. Rather, he promised to play football that would make the fans proud. For that reason, Cate and her teammates can hold their heads high. I can't wait until next year!

SATURDAY ROUTINE

Every weekday, I wake up around 5:30. This gives me the opportunity to do my morning routine: catch up on the news, make oatmeal for breakfast, and do my stretches. On weekends, I am cursed with waking up at the same time, but I am often joined by Nicholas who rises early, too.

Part of the reason Nicholas wakes up is because he is allowed to do screen time beginning at 7 AM. However, he also uses the time between waking up and screens to work on his homework. We never have to remind Nicholas to do his work, and he is surprisingly organized when it comes to his assignments. I give Arbor all the credit for that.

This morning Nicholas showed me his latest assignment to discuss Islam and the rise of Islamaphobia in our world. He had written an outline of what he hoped to cover and had already come up with a nice topic sentence: "There are many misunderstandings about Islam, and Islamaphobia is on the rise." I cannot recall what my seventh grade writing assignments were, but I can assure you they did not have the seriousness and social relevance of Nicholas' latest one.

I am amazed by how much this boy is growing and changing everyday. However, one thing remains constant: Nicholas is still my best friend, and I cannot get enough of him. I will be sad the day he leaves me. Until then, I will cherish each day - and especially my Saturday mornings - with my guy.

EXCELLENCE

The theme of excellence is something I think about a lot. This is not only because I consider myself a perfectionist but also because there is so much mediocrity in this world.

This weekend, I had the good fortune to watch Cate play four games in a futsal, a version of indoor soccer, tournament. Even though Cate is nine and most of her teammates are ten, they were playing in the 11 year old division because they knew that playing girls their age would not have been challenging enough.

In the first game, we came up short by one goal against a group of girls who appeared much older than 11. In fact, there were so big that I wondered if several of them had driven themselves to the facility! Our girls were undaunted and went on to win the next two games and finish second in their group. This resulted in a rematch with the Amazonians in the final.

It was a tight affair that was significant for the many hard fouls committed by the other team. They scored first, and then we equalized. We had a chance to take the lead after they committed a foul on one of our players in the box. Our coach picked Cate to take the penalty. Partly this was because she is so dependable but also because she had scored a beautiful game winner from a shot from 20 feet out in the closing seconds of our second match. Cate bravely stepped up and fired to the keeper's left, but unfortunately their keeper stopped the ball-no doubt because of her large size. Very late on, the other team scored again, and we could not counter. It finished 2-1.

Despite losing the final, I am so proud of these girls. They gave it their all, comported themselves well, and outplayed all their opponents regardless of what the scoreline said. In one word, they are excellence.

DAN FOSTER, M.D.

Last week, I learned of the passing of a giant of medicine-Dr. Daniel Foster, M.D. I had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Foster during my four years in Dallas when he was the Chair of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern. Simply put, no one had a greater influence on my career than Dr. Foster, and I am what I am today because of him.

I decided to go to Southwestern in 1998 for Internal Medicine residency because I wanted to be trained in the most rigorous environment possible so that I would feel comfortable managing the sickest patients imaginable. Based on that metric alone, my education there was a success. However, I came to learn much more than excellence in clinical medicine and patient care. At UT Southwestern, I was surrounded by so-called "triple threat" physicians who were excellent doctors, teachers, and basic researchers. Dr. Foster was foremost among them. That he could solve the toughest case presentations at our daily meeting called morning report while also quoting the latest findings for the scientific journals Nature or Science was truly remarkable. His example of excellence in everything he did made me realize that that is the life to which I aspired-a life of medicine and science.

His life story, like mine, was not typical for someone who would go on to dedicate his life to both medicine and science. In fact, like me, he had no formal research training until after the completion of his internal medicine residency training in Dallas. What he did have was a passion to make discoveries that improved human health, and his accomplishment in diabetes and metabolism are far too numerous to list.

What I loved about him most though was his humanism, his empathy, and his ability to inspire. Since leaving Southwestern,  I have met no one like him, and I feel honored to have had four years with him - the four best years of my life.

There will never be another Dan Foster, M.D., and I will never be able to truly repay him for all he gave me. What I do promise is to pass on what excellence is and to try to inspire the next generation of physicians and scientists. That Dr. Foster would be proud of, and that means a lot.

BRAVERY IN THE BERNABEU

This weekend, Barca played its first game of the season against Real Madrid-a derby match known as el clasico.

Barca held a commanding league in the Spanish domestic league going into the match, but Madrid were coming off their fifth trophy of the year-the Club World Cup-and many had anointed them far and away the best side of 2017. Thus, it was clear that fireworks would ensue as these eternal rivals took the pitch.

Early on, Madrid were rampant, and they pressured Barca relentlessly. However, as the first half went on, Barca found its composure and created a few chances of its own. Nonetheless, I was not optimistic when we went into halftime 0-0.

Something seemed to have clicked at half time, however. For Barca, that click was the on switch being flipped. For Real, on the other hand, tentativeness set in. It was as though Barca said, "they threw everything they had at us, and it got them nothing. Let's now play our game and get them on the back foot." Real's response seemed to be, "How did we not score? What do we do now?" And that  is exactly how things played out.

Barca scored first on a beautiful counterattack started from their own end. They quickly followed that up with a penalty after a Madrid player was sent off for deliberately handling the ball and preventing a goal scoring opportunity. What was most striking-especially before these two goals-was how Barca did not just sit back and waster time or play the safe pass. Time and time again, they played the attacking pass, the killer pass. As I reflected on Barca's ostensible bravery, I came to realize that these men would dispute that account. They were simply doing their job, playing their game the only way they knew how. To attack and to exploit is not something one does when it is safe. This is how Barca players from the academy to the first team are taught to play every time they take the field!

In the end, we finished with a deserved 3-0 win over Madrid, pushing them 14 points behind us and hopefully dealing them a knockout blow in the league. There are more more games to play before the league title is ours, and we may still face Madrid in two other competitions, but until play resumes in January, Barca are the undisputed kings of Spain and the world. Back to where they belong, if you ask me!

GRAPHIC

Cate is the queen of graphs, and this is one of my favorites. I especially like the comment in the bottom right.

Edward Tufte would be proud!

Strawberries it is!

LADY BIRD

This past weekend I saw the new film "Lady Bird" directed by the actress Greta Gerwig. I have enjoyed Ms. Gerwig's films for sometime and that is why I was so excited to see her semi-autobiographical directorial debut.

The movie did not disappoint, and I felt myself traveling back to high school during the 90 minutes of the film. The main character, Christine is played by the wonderful Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. Christine goes by the self-appointed nickname Lady Bird and is a girl on the verge - on the verge of college, adulthood, and sexual awakening. She navigates situations that are fraught with conflict and complexity and somehow manages to do so with her integrity and sense of self intact. This is no small feat for an adult, let alone an adolescent.

The movie reminded me of how difficult that time in my own life was and also how I did not truly recognize or appreciate the Lady Birds I grew up with. Looking back, I now realize that I knew countless women like Lady Bird. Had I taken the time to look around, I would have realized that they were just like me- resolute in their ideas of the world and trying to navigate the land mines of growing up. If I had seen them, I think I might have had a very different childhood and felt less isolated. However, while life is best understood backwards, it must be lived forwards. For that reason,  it is never too late to think about all the people we encounter each day who may be more like us than we realize. Here's to all the Lady Birds out there!