Elrod was the “cat’s meow” in high school. All around jock, great dancer, fun to be with, and always supplying beer for parties. He continued excelling at the latter part of “work hard / play hard” during college. Indeed, the homecoming queen fell in love with him when he said to her on their first date when he escorted her to her sorority’s formal dance: “I’ve got felines for you”. …

What is a burrito or taco without the special sauce? “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.” Okay, so Shakespeare knew nothing about tacos, but could he dance? We will never know, but the same name we use to make a burrito special we use to shake things up with rhythm. Salsa is the special dance developed in Cuba to the Latin beat. And herein is the dilemma; they say that “it” is in the blood, …

Everyone said that Jerry was born ornery. In kindergarten when the children were told it was rest time, Jerry wanted to play. During recess, it was his nap time. The pattern continued on into high school: Springtime was for football and ice hockey, fall was for baseball. Everything that was considered usual and customary, our contrarian Jerry found opposite and atypical. He would sing rock and roll during Church choir practice, and sing church music with his band at a rage. …

Baby boomers remember Love Story, the story of the blue-blood Oliver Barret IV and the blue-collar Jennifer Cavilleri, two college students at Harvard and Radcliffe, respectively, who marry before graduating. They have personal struggles but they persist through all of the problems because Jennifer utters the ultimate syrupy saying: “love means never having to say you are sorry.” …

Johnny is anxious to head out to lunch and finds the stories of his anatomy professor exasperating. Johnny loses it when the anatomist, Carlos, tells him that he lost his car and that is how he got his name. Johnny is desperate for a bagel and dashes out of the classroom, jumps in his car and begins aggressive driving. Unfortunately, he finds himself sitting behind a truck with four wheels and flies. Yes, a garbage truck. No amount of honking makes the truck go faster. Then Johnny sees his chance to pass, …

Prior to the discovery of anesthesia, surgery was a most traumatic experience; patients were fully conscious throughout procedures. Kipling made reference to this pain in his novel “The Light that Failed” when he coined the phrase “biting the bullet”. It is easy to understand why people avoided surgery and allowed the injury and/or disease to fester rather than undergo surgery. Why anyone would subject themselves to experience the worst pain of their life at an operating theatre in front of hundreds of medical students, e.g., surgical demonstrations at Massachusetts General Hospital prior to the discovery of anesthesia, is difficult to comprehend. …

Marcus can do no wrong. As a school boy he won all the awards, then matriculated to a top college, and went on to graduate suma cum laude from his medical school. Of course, he chose to become a thoracic surgeon. His one flaw was he could not tango. Try as he might, whenever he performed a pasada, his milongesa stood a good chance of landing hard on the dance floor. Indeed, he had to seek out clubs in various cities because knowledge of his ineptitude preceded him, and he was barred from every milonga along the East coast. As it so happens, during one of these mishaps, his partner collapsed mid cruce forzado …

Before he died, Maradona confessed that his famous goal against Britain in the World Cup was indeed aided by his hand; it was an illegal goal. But this was before instant replay, and who is to say what team would not engage in sleight of hand if granted the opportunity to win the Cup? Billy, a British lad who saw the game live, became crestfallen after his team’s loss, and promised to himself that he would forever use his hands to save people. . . . . …

A budding resident is determined to become the best ever interventional cardiology specialist at the hospital to eventually earn his dream fellowship position in the heart of New York City. To this end, he downloads various shooter games to practice his digital skills and settles on Call of Duty. Train, he does, until he becomes the best-rated shooter in the city. Unfortunately, his devotion to Duty diminishes his actual catheterization skills. . . . …

The Overeating Society meets on their annual day of consumption, Thanksgiving Day, to eat, drink, be merry, and select a new president. The goal is to eat as much turkey and ham as possible, all the trimmings, and then finish off a pie or three with each member sampling each pie. Cleary, cardiologist have a field day lecturing at society members meetings to change their ways, but to no avail. Advice to eat less is difficult to digest, and leaves a bad taste in members’ mouths. Then, there is always the newly elected President’s re-tort, I’ll have chocolate and vanilla ice cream with mine, and please make it a double …