One month into Medical school at UC Denver. Holy Jeezus. Now I know why doctors are doctors. This ain't playtime folks. This is big kid school.
I have class from 8am to 3 or 5pm every weekday for the next three years, and what they are calling 12 credit hours of classes but should be about 25. For example...my lovely gross anatomy class...we have 6-8 hours in lecture per week. Then we have 4-8 assigned dissection (yes cadaver) hours per week. Then we have 2 hours per week of palpation lab (this is where you get mostly naked and touch all the body parts of all of your classmates). The kicker is...you just have to get this dissection crap done on schedule becasue there are quizzes on your progress and quality. Sometimes 8 hours in the lab doesn't come close. I think one week I spent about 15 hours in there. You have three different sets of exams: palpation, cadaver/practical, written. Meanwhile, all of your other classes are being neglected and you sit there wondering what the hell they are talking about because you got home at 8:30pm after a 12 hour day and didn't have the energy to crack a book for another class for like 4 days in a row.
Another example...and this one's good..."Examination and Evaluation" class. It's listed as TWO credit hours, but there's 2-4 lecture/lab hours per week about posture and manual muscle testing and then an entire separate book of "self study" on joint range of motion measurment that we will be tested on for our final exam. Nevermind that you actually have to find some poor unsuspecting person(s) to practice this stuff on.
Don't get me wrong. Totally thrilled up my ass and backwards to be here. And so far my classmates are top notch mighty-fine people that I really like. Just trying to wrap my brain around it.
In other news, we had our 10 year wedding anniversary the other day. That was nice, except I was tired and defeated over getting passing ("passing" at CU medical school is 73%) but not-so-hot grades on my first anatomy exams. We always thought we'd have a big whoop-de-doo for our 10th but I am not allowed to leave the damn city or it must be submitted to the "student absence committee" for approval and all the work must somehow be made up. So this will have to wait until we're celebrating Doctordom. Chad got some new golf stuff and I am I think eventually getting granite countertops...but I did make it clear that if we move I get some sort of equivalent gift that I can take with me...like a Toyota FJ or a trip to Mt. Everest. Love you Poo, you're the shiznit. Save your money.
Took the wolf pack for a hike at Golden Gate today. It was a whopper 3 mile outing for Cam and The Madi. I am calling her The Madi because she's a complete pisser and just a plain name doesn't do her justice. There are better pics, but these are my favorites:
Maybe I have not introduced you to The Madi...she's a Jack Russell Terrier, she's 4 months old, 6lbs but thinks she's 60, uses my house as a toilet, and also thinks she runs this place...she keeps my beloved GOOD dog Joey, who does not use my house as a toilet, company since I'm away all day at school now.
bad dog
good dog, and happy since she got to swim today.
In other thoughts...I have been thinking lately about how people come and go in your life, because I've had a lot of them, I mean A LOT. It's not a bad thing, necessarily, as I have previously thought. I used to think that the people I get attached to, which I'm a tough nut to crack in the first place so they've passed some sort of massive subconscious screening process, should just be there forever. Well hell no. I realize most relationships are meant to be transient. Furthermore, you didn't do anything wrong for it to happen that way. There really are only a few people on this earth that will be with you to the bitter end, so you had better appreciate anyone who comes along and does happen to stick around. I digress...But these transient relationships...they have a reason for being even if they leave a bitter taste. You can call it fate, or divine intervention, or karma, whathaveyou...Sometimes you are brought into/out of a person's life for a very good reason. Whether it's for you to help them with overcoming or learning something or vice versa - and then they are gone for whatever reason. There are reasons to be hurt or angry, indeed, since you probably liked some of these people and it never gets all pretty tied up with a bow in the end. But that's life, punk. It's not indifference, but acceptance. There is no need to feel angry or walk around with this chip on your shoulder because you feel like someone has done you wrong or mistreated you. When you somehow catch up with them down the road and see that they are doing really well...you can be happy for them, and for yourself, because it's quite obvious that the fleeting relationship you had meant something and turned out for the best...Rest assured you'll see them all in hell anyways...so why worry? (j/k dad - I fully intend to pick up the slack and probably avoid hell.)
SO, new policy lately...I meet you, you represent as no more than a low-level sociopath, and you're my friend. Do whatever you want to me...I know if it's meant to last it will, and if it isn't then I will get out my ninja weapons at some point and you'll learn a lesson, and I"ll get some impromtu practice. just kidding...I'll probably just kick and punch you. I'm not that good at the weapons in freestyle yet. Bring it sucka!
There's a rare "deep thoughts" by Mrs. so far shitty jr. dr. becky white...hot damn.
Well that sounds fancy, but I feel that it raises expectations higher than necessary for this post....
It was busy. Lots of travel. I guess it was pretty good. Key points:
Cam quit crapping his pants and started preschool.
CJ officially started his X-games career by starting BMX racing, but then immediately broke his collarbone during a flag-football game.
I finished up at CU for my undergrad classes - which is good cause it almost caused "death by groupwork"
Chad further developed his Jedi mind tricks...he can levitate the X-wing out of the swamp now on the first try without Yoda calling him a Sally.
Lots of travels to weddings and everyone we know who didn't already have babies had one.
Climbed Little Bear...the toughest job you'll ever love.
I don't know...that was last year, I can't remember.
2011. And turning 37 (sunnuva!). Looking forward to a great year. If I can just stay out of the wheelchair. Speaking of that, I am going to see Bob tomorrow about my junky hip. Whatever. Mostly it's a scheduled meeting to get some pointers on my grad school interviews that are this weekend, but I needed a medical condition for it. He says I need to get the hip looked at since it's actually catching sometimes when I walk...perhaps this is not good. I thought I was being quite savy by easing myself back into soccer and tkd after sitting on my ass for August - December. It didn't work. Then I went bombs-away with the skiing. But it was EPIC this past week! Basically everything hurts all the time for the past month. Ibuprofen OD just to sleep. I have to have a serious talk with Bob...meaning I shall officially bestow upon him the responsibility for my body feeling good after tomorrow. I'm sure he'll accept the challenge. He really has no choice. Then I will inform him that he must commit to hiring me when I get out of grad school in three years.
My friend Sam from the UC Bearcat era who used to play for the Giants and Jets and recently coached for the Panthers is apparently coming along with John Fox to the Broncos as a DB coach. So...what I'm saying is...look for me on the sidelines during games and periodically grabbing Champ Bailey's heiny. I mean, I'll try not to when the camera is on, but I'm just sayin' it could happen. Let's, for a moment, consider this also as a prospective future job opportunity, shall we? Maybe I can meet everyone and be a PT for the Broncos and touch all of their heinies! (Sorry poo...but it's my job!) ha ha!
Naw, in all seriousness, I'm pretty nervous about even getting into grad school. Yes, I thankfully landed interviews at both Regis and CU, but acceptance is only about 25%. I'm historically gifted at interviewing, but have not done that for a good 8 years. Everyone is just saying "be yourself"...so hopefully I can just push the "filter" button on the pie-hole control panel and get through it without dropping an F-bomb. The part that ain't so hot is CU starts in June. Regis starts in August but is $28K more expensive...I'm having a hard time justifying $28K to have my summer off. Just a little...
Plan B is big trip to Europe that we've wanted to do for several years. The Haute Route trekking through the Alps from Chamonix to Zermatt. With climbs of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn as bookends. I've been climbing at the gym and I'm reasonably comfortable on 5.8-5.9 now so that's pretty good for the girl with the bionic man-legs accompanied by wet noodles for arms. I really don't expect to get any better than that...but that's good enough for the Matterhorn. We realize the probability of us climbing Mont Blanc, trekking 70 miles and then getting up the Matterhorn over two weeks is pretty much like 1 percent logistically...but...it's the goal.
Plan C is get a job. What field is the question...do I keep trying to get into school and find a job as a PT office assistant or something like that...or do I go back to the dark side and dust off the CPA license? Hell...I'm not even going there until we are done with plan B...so...
We had a trip to CT planned for Chad's sister Kelly's wedding this past week. This would have been just fine except for the fact that the wedding was on 8/21 which is CJ's birthday, and then school started on 8/23. Hmmm. Well, gotta go, so make the best of it. Chad and I planned to head out a day early and take a day down in NYC for a Broadway show and some light sight seeing. Neither of us had been to NYC for a long time. Sounded fun.
I had a hard time motivating for packing, as evidenced by my last post, done on the day I was supposed to be packing...I had just taken the GRE the day before and I was completely mentally and emotionally wiped out. What I was also supposed to be doing was sewing a snap on my hooker outfit, or I really was going to look like a hooker. This got delayed until we were at our destination due to the above, but I did manage to round up the supplies and pack them. This will become pertinent later in the story.
We got up at 5am on Weds. Our flight was at 10-something. We still had some packing to do and wanted to beat rush hour traffic out the door. Mission accomplished. Had a layover in Minneapolis, everything went well. Only snafu was that I left the wheels for the car seat about 2 miles back in the terminal we offloaded into in the hallway next to the women's bathroom. Sleep deprivation, whattya expect? So Chad had to run back there to get it shortly before we were boarding for Hartford. I would have, but wan't feelin' so crackalackin'.
Got to Hartford without incident. Then made our way on the van over to Alamo rent a car. So far they had been great. We like the self-check-in kiosks so you can bypass all the 'tards waiting in line and then you get to go out and pick your vehicle, instead of being at the mercy of the set of keys you would get form the desk person...a la Avis. Well this time, Alamo struck out all in one swing. We got there, extremely tired, not excited at the prospect of a 1.5 hour drive to Milford...and...there...are...NO...cars in the lot! ALL of the cars were in the line to be checked back in. So we had to wait for them to unsnarl the pile and dig out a minivan, then wait for it to be cleaned, fueled, washed, etc. That took about 45 minutes. Ok...so now it's rush hour going through Hartford. Tack on an hour to the drive.
We finally get to the hotel (SpringHill Suites) and it's a dump. It is NOT what I would call a Suite, more like a hallway with furniture shoved into it. They lied about the beds and we got two full beds instead of two queens, there is peeling wallpaper, it smells, and black mold in the grout of the sink basin. Can't change rooms because it's full. At this point we were defeated and tired so we didn't even consider leaving...plus everyone else from the wedding was staying there (in better rooms) so we just took that one for the team. For some reason we needed to meet up with Kelly and Tobi and go out to dinner. We needed someplace quick. The kids were really a mess. We ended up at this totally weird Italian place. I didn't bring my phone so I couldn't take a picture, but the inside of it was like a mint sponge cave. It looked like someone took a drywall canon and blasted mint colored plaster all over the walls...AND we were the ONLY ones in there. WTF??? Whatever. We ate it. It apparently was terrible but I was so hungry I thought it was fine. We went back to the hotel. Except that as we were getting ready for bed we realized we forgot most of our toiletries...contact saline, shampoo, toothpaste, woolite clothes de-wrinkle stuff, etc...One last task...go to Walgreens.
The next day was our NYC day. Perhaps things will turn around? Well, not yet. I was trying to sew the snap on my blouse and ended up butchering it. Not only could I not line the snaps up right, but I actually cut a hole in it! Outfit plan B. It is at this time that I realize I forgot at least half of what I intended to pack. Well, at least I have a back up hooker outfit so I guess I'll go with it. Gram Kay and Gramps Charlie had been in NYC Wednesday night for the premier of Camp Rock 2, because Charlie's daughter, Alyson Stoner (google her, she's this whole phenomenon), is famous and is in the movie and is touring around with the Jonas Brothers. So they got home REAL late and weren't hippity hoppin' early to take the kids. Finally around 11am we got a hold of them and finished getting everything ready to go. We had to pack all of our stuff for the evening into a backpack to carry around since we had no home base in NYC. We were going to change at the restaurant into the hooker/pimp clothes...
We walked out the door at about 11:50 and Kay handed us a train schedule for Stratford train station. OH, the train leaves at 12:12...we'd better bust some ass to get there. We hit a Walmart on the way there and decided we needed some water and SPF for the day. I thought this would be a 3-5 minute affair...nope. You know all those people on the "people of walmart" website? Well, they were all there and all happened to be at the checkout at the same time as me. It took about 10-12 minutes and when I got out we had about 5 minutes to get over there and get tickets and get on the train. Fat chance. Not like it was a huge deal, another train comes in an hour. But it wasn't an express...you have to stop at every dumb station along the way on the regular train. So we get to the station and see no train, so we're stoked. Park, run all the way back to the street to cross sides of the tracks, hurry up buy tickets for $50...ready. Whew! Well, it was just then that we started hearing grumbles from teh waiting crowd. Word was that the train was down and wasn't coming anytime soon. Aw hell. So I get on the iPhone and start trying to figure out what our options are. This really loud classic NYC black dude comes over and wants info STAT. He doesn't believe what I'm reading and wants to read it himself. Warnings are going off in my brain over this, but I just let him anyway...seems fine enough. I let him mess around for info on my phone for a few minutes. He's yelling about this and that, thrashing around the station interrogating everyone for information. Then we notice this tiny little lady next to us interjecting, as if we need an interpreter...The whole scene is highly humorous...Finally after about 15 minutes, some tall businessy looking dude says buses are coming to get us and take us to Stamford train station, which is 30+ miles away, south of the trouble. We say screw that...we're driving. Who wants to go? About 8 people raise their hands...loud guy and tiny lady have been sorta our crew on this so we say we're taking them. Here we go. Meet Darren and Maureen our new posse.
We have no idea where we are going, so Chad is driving and we get the same thing...Darren yelling out stuff with Maureen quietly interjecting in between rants. We're on the road for a few miles and we get this: NYC accent:"YO DUDE! I don't know how you roll, but I gotta tell ya that needle is on E!" We look down, and sure enough...no gas. It's Kay & Charlie's rental...not ours, we didn't even look at the gage. So we need to drop Darren off at a different exit (which he failed to mention when we were picking people for the ride) so we'll get gas there. It's like 5 miles away. Well this all seems really easy, but the gas station is about half mile in off the highway. If you have not experienced this area in a car, I'll tell you that there is more traffic than you could ever imagine - e.g. you don't want to get off the highway - and the gas process/dropping off Darren takes at least 30 minutes. We say our goodbyes to Darren (I sorta liked him and was sorry to see him go, really, who wants to get rid of the entertainment?) So we settled in for our last 20 miles with Maureen. We had a typical convo up to Stamford. She was acting all along like she really knew where she was going, but when we got off the Stamford exit...nada. We were sorta drifting around trying to find signs to the train. Got it. One last left...turn...SHIT! CHAD! Missed getting smoked by a car coming around the bend the other way by about 20 feet. Note to self: Green arrows in CT do not mean the same thing as in CO...FYI. Traffic is not stopped on the other side...
We pulled into the first garage and parked and were all a little bit shaken up. Personally, I would just feel better if we could get on the GD train to NYC...So we go in, great, there's an express train in 10 minutes. Exchange our tickets and we're good to go. Oh, maybe I should pee...Maureen? Do we have time? Yeah, lets go quick. So we go in/out in about 2 minutes and come out to find Chad saying we need to run to catch it. We run down the steps and the doors close right as we get there, like in the movies. It was a few minutes EARLY and did not wait any longer than it usually would (which is about 30 seconds). So I just about blew a gasket. I hit this metal thing on the train platform, which made a really loud noise but didn't really hurt since I'm used to punching stuff, but seemed to alarm everyone, heh. I went back up to the station and sat down on the floor. I was sitting there all pissed off and then Maureen decides to tell me that I shouldn't feel bad because she's there to see her mom in the hospital who got in a car accident yesterday. Thanks Maureen. Well that makes me feel much better. Now I feel selfish in addition to everything else - frustrated, homesick, stressed, stupid.
Anyhow, the next train came a half hour later. We finally got on the damn train and it's like 2pm. The train ride was pretty uneventful. I was just happy to be going somewhere and not to a hospital, whether it was for me or my mom or whatever...We got to Grand Central at about 3:00 or so. Maureen hooked us up with the train line schedule and showed us how to read it so we wouldn't eff everything up on the way home. Then she got us out on 42nd st. and on our way pointed toward Times Square. She was extremely nice. We exchanged e-mails but I haven't written to her yet. I will.
Chad and I walked the 4 or so blocks to Times Square and decided we needed brew immediately. We were a mess. First thing we saw was Hard Rock, so we went in there and mellowed out a bit. We were finally there, what's next? We promptly found a nice tee shirt stand and bought everyone in the family your classic cheap white "I <3 NY" tee shirts for $3 each. We decided that we were going to go up to the Top of the Rock (30 Rockefeller plaza, e.g. NBC headquarters) because Maureen said it was pretty cool. We walked over there and, It was cool. Well done, 30 Rock! They sold time-slot tickets and thus closely monitored how many people were up there so there wasn't a huge line to stand in anywhere and there was plenty of space when we got to the top. There is a whole mall underneath 30 Rock, so we went to the bathroom and got some Starbucks while we were waiting. I think our time was 5:05. We had reservations at the Redeye Grill at 5:30 and at this point who cares? We didn't even bother to call and cancel we were so over the "schedule". Chad's friend had recommended this place called Blue Fin in the W Hotel which was on our way back to Times Square, so that was the new plan.
Ok, so this video sorta stinks. I am still getting the hang of the new little baby recorder. I went too fast around...but you will still get the idea of the vastness of NYC, which left me awestruck...
Luckily, nobody eats in NYC as early as 5:45, so we got right in and sat down without a reservation. They were going to have live jazz music later in the evening, and had a really cool bar area, but we had bigger fish to fry and had to get in/out. We ordered and took turns taking the backpack into the restroom to change and get prettied up. I felt good in the plan B outfit. Really good. It was somewhat sparkly (actually the big joke is that it has a sequined strip down the middle vertically in a black/silver alternating chevron pattern which creates the illusion of a runway going from head down to the crotch area) and I had my black skinny jeans and 3.5" heel ankle boots on. Got my makeup on ramped up to level streetwalker. Got my hair out of the bun it had been cooking in all day. I felt like I belonged there...which was cool. Chad had his cute little plaid shirt on and his dark True Religion jeans and he looked great. (I'm his stylist) The atmosphere was exactly what we wanted...non-tourist trappy, trendy, sorta dim and sexy. I wish I had the waitress take a pic of us, or that I took a pic of the place, but the flash would have disturbed people. The sushi was fantastic....we were happy. We got out around 7pm and started making our way back toward times square and the theater. Curtain call was 8pm for The Lion King at the Minskoff Theater.
Admittedly, I did a bad job on the pics. Oh well. I am not as stoked on that as I used to be and it shows.
No pics were allowed inside, so I'll just say that the show blew our minds. It was perfect. Like listening to a soundtrack. It was just unbelievable all the crap that was constantly flying around that stage. The adaptations to take the story from cartoon movie to stage were done in the coolest way imaginable. I want to take the kids when it comes back to Denver. It won't be as good...but it's ok, it's for the kids.
SO we came outta there all happy and sorta wanting something to do. We thought about finding a pool hall. Neh. We decided it would be romantic to go to the top of the Empire State Bldg in the dark to see the lights. We had delusions of our hair blowing in the breeze and sharing a few kisses, like in the movies. We walked the 8-9 blocks down the the building. My feet held up well on the way down. Then we got there and had to wait. And wait...and wait...Lines everywhere. No organization. Totally the opposite from 30 Rock. We finally got to the top and there were so many people up there than we could barely move. Basically it sucked. But we gave it a try. Then we had to walk back and my feet started to hurt a little bit...but it was a nice night and I was a 6' tall sexy sparkly amazon with an arrow pointing to my crotch. So I just ignored it and kept walking around like I owned the place.
This was the best outside pic I got because the exposure on our night setting is really long and it's hard to hold the camera steady enough.
So you might think Oh, that's a happy end to the NYC story...but it's not over. We wasted a little time shopping back in times square and then decided around midnight that we needed to head out. We got to Grand Central and looked up at the board. Oh good, there's an express leaving...now...just as we started walking toward the tunnel...the board flipped to "departed". Shit. So now we have to run over here to this not express one or else wait another hour for the last express train out of the city for the night. We got on with no time to spare. Then some drunk girls sat down in the seat across from us. At first they were good entertainment. But we got sick of them saying the same things over and over for a half hour and decided they were "grenades, man". (anyone watch Jersey Shore? Me neither, but that phrase stuck with me as pretty damn funny the one time I did see it) The one girl was even a double grenade. She would intermittently pass out in mid-sentence. Then we had, guy who storms in and starts yelling at everyone because his door did not open at his stop and he missed it. Then we had drunk lady who decided she wasn't paying and argued a little bit with the ticket guy until she finally just laid down and ignored him.
So 18 stops later...we get back to Stamford. It's like 1:00 in the morning. We walk over to the parking garage to find it locked. There's a number to call if you need your car out. We call it. They guys says he's coming down. Nobody comes. Then Chad goes over to the next parking garage (where we were supposed to park) and talks to that guy. He comes over and says...well this guy is just sitting up there in that building (we parked in an office building garage). So he calls and sends us up there. We pay 28 dollars, sign all these forms, and the guy lets us out. Then on the way home it even took us like 20 minutes to pull off the highway and get McDonalds. There were three REALLY long lights between us and that damn McDonalds and we had to stop at all of them both ways. We got home at like 2am and collapsed. Cameron woke up at about 6am the next day.
Then CJ got sick. This was beach day, but I had to sit in the hotel room all day with him. He had a fever. I was so bored that I visited every single website I could think of to visit short of resorting to porn. We also missed the rehearsal dinner which was on the beach and a lovely dinner of various New England style seafood. The scoop was that the food was really good, but the no-see-ums and flies were out and everyone was complaining about that. I was sorta glad I missed that. I mighta had a hissy about it. I am not high maintenance, but one thing I ask is low numbers of insects while I am eating. AND I missed all the fun, everyone got shitfaced and was singing. I was very lucky to eat the leftover poo poo italian food from weds night. I still didn't think it was THAT bad. Maybe because nobody fed me the whole day again.
Then it was Saturday. CJ's birthday! Kelly's wedding! The things we've been waiting for! We didn't have anything planned for CJ's birthday, so in the morning I took him to Walmart and let him pick out a toy. Then we came back and loaded up the crew (Travis, Josh, Jaime, me, Chad, Cam, CJ) and went to...God help us...Chuck E Cheese. I have managed to avoid Chuck E Cheese up to this point in my life...but we didn't have anything else on deck...so we went. We bought $50 of tokens and made it our mission to get as many tickets as we could. We ended up with about 1400 between all of us and we thought that was good, but then CJ got about $12 of crap for it. Oh well, he had fun and the pizza actually wasn't bad. Having actual coke tasted good since I don't drink that much anymore.
Travis had been in Alaska all summer so he looked especially special...this is the trimmed beard. He had a full Jeremiah Johnson going when he first arrived.
Josh...don't ask me why I found it amusing to take pics when they were in this bubble thing.
Jamie seemed to be having more fun than all of us. And might I add, that she got the high score on the basketball game...*applause*
CJ was drawn to this like a moth to a flame...and was then promptly disappointed when all it did was go up and down a little bit. LAME.
Now this thing was pretty wicked cool.
I personally think that CJ had the most fun shoving the tickets into the ticket eater/counter thing:
All I have to say is, thank the Lord they didn't have the little robot band at this Chuck E Cheese. That might have sent me over the edge *again*
So we had to go home and clean up for the wedding. It was at 4:30 at a beach about 20 minutes away from the "suites" in Guilford, CT. I was glad it was casual. A thin layer of clouds came in and there was a comfortable breeze. That made it perfect on the beach.
The wedding was beautiful with Long Island Sound as the backdrop. Tobi and his friends had constructed this cool little area earlier in the day. It was farfegnugen...German engineering. (Tobi is German)
Here's all the siblings. I thought this was a great pic:
At the end of the ceremony Tobi serenaded Kelly with a song on his guitar. It was so sweet. I was trying to think of what the equivalent was on my wedding day...uh...maybe some quotes from Billy Madison such as "want to touch the hiney" and an ass grab. Let's just say these are different types of men we're talking about here...
Oh, and this is when Cameron started to come down with a fever.
We picked up the beach and moved to dinner. It was at this cute restaurant at the marina called The Stone House. This place was fantastic. Atmosphere, setting, service, food...all wonderful. Highly recommended. It was packed, but we had a private room in the back. Cam started feeling bad, so I ran to the nearest Walgreens to get some Tylenol. We brought in his car seat and he curled up in it in the corner of the room. He pretty much skipped dinner, but then the sorbet came out and he ate two of those and perked up a bit.
Josh and Melissa: "You're next...aren't you excited?" (Their wedding is in a few weeks in Toledo)
This was funny...Tobi has never heard of the shoving the cake in the face thing and was confused by all the cheering when he got ready to feed Kelly the cake.
The next day we had to leave around 8am to get up to Hartford airport. Everything was going ok until we got to the infamous Alamo station. We pulled in and it was raining. The girl comes up after we sit there ten minutes and says..."sorry, my gun is dead so you have to check out in the office...sorry for the inconvenience". So after we unload all our crap and the kids and drag it over to the office we are behind like 8 people to do this. Wait 20 minutes. Alamo is officially fired. We finally get to the airport...which I might add...Hartford airport is my favorite airport that I've ever been through...it is set up really well, it's not crowded, and they play classical music over the speakers to chill you out. I didn't mind hanging out there for 1.5 hours before our flight.
We ended up being delayed about 45 minutes from the rain. Great. We have a 55 minute layover in Atlanta to catch our Denver flight. We get to ATL and literally have to run to the next gate - of course we had to change terminals which involved a stupid train/whatnot. ATL airport might be my least favorite airport. The place was so packed that I had to hold CJ's hand the entire time so he wouldn't get swept away in the crowd. Chad was carrying a laptop bag AND the carseat with Cameron sitting in it. I couldn't believe he held up through that...but he always amazes me with his strength/lbs. ratio. We walked up to the gate just as they were announcing final boarding call. whew. Now would our bags make it? Unlikely.
We got to Denver and were delighted to get our bags. We then had to deal with Wallypark. We used to love Wallypark but now they must have cut vans so they now suck. They are fired. We decided that for short trips we're parking in the garage from now on. For long trips we're just going to hire a Towncar to drive us in and pick us up. We're done with this parking BS.
Finally we got home around 7:30pm...no food in the house. Here's a juice box and an apple. School starts the next day...damn. That was some trip...and no, I do not want to do it again...
Here I sit. Drinking a Session. Listening to the pants-less wonder Lady Gaga. Procrastinating on writing lab report and/or studying for my exams next week. Urge to post strikes me.
Let's see...testing for high red belt tomorrow. That's exciting, but what I really want is deputy black, which comes in May, granted I do not have a major injury...then...I...get...weapons! I don't know why, but I have not felt very "bad-ass" thus far as a tae kwon do student...but once I get my hands on those weapons, man...then that's something...then I am a bad ass. That, for some reason, is currently more important to me than getting to my black belt. Black belt...meh, nothing really changes - you just have the status symbol...Geez I sound like Bode Miller about the olympic medals...don't tell Master Kim...
Exams next week, which will pretty much seal my fate for A or B...as I have a low A or high B in both classes. Who cares. I've been giving a half-hearted effort this semester. The important thing to note is that I revisited the Regis U website recently just to see how their PT grad school prereqs compare to CU's...I hadn't checked it out in years...and the bad news is, their program is $30K more, but the good news is, it's a shorter program and I can probably apply as soon as I do my GRE and the psych classes I was planning on taking anyway over the summer over the internet. Score! The tricky part is going to be if I don't get into either program...uh...then what dude? I'ontevenknow... Speaking of PT, I haven't been hurt in a while and I sorta miss Bob. I found myself thinking...oh, I fell skiing the other day and my shoulder really hurts, maybe I should go see Bob - rather unnecessarily. I'm sure I'll see him soon enough...
So I'm sitting here in textbook jail hell and realizing that ski season is running short. Damn! I don't know if it's tkd, my fat skis, or just hours on the snow or what, but I am just KILLIN' it the past few seasons. For some reason a late in life skiing breakthrough here. Plus we got CJ skiing blues, bumps, trees pretty well this season. He'll be skiing the nasty with us soon.
The fact that ski season is almost over is ok I guess, that just means climbing season is upon us! And boy oh boy do I have plans for this season. Snow climbing snow climb snow climb on the brain. Snowmass, that other half of the Maroons and possibly the traverse, a bunch o Indian Peaks, Meeker, The Loft on Long's, etc...all snow all the time. Once ski season is over Chad and I are going to try our hand at AT backcountry. I need to take revenge on Apache Peak, and an AT trip is just the ticket since they don't open the gates up at Brainard Lake until May. The shop down the street rents out the gear... AT boots, skis, skins...we're all over it. If we like it, we'll earn a nice dividend at REI this year and it will open up a lot of possibilities for winter mountaineering. Prob. mid-April on that report.
Soccer...getting my groove back after the bad fall. Quick feet, fast sprints, sore hamstrings. Outdoor starts Sunday. I'm stoked.
Cam is turning 3 next month and that's freaking me out. We signed him up for Montessori preschool in the fall. He's frickin' hilarious. Of course I think so, he's mini-me. CJ is doing good in first grade...reading writing, math, etc. Loves the math. He sits there and says "this is so FUN" while doing his math homework...GOD please can he NOT be an accountant...anything but an accountant! He's also going to try flag football this spring. We'll see pretty quickly if he's going to follow his namesake or not...Chad's had him running routes and also passing for a year now. He plays football with his friends every day at recess. Let's just say the kid could play Madden if he wanted to...he knows all the plays.
I post a lot of my random daily thoughts now on Facebook. Seems to be where all the cool kids hang out. (I still refuse to join Twitter)...Anyhow, today I thought..."timing is everything". If you think about it, it's really true. Think of how many things would be different in your life now if the timing of meeting people or being in certain places or when things happened were different...whoa. Major argument for destiny or karma or whatever there...
When people are asking me how the first week of school is going (whether they are referring to myself or my kids) I have been saying "we're all adjusting this week". Which translates to: HOLY HELL, how am I going to do this for the next 5 years?!
I am exhausted from classes. All three classes had some administrative stuff at the beginning for about 10 minutes, then jumped right in to the material turbo-style. What happened to the days where you could go buy your book after the first couple days of class?
On my first day I learned:
A review of water and it's properties and how important it is to biochemistry and life in general (ok, after 10-12 chemistry classes in my life, I get it folks)
pH buffers, review of acid/base reactions
All the general regional and directional anatomical nomenclature
Body cavities, divisions, and what is included in them
The integumentary system (structure of skin and other tissue)
The structure of bones on a cellular level
Review of the structure of a general body cell and the parts and what they do.
My brain is smokin'.
CJ is doing ok...the first few days were rough, but he seems generally happy about going to school in the morning now. Cam is exhausted too. He's at a new babysitter and hasn't been going to daycare since mid-July.
Toss in CJ's birthday party at the LEGO store last night...WHEW.
I hope things settle in a little bit. Although I'm pretty sure they will just keep bein' nuts...
Well, I know I am anyway, and yes, that's from Billy Madison...one of the dumbest movies (and one of my faves) ever.
The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone's connected to the hip bone...there, all brushed up for Gross anatomy. I really hope that I get a girl cadaver...I don't know exactly how it works...Some classes do one body per 4-5 students, some classes do one body for the entire class. I'm hoping for the latter...I don't need to be stressed out about participation points with this...
Biochemistry. I'm ready for it. I have considered asking how many more classes I'd need to have a chemistry degree. Seems like I've been studying Chemistry for more of my adult life than not...After this one, the only chem class I will have not taken as an undergrad is physical chemistry, which I understand is a biatch...at least I don't need that one.
CJ's sixth birthday was the other day. I can't believe it. He's getting too big, it sorta freaks me out. He's got HAIR on his legs for cripes sake! I love that kid with every ounce of my being. He's such a good boy, and a sweet soul. Sometimes I'm too hard on him. I make the mistake of wanting him to be perfect - I now have a clear picture now as to why first-born children turn out differently from the rest. We got him a Razor Powerwing scooter and a skateboard is on the way from uncle Josh. He has already come up with some sweet tricks on the Powerwing...I love watching him ride it. I'm very excited to see how he does with the skateboard (but also nervous that we will soon have our first broken bone). Mark my words, people...that kid is going to be in the X Games someday. It's all he wants to do!
Physically I'm sorta a mess. I am pretty shredded since I lost that last 3-5 lbs on our climb, but ironically, I can't seem to reset my chemistry after the big bonk. My friend Carrie who is a dentist -a doctor, in essence- says having all the symptoms = I was probably actually IN shock while descending the mountain. I was not aware that you could be in shock and still upright, but apparently anything goes...I was too stubborn to go down and stay down. It makes sense...if you have all the symptoms, then, uh-duh, you're already THERE...
Well, since then, I'm definitely lacking in something, have to figure out what it is. Getting nauseous and dizzy occasionally during the tougher workouts, sorta tired...What...I took two days off after the incident...missed a soccer game...isn't that enough? Then again, it could just be the heat. Me and 90+ temps don't get along.
I don't know why I feel the need to push my body to the absolute limit. Maybe it's fear of "use it or lose it". Maybe it's a form of mid-life crisis? I don't need a fast car, I need 6-pack abs and a fast sprint...Maybe it's just my usual carpe diem attitude with a slight psychological demon involved...whatever...
I am testing for my brown belt this upcoming weekend. That will be fun. I am stoked for it. Usually I'm nervous about the breaking technique, but for some reason I'm good at all things spinning...it's sorta my "thing", so the 360 jumping hook kick that I have to do to break the board is going to be fun. I'm hoping to get it on the first try. I have been practicing these forms for like, 8 months, so I'm good. Just some last minute tweeks that Masters Kim & Jin pointed out to me last week.
In other news, I feel rather reflective lately on my past. I am happy with it. While I do not feel like I have accomplished nearly what I need to on this Earth, it's been a fantastic and blessed life so far. I have met interesting and wonderful people. I have crossed paths with some grade AAA assholes. I have been allowed to see and feel so many different scenarios. Many of which I cannot categorize, which I like. How boring is it to easily fit everything you've experienced into - Love, hate, fear, joy, etc...The "gray area" is much more interesting to me.
I am happy that the path I have taken has lead me to here. Here is good.
I know, I know. I didn't even write up the climb for N. Maroon yet...I'll get to it. I've been busy spending all of our money on college textbooks and getting tetanus shots.
Gram Kay is here, and Chad and I are slogging back down to the Crestones for another go at the Needle and the traverse tomorrow. This time with no time pressure (assuming the weather cooperates). Maybe we will find my long lost glasses. Maybe we will meet up with the next stalking mountain goat (oh, I haven't told that tale yet).
We went to the Boulder Reservoir yesterday for some beach time and found the spandex mafia had taken it over. The 5430 Triathalon was going on...parking was, uh, interesting...but not that many folks on the beach. The boys had a blast.
We spotted the Bob-mobile (Altitude PT) van right up front in the tent city of promoters and went to say hi to Bob. Except it came out more like, "Bob, we are trying to just bring our family to the beach and LOOK at all these IDIOTS here clogging everything up." Which I thought was pretty funny but Bob's friend did not see my humor and started tossing off bad Juju at me for that comment. Bob was lying in the back of the van and could barely sit up to talk to us. We caught him right after he had finished. He was happy with how he did. I asked if Mrs. Bob was racing and he said no...she was with the girls, so he was going to hit the beach in a few to "check out the scene and see who's interested in a 45 year old bald guy". My first thought was: I'm sure you could find a nice game of hockey stix down there in your leotard at the beach...but I didn't say that since his friend was there giving me stink-eye. Don't worry Bob...you're totally hot in spandex. Party on in your land of three cardio torture mechanisms.
I only make fun of the triathletes because I am not that cool. I have always been jealous, but not jealous enough to learn how to swim right. Ugh. Poo poo lake water...Chlorinated water isn't much better in my book. Kids crap in it all the same. Floating/sinking. Restricted breathing...no thanks.
Watch our Spots. If the Spot works, that is. I haven't told that story yet either.
Chad's brothers came out on the 22nd for what we hope will be an annual event. A family gathering to experience the beautiful Colorado outdoors for such long periods of time that it's almost as bad as Christmas break.
We headed out Thursday morning. Josh and Travis kept asking, "what time are we leaving tomorrow?" And Chad and I just kept answering, "uh, when we're ready". We have had kids long enough now to know that there is a very complex mathematical theorem on how to calculate when you will actually be ready vs. when you feel you SHOULD be ready, but we chose to abandon that years ago and just try our best to get the hell out the door. I think we left around 9:30 am.
The trip was pretty uneventful. We stopped at our usual burger place by the city park in Buena Vista so kids could play, we could get lunch, the dog can get out of the car and get in the river a bit, and we can stock up at the grocery store a few blocks down the street. AfterWe were a bit nervous to see what sort of camping spot we could find in Taylor Canyon. We didn't reserve any because a lot of our favorite sites are walk-in. We got there around 1:30 and struck out at our first spot. Uh oh, this could be bad. For some reason, our next campground was only about half full and we scored two really nice spots. We were going to do one spot, but lady insisted that she'd get in trouble if two vehicles were at one site. Next day we saw two girls camping at one of the spots with two subarus. I think she just wanted to fill her campground. Well, about 500 people drove by in the next few days looking for spots and couldn't get one because we were using one basically just for a parking spot. Good job lady. Craptastic, really.
The Taylor was really crowded. We were sorta sad about it. We realize it's really a Gold Medal fishing river that just hasn't been noticed yet, but we thought the tards weren't smart enough to figure it out. The one good part is, most of the tards are RVers so they never wander far from the campgrounds...so if you went to a spot on the river away from the campgrounds, good fishing was still there to be had. Chad/Josh and Travis/me were fishing teams and it quickly became a competition of quantity and quality. Travis and I fell behind a couple times, but usually had the lead...which only seemend to bother - Josh. One of the perks of our campground: Lots of rocks to climb
On Saturday we packed in to our super secret fishing spot to have some fun. The kids weren't so happy about having nothing to play with but rocks and sticks. But they quickly got into the spirit by building rock piles, and playing "bomb the ship" where you toss a stick in upstream, then bomb it with rocks as it goes by in the current. Joey was in doggie heaven. She swam and fetched sticks and rolled in weeds all day. We took turns going out on the stream for an hour or so and hanging out with the kids at base camp. CJ actually caught an unassisted brown trout just a few yards upriver from our little basecamp. I got a pic of that, but it was with Josh's camera. We still need to exchange pics. It was awesome, as usual.
Doesn't get much mo beta than this, does it??? Originally, we were going to travel to Lost Lake after three nights here, but we decided to do that as a day trip and instead spend two nights checked in at Harmels. We'd all get showers, a few good meals and not have to worry about finding a camp spot. They have two miles of official "Gold Medal" water and they have some seriously fat fish in there! All OVER THE PLACE. I personally caught three fish worth talking about. Two of them were two casts in a row on our last rays of light on the second day. Chad and I somehow were out there during the last big feeding frenzy of the day. And all the fly fishermen were also conveniently stuffing their faces at the big BBQ hoe-down shin-dig or whatever was going on over at the fire pit. We caught fish almost every cast for about 15 minutes. Chad caught a few nice ones too. But both of my last two were HUGE. We did not have the camera, but measured the bigger one on my rod. About 22 inches and we're guessing just shy of the fat 5 lb mark. It took two of us to hold it while we got the hook out. Chad finally had to clamp it between his legs because it was too strong for us. It was a monster. The smaller one was maybe a inch shorter and a half pound lighter. That made my day. I thought I had the trophy for the group, but earlier in the day Josh had reeled in a lunker too, and his rod measurement beat mine by about an inch. Here's one Josh caught on day one, the only time I fished with him...I'm tellin ya, he learned it all from me...yeah, that's it. Monday we decided on the day trip to Lost Lakes. It's three lakes on a 3.5 mile loop. We were excited to go back here because it's beautiful and the fishing was great last time we were here...when CJ was 2. This time, the fishing was not great and more people were around...which put a damper on it, since we also thought this was quite a secret spot. But it was still pretty. I wished I could have spent more time there, but we pretty much just hiked up to the high lake fished for a couple hours and came back down. Cameron really enjoyed his ride on the "Daddy Horsey" in the kid carrier. CJ was a very good hiker for this 3 mile and rather rocky hike.
And my favorite pic of the day...my bro Travis in all his Travis glory... Monday night we packed most of the stuff up and headed out for Aspen early on Tuesday morning. We had reservations starting on Wednesday for two sites, but since we had made all the plans, Josh had to leave a day early, so in order to get everyone a shot at a 14er, we had to roll the dice and drive out a day early in hopes of finding walk-in sites for one night. We made good time on the pretty but long drive from Crested Butte around Kebler and McClure passes and back down 82 to Aspen. We got there just in time before the masses showed up and got two sites in the same campground as our reservations on Maroon Lake Road. It wouldn't be that bad to move everything the next day. We set up and then Josh and Travis took off up the canyon to fish Maroon Creek. It was steep and raging. Not great fishing.
Chad and I were climbing the Bells the next day, so unfortunately, Travis and Josh were going to have to move everything AND watch the kids. We're pretty sure that day sucked for them. We had big plans for doing the Bells Traverse on Weds. The weather didn't cooperate and we only got North Maroon. It was ok, you can't do much about the weather...I'll tell that tale in a separate post. Josh and Travis took the kids up to Maroon Lake for some playtime, and they actually ended up seeing us on the summit of N. Maroon with binoculars. Josh said CJ looked in the binoculars and said "it looks orange". Nobody thought he was seeing anything until later in the day when we were back and I explained I was so cold on the top that I had to take out my space blanket....bright orange. What we didn't realize was that we were witnessing the pattern for the rest of our trip. Rain...every afternoon, all afternoon...at night...never enough time for everything to dry out. Meh.
The next day either Chad or myself would take Josh and Travis up Pyramid. It's a dangerous mountain for beginners, but we plopped helmets on everyone's heads and it's only 6 miles so we thought everyone could make it. Chad ended up going since I had already done it and I stayed with the kids. I have no pics of their climb. But everyone did make it and they stayed dry until the end.
The kids and I drove into Aspen and went to a park for about an hour. Then we had lunch at McDonalds. This would have been a fun morning, except that we had Joey. So I had to drag Joey around on her leash (there were too many people and other dogs around to let her go free) while also trying to help Cam up and down this park climbing structure. I realized before lunch that we had to find a parking spot with some shade so Joey wouldn't cook while we were eating. We did, but the only one I found within walking distance was a half hour metered spot, and I saw the parking ticketers were out so we had to hurry. After eating about half of our lunches and bringing them back to the car to finish, we drove up to the grocery store at Snowmass Village, which was far out of the way, but the grocery store in Aspen is HIGHLY annoying and I was hoping Cam would fall asleep on the ride. He did fall asleep on the way back to camp, at least for a little while. The boys got back from the climb. Josh and I went up the canyon to a flatter spot to check out the fishing and saw some fish, but didn't catch any.
Friday Josh had to leave, so we spent most of soggy Thursday night eating and packing what we could into the 4-Runner for him to take home. We woke up Friday morning to a rain storm and Josh left early...The rest of us drove up to Basalt and tried to fish a bit on the Frying Pan River. It's world famous, apparently. It is a very nice river and I caught three and Chad caught a bunch, but Travis none. It was extremely crowded. Not worth it to us to fight for a spot. We like to move when we fish. Not claim a stake on one fishing hole and stand there and pound it all day. So after a couple of hours and more rain, we called it. We got back to camp and decided to pack up and go home. We just couldn't deal with the rain anymore. Everyone was crabby. Even Joey had set up camp in the back of the Sequoia and would not come out. You know it's bad when the dog is sick of camping and refuses to come out of the car...
Anyway, overall the trip was fun. Hopefully we can do this again next year!
First we flew home, dropped off kiddies at Gramma Kay's house and went off to Chapel Hill for Chad's MBA graduation. That was fun. I do not know how he made it through 23 of those trips without getting fat and/or killing his liver. These people know how to get down, man. I could barely hang. Every night it's eat out then party. We even played beer pong one night for cripe's sake. They were all great people and it was fun to meet them. At first I wasn't even going to go. I thought it would be a bunch of stuffy boring accountant/want-to-conquer-the-business-world types, and I was like, whatever, it's a dumb graduation ceremony, let's get this over with and go home...but I had a great time and when the ceremony actually came around it sunk in what a great accomplishment it is and I was very proud of Chad. I was very glad I was there. He deserved someone to be there.
On my free day I had the big plan to drive out to Mt. Mitchell, near Asheville, 14er-style, but given that I was still at the bar at 2am and slightly tanked and would've had to leave at 3am...uh, yeah. I did a little 5-6 mile hike in Eno River State Park which was nice. Saturday after the ceremony I made Chad go to Jordan Lake and get a little sun for a few hours. I liked North Carolina. Chapel Hill is a cool little town, the whole area is pretty cool. A lot less developed than you'd think. Rolling hills, pretty old- growth forests.
Meanwhile, Gram Kay and Charlie took my offspring to visit Gramps Wing and Sally to chase some chickens and listen to nifty impromptu harmonica jam sessions. Word has it Grampa Wing plays a mean "Wheels on the Bus". Also, they went to pick at the
strawberry patch and were stuffing my kids full of all sorts of
berry-based food the entire four days. We got back just in time for the
digestive consequences. Thanks Gram Kay...Thanks.
Then we headed back to the T-dump metro area for some family time. 5 days in Fremont and then 5 days up at Posey Lake. Got to visit with my good ole buddies Libby and Jill from Kingston Healthcare - Shout out! Last I saw them, CJ was a 4-month-old. Went to my long lost cousin Tamra's baby shower, and did the Godmother gig for my niece Rosalynn. I don't know just how god-motherly I am, but I was honored to be picked. (I'll do my best not to fuck it up). We were also lucky to visit for a little while with Chad's grandpa Wing and his lovely lady Sally. We took the kids to the Toledo Zoo, which is better than the Denver zoo. I think we liked it better than them.
Got 5 nines of golf and one 18 round in! YEAH. Best score was 46 on 9, SO not HOT, and I suffered a devistating 6 penalty strokes on the round of 18 to shoot a 95 (hittin a little crooked off the mens tee with my dad that day)...but oh well, it was fun and I finally got Chad out on my old stomping grounds - Fremont Country Club. The course was in fantastic shape and I did feel a few little heartstrings tug as I played 3 rounds of 9 holes there over the vacay. After all, I WAS the ladies club champion there in 1993...
We had a great time up at Posey Lake. Josh (Chad's bro) had remodeled a lot of the cottage and it was really nice. The lake was warm, the sun was hot. We got our tan on - (Just call me sexual chocolate from here out - ok, so it's admittedly more like caramel). And almost died from the humidity. And I got an ear infection from lake water getting stuck in my ear while tubing...but it was good times at the lake! We got to hang with Kay & Charlie, Travis (chad's other bro), Josh, Melissa (Josh's girlfriend), Jaime (Charlie's daughter) and her friend Audrey, we even had an appearance from Chad's dad Skip and his two half-sisters Courtney and Paige (he had never seen Cam and had only seen CJ a few times so they had no idea he was their grandpa), our friends Jason Kaz, and Lee and Shari came up too. CJ and Cam had fun playing with Lee/Shari's girls Adrian and Avery. We grilled, drank, swam, fished, boated, tubed, got a few games of volleyball in, and one 9-holes of golf in the form of a 6-some which took 187 hours to complete in the 95 degree heat with 95% humidity...but STILL fun.
Then we had the big party back in Fremont. WHAT party are you refering to, exactly, you might ask? WELL I couldn't talk about it in case parentals logged in. It was their 40th anniversary and my sis and I decided we needed to throw a surprise party for them with all their friends in their own backyard. We told them we wanted to take them out for a nice round of golf and lunch for their anniversary present...thus the 18 hole round...as a family. While we were gone, Chad and Tim (brother in-law) were back at the house supervising all the setting up by the tent/table people and the caterer. It turned out perfectly and it was so great and totally worth the crap we went through to get it done. They had absolutely no idea, which is a small miracle, since the whole town of Fremont knew about it for two months. The weather was great. The food was great. I made a complete fool of myself trying to do a toast and crying. Almost ALL of my parents good friends and family made it. Some came from Toledo, Buffalo, Erie-PA, Cleveland, Wisconsin, even Atlanta-GA. We had about 75 people. It was SO good to see my family from Buffalo, and especially my cousin Adam from Wisconsin - we used to be like PEAS and CARROTS growing up - and to meet his girlfriend Jen.
I made a cookie-cutter website for the event: www.rodandkathy40th.myevent.com There's plenty of tard pics in there if you want to have a laugh...I'll get some pics of the trip up soon. I have to collect/consolidate from everyone who was snapping pics. I was running the video mostly, not the camera.
Twas a great trip, however, we're GLAD to be home. Missed our doggie. Missed our bed. Missed hangers. Missed Rocky Mountain High. Plus my liver needed a vacation from the vacation. TRU-DAT!
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