The parents are coming, the parents are coming!!!

So my parents just left yesterday. They came out for a week to see me and see the California coast. It was fun and I really appreciated not having to pay for stuff!!!

They got to play around on the beach and dad even got in the water some and floated around. It's pretty damn cold still so that was an impressive feat!!

We went to the Price Is Right on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun, but a VERY long day. We got there at 6:10am to get our tickets. We were #s 196-198!!! We went and ate breakfast, then came back for the waiting game. After all the groups and everyone was accounted for we made the cut and got in. We ended up being contestants 296-298 of 315!! We barely got in!

Unfortunately we didn't get picked to be actual contestants though :(

It was a fun experience none the less though.

After that we went to Hollywood to show Mom & Dad the walk of fame, Mann's Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater (where they do the Oscars) and the Hollywood sign. I've got pics up on my picassa site if you want to see them. A long and fun day!

Then Thursday we drove to San Diego to go to the zoo! I loved it!!! We spent 7 hours there! I heart zoos a lot as you can tell.
We saw all kinds of cool stuff, including the Pandas. Unfortunately the Lions were off exhibit but we saw EVERYTHING else. Again, pics are up on site. Great fun, I highly recommend it :)

It was nice to have my parents around since I don't get to see them much any more. It was a little odd being around them for a full week. I don't think I've done that since college!! Luckily they are fun enough to make it bearable :) Now if I can just hold off becoming my father....

GLOOM!!

No one told me about this shit!!

I moved here for the beautiful weather (and school I guess) and I have to put up with June gloom!!

I guess every year from mid to late May and until mid to late June they have this heavy Marine layer that basically makes it cloudy every morning. Sometimes it burns off around 1 or 2pm but I managed to be here for the worst one they've had in years!! I swear the sun didn't come out for almost 3 weeks!!!

of course now it's gone and it's been beautiful, sunny and in the 70s, perfect!!!!

But still, that shit needs to stop and NOW! Screw you El Nino!!!

EARTHQUAKE!!!

So I survived my first TWO earthquakes!
The first one ended up being a 4.9 I believe. I was in the shower, shampoo in hair, soap on face when the shaking started. I live in an old building so I was more than a little concerned. It took about 5 seconds for me to realize what was going on and that no there was not a train going by shaking the house. It lasted about 12-15 seconds all of which I stood there in the shower with soap in my eyes, completely still trying to figure out if I needed to go running naked into the streets or lay down in the tub or go stand in a doorway, I didn't know what to do!!

Finally it stopped, but I stood there another 30 seconds or so before I decided it was safe to finish my shower and that my upstairs neighbor's tub wasn't going to fall on me!

About a week later a 2nd one hit. It was much shorter and weaker but counted none the less!

I guess that means I'm an offical Californian now! I think I like tornadoes better. You can at least kinda tell when they're coming and I know what to do when they do come!!!

Summer session

We only had 3 classes, but man it got tough!!!
1 class was a "busy work" type class. Our grade was based on our final project and paper. My group had to design and teach a 1 hour PE class for a local elementary school. We knocked it out of the park!! We played the pretzel game where you get all tangled up with your group then have to untangle yourselves without letting go of your hands, then we played a variation of paper rock scissors but ours was Trojans, Bruins, & Cowboys (yes I came up with the characters) and you had to act it out and then "capture" the losing characters from the other team. Next came capture the flag, it was fun. Those 4th graders are F'n fast!!!! Then we finished with a tricked up version of red light/green light with a bunch of other colors thrown in. It was fun, but I do NOT want to go into pediatrics :)
Biomechanics was a fun and interesting class, but geez we have to be really good at our craft! It is amazing that having a weak glutieus maximus (butt muscle) can cause knee, ankle, and foot pain! Just one little old weak muscle can mess up your whole leg!
Lastly was Modalities where we learned why we do the stuff we do (ice/heat packs, ultra sound, wound care, etc) The wound care stuff was pretty cool, but there was WAY too much info. It was confusing. The class as a whole was pretty cool but man the teacher wasn't too great at communicating so it made for some hairy moments on the tests! I also really enjoyed the lab where we played with the parrafin wax. I know this will surprise no one when I tell you that I made myself a wax glove of my hand and kept it all class long, slapping people with it, etc. Then I had to put it back in the wax bath :( That's right folks, I'm a man I'm 33!!!

I haven't seen my grades yet, but I think I passed all the summer classes. Keep your fingers crossed just in case!

FINALS!!!

Finals week was tough, but not nearly as bad as midterms. Midterms was 8 tests and 2 papers in a 5 day span, no breaks. Finals was 7 tests over a 7 school day span with 1 weekend in between. Not as taxing!! I rallied from my disappointing midterm performance and passed all my classes this spring. I think I got a mix of couple A's and few B's. I'm still awed by the amount of information I should know at this point. I don't feel like I know NEARLY as much as I should, just waiting for it all to "click"
I had a whopping 2 days off before the start of our short summer session, woohoo....

Since we last talked....

Well I spent 3 weeks in Dallas and it was a lot of fun. I finished up midterms, and let me tell you, they beat me down so hard it was unbelievable!! I actually froze on a test for the first time in my life! Sure I've missed questions before, not known answers, things of that ilk, but man I actually froze! I think my confidence actually took a hit during that week and for the first time questioned whether or not I could hack it! Luckily my first 2 wk clinical was right after that. It was an easy tour with inpatient rehab at Baylor hospital in downtown Dallas, my old stomping grounds. It was a nice easy, relaxed time and helped me get some confidence back!! I enjoyed my time, but it got repetitive. I'm not sure inpatient rehab is for me! I also spent spring break back in big D and it was good to see all my friends there again and also get to drive up and see my parents. It was nice. All in all a good trip back and after that I was refreshed and ready to tackle the last half of the semester!

Updates, updates, updates!!!!

Well it's been a LONG time since I've updated this thing and there has been a LOT of stuff going on. Now don't get excited, most of it is probably HIGHLY uninteresting, but it's stuff none the less and what else have you go to do right now? Just read it and enjoy, let my experiences wash over you like a soothing bath, or just ignore them completely, that will probably be relaxing too :)

Focus!!

I have zero focus right now! I have a midterm tomorrow and I can't get motivated to study more! Partly because it is bright, sunny and warm here and I am about to head to the beach to "study" there. Summer school is a torture borne out of GitMo itself!!

By the way, sorry I've been so lazy lately. I have a LOT of stuff to update on here and hopefully I'll have a chance to take care of that in a week or 2 while I'm on break!

Thanks to those of you who still check this for updates and read my thoughts!