Sorry for the lame or nonexistant updates.  This summer won't get much, better, though.  I went straight from my last final (interviewing standardized patients) right to driving to CO to help my parents move in, then back to KC to a few days of panicked packing for the rest of the summer: Air Force training, then backpacking for three weeks, then Glen Canyon with Luke's family, then another week in CO for some more time with my family, then finally back to KC.  Whew.  I'm excited to see how this backpacking trip turns out - definitely the longest trip either of us have ever been on, and I've never planned the food for any backpacking trips before.  We'll probably have way too much food... but then again we might not... sigh.  We're making serious use of our new backcountry oven, and planning a lot of cornbread, sticky buns, pizza, and brownies - rough, right?  Breakfast will be oatmeal (and occassionally muffins).  We also made a lot of use the my siblings' old dehydrator, and have a TON of dried spaghetti sauce, chili makings, fruit leathers, and the like.  Hopefully I'll be hungry and tired enough to find them appetizing.

In any case, I'm at AF training at the moment, living it up.  It's one million times more relaxed than COT.  We had a lot of lecture yesterday and today, but also a lot of free time.  Tomorrow we go in the altitude chamber, but only to 18,000 ft.  I'm secretly hoping they press the wrong button and send us to the equivalent of the top of Everest.  SO cool.  Thursday we get a tour of NASA.  Friday is centrifuge day - 5 Gs, not too shabby, it's pretty much guaranteed that we'll puke.  Next week we're going to a burn unit, which could be cool.  I can show off my arm.  Man, I love the Air Force, this is just too cool.
 
I'm pretty convinced that I want to be a flight surgeon now - but maybe it's all the fancy videos with jets and catchy music.  Or maybe it's me imagining sitting at the dining room table with my family and understanding what EVERYONE is talking about - medical nursing stuff, military stuff, AND pilot stuff!

So life is good.  I'm training as often as I can so I suffer minimally backpacking in two weeks.  It's just super nice to not feel guilty for not studying all the time!

"I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from not surprised"

take quiz What's your theological worldview?

You scored as a Roman Catholic

You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.

Roman Catholic 100% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 89% Neo orthodox 75% Emergent/Postmodern 61% Charismatic/Pentecostal 54% Modern Liberal 46% Fundamentalist 39% Classical Liberal 39% Reformed Evangelical 21%

*yawn* OK, so the quiz isn't really worth it because there are at least 5 clearly Catholic questions which, I imagine, if you check those off, you're Catholic, straight up.

better than studying, though...

Currently Listening Crazy Ex-Girlfriend By Miranda Lambert see related

Healthy Insanity

I've never seen this before and thought it was cute and actually considered forwarding it on... but hate chain mail, so just posted it here for your enjoyment:

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars.
See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom.
Don't Disguise Your Voice. !

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something,
ask If They Want Fries with that.

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions:
Switch to Espresso.

6. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks,
Write "For Marijuana"

7. Finish All Your sentences with
'In Accordance With The Prophecy ' .

9. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go".

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area and Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won! '

18. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They ' re Loose! '

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go. '

So yea, I'm done with first year lectures!  One cumulative final, one imitation Board exam, and two graded patient interviews, and I'm done with my first year.  Too bad I'm way more excited about the pro-life movement on campus than studying for finals.  Sigh...

My parents were in town last night!  Just passing through on their way to Colorado Springs, and a little stressed and anxious about being slightly homeless, but they were handling it well :)  The VA house is sold and gone, and we have their cute little third car until we drive out to CO in a week.  Yay for having two cars!  Way cool.

K, really need to study...

Currently Reading These High, Green Hills (The Mitford Years, Book 3) By Jan Karon see related

surfing pictures

So the reason I couldn't find the pictures they took of us learning to surf over spring break is because they were on a different site... so I finally found them, only to find out they cost FIVE DOLLARS PER PRINT!  Which is outrageous, and I don't recommend it.  but they are fun to look at, if you're interested.  so, go here:

http://www.southpadresurfcompany.smugmug.com/gallery/4439276_XZGHy#270733867_i9nvy

Pictures of us span pages 9, 10, and 11 of the March 2008 pictures.

Enjoy!

Currently Reading A Light in the Window (The Mitford Years, Book 2) By Jan Karon see related

Spring break pictures

 Pictures from our trip to South Padre Island:

 My favorite turtle at the sea turtle rescue organization on the island.  He's a hawksbill - is there any wonder they are hunted for their shells?  Just gorgeous!

Luke coming in from snorkeling, watching the kite surfers

Yep.  That's a crocodile.  On our nature walk.  We were, however, on a boardwalk when we took this.  Still.  It was RIGHT there.

The bridge to the mainland.  A rather miraculous construction if you ask me.

Look carefully at opposite corners to see Luke flying his new fancy kite on the beach :)

The beach!

Me at our campsite cooking dinner.

Sunset from our campsite.

Luke and Jesus.  Luke is the smaller one.

Luke bay fishing.  That's my pole.  He's not that coordinated to get two.

Me bay fishing.  Note ridiculously pink knees from wearing a wet suit while surfing...

We're done roughing it!  Luke at our bed and breakfast outside Fort Worth on the drive home.

We sure can pick 'em.  This bed a breakfast had goats and horses...

...miniature donkeys (they had at least 30 miniature donkeys.  they were about 3 feet tall.  they got offended when I asked what they were for...  as far as I can tell, you can show them... I don't know why you would want to)...

... and of course, a bison.  They were equally awkward and defensive when I asked what the bison was for.  Would you milk a bison?  You obviously wouldn't kill and eat this guy.  *shrug*  we fed him a piece of bread and moved on.

and stopped at the Fort Worth botannical gardens, but only the japanese garden.  No bonsai for sale.  sigh.  Though we did buy a $3 fig!!  and so ended spring break.  :)

Currently Reading The Virgin's Lover By Philippa Gregory see related