North Of The Border---May 20, 2008

This will quite possibly be my last correspondence from North of the Border. I left Tennessee on May 15 arriving to Des Moines about 6:oo central time (14.5 hours!)

The good news---we sold our house on May 10th! We got our asking price, but we had to make several other concessions.

The bad news---one of the concessions is that we close at the end of May! Holy cow! That just gives us a couple of weeks!

We had a disastrous trip to Kansas City yesterday in search of a place to live. We did some thorough (we thought) internet searching on the site of a property management company and found several prospects. Much to our chagrin, we found out when we got there that the company does not update their site very often and all but two were presently unavailable. Neither were a fit for us. So back to Des Moines we went. Empty handed.

Well, not quite. When I was in Tennessee, I had a little work done to our Taurus because it had developed a terrible shaking especially when the brakes were applied. We had to get new tie rods and all the tires were balanced (supposedly) as well as an alignment. Everything seemed fine since then and also when I checked the car over before returning on the 886 mile trip to Des Moines on May 15. Once on the interstate, I noticed the ride was a little rough. I didn't think too much of it and I didn't see anything wrong when I checked things over when I stopped. Well, it was worse on our trip to Kansas City yesterday. When we stopped at at rest area south of Cameron, Missouri, I could clearly see the problem. The left rear tire was beyond bald and the belts under the tread were showing! We made it to Kearney, Missouri, where we found a tire shop who were glad to sell us a couple of tires. Ouch! Definitely not part of our budget, but man what a smooth ride home! So we did come home with two brand new tires! Not quite what we had in mind, but at least we didn't have to call for a tow!

I am heading back to KC tomorrow to look at a few more houses. Cheryl and the kids are not coming along this time. Wish me luck.

I am looking forward to seeing those of you who are making the trip to Des Moines this weekend for graduation. See you then.

Appalachia---April 13, 2008

The big news this week---my paper is going to be published in the July-August issue of The Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery. This is a main stream podiatry journal and is the journal of the the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Ironically, I can't afford a subscription to the journal that is publishing my paper! That's just too funny! Luckily, our school library subscribes.

Uncle Jim, Aunt Marge, and I went to Asheville, North Carolina yesterday. Asheville is about an hour southeast of Johnson City. We went to the boyhood home of Thomas Wolfe, an important 20th Century American writer. He is most famous for his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel. The is sort of a fictionalized, but autobiographical, account of this experiences as a young boy growing up in a boarding house his mother owned. His parents had a very volatile relationship and young Thomas lived with his mother at the boarding house while his brothers and sisters lived with their father at the family residence a few blocks away. We took a tour of the boarding home which was very interesting. The boarding house was called the Old Kentucky Home which was named by a previous owner originally from Kentucky.

Here is a virtual tour of the Old Kentucky Home.

Here is an MSN Virtual Earth map to put things in perspective. Click on "Bird's Eye View" for the best result.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with our visit to Asheville yesterday, but Asheville has a minor league (A) affiliate for the Colorado Rockies known as the Asheville Tourists. I have posted this before, but it's worth seeing again. Watch Asheville Tourist manager Joe Mikulik go bananas!

Here is a picture of Kirsten at her first tennis match. All junior varsity matches are doubles. She and her partner Gabby did manage to win one game within the set but could not overcome the experience of the older girls they were playing. Kirsten and Gabby are freshmen and their opposition were juniors. Gabby is not Kirsten's regular partner--her regular partner could not participate this particular day.




















Caleb has only had one baseball game so far. The game yesterday was canceled due to snow. That's right, SNOW. Caleb has historically been a middle infielder, but is being called upon to play third base and to pitch. Looks like he's pulling ahead of the pack in the area of arm strength.
Anyway, he came on in long relief after the starter pitched himself into a jam. Caleb took the mound in the top of the second with the bases loaded and nobody out. He pitched 2 innings, allowed no hits and struck out 5 batters. Great job. Here is a picture of him.
























That's all for now. Only five more weeks until I go home.

Appalachia--March 30, 2008

Well, it's been quite some time since I last updated.

I was back to Des Moines earlier this month for my board exam. It was much easier than I expected. It is hard for me to understand why things like this cost so much money--close to $1500 by the time I add in my air fare. Ridiculous. I got my results last week and I passed. The examining board only tells you if you pass or fail. So I have no idea if I passed "with flying colors" or "by the skin of my teeth". The dean of the college usually lets us know what the national pass rate was as well as the pass rate of our class. We haven't heard from him so that makes we wonder if some people had a little trouble.

I received my contract from Truman Medical Center. I signed in and mailed it back on Friday. Exciting. Now I have a ton of forms to fill out in order to get my license to practice, my DEA number (to prescribe narcotics), and privileges at all the various hospitals and surgery centers. But I can't do a single thing until I have my diploma. So I'm stuck for now.

I just finished an internal medicine rotation at the hospital. Very interesting. I took care of some very, very sick patients.

Back in Des Moines, things are stable---including the weather---it snowed again last week. We will be glad to leave there. If someone would just kindly buy our house...

Caleb's baseball season begins next weekend. Kirsten has a tennis match coming up. Cheryl bought a new camera so I may have some video and pictures to upload soon.

No plans to return to Des Moines before graduation week. It's just too far to drive for a weekend (14 hours each way, plus crossing a time zone) and air fare is RIDICULOUS. Usually, it is cheaper to fly out of bigger airports like Charlotte or Atlanta, but lately there hasn't been much difference. If you happen to find a reasonably priced flight, there are so many layovers that it doesn't save much time. I might as well be at the South Pole or the international space station!

But it's not much longer...

Movie Maker---February 24, 2008

I had a fun time experimenting with Windows Movie Maker this afternoon. This is a compilation of some of my favorite pictures and videos.

The Big Apple---Part II---February 18, 2008

Well, I am back in Johnson City after a horrible flight last night. The takeoff from LaGuardia was rough and it deteriorated from there. The aircraft bounced and lurched nearly the entire time. But we made it.


My presentation went very well, but the poster itself was not exactly a big hit. I got lots of suggestions about how to design the poster better. I will keep all of this in mind when I do this again.


We had a social event in Upper West Side Manhattan. I walked across the street to Central Park so at least I can say I have been there. I stood at the "Stranger's Gate" which is at 106th and Central Park West.



Not much else to say. I thought I would have more pictures, but the cheapo batteries I bought would barely run my camera. I will post what I have, though. I will also post a picture Cheryl sent me of all the snow in Des Moines. I will be returning to Des Moines in a couple of weeks to take my board exam.





This is the corner where I caught the bus every morning. This is 87th Street and 23 Avenue in Queens. In the background, you can see 3 buildings (not very well, I realize). I don't know what the black building in the center is. The building on the left is the Empire State Building. The building on the right is the Chrysler Building






















Brrrrrrr......

The Big Apple--Part I---February 15, 2008

Well, I am just getting settled in to my room. I am staying at a Marriott Courtyard near La Guardia aiport in Queens. I had a nice flight (about 1 hour, 10 minutes) from Charlotte, NC, this morning on board an Airbus 321. It is very similar to a Boeing 737 but it seemed a little quiter. We circled Queens/Bronx at least once due to some "emergency" at LaGuardia that had to be "cleaned up" according to the captain. We never found out what the problem was. I had no more left the terminal when I witnessed TWO separate (and very loud) arguments between cab drivers. Just like on TV!

I go into Manhattan (Harlem) tomorrow to present my paper that the podiatry school here. I may have to go in tonight, but I am not going to unless I have to. There are also workshops and seminars to attend so I should stay pretty busy.

I took some pictures from the plane, but they did not turn out very well. I will post them anyway. Maybe I will come across something better later.

I think this is Philadelphia, Pa.

Statue of Liberty

Lower Manhattan

The Empire State Building is right

in front of the wing. It is the tall

building with a spire. This is Midtown Manhattan.

Central Park

This is LaGuardia Airport (foreground) and Riker's Island (in about the middle of the image. Riker's Island is the jail for NYC at usually carries a population of around 10,000 inmates. I have lived in cities that weren't that big! Right below the island is the threshold to Runway 22 at LaGuardia which is the runway we landed on. It looks like you are going to hit the water!

Appalachia---February 3, 2008

Happy New Year to everyone, though a bit late.

I am back in Johnson City for my next round of clinical rotations. I will be here until graduation in May. I arrived from Des Moines yesterday after a 914 mile, 14 1/2 hour drive. A new personal record. Whew!

I must return to Des Moines next month, however, to take my board exam.

I have a great opportunity to travel to New York City in two weeks. I am attending a research symposium and presenting my work there. Hopefully, I will have pictures of the Big Apple the next time I post!

Not much else going on. Caleb's wrestling season is drawing to a close and baseball tryouts are next Saturday. Kirsten is going out for the tennis team at school.

I had a nice time in Springfield for the month of January. I am sorry I did not get to see all of you. I had a very nice time visiting several Eastern Star chapters in the area with mother.

No luck on selling our house.

Not too much exciting to write.