Catching Up

You may be wondering what happened to me. I recognize that it has now been over a quarter of a year since my last post. I am living a fairytale life. I am trapped inside a tower and can't get out. My prince has come, but he supports me in staying in that tower, Moos tower, until I can learn all of the magical things it takes to become a dentist.

School is fine, it's not as bad as last year but I think that has more to do with the fact that I'm getting used to being beaten down everyday. I'm still trying to pace myself with twelve hour days but I'm really getting burned out. I suppose 30 credits in a semester will do that to you. There is a very good reason that interviewees only talk to fourth year students and not first and second years. I think if they did, no one would ever come to school; they would be terrified. I'm told it does get better ...it'll just get worse first with next semester and our first national boards exam. I'm shooting for next August; I've heard things get much better then.

After much pondering I've decided that my frustration cannot be avoided. Everyday I have to show up at school to learn about something I've never done before. Then we go up to lab and are expected to create the ideal of that principle. This is no exaggeration, on the first try we are shooting for something that is perfect. Day after day I come to the tower to attempt a new complicated process. Our instructors then come around, grade our product and tell us everything that we could have done better. Really though, my class has come a remarkable way in the last year. I'm looking forward to clinic when I have more than one opportunity to do each of these procedures. Granted, everything will always have a new element to it, but the entire concept won't be foreign.

I've discovered that I like running. Some days I feel like a slug, but others I find it quite satisfying. After sitting all day I crave being able to get out and move. When I was preparing for Officer Basic Camp we bought an ipod with a nike sensor. It's been a great way to run; it tracks my pace, distance and calories burned. I can then record them all on the nike website and track my progress. Like Brian, I have made great strides in my progress. I can run two miles with no problem and went for a six mile run this weekend. (My farthest run to date.) My favorite runs are those where Jason comes along and rides his bike beside me. Once the snow hits I'll probably switch back to swimming more regularly. (I'm afraid of slipping on the ice and doing something to my wrists.)

In other news we are enjoying our new home. Jason did a wonderful job picking it out. Our neighborhood is quiet and we have some great neighbors. We enjoy our new ward/congregation and are 95% settled. I figure the last 5% will probably take at least a year. I don't recommend moving in the middle of the semester, especially when you move in and the weather drops to 40 degrees. Trying to study while not knowing where your textbooks are is less than effective. This was our first year passing out candy together, we were a little concerned no one would show up but between 6:30 and 9 approximately 70 ninjas, fairies, hobos, dragons and what not came by. I'm looking forward to decorating the place for Christmas and hosting my family for Thanksgiving. The latter will probably involve somebody sitting on the floor since we should probably invest in a larger dining table. Perhaps something we didn't find next to the dumpster. (This was pre-craigslist though, it's essentially the same process.)

In other news, the crockpot has become my new best friend. Now that I definitely don't get home before seven or eight we are relying heavily on leftovers. I try and cook a few large crockpot recipes on the weekend while I'm studying and then we eat that the rest of the week for lunch and dinner. My goal is to cook a fair amount of Thanksgiving dinner that way as well so we spend less time in the kitchen and more time with family. We'll see how it goes. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Holidays don't get any better than family and food.

Visiting South Carolina

So I'm exceptionally glad I was able to visit the South. Not only because it was a wonderful opportunity to visit with family but we are also being cheated of a summer out here. I just drilled at Camp Ripley and it was about 50 degrees the entire time I was there - in the middle of July!

We drove down from Virginia to South Carolina early Tuesday and went straight to visit Grandpa and Grandma Floyd. Grandpa took us out walking along Congaree River. The city has created a beautiful walking path several miles long on both sides of the river. My Grandpa bikes and walks there almost daily - in the 100 degree weather I must admit he nearly out walked Rachel and I. I really enjoyed visiting with him and learning things I hadn't know about his past. He told us how they would make boats out of scrap wood when he was little and seal the holes with tar then float down the Congaree River.

Grandpa and Grandma took us out for some fantastic fried chicken and ice cream. Grandpa told us about his trip to see Washington DC with other World War II vets and Grandma reminded me how witty and sassy she can me. I really enjoyed her spunk.



I spent Wednesday with the Doolittles. I enjoyed seeing Brian and how excited he is to be part of the military. I was very impressed with how much he has learned and changed in the last few months. Harry, Dianne and I saw an interesting display of some of their skills at family day. The program started with a bang - literally. All of a sudden there were things being shot and lots of smoke as the troops showed how to secure an area with insurgents. I thought it was super cool to see the graduates run out of the forest and through the smoke to formation.

We met up with Brian later for some bowling and touring of Fort Jackson. I'm not so good at bowling.



Thursday Rachel and I headed over to Congaree Swamp National Park. We loaded up with bug spray and sunscreen then went exploring. It's an incredibly diverse area. The mosquitoes weren't nearly as bad as the ones in my parents' yard in Wisconsin. However, you can't hold still because there are numerous other large insects that buzz loudly in your ear. I highly recommend visiting the area, there are all sorts of lizards to see, turtles swam up to our pier from the river and the plant life is extraordinary. Some parts look like a prehistoric jungle, others appear to be scenes out of a Lord of the Rings adventure. Rachel found what we believe is a wolf spider - it was at least the size of my palm with its legs. We kept trying to get a close of picture but were very nervous since we couldn't remember if they jumped or not. All we could imagine was it jumping onto one of us so we warily photographed it and continued on. We made about a 3 mile hike along a boardwalk as well as a regular trail that led out to the Cedar Creek and Wise Lake.

Following our outdoor adventure we met up with our Uncle Joe to go visit historic homes. Uncle Joe was a career fireman so visiting homes with him is more interesting since he brings insight to the fire history of the history and is very observant of construction. We toured the Robert Mills House which was built in 1823 by Robert Mills for the Halls family. Robert Mills was one of the first US trained architects and built many public buildings and monuments including the Washington monument. Symmetry was huge during his time period. So there were fake doorways in some areas to compliment the doorway in the hall on the opposite side. I really enjoyed the order and little details in the design.

They didn't allow pictures inside the building so this site can give a little more detail if you are interested.

After our tour of the home and Columbia as narrated by Uncle Joe we met up with our cousins Sally and Jaimie for dinner. They have this fabulous tradition of eating about once a week at a delicious Vietnamese restaurant. Rachel and I enjoyed coming along and catching up. I hadn't seen Sally since I was nine and it's been about 5 years since I saw Jaimie. We also got to meet Jaimie's beautiful baby boy Preston and his father Timmy who we also enjoyed.



Friday we headed out to see Grandma Pat. We really enjoyed talking with Grandma, checking out her beautiful garden and catching up. Grandma planned a day out on the lake with our cousin Ryan and my Uncle Donny we even saw my cousin Drew with his two girls briefly. I was really excited to see Ryan since we didn't expect to coordinate schedules with him. He and his wife recently bought a boat and he graciously took us out on it. I tried water skiing as well as Rachel. We are going to blame our lack of getting up on small feet that wouldn't stay in the skis. We ate on the boat and spent the day on the water. The temperature of the air and water were both perfect. Here's a shout out again to Ryan for sharing his boat with us and to Grandma for planning it.

It's a good thing I have Jason to go back to and Rachel had military training, I'm not sure we would have returned otherwise. Thanks to everyone who hosted us and to Harry, Brian and Dianne for your time. I hope you all get to enjoy summer days full of the ones we had on our trip.

Don't Stop Until You Reach The Ocean

Sunday the 28th, Rachel and I geared up to drive to Virginia Beach. We received plenty of conflicting advice from our cousins on which way to take to get there. Essentially, we were told if we valued our guts to back track, get on the freeway and avoid the mountains. I'm thinking to myself "wait a minute, I'm on a road trip and haven't seen mountains in way too long." So after leaving, Rachel and I took our chances with motion sickness and went for the mountain pass. I must say it was some of the nicest driving of the entire trip. There were certainly some hairpin turns but it wasn't like Colorado where all you see as you take that hair pin turn is a 2000 foot drop off. Plus, I was driving which meant it was more entertaining and kept me more alert compared to hours of flat countryside and straight roads.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

Since we drove through a few state parks along the way we made some spontaneous stops to take in the sights and some history. I didn't realize the split between WV and VA came during the civil war when West Virginia sided with the union.

Here are some markers we found on the border of the states:

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

We were fortunate enough to take in a million wildflowers along our trip. I was surprised at how much was in bloom all over the country.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

Along our drive in the south there were a few opportunities to get out and see some civil war sights. Once in Virginia, we came to an area that had an interpretive trail. It told the story of civil ward soldiers through letters by Lieutenant Pryor to his family in Georgia. It was called the Confederate Breastworks and consisted of a mile long trench that had been built to fortify Fort Edward Johnson in the Shenandoah Valley during 1862. The area was beautiful and it was nice to get out and stretch. We saw our only snake of the trip there. Right at the start of the trail Rachel squealed and I just caught what looked like a black, striped garden snake slithering into the bushes from underneath Rachel's hovering foot.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

This is what remains of the trenches:

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

Since I drove most of the way and took a nap when I wasn't, the trip went by pretty rapidly and then we arrived in beautiful Virginia Beach. I fell in love with the area and can definitely see why people choose to vacation and live there. Apparently it's a great place to be stationed as well since most of the residents are pro military. Woohoo for military discounts!

The first night we got there we went with Rachel's friend Misty (who hosted us) and looked at all of the battleships in port and then went over to check out retired airplanes.



After a good night's rest we set out for one of the highlights of the road trip - the beach! I can't even start to explain how I feel about going to the beach. All growing up we lived very close to the ocean and whenever I smell sunscreen it makes me happy inside and I just want to find some sand to walk in. There are "beaches" here in the midwest, but it just isn't the same without the salt and the unknown creatures of the deep lurking beside you.

We brought books, blankets, food and our sunscreen for a relaxed day in the sun. Like most days on the trip the weather was perfect - hot enough to enjoy cooling off in the water and cool enough to not worry about heat stroke. One of the advantages of staying with the locals is getting the in on where to go. Misty told us how to get to Chesapeake Beach which is typically known to only the people in the neighborhood there. Hence, we avoided all of the tourists and had a quiet day. (It was also close enough where I got my run in when I realized I had to return to the apartment for my camera battery.)

I loved the entrance to the beach - right in between some spectacular beach front homes.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

So there is a time of year when all of the jellyfish start spawning on the east coast. I remember some pretty horrible images of all of the ones I found on the shore as a kid. Fortunately, despite the fact that the season is near, we didn't see a single one all day.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

Hooray for sunscreen!

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

After Misty got off of work we met up with her to check out another beach where we went bodysurfing. We then went out for some great seafood. The restaurant we went to served what they caught. Rachel and I tried crab, scallops, tilappia, clams etc. We really enjoyed visiting with Misty and wish her well while she is stationed there.



Next Installment: South Carolina

Road Trip To the East Coast

I've been wanting to visit family in the South for quite awhile now. When we found out Brian's graduation date it sealed the deal for a visit. Since Jason couldn't get time off of work to fly down I was able to devote more time to the trip in the form of a road trip. Fortunately, Rachel was able to go with me as well. I left Minnesota on June 25th and drove the six and half hours to Rachel's place in Milwaukee.

The goals for the trip were simple: see as much family as we possibly could, visit Rachel's friend Misty from Medical Corp school in Virginia, hit the beach and meet up with the Doolittle's to see Brian in Fort Jackson. Additionally we committed to running as much as possible on the trip so I could train for officer basic camp and we could control the damage the we knew good southern food would cause.

I thought I would try and do the trip in installments so it isn't too overwhelming.

Rachel and I went running Friday morning and on our way out Wisconsin stopped at the Jelly Belly factory to get the rejects, aka belly flops they sell.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

We then had what was supposed to be an eleven hour drive to our cousin Ami's house in West Virginia. We hit about $40 worth of toll roads. I had no idea it was going to be that bad in the midwest. We drove through Chicago, across the top of Indiana, Ohio and through Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was much different from the others and very pretty. I hope to go back sometime with Jason and do some camping as well as historical tours. I didn't realize we were going to be driving right next to Pittsburgh. If I had found that out earlier I wonder if we would have been able to get a hold of Nate and Ellie. It would have been nice to see them to since were that close.

Unfortunately the toll road in Pennsylvania was under major construction and our exit was not labeled. We were about 40 miles past our exit when we realized we were probably off track. At that point in rural Pennsylvania you have to go about 20 miles until the next exit. When we got off this is what we found at the gas station:

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

I'd never seen anything like it. The owner called it the widower and he had custom designed it to be a Harley Davidson/stage coach/car type of piece that apparently was going to be in a parade the next day.

So we got back on track to our cousins at about eleven pm and as we were driving along passed signs welcoming us to Maryland. Maryland? That certainly wasn't part of the plan, we just passed through the tip though as we were back tracking. If we had enough time on the trip Washington DC was only 3 hours away - maybe next time.

So we finally arrived at Ami and Anna's house around midnight. The next morning we went running true to our word. The hills were definitely different and I was sore the next day. We then went to lunch to meet up with my cousin Matt and his new wife Nicki. We were fortunate to catch Matt since he will be deployed with the National Guard soon and was only home for the weekend. We had lunch along the Ohio river? Regardless, the weather was perfect and the scenery was nice. I had some crab cakes which were fabulous. My plan was to eat as much seafood as I could stand on the trip so I was well on my well.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

We then drove over to my Uncle Lewis and Aunt Becky's where we enjoyed conversation and food. It was really great to see them again.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

Anna and Ami were great hosts. We enjoyed staying with them and getting to know their daugher Evelynn. Evelynn was one of the sweetest babies ever - she only cried when her Uncle Matt took off his hat. We're assuming she thought he was removing body parts, or she's afraid of bald men.

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

From SC Road Trip Summer 2009

Wendi, sorry we couldn't make it any further North. There is so much to see out East and so little time, I'm hoping we can come and visit you someday.

New Bri Tri

So I completed the New Bri Tri today. Jason just got home from work and won't let me tell him about it until I blog. Unfortunately he has a valid point. If I tell the story too many times I'll never get around to writing it down.

Back in January one of my classmates Maria and I started swimming at school to survive the winter. She is an amazing swimmer who has competed heavily in the past. With all of the overachievers in dentistry it wasn't hard to find encouragement or suggestions to do a triathlon. So Maria and I decided we would set a goal and start training for the summer for our first ever triathlon. Conveniently, our suburb has a triathlon which is near by and at a time we could both go - today.

The day started at 5:30am (actually earlier if you count that I couldn't sleep last night because I was so nervous I wouldn't get up.) I went to go pick Maria up and arrived at the park at 6:45.

Although it is June we finally got some rain. So while it's been beautiful all week it was cold and rainy today. The temp outside was in the neighborhood of 50 degrees and I'm guessing the water was about 67 degrees.

We set up our transition area. (FYI this apparently is a motivating factor for the intense athletes to arrive at 5am and take the spots nearest the exit. We are not that motivated.) This involved putting out our bike and laying our towel, helmet and running clothes out. One of my friends from school let me borrow a road bike his mom had for the race - it was awesome - super fast and red.

Maria and I were in the fourth wave - after the elite athletes and men. I'm assuming this is so small people like me don't drown in the rush for the water. (They were set at 3 minute intervals.) There were probably 100 people in each of the 5 waves. Despite the cold weather, with our wetsuits it was actually pleasant to stand in the water and easy to transition to swimming.

The biggest mistake I probably made preparing for this triathlon was not swimming in my wetsuit before hand or swimming in a lake. I got caught in the middle of what is referred to as "the washing machine." There is such a mob of people that you are being grabbed from everywhere and hitting others in the process. The water already has zero visibility but now is also being agitated. I've been practicing in a pool where I can see the bottom and track where I am going. It took me almost half of the swim course to figure out what my game plan was. I couldn't swim normal freestyle because of the mass of people and I couldn't see where I was going. My goggles had fogged up a bit so even with my head out of water it was tough to see. I tried breast stroke for awhile but there wasn't the leg room and the wetsuit was too restrictive for the kicks. A ridiculous amount of energy and time was spent just trying to stay afloat. We were supposed to swim out along the buoys and then come back in an elongated U. I was finally starting to get into the groove of just pulling in freestyle (which worked well with the buoyancy of the swim suit) when I realized I was drastically off course. I'm convinced I lost at least seven minutes in my detour - I didn't make the turn and kept heading for the other shore. I'm still not entirely sure how to get into a rhythm and be able to see where you are going - next year. The good news is that there was no one for me to run into way out there. I finished and walked out of the lake to my transition site where my friends Katie and Erin from school were cheering me on. I was so disoriented from the swim it was a good thing they were there to coach me through the change. I could barely stand and kept forgetting things like drying off before getting dressed.

I then walked my bike to the mounting area and was on my way. I think I did best in this part. I ended up pacing a guy for the entire 14 miles and fortunately wasn't passed by too many people. (I know this wasn't the point - I was competing with myself. However, you know I like a little competition to keep motivated.) It started to sprinkle during the bike ride but fortunately wasn't too bad and the roads weren't wet enough to have splash from the tires. (I absolutely hate that.)

Moving from biking to running is just weird. If you've ever been on a trampoline and then tried to start jumping on the ground or running you'll know what I'm talking about. It took me at least a mile to feel like I was moving normally. I kept a slow but steady pace and met my goal of running the 3 miles without walking. It rained the entire run but it didn't bother me too much. Fortunately it only started pouring while we were driving home.

The group that did the triathlon did a nice job. All the participants were well marked and we wore chips on our ankles to record our times. (I was number 85.) The data on the chip let them know who was coming so I crossed the finish line with the announcer bellowing my name to the crowd. My time was one hour and fifty-five minutes, next year will be faster as I improve the swim. The entire experience was a lot of fun. All of the volunteers and workers were awesome, lots of encouragement from everyone along the way. (Except the swim - that's all about survival. There are kayakers out there if people need to rest on something or be saved.)

How am I feeling you may ask? Pretty good. Each event works fairly different muscle groups so it wasn't too bad to start something new and carry through with it. I have a feeling I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow, but nothing terrible. Maria and I have decided we definitely want to make this an annual event. Thanks for every one's support along the way!


Here are my stats: I came in as 289 out of 359 and 80 out of 120 females in my age group. (Like I said - next year will be better once I figure out the swim.)
Swim: 17min 48 sec
Transition one: 3 minutes 53 seconds (I thought for sure it took longer than that)
Bike: 51:28
Transition two: one minute 4 seconds
Run: 32 minutes
Total according to the posted data: one hour, forty-two minutes and twenty seconds (the clock said 1:55:33 so I don't know where the discrepancy is)

School is over... oh wait

So I finished my finals on Friday. It was five finals in five days plus three more the week before. I enjoyed being done and have spent the last few days cleaning up and taking care of normal life stuff that gets put off for months at a time. Now I feel ready to relax and rejuvenate before the next semester, small problem though - school starts tomorrow at 7:30am. At first I thought two days off would be enough, currently I'm still feeling fried. On the bright side I'm hoping this semester will be less intensive. What I mean is that hopefully when I leave school I will be done for the day. Classes go from 7:30am until 5pm most days; however, they are mostly clinical so I'm hoping there won't be as much late night bookwork. If nothing else, it's only seven weeks.

It's been so long since I posted I'm not sure what I filled people in on last. In January a fellow classmate and I accepted the challenge to train for a triathlon. I have sent in my check and should be participating in the "New Bri Tri" on June 6th. It will involve a 1/2 mile swim in a lake, 13 mile bike ride and 3 mile run. I've been swimming about 3 times a week since January, the weather just got better so I've been biking to school which is about 13 miles a day. The running has been more challenging to improve in. Jason has been biking while I run to encourage me and I invested in a nike + ipod sensor which tracks my pace, runs and distance. I can at least run the distance I need to, we'll see if I can after swimming and biking too. If nothing else, I should be well prepared for my physical tests for the National Guard when I go for Officer Basic Camp in August.

This past semester has been an interesting one. While my social life and Jason's have pretty much died, we have still managed to accomplish much. My friend and classmate Priya taught me how to make some awesome indian food which has been fun. Let me just say that chili powder from the indian store is much stronger than anything you normally get at the grocery store. I have survived school for another semester and have done a few other enjoyable things. I won't put all of the details here but I learned a lot more than I expected to about making dental crowns. They are much more complicated than you can imagine. We had a simulated patient we have been working on all semester and will get to see what my lab results will be when the next semester begins.

I've spent far too much time at a desk and in front of a computer this semester. Hence, I would love to tell you more but I can't stare at this screen anymore.

Cruising Through Winter

It's hard to believe that it's February.  I'm not going to complain though, I'm in the middle of my first round of exams for the semester.  Additionally, we finally broke out of a couple of weeks of double-digit, negative-degree weather with the wind-chill.  Wearing three layers of clothing everywhere you go gets really old.  I get really excited when I kind start shedding the accessory/necessities like scarves, hats and gloves.  Unfortunately, it's usually April before those can be given up without worrying about frostbite.

My parents were kind enough to help us get out and enjoy the winter weather a bit more this year.  Jason and I were gifted with cross-country skiing gear.  I'm pretty sure more enchanted with the idea than Jason is, but at least it helps us get out in the winter.  So far I've been out a few times and Jason is working on it.  It was kind of awkward starting out but I feel like I'm getting it more. 

We have classical skis which is a lot slower than the skate skis.  Hence, it's been intimidating to go out and be smoked by the college and high school racing teams.  I like it though, it's  a fantastic workout which helps with the staying warm bit.  In fact, regardless of the temperature I'm usually roasting by the time we are done.  I still prefer going up hill and get nervous about wiping out going down hill but progress is being made.  For the most part we are sticking to nearby golf courses that have been groomed until we work up the endurance to go for some longer trails that are worth the drive.

School is school.  I will try and post some of the projects that we have been working on in lab.  I find our new lab course less relaxing than our waxing in oral anatomy but I am certainly learning new things.  So far the semester hasn't been as bad as fall was I"m sure that will change.  The material is less flashy however.  I don't have as many aha moments or run across information that is new and really interesting.  I suppose it just feels a little on the tedious side right now.  Some of that is because I'm basically taking four classes that I've been exposed to before.  Granted, that still leaves eight that I haven't taken but like I said it seems to be a little on the busywork side of education at the moment.  I also think it is kind of sterile and hard to be motivated without patient interaction.  I would tell people I worked with that the best thing about dentistry is the people.  Of course it is also the worst part of it too, but I still miss it.  Oh well... next year.

Jason and I have had more time to spend together which has been nice.  We went to see the Russian National Ballet perform Sleeping Beauty on Friday Night.  Let me just say that I love student tickets.  The performance was lovely, although I must admit the last two scenes were much better than the first.  The music was written by Tchaikovsky so how could you go wrong?  Several of my friends from school went as well, I enjoy sharing experiences like that with others.  I'm beginning to side with the arts camp that pre-recorded music is just wrong.  While the dancing was wonderful I think it lacked a certain depth without live music to adjust to the swells of the moment.

Oh, in other exciting news a friend and I are committing to doing a triathlon this summer.  I haven't put my money down yet but I've started training.  I am now swimming three times a week at the school (definitely not in the Mississippi).  The event is a 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run.  The run will take the most work for me to prepare for but the rest should be just fine.  My big goal is to finish and not do something ridiculous like drown or crash my bike.  It should be fun.  It's June 6th if any one out there is interested in joining us.