TURKEY TROT!

So I decided to run the 8 mile turkey trot in Dallas, it was nuts! There were 30,000 people there to run the 3mi and 8mi combined, and it was crazy! I went really fast, and I beat a lot of people who had clearly been training and working hard for this, suckas! Overall, my time was 55'29"14 for 8 miles, that's less than 7 minute miles! I was stoked, and I originally wanted to get under 1hr, then as I reached the 6 mile marker, I set a new goal to get under 56min, or 7min miles, and I did it! Here are the mile times:
Mile 1 7'05"30
Mile 2 7'07"76
Mile 3 6'55"44
Mile 4 6'55"81
Mile 5 7'03"19
Mile 6 6'49"62
Mile 7 6'52"32
Mile 8 6'39"70
Overall 55'29"14

That's just what I timed with my watch, the chip time on my shoe was probably about a second faster...

I'm happy with my time! Tara also ran a turkey trot in Birmingham, it was a 10k, so 6.2 mi and she got 3rd place Female for her age group, and 8th place female overall! Yay Tara! I love you!

Site Leader and Ben Folds

So I went on the Site leader retreat for ASB this weekend, it was really great. I got to meet some awesome new people that I've never even seen before, it was amazing. We played some great games and had some good talks, all in all- great retreat! Then I came home and finished my paper at Starbucks. I was kind of getting writer's block sitting there and then I saw someone walk in that looked exactly like Ben Folds, and I told Tara, and she was like OMG! then Meghan saw him too! I walked up to him while he was waiting for his drink and told him that I loved his music and I saw him at the Ryman last year, and he was like "thanks a lot man, i really appreciate it" then I told him that the song the Luckiest is "pure genius" (i dunno where that came from- it must have been from the heart - because it is an amazing song!) then he was like " yeah I love it, thanks again" then I kinda gave him the high five shake then said see ya later! IT was cool, he's really down to earth and really appreciative. He looks so average that no one else in Starbucks even noticed him, it was really cool that he can just blend in- I bet it's harder for other stars to do that, but he's got a chill thing goin on... Anyway, that's about it.

Parents weekend

So my parents came in town this weekend, it was fun, except sallie didnt want to partake in the festivities as much as we'd hoped. The food was great, we went to Bricktop's and Goten, and went to the football game for 3 quarters. The chancellor gave a compelling speech and my Dad and I played golf with BYX at the Shelby golf course. I have been waiting to hear back from ASB regarding being a site leader, and they told me tonight I will be one! I'm really excited because I applied last year and really wanted to do it, but i didn't get a chance to, so this year I am doubly excited! We don't know where we are going yet, but we find out on friday at the site leader retreat. I have a take home exam in public policy, that class is pretty easy, and often we don't do anything but debate current events. Another great class to take, HOD 2510, we don't do any work there either, but we do have an oral final exam. Pretty tough if you ask me! I feel like I have to sensor what i write now, since facebook imports all of my blog postings, but I guess they were public before, so...but now they are announced to everyone that I made a "note" well that's crazy- I wish I had something useful to say to the masses. I can't really make any political statements because I try to limit myself to HOD 1800 for that, and I can't talk about private matters because those are largely, private. I wish I was funny like Cole, but I dont really have random thoughts like he does. Speaking of cole, softball was fun yesterday, I realized I suck at softball after I underhand tossed it to cole at 2nd base, and he laughed at me. At least I didn't strike out, or hit a pop fly, but I didn't exactly make it to 1st base. I guess i'll have to practice or something, it's different than baseball, and the last time I played that was about 3rd grade. My softball skills are pretty pathetic. I love procrastinating and not writing about minimum wage like my take home test is begging me to do. I think i'll try to finish that now, I swear I'm not ADD.

apple

so I ordered a new shuffle yesterday from apple, and it looks really sweet. one thing they dont tell you- it ships LATE october, on the website it say it ships "october" but it's really on october 31st. In a totally unrelated event, my dad sent me an older shuffle in the mail today! crazy- like mind reading

this one's for josh

have fun in Edinburough (sp) loved talkin on skype!

baxter

Lets see...

Here's whats going on in my life right now. I took the neuroscience test this morning, easy as pie. I took the biochem test on monday, easy as well. The body shop still has not fixed my alarm, curtis couldn't fix it, and now they dont know what to do. I told them it was their problem, not mine, and i filed a complaint with my insurance company. AHH! Anyway, I tried to meet with my advisor, but she stood me up, I am trying to get Gen Chem added to my transcript but the administration is giving me the run-around, finally Dr. Porter listened to me and is going to do something about it! JukeBYX is this saturday, you ALL better be there, Old Phi Delt- 10:30pm on Saturday-- it'll be the best frat party you attend this year- guaranteed! The sunburn off my back is peeling and itching like crazy, check facebook for the pic, it's in a strange pattern that resembles a pig roast (arkansas game + body paint = interesting sun burn). I am about to go to the Rec because i couldnt work out all this week becuase of the pain on my back, now it just itches, i can live with that! Anyway, life is good and i'm pretty relaxed. Peace

Tennessee State Fair

Tara and I went to the fair tonight and it was... interesting. We saw the LIVE SHARK exhibit, the PIG RACES, the AFRICAN SAFARI ACROBATS and we saw this dude with a monkey. The monkey was eating this caramel popcorn from the guy's bag of popcorn, and two people were talking to them. They reminded me of kevin and britney, but without any money, and she was pregnant. The guy with the monkey said "yeah, well looks like you're pregnant so it will be at least 10-12 years before the child and the monkey will interact well together" (apparently they were thinking about getting a pet monkey) "yeah I heard the spider monkeys are easy to take care of, so i was thinkin about getting one of those" said kevin, then the girl said "we were thinking of getting a dog, to acclimate the baby to" and the guy with a monkey was like "well... that's a little different than a primate..." and he just left it at that. It was hilarious, some people just don't understand how much work it is to have a pet, they think, oh man! i'll get a guard alligator, or hey I want a monkey! normally they're trashy and pay in cash and end up hurting the animal, it's pretty sad. Along those same lines, i was at the livestock pavillion and i wanted a duck, i have no clue how to take care of a duck, but it was only 20 bucks, and it was a SHOW DUCK! I could have gotten a show chicken for 15 though, or a rabbit, but i dont think Ginny at 20 & Grand would approve of a cow living in my apartment... that might violate the pet clause in my lease. - Night

today

So I went to Sunset Grill with my boo; they had great food and it was on the card! Then I went longboarding down 25th ave garage a few times, went to Cole, Greg, Doug's sweet suite and watched a crazy movie about brotherhood and wolves. It was warrior-esque, then I longboarded down West End, something I've wanted to do for a long time now, and I got going pretty fast, a few cars coming, I saw an opening, swung wide (cutting all the way across 4 lanes) at Qdoba and flew onto 21st ave, it was pretty sick. Now i'm going to bed.

School

School is going well, I've been studying a lot and keeping up with the readings. I think i'm going to play golf tomorrow, or wednesday at least. It's been really nice weather here in nashville and I need to enjoy it while it lasts! I took Sallie to get a new computer today but they were sold out of MacBooks! We're probably going to go again tomorrow, now all of the siblings will have macs... and iPods! My car's alarm is broken, so i have to get that fixed tomorrow (don't even think about stealing it... I'll find you...) and the front end looks a lot better now that it got repainted :) Life is good.

anyway

this week will probably be boring... I have to pack and then leave for Nashville

Last day in Alaska

So my mom and dad took me to the north pole. We drove about 15 minutes from fairbanks and went to North Pole AK, where the letters go if you write a letter to Santa. We went to Santa's house and it was really neat and we had a good time. I went and sat on his lap and got my picture with santa, my parents followed suit, it was quite humorous... Anyway, we drove back and picked up Sallie and James and we had to pack up all our stuff and leave it at the hotel and check out of our room. Then we drove over to the museum at the university of alaska faribanks and it was pretty cool. They had some wierd art from alaska and they had a really cool natural history exhibit downstairs. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and I got a coffetable book for alaska, since I will now have a coffee table in the new apartment...I need something to put on it! Then we went to the airport and almost missed our flight and we flew to anchorage, then had a 4 hr layover, ate at chilis, I watched part of fun with dick and jane, it was kinda boring, then we boarded, I took a sleeping pill and fell asleep and woke up in Dallas. That was a nice flight, and now I'm back in Dallas and I got my new center channel speaker and finally finished my surround sound setup for my TV. It rocks, hard. The center speaker is bigger than I thought and is most of the length of the 27inch TV, i guess I need a bigger TV, hehe, anyway it's great, got it off of ebay. I can't wait to pack up and go back to school to see all my friends, and of course, Tara.

Last couple of days in Alaska

On Thursday, we went packed up our room at McKinley Village and went to the rafting company and we put on dry- suits. We had to then take a bus to the area where we put in, about 10 miles upriver. Then we got in the boat and Joe was our guide. We had some large rapids and we went over ones named, “razorback”, “the knife”, “trainwreck” and “iceworm”. It was a lot of fun, we got “glacial facials” where the water would just roar over the raft and soak us, luckily noone fell out! The water was about 38 degrees. Then we made it through and Dad re-proposed to Mom with a sign that we held after we finished that said “We survived the Nenana river!” on one side and the proposal on the other. We came to Alaska for their 25th wedding anniversary and they came 26 years ago and he didn’t propose, hence my mom wanting another proposal here. He gave her a gold nugget necklace. Then the driver took us back to the outfitter and we got back to our hotel. We left for the train depot at 3pm and got on the goldstar train. We had dinner downstairs and we were looking for moose out the window. Suddenly we saw a momma moose and a baby moose running away from the train in an open field. It was our first wild moose sighting! Then we saw a bull moose and two other moose while we were at dinner. Then we went upstairs and saw another 2 moose, we saw about 7 moose altogether, and it was really fun. We had birthday cake for sallie on the train and then the Japanese people all joined in singing happy birthday on the dining car. It was really funny. Then those same Japanese people were singing in Spanish trying to learn the language while we were upstairs in our seats, it was hilarious hearing Spanish with a Japanese accent! We arrived at our location and went to our rooms at the Rivers Edge resort, we are in a little cabin, as are all of the rooms, and ours is connected to our parents’ cabin. Then we went to sleep, the end.

Friday, I woke up at 6:30 after going to bed at midnight and we drove to “Joe’s” house and went fishing with our guide Brian. Only my dad and I went to fish on the Chena river, and the others stayed at the “resort” and slept. We caught a lot of fish and the first couple of casts I caught one! It was really easy. My dad’s first catch was 16 inches, my first few were about 14 inches long. Then I caught one that was 16 inches so we were tied for biggest fish, but he still only had one fish, I had about 9. Then he caught another one that was 14inches, and I caught 4 more that were decent sized and 2 of my first 9 were small, about 7 inches. Then I cast out at the end of the trip, right next to where we were putting in and I caught another one, a 16incher, so I had 2 16s and 14 all together, with 12 being netted and checking the length. One that got away we couldn’t get the net to quick enough and it got off, Brian thought it was a bigger one, probably 18 inches. The fish were called Arctic Greyling and are pretty easy to catch. While we were driving over to the put in place for the raft we went on we saw 3 more moose! They are all over the place. Then we came back and I fell right asleep, I’ve been really tired lately. Then we went to the Tenana state fair and walked around there, went to get Italian food after the fair, came back to the “resort” to sleep and now I’m typing this and downloading pictures. The cars are all really funny up here, they have electrical outlets hanging out of the front bumper. In the winter when the sun comes up at 11AM and sets at 1:30pm it gets kinda cold, 60 degrees that is, BELOW zero! When it is about 20 below, I think they have to plug their cars in when they park them or the engine blocks will crack and the coolant will freeze. All the parking spots up here have electrical outlets next to them, it’s kinda funny actually. Then I heard that it’s so cold you can throw a cup of coffee out of the cup and it will freeze before it hits the ground! That’s cold! Anyway, I’m going to bed, goodnight all, and I love you Tara!

Denali

Today we woke up at 5:30 and got on the bus for our 6AM tour of Denali National Park. We noticed it was very clear out and we hoped that we could see Denali, or Mt. McKinley, or simply “the mountain”. We were lucky, around the first bend it was visible and we were all very excited. Due to the height of the mountain, 20,600 ft. it creates its own weather and most of the time it is cloudy. One man on the trip was there for his third time and he had never seen it before! We then saw a caribou and then he crossed the road. We saw many snowshoe hares, and scenic views, then we saw a momma bear (sow) and three cubs at the first rest stop. Then we continued on and saw many other caribou and a few more bears, we were very lucky indeed. We got closer and closer to Denali until we got to the turnaround point. They told us since it was a very clear day we could continue on to the last pass they normally travel, but they have only continued the busses to that pass 6 times this year! We finally got there and the views were magnificent, (check facebook for pics later, the internet is Terrible here!) and the tour guide warned of a bear nearby. The bear suddenly appeared and we had to get back in the bus, in a hurry, a BIG hurry! The tour guide apologized and said “sorry for using inappropriate language, but hey, what would you say if you saw a bear 50 yds or less from where your tour group is!” The recommended distance from a bear by the national parks service is 300 yds, or 3 football fields, we were half a football field away, and it could have easily attacked. We got lucky and it turned around! Then we ourselves turned around and went back through the park through the main gate and ended up back at our hotel, at 3:15 pm. That was a long bus ride! Then we went to dinner at the “chalet resort” and I had the special. I’ve never ordered the chef’s special so I was excited, it was salmon and reasonably priced so I went for it. It was really really good, and Sallie had some filet that was incredibly tender. Today is sallie’s birthday so happy birthday SALLIE! Anyway, I need some sleep I’m exhausted and we’re going rafting tomorrow. Peace. Love you TARA

Alaska Day 4 and 5

Today we woke up and went on a hike behind the tram and sallie and james slept in. Mom, Dad and I went on the “Winner Creek” trail, and it was really nice and we had a good hike for about 45 minutes. Then we got in the car and drove down to the kenai river from Girdwood/Alyeska, and we went to the sunrise café. It was a nice place and I had a buffalo burger. On our drive down I watched the matador and my head kind of hurt from watching it in the car. Then we went rafting with our raft guide brent. He said to not fall in, and he had a perfect record, he told us many great stories. In one story, he was training the other guides and they always have someone fall in the river when it is 40 degrees outside and the water is a balmy 37 degrees F. The new guides could tell who it would be because they had a big drysuit on, but Brent decided to switch it up, and one time he wanted to feel what it was like to fall in, so as they went over the mild class II rapids, he winked at his friend and went overboard! He then told us he was in the water for no more than 30 seconds then they pulled him out and he lay in the bottom of the raft and thought he should pretend to be shivering, then he actually was shivering and he couldn’t move. They took him to the side of the river changed his clothes, made a fire and he said he had to go sleep after that his body was too exhausted from trying to warm itself up, it burned everything he had! Then as we were going down the river we saw many salmon jumping and we learned all about the different kinds of salmon: chum, sockeye, king, silver and pink. We saw two or three bald eagles then we came to where the Russian river and the Kenai river meet. There were many fishermen hooking salmon, they actually place the hook where they think the fish will be and if it happens to go in their mouth, they catch it! They don’t use any bait because the salmon don’t eat at that point in their life. Then we saw two brown bears fishing right next to the fishermen! It was pretty crazy, then we went further and saw two bear cubs playing in the river, so we got to see 4 bears, and the weather was really nice, we got super lucky. We finished the rafting trip without falling in, it was more of a float trip actually, and then we left and drove back to Anchorage, I watched a Spanish movie “la mujer de mi hermano” and brushed up on my Spanish skills. We got to anchorage and felt like we had been traveling all day, because we were moving for most of the day. We walked around downtown, went to the bar/grill called rumrunners and played the electronic bar game. We won a round of trivia and I had a chicken panini. Then we walked back to our hotel since we took our car back already and then went to sleep. I had a hard time falling asleep because it is still light out at 10:45 and the room was pretty hot.



Train day

We woke up early again, (what a surprise) and we got on the train, in first class or “goldstar service” and it was a great trip. We had good seats and I liked the train a lot because unlike an airplane you can walk around, go to the patio area, talk to the bartender or tour guide, have breakfast and lunch downstairs in the dining car, etc. It was cool. Then we heard the bad news. The conductor came up and told us a semi had taken out the track in front of us and we had to deboard at Taneka (sp?) and get on busses to go the rest of the way to Denali. We were on the train another 45 minutes and the scenery was great. We didn’t see any wildlife but it was a good experience anyway. We got to the switching place and it took another 2 hours to get busses there because it was halfway between anchorage and Denali and they didn’t plan on having the track broken! The conductor has been with the train 32 years, and its happened 9 times, once every 3 years this happens! We were lucky I guess. So we get on the bus finally and I sit next to a random guy, Richard, and he has a mac so I show him some tricks on it and help him with iPhoto. Our driver was pretty crazy and he told some funny stories as well. We sat in the front of the bus and talked to him the whole time. We got here 2 hours later than expected, and we ate dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. Wow, I’ve been spelling restaurant wrong this whole time, sorry. Anyway, we had dinner here and the chef walked by as my mom was asking what was in the vegetarian salad, he told her and she wanted protein, so he got excited and said he would make a special one with tofu, and he came out several times to check on us and it was really neat. Then we went to the husky homestead where they train dogs and raise them to run the Iditarod 1100 mile race from anchorage to nome Alaska, and he was really cool. The guy, Jeff King has won the race 4 times and he just won this year in march he told us all about how they train the dogs and how he doesn’t do the work, its really the dogs, and they deserve a lot of the credit. He has to care for them while they’re on the race, and he can only have 16 dogs but the best number is 9 or 10, so at the end of the race he has that many. He said he can predict which ones he will use and which ones he will send home and which checkpoints he will send them home at, before he even leaves for anchorage! There were puppies for us to hold so we “helped train Jeff King’s sled dogs” because we helped to socialize them. He told lots of jokes and told us about Alaskan life, he’s really interesting and has many cool stories and ideas. I came back and downloaded 4 cards worth of pictures and now I will edit them and then go to sleep. We wake up at 5:30 to go to the park for our 8 hour bus nature drive through Denali tomorrow. I’m really tired but it’s hard to sleep with the sun still up! Good night Tara!

Alaska day 3

We woke up at 6:30 am to go to the ferry and we boarded and left at 8am. We saw a humpback whale, sea lions, puffins, porpous, and sea otters. It was fun but took from 8 til 1:30 !! I watched kiss kiss bang bang at Erin's suggestion and it was pretty good. I enjoyed the boat ride and we had some amazing views. Then we got off and went through a tunnel in the mountain that connects Whittier with the rest of alaska, and it was 2.5 miles long, one way. They have to regulate the traffic so on the hour until half past the hour it goes one way, and the rest of the time it goes another way. Then we saw the portage glacier which was really nice, and there were 3 other glaciers next to it. We then proceeded to the wildlife refuge and saw some really cool animals up close, and the pictures look amazing! Next we went to our hotel, which is our first hotel to go to before 10pm, and we got here around 4pm. I went and worked out, swam, and got in the hot tub then came back and we toured around the small town near Alyeska. During the winter, this is a big ski resort for most alaskans and some other people. Then my dad, mom and I went to this old gold mine in the town but it was closed. My dad and I went on a hike for a few minutes, then we saw a german shepard and it looked like it wanted to attack me! Luckily the owners were nearby and told it to back off. At first i thought it was a bear, because i was looking out mostly for bears at that point. Then we went to the top of the mountain in a tram and it was really cool. We ate dinner up there at a really nice resturaunt and it was some superb salmon. James had an Elk steak, sallie had a beef filet, dad had halibut and mom had tofu. We all got something different! That never happens! So the resturaunt had an amazing view of the "turnagain" finger of the bay that captain cook had to turn again and again to get out of because the tide difference is 39ft between low and high tide! Sometimes the river looks completely empty and its all mud, other times it is full to the brim, it just depends on the time of day! So we came back down the mountain to our really nice hotel, the Alyeska Prince hotel, and we have a nice view of the mountain from our room. I'm in the business area uploading pics to facebook. I love you Tara, goodnight!

AK day two

We woke up early and went to breakfast at peggy's - they're famous for their pies, and I had some blueberry pancackes. Then we started driving to Valdez, a 6 hr drive, so we stopped at an indian museum thing, then went to a supermarket and got lunch food and snack food for our excursion. We stopped at a gold mine that was used before WWII and then we had lunch. James and I decided to hike up this trail to the lake at the top, there was no one else there, and it was really cool. Then some other people showed up, and they were originally from TX but they lived in Alaska now. Then we drove on to the glacier, we watched "the island" on the drive. We walked around on the glacier then had dinner at the long rifle lodge that had a nice panoramic view of the glacier. There were some strange accented people in the room with us so we asked where they were from. My parents thought france, or maybe canada becuase they had good english, but they were from mother russia. So we went back on the road and then started watching "she's the man" a pretty good movie that james and my mom and I watched. It made me miss tara, not just because it was a love story in disguise, literally, the actress amanda bynes looks like Tara, and that made it that much harder to watch without my boo. Then we finally got to valdez at 10:45 at night. We passed some cool waterfalls on the way here, and there were lots of mountains and lots of water, everywhere! I'm having fun, and tomorrow at 6:30am we're getting up and going to the ferry and heading back toward anchorage. I need some sleep!

Alaska day 1

So we got to alaska at 8pm, and now it is 10:45pm and it is still light, but Dallas time, it is 1:45... interesting. We walked around downtown for a little while trying to find a resturaunt, but ended up eating a few blocks from our hotel in downtown Anchorage. We're staying in the downtown area and there are homeless people, but they are indian or eskimos, different from the homeless people we have in Dallas or Nashville. The air is a little fresher up here, the salmon was good too! I had some caffeine, so of course I am wide awake now (i was falling into my food at dinner...) and it's almost bedtime for me! I get to sleep with James, in a double bed, oh joy (james' words) and it's wierd that this is so far away and still the USA. We watched over the hedge and RV on the plane, pretty good movies and reinforced the family first ideals. Anyway, I finished working on wednesday and I had a great time at Drs. Alexander's office (there's two of them) and I learned a lot. I decided to do health service delivery to diverse populations, a course for my major instead of working with Dr. McKenna, at least for now. I think I got some good experience this summer and I don't know if my schedule next semester will be good for an oral surgery observation. Allright, bedtime! Love you boo!

I took the DAT

I took it on Friday and did very well, I surpassed my goal and then some! I was really excited when I got the score and I couldn't be happier! I can relax now and enjoy the rest of summer, until I go to school that is. We're going to Alaska on friday and it's gonna be really cool and fun! My siblings arent too excited, but I'm really pumped to go and I'm going to make the most of the trip. Can't wait to see everyone at school and I can't wait to see TARA! Love you boo!

ortho

Read Donald Miller's Searching for God Knows What, it's really good! I am taking the DAT on Friday at 10AM, pray for me! I have been studying for many many weeks now, but I'm ready for it! I can't wait to go back to school and see everyone again, being at home is pretty boring. We're going to Alaska next friday, so I guess that will be fun, we're going fishing and white water rafting and on a small cruise past glaciers. Recently I have been at Dr. Alexander's office and i make the IDB - indirect bonding method of putting brackets on. First the assistants place the brackets on a model of the person's teeth, then Dr. A checks it, then we put vinylpolysiloxane, VPS on so it will hold the brackets in place, do a "suck down" on the model so the VPS and brackets are now on a tray, then trim the clear trays to fit their mouth and voila- just add adhesive and light, and they have braces! It's pretty neat, and I think i want to do orthodontics rather than general dentistry or surgery becuase there are so many opportunities to affect middle school children and their lives after braces. You can teach them about setting goals and working hard to acheive them, and it's also a great way to build confidence, be a role model, and since you get to see them every 2-6wks you can really get to know them better than the every 6 months dental visits! I'm excited to start dental school, but I am still a Jr! I now have a goal and I am working on acheiving the goal ... but seriously, that book is good!

fun

Tara was here this weekend!!! It was soo much fun having her with me in Dallas, we had a blast at the Maloney wedding. We got there early and thought we'd be the only ones, but then the BYX Gamma class showed up in full force! There were like 12 of them there, so we felt more like we belonged! Cole and Dane also came and it was a lot fof fun to see everyone! Then Tara and I went and played Tennis on Thursday and Saturday and went to the gym, we're both pretty good at tennis- I challenge YOU jeffrey moredock! Yeah, I'm calling you out! We saw Mamma Mia! at the Fair Park music hall with my parents and Aunt Sharon. I was sad to see her go, but i'm going to see her friday in orlando! Love you boo! Lately, I've been having fun at Dr. Banta's office and Dr. Alexander's office, it was fun at both places, I like the surgery aspect, but I also like the orthodontic office. The orthodontist has everyone in one room and all the assistants are working together, laughing and having a good time. I hope that my office someday could be like that, a fun place that patients like to come; i wouldnt want people to hate coming to the dentist! Anyway, studying is going well, and today I went to Dax's house and went swimming, and I held my breath for 2 minutes 21.5 seconds! it was kinda crazy... I'm going to florida to see my grandparents again and Tara's going to come with my mom and me! I'm getting tired so it's off to bed! I love Tara!!

last day at Dr, Keeters

I took impressions today on misti, then on mary carmen! The second round of impressions with alginate actually turned out well, and the first VPS, vinyl polysiloxane impression I took on misti looked good too! It was a fun day, but bittersweet. I made some great friends that I know I will see again, and it really is "good dentistry by friends for friends" the atmosphere was wonderful, and I can't believe I've been there for 5 weeks! The positive perspectives and attitudes of the staff made me feel at home and welcome and loved. I hope some day my office can be as dedicated to patients and each other as Dr. Keeter's office. I went to my DAT course tonight and it was biology, so I've been studying that a lot, and I learned a lot today from class and studying after with my mom. We got down the A&P book and looked at the anatomy of the kidney, which is really difficult, and then I studied the teeth, it was fascinating how the decidious teeth get moved by the adult teeth and how they fit together perfectly, it's amazing proof that there is a God, it would be impossible to make all this stuff work in perfect harmony- not to mention all the other systems I learned about today! There's no way this all happened by "Chance" it's just not even an option! Tomorrow i'm going to the dental school to tour around, and hopefully meet the dean of admissions, so yay for grad. school- but I'm only a JR. so yay for undergrad too! I love life. I love Tara. I love you, whoever you are!

golf

Golf is so frustrating, i lost 8 balls today, but i hit them perfectly on the driving range. Made me realize that sometimes just practicing isnt enough, it's the actual doing that's important. Like going to church, you can practice all you want, but going out into the world and doing is a whole new "ball" game. I finished the ragamuffin gospel a couple of days ago, it was a great book, and i reccommend it to anyone who wants to further their spiritual life and can't figure out the next step, or cant see what they're doing wrong. I thought i had it pretty well put together, the puzzle that is, but i am just a ragamuffin, a meaningless thing unless I have some of Jesus in me. The book makes you realize that God's love for us is incredible and we can't do anything without it. Even when we mess up, He is waiting for us to come back to Him with open arms, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son. Sometimes I forget that, and I really need to internalize that becaues I try to hit the ball on my own and try my hardest at life, but get frustrated. Like Camp Ozark's theme last year, just Give it Up! I need to give it up to God and let my life be Jesus living through me and living in me. We're all weaklings and powerless without Him, we just need to recognize that more often. That is all., oh and I love TARA!

weekend

It's the weekend now for me, I have to take a practice DAT tomorrow morning, 4 hrs! I have been studying like mad, so we'll see how it goes... I got to assist today at Dr. K's office, he was short staffed, so I was the assistant for a filling, I got to hand him the etchant, primer, caulk, light, tools, etc. it was fun being a part of that and getting to use the water gun and suction vacuum. Good experiences today! WE're going to a party for the american lung association tomorrow night, the Fresh Air Affair, and they have texas hold em and other casino games for entertainment. I hope they have good food too! I still feel like I have something wrong with my stomach, and i've been back from guatemala for 3 months now! I'm gonna take some anti-parasite medicine and see if it helps any, nasty little bugs from that pretty lake! enjoy the official summer (summer started on wednesday!) Tara is incredible, by the way!

The graduate! it was pretty sunny!

Magic kingdom, the money shot...

workin

Still working at Dr. keeter's office, it's been very fun and rewarding, even though i'm not getting paid! 6AM wakeups and hard work make a good rec letter... i hope! I went wakeboarding yesterday for the first time since sept. it was a blast! I met up with some people from dallaswakeboarding.com and we went riding for 4-5 hours. Then we went to chili's and watched the mavs loose, it was pitiful. I have to do a full length DAT this weekend, so I hope i can do well on that and see where my strengths/weaknesses are... I have been studying a lot for it, and I hope i can rip it apart! Sallie got back from europe and said she had a great time, but now she's feeling kind of sick :( I just talked to Dr. Banta's office today and hopefully I can watch some wisdom teeth or implants for dentistry, it's going to be fun, and then i'll go to Dr. Alexander's office to see orthodontics. It's been a great summer, but I miss all of my Vandy friends, and I cant wait to get back to school. I'm reading the ragamuffin gospel, i'm almost done with it and I love it. The other day i googled it to see what would come up and it was some crazy baptist (sorry if you're baptist) lady saying that he was a heretic (brennan manning) and he wasn't saved and he's really a buddhist, it was wild! I like the book though, definately worth reading! New Guster CD is pretty good, it's not as good as their last one, I even pre-ordered it... and I rarely even buy cds! The first few songs are good, but then the album starts sounding like a repetition of the first few songs... eh, they're amazing live though! I'm glad I got my computer working again, well Gary fixed it but it's working better now than it ever has! I am kinda ADD, but i'm sleep deprived so it almost evens itself out I guess; I need to get to bed, see ya!

Dr K and GO MAVS

So i've been taking the kaplan DAT course, its pretty easy, i got a 20 on the diagnostic which is pretty good, so i'm hopin to do well on the real one. I learned how to sterilize the instruments, develop a panoramic x-ray on the pano machine, scan into and manipulate the dentrix application, seen numerous crowns, build up's, fillings, dentures, partials, hygeine checks, I've learned a lot of vocab and I can enter in the numbers for the periodontal check. This friday i'm going to a conference at the dental school. Summer's going great, Sallie is still gone, my dad's fathers day present gets here tomorrow, we got him a camera (shh) and i think he'll love it ( i picked it out). The mavericks had a heartwrenching loss tonight to miami, to bring the series to 2-1 mavericks. We lost by 2 points!!! Tara's doing well in summer school, she has a test tomorrow in microbiology and i think she'll ace it. I gotta get up early, so i'm gonna go sleep.

Day three at Keeter's

I started pouring molds for teeth that were impressions. I then grind them down to the right size, touch up the "nerds" then I place them in the machine and make a whitening tray, or retainer for them. I also sterilized a lot of equipment, so they really liked me and I received a lot of "compliments" at the end of the day! Then I went to the Dat course and I scored a 20 on my diagnostic test, which is very good, so i'm gonna shoot for really high on the DAT! I am excited, and i have a day off today. I'm having a great summer, and i'm learning a lot! Hope you are having fun wherever you are!

Richard

Summer is #1

Well, I'm finally at home, and I am not doing much yet, just enjoying the warm weather and sun (Nashville's kinda dreary) and I have a busy summer planned, so i've been relaxing. Sallie just graduated last night, and she's leaving for Europe tomorrow, for three weeks! (yesss...) j.k but seriously, she's gonna have a lot of fun! I start at Dr. Keeter's office on tuesday, at 6:30AM, it should be a lot of fun and a good experience, I will be doing whatever they want me to do, so I don't really get paid and I can learn all the different aspects of having a dental practice. I have been really busy doing nothing, and have not found time to post, (shout out to Erin) and I've been slacking, so i'll do my best to update this as I learn more about dentistry and myself. I'm reading a great book by Brennan Manning, the Ragamuffin Gospel, it's a must-read for anyone interested in Christianity or anyone that is already a Christian. I am having fun at home with my parents, i dont get to see them that much, so it's nice to be back, and also seeing Sallie and James has been a treat. I went golfing today, and i discovered that I need some more lessons, the good strokes I had achieved over Easter break have left me, and I need some swing repair. My cousin just turned pro, but he's on tour so I won't get any lessons there soon... he's doing great from what I know. Uh, one of my dad's apartments got hit by a crazy person in a big truck, some kid apparently. It took out the front apartement, a parked car, demolished the whole front and side of the building, and then his truck exploded. It's a miracle he's not dead. Then he tried to run off, but the police arrested him. I'm kinda surprised it didn't make the news, with so many lesser stories circulating on national news... THC muffins anyone? Anyway, all these reasons and stories make summer #1! that's kinda stupid but it rhymed... oh well see ya later, have FUN!

stuff

I've been studying for genetics for way too long now, and i'm barely half way. I ate dinner with Alex at Carrabas - that place rocks. The party that the gordons and mrs. grisham threw last night was incredible, it was nice to see so many people get together in the park! I'm almost done, and tara will be done tomorrow at 11, though we'll have to see how that goes! I am ready to get out of here and I cant wait ! AHHH!

This is the place

This is where we are going in florida, my grandparents have a nice view ;)

im excited

I got an A in Bioinorganic chemistry, i'm looking for some good grades elsewhere, and I have genetics left- thursday. I had cell group last night and it was really good, we met for three hours in Funke's room and had a great time together. I went to Vera's house today and she was really nice and fed us some good food. I want to start summer! AhH! I cant wait to go to vero beach and orlando with Tara, it's going to be fun meeting all of her old friends from celebration. So i'm starting to study for genetics because i need a good grade. I love you.

no more physics. ever.

YAY - physics is over, i have to write a resume to give to Dr Mckenna when I meet him on monday for an interview. I want to do an independent study with him next year for research and shadowing, and it should be a lot of fun. I am really glad physics is over, and all i have left is genetics- next thursday- then we're driving down to orlando and vero beach to hang out for a few days. Then graduation and moving out, it'll be fun. Listen to the arctic monkeys, theyre really good and all the rage in Britain. New RHCP album comes out soon - can't wait- dani california is their single and its good too. I watched Transporter II the other ady and it was pretty good mindless action- as andrew says, but Jeff didn't like it. I feel good about the physics test, and i cant wait to be done!! PEACE

April

Sallie came here this weekend for Rites, it was fun. The bands were really good, and Ben Folds rocked the house. I have a bioinorganic chemistry final this evening and i am NOT looking forward to it. I am looking forward to it being over though... Physics is on thursday, and genetics next thursday! I am getting invovled with the youth ministry at midtown, and that seems to be a promising endeavour. I am excited to be starting the summer and taking the DAT review course. I decided i wanted to be a dentist a few weeks ago, and that will be a better decision for me than med school. See ya

Guatemala

It's been too long since my last post, but I went to guatemala for spring break and it was totally incredible. We went to ChiChicastenango and went to the market on sunday and i got a bunch of stuff. I love bartering with locals. Then we drove to Antigua which is the old capital of guatemala but was destroyed by a flood in the 1500s and killed a conquistador's wife, so it was abandoned. Its really sweet now. Then we went to Xela, Quetzaltenango and we stayed at Casa Argentina and it was really fun, a huge hostel with lots of foreigners staying there. We did work at Primeros Pasos clinic and we helped them fix up an old cabin so they could make it an entertainment center for the kids in the afternoon. We cleaned it all up and painted it with elephants, a sea scape and a village with a palm tree. We also installed shelves which is hard to do because there are no big hardware stores so we went to the carpenter and got wood, then we had to go to a different place to get nails, etc. it was hard. Then we did salsa dancing and it was a lot of fun, our teacher was really suave, he said "y bailamos" and we had no choice but to do exactly what he said! My ASB group was a lot of fun and everyone added a different element to the trip and made it complete! I had so much fun!! Then we went to Santiago Atitlan and worked with some special ed children and had a "field day" for them which was a blast. There was a lot of trash in guatemala and the reason is because there is no infastructure for trash collection. Not too long ago, everything was packaged with natural biodegradable wrappers, like banana leaves. Then plastics came and they would throw them on the ground like the leaves, but they had no landfills and no one wants to put one in their backyard. Now, they have a few landfills, but they're expensive and they burn the trash, often they do both! Its just a bad situation down there and an example of how the modern world messes up small villages and corrupts them. There is so much injustice in the world and the trip made me realize how lucky i am to live in America and have all the things that I am blessed with, like toilet seats and clean water and the fact that i dont have to make a craft to survive when i am 4 years old! The homeless people over there sell things, they dont just ask unless they are too old to do anything anymore and then all they can do is beg. Its just a different world over there and its incredible how much they have and how happy they are. They have far less than any person over here and they seem far more happy than any one person over here! I respect that for them, and the Guatemalan people are very hard working and want to help each other out. Anyway, tonight I went to the green rave and it was fun, in the basement of branscomb and it was a blast. I'm having a hard time getting back into the "swing of things" since spring break, but i;mgetting there. Have a great night!

Chris Tomlin

Go Steelers!

Matt Redman

Indescribable

Ryman Auditorium

PARTAY!

Parthenon at night (with snow!)

Christine's getting into it too!

Valentine's Party

Maddie and Me in birmingham

maddie again

basketball game, we won!

Chris Tomlin

Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Louie Giglio are amazing, their Indescribable tour should be a requirement for all humans living on earth as part of the training to be a human, should be experienced by all... That was amazing, God's love is so big and he is just so large, bigger than the universe and he cares about everyone on earth! He sent Christ to OUR planet out of all the planets, how crazy is that? Then there's the X in the middle of the galaxy trillions and trillions of light years away! Its incredible and mind boggling to even think about, we're the smallest spot in this huge galaxy, and we all live our small lives out on this planet- we are tiny, he is BIG and he CARES about each one of us. Think about it. Love y'all ---Richard

I LOVE TARA!! seriously, she is incredible and wonderful and totally amazing....i could go on forever.....

Birmingham

Well I had a good birthday, it was the 16th, and I'm not a teenager anymore. Sallie also got accepted to Vanderbilt and will be coming here next year. Tara got accepted to nursing school and is competing for the top scholarship! It's been an exciting week, and I had a mid-term in all my classes so that was stressful, but I am just reading for my classes now. I am exctited about Guatemala for ASB in 2 weeks!!! We are going to the most beautiful lake in the world, Lake Atitlan, and some amazing scenery in central america, its gonna be awesome! The weather has been crazy, it snowed a lot last weekend, it's snowing this weekend, but on my birthday it was 70 degrees!! Insane! Anyway, now Tara and I came down to Birmingham last minute and we are going to hang out with Tara's sister on her Anniversary and they had a cake for me last night. My parents got me new leather seats for my car which I will be installing with Tara's sisters' husband Keith whenever we get a chance to. I love facebook, esp around your birthday because suddenly everyone knows its your birthday without you saying anything! It's really cool, it makes it a whole different day. I havent taken many pictures this semester, I haven't played any guitar or piano but I have been working out a lot and running more. I think i need some better shoes for running though! Valentine's was fun, we went to Longhorn steakhouse and I got a steak with lobster on top! it was really good followed by cookie-dough cheesecake. Then we went to the BYX valentine's party which was a blast and at Traveller's Rest. Maddie is here now so i gotta go!

so life really is great...

Well, i have been working hard on getting bands for Island Party 06- a Party for the Island (Haiti, which is like half an island, but whatever) and I went to dave barnes' CD release party on saturday and i saw Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife and got to meet them! Then Marc Broussard walked out and sang with Dave and it was awesome! On friday night Tara and I went to the Sig Ep party at the same place as mallard ball, and it was a lot of fun. Valentines party is next week and it is a semi-formal event. But back to bands, so i called up two of Switchfoot's managers yesterday to see if they could stop by island party because they are PLAYING A SHOW IN NASHVILLE on the SAME DAY as Island PARTY 06! (March 25th, mark your calandars) and i was like HOLY CRAP maybe they could come say hi and endorse it or something and that would be spectacular! So the manager said possibly, it shouldnt be that hard to do, but i dont know if its possible . Last year we had Chris Rice play for free, and we are tryign to find a headliner for this year as well. Steven Curtis is a possibilitty, and Michael W Smith is also a possibility, we're thinking big and we could pull this off because we are in MUSIC CITY, USA and these people live here! Anyway, life is great, Tara got into Nursing school today! and she got her room change request approved today! she's moving to a single in Towers so she wont be as sick b/c of her dust allergy (and her roommate sucks at life, she hates me and wont let me in the room when i'm there... but thats a minor detail) and shh( her roommates all drink and make tara feel bad for not drinking and keep her up late at night) but she does get sick from her room and it's really NOT a healthy environment. Also, she finished her big presentation for her spanish class, and she got to volunteer at a cool clinic where she translates in Spanish for the patients. I had a big presentation for HOD 1200 and it went well considering the fact that i did the entire power point myself and that sucked, but we pulled it together and made it work, got a 90 which is respectable. Then I had an essay test in that class today too, and my hand was cramping up really badly. My classes arent that bad, and my 1700 class is a JOKE it's ridiculously easy, and i'm not counting it in my courseload. Jeff got his car fixed, he fell asleep at the wheel over break and ran his car off the highway, not smart , but its back now and everything is OK. I am a cell group leader and it's fun, Dane, Wes, and Robert Funke are in my cell group and it should be a good experience this semester. I am excited to spend this semester with Tara as our relationship continues to bloom and she fascinates me daily with her awesomeness. I have a lot going on, but going to the Rec keeps me sane, and i've even started running to keep up with Tara, one day i went 5 miles, today i only went 3, but i did all the machines and swam 600 yards. Tara and I went to the mall yesterday morning and it was fun, went to J Crew and went to GNC where i got some protein powder for after workouts, Jeff said it helps with building muscle or something... and we went to Panera for lunch, that place rocks. I have a genetics test next week and some other tests the week after that so thats the only big stuff i have coming up. Life is crazy but goood, and i'm having a blast

LIFE IS SOOO GREAT....

school and everything else that is going on is hard. pray for me to get it together.

BYX retreat and start of school...

last day of break! ahh! Classes tomorrow, i hope they arent that bad, Genetics, Bio-inorganic chem, 2nd semester physics, HOD 1700, HOD 1200, HOD 1210 and physics lab. Anyway, Jeff got back today and said that he wrecked his car because he fell asleep. Christine and Tara are excited about rush and Ali is having a good time anyway. Whit likes rush and enjoys talking to the girls. Jeff thinks he's Tasha, whoever that is.... I went swimming today and it was a blast. I went on a BYX retreat these past two days and Brent spoke and it was really meaningful. One funny thing was he had us write all our sins on our hands with "washable markers" then when we were ready to throw them away we would walk to the back of the room and wash our hands of them. Then they started playing "give us clean hands" and we started walking back to wash the marker off but it wouldnt come off!! It was pretty funny everyone had their sins on their hands for a couple of days! Anyway it was fun and we played frisbee and threw the football around. We played Bong a new game we made up and we played "pelt" with a hacky sack. Good food and good times with the brothers. Peace out - school tomorrow...

Xmas Break

Well, Christmas break is almost over and it was a great break. I got to go to Florida and visit my grandparents, Tara came to Dallas for a week, I went to Birmingham, I worked at my mom's office and I got to hang out with Dax a lot. Peter was in town for a few days but was really sick but I got to see him, and I went to James' house once. New Years ever was pretty fun, Dax and I went to Lauren Lawson's house and there were alot of people there, Dan, James Madden, Hailey, Ashley, John, etc, and we had fun and watched the ball drop. Then it was 11:30 and everyone including Lauren LEFT! Dax and I were like "why is the party over? there's still food!" so we ate some more then went to Kyle's house and hung out with Daniella, Austin, Kyle, John and some other people until 2am, it was a lot of fun too. I am going to UT southwestern tomorrow to see the admissions people for med school and hopefully i can get some info on my chemistry requirements - since when does taking AP courses screw you over?! OK here's a funny list I found: enjoy!


Top 17 Ways to
Freak-Out Your Roommate

17. Smoke ballpoint pens.

16. Smile -- All the time.

15. Always flush the toilet three times.

14. Listen to radio static.

13. Open your window shades before you go to sleep each night. Close them as soon as you wake up.

12. Whenever your roommate comes in from the shower, lower your eyes and giggle to yourself.

11. Whenever you go to sleep, starts jumping on your bed . . . do so for a while, then jump really high and act like you hit your head on the ceiling. Crumple onto your bed and fake like you were knocked out . . . use this method to fall asleep...every night for a month.

10. Ask your roommate if he/she has ever looked into the eye's of his/her victim.

9. Whenever his/her parents call and ask for your roommate, breathe into the phone for 5 seconds then hang up.

8. Gather up a garbage bag full of leaves and throw them in a pile in his/her room. Jump in them. Comment about the beautiful foliage.

7. Get a computer. Leave it on when you are not using it. Turn it off when you are.

6. Fake a heart attack. When your roommate gets the paramedics to come, pretend nothing happened.

5. Whenever the phone rings, get up and answer the door

4. Whenever someone knocks, answer the phone.

3. Whenever your roommate walks in, wait one minute and then stand up. With an air of disdain, announce that you are going to take a shower. Do so. Keep this up for three weeks.

2. Buy Sea Monkeys and grow them. Name one after your roommate. Announce the next day that that one died. Name another one after your roommate. The next day say that it died. Keep this up until they all die.

1. Spend all your money on Transformers. Play with them at night. If your roommate says anything, tell him/her with a straight face, "They're more than meets the eye."