The Girls

The girls made it and that was a relief. I took them out over the weekend to check out the island.

Here we have the atlantic side on the left called north Friar's beach. The Carribean on the right called south Friar's beach. This day was very windy as you can see by the looks of our hair. This is a great out and back ride for me with some brutal 18% grade. Sharie is freaking out about the whole right sided steering wheel and what not. We started anatomy lab and got our dog whom we named Stag after the local beer.

right now we are studying the forelimbs muscles, nerves, arteries, veins and bones. It's a ton of information; but the way I look at it is that I'll be doing this for the rest of my life and I want to be damn good at it!

Here are my lab partners Juli from FL and Chris from SoCal with Stag:

I'm starting to feel 100% acclimated and I'm enjoying learning about the vet profession....it's truly a privelage not only to study but to have my girls here.

Focus

Getting distracted on the Island is a big obstacle. The beaches, drinking, classmates that I have to keep reminding I'm married, or the shady local who tried to sell me weed and paid my car wheels his compliments (translates into I want to lift your wheels!), views from the classroom like below in the lower amphitheater:

I've decided routine is the way to go, so this is how I start my day:

Go to school all day

Then go home to some cheesy dinner (until Sharie gets here) and serious books.

So the way I see it is there is too much on the line to try to match my classmates Stag Stacking technique.

We'll I better get to learning because distractions are around and second chances are on leave.

Slim Pickins'

Getting a car on St. Kitts is rather comical. The trick is to buy a car that will not fall apart on the way to the mechanics'. Here's a fine example:

or better yet this one here:

I settled on a $4500Nissan Sentra that wouldn't get $1500 in the states. Electricity is super expensive. I heard of a student that left their a/c on night and day. At the end of the semester they had a bill of $8000! Slow service with an attitude. Lanes wide enough for 1 1/2 hatchbacks. And of course it took me about two days to get used to shifting with my left and driving on the left side of the road. The first few days I kept getting in the passengers side of the car, using my wiper instead of turn signal. As a matter of fact one student almost killed us as she drove off the lot thinking she was still in Kansas.

Some dissolusioned classmates at the car lot

School starts tomorrow and I'm set to go. Appartently there is a 40% failure rate at Ross. It was a sobering thought to look around during group outings and think that some will bite the dust. May the force be with me!

Good Company

2 layovers, 2,886 miles, and 18 hrs later I arrived in St. Kitts. The group that arrived at the same time consisted of JP from FL, Cuban Chris with wife Wendy from San Dimas, Katie from somewhere, Kathleen with mom from West Palm beach, and myself. Most of us are from a neighborhood called Camps. Since this reminded me of a rough gang infested neighborhood in Visalia we let that theme play. So now were the Camps Crew! Our mascot is a flock of white birds that claim the neighborhood corner. As a matter of fact the directions to our place are as follows: Get to St. Kitts, ask how to get to white birds, make a left, at "v" stay left, go to end of road and hang a left, we're the last corner house on the left (only 3 houses on street). The group is really tight. We've been doing many things together. As a matter of fact we've adopted a few stragglers without a group like 48 yr old Peter from Mountain View, Leah from NY, Julia from OH, and Molly from NY, oh, and Rachel from WA. Anyways here are a few pics

New Years Eve/Day

Alright I better get going to the orientation. Later!

On The Rock

Our last day in Kaua'i we went back to shipwreck's to boogie board. This seems to be a popular local zone. I had never seen someone pop-up on a boogie board. These kids were doing cutbacks, bottom turns and 360's. It looks like the order of operations goes like this: as a beginner you try your hand at some whitewater on the long board, then progress to a fun board, finally you get to a short board and start rippin'. The kid's at shipwrecks take it another step further and learn to surf on boogie boards. They Rooock! What's next frisbees'?

Some locals gettin' their rocks off.

Nap time for the girls.

Sharie suffering from Island fever.

Scraboholics meeting

Nicole going for a ride...

Kaua'i go to an island?

We had planned this out way before I decided to go to St. Kitts. We're going from 45 to 80 degrees F back to 45 then finally to 80. I mean don't get me wrong it's nice to be here. If I'd known I would've chosen to go to Canada for vacation. So far we've seen some whales and spinner dolphins off in the distance. Also some turtles close to shore. Tommorow we'll go on a snorkel zodiac tour. I've also seen some kids get up on their boogie boards like it's a surf board!I'll have to take a pic of em'.
Aloha!

For Sale: 30 y/o male

Moving has become real when posting my belongings on Ebay. It's the point of no return. I'm entrusting my steeds and guns to my brother-in-law. He should be able to squeeze a few rounds off and take my bikes for a ride ever so often. I've sold everything from race wheels to gum ball machines. My big 3-0 is coming up fast and I'd like to say I'm turning 25, but gotta face reality sometime. Luckily USCF/NORBA drills it in your noggin' for the whole racing season. So by the time November swings around I've been desensitized to my racing license saying I'm 30.

At the time I'm looking to buy a cross bike. It would be a good all-around bike: commuting to school, maybe a cross race on December vacation and decent road rides. I checked out the Trek Factory website and found that the west coast factory team http://www.trekfactoryteam.com/ has an average age of 38! Wow I might just have a chance to be like Mike Lee when I grow up, hmmmm. Anyhow, the guys freakin' rock, my helmet off to em'.

Today I watched the 94' Tour and was surprised at how many bald young guys were in the peloton, even Pantani! Riis and his team mate looked like twins, I thought I was seeing double. The French sure did have a good Tour back then. Things have changed now and will probably change more once Leblanc leaves. Everyone had quil stems and no helmets!

I finished my lackluster season with the 9th Annual Salmon Duathlon (http://www.onyourmarkevents.com/). This was held in my stomping grounds so I had to go represent. I was happy with my 4th place finish but was disappointed to have been beaten by the fastest chic (Webcor). I was feeling good on the run then transitioned onto the bike smoothly. On the out leg I was reeling em' in and then started cramping like a mofo. This chic passed me up about 2 mph faster and kept her within a few seconds until the turn around. I figured out that if I kept a steady low rpm I would ward off the cramps ( doesn't make sense to me). I had about a minute on her in the transition going into the last run. I experienced full-lock-out of the hamstrings as I reached down to put on my kicks. A few swear words later I started my last run leg. Coming around a turn on the run I heard someone cheer "Go Alicia"! Dammit! I was doing like a 9' mile at this point, while she was doing a 8:55. On the homestretch I knew I'd come in just a few seconds behind her to the voice of the announcer saying: "and here comes our first female finisher, with some loser guy 8 seconds behind her"! I know I'm being to hard on myself but it sucks to be the cutoff guy. I learn alot in every race, in this one I learned to have fun. Olde men rule!

Later
SErg

We are family

This last weekend was Nicole's 1st birthday. We had a small gathering at Grandpa's pad with some killer grub of course. It's hard to believe that some people actually believe that God does not exist. For me it's simple. All I have to do is watch my little enchilada grow up. Or go on a ride early in the morning, feel the chill, hear nothing, and stop to see the sun creep over the Sierra's. How can it be a mere coincidence? Impossible! The day after Nicole's birthday we went to Knight's Ferry where I proposed to my wife to see the salmon run. Just this in and of itself is amazing how a fish is born in fresh water, adapts to salt water, and then returns to its fresh water home to die. I saw a bumper sticker the other day and it said something like this: "I believe in the Big Bang Theory: God said "Bang!" and the universe was created."

Serginator

Deep Desires

Hee Haw!

Got to do my first palpation today with Dr. Nell. Most of these cows were about 220 days into their pregnancy. Of course these here cows are mighty glad to have Dr. Nell give them the green light for a well deserved pregancy leave from work.

Feeling the fetus was pretty cool, as a matter of fact I felt the leg on one of the little critters. A dairy we went to was downright udderly skanky as a ten buck whore. We went down the road to Tony's and one could immediately sense that he was running a pimp dairy. ..clean happy California cows.

Nicole's birthday is coming up on saturday and will be a farm animal theme. I'll post some pics soon after. She's growing so fast and I'm noticing my joints are starting to ache alot easier. But I've told Sharie that if I get old enough to ever consider ridin' a recumbnent to slap me silly.

Sayunara

Ross-tah' Bound

We'll not to many of you know what has happened since we left the IE. I've ridden my bike for hours on end without a living soul in sight let alone another cyclist. I'll take that back if cows count though. I've also been doing tons of laps in the pool to try and hone down my swim leg for the Tri thang. Running has been the most neglected. I figure since I'm doing olympic distance 1.5k/40k/10k I can get away with running 0-3 miles per week.

On a lighter note I've done a complete 360 with my career goals and have gone from vet school to military to vet school. All in all it wasted about a year. But hey it's not a damn race so what the hell. So vet school it is. Ross University will give me a textbook beating starting January 9, 2006. It will be a different kind of suffering for me. I just hope I don't bonk around semester 9/10. They say the first semester is the most difficult. 2.4 years on the rock (St. Kitts) and 1 year stateside.

Apparently they give us a choice 1-3 of the school we are interested in doing our last year of clinicals. Ross has contracts with about 22/28 veterinarian programs in the US. I've been eyeing Colorado State University, Washington State University, or Texas A&M. Either way I have to do my time at the rock, so foist things foist, ehh.I'm also mentally commited to no longer competing in NORBA/USCF/USAT for 2.4 years. Jeez I'm already missin' it. However, I will be taking a beater mtn bike and trainer, running shoes, and goggles.

Oh, and did I mention I'll have full access to EPO and roids? J/K!!! Anyhow if you have ever ridden with me, are related, or I owe you money; you're more than welcome to come visit us on the rock....we have plenty of space.

In the Beginning....

In the beginning Tili created a blog. And the blog was without form, void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And so it is that I start on this great journey. . . to blog or not to blog that is the question. To travel where many have gone before.

Therefore it is with such fervor that I have a dream that one day this blog will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident": that all blogs are created equal.

Tilichon