Since I have updated last, I have traveled to the east coast a couple of times, ran in a race, had two flat tires on Martin Luther King Jr. Day again, went backpacking, took second in city league volleyball, traveled to Montana, found a sloth tooth on my birthday, visited all of my family, except my sister, and played music in public.
When I last updated the blog, I was barely working out. I worked out in Cardio Rehab until mid-October. At that point, my insurance was running out, and I was feeling great. I soon began simple lifts at my own gym and running there as well. I had a follow up appointment with my cardiologist in November and everything checked out, and I was able to lower my dose on one of my medications. I continue to get blood work done every 2 weeks to check my coumadin levels, and make sure I am in a therapeutic range.
On my birthday, I was invited to be a part of a fossil dig in the mid-Willamette valley with a group of Linfield students, and the Yamhill river Pleistocene project. I was able to dig in a mud hole and have the time of my life. I was able to schlep the buckets in and out of the hole as well as anyone, and kept my stamina up all day. I was able to find some dermal osicles as well as on the morning of my birthday, I found a sloth tooth to begin the day!
Happy birthday to me!
I joined a city league volleyball team with some co-workers. All of them were collegiate athletes. It was great and we took second overall. It was my first test of jumping and motions in such an explosive manner. My body took it well, and I am signed up for a spring league currently.
In October, I went to Philadelphia to meet up with a professor of paleontology and help celebrate a friend's birthday. The meeting with the professor went great, and he called Dr. Daeschler at the American Academy of Natural Sciences, to give me a behind the scenes tour. I was given a one on one tour with Ted Daeschler, who helped find and describe the Tiktaalik. I was able to see the Hadrosaurus Foulkii bones as well as the orginial Tiktaalik.
It was AWESOME!!! I also went to the Franklin Institute and viewed a mummies exhibit and a CSI exhibit.
On Halloween weekend, I went backpacking with a couple of friends from Portland. We chose a small trail out by mount hood. The seasonal rain hadn't started, yet and we had a full day of fall sunlight and beautiful yellow and orange leaves on the edge of a lake.
The next day, we woke up and packed out in the rain. We drove back to Portland and I dragged a cousin to Body worlds exhibit at the science museum.
In fall, two of my cousins moved to the Portland area. One is enrolled at Reed college and the other picked up a contract to work at Nike in Beaverton for their tech side. I have seen them about once a month and it has been great having family around. I have taken them to a Demetri Martin show in January and have wandered around Portland together on occasion. One came down for Thanksgiving and joined me at a fellow teacher's house for the feast.
For Christmas, I took the train to Montana and saw my brother, his wife, and my nephew. They drove me to our parent's farm and I spent some time with my parents and some aunts and uncles. It was a fun week, but went by too fast. I was able to play some basketball and took a couple hikes. We also visited the house on the prairie in which my grandparents first lived when they came back from WWII. It was fun to see the breaks and some homestead shacks. I love the antiques and the stories from my ancestors.
I then traveled to the east coast to visit a friend and my other brother and sister in law. We spent 2 nights in DC and were able to visit some museums that I hadn't seen yet. I also was able to go to a Dinosaur exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philly! It was superb.
On MLK weekend, I went skiing with some friends. Somehow, my friends car got a flat as we traveled up toward the hill. We "fixed" it at a tire shop that happened to be open, had a great evening on the slopes and started back down the hill. We then felt some motion in the back end, and sure enough, the tire was flat again. We changed back to his donut tire and drove home. It was the one year anniversary of my double flat tire. Next MLK day, I feel sorry for who ever tries to travel with me.
St. Patty's day weekend, I participated in the Shamrock run in Portland. It is a fundraiser for a children's hospital in Portland. I was able to train (briefly) and ran the 9 mile race. It felt great to be back into a crowd racing, even though the morning didn't go as expected. I stayed with my cousin in Beaverton, and somehow, mis-set my alarm so I woke up late. I raced downtown and had time to check my jacket and the race started. About mile 2, I realized I hadn't eaten any breakfast. I ran the 9 miles on no fuel. Afterward, a group of teachers met to eat brunch. I then went home and slept for the afternoon.
It is now spring break, and I have not made plans to go anywhere. I have caught up on grading, watched the Hunger Games at the theater and am catching up on sleep. Whoot.
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