The Killers

Today I got out of clinic early, so I have cleaned my house and now have some extra time to make a post. Way back in September, David and I went to The Killers Concert while they were here in the Bay Area. We had tried to go to some of their previous shows but one was sold out and the other was on a Sunday. After two failed attempts I was very excited to be going to show. I bought the tickets back in June and didn't give David a chance to object to the purchase.

Come to the week of the concert and David came down with a cold. We nearly nixed our plans of seeing the show due to David's cold and overall exhaustion. Thankfully he toughed it out and we had a blast! The groups playing before them included The New York Dolls, who were also great to see since we were somewhat familiar with their music.

The Killers played so many of our favorite songs and it's always fun to be singing along with a crowd of 25,000 people. Everyone knew the words to Mr. Brightside, Somebody Told Me and When You Were Young.

Both the lead singer of The Killers, Brandon Flowers, and the original bass player for The New York Dolls, Arthur Kane, are mormon. Which I love! Too often I get caught up in thinking that Mormonism is a culture, instead of a religion/belief system. Maybe this stems from being too critical of myself, but I appreciate the talent and choices of these individuals. Arthur Kane was featured in a documentary called New York Doll that tells of his life as a member of band, his current life situation and his dream of reuniting the band some 20 years after they disbanded. (It's really good.)

I believe I have come to love going to concerts. If they weren't so dang expensive I'd go to a lot more. Last weekend I tried to buy Taylor Swift tickets but apparently she's hotter than I thought. I tried buying tickets within 2 minutes of when they became available and was told there were no more tickets available. Later that evening David heard San Francisco's R&B station playing a Taylor Swift song, I guess that shows how popular her songs are.

Halloween & School

I am in disbelief knowing that I'm well into the middle of my 3rd year. School has changed now that I have clinic 4 days a week and only having to go to the classroom on Thursdays.

This month I am working in the Surgery Department at St. Mary's hospital. So far it has been fantastic! I get to scrub and assist with ANY surgery that occurs in the hospital. So far I have helped remove an appendix, drain a lung abscess, and mesh a skin graft! I wish there were

pictures to help share my experiences you will all have to imagine. (update: today I was able to watch a 2nd toe transplanted to replace a thumb that had a mishap with a saw. Crazy!)

David and I had a great Halloween week. We had to forego our annual trip to Half Moon Bay to pick out pumpkins, but we managed to carve pumpkins with our friends from school and visit some festive neighborhoods on Halloween night.

Tennessee Valley

A few weeks ago we went for a little hike with Rob & Candi. Tennessee Valley is the name of the trail that we took and although it was a short walk we saw plenty of wildlife. We spotted a coyote on the drive to the trail head and Rob nearly stepped on a snake at the beginning. The trail ends at a little secluded beach that is contained by large bluffs on both sides. It has been so nice to have all of David's family nearby to do things together. It makes doing things, like hikes, alot more enjoyable.

New Arrival

Today we welcomed the arrival of a new nephew! Here is as picture of baby Dallin:

Home Improvement

David and I have been working on several home improvement projects lately. We have found that working on the house can be tough when both of us have other responsibilities during the day. But during the process we have learned a lot and now possess a large collection of tools. One of the most frustrating aspects of home improvement is the many unexpected trips (and expenses) one makes going to Home Depot or Lowe's to get something for the project you intended to start that evening. Or even more frustrating is finding tools that would have made the job a lot easier if you had known about it before!

However with my family coming at the end of the week we have been working overtime trying to finish some of the projects that we have started.

For this post we will concentrate on the progress of the floor.

We began with ceramic tile that can not be described by color, yellow vinyl flooring and pink carpet. The strangest thing to us about the flooring in the house was that there was carpet in both the dining area and vanity area.

Demolition is both the easiest and hardest part of the entire process. In the beginning you get a dramatic change in a short amount of time. But once all the large pieces are gone it takes FOREVER to clean and prepare the area for the next step.

p.s. below you can see the pink carpet...who does that?

Done with the easy part...At this point we had to scrape all the previous thinset off the concrete subfloor. At this point we did not our way around a home improvement store yet. We figured that it was a small area and we'd simply scrape off the ridges in no time. Wrong! We spent several nights chipping away at these stubborn ridges with a hammer, pry bar and small 3" metal scraper. A week after finishing scraping all the thinset off the floor we saw the actual floor scraping tools at the store which would have made our lives easier for those few days. Not only did we find the actual tools for the job but we also saw that you could rent the various specialized tools at the store! Oh well, the job was at least finished. Next David put out some self leveling concrete to even out the two concrete slabs that run through our unit.Finally, some tile on the floor!

The dining "room". ;) That pink carpet keeps rearing it's ugly head into all my progress pictures.the kitchen. please don't judge the mess. We are living in a full on construction zone as you can tell by the choice foods on display.Finally inserting all the cut edge and corner pieces. We are almost finished! The past two days we have spent grouting the floor and I am amazed at how much work we have done ourselves. Our house looks much better with some updated flooring. Now we just need to get rid of the rest of the pink carpet.

I just got done reading Anita's post about this gloomy June weather and I could not agree more! A couple of weeks ago we were driving to Dave's parents house via the Golden Gate Bridge. I could not believe how foggy it was for being in the month of June! Hey California, Where's the sun?

3rd Year

I finished the last final of my 2nd year on Thursday. It is amazing how fast time has gone by and how much I have learned since starting medical school. This morning I got to start my 3rd year at San Francisco General Hospital. I was so nervous this morning getting ready and driving to the hospital. The first day at any clinic because you don't know what you're expected to know, what type of patients you will be dealing with, or even where you are going. I felt a little overwhelmed walking towards the hospital this morning, unsure of where I was supposed to be.

San Francisco General Hospital is a very large teaching hospital and a large portion of the personnel there are still students in medical school or residency. It was very cool to walk into the hospital this morning and step into the elevator filled with residents and attending physicians. It felt almost like being in Grey's Anatomy or Scrubs. Anywho...back to my day.

Everything turned out fine and we were able to see three patients in just under 4 hours. (Would you be patient enough to spend over an hour with your doctor? I don't know if I would have exhibited the same patience our patients had.) However, it was a great experience for us as students because we were able to ask questions and discuss the pathology with the doctor while the patient was still in the exam chair. I'm current completing a biomechanics rotation so we talked alot about how an individual's foot architecture can make them more prone to experience problems(i.e. pain) in their feet. We'll be learning alot about orthotics and how to properly utilize orthotics to help stabilize these feet.

So it was a fantastic start to my 3rd year and 2nd half of medical school. I am so glad to be able to have these experiences and learn from so many people.

Getting My Craft On

Okay, tonight I took a break from studying to package a gift for some friends that are expecting a baby. I made a baby bracelet earlier this week and needed to package it before the baby girl makes her entrance into this world. With my infrequency of crafting, my projects don't always turn out cute. Perhaps I will finish some more crafty projects this summer.
David and I also celebrated Cinco de Mayo by making some fajitas for dinner. For some extra oomph & kick I added a jalapeno to the onions & bell peppers. I found out that that was going a bit too far. The fajitas weren't so spicy while eating them but I started to feel some strong heat after I finished my first fajita. My lips were tingling for an hour after dinner. Note to self: no more jalapenos with fajitas.