Who Needs Caffeine

Being someone who averages roughly 5 hours of sleep a night, I have become quite the connoisseur of all things caffeinated.  However, nothing, I repeat NOTHING wakes you up more than hopping out of your car and hopping over this....

I may never sleep again.

Hot Damn!

We just can't believe that we've been here for six months already!  It is just racing by.  I am already 1/3 of the way through my second semester, and they have really turned up the heat (not just figuratively- It's damn near 90 degrees before 11am most days).  We finished our finals on a Friday, and we kicked off the next semester the following Monday.  We took a 3 credit course in one week, and immediately started clinicals (this is where we are expected to function like a practicing Anesthetist of 40 years in a hospital setting for 30 hours a week).  We are now down to class two days a week, and the rest are reserved for "clinical opportunities," which generally requires you to drink heavily when you get home and thank God that somehow you didn't kill anyone (but there is always tomorrow...).

My friend Michael

Late night study session

Amy and I with ear mold, I mean molds

Like prisoners of war, I've bonded with some amazing people.  We all basically have stress ulcers,  insomnia, and facial twitches.  We look less like a group of graduate students studying the art of anesthesia, and more like a bunch of psychiatric patients who haven't taken their meds.  In addition to our didactic and clinical studies, we have also perfected the art of stress eating!  It's a miracle we don't all weigh 900lbs.

 Nate is awesome (I'm sure that comes as no surprise).  He's still bar tending at the Radisson, but currently looking to expand his horizons.  Particularly to somewhere were there are no cheap foreigners that don't understand the concept of tipping (Those damn Sweds).

Not only has he started P90X, but he runs the dogs everyday, which they thoroughly enjoy.  In fact, it's really the highlight of their day. 

Pre-run

Post-run

Well, I've got about 11 chapters to read, clinical paperwork to fill out, and six power points to study before I start again tomorrow at 0600, so.....That's all folks!!

F for Failure!!!

So apparently we aren't the ideal bloggers.  We are crazy busy doing the same thing everyday.  Let me explain.  No.  There is too much.  Let me sum up.  Nate works four days a week and spends the other three days a week being my wife.  You know:  cooking, and cleaning, and running the dogs, and doing laundry...  You get the picture.  I spend three days a week living at my classroom, listening to lecture, and trying not to bleed out of my ears.  I spend another day in clinical trying not to kill and trying not to be killed.  I then spend the other three days clamoring to get caught up on all the reading, case studies, lecture dictation, post-conference assignments, and note card making that I missed during the last four days.  Exhausting, I know.

The whole point to this verbal (or should I say transcribed) diarrhea is that we have little time to blog.  And what's worse?  We really don't have anything to blog about because we are too damn busy being boring!  But if anything fantastically stupendous happens, ya'll be the first to know.

TaTa.  Ciao. Adios.  Sayonara.  Tschüss.

P.S.
I just have to mention that I love gassing people, shoving really long needles directly into their spines (not really the spine but I'll save you from the anesthesia mumbo-jumbo), and having my laundry done.  And apparently I'll learn to love grits.

And....Exhale

The perfect ending to any day.  Everyday.

The Ants Go Marching One by One...Million

So apparently we are not the only tenants of the The Copa.  Meet our new roommate, the Ghost Ant. 

I discovered our little friends one day as I was getting a glass of water and something caught the corner of my eye.  I looked down at the counter-top and suddenly realized that the whole counter-top was moving.  It was disconcerting, to say the least.  Apparently, the Ghost Ant is aptly named for its ability to spontaneously appear.  Huh. 

As far as roommates go, I’ve had a few that were worse, but not many.  The Ghost Ant came in uninvited, threw a kegger in my kitchen, invited 10,000 of his closest relatives, and doesn’t seem to get that the party is long over. 

I scrubbed the counter and everything touching the counter with 409, and rewashed every dish in the cupboards.  Feeling confident in my natural pest extermination abilities, I jumped into the shower to wash what felt like tiny little bugs all over my body and especially in my hair (completely my crazy mind's hallucinations).  Got out feeling much better and marched into the kitchen for a snack.  I immediately discovered that those damn ants were ALL OVER  the counters and tea pot and toaster and…..  I was not happy.  So repeat above scenario with concentrated bleach, and shower again, and they came back again.  WHY WON’T YOU DIE!!??.

But I’m on to them now.  After studying them for hours (because I was too paranoid to sleep), I have discovered some of their invisible trails, and strategically placed the most toxic ant-bait money could buy.  Now they have a little sugary sweet present to munch upon and share with their 500,000 friends, and then they will DIE, DIE, DIE!!!!!! (Cue Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog)

So we got that going for us…..

Let The Good Times Roll!

KB (sister) and The Randoo (dear friend) came to Orlando for a work conference and we were able to spend some time with them.  We had a fantastic mini-holiday!  KB and The Randoo took us to a movie theater inside Disney and it changed our lives.  They have movie theaters here that are full service food AND liquor!!  In the movies!!!  The rows fit four people, with a table in front of you and chairs that recline!!!  Recline!!!  To say the least, it was A-mazing.

Since we were in the Disney area we decided to meander around a little, have a beer in this Irish pub where there were River Dancers on location (I know!!), and then meander some more.  And then we ended up here….

 

That’s right.  We really are that cool!

KB pulled out the awesome-sauce when she busted out a box and said, “That’s for you. “ (She really said, “That’s for Nate” but she really meant me).  It was filled with beef jerky and Cold Smoke Scotch Ale.  Heaven.  Pure Heaven.  I think the Cold Smoke lasted about a day and the jerky was gone long before that!

It was so wonderful to see KB and The Randoo and very hard to say goodbye.  This is the part where I get all sappy and slop along about how much we miss our family and friends in Montana, but you all already know that so I’ll spare you slush.

Love you and thanks for visiting!!

 

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Super Nate snagged himself a job!!  

After spending numerous grueling nights studying thousands of drink combinations, he victoriously obtained his bartending license: no small feat.  Armed with his cocktail-cornucopia, snazzy black pants, and a damn cute smile, he was on the hunt; job hunt, that is.  He got his first job lead and pounced on it like a puma in heat.  They didn’t even stand a chance.  He was offered a job on the spot! 

His newly procured place of prosperity is called the Radisson Hotel (said with an angry French accent.  It seems to make it more exotic and less like a vegetable from the tuber family).  The Radisson (cue angry French accent) is directly across from the front gate of Walt Disney World.  We are hoping that in exchange for his stupendous services and damn cute smile (did I mention that before?) that we will get discounted hotel rooms at our disposal. 

So listen up Cherished Loved Ones!  If that’s the case, when you come visit you can either stay at the front door to a world of magic, where everything is a fantasy dream land and the bartenders are cute-as-pie, or you can stay with us at The Copa, where you can share a 8 sq. ft bathroom and be constantly attacked by drooling, slobbering, somewhat stinky dogs.  Your choice.

So one last time, let’s give a hardy round of applause for the one, the only, Super Nate!!!!

 

Operation Sunshine

As all of our Cherished Loved Ones know, we have discarded our “old lives” to embark on a new adventure in pursuit of Brynn’s current “what-I-want-be-when-I-grow-up” career as a Nurse Anesthetist (shout out to Peg for that suggestion).  So we sold our house, quit our jobs, and did the only other thing we could before moving to Florida; we moved in with Bob and Sharon (muchos gracias to Bob & Sharon).  Sooner than we could blink, we set off for our non-stop drive across the country (2600 miles) with Bob’s 30 ft trailer, comedians on CD from Thor & Brooke, Valium for our pups, more food than a starving pack of wolves could consume from KB, and loving happy-road-thoughts from our families.  Overall, Operation Sunshine was successful with minimal casualties, of which included 1 transmission, 1 table, 2 dog beds, 6 rolls of Gorilla Tape, and 1 pair of pants.  All in all, a very effective transition.

Unfortunately, our little transmission hiccup cost us several days of travel (one night of absolutely nothing to do in Billings, MT, and then added hours to actual travel time since we had to drive 50 mph….for 2300 miles).

Once in FL, we made new friends at Swor Cottage (a little piece of paradise right in Weirsdale, FL) who took very good care of us while we looked for housing in Orlando.  

 Our delayed arrival to FL butted right up to the Christmas weekend and then New Years, and come to find out, nobody in FL works for three weeks before and after these holidays (slight exaggeration, but not much).  So when all was said and done, we had only about three days that we could actually walk through some rentals.  And let me tell you, just because they have some palm trees and a fountain, does not mean they are not right smack dab in the middle of the ghetto.  However, on our last day we happen to notice a for rent sign for a house/duplex in a nice neighborhood that is very close to my classroom and clinical site in downtown Orlando.  We were able to look at it for about 10 minutes and then signed our life away as the new tenants of The Copa.

Strangely reminiscent of a scene from Dexter

The Copa, come to find out, had a few unique features.  Because we were in a little bit of a pinch, we were willing to overlook some of these small, less-than-perfect aspects, such as the dead cockroach in the master bedroom (and no matter how much these Floridians insist that it’s a Palmetto Bug, you just can’t church it up.  It’s a damn cockroach any way you slice it), the fact that one upper and one lower cabinet in the kitchen constituted the entire house’s storage, and the overwhelming funk that seemed to permeate everything.  We took a swig off our flask, and signed the lease.  We immediately got to work bleaching absolutly every inch, dumping about 60lbs of Baking Soda on the carpets, quarantining them off with plastic, and then re-carpeting over them.  We used the world’s supply of Lysol, sealed faulty vents, placed filters in every register, and bought an air purifier.  Despite our best efforts, The Copa still managed to emit funk.  Then one day as we returned from our daily trip to Ikea (a very redeeming quality of the Greater Orlando Area), we notice Porter’s big dumb head sticking out from our bedroom window; the window where the screen is screwed to the window frame.  Huh.  So we are outside assessing for any permanent damage to the window when Nate casually states, “Ah, there is raw sewage all over.”  Ok….  Apparently the clean out drain (placed directly below our master bedroom window) had been slopping everything from the sewer system right on the ground.  Source of funk – identified.  Twenty-eight hours later we were able to use the facilities again and the funk had greatly subsided.  We are still waiting for our cesspool to be remediated, and may have to place a call to the City Health Dept., but sooner or later it should be taken care of.  Welcome to The Copa!

We did take some time and locate my classroom site, which happens to be right across the street from the Amway Train Station.  Uh-huh.  Anyway, it was nice to see the place I’ll be spending the next three years of my life, and it marked a special moment of realization of “we made it.”  Now we just have to survive it.