Four Gluttons for Punishment

Thursday night the Sharp residency program had a going away/welcome party for the current residents and new residents. I was a little nervous about meeting the three other girls I will be spending so much time and going through so much with over the next year. I needn't have worried at all. We all sat together and talked and laughed all night. It was a fun night, meeting future preceptors, past residents, and other hospital personnel. There were so many people there supporting the residents. I'm excited (and a bit scared) to be part of the program!

Sharp Chula Vista Residents 2009-2010! Silvia, Vivian, me, and Vi

The incoming residents with the outgoing residents. The current residents made up gift bags for us with lots of chocolate and candy, "to give us energy" because we'll be "exhausted after the first day!" Great...

Mommy! What's that elephant doing?

Today we did what I have been looking forward to most: went to the zoo!


The San Diego Zoo IS all it's cracked up to be. We saw pretty much every animal I could think of. Except penguins. We love penguins, and we did notice their absence.

Sloth bear




Turtle picture-for Kelli! I told him I knew his cousin, Flatts.


Hmmm, the elephant is whispering sweet nothings in his friend's ear.

Oh, this little sight sent everyone running toward the elephant exhibit!






We did have a little mishap...Let's just say, watch out when you walk through the aviary. You might get doo-dooed on.






On the Skyfari Aerial Tram. Free for members. Did I mention we're now members?

All-in-all, a long but very fun day! Saw some elephant nookie, got pooped on, a pretty average day at the zoo!

Murphy

This is the resident cat, Murphy. He hangs around the 2nd pool. His owner apparently gives him a horrible hair cut every summer, and he resembles a poodle. Murphy is probably the ugliest cat ever (except for those hairless ones). He also looks pretty mean, but we got him to purr today, pretty big deal. You have to like Murphy when you learn that his previous owner used to swing him by the tail and use him as a discus. Yeah...We try to be nice to Murphy.

Happy Father's Day!

We had a pretty relaxed day. We're both still recovering from a painful sunburn, so we haven't been up for doing too much. But it will be better in the morning! (We've been saying that for the last 3 nights.)

Lu and George invited us up to Escondido for a Sunday dinner. Her kids (Amber and Brian), kids-in-law (Eric and Autumn), and granddaughter (Madeline) were all there, and we had a marvelous time. Lu pretty much goes all out whenever she does anything, and she had 5 plates full of cupcakes worthy of a gourmet bakery, all displayed on nice raised trays. (We got to bring a plate home!) We whipped out our bean-bags game from the trunk, which turned out not to be "bags" at all, but these really big metal washer-looking things that you tried to throw through the hole of an astro-turf board. A little weird...but it was fun. It is now officially named "The Washing Machine Game," courtesy of Madeline.

The first week here was kind of like vacation, and it didn't really "feel" like we wouldn't be going home for a long time. Now it's starting to set in, and we've had a few "missing home" episodes. In short, it was good to see familiar faces today.

Benefits of our sweet new blog background with smaller margins: Josh's posts will look longer, Rachael will be forced to make her posts shorter.

All is fun and games at Coronado beach...



...until you get fried.



It's amazing how seagulls know exactly when you have finished your food, then they leave.



Yep, we had quite the day of fun and adventure at the beach. We walked around Hotel del Coronado-pretty amazing, and over 100 years old! The water was warmer today so we actually got in and played in the waves. NOW we're sitting on the couch with a bottle of aloe vera, a bottle of Advil (don't worry, I know the dosage limits, I just passed the NAPLEX), and ice cream. Yeah, we need to crank up the SPF next time.

Celebrate!

I got my NAPLEX score today. (The Iowa Board of Pharmacy seriously has to be the most efficient board of ANYTHING that there is.) I passed! Yay! We went to P.F.Changs to celebrate :-) (We sat by a table with a family of 5. BOTH parents were playing with their iPhones for almost 10 minutes, and their kids were trying to talk to them and sit on them, and they didn't even look up! We're pretty positive they were facebooking. It was just pathetic.) Now that that's done, I can take my law exam if the California Board of Pharmacy will ever get around to processing my stuff. So, basically, I can expect to take that test, oh, next winter or so. Maybe. If I'm lucky...

We got our internet hooked up today! Two GREAT things about this. 1) I no longer have to go hang out with my computer at the library or in the parking lot of Starbucks. (Did you know you get free internet at Starbucks if you have a gift card? True story.) 2) Our cable internet provider is NOT Mediacom! Not really sure about this whole TimeWarner company, but they HAVE to be better than Mediacom.

Our condo is starting to come together. The kitchen is actually usable. aka We can open the refrigerator and all cabinet doors all the way because there are no longer boxes everywhere. Our clothes have all found a place and the living room doesn't have boxes everywhere. Bad news: a lot of those boxes have merely been thrown into the 2nd bedroom...We'll get there!

We went for a swim in our pool today and plan on finding a new beach tomorrow. We decided it still feels like we're on vacation. I guess we kind of are!

1. Unpack 2. Pass board exam 3. Have fun!

Wow, have we been busy. Not really sure how that's possible considering neither of us are working or have commitments whatsoever right now...Too much to do, I guess!

We finished unloading the moving truck Friday early afternoon. We were determined to get it all done by the time our 2-wheel dolly was due at 1:13 pm. We returned it at 1:13 pm. We even carried the couch in all by ourselves! Lu said she is going to have us tested for performance-enhancing drugs. Driving 21 hours straight...unloading a moving truck all by ourselves...apparently we don't do anything the way most people would.

The place is a MESS. It seems the only thing that takes longer than packing all your stuff in boxes is unpacking it. I have never seen so much crumpled newspaper and empty boxes. The recycling is just a 30 second walk from us, so that's a blessing. We have been very happy with the condo so far. We've already used the pool and hot tub a couple times! The hallways smell funky, though, and there's a unit just down from us that smells like you're walking through a litter box when you walk by it. I can't imagine what it smells like inside...We're wondering if we should check on the guy...

We've managed to enjoy San Diego and learn about the city a bit in the last few days. We hung out at Mission Beach one afternoon, though it was WAY too cold to get in. There were plenty of people swimming, but we said to ourselves, "Hey, we live here. We don't HAVE to get in today just to make it worth it!"

We tried out the trolley today and took a ride downtown, not exactly sure where we were going or what we were doing, but we managed! We strolled through the shops at Seaport Village, walked along the bay, and found the Historic Gaslamp District which had a plethora of cool shops and restaurants-definitely a must if you ever visit San Diego.

I went to schedule my pharmacy board exam, the NAPLEX, yesterday, hoping to take it in a week or so, and the only time available in the next month was...today. So...I took it this morning. Didn't feel quite ready but decided I might as well get it over with. I think it went pretty well. Most people say they think they did horrible and then they pass. Not sure what it means when you think you did well...

The closest Panera is like 15 minutes from us! What the heck! There is (literally) a Starbucks on every corner, and you can't put a Panera within 7 miles?! We have, however, just recently (an hour ago...) discovered a coffee shop that I believe may be my favorite coffee shop ever. Awesome music AND they make SWEET wedding cakes and have an album of pictures. And Josh approves of the smoothies.

Wow, talk about a crazy, all-over-the-place blog post! I guess that's just life when you haven't started your job!

And it Begins

I have always thought about starting a blog. It seemed like a great way to journal ones life, day to day activities that you want to remember but probably won’t. It also always sounded like a lot of work. And writing the first entry sounded like a WHOLE lot of work. How do I commence the first entry to what may be a lifetime, or at least a LONG time, of life documentation? And then, how do I carry on regularly with entries that would be interesting enough that I, or anyone else for the matter, would ever want to read. I know for a fact that I could never be as clever and witty as my friend Christina, though if I have as many horrible car stories to be witty about as she does with her poor, unlucky car, I might have to scream. And my entries certainly won’t be as intelligent as Tom Nibs, who reads almost all non-fiction books and makes me, though I am fairly intelligent according to my GPA, feel like I know nothing. And I can certainly never compose entries as creative and well-written as my dear friend Katie BD, whose best-selling book I eagerly await at a bookstore near you. Thus, alas, I have merely resolved that I will, simply, write. And whatever comes out, though perhaps not clever or witty or intelligent or creative, will just be me, and perhaps occasionally Josh. And that is enough.

Now seemed like the perfect time to finally start a blog, seeing as how this very minute Josh and I are driving across the country (currently in New Mexico) with everything we own in the back of a Penske truck, to spend a year in San Diego, California. I will be starting my Pharmacy General-Practice Residency (PGY1) at Sharp Healthcare on June 29. Josh will be transferring to another Walgreens as an assistant manager. I have always, always wanted to live in San Diego, since the first time I visited with my mom and sister, Kelli. I loved that no view was minus a palm tree, the perfect weather, the endless supply of things to do, and most of all, the ocean! I never actually thought I would live there, of course. With the rumors of horrible traffic, the tremendously high cost of living (I am quite cheap, I mean…frugal), and the distance from home, it never seemed like a real possibility. But here we are, with only 645.5 miles left to go (according to Garmin). Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is what I’ve always wanted, and how wonderful it is that I actually get to do it, or I start thinking too much about how I will miss home. But it is quite the adventure, and we are excited, and we are quite sure we will be back to the Midwest someday. (I’m not sure any child raised this close to LA could ever turn out completely normal…) For now, we look forward to a year of great weather, new experiences, lots of visitors, and I guess I’m supposed to learn a little something about being a good pharmacist, too…