Late, wouldn't you know it...

So my prediction has come true only three weeks in. I am already behind and I blame Australia Day. I took the day off work so I figured I would be fine to update and get this done. However I was stuck running around town and trying to get to all my appointments (7 AM dentist, 10 AM doctor, 1 PM dog haircut and 3 PM car service) that by the time I got home at 6 PM I was so exhausted I didn't do anything.

Some of the other blogs I read have multiple authors and I was looking at the settings today and figured out that I could do that on ours too. So I added myself as an author and gave myself admin privileges so I can reedit my old posts. This means in addition to the picture at the start of all my posts it will have my “name” on the end of it too. I retook the PCAT on Saturday the 24th, and I will find out how I did in approximately six weeks. I concentrated on studying the biology section as this was my weakest area the first time I took the test. I am not sure it paid off though. I felt like I didn't do as well this time. The upside is that only the best score is considered and my first attempt was reasonable.

Sunday was our third soccer game of the season. At this stage after losing our first two games we were second bottom of the league and we were playing the bottom team. I told Caroline before she left for Alabama that it was likely our best chance to win a game for the season. So with our best girl player in another state we did our best. After a scoreless first half with a couple of good chances I switched from defense to attack and we had a few shots that barely missed or were stopped by the keeper. It seemed like we were doing a better job of keeping them out of our half. Against the run of play they had a free kick which they crossed into the box and got a head on opening the scoring. We countered by throwing more people forward and managed to equalise soon after. The score remained 1-1 until the final whistle. With that result we climbed from second bottom to third bottom as another team lost their third straight game.

My 1st serve season has started and I was waiting for the PCAT to finish before I organised and games. One of my opponents called me on Saturday and we arranged to play Tuesday night. I was not optimistic about my chances as I had not played since our last doubles match. We warmed up and I knew it was going to be trouble when we were taking practice serves and I was struggling to get them in. My opponent had a unique serving style which was more about spin and placement than power. The first set raced by and I lost 3-6. The second set was headed the same way getting to 2-5 before I staged a comeback levelling it at 5-5. I then proceeded to lose the next two games and the match 3-6, 5-7. It was a decent start for my first game and hopefully I will have better news.

New Jacket

I got a brand new snowboard jacket this week. I know what you are thinking what do I need a snowboard Jacket for in Florida? This is what Caroline asked me when I said I wanted one. I probably could have used it for the trip we took to Snowshoe, West Virginia, last year but we didn’t have the money at the time. We still don’t have the money now, but I got my new jacket anyway. The way I managed this was through a program we have at work called Virgin Health Miles. How it works is your wear a pedometer which counts your steps each day if you get over 7000 steps you get 60 miles, 12000 steps 80 miles and over 20000 steps you get 100 miles which is the most you can receive in one day. There is a machine at the hospital which measures your blood pressure, weight and body fat and using this once a month gives you extra miles. As you accumulate miles you receive money with the maximum for the year being $500. I managed to max out in October and had the money sitting in my account waiting to be used. I wanted to get a new jacket but I wanted to get Caroline something too. In November there was a challenge for the Shands employees and the first place prize was $150. The challenge rules capped the maximum steps per day at 30000 so by the end of the month there were eight or nine people tied for first place. To resolve this they held a random drawing and I managed to win. So I got extra money, which worked out perfectly. I used the competition winnings to get massage vouchers for Caroline as a Christmas gift and then last week I put some of the money into amazon.com vouchers and bought myself the jacket. When I first tried it on I thought it was a little small and was worried that I would have to return it to get a larger size, but that is how it is supposed to be and I love it.

On January 11th my account rolled over and I started again trying to accumulate steps to get more money. The goal this year is to max out before I go to pharmacy school and buy a big screen TV with the money.

So much has happened...

Like i said this will probably come to a screeching halt sometime soon especially if all my interesting news manages to happen in one week which was the case this week. First and most importantly Immigration approved my application for permanent residency and they sent my new Green Card. It is not that different to the old one just a more recent picture and an expiry date of 01/02/2019. Next up after submitting all my pharmacy school application requirements over Christmas I got a confirmation email telling me that they had sent it in to the actual school(s). After learning this I checked online and found I had managed to secure a 3.86 GPA, which is really good. I'm sorry most important was the fact that Caroline booked our trip to Australia in July. We were able to use her dad’s frequent flyer miles so it was two tickets at a cost of $300 for taxes. I am not sure who is more excited Caroline (because of the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo) or me (footy at the G, Essendon vs Richmond). We are planning to visit the family in Geelong and Mildura and hopefully get to Adelaide to expand our travels around Australia.

Our mixed doubles league finished up on Friday, Caroline (and partner Ted) won their match easily. In my match we got off to a slow start and lost the first set 6-4. We got behind to start the second set then battled back and were in a position to win the second set before we allowed the other team back in and it went to a tiebreaker. Before it started we asked the spectators if they had checked the lights and were assured that they were fine. We managed to get to a lead of 5-2 before the lights went out. We rescheduled for this morning and managed to win the tiebreaker. This set up another 10 point tiebreaker for the third set, which we folded up on losing 5-10.
That loss leads into co-ed soccer, which has just started a new season. We signed up as free agents and met our new team-mates tonight 5 minutes before the game started. We played one of the more competitive teams and got smashed. I don't even know what the final score was but we didn't score unless you count the own goal. It is going to be a long season.

January

My New Years resolution this year was to write more in our blog. It is strange only because it is the first time I have made a new years resolution, that I can remember. Last year Caroline asked what my new years resolution was and when I replied i didn't do that she got mad at me because she thought I was saying that to be difficult. However this year i asked her and she was the one with no resolution. So expect an update every Sunday night at least if not before. If you get to Monday morning (American Eastern Standard Time for the nitpickers) and I have not put up a new post feel free to call or email until it is done. I expect to start off fairly strong and then peter out somewhere around May although if I do manage to get to August I'm sure it will stop there if I get into pharmacy school.