Caroline's Birthday

I will let Caroline write about her birthday, presents and crazy activities. I would like to comment on my other New Year’s Resolution which started in earnest on Monday. I have decided that I need to get back into shape and now is the time. I started by running on Monday and Wednesday, riding the stationary bike Tuesday and riding my mountain bike today. I know it is a long way from a serious fitness regime, but it is a good start. I have a couple of goals I am working towards.

First is the Gate River Run in March. Held yearly in Jacksonville, it is a 15km (10 mile for anyone who wants the conversion) road race through the town. This year will be my fourth time running it. I am trying to train somewhat beforehand as I have not done this in the past. I am also trying to lower my expectations as far as results go. I have managed to finish in about an hour and half each time and considering I am not training that is a decent time. However I always think I can do better when I cross the finish line. This year my goal is to finish in 1:30 and not to get trapped at the start. I guess running with the cross country club in Geelong I got use to one or two person starts so the mass slow start frustrates me and causes part of the problem. It is impressive that at least once a year 10,000 odd people are willing to run 15km though.

My second goal was to try and complete the Xterra First Coast triathlon held at Hanna Park. After I got my bike I went out to Hanna Park and rode around on some of the trails that were part of the course from last year and was feeling pretty good about it. That was also part of the reason I am incorporating riding into my get fit program. However I just tried to look it up to find out the exact date and discovered it is not on the schedule for this year. In fact the only two triathlons that are part of that series are being held in South Florida which I feel is too far to travel for a first attempt. So I will continue with my bike riding, but I don't have a goal to work towards.

Superbowl Sunday

I blame the Superbowl for making this entry late. Not specifically the game, but the fact that we went over to Meg and Jon's to watch it. It was not their fault, I had a fun time even if Pittsburgh won eventually. I just didn't have any time to type anything. That is all I care to say about the day and game.
I did get some great news on Saturday. An envelope arrived from the University of Florida and i opened it straight away even though I was walking Fenway. It was an invitation to an interview in April. According to the letter if I am accepted i will be studying at the Jacksonville campus which was my first choice. I immediately called Caroline and she was super excited. I also shared the news with everyone at work today and they were very congratulatory and had advice about the interview and pharmacy school. Listening to them talk about resident applicants and job applicants and how they performed in pharmacy school and their attitude, makes me realise that getting in is only half of the battle and I need to study hard and perform at a high level for the entire time I am back in school in order to possibly get a Shands residency or a position in the Ambulatory Pharmacy.

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.

Update 12/14/2008

I have been asked to update the blog. I’m so bad about writing for it, because I can’t do it from work. Work is really the only time when I’m on the internet (especially now that I can check my e-mail from my phone). So – Stewart informed me I can write my blog from work in WORD and then cut and paste and here I am, writing my blog from work, in word, and I will cut and paste.

It was a very busy weekend. Friday afternoon, after soccer practice, I scurried over to the tennis courts for my match. In every match, each set of people playing is called a “Line” and it starts at Line 1, being the toughest (allegedly) and Line 5 being the easiest (again, allegedly). Well, every week I get asked to play Line 1. This is not because I’m really good, but because I’m a lower ranked woman, I can play with a higher ranked man and that’s usually the best combination for the position. So Line 1 it is usually. Friday night I pitched a fit and got moved to Line 2. Line 1, of course, ended up being the easiest line to play, and my team won in straight sets (6-1, 6-1). I, on the other hand, did not win at Line 2. Serves me right for being a tennis prima donna and whinging about line changes. Hmmph.

Saturday morning, I ran some errands and then Stewart and I piled in the car and headed down to Tampa for the Colbie Caillat concert. I LOVE her music. Love it. What I love about it, is that it’s folky, mellow and she has a gorgeous voice. I was envisioning a laid back atmosphere, with her in jeans and just her and the guitar on stage…I couldn’t wait. Well, we get there and the opening act had just started. It turns out it was someone who I was planning on seeing in Jacksonville in January, and his performance reaffirmed that I wanted to see him. He was AWESOME! His name is Jon McLaughlin and I highly recommend him live. Then, we begin with the main event. Colbie comes out in TIGHTER than tight black pants and a slinky black tank top, and proceeds to give her best Mariah Carey imitation. It was more American Idol than Austin City Limits, and for that I was a bit disappointed. The music was good, and her singing was gorgeous, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting: and not in a good way.

We had to get up early early Sunday morning as my soccer team had made it to the finals of our league (this is the league in which I play, not coach). This was actually very surprising as we NEVER had any subs and actually played short almost every game. Let me back up. Last year I re-entered the league with a team of a friend and hated it. The team was fine, but some of the people on the team were terrible…I mean, real attitudes. And if you put everything into perspective, it’s adult rec soccer – so really, who cares. But anyway, we hated the team and my friend and I ceded! We started our own team (apparently I was kicked off the team – so she was mad and wanted to show them that she and I WERE their whole team. She was the leading scorer and I was the leading assister…so really, we were). All we wanted was to beat them, and have fun. So back to Sunday morning…oh, and that old team of ours? Didn’t even make the playoffs. Hee! So as usual, not only did we not have subs, but we were short a player and had to play a man down. But, we prevailed and WON! So all of our goals were accomplished. Huzzah.

Speaking of concerts, and the best and worst shows ever – it’s inspired me to make a list of my top ten concerts I’ve ever been to:

John Mayer in Asheville, NC
Barenaked Ladies in Madison Square Garden
Coldplay in Orlando
John Mayer in Gainseville, FL
Tegan and Sara in Central Park
Gavin DeGraw and Maroon Five in Orlando @ House of Blues
Keith Urban the FIRST time I saw him Jacksonville
George Strait in Jacksonville, FL
Harry Connick Jr in Wolftrap, Vienna, VA
NSync in Jacksonville (Ok, it was a long time ago…and hey, they’re good performers…leave me alone!)