Monday Night

This is Scott. It's monday night. Im about to go to bed but had some time because im done studying for the day. I gotta be honest...I feel good about my final on Thursday. There are close to a million things that could be on the two tests (almost not an exaggeration) but I'm pretty confident. Good to hear there are some people I haven't talked to in awhile viewing the blog. Eric P...congrats on marriage. Jamie and Heather-great to hear from you. Jamie, you've been through PT school and I admire and respect you all the more for that. Heather, I'm sure you understand where Katie's at right now. She is handling it well though. She knows it's a season.
So today was day two without Katie. I ran the dishwasher and had to water the flowers this morning. I also made my dinner. A hard boiled egg. I had a thought today on food. I eat a lot of it. Not just alittle but lots...all the time. I'm not fat or even getting there. I just eat like I used to when I exercised everyday. I'm not worried about health. I think I just realized how much money I was eating everyday. "You're full Scott. Stop eating." Studies show that people who have restricted calorie diets actually live longer. (Research it yourself, I don't have time to find that facts.) I remember my parents complaining when I was a kid cause David and I ate so much food. I'm glad I processed that thought today. Eat what you need and sometimes for social, not when you miss your wife and there's nothing to do. The Masseter muscle is a muscle of mastication. It aids in Chewing. I like to look at these cadavers at school and find little things that tell a story about there lives. Some have the largest chewing muscles. After you cut off all the fat they look like a skinny person again. When you get to a new body and you can't tell if they were large or not just check out their chewing muscles. Sorry if talking about that is hard for some of you. Good night.

Table For One

Today is Friday. I have four days left of the hardest class of my life. I had a goal this week of a 92% on my written test and a high 96-98% on my lab practical. This is very do able for me but I ended up with a 91% on my lab and a 93% on my written. So...I guess that is good. I kept myself afloat. A 92% is an A-(3.7GPA). That is my real goal. Two tests left, a cumulative written and lab test.
The picture below is at the Redlands town "Bowl". This was a symphony playing last week. Tonight we are going with a bunch of people to see "the wizard of oz".
Tomorrow I'm taking Katie to Palm Springs. This isn't a date or a romantic getaway, this is a must that we'll look back on in thirty years and smile on. The economy sucks down here just like everywhere, and there are no jobs anywhere. I've mentioned that Katie is looking for a job in past posts. She is going to Blaine, Wa afterall. She'll stay with her family and work alittle, while spending time with them instead of sitting on the couch here. On a positive note, She interviewed with the lady she would work under at Trinity Church this past Thursday. It went really well and she will know on Wednesday. This is Katies ideal job. It is something with a purpose and something she's good at.
Well, that's all the new stuff. Enjoy the weekend. We will.

Come Explore Wonderful Loma Linda

What a blessed weekend. I have been unmotivated to meet new people down here in So. Cal. It was great to see Kaleb and Joel. Even better, Joels family showed up with him. He has a very hospitable family and Katie and I once again was bless by a family here. There are lots of great people down here but I have yet to meet someone who will look me in the eye, tell me the truth and tell me what I can do better. Yes, I have only been here 6 weeks but lets get on with it. Washington, Ohio and even PA were great environments for that type of friendship. Brotherhoods full of healthy competition and care enough about each other to sacrifice their time and other commitments.
I don't quite understand girl relationships. I don't mean Katie and I, that is a marriage and a specific individual situation. I mean Katie and other girls. (Katie just told me that she wants to learn to dance.) Her personality is just as outgoing as mine but yeah, I don't know what to say, she has good friends too. I don't know.

Below is a picture Katie took for Joel. He's always wanted a picture with me with his leg in the air like that. Joel lives in Korea now and will possibly come home in December for good. He might move to Orange Co. with his Grandparents but may return to Spokane or Seattle. He enjoys adventure more than I do and the chances a girl will ever settle him down with him are slim to none. Many have tried.
Chimay: A dark ale brewed by Belgian monks in a Trappist monastery dating back to 1863. Like fine wine these guys enjoy discovering fine tastes outside the box of traditional beers. All of my friends pride themselves on never drinking beer from a can or enjoying beer that tastes like tap water. Oh, and I want to make one thing clear on the issue of alcohol. Who made up the rule that beer is a bad thing. I'm tired of hearing "more bad comes from alcohol than good." Let me say something: I've had conversations with people that I never would have had a chance to talk to if it wasn't over a beer. People can have there own opinions, thats fine, but your conviction on what you do isn't necessarily a conviction that I might have. (There is always morally right and wrong.) I'm confident with saying that I have seen more good come from it than bad. Let's shake things up a bit. Let's not be so quick to have opinions on things we are so quick to say are wrong. "No, No, I don't do that! That's not right!" Well...why don't you? Is it really wrong or is it just someone told you it was as a kid and it's what you've believe your whole life. I know...My opinion. Email me if you want to schedule a fist fight in the front yard.
Katie just got off the phone with her mom. She is going to Blaine for 3 weeks. PAAAARTY!! Just kidding. She leaves next Saturday at 7pm. If anyone wants to come down and stay here while she's gone I'd like that. I have a car and a couch and bikes, that's pretty much it. We'll call it Lyon's Lair B&B. I can make an egg on the stove without breaking the yolk.

From Riches to Rags

Sometimes, for me at least, the best situations in life are the ones where life absolutely sucks. It's all relative I guess. The vast majority of the world has it worse than Katie and I. But let me give you some examples. Katie is still jobless, bored and has regressed from playing solitare on the computer to using real cards. It's currently 85 degrees in our house because we don't want to spend money on A/C. Katie is considering a 3 week trip to Blaine, Wa because it is the only place to find a stinking job.(she'll look for one down here while she's in Wa...possibly) The worst...I have a small credit card debt. Not much, but enough to make me angry that I can't take care of it with savings.(which isn't much anymore, ha ha) I mismanaged my money for the first time in my life dang it. To qualify, I'm not looking for sympathy or help at all. So please don't. I just want to be real about our situation and life for what it is. More importantly, we knew it was going to be a bumpy few months and I am going to stand by statements I made before we left Spokane. We were excited to come down here and knew God was, and is, in control of the whole situation. That being said this is the perfect situation for Him to glorify Himself. Thats what I said and now we wait...and wait...and wait. The cool part will come when He responds and I get to share that with everyone. I say this with full confidence.

This is a picture of the campus church building. It's beautiful, especially at this time of night. I've decided I want to live my life like this picture below. It's an old church in Africa. I want to be a doctor and drive a 1972 Ford Pickup with rust on it to work. I want to pay off someone elses debt someday.(Maybe after mine) I want to provide and not expect a return. Katie is good at this. With my profession she will be a good partner to fulfill these desires.

School is going well though. That is an answer to prayer. That one had to be immediate otherwise we'd be back in Washington right now. I get a 92.8% on the written and a 95% on the lab practical. Man, it was hard this week. I studied so much but it was less intense. I got a Frisbee this week and managed to snag 5-6 students to throw in between the dense study sessions. My legs are sore which is good cause exercise is hard schedule in during anatomy. Katie joins us and has improved 1000% since I first threw with her a few years back.

Tomorrow we are going to the beach. Joel, Kaleb and Joels family are in town. It will be good to see them. Ill post pics soon.

I think we lost two students today. I don't think they made it. We all knew they were in a tough spot and the look on their face wouldn't have been able to convince us otherwise. Today's written test was rough. I'm glad I didn't look past the stuff I didn't think mattered cause that was pretty much the whole test. I don't know how I did yet. It's still early in the day. I know I passed which keeps me positive.
I decided this week that next year I am going to try to be a T.A. I was turned off by the idea because it left little time for myself in between quarters. (if you are a TA you get absolutely no break from 1st year and 2nd.) But I found out that I can take time off. So if I still am pursuing it in a few months then I'll take two weeks off or something. Seriously, what else am I going to do. I'll sit at home and wait for school to start again.
It has been cooler here during the days. On Wednesday we had a picnic outside for the P.T. students. My lab partner who's from the desert just east of here looked up in the sky and said, "it's gonna rain." I looked up to one small puffy cloud surrounded by blue sky. But hey, it sprinkled later, barely, but it did. You can't really call that rain so it still hasn't rained since we've been here. When it does im going to go outside and lay on the ground and enjoy it.
No pictures this week cause i lived in the library when I wasn't in class. Only three weeks left of Anatomy. Then I start-manual muscle testing, kinesiology, medical terminology and world religions.
We'll take pictures this weekend and get them up before monday.

The reason we celebrate

On Friday Katie and I went up to the San Bernardino National Forest. There are four National Forests in the area and this was our first visit. This was literally the only photo I took. The area isn't very attractive this time of year. It's hot and over populated. We actually ran into one of my classmates and his wife. We know like 10 people in southern cal and we run into them...funny. Friday evening we were invited to go to a 4th of July celebration with Holly (far right) and her family. Notice Tim (white shirt) in the pic. He was in an earlier posting at dinner with us. Him and Holly hooked up the first week of school and I called it. HA!! Her mom is the secretary of the church we're petty much set on going to. She loved Katie and is going to put in a good word for her for a ministry position that Katie is interested in. It is good to have some familiar faces at church. Plus they have a pool and said we can come over anytime.
Taking fireworks pictures is new to me and I wanted to try it out. I took 200 horrible ones and two good ones. The two best were my first two. Thats what I love about digital photography, you can take a bunch of pics and delete the bad ones.
Brian and Christina Foster: two of my Ohio friends. I got to know them individually before their marriage, be in their wedding and continue a friendship with them now, along with Katie. They are vacationing in Huntington Beach, Ca. and we met up with them at Christina's aunt's and uncle's house.
Smiles have been frequent. We are really enjoying our weekends and try to do something new on each and every one of them. It is a good break from my program. Aunt Mo and Uncle John have a pool and hot tub. We took advantage of it. We could tell they loved hosting people so we accepted there offer to crash in the spare bedroom in order to soak up every moment with our distant friends. I take every opportunity to promote the Buckeyes down here in So. Cal. Uncle John is a usc (uncapitalized) fan so I brought along my Buckeye gear to start a ruckus. We went frisbee golfing on Saturday morning. It started in California. This is the second oldest course in the U.S. I forgot how much fun it was.
Katie improved 300% from hole 1 to 18. I think she even got a few par's. She was definately the best looking one on the coarse. (no offense Brian)
I was told to visit this tavern in Newport Beach from some locals in Loma Linda. We went in the afternoon which made it more appealing. I guess it gets overwhelming at night. The neat part about this place was the atmosphere and it had 300 beers on tap.
The ladies talked the whole time but we managed to get them to play one game of shuffle board with us. Brian and I played pool as well.
Here's the selection.
Katie and Christina still talking... now at the pool.
It was a great 4th of July, full of activities and adventure. Though this was the case I had other thoughts at the forefront of my mind. To our servicemen who are currently oversees especially David, my brother. I had clenched teeth saturday night when the four of us walked downtown Huntington. Drunk rich kids celebrating a holiday they know nothing about. Sure one might argue i'm clueless about the holiday myself. But this year I celebrated with a loved one acting on the very reason we celebrate. I've always thought of the 4th as my favorite holiday but after being directly touched by it, I have a different reason for believing so.

4 weeks left of school

It's 5pm on Thursday. Holy crap that was a hard week. My average this week was an 87%. Passing is 81% so i'll take a deep breath and relax. Tonight begins a 3 and a half day weekend that is needed for Katie and I. We don't know all the contents of it but we'll update soon. Below is a gift we recieved from my Aunt Annie and Aunt Mary Beth. Funny enough I was in the front of the house looking for plants to transplant to the backyard and a van pulls up and delivers four perrennials.(sp?) Katie with three girls in the PT program with me. From left, Leretta, Stephanie, and Janice. We call Janice the "Black widow" because she went and shot pool with us and she's asian.(Most women pro pool players are asian.) If I haven't told everyone yet my program is very diverse and may speak five languages before I graduate.

Some of the fellas. Sorry for the poor lighting. Im in it so I didn't take it. Left: Tim, one of the best basketball players in southern cal in high school. He's like 6'8". Ken is the bald guy. He's 5'6" and carries a pocketknife. He's columbian and has made it his goal to teach me spanish. Karthick is Indian, that's why you can't see him. He's probably the nicest guy in the program.

This weekend we are going to the beach for a reunion with my good friend Brian Foster. Brian is a teacher in Green, Ohio. It will be good to see him and pick up where we left off. His wife, Christina and Katie get along great so it should be a wonderful time.

It is still hot here. I don't mind it at all. It makes exercising outside hard to do though. That's ok, we can exercise outside in the dead of winter this year. Well, I've gotta run.