We've Bought a Home in Rochester!

We've just returned from a trip to Rochester, MN looking for a place by the Mayo Clinic and after searching for two days and seeing countless properties we found one that we like and are closing the place this week!

It's a short 6 minute drive to downtown Rochester (Mayo Clinic), and is situated on a nice bike trail along the Zumbro River that will allow me even to bike to school (if there isn't two feet of snow). Otherwise a bus line runs in the back of the house too!

Enough of the chit chat, I know the family's eager to see some of the pictures of the place so here you are for your viewing pleasure!

So Where's it Gonna Be? It's Mayo not UCSD!

Well today's the big decision day for all medical applicants everywhere as post May 15th if you are holding onto multiple acceptances you can get threatened by each individual medical school that you are holding to make your mind up -- and fast. As such to people like me who were struggling between decisions like UCSD and Chicago, the May 15th release of acceptances also magically finds new opportunities and new offers like: The Mayo Clinic

We were actually out hiking yesterday up Provo Canyon again and this time saw a 3' diamondback rattlesnake that was out sunning. It was about 5 feet away before I noticed the bushes rustling and caught eye of the snake (we were both listening to The Wild Trees on audiobook on our iPods so we didn't hear it earlier). It wasn't too big and it only spanned about 1.5" across at its thickest portion, but 2 hours up the canyon was hardly the place where we wanted to get bitten by a rattlesnake. It had a nice 3" long rattle but didn't seem to notice us nor need to use it.

So by the time we returned home we were hardly thinking about medical school decisions when Jane, the friendly admissions correspondent at Mayo popped up in the answering machine messages. Both excitement and despair hit me at the same time; excitement that I now had the Mayo Clinic as an offer, despair in that just as we had finally acclimated in our minds for San Diego would see a drastic change in the next hours.

Sure enough after relatively short consideration the table was turned in favor of Mayo and now my summer's been cut short to a start date of July 23, 2007. Not to worry though, we're headed out next week to find a condo, and hopefully will be moved out of Utah by the end of June! This summer may see some excitement yet beyond summer hiking not that I mind either.

I won again this week and also $120,000†

†So I won another $20 in Bajio, $15 in iTunes, and another t-shirt from playing Tetrix again this week. At this rate I think I'll win this prize 5 times before summer's out. What about the cash I'm mentioning? No I wasn't on Deal or No Deal, I'm probably dumber than a Fifth Grader, I haven't made it to Jeopardy--yet, and I don't think any other gameshow awards that much money these days after their ratings drop. So where'd the $120,000 come from? University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

So someone between the Financial Aid office and my mailbox goofed as I was apparently supposed to get notification about this scholarship months ago and just got a message this morning after inquiring about financial aid that I had a three-quarter tuition scholarship there all along! The catch is I have until Tuesday May 15, 2007 to decide what one and only one school to keep. It is now a battle between University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (Shown to the bottom right) or University of California San Diego School of Medicine (Shown in the top left). Both are great schools and San Diego has already offered me a great financial incentive for going there, but with Chicago's new ante this drop tuition at Chicago to about half of San Diego's. Housing is financially comparable in both places and academics are par between the two with perhaps a little more respect from residency directors for Chicago over UCSD. The key thing here is can we forgo the amenities of a city like San Diego to save a bit in Chicago with a marginal benefit to my education -- or is keeping the wife and kid happy with prospects of the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, and the beach worth the marginal cost of "name brand" recognition? I think it's a very tough call and sometimes wished I didn't even have this choice to make between the two - let alone only two days to make it.
I determine the fate of my future, my education, my career within these next 48 hours.

Squaw Peaked

So unbeknown to many a person is the actual location of Squaw Peak. Many people will drive up Provo canyon, see the nice road sign and suddenly decide to venture to a parking lookout about 20 minutes up the paved road. Little do these people actually realize however that they've been conned as have so many countless romantics who go up that same road to woo their dates in the cacophony of chugging car engines and spluttering mufflers - perfumed by the heavenly scent of carbon monoxide.

Here's a tip lover boys: try taking your date to the real Squaw Peak and see if she's all that in your five and a half hour hike up there with her. Our hike today was in the intent to go somewhere new and when we passed by the rock labeled "Squaw Peak Trail" today on our third hike of the summer up Rock Canyon we decided to go for a try. Little did we know that our hike which began at 3:00 pm would last until 8:30 pm before we dragged our broken bodies off the mountain traveling over 10 miles and ascending and descending 2206 feet. Thanks to our friend Google Earth we were able to see exactly where we ended up in our trail of tears.

Our perseverance paid off today though as into the third hour we hit a clearing at the top of the mountain about the size of a baseball field and decided to make a b-line for the west ridge of the mountain where the faint sounds of motorcycles were wafting up in the mountain air.

We trod through a patch of peculiar lettuce-like plants marked "plot 2" and forged our own trail through the brush and growth of the alpine terrain. Not more than fifteen minutes later as we hiked over the last ledge and felt a gust of brisk wind hit our faces, the vast expanse of Utah county revealed itself below the rocky outcropping that we found ourselves on. In the presence of three mountain goats and 2206 feet above humanity this was Squaw Peak --not some paved parking lot drive in.

Google's done a good job trying to simulate the view, but I think I've done a little better.

I didn't realize that our camera could do exposure lock.
We'll make a trip up there next time to get some better pictures for a better panorama

The 2 am 26" monster attacked!

Well this was supposed to be the summer that "Fit Happens" as I gear up for medical school this fall and shed some of these empathy pounds from our last pregnancy that somehow didn't come off of me as easily as the wife Carolyn. We've been doing 2-4 hour hikes up Rock Canyon three times a week as well as an interspersed cross-training on the off days.

The first hike was 4 hours long because we were well averaging like 1 mile an hour and walking yards at a time before keeling over and dying - remember we have a 25 lb pack that includes a kid that we're hauling as well. We improved the same distance down to 2 hours after recuperating last week.

Needless to say Saturday came as a repose for us as we rested our hike-wearied muscles for some Xbox 360 late night Tetris Evolution (hey I need to keep training those warrior skills still!) As 2 am rolled around we heard a rustle outside our front door and went to investigate. Lo and behold the angel of late-night pizza craving had passed by us and our 2 am 26" monster had attacked! It's deadly venom took us down by 3 am but somehow in the commotion of the night we managed to slay the beast as we continue to feast on its remains which lie in our refrigerator to this day.

A Fit Happens redux starts tomorrow.

I've become a Tetrix Warrior Against Tobacco

Hundreds and thousands of hours of practicing Tetris has finally paid off. All those sleepless nights with only the dreams of falling four-unit blocks have come to fruition. Finally I have found a contest out there that can put my mad tetris playing skills to the challenge - and challenge it was my friends!

It was Monday morning at roughly 3:46 am when my parched lips awakened me to a midnight sip of water. The glow of the hibernating computer beckoned me to turn it on. As I did so the dormant website came to life as she sang her siren's cry: "play me again Dan, just one more time." I heeded the temptation with little reluctance, and by 4:30 am I was $20 in Bajio and $15 in iTunes gift certificates richer and more importantly I became: a Warrior Against Tobacco.

So a midnight craving of Tetris has set me on route to another Xbox 360, a skate board, and a prize pack from Salty Peaks. Now as a true warrior I must fend off the challengers of my noble 6865 at least until June 4th. Can this master of the colored blocks prevail? Only time will tell.

Dare you challenge me to become a fellow warrior?