Craig and Tracy

Gladiator Mud Run

2011-10-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I joined the ranks of the Clifford Athletic Elite and did my first race with my co-residents. The Gladiator Rock'n Run is a 5k run/obstacle course/muddy mess of a good time. You can view the interactive course map here to see what I had to put myself through.

Assuming I set the link up right, you should be able to see the rest of the pictures on my web album here.

The Year(ish) in Review

2011-08-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since the last substantial post, so here's a slideshow of some of the past year's events:

The Sky is Falling!! The Sky is Falling!!

2010-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Tracy and I woke up to a loud crash at about midnight last night. We spent the next several hours cleaning up fiberglass and plaster. The middle picture is post-cleanup. Tip: never rent or buy a place with a tile roof!

Totally Generic Post #2

2010-10-22T20:25:00.001-07:00

Here's me fixing the suspension on my truck. And yes, that is a bungee cord holding my goggles on; it's totally custom... both the suspension and the styling goggles.

Totally Generic Post #1

2010-10-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Since I can't post pictures or information about our adoption woes online, and realizing that I should at least post something, here's some stuff that doesn't violate any confidentiality agreements...

Tracy and I have had our big three-cushion recliner since the Iowa days. It has never fit very well into our current apartment, so we've been looking into getting a love seat and chair. Being totally disgusted with the outrageous price tags on such pieces, I did what any rational human-being would have done.... I got out my sawzall and chopped our couch into thirds, built a chair from the middle bits, and assembled the ends into a love seat. Turned out pretty good. The recliners even still recline.

New ride/project

2010-08-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

After a series of events we decided to sell the 2001 Dodge Neon that we've had since the Iowa days. Tracy inherited the Corolla, and I got this bad boy.... a 1984 Toyota 4x4 Pickup. This is what it looked like when we got it. So far we have painted the canopy, repainted the trim, repaired a lot of rust, repainted various body panels, and replaced the rusted nub of an antenna. I'll post updated pictures when I get around to it.

It does seem a little strange that I'm fixing up a truck that's almost as old as me, but I have to admit that I've been in love with this truck ever since I saw "Back to the Future":

Marty McFly's 1985 Toyota Pickup. Tasty.

Roses

2010-06-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Back in February I gave Tracy two rose bushes as a Valentine gift. After nearly five months they're finally starting to bloom. Woo!

San Diego

2010-06-26T13:19:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week I went to San Diego for a surgical course. My hotel was a few blocks from the boardwalk, featuring a Naval memorial and a maritime museum.... and a dude that stacks rocks for a living.

Residency on the Web

2010-04-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

A while back a made a web site for our residency program. Probably not a lot of useful info for my loyal readers, but you can take a look if you want to: http://www.franciscanfootankle.com

Vegas, Baby!!

2010-04-12T17:53:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I went to Vegas for the ACFAS conference in February. It was fun. We also presented a scientific poster. Not so much fun. We did get to meet up with some old friends, classmates, and faculty.
Left to right: Dr. Vardaxis, me, Dr. Yoho, Kevin. And yes, Kevin is doing the "look at me, I'm getting my picture taken!" pose. Awesome.

TV Stand

2010-02-22T19:45:00.000-08:00

Formally an Oroweat product display, this piece of furniture has been in my possession since 1997. It has been a computer stand, a project desk, and most recently an entertainment center. Until now it has been a "unique" bright white. My patient and lovely wife has graciously allowed me to keep it all these years, while not-so-secretly hating it. We came to a compromise this weekend and painted it. Tracy was happy to have a slightly less ugly TV stand, and I was happy to continue the Oroweat legacy.

I would also like to point out that this is post number 8 for the day. I'm good until 2014.

Adoption

2010-02-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

No pictures for this one... yet. Around Christmas 2008 we told the family that we were starting to save our money for adoption. Our saving efforts continue. We are officially starting adoptive/fostering classes in March, after which we will be certified/approved for adoption through DSHS. More to follow.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-22T19:26:00.001-08:00

For Valentine's Day this year, rather than getting Tracy 12 dead flowers, I opted for a longer-lasting gift; two rose bushes. They're pruned down and non-impressive right now, but they should be pretty spiffy in a couple of months. She had fun planting and arranging the back yard.

One of two rose bushes.

Awesome planter. Tracy used pow- pow- power tools to drill holes in them. Nice work, wife!

Current backyard arrangement. Anything we want to survive needs to be in planters due to mole infestation.

This is a pink glove.

Pow- Pow- Power Tools!!

2010-02-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

Having lived in tiny holes of apartments for the past 8 years, I have never had the opportunity to have very many tools. Until now it's been only the essentials- saw, hammer, wrench. A few weeks ago I finally made the plunge and bought me some sweet 18v power tools.
Awesome guitar stand that I made with my awesome power tools.

Florida

2010-02-22T19:08:00.001-08:00

In January I went to Florida for an orthopedic conference. My co-resident (Kevin) and I stayed at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort. The pictures below was the view from our room. Pretty stinking fancy. We were by far the youngest and lowest grossing guests at the resort. I probably would have been more impressed by the resort if I were a golfer... but it was still pretty nice. Oh yeah, I learned stuff too. It was fun.

Christmas 2009

2010-02-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

We got our first Christmas tree. It was fun.

The Cat

2010-02-22T18:32:00.000-08:00

Last summer, while chillaxing in our apartment Tracy looked outside and saw a little dark furry thing snooping around on our back porch. When she pointed it out I thought it was a squirrel, but turns out it was a tiny kitten. I thoroughly scared the crap out of it trying to catch him, and he ran away.

He returned a few times and Tracy began putting food out. After several months of feeding it and multiple failed booby traps we were finally able to catch him. A few vet trips and several $$$ later, we have a second cat; Theo. Simon threw a fit for the first few days, but now they're attached at the hip.

Theo and Simon, keepin' it real

Time to get my update on....

2010-02-22T18:27:00.001-08:00

A few months ago I wrote that I was handing the blog over to Tracy. That obviously didn't happen, so I figure it's time for a few updates. Here we go....

Family Reunion (mostly)

2009-12-06T16:52:00.001-08:00

More to come later. I'm officially handing the blog over to Tracy when I get a chance to teach her the in's and out's of the blogger.

Twin Falls State Park

2009-06-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Tracy and I hiked Twin Falls State Park (http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/twin-falls-state-park) with my co-resident, Kevin, and his wife, Molly. It was pretty much awesome. But now we're pretty sore.

Our New Pad

2009-06-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

We moved to Edgewood, WA in May and have finally gotten ourselves all settled in. Enjoy the tour...

Entry. This is where one would traditionally enter the apartment. Turning right from the current position takes you here:

Guest bedroom: Complete with futon, elliptical exerciser, library and storage facility.

Across the entry from the guest bedroom is a bathroom. It's where we do our one's and two's.
Kitchen. It's where we cook. Okay, it's where Tracy cooks and where I burn food.
Kitchen-view of the dining room, living room and backyard.
Our dining room. This is where we eat. Bar stools were $5 each on Craigslist, and a little beat up. I refinished them and now they're lookin' pretty spiffy.
Living room. The wood stove is hopefully going to save us a boat-load on heating bills, but for now it's just a decorative piece. There's a big hole in the chimney and using the stove would release all the smoke into the apartment. *cough cough*
Bird's eye view of downstairs.
Office/loft. This is where I check e-mail, facebook, and blog from. You know, all the important stuff.
Oh, and it's where we rock out together.
The master suite. Walk in closet and bedroom. Sweet.
View of the backyard from, you guessed it; the back door.
Tracy's garden. I really wish we had gotten a before picture of this. There were weeds taking up the entire corner. We invested an entire Saturday to pulling them up and planting flower seeds. So far only a few flowers have sprouted, but hopefully it'll get more colorful out there pretty soon.
This is where I cook. Graduation present from the parents (thanks mom and dad!) I've used it almost every day.
View of the backside of the apartment... and the backside of Tracy.

Mom's B-Day

2009-06-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Tracy and I passed through Tigard on the 6th for a BBQ, and stopped by to wish the mom a happy (early) birthday....

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Two Months in Review

2009-03-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Greetings devoted readers! After a few months of silence, I have finally found the time/motivation to write an update. It's been a pretty busy couple of months, so let's dive right in!

January
I spent one weekend in Los Angeles interviewing with three residency programs; Portland, Denver, and Federal Way. The next weekend was in Chicago interviewing with another Denver program, Tacoma, Greeley, and Madigan. Residency interviews are sort of like visiting the dentist when you have a sore cavity. You know you need to get it over with, but you absolutely dread the process. They begin by poking at the sore spot, without anesthesia. When they notice the tears welling up, they ask "any pain?". Before you can respond they start shoving instruments into your mouth. After you half-gag and half wonder whether that little suction thing is strong enough to suck up your tonsils, they start asking you inappropriate personal questions. Not that you have enough of an airway to respond, but you'd love to strap that doctor down, jam his mouth full of paperclips and hot glue and ask him where he sees himself in 5 years..... Anywhoo.... wait; where was I...?

Oh yeah, so the interviews are all in a hotel. The students stay in hotel rooms, the directors and all the doctors at the residency programs stay in the hotel rooms, the interviews take place in the hotel rooms. When you're interviewing with your potential boss, you're in his/her hotel room. This gives you the unique opportunity of seeing where they slept the night before. A little weird. Not as weird as when the doctor asks you a question and getting up mid-answer says "keep talking, I'm listening", and goes into the bathroom. Yeah. A little weird. But definitely not as weird as the final night of interviews- One of my classmates was having a post-interview party in her room. Later in the evening, one of the doctors that I interviewed with shows up.... very drunk. Very very drunk. After following me around the whole night, he gives me a big hug; "hey Craig, I love you man... I love you...". Mind you, it was a drunken I love you buddy kind of thing, not the kind of "I love you" that makes my sphincter tone double; but weird all the same.

So with interviews finally over at the end of January I'm back in Federal Way finishing up a rotation there. This is the same program that I had interviewed with in Los Angeles two weeks earlier. Before I went to Chicago the director at Federal Way told me that they were very interested in me, but they were planning on ranking me #2. This is good and bad. They only took one student, which means if their #1 pick wanted the program I was out of luck, but if their #1 didn't want it, it was all mine. But it gets even better. They had recently applied for a second position, and if they got approved for it they would take both of us. The powers that be were having a meeting in February to vote on the approval, and they would let me know.

February
February rolls around, and as luck would have it Federal Way was denied the second position. Sucky for me.... so I thought. After the denial the program director decided that he didn't want to lose me to another program, and rearranged the rank boosting me to #1, pretty much guaranteeing me the spot, since I was already planning on ranking them #1. That was pretty much all the excitement in February, except that I also started my core rotation in Tacoma; so now I'm living in a shoebox across the street from Tacoma General Hospital for the next 4 months.

March
I started the month with a 20-hour trip to Des Moines for Boards Part II. Taking boards is also much like the dental experience that I alluded to previously, but this time it's a computer that's having it's way with you, not a human. And just as expensive as the dentist too. The test itself costs $900, plus the $300 trip to Iowa. So I paid about $1200 to go answer 205 questions. That works out to slightly less than $6 per question. When I got my first job, I think minimum wage in Oregon was $5.25/hr. So back in the day I was making $5.25 every hour, but now I'm spending $6 literally every 10 seconds. No wonder I'm $200,000 in the hole!

The Monday after I got back from Des Moines was match day. This is the day that the students get matched up with their residencies, and for me it's the day that I get to find out whether my program really did rank me #1....

To be continued......

Okay, just kidding. Everything worked out as planned! I will officially be in Federal Way at Franciscan Foot & Ankle Institute starting in July. I'm pretty stoked. It will be nice to actually start getting a paycheck, however humble it may be. As an added bonus my program submitted another request for the second resident position, and this time got approved. It was too late for them to get a second student in the match, but they were able to take part in the scramble (the scramble takes place when students don't match with a program; they scramble to try to find a position). One of my very good friends in my class was unfortunate enough to scramble, but luckily caught the attention of my program and was offered the second position.

So starting in July I'll be at what I believe to be the best program in the Northwest, I'll be getting paid to cut people open, and I'm already good friends with my co-resident. We've already establish that I'm Brown Bear, and he's Vanilla Bear. It should be a pretty sweet 3 years.

Perspective

2009-01-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Los Angeles to interview with three residency programs. This weekend I will be flying to Chicago to interview with four more. Needless to say, I've been a little stressed and busy.

Earlier this week I was thinking about my current predicament, and how a little perspective can help or hinder my motivation. Here are two scenarios to illustrate what I mean. One makes me want to hang myself, the other makes me somewhat hopeful for the future; see if you can tell which is which.

Scenario 1:

I am a fourth year podiatric medical student. How did I get here, you ask? Well, after testing out of high school at age 16 I attended a small, yet well-accredited college in Portland. After getting my first college degree, I went to the University of Oregon where I graduated with honors from their pre-med program while working part time as manager of a small restaurant.

Shortly after graduation I married a beautiful brunette that I met while in school. I soon after whisked her away to a far-off, exotic land where I studied to become a podiatric physician. As if three diplomas weren't enough, I also decided to get a Masters degree in my free time.

Now, I'm 26 years old with nearly four diplomas, two cars, and a beautiful wife. I am currently on rotations; seeing what the world has to offer me. I'm living in the Northwest with two doctors, and I'm in the middle of residency interviews in which 7 residencies are fighting for the chance to have me join their program.

Scenario 2:

I am currently in my 8^th year of college. How did I get here, you ask? Well, after dropping out of high school at age 16 I took a few classes at a local community college. After a few years I was finally able to scrounge up enough credits to transfer to a stoner school two hours away from my parents house. While taking classes there I also worked part time at a small pizza shop that failed after its 2^nd year of operation.

After managing to graduate, I married a woman who has no doubt regretted ever meeting me. Not that I'm a horrible husband, but I can only imagine being torn away from your friends and family to live in Iowa, where the only person you know ignores you for three years while he tries to become a foot doctor.

Now, I'm 26 years old, with $200,000 of debt, two beater cars that constantly need repairs, I'm homeless, unemployed, and I never see my wife because I'm on rotations and she moved back in with her parents. To top things off, I'm living with my ex-brother-in-law and his roommate and eating store-brand macaroni-and-cheese nearly every night. I just spent $2,000 to do seven interviews that will literally determine the course of the remaining years of my life.

Thank You Family!!!

2008-12-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

Tracy and I stopped by the parent's house today for a Christmas visit, and received the very generous gift from the entire family. We want to thank each of you for the money and thoughtfulness behind it. The plan is to start the adoption process in March, as soon as we know where I will be spending my residency. We will be sure to keep you all posted as the process unfolds, since you are each heavily invested in it.

New Diggs for the Old Pad

2008-12-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map

So I was poking around on Google Maps Streetview the other day (ie: "Google Stocker Vision") and thought I check out the old pad. Looks like it got a pretty spiffy face-lift. Not a huge fan of the pee yellow, but the landscaping in the front corner looks pretty good. "Drive" up the street and rotate to get a few other views.

Dear Santa:

2008-11-16T13:26:00.000-08:00

Since we do the super-secretive-theme-oriented Christmas shopping for each other, we figured we'd put our Christmas list up for the whole family to read (along with the rest of the Internet... and Santa). I'll save you the gooey details, but the short version of the story is that Tracy and I can't have kids of our own, so we've been looking into adoption. Private adoption will cost around $20,000 so we've started a Baby Fund savings account at Wells Fargo. We realize the $20 spending limit isn't a whole lot, but every little bit will help. So in keeping with the theme this year, we would like some green money to put toward the Baby Fund.

Pack a Shoe Box

2008-10-20T14:05:00.001-07:00

For the past several years, Tracy and I have put together a few boxes for Operation Christmas Child. There are tons of needy kids around the world, so I encourage you guys to at least do one box. It's pretty easy; get a shoe box, fill it with toys and hygiene supplies (usually a trip the the Dollar Tree with go pretty far), and send it off. We usually do two boxes; one for a boy, and one for a girl. You can get instructions and more info at their site: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

Collection week this year is November 17-24, so you've got about a month if you want to get involved.

Peace out.

Joe the Plumber

2008-10-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

After watching the last debate, I thought I'd help you guys put a face to the name. Apparently he used to be Mario's roommate back in College.

Tacoma or bust

2008-10-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

Having read the rest of the family blogs, it has become painfully clear that I'm the biggest freaking blog slacker in the family. So here's the latest from my end...

I won't detail too much of the Sunriver trip, since Tracy and I were only there for two days, and Jared has a very detailed and exquisite account of activities on his blog. I would however like to add that the chipmunk did find it into our room, and kept us awake for two nights while he happily gnawed at the corner of the house. Other than that, it was a fun trip; we got to witness a wicked car wreck on the way to the cabin, and we went to the lava tubes with Simone and the 'rents. Mom and Dad only made it half way, the rest of us made it to the "crawl on your belly or turn back" point. Simone tried to go a little further, but decided that it was pretty hard to see without the lantern.

One of the goals for the trip was to get a bunch of pictures and put together a mini family scrapbook for everyone. However, since only half the family was there it just didn't seem right, but Tracy took a few random pictures just for fun anyway.

I spent the month of September at the Family Foot Clinic in West Linn with Dr. Peterson. I've known Dr. Peterson for a few years, so it was pretty neat to spend the month in his office. He let me get a bit of experience in the OR, so that was fun too. At the end of the month he and his wife treated Tracy and me to dinner at the Oregon Golf Clubhouse, which is basically a Utopian society for rich people.

Meanwhile, Tracy is still doing her photography in her spare time. I gave her webpage a facelift, she's going to start putting some of her color pics up too. She also got a part time job at a small school in Tigard.

Last night I arrived in Tacoma for my next rotation. Living away from the spouse is a unique experience. This is our third month living apart, and every time I experience the same sequence of emotions:

Stage 1: "the sad goodbye"

Stage 2: "this kind of sucks, but it's only a month"

Stage 3: "woohoo!" (this stage is similar to the "wicked! the parents left town for the weekend" feeling, but only lasts for about 2 minutes)

Stage 4: "so bored"

Stage 5: "so lonely"

Stage 6: "so bored and so lonely"

This sequence usually dissolves after I get busy in clinic, but stages 4 through 6 are typically experienced every weekend when I have nothing to do but study.

While in Tacoma I was hoping to score some cheap rent from the ex-brother-in-law, but it turns out he's got another student living in his spare room right now. I'm living in student housing, which is a small one bedroom apartment about 45 feet from the hospital, so I should be able to save on gas money.

So that's September in a nutshell. Oh, and it was fun.

My past two months in review

2008-08-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

After reading Stacy's "week in review", I was suddenly aware of the fact that I have done very little blogging in the past couple of months. So here is my July/August in review.

Denver is pretty cool. It's more populated than Des Moines (there are more than 6 people here!) and it reminds me a lot of the northwest; mountains, trees, waterfalls, valleys, and most importantly I haven't seen a cornfield since I left Iowa. The only thing that's missing is the 90 minute drive to the ocean, otherwise I would swear that I'm in Oregon.

July was spent at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver. Lot's of cool surgical cases, not a whole lot of clinic, but that's just fine with me. P/SL is an academic-intensive program, so I spent about 16 hours a day reading journals and textbooks, 8 hours a day in surgery, 1 hour per day in didactics, 6 hours per day in surgery, and a few hours per day in clinic. I've never been real good at math, but I think that's about right.
While at P/SL I stayed in student housing, which was an apartment about 10 minutes from the hospital. It was probably the nicest place I've lived since Rockinghorse, which is pretty sad since it was only $300/month.

I had a one week break between the end of my P/SL rotation and the beginning of my VA rotation. During this time, the brown-eyed beauty that I suckered into marrying me was able to fly down to hang out with me. While she was here we went to an aquarium, the zoo, and Colorado Springs. Here's a shark that wanted to eat us. I kinda thought he looked delicious too.

Tracy in a barrel. Because if you had the chance to sit in a barrel, wouldn't you?

Garden of the Gods.

Proof that we were really there together.

I'm such a hardcore rock climber.

Balanced Rock, at Garden of the Gods. Pretty cool.

This is the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, just outside of Colorado Springs. They are the 700 year-old residence of the Anasazi. Pretty sure that handrail wasn't there 700 years ago.

Cave of the Winds. If you're a fan of "South Park", this is where Al Gore claims that Manbearpig lives.

Seven Falls, also in the Colorado Springs area. There are a few precarious flights of stairs to the top, but definitely worth it.

In other August news, Tracy is developing (ha ha, "developing") her photography gig. She had a photo shoot with a family on Thursday, and is hoping to start getting more. If she keeps this up, she might just make a good sugar-mama after all.

I'm currently at the Denver VA, which it just as awesome as it sounds. Actually, the clinic is pretty cool; I get a lot of autonomy, which has helped me improve my clinical skills.

Thus concludes my July-August in review.

I know something's out of place here....

2008-07-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Look at these two pictures and try to find what's out of place..... You can click on them to make them bigger if you need to.

P/SL - Week One

2008-07-05T13:49:00.001-07:00

I have now been in Denver at Presby/St. Luke's (P/SL) for one week. It's been a little crazy so far; they just named a new extern director and the first year residents started on Tuesday, so everything is in transition. This makes it a little easier for me though, because I'm not the only one who's clueless right now.

I had clinic a few days last week and surgery every day. There are about 16 different surgery centers that they use, which means that I've already gotten lost in Denver 32 times. I'm starting to get the hang of it though; I at least know where the apartment and the main hospital are. Seeing the Rocky Mountains in the distance is a very welcome replacement for the corn fields that I've been staring at for the past three years.

Sorry, no pictures yet. I'll get around to it though.

The Great Move of 2008

2008-07-05T13:27:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we made the move; Tracy to Tigard, and myself to Denver. The move was fairly uneventful. Tracy's dad flew in to help with the move, which was quite nice because I was at the Lawns for around 12 hours each day, making me pretty useless at home. The ABF trailer was dropped off Wednesday night, and when I got home from the Lawns on Thursday night it had been magically loaded up with all of our belongings. The tuckered-out wife and father-in-law leads me to believe that it might not have been entirely magical, but it was done without my help none-the-less.
After I got home from the hospital that evening we discovered a kitten...
We were all putting the finishing touches on the truck, when we heared in a loud drunk voice "F$#@& CAT!!" Our attention was then drawn to the third-floor balcony of the building across the parking lot (see below), where we saw a chubby trailer trashy looking lady throw the kitten off the third floor balcony, causing it to plop onto the grass below. It just laid there not moving for a while, so my kitty-loving wife ran to its rescue. It eventually came to and started walking around a bit. We gave it some food and water and called the Animal Rescue League, which is like Child Protective Services, but for pets.
Meanwhile, our cat was fairly pissed off about the entire moving process. He didn't care for it one bit.
Saturday morning we all jumped into our cars and headed for Denver. I got my essentials moved into the extern apartment, and Tracy and her dad headed up toward Tigard.

The End.

Rotations

2008-07-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

Clinical rotations started on June 2nd. I started out at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines (see Google-acquired photo below). Broadlawns (aka "the Lawns") is home to Lee Rogers, DPM; Nicholas Bevilacqua, DPM; Denise Mandi, DPM; and the infamous Vincent Mandracchia, DPM, MS. With Rogers and Bevilacqua joining the crew last year, the Lawns has established the Amputation Prevention Center. Mandracchia isn't as involved in clinic as he used to be since he is now the CMO; leading many disgruntled people to call Broadlawns "The Podiatry Hospital of Des Moines".My rotation schedule for the rest of the year will put me in Denver in July and August, followed by Portland, Tacoma, Portland again, Seattle, Federal Way, and Tacoma again.

I'm a slacker

2008-07-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

I confess that I have been blog-slacking lately; aka "slogacking". This is secondary to my crazy moving/rotation schedule. Sort of a catch-22; when I have enough time to write it's because I have nothing to write about, when I have something to write about I have no time to do it! I have Friday off for the 4th, so I will do some massive blog updating to account for the move out and rotation experience.

In the meantime; another long-distance family home evening activity... What are the top 5 movies or TV shows that remind you of "back in the day"? These should be movies/shows that, when they appear on cable, you exclaim "Holy crap!! I used to watch this all the time!!" Mine are:

The Pirates of Penzance (although probably not often viewable on cable)
Superman (any of them)
The Wonder Years (which is weird, because I never really watched it, I think it was more of a parental trickle-down effect. The same can be said for Wings, Mad About You, and Sleepless in Seattle
Frosty the Snowman (duh)
Indiana Jones (all three)

Coat of Arms

2008-06-07T22:36:00.001-07:00

Alright family. I finally sat down and knocked out my submission to the challenge that I posted a while back. I have two designs.

This first desgin is more expressive. Blue and yellow for the Oregon State flag. The station wagon, for obvious reasons. Mount Hood is in the lower panel. The caduceus in the right panel for those of us in the medical profession (Although most people don't realize that the caduceus has only mistakenly been adopted as a medical symbol; in place of and often confused for the Rod of Asclepius). The dog in the left panel is mostly for Bo, but also for all other animals that were part of the Clifford Family Farm.

The second design is simpler, but it says it all-
"Big C in the hoooooooooouse!!!!"

Celebrity Look-a-Like

2008-05-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

Let's revisit the age-old Neil Patrick Harris (NPH) issue. If you go to http://www.myheritage.com/ and visit the "face recognition" tab, there's a program that recognizes your face and compares it to celebrities. Thinking to myself; "Ah ha!! Finally, a scientific analysis of the NPH issue!!" I joyously uploaded a picture and eagerly awaited the results:

"WHAT THE DEUCE???" I screamed into my computer screen. Dustin Diamond? Dustin FREAKING Diamond!! It says I look like freaking Screech, but makes no mention of NPH! I'm not totally let down though; it does list a few turbo-studs such as Ewan McGregor, Ethan Hawke, Oded Fehr, and Dermot Mulroney.

Assuming that the facial recognition software must have gotten thrown-off by the facial hair, I uploaded an older picture of me, sans goatee:

A few more turbo-studs, and an Elvis, but still no NPH. Don't care much for Jeff Gordon, and I'm slightly offended by the presence of Leonardo McFaggot DiCaprio. Again, perhaps the system was confused by my apparent lack-of-smile. I try again:

Clooney, Swayze, Aykroyd, Perry.... Not the greatest. Edward Norton was a stud in Fight Club, and Dean Cain had a role as a horrible portrayal of my childhood hero, but still no NPH. I decided to give up, admitting defeat.

But hold on....

What if?...

Hot digitty! A quick perusal of the celebrity archives on the web page reveals that they in fact don't even have NPH in the system! So, for now anyway, we won't be able to rely on computer aided assistance in the NPH look-a-like issue.

Family Coat of Arms Competition - Take 2

2008-05-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

Earlier I had posted an idea for a "Clifford Family Crest Competition". Unfortunately the original post got deleted (along with the fun-filled historically-questionable Clifford-family-factoids). While the text of the original post is currently evading my memory, I had suggested that we each try to makeup a new family crest (coat of arms) representative of the Oregon offshoot of the family name. I thought it could be a fun long-distance 'family home evening'-type activity, especially if we get the wee-little kids involved. Make it on the computer, or draw, paint, or scrapbook a coat of arms, and upload a picture to your blog. Best crest wins.

Here are two versions of past Clifford family coat of arms that I found on the Internet to get your creative juices flowing:

Road Trip

2008-05-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Tracy and I packed up the car and made the 11 hour drive from Des Moines to Cleveland for a friend's wedding. We carpooled with another couple that we're friends with. The trip started at 2am Friday morning, after having been awake all of Thursday for work and clinic. Cleveland is about an hour ahead of us, so we got into town at around 3pm Ohio time, just enough time to pick up the tux, check into the hotel, and get over to the church for the rehearsal.

View Larger Map

We stayed at the Wickliffe Comfort Inn, which was pretty gross. The wedding was Saturday evening, so we had the morning to explore downtown Cleveland.

Here's the cityscape, larger than Des Moines, but quite a bit smaller than Portland.

Tracy collects Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts, so we ate there for lunch....

...where celebrity's pictures hang from the walls.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is right on the waterfront. We didn't go in because admission is $22, and we've heard from multiple Cleveland-ians that it's not worth it at all.The waterfront is also home to the biggest freaking stamp I've ever seen. We should have gotten a picture of us standing next to it for perspective, but it's big. Add that to your collection Mom!

A fine lookin' couple on the Lake Erie waterfront. The lake is so big that it almost looks like the ocean, except for the noticeable lack of waves. Let's just say the it was "eerie"....

There were some cool-looking old buildings downtown. Here's one that looks like it's right out of Ghostbusters.

That night we made it over to the church for the wedding. It was horribly disorganised, and someone forgot to tell us what time to be there, so we were fashionably late.

On the right you see me being a best-man. I say "a best-man" because the groom couldn't decide who the best man should be, so there were two best-men; and two best-man speeches.

Groovin' on the dance floor. It took a little convincing, but I finally got Tracy to boogey with me, and we danced the night away. I'm a little sun-burnt from the downtown Cleveland adventure from earlier in the day.

Doogie Howser

2008-04-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

I thought I would facilitate the "NPH" discussion on the parent's blog. Here's a few pictures for evidence...
This one is about two years old, but it's the most recent picture of me without the goatee. Notice the dreamy eyes.

A picture of NPH. Notice the similar dreamy eyes.

I don't think anyone in the family got to see any pictures of me during the Winter 2006 Mustache competition, so here it is. Again, the predominant dreamy eyes are a key feature.

Welcome to Des Moines in April...

2008-04-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

I took this picture about 3 minutes ago. A testament to the fact that Des Moines is one screwy place. It's snowing on April 3rd..... it's 36 degrees.... and it's sticking. What the heck??

¿Duelen sus pantalones?

2008-02-26T18:13:00.000-08:00

Being a proud graduate of Portland Community College, I have a good 12 credits of conversational spanish under my belt. However, it has been about 5 years since I've used any spanish, let alone speak any on a regular basis. I got a spanish refresher yesterday in clinic when I had a patient that didn't speak english. It wasn't pretty. While inquiring about his symptoms of intermittent claudication, I'm pretty sure I ended up asking him how far he's able to walk before his pants start hurting, and whether or not his pants start feeling better after he stops walking. I think the word I was grasping for was "pantorrilla". Oh well....

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-26T18:00:00.001-08:00

Here's the best picture we could get.... at least until we get a 29 megapixel computer-guided telescopic camera.

Winter Gala

2008-02-26T17:52:00.001-08:00

We went to the Winter Gala (medical school prom) last Saturday. We're lookin' mighty fine.

www.ShamelessPlug.com

2008-01-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

As you all know by now, Tracy is into photography. She usually gives her photos to friends and family as gifts. Every time she gives one away she's told that she should sell her work.

So, I present to you a shameless plug for her new website.....(drum roll please........) www.tracycliffordphotography.com It kinda rolls off the tounge, no? So check it out, browse around, and tell all your friends about it. At the very least check out my mad web design skills. The page loads a little slow, so be patient. This is partly due to the large size of the photos, and partly due to the fact that my mad web design stills aren't nearly as mad as they should be.

The link above works, and I've also updated the link on the right-hand panel of this page.

Tracy's Photos

2008-01-01T20:18:00.001-08:00

Mom wanted to see all of Tracy's work, so I uploaded it to my Picasa Web Album. I put a watermark on the photos so random people won't be able to steal her work. Follow the link below. I'll also put a link under "Links" on the right-hand side of this page

http://picasaweb.google.com/dr.reddog/TracyCliffordPhotography

The Proof is in the Picture...

2007-12-31T21:01:00.001-08:00

Proof that Simone really does know how to smile

Proof that the Oregon coast is really, really cold in December

Proof that mom really does buy her clothes at Baby Gap

Buses, Planes, and Taxi-cabs

2007-12-31T20:13:00.000-08:00

Tracy and I went to Oregon for Christmas break, which was not as easy as it sounds. This trip usually involves a one hour flight from Des Moines to Minneapolis/St. Paul, followed by a 4 hour flight to Portland.

This year's trip began on Friday the 21st at 11pm. We got online to double check our flight for the next morning at 6:30am. Turns out our flight was cancelled. We called the airline to reschedule, and after much fanagaling were able to get a flight for 5:05am. No problems so far. The airline says to get there two hours before the flight, so we schedule a taxi to pick us up at our apartment at 2:45am. By the time we get all this worked out, it's nearly midnight, so we don't even bother going to bed.

Fast forward to 3:15am; our taxi has not shown up yet. Finally a cab pulls in, and thinking it's ours we run up to it with our luggage.

"Ann?" The cabbie asks Tracy.

Dang. The cab is for our downstairs neighbor. She was going to the airport also, and offered to share the ride with us. Woohoo! First hurdle cleared.

We arrive at the airport just after 3:30am. Closed. Nobody at any check-in counters or security gates. The TSA weren't even there yet. Evidently the Des Moines airport closes any time there's the slightest bit of fog. We stand in the ever-growing line until 4am. Finally the TSA agents come streaming in. A few minutes later a balding disgruntled NWA employee steps toward the front of the line. He tells us the there are no planes in Des Moines, there are no flights scheduled, they don't plan to schedule any flights, and the only way we're getting to Minneapolis is by taking a 4-hour bus ride that leaves at 5am.

We're the first ones to board the bus, and we sit there until 5:30am when the bus finally heads out. We were able to change our connecting flight in Minneapolis to a later flight. We got to the airport just before 9:45am. We were instructed to deplane (I didn't realize you could deplane from a bus, but evidently you can) and we took a shuttle to the check-in area.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We caught our connecting flight and arrive in Portland with all our luggage intact. All-in-all, we spent the day in 3 airports but only took one flight.

Ironic note on our departure.... our flight back to Des Moines on the 31st was at 6:30am. We arrived at the airport at 4:30am in compliance with the 2 hour rule. It turns out the NWA ticketing counter doesn't even open until 5am.

Christmas

2007-12-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

I noticed that I am the last hold-out for Christmas memories and/or a Christmas-related blog posting. My Christmas memories seem to all mush together into one gooey-festive conglomeration; but here's what I've got:

The Christmas Chipmunk album. I know this is sort of cheating because Jared posted this first, but recently I saw that this has been made into a movie, so I couldn't help myself.
Christmas in California at grandma and grandpa's (I'm not sure which ones). Santa was there; Daryl and Marc got cool remote control cars, I got a crappy stuffed dog. I was so pissed.
Christmas in California several years later. I think it was the year we were in the process of moving to Oregon. Dad was in Oregon for what seemed like 6 months (but I'm sure was really only two weeks). I remember getting home-made stamped cards from Dad. We were staying with one of the aunts on Mom's side (Lorna maybe? Is that even the name of one of our aunts?). We didn't think we were going to see Dad that Christmas, but he showed up Christmas eve. I was wearing my blue pajamas.
The previously mentioned memory jogged a non-Christmas memory; Stacy's creepy ability to remember everything she has ever worn to every major and non-major event in her life.
Okay, back to Christmas. I think it was either the first or second year in Oregon that we got awesome Huffy bikes that Dad built and hid at the Conrad's.
Playing Monopoly the week before Christmas to pass the time.
Getting up every Christmas morning at 5am. Dad would make us hot chocolate and we would watch the cartoon Nativity story until Mom woke up.

We'll be in Oregon on Saturday, so we'll see you there if you're in the state too.

Gobble gobble!!

2007-11-23T12:18:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of Des Moines on Turkey Day. It was the first snow of the season, and we got around 3 inches.

Beware the Afterburn

2007-11-20T16:04:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor went to Texas last week and he brought us back some "Texas Texas Premium Salsa". As a salsa addict, I was more than ecstatic to pour a bowl and enjoy a chips-and-salsa dinner.

Now, let me begin by saying that I am no capsaicin weenie. I pride myself on being able to down jalapenos without flinching. As a Blackjack Pizza employee, I would often challenge my co-workers to dried red pepper eating contests. Sometimes my opponent would squirm while leaking out every orifice, sometimes he/she would spit the peppers out, and sometimes the peppers would be vomited out; but I would always win.

Having said that; this stuff is hot! I piled a huge amount onto the first bite, which wasn't so bad. The second bite was delicious. By the third salsa-smothered chip, I was beginning to feel the heat. I proceeded to consume about one third of the jar, and by the end of my feast I was sucking air through the gaps in my teeth, hoping to ease the burn. With watery eyes and a runny nose, I satisfyingly placed the jar into the refrigerator for safe-keeping until I finish the rest.

The salsa was fantastic, but hot. But it wasn't over after my mouth cooled down. Much like the rule of "what goes up, must come down", there is also the rule of "that which enters must also exit". Having been through multiple courses in human anatomy and physiology, I have never found documented evidence of taste buds in the region of the external anal sphincter, but I'm beginning to wonder after, shall we say, "passing", this salsa. If you're planning on trying this salsa make sure you have a heavy supply of Preparation H, and beware the afterburn!

Craig in Action

2007-11-14T14:48:00.001-08:00

That's me on the left, Dr. Freschi on the right. There's a hysterical story that goes along with this surgery; sadly, HIPAA keeps me from sharing it. Feel free to giggle when you look at these pictures anyway.

And so it ends..... or does it?

2007-11-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

I just took the final exam for my Community Health class, which was the last formal class in the DPM curriculum. Woohoo! I still have several months of Problem Based Learning and some other goodies, but the academic onslaught is beginning to give way to real-life clinical/surgical learning. Awesome. Right now I'm going to go celebrate by renewing my BLS certification. Yeah, that's right; I know how to party.

Dr. Smith's Neighborhood

2007-11-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is an animation that I made last year. It features the clinical faculty of the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery, and was shown on campus at the 2006 PPAC fund-raising roast of Dr. Smith. It's chalk-full of inside jokes, so it won't make much sense unless you were a second-year podiatry student last year. It's 47mb, so it'll take awhile to download, but I promise you that it's probably not worth the wait.

P.S. The sound got a little screwed up when I uploaded, so some of the lip syncing looks goofy. Sorry.

Virtual Tour de Casa, 2007

2007-11-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

If any of you make it out to Des Moines, it will most likely be after we've moved from our current apartment. So, I present to you "Virtual Tour de Casa, 2007".

Don't let your eyes be deceived; it may look like a porta-potty, but this fine looking building is, in fact, our home. Notice the clean lines and the slick name; 'Grand Prix', it makes you feel like you're living life in the fast lane. Yeah!

Upon entering apartment #305, you'll find yourself longing to lounge on our fine living room couch. And yes, it is a double recliner.

See? You didn't believe me, did you....?

Move 2 feet to your right and you'll be wishing you had the time to sit down and read a book in our study/library/office/guest bedroom/cat room/art gallery. And yes, my desk is a file cabinet/TV tray table hybrid; it's one of a kind.

Four feet to the right of the office is our formal dining hall. Seating by reservation only. No, we don't already have Christmas presents and decorations out. These pictures are from last year.

Six inches to the right of the dining hall is the kitchen. Notice the lack of a dishwasher. Awesome. To the right you'll notice the microwave that has been owned by each one of us at one time or another. Sadly, the beloved 'Clifford Microwave' was replaced last year.

And the bedroom. We also have a tiny bathroom, but I didn't feel like taking a picture of it.

Across the street is Des Moines University. Here's a view of the tower and the new gym.

And a view of the new main entrance.

Fourth Year Rotation Schedule

2007-11-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is where Craig will be fourth year:

June: Broadlawns Medical Center (Des Moines, IA)
July: Highlands-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center (Denver, CO)
August: Eastern Colorado Health Care/VA (Denver, CO)
September: Private practice (West Linn? Prosser?)
October: MultiCare Foot & Ankle Residency Program (Tacoma, WA)
November: Legacy Portland Hospital (Portland, OR)
December: Northwest Podiatric Surgical Program (Seattle, WA)
January: Franciscan Foot and Ankle/St. Francis Hospital (Federal Way, WA)
February through May: MultiCare Foot & Ankle Residency Program (Tacoma, WA)

First Post

2007-10-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Wow. My first blog post ever. I was sort of hoping that it would be more exciting. Oh well.