The Next Phase

It has been a while since my last entry and I have been very busy during this time. I have now moved from Phoenix, AZ to Louisville, KY (pronounced Loo-a-vul by the locals) to stat my final leg of formal education. This was a big move for me and is furthest that I have ever moved. It was about 1800 miles in total and took about 25-26 hours of driving time. My dad flew down to Phoenix and we left that next morning. I had movers that took all of my stuff for me (this is the subject of a whole different story) so it was an easy drive in my truck. I was here just over a week before my program started. I am now working at the University of Louisville Hospital network that includes about 5-6 hospitals in all that are located in downtown Louisville. I really like it out here and have now been in the hospital for a few days of work. I am in the Operating Room full time and it is quite different than the in-patient wards that I worked of last year. It is a bit overwhelming but I am starting to catch on to how this hospital works. The area is very green and reminds me of the northwest. The trees are all deciduous here, instead of the evergreeens in the NW. The temp is warm and Humid. The average day since I arrived has been around 90 F and 70-95% humidity. This is something to get use to but is overall better than the 118+ F temps that they are having in Phoenix right now. The city itself is a lot smaller than Phoenix too. There are about 1.5 Million people here instead of 7.5 that are in Phoenix. Even though it is a smaller city it still has a big-city feel to it. The nice part is that everything is cheeper. You can park you car for a day downtown for $3 compared to $10-15 in Portland. Everyone is much nicer here than So Cal or AZ but the drivers here are much worse.

I guess this Badge makes it all official.

All of my belongings (only half of which are still in one piece) finally showed up a few days ago so I am finally getting settled. I have moved into a two bedroom apt so that I can have an office area separate from the bedroom. It is a lot older and has a smaller living area than the apt that I lived in before but was the nicest one that I found that was close enough to the hospital so that I would not have to commute 30-45 min each way. This apt is about 10 min away and is in a nice wooded area that feels separate from downtown. I have attached some pictures of the apt for you so see. It is mostly all the same furniture as before but is just a different arrangement.

Here is a view from my Front Door (a little dark)

Here is a view looking back towards the front door and fire place.

Looking out the sliding door to the porch and Tennis court.
This my my very large (actually very small) Kitchen from directly behind the couch.

Here is another view from the Dining Room.

The Dining Room.

Standing by the Sliding Door looking down the Hall.

Mid Hall Laundry Closet Hookups but I had to supply the washer and dryer.

Across the hall is the Bathroom.

A door from the bathroom goes into my Bedroom where I have a second sink and mirror separate from the bathroom area.

Across from the sink is my closet.

Here is a view looking back towards the sink and bathroom.

This is the master bedroom from the Main entrance from the hall.

Across the hall from the Bedroom is the Office/Guest room.

This room also has a closet and a twin bed off to the side just out of the picture.

Alaska Day 7

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Day seven in Alaska

It is 01:00am and it is time to leave Alaska and head home to Phoenix. I was on the red-eye flight out of Anchorage that left at 01:00am and I got home at 09:30am. I was able to sleep most of the way even though the plane was completely full. I had a great time and hope that I can return to Alaska in the Summer to see what it is like without all of the snow (and hopefully see some bear as well).

This picture was borrowed from the internet since I obviously would have trouble getting a shot of my plane from the air.

Alaska Day 6

Monday, March 19, 2007, Day six in Alaska

Teresa had to work today so it gave the rest of us a chance to sleep in and recover a little from our vacationing. We picked Teresa up for lunch (breakfast for the rest of us) and then we gave ourselves a tour of the town. It was a nice relaxing day to finish up our vacation. This evening we went out to see the Northern Lights which were suppose to be visible but were unable to see them unfortunately.

Mom and Me at breakfast.

Teresa and Dad across the table.

The Furs were very cool but way out of our price range.

Driving down 4th Ave in Downtown.

A popular gift shop in the area.

A Dog-sled team making a food stop.

Alaska Day 5

Sunday, March 18, 2007, Day five in Alaska.

Today we drove about 2 hours south to the town of Seward. From here we boarded a boat for a Glacier and Wildlife cruise. Unfortunately we did not get too close to any glaciers but we did get to see some great wildlife. We saw otters, porpoises, sea lions, and best of all Orca's (Killer Whales). We got really lucky to see as many as we saw. There were probably a dozen or so Orca's swimming together and they came right up to our boat. I was trying to take video but unfortunately the camcorder quit working so I was only able to get still shots which made it a lot more difficult to capture to whales coming up for a breath but here are some shots that I got.

A very nice day on the water.

Enjoying the view.

Killer Whales in the distance.

My favorite picture (I just wish I had gotten the whole whale)

Alaska Day 4

Saturday, March 17, 2007, Day four in Alaska

Teresa's roommates uncle is a pilot in anchorage and offered to take us flying today in his newly restored Cesna 180. We flew up over the city and up the inlet getting an aerial view of the mountains and glaciers and the icy water below. We were going to fly around Denali but it was too windy in that area.

Anchorage from 4000 ft.

Looking up Cook's Inlet.

Portage Glacier from the sky.

Looking down on the Inlet's icy water.

Later that afternoon we went to Thunderbird Falls and hiked back into the Falls area. It was all frozen but there was great scenery and was a great way to spend a Sabbath afternoon.

Alaska Day 3

Friday, March 16, 2007, Day three in Alaska

Today we rented Ice Skates and went to a frozen pond that they keep cleaned off for ice skating. There are trails that go all over the pond. It was a lot of fun. Mom had never ice skated before but she did great. They had fires in barrels around the pond that you could stop and warm your hands if you needed to. I think that we gave the Hockey players that were out skating a good run for their money even though it had been years since any of us had skated.

Alaska Day 2

Thursday March 15, 2007. Day two in Alaska

Today we went skiing at Alyeska ski resort about 30 minutes from Teresa's house. It was a nice brisk morning at -5 degrees F in that ended up warming up to 0 degrees F by the time that the Mountain closed. The snow was great though. We had to go inside every 6-7 runs to warm up our feet and face but besides that it was a great day. There were no lines and so we could ski right onto the chair for every run.

This is from inside the tram looking down at the main lodge.

Riding up the tram.

This resort had a pretty bad view!!