HOT! HOT! HOT!

For the 11th consecutive day this summer, Sacramento has hit 100+ degrees, the longest such streak on record. Channel 3 just told me that over 50 people have evaporated here in the Sacramento area since the streak began. When I came home from Merced on Sunday night it was over still 100 degrees at 8:30 pm! Even worse, it was 98 degrees inside our apartment. With us being gone for several days, our little apartment just sat around and collected heat from the two floors below us. The carpet was hot, the wood chairs were hot, the butter in the pantry had liquified, two of Cami's beloved plants had withered and died and even our TV's circuitry must have melted because it won't turn on anymore (but I blame that on poor craftsmanship. Note to self: I will never buy another Philip's product again).

Needless to say, it was miserable. I immediately cranked up the AC full blast and let it run all night long. Alas, my efforts to convert my 900 sq ft oven once again into an inhabitable oasis failed-- the apartment temperature had only fallen to 89 degrees. Yuck. To make matters worse, my first day back in class was met by a complete failure of the AC system. 90+ bodies confined to a lecture hall that started to feel like a gen-u-ine sauna. Double yuck. This just in: Dirk Verdoorn from Channel 3 claims that the Delta Breeze is finally blowing in to take the edge of this heat wave. It couldn't have come soon enough.

While I was at home my Mom informed me that there were some interesting videos floating around the internet displaying the effects of combining Diet Coke and Mentos: The Freshmaker. I was so impressed with the results of said combination that I had to get some of my friends from school to try it out with me. Here are Trevor and I preparing the apparatus (those are Fernando's legs in the background, you may not have recognized him without him holding a pair of boxer-briefs, but it really is him). Our experiment worked out alright, but we were a little disappointed with the propulsive force that our 15 Mentos produced inside the 2 L of artificially sweetend, carbonated beverage (we got our geyser of Diet Coke to spew about 6 feet into the air).

We spent the rest of our lunch hour discussing how we could improve the overall performance. We talked about grinding the Mentos into fine dust with a mortar and pestle to increase surface area and delivery. We considered nailing a small hole into the cap to force the fluid out of a smaller opening in order to generate more pressure a la Bernoulli's Principle. We even discussed wrapping the Mentos powder in single ply toilet paper to act as a short "fuse" to give us a little extra time to cap the bottle before its contents came spewing out. I know, pretty lame discussion, but what can I say? We're all obsessive medical students. For a good idea of what we are trying to accomplish try clicking here or here. I don't if know our experiments will be as successful, but Trevor is convinced that we will be successful. I'll keep you posted on anything noteworthy.

In a bit of other news, my Mom's surgery seemed to go well yesterday. The family found out on Saturday that doctors had found a baseball-sized tumor in my Mom's kidney. At first she thought that she was passing a kidney stone because of the pain (my Dad has had several). However, when she went to see a urologist and had some tests done, the doc discovered a malignant growth in her renal pelvis. The pain had come from blood clots she was passing and must have been extremely painful. Fortunately, CT scans indicated that there were no metastases, making a positive outcome much more likely. To make a long story short, my Mom had to have her kidney removed. The surgery seems to have gone well and, according to the latest reports, it seems like Mom is on the mend.

It's been a difficult couple of days and I wasn't even the sick one. It has been weird to confront the idea that Mom and Dad won't always be around. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much my parents mean to me. I realize more and more what they've done for me and it's nice to know that they'll still be around for a while. Anyway, I'd better get going, I do have some things to do.

Tahoe: Part I

The long wait is over, we are back. It is amazing just how fast a week can go by when there are 15 kids under the age of 12 running, crawling and drooling around the place. The Callister Family Reunion was a lot of fun, but, as always, it is good to back home in a tiny apartment with a functional (though under-utilized) AC and some good ol' fashioned peace and quiet. Cami decided that 8 fun-filled days and 7 crazy nights with the little rugrats wasn't quite enough so she has up and left me to spend another week in SLC with her sister Cinda, leaving me all alone to start school again on Monday. What can you do?

The reunion was, as always quite the adventure. The week was spent up in Tahoe in huge 70's-era cabin (complete with orange shag carpet) that was big enough to house all 30 Callisters and kin. The cabin was nice enough, but the absence of an air conditioner was soon noted as temperatures hit the mid 90's. However, sweat and BO was not enough to discourage the ankle biters from their usual shenanigans. Honestly, I don't think we were officially in Tahoe two hours before Jake's antics required that he have his head thrust into a toilet. Fortunately for me (though more fortunately for Jake and his hair), he calmed down pretty quickly after that.

We spent a lot of time at the pool, beach and doing outdoor, woodsy and kid-friendly stuff. I have to admit, despite the heat, Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place. The lake itself is rather chilly, but not chilly enough to keep you out (especially with the weather being as warm as it was). We spent many an hour hanging out at "the beach" and Cami and Ashley even did a little kayaking. Monty, my bro-in-law, claims that the lake holds 39 trillion gallons of water. An impressive figure, 'tis true, but the fact that Tahoe holds 39 trillion gallons of water is not nearly as impressive as the fact that Monty actually knew Tahoe holds 39 trillion gallons of water. Anyhoo, the beach was fun.

On Thursday we all went out for a bike ride. What a pleasant disaster that was! If you can imagine 15 adults and 15 children all peddling out of some bike shop together en masse, dodging traffic and, in one instance, nearly getting hit by a bus, you can imagine the kind of chaos we caused. But, it was a lot of fun. I haven't been on a bike since my mission (my rear is still reeling from the months I spent riding a bike on Germany's cobblestone streets 4 years ago), but it was fun to pedal along the lake. The view was gorgeous (especially for the 20 or so minutes I spent riding behind Cami) and we all had a great time... except for Matt maybe who had to lug a baby trailer with a flat tire for a mile or two uphill. Cami and I had such a good time riding them, that, immediately after the ride, we thought it might fun to buy our own bikes and use them to ride along the Sacramento River or other trails in the area. It seemed like a great idea until we poked our heads inside the bike shop and realized that the bikes we were riding and liked so much cost about $1500. It was a fun thought while it lasted.

Thursday night, we all headed out to the "beach" again so that we could roast some 'mallows and make some s'mores. For some odd reason, Cinda insists that the proper pronunciation of this sticky treat is, in fact, "schmores." Where she came up with such a crazy idea is, quite frankly beyond me, but she's been bugging me about it since last summer when I provided conclusive evidence that she is, in fact, in error. She has yet to concede that she is wrong (she is only hurting herself) and anytime there are Callisters gathering around a campfire (or, as in this case, a BBQ) I am sure that this dispute will rage as hot as the flames with which the s'mores themselves are cooked. Despite Cinda's stubborn insistance on rejecting the facts, good times and sticky, marshmallowy confections were shared by all.

Well, that's about all I have for now. Cami doesn't know it yet, but I am holding her responsible for typing up "Tahoe: Part II" while she is on continued vacation in SLC. I am sure she won't have any complaints. Instead of hanging around here all weekend, I think I am going to go home to Merced to spend some time with Mom and Pop. School starts up again for me on Monday, so it will be a short trip, but I am looking forward to a quiet weekend.

Sabbatical

Ok, sorry there hasn't been anything new in over a week. Things have been not busy around here and the motivation to write very inspiring blog entries has just been somewhere else. Cami and I are leaving in about 10 minutes to go to Tahoe for the annual Callister Family Reunion. I can promise that some very funny things will transpire and there will be plenty of photos and stories to tell. You can read all about it next Friday. Until then, I am sure Jenny and Todd will have bunch of baby pictures, so you can look at their blog if you get desparate.

Until we meet again,

Tim and Cami

The Almost Best 4th Of July Ever!

Well, I have to admit, yesterday could very well have been The Almost Best 4th Of July Ever! I know that is quite a claim, but it's pretty much true. Cami and I went home to the Callister's for our Nation's 230th Birthday. Since my friend Fernando is pretty much all alone in Davis without friends or family, we decided to invite him to Merced: Gateway to Yosemite for the celebrations. I am sure he will never forget the experience. After working in the lab on Monday I drove over to pick up Cami from work and Nando from his apartment and we set out on the 5 and made the trek home. We drove all the way without stopping for something to eat, even though Nando spent 2 hours trying to convince us that Taco Bell's Crunch Wrap Supreme is the best thing ever to have graced his lips. I found it curiously hard to believe that anything from Taco Bell could be that good, but that's what he said. Anyway, we relaxed a bit when we got there and hit the pool, which was wonderfully warm and refreshing. Ahhhh...

The next morning started out bright and early at 8:00 am with a nice game of Tennis. Now, need I remind you that last time a certain spouse of mine played tennis against me, she bragged about her exploits on our blog for the whole world wide web to read about. We started off our tennis with some good ol' fashioned doubles boys vs girls. Fernando's been playing tennis for about a year and is about as good as me. Let the record state that even though we were at one point down 1-3, Nando and I came back to beat Cami and Ashley (who both lettered in Tennis at GVHS) 6-5. It was quite the comeback. I think the attached picture tells the story best. Cami, beautiful as always, took the loss in stride. I think Fernando is trying to give the camera his good side. If you look through Cam's racket you can see Ash storming off. She didn't like losing very much and even threw her racket in a fit of rage. She threw it really hard and hit this poor little 7 year old boy with cancer right in his bald head knocking him out cold. Ok, so that's not true, but Ashley did lose and she did throw her racket. Seriously.

After the tennis we all went home to shower and get ready for the game. Funny thing: As Fernando hopped in the shower, he realized that he had forgotten to bring a change of underwear. I had to run to Target and buy him a pair while he was in the shower. I guess Fernando doesn't change his undies all that regularly.

Nando is a big Italy fan (he's wearing an Italy jersey), and as you well know I was pulling for Die Mannschaft to win the dumb tournament. Well, as luck would have it, Italy wins the game in the 120th minute in overtime. I was convinced that Germany was going to win in PKs again. Alas, it was not to be. It was a heartbreaker, but Fernando was pretty happy about it. I shouldn't have bought him his dumb underwear. Germany played great in the tourney and it was fun to see the Germans finally feel good about being German. I guess it's all just as well, had Germany won the game this might have been The Absolute Best Fourth Of July Ever! I don't know if my little heart could have handled all that excitement.

We spent a lot of time in the pool and then went to the Tanner's for a little BBQ thing. After that, we went out to Whitegate for my favorite part about Independence Day: The Annual Whitegate Fireworks Extravaganza (WFE). You see, some time during the festivities at WFE '05 I had a genius idea: I wanted to strap some firecrackers to the back of my longboard and ride around the street with a ROOSTER TAIL OF FIRE streaming behind me. I had to bide my time for 364 days, but finally the day arrived. Using a little duct tape and some good ol' American Ingenuity I strapped the "Mount Vesuvius" on the back of my longboard and was eagerly awaiting the perfect moment to drop the bomb on the dozens of onlookers sitting along the street.

However, apparently, the Man heard about my attempt to revolutionize the way we celebrate July 4th and sent a squad car out to put the brakes on the celebrations. Word on the street was that some neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, called in a complaint. The cop wouldn't confirm it, but it was probably some British Loyalist who was still bitter about the Colonists putting the hurt on the Redcoats during the Revolutionary War 230 years ago. England, get over it.

Being the law abiding citizens we were, we agreed to stop the shooting of the rockets and the having of the fun. I was nearly devastated. Fortunately, this was The Almost Best Fourth Of July Ever! and Fate had yet an opportunity for me. Lighting fireworks is verboten in Merced County, but it is perfectly legal within Merced City limits... which is a whopping two blocks from where we were located (which made the relocation all the more annoying).


After relocating, we wasted little time getting started. With a little assistance from Fernando, who lit the fuse, I began my ride to July 4th Immortality. The pictures don't do it justice, but it was beautiful. I buzzed by another group of people celebrating and they were so overcome with the Independence Day Spirit that they clapped for joy. But they were not clapping for me, they were clapping for America. If I wasn't more concerned about setting fire to the neighborhood, it might have brought a tear to my eye. At one point I think the ROOSTER TAIL OF FIRE was about 20 feet long or so, which made turning around pretty difficult, but all the more impressive. The ride was so successful, I had to do something even the famous Paul Revere couldn't do: I strapped "Mount Etna" to the back battle proven board and rode for freedom a second time.

I don't know how or if I'll be able to top my all-American display of patriotism next year, but at least I can say that this year truly was The Almost Best Fourth Of July Ever!