I Pity The Fool!

Cami and I have been discussing the need for a second car for awhile now. Cami has been working at UC Davis for a year now and I will be starting rotations at the hospital this July. That means I will be working abnormal hours and being on call. We realized that one automobile just wasn't going to cut it. We thought long and hard about what kind of car we wanted to buy and what kind of car we could afford on our meager budget of student loans and Cami's income. After much debate, we decided "to heck with it" and dropped some serious coin on a sweet ride.

When I think of sweet rides, 3 cars come to mind: an Audi A8, a BMW 760Li, and a 2002 Kia Rio. Yeah, I know, pretty hard to choose which one's the best. Ultimately, we decided this was pretty much a win-win-win situation. We drew straws and decided to get the Kia Rio. Now, I realize that a Kia Rio might not have been one of the first cars to pop in your head when you read the words "sweet ride." But let me ask you this, could those other cars have pulled off something like this:

That's a real photo, folks. I am pretty sure Tony Stewart and his racing team will think twice about challenging a Rio to a street race again. Let that be a warning to all of you as well the next time you consider racing for pink-slips against someone behind the wheel of a Rio.

Yeah, we found a luscious red Rio with low mileage and were able to pay cash for it, which was pretty nice. Plus all of the features! The brain trust over at Kia were really ahead of their time when they designed the Rio. Fact: When terrorists drop an E-Bomb on Sacramento (a major terrorist target... seriously) shutting off all electrical devices for hundreds of miles, I'll be driving around just fine. That, dear friends, is because the Rio doesn't have power windows, seats, mirrors or steering! In fact, it's debatable whether there is any horsepower in the car.

The car is also designed with that aesthetic panache that is so seldom seen in automobiles these days. For example, though the car is neither powerful nor large enough to seat more than 2 people, the designers put in a back seat anyway! Trust me, there is NO WAY anyone is sitting back there, but it looks great.

The "new" car will be my primary means of transportation for the next few years and I have amply christened it Mr. T because, well, let's face it, nobody's foolish enough to go messin' around with Mr. T. I think you'll all agree.

To All The Mothers Out There...

Cami and I went home to Merced to spend time with our mommies. Both our moms are pretty awesome.

Whole Earth Festival 2007

Quick: What are the first 5 things that pop in your head when you hear the phrase "Whole Earth Festival"? If those 5 things are hemp, dreadlocks, saggy boobs, tie died everything and a whole lotta BO, then you and I are on the same page. Fortunately for Cami, Sean and I, we were able to behold the pageantry and spectacle that is the Whole Earth Festival first hand.

Since Sean and I finished up this past quarter we've dedicated all of our time to boards study. We've been coming to Davis with Cami since she has to go to work anyway and have been studying at Shields Library instead of in Sacramento. I gotta be honest, I could think of about a bajillion different ways I'd rather spend my "summer vacation," but you gotta do what you gotta do. But I digress...

Hippies, tree-huggers, cannabis advocates and vegans from miles around gathered together to celebrate life and give back to Mother Earth. It was entertaining to walk around through the place and see what was for sale and play the "He should be your next boyfriend" game with Cami. The only minor annoyance (other than the olfactory cacophony of garlic, BO and hemp that was assaulting my senses) was the fact that I couldn't throw away my plastic bags anywhere. All of the trash cans were "green" and were only good for biodegradable waste.

All in all, it was a lot of fun.

One Year Anniversary

One year ago Tim and Cami: Rock Solid Since '03 debuted on the 'net. It's been a good year and here's looking to another one.

Cami and I took David and Steven, two young men from the ward, to the rugby national championships in Palo Alto on Saturday. We went last year with Brent, Cami's brother, who had played for BYU when he was in college. We had so much fun that we decided to go again, especially since BYU was playing Berkeley in the championship game. Unfortunately, Cal (who has won every rugby national championship since 1990) was a much better team than BYU and the game wasn't close.

There were a ton of Cal fans there and we were easily in the minority. At one point in the game, Cal was awarded a free kick right in front of our seats. David was complaining that he wanted to yell or do something to distract the kicker because it was so quiet. A very knowledgeable Cal fan remarked to David, "You know, this isn't a tennis match, it's okay to yell."

David took that as the go-ahead and started yelling at the kicker, a solo heckler in an otherwise quiet crowd. The kicker shanked his field goal wide left. As soon as the ball sailed past the uprights, all the old Cal fans started to rip David a new one. Seriously, 75 year old men were yelling at David. He just had to sit there and take it from all those heptagenarians.

As soon as the tongue-lashing was over, the knowledgeable Cal fan leaned over again and said "Yeah, this isn't tennis, but we still respect the kickers. I think you've learned that lesson now, haven't you?" It was a set up! That old guy totally set David up. I gotta admit it was extremely hilarious.

Two And Through

I finished my second year of medical school yesterday at 2:15 pm. After a week of grueling finals, I concluded my last pre-clinical year with a test in nephrology that was not especially easy. I gotta be honest, those kidneys are pretty tricky organs. However, though that exam was difficult, it was nothing compared to the gastro-intestinal test I took two days earlier. It was amazing how those GI docs were able to come up with a final that actually felt like receiving a barium enema. Yuck.

I now have 35 days to study my brains out and then put them back in before I take the USMLE Step I on June 14th. This is the licensing exam that I need to pass before starting rotations in the hospital. It's a pretty big deal and I already have a study schedule set up so I can effectively cram for a month before taking this test. Fun.

In celebration of the completion of my second year, Cami bought me Guitar Hero. It was very thoughtful of her. Right now she is currently rocking out to some AC/DC song. The game is a lot of fun, I just hope I don't fail the boards by wasting countless hours on that miniature guitar. That or develop carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand by trying to shred on those teeny frets.

Not to be outdone by Cami's kind gesture and gift-giving, I made sure she got something too: Jury Duty. She wasn't all that happy about that. I don't blame her either, I'd take Guitar Hero over Jury Duty any day of the week.