James's jurisdiction

Costa Rica days 5-6

2009-06-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning we hit up the beach and were there for just about the entire day. During the day I checked the internet to see my grades. To my dismay, I had received an F in psychology. I knew I wasn't acing the class, but I was pretty sure I had enough points to pass it. I emailed the teacher about it to get an explanation. I didn't want to have to do any in year one over, it almost killed me the first time. I later got a response saying I didn't put my name on the final. After I came home I put my name on it, got my B and felt relieved. That day I was so burned that it was difficult to fully enjoy the beauty of the beach and swim in the waves. I did body board some, swam, had fun, but in the afternoon I just went inside because I couldn't take any more sun. The ocean salt on the burns and the friction on the insides of my thighs were irritating, I almost bought lamisil just in case.

The next morning we went inside Manuel Antonio national park. We were supposed to be able to see lots of animals. We saw a viper, some monkeys way up in the trees, a bunch of iguanas, a pig like thing, a bunch of crabs, and a sloth. Later that afternoon in an effort to avoid more sun, while the others were at the beach I went into the park again and saw more monkeys a lot closer to the ground. That afternoon we left the beach to head back to San Jose to catch the soccer game. It was a bummer the game was on Wednesday night, I would've liked to go further down the beach to Dominical and ride horses through waterfalls. On our way back to San Jose we got detoured over this enormous mountain and nearly died about five times trying to pass trucks on the two lane climb. We got to San Jose and went to get some tickets from scalpers. This was the world cup qualifier between the US and Costa Rica. The US forgot to show up, and Costa Rica prevailed. The crowd was insane, way into the game. This sport is actually quite boring to watch and the players flop more than NBA players do. The Ticos did get annoying waving their flags in my face every time they scored. The stands were also so packed I was worried they might collapse, fortunately they didn't.

Costa Rica days 3-4

2009-06-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday we did not go to church, we were way out in no where land and it would've taken all day to get to the closest church. I was hoping we could go, gospel Spanish is the type of Spanish I can understand easiest. We went on a canopy tour through the jungle/forest area. There were canopies/platforms way up in trees with zip lines connecting them. We traveled on about 13 of these around the area, the longest cable being a kilometer long, as well as a couple hundred feet high. We were then going to go on a suspension bridge tour, but it started to pour so we went into the butterfly museum instead.

The next morning (Monday) we left the highlands and headed for the beach. The weather transitioned from nice and cool to hot and muggy. We stopped in this town called Puntarenas and got some chickens. Puntarenas is way ghetto so we shortly left. We then passed over this bridge and parked. Below the bridge were crocodiles. This is where the chickens came in handy, we just thought the crocs might have been a little hungry. That ended being a bit entertaining. We then went to a town called Jaco which was supposed to have great surfing. It wasn't great at all, the town was sketchy at best, and I was slightly disappointed by the beach and hoping for more. Later we headed down to Manuel Antonio national park. We stayed the evening there stacked into a small hotel room. When I first set eyes on that beach, it was love at first sight. It was a beautiful beach and it made going through the other dumpy beaches okay, like it was part of the rough journey to get there. There is probably some way to relate it to dating, but I'll refrain from that for now.

Costa Rica day 1-2

2009-06-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to Costa Rica for about just over a week. The rationale being "hey, plane tickets are cheap, lets go somewhere." The first night we arrived in San Jose and slept at a hostel in town. That was my first time in a hostel and always imagined those being a dirty reservoir for diseases. It wasn't so bad minus the itchy sheets and girl sleeping in our room who left at 3 am and wasn't exactly silent about it.
First full day, I'll call it day 1. It was also Saturday. We left San Jose early and that was my first experience in the roller coaster, virtual reality ride we call San Jose driving. I can't say how lucky we were to not get into any accidents there. That morning we drove up to Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna waterfall. We took a little hike down through the lush forest to the waterfall and swimming hole. The water was cool, not too cold, but refreshing. The current was strong away from the waterfall so that it made it difficult to get under the waterfall. The volcano near us is active, so we couldn't go up to the top. During the day, steam comes out and at night lava trickles over the edge. Then we swam in some hot river, drove around the massive lake and started on the dirt roads to our next destination. The hot river was warmed by the volcano, that experience made up for how disappointed I am that yellowstone doesn't let me swim in their geysers and hot springs. The whole thing seemed way scenic, but I've been in Arizona for a while and sometimes forget what green looks like. That night we arrived in Monteverde area and stayed in a decent hotel, not hostel. The hosts were very nice, some German guy and his Tica (Costa Rican) wife.

Summer is here

2009-05-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

I finished my first year of dental school. The professors tell me now that it will get better and that I'll have weekends again. I'll have to wait and see about that one. Of course, I don't even remember what I did on weekends before. This summer, I will be taking part one of the national board exam, so I still have to study. I cannot think of many highlights, it all seems the same during the quarters.

I did ride in a bike race. It was 37 miles and I was borrowing a bike from someone who is 5'2'' and that made it impossible for my legs to go through a full extension. I didn't think the race would be that tough, I figured anyone with two legs and two lungs can do it. I was pretty exhausted, moving slow motion through the last few miles and barely walking when I got off my bike.

In less than a week I will be going to Costa Rica. That will be interesting and there will be may pictures to be had there.

White Coat Ceremony

2009-03-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

Medical schools have some kind of tradition where the new student gets a white coat at the beginning of the course of study. That was back in August. We did it different, ours was in December because Midwestern figured it was way too hot back in August or September.

I figured the ceremony would be long and boring, like graduation. Many students had families fly from across the country to watch the ceremony. My family drove from across the valley to see, but I did warn them. It ended up being better than I had thought and the picture is of the my dean placing the coat on me.

Thanksgiving break

2009-03-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

My academic year consists of three 10 week quarters, with a finals week following each. As a result I ended up getting a two week Thanksgiving break. I am currently on my one week spring break which is why I've had time to update this.

The first week I went to the St. George area with some friends who go to my school. We did some repelling and hiking. Atop angel's landing in Zion's national park we saw a large bird that is probably endangered, maybe a California condor.

I also went repelling for the first time in a while. No matter how many times I do it, I feel a bit hesitant on the first descent. Also, I wouldn't say I'm afraid of heights, but I don't love them either. I was so tense on my first one that my back was tightening and felt like it would snap, but it ended up being a great back workout in case you're looking for one.

The next week was Thanksgiving week. That Wednesday I was driving home to my parent's house in Mesa and got in an accident on the freeway. This was a pretty nasty one, about 8 cars or more, 6 or more had to be towed away, including mine. My vehicle was only 13 months old and that was my first accident.

This happened on the southbound 101 just north of Shea. I was hit by a vehicle that was hit by someone else. The vehicle that hit me was perpendicular to the lane and sort of spinning. I tried dodging the obstacle course but got hit by that suburban which drug me into the cement barricade on the right side. My vehicle had 7500 dollars of damage. Luckily I was okay, I had a sore ankle from the foot slammed on the brake and the impact with the barricade, but that went away after a couple days.

If you drive down the 101, just before you get to Shea, you'll notice a missing chunk of cement from the barricade. That is from the suburban. One of these days I'll get my 500 dollar deductible back, but chasing other insurance companies apparently takes time.

Mr. Institute

2009-03-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

I was in this guy pageant back in October. It was called the Glendale Mr. Institute pageant. I was fairly new to Glendale at the time and didn't know too many people. There was a nomination box at the institute building for people to select their nominees for the pageant. My room mate ended up stuffing the ballot box with my name thus getting me an invite to participate.

I thought it sounded fun but still had some reflectance to look like a dork in front of everyone, plus I felt too old to be doing one of these. I had been in a Mr. Mesa pageant a couple years prior and it turned out to be a good show, so I decided to just recycle what I did then for the talent portion.

I didn't really care to win the pageant, that's more attention then I would have wanted. Of course, that ended up not mattering because the results were rigged since the planning stages. The pageant consisted of a dance, a talent, a pick-up line, and a couple other things. The girls who put it together did a good job. It was fun, but I think that was the last of pageants for me.

The First

2009-03-02T14:44:00.000-08:00

I've considered starting a blog for a several months now. It seems that's the thing to do, kinda like how I caved in and got facebook last year. Some of these posts will be about past events, but probably not from before I started at Midwestern University in Glendale,AZ. Also, I'll buy a camera sometime so I can put pictures up- another thing I've considered doing for a while.

I moved here to Glendale late August 2008 to attend dental school. I also got accepted into a masters program at BYU, and heard I can meet lots of girls there, but I obviously stayed in Arizona. Picking between a masters and a DMD is a no-brainer, eventhough the latter costs many times more.

I then started orientation and school. It compared a bit to going into the MTC: there was the orientation to fire me up, and then the first days of classes felt like the longest days of my life, and the dean felt like some kind of mission president, just less religious. However, this is 4 years instead of 2.

I'm now 2/3 of the way done with the first year of classes, but it certainly hasn't been easy. The dean did tell us to say bye to our friends and family for a year and that it would get better after that. I'll see about that.