Nor'easter

After the beautiful day last Saturday, a big storm hit on Sunday. Initially some rain/snow, but it eventually turned to lots of rain and really high winds. I still had power when I left for work on Monday morning. I heard stories of whole villages being without electricity and people who couldn't make to appointments because trees were down across the road. On my way things were looking pretty clear in my direction; a few small branches in the road but nothing major. Then I approached the intersection marking the last 1.5 miles of my trip home. Right at the intersection a huge tree has blown onto the high line wires and is hanging there above the road. I was luckily able to get around that one. I figured already at that point the chances of me having electricity when I got home were not good. Well a little further down the road, I come across yet another tree hanging over the road being held up by high line wires, so as you can imagine the chances of me having power were pretty bleak. As I continued down road, I come across still another tree hanging over the road by high line wires. At this point, I've lost all hope of having any power. So I right away start preparing myself and planning the rest of my night without the wonders of electricity. Well, I walk into my house, and guess what!- yep, no power. (hahaha- did I fool ya?) So yes, that is the second time in about 2 -2.5 weeks that I didn't have power.

I slept that night in a t-shirt, hooded sweat-shirt and a North Face fleece, and pair of pants, two pairs of socks, 4 blankets and a sheet. The next night, still without power, I made a nice fire in the fire place. However, without power, there was no fan to blow the warm air any where. My solution, camp out right in front of it. I then had to wake up every couple hours to put more wood on the fire. It was sort of like spring camping in side. I did stay nice and warm though. I made the most of those days though and managed to stay in a rather positive mood despite it all. The first night I walked through the storm with a rake down my road 1.5 miles to take pictures of the trees and to rake the debris off the road where it was really thick. The second night I could have stayed someplace else that had wood heat but I decided it would be more fun to camp out at my own house.

I did get power back on Wednesday and on Thursday the storm finally ended. This was apparently what they refer to as a Nor'easter. You can look up online what it means metorogically if you really want. Sort of interesting. Locals say it was the worst storm since the ice storm of '93. What I haven't mentioned yet was the large tree that is currently leaning against the shed next to my house (no threat to the house), and the kayaks have all been moved to safety. There was also a large tree that feel next to the driveway ripping up part of the tar, but I'm also not affected by that and I don't use that portion of the driveway. Thankfully on Friday, I actually saw the sun rise from my house. That was a blessing as I was starting to forget what it looked like. I don't know how people do it in the Northwest with all that rain. The weather then turned beautiful.

I ran Friday after work for about 6 miles even though I was planning on 4. I forgot to pay attention to what my turn around point looked like and ran right past it. Oops. I pulled off the 6 miles well anyway, so good for me. That night I went to "the point" which is on the neighbors land (with their permission of course) and watched the sunset. One of the few places you can actually see west for any distance. The neighbor's view from their house alone is amazing as is the house.

Saturday I wanted to go bike around Islesboro Island which you have to take a ferry to get to, but unfortunately I couldn't find a place to rent a bike. No place has started renting yet because it isn't the tourist season. So I had to cross that off my list of things to do that day. I moved down my list to the next activity which was to hike to the top of Bald Rock Mountain. This is in the same park where Greta and I hiked Mount Battie my first weekend. The trail started off nicely, but eventually turned to snow and mud. Once my feet got nice and wet, the hike went pretty fast because I stopped trying to avoid it. It sort of reminded me of my Wind River Valley hiking adventure with Julie, Drew, and Amber minus the part where we kept losing the trail. The view at the top was again phenomenal and well worth the effort. I ate a quick lunch and then hiked/slid back down to my car.

When I got home I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go kayaking for the first time. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I wore a life jacket. Getting into and out of the kayak without falling in proved to be the most challenging part. Well either that or getting all the spiders out of it first (it hasn't been used in a while). There were a lot. After zig-zagging along the shore for about the first 20 minutes, I finally started to get a better handle of it and was able to go straight and go at a good pace. It was a lot of fun. Now if I can figure out how to reduce how much water I get in the kayak, I should be doing fairly well. I was a little wet at the end. Thankfully it was warm out and the water actually felt pretty good. I ended the night by driving to another beach to watch the sunset. It was a small sand beach flanked by rocks or houses. Sadly I had to park illegally here because I didn't know where to get a pass, and I had to trespass a little to get a good view of the sunset. No one is around tourist-wise this time of year so I was ok. Not that it makes what I did alright. (I should obviously not be a role model)

So that was my exciting week. Hope yours was great and full of electricity as needed.

Oh! Krisanne- My snowman is (or was) single, but he's already left town. He's the type of guy who never sticks around too long. You don't want a guy like that. lol Otherwise I would have hooked you up.

The Slopes of Sunday River

4/14/2007
So on Tuesday I was sitting in the office doing some paper work and strike up a conversation with the PT supervisor about running and skiing. I tell her that I was thinking about going snowboarding this weekend. She tells me that the slopes at Sunday River are great and that it's too bad I can't go during the week because she has a coupon for a free mid-week pass. Jokingly, I say something about my CI having a conference or something Wednesday. She gets really excited and says that I should seriously ask her if it would be ok. I'm thinking "Yeah right! That would go over well- asking for a day off to go snowboarding after I had a day off last week because of snow". So I kind of just forget about and say I have the day filled with observing at the pool and cardiac therapy.

Later on when my CI is also in the office, the PT supervisor actually asks her for me! Pretty much saying it would be a great opportunity for me to get out there and snowboard before the snow is gone (which doesn't seem to be happening any time soon). Well, my CI turns out to be all about it. I even tried to say that maybe I should do this other things and she was insistant on it.

So needless to say, I spent Wednesday snowboarding for about 5 1/2 hours at Sunday River. There was hardly anyone there. The snow was a little wet as it was quite warm, but it still was awesome. It was great to board in the mountains again rather than the great hills of Minnesota. However, I did forget to wear sunscreen and managed to get some pretty nasty burn lines. One patient looked at my on thursday with sincere concern and asked "What happened?" It wasn't good. The lights in the clinic make it look even worse, but I'm peeling now so I should be back to baseline soon.





Nothing else too exciting happened this week. I'm starting to get more and more patients on my case load which is nice. I had to do a TMJ eval, which reinforced how much I don't like working with TMJ problems. Teeth Apart Tounge Up!





The weather today was the warmest and sunniest it has been the whole time I've been here; Which is encouraging since, we had yet another snow storm on Thursday. I had to park down at the horse farm about 1/4 mile from my house to make sure I could get out and actually make it to work. I should have borrowed a horse. But today was beautiful. I went for about a 5 mile run. I then took a drive down to Bailey's Island with juts out into the ocean. It was a cool shoreline and will be even cooler once things turn green. It might also be a nice place to catch a sweet sunset some night. Thankfully I was able to catch a little time out in the nice weather today as there is another storm of some sort planned for tomorrow. Weather here is as messed up here as in Minnesota.





Well, I'm going to try and start working on getting a job. Wish me luck!

"The Way Life Should Be"

That is the Maine motto. New Hampshire is a little more hard core: "Live free of DIE!" I think they adopted that after they broke free from the ruthless domination of Vermont. At least that is my theory.

Anyway, I managed to survive my first week. It was a little rough at times but I managed. I have managed to get some sleep every night despite being a little spooked every night and every morning. However, I have continually grown more comfortable in the house. I had a full day off work already this week as there was a snow storm on wednesday night which took out my electricity and phone. Luckily my cell phone had enough signal to call into my clinic. I did do my best to get there, but I was only able to make it about two feet out of my garage and considering the length of my driveway, shoveling the whole things wasn't an option. Needless to say, I didn't get plowed out until about 2:30 pm. Apparentely I'm way down at the bottom of the priority list. My getting to work isn't quite as important as the horses get fed right on time or all the retired people being able to get to...ummm... where ever they need to go first thing in the morning. But I'm really not that bitter because it was a great excuse to get a day off right away. My phone eventually came back on around 1:00 pm, but my electricity didn't come back on until 1:30 pm friday. The house was pretty cold friday morning.

So what did I do with my day off? Well, after shoveling my car out enough to get it back in the garage at about 7:00 am, I decided that it was prefect snow for building a snowman. So obviously, I built a snow man. I finished reading a book I've been working on, took a nap, and did some snow-shoeing. I guess I really can't complain about being snowed in. And it was really quite romantic eating a candlelight dinner. I'm sure its VERY romantic with someone else.

The rest of the days of my week consisted of going to work, going to the gym, and then going to Cafe' Cre'me where they have wireless internet. I was there 4/5 days this past week. Nice people, good drinks, free internet- what else could you ask for. I also had a good time grocery shopping. Possibly one of the best times I've ever had grocery shopping. Normally, I hate it, but it was fun doing it someplace new. The seafood sections are much larger. They have a large tank full live lobster even. Although, I really felt bad for them as they are all in the small tank together with their "claws" rubber-banded shut. I think I'm taking empathy to an unnatural level but the thought of being in a small room with a bunch of other people with no use of my hands made me quite naseaus. My friend assures me that they don't have feeling, but these lobsters looked rather uncomfortable.

Easter weekend was rather went well. I returned to Mancherster BTS to hang out with my friend Eric and his East Coast "family". We ate some delicious food, colored some Easter eggs, hand an Easter egg hunt and talked about old cartoon while seeing how much of the opening songs we could remember. Saturday morning I was foolish enough to agree to run 8 miles with my friend Eric who normally runs much faster than me. He slowed down for me some, but took me through about the hilliest part of the town. It was killer. I lot of huge houses to look at though and a good ocean view. For Easter Sunday, we woke up early for a Sunrise Service on the coast. It was an amazing sunrise and there was a free breakfast afterward. Even better, there was enough time to take a quick nap before going to the actualy church service. Eric tried to convince me to give my this nap time for a run, but I wasn't having any of that again this morning. After church, we went to have Easter lunch with some of Eric's friends. So much good food! FYI: Sweet potatoes with pineapple stuff on top- DELICIOUS! Plus I got hooked up with a bunch of candy to take home. It was a pretty good weekend.

Sidenotes: Whoopie Pies- supposedly an amazingly tasty treat, but the one I had so far didn't impress me much. Apparently I didn't have a "good" one. They are essentially two pieces of chocolate cake with a marshallow creme in the middle.
On ramps out here are very short, and people refuse to move to the left lane, even though totally open, to let you in. Tolls from Brunswick, Maine to Manchester BTS is total $3.35. I really missed Greta when I hit the tolls.

I think that is all for an update this week. In the spirit of the holidays: take a minute to realize the sacrifice Christ paid for your life and the amazing significance of it. A good time to reflect on your blessings! "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" God bless!

GO TWINS!!

Maine or Bust

So I just finished writing a really long and witty first edition to my blog attempt and managed to lose it. Go figure. So this version promises to be shorter and much less amusing.

Greta, my talented travel buddy, and I left Minneapolis at 6:00 AM on Tuesday morning on our journey to Maine. First I will answer your question concerning what Greta's talent is. Well, not only is she the most proficient text messeger I've ever met, but she is apparently really fast at counting change and picking it out of a bag. Just so you know- tolls don't take pennies. Despite Greta's ability to manage change well, I think she still grew a slight hatred for them as she tried to take one out, which she claims was an accident. Anyway, we made it to Cleveland without any problems where we stayed for the night. The next day we made a pit stop at Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame (which I recommend for any baseball fan). We essentially had the place to ourselves. We made it to Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA that night to stay with my friend Eric. Now you may be asking why "by-the-sea", at least I know I asked. Apparently, the original immigrants had very little creativity in coming up names so most of the town names are repeated between states. Henceforth, Manchester, NH is so close to Manchester, MA that the former had to add a qualifier.

Moving on, Greta and I headed up the coast through New Hampshire to Maine. Where we stopped in Portland (Maine's largest city claiming ~60,000 residents). Here we grabbed a bite to eat and searched for a large park, which we never found until the next day. We then made our way up to Freeport which is home to the L.L. Bean Company, which is cool, but still no match for REI in my opinion. However, it is open 24hrs/day and John Travolta is occasionally seen ther late at night (Tour guide books can be so informitive). We didn't see any celebrities unfortunately. Side note: if ever traveling with Greta, do NOT forget to point out every establishment that serves ice cream. It may be important. (LOL- sorry I'm laughing at my own inside joke right now at Greta's expense).

Finally, we made it to my house, which is a large 5 bedroom/5 bathroom home on the water, in the middle of no where that I have all to myself. This place may be farther in the boonies than my parent's house. So it is a little spooky at night. After choosing a room, moving my stuff in, and reviewing every detail with my landlord, Greta and I enjoyed some lobster and then explored the local towns a little. We ended at the Road House bar and grill where they were having open mic night. Greta performed a few numbers and we headed home.

The next morning we went for a 5.5 mile run, met my landlord's whole extended family, and then headed up the coast to Booth Bay and Camden. These towns apparently close down about half the business during the non-tourist season, but still have some cool sites. We hiked up Camden Hill to get a great view of the coastline and met a nice retired couple along the way. Maine may be the except to the East Coasters are jerks stereotype. They seem quite nice to me, minus their short entrance ramps and refusal to move to the open left lane. But I digress, we headed back to Manchester BTS, and Greta flew out at 6:15 AM Saturday from Boston. I spent the rest of the weekend with my friend Eric and his "family" there. Norweigen (I'm not Scandinavian so I don't know how to spell such words) pancakes are very tasty and you can eat about 7-8 before getting full. I was surprised to find Scandinavians this far east, I thought they all lived in MN, WI and the Dakotas. Who knew!?! They are different out here though, they don't have the cool "Fargo" accent at all.

I started my last clinical rotation today. Yes! That's right my LAST clinical rotation. That does indeed mean (barring any major catastrophes) that Craig Dorn will finally be graduating and done with school. Woohoo! After only 7 years and we won't even discuss how much money. My new site seems nice. My clinicial instructor seems a little on the crazy side, but very smart. So I hope to learn a lot.

Anyway, I don't have tv at my house and only dial-up internet. So I'm hoping to have some adventures outside my house. I've already joined a gym and found a great coffee shop with free wireless. Well, sorry this has been long. I decided to try this route to keep everyone posted (and to continue my resistance to joining Facebook - Stay strong Alicia!)

I miss you all. Come visit.