action packed

sadly, this rotation is now officially a wash- i just can't seem to convince anyone that i can see patients. on my own. so, it's more of a shared affair, a threesome where generally at least one of the particpants is totally unwilliing. sometimes more, and then it gets weird. but mostly it's just bump on a log boring. at this point though, i figure i've got nothing left to lose, so i can be as pushy as i want. i like everyone there, i just can't understand why they've chosen dermatology as their career.

oh wait.

because they live in a mountain town mecca and have stupid amounts of time to spend enjoying it.

surely that must be it, since i cannot for the life of me figure out any other reason. so i'm gonna go with that...in which case i better ramp up the enjoyment part for the remaining 2 weeks. last weeks enjoyment menu ran something like this:

thursday nite: one last family munch 'n music fest, complete with elephant ears and reggae.

friday: went to check out the cascade classic up at mt. bachelor, a pro bike race in town with some big names to go watch...floyd landis, levi leipheimer (out with a fx wrist, i heard) and the winner of the stage we watched, oscar sevilla. ben rode up from town and got to cross his own finish line and then ride back down with the pros. then there was some packing up the boys for their journey back east and doing some riding around town on bikes to find mexican food and cold beer. success.

saturday: drove up to portland to be a taplister ambassador at the oregon brewer's fest. ben lined it up since it involved of his 2 favorite things- beer and iphone gadgetry. free admission and free beer as long as you twittered like mad and went around chit chatting it up with people. i bailed at the last minute, which ended up being the right decision based on the heat and crazy drunk people factor. i spent the afternoon playing with the boys, which was delightful. lego mania. good times.

then we went to this INSANE crawdad fest in NE portland with our friend bryce- which was pretty much the best.party.EVER. live cuban music, heaps and heaps of crawdads (toasted my n'owleans peeps- fred, amy and shay- of course- with ice cold PBR you can pretty much toast every last person you know and still stand upright) vats of cold beer and large quantities of watermelon....and the quintessential peach and berry cobblers rounded out the smorgaasbord. it's a house/garden party this guy throws every year, just for fun. i will now aspire to hold such a party. it was amazing. and his garden was unbelievable. total sight to behold on all fronts.

then (sniff) dropped the boys off at the airport for their red eye back to boston (smelling pleasantly of spicy crustaceans)...very sad. (for me, not the other passengers). 7 weeks of familylessness. on one hand, i'm sort of excited to be completely spoiled in do-whatever-i-want time, but coming back to bend without them really sucked. walking into our room and seeing their stuff there without them hit me hard. no one to cuddle with, no giggling, no little boy bodies running around like crazy...
digression done.

to cheer up, i went to stay with erica and phillip for the nite, which was super fun. met them at a friends post wedding gathering and chatted with some fun people. got to taste test the deschutes new gluten free beer- good news abby, it's DELICIOUS!

sunday- decided to tag along with erica and phillip and friends up to frenchman's dome to go climbing. it's been a loooong time, which was immediately and quite pathetically felt. i thought it would all come flooding back, i mean, shit... i used to climb for a living. turns out, it's gonna take some more poking and prodding before i feel the way i used to about it. but i had a super fun time despite the fact i think i was brooding the whole morning about the boys being gone. the view of mt. hood from the top of the crag was pretty stunning. and it was shady with a nice breeze, not something to be taken lightly on a 95 degree day. the company was super fun- a few folks from the previous nite, AND i got to meet boone speed, a famous climber whom i've read about for years and years...so maybe now i can give up looking for lynn hill in bend's nooks and crannies. one climbing celebrity just might do it.
then i drove back down to bend in some sort of weird daze and when it cooled off a bit at 6:3opm, i went for a 2 hour bike ride out mt. washington road and all around, just sort of riding...cathartic healing. and it was goooooood. have i mentioned i love this town??

and that's my plan pretty much. wake up, eat, work, bike, eat, sleep for the next 7 weeks. maybe try to find a decent swimming hole every once in a while. cause i've got nothing else to do or anyone else to take care of. just me. and if i think about it for too long i'll get bored, lonely, or sad....and chocolate only cures one of those afflictions. so...yeah. it's just me. huh. weird.