Roman Dog Park (outside a small cheese and wine market) 

Since everyone else is doing it !!

Patients and more thunderstorms

My drive home today was HORRIBLE!! It, of course, was still raining. It started about 4pm (of course again) and has been raining ever since. Today it took me an hour and a half to get home too... ahhh!! Yuck! But, I do really like the rain.. I just hate driving in it. (arond other people)

The patients today were so cute! It was kids day... Every patient I saw was a child. From 6 months to 15 yrs. One anisometropic little one plano in one eye and +4 in the other (she was only 20/40 out of the latter eye and didn't even know it). Poor cutie. The interesting family had FEVR ( familial exudative vitreoretinopathy) -- which, I had to look up. Probably shouldn't have had to look it up since I'm taking boards in a month.. but this one was new to me. Basically, it's ROP without the premature birth. And now I know.. and knowing is half the battle!!

Now I'm home studying and listening to the rain. I still love rain... which is good since it's happening every day lately :)

Thunderstorms and Studying

Today is brought to you by... THUNDERSTORMS! yes, every day at 3pm in Tampa we have another thunderstorm. It's the rainy season and probably won't stop doing this until October or so. But, it's part of what I love about it. For those not in the know about my quirks.. I LOVE thunderstorms. LOVE.THEM. I'm watching it get darker outside right now and I can hear the thunder rolling in.. and it's (you guessed it) 3:15pm.

Most of today I've been attempting to study for my Florida Board exam. It's mostly reviewing things I just took two months ago on the National Board Exam (Part 3). So, I'm trying to get into it.. really, I am. It's just hard when this is the third time I'm studying the same material. I studied this material for Part 2, Part 3, and now Florida Boards. I'll have to break up the monotony later by studying the law material so that it's something I've never seen before. (joy!)

Yesterday G and I set up our new printer/scanner/copier. It's the one I got for free after I traded in the portable DVD player I won at graduation banquet at Circuit City. It pays to do research and see who carries models. I now have an awesome printer I got for free instead of a DVD player I'll never use (since G already has one)

We also tried a new burger place I read about online. (SO YUMMY!) Southern Living rated them as the best burgers in the south. I don't know if I'd go that far.. but they were DAMN tasty!! If you're ever in the Tampa Bay area and want an awesome burger, check out the Green Iguana. It's also a bar, with tons on tap if you're so inclined.

I've noticed I'm blogging a lot about food lately, but when you're in a new city one of the funnest things for me is finding all the good, local eateries. Mmmm !! And, now you also know why I need to work out so much ;)

Keeping Busy

Another week of work, done! I've been keeping rather busy lately. Tuesday and Wednesday I saw patients with Drs Ken and Jamie. Thursday I was off... to study for boards and run errands. Friday I worked with Dr Jon all day.

Friday was SO busy! As soon as I'd come out of a room with a patient, there'd be another chart (or four) in the rack ready to go work up. I am making more working for Jon than I am with the ODs.... but that's okay.. they're working me harder too!! I also, need the money.. BADLY!

G came home Thursday night like always.. and we've had a very relaxing weekend so far. Last night we tried a decently rated mexican restaurant on Davis Island. It was actually pretty good... it's not Chuys or Lupe Tortilla, but it'll do for now. Last night's Netflix adventure: Shaun of the Dead. SO FUNNY! If you've seen Dawn of the Dead.. I'd highly recommend it. (especially if you're not really the huge fan of zombie movies)

Today was a running errands day. For some reason I slept WAY later than normal today (945). I must have been really tired from my week of work. We had a few things to return to michaels so we made the drive to North Tampa... there's a Michaels closer to our house, but the one up north has... wait for it... a SCHLOTZSKY'S!! yes, G was in heaven! (he loves Schlotzskys more than anything!) We also headed to the mall to buy G polo shirts for work (too hot in balitmore for dress long-sleeves) and some slacks. Kinda fun to play dress up with the man. Then, oil changes.. whooooo fun!

We'd heard from quite a few people that the sushi restaurant near us is quite good. We decided to try it out tonight. it's called Water and it's only five blocks or so away from our house. It was a very nice night for a stroll so we meandered down there. It was fairly empty when we got there which concerned us for a few minutes. Thirty minutes later it was packed! The rolls and sushi bowls were PHENOMINAL ! It was SO DAMN GOOD ! we are definitely going back !! I know where were going when my friend Liz gets here from houston on business. Mmmmmm. My favorite roll had spicy tuna, tempura battered onion, avocado, cucumber, and spicy mayo. OH MY!!

Now I have to figure out how the hell my check register got off so much. (especially since its off by the amount of a check that was NEVER CASHED!!) I hate crap like this... even when my register is off by 2 cents I get furious. :(

Apparently, my dog is not interested in chasing gekos. These are the things you learn while out running with him. He IS however, interested in chasing squirrels and small birds. I know, because I no longer have a right arm socket. He also tried to go for a swim in the bay along Bayshore (not the prettiest of water) to "play" with some baby ducks that were paddling near by.

Guys in Florida still honk at you while running, just like in Texas. No shock there. But, I do wonder why they do that? Do they really think I'm going to stop running to talk to my "dream man" who honked at me and made suggestive comments while I was out sweating and running with my dog? (I'm sure I looked my best as well). Seriously? Does this really work for guys? if not, why do they persist? Discuss.

My Italian Rental Car (heh) 

Relaxing Weekend

Overall, G and I didn't accomplish a whole lot this weekend, but we did some things to make our place feel more like home.

He worked from home on Friday, since his office is moving locations (closer to our house which is nice). I think the move will be done sometime in August. But, having him work from home on Fridays is kinda nice. I had my interview with a husband and wife in Brandon who have offices across the street from each other. I'm interviewing to work in the wife's office, with occasional days in her husband's as needed. It went very well.. she was very sweet. I really like the office and the people working there. It seems like a good environment. she told me she can get my five days a week, which would be really nice. I also drove across the street to meet her husband, who also seems very nice. The weird thing about optometry interviews is... they don't seem to care what you know... if you graduated, they know you can do this... they just want to find out if they like you and know whether you have the same practice philosophy that they have. So, between the office in Brandon and Dr Ken... it looks like I'll have full-time work. YAY! Getting real paychecks will be so nice!

Saturday G and I took Tiger to the Davis Island doggie park again. It was the first time G got to see him there and it was so much fun. Tiger has the best time at the doggie park. G and I got our doggie fix too playing with one lady's new border collie puppy. SO CUTE !

We tried out Tampa's new maccaroni grill for lunch.. and apparently they've changed their menu. It's all in English now and have the more authenic Italian dishes are gone. We were quite perterbed. G's favorite dish is no longer on the menu. And, since it was a new restaurant we couldn't ask if they could still make it.. since the cooks would have no idea what he's talking about. Oh well... I guess they're trying to draw in more of the Olive Garden crowd, but I liked them better because they WEREN'T the olive garden. *sigh*

The big adventure for Saturday was going to Michaels to buy frames. Ooooo ... "hold me back", you say. I know .. I know. But, in the land of the new home owner this is a big step. So, all of our pictures are matted and framed (by us... well, mostly G). We spent part of Sunday putting them all up. G's quite the perfectionist on getting everything measured and leveled. I was the assistent. I felt like a scrub nurse... "level, pencil, measuring tape, hammer... scalpel... "

Sunday was our big day.. G's BIRTHDAY !!! He's now 34 years old. I couldn't believe his parents didn't call him. They sent a card (no present)... and never called. My parents are so different i can't even fathom that. It's not like the family is super tight... but, birthdays are birthdays, people !!

We slept in... hung pictures... and went to Panera for a nice lunch. We saw "Batman Begins".. I'd have to say Christian Vale is the best batman. Definitely the most believeable. I could do without Katie Holmes in it.. she didn't add much to the movie. Her character wasn't very developed and she was just there as an "almost" love interest who didn't do much but need rescuing (oh lord).

The original plan had been to take G to this hip sushi place for his birthday dinner. But, when looking up their menu online Sunday morning I discovered that they were closed on Sundays for dinner. AHHH!! So, we settled for take-out and a netflix movie. (spanglish) I'll take him out saturday night next weekend for sushi dinner. I felt so bad that I didn't look that up ahead of time. I felt like the worst birthday planner ever.

And G's present from me you ask? A framed copy of an abstract painting we found while parusing art.com one day.

Moved in and Working

Well, my stuff is all unloaded. I moved in last Tuesday and got settled. I spent Tuesday night unpacking things. I spent most of last Wednesday doing fun things like getting my drivers license and license plates (which is a long saga all in itself). I've never seen a wilder cross section of society than at the Tampa DMV.... well dressed professionals on a break to run errands, tanned retirees in shorts, tanks, and flip flops... and my personal favorite the loud-entirely-obnoxious drunk guy (at 10am) who feels free to tell everyone that even though he's 40 minutes early for his appointment *HE* shouldn't have to stand in line. After two hours of being there, I was done.. and totally understood why the people that work at the DMV act the way they do. I was ready to pull out the machine gun after only two hours there. Lord help the poor people who do that every.single.day!

The dog has settled in nicely and he's VERY happy to have his daddy back. (me too) Saturday I took Tiger to the doggie park on Davis Island. Tiger had never seen waves before. Even though these weren't big waves I was a little concerned that my dog who would never go in the swimming pool suddenly seemed inclined to swim around with his pool toy like the beach was the best place EVER! But, to a dog .. it is... lots of sand to get stuck to you, water, other dogs, other people who will throw your toy when mom gets bored of throwing it 10,000 times, more sand, and lovely wet stinky doggy-ness. He was in heaven.

It seems to weird for me to think of myself as done with school.. a doctor... making *gasp!* MONEY! Although, I'm making less than a third than what I'll be making when I get that piece of paper from the state saying I won't kill people.

I worked only two days this week. One day with jamie and one with ken. i had a great time getting paid to do what I love to do. (for the first time) I normally will be working Fridays , but Dr Jon is out this week. so, no work for me. Damn.

Well, I have much much more to say, but wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive. I have to go finish cleaning and vacuuming. (joy!)

Until I can get my Europe blogs done, here is one of the coolest pictures we took-- from the top of Notre Dame.

Heading to FL

I'm back from Europe. I'm loading my life (and dog) into my car. Tomorrow , the grand drive to Florida begins. My new life begins.....