My birthday

So as proof that Heather spoils me, this year for my birthday she is doing what she calls "The 30 Days of Steve". Which means that she got me 30 small gifts and I have been opening one a day as a countdown to when I turn 30. She is awesome and I'm lucky to have her.

Most it's ever snowed at my house

It not much. But this is the first snow of the year. And I'm excited!






And yes that's me with a mustache. More on that to come soon.
Merry Christmas to all!

Island lake triathlon

Well tonight I was able to my first triathlon in Michigan. That's right I said tonight, Thursday evening there happened to be a sprint triathlon about 10 minutes from our house. As you might be able to tell it has rained all day. For some reason this year I have not had great luck with weather and the races I've done (LA marathon in march), but this one wasn't too bad today. I had a great time. It was at this beautiful park near our house and the temperature was actually great. I did okay. I came into it really wanting to sprint since it really wasn't a very long race. I ranked 4th in my age group in the swim and 6th in the bike, but we'll stop there and not mention the run.

I was very lucky because I almost didn't get out of the hospital in time, and Heather was even able to get home in time to be there too!

Getting in touch with my artistic/HGTV side

Below are a few things I've been working on recently. These first two are a painting I did at an art class I took before my residency started. I'm pretty happy with it and you can also see where it is now hung in our downstairs bathroom.


These next pictures are evidence that I have been watching too much HGTV recently. However I'm pretty proud of them. The next two are of something I painted to go above the futon in our spare bedroom. It is 12 separate canvases.


Here is something I put together to go above our bed. I cut up a print of a famous painting and arranged it in a set of six frames that I mounted together.

The wave

There are a number of things that make me uncomfortable/annoyed. One of those is the wave at a sporting event. Really I don't mind the wave itself. I appreciate the enthusiasm that is represents. However, what I can't stand is the guy who insists that it is his calling in life to start the wave. That guy who insists on yelling at the front of the section to try and get everyone else to participate in this task he has deemed important enough to repeatedly yell at me as if it is my duty as well.

Actually I don't mind the initial attempt, even the second. But please after your second attempt at the wave fails because no one else is into it please stop. I personally think that security should step in after the second attempt.

The price is right

This one wasn't even on my list of things to do this summer. But I got an email about tickets to the show a few weeks ago and thought it'd be cool to win a new car. So I was able to talk Brendan Able into winning some stuff as well and I met him there at 8am at CBS studios. But brendan had to leave before we even got into the studio because the whole process took longer than we had expected. Luckily we made some friends in line so I was able to talk with them after he left. It was pretty cool to see them do the taping. The studio was a lot smaller than I would have predicted. And the whole taping only took about an hour for the episode. It actually seemed like they do a lot of the editing while the taping is happening.

So I had always heard that you need to be very outgoing to be selected for the show. But from what I saw, you have to act like an idiot. I saw adults wearing Hawaiian shirts and acting like 10-year-olds. And the two guys who each made it to show showcase at the end looked like creepers I'm all for feigning excitement for a car, but I couldn't bring myself to be like creepy mc creeperton.

This is a pic of me being excited, but not excited enough to win a car.

My last big vacation

That title is actually more depressing than it should be. I am actually really excited about the next four weeks, but it is true that I will very likely never again get this amount of time off of work for vacation.

Given that fact I am going to live it up, like Babe, pig in the city. I've actually been working on a mental list of things I want to do during this time, but now I'm actually putting it in writing so that I can plan this all out. So far this includes:

1. Learn the dance from Napolean Dynamite. Not to perform for anyone necessarily, but just for myself. I realize the danger in this because people often claim I am like the character John Herder portrays in the film, but that's okay.
2. Go golfing, a lot. I already have a list of about 5 different people with whom I need to golf with, and I fully plan on playing with all of them.
3. Go to Tommy Davis's wedding in Hawaii.
4. Do some oil painting. I've found some classes near by, also plan on painting some with glen's girlfriend Kim.
5. Turn up the subwoofer in my car. For years I've used it but had it turned down quite a bit because I felt ridiculous driving around with a super loud bass, but not for now.
6. Try out paddle boarding