Heimlich

An eventful day to say the least... A renal final from the infamous Renal Wrangler, which veritably kicked my ass. Next I was having lunch in Club Med with my Faculty Advisor (an internal med doc.) when suddenly a man runs in asking, "Is there a doctor here, a woman's choking!" Quickly Dr. Goldberg jumped up to his feet, running to help the woman. She was wheezing and clearly having a hell of an awful time trying to get air. He positioned himself and gave her one big upward thrust of the Heimlich Maneuver. The woman continued to choke, so another thrust. Still nothing. Then one final big bear hug of a thrust and the woman began to cough and gasp air. I didn't see any food come out, so I'm not sure exactly what happened, but regardless the woman was now breathing. As she was recovering I ran to the soda machine and brought her a glass of water. I guess it's fitting... "Quick someone get a doctor, this woman's Choking!" should be followed by "Quick someone find a med student! This woman was saved and now she needs some water!" It just doesn't have the same ring... and chicks don't find it quite as heroic. I felt like I could have helped her, but really my place is set as the lackey waterboy.

Kite Flying Society

A great concert from the Kite Flying Society last night at the Casbah in San Diego. I really didn't know what to expect. Going in I had heard a few demo songs and liked their upbeat and mellow feel... a bit remniscent of the Strokes and the Shins and even a bit of some old school the Beach Boys (a little bit). They have a bit of a folk feel to them as well, perhaps because of their fiddle or maybe the plaid and happy demeanor. I was surprised at the range of people in the band, certainly an eclectic group. Derek was rocking the Glockenspeils, as well as the piano guitar, keyboard, and it looked like he was mixing effects from his computer as well. I was surprised to see the violinist let it rip with her bow, and the keyboardist had something about her that was... intriguing. Kinda like a girl who is shy but has a twinkle in her eye, or a pianist who is holding back just a bit. The vocals were great and I had a great time listening to these guys. They looked like they were having as much fun as we were... also great cover of "Friends of P!" This is a band well worth checkng out! They finished with 6000 Shipwrecks, which rocked. They are apparently putting together an album. I hope to see them and hear them on the radio in the future... Check out their site: Kite flying Society

Thundercats Ho!

With an epic trip to Tahoe with 40+ of my favorite Sierra Camp friends, I'm not sure you can go wrong. The trip started out with a 5 am wake-up and subsequent flight to Reno, followed by a bus ride to South Lake (instead of paying the $25 for the shuttle, we jumped onto some Fresno Tour Group bus that was heading that way. We played it cool, and acted like we knew what we were doing, but we were way out of the demographics and it was obvious we were imposters. Everyone was in their 40's or older, and every man had a well manicured mustashe. Nonetheless, we chatted them up and nobody minded us taking a free ride).

After getting to South Lake and having lunch, we met up with Carly, Chuck, B-Hyde, and Trainer to walk in Sierra Camp on Fallen Leaf Lake in the snow to retrieve the coveted knee board and long rope. After successful recovery followed by epic riding of said kneeboard, we went back to the cabin and hung out with the rest of camp. That night we went to the Casinos and danced the night away in Cabo Wabo Club. I, for some reason, elected to wear a pony costume (which by the way, the lizadies loved).

The following day Chris and I recovered from the night on the ski slope (although our wallet may never recover from the $73 lift ticket! WTF?). We ate ribs at Womacks.

Womack! You pice of shit. Why am I not Surprised?
-Sean Connery in THE ROCK

The party at the cabin that night consisted of intro skits, mystery guests, and a faculty speaker. I am proud to say this was a WEST COAST CUSTOMS FIRST!

Sail Away

Last weekend John Hornbeak, Chris, and I set sail onto Mission Bay. The wind was blowing hard, and as we were renting the boat we had the feeling that this may be a mistake ending with us capsized in the middle of the bay, drenching wet and cold. Fortunately for us, this was not the case, and quite on the contrary, we had an amazing time wipping up and down the bay with snappy tacks and jibes. Having only sailed a handfull of times before, what I lacked in talent and knowledge, I made up for in confidence. This later came to bite me in the butt when I got us stuck underneath a bridge with absolutely no wind coming through. We had to push against the pileon in order to get the boat out of our luff. Towards the end we started to really get a grip of sailing and actually were going so fast that we were on one pontoon of the Hobee Cat leaning out to counterbalance as far as we could. Chris had never sailed before, and by the end of the day he was darting some great lines through the bay.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing you a wonderful and pleasant day.
With all my love,
~Nic