I've been here four weeks now. Wednesday of my third week I got to attend CSM - the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association. I took the San Diego Trolley in from Chula Vista, avoiding the downtown traffic and parking hassles. After picking up my badge holder at registration, I met up with some of the first year Emory PT students. I am the only one from my class to attend since we are all over the country on our long term rotations. I also got to see Cheryl, one of my mother's Taiko drumming friends who is a PT for Kaiser in the Bay Area.
We attended a couple of lectures, wandered the exhibit hall, explored a bit outside at lunchtime, and in the evening went to the Emory University Alumni and Faculty Reception. It was great to see a bunch of familiar faces, and I ended up really enjoying the time in the exhibit hall talking to representatives of different PT clinics and companies about opportunities that exist.
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| i hung around with katherine all day |
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| panoramic view from a cool pedestrian bridge |
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| the inimitable and beloved "miss ella" - the emory DPT admin |
The next day I got off a little early again so I headed to the Chula Vista Marina. There was a plethora of shorebirds, including great blue herons, snowy egrets, brown pelicans, sandpiper types, ducks, coots, and of course seagulls. I was so surprised to find that herons were nesting in a pine tree right at the marina that I tripped on a curb and tore open my big toe!
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| pair of brown pelicans |
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| snowy egret |
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| how many herons can you spot in this picture (there are six!) |
I spent the weekend in South Pasadena, catching up with a friend from Berkeley. Irene and I hadn't seen each other in 8 years! The last time was on the San Francisco peninsula when they were up for a friend's wedding. Back then, the kids were somewhat shy, especially B - the only way to get him to smile for a picture was to flip him upside down over my shoulder. Now, both kids are talkative and fun, with M involved in band and softball and B getting me to pull out my old soccer skills to shoot goals on him.
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| eight years ago and now! joe took the first photo, was off biking for the second |
This past Wednesday I went out to the Chula Vista Marina again. The tide was lower and there were many fewer types of birds, but the sun was out so I was able to see the heron nests better. I also discovered that they were in a couple different trees.
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| two nests right next to each other |
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| another beautiful sunset |
Thursday I got off early again and headed out to Silver Strand State Beach again, this time for a run. I ran a couple miles down the beach and half ran and half walked back. The shells were much more numerous further from the entrance, and I found several whole sand dollars.
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| navy helicopter drills by the beach |
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| sand dollars on the kelp |
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| barefoot running on the empty beach |
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| yet another beautiful sunset |
Friday night Ron and Lisa Peterson returned from their travels, with son Eric spending the weekend to welcome them home. Today we'll head out to lunch to celebrate Lisa's birthday.
