viva las vegas - csm 2014

I got to the airport way too early for my flight February 1 because I had misread my reservation and my ride had to get to work.  I used the airport time to catch up on some research.  It turned out the last four people to get on the plane were classmates of mine, also going to Las Vegas a couple days early.  The flight stopped in Phoenix where I found these wonders:

i can't imagine wanting to buy one, much less try it!

We arrived in Las Vegas and I was picked up by Jen, one of "my kids" from back in the day at Chinese Independent Baptist Church's high school group, Ichthus.  She's now a dentist with the VA and Air Force Reserves.  She had to work for part of the day Sunday so I took a walk from her house to where I got a pretty good view of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area - or at least the red rocks part of it.  When she got back in the afternoon, we headed out to Hoover Dam and the Pat Tillman-Mike Callaghan Memorial Bridge - the Hoover Dam bypass for US 93.  The bridge was completed in 2010, diverting through traffic from traveling directly on the two-lane dam.  We walked across the bridge (1.6 miles) and back, then went across the dam to the Arizona side and walked across the dam to Nevada and then back to the car.  The water level was very low, I'm curious to compare with my (film) photos from the other visit I made to the dam in the 90s.

view of red rock across graded, to-be-developed land

hoover dam/ pat tillman-mike callaghan memorial bridge

jen and me at one of the statues by the dam

Monday morning Jen had me drop her off at work so I could borrow her car and not have to hang out on the Strip by myself from 6 am until my classmate Ashley arrived after 3 pm.  I took another walk from her house before going to check in for the week.  When I got to Circus Circus, I made an executive decision with which Ashley, with whom I shared the room, agreed wholeheartedly later - I upgraded our room from the Manor Motor Lodge buildings to the Skyrise Tower.  The Manor Motor Lodge looked sketchy at best, and involved multiple outside entrances to smaller buildings behind the main casino, and just didn't seem as safe for us.  I made my way to the convention center, wandered around, and eventually asked someone where to find registration in the Sands Convention Center.  Since everything (at least along the Strip) is connected to casinos, it was a maze to get to anything.  I picked up Ashley at the airport and brought her to registration to pick up her materials for CSM (American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Sections Meeting).  There we added Michelle (a second year Emory DPT student) to our party and brought Ashley's luggage to our room at Circus Circus before going to pick Jen up at work.  Jen took us out to Lotus of Siam - a Thai restaurant in a sketchy-looking strip mall east of the Strip.  It has a Zagat rating of 28/30 for food...  and it IS very good!  The menu is intense - around 150 food items including Northern Thai specialties (we tried a Northern red curry), plus an extensive wine list.  Jen dropped us off back at the convention center and we wandered around the strip a bit before Ashley and I walked just over a mile back to Circus Circus.

michelle, ashley, and me in the palazzo shops with year of the horse decor

las vegas was definitely celebrating the lunar new year!
(this is the venetian casino version of campanile di san marco)

That walk convinced us to invest in a $20 three-day bus pass for the Deuce Bus that runs only on Las Vegas Boulevard.  The walk was fine, but we couldn't imagine enjoying the same walk each morning in the cold while carrying whatever we needed for each day as well as walking back each evening, again carrying whatever we had with us, after having been on our feet and walking for most of the day.  We used at least two round-trips per day and felt that we had made a very wise decision, especially since the bus cost $6 for a two hour pass and $8 for a 24 hour pass.  The next three days were the official conference days.  Ashley and I ended up choosing the same lecture sessions to attend which made it easy to keep track of each other.  We particularly enjoyed walking through the exhibit hall, talking to exhibitors and learning about their products or type of employment they were offering.  Ashley spotted free food at lunchtime on the first day so we arranged to show up in that area each day around lunchtime - that saved us a pretty penny on food!  We also saved money on dinners when we discovered that our appetites were small enough to be satisfied with the hors d'oeuvres that were served at the evening receptions.  I had bought some groceries over the weekend which covered us for breakfast and snacks, so we got off pretty cheaply on our overall trip costs.
I was able to get together with Cheryl, one of my mother's taiko buddies, for a leisurely chat over gelato (with Ashley in tow), and later that evening spoke with another taiko buddy, Carol Jo, at the Residency and Fellowship Reception.  I also met up twice with Monique, the PT with clinics in Carson City and Minden, NV, with whom I interviewed in December.

ashley, michelle, and me looking official with our badges

bellagio fountain show - set to music, goes off every 15 minutes

pretty horse inside the bellagio

Thursday afternoon, Michelle, Ashley, and I agreed that we were quite through with the convention, so we took off sight-seeing down the strip, heading all the way to the south end.  Unexpectedly, it sprinkled a bit that afternoon, but fortunately not much, since we were completely unprepared for rain.  We had plans to meet Mark, my former architecture boss from Las Vegas, for dinner at a restaurant he specified.  I let the other two know that it would be quite a trek (another mile) on a lonely stretch of highway between the airport and a golf course, and they decided we should try to walk it anyway.  It turned into quite an adventure, jaywalking over to the completely pedestrian UNfriendly "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign, jaywalking to the other side of the street, walking alongside the airport runway with "jet blast" warning signs on the fence next to us, having the sidewalk run out on us, and eventually having planes come in for landing directly over our heads.  Dinner, however, was delicious, and it was a lot of fun for me to catch up with Mark.  He dropped us off at the far north end of the strip to see the "Fremont Street Experience."  Boy, that was definitely an experience!

we found the iconic welcome sign!

where the sidewalk ends...

mark, me, michelle, and ashley

fremont street experience - the heart attack grill
disgustingly advertises "over 350 lbs eats free"

Friday morning Ashley and I caught a cab to the airport and ended up on a flight with eight of our classmates.  We caught a ride home with a friend of mine and began the struggle to get back on east coast time!

sunset over atlanta

snowpocalypse/ snowmageddon/ hothlanta/ atlantarctica 2014 and then some...

At least two inches of snow fell, which isn't much at all in Tahoe or in any city that is used to snow, but Atlanta is (even after a similar debacle in 2011) not prepared to handle it.  I spent Tuesday afternoon after Emory shut down in expectation of the snow and a few hours the next day walking around with Anika and a couple of other undergrads since the school was closed.  We took photos of the snow and were people-watching - it's fun to watch the reactions of people from different places to the snow.  Atlanta is beautiful with a blanket of snow, just close to nonfunctional.  Unfortunately, Emory closed on Thursday also, despite the fact that most roads were completely dry again, so that put me way behind on work, since the next interview day was Friday.  By Thursday evening, I was going stir-crazy, so I invited a bunch of friends from Graduate Christian Fellowship to come hang out.  That was a good few hours of "friend time" before the next day's hectic start, complete with snacks, hot chocolate and tea, and music.

just the beginning of the crowds gathering to take the shuttles

group of east indians in a snowball fight tuesday afternoon

i'm so thankful i didn't have to be part of that traffic!!

this bench is even nicer with snow on it

"sledding" on grass with a little snow in lullwater estate

me, anika, and rachel at the downstream end of candler lake

funny little snowmen

my street wednesday morning, it really was very slick

school of medicine wednesday mid-morning

Friday was the second and final interview day.  I arrived just before 7 am to find the plaza in Woodruff Health Sciences Center Administration Building (WHSCAB) empty and the lights off - not a single table or a single chair in the space that was supposed to serve breakfast and receive 100 applicants plus about 100 guests, faculty, staff, and current students.  I was about to head over to the PT office to help bring supplies when the first applicant showed up, looking understandably confused.  After I reassured her she was in the right place, and the interview was indeed happening, I texted Monica, my supervisor, to let her know I was there and would remain there until others arrived.  In the meantime, breakfast arrived with Emory Catering.  I discovered a long table downstairs by the WHSCAB auditorium entrance and dragged it up the stairs to give them something on which to set up - the catering folks had to do some rearranging since they usually used two tables, but they made it work admirably.

Monica arrived with loads of paperwork and her three sons, who were still out of school due to the weather.  She had answered many emails the previous two days from applicants concerned about travel and whether the interview would actually take place.  Her three sons (two high school age, one elementary) dove in with a will and helped me collate the papers and assemble informational folders in time to get them to each interviewee before the day officially began.  I set student volunteers assembling name tags - they were then able to pass them out as interviewees arrived, handing out the folders as we completed them.

Chairs and tables arrived after the morning's activities were well under way, including giving my part of a presentation on our research project.  The research presentations were given on the previous interview day as well.  I came back to WHSCAB plaza to help set up the tables so it was ready before lunchtime when the interviewees were brought back by their tour guides.  I did my lunch order and delivery run like the previous interview day with a little less running around - I brought a cart this time and was able to deliver in one long trip rather than four short ones.  In the afternoon I filled in for a bit answering questions at a poster for Service Learning, which is an important part of Emory's DPT program.  I was finally able to leave at 5:30.  96 of the 100 interviewees made it, despite delays, cancelled flights, and other problems.

One thing that we also managed to get done during the day was an Indiegogo crowdfunding page for the Service Learning trips we will be taking.  8 of us are going to the Dominican Republic during the first week of March, and a group of 14 will head to Jamaica the following week.  Two of the students going to the Dominican Republic will head straight to Jamaica.  The campaign is only on through February 14, and we are hoping to raise as much money as we can to defray costs associated with the trips.  We have met our official goal, but that goal is only a small portion of the costs of the trips.  For more information and if you're interested in donating to help us lend a hand in the Caribbean, here's the link: http://igg.me/p/665024.

I was pretty exhausted by the time I got home that evening, but knew that I'd be spending the next day travelling to Las Vegas and probably not getting a whole lot of exercise aside from walking for the next week, so I joined a group to climb at Wall Crawlers for their $6 student night.  It was good to climb, especially since the Emory wall had been closed along with the rest of the university Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (meaning I still haven't gone back to work yet, as I am scheduled for Wednesdays).  Once I got back home, I still had to pack for the upcoming week.

I woke up early the next morning to get a ride to the airport, and off I went to Las Vegas, Nevada for the APTA CSM (American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Sections Meeting) - the biggest convention of the year for Physical Therapists.

hit the ground running!

Although I have the most relaxed schedule I could imagine with only one weekly class and two weekly meetings, the first three weeks back in Atlanta felt like at least six.  I got back into Atlanta the evening of January 11 and got picked up by my friend Lauren and her boyfriend Michael.  Lauren had flown in a few hours earlier, so the two of them went to dinner nearby before picking me up.  The next day, after attending Passion City Church, I did a bunch of grocery shopping to replenish my cupboards and get ready to go the next day.  Somewhat exciting news, I won an iPod Nano and "Noise Cancelling" Headphones from a website where I take surveys when I'm bored.  I said I wasn't going to believe it until they showed up, which they did while I was away on break.

hooray!  free ipod nano and headphones!

Monday morning I went in to work for DPT Admissions - there was a lot to prepare before Friday, the first interview date for applicants.  Throughout the week I assembled folders of information for the interviewees, made an interview schedule, and answered a ton of emails.  Monday afternoon, I got started as a preceptor by attending my first lab for the first year's General Medical Conditions class.  We preceptors paired up with faculty to teach four different stations during the lab covering different topics.

Friday was Interview Day.  I was up dark and early and on campus ready to work at 7:15 am.  I worked straight through 5:15 pm.  I found myself running around all day long, answering questions, taking orders and delivering lunch for the interviewers, setting up, cleaning up, and generally keeping busy.  I was very happy that breakfast and lunch were provided!  It ended up a very successful day with 89 interviewees, over 80 current students involved, and at least 12 different interviewers.  That evening was a joint dinner for Graduate Christian Fellowship, Faculty Christian Fellowship, and the undergraduate InterVarsity groups on campus, so I came quickly back to campus to attend that.

all set up for the afternoon reception on interview day

Saturday I got together with one of the first years to help her practice her lab skills, then joined my classmate Rob to watch my first ever rugby game.  Unfortunately, Emory lost to Valdosta State 90-0.  It was still fun to learn a little bit about the game, and I hope to see more to get a better idea of how the sport is SUPPOSED to go.

Sunday, Passion City Church met in Phillips Arena in downtown Atlanta as a followup to the Passion 2014 conference.  I picked up my friend from the Emory climbing wall, Anika, and met my classmate Jessica on campus to carpool.  It was HUGE, with lots of talented musicians leading the singing, then a message by Louie Giglio, the pastor of Passion City Church.

passion city church packed out phillips arena!
jessica, anika, and me on the left, me with dan on the right

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so I joined 9 others for my first hike on the Appalachian Trail.  The group was loosely connected via Graduate Christian Fellowship, with a couple of alumni and three guests including my friend Anika.  We hiked from Unicoi Gap to Trey Mountain for an 11 mile out and back round-trip.  One member of the group is an endurance runner, whose idea of hiking is to get the best possible workout in the shortest possible time.  This meant that the first half mile or so was straight uphill at a breakneck pace which led me to get a pretty solid headache and another person to feel quite nauseous.  At that point, three of us decided to hike at our own pace and enjoy the scenery, after Tylenol and some food helped ease symptoms.  The speed hikers thankfully didn't seem to mind stopping and waiting for the rest of us.

view from the trail

anika, eric, katherine, marissa, jenn, jared, steffi, lilly, ben, and me on trey mountain

The rest of the week I kept busy with work, my one class, research, and a lab with the first year class.  I had an appointment at the Emory Travel Clinic to get necessary vaccinations for my upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic, went to Graduate Christian Fellowship Thursday evening, and volunteered with the therapeutic horseback riding Friday afternoon.  Friday evening was a "Cornhole Tournament" for Jenn's birthday.  The party was mostly members and alumni of Graduate Christian Fellowship.  For those who don't know, there's an explanation of cornhole here.

my awesome teammate candace - team candancy!  we lost in the semifinals

Saturday morning I got up dark and early again to run a 5K - the "Race to End Homelessness" benefiting the Atlanta Mission.  Anika again joined me, and we were pretty happy to keep running for the whole distance and maintain an under-11-minute-mile pace since neither of us are actually runners!  It was under 20 degrees Fahrenheit when we got there, and probably about 25 by the time we left a couple hours later.  It was a challenge to figure out what to wear since we had to wait around for nearly an hour before the race started.

anika and i met harry hawk of the atlanta hawks after the race - because he stole her banana!

On Sunday after church, I stopped off at the beginning of Remi's birthday party to wish her a happy birthday.  Remi graduated last May from Emory with a DPT.  Later that afternoon, I joined Laura, a friend from church, for her birthday celebration, meeting 6 new friends in the process.  We ate at The Nook on Piedmont Park where I learned about Totchos - tater tot nachos.  The Redneck Totchos with pulled pork that I tried were pretty tasty, though not exactly what I'd call healthy!

Monday evening the climbing wall finally opened for the semester, and I was looking forward to getting back in climbing shape and getting some more work hours at the wall starting Wednesday.  I did get to climb Monday, but then came Snowpocalypse/ Snowmageddon/ Hothlanta/ Atlantarctica 2014.  Call it what you will, it was a mess.  I was in my meeting for the upcoming Dominican Republic service trip, watching snowflakes drifting down outside the window, when we started getting emails and texts telling us that class was cancelled and Emory was closing for the day.  It seems that all rational thought ceases at times like this for some people.  Watching out the window, we saw a pickup truck with about 10-15 construction workers piled in the back driving up Clifton Road.  I understand that they wanted to get back to their cars quickly, but the back of a pickup truck does not seem like the safest way to start off their commute home.  Later that night I saw a car abandoned in the middle of a traffic lane on Clifton - in a flat area where there was no chance of sliding out of control at a slow speed.  I also heard stories of people abandoning cars in the middle of the travel lane in the on-campus parking decks, causing headaches for the people trapped behind.  These are the stories that DIDN'T make the news...

truckload of construction workers; barely any snow in the quad;
pretty snow on leaves; falling snow around the main campus gate

abandoned car on clifton rd
hazard lights on but no attempt to move to the side of the road

I'm going to continue this in my next post because this is getting really long...