So this goes without saying but I though I would post it anyways.

I miss ya'll If any of ya'll wanna chill in the Ghetto. Please stop by you're welcome anytime.

duuuudes (and dudettes who read this)... a prayer request

so i got a call from dr. mary macdougall the other day... who is dr. mary macdougall? well, she's the director of the DMD/PhD program at UAB... and a professor in the oral/maxillofacial surgery department. i emailed her at the beginning of the summer with a few questions... talked to her a little right before i moved to louisville... but haven't heard from her since-- until she called the other day.

she wants me to consider moving back to birmingham (yeah, i know) and start in a PhD program... then transition into their DMD/PhD program after a year. i can choose any health-related science department for the PhD... but apparently she's already been talking to the Biomedical Engineering department about me-- so that's what she really wants me to consider. i'd be doing research on tissue engineering in conjunction with professors from the PhD department and professors from the Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery department. really cool stuff.... and it would set me up perfectly to do an oral/maxillofacial surgery residency after dental school. and dental school would be free. so basically, it's the ideal set-up... i'd end up (by the end of the residency) with a PhD, a DMD, and an MD (built in to the oral/maxillofacial surgery residencies)...

it seems like it would be perfect. i'd end up w/ a career in academic surgery... plus a ton of opportunities for overseas relief work because of having both dentistry and medical degrees.

so... please be praying about this for me. i would really love for it to work out.

Heads up

Just a heads up to all of you all who are still considering med school...it's no walk in the park.

Sorry just a little venting there...first test is Monday so I'm a little overwhelmed. Hope everyone is doing well!

Whoops.

strapped for cash and calories?

okay... not sure how many of us are on super-tight budgets, but for anyone who is...

my aunt told me about this, and it turns out she's not full of crap. For anyone who's trying to figure out how to hit 2000 calories a day without eating only ramen, take a look at http://www.angelfoodministries.com/ It's not a charity thing-- it's for anyone who wants to order a month of food from participating churches. $25 gets you a crap-ton of legit food each month. There aren't churches everywhere that do it... but there are a lot of places, so check it out if you're as strapped for cash and calories as I am.

Greetings from Orlando

Well, I've been here for a little over a week and quickly learning my around. I've already found a local produce and meat place. Where I live is on the east side of Orlando and the best way I can describe it is like grid of roads like 280 (in front of the summit) crossing every mile or so with smaller roads which run parallel to the east west roads. I am about a quarter of a mile from walmart and about 2 miles from strip mall hell. The university is 5 miles away.

This past week we completed orientation on Wedensday and Thursday, the incoming class is about 30 people big where I am the closest out of state person, geographically. Our class is composed of people from Taiwan, China, Mexico, Italy, Iran, and the States, so it has a nice international cross section. On the first day we played a game where we were divided into groups and built boats out aluminum foil to see which group could hold the most pennies. Then, sat in a classroom and learned about CREOL, filled out paperwork, lunch, and then advising in the afternoon. The next orientation we started by playing an equally nerdy mixer game which failed miserably because all the groups were able to do it, so I won't explain it. After that many professors came and talked about research that we could be apart of. Then lunch. Then done and went to get my Florida drivers license. It's been a quiet weekend. Class starts tomorrow with Wave Optics and Fundamentals of Applied Optics then Tuesday I have Fundamentals of Optical Sciences. Should be fun.

Prayer Request

Guys, I have a prayer request I move into my house tomorrow (friday0. just prayer that this move goes well, and that I am able to adjust to my new job. Also, I'm kinda freaking out about being an adult so pray for that too please.

New Josh Ritter

So, Josh Ritter's new album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, comes out August 21. Paste gave it a 4.5/5.0. I like what I've heard. It's much "rock"-ier, but without losing his emphasis on lyrics. Here's a song:


Oh, and William will like this little clip from his tour page:
"October 09, 2007, Washington DC, 9:30 Club
Old School Freight Train supports. Show being broadcast live on Npr.org."

Some of the rest of us will prefer:
"October 31, 2007 Birmingham AL, Workplay Theatre
Eric Bachmann (of Crooked Fingers) supports."

While Brian and David might like:
"November 03, 2007 Louisville KY Headliners
Eric Bachmann (of Crooked Fingers) supports."

But, John, sadly, missed his chance:
"September 05, 2007 Galway Ireland Roisin Dubh - SOLD OUT"
"September 08, 2007 Dublin Ireland Tripod - SOLD OUT"

In any case, I just bought tickets. That show is going to be awesome.


In other news, I just started a new job. I'm taking Trip's job at KPS, an architecture firm, and so far, it's good. It's just me an Parks at Wardo's now, but he goes in to work a little before I get off so I haven't seen him much. He did, however, bring an Xbox 360, and I'm going to download Catan for it. Seeing Will, Cheese, and Ryan this weekend was awesome.

I had a little interview with some Red Mountain elders to join the church. One of them told me that God is like Tyler Durden.

"The first rule of Red Mountain is - you do not talk about Red Mountain."

I think they're going to let me in.

Right now I'm eating Ramen noodles and blowing my money on concert tickets. I feel pretty good about life.

So I just figured out how to post on this

So I guess I should lat ya'll know what is going on in my life. Summer camps have ended and I could not be happier or sadder at the same time. it was a really stressful summer, but I was able to get two seperate houses finished. But I terribly miss all of the people that I worked with they were incredible. Right now I am just trying to pack up my stuff because I move into my new house on the 17th. It gonna be awesome, I can't wait to live with the other two guys in my house. But there are also some prayer requests for ya'll. I kinda have some sketchy neighbors in the form of some weird sorta-butchers who are currently being evicted by health services. So just prayer for my relationship with my neighbors and the kids in the neighborhood, also pray for just my ability to make my support last for the entire yaer, bc I like to eat and I'm not too sure how that's gonna work out. Finally just pray that God will reveal his plan for my future bc I have absolutely no plan after this year. Also, I meant to tell ya'll I'm gonn be goin through the Perspectives course so I'm stoked about that too.

Kangaroo in Bay St. Louis

Are people in Bay St. Louis seeing things or is there really a "kangaroo" running wild through town? The Mississippi town's animal control officer says he's been flooded with calls.

"We've had about five calls this week," says Dorty Necaise. "We're taking it seriously, but it has brought some fun and giggles to our job lately. And we've needed the laughs lately."

Bay St. Louis is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The "marsupial mystery" has many people tickled.

"Some people are going to think we're crazy here in Hancock County," says Corky Hadden. "Did the kangaroo was ashore with Katrina? All we know is that people are seeing something!"

"This isn't my typical dog and cat call," says Necaise. "I've had calls about dogs, cats, river otters and even alligators. But never a kangaroo!"

News 5 will stay on top of the mystery.

classic

Music Video #4

this is definitely for real

so i took my last test in organic chemistry today (got a 98... everybody say a prayer for dr. cameron because he's probably feeling pretty inadequate about that). and thursday i have my final. and then-- my samford days are over. i'm loading my stuff in a uhaul saturday evening and moving to louisville sunday morning.

and for anyone who doesn't know this yet (can't remember who i have and haven't told... everything's kindof a blur these days)... i start my M.S. in Physiology & Biophysics on monday. the grad program up there that i turned down earlier this year e-mailed me back and said they had a spot open up in the master's program if i wanted it. since i'm gonna have to lay out at least a year (probably 2) before dental school, i figured i might as well pick up a master's along the way. plus, learning all that stuff ahead of time will help me make dental school "get in line" (that's for all the money mikes out there). and help me get into a DMD/PhD dual-degree track if i want to (thereby making dental school cost $0.00).

so there's that.

i guess it's my turn now to go ahead and ask for your prayers (in addition to the one for dr. cameron)... about all the same things eric and david have mentioned in their posts (excluding, of course, eric's marriage-related prayer requests). also, please be praying for my work ethic (seriously, although it should be easier with john thousands of miles away. no offense. love you, dude), because i only get a whopping 3 days off of school before i start my master's courses, and i'm feeling pretty exhausted at this point.

it's really strange finally leaving birmingham. new city, new school, new people, new church. it's kindof scary and exciting at the same time. but i'm trying to embrace it, hope for the best, and trust God with it all... because I did the leg work to double-check, and this is definitely for real.

Is this for real?

Sadly, I haven't talked to many of you in a while, so I figured I would give you an update on my life. I'm officially a Louisville resident now and a doctor in training at U of L. This week is orientation and next Monday I am turning my life over to studying. So far Louisville is pretty cool. The apartment that Brian and I are sharing is in a really good location close to pretty much everything other than the school. We'll have to drive about 20 minutes every day to get there, but this morning traffic wasn't bad at all so hopefully that's a pretty good indication of how it usually is. The med school class is pretty big...145 or so, but I've already started to get to know several people, and hopefully it won't be long before I make some good friends to study with and such.

Anyway, I'll keep you all up to date on things as they come along. I'd just ask for a lot of the same prayer that Eric did... Meet good friends, find a good church, confidence that this isn't going to kill me, things like that. Hope you all are doing well!