THE Test and Polish Fest

I meant to write about Polish Fest on Sunday...but then the reality of "oh crap, my NATABOC exam is in 3 days" set in and so the Polish Fest blog never happened. I apologize because this blog won't be NEARLY as good as it would if it was still fresh! :)On that note, I will start with the exam and go back to Polish Fest.

Yesterday morning I woke up, took a shower, and got in my car alone to drive to Green Bay to take a test that the future of my career as an athletic trainer depends on. Yes, if I fail I can retake it, however I need to pass THIS particular test because if I don't, I don't get to keep my sweet grad school tuition-covering position at the high school through the PT clinic. I'll still be a graduate assistant, I'd just be working at Concordia and paying for grad school myself. Who wants to do THAT? No pressure here.

So anyway...the drive to Green Bay was beautiful and a little relaxing until I saw how close I was getting to my destination. I get nervous sometimes - everyone does - however I've never been the "physically" nervous type. You know, the one that shakes or throws up or whatever else where the signs of anxiety are actually visible. Well...for once I was that person. I don't like it. I really thought I was going to throw up at various points for the rest of my trip - I even pulled over, but no. The stronger side of me was putting up one hell of a fight!

I got there, got my picture taken, showed them my drivers license, proving I was me, and was led in to a video/mic monitored room with four computers. Three of the computers were already taken by people taking the same exam as me that got an early start. We were given 4 hours to complete the test - I took 2. Last one in, first one out. I felt like I was going slow but apparently not! This month is the first time the test has been given completely computerized and let me say that I thought I would prefer that, but no way. I would MUCH rather have taken it on real people and with the old format. This was 125 multiple choice questions and 4 VERY weird hybrid problems, and then out of the blue it was over.

Taking this test left me with the strangest, most indescribable BLANK feeling that I've never felt before. I didn't feel like I did bad. I didn't feel like I did well. I didn't feel anything. It wasn't hard. It wasn't easy. It just "was". When the screen popped up basically saying "ok, that's it" I really didn't have one thought in my head. I just stared at the screen. My next thought was "What the hell just happened?" I'm convinced that this test was set up to screw with your mind. The BOC (board of certication) is now known to me as "The Man." The Man is always trying to bring you down, haha.

Anyway, it's over. If I passed, I will never have to take it again and will have the credential of ATC after my name. If I failed, I may have to sell my soul to the devil to come up with $235 dollars to take it again. I should find out within the next couple weeks. Pass or fail, I will be screaming it from the rooftops!

Polish Fest

Now for the good stuff!

Polish Fest was last weekend at the festival grounds on the lakefront in Milwaukee so we decided to go down there and check it out. Milwaukee is full of fests and other stuff to do throughout the entire summer! Summerfest is apparently the world's largest music festival and it just started today, then in a few weeks there will be German Fest so we'll be checking those out too!

As we were walking from the car to the fest, a van pulled up and yelled to us to ask if we were going the fest. We, obviously said yes and the lady thrusts her arm out with two tickets and says "Here! Have two tickets!!" A great start to the day...there sure are some nice people in this town! I don't hear of things like that happening in California.
The entrance to Polish Fest!


The Polka Police - they'd start polka dancing with you as soon as you walked in the gate! We managed to make it through un-polka'd :)


Some traditional polish dancing on the cultural stage.


Non-stop polka stage = NON STOP FUN!!! Seriously though - the polka looks like so much fun. As a matter of fact, later on we were at the next stage over where they started playing regular music and there weren't very many people over there so we were thinking things were calming down at Polish Fest...boy were we wrong. We headed over to the non-stop polka stage and it was a full dance floor and pretty much standing room only!


Got to see some of a Polka competition. Don't let her outfit fool you - they were good - but there was a father/teenage daughter pair that was absolutely amazing! This couple didn't even place...unfortunately other than the winners their other competition was a mom and her 3 year old and a mom and her 5 year old. Of course everyone applauded louder for them!


More like authentic DEATH IN A GLASS!


That's the Krupnik on the right. Ya know, it probably would have been good mixed with Sprite or 7-up or something...but no...apparently it's not served that way. That's what I get for trying something new!


My handsome man :)


Here I am workin on the Krupnik. I was determined to finish it since I spent Corey's money on it. Small sips were KEY...but it still gave me a kickin' buzz.


Oh look! Corey tried the Krupnik!

These are all pics from the fireworks show -it was pretty good!






That's it for Polish Fest. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! I think Corey has had 2 interviews a day this week - he's got two more in the morning! I don't think any of these pay quite as well as the big one he's going for, but some money is better than no money. The original job at Cellnet is still up in the air. Apparently they are still interviewing and should know something after the 4th.

As for me...well...my hunt for part time work officially starts tomorrow. We don't have the money for me to be waiting to see if the PT clinic finds something for me to do part time. I worked at a Varsity/JV baseball game tonight though and I hate to say it, but wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt makes me feel normal. I didn't realize it, but I don't think I've been feeling "normal" since graduation. I think I actually took a little comfort with toting around an AED and a kit full of tape and first aid stuff. Odd.

I think we're going to go visit some of the family in Madison this weekend, so it will be nice to go visit and get out of the house for awhile!

Our first tour of Milwaukee

Today Corey and I got off our butts to go check out some of Milwaukee and get some exercise. We decided to hit Lake Park first since I already knew where it was. It was a beautiful day and I, of course, took some pictures!

Staircase in the woods on the path from the road up to the park


The lighthouse that they are restoring


I think he likes deli-sliced chicken


A pretty bridge on the path


The Lake Park Grand Staircase


View from the top of the staircase - ugly, huh?

Once we left there we decided to head a little bit south and go walk around by Discovery World and Pier Wisconsin. It was getting overcast and the sun was starting to go down so the pictures don't accurately show just how beautiful this area is.

Discovery World/Pier Wisconsin Pilot House


Milwaukee Art Museum


Part of the skyline

After that we just got in the truck and decided to drive along Water Street and start making our way north to go home. Water Street pretty much follows along the Milwaukee River and there are literally a ton of beautiful buildings, museums, restaurants, and bars there that we absolutely cannot wait to start checking out! Milwaukee really is a beautiful city! By the time any of you make it here to visit we will hopefully know where all the best and most fun places to go hang out are!

Not so great picture of the Milwaukee River

Tomorrow I go meet with the people at Concordia University in person for the first time. I hope they aren't disappointed. Once they show me around there they will take me up to Cedarburg to meet people and check out the places I will be working. I really hope they have some paid work for me between now and August 1st, which is when my position actually starts - we're hurtin!

From this weekend through Tuesday night my uber-exciting plans are to STUDY STUDY STUDY for that NATA Board of Certification Exam I am taking Wedsnesday morning in Green Bay. I really need to pass it the first try - but that is something that doesn't seem too common. I'll study as hard as I can and do my best though. If I do have to retake it, it will cost ME (instead of the VA) $275 and I do NOT want to pay that! I do plan on taking a short break from the studying once this weekend to go check out Polish Fest though :) All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, right?

I hope everyone is doing well and has a great weekend!

New Time Zone, New Jobs, New School, New Apartment!

I can't really think of a better time or situation to start a blog! Some of you might remember a couple years ago when I used to send my "sunday updates" and it gradually faded out after about 6 months or so because I got really busy with school, and Fresno's true lameness probably started shining through...

Well...I'm back! As long as you guys are still interested in what the heck we've got going on, this probably won't fade out too quickly because for the next few years there is going to be a LOT going on in our lives...everything from finding and starting new jobs, starting grad school, planning our wedding, getting married, buying a house, and that should carry us into starting a family...but WHOA! One thing at a time!

Let's back up to May 19th, 2007. That was the day I graduated from Fresno State with my Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology-Athletic Training. It was a great day!
Some of the athletic trainer crew - a few were MIA. From L-R: me, Tommy, Angie, JoAnna, Travis, Sarah. MIA: Kevin (searching for his parents), Danine, Reshmi, and Kayo.A lot of people at graduation put fancy decorations on their caps, so we put AT in big letters with...you guessed it...tape :) We're low-key like that.

My mom and Tim and Alexis and Bailey came up from San Marcos, and Brecken (one of my best friends) came all the way from Texas! It was fun to have everyone in the same place, and although we didn't go do anything big and exciting together, we did have a great time at mom and Tim's hotel pool the night before:


It was great to have them all there - although kind of strange to have people come to Fresno of all places just for me. Not everyone who wanted to be there could be there, unfortunately. Wednesday, May 16th we lost my grandfather, Roger Pardue (my dad's step-dad) to a massive heart attack. It caught everyone off guard, and my thoughts and prayers were with my family in Oregon throughout the week. My mom and dad actually knew him before my grandma Elaine did, because they were good friends with his kids in junior high and high school. We all have lots of fond memories of his loud, happy personality, giant smile, and bright blue eyes and he will be missed by all who knew him. I will try to find my favorite picture of him and I together and post it soon - once I get my scanner up and running.

On May 20th we met some people for what we called "The Last Supper" at our favorite place in Fresno to drink - Logan's Roadhouse. Travis, Angie, Caroline, Sabrina, and of course April, Kevin, Corey, and I hung out for the last time and had a few drinks. It was fun and mellow, but kind of sad and weird - after 2 years of seeing each other day in and day out, it was all over! Here is a pic from that night - one of the few that came out light enough.

On May 21st, Corey and I finished getting all of our stuff out of the house we shared with Pat, Rose, Charlotte, and Jason and out in to the garage to store until June 4th, which is when our shipping space in the ABF u-pack truck would be available. That night we headed down to San Marcos to spend almost 2 weeks at my mom's house to spend time with them while enjoying the life of lazy, unemployed, ex-college students. It was great to get to stay for so long, and probably some much needed rest from the previous few months and the weeks that would follow! While we were there we got to see my other best friend, Melissa, who was back in town for a short visit from her year and a half long adventure of living in Australia and New Zealand! Her little sister Cassie, who is also a friend of mine, got married on May 26th. It was great to see Melissa, Cassie, and their family again - the wedding was beautiful and we had a great time! I got to get quite a bit of Melissa and Cassie time in at Cassie's bachelorette party a few days before too!




For those of you who don't know, Cassie is also a wedding photographer and did a wonderful job on our engagement pictures and will also be doing our wedding - I'm really excited about that! She does a great job, plus I think it will help that we have known her for a long time so it won't feel like there is a stranger running around taking all these pictures :)

On June 3rd, we packed up the cats and headed back up to Fresno so we could haul our stuff over to load it into the ABF truck on the 4th. Let me tell you how much fun that was! The night of the third their cats and our cats hissed and growled at each other all night, and neither of us slept very well. We could have slept in a bed that night but the cats couldn't come to the back room and I didn't want them to kill each other. The 4th was a long hot sweaty day - duh, it's Fresno - but moving a ton of heavy crap definitely didn't help! If it wasn't for Kevin letting us use his truck that day, we would have been in bad shape!

We loaded up the cats, our stuff, and my stuck my car on a towing dolly and hit the road Tuesday morning, June 5th, at about 11:30 am, pacific time. We drove all day and night (with a 2 hour nap at a VERY windy truck stop in the middle of nowhere Utah) and the next night we slept somewhere near the edge of Nebraska. It was quite nice to stretch out on a bed and get a full night of sleep by that point. The next night (the 7th)we pulled in to Corey's dad's driveway at about 8pm central time. It ended up being about 41 hours on the road including food/pee/gas stops - not counting naptime. If you haven't seen the most boring slideshow in the world, hopefully this link to it will work: Road Trip Pics

Fast forward a few days (and a few trips to Milwaukee) later, to one week ago today - we finally found an apartment that we love! We really wanted to live in the Shorewood area, but we really couldn't beat the move-in special here for our current financial situation (we were only able to save so much). Hopefully a year from now, when the lease is up, we will be in a situation where we can buy a house. You can get a very nice house in Milwaukee for much cheaper than you can rent a nice apartment most of the time. I suggest you all move here! The entire property our apartments are on is very secluded and off of the street and feels like it is surrounded by woods. Our particular apartment is in what I think is the best spot on the property. We can't see any other apartments from our windows or balcony - just a big lawn, woods, a small road, bunnies, deer, lightning bugs, and part of the clubhouse. Once we get everything put away, maybe I'll post some pictures of the inside.

Corey's job search seems to be going well. A few weeks ago while we were in San Marcos, Corey had a phone interview for the position of RF Technician, which turned out to be the same company and position my friend Nick works at in Seattle. Last week they called him back for a second interview and showed him around and from what I hear, it went pretty well. A couple days later they called and asked for some references, and they called all 3 of them on Friday. So far it is looking VERY promising! He should be hearing something from them later this week. According to Nick, it is a very good and very easy job...plus it pays well from the beginning, starts out with 10 days of vacation, has full benefits, and he'd have a company truck, gas card, laptop, and work on his own.

Today he also had an interview with Dish Network, which wouldn't be all that great, but it would be an income. Apparently that one went ok too, they called at least one of his references today (Brecken) and also sent him to have a urinalysis. I will keep you all posted.

As for me, I meet with the Concordia folks on Friday to meet them and get the grand tour. I'm excited to meet some new people! Once we leave there they will take me out to the PT Clinic and to the high school I'll be working at to introduce me to people and show me where I will be working, so that should be a pretty good day.

Now that I have written a blog that is probably longer than any paper I wrote in college, I will put an end to this madness. Hopefully you aren't all bored out of your mind with information you aleady knew and pictures you've already seen. I promise in the future it won't be this long. If you aren't totally annoyed by this, save it to your favorites and check back often, stuff is about to start happening! At least I hope...