House pictures

Here are some pictures of our house, and we're going to post some more once we have some more time to fix it up... It's a work in progress.







This first picture is the view out of the kitchen windows and our master bedroom window. They were taken on my phone (camera's broken), so sorry for the poor quality.

Moved in, video from school

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Medical school is keeping me pretty busy, and Jana has been hard at work. She's going to day shifts soon, so that will be awesome - we'll actually get to see each other (rather than waving to each other in passing on the highway in the mornings and evenings).

We've moved into our home out in Gilbert. It is beeeeeeeeautiful, and I'll post some pictures as soon as we have it put together in working order. Should be a week or so....

Well, all I've got to post is this short video about my medical school. It's a blurb about Russell Pearce's inaction in putting the medical school's construction (which is a much needed building to expand the class size and train more physicians) plans on the agenda. The money is there, but for some reason he won't put it on the agenda.

Here's the video...

http://www.azcentral.com/video/?bctid=49524995001#/400+million+dollar+project+on+hold/49524995001

Home

We've been reeeeally busy the last few days... buying a house! So, that's why no pictures of Ecuador are up yet. The house we've put money down on is a 2200 sq ft, 4 bed 2.5 bath, home on Higley and Elliot. As long as all goes well, we'll have a brand new built home to move in on sometime in October or November. And this is what it will look like:




We're so excited, especially since it's a great price. :)

Long trip in Ecuador

Anyone who knows Jana and me knows that we are always planning our next trip. We're currently in a nice hotel in Guayaquil, Ecuador with internet access on my laptop for the first time in about a month. We started the trip by flying into Quito, then flew over to the Galapagos Islands for about a week. After that, we flew into Guayaquil then took a few hour bus ride through a big town called Portoviejo and finally to a farm in the middle of nowhere. To get a true Ecuadorian experience, we lived with a family and there were some other gringos (white people) there living in a house across the street. We made good friends with the three of them, and did some volunteer work in the local towns around the farm. We tested about 600 people for diabetes, I gave nutrition lectures to different groups of people, and I worked with a local doctor. He and his second hand nurse, who Jana worked with while we were there, served the Ecuadorians in the countryside (en el campo). I worked on improving my Spanish and Jana is getting better with her Spanish as well. Tonight is our last night in Ecuador, then we're relaxing in Miami - actually, Ft Lauderdale - on the beach and in a nice American hotel. We'll post some pictures in a bit, since the internet isn't working perfectly right now.

Pictures are more fun than text

I'll post some more pictures here soon, since we've taken a bit lately. Jana and I will be off to Ecuador on June 16th, so hopefully we can post some pictures of the Galapagos Islands and the rest of Ecuador while we're there. If not, we will post once we get back on July 15th. Quick update on the whole medical school situation-I have been accepted to University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, which is located in downtown Phoenix. So, Jana will get to keep her job at Banner Good Sam and I may be doing rotations (a couple years down the road) at the same hospital her and I have worked at. I'm very excited to start, but still trying to squeeze the life out of the last summer of freedom I'll have for a while! And here's a video of Olive her head stuck in a fry box. Yes, we love our cats... a lot.

A case for do-gooding

OK, long story but worth the read.

I told the story to a friend on google chat, so I'll just copy and paste it here rather than re-writing the whole thing... Here goes...

me: you hear the crazy story about my stuff getting stolen?
friend: what stuff?
me: computer monitor and wallet/backpack contents
if you have a minute i can tell it
friend: no way.
sure
that's crazy - from your car?
house?
me: yeah from my car
so i was packing stuff to move from our apt in chandler to jana's parents' place
it was late, so i just brought the major, valuable stuff in
cats, computer, sound system and TV
the rest I left out in my honda
stupidly enough, I left our 22" computer monitor that I love out in our car
so in the morning jana wakes me up
and says, matt you left the computer monitor SITTING out in front of the accord
I say "what?"
you're crazy
I go out
sure enough, it's sitting there in front of my car
friend: omg
me: yeah
it gets weirder
so I figured I had been sleepwalking or something
brought the thing halfway in
then just left it there in the driveway
but
i go back inside
check my cell phone
i have this long, 5 page message from one of my old friends from high school's little brother
saying his buddy stole my stuff and brought it over to his house
friend: omg, no way
me: him and his older brother recognized me from my ID
and told the kid he had to return it
so he did
friend: oh wow
me: and set it out in front of my car
friend: ha
me: and here's the best part of all
my friend's little brother had recently sent me a message here on gmail
because he wants to go to medical school and heard I had been accepted
and i was bored at work
so i spent like 5 straight hours giving him advice and answering his questions
friend: very nice
me: so what does this whole incidence spell?
K-A-R-M-A
friend: totally
i'm a believer
me: in it's purest, most natural form
makes me think the whole thing is somehow magically beyond coincidence
friend: dude, good story
yeah, definitely
me: yeah
unbelievably beautiful
me: i think it's an inspirational story that promotes do-gooding and keeping contact with those even when they aren't the biggest do-gooders themselves
my old friend from high school was one of my buddies i'd cause mischief with when I was younger
and his little bro is in the same situation i think
so, who knows, the whole deal could have been my friend's little bro
or my friend
but i believe his story
and as long as i got all my stuff back
i'm happy
and i don't care to investigate further
friend: yeah, totally - even if he didn't realize it was yours and when he found your ID he thought better of it
me: i would like to meet with the perpetrator (sp?) personally and give him a heart to heart
friend: once he realized who he'd stolen from
me: saying, what if this wasn't someone you knew
they have a life just like me
and just because you felt (or one of your friends felt) that personal connection
friend: whether or not you believe in a final judgement or anything like that, still something to be said for just being good to people
me: doesn't mean that you should feel OK stealing from people you don't have personal connections with
absolutely
friend: exactly - easiest way to really know if something is good to do is to imagine what the world would be like if everyone were like you
me: golden rule
friend: if everyone stole from everyone else, what would the world be like
me: best moral guideline ever

I am still in disbelief that I was actually robbed and un-robbed all in one night while I was sleeping. It seems too good to be true. I am happy that I have all of my stuff back, and I am not worried about pressing charges.

Your thoughts???

:)

Here are some pictures of SAN DIEGO:







And, here are some pictures from Anaheim:







Happy Birthday Carys. To the happiest place on Earth, DISNEYLAND!



Sincerely,

Your annual pass holders.