The Fair, eh...

On Sunday we visited the famous Minnesota State Fair. If attendance is an indication of anything than it is clearly worth writing home about. I'm pretty sure we saw about 20% of it and even that was somewhat over-whelming. I think I would prefer a Tuesday morning if I were to go again. One of the more exciting things we saw was the Ron Paul booth. We wanted to buy a T-shirt but evidently a permit is required to sell T-shirts. Figures. Otherwise there was an abundance of fried food on a stick, farm animals and random booths selling...eh, stuff.

August update

I figure it is time for my monthly blog. I've been really behind in updating because, and I know most of you won't believe this, I've been really busy! First, work has been long and draining. It probably wouldn't feel that way if I'd been working more than I had been at my last 2 jobs and hadn't taken a 4 month "sabbatical" last year but 50+ hours/week is gettin' me down! I do feel like I'm learning a lot in different professional aspects. We do just about every type of procedure here that can be done so I won't be deficient in my experience as a perfusionist and with such a large and "diverse" group of people in the department I am learning what it is like to handle, or at least listen to, the difficulties in managing people. The opportunity in Dublin to run the department meant that I had 1 employee and quite a bit of latitude in running things. Not so here.

Enough with work! On Friday night we attended a lecture at L'Abri. The house is less than 2 miles from downtown but feels like it is completely isolated as it sits on a hill surrounded by dense forestry. It kind of makes me wish I was a student again so I could take a month or even a semester to spend in an environment where you can work on life. The lecture was on Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion which was presented in true Schaeffer fashion, from the author's perspective, then dissected and rebutted. There was a pretty good crowd of people and from what I could tell about 8 students currently living in the house. It is part of a series that includes a talk by the Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale on "How to think morally about healthcare." That should be interesting!

Finally at home. Dana is the "idea" person in our family. She sees things and comes up with all sorts of possibilities for making it awesome. I just see junk! Take for example this bottom section of a hutch that she found at Savers thrift store.

I see a veneer piece of junk. Dana sees this...

After humming and hawing I make it happen, and I must say...I'm impressed with myself! We converted the drawer to a shelf, replaced the "wood" inserts with copper on the doors, added some talavera knobs and painted. Viola!

Here are our hanging chili peppers. Dana tells me what she wants, I make it happen. That seems to work alright for us. We have a couple of other projects that are in the works. I'll post those photos when they're done.

Casa

Although we had claimed to have purchased a house several weeks ago, it was not until today that the loan approval final went through. Wells Fargo was extremely difficult and nit-picky through the approval process and we ended up having to switch from an FHA to a Conventional loan. All in all I think that will serve us better. The down payment is slightly more but our monthly payment will be lower and I can feel good about not participating in a federal program.

There are several cosmetic items that we plan to address in our effort to make it into a successful rental property in the future. Unfortunately I left most of my tools (all of my power tools) in AZ so we have to decide what is worth re-investing in so that we can do these projects. Maybe Ryan and Yunuen want to take a road trip....

We're open for visitors as of July 15th. Pack your bags!

Birthday Treasure

Last week was my 33rd birthday. Completely unremarkable as far as ages go but still good enough to get some sweet treasure! My Mom bought us a new gas grill which we have used probably 7 or 8 times in the past 10 days. Dana bought me a bottle of Remy Martin VSOP Cognac. My Dad and my beloved extended family (Dana's kin) bought me cigar gift certificates, the true value of which I just received today!

Thanks again to everyone!!

El Dentista

This week we went to the dentist for the first time in over 4 YEARS! It was a frightening prospect to say the least. Fortunately I am somewhat religious about brushing and my overall oral hygiene was quite good. Nevertheless, it did not prevent me from getting my first cavity. I am very disappointed to say the least. I go back this week for my filling.

In other news, I got a bicycle this week. Cycling will likely be my main mode of transportation once we move to Rochester (until winter) so I thought I'd get a head start. I ordered it on Amazon and had to assemble it this morning. We just took our first ride and the wheels didn't fall off so I'd say that's a success. It should also help me shed some weight which would be a welcome side effect.

Moving South

Over the past 2 months I've been involved in exploring another job opportunity here in Minnesota. That may sound strange as I've only been in Minnesota for 5 months, but I can say with a clear conscience that I wasn't out looking to ditch my current employer.

Last fall I had applied with Mayo during our time in Tucson, but they didn't have a position open so when the job in Minneapolis came up I gladly took it. In March I was contacted by the chief perfusionist at the Mayo Clinic. He is one of the most published and progressive perfusionists in the world and so when he asked if I would be interested in coming to work for him I was very surprised. The problem was that I had just started this job and the thought of uprooting again was very unappealing, so with gratitude, I declined. Two weeks later I received a phone call from him again, asking if I would be willing to have coffee if he came up to Minneapolis. He had just won the Gibbon Award (the most prestigious award a perfusionist can be awarded) and the thought of sitting down with him was too good to pass up. That was my first mistake. Evidently he is not only very good at his job as a perfusionist but he is quite persuasive as well.

To bring a tidy end to this long story, I submitted my application and was informed today that I am being offered the job. Not to seem too eager I said I would call Monday with my answer but that it would likely be YES! I'm being hired to "spearhead" the pediatric side of the practice, incorporating teaching and research with the clinical practice. To be completely honest I am humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the expectations. My tentative start date is July 11th.

God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes his hand is too heavy to miss.

Working the land.

Today we broke down and purchased a gas powered lawn mower. We have a fairly small yard but it is mostly grass and it grows like nobody's business! Dana and I will probably take turns tending to the lawn as it will likely require biweekly mowing.


Now I'd go roll around in it if I wasn't afraid of wood ticks!

Wine and Ice Cream

Today was like a celebration. Maybe we were just excited that it was Friday and I am not on call. Whatever the occasion, we made a trip to Stillwater for some delicious Chinese cuisine and much needed retail therapy. Haskell's is the closest thing we've found to a Total Wine or BevMO. It has an excellent selection of wines but is much smaller than the wine superstores we would frequent in Tucson. Twice a year Haskell's has a mega wine sale one of which happens to be going on right now.

Normally in a wine store I quickly become overwhelmed by all the glory of the wine (I want a taste of the glory...) and inevitably buy something I'm familiar with. Well this Christmas Dana got me the book Wine Trials 2011 which is a gold mine for inexpensive wines that rate really well with professional tasters. So I opened the book and compared it with the listing of sale wines from Haskell's catalog and off we went! We ended up with 5 wines off the list + 1 Portuguese wine that we wanted to try (since we love wine from the Douro region). We came home with: B&G Cabernet Sauvignon, El Coto Rioja, Gato Negro Malbec, Concannon Petit Syrah, Monte Antico Super Tuscan, and Vale do Bomfim Douro. Brilliant!



As an additional treat we went to an ice cream shop that Dana grew up with called Nelson's which provides extraordinary amounts of ice cream at wickedly low prices. We got 2 quarts to bring home and I got a child's size (around 4 scoops!) for the road.

Speaking of the road...I had my first experience with a suicidal deer. That was fun, especially since I was so focused on my ice cream and driving with my knee. Fortunately for me and the deer there was no contact...this time.

Griffin House

On Sunday night Dana and I went to see Griffin House play at the Varsity Theater in downtown Minneapolis. I first heard Griffin House when he opened for Mat Kearney at the Rialto in Tucson about 6 years ago. He is a little folk with some rock mixed in. I really like his song writing as he is a good story teller, much like Bob Dylan of old. He played for about an hour and a half and seemed to be making up his set list as he went. We really enjoyed listening to him as he played and interacted with the crowd. A number of his songs seem to have overt Christian themes but in a real life sort of way. I'd encourage anyone who enjoys music to check him out.

And if you ever have a chance to see a concert at the Varsity Theater it is well worth it. It was a great atmosphere and had evidently been recently remodeled.

Here are a few of his songs.

Oh yeah...

I received a long awaited purchase today. This was long awaited because I've wanted to purchase this set for several years now and because of a 30% slash to the price I could finally justify such a decadent purchase. This is a robusto (5 x 50) pack of the 5 most well known Cuban brands. The Hoyo is the Epicure #2, the Montecristo and R&J are not normally offered in this size and then add a Partagas and the famed Cohiba and you can see why my mouth is watering. They will be smoked on grand occasions.

Minnesota nice, smoke in the snow and other updates

There are a few things that I never anticipated having to do in my life, one of which was shoveling snow. Last week we got about 3" during the day and we were forced to break in the new shovel that Grandpa Joe gave us. We have a fairly long driveway and snow shoveling is back-breaking. Fortunately our neighbor from across the street brought his snow blower over and cleared off the end of the driveway where the snow was deepest. I was very grateful.

As this winter has had an exceptional amount of snow, our yard is buried under about 4' of snow Saturday was a balmy 32° so we decided to sit outside and enjoy a cigar. I had to dig out an area to sit. This weekend is supposed to be the beginning of a warming trend to take us into Spring. Before that, however, there will be temps in the single digits and lows with wind chill in the range of -20°. That's pretty cold.

Resolution

I made several New Year's resolutions which I dislike doing because I usually deal with a month of intense effort followed by 11 months of guilt and failure. This year one of my resolutions is to complete 25 non-fiction books. As far from success as I may end up, I feel that each book will be of benefit whether it is 5 or 50, so I picked a number that I am not likely to achieve with the hope that the motivation will propel me in the right direction. I'm less likely to feel guilty because the process is rewarding in itself.

I've included on the side bar a list of completed books (notice the emphasis on completed as I've started some last year) that will help me, and you, keep track.

1 down, 24 to go.

Move in

Right Now	Next 36 Hours

	Tonight	Tomorrow	Tomorrow Night
Clear	Snow Showers Late	AM Snow Showers	Partly Cloudy
1°F	-2°	6°	-16°
Feels Like: -15°	Low	High	Low
Past 24-hr: Precip: 0 in Snow: 0.1 in (est.)	Chance of Snow: 30%	Chance of Snow: 30%	Chance of Snow: 10%

As you know, we just completed our move to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. I am home now from my second day at work which is still mainly filling out paperwork and observing things. It does seem that once I start actually working it will be quite busy. I'm struggling in learning to wake up at obscenely early hours again and Dana as been busily nesting in our house.

It is hard to accurately describe life so far as we've not settled into a routine and we've barely seen Dana's family but my first impressions can pretty much be summed up by the above image. It is hard for me to provide a description of what -16° feels like but let me just say that I have a gallon jug of water in my car the freezes to a solid rock when I'm parked in the garage at work and I'm convinced the denim jeans can actually freeze while you are wearing them. This is not for the faint of heart my friends, but I will survive.

You Crazy!

My friend Jeff is a master of the hilarious YouTube video (see Double Rainbow Man). Granted, millions of people have viewed this but he takes great pleasure in introducing them to me.

Here are 2 videos. The first is from an actual newscast (not from the Onion) and the second, well...see for yourself.

Christmas cont...

How could I neglect to mention my most favorite gifts from this Christmas??? Dana is forced to listen to my ramblings on a semi-regular basis. Semi-regular not because I suffer from lack of opinion on a subject but because I am acutely aware that my opinion is severely deficient as it relates to the truth (I find my knowledge on any subject to be frighteningly limited), and as such, I find it quite humiliating to express what amounts to little more than...rambling. Nevertheless, my interest in specific topics such as philosophy, economics, political history and worldview continue to grow. Dana and I have been listening to lectures on some of these topics from Ron Nash who you could describe as an economic Austrian and a political libertarian with a Christian worldview, which combines political libertarianism with Reformed Christian conservatism. Needless to say, he's right up my alley. Dana bought me 6 books on these topics as well as books on wine appreciation (how I do appreciate it) and a cigar book with a comprehensive list of tobacconists by city (which I will need should we do ANY travelling in the U.S.).

I hope that I can use this forum to organize my own thoughts on these subjects (and more) and can get feedback from those who frequent this blog (and are all smarter than me...yes, even Ryan) so that I can have knowledge not simply for the sake of knowledge. I find it very helpful when confronted with opinions, or truth claims, that conflict with my own, to walk myself through my own arguement as it relates to what I've heard. This either reinforces my own belief or exposes deficiences. This may explain why I involve myself in many conversations with little more than "fact statements" which expose very little of my own thoughts. This has some exceptions where I become opinionated to a fault and not fun to talk to!

All this to say that I spend a lot of my thinking time (i.e. when I'm awake) organizing thoughts and arguements and these gifts make that more productive and fulfilling. Of course, learning and discussing these topics with a glass of wine and a cigar is my idea of heaven!

Christmas

Let me start off by saying that I felt more overwhelmed this Christmas than any I remember (solely because I was actually Christmas shopping in stores as opposed to online like the last 3 years) by the obsessive materialism that takes hold of people and drives them to flip the bird and snarl every time you look at them. Dana and I talked some about this phenomenon that I don't remember being as repugnant even 10yrs ago. It actually made me very put off by the whole holiday and resentful that I even had to buy gifts. Am I materialistic?...sadly, yes; but witnessing the full force of American materialism coming at you from every direction is shocking. I was shocked!

That was a tangent (can you intro with a tangent?) and actually what I sat down and intended to blog about were some of the sweet gifts I received! Ironic, eh? Well, fortunately my family (including those of the extended variety) are quite sensitive to those things that give me some satisfaction. My mom gave me a Magellan RoadMate GPS system. I really don't like getting lost and with the move to a city where I've never driven, this is bound save me a great deal of hair pulling!

Regan sent me a humidor/cigar combo. I really love the smell of a new humidor with the crisp cedar fragrance filling that little treasure box. It is really nice to have a second humidor because there are some cigars that I like to age and it is best not to age them together and to have a separate humidor that doesn't get opened all the time. It is currently holding my small collection of Habanos.

I got some other great gifts: money for keyless entry, CI gift card (already used!), but really I just enjoyed being with family (my grandma is hillarious - think hookah pipe and a sub-machine gun...but I promised I'd keep the pictures off the internet) and sitting outside in a T-shirt. Merry Christmas.

The New Job

After several months of applying and interviewing for work all over the country, we have accepted a position in Minneapolis. Despite the dramatic change in climate, I don't think we could have ended up in a better place. Dana's family will be there for us to hang out with (and for me to really finally get to know) and the hospital will offer much of the work that I trained to do and never got a chance to practice while doing pediatrics for the last 3 years.

I am definitely excited to get back to work at a busy center, learning some new things while applying the full extent of my training. In addition to the great job, we will be living in St. Paul between the hospital and one of Dana's sisters in a nice house for very low rent. It is down to 17 days and counting....

Tyler Lyle

About 6 months ago Dana introduced me to an upstart artist named Tyler Lyle. Honestly I think she now regrets that introduction as I've been playing, both on my iPod and on my guitar, Tyler Lyle's songs non-stop. I was struggling to learn a couple of songs and Dana, tired of me picking through them over and over again, said, "just email him and ask for the chords!" Well, Tyler may not be Clapton as far as a fan base goes, but I doubt he'd email be back! Seriously...give away your songs to someone in Tucson, AZ? Well he did, and I've now been playing them more than before, but correctly at least.

Here is a video from one of his more popular tunes...

Tyler Lyle: Closer to me from Aaron Champion on Vimeo.

Our new stream of income

As we have had far more time on our hands than we anticipated, Dana and I have started a new, hopefully income producing, hobby. We are getting cheap (preferably free) furniture on Craigslist and refinishing it. Here are a couple of pieces.



They look a little...rustic, but that's the point. Hopefully we can make some sales and at least be able to afford to continue with our hobby!

Distressed

Mexican furniture has become our favorite style. It has an old world, rustic look which is, unfortunately, not cheap. This has prompted some creativity on our part. We bought a $30 bookshelf on Craigslist that was in descent shape but a little worn and NOT pretty. Distressed furniture is a staple of Mexican style and something that really isn't that hard to do. We used some of our left over paint and did bright colors with a blue undercoat on the edges and faces. I used a fine grain sand paper and some paint thinner and rubbed some of the green overcoat off and voila!