2009: the year all our dreams come true!

happy new year!  I am going to of course first apologize to everyone that still come by to check out my site hoping for an update and walking away extremely disappointed.  Sorry to let you down!  but today I am working on it.  "Monthly updates?!" you've been scoffing.  I know, I know!  I'm mortified, believe me.  You miss a monthly update, then another one, and before you know it, your poor neglected website is severely overdue for a massive overhaul....you give a September update, the weeks fly by, and suddenly it's a brand new year!  I was completely swamped with training my butt off for 2 months at rookie boot camp, and then came home in time to study my butt off for my prosthetic board exams.  I took the last of the 3-part exam just this past weekend, and am SO GLAD to be done!!  I feel like I can finally come up for air.

ok, enough whining and excuses.  what's the quote--winners make goals and losers make excuses!!  well, let's do a new year's resolution, shall we?  I resolve to update this site much more often and replace my outdated pictures from the spring of 2007.  Yes, this was when I was still living in Texas, which explains the random pictures of me in a cowboy hat ;)

I now consider myself as based in both the San Francisco Bay Area and Southeast Asia (the Philippines, for now).  Finishing my residency put a series of events into motion, notably my first camp with teamTBB which led to an official 3-year place on their team as a development athlete.  That's right, it's official now!  I had been considered a development athlete for the year I had been on the team during my residency, but we still had to figure out if I was a good match for the team, and if the team was a good match for me.  Turns out that I absolutely loved it, and besides the brutal training, I got a chance to do some prosthetic missions in Manila and the surrounding areas.

I honestly feel like the luckiest girl in the world (pinch me!), to be able to train with the best tri team and best coach in the world, and also use the skills I learned in grad school to make a difference in people's lives around the world.  A lot of exciting new developments in store for 2009 and I will be sure to keep everyone updated on them.

In the meantime I'm training hard and preparing to leave the US again in a mere 2 weeks.  I'm working two jobs essentially: part-time as a prosthetist-orthotist for Gary Berke Prosthetics and just as many hours swimming, biking, and running.  The workday starts at around 7am (first workout) and sometimes doesn't end until 7pm (second or third workout).  But I am passionate about both jobs and can still smile when I go to bed completely exhausted every night!

Thank you for all your continued support, even despite my severe neglect!