Moving and Starting Work

When I came back from Colombia, I began desperately looking for housing in Calhoun where I would be working. It was a lot harder to find apartments than I have ever encountered.

My girlfriend vehemently vetoed several places saying she would never visit if I decided to live in such an establishment. Well, I finally thought I had found something. It was a big, two bedroom townhouse, with large living room and kitchen with eat in area and back deck. I had spoken to the agent, who I found out was an extremely good saleswoman, and felt good about the place.

So, on Monday I moved down with the help from a friend with the plans of moving everything in over the next two days and getting my new drivers license and license plate before starting work on Wednesday in a new state and at my first career job.

Well that Monday night I found out not everything was so merry. A swarm of cockroaches like I had never seen (not even in an SEC fraternity house) broke out across the kitchen and downstairs living space. I thought the problem had been fixed and reached out again to the management for help with the problem.

After several days with no resolve, I realized it was a lost cause and the best place I could find in Calhoun to rent was still not inhabitable for a medical professional. I fought with the landlords for several days to break my lease and eventually signed on for a new place in Dalton, GA, the carpet capital of the world.

I found a much nicer and pest free place in Dalton that left me with just over a 30 minute daily commute to work and an 1:30 commute to residency every Tuesday morning at 7 am.

Things were beginning to work out and I was really learning how to treat patients with the most evidenced best practice based on the research that was being beaten into us during those 3 hours every Tuesday morning. It definitely made me a better clinician though.

My Trip To Colombia

I took some time off before starting work with my first real big boy job. I decided to take a volunteer trip to Colombia, South America where I could volunteer at a school called Intei which was created for kids with physical and mental disabilities in the area.

This would essentially help me learn more Spanish and allow me to help those less fortunate that would benefit from physical therapy services. I spent the summer doing aquatic therapy, hippotherapy, manual therapy, and working with the kids on a daily basis.

I also got to experience the World Cup in a nation that was excelling and doing very well for the first time in a long time. (Not to mention a Giro d'Italia win from Nairo Quintana).

It was an amazing experience with the culture, the language, the climate, the community, and the family. A month of living I will never forget and always cherish.

There are many more details I could share but as I am trying to catch up on the lapsed time I will skip ahead and save some of those cherished memories for myself.

Hay muchas mas fotos, pero estas son importantes para mi.

Lots of Missed Time

So this post (and the several to follow) are long overdue. I have left out way too many things that have happened in my life. A quick recap is as follows:

1) Got a serious girlfriend
2) Study for boards examination
3) Took my CSCS examination
4) Graduated Physical Therapy School with my Doctorate
5) Took my boards exam for my PT License
6) Had to switch my PT License to the state of Georgia from Tennessee
7) Went on vacation
8) Took the Georgia Jurisprudence and Ethics Examination
9) Went to Colombia, South America for 32 days and volunteered at a school for disabled children
10) Moved to Georgia
11) Moved within Georgia because my first place was uninhabitable
12) Started my career with PT Solutions
13) Began the residency program with PT Solutions
14) Got up to speed on how to treat patients
15) Moved to our Chatsworth clinic with PT Solutions
16) Got promoted to clinic director with PT Solutions
17) Business boomed with the clinic
18) Racing boomed with my new team as a Cat 3
19) I crashed in a very cold and rainy race
20) I raced again and won a very big race at Sunny King
21) I crashed again when someone made a mistake and took me out
22) I'm learning to walk again after that crash tore multiple ligaments in my left knee
23) I've hired 2 new clinicians to come on and help me at my new position
24) I'm waiting on and MRI and discussions on possible surgery and the route we might be able to take without surgery.

I think that very quickly gets everyone up to speed without any real details. I will be writing again (right now) on explaining things in more details and bringing the blog back up to speed. Wanted to get this out there though.