Back in NYC for.... what?

Sadly, I'm writing this post at midnight having already been back home in NYC for a couple days. Tomorrow morning I jump on yet another flight, this time back to SLC for the family Thanksgiving basketball tournament and the holiday celebrated to provide such an occasion. It's good to be back in NYC and seeing old friends, but I'm already a little nostalgic for the morning bikerides in the early sunlight, quiet paddings-about in the Finns home, and the daily wondering if the S.F. peninsula holds some part of my future. Now unfortunately I'm already getting a little cabin-feverish in my apartment and the reality of sparse Rad Onc interviews is beginning to set in, but that's another story.

A quick summary of my last week in P.A. along with the latest and last of the pictures:

Saturday - Went to ward temple day with the P.A. YSA folks. In the CR had a good visit with Ms. W. and met a girl that I'd home taught at BYU. Later that night, a trip to S.F. for some Karaoke.

Sunday - Church followed by dinner + Settlers of Cataan with T.B. and his woman.

Monday - Stayed at work until 11:30 PM working on my presentation. That's pretty tame by NYC standards, but when you're riding your bike home through the black silent hills, it's another story. After relishing a tasty meal the Finn's had left for me and a perusal of the Christian Science Monitor, continued working until... well, too late to want to admit.

Tuesday - Gave my presentation. Got good feedback on it, but you never know for sure. Regardless of whether it pushed me one way or the other in terms of getting an interview, I learned a lot and felt good about what I made of it. Later on that night, S. O. came by to share some Pinkberry-esque frozen yogurt and chat in a pleasant farewell sort of way. What a good soul. One of the several new friends here (right up there with the Finns and Prosecutor W.)

Wednesday - Date night! Of course, having no car, I had to ride my bike to the restaurant in downtown P.A. where we were meeting. Generously, I was offered her brother-in-law's wetsuit for surfing that weekend.

Thursday - Hmmm...

Friday - The residents bought lunch for me and the other med student, B.T., and let us have the afternoon off. I was planning on going down to Big Sur to do some surfing for T.B.'s bachelor party, and was still trying to secure a ride (and a full-length wet suit--see above). B.T. offered to give me a lift on the way down to his home in Fresno (another good soul), but things ended up working out with me getting a ride down with P.J., my roommate W.D.'s cousin, and a guy from my freshman ward, R.G. We got to the campground where we sat around sharing T.B. stories and drinking home-made root beer made by his brother (we all convinced ourselves that the funky taste we couldn't put our fingers on was due to a benign non-Word of Wisdom-breaking byproduct of the yeast). I spent a lot of time looking up in the sky at the stars.

Saturday - Woke up sore from a deflated mattress and cold from the damp late-November air. After feasting on pancakes, steak-flavored eggs, bacon, and crazy-tasting root beer, we slid into our wetsuits and ran down to the beach with boards under-arm. It was a little strange not wearing anything underneath some other guy's wetsuit, but I quickly got over it. The beach was beautiful:

Awesome beach. (Unfortunately, it was also REALLY rocky in the shallows, and my feet ached for a day afterwards accented by the pain from several cuts)

Me from a strange angle.

Man of the hour waxing his board.

As cool as I felt with my wetsuit and long-ish hair hanging out with a bunch of surfer dudes, it was definitely a beginner's performance on my part--but a lot of fun. I ended up riding most of the waves on my stomach with occasional attempts to stand up. These were always quickly followed by my longboard becoming a high-velocity missile shooting out from under my feet.

After some lazying around in the sun back at camp, I had to head home with R.G. while the others went back out in the late afternoon. Back at The Ranch, it was time for the sad task of packing my things and saying goodbye to the Finns--such good folks:

The Red Eye flight back was quiet. I slept the whole way.