UAB "Spirit Week"

Yeah it's Homecoming week at UAB! With being the dedicated Blazer fans/students that we are, we all participated in the Homecoming spirit events! The events for Homecoming week are an official building decoration competition, a gurney race, the Homecoming parade and of course the big game. I will have to say we did not get to participate in all of the events of the week, but we did sport our green UAB Physical Therapy shirts on Tuesday. We also went out in front of our SHP (school of health professions) building and cheer for the Blazers, as the decoration committee came around and judged. I'm not really sure who was in charge of the whole decorating, but they did an excellent job. We had a popcorn machine, SHP cheerleaders, Majorettes, and a boxing ring in which the dean of our school boxed Marshall's mascot. I am not sure of the winner yet, but I will let everyone know the outcome. Also, I do not know who won the game, because of course I was in T-town for the weekend. . . there is more on that to come. So I guess, GO BLAZERS!

The boxing ring!

Catherine Jones was really excited about the popcorn!

Marshall's mascot, I think she was a bison? but it was great!

And the River Won!

Little Cahaba River

When things get a little boring around the 'Ham, you can always count on someone to think of a great plan or as we like to call them "an activity" to do. Last Saturday was one of those days, but not too worry, the day was saved with the idea to brave the river. This river would be the "Cahaba", and for all of you, yes it does flow near Selma. In high school we would buy fun rafts and pack a cooler and enjoy a lazy day on the river. There were several events which included the traditional mud fight and of course the initial jump off the bridge for the crazy ones.

Well, although it is the same river, I have to say things are much more "advanced" (take that lightly). If you take a short drive down to Montevollo, AL and go a little further, you will end up in Limestone park. The river tubing was previously referred to as BullDog Bend, but now I guess its just the "Cahaba". The crazy back roads take you to an opening where usually there are several cars parked and just beyond a sketchy shack with a woman taking names of who is going on the river. I'm not really sure, but I think that it was a waver or something. Anyway once you pay for a tube the really nice "good ole boys" will drive you down to the river in the back of an old pick up and drop you off. From there you are on your own.

This time on the river, the brave ones were KK, Bethany, Sparks, Alex(Katie) Conway and myself. We were going pretty good, after some assistance getting in the river. We had even gone down the first two rapids great but on the third rapid that's when things went wrong. I decided to go down first, being the veteran, but that was a mistake. I lost one of my shoes and then realized that the rocks were scraping my back. At this point by reflex, I pushed down on my feet to raise my back and that's when it happened. Yeah i scraped my foot, or maybe ripped my foot on a rock is more of the term. I wasn't really sure what had happened, but at the end i had a pretty bloody battle wound.

I am very luck to have a doctor in the fam so of course Dr. Logan took care of me. He put 6 stitches in my foot, or Statches as Lola called them. The pictures below might be a little graphic but it really is not that bad. So in the end, the river did win, but there will be a rematch!

Alternative Forms of Transportaion

Ryan and Anna on the bike!

At UAB and probably every other college campus parking passes are a must. At good Ole' Samford, your parking pass showed not only where you could park, but also where you lived. The good days of having a purple sticker when you were a freshman, green if you lived in "The woods", Yellow if you lived on "West Campus"(gotta love the chi o house), and finally blue if you were a commuter. I will have to say that in my four years at Samford I had all four colors.

Well at UAB things are not as color friendly. They have all these numbers that correspond to different lots, but there are several lots with the same number. Also, the map that shows all of these same numbered lots is not color coded like SU. Thank goodness I am a grad student and not a new scared freshman who has no idea where to go. Along with the certain non-color coded lots that we have to park in, we also have to pay for a pass to do so. It is rather expensive to park at UAB compared with SU, but I have to say tickets are not as expensive. I will always remember my semester at Samford when i collected a personal best of $250 worth of parking tickets. I'm pretty sure Campus Safety had a stellar Christmas party on me that year.

Anyway all of this to say, the way to go is to help the environment. Yeah at UAB they give you incentives to "Go Green". For our good friend Ryan, pictured above, he chose the bike route. He basically can park anywhere (on the grass and what not) and he doesn't have to buy a parking pass. The only downfall, yeah when it rains its kinda a sad day for him. So for now, we hope for sunny days and the occasional ride to our cars on the back of Ryan's YEllOW BIKE!

Check that bike out! Now who would not want to ride that?

We Jumped Out of a Ducking Plane

Yeah, I'm in the Air!

Chris, Me, Catherine, DWinn, Anna, and Lucy

Yes, so it's true. . . We jumped out of a plane. "Actually, Hay Hay"(as Lola would say) We actually flipped out of an airplane. Several months ago we(Anna, Lucy, Catherine and I) got bored one night and decided to watch Catherine's skydiving video. After that it was just a matter of time before we were calling and planning our trip. Each day in class Lucy would write a note, which contained the number of days before we "jumped out of a ducking plane." We ended up going down to the beach for our "break" from PT school and it just so happened that we found a Skydiving place in Elberta,AL. Emeral Coast Skydiving was our place and what a special place it was. We laughed on our way that it was going to be a sketchy place and guess what we showed up to . . . Yeah it was basically someones house with an additional building out to the side and a large field. I have tons more pics so just let me know if you would like to see them. Also i got an amazing video of the whole thing, so get ready. If you are wanting to skydive let me say it was one of the best experiences in my life and I highly suggest you go for it!!

Our Plane!

Catherine and Anna showing off their goggles

Anna is so proud!

In Flight

Lucy and I getting all geared up

Landing safely on the ground

My Instructor, He was great!

The Big 23!

Happy B'day Alicia!!

23 People, the 23rd of July, and Alicia's 23rd Birthday what more could a girl want? Every now and then our PT school class likes to have some fun, so this time we went on an outing to Vestavia Bowl!!! Although it was not cosmic bowling, we made it fun. I have to say that I am not the best bowler, but I will say I got a strike during the many games we played.

Everybody Enjoying the games!

It looks like cosmic bowling, but the lights stayed on!

The girls: Catherine, Kim, Lucy, Hayden And Anna!

Check out Keith's skills

"Sipping and a Stroking"

The fun night

Who says that people who are science minded cannot also be creative? Well I hope we proved them all wrong a couple of Tuesday nights ago when we attended most of our very first "Sips and Strokes". For those of you who do not know what "Sips and Strokes" is let me inform you. Basically it is time for you and your friends to drink wine or beverage of your choice and paint a really cool painting. If you are not the best artist or are a type A person, you can so do this. You have a blank canvas, really fun paint colors, and an instructor who just guides you along. It really doesn't matter if you follow right along with the painting or kinda do your own thing, it is just really fun. About half of our PT class went to sips and strokes and we all loved it. We all painted a variation of the same pic, so if you live in Birmingham, let me strongly suggest that you try it out. If you live elsewhere I am sure you will have it soon, so be the first to suggest a fun and creative night out!!

Natilie, Anna and I during our first break

My final masterpiece!!

Our PT group!! Yeah we have a creative side too!!

Bonding in the Woods!

I know it sounds kind of silly, but yes, we had our Physical Therapy Class Retreat this weekend. It basically consisted of two days and one night at Camp McDowell, in Navoo, Al. For those of you who do not know where that is, I have one word JASPER. It truly wasn't that bad, we played a lot of football, went on an amazing hike, and made s'mores. The not so great parts involved small group activites and get to know you games, I mean we are together almost all the time, I think we know each other. The really interesting thing was we watched these videos called 30days. They are by the guy who did the movie "Super Size Me." The guy goes for 30days and does a certain thing, i know thats vage, but here is an example. The guy went and lived on minimum wage for 30days, and you got to see the struggles and everything he went through. It basically shows a person the other side of a situation. I highly recommend these, and he has made more. Well the retreat was great we all love each other and it gave me something to blog about!

The wonderful bridge we crossed

(Brittany, Kathleen, Anna, Hayden, Trent and Daniel Winn)

Chris Lee, Daniel Winn, and Trent

On the hike we went in the "Do not Cross area" such rebels

(Lauren, Hayden, Anna, Brittany, Trent, Matt)

The rest of the Hiking group

PT Class of 2010 (minus Trent, he got Staf)