It’s the end of February, 2005, and I’ve neglected my poor Web site for too long.

My last real “update,” was in March of 2004, and I’ll pick things up from there.

I finished up my undergraduate degree at Salem State College…FINALLY. That only took me about 15 years. I went from being a graphic design major (in 1987), to graduating with a degree in journalism (in 2004). It all makes perfect sense because immediately after graduating, I started working on my master’s degree in a physician assistant program. At least if any projects need writing or designing—I’ll have a head start.

While I was wrapping up my undergrad degree, I was running around like a madman to get ready for UNE. I needed books (lots of books), medical equipment (lots of medical equipment), and I needed a place to live.

The UNE campus is about 1:45 from home, so instead of losing more than 3hrs every day to commuting (not to mention tires, gas, and sanity), we decided it would be best if I got a little place in Maine for the first year. Originally, I wanted a little studio apartment, but when I thought about the finances, and after being contacted by a couple of other incoming students, I decided to share a place with two other PA students. I found us a killer 3-bedroom apartment one mile from campus. Sweet. I thought I’d never have to drive, but I didn’t realize that I’d be schlepping 40 pounds of books, plus my laptop, plus random medical equipment, plus food, plus gym clothes back and forth every day. I used my bike trailer several times, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Before I had to start school, Jean and I had a chance to head out west for fun and adventure. We LOVE travel, and it was a great time together—as usual.

Once we got back from the trip, all of my time was spent preparing to move.

School started in early June and it’s been a non-stop, mad dash, all out study-fest since then.

I thought, coming off of working and going to school, both full-time (plus freelance and other responsibilities), that this would actually be a little lighter. Ha! We thought the summer was intense—and it was—until we hit the fall semester. Holy Cow! The class is made up of 48 (originally there were 51) people of very diverse backgrounds: Paramedics, researchers, EMTs, teachers and a former pro-BMX’er, and the ages range from 22 to the late 40’s. Everyone brings something different to the group (some more different than others), and it’s a fun class. I was elected to serve on the graduate student government (which later I became president), and to serve on the curriculum committee. As if I didn’t have enough to do!

The summer semester was filled with classes on dermatology, ophthalmology, cell physiology, health promotion & disease prevention, clinical assessment skills, and anatomy. Anatomy was awesome. We spent most of our time in the cadaver lab in Biddeford (UNE’s other campus). I got to hold brains and hearts and kidneys and everything else. No the bodies aren’t gross, they only stink “a little,” and it’s not as bad as most people think. The class was great, but it took a lot of studying.

I’d go home most weekends, or Jean would come up to see me—but my schedule being so full of studying, we’d really only ever get Friday and Saturday to be together. During the week I was able to squeeze a ride or a run in here and there, but not enough to truly feed the soul. I was able to ride my freestyle bike on my 35th birthday, and believe it or not, my passion for BMX has only gotten stronger.

The summer semester ended with a frantic round of finals, and then we were given two weeks off. Amen!

Jean and I spent some long overdue time together and even go to get up to Acadia National Park in Northern Maine. We brought Todd with us, and he seemed to have a great time too.

When classes started back up in September, we all remembered how we were warned by last year’s class: “The fall is a bitch.” I think the exams started right away and continued, with at least one or two per week, until the end. Life in the fall was all about studying.

To be honest, I don’t remember anything else about the fall but spending every spare moment in front of the books. We learned about neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders, cardiology, pulmonology, clinical pharmacology, virology, bacteriology, immunology, parasitology, and lots of other ologies. We also had a class in research (see the link on the homepage), and the video that we made was the only redeeming thing about it. It was terrible. Another class got us OUT of the classroom and out to the community—we met with residents of assisted living facilities to work on some of our exam and history taking skills. The residents were great, and it was fun to be out of the lecture halls.

Towards the end of the semester, I had a fool idea and registered for an off-road marathon. I had about 6 weeks to train (and I use the word “train” loosely). I’d actually bring flash cards with me on runs (nerd). When the race finally came (in November), we got about 6 inches of snow. The conditions forced the race to start late, and my pace was way off, so at the halfway point I had to pull out. Not for any other reason than I had stuff to do, and it was getting late. I felt good, and all in all, I can’t complain about running a half-marathon with only 6 weeks of training. I really miss those long runs, and I can’t WAIT for this miserable long cold snowy cold frigid horrible winter to end. But again, I’m getting ahead of myself.

After a FRANTIC round of finals, the fall semester ended and we were given almost FOUR WEEKS OFF. Wow.

Jean and I packed the car and headed down to Orlando to meet up with Jean’s parents (who were smart and flew) and my mom for the holidays. Orlando is NOT my favorite place, but it was good to get away and see my mom. Jean and I got some road rides in, and we got to see the Cirque du Soleil. After Christmas, when we started home, things went downhill. We hit MAJOR traffic in North Carolina from a fast moving snowstorm, and we were stuck in the car for about 12hrs straight. We pulled off at one point (at the only exit within MILES), and there were hundreds of cars trying to get to the gas pumps or go in and get food. The line for the rest room wound in and out of every aisle in the store and Jean waited about an hour to go. Thank God I’m a guy—there was no line for the trees out back. It was a crazy situation, and we hit more traffic in Maryland and Connecticut. The drive that normally takes a total of 24hrs, took more than 36hrs of non-stop truckin. I don’t think we’ll have any bright ideas to drive anywhere for a while.

I spent the rest of my vacation time selling stuff on eBay, trying to catch up with life, and trying to prepare for the upcoming spring semester.

And so ends 2004!