A Little Dating Ego Boost

So, I told a friend of mine recently that he needed to establish more of a dating ego. What I maen to say is that he is highly confident in his athletic abilities, but seems to be lacking in confidence when in dating situations. I think we can all relate to this one, and I have definitely doubted my ability to attact a worthwhile mate.

I decided to post a blurb from an email I recently received that definitely helped to boast my dating ego. A little back story: while waiting for my fellow RTB team members at a local dive bar, I fended off some advances from the older patrons while a younger gentleman looked on. I tried to get this guys attention and sigmal that he should come save me, but he did not approach me until my friends showed up a bit later. We chatted a with him about our big race up in NH, and before leaving he gave me his business card and asked me to keep him posted on how we did. So, I wrote him last week to brag about how team One More Beer did, but also informed him that I was seeing someone (true at the time, although recent events have changed that). Here is part of his reply:

Well, I guess I could take a reprieve and say that I was not hitting on
you- though, it wouldn't be completely accurate. I was mostly saying
hello, as I was curious as to your reasoning for being at that place
alone at 5:30pm. So, my curiosity was going, and the catch of your smile
was lovely, so I took a chance at saying hello. No real intent on
anything other than making an acquiantance, though if you were absent a
boyfriend, then I certainly would be asking you out now. :) That's as
straightforward as I can make it. :)

That email is getting filed away for those days when I need a pick me up... kind of like my voicemail collection which includes 2 drunken calls from Wick & Grey telling me how much they miss me, and the recent addition of Matt telling me how F-ing cute I look with my new haircut :)

Scott & I at the finish

Last Leg!
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Here's a picture of Scott and I at the end of the race. Scott ran our last leg and definitely deserved the gatorade I brought him :)

Scott was one of the faster more competitive members of our team. JMo and he started a competition to see who could pass the most runners on their legs. Since JMo ran right before Scott, he would always tell him a number when he passed of the wrist band at the transition point and this would give Scott a goal to achieve. They referred to people passed on the road as "roadkill," and we kept an accurate tally for al team members in the van. Final score: Scott 88, JMo 69!

I was not really involved in the competition, but I was definitely proud of my 20 :)

My friend Matt was competing with them on another team... I don't remember his final tally though. I'm sure it was close. The 3 of them are crazy fast runners! Scott was never passed, and JMo was passed only once. I would love to have all 3 of them on my team next year!

RTB team: One More Beer

RTB team One More Beer
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

The weekend before last I participated in one of the best athletic competitions: Reach the Beach. This is an event where 12 member teams run a 200 mile relay across New Hampshire (from Bretton Woods to Hampton Beach) in 24 hours time! There are 300 teams that register every year and each one starts on Friday according to their projected finish time. They try and plan it so most teams finish around the same time. We started at 10:40am.

Each runner is supposted to complete 3 legs total with varying start times. Because we were down a runner (my friend was injured last minute) and Anna was already injured, 4 of us ended up running 4 legs total. My total milage was 18.7 miles, with my longest leg being 6.9 miles @ 5 am Saturday morning. Oddly enough, despite a constant battle with my stomach, I felt great during my legs and even managed to pass 20 people total: 13 of those at 5am! My last leg was a bit painful and took a lot of willpower to finish.

Here is a picture of my team, although a few of us are hidden. We all wore the Boston HHH One More Beer T-shirt, which was our team name. We ended up finishing 78th out of 296 teams. My team was amazing, and I think we all had a great time. Enough to even consider doing it again next year...

Back to School

Yuck. So, I am now full fledged into the fall semester and I think I am keeping my head above water. I can't tell if this semester is easier, or if I care less at this point in the game. I definitely find the subject matter interesting as we are now doing spine and neuro. My clinical placement for this semester is Beth Israel Outpatient for 6 weeks than the Brain Injury Unit @ Spaulding for the 2nd 6 weeks. Much more involved patients, but I'm excited about it.

I guess the hardest thing right now is that I have been out of town every weekend since I came back from VT: the wedding in Upstate NY, Reach the Beach (which I plan to write more about when I have pictures), and now a random event in NH... next weekend I'm staying in Beantown, going to my favorite coffeeshop, and taking some time for me! Woo hoo, I like that plan!

After

After
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

So, I went to get my haircut today and it was long enough... so I let her cut it short in order to donate it. Hopefully someone will enjoy some nice golden locks while I get used to the cute new do. It definitely is an adjustment.

I think I may really be shocked tomorrow when I wake up and it is still gone!

Sara, you inspired me... hopefully I still like the decision in the morning :)

Before

Before
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

I decided to donate my hair back in the spring and it wasn't long enough then, so I've been growing it out since...

Farewell Hash

Farewell Hash
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

This is a picture from my farewell hash up in Burlington, VT. Heather took this picture of the two of us after I set a trail that made everyone run 5+ miles. Notice we are both still smiling, so it couldn't have been that bad!

I had so much fun running with them this summer, and I miss them all now that I am back in Boston. People here are in such a rush and they never seem to have smiles like these on there faces :(

My Mercedes

My Mercedes
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

The rental car company did not have my Dodge Neon as promised, but they did have a Mercedes at the same price. I got to arrive to the wedding in style! Hard to convince people you are a poor grad student when you roll up in this vehicle though...

I totally look like I am trying to sell this car, not like the owner. Perhaps I should work on that for the next premium car I get to drive.

An amazing ride!

Before the drive

Before the drive
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

I headed out to upstate NY for Igor and Ainsley wedding, and stopped off at a friend's place in Albany. I think he wanted to document my wearing makeup... it doesn't happen often :)

I am hoping to have actual pictures from the wedding to post, although people seem to be slow to get their pictures posted.

The wedding was beautiful. They got married up in the Thousand Islands and had the reception at her family's place on one of the islands. There was a boat taking guests over and everything. All the usual Brown CS guys were there and I had a blast with all of them. Makes me wish there was another wedding coming up soon...

Keeping warm by the campfire

Keeping warm by the campfire
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Dan tried to keep me warm by the fire, but I eventually needed a blanket. Below 65 is NOT August weather.

Waiting for our turn

Waiting for our turn
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Zack and I wait on shore for our turn on the boat. Greg has the cutest life vest for him and it has a handle. Greg then picks him up like a 6 pack and brings him on board.

How's the air up there?

How's the air up there?
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

After Derek told her it was not possible to take a good wakeboarding action shot, Logan whipped out her camera and captured Greg in action. I think she may have proved him wrong on that one.

There are no great action shots of me, but I'm still working on getting the board out of the water... maybe next year.

The Lake Sunapee Crew

The Lake Sunapee Crew
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

I went camping this weekend with Derek and a bunch of his friends up at Lake Sunapee. This is an annual gathering that consists of Lobster dinner Friday night, and wakeboading all day Saturday. And I added a new tradition of blueberry pancakes in the morning. Needless to say, I had a blast!

So, left to right starting at the bottom: Jake (dog), Emily, Greg, Zack (dog) & Dan. Logan, Derek, Jason, me, Nikki, and Sean.

Only possible in VT

My roommate from Boston came up for a couple of nights to enjoy some fun outdoor activities, and I think we may have outdone ourselves. Orignially we talked about going on a nice hike, but then a friend up here was going out sailing on Saturday and was looking for a crew. Because Helen wanted to leave early on Sunday, we had a choice to make... and we decided to do both!

Because Jeff didn't plan to set sail till 3pm, we headed out to Camel's Hump for a 4 hour hike leaving Burlington at 8am and returning in time to shower, change and buy some food to bring on board. Jeff and another friend on board, Alex, both made Mojitos and we had a nice relaxing sail out to Juniper Island on Lake Champlain where we set anchor and swam for a bit before heading back to the docks. The lake was a bit on the cold side, but definitely refreshing.

We then hung out with some other sailors we know on shore at a bar called Breakwaters until after 10pm. I would like to tell you I then headed home for well needed rest, but unlike my older and sometimes wiser roommate, I decided to meet some of the crew out at a club later in the evening and stayed out dancing till 2am.

After a full day like that, I feel somewhat justified in staying in and doing laundry today. A slightly tamer, but still productive day, right?

Life at Fletcher Allen Aquatic

I have just finished my second week up here in Burlington at Fletcer Allen Aquatic, and I am loving it. Everyone here is really nice and helpful. It is a great learning environment and I am really starting to feel confident when treating patients. I now have my own caseload, and am treating 6 patients almost exclusively. In only a couple of weeks time, I have formed a good relationship with them and have helped a few progress. I can't say how great it is to have someone thank you for making them feel better.

Outside of clinic, I have managed to make a few friends and already have offers to go sailing, running, and kayaking. I LOVE living in a place where people fill their weekends with outdoors activities :) I am actually going camping this weekend with friends coming up from Boston, so I am hoping the weather holds out. I ended up biking in the rain to work multiple times this week, and could really use some drier days.

Updates from the Green Mountain State

I have moved up to Burlington, VT and am currently residing in the basement of my new roommate's townhouse. It is an interesting living situation for the next 2 weeks as the old roommate is still here, and they DO NOT get along. Of course both of them are super nice to me and constantly tell me how difficult the other person is as a roommate. I think they are both trying to win me over to their "side," and I am trying to lay low until the other girl moves out. Apparently I dodged a screaming match last night by going to bed early... I will have to continue to do that in the future.

Of course my 11 mile round trip bike ride, and my early hours should ensure that that happens most nights. I just biked to my clinic for the first time. The ride was 10 minutes quicker on the ride back because apparently I have a mainly uphill climb to get there. I just missed biking in 2 rain storms, and am wondering what my thunderstorm plan will be. There is a bus that goes almost to my clinic (within a mile), but that would still be a trek in the rain... oh well, I go right in the pool anyways most days.

Today I did not get into the pool as we did not see too many patients, since I had to do a lot of orientation type stuff. I have a list of patients that we will see tomorrow and I need to look up a few things in my notes to be prepared. She plans on me treating patients after a week or two, so I need to be prepared.

The weekend was nice. Derek and I walked around on Friday after he drove me up, and Matt and I went hiking on Sunday when he was here. I am hoping to spend my off hours outdoors enjoying the scenery here. I surprisingly have a lot of energy given my 2.5 mile run this morning, 11 mile bike ride, and 6 hour work day (it was short today). Well, let's see how I hold up after a full day tomorrow starting at 7:15, which means I have to be on my bike @ 6:30 AM.

Dark Moves on the Dancefloor Co-Host

Dark Moves on the Dancefloor Co-Host
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

After some arm twisiting, Matt finally got me to speak on air with him. Boy was it nerve racking! I mean, what do you say? Does anyone really care what you talk about? I don't know how he does it every week.

Although my radio career was brief, I think perhaps the audience enjoyed my banter with DJ Matthew C. I can tell you that I would definitely do it again if I had the chance, and perhaps this tiem would be less timid. :)

Oh, and I wasn't bored in the radio studio like the picture suggests. Matt & I thought it would be funny to take a staged photo where I pretend to be thoroughly uninterested in his show, which is not the case.

DJ Matthew C

DJ Matthew C
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Last Thursday I visited Matt in Albany and was able to sit in on his radio show at WRPI: Dark Moves on the Dancefloor. He gets to craft a set list and talk about his favorite bands for 2 hours every Thursday night. You got to love college radio stations! It was my first time at a radio studio, and it was cool to see how everything works. I'm very glad I was invited out there :)

Our new favorite accessory!

All about the ring pops
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Sara and I are now hooked on ring pops after Amy Mendel's faux engagement party where she handed them out at the door. So many people kept asking us if we were part of a bachelorette party because we bought the ones that flashed. I think we bought 20 of them, so we should be all set the next few times we go out!

Sara & the boys

Sara & the boys
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Here Sara is with Matt and his roommate Erik. Logan did such a great job as the official photographer of BOOB. How cute are they!