So I've officially completed my first year of med school. It's a bit surreal having a year behind me, being one step closer to having the responsibility of being a physician, and knowing that I still have a lot of learning ahead of me. Our last exams were yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I'll end up passing them. That said, I can now focus all of my attention on preparing for going to Kenya. I'll spend the next couple days in McPherson followed by a couple days in St. Louis. We are to report to Indianapolis on May 28th where we'll [View Full Entry]

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Toto, I See Twisties! The Poppy Poker Ride was a joint project of the women of the American Legion Auxiliary and the bikers of the American Legion Riders, both of the Dwight Cowles American Legion Post 370 in Overland Park, KS. I was the cooordinator as I was a member of both groups. It started as a suggestion that the Riders group help the Auxiliary with their annual poppy distribution. Bill Christensen suggested to me that the riders help the aux and i am sure he was wanting us to stand out front of some stores and help with the distribution [View Full Entry]

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Powwow is a social and contest dance event held through out the US and Canada. It is a beautiful, fun and unique event. I had been meaning to take some powwow pictures for my overseas friends & finially got around to it. Hopefully I'll add some more as the summer goes on. It starts with the "Grand Entry", when all the dancers parade in, following vetrans carrying national, state, & tribal flags and the eagle staff. The singers choose a lively and mooving song for grand entry. I often shed a tear during this time, both because of the beauty of [View Full Entry]

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This is just a test blog preparing for my trip this summer. I'm going to try to use this again to communicate with everyone while I'm in Nairobi. [View Full Entry]

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08 Installing Floorboards on my 05 883 Harley Davidson Sportster, Effie. Finally a warm day it’s a good day for a ride, but I wanted to put one of the new accessories on that I had bought over the winter. I had decided to try floorboards last year. I spend a lot of time on my bike and have found that it affects the way I walk. The story behind this is the bike is air cooled, on hot days the back cylinder gets really hot because my legs were cutting off the air going to it. So I need to [View Full Entry]

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What can I say about Wichita....... The town is stuck in 1995. The only radio that they play here is country. Mostly from the days when Garth Brooks was king and Diamond Rio was what Rascal Flatts dreamed of becoming. Seriously it's like I've stepped back in High School. Even the classic rock station plays 50s and 60s. Commercials are all from local businesses, trying to sell carpet, or used cars. I guess there is some charm to all this but it makes me realize how far we've come in the past 13 years. This job is tough, I really don't [View Full Entry]

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I learned through the American Legion Riders group about the project of Extreme Makeover Home Edition they were going to be building a house for a wounded Marine in my area. Daniel Gilyeat a single parent with 4 children had lost a leg in Iraq and was in need of a better house. 8 NOV 2007 A DAY OF WORK Volunteers signed up actually a few blocks away and shuttle buses took you to within a block of the work site. When I showed up I was told that they were not accepting anymore volunteers except for Marines. They would not [View Full Entry]

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I wanted to add a trunk to my Sporty, Effie. I had a dual purpose need of a trunk for the back of my sporty. 1.) I have a new laptop that has a 15” screen. The old laptop would fit in a saddlebag, but the new one is taller than the bag. I had researched waterproof, crushproof computer cases that I might strap on the back rack, but they were very expensive and would still leave the computer unsecured on the back of the bike. 2.) I also wanted to be able to secure (as in LOCK UP) my clothes [View Full Entry]

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Our American Legion Riders from Post 370 in Overland Park got together to go see the Patriot Chopper. The Patriot Bike is a National Guard theme chopper built by OCC (Orange County Choppers). It was built on the show American Chopper. We met at 11:30am on Saturday morning. I had to hurry, as I needed to put in a couple hours that morning at work, I work for that American Legion Post. But I got to the post in plenty of time to join the group for the ride. It was in the low 40’s when we left for Cabela’s a [View Full Entry]

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So it's Friday, Feb 1. I'm still at work and getting pretty anxious for the trip. I leave in about an hour to go get Bob, Brandi, Ron, and Pierce at the airport. I've been babysitting both dogs (Barley and Zeus) for the last month and they've been great but it's definitely like having kids (unless you have kids, then I'm sure you'd tell me it's nothing like having kids). I'm partially packed, will finish tonight and we depart for Detroit at 10:50am. Then on to Tokyo. We get in at 4:40pm Tokyo time (15 hours ahead) and will hopefully not [View Full Entry]

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