One More Test Down!

   I just finished a nasty Renal & GI Physiology test and it feels sooo sooo great!  I did really well, despite trying my hand at not going to class.  (I probably didn't attend more classes than I did)  I got up at 5:00 am this morning to get some last minute cramming in.  Don't let anyone tell you that cramming doesn't work.  I'm living proof that it does.

Here's one of my favorite pictures from this section's syllabus.  Even if you're 25 and in med school, it still makes you giggle!

   I have just one more week of class and then it will finally be spring break.  I've been needing this break for awhile, and it is going to be awesome!  Sydney's parents are coming to visit us and we'll be busy all week seeing all the fantastic sites.  I know that plans include visiting; Washington D.C., Williamsburg, Jamestown, Richmond (of course), & anything else Jim and Kaylene feel like doing.  It should be a nice break for me & Syd and a good vacation for Jim & Kaylene.  (At least having their daughter move across the country is making them travel!)

Since the weather has been warming up (it's supposed to be 65 F on Sunday) we're getting ready for motorcycle season!  The bike that we bought only comes with a single passenger seat, so I've been trying to find a cost effective solution to let us ride together.  HDForums is awesome for finding used Harley stuff for great prices.  I got this really night Mustang Daytripper Seat with a tear in it that is my project for this weekend.  I'll post some pictures when I'm finished.

Also, I've decided to invest in a sissy bar for Syd's sake.  I like my wife.  I'd like to keep her.  Hence, sissy bar.  I found a reasonably priced one on Ebay and just got it back from powder coating on Wednesday.  It looks pretty good (still not put together & the pad is still in the car).  

Finally, over Christmas, Sydney got a plant/bulb thing from a client that she walks dogs for.  We finally planted the thing and it's sprouted up like a nutcase.  I'm no plant expert.  I actually know nothing about plants, but this one is a healthy one!  We're putting our 5 windows to good use!

Likely we'll be posting again once Kaylene and Jim have come and we've had something else to take pictures of.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I know that I will!  NO STUDYING!!!!

Overnight with a Puppy!

Sydney had the opportunity to stay overnight with one of her client's puppies while they were out of town. It was really nice, because the lady said that I could stay over there with her so she didn't have to be alone. The puppy's name is Skyy and she is a sweetheart. Seriously one of the nicest cutest puppies ever! She recently had hip surgery, and I believe that was the main reason why her owner wanted someone there overnight.

Here are some fun pictures we took!

You can tell that Skyy loves to be touched and petted.

Skyy is really funny with her toys. She has a LOT of stuffed animals which she "carries" all around the house. She doesn't tear apart or chew them. She just carries them around in her mouth. It was so cute when I first got there, she kept grabbing different ones and carrying them around with her like she was showing them to me.

What a cutie! This face woke me up a few times in the morning. Right after a puppy kiss.

Probably the best part about going over to take care of Skyy is the fact that I got an excuse to ride the motorcycle over there so I could leave to go to class in the morning. (Which I didn't end up doing.) We're planning on going back to visit Skyy sometime soon. Skyy's owner really likes Sydney because her husband was a doctor and she loves the fact that Sydney's husband is in medical school.

Other than that, things have been pretty normal. I (Josh) have actually just started to do dog visits myself for the company Syd works for. I figure it would be nice to have something to do other than just study all the time, and it's so fun to be around puppies all the time! Sydney's boss is really nice and awesome to work with. It should be lots of fun!

A Few More Pictures

This is at the request of my mother. The bike is a 2007 Harley Davidson Nightster. Pretty much one of my favorite bikes ever! My father is also a fan. :) Too bad we're having a crap load of snow here on the east coast, so its inaugural ride will have to be a bit postponed.

More Better Things To Sit On!

We bought a new bike! Yes...that's right! I've been planning and scheming for quite some time now. Finally, our new addition has arrived and we are so excited! It just so happened that it came on one of the snowiest and stormiest weekends of the year.

I spent some time waiting for the right bike for the right price. I ended up buying it on Ebay of all places from a guy in West Virginia. I was planning on having it shipped here, but the guy offered to deliver it if I'd just pay him the shipping. I think he planned that before the snow storm hit. He decided to drive anyway. Originally, he planned to get here around 5pm on Friday. After letting me know that he drove back about 2 hours once he realized that he forgot the keys, he ended up getting here around 7 am. I have no idea what he did along the way, but it was snowing most of the time and he even said that there were fallen trees on the highway. Either way, it's here now and AWESOME!

Don't mind the couple inches of snow on the ground. The last picture is really bad. Sorry, I took these with a cell phone. We'll get some better ones later when the weather is better. I fired it up once we got it all settled, and boy oh boy! What a treat!

Paint!

So, after hours and hours of Sydney watching millions of different programs on HGTV, we have been wanting to design and fix up our apartment so it looks all awesome. When we moved here, our lease said that we weren't allowed to paint. Since we were snowed in (yeah...seriously...in Richmond) all weekend, we got bored and decided to have some fun.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to just call our leasing office and ask if we could paint. To my amazement, they said yes. We ran to the store and bought some paint and supplies and began. We didn't finish till about 2am Monday morning (we started a little later than we should have), but it was a lot of fun and really makes our apartment a whole lot better!

We actually didn't finish at 2am...since we just barely ran out of paint...for both colors. Seriously like 1 foot square left on each wall. We like it!

New Stuff To Sit On!

We recently did a famous Josh switch. This is where I sell something I have to get something new. The item...a wonderful monstrosity donated to the Josh and Sydney Foundation by my loving parents (Tyler and Lisa). It was a large, L-shaped, purple, leather sofa. We drug it all the way out here to VA believing that it would fit well in our apartment. Sadly, the measurements we were given for our new place were wrong and the large L really didn't fit so well.

I listed the beautiful beast on craigslist. Here it is in all its glory.

Fantastic, I know! We have enjoyed it thoroughly. I know that my roommates over the years have been very grateful for it. But, the time had come for something that fit our small apartments a little better.

I didn't expect it, but someone came and bought the couch the same night that I listed it. So, Syd and I sat on the floor for a few days. It wasn't too bad.

We shopped around online and all over Richmond. Finally, we found a set that we liked, for the price that we liked. Home Decor Liquidators! Oh yeah...we're all about a good deal.

If only I had pictures about how we got these babies into the apartment. The store wanted to charge me $60 to deliver them. (Doesn't surprise me. We paid so little in the first place, they have to try and make some money somewhere) I said no thanks to that kaibosh and rented a moving truck for $7 and hour. Syd and I headed off and picked up the couches. We got there and they started loading them up. (This is a good time to mention that while we were there shopping the day before I had sat down on a sofa and knocked over some pictures that were resting against it. I shattered all 3.) When they had the sofas ready to load, they wanted me to review the sheet and sign. I looked at the invoice and noticed that the color section was "camel," and I think our couches were more appropriately named "chocolate." I asked the guy, and we looked at the couches only to discover he was about to load the wrong color into our truck.

This started a commotion, but after a little while they realized that the wrong couches had been entered on the invoice and that they would fix it. We went back to the cash register where they informed us that the couches we had meant to buy were on sale and that they would be putting $50 back on my card. Awesome!

We're finally in the truck on the way to our apartment. We got to the apartment and started to unload the couches. ***Note: We live on Main Street in downtown Richmond and it's a pretty busy street. This makes for pretty exciting unloading! As we were unloading the love seat, a man stopped me and asked me if we needed some help. Beggars and people asking for a light are very common outside our apartment so it wasn't surprising. (usually there is a guy with a big bird hat on outside our apartment playing the guitar, or the lady without legs in the wheelchair who sells roses) I politely declined and told the man that we were just fine. He leaned in towards me and told me that he was just freezing and would really appreciate a meal. I told him, "Well why didn't you say that? We'd love some help." It's a good thing that this guy came along. He was a huge help cramming those things into the freight elevator and taking them to the end of the hall on the 3rd floor.

Afterwards we all hopped in the truck and I told the very friendly homeless guy that we would go anywhere he wanted. He said he wanted McDonald's, but since their card machines were broken we ended up at Hardee's. (It's Carl's Jr. back west) He ordered like 3 hamburgers and a combo meal, but I was happy to pay this guy for the help. We had a good talk with him on the drive there. He was a veteran and staying at a shelter.

So...there you have it. We got new couches and had some help from a guy off the street. It was a fantastic evening!

GRRR!

It's official. The worst thing about living in the city is the parking. When we first moved here Josh and I parked the car about 20 minutes away in a free parking lot because we didn't want to have to pay for parking, and we didn't really use the car that much. Then when I got a job I needed the car more, and I wasn't about to walk 20 minutes every time I needed it. We could have parked our car in a garage right behind our building for $120 a month, but we're cheap, so we found the cheapest parking space we could which costs us $60 a month and is about 4 blocks away. Since it is 4 blocks away, we usually park in front of our building on the weekends because it is allowed, and I usually shop later at night because I can park the car out front after 6:00. However, due to the curse of city parking, we have already received FOUR PARKING TICKETS!!! GAH! On our street we are not allowed to park our car on week days between the hours of 7-10 am, and 4-6 pm, and in between those times it is metered parking. Special us. We sometimes forget that we have our car parked out front come Monday morning, or I forget to return it to the parking space after bringing groceries in. Hence, the four parking tickets. 60 dollars apiece for three of them, and 20 dollars for the fourth. (sigh) It's really disheartening to think that we could be parking our car right behind our building for the same price we have paid to park it four blocks away. :( ...Thank you for reading my novel.