Crazy Day

The last 24 hours are just a blurr! I found out yesterday evening that I would have to travel to the town of Chico (home of Sierra Nevada beer which was founded by two college students--how sweet that would be!) which is 3 hours from Santa Rosa. That wasn't great new as I would have to wake up around 5 am, but that's been done before, so no big deal.

So then last night was the first time I've had plans with friends outside of work since I've moved to Santa Rosa (not that I don't enjoy my coworkers, but it's good to diversify!) We went to a Messiah Sing-a-long at a local high school. For those of you enthusiasts of classic music score, this is Handel's choral piece based on the life of Christ and is where the "Hallelujah Chorus" came from. I sang parts of this score in high school, so a sing-a-long sounded fun (I'm showing my dorky side)! At this sing-a-long, the audience is the choir and they handed out the music at the door (I think I may by my own music and practice for next year.) I sat by an attractive girl who I mustered up the courage to talk to! She ended up being a senior at the high school, so of course, I got her number, and will probably tutor her in calculus. (That's a joke by the way, it'll probably be trigonometry) :) During the Messiah, I was really enjoying myself and surprised at how much of the music I actually remembered. The "Hallelujah Chorus" is the third song from the end and I really wanted to sing it, but I decided it'd be best to leave at intermission which was at 9:00 PM since I had to wake up around 5 AM.

On my way home, I received a phone call informing me that I needed to go to Redding instead of Chico (240 miles from Santa Rosa) and that the clinic starts a half hour earlier. This necessitated waking up at 3:30 AM to leave my place by 4! Needless to say, I wasn't real excited. So on my way I texted Aaron since he's on the east coast and figured he'd be on his way to work. Well, I had been on the road for an hour and Aaron informed me he was just leaving for work (he's three hours ahead of me!) How ridiculous!

Overall, the clinic went well, the patients were nice, and my coworkers in Redding were very glad I came. I got back to Santa Rosa at 5:30 PM (a 12 hour work day with 8 hours of driving) and had a beer at a local bar with some friends. I had a Sierra Nevada, kind of an ironic beer choice in retrospect (refer to first paragraph)!

Condo Clarification

Just so you all know, that's a mirror on the wall behind the bookshelf in the picture with the kitchen table. Kudos to you who figured that out, but I think it could be confusing to the untrained eye and make my place seem twice as big as it is :)

My Pad

I figured I'd post some pics of my condo for ya'll to see. I'm definitely happy it. For those of you who heard me complain about how small my place in Sac was (see July blog), you'll hear no such complaints about my new place (it's four stories)! Well, maybe more like multi-split-level, but I like to describe it as four stories! But hey, I got a great deal!

2 car garage


Living room


Kitchen/dining room


Stairway to master bedroom and then guest room


View out my back patio

Bad Ass Ride!

Well, my bad ass ride finally arrived! Lincoln Navigator what? Cadellac Escalade who? No thanks, I'll take my freakin' pimpin' Toyota Rav4! That's right, my Rav4 is here, and I'm kind of a big deal in Santa Rosa now. Tanner Augustin has officially exploded onto the scene! No more minivan for me. Although I had gotten used to those looks I would receive driving that thing around. I just resided myself to the fact that every girl who saw me in the minivan assumed I was a young family man with kids. Not anymore! Now I feel like rugged mountain man. Bear Grylls, I'm sure, drives a Rav4 as no other vehicle screams rugged mountain man like it does. And I think Dog Bounty Hunter drives one around too. Goodbye family man image. Now when I drive by with my 2Pac's Greatest Hits thumpin' the ladies are thinking, "That's the kind of man I want to be with!" Some even yell, "Hey Tanner!" (That's right, they know my name. How do they know it, you ask...they just do). I just smile back, give a wink, toss out my card, and keep on rollin'...that's how I roll. That's how I do it.

Work Peeps

These are some of the Christmas pictures my team took. We give Christmas cards to all the clinics and hospitals. In the top pic: in the back (from left) is Steven, me, and Dan. In front (from left) is Gary, Rebecca, Amy, and JP (the boss). Amy is in a chimney, not a trash can.The ugly Christmas sweater theme was my idea. Although, in Cali, I couldn't find ones that were extremely hideous! I was looking for the ones with one huge picture of Santa Clause and just couldn't find them. Interestingly enough, though, I was at Macy's and saw a Polo sweater for $250, and it was uglier than anything I could find at Goodwill!

Great Weekend

It was so fun having Aaron around for a weekend. It's been months since I've seen someone from home, and I was really missing that. One of the things I realize I miss most about being around long-time friends are the inside jokes! When you've known people for several years, you have so much to make fun of and bring up from the past...it's great! You really don't have that with new friends.

We spent the weekend in Sacramento, not Santa Rosa, because I was on call this weekend. Yes, you heard me right, I was on call. :( I was pretty frustrated going into the weekend that I couldn't get out of it, but that's the job I guess. But the Lord definitely answered my prayers in that I only had one page while Aaron was here! That's pretty much unheard of. In my previous on call weekends, I've always had at least a couple calls per day. So Saturday was callless and we had a blast! Also, we stayed at a nice hotel downtown paid for by Medtronic, so that was kinda nice.

Last night we ate at a restaurant called Stonegrill & Bar. I had a Kobe steak for the first time. I was kinda disappointed with it. It wasn't as tender as I expected it to be, especially considering the Japanese massage the cows to make it more tender! At this restaurant, you actually cook your own meat on a 750 degree lava rock in front of you. (It's moisture activated, so if your finger is dry, you can actually touch the rock and not get ridiculously burned). I just seared it a couple minutes on each side and had a nice cool, red center. I love my rare steak!

LOL...

All these text messaging shorthand of words and abbreviations get kind of confusing. LOL, WTF, NBD, J/K, how are we supposed to keep up with all these? BFD right? Well, it is a BFD!

Whenever I would text message some joke or funny comment to a coworker, he would reply with "LOL". I thought that stood for "lots of love"! I'm not sure why I thought that, but I figured that's what it meant. It didn't seem like the most natural thing to say in that context, but, being in California, I figured it must be a common response to something funny. Well, as my good friend Aaron pointed out, it means "laugh out loud!" That makes so much more sense! TTYL!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving! I wasn't sure what to expect this year in regards to my Thanksgiving weekend. Every year I look forward to the holiday weekend because it means lots of relaxation, great food eating, and football. My favorite thing to do is eat a huge meal and dessert, and then just lay around all day watching football. Being in California this year, I was looking forward to the time off work, but didn't know how enjoyable the weekend was going to be. As it turns out, it was a great weekend!

I spent Wednesday night through Friday evening in Sacramento. I stayed with a coworker of mine and his wife, Nick and Carrie. It was great! They have a nice house and they're so enjoyable to be around. On Thanksgiving evening, we went over to Carrie's parent's house and had both fried turkey and smoked turkey. Both were great, but the smoked turkey was the moistest turkey I've ever had in my life! At the house were both sides of parents and siblings. They were all so nice, it really felt like I was around actual family.

Today, I was back in Santa Rosa and was able to get more settled into my place. This afternoon, I went to Bella Wine Caves, a beautiful winery in Dry Creek Valley. A friend of mine was pouring, so I decided to go check it out. It was a great time! 4 miles off the highway on a single lane road. It is so much more of an intimate setting in the hills than Napa Valley is. Napa Valley wineries are right off a busy highway, and the wineries in this area are off a single lane road. Definitely gonna take people up when they come visit! Soon I'll post pics of my condo so you all can see it.

First Sunday in Santa Rosa

Well, here I am in Santa Rosa. My first weekend here. I finally moved up to Santa Rosa for good. And none too soon, as I have grown weary of weekdays in Santa Rosa and weekends in Sacramento. I treated myself to Tater Tot Casserole as my first meal in my new place! Gotta keep to my Nebraska farm roots. However, I did sip on a glass of Cabernet grown here in the Northern Coast as I ate my casserole. Midwest farm boy meets California wine country!

I am a little irked sitting here, though, as I have found some things in my condo that are less than acceptable. My dishwasher smells like burning rubber when it runs, and it drains through this nozzel into the sink (disgusting). My washer quit working on me after three loads. This condo complex can't have satellite dishes, so I had to buy out of my two year contract with Dish Network after only 3 months of having it -- kinda pricy. There's no silverware holder for the dishwasher, and no drain baskets or stoppers for the kitchen sink. And finally, the middle of the bathtub is lower than the drain, so I have to use a squeegee push the water to the drain after every shower. Yes, this all kinda pisses me off as I am paying a good chunk of my salary to rent this freakin' place! Oh well, I guess a nice conversation with the landlord will have to be had.

Here's some picks of the area I took today. Enjoy!Vineyard 15 minutes from Santa Rosa toward Napa Valley
Overlook of Santa Rosa
Sunset at the Pacific 30 minutes from Santa Rosa (that's me!)

A day at the office...

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day in the life of this Medtronic clinical specialist. I did four clinical checks between 8 and 11 o'clock in the morning (not too strenuous). But then the fun started. I got told to drive up north to a town called Fort Bragg. It's only a 2 hour 15 minute drive!

So I left Santa Rosa at 11:50 and drove through the wine country, into the redwood forests which ends at the Pacific Ocean. It was one of the most amazing drives! A two lane hwy going through the redwoods that ends at the Ocean. It's like in a movie or something. And then I drove 20 miles along the coastal highway (cliff down to the ocean on the left, hills to my right!) to Fort Bragg. I only had cell phone reception for 30 minutes of the drive, so it was me and Dr. Laura most the time!

I did two checks in Fort Bragg (1 hr) and then headed back to Santa Rosa for another 2 hr drive. I finished my 240 mile excursion at 5:00 PM just in time to get to the hospital to do 5 implants. I ended up getting home at 11:30 PM. Crazy day!

SHHHHHH!

Freekin' A! I got "shushed" by an anesthesiologist during an implant yesterday evening. Can you believe that?! I need a freekin' governor on my voice so it keeps it below a certain decibel level.

Tanner-isms

I've realized that there are things about me, quirks if you will, that my roommates over the years have pointed out that are actually true. How have I come to this conclusion? Well, these same Tanner-isms have been observed by coworkers here! Recently, I was working with my boss in a clinic and was telling some information to a doctor while she watched. Afterwards, she observed that I was talking "pretty loudly" to him and was using very "large hand gestures"! I told her that my roommates (ahemm, Levi and Jeff) in college used to yell at me for talking when they were trying to sleep. I didn't think my voice carried that much but I guess it does!

I've also been accused of being a "heel-walker." On an upstairs wood floor, my footsteps can be heard pretty loudly from below, or so I've been told (ahemmm, Aaron and Levi). I went to the Walking Company to buy insoles for my shoes and they had me stand on a pressure senser to see how the pressure distribution on the bottom of my foot is. The guy said, "Wow. You put a lot of pressure on your heels!" I couldn't help but laugh. I guess I am a "heel-walker!"

EARTHQUAKE!!

Well, I didn't feel it, but it happened! (Or at least that's what the news station said when they interrupted "Halloween Charlie Brown") Just north of San Jose (which is about 100 south of where I am writing this). A 5.5 on the Richter scale. I guess I'll have to keep waiting until I get to practice my "duck and cover" tecnique...oh wait, that's for when you're in the path of running lava!

Yes, it's been a while since I've last posted. Life's been a little crazy over here in the west. The biggest update on my life is that I'm moving! Yes, I just moved to Sacramento three months ago, but now I'm moving to a town in the wine country called Santa Rosa. It's a town of 150,000 people nestled in the wine producing hills of Sonoma county. It's an absolutely gorgeous area that's north of San Francisco 45 minutes and only 30 minutes from the ocean (1.5 hours from Sacramento). It's a great place to work, but it's a pain in the butt to move again. As of now, I'm living in an extended stay efficiency studio (motel with kitchen) during the week and go back to Sac on the weekend. Hopefully, I'll find a place to rent soon and can get moved over. The hardest part of life right now is that I don't know anybody! Especially now that I'm living in two places. But I'm trusting in God's sovereignty in relation to this transfer and that he's going to provide community for me.

A Fair's a Fair's a Fair...

The smell of fried twinkies fills the air along with the wonderful stench of livestock and woodchips. Booths of fresh-squeezed lemonade line the midway. Rides, games, stuffed-animals, everywhere you look. A 100 degree sun shining on pavement as masses of people make their way from booth to booth. Anyone who has grown up in America knows exactly what I'm describing...the State (or county) Fair! In my travels across the country, I have come to know that there is one insurmountable truth that connects the Atlantic to the Pacific and all the peoples in between. No, it's not a love for our humble president George W (those darn liberals ruin that!); but the truth that the State Fair remains the sole societal function that draws WT, gansters, blue collar, and white collar Americans all together to enjoy the same event!

On Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending the California state fair. It was over 100 degrees and I chose to go at the dumbest time of day...2:00 p.m. when the sun is in all it's fury! For those of you who know me and my affinity to fried food, it shouldn't take too much convincing on how much I was looking forward to all the junk food I would have an excuse to eat! I began by eating a Tri-tip bbq sandwich (tri-tip is California's low-end beef cut) and a grilled ear of corn on the cob. It was scrumptious! I followed it by a fried Coke. This was a new thing to me, but "fried" anything will work for me. It was Coca-cola with batter and then fried. There was no liquid in it, and it tasted like a funnel cake just with a tangy Coke flavor. I voiced to my friend Matt how great all this food is. His reply was, "wait until it's coming out the other end in an hour!" Well, it only took 20 minutes for me. I spent about 20 minutes in a stall perspiring profusely in the 100 degree heat wishing I had never tried the fried Coke! As I walked around, I couldn't help but scoff at the dumb people who had left their air-conditioned homes to be out and about in the 110 degree radiation reflecting off the black pavement. But then I remembered I was one of those dumb people! Oh well, I've always been able to point my finger at others easier than at myself!

After having time to reflect on this American truth that I discovered, I came up with a brilliant idea...If the Presidential election were held at the State Fairs, there would be 100% voter turnout! Yes, I can see it now...Hillary presenting some sort of unintelligent (a.k.a. liberal) plan for universal health care while encouraging all her constituents to indulge themselves in fried Cokes and funnel cakes...silly liberals!

My new ride...total emasculation!

So check it out...I have a sweet new ride to cruise around Sacramento in! No, it's not my new Rav-4, but it's close. A 2007 Toyota Sienna minivan! Oh yes, I get to drive this baby around town for a good couple of months until I get my new car. It's not all bad, though, the van has plenty of space for all my stuff. I can fit so much in it! Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention...it reaks of stale cat urine. The lady who drove it before me kept her cats in it. I took it to a car cleaners and had to utter one of the most embarrassing sentences of my life, "Can you get the smell of cat urine out of my minivan?"! Yesterday I was at a gas station and a decently attractive girl ran out in front of me and I had to stop for her. She looked up and motioned she was sorry and paused for a second and took a double look. I know exactly what she was thinking..."I didn't know Brad Pitt drives a minivan!" (Reference my facebook pic ;)

My Pad

It's been quite some time since my last post. Life has been crazy out of control the last weeks. Between moving 2000 miles across the country, Tate getting married, and driving about 500 miles a week training, I haven't had much time to just sit down and type. (Okay, so maybe there's been time, it's just been a priority thing)!

Week by week I'm feeling more at home in Sacramento. I really like the neighborhood. There is a homeless, old Asian man who frequents our alley. He always has a pleasant "hi, hi" as he pushes his grocery cart by. One time I was taking my trash out and saved him the trouble of digging through it and just gave him my plastic bottles! (It feels good to do a good deed every now and then). It does feel a little different not living in a suburb, though. I miss the pool! Sacramento is the perfect place to sit poolside. It's hot all day, every day with no clouds. Now I have to find something else to do on Saturday afternoons...not sure what yet...but I'm looking! I'm really liking my little place; it's cozy and homey. Here's some pictures so you all can see where it is I lay my head.

The Young Man is West!

Well, I've made it out to Sacramento! After leaving home, my friend Corey and I drove 12 hours to Salt Lake City (beautiful place) passing through western Nebraska, Wyoming, and eastern Utah. We had a beautiful night's sleep then drove 10 hours to Sacramento passing through the rest of Utah, Nevada (both of which are currently on fire), and California (of which Lake Tahoe is on fire). The drive to Salt Lake was a killer, but the second day didn't seem as bad. We averaged 10.8 mpg, I spent $627 on gas, my voice was almost gone from talking over the truck noise, but we made it!

We were able to start moving into my apartment Sunday afternoon, a day earlier than anticipated. I soon realized, however, that a 16 ft Penske truck packed full of crap was going to overwhelm my little 450 sq ft apartment. This was an initial sense of discouragement and dispare! Corey handled my indecisiveness and multiple mind changes well on where to arrange the furniture. It's been five days now since I've been here and I'm finally getting a handle on where to put everything! (Ikea is a lifesaver!)

On Tuesday Corey and I went to San Francisco hoping to meet some special people there (song lyrics in case you didn't remember)! It was a much needed break from my apartment woes. And we had a blast there, going to the MLB All-star game. We saw Pat Sajak from Wheel of Fortune! Tickets were a little out of our range ($150-300) but we were able to wants from behind right field on the Bay.

Well, Corey flew out Wednesday afternoon and I've spent my time trying to get situated. It was such a blessing having him here. He kept a positive attitude while I was freaking out about fitting everything in my apartment. I can't imagine how long this last week would have seemed if I didn't have someone with me! I must admit, I've been a little more homesick than I thought I'd be, but it's getting better. The weather is great in the evenings here and I'm in a really cool location. I believe I'm where God has me for this time in my life, so I'm trusting Him to work his sovereignty and provide mercifully. Until next time, stay classy San Diego!

Go West Young Man...Day 1

"Go west young man, go west!" The theme of the California goldrush back in the 1800's. A century and a half later, I find myself answering that same call; however for slightly different reasons! (Although maybe not so different as both include young men in search of a financially stable way of life). The 24 episode of my life has finally come to its season finale...My Boss told Reed he is going to a sweet city-that is Sacramento! My life has been thus in a whirlwind or craziness over the last few days. I was told exactly a week ago today that I would be going to Sacramento. Great news to these young, green ears! One and a half hours from San Francisco, one and a half hours from my Lake Tahoe which hosts my true winter love that is skiing, Sacramento falls in line with the old real estate adage - Location, location, location!

Having heard the news of my placement, I immediately booked a flight to Sacramento to do some house hunting. I flew out there this past Sunday and flew back to Minneapolis last evening. This left me with just enough time to pack up my apartment and watch the remaining episodes of "Man vs. Wild" on my DVR. This morning I packed a bright yellow Penske truck and headed to Lincoln. I was told the truck gets 6 to 10 mpg...so I decided to squeeze as much of that out as possible! I drove the whole way in this 90 degree heat with no A/C on and the windows rolled down! The result was a red left arm, windblown hair, ringing ears, and 11.5 mpg! It's been said that rolling windows down negates the fuel efficiency of having the A/C off, but I don't know about that now.


I rolled into Lincoln with just enough hot sun left to scorch me while I went through my garage full of crap. Sorting through what I need and can fit into my 450 sq ft apartment (no, that's not a typo...my one bedroom apt is 450 sq ft!) But like I said before...Location, location, location. It's in the downtown area close to restaurants, shops, bars, parks, coffee shops, and the like. Well, I'm spending the night in Lincoln and heading home tomorrow. Wish me well and if you see two wild and crazy guys in a yellow truck flying down the interstate, tip your hat to them, they're two guys on an adventure to the West!

My life feels like an episode of 24

The following is based on real life events. Names and locations have been changed for protection

Last time on 24:
MY BOSS: Reed, you're going to be located in one of two sweet cities.
ME: Sweet! I'm excited. Let me know when the decision's made.

Dundun dundun. Dundun dundun (Theme soundbite)

(Begin this episode)

(Phone rings at 4:00 PM on friday)

MY BOSS: Reed, I know where you're going to be...in a place we've never talked about before in the middle of nowhere.

ME: WTF???!!!!! What about one of those sweet cities you said I'd be in?

MY BOSS: Well, things have changed. What do you think?

ME: Um...I'm not at all excited and I'm pretty frustrated that noone told me this was a possibility.

MY BOSS: Ya man, but I think this will be good.

ME: So b/c I'm from a farm, people assume I'm going to be happy to go to rural farm country in a completely different state where I don't know people.

MY BOSS: Pretty much.

ME: Is there any chance it'll be at a different place?

MY BOSS: There's a slight chance it'll be in a cool city.

ME: Please put me in the cool city.

(Preview for next episode)
Boss calls Reed with his placement. Will it be in a cool city or rural farm county? Next time on FOX!

My First

So I decided to follow the pop culture of the day and start a blog. My friends would probably tell you that I'm somewhat susceptible to peer pressure, so this should not be a surprise! A recent conversation with a friend illuminated me to the fact that I'm growing out of Facebook, so I need some other avenue by which to allow people to see what's going on in my life. (An alternative is to drive in front of my apartment complex at night and look into my glass sliding door/window where my shades are usually open and just peek in....Wow...that's kind of a creepy thought....I'm gonna shut my shades now!) I've never really been the literary type so I can see one of two things coming of this. I may uncover an eloquent side of me that can unleash emotions in cleverly worded prose. Or, I may have a grocery list of my activities I did for the day. My engineering side screams for the latter, but only time will tell which style of writing I will lean towards! (or toward).

All this being said, today I:
Went to work
Lifted my back and shoulders at the gym
Ate a microwaved hotdog with a protein shake for supper (Yes, I said 'supper'. I am farm kid)
Went to Bible Study
Wrote my blog
Went to bed (This is what I call "future tense" writing)!

Good night and good luck!