NYC Halloween

This Halloween Meg and I met up with some friends in NYC. Meg was Juno and I was her boyfriend, Paulie Bleeker. Despite being the only ones in our group who dressed up and getting stuck in 6 hours of traffic trying to get home (no exaggeration...honestly), we had a great time just walking around the city seeing all the crazy costumes. Thanks to Baughman who has always been a gracious city host.



Meg during our pre-party walk through Riverside Park.


We stumbled upon a nice little block party on the Upper West Side.





The Halloween Parade in the Village.


J Maughan was there.






The crazy thing about this picture is that Baughman (left) is at least 6'4".


A bar in the Village that rates your costume. Meg and I got some decent ratings like, "Oh no you didn't!" and "LOL."



Juno and Bleeker.

Sandy Hook

Last Saturday, Meg and I went for a bike ride on Sandy Hook, NJ. Sandy Hook is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. I first visited there a few weeks ago by myself and I knew I had to take Megan. It's only 30 minutes from my house and just across the water from NYC, but it feels so remote, at least this time of year. We took our beach cruisers up there on my car and rode the 8 or 9 mile loop. We even had a picnic on the beach. Here are some pictures both from my solo visit and from mine and Meg's outing.






The bay side of Sandy Hook.




I'm on the phone with Megan telling her how she needs to see this place.



Apparently, there can be some good surf here. This is the surfing beach.





Our picnic spot.




Meg's Uggs continue to be a life-saver.





Meg's one weakness.


These homes were used back in the day when the northern most part of the Hook was a functioning military base.



The proving grounds: Sandy Hook was a military testing center after the Civil War up until 1919.



You can see the NY skyline from the most northern lookout.







A view of Highlands, the city across the bay from the Hook.

The Becks on the Central Coast

A couple weeks ago Meg and I visited our dear friends, the Becks, in Pismo Beach, CA. Trevor Beck, my friend from dental school, found a great job with a cool dentist in Arroyo Grande, CA. They are planning on being there forever and who can blame them. They live in a sweet townhouse w/ an ocean view and are surrounded by all kinds of beauty. Trevor and I had a great time surfing and just catching up. I think the girls had fun too. Actually, we all had a blast eating good food and just enjoying the amazing weather. Here are some pictures of some of my favorite moments.




Day one: Trevor & I going out at the Pismo Pier just before Trevor busted his nose.


Trev's split nose.


Tyler, the Oral Surgeon, stitching him up in Trev's office.


3 stitches.


Jamison posing for Megan.


Classic Gavin.


I spent a lot time wrestling w/ the boys. I miss the beatings.


The view from the Beck's clubhouse.


The clubhouse pool.



Megan enjoying her Doc Burnstein's ice way too much.


Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream: An Arroyo Grande favorite.



Firestone: A San Luis Obispo favorite.


Cowboy Cookies: Another SLO favorite. We stopped in to grab a cookie and next thing we knew, Megan went nuts and ordered a baker's dozen.


Bubble gum alley in SLO.




Our nice Sunday walk on a beach near the Beck's home: Shell Beach.








The Pismo Pier.


I was able to catch up w/ an old friend from Boise...John Root. He and his family live in nearby Grover Beach.

Jersey Surf

Some of you have asked about the surf on the Jersey Shore. Here's a couple short videos I took w/ just the point-and-shoot camera last weekend. The surf was really good that day. Of course it's not always like this but it has been good this Fall.

The Move

After 5 years, I finally left Virginia. I loaded everything I own (w/ Megan's help) in a rental truck and moved 6 hours north to the beautiful Jersey Shore. Now, I know what you're all thinking: "Jersey?! Really?" Despite popular belief, Jersey is not that bad. Ok...my town is kinda bad, but I love it. And the neighboring towns are great. I live in Asbury Park, the home of Bruce Springsteen, which is right on the shore about an hour from NYC. The town is still recovering from a 30 year rough spell. There's a lot of people investing in the town right now so things are getting better on a daily basis. I live in the basement apartment of someone's beautiful beach house about 300 yards from the beach. I'm also one block away from a famous little venue called "The Stone Pony." There's always good music right down the street. Life is good. I'm only about 3 miles from work, so I'm able to ride my bike and I have plenty of time to go surfing after work everyday. I'm really enjoying the program as well. I'm learning a lot of the dentistry they just didn't have time to really teach us in school. If any of you find yourself in Jersey or in the NYC area you've got a place to stay.

I Did It!!

Well, I finally graduated (a couple of months ago). I still can't believe it's all over and I'm still shocked at how fast the whole experience went by. It's hard to sum it all up in a single blog post. All I can say is that while there were difficult times, overall, I loved my time in Richmond. I felt like I received a great education, learned to love a city about which I knew very little prior to moving there, met Megan and made the greatest friends in the world. There will always be a special place in my heart for Virginia.

Massive Headwound Harry

a couple of sundays ago i was putting barkley back in eric ballou's backyard (where barkley lives). eric was in the middle of having some work done on his house so there were a few ladders leaned up against the house. there were some insane gusts of wind that day in richmond. right after barkley and i went through the gate into the backyard a strong wind kicked up and out of nowhere i felt a blow to the back of my head. i quickly realized i had a 30ft. ladder on my back so i threw it off and took cover because the wind was still going strong and i had no idea what else might be falling. after about 20 seconds or so the wind calmed down so i bent down to latch barkley up on his leash and that's when the blood started flowing. and it kept coming. i had to wake eric up from his nice sunday nap and ask him take me to the emergency room. i ended up getting 8 staples. i had them taken out a few days ago in our school's oral surgery clinic. the attending, dr. smagaslski, took out the first one in front of a small audience of my own classmates and then let each of them take one out. he even guided my hand back there and let me take out the last one. fun. so in the past 5 months i've spent two sundays in the e.r. i've decided that from now on i'm only going out on sundays to go to church and back and that's it.

Christmas in Cali

this year i am spending the break in california. i started by visiting my sister, shayla, her husband, jonathon, and their three girls, tiera, aleena, and sabella. i had such a good time hanging out w/ them in the beautiful california weather. here's a little slideshow documenting my time w/ them. enjoy.

mytube

some of you may not know that i've thrown together some slideshows/videos and posted them on youtube. they're really not too special but they might be worth checking out. feel free to go to my youtube page and view them: http://www.youtube.com/robchat2008.

motorcycle diary

as some of you may have heard, megan and i were in a little motorcycle accident on september 16th, just outside of richmond. here's a quick rundown of what happened. it was a beautiful, sunny sunday morning and since church doesn't start til 1:00 we decided to go for a morning ride. we were outside of richmond a few miles just cruising on a nice country road. it was sunny but a little cool so i decided to start heading back. there was a road off to the left so i turned on my blinker and slowed down to turn. since we were on just a two-lane road and there was an oncoming car i had to stop in our lane to wait for the oncoming car to pass and then it would be clear to go. just as the oncoming car was approaching and i was anticipating going, i glanced in my side view mirror only to see a car coming up behind us going way too fast. i knew we were going to be hit. i heard him lock up his tires for just a second then i heard the impact. suddenly, i was on my belly sliding headfirst on the road and i could feel megan still on my back. we slid for a while off to the right side of the road and then rolled through the dirt and landed in a ditch. we both had some pretty bad road rash and something was obviously wrong w/ my left knee since it kept slipping out of socket, so they loaded me up and took me to the emergency room. megan rode along. a later MRI showed that i had a completely torn MCL, which put me out of the richmond marathon i had been training for. megan's left foot was torn up pretty badly but luckily nothing was broken.
we're both doing much better now. i'm back running, surfing and cycling again. megan's foot has healed up nicely. the guy that hit us has accepted complete responsibility. he admitted to the cops that he was going 50mph and that he just wasn't paying attention. he was cited w/ reckless driving. while i enjoy riding a motorcycle, i realized that day that people just don't see you and what would otherwise be a small auto accident can be so much worse on a motorcycle. considering the circumstances, megan and i are so lucky to walk away w/ the injuries we had. with the motorcycle money his insurance company gave me i bought a new macbook, which is much safer.