Anesthesia Boards Are Easy!

I passed my written board exam - Kick ass!

In other anesthesia related news, I did a spinal on a lady for c-section yesterday. She was 5'5". She was also 345 lbs. That's a BMI of 57.4, in case you're keeping track. Anything over 25 is considered overweight. She also had Spam and doughnuts for breakfast, she told me. She had a great personality though. Likes reggae and quiet walks on the beach.

Now on to cooler non-work related topics.

I went for a legendary hike today, Em couldn't go because she had a job interview. Sounds like she'll be working for the Kalaheo Cafe down the street (http://www.kalaheo.com/). Good food and decent coffee. It's about time she got a job, because I'm tired of supporting this family...3 days a week.

Back to the hike. It's called the Nu'alolo/Nu'alolo Cliffs/Awa-'awapuhi Grand Loop. Based on the pictures, you're welcome to judge whether it's worthy of its name. It starts with a descent toward the NaPali coast shortly after which, the "Forbidden Island of Ni'ihau" becomes visible. This island is privately owned and by some accounts, its residents are quite inbred - sort of like Maryville, TN.

You pass a million strawberry guava trees on the way, the fruits of which are marble to golf ball size and edible.

Views start to open up after 2.5- 3 mi.

More later, gotta go celebrate passing boards...I'm back now, with my friend named hangover.

Anyway, back to the views...

Just a bit further, you encounter the Lolo Vista Point. Apparently, this is where they filmed Harrison Ford in 6 Days/7 Nights where he spazzes out and chokes the tree. I would choke everything in sight if I had to work with that fake lesbian Ann Heche.

The reef looks so close that you could almost reach out and touch it...if your arm was 2500 feet long. By the way, the water really is that color - the picture is completely unedited.

After tearing myself away from what is debatably the most beautiful view on Kauai, I headed on to the cliff trail, which turned out to be not quite as exciting as I had first guessed based on the enticing signage.

There were a few questionable spots, where a misstep 6 inches to the left would have meant certain death. For the most part it was a lot of tall grass and old growth forest, with a few spectacular views thrown in for good measure.

I passed a few friends on the Cliff Trail en route to the next lookout. Goats overpopulate the area and are subject to attempted eradication in certain parts of the island.

On arrival to the Awa-'awapuhi Lookout I was again granted spectacular views. Emily and I had been here before, but not on a day as beautiful as this.

Now I had to hike to the road, 3.5 miles and 17oo feet of elevation. Someone played a cruel trick towards the end of the trail by spacing out the quarter-mile markers to at least a mile apart...at least it seemed that way. This is a loop hike, but to get back to your car, you need to walk 2 miles downhill on the road. This is not fun after 10 miles on the trail even if it is downhill. Thankfully, my trusty steed awaited me at the end of the trail.

As I cruised down the road, it started to drizzle, but I felt triumphant when I passed the other hikers doing the walk of shame in the rain. Back to the car and then to Kalaheo to celebrate passing boards...but not before God said in His special way "nice hike".

Went to Kalaheo Cafe for dinner after a few GIN and tonics, back home for a few more with the whole crew - Em, Joe, Chelsae, Kaya, Mike, Nate and Nicole. It was one of those perfect days where everything was cool and you go to bed (pass out) feeling like life is pretty damn sweet. 'Til next time...