Mini Vacation

Many things have happened since finishing school. After working for American Medical Response full-time since August 2005, I dropped to part-time at the end of April. In addition to this, I have taken on a new part-time job with Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital in their emergency department. I am also a contract instructor for VeriHealth-REACH Training Institute, teaching Basic Life Support (BLS; also known as CPR), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). For the month of May, I have been very busy with orientation at Sutter Auburn Faith… the newest of my jobs.

While I could go on about things that have happened since finishing school, I’m happy to say that Kellie and I are on a mini-vacation right now. We left our house around 4:30 PM today… just to get away and get started earlier on our journey. We just checked into the Red Roof Inn in Watsonville, CA. Our plan is to take a leisurely drive down California Highway 1, the Cabrillo Highway, down to San Simeon tomorrow. We plan on paying a visit to Hearst Castle. Tomorrow night we will be staying at the Best Western Cavalier Oceanfront Resort in San Simeon.

Day 1

Center of map
markers

This first part of the trip should be very beautiful. We plan to take our time and take in the sights.

May 14th, 2009 @ 10:03 PM • Filed under Ron's History, Ron's Ramblings

First Date with Kellie

Wanting to have a date with an activity that allowed communication, I figured miniature golf would be a fun activity. Kellie and I met on December 20, 2004 at 10AM at Scandia in Sacramento, near Madison and I-80. We were the first and only people there to play miniature golf. I’m guessing that a temperature of 40 degrees on a Monday had something to do with that. About 9-holes into the game, we were getting cold, so we went in for some hot apple cider. After warming up, we went back out to finish the game. After 17 holes, we were tied. I was having fun. Although I was quite nervous, I felt more comfortable with Kellie than I felt with most girls. On the 18th hole, I got a lucky “Hole-in-One.” We then decided to go get something to eat. We went to The Olive Garden in Citrus Heights, near the intersection of Madison Ave and Sunrise Blvd. We showed up around noon. Thankfully, they weren’t very busy… especially considering it was noon. By around 3PM, Kellie felt that they might like their table back. We were having so much fun talking to each other, we had lost track of time. We decided to move across the parking lot to a coffee shop, where we continued talking for a few more hours, before calling it a date. It was nearly 6PM when I headed back for Napa.

When I returned to work, my co-workers could tell I was a changed person. I was floating around. I was working with Kim French and Ann-Marie Parkey. They wanted to know all the details. They asked me what I was planning on getting her for our second date… December 26… the day after Christmas. I hadn’t thought of it. They told me I HAD to get her something. I had no objection to the idea. Ann-Marie volunteered to get something for me. She went and bought (at my expense) some rabbit-fur lined, leather gloves and a multi-colored scarf. I thought that was a reasonable gift, considering how cold we got on that first date.

December 5th, 2005 @ 05:09 PM • Filed under Ron's History

The Setup

I have never had a girlfriend. I have never been kissed out of love by anyone outside of my family. As I mentioned in “The Metamorphosis”, I tried online dating. One of the sites I tried was eHarmony.com. Just over a year ago, I went on my first date with someone from eHarmony. I thought it went OK and scheduled a second date, but she cancelled out on me, saying she met someone else. That obviously wasn’t meant to be. Another person eHarmony connected me with was Kellie. Kellie and I first spoke on the phone on December 18, 2004. I was visiting my little sister Terri in Reno, Nevada at the time… as my family was having our Christmas get-together that day. We spoke for quite a while, as I paced around in the freezing air in Reno. We set our first date for Monday, December 20th.

December 4th, 2005 @ 12:05 AM • Filed under Ron's History

The Metamorphosis

This has been one amazing year for me. A couple years ago, I was looking at my life. I was nowhere near where I thought I’d be at this age. Growing up, I figured that I’d be married with children when I was in my 30s. I had to re-evaluate my life. I was happy in my career… I just had no “luck” in my personal life. I think it was mostly because I had a very poor self-image… (poor image altogether.) I was quite large… well over 450 pounds. I was not having any success losing weight the traditional way. I researched surgical intervention and found the best procedure out there. Like many bariatric surgical procedures, the one I found has many names. Duodenal Switch is probably the most common name for it, but it is also known as “Gastric Reduction with Duodenal Switch” or “Bilio-Pancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch”. I found Dr. Keshishian from Central Valley Bariatrics in Delano, California. It took a while to get insurance approval, but I finally got it. I had my surgery on March 10, 2004. The day before surgery, I weighed in at 463.5 pounds. My surgery was without complication. I saw results quickly… I lost 20 pounds the first week alone. 17 pounds the following week and 14 pounds the next. After taking a few months off, I returned to the Queen of the Valley Hospital for modified duty… I took on a temporary role of “acting Base Hospital Coordinator”.

As I lost weight, my self-image improved. I finally thought I’d give dating a chance, but I didn’t know how to find anyone. I decided I’d try out online dating.

December 3rd, 2005 @ 11:31 PM • Filed under Ron's History

Adolescence

It was awkward starting over at a new school. I was now in the Seventh Grade and now attended La Sierra Elementary/Junior High. 1984 was a very memorable year. Not only did we move to Riverside, but it was the year my brother graduated from high school (at MBA, just before the move). It was also the year Los Angeles (60 miles west of Riverside) hosted the Summer Olympics. My eyes were opened to many new things I never knew existed, since I had been living a sheltered life at MBA. I soon became a newspaper carrier for the Riverside Press-Enterprise. I was one of the best carrier’s there was. I walked my route nearly every morning, carrying 90-120 newspapers. Many days, my parents helped me with my route. I recall one morning; I woke, realizing that I had not gotten up to do my route. Panicked, I got out of bed, only to find that my parents had done it for me. I did this job until the end of my Freshman year at La Sierra Academy. My next job was the worst job EVER. I worked at the Loma Linda University Farms poultry. I had to collect eggs, and pull dead, smelly chickens out of their cages, after dying in the 100+ degree heat. This was during the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years. While it seamed much longer than it, the next month I changed from the poultry to the creamery (milk processing plant). This was a much better job. Prior to my working there, Loma Linda University Farms had sold off its cattle and was now buying milk from other sources. After a couple months of me starting at the creamery, they began cutting back and I was laid off. During my Sophomore year, I started working at Doctor Micro, a computer repair store that had just expanded to Riverside, from Pasadena. I learned quite a bit during the month or so that I worked there. I’d go there after school. I was laid off after a month or so, I’m told because business was too slow. My Sophomore year, I played varsity basketball. It was educational as well as very fun. I was never a fast player, or had a lot of stamina, but when I played, I played at an extreme intensity. Later on during that school year, I got my next job. I got a job at Airoflex Medical, a medical supply manufacturer. We made heated ventilator circuits (hoses) for pre-mature babies. I again only had this job for a month or two. I was laid off with many other employees due to a re-tooling. I needed to get another job, because I had just gotten my driver’s license and my parents had a rule that in order to drive, I had to have a job. My next job was one of the coolest jobs I’ve had. I worked at Castle Amusement Park. I worked in the food sales area. I worked my way up to a unique position. I had no particular title, but was given more responsibilities than people that did have supervisory titles. I worked there from the end of my Sophomore year through the summer after my Junior year. Late in my Junior year, I realized that I REALLY wanted to keep the family tradition of graduating from Monterey Bay Academy. My mother had graduated in 1957, my father in 1959, my oldest sister in 1982, my brother in 1984 and my middle sister in 1988.

December 28th, 2004 @ 11:00 PM • Filed under Ron's History