Anatomy Test...

Hey ya'll --

Was just writing to my dad, and reported a test I just took today. I thought it would be potentially interesting to you. Was brilliant to see you all at the Wedding!

You of my Generation -- Start thinking about the College Wold Series in Omaha this summer! It is supposed to be awesome, and I will have a roof for you.


"...Had a gnarly anatomy test and practical today -- probably the toughest test I will take in dental school. We had the practical over every permutation of the trigeminal nerve, the facial nerve, every landmark on the skull (foramina, protuberances, insertion lines), the innervation from the ventral and dorsal root supplement, etc. every branch of the carotids, muscles of facial expression, and muscles of mastication.Whoah!

Then, the practical included every STRUCTURE from the previous test, over the triangles of the neck (infra and supra hoid muscles, sternocleidomastoid, etc) additionally, all vessels that pass via the superior thoracic aperature.

Now, I am in the library getting set to study some Histo and Dental Materials...must be midterms...


If you need any clarification of those terms, try wikipedia. It has gotten me through six months (!) of dental school.

Blessings in '08!

Moira is seriously, like, famous

Have you guys been to the Diocese of Spokane homepage lately?

Check out our little Smoy, all famous-n-grown-up-n-stuff!!!!!!!

http://www.dioceseofspokane.org/

The Iberian Peninsula

Hello All,

As you all probably know, Fr. Beaver and I made quite the European Trip just prior to J&J's Wedding and I have been meaning to write a bit on the experience and show you all a little taste of Spain, Portugal, France and Andorra. Each of those four countries is beautiful and different in their own ways, ie: languages, foods, people, and they are all much more different that I had thought (well a bigger difference than going from Washington to Idaho anyway). Being my first trip to Europe, I was not sure what to expect. The "main reason" for Fr. Beaver's visit was to see the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela which is the 2nd most visited pilgrimage site after St. Peter's in Rome (supposedly) but when we went there, I think there might have been five other people in the church. I didn't have a "main reason" for going. I just wanted to see Europe since it was going to be new, different and exciting. There were definite highlights, but no lowlights (is that a word?).

Anyway, we flew from Seattle to Paris to Madrid. In Madrid we rented our chariot (a 2007 Citreon C2) and we were there for a night before heading to Toledo and Cordoba. However, before we left I went to the Prado in Madrid to see some Rembrandt and El Greco (Uncle Dan see below:)


After leaving Madrid we headed south to Cordoba where we saw quite the old mosque tht was taken over during the inquisition and turned into a Catholic Church. It was quite incredible inside with all of the "candy cane" arches:

Once leaving Cordoba we headed to Seville to celebrate the last day of my existence as a 22 year old. While there we saw the Cathedral that holds the corpse of Christopher Columbus. Across town we also went to see the Madonna Macarena. While at the church of the Madonna Macarena I saw a lady lighting her cigarrette with one of the prayer candles. I think that this pretty much sums up what my impression was of what many Europeans think of religion, as in "nothing is sacred." Europe is chock full of these churches and yet nobody fills them. We had to pay to get into the majority of these religious sights because there are no devotees giving money for their upkeep. I have digressed.

Anyway, we headed to Portugal on my birthday and it was quite the drive - beautiful, very warm, and many sleepy towns along the way. We wandered through farmland and forests seeing storks on lightposts, pigs in pastures and castles on top of hills. But, once we hit the wide open, brand new European Union funded toll highways, I went 150 kmph on cruise control with Volvos, BMWs & Porsches passing me like I was standing still.

We stayed in Portugal for three days, the last two being in Porto. While there I took the time to visit the wineries and get nice and learned up on the intracacies of Port Wine. I brought back a few bottles for special events and had a great time hiking the narrow streets with the great views of the river and the city:

So I left Porto, Portugal with a heavy heart and headed for Santiago de Compostela, Spain. I would put a picture of the Cathedral here but the three pictures that we had people take of us turned out horribly. So, just check it out on wikipedia. It was here that I experienced my the best Paella that I have ever had in my life, to date (sorry dad) and it is deserving of a picture:


After Santiago de Compostela we went to Finesterra which is the real end of the pilgrimage to Santiago and is the westernmost point of Europe.

The next day marked probably the longest drive that we made in a day and we ended up in Bilbao for the night. This was a very beautiful city full of vibrant nightlife, beautiful buildings and the brand new Guggenheim. I went in for a little tour of the artwork, which was strangely enough '300 years of American Art' which I guess I had to go all the way to Bilbao, Spain to see.

After having seen not even a fraction of Bilbao, we quickly left to get a little taste of France and to see Lourdes:

I washed my feet in the miracle working waters in the grotto. No immediate effects, however, Fr. Beaver said that it is probably the "crock-pot" healing that I am going to experience as opposed to the "microwave" effect. My generation was not blessed with the virtue of patience, however I am not giving up on our Lady and the frigid healing waters of Lourdes. Also, Boin I got you something there, so ask me for it before I lose it.

Having left the Frenchies, we drove over to chat with the Andorrans for a night. This place was amazing and would not exist if not for the natural high mountains and extreme inaccessibility. This picture is an example of what must be done these days in Europe to prove that you have been to a country. They didn't even stamp my passport when I flew into OR out of Europe. I have no proof of even being there except for pictures: So leaving Andorra, we headed over the pass instead of going through the tunnels and ended up in Barcelona. Barcelona is amazing. Everyone should go there. Everyone should visit La Sagrada Familia. Everyone should look at this picture of it:














So, this temple is dedicated to the Holy Family and construction began in 1882 and is slated to be completed in 2025ish. Those three tower cranes are usually at work, it was Saturday when we went though so we didn't have to deal with construction noise. Uncle Tere, this temple is amazing, it kind of reminds me of St. Joe's in Kennewick, WA. I would have liked to walk around with you on this construction site to answer quite a few questions that I had re: construction methods, load bearing columns, materials, beauty vs. functionality and hyperboloids.

If anyone has not heard of this Temple, or its sheer proportion or Gaudi's intentions for its design they have been living in the dark. This is probably the last old, large Gothic-ish style church that will ever be built, so it is worth knowing about. Again, check out wikipedia for a bit more detail.

So Barcelona was the last stop on the trip and I just happened to stumble upon a ticket booth for a Barcelona Soccer game. I bought Fr. a ticket and he reluctantly went/I dragged him to the game where we sat way up high and and took up 2 of 98,000 seats. Barcelona won, which made the game that much better. Here is a pic of us at the Camp Nou Stadium:
The next day I drove from Barcelona to Madrid, we stayed in a hotel for four hours, flew to Paris, flew to Seattle and were back in the States in time for Julie & Joe's Wedding.

Never a dull moment.

Thanks to Fr. Beaver for making this whole thing work out, it was a lot of fun and once you've cycled through all of the other 43 cousins I'm ready to go again.

Eamonn

And now... Julie and Joseph Roach!

Family and friends,
We are now back from our great honeymoon in Kauai, and got our wedding pictures loaded, ready to make an album. Thank you everyone who made it, and those that intended to, it was a lot of fun! We now get to enjoy turning the house that has been the residence of 7 different bachelors into a home that is clean, and has things like full sets of dishes, clean carpets, and toilet seats that are down.
It is going through a much needed transition and all are welcome to come visit or stay, just make sure you call before stopping in!

Here is a link http://picasaweb.google.com/josephdroach/WeddingBesties to
some of the wedding pictures, and we will follow up with a few from beautiful Kauai. Enjoy, and thanks for everything!

Love,

The Roaches.

Where are the wedding pics???

Hey wedding goers! Are there any attendees that have some pics from the latest wedding? This Mother o the groom is dying to see some. By the way this is my first attempt at blogging......please respond! Love ya all. LA

UPDATE ON FUTURE CITY CONTESTANTS!!!!

There is a great article and picture in the Tri-City Herald today about St. Pat's Future City Team. The picture and story are in Section B - Mid Columbia section. I couldn't find the photo and story online.

However, here's a link to the video that the Tri-City Herald has online!

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/958/story/80516.html

Wedding Pics!

Hey does anybody have pictures from the wedding that you would like to post. I saw the ones Bart had on his facebook, but I'm wondering if you have anymore. Please post them asap if you have some. We had soooooo much fun!!!! Julie and Joe looked great and super happy. Can't wait to hear how the honeymoon went....... :0)

New Writing

All,

I recently wrote a letter to the wonderful facility that I spent 3 weeks at last October. The letter really explains what is going on in a place like that, and it also points to why such an experience has value for people who may not have substance abuse problem themselves.

It's only a couple of pages long, so in case you feel like reading it I've put it online. It's a little too long to make for a well-formatted blog post, so I left it in Word format.

You can read it here: http://www.jfroach.org/therapyletter.doc

P.S. There is a little bit of satire in there, see if you can find it.

Blog Formatting

All,

Nice job on all of the excellent blog posts in the past couple of weeks!

I am messing around a little bit with the blog template to try to make the default formatting a little more pleasing to the eye, so don't freak out if things start looking a little differently.

I also wanted to mention a couple of basic items that will help with the overall aesthetic of the blog. First, remember that when you post pictures you have several alignment options that effect the way your final post will look. Consider these when formatting your post. There is a 'preview' link directly above the right-hand side of the text-entry box for a new post. Clicking that link will show you what your post is going to look like when you publish it.

I encourage you all to use a double line-break at the end of paragraphs for longer posts. This means hitting the 'Enter' key twice when you finish a group of cohesive thoughts. It results in a most that looks like the one you are reading now, as opposed to a single, stream-of-consiousness-looking mess. Using this approach ensures that our older readers won't dismiss your post out of hand.

Finally, I would also encourage you to use label words for your post. These are words that allow for easy searching down the line if you are looking for a particular post. As you can see at the bottom of this post, I've labeled it with 'blog', 'posting', and 'formatting'. You do this by separating the words with commas in the 'labels for this post' field at the bottom of the posting window.

Always feel free to email me at jfroach@gmail.com if you have questions.

I expect to see some good pics from this coming weekend posted on Monday!

The Happy Final Results

Hi family!
We arrived in Seattle Friday night, met our team for dinner at Buca di Beppo, and stayed with the Johnstons. We sat in the Pope room of the restaurant, where Pope Benedict XVI watched us eat. KIND OF creepy. Not gonna lie. One of the waiters at the restaurant WAS Andy Leon's clone. My dad got a picture of him, and it turns out, his real name is Andrew. Crazy!
We played some Guitar Hero early Saturday morning before we left for the Science Center.
In the preliminary round of the competition, all of the teams present twice to two different sets of about three judges. Luckily, for both our sets, there was at least one cute judge, so I wasn't TOO nervous. Ha. Wait until you see how "un-nervous" I was...
After we presented twice in the morning, it was about 11:00. We went to have lunch in the Center House, and Ailis had some gross looking chili-cheese fries. I had an orange Julius and a cheeseburger and non-gross fries. Yay.
We went back to the Northwest Rooms where we would find out if we made the Top Five. Turns out, that we were the last of the five in "no particular order". We were a little nervous. The top five teams then had about an hour to move their models into the presentation room. They were sequestered after they drew numbers to see what order they would present in. We were four, which was sort of bad because then we'd only get to see one other team's presentation.
While we were waiting for our turn, we practiced our presentation, and got some tips from one of the cute engineer judges. Some of the other teams played games. Lame.
When it was our turn to present, we were ON FIRE. The nerves were gone, which was weird, because I was practically crying during the preliminaries. It was SHOW TIME!
After the final team presented, the officials tried to take up time so that the judges could tally the scores. It was agonizing.
After the tallies were tallied, one of the judges gave a little speech, it is needless to say that my mom was in tears...the main points of the speech were to value Reading, Fitness, and Friends/Family. He also told us to tell our parents: "Even though you are completely dysfunctional, I love you and thank you for raising such a perfect child." I'm sure my parents heard that a total of four times. From each child.
Finally, the lady that always announces/butchers the names of the winners stepped up to the podium. She announced fifth and fourth places, and then finally third. Then she asked us if we wanted to hear about her life in Rhode Island instead of hearing about the winners. We said no, and she said "When I lived in Rhode Island, I'd never traveled to...Flathead, Montana. In second place." Which was a tricky way of saying that we won, because the school from Flathead, Montana came in second. Which means we got first! And we're going to Washington, D.C.! In February! We also got the People's Choice award for our model, and $15 Barnes and Noble cards.
After the competition, we went for a celebratory dinner at Kells, walking from the parking lot to Kells in the pouring-buckets of rain. So here are some photos to chronicle the event!!!!!
Love you all, and thanks to the Barracudas, (you know who you are) for critiquing us, we'll probably need it again in a week or two!
Ciara (and Moira)

2008 Future City Competition

Hi family!
As some of you may know, a group of my classmates, including Moira, and I are competing in the Future City Competition this year. We had to develop a computer model of our city through SimCity3000 software, and then we had to write an essay on how nanotechnology was integrated into our city's infrastructure. That required us to learn about nanotechnology in the first place! Then we had to actually build a 25X5o inch model, that could only be 20 or so inches tall. The scale of our model is 1 inch = 100 feet. Which means that our tallest building in the model actually measures 900 feet. A 90 story building! As we built the model, we had to develop a presentation. The Barracudas, or Aunt LeeAnn and Aunt Nancy, came and critiqued our presentation, and now it seems much better than it was before.
We're off to Seattle today for the State competition tomorrow, and we thought, as we are frantically cleaning our house before our departure, that we might blog a picture and write about what we're doing! So when we find out how we did, we'll let you all know either by another blog post, or by calling you!
And IF we end up getting first place in Seattle, we win a free trip to Washington, D.C. to compete for Nationals! Which is pretty exciting. Ailis and her team went to Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago to compete, and we got to go with them, and it was a lot of fun, so I hope we can do that this year!
Love you all!
Ciara (and Moira)

I went to North Korea!

Hello again everyone!
Was so excited about my day today and just wanted to let you all know about it. Most importantly before I begin, I am still alive! The reason why I say that is because today Miguel and I had one of the coolest experiences OF A LIFETIME by going up to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), which is the 10 mile wide neutral area/border between North and South Korea. It is only 35 miles from Seoul, which is actually kind of scary when you stop and think about it. We left this morning from the base at 7am and took the 40 min ride up north. After a brief historical video and tons of strict instruction from the military personell, we went to the Freedom Building. This important building is almost RIGHT on the border line between north and south. We were told that we were not to point or make gestures once we exited out the back of the building and into the courtyard of the two countries (which is where we had the unique experience of coming face to face with the enimy...with about 20 meters inbetween). They had cameras everywhere, on both sides, watching our every move in the buildings and especially outside. We were to wear badges at all times while in the DMZ. The North Koreans with their cameras, binoculars, and just plain sight were definitely scanning that each one of us had a badge from where they were standing. If we didn't have our badge visible or if we pointed and made gestures, openfire is a high possibility from the North Koreans, as they take this as provoking them. We saw three N.K. guards from visible sight, and obviously many S.K. and American Military on all sides of us. After viewing the area outside of the building, we were escorted to another building about 10 meters ahead of us. This building is where they hold many political meetings between the two countries. Half the building is in the South and half in the north. So essentially when they have their meetings at the center meeting table, they are still each in their own countries, because even the table is on the exact border of the two countries. It was in this building that I took some steps into N.K. We obviously weren't allowed outside the building into the N.K. side. It was so scary! Directly outside the N.K. exit were armed N.K. guards ready to fire at any moment necessary. So intense. After this, we stopped at a few watch points, where we could clearly see the N.K. side, propaganda village (a fake town that N.K. has set up to try to fool S.K. and it's allies into coming over. This town is actually just wood boards which they take down when it snows because the "buildings" cannot hold the weight of the snow...ask me in person if you don't understand. Or look it up, it's soooo interesting!) Our final stop was to the third tunnell. There are five in total, all found in the DMZ by the S.K. or it's allies. All of these tunnels were made by the N.K.'s who were clearly planning an attack on S.K. Luckily, they were all found before they had been dug all the way through to S.K. We walked about 500meters into the tunnel before we ran right into the barricade separating the N and S. We only saw one because the others are spread around the border in different areas. And Miguel's dad told us tonight that the 5th tunnel was found in 2000...the end almost to the middle of Seoul. FREAKY! Anyways, I have written too much, and I hope that you are all still reading this to the end! And if you are interested I suggest looking this all up on wikipedia. We are living history right now!!!

Pat in Seattle

It's about time I tried this blog thing out. If Caitlin can do it, I can too (loved your note, btw, Cakie). Anyway, I just want to let y'all know I'll be in Seattle for a while. I officially accepted a job at Harborview working on the Trauma/Surgical ICU. It's a brand new unit: two units merging into one into the brand new wing (currently under construction) as early as May. I'm pretty stoked. I start Feb. 4th, so I've got exaclty one month tor relax after the last 20 or so months of having school on my mind. Ahhh...I'm currently living with Shannon, Jim, and Lucia while studying for the NCLEX, apartment hunting, and doing whatever tickles my fancy. All my love. Pat

This is what is going on with Me

All,

I've been meaning for a little while to blog about the events of my life over the past couple of months, and where I'm at these days. The truth is, after completing my 3-week recovery retreat at the Sundown M Ranch, I have been SO BUSY that I've been neglectful of my self-imposed blogging obligations.

Busy in a good way, though. It just seems that there is a lot to do, for a lot of people, for a lot of projects, and these days I'm able to perform much more effectively. Someone upstairs must have gotten some notion of this newfound effectiveness, because I've certainly found more of these sorts of 'assignments' funneled my way. It's nice to be able to respond to them.

So anyway, the exterior stuff is all good, as some of you know. I live in a great house with some great guys in Kennewick, I still work for Hertz as a regional IT Manager, I quit smoking on NYE, I quit drinking on October 17, 2007, I've lost like 23 lbs., I'm planning a trip to Assisi in May, I still like girls, and I still have a driver's license. HOW good all this stuff is would have blown my mind if you would have told me about it 5 months ago. (It still blows my mind).

The real stuff, though, the interior stuff......the stuff of the Spirit. Well, I could go on and on. But, I happened to come across a most excellent article, written by a Carmelite nun named Barbara Breaud, that sums up the goings-on of my soul and my efforts as effectively as I ever could. It isn't very long, and in its highly practical examination of the 12-step approach, Sr. Breaud manages to highlight some Catholic names and transmitters of inspired thought that you may recognize. Sundown M Ranch, by the way, is a 12-step based recovery/treatment center, and a very good one.

So, if you want to know what is really going on with me these days, what I'm doing with my energy and where I find my energy, I strongly encourage you to read the linked article. I've linked to it in a printer-friendly format, so feel free to print and highlight. You might even learn something about yourself.

The 12 Steps and St. John of the Cross

I love you all and pray that this New Year brings us all great peace and joy!

ANYASEOHHHHHH!

I have no idea if that's how to spell it, but that means HELLO in Korean! It's kinda tricky writing on this website, cause the log in page is in only korean figures, so I am writing with a blind eye.
I've been having so much fun over here with Miguel's family...it's been an interesting experience being in Asia with a puerto rican twist! I don't know where to begin...
The last four days we have spent in Seoul on the American military base. It's located in the south part of Seoul, just about a 15 min drive on side streets from downtown. His parents have the cutest little house, three bedroom and so roomy. They have a car and we take the subway. The driving here is crazy...this is definitely where crazy asian drivers originate! They are so swervy and seriously come within a millimeter of each other. His mom drives almost as crazy as the asians themselves (while cursing in spanish, of course), which makes sense actually, cause you wouldn't survive here as a cautious driver.
The weather is freezing, literal. It has been on average 22*F with a 10-15*F wind chill, settling at about 11*F. I seriously have to wear 3 sweaters. Walking around the city is almost unbearable for more than 15 or 20 min, so when we go out, we go to the outside market for a bit and then go into the nearest mall for a bit to warm up, and then back outside. I don't know how the venders sit outside for so long!
The food is amazing. We got our first taste of it on the plane ride over, bibimbop. It's a rice dish with some hot paste mixed in and a bunch of different veggies and meat. YUM!!!!!! We have been to one Korean BBQ, and it's my new favorite ethnic food!
The people are pretty nice. Miguel's dad was telling me that you could leave your car running the whole day in a parking lot, doors unlocked, while you were at work, or whatever, and that no one would touch it. It'd still be there that night. One of their friends left over $100 in his pants when he dropped them off at the dry cleaners, and every cent was there when he picked them up three days later. SO different from the US!!
Yesterday we went to the biggest knitting store I have ever seen in my life. His mom said that we were going to a craft mall, with lots of yarn, but I had no idea what I was in for. It washuge warehouse, with at least 100 different venders selling bags of yarn. I recognized a lot of the brand names from when I worked at skeins, so that was kind of exciting. We spent 2 hours there walking around, and after going back and forth on tons of different yarns, I didn't end up getting any. Disappointing, I know, but I think in reality the yarn wasn't too much less than in the US. It was so overwhelming. They had every size knitting needles for like $2 each. So much fun!
The past few days, his parents have had many Puerto Rican visitors, including three families that stayed at the house each night, all of which English being their second language to Spanish. We've had homemade Panamanian food every night with 2 or 3 main dishes of meat and fish, along with rice and some kind of fancy dessert. Salsa music is blasting in the background 24-7. The guys (Miguel and his dad esp) play his dad's bongos, maracas, and a few other Puerto Rican instruments along to the music making as much noise as possible in his dad's 10'X10' area of the living room desigated for the instruments. ha ha, it's so funny! His parents will stop in the middle of what they are doing, whether it be cooking, reading, walking- whatever- to just salsa dance in the middle of the room for a few. I love it! I am trying my best to absorb it all- picking up a few dance moves, practicing my spanish, and per Miguel's request, trying to learn EXACTLY how to make his mom's meals...while still making time to go out into Seoul and absorb that culture too. wheew, talk about sensory overload! It's sure been an interesting first week (almost)!
On Thursday we are going to make our way to the south part of the country to visit some of their friends (also Puerto Rican!!) and the Korean countryside. From there, we are going to Japan for a night. Next week we are signed up for a tour at the DMZ (North Korean border). We come back to Seattle on the 10th.
That pretty much sums it up so far. Happy New Year! Write me back on the blog!

This is an image-posting test. Look at how cute Lucia is!!!!

Most Complicated and Frustrating

I am getting too old for this..........painful. I am trying to get a pix in here. Is it straight forward......heck no! I am about out of here........

B-Rex Clinches a Fiver in Disc Golf Showdown

David and I have not spent more than about fifteen minutes in eachothers company for over a year and a half. The last time I can specifically remember seeing david -- except for a split second at Lisa's wedding, was when he sought a dispensation from my mom from going to my graduation from Carroll. He met us before for crepes, then probably went and played his nintendo.

So, we had much to catch up on, pee on, territory to mark, stories to tell, etc. We also needed to establish who was the better disc golfer.

Apparently in the last two years Davey Joe has become a gambling man. David's former credo was that he never made bets he knew he was not stacked to win...always wondered why he came back from Chris Tate's basketball invites with a pocket full of change...Anyway, he challenged me to a five dollar round.

Surprised, I declined at first. I hated the contentious competition of our youth, and was afraid I would hear David jabbering about nothing interesting, talking smack the whole game. But then I thought better and decided to play him for that cold (and metaphoric) cash.

It was a great round, sun was shining, bond was running, chains were ringing. David and I both played well, with probably four changes of lead in the game. But David was playing with a single disc (at his insistence) and one very foreign to him (which I cunningly provided). I ended up winning by four strokes, coming out strong in the end, as David struggled to stay in bounds.

David, typically, didnt have the cash at hand. However, he did have twenties and fifties, which is unusual. It was a great round, David never talked a bit of smack -- even when he was ahead.

So we came back to drop off the bondo, have some soup, and we are off to play round number two . Be jealous John....

Per Maria - Box Up A Gift !!

I've been asked to pass on to all that tomorrow night's event will have the old white elephant component. Maria will be giving out prizes for the best (worst?) gifts. Those of us w/love in our hearts will only give something that the lucky recipient will be able to put to good use... Someone may just get our last kitten - before the coyotes get him...

See you then.

Post Graduation Plans

Well, Colin might be headed out of South Bend, but not to worry! One more Roach is on his way (probably...I'm not going to tie myself down to anything just yet). I got my acceptance letter today, and I should get a letter from SU next week. Nick, Claw, Mads and Meesh should all be getting on here soon to tell us what they're doing, assuming they still check the blog. I know that Madeleine and Michelle are into Creighton, but I can't remember where else.