illinois' hockey town

Rockford is home to 15 straight HS hockey championships...isn't that crazy?! Unheard of in MN. I knew I should have brought my hockey bag, especially considering the rink is less than 1 mile away... 

Hockey aside, I'm a strong believer in the idea that there's no better way to explore a new town than to run through it. That way, you don't look stupid when you get lost at intersection or confused by a new part of town-- you just look like you need a breather. And fortunately, there are trails all over this town. I hopped on one right outside of my house, and my run unexpectedly turned into a history lesson. (Mom: this paragraph is dedicated to you.) I ran through the Peace Plaza, the Sister City Plaza (Rockford has 6 sister cities!), and past what appeared to be the city's stab at boosting its image-- a series of signs and pictures detailing all of Rockford's claims to fame. Apparently, Ronald Reagan and Jane Addams grew up in the area, Harley-Davidson started here, sock monkeys were invented here, and Cheap Trick hails from here. 

Rockford's Peace Plaza

I spent the majority of the afternoon decoding my Comcast start-up package, and was relieved to learn that- after an annoyingly long time on the phone- the problems I was experiencing were Comcast's fault, not a failure on my part to plug the right cords into the right places. Regardless- I now have cable and internet (and an awesome new hi def TV to go with it)!

The view from my living room

How I love having my own kitchen!

My frustration with technology didn't last very long, because Kaitlin called to give me the low down on her first day. I can't imagine starting out internships with an acute rotation- let alone in Detroit-- and let alone heading to the burn unit where she saw a patient whose meth lab caused his house to blow up. Eek! I am still pretty jealous that she's at the Twins-Tigers game at Comerica right now. And a little upset that Delmon Young just hit a homerun at his first at-bat as a Tiger after we traded him this morning. But pumped that I found the game on TV- even if its a little biased towards Detroit- and that Thome just hit #599. GO TWINS!

Cooked a delish dinner of crispy sweet potato fries, roasted corn on the cob, and chipotle chicken sausage. Talked to Alisa (and if she felt a little overwhelmed on her first day, I'm even more nervous for tomorrow...), and chatted with Dad and Ben. I was laughing with Kaitlin about how this past weekend, I was surrounded by so many people-- this is a little bit of a shock for me being so on my own! So I thoroughly am enjoying my phone calls :)

One of the pics on my fridge. Ole love. <3

Tonight = Twins, Riesling (always fun to not get ID'd at the store), and some R&R before I report to ORS at 7:30 am! Tomorrow, I get to act like a real, grown-up PT. Let's just hope I can remember some of the stuff I crammed into my brain over the past 2 years...