Adam Soltys

I've been gearing up for my move back to Vancouver, selling off most of our furniture on craigslist. Rental prices there are pretty scary because of the olympics so I'm glad Chelsea's parents have offered to put me up for the month. Med school residency match date is March 8th so that's when we'll find out whether we'll be staying in Vancouver or moving to either Edmonton, Calgary, Kingston, or Ottawa. I'm still not really sure which of those I'd actually prefer. I guess I'd give a slight edge to Vancouver or Ottawa and would put Kingston at the bottom of my list (sorry Kingston).

I'm going to miss Victoria. We had so many good times here with good friends. Life goes on though. I'm excited to get back to my friends and family on the mainland and the vibrant Vancouver office.

This last month has been a whirlwind of awesomeness. I chalk it up to having good friends. It's nice to have a little bit of a break for now though because I think the later half of December is going to be another wild ride.

Unfortunately I've been having so much fun that I've been neglecting certain things. I need to get my finances back into ship shape first off. And I could probably spend a little more time sharpening the saw with my technical skills and focusing on more intellectual pursuits.

On the plus side, I've been hitting the YMCA pretty frequently and have been packing lunches and eating dinners at home a lot more than usual (thanks mainly to Chelsea), so that's a win.

Richard signed his motorbike into my name last night so I'm now the proud new owner of a Kawasaki KLR650. This is the first vehicle I've ever owned! The excitement really just hit me today after flipping through the owner's manual. I have to wait until Spring though to ride it. And I still need to get my license...

I arrived back in Victoria on Sunday. It feels like I've come home. It's funny how your perception of what's home can change over time. My good friend Aydinsky Smith is coming over next week, so I'm looking forward to that.

I haven't been taking very good care of myself lately so I'm going to try to go on a health kick for the next little while. Some goals: Eat out way less, cut out Diet Coke and McDonalds breakfasts, get more fruits and vegetables, ramp up on the swimming and work-outs. Pretty cliché stuff I guess, but there's nothing wrong with that.

I signed up at the YMCA yesterday, so that should help with the exercise. I'm going to start eating a big breakfast to help me eat out less. I think I'll try making smoothies and granola. I'd also like to get up earlier in general so I can start hitting the pool before work.

I want to flex my mind muscle a bit more too. I'll do this by reading more books but also reading them more critically. Maybe I'll try making notes as I read, or at least questioning what I've read and why it's interesting or uninteresting, how it applies to my life, etc. I've been inspired by watching YouTube videos of Richard Feynman speaking. He has a curious way of looking at the world and explaining things that just makes everything seem so obvious. I read his semi-autobiography Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! back in college and highly recommend it.

I'd like to try a Yoga class while I'm over here too, as well as resume my French and Spanish studies, get my motorcycle license, get my finances in order, and continue improving my programming skills and making contributions to open-source software.