An Unexpected Adventure

Many of my pals know that I recently broke my ankle. I grow tired of telling the story so here is the condensed version; I was playing ball with some pals from Bothell, got a little too rowdy, and ended up deciding to take an unexpected tour of the accommodations provided by the Evergreen Hospital Emergency Room. After hopping in on one leg, I decided that a wheelchair would be acceptable for a person in my situation and wheeled around for a little while. I talked to a few of the other patients waiting nearby, but they apparently didn’t want to talk very much as was made clear to me through their lack of eye contact and one word answers. I was in a bit of pain and couldn’t take any ibuprofen, which was an interesting experience. I’m not going to lie, my ankle hurt badly. An hour later, I was seen and was given a shot directly in the buttocks. I don’t know exactly what that shot contained and probably never will, but I don’t remember much that night except for my pal Clint helping me in and out of the car and the fact that I was told that surgery was unnecessary. I woke up on a love sack with shiny new crutches nearby, a splint on my ankle, and some pop-tarts and Gatorade beside me. The direction I received from the discharge papers was to wait for the swelling to go down and then go see an orthopedic specialist. So I scheduled myself an appointment to see Dr. Santoro in Bellevue and for the rest of the week took my newly attained vicodin for pain.

So, I go into Dr. Santoro’s office a little nervous and ready to get the splint off my ankle. Dr. Santoro looked at the X-Rays with me, cut off the splint, looked at my ankle and said, “AJ you need to come in for surgery tomorrow.” After I heard that, I was extraordinarily frustrated with life and my situation. I am an extremely adventurous person and there is little that I hate more than personal feelings of limitation or weakness. I called my father and told him about it and he arranged for my wonderful mother to come out and be by my side during surgery and recovery. I am so grateful that she was able to come out and care for her little boy of twenty-four.

My sweet mother arrived two hours before surgery so we played a few games of sequence, I showed her the garden, and then we went to Overlake Hospital for the surgery. I remember my mothers hand and the comfort that seemed to flow from it, my nice nurses, and the Bothell hotel we stayed in, but other than that, the day is a blur. My mother says I was singing, “Drip, drip, drop, little April shower,” from Disney’s Bambi while I was coming out of anesthesia, but I don’t remember that either. The surgery went well and the recovery was speedy due to my mother and a few select visitors who cheered me up. Thanks for everything; I do not know that I can ever repay the love and kindness that I received!

I have since been back for my two-week check-up and my ankle is doing well. Dr. Santoro said that it is healing up better than most he sees and gave me permission to treat it as a bad sprain. I was so happy when I heard him say that! I was able to take a shower and start doing my ‘A, B, C’s’ for therapy. Eventually, I took off the boot and started walking around which surprisingly wasn’t very painful…a little bit of tightness and pressure, but nothing I couldn’t put up with. Anyhow, I mentioned that it was hurting a little to someone dear to me which was a mistake. In the end, I eventually made a promise to wear the boot until this Sunday. So after Sunday I’ll be bootless and ready to begin my quest to walk normally all the while camouflaging the fact that I have a bad ankle.

On a more serious note, I have learned many personal things through this endeavor, but do not wish to publish these to the world. If you want to know what I’ve learned come ask me and I’ll tell you one on one. For me, life’s lessons are to be shared on an individual basis, not whimsically thrown around as if they have no value. I will say that I have learned a lot about humility and patience and the importance of allowing others to serve Mr. Independent, me. I hope that the surface of what I have learned satisfies the majority of the readers out there because that’s all you’re getting concerning my personal growth and inspiration during this period of my life.

PS – work (Philips) was extraordinarily understanding and accommodating during the two weeks that I was out. They told me to work from home and do what I could, but to be sure to take time to allow my body to heal. What a great place right? Just felt like I should mention that for everyone out there.

After Dr. Santoro took the splint off, this is what I saw... (5 days after initial injury)

Right after surgery, I don't remember this at all... My mother is the BEST!!!

It's ugly, but deceivingly strong... (2 days after getting staples out)

Philips & Boston

I have recently been residing in the beautiful Northwest working for Philips Healthcare in Seattle, Washington. It is a wonderful time to be here. Everything is lush and green with days that grow longer and more gorgeous as the summer progresses. I truly am enjoying my stay; however, the attractive sunny 70-degree weather is not the purpose of this post.

A little background…I worked up here last year with the Ultrasound & Monitoring business as an intern. I was the first undergraduate that Philips had ever hired and it proved to be a superb experience. I learned a lot and stayed close to those I worked with throughout the year. I received an e-mail in February with some opportunities for me to return to Philips, looked them over, and accepted a position. Currently, I am working on an SAP migration project for the North America Global Sales & Service business. I have been exposed to a variety of functional areas within the business, which has been a valuable learning experience. Over the course of the past thirty days, I have been involved with an internal SAP user-access audit, setting up a document repository within SAP for a migration project, defining and analyzing the Healthcare Informatics business in Foster City, CA, and heading the budget analysis for the €13 million OneSAP project.

I’m happy to say that things are going extremely well. So well in fact, that one of the managers that I work with here in Seattle offered me a job next year in Boston. It was very unexpected, but put my conscience at ease! I was worried that with the current economy in the shape it is, finding a job would prove difficult. I’ve never been to Boston, but what a good time to go there … The Celtics just won the National Championship, the Patriots consistently perform well even though the NHL doesn't really excite me, and the Red Sox…come on, no explanation needed there. I’m not a life-long die-hard Sox fan, but they are a very talented team and would provide some fantastic evenings at the park.

Anyhow, I haven’t signed anything or even begun worrying about the decision further, aside from thinking of the sports teams that are there; however, this proposed opportunity was a ‘warm fuzzy’ and offered some needed confidence in my abilities.

Father's Day Reflection...

With four younger sisters and no brothers, I have spent a lot of quality time with my father. He is my hero and best friend. I Google’d my father’s name because I wanted to include a picture of him in this post, but apparently, Paul Gage is also a research computer scientist who works at Cray Supercomputers, the President of a group considered by pastors and church leaders as the premier stewardship company in America (interesting—stewardship company??), a policy analyst at the Discovery Institute, an author, and a French Artist. My father did have a few articles—press releases—about new positions he accepted with various firms along with a few U.S. patents that he holds, but no current pictures of him.

Anyhow, let’s get away from that tangent and back to the purpose of this post…

Growing up in a sea of estrogen offered frequent opportunities (and excuses) for my father and me to slip away and do 'man stuff.’ Despite the little vein under his right eye that would bulge slightly when I would need some good ole' fashioned discipline, I was never afraid of my father. We are long-time pals. He taught me how to fish, how to shoot and clean a gun, how to hunt birds and deer, how to snare gophers, how to steer a canoe, how to set up a proper campsite, how to lash, how to start a fire in the rain, how to read a map and use a compass, how to cook delicious meals in a Dutch oven, how to split and stack wood, how to lay a solid foundation, how to build a good shed, how to insulate a building, how to lay tar paper and shingles, how to landscape and plan a yard, how to plant and maintain a beautiful lawn, how to build a deck, how to seal a driveway, how to pour concrete, how to drain a sink crammed full of potato peels, how to drive a stick-shift in the snow, how to properly care for a truck, how to play ball, how to play golf, and how to use ‘yes dear’ and ‘I’m sorry’ effectively. A lot of sweat and blood went into a few of those lessons, but the majority of them were learned by a young boy idolizing his father. I look back on the high-level lessons mentioned above and smile at the fun times of the past. What is even greater is that we still have many adventures to go.

While the lessons above shaped my life and my passions, the deeper lessons, which I believe are essential for a boy to become a good man, came to me primarily through my father’s example. He taught me to serve others for the correct reason, to go the extra mile in fulfilling duties and obligations, to forgive and forget, to always give humanity more than you take, to look for the better way and do it, to consistently be engaged in helping others, to delight in the small things in all areas of life, to really listen, to always treat women with respect, to use judgment wisely, to respect nature, to be honest, to stand up for myself even when it means standing alone, to never quit no matter how hard the task may be, to be obedient to God’s laws, to cultivate and work for righteous desires, to show support and encouragement towards others, to do work correctly the first time, to spend time wisely, to be dependable and steady, to be early for everything, to take courage in trials with faith, to read good books and exercise your mind, to take time to ponder life and its current direction, to trust God, and to be a good husband and father.


My father has unlimited potential and could have done anything he wanted with his life. He could have been the big-shot CEO of a leading chemical company by devoting all of his time to the corporation, but instead and to my deep appreciation, he chose to be a husband and father.

I was asked to speak about my father last Sunday in church. Usually, individuals of my faith get about a week to prepare their speech; however, the assignments fell through and I was asked to help. I was allotted an hour to gather my thoughts and plan my talk. I was so grateful for the topic though; I went for a quick walk around the Little League fields adjacent to the church building to plan my thoughts. Afterwards, I felt around 90 percent confident and was able to deliver what I thought was a decent talk; however, words cannot express how incredible my father is. He has spent tens of thousands of hours supporting, serving, and teaching me as I have grown up. I conclude with the statement made in the beginning, he is my hero and best friend. How grateful I am for the decision that my father made; to be the dad that he didn’t have to be.

So I recently found out what it was like to break a rib. Yeah that's right, I broke a rib over the weekend. Usually, I'd be alright with it, but it's right in the middle of 'fun' season. It's difficult to swing a golf club, baseball bat, throw a ball, and even cut down trees. I find myself just ignoring the nagging pain when I'm playing; however, it is also smack dab in the middle of allergy season here in Utah, which means a lot of sneezing. Let me tell something to you, when you have a broken rib and you sneeze it hurts. In fact, it hurts so bad you don't even finish your sneeze, you just grimace inside and long for days of full blown sneezing ability to return to you. Anyhow, it's beautiful here in Utah. The springtime here is my favorite. Everything is green and blossoming and campus is just beautiful with the hard work that the grounds crew puts into their landscaping. I woke up the other day and just had to take a picture of what I saw. It's very difficult for me to explain the smell and cool breeze that were present when I took the picture, but it isn't essential. All I can say is that the mornings here in Utah right now are simply delightful.

Fun During Finals

Okay, every now and then when the pressures of excelling in school and executing good grades seem too overwhelming, I just need to get away from it all. My buddy Scott and I decided that we needed to go golfing a few times during finals so that we could mediate the negative effects of school on our lives. It was a beautiful and much needed trip. We played at Hobble Creek on a very beautiful day. It was a much needed break that resulted in back to back days of 44 and 43. I don't know how it happened, but I scored very well. Here are a few photos from the trip.

Scott got this one really close

Belongs on the cover of a Utah Golf magazine

Daniel swinging for the fences

Lining up my putt

Good form thanks to dad

Zoom in and you can see where my ball landed. It's not a great shot, but hey, it's on the green.

This was a good shot, got it about 3 feet from the hole

Nice Weather and Finals

Why is it that at the end of the winter semester the nice weather always waits to peek in? It always comes just before finals. The week before finals is always the week that everyone's projects are due, and it seems as though the first good golf/adventure weather comes at the exact same time. Needless to say, me and the guys have been out on a few adventures since the weather has turned for the better. It has been much needed in order to break the monotony of studying. We went looking for 'sheds' which of course, every outdoorsman knows means looking for antlers up in the mountains once the south face has melted down a bit. I learned that this word (sheds) needs a bit of explaining when inviting others who are not as avid outdoor adventurers. Apparently everyone thought that me and the guys were just going up to the mountains to literally go look for empty, abandoned buildings. Anyways, here are a few pictures from the most recent adventures.

Brought a couple of the guns just in case

We decided to build a tepee about a hundred meters away from this very spot. It's an incredible camping shelter. I'll get some pictures of that as soon as we go up again.

We went behind this mountain to go look for sheds... It looked really nice that day


View from the backside... It was really nice