The lovers, the dreamers, and me

Back on the ranch after a whirlwind two-week trip up and down the East Coast with Meg. We got to rub elbows with Laura Bush, rap with Robert Siegel and Michele Norris during a break at All Things Considered, hit the beach in Florida, search for cherry blossoms in DC, drink carbombs in Greensboro, and spend all kinds of time with our families and friends. We felt the love from our right coast crew. Thanks everyone for taking us in! We promise to find a phat pad in San Francisco to lure you over so we can start repaying all the generosity.

And yesterday, after tagging and innoculating some calves in a crazy rainstorm, this is what I saw on my way back to the barn. I couldn't find any gold inside, but there were three calves getting their strength back after being born weak to first-time mothers. I think they're gonna make it.

--rahul

California, Here We Come!

We're coming to San Francisco! Yesterday, we found that out that Meg matched at her 1st choice--UCSF's Primary Care-Underserved Population Program at SF General. So basically, she just signed up to spend 80 hours/week for the next three years with the homeless and heroin addicts. Woohooo! We couldn't be happier!

Residency starts mid-June, so by late April we'll be heading out to Cali to start setting up life there. Start preparing yourself for the springtime drunken karaoke celebration.

--rahul

A Brief Return to Civilization

Tomorrow I hop on a plane to Connecticut (via Idaho, Utah, and Minnesota) to reunite with Meg in time for Match Day. On Thursday at noon, we'll find out where we're gonna live and work for the next 3 years. We plan to spend the next week celebrating with our family and friends up and down the East Coast, enjoying life as much as we can possibly can before Meg starts her 80-hour workweeks in June.

Ranch life is treating me real well, though I gotta say, having responsibilities is tiring. Today we found a two-day-old male calf that had been left or lost by its mother and was shivering at sunrise, unable to stand, body temperature 10 degrees below where it should have been. We got it into a shed, built a fire for it, nursed it from a bottle, and massaged it till we got its temperature back to normal. Tomorrow he'll be joined with a mom whose stillborn calf we had to pull out of her womb with chains and a hand-winch. If we're lucky, she'll take on her foster kid and make him her own. And, just maybe, by the time I get back to the ranch, they'll be following each other around the pasture, chewing on alfalfa and mooing when one of them strays a bit too far away. God I love this job.

--rahul

Well, I Guess That Makes Me Brad Pitt

From the "North End News" gossip column in this week's Wallowa County Chieftain:

• A new face around the community is Rahul, a friend of David and Cory Flynn. Rahul is fresh back from a round-the-world excursion with girlfriend, Meg. He will be spending the next few months helping David with the ranch and possibly taking a hand with little Roan. A real friendly sort of fellow and girls, he's quite a nice looking young man, but before you all perk up out there did I mention his girlfriend, Meg, is a young Jennifer Aniston look-alike? Welcome to our community Rahul and hope you find it to your liking.

--rahul