Classes are over.
Finals are over.
Grades are in.
I got an A- in Management and I passed everything else. I got an A on my Toxicology final. I can't --- Whoa! What did you say?! Did you say, you got an A on toxicology?!!
Why, yes, that is correct. I got an A on my toxicology final.
How does such a thing happen, you're wondering? Well, I'm guessing it had to do with the addition of a bunch of extra points, as occurred on the midterm, only they didn't tell us that they did that this time. Otherwise I have no clue how multiple of my friends, and myself, could have also gotten an A.
So I'm feeling pretty good about the end of this semester.
Course evaluations are over, and I remembered to do them the day before they were due, so I had enough time to provide some thoughtful answers and hopefully some constructive criticism that will make sophomore courses better for the classes under me.
Handbell concerts are over and all went pretty well.
The big church stuff, save for an extra rehearsal tonight and Christmas Eve services, is over.
Daisy the extra foster cat has gone to a new home where she will (cross your fingers) be very happy and they will want to keep her! She is on a 1-2 week trial to see how she settles in. The house seems much quieter without her.
After 4-6 months of attempts and having it on my to-do list, I finally have a Colorado driver's license, Colorado car insurance, Colorado car title, Colorado car registration, and Colorado license plates. I feel that since I am now so prepared, I have almost jinxed myself into getting pulled over...
Grocery shopping for this week's big meals, holiday festivities, and feeding a group of 5 is done.
Christmas shopping is done and almost all the gifts are wrapped.
The house is partially cleaned. Some piles of junk that have been taking up corners for months or longer have been sorted, discarded, or hidden elsewhere in the house. A few things left to clean tomorrow, but much of the big stuff is done.
Wedding and family pictures have been framed and are ready to be hung on the walls.
CLH's family is checked in for tomorrow's flight to DIA. Fingers crossed that the weather holds out, as we are supposed to get snow tomorrow and Thursday.
Plans are in place (depending on weather) to drive to Minnesota next Monday and stay till Friday or Saturday. Should be fun and hope we can make the 15 hour drive without too much delay! Cats will NOT be coming this year, which should be a pleasant change.
All in all, with 48 hours left until Christmas Eve, everything is falling into place and I can finally feel a bit more relaxed. Tomorrow's to-do list still has plenty of items, but they will all get done and it will be a great holiday!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday's academic highlight of the day
....was being DONE with the semester! (DONE WITH THE SEMESTER!)
The Toxicology final was not great, but I am fairly confident I got at least the minimum 43% I needed to pass the course.
I got a B on my Prev Med final, A on Clin Path, A+++ on Pharm, probably an A or B on Management, and almost passed BoD (but did well in that course overall).
Yesterday's activities, post-final exam, included running a bunch of errands in Fort Collins: stopped at the dollar store, Michael's, JoAnn Fabrics, Panera, Target, JC Penney, the gas station, and RedBox. Then came home to crash for awhile.
CLH made a yummy new pork tenderloin recipe for dinner, with leftover rice and green beans. Ice cream after dinner, then watched "Julie & Julia."
Slept till 10:15 this morning, when Johnny got into the bedroom and stuck his whiskers in my face. Played some Farmville, caught up on some email, and started cleaning the house (although CLH got a huge head start on this!). Organized and put away all of this semester's papers and notes. Cleaned up the corner table that holds all of our miscellaneous documents, receipts, and stuff to save. Sorted through some of the stuff that has been sitting in the corner of the kitchen for a year. Emptied the dishwasher, did some laundry, investigated why the Christmas tree keeps leaning to the left (no answer).
Tonight we have our handbell concert in Loveland at 7 pm, so I'll need to leave a little bit after 4 pm.
Tomorrow morning is extra early church choir warmup, with our Lessons & Carols service. Then helping CLH record his organ competition pieces. Then rushing home to be back in Windsor by 2 pm to warm up/set up for our handbell concert here in Windsor. Then: no more handbells until January!
Monday's exciting tasks will include cleaning the house further, preparing for in-laws to arrive on Wednesday, grocery shopping, changing litterboxes, and hopefully finally getting my Buick titled and registered in Colorado.
Mostly I'm just glad that school is over. Several of my finals ended up being a bit more stressful than I anticipated, but I think everything worked out in the end. However, I am still in that mode of "What do I have to study next??" Nothing, for awhile! Give me about 2 weeks before I get anxious to be studying again....
The Toxicology final was not great, but I am fairly confident I got at least the minimum 43% I needed to pass the course.
I got a B on my Prev Med final, A on Clin Path, A+++ on Pharm, probably an A or B on Management, and almost passed BoD (but did well in that course overall).
Yesterday's activities, post-final exam, included running a bunch of errands in Fort Collins: stopped at the dollar store, Michael's, JoAnn Fabrics, Panera, Target, JC Penney, the gas station, and RedBox. Then came home to crash for awhile.
CLH made a yummy new pork tenderloin recipe for dinner, with leftover rice and green beans. Ice cream after dinner, then watched "Julie & Julia."
Slept till 10:15 this morning, when Johnny got into the bedroom and stuck his whiskers in my face. Played some Farmville, caught up on some email, and started cleaning the house (although CLH got a huge head start on this!). Organized and put away all of this semester's papers and notes. Cleaned up the corner table that holds all of our miscellaneous documents, receipts, and stuff to save. Sorted through some of the stuff that has been sitting in the corner of the kitchen for a year. Emptied the dishwasher, did some laundry, investigated why the Christmas tree keeps leaning to the left (no answer).
Tonight we have our handbell concert in Loveland at 7 pm, so I'll need to leave a little bit after 4 pm.
Tomorrow morning is extra early church choir warmup, with our Lessons & Carols service. Then helping CLH record his organ competition pieces. Then rushing home to be back in Windsor by 2 pm to warm up/set up for our handbell concert here in Windsor. Then: no more handbells until January!
Monday's exciting tasks will include cleaning the house further, preparing for in-laws to arrive on Wednesday, grocery shopping, changing litterboxes, and hopefully finally getting my Buick titled and registered in Colorado.
Mostly I'm just glad that school is over. Several of my finals ended up being a bit more stressful than I anticipated, but I think everything worked out in the end. However, I am still in that mode of "What do I have to study next??" Nothing, for awhile! Give me about 2 weeks before I get anxious to be studying again....
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday's academic highlight of the day
...was logging onto RamCT just now and discovering that I got 100% on both parts of the Pharmacology final (take-home/open-book and in-class/closed-book)! Whoo hoo!
After this morning's management exam, all that remains for this semester is the Toxicology final tomorrow morning. They gave us the option of taking it this morning or tomorrow morning, and everybody figured that no one would take it early, since we all need time to study. But evidently someone did take it today, because one of my classmates mentioned seeing someone crying afterward.... :(
Toxicology has turned out to be my iffiest class this semester. I got an 82 on the first exam, worth 40% of our grade, and 100 on the two homeworks, each worth 10% of our grade. By my calculations, that means I need to get at least a 43 on the final (worth 40% of our grade) to get a passing 70% in the class.
So I'm studying lots of toxicology today: rodenticides, avicides, biological toxins, toxic household plants, heavy metal toxicities, ionophore and urea toxicity, household toxins, and radiation toxicity. Fun, fun!
In other news, I got an 81.5 on Monday's Preventive Medicine final (which was a bit lower than I'd hoped, considering I got 100, 100, and 94 on the first three midterms). Tuesday's Clin Path results aren't up yet, although I plan to stop by and look at the answer key tomorrow after Tox. My original score of 14/26 on Monday's BoD repro exam was raised to an 18/26 (which is almost passing!) with the addition of some extra points. (But I got 100, 100, 93, 79, 100, and 94 on the first 6 exams in that class, so all's good.) No Ethics final or essay or anything like that, so I guess I'm going with a "pass" for that class.
All in all it has been a fast, though at times very boring, semester. I am greatly looking forward to seeing family and friends, doing a little bit of travel, having Christmas with a new church family, getting the house thoroughly cleaned, finding a home for Miss Daisy, and still having 2 weeks left to relax in January before classes start again!
(Now I just have to pass Tox tomorrow...)
After this morning's management exam, all that remains for this semester is the Toxicology final tomorrow morning. They gave us the option of taking it this morning or tomorrow morning, and everybody figured that no one would take it early, since we all need time to study. But evidently someone did take it today, because one of my classmates mentioned seeing someone crying afterward.... :(
Toxicology has turned out to be my iffiest class this semester. I got an 82 on the first exam, worth 40% of our grade, and 100 on the two homeworks, each worth 10% of our grade. By my calculations, that means I need to get at least a 43 on the final (worth 40% of our grade) to get a passing 70% in the class.
So I'm studying lots of toxicology today: rodenticides, avicides, biological toxins, toxic household plants, heavy metal toxicities, ionophore and urea toxicity, household toxins, and radiation toxicity. Fun, fun!
In other news, I got an 81.5 on Monday's Preventive Medicine final (which was a bit lower than I'd hoped, considering I got 100, 100, and 94 on the first three midterms). Tuesday's Clin Path results aren't up yet, although I plan to stop by and look at the answer key tomorrow after Tox. My original score of 14/26 on Monday's BoD repro exam was raised to an 18/26 (which is almost passing!) with the addition of some extra points. (But I got 100, 100, 93, 79, 100, and 94 on the first 6 exams in that class, so all's good.) No Ethics final or essay or anything like that, so I guess I'm going with a "pass" for that class.
All in all it has been a fast, though at times very boring, semester. I am greatly looking forward to seeing family and friends, doing a little bit of travel, having Christmas with a new church family, getting the house thoroughly cleaned, finding a home for Miss Daisy, and still having 2 weeks left to relax in January before classes start again!
(Now I just have to pass Tox tomorrow...)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Academic highlight of the day
Today's vet-school-finals-week highlight involved arriving to school at 8:50 am for our 9:10 pharmacology final, and discovering that an equally large class of ecology undergraduate students was preparing to take their final... in the same room as us.
A few minutes later, our professor arrived, was informed of the dilemma, and went off to the pathology office to get things sorted out. (Poor guy. He is shy and seems not to like conflict.) He came back and told us that the problem wasn't that the room was double-booked. The problem was that somebody in the vet school forgot to book the room for our final. Whoops.
We ushered the undergrads into the classroom, while 140 of us stood in the lobby and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, at about 9:09 and 45 seconds, the ecology professor showed up with his class's exams. Bummer! No room for us in the classroom, after all. (Will we have to find a stable in which to take our exam??)
So, being the professional, resourceful, and flexible vet students that we are, we each grabbed a copy of the exam and hunkered down in the hallways, lobby, computer lab, conference room, empty classrooms, etc. And took our exam. I personally found it most comfortable to lie on the carpeted floor in the building's lobby. It was certainly a unique testing environment.
We got an email later in the day from the assistant dean, who apologized for the lack of a room and commended us on our professionalism and good behavior in adapting to the "stress of having to find a place to take a final, in addition to the stress of the exam itself." Apparently that means we will all do great when we get to clinis, at least according to him!
A few minutes later, our professor arrived, was informed of the dilemma, and went off to the pathology office to get things sorted out. (Poor guy. He is shy and seems not to like conflict.) He came back and told us that the problem wasn't that the room was double-booked. The problem was that somebody in the vet school forgot to book the room for our final. Whoops.
We ushered the undergrads into the classroom, while 140 of us stood in the lobby and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, at about 9:09 and 45 seconds, the ecology professor showed up with his class's exams. Bummer! No room for us in the classroom, after all. (Will we have to find a stable in which to take our exam??)
So, being the professional, resourceful, and flexible vet students that we are, we each grabbed a copy of the exam and hunkered down in the hallways, lobby, computer lab, conference room, empty classrooms, etc. And took our exam. I personally found it most comfortable to lie on the carpeted floor in the building's lobby. It was certainly a unique testing environment.
We got an email later in the day from the assistant dean, who apologized for the lack of a room and commended us on our professionalism and good behavior in adapting to the "stress of having to find a place to take a final, in addition to the stress of the exam itself." Apparently that means we will all do great when we get to clinis, at least according to him!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Meh
Ever take 3 finals in one day, and also squat down to pick something up from the floor, and rip a big hole in the butt of your last pair of decent-looking jeans?
Ask me how my day has been. :-)
Ask me how my day has been. :-)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Happy one-year Bloggiversary!
Yes, that's right: Yesterday was my blog's first birthday! It sure has been a long while since my first post on December 12, 2008. (2008? Retro!)
I have had a great time blogging and I hope you have had a good time reading. Next semester, I will focus a little more on posting things besides (a) whining about school, or (b) animal reproduction.
Over Christmas break, you can anticipate a "year in review" post as I reflect on all of my posts from the last 12 months.
Thanks for reading!
I have had a great time blogging and I hope you have had a good time reading. Next semester, I will focus a little more on posting things besides (a) whining about school, or (b) animal reproduction.
Over Christmas break, you can anticipate a "year in review" post as I reflect on all of my posts from the last 12 months.
Thanks for reading!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Have YOU ever been to a Testicle Festival?
Yep, I thought I might be the only one.
This week, we finished two weeks of studying reproductive tract pathology in Biology of Disease. We spent most of the time on the female repro tract - normal female repro, pregnant female repro, and mammary. The instructor allowed about 40 minutes to discuss "the less important stuff" - the male reproductive tract.
The day after she made fun of how unimportant the male repro stuff was, she evidently felt bad about belittling the whopping 1/4 of our class that is male, so we had a Testicle Festival.
The professor baked a round sugar cookie for everybody in the class, and decorated them with different colors and shapes of frosting, marshmallows, sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc. There were about 8 or 10 different types of cookies, each signifying a different pathological condition that can affect the testicles.
So, we had cookies with white frosting and a sperm made out of a chocolate chip with a squiggly frosting tail: seminoma!
We had frosted cookies with half of a sliced marshmallow, and sprinkles: abscess!
We had cookies with red frosting and red sprinkles: hemorrhage!
We had cookies with gummy worms stuck on top: verminous orchitis!
Additional cookies portrayed Leydig/interstitial cell tumors, Sertoli cell tumors, and granulomas.
It was, in a very strange way, actually a good review for next week's repro path exam.
Plus, the cookies were really tasty!
(Sometime I wonder if there's something wrong with me. Then I look around at all of my classmates, and they're just like me!)
This week, we finished two weeks of studying reproductive tract pathology in Biology of Disease. We spent most of the time on the female repro tract - normal female repro, pregnant female repro, and mammary. The instructor allowed about 40 minutes to discuss "the less important stuff" - the male reproductive tract.
The day after she made fun of how unimportant the male repro stuff was, she evidently felt bad about belittling the whopping 1/4 of our class that is male, so we had a Testicle Festival.
The professor baked a round sugar cookie for everybody in the class, and decorated them with different colors and shapes of frosting, marshmallows, sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc. There were about 8 or 10 different types of cookies, each signifying a different pathological condition that can affect the testicles.
So, we had cookies with white frosting and a sperm made out of a chocolate chip with a squiggly frosting tail: seminoma!
We had frosted cookies with half of a sliced marshmallow, and sprinkles: abscess!
We had cookies with red frosting and red sprinkles: hemorrhage!
We had cookies with gummy worms stuck on top: verminous orchitis!
Additional cookies portrayed Leydig/interstitial cell tumors, Sertoli cell tumors, and granulomas.
It was, in a very strange way, actually a good review for next week's repro path exam.
Plus, the cookies were really tasty!
(Sometime I wonder if there's something wrong with me. Then I look around at all of my classmates, and they're just like me!)
Quote of the Day x 2
One of our pharmacology professors, who also happens to be the assistnat dean and the administrative person who has the most contact with students, is board certified in anesthesia and thus teaches us most of our anesthesia, sedation, and pain management stuff.
We were having a review and integrative discussion about anesthesia yesterday. The scenario is a 2 year old black lab who lacerated his footpad and needs to be sedated, anesthetized, and sutured. We have already put him under anesthesia and now his heart rate is 160 bpm (should probably be more like 70 bpm).
The professor is trying to get us to say that a heart rate like this is noteworthy but not a huge cause for concern. The class is not getting it and doesn't understand what he's asking. (He wants us to make the connection that this puts humans at a greater risk for myocardial infarction, which the dog probably won't get.)
Professor: Let me put it this way. Would it be worse for this dog to have a heart rate of 160 while under anesthesia, or for me to have a heart rate of 160 while under anesthesia?
Class: You.
Professor: Okay, why?
Class: ......
One student: Because you're the dean!
We were having a review and integrative discussion about anesthesia yesterday. The scenario is a 2 year old black lab who lacerated his footpad and needs to be sedated, anesthetized, and sutured. We have already put him under anesthesia and now his heart rate is 160 bpm (should probably be more like 70 bpm).
The professor is trying to get us to say that a heart rate like this is noteworthy but not a huge cause for concern. The class is not getting it and doesn't understand what he's asking. (He wants us to make the connection that this puts humans at a greater risk for myocardial infarction, which the dog probably won't get.)
Professor: Let me put it this way. Would it be worse for this dog to have a heart rate of 160 while under anesthesia, or for me to have a heart rate of 160 while under anesthesia?
Class: You.
Professor: Okay, why?
Class: ......
One student: Because you're the dean!
Quote of the Day
Clinical pathology professor teaching the last section of cytology; we are discussing transmissible veneral tumors and she is explaining that you don't see many TVTs in Colorado but there are other areas where they are really common:
"There are some places in the world where you can just stand in the street and watch dogs copulating. If you have nothing else to do."
"There are some places in the world where you can just stand in the street and watch dogs copulating. If you have nothing else to do."
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
I'm cold!
7:23 am. Current actual temperature = -15 degrees. Current windchill puts us at -27 degrees.
Can it be spring now??
Can it be spring now??
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Good times
Nothing quite like a nice Saturday evening spent at home studying the intricacies of dog urine. We vet students sure know how to have a good time (me more than most, I'm sure).
Thankfully, things are looking up now that it's the weekend. It's weird how blogging about stress tends to decrease it...
Thankfully, things are looking up now that it's the weekend. It's weird how blogging about stress tends to decrease it...
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
I wish I could speak British
I am listening to NPR and they just had a BBC segment where the anchor was talking about "melting glaciers" except he pronounced it "melting glassiers." Awesome.
Logic? I think not.
Every semester of vet school, every student is required to pay a $120 fee for class notes. This isn't included in our tuition. It doesn't cover any of our textbooks or other supplies. It's just so we can get about a ream and a half of paper printed with all of the PowerPoint slides and supplements we'll need for the semester.
The price seems a bit high, but we begrudgingly pay it every semester. Admittedly, it is convenient to have everything printed out that you'll need (at least in theory). Plus, they don't exactly give us a choice.
The other thing we are supposed to get with our physical notes is a CD containing PowerPoint or PDF versions of everything that is printed -- so that we have a back up in case we lose anything, or a digital version if we just prefer that.
In mid-August, we all trooped over to the vet school bookstore, picked up our notes, and paid our $120 plus the several hundred additional dollars we owed for textbooks.
Shortly after, we received an email explaining that "Sorry, we did not get the CDs with the digital version of the notes made up in time. Some technical difficulties. We will get the CDs to you asap."
And, at long last, with a whopping 6 days remaining in the semester.... the CDs appeared in our mailboxes today!
-->sarcasmfont<-- Everybody is so excited about all the wonderful things we can do with this marvelous technology that has finally arrived! -->/sarcasmfont<--
But really, why do things logically? We'd much prefer that you wait till we are all stressed, and then rub it in that we haven't had this tool that we paid for, for 95% of the semester... People wonder why vet students are so picky and finicky and whiny when things don't go right. Well, it's because some of us are paying $48,000 in tuition and fees and we expect to be treated well.
(Do I sound stressed? I think I might be. Note to self: stop being so crabby all the time.)
The price seems a bit high, but we begrudgingly pay it every semester. Admittedly, it is convenient to have everything printed out that you'll need (at least in theory). Plus, they don't exactly give us a choice.
The other thing we are supposed to get with our physical notes is a CD containing PowerPoint or PDF versions of everything that is printed -- so that we have a back up in case we lose anything, or a digital version if we just prefer that.
In mid-August, we all trooped over to the vet school bookstore, picked up our notes, and paid our $120 plus the several hundred additional dollars we owed for textbooks.
Shortly after, we received an email explaining that "Sorry, we did not get the CDs with the digital version of the notes made up in time. Some technical difficulties. We will get the CDs to you asap."
And, at long last, with a whopping 6 days remaining in the semester.... the CDs appeared in our mailboxes today!
-->sarcasmfont<-- Everybody is so excited about all the wonderful things we can do with this marvelous technology that has finally arrived! -->/sarcasmfont<--
But really, why do things logically? We'd much prefer that you wait till we are all stressed, and then rub it in that we haven't had this tool that we paid for, for 95% of the semester... People wonder why vet students are so picky and finicky and whiny when things don't go right. Well, it's because some of us are paying $48,000 in tuition and fees and we expect to be treated well.
(Do I sound stressed? I think I might be. Note to self: stop being so crabby all the time.)
Life attack!
I feel as though all the activities and stresses of life spent several weeks in hiding and geared up over Thanksgiving break to ambush me this week.
We have 6 days of class remaining, mostly with no assignments (one quiz due earlier this week, another couple next week).
Finals are looming. They are Dec 14-18. Mostly cumulative/comprehensive. Need to study, but when do I have time??
Fortunately my grades are good enough in most of my classes (actually, all of my classes except toxicology) that if I don't get to study a whole lot for finals, I should still be just fine.
We have an extra cat in the house. She is a sweet, petite, stray little girl but is shaking up our routine. Several people interested in her but most of them are sketchy folks who saw her on Craigslist. Send responsible adopters my way!
I am trying to get registered for the next business class for the spring semester. The curriculum coordinator emailed us when we registered for classes and told us not to worry, we wouldn't be able to register for the undergrad business class just then because they needed to put in an override for us. She said she would email and let us know when we could register. She emailed a couple weeks later to say, "Just checking to see if you have been able to register yet?" None of us have. All the sections are full. Bleh.
Handbells is starting to consume my life. In the next 3 weeks, we have 5 concerts (2 in Cheyenne, 1 in Windsor, 1 in Fort Collins, 1 in Loveland) and 2 rehearsals (1 in Windsor, 1 in Cheyenne). Next Tuesday is our last pre-concert rehearsal. We need about another month of rehearsals! The director mistakenly thought we actually had 2 weeks left. He was running late this week so I led the first hour of our 90 minute rehearsal. I'm playing in 2 small ensembles that require extra rehearsal every week, and I'm accompanying on piano for a bell solo and a bell duet. Our first concert, Dec 11 in Cheyenne, is with several other musical groups including a winds ensemble and percussion ensemble. Our director composed a piece for us to play with them, and I saw the music for the first time two days ago. They didn't have an extra copy so I have nothing to look at before the next rehearsal ("dress rehearsal") unless I can borrow one from someone, and the piece is hard! I think I have the hardest part. I have to simultaneously thumb-damp G7 and A7 shelleyed in my right hand to simulate sleigh bells for most of the song, while playing G6 and A6 four-in-hand in my left hand as part of the melody. Occasional transitions to G flats and A flats. Arrrgghh.
Also trying to work out a conflict between handbells and pet hospice. The one mandatory hospice meeting of the year happens to coincide with the Thursday night when we are supposed to be having a handbell rehearsal up in Cheyenne. Still not sure how we're going to work that one out... have not been able to get the pet hospice person to respond.
I can look forward to several extra trips down to Denver in the next few weeks for CLH's choir concerts. One of them was last night, and again on Dec 16. Got to learn some new piano accompaniment before then.
Just realized I haven't put anything on my word blog for over a week.... good thing nobody is clamoring to get their daily word! I know how popular that one is. :-)
We are doing lots of new Advent & Christmas music at church, most of which I have not sung before, and I am missing most of the Thursday night rehearsals due to various other activities. Extra Christmas Eve service between Sunday services, plus an extra choir rehearsal that week since Christmas Eve is on a Thursday!
The Christmas tree is up with most of the lights on, but almost no ornaments and we haven't gotten any further in the Christmas decorations (although the boxes are sitting in the living room).
In-laws coming to visit and stay with us later this month. I would love to not have to clean the entire house on the day before we have company, but that may end up being when it gets done.
In the meantime, I get to try to not fail my classes and also try not to go crazy. I have memories of being a kid and thinking of May as the worst and busiest month of the year.... but I think December will win for the current academic year.
We have 6 days of class remaining, mostly with no assignments (one quiz due earlier this week, another couple next week).
Finals are looming. They are Dec 14-18. Mostly cumulative/comprehensive. Need to study, but when do I have time??
Fortunately my grades are good enough in most of my classes (actually, all of my classes except toxicology) that if I don't get to study a whole lot for finals, I should still be just fine.
We have an extra cat in the house. She is a sweet, petite, stray little girl but is shaking up our routine. Several people interested in her but most of them are sketchy folks who saw her on Craigslist. Send responsible adopters my way!
I am trying to get registered for the next business class for the spring semester. The curriculum coordinator emailed us when we registered for classes and told us not to worry, we wouldn't be able to register for the undergrad business class just then because they needed to put in an override for us. She said she would email and let us know when we could register. She emailed a couple weeks later to say, "Just checking to see if you have been able to register yet?" None of us have. All the sections are full. Bleh.
Handbells is starting to consume my life. In the next 3 weeks, we have 5 concerts (2 in Cheyenne, 1 in Windsor, 1 in Fort Collins, 1 in Loveland) and 2 rehearsals (1 in Windsor, 1 in Cheyenne). Next Tuesday is our last pre-concert rehearsal. We need about another month of rehearsals! The director mistakenly thought we actually had 2 weeks left. He was running late this week so I led the first hour of our 90 minute rehearsal. I'm playing in 2 small ensembles that require extra rehearsal every week, and I'm accompanying on piano for a bell solo and a bell duet. Our first concert, Dec 11 in Cheyenne, is with several other musical groups including a winds ensemble and percussion ensemble. Our director composed a piece for us to play with them, and I saw the music for the first time two days ago. They didn't have an extra copy so I have nothing to look at before the next rehearsal ("dress rehearsal") unless I can borrow one from someone, and the piece is hard! I think I have the hardest part. I have to simultaneously thumb-damp G7 and A7 shelleyed in my right hand to simulate sleigh bells for most of the song, while playing G6 and A6 four-in-hand in my left hand as part of the melody. Occasional transitions to G flats and A flats. Arrrgghh.
Also trying to work out a conflict between handbells and pet hospice. The one mandatory hospice meeting of the year happens to coincide with the Thursday night when we are supposed to be having a handbell rehearsal up in Cheyenne. Still not sure how we're going to work that one out... have not been able to get the pet hospice person to respond.
I can look forward to several extra trips down to Denver in the next few weeks for CLH's choir concerts. One of them was last night, and again on Dec 16. Got to learn some new piano accompaniment before then.
Just realized I haven't put anything on my word blog for over a week.... good thing nobody is clamoring to get their daily word! I know how popular that one is. :-)
We are doing lots of new Advent & Christmas music at church, most of which I have not sung before, and I am missing most of the Thursday night rehearsals due to various other activities. Extra Christmas Eve service between Sunday services, plus an extra choir rehearsal that week since Christmas Eve is on a Thursday!
The Christmas tree is up with most of the lights on, but almost no ornaments and we haven't gotten any further in the Christmas decorations (although the boxes are sitting in the living room).
In-laws coming to visit and stay with us later this month. I would love to not have to clean the entire house on the day before we have company, but that may end up being when it gets done.
In the meantime, I get to try to not fail my classes and also try not to go crazy. I have memories of being a kid and thinking of May as the worst and busiest month of the year.... but I think December will win for the current academic year.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Post-Thanksgiving reality
Thanksgiving week was fun. I loved the time off. I packed some school things in my bag and brought them to Phoenix and never looked at them once.
But the sad truth is, the semester ain't over yet! A nine-day-long break is great, but we still have two weeks of classes with finals looming about 17 days away.
It sure is hard to get back into academic, study mode after having a week of family, friends, food, and fun. (I didn't go on Farmville once for 4.5 days, ha, aren't you pround of me?!)
I'm somewhat dreading the time, tomorrow or Sunday, when I will have to dig into my stack of notes and textbooks and get back down to business. I've got several quizzes due on 12/11, one due 12/1, an online exam between 11/30 and 12/2 (actually do need to study for that one). Ethics readings. Preventive Medicine discussion board to catch up on. Some serious renal pathology to review. Need to find my Clin Path notes from the beginning of the semester. I'm planning on 6 finals, two of which will be comprehensive (and a semester-long cumulative Pharmacology exam is a scary proposition). An Ethics final is still up in the air.
Mostly I just want to get the next 3 weeks over with, so I can settle into a month of relaxation and rejuvenation and get nice and eager to start learning and studying again in January!
But the sad truth is, the semester ain't over yet! A nine-day-long break is great, but we still have two weeks of classes with finals looming about 17 days away.
It sure is hard to get back into academic, study mode after having a week of family, friends, food, and fun. (I didn't go on Farmville once for 4.5 days, ha, aren't you pround of me?!)
I'm somewhat dreading the time, tomorrow or Sunday, when I will have to dig into my stack of notes and textbooks and get back down to business. I've got several quizzes due on 12/11, one due 12/1, an online exam between 11/30 and 12/2 (actually do need to study for that one). Ethics readings. Preventive Medicine discussion board to catch up on. Some serious renal pathology to review. Need to find my Clin Path notes from the beginning of the semester. I'm planning on 6 finals, two of which will be comprehensive (and a semester-long cumulative Pharmacology exam is a scary proposition). An Ethics final is still up in the air.
Mostly I just want to get the next 3 weeks over with, so I can settle into a month of relaxation and rejuvenation and get nice and eager to start learning and studying again in January!
Thanksgiving: Success
We are home safe and sound, and glad to be back in Colorado after a few fun-filled days in sunny Arizona.
We left the house at a reasonable morning hour on Monday and drove down to Denver, where we met the choir director from our church, who had offered to drive us to DIA.
The choir director was also taking two relatives to the airport at the same time to catch two other flights, and the earliest flight left quite a bit sooner than ours, so we arrived at DIA with 3+ hours to spare until boarding.
The flight to Phoenix was bumpy but uneventful (thank you, Frontier) - although I was mildly distracted and a bit unnerved by the passenger on my other side, who crossed himself about a dozen times during the 90 minute flight.
CLH's dad had "enjoyed" Monday morning by having a root canal, so he had the day off and was able to pick us up at Sky Harbor. We then drove to Tempe, to CLH's grandma's house where CLH's dad and brother are currently living and where we stayed for the week.
We got settled in, played some cards, had a nice steak dinner (the first of many enormous meals this week), and got out some board games.
Tuesday morning started with a jogging/walking session around the neighborhood for CLH and me, in preparation for the week's upcoming gluttony. Beautiful weather - it was probably in the 60s, and not a cloud in the sky.
We met my cousins B&C for brunch/lunch at 11:30 at a place called Crackers Cafe, which has evidently been around for awhile but has recently expanded and now has a location in Tempe. It was great to see them, and we spent quite awhile catching up on news from the last 12 months. (By the way, if you ever get to Crackers, I highly recommend the granolacakes with blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream. No dessert necessary.)
We spent Tuesday afternoon playing some games with CLH's family (parcheesi on the patio = excellent), reading our books, etc. I dropped CLH off at our old church at 5 pm so he could run through some of his organ pieces. His grandma, dad, brother, and I came back at 6 to hear him play the pieces.
Then we headed out for another gigantic meal: good Arizona Mexican food at Garcia's. After splitting a sampler plate with CLH (including a beef taco, cheese enchilada, beef chimichanga, and chicken burrito, plus rice and beans), I was ready to head home and maybe rest my eyes a bit, but I was then reminded that we were off to see a movie.
We drove over to Arizona Mills, the closest mall to the apartment complex where CLH and I lived for 2 years.
Somewhat to my chagrin, the decided-upon movie was "New Moon," the group vote having rejected "2012" and "Julie and Julia." I saw the first Twilight movie with CLH when it was in the theaters, and I can kindly say I would not give it a rave review. Whoever described it as "soft porn for teenage girls" was right on. Robert Pattinson does not appeal to me. (What's up with the hair, dude?) (And the totally sleazy mannerisms?) (And the creepy stare?)
So the movie was okay, but I wouldn't jump at the chance to watch it again.
--> Warning: Off-topic rant approaching. <--
There is this scene in the movie where Bella, the female lead, who is not a vampire, goes with her vampire boyfriend Edward back to his house where he lives with like 6 other vampires. They are all "good" vampires and they don't kill humans, but some of them have been "vegetarian" for longer than others. It's Bella's birthday and she is unwrapping a present when she gets a paper cut and her finger bleeds, like, a tiny little bit. This one vampire smells her blood and goes all crazy and tries to kill her, and then all the other vampires get wound up and have to leave too, except for the "dad" vampire who fixes her up.
So my thought is: Is Bella never going to menstruate? Seriously? In the whole two movies (and in all 4 of the books, according to CLH), there is never any mention of a feminine cycle or anything like that. Is Edward the vampire boyfriend thinking about these things? Will Bella not be visiting him or his family for 1 out of every 4 weeks? Or is that supposedly not an issue for the vampires, but they can go nuts over an itty bitty paper cut? Come on!
--> End of rant. <--
--> I'm sorry, I have one more Twilight-related thing to rant about after all. <--
The most hilarious scene in the movie, to me, was this part where Bella and Edward and one of the other "good" vampires are in Italy. There is this council of like boss/police/chief/leader vampires who are in charge of punishing vampires who break laws. There are three of these dudes, but one of them is clearly the head honcho. He has some special power where he can read other vampires' thoughts if he holds their hand. So he holds Edward's sister's hand, sees her thoughts. He holds Edward's hand, sees his thoughts. Then he gets all curious and wonders if he would be able to read Bella's thoughts, since she is human and not a vampire. So he takes her hand, and then says something dramatic like, "Alas, I see nothing!"
All I was thinking was, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean your powers don't work on her! May not be much of anything going on in that pretty little head....
--> Here ends the Twilight rant. For real. <--
So that was Tuesday night. CLH's dad, usually an early-to-bed, early-riser kind of guy like my dad (but more extreme!), kindly came to pick us up from the theater at 10:30.
On Wednesday morning, CLH got up and jogged for awhile (good for him!) but I was lazy and stayed in. Turns out that jogging on a sidewalk hurts your joints and muscles a lot more than jogging on a treadmill. Go figure.
Danishes and fresh citrus for breakfast, then reading, playing cards, playing board games, playing Beatles Rock Band (with wooden kitchen spoons as drumsticks, awesome!), and listening to piano lessons for the rest of the morning and afternoon. We also got out some piano/piano and piano/organ duet books and played Christmas duets on CLH's grandma's two pianos for awhile.
CLH's grandma made lasagna in the crock pot (who knew you could do such a thing?) for an early dinner. CLH and I then drove back over to our old church, which was hosting Tempe's annual interfaith Thanksgiving Eve service this year. A bunch of different religious groups participate - Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Methodist churches, the local Jewish synagogue, the Mormon temple, the Salvation Army, and an intercultural/interfaith dialogue group that usually has some Muslim representatives. A different congregation hosts the service every year, on a rotating basis.
We arrived at 5:45 for choir warmup and rehearsal. They have a community choir composed of choir members from all the different churches. They usually just sing one fairly straightforward anthem during the services, and help lead hymns, etc.
Since our old church was hosting it, we got to see lots of our old friends from that congregation. The service went from 7 till about 8:15, then we stayed out on the patio for almost an hour after that catching up with people we hadn't gotten to see for 12-18 months. It was really a great time.
On Thursday, we woke up and opted to prepare our bellies for massive intake ("Get me mah stretchy pants!") by jogging/walking again. This time, CLH's dad's dog Dusty got to come along for part of the workout. He wasn't too great for walking (weaving all over the place) but was a good jogging buddy since he had to try to keep up (on little short cocker spaniel legs). We dropped him off at the house after a block or so, but I think he had a good time.
Later in the morning, CLH's 9- and 11-year-old cousins came over for a visit. Their parents are recently divorced and they were going to spend Thanksgiving with their mom instead of with CLH's uncle, so that was our only chance to see them. They've grown up quite a bit since I last saw them, and it was neat to see that they seemed to be getting along a lot better with each other.
At 11:30 we headed over to my cousins B&C's house for our first of two Thanksgiving dinners. We were joined by about 20 extended family members, plus a couple close friends from church. All the "little" kids are now between 6 and 11 years old and have also grown up a lot. I had a great time catching up with family. And, of course, we managed to eat probably more food than we intended - including ham, mashed potatoes, fresh fruit, giant green olives, and of course pumpkin pie and chocolate fudge for dessert.
By 3 pm we were back at CLH's grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner with that side of the family. We were joined by one of CLH's uncles and his family, plus some other family friends. CLH's mom stayed out on the east coast, and it was weird to have a big family gathering without her. Our second dinner included turkey, mashed potatoes, two kinds of sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, and your choice of mince and/or pumpkin and/or chocolate pie for dessert. (I only had chocolate pie. But I did have two pieces.)
The gathering wound down around 6 pm. CLH's dad, grandma, and I chatted in the living room for awhile while CLH practiced "Bye Bye Birdie" on the piano. Then we opted for leftover turkey sandwiches and a late game of parcheesi before bed. (Make no mistake, CLH's family may seem mild and kind, but they play a vicious game of parcheesi. Show no mercy.)
We were up at 7:30 this morning to get packed, have a quick breakfast, make a couple more sandwiches, and hitch a ride with CLH's dad back over to Sky Harbor. Upon arrival, we found that our flight had been rescheduled to leave 15 minutes earlier than we expected, so we made a timely arrival in Denver around 12:30 pm.
Our choir director picked us up again, brought us back to our car parked at her house, and we stopped by our church so CLH could spend a little time running through Sunday's hymns and service music on the organ. I used that time to stop by Target and gas up the car. Then it was back up I-25 to wonderful Windsor.
It really feels good to be home, although I am very glad we decided to take the quick trip to Arizona. Four days was just about the right amount of time and I think we were able to do everything and see almost everybody that we wanted to see. Now: just need to get back into academic mode for 3 weeks, then some serious Christmas time!
We left the house at a reasonable morning hour on Monday and drove down to Denver, where we met the choir director from our church, who had offered to drive us to DIA.
The choir director was also taking two relatives to the airport at the same time to catch two other flights, and the earliest flight left quite a bit sooner than ours, so we arrived at DIA with 3+ hours to spare until boarding.
The flight to Phoenix was bumpy but uneventful (thank you, Frontier) - although I was mildly distracted and a bit unnerved by the passenger on my other side, who crossed himself about a dozen times during the 90 minute flight.
CLH's dad had "enjoyed" Monday morning by having a root canal, so he had the day off and was able to pick us up at Sky Harbor. We then drove to Tempe, to CLH's grandma's house where CLH's dad and brother are currently living and where we stayed for the week.
We got settled in, played some cards, had a nice steak dinner (the first of many enormous meals this week), and got out some board games.
Tuesday morning started with a jogging/walking session around the neighborhood for CLH and me, in preparation for the week's upcoming gluttony. Beautiful weather - it was probably in the 60s, and not a cloud in the sky.
We met my cousins B&C for brunch/lunch at 11:30 at a place called Crackers Cafe, which has evidently been around for awhile but has recently expanded and now has a location in Tempe. It was great to see them, and we spent quite awhile catching up on news from the last 12 months. (By the way, if you ever get to Crackers, I highly recommend the granolacakes with blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream. No dessert necessary.)
We spent Tuesday afternoon playing some games with CLH's family (parcheesi on the patio = excellent), reading our books, etc. I dropped CLH off at our old church at 5 pm so he could run through some of his organ pieces. His grandma, dad, brother, and I came back at 6 to hear him play the pieces.
Then we headed out for another gigantic meal: good Arizona Mexican food at Garcia's. After splitting a sampler plate with CLH (including a beef taco, cheese enchilada, beef chimichanga, and chicken burrito, plus rice and beans), I was ready to head home and maybe rest my eyes a bit, but I was then reminded that we were off to see a movie.
We drove over to Arizona Mills, the closest mall to the apartment complex where CLH and I lived for 2 years.
Somewhat to my chagrin, the decided-upon movie was "New Moon," the group vote having rejected "2012" and "Julie and Julia." I saw the first Twilight movie with CLH when it was in the theaters, and I can kindly say I would not give it a rave review. Whoever described it as "soft porn for teenage girls" was right on. Robert Pattinson does not appeal to me. (What's up with the hair, dude?) (And the totally sleazy mannerisms?) (And the creepy stare?)
So the movie was okay, but I wouldn't jump at the chance to watch it again.
--> Warning: Off-topic rant approaching. <--
There is this scene in the movie where Bella, the female lead, who is not a vampire, goes with her vampire boyfriend Edward back to his house where he lives with like 6 other vampires. They are all "good" vampires and they don't kill humans, but some of them have been "vegetarian" for longer than others. It's Bella's birthday and she is unwrapping a present when she gets a paper cut and her finger bleeds, like, a tiny little bit. This one vampire smells her blood and goes all crazy and tries to kill her, and then all the other vampires get wound up and have to leave too, except for the "dad" vampire who fixes her up.
So my thought is: Is Bella never going to menstruate? Seriously? In the whole two movies (and in all 4 of the books, according to CLH), there is never any mention of a feminine cycle or anything like that. Is Edward the vampire boyfriend thinking about these things? Will Bella not be visiting him or his family for 1 out of every 4 weeks? Or is that supposedly not an issue for the vampires, but they can go nuts over an itty bitty paper cut? Come on!
--> End of rant. <--
--> I'm sorry, I have one more Twilight-related thing to rant about after all. <--
The most hilarious scene in the movie, to me, was this part where Bella and Edward and one of the other "good" vampires are in Italy. There is this council of like boss/police/chief/leader vampires who are in charge of punishing vampires who break laws. There are three of these dudes, but one of them is clearly the head honcho. He has some special power where he can read other vampires' thoughts if he holds their hand. So he holds Edward's sister's hand, sees her thoughts. He holds Edward's hand, sees his thoughts. Then he gets all curious and wonders if he would be able to read Bella's thoughts, since she is human and not a vampire. So he takes her hand, and then says something dramatic like, "Alas, I see nothing!"
All I was thinking was, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean your powers don't work on her! May not be much of anything going on in that pretty little head....
--> Here ends the Twilight rant. For real. <--
So that was Tuesday night. CLH's dad, usually an early-to-bed, early-riser kind of guy like my dad (but more extreme!), kindly came to pick us up from the theater at 10:30.
On Wednesday morning, CLH got up and jogged for awhile (good for him!) but I was lazy and stayed in. Turns out that jogging on a sidewalk hurts your joints and muscles a lot more than jogging on a treadmill. Go figure.
Danishes and fresh citrus for breakfast, then reading, playing cards, playing board games, playing Beatles Rock Band (with wooden kitchen spoons as drumsticks, awesome!), and listening to piano lessons for the rest of the morning and afternoon. We also got out some piano/piano and piano/organ duet books and played Christmas duets on CLH's grandma's two pianos for awhile.
CLH's grandma made lasagna in the crock pot (who knew you could do such a thing?) for an early dinner. CLH and I then drove back over to our old church, which was hosting Tempe's annual interfaith Thanksgiving Eve service this year. A bunch of different religious groups participate - Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Methodist churches, the local Jewish synagogue, the Mormon temple, the Salvation Army, and an intercultural/interfaith dialogue group that usually has some Muslim representatives. A different congregation hosts the service every year, on a rotating basis.
We arrived at 5:45 for choir warmup and rehearsal. They have a community choir composed of choir members from all the different churches. They usually just sing one fairly straightforward anthem during the services, and help lead hymns, etc.
Since our old church was hosting it, we got to see lots of our old friends from that congregation. The service went from 7 till about 8:15, then we stayed out on the patio for almost an hour after that catching up with people we hadn't gotten to see for 12-18 months. It was really a great time.
On Thursday, we woke up and opted to prepare our bellies for massive intake ("Get me mah stretchy pants!") by jogging/walking again. This time, CLH's dad's dog Dusty got to come along for part of the workout. He wasn't too great for walking (weaving all over the place) but was a good jogging buddy since he had to try to keep up (on little short cocker spaniel legs). We dropped him off at the house after a block or so, but I think he had a good time.
Later in the morning, CLH's 9- and 11-year-old cousins came over for a visit. Their parents are recently divorced and they were going to spend Thanksgiving with their mom instead of with CLH's uncle, so that was our only chance to see them. They've grown up quite a bit since I last saw them, and it was neat to see that they seemed to be getting along a lot better with each other.
At 11:30 we headed over to my cousins B&C's house for our first of two Thanksgiving dinners. We were joined by about 20 extended family members, plus a couple close friends from church. All the "little" kids are now between 6 and 11 years old and have also grown up a lot. I had a great time catching up with family. And, of course, we managed to eat probably more food than we intended - including ham, mashed potatoes, fresh fruit, giant green olives, and of course pumpkin pie and chocolate fudge for dessert.
By 3 pm we were back at CLH's grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner with that side of the family. We were joined by one of CLH's uncles and his family, plus some other family friends. CLH's mom stayed out on the east coast, and it was weird to have a big family gathering without her. Our second dinner included turkey, mashed potatoes, two kinds of sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, and your choice of mince and/or pumpkin and/or chocolate pie for dessert. (I only had chocolate pie. But I did have two pieces.)
The gathering wound down around 6 pm. CLH's dad, grandma, and I chatted in the living room for awhile while CLH practiced "Bye Bye Birdie" on the piano. Then we opted for leftover turkey sandwiches and a late game of parcheesi before bed. (Make no mistake, CLH's family may seem mild and kind, but they play a vicious game of parcheesi. Show no mercy.)
We were up at 7:30 this morning to get packed, have a quick breakfast, make a couple more sandwiches, and hitch a ride with CLH's dad back over to Sky Harbor. Upon arrival, we found that our flight had been rescheduled to leave 15 minutes earlier than we expected, so we made a timely arrival in Denver around 12:30 pm.
Our choir director picked us up again, brought us back to our car parked at her house, and we stopped by our church so CLH could spend a little time running through Sunday's hymns and service music on the organ. I used that time to stop by Target and gas up the car. Then it was back up I-25 to wonderful Windsor.
It really feels good to be home, although I am very glad we decided to take the quick trip to Arizona. Four days was just about the right amount of time and I think we were able to do everything and see almost everybody that we wanted to see. Now: just need to get back into academic mode for 3 weeks, then some serious Christmas time!
Friday, November 20, 2009
It's break, baby!
The first thing I need to say is: It's about time!
Over the last 7-10 days I have been stressed, hormonal, weepy, irritable, and probably generally unpleasant to be around at several times. CLH deserves a lot of credit for patience.
But finally, this semester's hard work has paid off: Thanksgiving break!
I really cannot understand why, unlike many universities, my school has no form of a fall break. We get Labor Day off, then nothing till Thanksgiving. How about Columbus Day? Veteran's Day? A 4-day weekend in October?
Nope, just 13 basically uninterrupted weeks of non-stop classes, homework, studying, quizzes, and exams.
So I feel justified in saying that this break has been well-earned.
Luckily, both of this afternoon's lectures were cancelled, resulting in my academic responsibilities today being limited to 70 minutes of BoD lab this morning. Hooray for professors having some common sense about when to have (or not to have) class.
I'm currently at home, with a full belly of Spiderman macaroni and cheese, listening to NPR (Science Friday!), watching the cats wrestle, playing FarmVille and Bejeweled, with a stack of new library books waiting for me.
I greatly look forward to having minimal academic tasks to complete over the next 10 days.
(I do need to remember to finish the vet school scholarship application. Forgetting that would be bad.)
CLH and I will have the weekend to ourselves, then we'll fly to Arizona on Monday afternoon, and fly back to CO on Friday. The cats have a babysitter, and we have plans to see all sorts of Southwestern family members and old friends during those 5 days.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may you have a peaceful, relaxing week too!
Over the last 7-10 days I have been stressed, hormonal, weepy, irritable, and probably generally unpleasant to be around at several times. CLH deserves a lot of credit for patience.
But finally, this semester's hard work has paid off: Thanksgiving break!
I really cannot understand why, unlike many universities, my school has no form of a fall break. We get Labor Day off, then nothing till Thanksgiving. How about Columbus Day? Veteran's Day? A 4-day weekend in October?
Nope, just 13 basically uninterrupted weeks of non-stop classes, homework, studying, quizzes, and exams.
So I feel justified in saying that this break has been well-earned.
Luckily, both of this afternoon's lectures were cancelled, resulting in my academic responsibilities today being limited to 70 minutes of BoD lab this morning. Hooray for professors having some common sense about when to have (or not to have) class.
I'm currently at home, with a full belly of Spiderman macaroni and cheese, listening to NPR (Science Friday!), watching the cats wrestle, playing FarmVille and Bejeweled, with a stack of new library books waiting for me.
I greatly look forward to having minimal academic tasks to complete over the next 10 days.
(I do need to remember to finish the vet school scholarship application. Forgetting that would be bad.)
CLH and I will have the weekend to ourselves, then we'll fly to Arizona on Monday afternoon, and fly back to CO on Friday. The cats have a babysitter, and we have plans to see all sorts of Southwestern family members and old friends during those 5 days.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may you have a peaceful, relaxing week too!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday for a vet student
In the style of one of my recent posts, I present to you the oh-so-exciting story of my yesterday:
6:05 am: First alarm goes off. Ignore.
6:15 am: Second alarm goes off. Attempt to ignore.
6:20 am: Second alarm still going off. Drag myself out of bed. Feed cats, check Farmville, put in contacts, brush teeth, put on running clothes.
6:35 am: Walk/run on treadmill. I'm up to 25 straight minutes of jogging, with a 8-10 minute walking warmup and 10-40 minutes of walking afterward.
7:20 am: Stretch; shower.
7:40 am: Get dressed; make bed.
7:50 am: Breakfast (peanut butter toast + OJ + vitamin). Check email.
8:00 am: Make lunch (Caesar salad + a carrot + an apple + string cheese + yogurt + peanut butter cup).
8:10 am: Leave for school.
8:15 am: Stop by post office and learn that they don't open till 8:30. Bummer.
8:45 am: Arrive at school. Pick up a newspaper. Get my usual seat in class.
9:00 am: 50-minute Preventive Medicine lecture given by one of the exotics clinicians at the VTH. Topic: disease prevention in birds and reptiles. Funny/amusing professor, mildly interesting subject matter.
10:00 am: 50-minute Clinical Pathology lecture. Topic: acid-base analysis on biochemistry and blood gas panels. Not so difficult once you wrap your head around it.
11:00 am: 50-minute Clinical Pathology lecture. Topic: more acid-base analysis. Finish the lecture material and start going through actual cases, which are always more difficult to figure out than the textbook-type stuff. Lecture runs a bit late because the professor was nice and let us have the last hour of class off last Friday afternoon.
11:55 am: Grab lunch and hurry over to the Clark building for Management.
12:00 pm: Management is scheduled to begin. I start in on my lunch.
12:05 pm: Management professor actually enters the classroom.
12:20 pm: We start actually discussing management-related material in Management.
12:30 pm: The lecture degenerates into a discussion of how to build a house.
12:50 pm: Still talking about how to build a house (and guessing that the contractors who worked on the professor's house really hated him). He is still talking despite class being over, so we vet students leave.
1:00 pm: Pharmacology exam! Topics include pain pathways, NSAIDs, opioids, phenothiazines, alpha-2 agonists and antagonists, benzodiazepines, anticonvulsants, barbiturates, injectable/inhalant/local anesthetics, and antiparasitics. Exam is not too tough and the amount of studying I did seems adequate.
1:25 pm: Stop by the computer lab for a little email and Farmville.
2:00 pm: 50-minute toxicology lecture. Topic: heavy metal toxicity. Professor is decent but keeps mixing up calcium and copper when he's talking (very distracting). Put my head down for a quick nap when he says, "Oh, there's 10 minutes left, lemme try and rush through sulfur." I have no regrets about missing sulfur.
2:50 pm: Back to the computer lab. Check Farmville, check email. Apply for a scholarship which I'm unlikely to get since it's mostly aimed at food-animal people. But I'm not above spending an hour to do a 2-page application with the possibility of $2500.
4:00 pm: Head over to the lunch room to review some Clinical Pathology. Finish studying the kidney and start in on the liver. Thankful that the professor provided review questions to answer as I go through the notes.
4:35 pm: Walk to my car and head over to the VTH.
4:45 pm: Stop at King Soopers for some M&Ms (for baking purposes!).
4:55 pm: Arrive at VTH for radiology rounds (technically Diagnostic Imaging club rounds).
5:05 pm: Rad rounds start. One of my classmates presents two thoracic radiograph cases (both cases of canine influenza). A freshman presents two barium contrast study cases (a foreign body and an awesome case of persistent right aortic arch with resulting megaesophagus).
6:00 pm: Leave VTH and head home.
6:30 pm: Home! Time for dinner!
6:45 pm: Dinner = leftovers and quesadillas for me, some weird pasta thing involving seafood for CLH.
7:00 pm: Make some Chocolate Pretzel Candies. Easy and tasty. Nom nom nom!
7:20 pm: Play a couple games of Sorry with CLH; win one, lose one.
7:50 pm: Make more Chocolate Pretzel Candies!
8:15 pm: Watch an episode of the "Dead Zone" on DVD with CLH.
9:00 pm: Facebook/Farmville/email. Contemplate studying; decide against it.
9:45 pm: Head upstairs to get ready for bed. Realize I planted raspberries by accident on Farmville so I can't get in bed yet. Brush teeth, brush hair, take out contacts, feed cats, water cats, scoop litterbox, put on pajamas. Consider how lazy to be on Tuesday (no class till 11) and decide to get up around 7:15 am to run.
10:05 pm: Harvest raspberries on Farmville. Get in bed and read.
10:35 pm: Lights out!
6:05 am: First alarm goes off. Ignore.
6:15 am: Second alarm goes off. Attempt to ignore.
6:20 am: Second alarm still going off. Drag myself out of bed. Feed cats, check Farmville, put in contacts, brush teeth, put on running clothes.
6:35 am: Walk/run on treadmill. I'm up to 25 straight minutes of jogging, with a 8-10 minute walking warmup and 10-40 minutes of walking afterward.
7:20 am: Stretch; shower.
7:40 am: Get dressed; make bed.
7:50 am: Breakfast (peanut butter toast + OJ + vitamin). Check email.
8:00 am: Make lunch (Caesar salad + a carrot + an apple + string cheese + yogurt + peanut butter cup).
8:10 am: Leave for school.
8:15 am: Stop by post office and learn that they don't open till 8:30. Bummer.
8:45 am: Arrive at school. Pick up a newspaper. Get my usual seat in class.
9:00 am: 50-minute Preventive Medicine lecture given by one of the exotics clinicians at the VTH. Topic: disease prevention in birds and reptiles. Funny/amusing professor, mildly interesting subject matter.
10:00 am: 50-minute Clinical Pathology lecture. Topic: acid-base analysis on biochemistry and blood gas panels. Not so difficult once you wrap your head around it.
11:00 am: 50-minute Clinical Pathology lecture. Topic: more acid-base analysis. Finish the lecture material and start going through actual cases, which are always more difficult to figure out than the textbook-type stuff. Lecture runs a bit late because the professor was nice and let us have the last hour of class off last Friday afternoon.
11:55 am: Grab lunch and hurry over to the Clark building for Management.
12:00 pm: Management is scheduled to begin. I start in on my lunch.
12:05 pm: Management professor actually enters the classroom.
12:20 pm: We start actually discussing management-related material in Management.
12:30 pm: The lecture degenerates into a discussion of how to build a house.
12:50 pm: Still talking about how to build a house (and guessing that the contractors who worked on the professor's house really hated him). He is still talking despite class being over, so we vet students leave.
1:00 pm: Pharmacology exam! Topics include pain pathways, NSAIDs, opioids, phenothiazines, alpha-2 agonists and antagonists, benzodiazepines, anticonvulsants, barbiturates, injectable/inhalant/local anesthetics, and antiparasitics. Exam is not too tough and the amount of studying I did seems adequate.
1:25 pm: Stop by the computer lab for a little email and Farmville.
2:00 pm: 50-minute toxicology lecture. Topic: heavy metal toxicity. Professor is decent but keeps mixing up calcium and copper when he's talking (very distracting). Put my head down for a quick nap when he says, "Oh, there's 10 minutes left, lemme try and rush through sulfur." I have no regrets about missing sulfur.
2:50 pm: Back to the computer lab. Check Farmville, check email. Apply for a scholarship which I'm unlikely to get since it's mostly aimed at food-animal people. But I'm not above spending an hour to do a 2-page application with the possibility of $2500.
4:00 pm: Head over to the lunch room to review some Clinical Pathology. Finish studying the kidney and start in on the liver. Thankful that the professor provided review questions to answer as I go through the notes.
4:35 pm: Walk to my car and head over to the VTH.
4:45 pm: Stop at King Soopers for some M&Ms (for baking purposes!).
4:55 pm: Arrive at VTH for radiology rounds (technically Diagnostic Imaging club rounds).
5:05 pm: Rad rounds start. One of my classmates presents two thoracic radiograph cases (both cases of canine influenza). A freshman presents two barium contrast study cases (a foreign body and an awesome case of persistent right aortic arch with resulting megaesophagus).
6:00 pm: Leave VTH and head home.
6:30 pm: Home! Time for dinner!
6:45 pm: Dinner = leftovers and quesadillas for me, some weird pasta thing involving seafood for CLH.
7:00 pm: Make some Chocolate Pretzel Candies. Easy and tasty. Nom nom nom!
7:20 pm: Play a couple games of Sorry with CLH; win one, lose one.
7:50 pm: Make more Chocolate Pretzel Candies!
8:15 pm: Watch an episode of the "Dead Zone" on DVD with CLH.
9:00 pm: Facebook/Farmville/email. Contemplate studying; decide against it.
9:45 pm: Head upstairs to get ready for bed. Realize I planted raspberries by accident on Farmville so I can't get in bed yet. Brush teeth, brush hair, take out contacts, feed cats, water cats, scoop litterbox, put on pajamas. Consider how lazy to be on Tuesday (no class till 11) and decide to get up around 7:15 am to run.
10:05 pm: Harvest raspberries on Farmville. Get in bed and read.
10:35 pm: Lights out!
You might be a vet student if....
...you're driving home from class, and upon seeing a little foo-foo dog running along the sidewalk in front of its owner, your first thought is, "Ooooh, what a cute doggie!" followed immediately by, "Oooooohhh, luxating patellas, ouch!"
Friday, November 6, 2009
Humans are icky
This afternoon in Biology of Disease (pathology), we were talking about diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - mostly the stomach and intestines. The lecture was accompanied by a Power Point showing us photos of histological and gross specimens.
We looked at intestinal cancers, ruptured stomachs, congested and hemorrhagic intestines, GDV, etc. etc. etc.
Then the instructor showed a photo of a colon polyp.
When the class read the caption on the slide that said "human colon polyp," there was a collective gasp of disgust followed by many variations of "Ewwwwww!"
Yep, we have no problem looking at any kind of broken, bloody, degenerated, rotting, cancerous, disgusting animal specimen, whether or not we're trying to eat our lunch, but show us something from a human and we are immediately grossed out. Go figure.
We looked at intestinal cancers, ruptured stomachs, congested and hemorrhagic intestines, GDV, etc. etc. etc.
Then the instructor showed a photo of a colon polyp.
When the class read the caption on the slide that said "human colon polyp," there was a collective gasp of disgust followed by many variations of "Ewwwwww!"
Yep, we have no problem looking at any kind of broken, bloody, degenerated, rotting, cancerous, disgusting animal specimen, whether or not we're trying to eat our lunch, but show us something from a human and we are immediately grossed out. Go figure.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Delivering pizza = rocket science?
Today we had a free lunch, hosted by AVMA.
Our last morning class ended at 11:50 am. The intent was to have the meal (pizza) delivered at 11:50 so that the freshmen and sophomores in attendance could get their food and be seated by noon, when the lunch lecture would start. This is how things usually work with free lunches.
By 11:50 am, a long line of hungry students was growing outside the lecture hall.
By 12:15 pm, there was still no food in sight. We were ushered in, asked to take our seats, and assured that lunch was on its way.
At 12:20 pm, the pizza arrived! Actually, I should say that half the pizza arrived. As the speaker continued to talk, all students' focus shifted onto the task of frantically reaching for a slice of pizza from one of the several boxes that were being passed around the room.
At 12:45 pm, the other half of the pizza arrived.
At 12:50 pm, the lecture ended and we all headed back to class.
Now, really, is it too much to ask to have a bunch of pizza delivered to feed a multitude of people, on time? I know that it can be done, because it has been done at least a dozen times since I've been in vet school.
Someone said the trick is to tell them to bring the pizza by 11:30 am, NO LATER, and then you can be certain it will be there by 12. I guess the organizers of this particular luncheon will live and learn...
Our last morning class ended at 11:50 am. The intent was to have the meal (pizza) delivered at 11:50 so that the freshmen and sophomores in attendance could get their food and be seated by noon, when the lunch lecture would start. This is how things usually work with free lunches.
By 11:50 am, a long line of hungry students was growing outside the lecture hall.
By 12:15 pm, there was still no food in sight. We were ushered in, asked to take our seats, and assured that lunch was on its way.
At 12:20 pm, the pizza arrived! Actually, I should say that half the pizza arrived. As the speaker continued to talk, all students' focus shifted onto the task of frantically reaching for a slice of pizza from one of the several boxes that were being passed around the room.
At 12:45 pm, the other half of the pizza arrived.
At 12:50 pm, the lecture ended and we all headed back to class.
Now, really, is it too much to ask to have a bunch of pizza delivered to feed a multitude of people, on time? I know that it can be done, because it has been done at least a dozen times since I've been in vet school.
Someone said the trick is to tell them to bring the pizza by 11:30 am, NO LATER, and then you can be certain it will be there by 12. I guess the organizers of this particular luncheon will live and learn...
Weather, make up your mind
Last week, we had a blizzard.
Today, the high temperatures were in the mid-70s.
Tomorrow, who knows???
(Honestly, I'm not complaining about either the blizzard or the bizarre beautiful day we had today. I just wish sometimes that the weather would make a slightly greater attempt to be consistent and predictable.)
Today, the high temperatures were in the mid-70s.
Tomorrow, who knows???
(Honestly, I'm not complaining about either the blizzard or the bizarre beautiful day we had today. I just wish sometimes that the weather would make a slightly greater attempt to be consistent and predictable.)
Breaking news: School newspaper ruins vet student's morning
As is my custom, I arrived at school a few minutes early this morning, grabbed a copy of the school newspaper, and sat down to skim the articles before getting a head-start on the Sudoku and crossword prior to the beginning of class.
Imagine my dismay when, while minding my own business, I stumbled across the following quotation, printed in large type below a front-page headline:
"This is reactive. It's not a proactive measure; it's affects are limited."
It pained me greatly just to type that sentence for you.
How have I wronged the universe, that I should have to endure two of my most hated grammatical pet peeves in a single sentence -- nay, merely one clause of a single sentence?
Do we not have editors for this sort of thing?
Are we not college students ourselves?
Are we really going to be the future of our country?
(stepping off my soapbox)
Admittedly, today's grammatical errors were indeed a minor offense compared to Tuesday's misreporting, which necessitated a front-page correction. You see, on Tuesday the newspaper ran a story about a Colorado high school counselor accused of sexual assault and child molestation. On Wednesday, the paper rather sheepishly included an apology and a correction indicating that on Tuesday they had included the wrong man's picture, with a caption naming him as the molester. Whoops!
Imagine my dismay when, while minding my own business, I stumbled across the following quotation, printed in large type below a front-page headline:
"This is reactive. It's not a proactive measure; it's affects are limited."
It pained me greatly just to type that sentence for you.
How have I wronged the universe, that I should have to endure two of my most hated grammatical pet peeves in a single sentence -- nay, merely one clause of a single sentence?
Do we not have editors for this sort of thing?
Are we not college students ourselves?
Are we really going to be the future of our country?
(stepping off my soapbox)
Admittedly, today's grammatical errors were indeed a minor offense compared to Tuesday's misreporting, which necessitated a front-page correction. You see, on Tuesday the newspaper ran a story about a Colorado high school counselor accused of sexual assault and child molestation. On Wednesday, the paper rather sheepishly included an apology and a correction indicating that on Tuesday they had included the wrong man's picture, with a caption naming him as the molester. Whoops!
Monday, November 2, 2009
In other news
PVM 2012 had a bake sale today - it looked to be pretty successful, judging by the amount of food they started with and how much they had remaining after an hour. I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Bars and also brought in the leftover chocolate covered cookie dough.
We got out early of most of our classes today. Score! We had two hours of Clin Path back to back this morning, but the prof thought we only had 1 hour, so she rushed through all the material then suddenly realized she had a whole 'nother hour to fill.
It was CLH's b-day yesterday. I think he had a good birthday - I know I had fun. I made an ice cream cake and we did a treasure hunt around the house to find all of his 22 presents (15 of which were ties). Then we played the hilarious game of matching new ties to his existing dress shirts. Fun times.
Simon gets to go in next Wednesday to donate blood again. And the hair on his neck has finally just grown back in all the way! He is due for his rabies shot on 11/24 and I'm debating when to make his appt for that - don't want to bring him in too close to the blood donation and put more stress on his system.
Three weeks of class until Thanksgiving break! SO looking forward to that. Flying down to AZ, which should be a good time.
Our new mortgage company (since Taylor Bean went under) wants to raise our mortgage payment again, so that we will be putting more $$ in escrow. Bummer, since we just raised it in August after we'd been paying it for a year and knew more accurately what our expenses would be.
My new favorite, and addicting, game is Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. (Yes, I still love FarmVille.) Whoever came up with the idea of 60-second games is a genius.
My wrist is still sore. Can't quite tell if it's better from the 6 days of wearing a splint 24/7, or if it's just sore in different ways. I have an appt with the hand doctor at student health for Nov 11, so I'll have to see how things go and maybe cancel that appt if all is well.
We didn't get all that many trick-or-treaters this weekend. Last year we had maybe 50 pieces of candy that were gone in 20 minutes. So, we have a bunch of leftover Reese's PB cups, orange colored Kit Kats, Take 5 bars, and mini Hershey's bars. Gee, bummer!
I went to Target this afternoon and managed to leave without buying more than a single bag of on-sale Halloween candy (which I plan to use for baking). Good for me!
All of our snow from last week's blizzard has melted, leaving the ground muddy and gross and covered with rotting leaves. Lovely. At least it's slightly warmer now (40s today, up in the 50s for a few more days this week), and we don't have to watch the snow stick around and turn grey and yucky from all the dirt.
This blog is awesome. Although, the writer clearly tends to put some thought into her posts, as opposed to this blog.
Not sure I'm a fan of daylight savings time (or regular time, or whichever time we're on right now - I never can figure that out). It's nice that it's lighter in the morning, but frankly I don't care about that all that much. I'm never out of the house before 8 anyway (except on Sundays). I am bummed, though, that it's now dark at 5:15 pm. Would rather have that extra hour of sunshine in the evening rather than the morning!
CLH starts musical practice at his school next week. They are doing "Bye Bye Birdie." Should be awesome, as all high school musicals are!
Sort of having an urge to put up the Christmas tree and decorations, but making myself wait until after Thanksgiving (at which point the cats will only have a month or so of opportunities to destroy the tree and get GI foreign bodies).
That's probably enough random thoughts for one dreary Monday...
We got out early of most of our classes today. Score! We had two hours of Clin Path back to back this morning, but the prof thought we only had 1 hour, so she rushed through all the material then suddenly realized she had a whole 'nother hour to fill.
It was CLH's b-day yesterday. I think he had a good birthday - I know I had fun. I made an ice cream cake and we did a treasure hunt around the house to find all of his 22 presents (15 of which were ties). Then we played the hilarious game of matching new ties to his existing dress shirts. Fun times.
Simon gets to go in next Wednesday to donate blood again. And the hair on his neck has finally just grown back in all the way! He is due for his rabies shot on 11/24 and I'm debating when to make his appt for that - don't want to bring him in too close to the blood donation and put more stress on his system.
Three weeks of class until Thanksgiving break! SO looking forward to that. Flying down to AZ, which should be a good time.
Our new mortgage company (since Taylor Bean went under) wants to raise our mortgage payment again, so that we will be putting more $$ in escrow. Bummer, since we just raised it in August after we'd been paying it for a year and knew more accurately what our expenses would be.
My new favorite, and addicting, game is Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. (Yes, I still love FarmVille.) Whoever came up with the idea of 60-second games is a genius.
My wrist is still sore. Can't quite tell if it's better from the 6 days of wearing a splint 24/7, or if it's just sore in different ways. I have an appt with the hand doctor at student health for Nov 11, so I'll have to see how things go and maybe cancel that appt if all is well.
We didn't get all that many trick-or-treaters this weekend. Last year we had maybe 50 pieces of candy that were gone in 20 minutes. So, we have a bunch of leftover Reese's PB cups, orange colored Kit Kats, Take 5 bars, and mini Hershey's bars. Gee, bummer!
I went to Target this afternoon and managed to leave without buying more than a single bag of on-sale Halloween candy (which I plan to use for baking). Good for me!
All of our snow from last week's blizzard has melted, leaving the ground muddy and gross and covered with rotting leaves. Lovely. At least it's slightly warmer now (40s today, up in the 50s for a few more days this week), and we don't have to watch the snow stick around and turn grey and yucky from all the dirt.
This blog is awesome. Although, the writer clearly tends to put some thought into her posts, as opposed to this blog.
Not sure I'm a fan of daylight savings time (or regular time, or whichever time we're on right now - I never can figure that out). It's nice that it's lighter in the morning, but frankly I don't care about that all that much. I'm never out of the house before 8 anyway (except on Sundays). I am bummed, though, that it's now dark at 5:15 pm. Would rather have that extra hour of sunshine in the evening rather than the morning!
CLH starts musical practice at his school next week. They are doing "Bye Bye Birdie." Should be awesome, as all high school musicals are!
Sort of having an urge to put up the Christmas tree and decorations, but making myself wait until after Thanksgiving (at which point the cats will only have a month or so of opportunities to destroy the tree and get GI foreign bodies).
That's probably enough random thoughts for one dreary Monday...
Let's get serious
(Okay, bad blog title. Now I have "Let's Get Physical" stuck in my head. 'Let's get serious, ser-i-ous, I wanna get serious, let's get into serious...')
Terrible Exams, Round 2 (Round 3?) starts a week from today. We have Pharmacology (3rd exam) next Monday, BoD (5th exam) opening online next Monday, a Clin Path quiz next Monday, Tox homework next Tuesday, and Management (3rd exam) next Friday.
The following week (the week before Thanksgiving), we have Clin Path (2nd exam) on Monday and Prev Med (3rd exam) on Thursday. (Yeah, let's just agree right now that nothing productive is going to get done on the Friday before Thanksgiving. Except for the awesome sophomore potluck lunch that day.)
So these looming exams means that I have to buckle down and actually start studying again. Bummer.
Honestly, it was pretty awesome to spend this whole last weekend doing everything possible except studying. Didn't even open my backpack.
But, predictably, after a few days or a couple weeks without studying, I am inevitably ready to get back into it. Lord knows I work better under deadlines, stress, and the fear of flunking out of vet school...
Terrible Exams, Round 2 (Round 3?) starts a week from today. We have Pharmacology (3rd exam) next Monday, BoD (5th exam) opening online next Monday, a Clin Path quiz next Monday, Tox homework next Tuesday, and Management (3rd exam) next Friday.
The following week (the week before Thanksgiving), we have Clin Path (2nd exam) on Monday and Prev Med (3rd exam) on Thursday. (Yeah, let's just agree right now that nothing productive is going to get done on the Friday before Thanksgiving. Except for the awesome sophomore potluck lunch that day.)
So these looming exams means that I have to buckle down and actually start studying again. Bummer.
Honestly, it was pretty awesome to spend this whole last weekend doing everything possible except studying. Didn't even open my backpack.
But, predictably, after a few days or a couple weeks without studying, I am inevitably ready to get back into it. Lord knows I work better under deadlines, stress, and the fear of flunking out of vet school...
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Blizzards: the gift that just keeps giving
Thanks to last week's blizzard, Thursday night choir rehearsal was postponed. Hence, we are now leaving the house at 6:45 am today in order to get down to Denver for extra practice...
(Although, kudos to whoever decided to have daylight savings time today. Excellent timing.)
(Although, kudos to whoever decided to have daylight savings time today. Excellent timing.)
Friday, October 30, 2009
You know it's Friday when...
...you're giving a tour of the teaching hospital, and when talking about the Animal Cancer Center, it takes you two times of saying "replaced with healthy boner done" before you can successfully say "replaced with healthy donor bone." Sigh. I am such a good ambassador for my school.
I'm so short that even my ulna is short
I got a call yesterday from the physician at student health that I saw on Tuesday about my wrist.
A radiologist reviewed my x-rays, and thankfully everything looked good bone-wise.
There was, however, a semi-incidental finding of "ulnar minus variance," which actually can dispose you to wrist problems and wrist pain.
"Translate all this medical speak for us!" you cry.
Basically it means that my ulna (the bone that forms the point of your elbow and runs in your forearm to end on the side of your wrist where your pinky is) is shorter than it's supposed to be in comparison with my radius (the other bone in the forearm).
Yep, even my bones are short. Thanks, parents!
(Also, the Dr. knew right off the bat what Factor V Leiden was. Go him!)
A radiologist reviewed my x-rays, and thankfully everything looked good bone-wise.
There was, however, a semi-incidental finding of "ulnar minus variance," which actually can dispose you to wrist problems and wrist pain.
"Translate all this medical speak for us!" you cry.
Basically it means that my ulna (the bone that forms the point of your elbow and runs in your forearm to end on the side of your wrist where your pinky is) is shorter than it's supposed to be in comparison with my radius (the other bone in the forearm).
Yep, even my bones are short. Thanks, parents!
(Also, the Dr. knew right off the bat what Factor V Leiden was. Go him!)
Q: What is better than chocolate chip cookie dough?
A: Chocolate chip cookie dough rolled into balls and covered in chocolate.
Bye-bye, blizzard!
So our blizzard started on Tuesday night.
It was in full force by midday on Wednesday.
At 2 pm on Wednesday, we got sent home from school.
At 6 pm on Wednesday, CLH found out that he got to stay home from work on Thursday, too.
At 6:45 am on Thursday, I woke up expecting to find out that my classes were cancelled. I was so wrong. (Side note: I HATE the perky voice of the lady on the university's snow hotline.) I was bummed.
In retrospect, the roads were never all that bad. Certainly there wasn't really any need to cancel the university's classes on Thursday.
Today it is in the 40s and most of the snow is gone.
Colorado is so weird.
It was in full force by midday on Wednesday.
At 2 pm on Wednesday, we got sent home from school.
At 6 pm on Wednesday, CLH found out that he got to stay home from work on Thursday, too.
At 6:45 am on Thursday, I woke up expecting to find out that my classes were cancelled. I was so wrong. (Side note: I HATE the perky voice of the lady on the university's snow hotline.) I was bummed.
In retrospect, the roads were never all that bad. Certainly there wasn't really any need to cancel the university's classes on Thursday.
Today it is in the 40s and most of the snow is gone.
Colorado is so weird.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Blizzard update
Yes, we are having one.
Yes, CLH got school cancelled first thing this morning. Good thing he JUST had a four-day weekend, too!
Yes, I still got to make the drive into Fort Collins at 8 this morning, but fortunately the roads were pretty good (though that didn't mean there weren't some noodlehead drivers going 85 down I-25 - and ending up in the ditch).
When I woke up this morning, we had maybe 2 inches of snow on the ground in Windsor - but nothing that was even sticking on the roads, and it wasn't currently snowing.
As it usually does, the snow picked up the closer I got to Fort Collins. They had gotten a little more than we had overnight.
It just kept coming down during my morning classes, with probably a good 6 inches accumulated by lunchtime.
They closed part of the campus, where the snow was so heavy that tree branches were collapsing. They cancelled most of the clubs and meetings for the next two days. They cancelled a free lunch we were supposed to have tomorrow.
And yet, school was still in session.
At 12:15, I made an executive decision to head home. With the snow continuing to come down heavily, and remembering some terrible driving conditions last winter, it just didn't seem worth it to stick around for BoD and Pharmacology just to end up with a dangerous drive home.
At 12:45, as I was driving through Windsor, I got a text message from the university saying that all operations and classes were suspended at 2 pm. Ha!
So in the end, I only missed Pharmacology (gee, darn) and not BoD (a class I really like). The drive home at noon wasn't bad at all, but it's gotten colder as the day progresses and the snow keeps coming - I'm sure there's plenty of ice on the roads by now.
What did I do with my afternoon off? A little studying, a little nap on the floor (induced by studying), a little watching of "House" on Hulu and catching up on "Television Without Pity," some enchiladas for dinner, getting my email down to a remarkable 7 messages in my inbox, and working on stuff for a potential scholarship. And it's only 7:30 pm!
Here's hoping the weather either (a) clears up overnight, enough that CLH and I can both get to work/school safely, or (b) is horrible throughout the morning so we both get another day off!
Yes, CLH got school cancelled first thing this morning. Good thing he JUST had a four-day weekend, too!
Yes, I still got to make the drive into Fort Collins at 8 this morning, but fortunately the roads were pretty good (though that didn't mean there weren't some noodlehead drivers going 85 down I-25 - and ending up in the ditch).
When I woke up this morning, we had maybe 2 inches of snow on the ground in Windsor - but nothing that was even sticking on the roads, and it wasn't currently snowing.
As it usually does, the snow picked up the closer I got to Fort Collins. They had gotten a little more than we had overnight.
It just kept coming down during my morning classes, with probably a good 6 inches accumulated by lunchtime.
They closed part of the campus, where the snow was so heavy that tree branches were collapsing. They cancelled most of the clubs and meetings for the next two days. They cancelled a free lunch we were supposed to have tomorrow.
And yet, school was still in session.
At 12:15, I made an executive decision to head home. With the snow continuing to come down heavily, and remembering some terrible driving conditions last winter, it just didn't seem worth it to stick around for BoD and Pharmacology just to end up with a dangerous drive home.
At 12:45, as I was driving through Windsor, I got a text message from the university saying that all operations and classes were suspended at 2 pm. Ha!
So in the end, I only missed Pharmacology (gee, darn) and not BoD (a class I really like). The drive home at noon wasn't bad at all, but it's gotten colder as the day progresses and the snow keeps coming - I'm sure there's plenty of ice on the roads by now.
What did I do with my afternoon off? A little studying, a little nap on the floor (induced by studying), a little watching of "House" on Hulu and catching up on "Television Without Pity," some enchiladas for dinner, getting my email down to a remarkable 7 messages in my inbox, and working on stuff for a potential scholarship. And it's only 7:30 pm!
Here's hoping the weather either (a) clears up overnight, enough that CLH and I can both get to work/school safely, or (b) is horrible throughout the morning so we both get another day off!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Blizzard!
We are having our first "winter storm" of the season (which seems uncharacteristically early in the year, based on my prior experience of one winter in Colorado).
It was raining earlier this evening, but started snowing about half an hour ago - big wet beautiful flakes that make it look like you are driving into the opening sequence in Star Wars.
The weather channel predicts 12-24 inches accumulating by this time tomorrow.
I am hoping (but not really expecting) school to be canceled tomorrow. Maybe CLH will get the day off, but I'm guessing that I'll end up getting up 20 minutes early tomorrow morning in order to spend an hour muddling my way through sleet and bad drivers to get to class.
But at least the snow is pretty!
It was raining earlier this evening, but started snowing about half an hour ago - big wet beautiful flakes that make it look like you are driving into the opening sequence in Star Wars.
The weather channel predicts 12-24 inches accumulating by this time tomorrow.
I am hoping (but not really expecting) school to be canceled tomorrow. Maybe CLH will get the day off, but I'm guessing that I'll end up getting up 20 minutes early tomorrow morning in order to spend an hour muddling my way through sleet and bad drivers to get to class.
But at least the snow is pretty!
Some restored faith in the health care system
Today I decided it was finally time to take my ouchy wrist to see the human doctor.
I called Student Health before I left for class, and lo, they had an appointment open at 2:15 today!
I arrived to check in at reception at 2:05 pm.
I was checked in by a nurse at 2:20 pm. (Also, apparently I am 5'3"? Whatever.)
I saw the doctor at 2:30.
By 2:55 pm, I had had a plethora of awesome digital radiographs taken.
At 3:05 pm, the doctor showed me the x-rays (nothing abnormal).
By 3:20 pm, I had a splint for my wrist (and had gotten to see the awesome orthopedics/physical therapy department), handed my charges form to the cashier to be sent up to the insurance dept, paid nothing, and was on my way.
Hooray for fast, courteous, and decent healthcare!
(Could I have gone to Walgreen's and bought a splint and gotten basically the same results? Sure. But I'd rather get a little something for the thousands of dollars in insurance costs and health center fees I'm paying this year....)
Now off to see if I can ring handbells with a splint on my wrist! Wish me luck.
I called Student Health before I left for class, and lo, they had an appointment open at 2:15 today!
I arrived to check in at reception at 2:05 pm.
I was checked in by a nurse at 2:20 pm. (Also, apparently I am 5'3"? Whatever.)
I saw the doctor at 2:30.
By 2:55 pm, I had had a plethora of awesome digital radiographs taken.
At 3:05 pm, the doctor showed me the x-rays (nothing abnormal).
By 3:20 pm, I had a splint for my wrist (and had gotten to see the awesome orthopedics/physical therapy department), handed my charges form to the cashier to be sent up to the insurance dept, paid nothing, and was on my way.
Hooray for fast, courteous, and decent healthcare!
(Could I have gone to Walgreen's and bought a splint and gotten basically the same results? Sure. But I'd rather get a little something for the thousands of dollars in insurance costs and health center fees I'm paying this year....)
Now off to see if I can ring handbells with a splint on my wrist! Wish me luck.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Looking for minute-by-minute blog updates??
Okay, maybe you don't want to know about my blogs quite that much, but....
If you're interested, I can add your email address to a list so that you will get an email every time I post something new on my blog.
You can get these email updates for:
* The Vet School Journey
* Vet Med Word of the Day
* Paul & Becky's Recipes
* Monkey Business
Or any or all of the above!
If you think you'd like to sign up for this super awesome premium blog followership status, just email me at beckyy86@aol.com and tell me which blog(s) you want email updates for.
(This offer is limited to the first 10 extra-lucky people who notify me.)
(Ha, how awesome would it be if there were actually 10 different people who read my blogs?)
If you're interested, I can add your email address to a list so that you will get an email every time I post something new on my blog.
You can get these email updates for:
* The Vet School Journey
* Vet Med Word of the Day
* Paul & Becky's Recipes
* Monkey Business
Or any or all of the above!
If you think you'd like to sign up for this super awesome premium blog followership status, just email me at beckyy86@aol.com and tell me which blog(s) you want email updates for.
(This offer is limited to the first 10 extra-lucky people who notify me.)
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Is four blogs too many?
I have, after careful consideration, decided to take the plunge and start a fourth blog.
A fourth blog, you ask? Am I crazy?
I don't think so.
Am I addicted to blogging?
Erm.... perhaps.
Seriously, though, Paul & Becky's Recipes (http://www.pbrecipes.blogspot.com/) and Vet Med Word of the Day (http://vetword.blogspot.com/) don't take much upkeep.
Yes, I will admit to writing my fair share of posts for this, my illustrious, informative, and endlessly entertaining main blog.
But as I spend day after day watching our two hilarious cats, I can't help but feel that they deserve a space to post their own anecdotes.
Therefore, I introduce to you: Monkey Business! ("A chronicle of the antics and mischief of two feline brothers living the good life in Colorado.")
Since the URL http://monkeybusiness.blogspot.com/ was already taken (albeit not by anything good), you'll find MY Monkey Business blog at:
http://johnnyandsimon.blogspot.com/
Look for periodic updates on the hilarity that ensues when two young and crazy cats are forced to live in a mere 1200 square feet of condo space.
A fourth blog, you ask? Am I crazy?
I don't think so.
Am I addicted to blogging?
Erm.... perhaps.
Seriously, though, Paul & Becky's Recipes (http://www.pbrecipes.blogspot.com/) and Vet Med Word of the Day (http://vetword.blogspot.com/) don't take much upkeep.
Yes, I will admit to writing my fair share of posts for this, my illustrious, informative, and endlessly entertaining main blog.
But as I spend day after day watching our two hilarious cats, I can't help but feel that they deserve a space to post their own anecdotes.
Therefore, I introduce to you: Monkey Business! ("A chronicle of the antics and mischief of two feline brothers living the good life in Colorado.")
Since the URL http://monkeybusiness.blogspot.com/ was already taken (albeit not by anything good), you'll find MY Monkey Business blog at:
http://johnnyandsimon.blogspot.com/
Look for periodic updates on the hilarity that ensues when two young and crazy cats are forced to live in a mere 1200 square feet of condo space.
Registration update
Since I know you all have been waiting with bated breath for an update on whether I was able to register for all my desired spring classes this morning, let me end the suspense: I was.
(Although apparently we vet students are all Type A personalities [gee, really?], because I heard that some of the sections had filled up by 6:40 am.)
(Although apparently we vet students are all Type A personalities [gee, really?], because I heard that some of the sections had filled up by 6:40 am.)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
A week with... NO EXAMS????
Whatever shall I do with all of my copious free time???
(Just kidding.)
But seriously, tomorrow starts the first week in recent memory without a single exam on the schedule.
I welcome the opportunity to finally get caught up and/or stay ahead in all of my classes.
Really, though: NO exams?
As much as I'm planning to enjoy this moderately relaxing 5-day period, it does make you wonder why we had to have two weeks with an exam in every single class.
Maybe professors could talk to each other a little more and not try to sink us with enormous tests, all at the same time?
Guess I could stop complaining and just enoy the free time... Toxicology and Pharmacology flash cards, here I come!
(Just kidding.)
But seriously, tomorrow starts the first week in recent memory without a single exam on the schedule.
I welcome the opportunity to finally get caught up and/or stay ahead in all of my classes.
Really, though: NO exams?
As much as I'm planning to enjoy this moderately relaxing 5-day period, it does make you wonder why we had to have two weeks with an exam in every single class.
Maybe professors could talk to each other a little more and not try to sink us with enormous tests, all at the same time?
Guess I could stop complaining and just enoy the free time... Toxicology and Pharmacology flash cards, here I come!
Spring registration tomorrow
At promptly 6:30 am tomorrow, I'll be on RamWeb registering for spring classes.
After looking at the schedule in some detail, I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that I've been spoiled by my schedule this semester.
This fall, I've had class at 9 on Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:40 on Fridays, and 11 on most Tuesdays and Thursdays (though 9 am on some Tues/Thurs).
I'm done with class at 3 every day except Tuesday (4 pm).
I get lunch breaks on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as on the Mon/Wed/Fri's when I choose not to go to Management.
Next semester, all those luxuries will be a thing of the past.
(But I think the trade-off is that the classes will be more interesting.)
Yes, as I discussed previously, I am still planning on taking 27 credits. Call me crazy. (You'd probably be right.)
Here is the schedule that I am, very seriously, planning to register for tomorrow:
Monday
8-9 am: Biology of Disease III
9-10 am: Anesthesia
10-11 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
11 am-12 pm: Imaging Interpretation
12-1 pm: Legal/Ethical Issues in Business
1-2 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
2-3 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
Tuesday
8-9 am: Sleep in!
9-10 am: Anesthesia
10-11 am: Surgery
11 am-12 pm: Break!
12-1 pm: Lunch!
1-2 pm: Theriogenology
2-3 pm: Theriogenology
3-4 pm: Shelter Medicine
Wednesday
8-9 am: Surgery
9-10 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
10-11 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
11 am-12 pm: Legal/Ethical Issues in Business
12-1 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
1-2 pm: Theriogenology
Thursday
8-9 am: Biology of Disease III
9-10 am: Biology of Disease III
10-11 am: Break!
11 am-12 pm: Lunch!
12-1 pm: Problem-based Learning
1-2 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
2-3 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
3-4 pm: Clinical Sciences II
Friday
8-9 am: Surgery
9-10 am: Surgery
10-11 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
11 am-12 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
12-1 pm: Legal/Ethical Issues in Business
1-2 pm: Anesthesia
2-3 pm: Theriogenology
Wow.
Hey, that's only 28 credits...
In defense of my sanity:
After looking at the schedule in some detail, I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that I've been spoiled by my schedule this semester.
This fall, I've had class at 9 on Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:40 on Fridays, and 11 on most Tuesdays and Thursdays (though 9 am on some Tues/Thurs).
I'm done with class at 3 every day except Tuesday (4 pm).
I get lunch breaks on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as on the Mon/Wed/Fri's when I choose not to go to Management.
Next semester, all those luxuries will be a thing of the past.
(But I think the trade-off is that the classes will be more interesting.)
Yes, as I discussed previously, I am still planning on taking 27 credits. Call me crazy. (You'd probably be right.)
Here is the schedule that I am, very seriously, planning to register for tomorrow:
Monday
8-9 am: Biology of Disease III
9-10 am: Anesthesia
10-11 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
11 am-12 pm: Imaging Interpretation
12-1 pm: Legal/Ethical Issues in Business
1-2 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
2-3 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
Tuesday
8-9 am: Sleep in!
9-10 am: Anesthesia
10-11 am: Surgery
11 am-12 pm: Break!
12-1 pm: Lunch!
1-2 pm: Theriogenology
2-3 pm: Theriogenology
3-4 pm: Shelter Medicine
Wednesday
8-9 am: Surgery
9-10 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
10-11 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
11 am-12 pm: Legal/Ethical Issues in Business
12-1 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
1-2 pm: Theriogenology
Thursday
8-9 am: Biology of Disease III
9-10 am: Biology of Disease III
10-11 am: Break!
11 am-12 pm: Lunch!
12-1 pm: Problem-based Learning
1-2 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
2-3 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
3-4 pm: Clinical Sciences II
Friday
8-9 am: Surgery
9-10 am: Surgery
10-11 am: Clinical Sciences I or II
11 am-12 pm: Clinical Sciences I or II
12-1 pm: Legal/Ethical Issues in Business
1-2 pm: Anesthesia
2-3 pm: Theriogenology
Wow.
Hey, that's only 28 credits...
In defense of my sanity:
- Thursday afternoon's Clinical Science II from 3-4 pm will be only the second half of the semester.
- I sort of think (but am not sure) that Surgery only goes for the first half of the semester - so after spring break, I'd have free time on Tuesdays 10-11 am, Wednesdays 8-9 am, and Fridays 8-9 am and 9-10 am. That would give me class at 8 am only on Mondays and Thursdays. Hooray!
I'm not so bummed about having class at 8 am again. I tend to be most productive in the morning, with a rapid decrease in my attention span as soon as I've eaten lunch. (However, it would be nice to have class earlier in the more in exchange for getting done earlier in the afternoon, not in addition to having class till 3 or 4 pm every day.)
I'm actually mostly bummed because I think this class schedule is really going to mess up the nice exercise routine I've gotten into this semester. I've been working out on the treadmill every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday morning before class.
Now, getting up to exercise before school isn't a huge deal when I have class at 9. That just means I get up about 6:15.
But running before class at 8 am? That's reminscent of last year, when I got up twice a week or so at 5:30 to work out. I'd love to not have to get back into that habit again. But I've found that I'm much more reliable about sticking to an exercise routine when I work out in the morning, so I'm hesitant to try and fit an afternoon or evening workout into my regular schedule.
Ah, well, we'll see. If nothing else, I'll hopefully be on my feet a bit more, so perhaps I can get up at 5:30 am and jog for 45 minutes instead of getting up at 6:15 and working out for an hour... We shall see.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ok, time to talk about grades again
You got one post that didn't consist completely of me going on and on about my grades, so I now feel justified in providing you with one of my usual posts. :-)
Good things have been happening this week, grade-wise.
I have now really passed Toxicology, since the professor sort of randomly gave everybody extra points on the midterm exam. I'm not sure how it worked, but my grade went from 31/42 to 37/45. I'm okay with that. He also finally sent us an email apologizing for taking so long in putting up the grades and for initially posting inaccurate scores. It's funny how far an apology can go in making me like and respect him again.
We also got our grades for the second Preventive Medicine exam. I thought I did well, but as on the first exam, there were several questions where I felt I had guessed a little or didn't totally know the correct answer. However, I got a second 100%! That made my day.
The only actual exam that took place this week was our fourth Biology of Disease exam. This one covered diseases of the liver and pancreas, and was, as usual, open on RamCT for 48 hours.
I took it at 10 pm on Tuesday, after getting home from handbells. Didn't study much and didn't want to. Still got 22 out of 28, which I am absolutely happy with, given my previous scores of 28/28, 28/28, and 26/28.
On Tuesday in Biology of Disease, we got our usual professor back. (Another teacher taught the liver/pancreas unit.) The regular prof said she had missed us during the last two weeks, and the entire class started clapping and cheering that she was back. Hooray for actually understanding the material and getting something out of lectures again....
Other than that, the week was pretty uneventful. Just the way I like it!
Good things have been happening this week, grade-wise.
I have now really passed Toxicology, since the professor sort of randomly gave everybody extra points on the midterm exam. I'm not sure how it worked, but my grade went from 31/42 to 37/45. I'm okay with that. He also finally sent us an email apologizing for taking so long in putting up the grades and for initially posting inaccurate scores. It's funny how far an apology can go in making me like and respect him again.
We also got our grades for the second Preventive Medicine exam. I thought I did well, but as on the first exam, there were several questions where I felt I had guessed a little or didn't totally know the correct answer. However, I got a second 100%! That made my day.
The only actual exam that took place this week was our fourth Biology of Disease exam. This one covered diseases of the liver and pancreas, and was, as usual, open on RamCT for 48 hours.
I took it at 10 pm on Tuesday, after getting home from handbells. Didn't study much and didn't want to. Still got 22 out of 28, which I am absolutely happy with, given my previous scores of 28/28, 28/28, and 26/28.
On Tuesday in Biology of Disease, we got our usual professor back. (Another teacher taught the liver/pancreas unit.) The regular prof said she had missed us during the last two weeks, and the entire class started clapping and cheering that she was back. Hooray for actually understanding the material and getting something out of lectures again....
Other than that, the week was pretty uneventful. Just the way I like it!
A day in the life of a vet student
Sometimes I feel like all I use my blog for is ranting about exams and grades, and/or talking about items and events completely unrelated to veterinary medicine. So I decided that maybe I should post something about (novel idea): the vet school experience!
Hence, please enjoy my summary of Thursday, October 22, A Day In The Life Of A Vet Student.
7:15 am: First alarm goes off. Ignore.
7:25 am: Second alarm goes off. Ignore.
7:33 am: Second alarm still going off. Resign myself to actually getting out of bed today.
7:35 am: Put in contacts, brush teeth, check FarmVille, give cats fresh water, get dressed, make bed, brush hair, deodorize.
7:55 am: Standard breakfast of toast and crunchy peanut butter, with a glass of orange-peach-mango juice and a vitamin. Check email and blogs I read.
8:15 am: Pack lunch (apple, yogurt, and string cheese). Debate what leftover entree to bring, then remember I left an extra pork chop in the fridge at school.
8:25 am: Get a kiss from CLH, make sure I put my ethics essay in my backpack, then leave for school.
8:55 am: Arrive at school. Look in the microscope lab and realize that some of the juniors have a class in there. Recheck the schedule for who is using the microscope lab and re-confirm that nobody was on the schedule to be using it. Meet friend who was going to do a microscope assignment with me; we are both disappointed that our early arrival at school has gone to waste.
9:00 am: Brief stop in the computer lab to check on FarmVille and RamCT. Discover I got another 100% on the second Preventive Medicine exam. (Equals happiness.)
9:10 am: Leave the computer lab intending to get away from the computer and be productive. Instead grab a newspaper and sit on the couches in the Pathology building lobby, getting a jump start on the crossword and sudoku puzzle.
9:40 am: Distracted from newspaper puzzles by nearby classmates engaging in a vigorous debate about health care.
9:50 am: Leave Pathology building and head over to our old haunts, the Anatomy/Zoology building.
10:00 am: Ethics class. Group debate and discussion about emerging social ethics in relation to animals. Discuss the topic of the essay we turned in today (How can veterinarians promote the "infinite human-animal bond" to market their services to the public, yet claim in malpractice suits that the owner of a deceased pet should only be awarded "market value" for that animal?). Relatively productive and interesting class, as far as Ethics goes.
10:50 am: Hike back over to the Pathology building. Decide I need a snack to make it through the next class, so get my yogurt out of my locker.
11:00 am: Bioanalytical Pathology (a.k.a. Clinical Pathology) lecture. Finish talking about tests for gastrointestinal disease (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, intestinal malabsorption, etc.). Discuss several GI cases based on hypothetical clinical pathology results. Start talking about laboratory analysis of muscle damage and muscle disease.
11:50 am: Back to the computer lab to check email and FarmVille. Harvest strawberries; plant aloe.
12:15 pm: Head to the lunchroom to heat up my leftover pork chop. Also eat my string cheese.
12:30 pm: Make use of extra lunch time to work on Pharmacology flash cards.
12:45 pm: Classmate brings in a grocery bag full of junk food from his house. Grab myself a Snickers bar. Eat it and regret it, but only a little bit.
1:00 pm: Pharmacology lecture. The scheduled instructor is out with the flu, so one of the regular instructors has thrown together a last-minute lecture. The topic is phenothiazines, alpha-2 agonists, and alpha-2 antagonists.
1:40 pm: Lecture done early! Back to the computer lab intending to briefly check email, then work more on Pharm. flash cards.
1:55 pm: Leave computer lab, realizing I never worked on the flash cards.
2:00 pm: Preventive Medicine lecture. Entertaining professor. The topic is equine vaccinations - what to vaccinate for, what disease to use, how often to use, and how to decide all this stuff. Interesting information but nothing you need to take notes on, so I multitasked -- listened while working on those darned Pharmacology flash cards. Got through NSAIDs and midway into steroids. Still a ways to go.
2:50 pm: Yes, another trip to the computer lab. (No, I don't typically spend this much time there in a given school day.)
3:00 pm: Exit computer lab and head back to the couches in the Pathology lobby. Review recent Clinical Pathology notes -- mostly tests of renal function, as well as urinalysis findings.
3:15 pm: Hungry (again). Eat my apple. Continue studying.
3:45 pm: Realize how sleepy I am, and check the time. It's only 3:45! Put my notes down, pull up my hood, and curl up on the couch for a nap.
4:05 pm: Arise from 20 minutes of light dozing when a random group of vet students has apparently decided to hold a club meeting on the couches right next to me. I attempt to resume studying.
4:10 pm: The club meeting is getting loud and distracting, so I pack up my notes and move into the lunch room. I finish studying all the Clin Path notes, including liver tests, pancreas tests, reasons for hypo/hyperglycemia, tests of GI disease, and the muscle injury tests we started learning today.
5:10 pm: Stop by my locker to collect the rest of my things, then head to the parking lot.
5:20 pm: Arrive at the VTH.
5:30 pm: Attend dinner/lecture/wetlab hosted by the Behavior Club. Dinner is sandwiches, chips, soda, cookies, and brownies. Yum! Free, too (well, free after I paid $10 dues for the year).
6:00 pm: Second-year equine internal medicine resident lectures about equine behavior. Interesting material.
6:45 pm: Head to the back of the VTH to observe two of the teaching horses in the round pen. Watch them for awhile; pet them; they are curious and nosy. And huge. After awhile they get silly and start chasing each other around the pen and going crazy.
7:45 pm: Half the club is still with the horses, but I left my jacket at home today and have gotten chilly after an hour outside after dark. Decide to head home.
8:10 pm: Arrive home. Get the mail. Put out the garbage.
8:15 pm: Johnny & Simon can't wait another minute for food, or they might die. Good Lord, their dinner is almost 4 hours overdue. Feed them before they pass out from hypoglycemia.
8:20 pm: Change into pajamas. Check email and FarmVille. Decide to indulge in some Conceptis Puzzles while listening to last week's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." Hilarity and entertainment ensues.
9:30 pm: Decide to write a blog post about my day. Wonder to myself if it will sound boring. Decide to write it anyway.
9:50 pm: Surprised at how long it took to summarize my day. Currently feeling tired. Hoping CLH gets home soon so I can go to bed. Looking forward to another Friday and another weekend.
9:51 pm: Signing off.
Hence, please enjoy my summary of Thursday, October 22, A Day In The Life Of A Vet Student.
7:15 am: First alarm goes off. Ignore.
7:25 am: Second alarm goes off. Ignore.
7:33 am: Second alarm still going off. Resign myself to actually getting out of bed today.
7:35 am: Put in contacts, brush teeth, check FarmVille, give cats fresh water, get dressed, make bed, brush hair, deodorize.
7:55 am: Standard breakfast of toast and crunchy peanut butter, with a glass of orange-peach-mango juice and a vitamin. Check email and blogs I read.
8:15 am: Pack lunch (apple, yogurt, and string cheese). Debate what leftover entree to bring, then remember I left an extra pork chop in the fridge at school.
8:25 am: Get a kiss from CLH, make sure I put my ethics essay in my backpack, then leave for school.
8:55 am: Arrive at school. Look in the microscope lab and realize that some of the juniors have a class in there. Recheck the schedule for who is using the microscope lab and re-confirm that nobody was on the schedule to be using it. Meet friend who was going to do a microscope assignment with me; we are both disappointed that our early arrival at school has gone to waste.
9:00 am: Brief stop in the computer lab to check on FarmVille and RamCT. Discover I got another 100% on the second Preventive Medicine exam. (Equals happiness.)
9:10 am: Leave the computer lab intending to get away from the computer and be productive. Instead grab a newspaper and sit on the couches in the Pathology building lobby, getting a jump start on the crossword and sudoku puzzle.
9:40 am: Distracted from newspaper puzzles by nearby classmates engaging in a vigorous debate about health care.
9:50 am: Leave Pathology building and head over to our old haunts, the Anatomy/Zoology building.
10:00 am: Ethics class. Group debate and discussion about emerging social ethics in relation to animals. Discuss the topic of the essay we turned in today (How can veterinarians promote the "infinite human-animal bond" to market their services to the public, yet claim in malpractice suits that the owner of a deceased pet should only be awarded "market value" for that animal?). Relatively productive and interesting class, as far as Ethics goes.
10:50 am: Hike back over to the Pathology building. Decide I need a snack to make it through the next class, so get my yogurt out of my locker.
11:00 am: Bioanalytical Pathology (a.k.a. Clinical Pathology) lecture. Finish talking about tests for gastrointestinal disease (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, intestinal malabsorption, etc.). Discuss several GI cases based on hypothetical clinical pathology results. Start talking about laboratory analysis of muscle damage and muscle disease.
11:50 am: Back to the computer lab to check email and FarmVille. Harvest strawberries; plant aloe.
12:15 pm: Head to the lunchroom to heat up my leftover pork chop. Also eat my string cheese.
12:30 pm: Make use of extra lunch time to work on Pharmacology flash cards.
12:45 pm: Classmate brings in a grocery bag full of junk food from his house. Grab myself a Snickers bar. Eat it and regret it, but only a little bit.
1:00 pm: Pharmacology lecture. The scheduled instructor is out with the flu, so one of the regular instructors has thrown together a last-minute lecture. The topic is phenothiazines, alpha-2 agonists, and alpha-2 antagonists.
1:40 pm: Lecture done early! Back to the computer lab intending to briefly check email, then work more on Pharm. flash cards.
1:55 pm: Leave computer lab, realizing I never worked on the flash cards.
2:00 pm: Preventive Medicine lecture. Entertaining professor. The topic is equine vaccinations - what to vaccinate for, what disease to use, how often to use, and how to decide all this stuff. Interesting information but nothing you need to take notes on, so I multitasked -- listened while working on those darned Pharmacology flash cards. Got through NSAIDs and midway into steroids. Still a ways to go.
2:50 pm: Yes, another trip to the computer lab. (No, I don't typically spend this much time there in a given school day.)
3:00 pm: Exit computer lab and head back to the couches in the Pathology lobby. Review recent Clinical Pathology notes -- mostly tests of renal function, as well as urinalysis findings.
3:15 pm: Hungry (again). Eat my apple. Continue studying.
3:45 pm: Realize how sleepy I am, and check the time. It's only 3:45! Put my notes down, pull up my hood, and curl up on the couch for a nap.
4:05 pm: Arise from 20 minutes of light dozing when a random group of vet students has apparently decided to hold a club meeting on the couches right next to me. I attempt to resume studying.
4:10 pm: The club meeting is getting loud and distracting, so I pack up my notes and move into the lunch room. I finish studying all the Clin Path notes, including liver tests, pancreas tests, reasons for hypo/hyperglycemia, tests of GI disease, and the muscle injury tests we started learning today.
5:10 pm: Stop by my locker to collect the rest of my things, then head to the parking lot.
5:20 pm: Arrive at the VTH.
5:30 pm: Attend dinner/lecture/wetlab hosted by the Behavior Club. Dinner is sandwiches, chips, soda, cookies, and brownies. Yum! Free, too (well, free after I paid $10 dues for the year).
6:00 pm: Second-year equine internal medicine resident lectures about equine behavior. Interesting material.
6:45 pm: Head to the back of the VTH to observe two of the teaching horses in the round pen. Watch them for awhile; pet them; they are curious and nosy. And huge. After awhile they get silly and start chasing each other around the pen and going crazy.
7:45 pm: Half the club is still with the horses, but I left my jacket at home today and have gotten chilly after an hour outside after dark. Decide to head home.
8:10 pm: Arrive home. Get the mail. Put out the garbage.
8:15 pm: Johnny & Simon can't wait another minute for food, or they might die. Good Lord, their dinner is almost 4 hours overdue. Feed them before they pass out from hypoglycemia.
8:20 pm: Change into pajamas. Check email and FarmVille. Decide to indulge in some Conceptis Puzzles while listening to last week's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." Hilarity and entertainment ensues.
9:30 pm: Decide to write a blog post about my day. Wonder to myself if it will sound boring. Decide to write it anyway.
9:50 pm: Surprised at how long it took to summarize my day. Currently feeling tired. Hoping CLH gets home soon so I can go to bed. Looking forward to another Friday and another weekend.
9:51 pm: Signing off.
Monday, October 19, 2009
I passed Toxicology!
(Barely!)
After nearly two long weeks of suspense, our grades on the first toxicology exam were finally released.
With a sudden jump in my heart rate, I hesitantly clicked on the link to see my score and found....
a 73.8%!
Well, heck, that's a whole lot better than it coulda been! Let's all keep in mind that 70% is all I need to pass.
That exam was worth 40% of our grade. I got 100% on the first homework assignment (worth 10% of the grade) and I'm anticipating another 100% on the second homework (also 10% of the grade). That means I'll have to get at least a 50% or so on our second and final exam for that class.
It's absolutely going to bring down my overall grades for this semester (which I anticipate to be all A's, otherwise).
But I doubt it will affect my class rank much, since everybody else just about failed too.
I would have loved a better score, but nonetheless I'm pleased to have still not failed an exam in vet school. Gotta have high standards, you know!
After nearly two long weeks of suspense, our grades on the first toxicology exam were finally released.
With a sudden jump in my heart rate, I hesitantly clicked on the link to see my score and found....
a 73.8%!
Well, heck, that's a whole lot better than it coulda been! Let's all keep in mind that 70% is all I need to pass.
That exam was worth 40% of our grade. I got 100% on the first homework assignment (worth 10% of the grade) and I'm anticipating another 100% on the second homework (also 10% of the grade). That means I'll have to get at least a 50% or so on our second and final exam for that class.
It's absolutely going to bring down my overall grades for this semester (which I anticipate to be all A's, otherwise).
But I doubt it will affect my class rank much, since everybody else just about failed too.
I would have loved a better score, but nonetheless I'm pleased to have still not failed an exam in vet school. Gotta have high standards, you know!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
All good weekends must come to an end
This weekend was an especially good one.
Saturday was the first time in a month that I've had the opportunity to sleep in as long as I wanted. Admittedly, I woke up at 8:30, although that amounted to 10 hours of sleep.
I had a nice workout on Saturday morning, including 2 miles of jogging and 2+ additional miles of walking.
CLH decided to utilize his free time on the weekend by doing some intensive cleaning, all of his own accord! He vacuumed the downstairs (including moving the furniture), the carpeted stairs, and the upstairs. He swept and mopped the kitchen, foyer, and downstairs bathroom. He helped with laundry. He organized the pantry and the spice cabinet. He cleaned up the cat litter that the cats have kicked all over the floor. He promises that next weekend he will tackle the bathrooms -- toilets, sinks, mirrors, etc. I sure married a good guy.
I got some study time in on Saturday afternoon, though not as much as I'd hoped. That's okay, though, since I only have ONE (!) exam this week and I'm not planning on doing real well on it (nor do I need to).
We went to the grocery store yesterday, and stocked up on some awesome fresh produce - apples, carrots, bananas, nectarines, pears, grapes, avocado, and squash.
Dinner was a giant pepperoni pizza from Papa Murphy's. (Alas, they were not yet offering the "Jack O'Lantern" design of pizza... we'll have to go back again before Halloween.)
Yesterday evening we drove down to Longmont to attend the Longmont Chorale's first concert of the season, in conjunction with a pretty awesome marimba ensemble (7 marimbas).
I didn't get enough sleep last night, but that's pretty usual for Sundays these days and I'm getting used to it.
CLH got to lead part of the choir rehearsal this morning when the regular director had other obligations, and he did an awesome job. Just a minor reminiscence of what it was like to have him as our regular church choir director in AZ.
Delicious post-church brunch today, including donuts, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, cheese squares, and chocolate-covered raisins.
Stopped at Target and got some much-needed shopping done. Don't want to run out of shampoo, or conditioner, or acne soap, or razor blades, or hand soap, or Kleenex, or contact solution, or.... you get the idea.
It was crazily warm today -- nearly in the 80s -- so we walked to the library this afternoon to return books then walked to the nearby elementary school and played on the jungle gym and swings.
Leftover tacos for dinner, plus slices of the No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars that I made for dessert (they taste just like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup).
Chatted with Mom & Dad, caught up on (most of my) emails, put the finishing touches on the presentation I'll be giving for Diagnostic Imaging Club tomorrow afternoon, contemplated studying some more and decided I'm enjoying my Sunday too much to ruin it with schoolwork!
Tomorrow starts another week, and it's going to be a good one.
Saturday was the first time in a month that I've had the opportunity to sleep in as long as I wanted. Admittedly, I woke up at 8:30, although that amounted to 10 hours of sleep.
I had a nice workout on Saturday morning, including 2 miles of jogging and 2+ additional miles of walking.
CLH decided to utilize his free time on the weekend by doing some intensive cleaning, all of his own accord! He vacuumed the downstairs (including moving the furniture), the carpeted stairs, and the upstairs. He swept and mopped the kitchen, foyer, and downstairs bathroom. He helped with laundry. He organized the pantry and the spice cabinet. He cleaned up the cat litter that the cats have kicked all over the floor. He promises that next weekend he will tackle the bathrooms -- toilets, sinks, mirrors, etc. I sure married a good guy.
I got some study time in on Saturday afternoon, though not as much as I'd hoped. That's okay, though, since I only have ONE (!) exam this week and I'm not planning on doing real well on it (nor do I need to).
We went to the grocery store yesterday, and stocked up on some awesome fresh produce - apples, carrots, bananas, nectarines, pears, grapes, avocado, and squash.
Dinner was a giant pepperoni pizza from Papa Murphy's. (Alas, they were not yet offering the "Jack O'Lantern" design of pizza... we'll have to go back again before Halloween.)
Yesterday evening we drove down to Longmont to attend the Longmont Chorale's first concert of the season, in conjunction with a pretty awesome marimba ensemble (7 marimbas).
I didn't get enough sleep last night, but that's pretty usual for Sundays these days and I'm getting used to it.
CLH got to lead part of the choir rehearsal this morning when the regular director had other obligations, and he did an awesome job. Just a minor reminiscence of what it was like to have him as our regular church choir director in AZ.
Delicious post-church brunch today, including donuts, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, cheese squares, and chocolate-covered raisins.
Stopped at Target and got some much-needed shopping done. Don't want to run out of shampoo, or conditioner, or acne soap, or razor blades, or hand soap, or Kleenex, or contact solution, or.... you get the idea.
It was crazily warm today -- nearly in the 80s -- so we walked to the library this afternoon to return books then walked to the nearby elementary school and played on the jungle gym and swings.
Leftover tacos for dinner, plus slices of the No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars that I made for dessert (they taste just like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup).
Chatted with Mom & Dad, caught up on (most of my) emails, put the finishing touches on the presentation I'll be giving for Diagnostic Imaging Club tomorrow afternoon, contemplated studying some more and decided I'm enjoying my Sunday too much to ruin it with schoolwork!
Tomorrow starts another week, and it's going to be a good one.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
At least I'm going to pass Pharm (and ClinPath and PrevMed and Ethics and BoD and.....)
Monday's Pharmacology exam grades were released today.
As predicted, I did really well (missed two questions, giving me a score of 65/70).
As predicted, diuretics were my downfall.
As predicted, the two questions I had a "bad feeling" about as I turned in my test were the two questions I missed.
As I could have figured would happen, the one question where I put down one answer, then went back and changed my mind later, was one of the questions I got wrong (and I think the answer I had originally was correct --- why have I not yet learned to go with my first choice??).
But, overall, I'm really happy with that grade. That makes for A's on all Pharm quizzes, exams, and assignments so far, and starting new material this week has made me look at Pharmacology in a whole new light --- a light that says, "Maybe I can actually do this!"
[Now, Toxicology may still be a problem. It is 8 days post-exam and we have heard nothing from the course coordinator about the exam results. Word has it he is out of town all this week. But I'm still pretty sure they have email in San Francisco. It's not that he has to put up the grades right this minute.... but how about a courteous email to say, "I know you are anxious to get your scores on the exam, so I just wanted to let you know I am still working on it. Sorry for the delay"?]
As predicted, I did really well (missed two questions, giving me a score of 65/70).
As predicted, diuretics were my downfall.
As predicted, the two questions I had a "bad feeling" about as I turned in my test were the two questions I missed.
As I could have figured would happen, the one question where I put down one answer, then went back and changed my mind later, was one of the questions I got wrong (and I think the answer I had originally was correct --- why have I not yet learned to go with my first choice??).
But, overall, I'm really happy with that grade. That makes for A's on all Pharm quizzes, exams, and assignments so far, and starting new material this week has made me look at Pharmacology in a whole new light --- a light that says, "Maybe I can actually do this!"
[Now, Toxicology may still be a problem. It is 8 days post-exam and we have heard nothing from the course coordinator about the exam results. Word has it he is out of town all this week. But I'm still pretty sure they have email in San Francisco. It's not that he has to put up the grades right this minute.... but how about a courteous email to say, "I know you are anxious to get your scores on the exam, so I just wanted to let you know I am still working on it. Sorry for the delay"?]
The terrible silent 'G'
Yesterday in our Clinical Pathology lab, we were looking at urine sediments with a microscope. You had to set up a special level of illumination in order to be able to see certain things, which entailed adjusting several components of the microscope.
One of those components was the condenser. The other was the diaphragm.
Or, as one of the instructors wrote on the whiteboard, "diaghphram."
Being a stickler for spelling, I noticed the error(s) immediately and pointed them out to my lab partner.
I was pleased to see, several minutes later, a different instructor approach the whiteboard and proceed to correct the misspelled word (or so I thought).
He erased all the letters except "diag" and proceeded to change the spelling to "diagphragm."
Rolling my eyes, I decided to focus on the big things in life.
But there were 2 more lab sections after mine, and I really hope "diaphragm" was spelled correctly by the end of the last lab.
(Note to self: In the case of diaphragms, one silent 'g' is plenty.)
One of those components was the condenser. The other was the diaphragm.
Or, as one of the instructors wrote on the whiteboard, "diaghphram."
Being a stickler for spelling, I noticed the error(s) immediately and pointed them out to my lab partner.
I was pleased to see, several minutes later, a different instructor approach the whiteboard and proceed to correct the misspelled word (or so I thought).
He erased all the letters except "diag" and proceeded to change the spelling to "diagphragm."
Rolling my eyes, I decided to focus on the big things in life.
But there were 2 more lab sections after mine, and I really hope "diaphragm" was spelled correctly by the end of the last lab.
(Note to self: In the case of diaphragms, one silent 'g' is plenty.)
Monday, October 12, 2009
Pre-vet students: don't know how to talk??
This afternoon's pre-vet tour was somewhat less rewarding than I had expected. To be sure, I gave a decent tour -- perhaps somewhat more scatterbrained than usual, but mostly a good tour. It was a little disconcerting to have such a large group of people, none of whom asked any questions!
They had some neat extra stuff set up for the pre-vet students, including an anesthesia tech to talk about the anesthesia/pain management department, a bunch of antique veterinary tools in the student ophtho lab, a trip to the junior surgery lab, and a really fun presentation by one of the pathologists in the new necropsy lab.
But really, I expected these kids to be full of questions about what vet school is like, how to get in, what they should be doing now, etc. Certainly there was plenty that I wanted to know when I was at that point.
I don't know if they were scared by the hospital? Intimidated by me? (Come on, I'm like 5 feet tall!) Drained from recent big exams? Disinterested in vet med despite being in the pre-vet club? It was like pulling teeth.
In any case, I hope that even if they didn't want to learn anything about vet school life from me or the other guides, at least they got something out of the tours.
They had some neat extra stuff set up for the pre-vet students, including an anesthesia tech to talk about the anesthesia/pain management department, a bunch of antique veterinary tools in the student ophtho lab, a trip to the junior surgery lab, and a really fun presentation by one of the pathologists in the new necropsy lab.
But really, I expected these kids to be full of questions about what vet school is like, how to get in, what they should be doing now, etc. Certainly there was plenty that I wanted to know when I was at that point.
I don't know if they were scared by the hospital? Intimidated by me? (Come on, I'm like 5 feet tall!) Drained from recent big exams? Disinterested in vet med despite being in the pre-vet club? It was like pulling teeth.
In any case, I hope that even if they didn't want to learn anything about vet school life from me or the other guides, at least they got something out of the tours.
A brief respite
Today's Pharmacology exam seemed to go surprisingly well. Out of 28 questions, there were about 2 that I wasn't really sure I knew how to answer. I'm afraid diuretics were my downfall (the last section we discussed, and the only section I decided not to make flash cards for). Still, I would be happy with a 26/28.
Plans for tonight include:
-- watching last week's episode of House on Hulu
-- cleaning up the kitchen
-- catching up on FarmVille (which wasn't working for almost 48 hours!!!!!!)
Tomorrow, the review for Thursday's Preventive Medicine exam will commence. Not too worried about that since it only covers about 2 weeks of material (and pretty easy material, at that).
Meanwhile, October keeps plugging along. I'm really looking forward to next week's near lack of exams (only a BoD online exam, which never really counts...).
Plans for tonight include:
-- watching last week's episode of House on Hulu
-- cleaning up the kitchen
-- catching up on FarmVille (which wasn't working for almost 48 hours!!!!!!)
Tomorrow, the review for Thursday's Preventive Medicine exam will commence. Not too worried about that since it only covers about 2 weeks of material (and pretty easy material, at that).
Meanwhile, October keeps plugging along. I'm really looking forward to next week's near lack of exams (only a BoD online exam, which never really counts...).
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Need to back off the posting...
It appears I'm at 19-20 posts for October so far, though it's only the 10th.... that's about 2 posts a day. Think maybe I'm trying to kill time / avoid doing more important things???
P.S. Everyone should have a blog, it's really fun.
P.S. Everyone should have a blog, it's really fun.
Still doing well on Pharm
I am, somewhat surprisingly, not yet too far behind on my Pharmacology studying.
Last night, I almost finished the autonomic critical care drugs (which I was supposed to finish entirely), so clearly I didn't get to antiarrhythmics (which I'd hoped to at least start).
This morning, I arrived at church at 7:45, a solid hour before anybody else got there. However, I was having some pretty serious pain in my right wrist (maybe too many flash cards??) so I reviewed my current flash cards instead of making more. That definitely got me off-track since I was supposed to use the morning time to finish the antiarrhythmics (and I hadn't even started those yet).
This afternoon and evening, though, I've nearly made up for it. My wrist is back in action (though still feeling ouchy). I am through antiarrhythmics (the longest and most difficult section), as well as vasodilators.
I had intended to get to positive inotropic agents and diuretics yet tonight, but it's after 9 pm and that's clearly not gonna happen. But I don't think I really even need to make flash cards for the diuretics, so that just leaves the positive inotropes for tomorrow.
I'll drive to church tomorrow morning, and ideally have some down time before and after the service to run through some of the flash cards I made today. Then I'll let CLH drive back to Windsor so I can drill more flash cards in the car.
After lunch, I'll finish up with the positive inotropic agents, and possibly make diuretics flash cards if I'm ahead of schedule. Then spend the rest of the evening running through my lovely flash cards. Plus Monday morning.
I'm expecting to have about 300 flash cards total. I think that should be plenty!
It sure is nice that Pharmacology is our only exam in the early part of this week... Preventive Medicine coming up on Thursday (but I got 99% on the first homework assignment and 100% on the first exam, so HA!), and Management exam on Friday (meh... doesn't really count). So I'm super-glad Pharm. is my only task for this weekend!
Last night, I almost finished the autonomic critical care drugs (which I was supposed to finish entirely), so clearly I didn't get to antiarrhythmics (which I'd hoped to at least start).
This morning, I arrived at church at 7:45, a solid hour before anybody else got there. However, I was having some pretty serious pain in my right wrist (maybe too many flash cards??) so I reviewed my current flash cards instead of making more. That definitely got me off-track since I was supposed to use the morning time to finish the antiarrhythmics (and I hadn't even started those yet).
This afternoon and evening, though, I've nearly made up for it. My wrist is back in action (though still feeling ouchy). I am through antiarrhythmics (the longest and most difficult section), as well as vasodilators.
I had intended to get to positive inotropic agents and diuretics yet tonight, but it's after 9 pm and that's clearly not gonna happen. But I don't think I really even need to make flash cards for the diuretics, so that just leaves the positive inotropes for tomorrow.
I'll drive to church tomorrow morning, and ideally have some down time before and after the service to run through some of the flash cards I made today. Then I'll let CLH drive back to Windsor so I can drill more flash cards in the car.
After lunch, I'll finish up with the positive inotropic agents, and possibly make diuretics flash cards if I'm ahead of schedule. Then spend the rest of the evening running through my lovely flash cards. Plus Monday morning.
I'm expecting to have about 300 flash cards total. I think that should be plenty!
It sure is nice that Pharmacology is our only exam in the early part of this week... Preventive Medicine coming up on Thursday (but I got 99% on the first homework assignment and 100% on the first exam, so HA!), and Management exam on Friday (meh... doesn't really count). So I'm super-glad Pharm. is my only task for this weekend!
Maybe we should have blessed the monkeys...
I spent the morning attending our church's "Blessing of the Animals" event. Highlights included:
- Decent attendance despite cold, snowy weather -- including a number of people not from our church
- About 40-50 dogs
- A herd of Greyhounds wearing fleece pajamas
- A muzzled Chihuahua
- An incessantly yappy Schnauzer
- One very brave, unflappable orange tabby cat
- One black rabbit (also quite stoic)
- One gecko in a Tupperware container
- A brief blessing ceremony in the sanctuary (complete with barking and howling along with the organ music)
- Three pastors to do the blessing
- One small dog poop on the sanctuary carpet
- One incident of explosive Greyhound diarrhea in the fellowship hall
- Donuts, bagels, coffee, and hot chocolate served by the youth group
- 3 rescue groups with animals (a cat shelter, a retired racing greyhound rescue, and a puppy mill rescue)
- A local vet and some of his staff
- A professional "come to your house and scoop your poop"-er
- Several local pet food and supply stores
- A groomer offering free nail trims
- A lady who makes jackets, sweaters, and other attire for chilly dogs
- Some pretty tasty-looking Cheeto-like snacks (sadly for the dogs, not the people)
- Almost no dog fights or "disagreements"
All in all it was a neat event, probably good publicity for the church, and enjoyable for all people and animals involved. It looks to be an annual event (though perhaps we can avoid snow next year and actually hold it outside....).
My to-do list
I love being able to cross "nap" off of my weekend to-do list.
(Hey, after awakening at 5:40 am to find an inch of snow already on the ground, and leaving the house at 6:20 to drive to Denver on icy roads with the snow still coming down, and record low temperatures for the day, I think I deserve it!)
(Hey, after awakening at 5:40 am to find an inch of snow already on the ground, and leaving the house at 6:20 to drive to Denver on icy roads with the snow still coming down, and record low temperatures for the day, I think I deserve it!)
Friday, October 9, 2009
Casual Friday
Today I learned that, apparently, my new Biology of Disease instructor interprets "casual Friday" to mean he doesn't have to wear the usual pocket square along with his fancy suit and tie...
(Seriously, I have never seen anybody in vet school, dean, administrator, faculty, student, or otherwise, with a pocket square... It is amusing. :-) )
(Seriously, I have never seen anybody in vet school, dean, administrator, faculty, student, or otherwise, with a pocket square... It is amusing. :-) )
To be a pre-vet student
On Monday, I will give a special tour of the VTH to a group of pre-vet students at the university. It will be basically the usual tour, plus some added info about admissions, curriculum, vet student life, etc.
After the tour, we'll spend another hour and a half in the junior lecture hall having a question and answer session about vet school.
I'm pretty interested to talk to these students. It was only a year ago that I had just frantically finished the VMCAS application and supplemental applications (I think it's an October 1st deadline) and everything was out of my hands.
The kids hoping to get acceptance letters in the spring are still probably close enough to the application deadline that they are still thinking:
After the tour, we'll spend another hour and a half in the junior lecture hall having a question and answer session about vet school.
I'm pretty interested to talk to these students. It was only a year ago that I had just frantically finished the VMCAS application and supplemental applications (I think it's an October 1st deadline) and everything was out of my hands.
The kids hoping to get acceptance letters in the spring are still probably close enough to the application deadline that they are still thinking:
- Should I have re-taken the GRE?
- Should I have taken another anatomy class instead of an elective?
- Did I ask the right people to write my recommendation letters?
- Have I worked for a vet long enough?
- Should I have applied to more schools?
- Is my veterinary experience varied enough?
- Did I make any grammar errors or typos in my personal statement?
- Am I going to stick out enough to get the attention of the admissions committee?
- Can I really afford to attend that out-of-state school I applied to?
- What am I going to do when I get a bunch of rejection letters?
- How am I supposed to prepare for my interview?
- Was that essay I wrote dumb?
- etc. times about infinity
I don't remember much about that feeling and wondering, despite it being only a couple years ago. I know that I didn't honestly have a lot of doubt that I wouldn't get into vet school. I never really considered a back-up plan or a Plan B in case of non-admission. It's interesting to think what I might have been doing for the last 12 months, had I not been lucky enough to be admitted on my first try.
Mostly, I'm just glad that now I'm in vet school and I don't have to worry about the application details any more. It's nice to know you have a "place" to be for a certain period of time. I guess I'll get to start worrying again in a couple years when I have to think about actually finding a job... (well, first I guess I have to pass the NAVLE....).
The Pharmacology study plan
....is revealed!
Our 2nd, and much scarier, Pharmacology exam is on Monday afternoon.
Now, granted, I got 15/15 on our first and only quiz, and 28/29 on the first exam. So it's not like I have to ace this exam or I'm in big trouble.
But I would really like to do well on Pharm, especially in light of the horror of this past Tuesday's Toxicology exam.
The fundamental basis of the Study Plan is an intense and overwhelming production and review of flash cards.
Thus far I've made flashcards for almost all of the autonomic nervous system pharmacology (ANS basics, cholinergic agonists and antagonists, adrenergic agonists and antagonists, ganglionic blockers, and neuromuscular junction blockers). That is about 120 flash cards. I'm doing really well on the ANS basics and cholinergic agonists. I'm doing moderately well on cholinergic antagonists. I just started the other ones today.
The rest of this evening includes:
Our 2nd, and much scarier, Pharmacology exam is on Monday afternoon.
Now, granted, I got 15/15 on our first and only quiz, and 28/29 on the first exam. So it's not like I have to ace this exam or I'm in big trouble.
But I would really like to do well on Pharm, especially in light of the horror of this past Tuesday's Toxicology exam.
The fundamental basis of the Study Plan is an intense and overwhelming production and review of flash cards.
Thus far I've made flashcards for almost all of the autonomic nervous system pharmacology (ANS basics, cholinergic agonists and antagonists, adrenergic agonists and antagonists, ganglionic blockers, and neuromuscular junction blockers). That is about 120 flash cards. I'm doing really well on the ANS basics and cholinergic agonists. I'm doing moderately well on cholinergic antagonists. I just started the other ones today.
The rest of this evening includes:
- Critical care autonomic drugs
- Possibly starting on antiarrhythmics
Tomorrow morning's trip to Denver will include:
- A review of all the flash cards I've made so far
- Hopefully finishing up the antiarrhythmic flash cards
Tomorrow afternoon and evening:
- Vasodilators
- Positive inotropic agents
- Diuretics
The Plan is to finish ALL my flash cards by the end of tomorrow, thus reserving Sunday for intensive flash card review (I'm glad I bought the 500-pack of index cards).
Monday, prior to 1 pm, will also be used for flash card review.
I'm feeling like this will probably be manageable. I would love to continue to get A's in all of my classes (well, except Toxicology).
But I'm pretty sure that after this test, I'm going to start making flash cards a lot sooner before the exam approaches...
Thursday, October 8, 2009
How does the Lyme vaccine work?
(by special request) :-)
Hey, I actually know this one!
So, Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi which is transmitted by several species of ticks. The bacterium expresses several different antigens depending on where the bacterium is existing. I think that the bacterium expresses the OspA antigen when the bacterium is living in the tick, and the OspC antigen when the bacterium is living in the mammalian host (dog, human, etc.).
The Lyme vaccine, when administered to a dog, induces the dog's immune system to make antibodies against the OspA antigen. (Seems counterintuitive because the OspA antigen isn't expressed in the dog, right?)
The deal is that the tick must be attached to the mammalian host and feeding for a certain period of time before the bacterium can be transmitted.
When the tick starts taking a blood meal from the dog, it also ingests the antibodies against OspA that are circulating in the dog's bloodstream thanks to the vaccination.
The antibodies against OspA then enter the tick's digestive organs where the bacterium is waiting before it can be transmitted to the dog. Since the bacterium is still expressing the OspA antigen, the antibodies against OspA can bind up the OspA antigen and neutralize it and thus prevent it from being transmitted to the dog.
(At least that's how it works in theory.)
Whoa, I learned something in vet school!!!
Hey, I actually know this one!
So, Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi which is transmitted by several species of ticks. The bacterium expresses several different antigens depending on where the bacterium is existing. I think that the bacterium expresses the OspA antigen when the bacterium is living in the tick, and the OspC antigen when the bacterium is living in the mammalian host (dog, human, etc.).
The Lyme vaccine, when administered to a dog, induces the dog's immune system to make antibodies against the OspA antigen. (Seems counterintuitive because the OspA antigen isn't expressed in the dog, right?)
The deal is that the tick must be attached to the mammalian host and feeding for a certain period of time before the bacterium can be transmitted.
When the tick starts taking a blood meal from the dog, it also ingests the antibodies against OspA that are circulating in the dog's bloodstream thanks to the vaccination.
The antibodies against OspA then enter the tick's digestive organs where the bacterium is waiting before it can be transmitted to the dog. Since the bacterium is still expressing the OspA antigen, the antibodies against OspA can bind up the OspA antigen and neutralize it and thus prevent it from being transmitted to the dog.
(At least that's how it works in theory.)
Whoa, I learned something in vet school!!!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Ready for a good day
After Monday's ups and downs, and a rough Tuesday** culminating in a terrible, terrible Toxicology exam (which we won't talk about right now), I am ready for a happy Wednesday. Bring it on!
**Although I did find out that I got 100% on my Preventive Medicine exam from last week, and I also won a backpack in a raffle at the Royal Canin luncheon (where I also got my fill of free pizza)...
**Although I did find out that I got 100% on my Preventive Medicine exam from last week, and I also won a backpack in a raffle at the Royal Canin luncheon (where I also got my fill of free pizza)...
Monday, October 5, 2009
The ups and downs of my Monday
Today was a Monday full of pros and cons, positives and negatives, boos and bravos, yays and nays.
Up: Slept all the way through the night (which, thank goodness, is becoming a more common occurrence lately)
Down: Woke up to a gloomy morning and had to get out of bed and leave CLH asleep
Up: Made it through a grueling 19 minutes of jogging (tomorrow I'll do 20!)
Up: Packed an awesome lunch
Down: It was raining during my drive to school, resulting in an overabundance of what I've decided to start calling "noodlehead" drivers (because it's harder to yell "You noodlehead!" with a straight face than it is to yell some other remarks)
Up: Our new lecturer in Preventive Medicine was pretty awesome, and funny too -- although basically I would have been thrilled with anything that wasn't statistics
Up: Bioanalytical Pathology exam went really well -- I had felt pretty prepared for it, and I'm almost sure I got an 'A' -- there was only 1 question where I felt I sort of guessed between two answers, but it sounds like I guessed right
Up: Skipped management class
Down: Did not study tox at all during the lunch break, even though needing to study tox was my excuse for skipping management
Up: Found out that in recent years the tox professor has surprised the class on exam day or the day before and made it an open-note or take-home exam
Down: Found out that this year's juniors did terribly on the tox section of their capstone exam, so people are guessing we won't get a take-home exam tomorrow after all
Up: Ate my banana, canteloupe, strawberries, yogurt, and carrot. Yum!
Down: Spilled my entire Tupperware container of chicken parmesan, spaghetti, and pasta sauce all over my sweatshirt and jeans and the communal couch. Friends laughed.
Up: Chicken parmesan et al was still tasty after scooping it back into the container and reheating
Up: Achieved level 8 in Farmville and now can plant raspberries
Down: Was quizzed on tox material by a friend and failed miserably at coming up with 80% of the correct answers. Drop in self-esteem.
Up: Noticed the sun had come out!
Up: My preferred lecturer taught in Pharmacology
Up: Sounds like the format of the upcoming Pharm exam will be fair and not too terrible
Down: Tox professor rushed through about 30 new poisonous plants that we are supposed to learn/memorize before tomorrow's exam; no mention of it being open-book or take-home
Down: Spent several hours in the computer lab studying tox; did not get nearly as far as I needed to
Down: Gloomy again by the time I left school
Up: Got gas for $2.19/gallon
Down: Went to Sunflower and couldn't find 2 of the 3 things CLH asked me to get
Up: Did find a decent-looking cucumber at a reasonable price
Up: Remembered that Sunflower has the awesome watermelon-flavored licorice that I used to eat all the time in Arizona
Down: Could not find said licorice; maybe it is sold at Sprouts, not Sunflower?
Up: Got some tropical-flavored gummy bears and a tub of chocolate pecan clusters instead; sampled both on the way home and found them to be delicious
Down: Raining again on the way home; serious reappearance of noodlehead drivers (you would think that since these people can drive confidently through a snowstorm, a slight drizzle wouldn't bug them...)
Up: Saw the sneaky highway patrol car in time to drop 10 mph off my speed and avoid a ticket (which wouldn't be good since I lack proof of insurance and registration for the car.... gotta fix that)
Up: Remembered we're having lasagna for dinner. Yum!
Down: Found out that it was weird chicken lasagna with carrots and peppers. Yuck.
Down: 'A' and 'P' keys are hardly working on my laptop (try typing "laptop" with your 'A' and 'P' keys not working)
Up: Remembered that I don't have to go to class until 11 am tomorrow. Hooray for sleep, exercise, and extra study time!
Up: Slept all the way through the night (which, thank goodness, is becoming a more common occurrence lately)
Down: Woke up to a gloomy morning and had to get out of bed and leave CLH asleep
Up: Made it through a grueling 19 minutes of jogging (tomorrow I'll do 20!)
Up: Packed an awesome lunch
Down: It was raining during my drive to school, resulting in an overabundance of what I've decided to start calling "noodlehead" drivers (because it's harder to yell "You noodlehead!" with a straight face than it is to yell some other remarks)
Up: Our new lecturer in Preventive Medicine was pretty awesome, and funny too -- although basically I would have been thrilled with anything that wasn't statistics
Up: Bioanalytical Pathology exam went really well -- I had felt pretty prepared for it, and I'm almost sure I got an 'A' -- there was only 1 question where I felt I sort of guessed between two answers, but it sounds like I guessed right
Up: Skipped management class
Down: Did not study tox at all during the lunch break, even though needing to study tox was my excuse for skipping management
Up: Found out that in recent years the tox professor has surprised the class on exam day or the day before and made it an open-note or take-home exam
Down: Found out that this year's juniors did terribly on the tox section of their capstone exam, so people are guessing we won't get a take-home exam tomorrow after all
Up: Ate my banana, canteloupe, strawberries, yogurt, and carrot. Yum!
Down: Spilled my entire Tupperware container of chicken parmesan, spaghetti, and pasta sauce all over my sweatshirt and jeans and the communal couch. Friends laughed.
Up: Chicken parmesan et al was still tasty after scooping it back into the container and reheating
Up: Achieved level 8 in Farmville and now can plant raspberries
Down: Was quizzed on tox material by a friend and failed miserably at coming up with 80% of the correct answers. Drop in self-esteem.
Up: Noticed the sun had come out!
Up: My preferred lecturer taught in Pharmacology
Up: Sounds like the format of the upcoming Pharm exam will be fair and not too terrible
Down: Tox professor rushed through about 30 new poisonous plants that we are supposed to learn/memorize before tomorrow's exam; no mention of it being open-book or take-home
Down: Spent several hours in the computer lab studying tox; did not get nearly as far as I needed to
Down: Gloomy again by the time I left school
Up: Got gas for $2.19/gallon
Down: Went to Sunflower and couldn't find 2 of the 3 things CLH asked me to get
Up: Did find a decent-looking cucumber at a reasonable price
Up: Remembered that Sunflower has the awesome watermelon-flavored licorice that I used to eat all the time in Arizona
Down: Could not find said licorice; maybe it is sold at Sprouts, not Sunflower?
Up: Got some tropical-flavored gummy bears and a tub of chocolate pecan clusters instead; sampled both on the way home and found them to be delicious
Down: Raining again on the way home; serious reappearance of noodlehead drivers (you would think that since these people can drive confidently through a snowstorm, a slight drizzle wouldn't bug them...)
Up: Saw the sneaky highway patrol car in time to drop 10 mph off my speed and avoid a ticket (which wouldn't be good since I lack proof of insurance and registration for the car.... gotta fix that)
Up: Remembered we're having lasagna for dinner. Yum!
Down: Found out that it was weird chicken lasagna with carrots and peppers. Yuck.
Down: 'A' and 'P' keys are hardly working on my laptop (try typing "laptop" with your 'A' and 'P' keys not working)
Up: Remembered that I don't have to go to class until 11 am tomorrow. Hooray for sleep, exercise, and extra study time!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Vet school joke of the day
Q: What are the two sexiest animals?
A: Brown chicken brown cow.
Seriously, that has been cracking me up all weekend.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you don't get it: think "bow chicka wow wow."
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you still don't get it, I'm afraid I can't help.
A: Brown chicken brown cow.
Seriously, that has been cracking me up all weekend.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you don't get it: think "bow chicka wow wow."
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you still don't get it, I'm afraid I can't help.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Need to prioritize
I think I've posted about this before.... the all-too-common phenomenon by which I have a lot of important stuff to do and yet I choose to do something else entirely.
What should I be doing this weekend? Studying.
What should I be studying? Bioanalytical pathology (exam on Monday), Toxicology (exam on Tuesday), and Biology of Disease (exam online next week).
What did I choose to study last night? Preventive medicine.
When was my last preventive medicine test? Two days ago.
When is my next preventive medicine test? In about two weeks.
How many other exams do I have before then? Four or five.
Pretty much I'm just sick of studying for Bioanalytical Path, I don't even know where to begin for Tox, and I'm already basically caught up on BoD.
Still, time to press onward....
What should I be doing this weekend? Studying.
What should I be studying? Bioanalytical pathology (exam on Monday), Toxicology (exam on Tuesday), and Biology of Disease (exam online next week).
What did I choose to study last night? Preventive medicine.
When was my last preventive medicine test? Two days ago.
When is my next preventive medicine test? In about two weeks.
How many other exams do I have before then? Four or five.
Pretty much I'm just sick of studying for Bioanalytical Path, I don't even know where to begin for Tox, and I'm already basically caught up on BoD.
Still, time to press onward....
A 5 minute mile is a little too fast for me
Today's 5k hosted by the One Health Club went pretty well. (No, that does not mean I enjoyed getting up at 6:15 and huddling outside in the 28 degree weather for almost two hours before the race started.)
They were hoping for about 100 participants but ended up with 43 people running although 60 people registered (some pre-registered and didn't show up). I actually counted about 45 dogs there, so that was a pretty good dog-to-person ratio. Apparently some of the other local 5k's don't allow canine participation, so that was a plus for ours.
The winner of the race completed it in about 16 minutes, which came to 5 minutes and 10 seconds per mile.
Ok, seriously? Is that, like, humanly possible? I think I could run that fast for about 8 steps before collapsing. Ten minute miles are more my speed.
I didn't run but did do physicals on canine participants for about an hour and talk to people about obesity. Fortunately, most of the doggies that attended were in pretty good shape, because it is often awkward to explain to people that their dog is really fat. (Denial, anyone? "No, she's just fluffy." "It's her winter weight." "I can't stop giving her treats, she'll hate me!")
I got home around 11:30, listed to some "Whad'ya Know" on NPR, had some lunch, and dove into my books and notes in preparation for my upcoming terrible exams.
And, surprisingly, I have managed to stay awake all afternoon so far! Though a nap has been constantly calling....
They were hoping for about 100 participants but ended up with 43 people running although 60 people registered (some pre-registered and didn't show up). I actually counted about 45 dogs there, so that was a pretty good dog-to-person ratio. Apparently some of the other local 5k's don't allow canine participation, so that was a plus for ours.
The winner of the race completed it in about 16 minutes, which came to 5 minutes and 10 seconds per mile.
Ok, seriously? Is that, like, humanly possible? I think I could run that fast for about 8 steps before collapsing. Ten minute miles are more my speed.
I didn't run but did do physicals on canine participants for about an hour and talk to people about obesity. Fortunately, most of the doggies that attended were in pretty good shape, because it is often awkward to explain to people that their dog is really fat. (Denial, anyone? "No, she's just fluffy." "It's her winter weight." "I can't stop giving her treats, she'll hate me!")
I got home around 11:30, listed to some "Whad'ya Know" on NPR, had some lunch, and dove into my books and notes in preparation for my upcoming terrible exams.
And, surprisingly, I have managed to stay awake all afternoon so far! Though a nap has been constantly calling....
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