Saturday, May 30, 2009

Simon loves to save lives

Mr. Simon-Monkey had his first blood donor appointment on Tuesday. I drove him to FoCo and set him up in a kennel in the teaching hospital at 7:45 am.

Once the nurses and doctors got there, they checked him out, made sure he looked good physically, then sedated him and stole away a whole bunch of his blood.

I made the nurse promise to call me when Simon was done, since he'd never had this sedative before, or donated blood before, and even vet students can be worried mommies! I got a call just before 2 pm saying Simon was all done and that he was "perfect." That's my good little cooperative cat!

I was working in Northglenn till 7:30 pm so didn't get to the hospital to pick up Simon until after 8. He was the only cat left in the ward when I got there, and yawned and blinked his sleepy eyes with an expression that said, "Okay, I thought you were never coming back!"

After that, he did totally fine. I thought he might be a little sleepy or tired for awhile, or hungrier than usual, but he had dinner when he came home then immediately jumped back into the routine of tearing around the house with his miscreant brother. Simon has a small patch of hair shaved on his neck and had some mild bruising on his neck for a couple of days, but other than that he is totally back to normal and ready to donate blood again in a couple of months!

P.S. I think I have found a petsitter to watch J&S for the ~7-8 weeks we are in Massachusetts. Keeping my fingers crossed that this one works out!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Welcome to summer

Finals finished on a Wednesday 12 days ago, and it has officially been "summer" ever since.

I spent the next day, Thursday, getting the second floor of our condo in livable condition. Believe me, that was an all-day project despite there being only 4 rooms.

Friday was intended to be my clean-up day for the main floor, but CLH stayed home from work so I didn't get much cleaning done (a-okay by me). I also got to have a bonus trip to FoCo for an eye exam at the student health center (results: my eyes are really messed up but at least they aren't getting worse!).

Saturday and Sunday were taken up by church activities and handbell concerts (which went well).

And Monday was the first day of my new, 6-week job at a clinic owned by a Giant Veterinary Corporation in Northglenn, CO.

Northglenn is a northern suburb of Colorado and is about 48 miles from where we live in Windsor. On a good day, it takes me between 40 and 45 minutes to get there (and yes, that means I am not exactly going the 75 mph speed limit on I-25). On a rainy day or in rush-hour traffic, the drive is closer to an hour. But really, it's not that bad. It's pretty much a straight shot down I-25, and I can drive really fast, which always makes me happy. I listened to the radio for a couple of days then checked out an unabridged Michael Crichton novel on 11 CDs from the library. That should take me awhile!

The job is okay. The first couple days were pretty boring, because nobody seemed quite sure what I was supposed to be doing. I mostly watched what was going on and helped restrain a few animals. After that, things have started to get better. People are actually starting to explain to me how they do things and asking me to help with other stuff. Most of the stuff, like drawing blood and running tests, I already know how to do, but every clinic does it a little differently.

My second day of work, last Tuesday, was not super-fun. It culminated in a drawn-out, two-hour death for a 17-year-old cat that had never been to the clinic before. The cat died from respiratory distress (i.e. it couldn't breathe and nobody could figure out why). I spent the two hours shut in the surgery room with the poor gasping cat, giving it oxygen through a mask, while they tried to figure out what was wrong with it. Kitty got really close to dying a couple times but rebounded. Finally, after two hours, she was really, really near death so the owner came in to see her and decided (wisely, and belatedly, in my opinion) to euthanize her. The doctor and other nurses left me in the room with kitty and owner while they went to prepare paperwork and things they needed for euthanasia. Kitty died while they were gone. That was a definite bummer and not a real happy way to end my second day of work. I've seen many, many animals euthanized, but never spent such an intimate length of time watching one die on its own. I'd rather participate in a hundred euthanasias than go through that again.

Anyway! Last week's work schedule was Mon/Tues/Fri from 9-7:30 and Saturday from 9-6:30 (with a 1-hour lunch break every day). This week's schedule is shorter shifts, but more of them: Monday (yes, Memorial Day) from 11-5:30, Tues/Thurs/Fri from 11-7:30, and Saturday from 9-6:30. It will be nice to have the shorter days (mostly 8.5 hours instead of 10.5) but that means I'll be driving to Denver 5 times instead of 4 times for the same amount of work as last week.

Though it's technically summer, it doesn't entirely feel like it. I feel busier right now than I did during the school year. Or maybe it's the same level of busy-ness, but my current activities are remarkably more tiring. I had forgotten about the sheer physical exhaustion of being on your feet and handling animals for 9 or 10 hours straight, which I'd imagine is quite exacerbated from the last 9 months that I've spent sitting on my butt in a classroom all day. But I think I'm getting used to it again pretty quickly.

(Lest you think I'm enjoying my days off too much, consider that last Wednesday [my first day off from work], I sat at home and enjoyed myself. Last Thursday [my second day off], I drive to Fort Morgan and spent the afternoon and evening with CLH for his middle school concert, then stayed over night and drove 75 miles instead of 48 to work on Friday morning. Yesterday [my third day off], we drove back to Fort Morgan again so CLH could play the organ at the Presby church there. My next day off is this Wednesday, when I'll be driving back to FoCo to get my last rabies shot and finish up other assorted errands. I'm hoping that by the end of June, I will have had a day off when I get to actually stay in Windsor instead of spending half the day in the car!!)

Anyhow, it is definitely interesting to see how this clinic is run and how things are done, with this clinic being owned by a Giant Veterinary Corporation. Actually, the main reason I took this job is so that I could find out what it's like to be in such a clinic, so it will be a good experience and I expect I'll be glad I did it in the end.

Now almost time to get back in the car for a drive to Denver...

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

What really matters: grades!

Finance: 96% on the final, 97.6% in the course

Neurobiology: 92.5% on the final, 97.2% in the course

Nutrition: 95% on the final, 97.25 % in the course

Bacteriology: 92.7% on the final, 94.4% in the course

Parasitology/Virology: 80% on the final (yep, I didn't study much), 89% in the course

Biology of Disease: 92.2% on the final, 95.2% in the course

Food Animal Production: no grades, so I guess I'm all set

Professional Writing: 100% on the final assignment, 99.3% in the course

All in all, I'm pretty darn happy with those grades. It was one of those semesters where working your butt off at the beginning and middle of the term resulted in pretty high grades that meant I didn't have to freak out about finals... which is always nice. For all the vet school courses, at least, anything >70% shows up on your transcript as 'S' for satisfactory - so we don't really get letter grades and are told not to worry about them. But it's still a nice way to tell how you're doing. I would have loved to bump that 89% in Viro/Parasit up to an 'A,' but I think I can live with one B+ for the semester!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Happy Birthday, Monkeys!

Johnny & Simon turn 2 today, so happy birthday to them! They have thus far spent their day dropping random objects in their water dish, eating some lovely dry food, and napping in the sunshine. Sounds like a pretty good life to me.

We've had them for almost a year and a half (since right after our wedding) and they continue to bring us joy, cuteness, amusement, and unrelenting mischief. Here's hoping with a few more years, they'll finally learn to settle down and be good cats!

(Yeah right!)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

And.... we're done!

That's right, folks, as of 2:45 pm yesterday, my semester is OVER!

The virology final in the morning went okay. (Turns out I should have studied more, but I'm positive I got the requisite 7 out of 50 questions correct.)

I took Biology of Disease online in the afternoon - and it was a breeze. (I got 93% more than the necessary 0% to pass the class, and thus kept my 'A.')

At 3:30, I packed up the last of my belongings from the cubes and left for the last time. Badge access to the cubes ends tomorrow at 5 pm, and I won't be back before then. It was a little bittersweet - but I was not nearly as sad as I thought I might me. The cubes had ups and downs, and lately the downs were starting to outnumber the ups (or maybe my patience was waning).

I finished out the day by giving a tour of the teaching hospital. It was the second tour I've given myself, and my first tour flying solo with no experienced person to back me up. It went great! And my tour victims were awesome people - a college junior starting the vet school application process this summer, and her dad, who graduated from our vet school in the 70s.

Upon arriving home, my brain went into pretty much immediate shut-down mode. Dinner consisted of ice cream and scalloped potatoes (separately), and my evening activities centered around watching TV and playing games on the computer. The house looks like it's been hit by a tornado, but that was not at all a priority for yesterday!

As I sit here, it's hard not to wonder which class I should be most worried about studying for...

Stay tuned for a summary of my grades and reflections on freshman year (which will not be forthcoming until my brain is 100% wound down!).

Monday, May 11, 2009

A good feeling

It's always nice when you get to that point in the semester where, in an attempt to continue procrastinating on your studying for finals, you take a look at your grades and calculate what score you need on the final exam to pass each course. (Nutrition has already been aced and I'm 99.98% sure I passed Neuro.)

Bacteriology: 38% needed to pass, 83% needed to keep my 'A'

Virology/Parasitology: 13% needed to pass, 83% needed to keep my 'A'

Finance: -42% needed to pass (i.e. I could have completely skipped the final this morning and still gotten an acceptable 78% in the course), 58% needed to keep my 'A'

Biology of Disease: -7% needed to pass (i.e. again, I can skip this final and pass the course), 76% needed to keep my 'A'

Man, it's numbers like that that completely justify my current procrastination on reviewing for Bacteriology this afternoon!

It sure is nice to know that the semester's hard work paid off.... (although, I guess I still gotta get that required 38% and 13% on the BacT and Viro/Parasit finals!)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Slow learner?

How many more years do you think it will take before I learn that studying on the couch under a blanket with both of the cats snuggling next to me is conducive to nothing except a nap?

Friday, May 8, 2009

It's Friday, this makes my brain hurt

A quote I heard today:

"Life is a sexually transmitted disease with a 100% mortality rate."

Deep. Very deep.

:-)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Where has all the $$$ gone??

After my visit to the dental clinic at the Student Health Center today, I realized that I can expect to spend about $1K this month on health/medical expenses... including 3 rabies vaccines ($540), dentist visit w/x-rays ($160), eye exam ($65), and another year's worth of contact lenses.

Hooray for giant tax refunds, and the prospect of making a lot of money this summer!

End of classes!

As of officially 10:50 am today, spring classes are finished! Can I get a whoo hoo?!

Let's take a look at my updated things-to-do-before-I-am-free-for-the-summer schedule:

- 1 cumulative virology final exam [the 1st virology exam was a breeze, so I'm not worried]
- 1 cumulative bacteriology/mycology final exam [will probably be my most challenging final]
- 1 cumulative online biology of disease final exam [should be okay]
- 1 finance final exam [hahahaha I'll be studying for about 15 minutes]
- 6 days before the bittersweet move out of the cubes [they are taking away our badge access at 5 pm next Friday!! :( ]
- 2 school days in May [both consisting of exams]

It's been fun being a freshman, but I am definitely ready to be a sophomore (although I hear being a freshman is in fact more fun than being a sophomore)....

6 days, then Summer Here I Come! Looking forward to getting Simon started as a blood donor (he passed his tests!), giving a whole bunch of tours of the teaching hospital, experiencing work/life/culture at a Giant Veterinary Corporation, then heading out to Massachusetts for 6-7 weeks of beautiful countryside and what I hope will be very few people complaining to me about their choice of concert tickets!

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake!

I just have to cross-post this excellent new recipe from our Recipe Blog. It is easy and WONDERFUL! Enjoy!

http://pbrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/05/triple-chocolate-bundt-cake.html

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Professor awesomeness continues

With tomorrow's anticipated class schedule consisting of lectures from 8-10 am and 2-3 pm, I am pleased to say that our professors continue to be accommodating and awesome. Thus, our 2-3 pm lecture will be moved to 10-11 am, just before our potluck/cube party at 11. And, bless her heart, the professor who moved her lecture also offered to come back at 2 pm to give the same lecture to any students who were upset with or had a conflict with the new 10 am lecture time. Hooray for professors who not only want to see their students succeed, but who also want to make students' lives easier!

I had no better use for that $540 anyway

The next time anyone complains to me about paying $15-20 for their pet's rabies vaccine, I plan to inform them that they should be thankful it was so cheap, given that I'll be paying $180 for each of my own three required rabies vaccinations (starting today).

Cons: Ouch! (Ouch to my arm and ouch to my May Visa bill.)
Pros: I shouldn't have to be revaccinated for several decades (as long as no unvaccinated animals bite me... and they'd better not!)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Way to go, professors!

As it has gradually dawned on the freshman class that our lecture schedule for the rest of the week is really messed up, our few remaining professors have decided to be extra cooperative and awesome. Thus, tomorrow's lecture schedule has been altered to 1-3 pm instead of 8-9 am and 2-3 pm. Hooray for not having class till 12! (Finance.) Thursday will still be pretty spread out, but we are supposedly having an end-of-the-year potluck and party, so that ought to liven things up.

Monday, May 4, 2009

What am I doing here???

So this week has turned into MAJOR slacker week for us freshman vet students.

We finished neurobiology a couple weeks ago, so that means that our normally scheduled 8 hours of neuro lecture/lab this week are empty (except for a 2-hour optional equine neuro exam lecture).

We finished nutrition last week, so our 2 normally scheduled hours of nutrition lecture are free.

We finished writing last week, so we have an hour of free time when we'd normally have writing lecture.

And, we just found out today that our Biology of Disease professor ran out of things to do for the end of the semester, so our 4 normally scheduled hours of BioDz lecture this week will also be empty.

Now, I'm all for free time. The more of it, the better. Free time = sleeping, relaxing, studying, etc.

Except our remaining classes that are going until the end of the semester (i.e. Bacteriology and Virology) are the first and last class of the day.

So today we had BacT from 8-9, then Virology from 2-3. (I had finance from 12-1.) Thus, 9 am to 2 pm = sitting around trying to be productive. You know the schedule is messed up when it turns out that going to Finance was the most productive part of your day.

Tuesday's schedule includes BacT 9-10 and Neuro 10-12. (Free afternoon! Go home! Have fun! [a.k.a. stay at school and take online nutrition exam].)

Wednesday's schedule is BacT 8-9, Finance 12-1, and Viro 2-3. (= 4 free hours to fill.)

Thursday's schedule is Food Animal Production 8-10 and Viro 2-3. (= 4 free hours to fill.)

This is one of those times when I really regret living a half-hour drive from campus! Ah, the naps I could have if we lived in FoCo....

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Countdown update

With merely 1 week of classes remaining in the semester, let's take another look at the rest of my tasks for this year:

- 1 cumulative virology final exam
- 1 cumulative bacteriology/mycology final exam
- 1 neurobiology lecture
- 1 neurobiology final grade to be revealed
- 1 cumulative online biology of disease final exam
- 1 online nutrition final exam
- 1 finance final exam
- 1 tour of the teaching hospital to give
- 1.5 weeks before the bittersweet move out of the cubes
- 1 food animal production lecture
- 3 bacteriology/mycology lectures
- 4 biology of disease lectures
- 3 virology lectures
- 3 finance lectures
- 7 school days in May

Looks better than my last countdown!

Hypothesis

I think Sudafed is made of magic and happiness.

P.S. I am really, really ready to not be sick anymore. Going on Day 12...

Friday, May 1, 2009

My new favorite website....

...is http://www.punditkitchen.com/!*

Here's one of my favorite pictures to whet your appetite: http://punditkitchen.com/2008/07/11/political-pictures-george-bush-something-wrong-banana-corn/

*Disclaimer: might only be appreciated if you are a Democrat/liberal, and/or a Republican with a very good sense of humor.