Runner's Log

~8 miles; 1:45'; 845 calories burned.

My stinking nike+ STILL isn't calibrated correctly - drats! It's giving me about .08miles/1mile credit than I deserve. Oh well...

Some Mornings

I just want to throw my scale against a wall. Today was one of those mornings. Also, in studying today I learned that a withdrawal symptom of caffeine intoxication is weight gain. This, my friends, is why I will NEVER give up coffee and tea.

Blech... Now it's time to attempt a 10 mile run with A. Let's hope we make it!

It's Official

I've passed all my classes of 2nd year and am halfway to my M.D.!!! Wahoo!!! I'm going to go celebrate by....

studying :(

But I might just splurge and get an iced latte instead of my usual medium drip coffee. Hooray for progress!

Study Break of the Day

Kris got an e-mail from the Teach Mississippi Institute stating that his completion certificate is in the mail! Wahoo! He's off at the movies while I'm stuck here studying, but when he gets finished we're going to have a celebratory dinner at the place of his choice. That'll be today's study break and I swear I'll look forward to it for the next 3 hours. After that I'll look forward to running and going to bed. I'm hoping the rain is finished so I can fit in a little run after dinner. Maybe it'll keep me from gorging myself. Probably not though.

P.S. - I can't complain too much about studying today since I didn't get started until 2:15. That's what happens when it's raining and you want to stay in bed all day. I plan on studying until 1:00 tonight to make up for the difference and the hours away at dinner and running. Sometimes I REALLY wish I were a morning person. In one month I'll probably KILL to be a morning person! And so that's how I decided upon my gift to myself for completing the STEP. Behold:



It's a coffeemaker WITH a timer. That way when I roll out of bed at 4:30am I'll have a fresh cup of coffee waiting on me. Goodbye $12 Wal-Mart coffeemaker. I'll miss you!

Study Day 4

Well, today isn't over yet, so here's hoping I finish the rest of the studying I need to before bed.

Here's what I did besides study:

Massage: FABULOUS. Got the "sports massage" instead of the regular Swedish. I needed it. I nearly cried when she dug her elbows into those tight little muscles around my neck (trapezius and levator scapulae anyone?) that are tight from 2 years of hovering over a desk studying and taking tests. But I really needed someone to dig their elbows in there! I feel much better now. Everybody should go get one of these - Massage Plus has some really great specials - 1 hour for $45; 1 hour couple's massage for $60. Seriously, just do it.

Academy Sports: bought some jelly belly sports beans and some Gu. The beans taste good, the Gu is nasty, but both help you get through really long runs. Also lucked out and found a comfy blue shirt for $2.88! I've never been in there and didn't realize all the good deals they have. Definitely going to start shopping there more often.

Grocery: stocked up on some food. Even managed to cook dinner. Somehow everything got ready at the same time. I love it when that happens. It's not too often that it does in this house :) Made turkey spaghetti with wheat noodles, boiled some fresh corn on the cob, salad with egg, and garlic bread.
Also stocked up on some yogurt and granola cereal to make some yummy little fruit parfaits. I had one at CUPS the other day which was delicious, but I paid $5 for it! That's just crazy! So I used frozen berries, granola cereal, low fat plain yogurt, and made 4 individual parfaits in tupperware for $5 total.

All in all it's been a fabulous day. Hoping I'll be really productive tomorrow since I got to relax so much today. Time will tell...

Runner's Log

4.0 miles; 45 minutes; 392 calories burned

Oh my gosh it was HOT!!! This is the last time I run before 5:00 for a long time.

Craving

Some cheap-o summer dresses to wear around town for the next month while I study. The cheapo dresses from last summer have gotten shorter due to my inability to separate them from the rest of my laundry. Target, here I come...

Study destination of the day today: Beagle Bagel Cafe
Study Topic: Pulmonology - the embryology, anatomy, physiology, pathology, and microbiology of it all. (Sounds like a lot, but it's not much at all)
Study Breaks of the day: Run, Grocery, Massage, Medium (the show on NBC about the psychic - so good!)

Looking Forward to the Breaks

I've made a crazy study schedule for STEP. I'm currently on day 4, but within the first 3 days, at least half of those days have been breaks. Ha ha. So pretty much all I've done is a diagnostic test and genetics.

Today's goal is to finish up Biochem (aka the bane of my existence)before dinner and then start on the embryology, anatomy, and physiology of pulmonology before I hit the sack tonight. Wonder if it's going to happen? Only time will tell. Currently I'm just looking forward to the small breaks that are scheduled in.

Tonight's break: dinner at Logan's around 7ish, Mad Men at 11; probably going to watch Desperate as part of my study break tomorrow.

Days 'til STEP is OVER: 26

Runner's Log

9.0 miles; 2:07'; 1016 calories burned

Not dying after all - maybe the Gu is all it's cracked up to be.

Done and Done

Yesterday was incredibly productive. I didn't work out (of course), but I did nearly everything else on my list. Made appointments for the animals, made a hair appointment, scheduled a plumber to come by, and had dinner with my M4 buddy.

This morning was filled with taking the animals to the vet, getting the haircut, and finishing up the diagnostic test. Now it's time to study before the 9 mile run. Ack!!! Let's hope I make it!

Oh yeah - massage is scheduled for Monday afternoon. Can't freakin' wait!!!

It's Funny 'Cause it's True

One of my dear classmates posted a link to this article and it's hilarious - if you're in med school. Maybe not so much if you're not. So true though. Any question we get about an African American pt, you can be sure about 50% of the time it's either sickle cell or sarcoidosis they're asking about.

This is from www.agraphia.net

Stereotyping for the USMLE:
How To Discriminate Your Way To The Top

Race/Ethnicity

African Americans have sarcoid and sickle cell.
Africans have Burkitt’s, malaria, sleeping sickness, or worse.
White kids have cystic fibrosis and can’t dance.
Jewish girls have ulcerative colitis or crohn’s.
Eastern Europeans have glycogen storage diseases (oy vey!).
Gorgeous Mediterranian men have beta thalassemia.
Japanese people have stomach cancer and ninja skills.
Peruvians have huge lungs, hypoxia, and polycythemia.
Native Americans are obese, have diabetes, high cholesterol, and gallstones.
Indians (from India) have TB and oral cancer from chewing Betel nuts .
Immigrants all have a disease that we can prevent with a vaccine.
Central Americans have Chagas and can dance the tango.
Mexican Kids have lead poisoning (lead-laced candy was a bad call, vatos).
French people - particularly from Paris, that dirty, dirty city - have toxoplasmosis.
Asians have alpha thalassemia, Takayasu Arteritis, and asian glow.
Americans are fat. Actually, thats just an observation of mine.
“Urban” patients present to the ER with knife wounds that conveniently test your knowledge of anatomy.
Professions

Lawyers have STD’s (gotcha now, suckas!).
Dentists and aerospace workers have Berylliosis.
Explosives experts / Explosives plant workers get “monday morning headache”.
Coal miners have CWP, TB, and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Cave explorers have cryptococcus.
Sheepherders have echinococcus and a dog named Lassie.
Radiologists have any blood cancer but CLL.
Nurses and pharmacists have factitious disorder.
Football players, wrestlers, and weight lifters are taking anabolic steroids.
Young athletes have osteogenic sarcoma.
Pathologic States

Kids (0-14) who are tired have ALL.
Young Adults (14-40) who are tired have AML.
Adults (40-60) who are tired have CML.
Elderly (60-?) who are tired have CLL.
Kids with Downs have a VSD, Hirschsprungs, ALL, and Alzheimers.
Transplant patients got CMV in addition to their shiny new organ.
Diabetics have life-threatening mucor infection. Every freakin’ time.
HIV patients have toxoplasmosis, if it’s a multiloculated brain cyst.
Moms who lose their first baby have type O blood.
Lifestyles

Women are always pregnant. No matter how careful they were.
Alcoholics have HCC, B12 deficiency, Klebs pneumonia, and Wernicke-Korsikoff.
IV drug users have right sided endocarditis and multiple parietal strokes.
Smokers have both COPD and lung cancer (+ mets to the organ system in question).
Coke Addicts had an MI (don’t smoke crack, kids!)
Travelers get giardiasis, amoebiasis, yellow fever, dengue, hepatitis.
Kids swimming in lakes get Naegleria Fowleri.
Kids playing in the sandbox have cutaneous or visceral larva migrans.
People who look tan either have skin cancer or hemochromatosis.
Patients with a swollen knee are female, young, hot, and caught gonorrhea from their last boyfriend.

Strange

I just worked 2 sets of practice questions and got the exact same amount of questions right (if you're an optomist) or wrong (if you're a pessimist) in each set. Maybe these tests are predictive...

Yet Another Reason We Love Kris

*He hung a bug zapper in the backyard 2 days ago - now we don't get eaten alive by mosquitoes every time we go outside*

**Mega reason - he surprised me with a 1 hour massage appointment as a gift for finishing up 2nd year**

Counting my blessings

Where's the pause button?

While everyone else is studying for step, I'm going to take advantage of the next few days before the craziness ensues. My plans for today and the next few:

Today
*make vet appointments for Meery Bob and Penelope - spaying and shots, respectively
*do some form of exercise besides running
*contact a plumber to repair our garbage disposal
*laundry x 4
*dishes
*make haircut appointment
*make a STEP study schedule
*dinner with my "M2 buddy" - should I call her my M4 buddy now?
*recover from the ridiculous sunburn I got at the pool yesterday

Friday
*start studying!
*9 mile run with A - probably going to lie on the couch and die afterwards

Saturday
*study
*some form of exercise - maybe; perhaps just stretching
*attend cousin's wedding

So that's how things are shaping up for now. Right now is one of those times when it would be nice to still live at home. I hate how distracted I can become by laundry, dishes, menu planning, etc... It would be nice to have all that covered for the next month.

On an exciting note - yesterday was fabulous! All except for that little Pharm board we took in the morning. It was AWFUL. Sometimes I would look at the page and not know if I got a single question on it correct. Oh well. Maybe I scraped by. After that I went to the pool and caught up with my friend A. (just realized I've got lots of friends that have A names) We might have forgotten to put on enough sunscreen and we might have had a few cold beverages. Anyway, it was great. I haven't laid out in the sun since the honeymoon. After that I met K for some very healthy and delicious food at KFC. Yeah... To be fair though, they do have a really good buffet full of veggies. I only had 2 fried things on my plate. I had a tennis match at 7:30. Our captain made it aware to us that if we won this match, we are guaranteed a spot at the State championships. Wahoo!!! Well, we won! I won my match, and my sister won hers. The girl I played was the most challenging opponent I've played all year. The score was 6-4, 6-4. (If you don't know what that means, it means I won 12 and she won 8). I wish we had video though, we were both making crazy shots that neither one of us could believe. Once the girls on the court beside us got distracted from their game watching us! Insane. I was so exhausted afterwards I just came home, laid in bed, and watched Mad Men for about 3 hours. What could be better?

Off to do all the chores on my list - hope everyone's "weekend" is fabuous :)

1 More!!!

3 boards down, 1 to go. Grades from the ones we took last week have started rolling in, so hopefully we'll have all of our final grades within the next week or two. It'll be nice to close the chapter on this year. It still hasn't hit me that it's almost over. Everyone keeps asking if I'm excited, but I know we're not out of the water yet. The only time I'll be able to breathe is mid-July when our STEP scores come in - IF I passed. If not, oy, life's gonna suck...

Sad thought - tomorrow is the last day our class sits in the classroom together. It's the last time we'll all be in a room together until June 9th.

Runner's Log

3.0 miles, 30 minutes, 292 calories burned

How to get indigestion while running:
Go to Cups - drink a large coffee
Go to Jo's Diner - split cheese fries with husband. Then eat an entire chicken wrap with baja chicken soup as a side. THEN split a chocolate milkshake with husband.
Rest for 30 minutes.
Run 3 miles - burp the entire way! Gross, but funny.

Runner's Log

6.55 miles; 1'09"; 635 calories burned

Quarter Marathon? Or a Half Half Marathon? Either way, it just about made my legs fall off and wiped me out for the rest of the night. How the heck am I going to run 13.1 miles in June? Also, it was slightly embarrassing because our neighborhood is kind of small and one set of neighbors was outside having a crawfish boil. I swear I ran by them 10 times and they thought I was crazy!

Party Recipes

I had a few requests for the recipes from the puppy party. They're both super simple:

Spiked Sweet Tea Punch

4 tea bags
2 cups boiling water
7 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 tube frozen lemonade
1 tube frozen orange juice
2 cups whiskey**

Boil 4 tea bags in two cups water. Let steep for 10 minutes. While that's brewing, boil 7 cups water and add 1 frozen tube of lemonade concentrate, 1 frozen tube of orange juice concentrate, 2 cups of sugar, and 2 cups of whiskey. **I didn't have whiskey, so I used 1.5 cups of lemon rum and .5 cup of firefly sweet tea vodka. Add in the 2 cups of tea now. Place it all in a gallon freezer bag and let freeze overnight. Will be slushy. The recipe recommended adding Sprite when serving, but I liked it without. Also, not sure exactly why it's necessary to boil 2 separate sets of water, but I didn't want to screw it up, so that's what I did.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 blocks cream cheese
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup hot sauce
1 can chicken
1/2 cup ranch dressing (or bleu cheese if that's preferred)

Essentially you just throw it all in a crock pot. Takes about 1.5 hrs on high or 3 hrs on low. Serve with celery and tortilla chips/crackers.


After the party Kris and I were a little bored and I sure didn't want to study, so we went to the movies. We saw The Soloist. I wasn't very impressed, but I think that's partly because the atmosphere was ruined for me. I had Tuberculosis Sally sitting directly to my left and Snoring Sam sitting right behind me. No lie, this guy started snoring 5 minutes into the movie and continued throughout the ENTIRE thing. His wife nudged him 2x and within minutes he was snoring again - very loudly. He was a heavy set gentleman, so I'm sure he has sleep apnea and she didn't want to interrupt the sleep he was able to get. Everyone in the theater was talking about it when we left. I *almost* asked him if he enjoyed his nap, but I decided not to. Surprising, I know...

Tuberculosis Sally just loved coughing throughout the entire movie, but that didn't stop her from eating her popcorn or talking the whole time. She didn't have much of an interest in covering her mouth, which resulted in me burrowing my head in Kris's shoulder and inhaling deeply to avoid all the organisms she was spewing about. I wish I could say med school has done this to me, but those who know me well know I've always had a germ issue. My best friend J likes to remind me of the time our school bus was behind a vehicle that was spewing a lot of black smoke and I held my breath the whole time. Didn't want to "pollute my lungs." What can I say? I'm a little obsessive.

And here's some pictures for your enjoyment:

Hooray for Puppy Parties!

The party was a success - or so I thought. Not only did people show up, they had fun! Never much of a lack of conversation, lots of good food and drink, and entertainment in the form of Penelope and A's dog, Tucker. Of course we had to indulge in discussing a few of the idiosyncrasies of fellow classmates. But, that happens pretty much anytime a big group of us gets together so I guess it's to be expected.

As for the psych/behavioral science board this morning, I'm really glad I didn't study more than 20 minutes :) Here's a sample question:

A patient of yours with long-standing hypertension comes in 3 months after you've subscribed blood pressure lowering agents and their blood pressure is 160/100. What do you say?

A) A lot of people have problems remembering to take their medications. Do you ever have problems like that?

B) Your blood pressure is still high. Have you been taking your blood pressure medication?

C) Your blood pressure still isn't under control. Do you ever forget to take your blood pressure medication?

Then there were 2 or 3 other responses that were clearly wrong - or so I thought. Call me crazy, but aren't these all saying the same thing? Wouldn't it all depend on the tone you used? Now do you see why I'm glad I didn't study any longer?

I can already tell it's going to be a great weekend. My house is the cleanest it's been in months - maybe ever? So no distractions on that front. Lots of running and studying in the forecast. Hope everyone else's weekends are fabulous :)

Bad Call

Eating peaches & cream whipped yogurt and looking at pictures of brain abscesses. Disgusting.

Surgery Preferences

We got an e-mail from the surgery department yesterday to set up our schedules. Guess I'm really becoming an M3, although I feel they're jinxing us by attempting to get us set up for rotations next year. Whatever though, here's my picks:

We do general surgery the first 6 weeks, then get 2 weeks in 3 different specialties.

Rotation 1: Peds, Transplant, Vascular
Rotation 2: Cardiothoracic, ENT, Ortho
Rotation 3: Plastics, Urology, Neurosurgery

Sometimes

I wish I wasn't interested in so many things. Then it would be so much easier to sit in the library and study 12 hours every day. Since our test last Friday I've been doing nothing but indulging all those interests. I've run, played piano, watched movies, gone shopping - A LOT, spiffed up the house a little, and attempted to cook some new things. But, we have a Path board tomorrow, and I'm about to try something crazy... Going to Cups WITHOUT my computer/without and endless source of distraction. Just me, my Path BRS book, and some yummy coffee. It's nice when everything you need to study is in one concise little book instead of spread out among several study guides, old tests, Powerpoints, and random pages of notes.

*Note to the future M2s out there: You'll hear nothing but praise for Goljan's Rapid Review of Pathology. While the audio is great to listen to, I am not impressed by the actual review book. It does have great color illustrations, but it's much denser than BRS and has bullet points instead of you know, REAL sentences. I guess I'm a little partial due to the fact that I like real sentences with subjects and verbs instead of seemingly random bits of information.

Boards left: 4
Days 'til STEP: 38

Runner's Log

46'42" 4.50 miles 436 calories burned.

Now it's off to watch Marley & Me!

*Thank Goodness*

Tests are over. The weather is beautiful. I got to take a nap this afternoon, complete with post-nap drunken haze for about 10 minutes. At 3:00 when I woke up I realized I hadn't eaten all day, so I made a beeline for the nearest Mediterranean restaurant, Petra on Old Canton Rd. They had gone out of business. So I made a beeline for the next nearest Mediterranean restaurant, over by Hancock Fabrics. They weren't coming back until 4:30 for dinner. Then I went to the next one, Luna Negra, and they had also gone out of business. What the heck? I really wanted some falafel and hummus. Yum. Anyway, headed to the nearest Chinese buffet and it was okay. The exciting part is that I stumbled upon an antique shop on the way and decided to check it out. Here's what I found:




*a silver trivet with "B" engraved on it which you can't really see in the pic
*3 antique wine glasses that are so dainty and perfect
*a little picture stand

I got all this for just $22! I also really wanted this antique sugar shell that had "A" engraved on the handle, but it was with a little cheese spreader that had an "O" and the lady didn't want to split the set. I wasn't about to pay $18 for 2 pieces. 'Cause I'm cheap like that :)

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!!!

{zombie}

I've now completed my last ever all-nighter, can't believe I pulled 2 this week. Very, very bad student. Future med students, if you're out there reading, don't be like me.

Planning on stopping by CUPS for a shot-in-the-dark (dark coffee + a shot of espresso) before the test at 9. Here's to hoping I don't fall asleep halfway through the danged thing. This one's 100 questions, of course...

You Know What's Weird?

When you pull an all-nighter or stay up longer than 24 hrs and then try to take a nap. Well, that's not weird, but the feeling when you wake up is. One of my study buddies and I have both experienced this. We feel almost "drugged." Anybody else with us on this?
The other day I woke up from my 4 hour post-test nap and proceeded to stumble around the house for a good 15 minutes before I was good and awake. I couldn't hear very well, making Kris repeat things several times before they finally got through to me. What can I say? Residency is gonna be FUN :)

T minus 7 hours until the last UMC test.

So Excited

I've just been brimming with excitement lately. Here's what all the fuss is about:


*taking the last UMC test tomorrow
*watching Marley & Me with my sis and cousin tomorrow night - a girly movie night
*going home Saturday to pick out music to play at the dinner next week
*the dinner next week
*the puppy party!

Picked up the couch today and love it. The leathers got some scuffs and scratches, but I kind of like it that way. Adds character :) Interesting story - the owner is a cousin of one of the members of The Black Crowes and apparently the couch used to belong to the Black Crowes guy. Don't think it was on the tour bus though - thank goodness! frylime probably still won't sit on it with her crazy eye herpes phobia. Ha ha ha ha

Bringin' Home This Lovely Today:

How's that for retail therapy? I decided it's time for a proper couch in this little house of ours. Our current one was free - was my sister's mother-in-law's. I made a slipcover for it that took me 2 weeks. Also had to make a makeshift cushion because one flew off while they were moving it. That cushion's always been a little smushier than the others. Nice...

As for this new couch, she's a little masculine for my tastes right now, but I'm planning on making a slipcover for the seat portion in a nice neutral color - one with a zipper that can be taken off and washed when needed. So convenient. Of course I'll be making pillows to go along with it as well. Just gotta go get some fabric. I might switch out the feet as well. The possibilities are endless.

Oh yeah, and I guess I have to take my last UMC test tomorrow - wahoo!!!

Countdown:
UMC Tests left: 1
Boards: 4
STEP: 1

Tennis = Best Study Break Ever

So glad I got to play tennis tonight. I had to play doubles, which was weird. I ALWAYS play singles. I've played doubles once in the last year, and it was with my sister, so that doesn't even count to me. The reason I don't like it is because you have to worry about upsetting your partner every time you miss a point. With singles, you just play your game. Whatever though, it was fun and as an added bonus - we won! Wahoo!

Muy Interesante

Studying up on some Path for the test Friday and here's the 1 really interesting thing I've learned so far:

Kids with retinoblastoma (a cancer of the eye, the retina to be specific) have white eye reflections instead of red. Check it out:

Taking Bets

Who wants to bet we get our Pathology grade back before any of our other grades?

For those not in the class: (Path test is on Friday. We had all the others Mon-Wed)

Anybody Got a Piano???

I'm playing at a fancy dinner for the big money donors to UMC over the last year and can't think of anywhere to practice. Bet I could use one of the churches around here. Does UMC have a piano besides that big one in the union? Don't know about having a public jam session...

Back to study land now.

5 down, 1 to go!!!

What to Do?

I'm equal parts extremely sleepy and extremely hungry. Hmmm... Think I'll go to sleep and eat when I wake up. Night night everyone!

My New Aasics

make me feel like I'm running on pillows - awesome!

No, Really

Today this question was on our Preventive Medicine cumulative final:

What is the percentage today (2007) of VRNG (vancomycin resistant Neisseria gonorrhea) in Mississippi?

a)6%
b)12%
c)18%
d)32%
e)50%

This would be a perfectly valid question if we'd had a lecture that stressed this. I don't ever remember seeing a slide on this, though I'm pretty sure if I had, I would have forgotten it. This whole class was full of lectures that were full of slides with percentages on them. They really think I'm going to remember some measly percentage like one of those? Those aren't even impressive. Whatever though. When in doubt I've learned to go to one extreme or the other on the answer, so I went with 50%. It's probably wrong.

It reminded me of some advice the M3s gave us the other day at a lunch meeting regarding the attending surgeons:

"If you keep answering their questions correctly, they'll just keep asking questions until you eventually get one wrong. One time they asked me how much sodium was in the bag of saline."

Runner's Log

3.00 miles; 29'36"; 292 calories burned.

Should've done more, but it got a little too dark outside for my liking. Safety first!

Can't Wait

After our 2nd test of the day I'm going to go home, take a nice long nap, then wake up and take a nice long run (as long as the sun's still up). Hurry up and get here 1:30!!!

Cuteness Overload

That's my little cousin at Easter holding Penelope. He barely let her out of his sight the whole afternoon! He was very careful with her and I was impressed.

That's your happy for the day. I'm off to Biostats land.

You Know It's Bad When...

in the middle of the test, on the bottom corner of a page, you average all your test grades so far in order to calculate the how many you need to get right in order to just pass the class, not the test.

0%

The chances that I'll sleep >3hrs tonight. LAST all-nighter ever though!!! Wahoo!!!

p.s. i HATE pharm and don't understand how it takes me >12 hours to go over 6 tests when it doesn't even take me that long to take them!!!

Easter Lunch

We had a "non-traditional" Easter lunch today. My cousin Amy and I were the masterminds and I gotta say we did pretty good. It's probably the healthiest holiday meal we've ever had and all the flavors meshed really well. The men didn't complain either. Here goes:

herbed grilled chicken breasts (and pork chops for my uncle who doesn't eat chickies)
pasta salad (not the heavy creamy kind, just a little touch of olive oil in this one)
corn salad (with cucumbers, tomato, and green onion)
grilled asparagus
zucchini and squash bake (with lots of mozzarella and ricotta -yum!!!)
grape salad (with brown sugar and pecans)
pumpkin brownies with chocolate icing
the infamous Easter bunny cake***

***This is a cake my Aunt B has made nearly every year since she had kids. It's a white cake with coconut flake topping, jelly beans, the whole nine yards. It's cut in the shape of a bunny with ears and decorated accordingly. Last year she made it for the first time in a while (for all 3 of her grandsons) and her own son had the nerve to say how nice it was and that he'd never seen a cake like it before! He was serious. Aunt B got a little miffed that he didn't remember all the years she slaved over the Easter bunny cakes. It was hilarious.

Happy Easter everyone!!!

So Nice

to have a best friend who'll help you chop grapes without complaint and bring her niece-puppy toys.

Lucky me :)

Just Kidding

***Un-Mark your calendars!!!***

The party isn't cancelled or anything, but we do have to change the date. I informed Kris of the date last night and he casually mentioned that his family is having "Easter" next Sunday. Guess we'll change it to Friday the 24th since that's the next available date. How about 4:00? That should give everybody plenty of time after our Psych board.

In summary:
New Date: Friday April 24th
New Time: 4:00

Hope everyone has studied more than I have this weekend!

Mark Your Calendars

Sunday the 19th wins! Any preferences on times? With all the food it sounds like we're going to have I don't think it'll matter if we have it during normal dinner time hours. I think we'll manage to fill up. Y'all feel free to bring food, but you certainly don't have to. I'll be sending out a groupwise invite to everyone with directions to our house and time details once I get it sorted out. So far planning this shindig is far more interesting than studying this weekend :) Can't wait!

Poll

So, when do you guys want to get together for the puppy party? Here's our options:

Sunday April 19th - after our last test week and before boards
Friday April 24th - after our Behavioral Science board and before ICM and Pharm boards
Saturday April 25th - ditto
Thursday April 30th - after all tests and boards are over with

Here's what I'm thinking of cooking up so far:

Rum Slush (tea, frozen o.j., spiced rum, frozen lemonade)
buffalo chicken dip with veggies and chips
apples with caramel dip
cocktail wienies - or maybe I could convince Kris to grill out?
something sweet - maybe some cupcakes E?

I can't wait! I hope everyone (or at least a few people) can make it. I haven't hosted a party since I planned a Valentine's Day party in 3rd grade and NO ONE showed up. I had even made heart shaped cakes and a streamer with hearts all over it! Then I cried all afternoon. So please, please show up - unless you want me to cry all night :( Ha ha ha

Runner's Log

2.58 miles; 25'55"; 250 calories burned

Puppy Party

Due to the number of requests to see Penelope in all her puppy glory, I think we shall have a puppy party - some time after this round of tests, maybe involving some baked goods. Maybe we'll make it a Group 5 pre M3 year-party. (But frylime, you're invited too)

Reasons I Love Kris

Upon finding a mouse stuck to one of those sticky traps in his store last week he took it outside and let it go.

Backstory: The sticky traps were in place before Kris took over the store. We both think they're inhumane. The poor little mouse's nose was bleeding from where he'd gotten it stuck and ripped himself away. He was tiny and making little whiny, squeaky noises :(

My Conversation with Doreen

So, I play tennis on a league. I'm one of the youngest players. Most of the women are in their late 20s, 30s, or 40s. They're all generally nurses, realtors, bankers, or stay-at-home moms. Last night I played Doreen, a very nice 40ish loan officer. This is how our conversation went:

Doreen, between games: So, what do you do when you're not playing tennis?

Me: Well, I'm in medical school, so I mostly just study.

Doreen: Oh, where do you go to school?

Me: In Jackson, here at UMC. (I'm AMAZED how often people ask me this. There is only ONE medical school in our entire state. The nearest one is hundreds of miles away in a neighboring state. Is guess this isn't common knowledge? Should've told her I went to school in the Caribbean but flew in for my weekly tennis match.)

Doreen: Wow, so what kind of doctor do you want to be?

Me: I'm not really sure yet.

Doreen: But a medical doctor, right?

Me: Uh, yeah.


Oh well, I guess it's better than the last lady who asked what I did. I told her I was in med school and she said - "Oh, so you're going to be a teacher?" What?!?! I wish I had a dollar for every time I said "No, I'm going to be a REAL doctor."

(Please don't take this as a mean/negative/I'm better than you post. I just think it's pretty funny the range of reactions you can get when people find out what you do - especially if you're a girl.)

Penelope, ftw

I've been meaning to let everyone know we finally gave the pup a name - Penelope!!! I know it wasn't even in the running, but as soon as Kris said that one I knew it was right - just enough sweetness and just enough spunk.

I can't get over how much smarter girl dogs are than boy dogs. This pup is tiny - 9 weeks old - can be held with one hand, and has already learned to walk over to the door when she needs to go outside to potty. AMAZING.

Also, I'm not sure if it's just because she's still a puppy and growing, but I love how you can plop her down on her big doggy pillow/bed and she'll just cuddle up and go to sleep without protest. Puppies = awesome.

P.S. - Mama, mark your calender for September 1st - September 25th. I'll be working with Dr. Holdiness (score!) and eating up all the good food you're going to cook for me and entertaining you with crazy patient stories. :)

Hmmm...

To go to class, or not go to class? That is the question... 2 days left. I've got to go to school anyway tomorrow to set up my family med rotation. Woot! So I'm guessing I'll go to class tomorrow since I'm already there. I'm not making any guarantees for Friday though.

Here's what today was like:
7:30A - drag out of bed after 5 hrs of sleep
8:30A - leave house
9:30A - delivered brownies and chocolate chip pecan bars to the genetics and pharm departments. Maybe good karma will get me good grades - or at least passing grades? It's always worked before :)
10:00A - Path lecture on surgical path, I think. He kind of rambled
11:00A - last Path lecture ever - only 20 minutes long; it was all about autopsy but not interesting. Strange, because I was looking forward to it all year and thought it would be.
12:00P - was going to go to Family Med Interest Group lunch and get free pizza but I was still stuffed from huge breakfast so I went home.
1:00P - muddled through some Biostats
2:00P - still muddling through Biostats (am probably going to fail cumulative pharm test because I'm spending hours muddling through Biostats)
3:00P - watched the NOVA documentary Doctors' Diaries on PBS.com. Harvard Medical school is scarily similar to UMC. The cramped halls, lockers, confusion, neurotic students, crackheads in the ED. It all looked familiar.
4:00P - napped (hey, I only got 5 hrs last night, no judgement!)
5:00P - napped/left for FMIG meeting
6:00P - FMIG meeting
7:30P - tennis match at Parham Bridges; I won!!! 6-2, 6-1. Woot!
9:00P - back home and back to muddling through Biostats.

Just another day. I'm really going to miss the ability to nap in the afternoon and make my own schedule next year. I doubt I'll miss much else though.

Runner's Log

6.27 miles; 1:04'9"; 607 calories burned

I didn't know how far I was running when I did this. I set out to do a 10k but had no idea exactly how far that was. Looked it up when I got in and apparently it's 6.27 miles. That's my math lesson for the day I guess.

Off to eat up all the calories I just burned :)

Derm, Really?

So, I took the same aptitude test my friend E over at frylime.blogspot.com did and here's my top 12 results:

Rank Specialty Score
1 dermatology 46
2 pediatrics 44
3 ophthalmology 44
4 plastic surgery 43
5 emergency med 41
6 gastroenterology 41
7 neurosurgery 40
8 rheumatology 40
9 pulmonology 40
10 anesthesiology 40
11 radiology 40
12 radiation oncology 40

Guess where family medicine ranked? Dead last... (Amy, I know you're smirking right now) I definitely don't want to/wouldn't even be able to if I wanted to do derm, so that's out. It's kind of funny peds is 2nd on the list because lately I've been swaying in that direction. I get WAY more excited about the younger patients that come to the family med clinic. Plus, they usually don't have HTN or diabetes yet, and if they do there's time to change it - or at least the severity of it.

Mother, I'm sure you and Auntie are excited about #8. :)

Gotta go give my last busy work presentation of the year. Wahoo!!!

Names for Consideration So Far:

Sassy
Busy
Idgy (Fried Green Tomatoes y'all)
Zooey (we both like Zooey Deschanel, the actress from Elf and other things)
Chloe

She really is very sassy. Our 1.5 yr old niece was at our house earlier and you should have seen them playing!

La la la la la

Finishing up busy work so I can get on to actual studying. Grrr....
Just finished the Prev Med presentation and now I'm working on typing up my last H&P. Ready to get this mess over with.

By Popular Demand

I walked into class today to a chorus of 6 friends saying, no not saying, DEMANDING to see pictures of the puppy. Little do they know I haven't even printed off a picture since I got my camera 3 years ago. It's pretty bad. Don't know what the aversion is. Anyway, y'all should feel very good about your peer pressuring abilities because here they are:

i LOVE group projects

Can you sense the sarcasm? Actually it's not that bad I don't guess. I had all guys in my group this time and it went really smoothly. Except for the fact that that's all I've done this entire weekend because I had to put in 6hrs just for my part and now I have the wonderful job of compiling everyone else's info into a Powerpoint. Not sure how we're going to get through 30 slides in 10 minutes. I guess we'll just read them like our professors do. Ha.

In other exciting news - wait for it, wait for it...

We got a new puppy today! She's a black cocker spaniel and she's already christened our house with poop. She's 9 weeks and really playful. Surprisingly she hasn't cried or barked yet. I think we're going to get along just fine. Pictures and updates to come. Not sure what we're going to name her, but I'm hoping for "Sassy." All suggestions in the comments section will be considered.

Meeting with my group and getting the dog took up most of my day today. Yesterday was filled with working on my part of the group presentation and sleeping 'til noon. Friday I went to my uncle's retirement party and looked at a lecture or two. So all in all it's been a fun weekend, but not a productive weekend. I know I keep saying it, but I've GOT to get serious.

Oh yeah classmates, guess what I got to (had to?) do with my preceptor Thursday?
If you guessed a digital rectal exam, you guessed right. Fortunately it was on a female to check for occult blood so I didn't have to worry about feeling for the prostate. It wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it would be. (I was REALLY dreading doing one of those.) Here's all the awkward "procedures" I've done so far:
*venipuncture (as of Wednesday)
*digital rectal exam (as of Thursday)
*Pap smears/bimanual pelvic exams (several during the summer with family med)
*stapled an inebriated man's huge scalp laceration (probably 4-5") back together (during the summer in the ED).

GET EXCITED:
5 more days of class
5 more tests (UMC)
4 more national boards
1 giant STEP

Busy Friday

I did end up playing tennis last night. I can't believe it didn't rain after all the forecasts said it was going to be a torrential downpour! The good part is the lady I played was really nice and easy to play with. I won 6-2, 6-2. I even aced her a few times! I really think it was due to the wind helping me out though so I can't take full credit for it.

Anyway, on to today. This morning I woke up late - surprise... (R, I think I need to borrow your clocky) I was supposed to be in lab at 8:00 and didn't get to school until 8:20, but I had yummy treats for the Pathology department :) I made cow piles. (I'm sure you've all had these - they're just those chocolate, oatmeal, and PB drop cookies) They looked so authentic since I used chunky peanut butter - ha ha ha. Pretty gross, but appropriate for Pathology. Anyway, went to the 9:00 session, no big deal.

I also left my phone at home this morning in the rush. My preceptor partner and I are supposed to meet with our preceptor and have our last H&P (history & physical) today. It's witnessed and we do it all ourselves. Should be interesting. I'm not sure if my partner even knows to show up. I've e-mailed him a few times but he usually doesn't check that and without my phone to text him, who knows.

After I get finished with that at 5-ish I get to drive to Durant for my uncle's retirement celebration dinner. He's worked for Rowan for a long time. They were about to move his rig to Mexico and he decided it was time to call it quits. I'm planning on taking champagne - half for the celebration and half to see the look on my mother and grandmother's face when I show up with it. (Love y'all - ha ha) After that I need to come home and get serious about some work! We've got so many little projects and online things to get done, not to mention studying for tests and oh yeah, STEP... So I need to get cooking on all that. Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Interesting

*** 1 alcoholic beverage per day lowers blood pressure, increases HDL (the good cholesterol) and decreases LDL (the bad cholesterol).

*** 1.5 alcoholic beverages per day increases your risk of breast cancer 1.4x.

I guess everything in moderation is true, huh? These stats are for women. Men can have 2 drinks/day to lower BP and LDL and raise HDL.

Is It Bad if...

I hope it keeps raining so our tennis match for tonight gets canceled? My arms HURT!

Want

Rivers is a very happy, playful young pup who was rescued from the side of a highway. he is full of energy, loves other dogs and children and is crate trained and working on understanding basic commands. he needs a fenced yard and a family who is committed to having him as an integral part of the dynamic. he needs people and love, in fact he craves it.

Pretty please???

Things That Make Me Happy

* We've had our last psychiatry lecture ever.

* I just took my last pathology quiz.

* Our class learned how to draw blood today (by practicing on each other).

* This was the first year no one fainted.

* Getting stuck wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Guess I'm used to the big needles from giving blood :)

* I'm typing up my last transcription tomorrow.

* I had fun playing tennis tonight (even though I lost!)

Deja Vu

Well I got to see the garage door man again today. Awesome. The one thing I can say about this guy is that he always shows up 30 minutes earlier than he's scheduled, calls 15 minutes ahead of time to give you a warning, and doesn't leave until he gets the job done. He's not terribly expensive either. It's nice to find a non-scary non-price gouging service man. So if your garage door ever breaks, just let me know and I'll get you his number.

Still no luck on the Woodrow front. We're planning on maybe/probably getting a puppy/dog Friday when Kris gets back from his little trip. He's leaving town today to go see a UFC fight in Nashville with his bestie. I don't think he's that interested in the fight, but is interested in a fun trip. I can't blame him. He won't be back until Thursday. What will I do with 3 days in the house all to myself? Hopefully I'll get some work done!!!

I felt the major pangs of guilt for not studying every hour of every day yesterday when sitting behind one of my classmates. During the lecture she pulled out her First Aid (the STEP book) to take notes in it. Not only did it have nifty little tabs all up and down the sides but as she flipped through it I saw highlighting in several different colors and tons of her own notes in the margins - on nearly every page. That book is about 500-600 pages long. how many pages have I glanced at? Not sure, probably around 30. Yikes. There's now less than 60 days before the test. It's time to get on the ball. The only problem is we have another week and a half of class left and I really don't want to just completely bomb this last round of tests in order to study for STEP. Not to mention I can't really afford to bomb these tests. Whatever though. I guess I just need to get organized and I'm hoping to make some progress on that front over the next week. It's looking a little doubtful though since before midnight tomorrow night I must accomplish all of the following:

* finish 4 transcriptions
* attend the PIG roast (this is a charity event for Blair E. Batson at Old Venice :))
* play in a tennis match (and hopefully win)

Thursday night I also have a transcription due and another tennis match. Maybe it will rain and one of them will get moved/cancelled.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot - either on Thursday or Friday I have to complete my first witnessed (by my preceptor) history and physical. It's a little nerve wracking since we've done lots of pieces of a physical exam but hardly a whole thing. I am really comfortable looking in ears now and can almost always find the ear drum - except when there's so much wax it just completely blocks everything. That happens about 1/2 the time. It's pretty gross.

Must get back to class now, but thought I'd rant for a second. I'm sorry my posts are always so sporadic, but for those who know me well you know that's just how my brain works. I don't know any other way!

Runner's Log

5.33 miles; 51'21"; 517 calories burned
New record. Wahoo!!!

Runner's Log (from Friday)

2.06 miles; 19'16"; 200 calories burned

I ran the first mile super fast and then had to walk about half the next one!

I Is Lazy.

Maybe I'm not lazy, but I sure feel that way when I do everything but study. Here's what I've done the last few days.

Thursday
got ready for school and preceptor meeting - which means I have to dress up and manage to get my white coat and bookbag and purse into the car without spilling coffee on anything. This usually involves me making 2 trips to put things in my car. Needless to say, I was running late. That's normal. What's not normal is the fact that I didn't quite shut the door all the way. Woodrow came and pushed on it to follow me outside and he got out. He ran over to the neighbor's yard and greeted both my neighbor and another gentleman. I said hi and told them how late I was running and that I needed to get him inside. So what does neighbor's friend do? Strikes up a conversation of course!

Neighbor's Friend: "Oh, didn't you meet my wife the other day at the bank?"
Me: "Uh, yeah. Come here Woodrow! Come on! I'm LATE LATE LATE!!!"
Neighbor's Friend: "Yeah, what's your name, Alicia?"
Me: "It's Allison. You're close. Come on Woodrow!!!"

Keep in mind the entire time Woodrow is just hanging out with neighbor and neighbor's friend - literally at their feet. Do the men make any attempt to help the poor distressed neighbor girl? Nope. At this point I was super late and Kris was up and about to leave for work so I told him to get Woodrow inside. At this point Woodrow has moved on and is running around other neighbor's yards sniffing around. Kris called him, got him back in the garage, had him by the collar, pushed the button to shut the garage door, and then Woodrow slipped out of his collar. He wouldn't come back so Kris just shut the garage door and went to work.

Since I had to meet with my preceptor that day I didn't get home until around 5:00 and Kris didn't get home until after that. Woodrow tried to dig in to the backyard under the fence and there were muddy paw prints on our front door. We haven't seen him since. We've walked around the neighborhood calling him, left food in the garage for him, looked around all the surrounding neighborhoods and apartment complexes, called all the vets and pounds, and put up fliers. I don't think he's coming back though. Kris is pretty sure someone took him. If he's right I hope they're not being abusive to him. He's kind of a handful but we were just getting the hang of it with the kitchen gate and all.

Friday
So Thursday pretty much sucked. Friday I was thinking he'd show up. I had class from 9-12. Came home - no Woodrow. I've been needing to work on organizing my built-in bookshelves in my living room so I finally got that done. I'll have to post some pics when I get them perfected. I'm covering the books in plain white paper and then writing the author and title on pretty tags that I made from some scrapbook paper. The tags are glued to a ribbon that I just stuck in the middle of each book. It just makes everything look so much cleaner and organized. Most of them are Kris's Stephen King novels so the book jackets aren't the prettiest. Mostly black and red - not really in fitting with my decor. ha.

After that I was exhausted and took a "short" nap. I slept 3.5 hrs. I knew I had to get a run in yesterday so I immediately jumped up to go run. Bad idea. I only did 2 miles. Apparently the 1st mile was one of my fastest though. I think it was around 7 minutes. Tiger Woods came on my iPod and told me. I love Nike+. My best runs come in the mid-afternoon after I've had time to digest my lunch and about an hour after I have some sort of caffeine. It just gives that extra boost. So running immediately after waking up and not having eaten in about 6 hrs - not a good idea. After that I worked some more on the shelves while watching the Sex and the City movie. I LOVE that movie. Then I got ready for bed and went to shut the garage door. I shut it alright - right on the trunk of my car... It didn't hurt my car, but it made the garage door non-functional. Did I mention I got this garage door fixed WEDNESDAY??? As in 4 days ago Wednesday. Yeah. I'm that good. So pretty much Friday sucked too.

Saturday
Today has been better so far. No major catastrophes. Made a Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby run this morning, then had a bridal shower to attend this afternoon, then joined my brother and sister in law for drinks at Papito's and hibachi at Nagoya. Yum! That was unplanned and very fun. The bartender at Nagoya was so funny. She gave us a leftover drink she had made called "Wedding Cake" which was pretty yummy. Then when we ordered a Kamikaze shot for sis-in-law she accidentally made 3, so she gave us the other 2 and said "Drink those fast, before they see you and make me charge you for them." Ha. I don't think I've ever had a free drink before. Pretty funny I got it from a girl instead of a guy. I feel incredibly guilty for not having studied in the last 2 days, but I'm about to do a transcription, so maybe that counts?

For tomorrow:
*Must not break any major household appliances
*Must study
*Must run

Wish me luck!

Who Knew?

One of the signs of hypothyroidism is the loss of the outer 1/3 of the eyebrow. Weird.

It's Gonna Be a Fabulous Day

I can tell already. I just ordered a book for my surgery rotation off Amazon for $0.01. The total was $4 with shipping and handling. Rip roaring and ready to go!!!

Runner's Log

4.09 miles 39'03" 396 calories burned

How on Earth?

How on earth did I manage to get my 1st pick of rotation schedule? I don't usually have that good of luck. Mom, get out your pen and calendar and write this one down. It's final:

June 9 - Aug 30 SURGERY (scary. I might not see anyone for these 12 weeks.)
Aug 31- Oct 11 FAMILY MED (and then I get to breathe)
Oct 12 - Nov 22 PSYCHIATRY (psych during Halloween. Hmmm...)
Nov 23 - Feb 25 INTERNAL MEDICINE and NEUROLOGY (maybe I'll have a clue by then)
March 1 - Apr 11 OB/GYN (meh. Maybe I'll catch some babies?)
Apr 12 - May 21 PEDIATRICS (and then maybe I'll see the ones I dropped)

Now it's off to study land! I'm at home now. I actually drove to school this morning only to be flagged down by Austin who had been called by Kris. That's never good. I'd left the house with his keys in my purse and my phone was silenced. Oh dear...

It's Over Already?!?!?

How in the heck is Spring Break over already? I was just starting to hit my stride. It was nice to have time to tend to my house and garden. Today was another super productive day in that arena. After a glamorous Sunday morning breakfast at Waffle House with K I made my 3rd or 4th Wal-Mart trip of the week. I got more paint for the living room. This is the 4th color I've bought. I FINALLY got it right though. I managed to come home, put in a new dryer vent, do some laundry, paint the living room, do some more laundry, then plant a bunch of plants. I love it. I had a feeling there was a problem with my dryer when I had to let my clothes dry for 5 hours before they were dry. I was worried a new vent wouldn't fix it, but it did. Hooray! I consider all the housework I did this week Step study. If I hadn't gone ahead and gotten it done I wouldn't have been able to think about studying. As for ACTUAL Step study - I got 1 hour in. Nice. Half of that was doing 20 questions. Just enough to make me realize I don't remember crap but everything looks familiar. I'm kind of glad I didn't study a lot this week because now I'm not dreading it at all. It's so funny how you can get used to things. At the beginning of last year I had no clue how to study and definitely didn't have the ability to study for an entire day or an entire night. I'd never done it before. Now it's the norm. Anyway, on to more interesting things...

Kris and I went to a new place the other night - the 930 Blues Cafe. It's near State and Congress St., so it's not for the faint of heart. I had my pepper spray and 2 men with me. The music was amazing though and I really liked the atmosphere. I like going to bars/clubs where you can sit down - you know - RELAX. Some people got up and danced a little, so that was entertaining too. The table in front of us was reserved for the Sweet Potato Queens, but they never showed. This is not the really interesting part though. Kris and I had been out and about the whole day doing other things and Woodrow had been a good boy all day. We just assumed he'd be good the rest of the night.

WRONG.

He DESTROYED Kris's captain's chair AKA the recliner. It already had the tiniest little rip in the seat. That was all Woodrow needed. He completely ripped the fabric the rest of the way off the seat. Then he ripped up all the stuffing that was on the inside. It is a mess. So the next day I went off in search of a crate. Ha ha. I ended up going with Julia's method of a gate instead. Crates are freakin' expensive. We have gated him in the kitchen both times that we've left the house today and it's worked really well! We put his bed, food, water, and a toy in there and so far he's been great. We came home tonight to find him hanging out on his pillow. Nothing was torn up. It was wonderful.

Tomorrow we find out our tentative rotation schedule for next year. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Uber Productive Day

Thank goodness for Spring Break. I think we should get one at least once every month or two. So far today I have:

1. made a Wal-Mart trip
2. made a healthy lunch
3. planted new plants in front yard
4. weeded most of the front yard
5. mulched(pine strawed?) most of the front yard
6. dozed off in the recliner with Woodrow while watching Jon & Kate (bliss!)
7. cooked dinner - not so healthy: baked pork chops, homemade mac & cheese, green beans, & crescent rolls
8. hung a curtain rod in the living room
9. balanced our joint checking account
10. balance my checking account (I was 4 months behind on both)
11. put some boots I never wear on eBay
12. cleared out my inboxes

Amazing, huh? I even got all dressed up and went to the hospital this morning to meet with my preceptor but he didn't answer his phone. After 45 minutes of chit-chat with my partner we decided to head out.

I swear - if I wasn't studying or thinking about studying or procrastinating studying 99% of my whole life I could really get some things accomplished!

Runner's Log

4.86 miles 47'31" 472 calories burned

Spring Break is Here?!?!?

Well, according to my calender it's spring break starting right now. It doesn't feel like it though. It's raining. My house is a mess. I've got two slightly damp and stinky dogs in the house. To top it off - my hot water heater decided to be ridiculous and finally just give up. We arrived home last night to a long trail of water leading from the hot water heater closet in the garage down the driveway. On an optimistic note - thank goodness it's in the garage and not in the house! Thanks goodness we purchased the homeowners' warranty and all I had to do was send an e-mail. Perhaps someone will be here within the day. Thank goodness no carpet was ruined! Although it did leak a little on my rolled up area rug that was in the garage. I had to put it out there when I realized our precious Woodrow was peeing on it. I'm not bringing it back in until he hasn't peed in the house for like 8 weeks at least. Right now we're at 1 week. Beagles are notoriously hard to housebreak so please don't give me any grief. I'm still not too keen on crating. I know it works. I just don't know how humane it is to put a wound up dog in a box and leave him there. Blame my gentle heart. Ha. If this goes on much longer though - fool is getting a box...

I'm babysitting my sister's dog Molly while she goes off to New Orleans with her hubbie for the weekend. It's her mother-in-law's 60th birthday bash. Nice. The funny thing is that when Molly (a HUGE black lab/Wemereiner (sp?) mix) came in the house our cat Meery Bob walked right up to her and proceeded to greet her like a dog. She sniffed noses and kind of stood beside her with her tail up and let her sniff. That cat thinks she's a dog. It's pretty funny. She's not scared at all.

My sis told me her hot water heater and air conditioner had broken as well within the last week. A classmate told me he replaced his hot water heater 2 days ago. Another friend flooded her bathroom yesterday. What is the deal? I guess when it rains it pours. I'm about to eat something yummy and relax for a bit before cleaning house. Fun!

Warning, rant ahead.

I just woke up from a "nap." What time did I go to sleep this morning? Oh, about 11:00. I guess I've taken naps longer than 4 hours before, but the funny part is I didn't even realize I was that sleepy. Oh well, today wasn't completely useless. After our STUPID psych test I came home and made blueberry waffles, eggs, and cheese grits. Yum.

Now, for that test... I'm stupid and actually tried to review the powerpoints last night. Since they were all about 60 slides each and just had paragraphs copied straight out of the DSM-IV I managed to get through 1 lecture last night. Ha. Then this morning before the test I breezed through all those old quiz questions. Not a good idea. I should have spent about 2 hours breezing through those old quiz questions. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

The test started like this. We walk in, sit down, and the secretary passes out the scantrons. Just one thing about this secretary - she always wears this really strange thing on her head and I can't take her seriously because of it. She wears one black headband - the stretchy, cloth kind and then on top of it a plastic, gold, braided sort of headband. That's not the problem. She wears them RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF HER FOREHEAD. It is BIZZARE. It makes me think of Star Trek. We had half of this class last year and she wore the exact same getup then. Noone else seems to notice or have a problem with it, but it really disturbs me. Does she have some sort of scar she's trying to cover up? Is she schizotypal? She was also wearing a flowy leopard print top and black skirt with some bright red Nike tennis shoes so maybe she is schizotypal after all. I'll have to ask her if she has magical powers. I know one magical power she doesn't have. She doesn't have the gift of speed or efficiency. After she had passed out our scantrons she announced into the microphone:

Secretary: "Spring Break is coming up. It's not just for you guys. When y'all leave Friday, I'll be going too. You might not see your test grades until after the break, but check Blackboard."

Class: Screeches, BOO, HISS!!! *sarcastic comments and snickers abound*

Secretary: "Oh, do you want to see your grades before we return from Spring Break?"

Class: 118 students scream a resounding "YES!"

(Who does she think she's dealing with?)

Secretary: "So you want me to miss a whole day of my Spring Break?"

#1 You're a 40 year old secretary. You don't deserve Spring Break.
#2 We just want you to do your job in a timely manner. It's not like we're asking you to spend 30 hours taking online quizzes. Oh right - that's what we had to do...

Now what makes this so funny is that we take our tests with scantrons. You know, the kind you SCAN into a computer and it grades them for you. Then you simply enter the grades into Blackboard on the computer. I'm thinking this whole process would take me 1 hour if I took the time to make coffee and paint my nails while I was doing it. You know how I know it doesn't take an entire day? Because the secretary of the Pathology department is fabulous. She sends us weekly e-mails to keep us informed of what is going on, where to be, what to bring, etc... Our path test was Monday at 9:00. By 5:00 that day we had an e-mail stating that our grades were posted on Blackboard. Assuming the last person finished at 11:00, then she took a lunch break, she got the job done within 5 hours. I think our class needs to get her a gift before the year is over. If they don't, I might. Just a little plant to keep on her desk or something. Anyway, that's enough ranting.

Our ICM test is tomorrow. We have not 1, but 2 incompetent secretaries running that show. They're both about 21, wear stilleto boots and dresses to every test they give us and then huff and puff when we make unreasonable requests for things like scantrons. I'm not kidding. This happened 2 test blocks ago and they were like - "What's the big deal?!? We can just bubble them in for you or grade them by hand!" Do they really think we'd trust them to bubble in our answers for us? Are they BONKERS??? We are the most anal, OCD group of control freaks I've ever been around. We're not trusting 2 girls who can't even manage to count out enough scantrons to be in charge of one of our grades. I'm SURE those grades won't be in until after Spring Break. They're probably already in Destin drinking margaritas and auditioning for Girls Gone Wild and will have someone else proctor the exam tomorrow. The good thing for them is that they've already set the precedent so low for themselves. None of us expect those grades to be up for a while.

Okay, that's enough ranting. This test week has been the worst one so far. It's not because the material is harder. It's actually the easiest material we've ever had. It's just the level of burn out and unpreparedness that I went into it with. My bad! Maybe after Spring Break I'll be back on my game and pull up all these crappy grades next block. One can dream...

Runner's Log

3.16miles 30'42" 306 calories burned

Had to walk a good bit of this one. I blame the sleep deprivation.

Spring Break

Even though we still have 2 more tests this week I'm already on Spring Break. After the pharm test this morning I came home and made a beeline for the bed. I slept until about 2:00 this afternoon. Then Kris and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for a little lunch. Yum.

He went to run some errands after that and I proceeded to lay in bed for 3 straight hours watching episodes of Desperate Housewives and Medium that I've missed for the last 2 weeks. Then I decided I should get off my lazy butt and do something. I still didn't want to study so I went running instead.

That's about it. Now I'm settling in to finish reviewing psychiatry for the test tomorrow. I was trying to review it earlier, but I was on the couch and Kris was watching some movie called Death Sentence which was pretty good so I ended up watching it instead. Ha ha. Oh well. I should know some of this stuff since I've spent about 20 hours working on 4 quizzes for the class.

On an unrelated note, every time I hear or say the word "psychiatry" or "psychiatrist" I think of Desi Arnez screaming "fee-see-kee-uh-trist!"

I LOVE test week

It's 2:55 AM. I'm going to bed. I will be up in 2 hours. Test week ROCKS - or makes me want to throw things and scream. Pick one.

Today in a Nutshell

It's only 2:30 and already I:

*was up before the sun was (not cool)

*panicked over 1 test, then another

*realized I hadn't seen Meery Bob (the cat) since last night

*took a test requiring a calculator at 9:00 (very rare)

*had some yummy lunch with some fun ladies (hooray!)

*took another test at 1:00

*picked up my taxes - (let's just say it's like I won the lottery. SCORE!!!)

*let Woodrow find the cat (she was outside under our deck, very shellshocked. She ran inside to her favorite chair and started grooming herself)


On an ideal day at 2:30 I would just be making breakfast. This is why I don't like test week. Now it's off to pharm study land. 3 tests down, 3 to go.

Test Week Makes Me HUNGRY

I managed to eat 4 meals today. Whoa. That's double my usual intake. Now it's off to biostats land - lots of equations to memorize, er learn.

Wahoo!!!

Our path grades are up and I just got a pleasant surprise!!! I didn't make an A or anything, but it's my 2nd highest test grade in there. What the heck?!? I really didn't think I had done well at all when I walked out of there. I guesstimated somewhere in the 65-80 range. Hence the pessimistic, if not true, note written on here earlier. Yay for good things. That's just the motivation I needed to study harder this week. (I'm weird and work on a positive feedback mechanism instead of the traditional negative feedback mechanism.) 1 down, 5 to go. Spring Break is calling my name already.

Note to Self

You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't expect to not study as much as usual and make good grades. That's all. This week needs to be over NOW.

Slacker

Well, I'm back home after an exhilarating weekend. I actually got home at about 2:00 this afternoon, but I've been attempting to study since then. So far all I've managed to do is finish up some online quizzes and go through all the old path tests. I still need to run back through some of my path notes because apparently I don't know too much about urinalysis or body fluids. The test I'm dreading the most this block is by far pharm. It's never been my strong suit, but I'm dreadfully aware of the lack of effort I've put forth this block. Now - for the interesting stuff...

Kris and I made it to Oxford Thursday night and split up - him with his guy friends, me with my girl friend. That sounds funny. Anyway, I picked up my friend Julz from Volta and then we swung by the drive-through coffee place and went back to her house. I had my computer in front of me, but didn't get too much studying done.

Friday afternoon we went to a relatively new place in Oxford called Honeybee's (Bakery or Cafe? I can't remember) for lunch. We both had the pork tenderloin sandwich with caramelized onions, spiced apples, brown sugar rum sauce, spinach, and cheese. It was A-MAZ-ING. I managed to resist all their pretty little cupcakes, pecan tarts, and brownies. Then we went to Belk to pick up a wedding gift. Julz found some jeans. I found a precious black brocade skirt straight out of the 1950s but it was a size too big. Darn... Not sure if I would have worn it that much anyway. We then went to the coffee shop for a while. I actually got a little studying done. Julz read through a case or two. Then we noticed Buffalo Peak was having a sidewalk sale. I really needed a new fleece. It's not that mine is falling apart. I'm pretty sure they're indestructible. I've just had the same black fleece since 2006 or so and now that I have a white dog that sheds a lot it doesn't really work out well. So I got a green Mountain Hardware jacket that's fleecy on the inside and water-resistant (and I'm pretty sure dog fur resistant) on the outside. Exciting!

Then we did our nails, went to Newk's and had dinner with Kris and 2 of his friends, went to the concert, then Chicken-on-a-Stick, then home. The concert was great. I saw an M1 there and we were both like - "What are we doing here?!?! We have tests next week!!!" It made me feel a little better about playing hooky. Kris managed to get 2 records at the concert. Our collection (mostly his) is really growing!

Saturday I rode to Kosciusko with Julz for a wedding shower. I got a little studying done in the car on the way there. The shower was fun and the food was soooo yummy. I'm probably going straight to hell for eating chicken on a stick at 1:00 in the morning and then oreo cheesecake at 2:00pm on the same day. That's just not right. I had some oatmeal in between, so they cancel each other out, right? If that wasn't enough we went to the pre-bachelorette party dinner at 5:30 and had pizza. Yikes. It was fun though. Then it was back to Oxford (with a feeble attempt to study on the way). I got a little more studying done that night and then rode back to Jackson with Kris this morning.

The poor cat missed us so much she made herself sick - literally. I got to clean up 2 piles of something that came out of her. I'm not sure what it was. Now I must quit typing and attempt to cram some more info in before 9:00 tomorrow morning. Here's our schedule for the week if you're interested:

Monday - 9:00am - Pathology Test #5 (of 6 total) 18hrs of lecture covered

Tuesday - 9:00am - Biostats Test #1 (of 2) 11 lectures; 1:00pm - Preventive Medicine Test #1 20 hours of lecture/readings

Wednesday - 9:00am - Pharmacology Test #5 20 hrs of lecture

Thursday - 9:00am - Psychiatry Test #1 4 hrs lecture/1000000hrs of ridiculous quizzes

Friday - 9:00am - ICM Test #5 12 hrs of lecture

3 MORE WEEKS OF CLASS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time Crunch

Grrr... Kris gets off work in 1 hour and then we'll be heading to Oxford for a concert tomorrow night. Fortunately I'm staying with my bestie who happens to be in law school which means she's no stranger to studying on a Friday night either. Think we'll spend the night at a coffee shop while Kris plays with his friends.

In the next hour I need to:
pack
finish 9 online quizzes
equip the cat for a weekend alone (basically just scoop litterbox and leave 2 cups of food out). Cats are soooo easy.

My sister is willing to babysit Woodrow for the next 2 days, God bless her soul. In order to prevent him from destroying her house I stopped by PetSmart on the way home from school and bought him a Kong toy. For those who don't know, Kong toys are indestructible rubber toys that can be stuffed with dog treats. The dog works all day to get the treats out and therefore does not destroy your house. He's been chewing on that thing for the last 30 minutes, so it can't be too bad.
I also got the cat some grass. I like to keep a little plant on my desk where I study but she ate the last one, so I got some "organic grass" they had there that's safe for kitties to nibble on. I think it's hilarious that I paid money for grass, but it was only $2 and I needed a plant that wouldn't keel over the second she nibbled on it. And it looks pretty sitting on my table. Win!

Now I'm off to quiz-land. Wish me luck :)

Score!

So far things have been going my way today. I decided to skip class since we only had 2 and i don't think 100 minutes of lecture is worth traveling 40 minutes for roundtrip. It's just an efficiency thing.

I slept until 11:00 (but I didn't really go to sleep until 4:00) What a nice sleep schedule I'm on. I was kind of stressed all day because I was supposed to play in a tennis match tonight for the league I'm on. The actual match would be fun, but I just felt guilty for not studying when there's still SO MUCH to do before next week!!! Fast forward to 10 minutes ago when I changed into my tennis gear and then got a text that said I didn't have to play tonight. Wahoo! I just earned 2 more hours of... study time. Oh right, not that exciting.

The night still holds a Wal-Mart trip, finishing a transcription, and hours and hours of studying. My attention span needs to lengthen ASAP. Good luck studying everyone!

Add it to the List

There's a few words or combinations of words that I've come across in the last 1.75 years that I really like. It's not that I like their meanings. I just like the way they sound. Here's a sampling:

Herpetic whitlow (when herpes simplex virus becomes embedded under the skin on the fingers or toes. It can then be transmitted just by touching someone with the involved digit.)

Transient pyrexia (I just found this one today. Pyrexia means fever.)

Blastomycosis, Coccidiodomycosis, etc... I really liked most of the names of the fungal infections we learned about in micro.

I know there's more, but I can't seem to pull them out of my head right now.

Chopped Salad!

I *actually* cooked today. Wahoo!!! After I pried myself off the treadmill and made it home I threw some frozen chicken breasts in the oven with a little butter, S&P, and Mrs. Dash's spicy blend. Then I started chopping.

I chopped lettuce and avocado. Then I chopped the chicken. Then I threw it all together with some black beans and Mexicali corn. Then I got REALLY fancy and put a little avocado in my food processor along with some light ranch, lime juice, and Mrs. Dash's spicy blend. I ended up with a delicious chopped chicken salad. I was very proud of myself because I have never really thought I made a good salad at home. Now I know you just have to chop everything up really small and let the flavors meld. Yum yum. I was going to take a picture, but I'm lazy and I couldn't stop eating long enough.

While all this was going on Kris and I took turns playing a game he brought home from work. He's a manager at a local gaming store. The game is called "Lips" I think. Basically it's karaoke for the Wii and they give you points based on your performance. So so so fun and hilarious. I think I nearly burst his eardrums with my rendition of Beyonce's "Irreplaceable." That poor boy. I didn't get very many points on that one, but I really blew them away with "Love Song" - better known as the "I'm not gonna write you a love song" song.

After eating and shenanigans Kris was back to work for a midnight promotion for some new game that's coming out and I was off to renal pathology land. Yes, I still wasn't finished looking at it for the first time until today. Yes we covered it 3 weeks ago. Yes I'm still not sure if I know ANY of it. Oh well. I wasn't a total slacker today. I did go to all of my classes except 1 and then I came home and watched it on my computer. Don't you love technology?

Runner's Log

5.05 miles 42'22" 8:23 min/mi 489 calories burned
New record!!! I walked about 5 minutes of it, but it felt good.

Change of Plans

Today was supposed to be filled with a trip home and attending a good friend's wedding shower. Even though I felt guilty for not studying all day I was really looking forward to it! Then my poor friend called to tell me she had been struck with Mycoplasma pneumoniae (she actually said "walking pneumonia", but what good is all this expensive education if I don't use a little of it?). The girl was kind enough to cancel it and not risk giving it to us all. That's the thoughtful and responsible thing to do. She's only having 1 more shower before her wedding on March 14 and since she's one of my good buddies I REALLY want to be there for her shower. The problem? It's the Saturday before test week. The solution? I'm ALREADY being a big slacker and going to Oxford that Friday for a Modest Mouse concert. On the way back to Jack-town I can just swing by my hometown and go to the shower. It's so unlike me doing all these FUN things the weekend before test week. Not that I'm never a slacker, but usually the weekend before test week I'm wound so tight that if Kris even looks at me the wrong way I can go into a rage and then tears within 2 minutes. This, my friends, should be interesting...

I can see it now. She's going to be opening presents and I'll offer to help rip the paper off faster. I'm always surprised the rest of the world is normal for that weekend. How can people be smiling? Don't they know I'm about to have 6 tests? Why is everyone moving so slowly? What's with the small talk? I've got 8000 things to learn in the next 3 days. AHHHHH!!!!!!!!! This is one of the things I really don't like about myself - I'm very self-centered. It's not in an "I'm better than you" way but more of an "Oh my gosh, I don't have time to sit around playing like all these normal people" sort of way. At least I'm aware of it right?

Another thing I do when I'm feeling stressed is finish people's sentences. I feel like I already know what they're going to say and I'm too impatient to just let them get it out already. I try to keep a lid on it most of the time, but feel free to put me in my place if I ever act like this around you.

Today was spent like a usual weekend day, a little lazy at the beginning, some studying in the middle, a big break, then more studying. I'm such a night person. I'm not dreading the nights in the hospital next year nearly as much as the early mornings of the surgery rotation. It's going to be hard to put makeup on in the car on the way there when it's still dark outside in the morning. That being said, I'm turning in my preferences for the order of my 3rd year rotations tomorrow. I'm less concerned with the ACTUAL schedule and more concerned with who I'll be sharing it with. I think I can get along with most people in our class though, especially since we'll be too preoccupied running around to get on each other's nerves too much. For those of you who want to know, here's the rotations I'll go through next year (in no particular order):

Surgery - 12 weeks
Family Medicine - 6 weeks
Psychiatry - 6 weeks
Internal Medicine and Neurology - 12 weeks
Ob/Gyn - 6 weeks
Pediatrics - 6 weeks

The family medicine rotation is split up. We spend 2 weeks at Baptist in Jackson and 4 weeks in a rural setting. My hometown qualifies as a rural setting and I already know most of the docs there so I'll most likely end up there. That's great too because it's only about 1 hour away from Jackson. I'm not planning on spending 4 weeks away from my husband, house, cat or dog. Do you know what kind of mess I'd come home to? Seriously...

Ahh Saturday

This Saturday was uncharacteristic for me because I got up before noon. I woke up at 10:00, made some coffee, watched a little tv to help me wake up (ha ha)and then attempted to study. I don't know what the deal has been lately but every single time I have good intentions and try to study the real world intervenes. Kris's car died yesterday. I tried to jump it off, but apparently when the motor is completely dead that doesn't really matter.

Today I was just sitting down to study when I hear the doorbell ring. I'm not so good with unexpected visitors. I wish I was. The problem is I'm just not comfortable being around people when I have no makeup on. I wish I was, but it's just a fact of life. On this day I had on no makeup, a giant zit, slept-in hair, and pajamas (with no bra of course) on. Fortunately it was just Kris's dad and brother there to work on his car and they weren't requiring me to entertain them. After they let me know they were there I immediately scrambled to put on makeup and you know, real clothes. After 2 hours of work and 1 trip to O'Reilly's, they declared the car DOA. Kris rode back with them to Kosciusko to grab my dad's old car.

So after a late lunch I set to work on finishing up a lecture and re-taking one of the dreaded psychiatry quizzes. After 3 takes (with a 3 take limit) I finally made a 100 on it. Now I just have to retake 2 more. Goodbye much needed hours of my life.

While printing out some of our "independent study" documents for pharm I realized I was running out of ink. By the way, I like how teachers call something "independent study" when they really just want to give you more stuff to learn and test you on but not be responsible for teaching it to you. I've never had my ink cartridge refilled, but heard it could be done. I poked around online and figured out Walgreen's was having a $5 ink cartridge refill sale that ended today! Of course I took them up on that.

My best friend Julz happened to be in town this weekend so I decided to hijack her and take her along for the ride. I wanted to visit with her but knew I didn't have any time to do anything FUN. I'm stuck in the nerd hole but can't seem to get anything accomplished this weekend. Anyway, we made it to Walgreen's, got the ink, I saved $12 and got super excited.

Now I'm back home wondering how I'm going to cover 42 lectures worth of information in the next few days. Wish me luck!

Runner's Log (a day late)

2.79 miles 23'52" 270 calories burned. Hooray!

I probably could have gone farther but I kept stopping for breaks to visit Kris at the end of the street. His car broke down right at the entrance to our neighborhood. His dad told him to sit with it for a little while until it cooled down so he sat there for about 20 minutes. I think that completely stopping makes it harder to start back up sometimes.

Here's a gross observation for you. There's this one house on our street where apparently the family smokes because every time I run by I smell cigarette smoke. I can smell it OUTSIDE!!! It just radiates out from the house. They must be having a smoking competition in there or something.

Lazy Productive Day

It sounds like an oxymoron, but that's what I think of on days like today. There was a lab session scheduled for 1/2 of our class, but I had mine on Wednesday so I'm a free girl today! I slept until 12:30. I really NEEDED it though. Just yesterday I left the library and skipped my lunch hour to sleep in my car outside my preceptor's clinic. That's just pathetic. I'm about to cook up my typical weekend breakfast - waffles with scrambled eggs and fruit. Then I'll probably study a little. Then I'll run. Then I'll study into the wee hours. Rinse. Repeat. This is my usual weekend.
I might break it up with a trip to Cups to study when I get sick of looking at the walls of my house or with a movie if Kris offers (he usually does).

I made chana masala yesterday. I stole the recipe off Katie's blog over at http://drkatiegoestomedschool.blogspot.com. (I tried to hyperlink it, but I'm not tech savvie and it didn't work.) She stole it from Martha Stewart. It was de-lish!!! I didn't add the onion because I knew Kris wouldn't eat it if I did, but I think next time I make it I will. Let's face it - he's not going to eat it anyway. I was particularly excited because the sauce had just the right amount of heat. It was so easy too!

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon cumin
* 2 small onions, finely diced (1 1/2 cups)
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 1/2 cups crushed canned tomatoes (I used 3 c. tomato sauce)
* 1 teaspoon ginger powder
* 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
* 1 dash of cinnamon (I add cinnamon to every tomato-based dish I make)
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 tablespoon curry powder
* lowfat plain yogurt
* 1 fresh lime


Directions
1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add onions, and cook until they begin to brown. Add garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add the spices. and cook 1 minute.
3. Add tomatoes and chickpeas. Bring to boil. Then reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes.
4. When it was ready I served it over rice and put a dollop of yogurt and a squeeze of lime over it. Then I put the leftover lime in a frosty beverage (wink, wink)

Just a Thought

Maybe one of my Lenten vows should be to get places ON TIME. That one might just change my whole life. Hmmmm.....

Runner's Log

29'01". 3.18 miles. 308 calories burned.
It was so pretty this afternoon I just had to take advantage. Fortunately Kris and Woodrow kept me company. Kris rode his bicycle and Woodrow ran with me. Whenever I take him with me I get an arm workout as well - he is 30 lbs. of muscle and likes to drag me around a little. I don't complain when we're going uphill, but it got a little pitiful when he was chasing after Kris on his bike and yelping because I couldn't run that fast! (Thanks for not slowing down for us Kris. Gosh... The nerve of some people.)

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Hello world! I've been enjoying Fat Tuesday, but it sort of snuck up on me this year. I have usually obsessed about what I'm going to give up for Lent for about a week before this and then I eat/do all those things I'm giving up on Lent. Well, that didn't quite happen this year. I'm still trying to make up my mind. For the last 7-8 years or so I've given up some combination, and most recently all of the following: fried foods, carbonated beverages, fast food (with the exception of salads from takeout places), ice cream, and pizza. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but you get the gist. This year I want to do something a little different. I thought about going vegan, but I'm not sure I have the time/patience/money to overhaul my pantry. I thought about things like running at least 10 miles per week or studying at least 1 hr daily for the STEP on top of all my other work. There's just a few things I know I'm going to try to do. I'm open to suggestions though. Here's what I've come up with so far that I'm definitely doing:

1. Giving up all form of dessert. SO hard for me!!! I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. This could get interesting...

2. I'm definitely giving up the carbonated beverages - maybe permanently? Wouldn't you be proud of me frylime? I've actually done this one every year and I've noticed it gives me more stamina when running. One of our teachers explained why one time, but darned if I can remember it now when I need to most (the STEP is looming. Have you heard?)

3. Oh yeah - I'm giving up facebook and popsugar (except for Sunday check-ins just to make sure noone's messaged me something really important or trying to get in touch with me. That's just rude.

4. I'm going to limit myself to checking my e-mail and all these wonderful blogs I read 2x daily - once in the morning, once at night/afternoon. That's going to save me lots of time and make me more efficient.

Seriously, leave me suggestions in the comments section. I'm open to them. Also, they just make my day.

Ooh - I really need to quit gossiping too. That's a bad habit of mine, but I've been much better about it lately. When you don't go to class/study with people you have much less of a chance to really gossip.

By the way, I'm not Catholic. I'm Methodist, but my youth group started doing this forever ago because we did have a few Catholic kids that attended our youth group and we all thought it would be fun. It's kind of stuck since then. I have good intentions ALL the time as far as studying, running, etc... but they're usually not all accomplished. I NEVER break my Lenten promises though, which is why I have to think about them really, really hard. Help me out peoples!

On an unrelated note - I went to see my preceptor today and he really put me and my partner to work! We took histories on every single one of his afternoon patients! And we only missed 1 question. That is, our preceptor only asked 1 question that we didn't think to ask. Maybe we're learning things after all.

All Clean, All Better

Ah, my house is clean! Last night Kris let me know that his little brother and little brother's fiance were coming into town. This always ends up with us having dinner together, then the boys drinking beer and playing video games, the girls talking about wedding shenanigans and school stuff (she's in nursing school), and late night trips to get ice cream. Needless to say, it's a good time and it's always a good surprise when I hear that they're coming into town.

The house has been a wreck for the last few weeks what with the painting of the living room and test week and all. I decided with company coming into town it was high time to remedy that. So I woke up bright and early (read - 10:00) this morning and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned... I cleaned the guest room, the guest bathroom, swept the floors, filed bills. Now the house looks livable and I feel about a thousand times better.

I studied for a good long while yesterday so I don't feel too bad for taking the night off. The one thing I hate the most about med school is the fact that even when you're doing productive and necessary things like, I don't know - laundry, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, cooking, taking a bath, running, etc... you feel GUILTY. You feel guilty because you're not studying. Maybe that's just me. It seems to be the consensus among a good many of us though. I'm not letting the guilt get to me as much lately, but I know this summer is going to be hard what with the STEP looming and all. I'll need a little of that guilt to get me motivated to study while it's all sunny and beautiful outside and everyone's playing. Anyway, that's enough for today. I'm off to fit in a lecture before they arrive. Hope everyone's weekends have been fabulous :)