Last of the year!

Tada! Last post of the decade! Cool. I am now typing on my new computer. Awesome pants. It has a camera built in, but don't worry...I don't like the sound of my own voice. I highly doubt I will be posting videos here. In sad news though, my old computer is a butt head. Looks like I may have lost it all. Bub's Andrew is going to try to get stuff off for me over in London, but it doesn't look good. Sigh. That computer lasted me so long.

Congrats to my cousin Stephen and his wife Jen on the birth of Lucy Colleen! Dec 27th! baby! Fun fun.

Tonight for new years we are of course watching Gonzaga play. Then home with the parents and Bub for some champagne. It will be chill but good. I return to the land of satan on Sunday. Creighton isn't satan. Omaha is. Icky

What else have I done? Um...Grandpa's mass was good on the 23rd. Sad w/o Grandma though :( On the 24th we changed things up and had prime rib after mass. It. Was. So. Good. Christmas day was wonderful. Warm and yummy and full of love. Matt surprised me and came to Spokane on Monday. We hung out with the KTO (I really like that kid). He left yesterday via the big grey dog. I feel bad for him. He says the people on there smell and are crazy. Crazy. I had enough of them these past 2 months. I am excited to start surgery! Gotta keep up that attitude, or it could be a long 8 weeks. I'm all about the attitude. Let's do it!

Christmas Time!

I swear I wasn't ignoring all of you. My computer pooped out on me, so I was sharing Matt's with him. Turns out we aren't great at sharing. Plus I had to study. So...psych. While it was interesting and entertaining at time, it is not a field that I will be pursuing. While I strongly feel that the mind is so incredibly amazing and does some really cool stuff, I just can't work in a field where your odds on curing someone are so incredibly slim. To just change doses of medicines to see what off the wall thing the patient will say tomorrow doesn't sound like a fulfilling life to me. I am not knocking those in the field. Because those that I met were AWESOME at what they did. So much patience. Great ability to earn trust quickly. Infinitely broad knowledge of all those drugs that sound exactly alike. Good for them! We need them too!

As for the shelf, it went. I am never sure how I feel after these things. They say psych is hard to fail, hard to honor. For Creighton, to honor the shelf you need above the 85%-ile nationally. To fail, below the 5%-ile. Most shelves have those cut-offs. I think with psych though people vary so much in how they do that the percentiles are all over the place. Who knows.

I am now home! In spokane! No snow this year! Thank goodness. Omaha got dumped on 2 weeks ago (Matt got 3 snow days, I got 1). Spokane has a few small piles in places, but it has mostly been warm (40s) and rainy. Trust me, I will take this over 5 ft of snow any day.

The adventure of my flight home: I was to fly into Spokane on Saturday night, something I booked because I wanted more alone time with my parents. The rest of the siblings were to drive from Seattle on Sunday evening. Well, my flight out of Omaha was delayed to the point where I had to look like an idiot and run to my next flight. I barely made it. But I did! I was so proud of myself. We got the announcement that we were to land in 35 minutes through some fog. About 40 minutes later, I am wondering what is going on, because we didn't really seem to descend that much. Then bam, "due to fog, we are going to Portland." BLOW!!!! We land, they keep us on the plane for about 30minutes to figure out the plan. We get off. Another plane arrives that we may be able to use. Alas, all worker flight peoples would be over their hours!!!!!!!!! Ughs. Bring on the chartered buses! We left PDX at about 130am and got into GEG at about 730am. OMG. That took me back to my Regis basketball days. Needless to say, it was annoying. Unlike a majority of the people on the flight, I didn't get all up in arms. Yes, I was annoyed. But I knew there was nothing any of us could accomplish by getting mad. People standing in line all angry...you really don't think they thought about rebooking people in the morning? Or getting another flight crew? I don't like getting mad. It wasn't their fault. We legally couldn't land in Spokane in the situation. People were also taking it out on the bus drive. Again, not his fault. He probably was woken up from a nice little sleep he was having to come pick up our cranky butts. Nuff said. Okay, shopping to do. I update more. I swear!

Sigh

For those of you who read this and are related to me/know me...you know why I haven't updated.

I just finished my 6th week of Psych (out of 8). My first month was at the Residential Treatment Center for kids. Ages 6-18. I had great hours and got all the free diet Pepsi I could drink. None of these kids were out of control, and it gave me a lot of practical experience in interviewing. Still though, I should have accomplished more during those 4 weeks.

I am currently now on adult inpatient psych at Immanuel hospital. It is...interesting, exciting (at times), and....wow. Some times I just want to shake these people. The delusions, the psychotic, the violent, the suicidal. I definetly thank God everyday for a normal, working mind. The brain really is crazy in what it can and can't do. A delusion is a fixed, false belief in spite of evidence to the contrary. For anyone who has seen "Lars and the real girl," that is a perfect example. We had a patient who believed commercials were sending him messages. Problem is...his mom was feeding into his delusion. His wife was resisting but not in the best of ways. Needless to say he changed inpatient doctors. Wow. A patient also broke the glass around the nurses' station. Yeah psych!

Matt and I moved our TV over, which means we now have a full wall on which we can put seating. We are trying to find a chair to put over there. Problem is, neither of us likes to spend money. It isn't that we live paycheck to paycheck, but we just don't like to spend money. We are weird.

It feels good to update again, but I am still having a hard time. I struggle with sadness every day. I know I just have to take it one day at a time, but it still is hard. I ask that you all keep praying for my family. That we feel the loving embrace of God through every part of our day. That one day we all may be there dancing with Grandpa.

Peace

Sorry I'm not sorry

No updates for a while. I know. My grandma got sick, so I just haven't really been in the mood to update. Finished Peds. Started Psych. I will update more some other time. I took my Shelf early and then flew home Friday to see Grandma. Let's just keep praying for her and our family. Peace out

#200

I think this is my 200th post. Go me!

I am newly obsessed with mousse. No, not the stuff you put in your hair. Not the animal moose. The yummy yummy dessert. On Saturday Matt and I had his coworker and his fiance over for dinner. She has Celiacs, so I was trying to come up with something gluten free for dessert that wasn't too boring. Now, I know they can do some ice creams, but the one I know for sure (Tillamook Vanilla Bean) isn't available down here. Instead I decided to do a chocolate mousse that my cousin Jeff, the chef, suggested. I was nervous because I had never made a mousse. For some reason I thought it would be really hard like a souffle or something. Wrong. Pretty dang easily (with Jeff's directions at least). The chocolate mousse called for dark rum, but I looked it up and some Celiacs can't have it. Good thing I omitted it because she did confirm that she can't handle it. That would have been embarrassing. What else did I make you ask? Miso marinated fish (I need to find a better type of fish, and mirin, then it will be good), wasabi mashed potatoes (my new favorite), and DeDe's salad. mmmmmmm. It was great. My next food to tackle is....more mousse! I want to try peanut butter (with out it just being frosting) and pumpkin! Maybe this weekend.

As I have learned with cooking bacon, there are just some smells that like to linger. Bacon being one of them. Fish, alas, is one as well. Icky. It has kind of smelled fishy since Saturday even with lots of candles going. Ick. I would take the smell of bacon any day. ANY DAY!

Fall has hit Omaha. For about 2 weeks now we have had some pretty comfortable if not chilly temps. We went from the mid 70s (comfy) to the 50s (chilly). Problem is.....we may get frickin' snow this weekend!!!!!!!! I am not ready for that. It was 73 yesterday. Snow possible on Sat and Sun with highs in the mid 30s. Hello January! We skipped about 3 months there. A lot of people ask how fall is here. I think many judge a place on its fall. Or at least they pretend to. Lots of pretty colors? Nice temps? Well, Omaha sort of misses out on the colors of fall. Sad. And I think I figured out why. In Denver they sort of missed it because of the SUPER crazy weather. Here we miss it because it is so darn windy! The second a leaf dies just a little bit, it gets blown off the tree! Goodbye pretty colors!

Okay, time to go...do something.

Oh glorious outpatient

Hello to sleeping in and staying up to normal times! I just recently started (on Monday) outpatient pediatrics. We work 2 weeks in a community clinic, one week in the newborn nursery at Creighton, and one week in the Creighton peds clinic. I am on my 2 weeks in the community. And it is great. Not because I am enjoying the profession (not to say that I am not though either) but because of the hours. Her earliest patient is 10am. She had no scheduled morning patients today, so she just told me to come from 2 to 4pm. Woohoo. I spent the rest of the day being pretty productive though, which is good. I was really looking forward to outpatient as to get more studying done. And I am. Yay!

Matt and I went to a coworkers wedding on Friday. I know, Friday wedding...weird. I am assuming it is because they didn't want to miss the Husker's game. These people are insane. It was fun though. Really good food. The DJ kind of...stunk. The dance floor was totally not hoppin. I got to wear my little black dress, which is always fun.

I am really trying to think of other things I have done. And I can't think of anything. We went to a local sports bar for Sunday night football. The place was dead but pretty cool on the inside. Tons of TVs. Might be cool for March Madness. You know, I really do think of good things to say on here during the day. Good, deep, life changing comments, but by the time I get around to typing I have totally forgotten. Ughs. I am going to be way fun when I get old.

Slacker

Peds has kept me pretty busy. A bad excuse. But an excuse none the less. I finished up my calls last Thursday. Yay! Only 2 more inpatient days. Yay! It isn't that I haven't enjoyed it (it hasn't been that bad for me); it is just that I like things moving forward. I like feeling accomplished. We had Dimensions in Clinical Medicine on Friday. Lame. Matt and I are also going to a co-workers wedding that evening. It should be good times.

What have I been up to? Good question. Reading. Sleeping. Eating. Little working out. Repeat. This past weekend I went to go get my oil changed at which point they showed me my tire that was about to blow. Oops. So glad it didn't do that to us in Minneapolis. So then I had to go buy 2 new rear tires. It now smells like new tires in my garage. Ick. They also had to fix my alignment. Gosh darn car.

Other news? I am heading to Seattle after the Peds Shelf! Granted, all who read this probably know that. Still. Bub happened to be coming to the states, and with everyone else living close we thought, "might as well." I am excited.

I saw dog costumes at Target tonight. I miss my Guster. I wish we got trick or treaters here in the apartment. Sigh. Holidays aren't as fun when you are a young adult.

The weather finally cooled off (for 2 days at least). It has been in the 80s over the weekend, which is too hot in my opinion for September. And our pool is closed.

Anything else? Nope. Other than a resolution to update more often. I'll remember more that way.

Pediatrics

Again it has been a while. Lots to update

Peds: way different. My first week was in the NICU at Bergan. Free food. Sweet hours. No work. Awesome. This week I went to Children's. Wow. Way different. Get there at 6am. Go home at 430 on a "normal" day. I only had 2 normal days out of 4 this week. I was on long call on Wednesday which meant I was there until noon the next day. Yes. Noon. 30 hour shift - awesome! With only 2 hours of sleep. Awesome. Wooooooo. Basically what we as students do is see patients in the morning, write a note about them, and then present them to the hospitalist/whole team in the morning as we walk from room to room. The thing is, these kids are actually sick. Pregnant ladies pretty much are all 'well.' The plan you come up with for them (something we have to do) is pretty standard. Get the baby out. Sick kids though...you have to think about drugs, doses, fluids, food, etc etc etc. Ugh. And then you have people commenting on what you should do. I lucked out this week and had a good hospitalist. Next week could be a different story. I also am on the 6th floor with older kids and kids w/ cancer. Yes, that is sad but not as complicated as heart patient kids. Nuff said

Labor day weekend Matt and I went up to Minneapolis. It was tons of fun! You know, I thought it was going to be a bigger Omaha. Totally wasn't. Had a nice downtown area with places to eat and shop. Had the Mississippi river, which we floated along in a paddle boat. Basically we did all the touristy things, which I personally think is a good thing the first time you go somewhere. We didn't do any museums, but we saw tons of stuff. When driving through the U of M campus, we saw a girl with a license plate from Spokane!!!!! Small world. My car passed 100,000 miles on the way up. I am so proud of him. It really tugged at my heart a little. I have no clue how many miles were on it when we got it, but still. He has made it so far. We may go back up there someday, but we may fly next time. Our next long weekend trip may be Des Moines. We stopped there for a bit, and it was actually kind of okay. Yay for exploring!

Last but not least, I forgot to celebrate my 10 year anniversary on here!!! Of what? My ACL surgery. I had it right before starting freshman year of high school in 99. And now here we are. All put back together again. Yay for strong knee!!!!! Granted it still tightens up on my and moves a little and I can't run really, but still. Okay. On long call again tomorrow. Blow. Only one weekend day this week. Blow.

And that was OB/GYN

I am done with OBGYN (well...pending Shelf results, but I am pretty sure I passed), so I thought it would be time to summarize a little bit - both with some fun facts and my own experience

FUN FACTS
-Fraternal twins (rather than identical twins) run in families. Including mine. For some reason I always thought it would be identical twins
-The incidence of identical twins is about 1 in 230 across most races and countries
-Episiotomies aren't really standard anymore...sorry for all those ladies out there who had to have them for no reason
-C section scars are really only about 10cm long and pretty hidden from public eyes
-Term breeches occur in 3% of pregnancies and are now delivered only by c section for the most part - again, sorry for the women/babies who came into the world butt first (Mom)
-Baby's heart beat should be between 120-160
-When pregnant women exercise they should aim for a heart beat of around 140

My experience
I saw a total of 18 births - 8 c sections and 10 "regular." Of the latter, I got to "deliver" (hands on the baby as he/she came out) in 8 of them. Sadly, no one named a baby after me. That is okay though since most of them were boys. When choosing to do this rotation first, I was mostly thinking about going to weddings and which rotation would be easiest to get a little time off. Secondarily I thought about getting this one over with early because I "knew" it was something gross that I didn't really want to do. Now, I am not saying I want to go into this field, but these 8 weeks really opened my eyes. I thought all of it would gross me out, and while birthing a child is pretty gross looking, it was still a lot of fun. What I actually think I enjoyed about it (rather than hanging out with female parts all the time) was the "hands on" aspect. I liked being in the OR, I liked using my hands. This is something you often think about when looking at what to do with your life. Do you like doing procedures? Do you like thinking more? Do you like long term relationships with your patients? Are you the type of person that wants fast results? As I have learned through this rotation, I am definitely a person that likes to work with my hands and do procedures. That isn't to say that I don't like "thinking," it is just that I like to "do" in addition to talking about doing.

From talking to my friends, I am a little sad that I "wasted" this rotation early. I am not saying that because of the free time this rotation allows but because it is such a strong, good, friendly, exciting rotation. It is very well organized, and the majority of the residents and attendings want to teach you and want you to get your hands in there. They don't pimp you too much, and they all really knew how to teach the keys points. I think I am going to miss this rotation when looking back. Again, not because it is something I necessarily want to do but because of how much I got to do and how much faith and trust the residents had in us.

Whelp, that's it. I start Peds on Monday at Children's hospital (the harder of the 2 months). I think I will be working with 5years and up there. I kind of like that idea a little more than the younger kids simply because they can talk to me when they are this old. Okay, off to be lazy around Omaha.

1 week left

Well, really 4 days of this rotation. Scary. We take the shelf next Friday. This really has flown by. I've had at least 2 more calls since I last wrote. One was a Thursday night. 5 deliveries. All of course just far enough apart to keep me from sleeping. That made for a rough Friday. I was also on call this past Monday. 9 BABIES!!!!!!!!! Just during my shift. Actually, it was 10. I only helped with 7 though. This meant, however, that I had to see that many patients the next day. My classmates helped me out though, so I only had to see 5. I am on call Saturday night again. Part of me wants it busy, but part of me wants to be able to sleep. We will see how I feel come Saturday afternoon.

2 big things I missed:
Happy 97th to Grandma K. on the 13th!
Happy bday Dad on the 19th!

Fun things I have done that I don't know if I have written about
-Friday night live music at Soaring Wings Vineyard...the only one in Nebraska. The wine really wasn't that great (and a little overpriced), but it was beautiful out in the country and tons of fun just to hang with friends (something I didn't get to do much last year)
-Saturday night Vibes out at Village Point (outdoor shopping place). It is always nice to see some "normalcy" in Omaha
-Tuesday night trivia at JC's Old Chicago. $2 pints, $2 personal pizzas, and trivia. It was great
-Me eating something pizza-esque 6 days in a row a week ago. That was probably the highlight of my life right there. The rest is all down from here.

And on to really important business. When do you go ahead and take that leap of faith and make a change? It is such a big risk that affects so many people. Yes, you know what I am talking about. Deodorant. I contemplated switching brands lately. But then I thought: if this really doesn't end up working out, everyone around me is going to know. And worst of all, I would have to spend another $4 and go back to my old brand. Needless to say, I didn't make that switch. I can buy 2 hotdogs and a churro at Costco for the $4. No need to waste it on hygiene.

August

Before I start on August I guess I should finish up July. Guess what I did....delivered a baby. Actually caught that thing coming out of the mom. Wasn't just in the corner. Wasn't just watching. I caught it. Told you all I was a good 1st baseman. No, they didn't name it after me. It was a boy. That same day I also got to help out with a c-section.

Now that August has started I have moved over to Bergan Mercy - another Catholic hospital in town. While I would say less "teaching" is done here (fewer Creighton faculty visit here), there is more doing. They get quite a few more deliveries a month, so I am hoping my call will be good. Then again, it will be Sunday day call. I am predicting it will be slow. Sigh.

What else have I done? Not much. A few fun happy hours. Some Jenga. You know, the usual. Matt and I did go to Denver last weekend for my college friend Melissa's wedding. We brought them awesome weather it turns out. The wedding was in a Catholic church, but it wasn't a "full" mass (no Eucharist). Plus, a lot of these people didn't know the responses to a lot of the things. Reception was fun. Erica (college roommate) and her parents were at our table, which made the evening a ton of fun. Whelp...going to go watch the So You Think You Can Dance finale.

C section

(warning, slightly descriptive) I was on call for the first time on Wednesday. We were pretty slow the whole time. The only patient that was close that I was allowed to see had stalled out at 9cm for over 3 hours. As soon as night float came on, they decided to do a c-section. I got off at 7, but thankfully we started at about 550 meaning I got to see it. As the med student you pretty much hold back the bladder. And cut the sutures. I did it pretty well if I do say so myself. While this type of surgery is very bloody it was pretty cool. As they cut, I kept thinking, "Is that the uterus yet? Is that it yet? How bout now?" Then we hit it. Ew. Nothing made me squeamish except the amniotic fluid running over my hands. Weird weird weird feeling. Turns out that getting the baby out only took about 20 minutes. Closing took another 40. I've been following up with this patient, and they are both doing well.

I am almost getting used to my new sleep schedule. Getting up at 445am is pretty tough, but I am getting better. Last Friday when I headed up to my cousin's wedding I had to get up at 230am. That was rough. My flight was at 5am plus I had to shuttle park. Ugh. Early. I almost stayed up 24hrs that day though. The wedding was great fun. We stayed in a hotel with an attached casino. It made for great night entertainment but smokey clothes. Ick. The weather was absolutely perfect up there though. The main problem with going to Washington though is that I get somewhat very very sad coming back here. Sigh. Okay. We had a short day today. Off to enjoy stuffs

House, M3

I am finally, officially, an M3. You really aren't considered an M3 until you pass boards. Not just take but pass. Which means........I passed boards!!!! We got our scores back yesterday. After waiting for 6 weeks, I was starting to get more pessimistic about my performance. My original goal was 230 (average is 221, no one really knows the max, 185 is passing). As release day drew closer, I started thinking, "Oh, I'd be happy with 220." The next day "Oh, I'd be happy with 210." In my mind I kept picturing low scores. As I opened the PDF on my PDA yesterday at the hospital, the night I received my MCAT scores came rushing back to me. I felt I did okay on that, but my score didn't reflect it. I cried some that night. I panicked some. So I had full right to be anxious when opening this email. At first I planned to just wait til I got home because I didn't want it to ruin the rest of my day at work. I gave in though. My hands were shaking like no other. At first my mind read "fail," but that is because the small screen blurred it. Then as I zoomed, I thought it said 208. My heart sank a little. Then I kept zooming. Wait what? I scored higher than my original goal?!? Wait?!?!?! AHHHHHHHHHH! Happy day! I had a few joyful tears as I called my parents. Oh my goodness does it feel good to have that score done with. Other than maybe plastics, which I didn't want to do anyway, I haven't closed off any specialty due to the score. Woohoo!!!!

On Monday and Tuesday I became ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) certified. Basically I can "run" a code, shocker things and all. As it turns out, few places actually use paddles anymore. Sad. That is the only reason I became a doctor. They use the pads that you find in AEDs instead. Boring.

I watched 2 surgeries today: bilateral laproscopic tubal ligation and excision of some squamous cell dysplasia of the outer girly parts. I really have enjoyed the gyn surgery part of this rotation. Alas, on Monday I go to OB. Babies are cool. I have tomorrow off to travel to Bellingham!!!! Family wedding!!! Excited. I am in a very celebritory and non-workouty mood.

Scrubbin in!

I got to actually scrub in today and do stuff! It was great. Yesterday on gyn beeper I was more bored than I have been in a long time. Today, however, I scrubbed in on a total laproscopic hysterectomy (didn't end up total or fully laproscopic, but that is what it started as). It was me, 2 residents, and then a faculty gyn doc. It was great! Even with 4 of us in there (in addition to all the nurses and techs) I still got to do a few things. I will spare you the details (a little on the gross, girl-part side of things), but I am pretty sure I answered all the questions asked of me correctly. Well, most of them at least. Once my surgery was over (about 1130), I got to leave! Nice and short day for me. Then again, I did have to get up at 445. This will be a rough 2 months, but I think I'll survive. I have 2 surgeries tomorrow and clinic in the morning. I have no clue what exactly how clinic works. I think it is pretty much just regular well-woman checks, etc. Thing is I may be on the OB side of things tomorrow, but we will see. You know, I can do procedures and talk to patients, but when it comes to writing notes, I am pretty weak. I guess I know what I need to fix!

I am off this weekend and partly tempted to sleep in, but I know that will mess me up. I have ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) training on Monday and Tuesday, regular stuff on Wednesday, gyn beeper on Thursday (while being the only M3 on the floor), and gone on Friday!! Excited for the family wedding!

OB/GYN orientation

Talk about some of the most confusing hours of my life!! Yesterday I spent about 4 hours listening to how things work at CUMC (Creighton U Med Center) yet left feeling dumber than I did before. All these different schedules and responsibilities. Show up...pre-round...round...clinic...call...beeper. Ahhh! Bergan Mercy orientation today was a little simpler because they just throw OB and GYN together. CUMC does them separately. I got my ideal order (just by accident): CUMC Gyn then OB for the 1st month, Bergan for the 2nd. Bergan is busier, so I can get my feet a little "wet" (really, I didn't mean to make that pun) before heading there. I also get free food at Bergan. Yay! OB at CUMC and all of Bergan has 12 hour call shifts that you rotate through with your classmates. CUMC gyn (what I am doing right now) has "Gyn Beeper," which I am on tomorrow. Now, I really have no clue what this means. I know it means I don't get to go into previously schedule gyn surgeries. I know it means I can't leave until 430pm. Basically I carry it around in case there is a "Gyn-mergency" anywhere in the hospital (as in the ER or something). It rarely rarely rarely ever goes off, so I am not too worried. It also means though that I get to "assign" the gyn surgeries for the next day to my fellow CUMC gyn students. My first call on CUMC OB isn't til the 22nd. Of course it has to be the day Matt comes back. I am on day call though (7am to 7pm), which sucks a little bit because I don't get the next day off. In fact, I think all my night calls are on the weekends meaning I never get any week days off (you don't need to round on the weekends unless on call). Think you are confused? Well I am right there with ya. I am basically going to go until I get scolded and then change some things.

My 4th was pretty relaxed. Went over to a friends place and watched people around the neighborhood set off fireworks, something I never really experienced much growing up. It sounded what I imagine a war zone sounds like. Just without the fear.

The biggest development in my life: I have become slightly addicted to iced chai tea lattes. So much so that I have taken to making large, delicious batches and cooling them overnight so I can drink it the next day. This may or may not be a bad thing.

I will really try this year to keep y'all updated with the things I am doing. Some of it may be cool. Some of it may be lame. But you'll read it anyway.

PS: my 1st day of school photo from this year. Sorry it is a little foggy...weird

Hiatus

I think I have used that subject before. Sorry. I was enjoying my "summer" too much and being too lazy to write. Plus, not that much happened. A week at home. A few days in Olympia. Hiked around Rainier national park. Week at Camano (I swear pics will be up soon). Back home for a rockin Hoopfest. Back to Omaha. Lame M3 orientation. Speaking of which, I should change my profile on here. Some highlights

Home: I love my parents, my dog, and I guess my little brother. It sucks that none of my friends live there any more

Olympia/Seattle: Matt's parents' new kitchen is awesome, rode a lot of buses

Da Beach: 16lbs of bacon and a flat of fresh strawberries every day...need I say more?

Hoopfest: with Corrina only on our team, we managed to capture 2nd place!! Yay for new t-shirts. Mind you, this was only with 3 players since our 4th broke her nose in 4 places...during the first game. Ouch. We love you Mary

I am not back in Omaha highly unmotivated about life. I am both intensily excited and scared about what will come this year. So much more responsibility. So much less hand holding. I don't need to be spoon-fed, but I do need to know what is expected of me. Also, I need to eat pretty often, which may pose an issue this next year. I guess I need to train myself now to not eat as often. I start with ObGyn on Monday and am pumped. Even if this isn't my #1 area of choice, I am excited and (almost) confident in my abilities. I am very thankful for the clinic I had this past year because it really gave me a GREAT chance to get my feet wet. Gave shots, drew blood, assisted in pelvics, and did almost all the interviews, which is more than many got to do. Yay!

We have tomorrow and the weekend off. I hope everyone has a great 4th. I'll be back Monday (hopefully) with an update on the first day.

PS: the one advantage of living in Nebraska --> 10 ears of corn for a $1...even before July 4th

I'M BACK! AND I'M DONE!

Whoop! Done! First part of this will be my life...second part will be the test. I don't want to bore everyone with test info.

Life has been sweet. Now, in comparison to most people's lives, it may not be that awesome, but when looking back on the last....5 months....it has been pretty satisfying. I get up when I want. I don't have to open a book. I get to watch TV and movies. Awesome. After the test on Thursday I went home. Matt had bought champagne, so we drank some of that and went on a walk. We then mett Meghan and Kevin at Kona for their awesome happy hour. Between Matt and myself we got 2 sushi rolls, 5 margaritas, and a pizza for $20 plus tip. Awesome. We then went back to our place where I continued to forget. It was fun. Relaxed, but fun. Meghan and Kevin kept falling asleep, so they left right as JC showed up. Our tiredness kept him from staying long. 

Had to pack Friday morning. In my "recovery" mode, I forgot a swimsuit. Hope mom will buy me a new one :D. Matt and I were on the same flight to Minneapolis where we learned that Northwest charges $50 for standby. Really? Really people? Why does it cost money to do that? I understand that you are trying to get every last drop of money out of us, but charging for standby? Ridiculous. If I ever own an airline, I am not charging for that. They did give you a whole can of soda though, which is nice. We were on different flights to Seattle...only 40 minutes apart. Again...really? Matt got in only 10 minutes after me because we sat around for a while in Minneapolis. Good thing we didn't pay that $50. I then flew Alaska to Spokane. I forget how annoying it is to make 2 layovers.

Once in Spo, we went to Denny's. I got the "Grand Slam burrito." Turns out there is a pancake in it!!!!! While it may have taken 4 years off my life, it was worth it. Nothing much else has happened. Bo and I are going to do "On Demand" Yoga today. It sucks not having a gym.

THE TEST

Studied unitl 11am on Wednesday and then took the rest of the day as mental health. Did errands. Went to a baseball game. It was fun. Didn't have too hard of a time falling asleep.

Up at 6, shower, bfast, got to the test center early. As per usual. Checked in. Down for the test. In case I haven't told you: 7 sections of 48 questions. Newly added last year were A/V questions - basically murmurs. Newlly added in FRED v2 this year were sequential questions. My friends who took it on Tuesday have v1...I took it on Thurs and had v2. Weird. I only had 1 sequential question, which wasn't hard at all. In fact, I would say they are easier because they basically just "make you show your work" on how you made the 2nd or 3rd jump in thinking.

Blocks 1 and 2 were a little rough. Don't know if it was test jitters or actually they were harder, but they sort of took the wind out of my sails. I had 2 of the exact same question! Not just similar. EXACT same. On different blocks. Problem is....I didn't know it the first time. On these tests they do through in "experimental" questions that aren't actually scored, so here is to hoping that was one. Break after the first 2. Soda and nut time

Block 3 started pretty well, but I got mentally frustrated at the end and had to take an unplanned break before block 4. I think that one was fine. It is all a blur now. Lunch after 4. Then 5 and 6...break...7. All in all I would say I had 2-3 questions I had NO CLUE about per block. Another 7-10 that I had to make quite a few mental jumps that I was unsure about. The rest went fine? I was most nervous about stamina for this. I had only ever done 4 blocks in a day. 7 is a whole new ball game. We won't get our scores until mid July. Now to play the waiting game. I am pretty sure I passed. The actual score...we will see. Off to sit around on my butt!

1 week

1 week

You can start praying for me...now

No update until then

Adios

3 weeks

Wow, I am an awful person. I feel as if a lot has happened? Did I talk about taking the Basic Science Shelf? Well I did. Got a 77? Don't know if that is a percent or what, but it correlates w/ a 217.5 on Step 1. National average on the actual Step 1 (not practice 5 weeks beforehand) is 221. HOPEFULLY I will just keep going up. I am going to take another practice test tomorrow. Whoop. We also took the Pathology shelf. Got a 540? Again, who knows what that actually means. Using the scale for a different test (basically I am just searching for something to hold onto here), that is about a 228. Those tests were a week apart. 10 points in a week. I'll take it.

Why do I talk about studying so much? Because all I do is study right now. My last "break" from studying until the test was going to Denver. It was tons of fun. I put on weight. Imagine that. My family, eat a lot? Weird. Back now though...have been for a while. Sigh

Last Saturday was Matt's prom. He was in charge, so I got to go help set up and then actually go to the dance. I was actually quite helpful w/ ideas when setting up. It wasn't too bad. The dance part was...interesting. Nothing too bad happened. We found one girl almost passed out. Claimed she had "too many energy drinks." Uh...........I don't know if I believed that. I was hoping to hear some music I hadn't heard before. False. I swear they played some of those songs at my senior prom. They did play that sond "Sandstorm" or whatever. Oh. My. Goodness. I thought the floor was going to collapse. I could see the headlines, "Jumping teens injure beautiful med student...and her boyfriend :D" Really though, I was looking for something to hold onto just in case the floor gave way. I mean....1000 students jumping up and down. Scary. I got to wear a dress though. Yay! They played a fast song for the last song. How lame is that? Matt said he would have danced with me to the last slow one, but he didn't want all the students starring. They would have. That's okay though, we had a good time. Okay, off to bed?

Sad day

Sigh. Sad. We have gotten rid of Netflix. Sigh. So...not a lot of movie reviews in the near future. Not like I was good at keeping up with them but still. Instead, for that same $14 a month we got mlb.com as for to watch the Mariners. We bought some cords and hook Matt's computer up to the TV. The image is great, and the signal is sometimes even before they get it back home. Woohoo. It was a tough decision, but I knew that on any given night, Matt would choose watching the M's over watching a movie. Plus, it is easier to study when the the M's are on than when a movie is. One day we may get Netflix again, but my nights shall be full of books for now.

Speaking of studying.......blah. We took our last final on Monday. It was kind of lame. I did just fine though. We took the "Comprehensive Basic Science Shelf Exam" today on the computer. These are retired (??) Step 1 questions; 4 blocks of 50. 4 hours total to take it. I took about 3h and 20min. The real deal is 7 sections of 48 each. It used to be 50, but they have added new audio questions. On the real thing we can also take breaks when we want to. On this one you had to be escorted out of the room, only one person at a time. Oh man to I get antsy sitting for that long. On my first 3 sections I had about 10min left in each block; on the last one...25. Talk about wanting to leave. I need to not do that though because that will only really hurt me.

You may be wondering, "Becky, what do you need to know for this test? What type of questions do they ask?" Well, to answer your questions: I need to know everything about the human body that I have (tried) to learn over the past 2 years. There is a bigger emphasis on the clinical type of things (such as was covered M2 year) and less on the "basics." I still need to know the basics (biochem, immuno), but they are often times tested in more of a clinical setting. As for questions...they are usually 2 or 3 "step" questions. What does that mean? I'll explains. So, they'll often give you a clinical setting - person came in w/ this and that and history of blah
1 step: what do they have?
2 step: what drug/treatment would you do?
3 step: what are the side effects/what should you warn against with the medication?
You have to make all those jumps in your head. From time to time there will be just a simple 1 step question, but then you panic b/c you are pretty sure it isn't supposed to be that easy...and then you start overthinking everything....ahhhhhh. Or at least that is what I do. I won't get the results from the CBSE for a few days, which is weird. It has been so nice at Creighton having my test results in my inbox the moment I step out of the computer lab. Alas, the wait for my actual step 1 score will be even longer because of some sort of new system or other. Blah.

Of to Denver this afternoon for Bo's graduation!!! Yay! Matt went to Seattle, so you don't have to feel bad for him! I took him to the airport at 445 this morning, so feel bad for me instead!

I miss lilacs

The biggest thing I miss from home in the spring time and early summer is the smell of lilacs. It really just takes me back to being young. Anytime I catch a small smell of them, I just melt. Sigh. Alas, I am in Omaha, who seems to have made a rapid transition to summer. I took a 2 hour bike ride yesterday and turned out rather pink. But it will look nice and tan in a day or 2. My rear also hurts a ton from said bike ride. It was great though. We have this 10 mile paved trail near our place. I took that out and back. I've been stressed and emotional (rare for me, I know :D) as of late, so taking this ride just felt awesome. I had to turn our AC on today. Matt doesn't function well (especially in terms of mood) when it is hot in the apartment. Sigh. Summer. It is supposed to be 84 today.

5 weeks from today I will be taking step 1. Oh. My. Gosh. I need to get my butt in gear. I feel as if I have some knowledge but no where near enough. We have our lame final on Monday and then 2 shelf exams 1 week apart. Other than that, it is going to be pure studying. And a weekend in Denver. And some other stuff :D. I just need to keep reminding myself that my future sort of is really on the line here. I am confident that I will pass (took a practice exam before starting my studies that had me passing, yay!), but I don't want to just pass. They posted Creighton's scores from last year. National average was 221; we got 224. National % of people scoring over 245 is about 14%; we had about 18%. Obviously my schooling has been above average; let's just hope Becky has gotten control of her bad standardized test taking.

Easter

Have I ever told you how much I love Easter Vigil service? Well I love it. While no church has been able to live up to Sacred Heart back home, I still love this service. The progression of readings from the Old Testament are great; the lights coming on are great; fire is great. I love the 'litany of the saints.' I think I always will enjoy it. You need a strong singer though to be the main cantor. Our woman on Saturday night wasn't very strong. I really had a hard time hearing/understanding her. I swear she was making up names. Still though I enjoyed it. Since Matt was still gone, I had no one with whom to go to dessert. So I just went home.

I am over this last class. This week hasn't been as bad b/c it has been more "hard science" than touchy feely stuff. Trust me, I am a touchy feely person, but not when I am tested and graded on it. I will admit that my Behavioral Change Project is coming along very nicely. The apartment is much cleaner, which is a great thing. I am very glad Matt is back as well. It was very lonely around here without him. I did surprise him with a dresser though - helping with the behavioral change. Like the table we bought, it was one of those rare, nice finds on Omaha Craigslist.

Quiz tomorrow in this class. Meh

And so it begins

Boards studying that is. Now, I've been studying for a bit already (mostly since spring break), but you can finally tell that the rest of the class is studying. Today, on the first day of an easy class, you would expect no one to be around school or in the computer lab. Not this time of year though. Pages of First Aid (FA) are flying. Blue and pink and yellow highlighters hit the page. Check Robbins...then give up and check wiki. Hang out on facebook. Panic when you remember you are supposed to be studying for boards. At least now I am not ashamed to say I am studying. I realized when taking the MCAT (and really with all my schooling) that I need a lot of "reads" of the material to remember it. I can read it once or twice and understand it, but in order to be able to memorize it, I need about 4-5 reads. Plus flashcards. Plus practice exams...this is my life for the next 2 months. Bear w/ me readers

Did I already say GI final went fine? Well it did. Friday afternoon I met some friends for lunch. When Amber and I went to leave, we had a true senior moment. We couldn't find her car for the life of us. She even beeped it; we still couldn't find it. I was cracking up, doubled over in laughter, especially when some wiser (read "in their late 60s) ladies asked us if we needed help. We politely declined and finally found the car. It took about 3 minutes though. Hilarious. Sunday morning we went to Annie's for a pre-Easter brunch. We also dyed eggs. I like dying and eating hardboiled eggs.

I don't like 24

I decided I don't like the age 24. Not because of aging or anything like that. I just think it is a very "in between time." Sort of like 19. At 24 you are no longer really "college aged" or "just fresh out of college aged." You aren't an adult yet either (at least not in my mind). At 25, I'll go ahead and call myself an adult. Maybe. It is hard to call yourself an adult when you are still in school. Sigh. School

We have our GI final on Friday. Ick. I just want classes to be over. But they aren't. And we our last class is going to blow balls. It is sort of a new class; mostly it is a combo of 2 classes, one of which was spread out over the semester for last years M2's. The man in charge of this class is...irritating to say the least. Not only do we have to do this "behavioral change project" (w/ a nice little 4 page paper), but we also have to do this site visit thing. After that visit, we have to prepare a PPT presentation AND write a research paper (3 sources) for it. Now I know you are all thinking that I am a whiner, and I'll give you that. The thing is, I wouldn't mind all this gosh darn busy work if it had been 2 months ago. Now, however, is the time to start to crack-down for Step 1 studying. Not to be writing about my feelings and how I want to change myself. Grrrrrrr

Matt leaves for Seattle this weekend for his Spring Break. I'm a little jealous but am also kind of glad b/c I can really start to look towards my step 1 studying. Not much else is going on. I am still trying to find a dresser for the apartment. For 8 months I have had a good # of clothes in boxes on the floor. Kind of like a college student (ie...myself during college). Omaha's craiglist, however, isn't awesome. It isn't that people aren't selling things, it is just that they are selling not such nice stuff for too much money.

MOVIE time
Tropic Thunder
This was actually pretty funny. I like it when Hollywood makes fun of itself. The movie was 2 hours in total, which is a little long for a comedy. They could have really condensed the plot at the beginning - no one is watching a comedy for character development. I ran out of words in my head to say about this movie. 6.9/10

The Happening
Sometimes I think M. Night Shyamalan gets some tough criticism. He set the bar really high for himself w/ 6th Sense, and when his movies don't hit that level (which they don't), he gets a lot of crap for it. While I don't think this movie rocked, it wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be. I do, however, have a hard time getting back into a movie once I have decided it is flawed. And it was. They were talking about a neurotransmitter/pathway in the brain that is there to keep people from hurting themselves because our natural instinct is to kill ourselves? Uh......no. That was said early, so from that point on, I had a hard time getting back into it. As always, he makes you think you are going to see monsters or poisons or what not, but you don't. It was okay, and at only 1.5hours, it was a good break from studying. 5.3/10

Hiatus

That was a long hiatus, but I'm back. Not much happened over spring break, so I wasn't very inspired to write. Then I got behind on GI from day 1 and had to do a lot of catching up.

So....GI. I don't like it. We already had our first quiz. I passed, but I still don't like the class. The gut is a tube. It should just be a tube. It should have no physiology. It should have no pathology. Alas, it is our last 'real' class. Wooohooo.

In other news, we had the tornado sirens going off yesterday. And while Matt and I probably should have gotten into the basement, we took pics instead. Oh my goodness people. That was intense. It was a fast moving storm that made it from Lincoln to Omaha in about an hour (that's about as long as it takes to drive there). For a while all we had was a little wind and tons of lightening. Then came the rain quickly followed by the biggest hail I have ever seen in my whole entire life. We also could see the "wall cloud" and "lowered cloud level" (all things that mean a tornado might form in that area) from the balcony. It pretty much went right over us. Let's see if I can get this video up. If I can, please ignore my screeching. I could barely hear myself when the hail was coming down, but my camera managed to pick it up just fine, loud and clear.



Oh, and by the way, as much as I love that it is staying lighter longer, it really messes w/ my studying. When the sun is gone, you know it is time to buckle down. Now the sun doesn't leave for a long time, and I have a hard time cracking down on the studying

Wow

The big news in my absence....no, not the MSI final. But.....MY BIRTHDAY! I turned the big 2-4. It is weird b/c I am a younger member of my class and group of friends for the first time in my life. In both Spokane and Denver I was one of the older ones. I guess I'd prefer to be the baby though. As a sort of celebration I invited a lot of people to Kona happy hour, which is totally awesome: half price sushi and pizza w/ great drink specials. Quite a few people showed up, and it was tons of fun

Not much else has gone on, other than the final. That went just fine. At clinic on Thursday I got hit on by a drunk guy and learned the important lesson of not answering drunk men's questions. That was...interesting. I am now on spring break though, which is great. I tried to be productive today and download Epocrate's (a drug program) onto my phone only to find out that the CDs Verizon gave me don't want to work on my computer. I don't know why, but they don't. I may have to drive to their store tomorrow and have some "words" with them. Too bad Matt has to work and can't come with me to do it :D

Told you I would

I told you that I would update today. Not saying that much has happened, but I'll do it anyway. Today was good simply because I was still feeling good about yesterday. I also listened to tomorrow lectures already, so I don't have to go to class and can start studying for the final (I have clinic on Thursday and Leilani will be here in the evening)

Biggest thing I did was start my 2 free week trial of Kaplan QBank (questions for Step 1). I took a 50 question test today, random questions (minus GI because we haven't had it yet). I felt that I actually did okay for not having studied a lot of it. Granted, a lot of that was luck, but I'm going to run on it. That's all. Night

Monday Monday

Today was the first good Monday I can actually remember happening. Maybe that is because it just happened, but whatever. To start: quiz in MSI went well this morning. So well that I am unmotivated to study for the final on Wednesday. But I still will. Also, small group was supposed to go 2h today; ours went 25min. It was AWESOME! Lastly, my girls IM team won. We were down 20-7, made it 20-14 at half, quickly sprung out 20-21 in the second half, and then never looked back. It was great. And I get a free t-shirt.

On Friday night I went to Dave and Buster's with my friends. While a little on the spendy side, it was fun. I love being like a kid again. I also had to drive downtown that night to pick up the boys. Man am I glad I have 4 wheel drive. Okay, tired. I'll update tomorrow. Promise

I hate being superstitious

I'm pretty sure I've been superstitious since I was young, since we walked home after school and tried not to step on cracks as not to break our mother's back. I'm not weird crazy superstitious. Just a little bit. I notice it most when it comes time for basketball or tests. A good test example: for our first few classes this year, I always took exams with my pink mechanical pencil. Then it disappeared. Then I used a grey one. Now I found another pink one and am afraid to use it (not super afraid, just silly afraid) thinking that the grey has done me so well. My mom can attest to the basketball stuff. High school: before every game for the most part I would eat a foot long club from Subway w/ olives, tomatoes, and mayo (it is delicious by the way). College senior year: straightened my hair for every game (the 2 times I didn't, we lost). IM basketball: I don't put my insoles in my shoes because I played 1 game really well without them. It isn't that it gets in the way of me living, I just think it is awfully silly to have these types of things pop up in my head often.

Sorry for the hiatous. We had a final on Friday. I had both clinic and a basketball game on Thurs, so I was trying to get my studying done early. It didn't help. I still passed just fine, but I was a little disappointed in my score. I had done pretty kick butt on everything else in the class, but I sucked it up on the final. We get to look at the answers tomorrow, so at least then I'll know if it was knowledge issues (which I prefer) or test taking errors (the type you hit your head on the wall about).

Happy belated birthday to my sister! On Thursday

Saturday we drove to Kearney to watch the Regis girls play. The RMAC has been all up and down this season that the team could finish anywhere from 2nd to 7th in league w/ only 2 games left. Crazy. Needless to say, 6 hours of driving in 1 day is a lot. On the way back we searched for AM stations. We caught this program called Coast to Coast, which Matt of course has listend to before. Basically it is a consipiracy theory/sci fi show where people call in to talk about how they know the anti-christ or how they've been abducted before. Hilarious. Here comes the weird part. This was a replay from 2001 for some odd reason. The original air date....March 7th. My 16th birthday!!!!! Weird? Weird. Also, we found it being broadcast on about 5 different stations pretty far apart on the dial. Weird!!!

We start muscle/skin/integument tomorrow. Whoop!

Thursday

Oh my gosh, that quiz went much better than I was expecting. I left the computer lab frustrated b/c I was having a hard time reasoning my answers. Too many of them seemed a little too "gut feeling." But it worked!! I scored pretty well, and it turns out we got 1 back today....so I did even better! One of the pics on our quiz was of a chancre on a male w/ syphilis. I felt a little like a pervert looking at it, so I answered it quickly (it was pretty easy question)

For anyone who is reading this and thinking about going to med school and considering a school that is PBL (problem based learning), I personally would urge you not to. From what I know of that type of system, it is a lot of small group work with real life cases and situations. At Creighton we have about 1 of these sessions a week (we aren't PBL based, just a splash)...and I HATE IT. Not just a little dislike. Strongly hate. It sucks the life out of me, both preparing for it and sitting through it. Yes, I learn things from time to time, but most of the time we just repeat things that were said in class. This isn't because I like to be spoon fed or am not a self starter. It is simply because I feel I can get more done by myself in the 3h this consumes than I can sitting there. Also, it isn't b/c I am anti-social...I love people

There was an anesthesia interest group meeting on Monday night. Every one of those meetins just makes me more excited to go into it.

Today we had a lecture on the right way to deliver a baby b/c every doctor needs to know how. The M.D. teaching us is a pretty cool guy and kept referring to how soon we are going to need to know this, which brings me to..........M3 schedule!!!!!!!!

I had amazing luck and got pulled 5th! I had my pick of the 6 schedules. I'll briefly explain what they are. Each rotation is 2 months and you rotate places and services. Our majors are surgery, internal med, and family med; our minors are psych, OB/GYN, and peds. You do either your majors first or your minors. They aren't mixed. A lot of people want majors first to get them out of the way. Some want minors first to be good by the time you get to the majors. Often times you don't want your #1 interest first or last. My thinking: I want something that is easy to leave during July for Stephanie's wedding AND I don't want internal too early b/c I want a good letter from them (I hear general rule for letters of rec for anesthesia are usually 1 internal, 1 surgery, and 1-2 anesthesia). So I chose willingly to do my minors first. I go:
OB/GYN --> PEDS --> PSYCH --> SURGERY --> FAMILY --> INTERNAL
I'm super excited, but not that many other people wanted schedule 'D' (mine). I hear this is b/c they don't want surgery in Jan/Feb, but I would rather have it then and not in nice months. Guess that's just me. Needless to say, 'D' was the 2nd to last to fill up. Okay, this is getting long. I'll talk more about these later!

Oh hi February

It hasn't even been that long...right? Guess it was longer than I thought. Huh. Okay, well, we've had one quiz. I passed, but I don't think I like endo/repro. I feel as if I should like it b/c it is much like neuro w/ paths etc, but I don't. Much of my class feels the same.

In terms of life, it is good. Weather has been much better here lately (that won't last long though). Biggest news right now is....we've picked our Step 1 dates!!!!!! June 4th here I come. I figure, we all have to take it, why not look forward to it? I was thinking any time between the 3rd and 5th. My name was called pretty early in the lotto though, and I panicked. I picked the 4th. Thursday is my favorite day of the week. Eventually I will discuss my plan of attack but not now

Movies!!!! (that i remember watching)
Devil's Advocate
I remember why people hate lawyers. Keanu is always in weird sci-fi ish movies. Even though not "action packed" I still thought it was entertaining. Pacino plays a great devil. Also, even if your half-sibling may be way hot, you never never sleep with them. Lesson learned. 7/10

Happy Endings
Had never heard of this. Sort of indy type thing. Pheobe from Friends was in it. Tom Arnold as well. Kind of a dark comedy. Most of the acting was pretty good. The stories all came together in the end. Parts of it were very unique and quite true to life in my opinion. If someone had it at home already I would watch it. Not a "must rent." 6/10

Vantage Point
Got a little annoying with the different views all running fully through. It was exciting though and really kept me guessing. Not the best acting 6/10

Beowulf
That was weird. Don't think I ever would have read the book willingly. 5.5/10

Dr Stranglove (yes, the really old one)
I think it is funny watching films that feed off of fears from different decades. I also think it is funny how they always make the government out to be inept. Some parts may be, but I don't think the whole thing is. I'm not rating this one b/c you can't cross rate from so many years ago :D

Thats it

Quad

I'm updating because my head hurts, which means it is telling me not to study on a Friday afternoon. Done. Judge Judy, here I come.

I had 2 basketball games again this week. Tuesday is my coed team. We only had 2 girls, which meant I had to play the whole time. That was a good thing though, because I pulled my quad right after tip off and had to keep moving to keep it from tightening up. I was guarding a girl rumored to have used to been on the women's team for school. I peed my pants a little when they said that, but.....she wasn't that great. All she could do was shoot, which she did a lot. She only made 1 though. In coed, girls 3's are worth 4 and 2's are worth 3. I love it. We ended up keeping just out big guy in the middle. I played outside, which is fine by me. I trailed a lot because it hurt to sprint, but I made 2 4's!!!!!!! Woooo. And who said I couldn't shoot? Our game last night sucked. I could barely move; we couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The other team threw it up w/ eyes closed and still managed to make it. Jerks. I had 4 fouls w/ 11min left in the second half. Dad, you should be proud. I was going to foul out, but I think that may get you kicked out for the next game. We lost needless to say.

Next Friday brings with it a giant decision. When to take step 1. We have a lottery system with seats reserved at a testing center in town. Our dates are June 1-5 and 8-12. I'm hoping to pick somewhere in the middle. Optimal study time and vacation time. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Speaking of things that make you pee your pants, we also got our schedules for next year. Well, not the real ones, but the 6 different ones we are allowed to choose from. This too is a lottery, and we do it on the 11th I think. Again, I'll keep you updated (I'll talk more about it next time).

On Wednesday was pelvic training. Ick. I had pretty much already rulled out ob/gyn, but this cemented it. At first when they were talking about women's health, I thought "this is kind of something I would be into;" then I did the exam. And changed my mind. No offense to those who do it, but I don't think it is for me. I hope they pay those patients a LOT of money. Okay, off to hang w/ Judy

Lesson Learned

Lesson learned from the Renal Final: read the entire question and know what they are asking for. Half of the ones I missed where stupid reading errors. Grrrrr. But I passed. Woohoo.

We started endocrine/reproduction on Friday. It is long at 4 weeks. I'm not looking forward to it. We had class on Friday, and then we took off for....DENVER!!!

Denver was awesome. Weather wasn't so great, but I loved seeing all my basketball girls again. I swear I'll write more about it later. Needless to say, we didn't sleep a lot. Plus, we stayed at Bo's place, and no one really wants to stay in that thing too long :D Our flight last night was supposed to leave at 830. It got pushed to 950 of course. We got in around 1230 here. Then home. In bed around 130. Long day. I skipped classes today :D

Quick

Going to be quick b/c I am super tired

I am going to die tomorrow. I have my first IM basketball game. I haven't played full court in just about a year. I mean, I'm in shape as in I can run a mile, but I'm not in basketball shape. If you don't hear from me again, I've passed.

Went to see Gran Torino. It was awesome. I'm not even an Eastwood fan, and I liked it

Renal final on Thursday. Eeeeeek. But I have tomorrow and Wednesday off completely. Endo/Repro starts on Friday, and that evening Matt and I leave for Denver. Yay!

I've been meaning to talk about New Years Resolutions. For those of us who are consistent gym users, it is slightly annoying this time of year. All these new people who don't seem to know what they are doing. It isn't that I don't want these people working out. I just don't want them there when I am there. As of right now, there is no "safe" time to go to the gym. Sigh. Hopefully they will wear themselves out in a few more weeks. My New Years Resolutions:
-Floss more often (I've been doing pretty well)
-Take more pictures (I've been sucking at this one)
-Put my clothes away right after wearing them (No comment)

I figure it is better to make small ones than big ones. Peace.

Just me

Lucky you, you get 2 movie reviews today.

No excuse...again

Quiz on Monday went okay, especially considering my study time. Made a few of really really stupid mistakes that I will hopefully fix for the final...next Thursday. This is a pretty short class. I should probably get my butt in gear

On Friday night we had people over for gumbo and games. It was the usual (even though I invited more than the usual). I have seriously eaten enough gumbo to last me at least...2 months. That is the one issue w/ making a lot of something. We've done more soups this week, which is good because it is freezing. On Sunday after church we went to the "Starving Artists art show." Now, I don't know if they keep these artists in cages and whip them telling them to paint and paint again and again but whatever. All of them where hand done, but they do sort of have 'themes.' Beaches, mountains, beaches, mountains. All in slightly different shades etc, but better than just Target art. We did, however, manage to find 2 that didn't look too much like anything else we could see. They are about 2.5ft by 4ft. We hung them already, and finally our place is starting to feel cozier.

Movies!!!
Dark City
You know what, for a Matt pick this wasn't half bad. I had never heard of it. Came out in 98. It was sort of a sci-fi thriller mystery. Not the sci-fi made for TV type movie. Actuallly pretty good. It was a little hard to grasp what was happening. Some sort of other life forms and memory loss type thing. I thought the writing was good and that the acting was okay. It definetly made me want to keep watching, and it was almost confusing enough to make me need to watch it again. It also got you thinking about reality, which, depending on your mood, can be a good or bad thing. I give it...7.2/10

And finally......The Dark Knight
I wanted to see this in theaters soooooooo badly, but we never got around to it. Finally though, I got to see it. Other than Christian Bale being hot, this movie was great. We sometimes have trouble suspending our disbelief, which almost made us ruin this for ourselves, but we finally managed to get it under control. I really did like this movie and not just because all of the hype. I thought the acting was great and that the plot kept me on the edge of the sofa (I've never read/known much about the Batman story, so hence the not knowing what was going to happen). I'm going to give it a 8.9/10

Holy (snow) Balls Batman!

I know I talked about the weather a lot in my last post, but I have a picture this time. This was before we got about another foot. People had to uncover at least part of their cars so the plows would know that they weren't just a berm.

Weather on Omaha...sunny and bitter cold. Now I remember last year. It wasn't the snow that gets annoying. It is that chilly chilly wind. Welcome back Becky

Hope you all had a good New Years. I had a chill Eve and a super lazy Jan 1. It was nice. I got to be an only child for a bit, which is a rarity for me. It was a great break, and I was very sad to leave. I was *maybe* a little bored, but that doesn't mean I want to go back to school.

We started renal today. I came in thinking it would be a struggle for me. Not sure now. The kidney is, however, an amazing organ. All those little tubules and stuff?!?!?! So far I like it. Hopefully I can keep up that enthusiasm for the whole 11 days of class the course runs

Life is a little crazy right now though. Just all those little things that seem to add up - filing, calenders, budget stuff, cleaning the mess I brought home, getting some food in the house. Sigh. I'll get there though. I also have clinic this week :/ Should prolly get busy