Moveing

Today, I finally moved most of my stuff from my old apartment into my new house! Which is great, because I was tired of that old apartment anyway... (seriously, there's no driveway for the house that it's in because it was probably built before there were cars) I will still be pretty close to where I go to school, and in my opinion, it will be a nicer place to live. I won't bore you with the details of moveing, but let me tell you that it took most of the day to get everything done.



Anyway, basically now I just have to clean the old place, which is probably my most favorite part of moveing. Besides the heavy lifting.

"Wait, I've got an idea"

I had a brilliant idea. Actually, it's more of a pun, or maybe a play on words. (I'm not 100% sure when something is a pun, and when it's just a play on words, but if you're really interested, I'm sure a whole horde of unemployed english teachers who could tell you, or you could just look here. Of course, if you're really studious, OR just a gangsta' at heart, you could look here.)

So anyway, back to the idea. Eveyone should be familiar with the song "Listen to Your Heart" by Roxette (the Swedish pop duo!), and later covered by DHT. I decided to give you the video for the DHT version, because I like it better...



Now that you've all watched the video, and after I tell you my idea, I dare you to tell me that I am not a your hero (or to walk through the fire!). So here's the idea:

First, I get a little music box, like they put in those Hallmark cards, with the "Listen to Your Heart" song on it (by the way, if there's one that plays "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution", somebody please tell me!)
Second, I attach the little music box to my stethoscope.
Third, every time I use my stethoscope, before I actually listen to someone's heart, I will play the song on the little music box.
Fourth, ???
Fifth, PROFIT!

And there you have it. The greatest idea I've had in at least four days.

Let me begin by saying, "I'm sorry." This is kind of ridiculous. Also, if there's something that offends you in the video, you should know that I didn't actually watch it, and I suggest you write a letter to your Congressman... or me. Or an email. Or a comment. By the way, I am changing the comment system, so it might be easier to leave one.

What is this "responsibility" you speak of?

Haha, the title of this post pretty much only applies for like the next two weeks... and not even really then... of course I'm not technically working or doing anything like that right now, but I AM moving, and I DO have to make sure that I'm ready for school to start on August 11th, and 9am, with Neurology. Not that I've studied the schedule or anything...

So, anyway, I'm pretty much just trying to get ready for vacation in Canada, while at the same time move out of my current apartment into my new house.

Anyway, that's about all that I've got to say right now, but I should probably make clear that I did not take the pictures in last week's post... I am not in violation of HIPAA as far as I know, I just got them off the internet...

BABIES!!!

Yep, that's really the only title that I could give this... Today I spent another day in obstetrics (I was there Monday too, but I was in ENT yesterday). I guess the whole point of that field is babies, so... you might expect to be doing something related to babies. And, surprise, surprise, there were, in fact, babies. All over the place.
What am I talking about?, you ask? Well, today I saw part of a regular delivery (the good old-fashioned vaginal kind), and I scrubbed in on like 3 Cesarean sections (I know you know what that is, I just REALLY like wikipedia...). Which was pretty crazy, if you ask me. So, I actually got to do some stuff, like hold retractors, and staple things (like skin) back together, which was cool. But also, it was really cool because after you're done, there's a baby there! Which I think we can all agree is pretty awesome.

In a side-note, it dawned on me today that a during a C-section (yep, more links...), a uterus looks a lot like Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars.


Admiral Ackbar


Uterus during C-section

Anyway, that was pretty much the whole day... Tomorrow I'm in Pediatrics, which could be interesting... and again on Friday, and then Friday is the last day of this program!!! Where did the summer go? I can't believe that it's really almost over... Of course, I still have fishing in Canada to look forward to... And then we start classes on August 11th, bright and early.

Actually its at 9am. Which isn't really that early. But it's still lecture. :(

And no BABIES!

The Last Week

I know that this summer has been the proverbial "calm before the storm", and I have been enjoying what I've been doing, but I am happy announce that this week will be my last in the hospital medical education program. I am sure that within a week of classes starting I will be begging to go back to it, but at this point I am ready for a change from just observing things.

Right now, I'm mostly looking forward to a couple weeks of hanging out, moving across town, and going to Canada before school starts up again...


I don't have too much to say (maybe that's why I haven't written anything on here for a few weeks), so without further ado, I will bid you "adieu"...

The Emergency Department

Well, I've been spending the last several days in the emergency room... sometimes it has been exciting, sometimes less exciting, and sometimes not exciting at all. There were a few things that happened that I would have liked to do more of, and then there were some other things I would like to avoid forever if possible (some people...). Anyway, I have gotten to see some pretty interesting cases, and gotten to get a feel for what it could be like to work in ER, so I would say that it has been a good week.

I guess maybe I could see myself doing ER... its hard to know for sure, because my role right now is kind of limited. I mean, I can go in and find out why somebody came in, and (if I do say so) can get a pretty good history and (my version of a) physical, and I can find out pretty much all of their symptoms and everything. My problem right now is, I haven't quite learned all the minutiae of all the different diseases and what to do for what kind of infections and stuff like that. So, its hard to know if I would like doing the ER, because there's just a lot of information that I haven't quite gotten around to memorizing yet (but just wait, it's coming).

Another Thursday

Well, since it has been a week since I last wrote in here, I feel that I should spend just a couple of minutes and quickly tell you all about it. This week, in the mornings, I have been with the "staff medicine" residents in the hospital, meaning, the residents that have to go thru and take care of all different patients in the hospital that have all different kinds of problems. That has been pretty interesting... I won't actually tell them, but let's just say I've got a couple of stories about Fournier's Gangrene (if you've got a strong stomach, go a head and Google that one... ...I'm not gonna link you to an article though) that might give you nightmares. Then, in the afternoons, I have been spending some time in the family practice clinic across from the main hospital, again, mostly just with residents.

I hadn't really spent too much time with residents until this week. It has made me think a little bit; its a kind of crazy to think that in about 3 years, I'll be doing my own residency (as long as everything goes as planned--I had a dream last night that someting happened and I had to take a year off for some reason...). Of course I've got plenty to learn before then, but it is pretty cool to know that as far as the whole "8 years of college" goes, I'm more than halfway done.

Anyway, I've got one more day of what I've been doing this week, and next week, I'll be in the emergency department, which means, I'll probably be seeing some emergent cases.

I love summer...

Today began normal enough. I went in to the hospital at 9am (not super early, but there wasn't any reason to go in earlier). I finally scrubbed in on one of this orthopod's (that's what you call orthopedic surgeons) surgeries. So that was pretty cool, which in laymen's terms means, I basically just held things, applied pressure and held a guy's leg in different positions while the surgeon debrided his necrosed calf, and loved every minute of it... I'm not sure if that's completely normal. Anyway, after that, Dr. Orthopod didn't have any more cases for the day, just some meetings, which he said would be "extremely boring", and advised me to go do some "independent study" for the rest of the day. Which was advice that I took to heart.

Now, I've been thinking about going up there since I moved to South Bend, so it's not completely random, but after I got done in the hospital at about 12:30pm, I decided I would take a trip up to the Indiana Dunes. So I did. (I love summer, it's awesome!) I went to the Indiana Dunes National Lakshore, which is actually a national park, and is only about 50 or 60 miles from where I live. So I drove up there, and hiked around for awhile. Pretty much, the rest of this post is going to be me going thru some pictures that I took up there, so get excited!

The first thing I did was get a map of the place. I went to the visitor's center, and talked to this lady that worked there for awhile (it was kind of weird, not gonna lie, I think she thought I was like 15), and got a map. Then I went to the biggest sand dune they have there.

It's kind of hard to take a picture of a sand dune, but that's it. The biggest one they've got. So I walked around there for a little while, checked things out, and what have you. Then I got a little bored with that, and decided I needed to do some actual hiking, and went down the road to another place.

At the other place, there was an actual trail, and you had to hike about 2 miles or something, through a bog, and some sand dunes and stuff to get to the shore of Lake Michigan. So I did that. Actually it took a long time because I was taking all of these pictures. Also, I didn't really see anyone else there. Which was cool, and I got to pretend that I was out in "the wilderness". (Actually I watched that movie "Into the Wild" a few weeks ago, and I kept thinking about that...) Anyway, here's the picture tour...

I found a pretty sweet trail...

And I thought it was going to keep going...

But then it didn't. It ended in this:

Which I thought wasn't something I wanted to walk through, and so I turned back onto the main trail.

Actually, at this point, I'm going to give you another one of those neat slide-shows to look at the rest of the pictures I want to show. They're just the rest of my hike out to the lake.



So, all in all, it was a pretty good day. I enjoyed what I did in the morning, and I also enjoyed the "independent study" that I did in the afternoon. What more can you really ask for?

(BTW, the slide show is in AJAX, meaning "asynchronous JavaScript and XML", which may help to know if its not coming up. I recommend the latest release of Firefox 3.0--RC 2 or something like that--because that's what I use and everything comes up!)

The Dentist

Yesterday and today (and actually all week) I spent watching an orthopedic trauma surgeon. Today, I went to his office in the morning, saw a bunch of patients with him (people with things ranging from broken arms to an aputated leg), and in the afternoon, I watched a surgical procedure called a balloon kyphoplasty. I guess its a pretty good fix for compression fractures of the spine caused by osteoporosis. It was actually a really short procedure.

After I left the hospital, I had to go to the dentist for a filling. My appointment was for 4:15 (that gets important later on). So I got there on time. Of course they brought me back and out me in the chair pretty quickly. Then the dentist came in and told me I would need numbed up. So he gave me a shot of lidocaine. Anyway, that went well until about a minute after he put it in, and then I started getting a little dizzy, and got real nervous all of a sudden. Anyway, I said something to the dentist about it, and he told me that he had put the shot too close to the nerve. Later on he told me that he had put it straight into my artery, so it went straight into my blood, and into the ol' noggin. So they had me sit there for awhile while it kind of wore off. Meanwhile, somebody had some kind of dental emergency (so I'm told), because the dentist was gone for about an hour and a half while I waited in the chair for my filling. By the time he got back, not only was I totally "sobered up" from the medicine, but my mouth was also no longer numb. So he had to give ANOTHER shot. Actually it was good though, because even with being pretty numb, it still hurt quite a bit. Anyway, but the time I got out of the dentist's office, it was about 6:40.

Trauma...

When last we met, I had had the car all smashed up, been to the dentist, was probably very tired, and not really enjoying the way things were going. Well, I am happy to say that things are a lot better today. I found out that the insurance company is going to pay to have the damage to the car repaired (there isn't even a deductible to pay!), and they gave me a rental car to drive while the car is in the shop. Now I just have to wait until someone from the insurance company comes and does an estimate on how much it will cost. So, things are looking good as far as the car situation goes.

In other news, I have finished my 4 days with the cardiologist. It was a pretty intense 4 days, but I did enjoy it. I got to see quite a bit of what they do, especially catheterizations and stent placement and things like that, so I feel like I have a way better idea of what it means to be a cardiologist now. I even got to scrub in and do a couple things in one of the cases in the cath lab. Anyway, I can't say that I definitely want to be a cardiologist when I grow up, but I'm definitely open to it.

Next week, they have me with an orthopedic surgeon all week. I looked up his bio on the hospital website, and it says of there that he specializes in trauma surgery (the hospital is a Level 2 Trauma Center). That means that they are always prepared to deal with, especially to take someone into surgery for trauma--the trauma specialist that came to the medical school said that one of the main things is that they always have an operating room prepped for it, and they always have a specially trained trauma surgeon on call. I guess the only difference between them and Level 1 Trauma Center (the highest) is that a Level 1 has to publish a certain number of research articles every year, and they just don't feel the need to do that many. So its a pretty good place to go if you get in a bad car accident or something.

Anyway, that about sums it up. I am looking forward to another exciting weekend (with no studying!!!), and also to next week.

A really fun day...

I spent most of the day today with a cardiologist. I spent the morning in his office seeing patients with him. It was pretty interesting, I liked it way more than I liked interventional radiology yesterday, because there was way more interaction with people. At noon, I went to the family practice residency's noon conference where I heard about pulmonology, but more importantly, I got free lunch out of the deal...
After that, I went on rounds with my "pseudo-attending" cardiologist, and saw some patients in the hospital. Then we went and looked at some angiograms, echocardiographs, and then I called it a day, and walked home.
I got home, went inside (never looking at my car) sat down, started getting ready for my dentist's appointment (fun fun!), talked on the phone for a little bit, checked the webmail, changed clothes, etc. After I was all ready, I walked outside to get in the car, got in, and realized that there was glass all over the passenger's seat next to me. Then I looked at the windshield and realized that it was shattered. Needless to say, I was not happy about this discovery. So I got out of the car and surveyed the damage. There was also a big dent in the roof.

Well, to make a long story short, I took a bunch of pictures of the damage, went to the dentist's (I was a little late but they got me in), called the insurance office to report my claim (don't let me down State farm... by the way, why IS it called State Farm? Weren't there "state farms" in communist Russia?), and now I am in the process of getting the car fixed.
So, all in all, this has been a "wonderful" day. I did have a pretty enjoyable day in the hospital, and I think I learned quite a bit. However, a big branch also fell on my car, and I did have to go to the dentist for a filling. Jealous?

What a weekend!

This weekend, my brother Brad got married. For anyone reading this who wasn't there, it was at the lake right in front of the beach.. It was a great day for it, sunny, warm, not a drop of rain, just a little bit of wind. I was the best man, and in case anyone missed it in my little "toast", I couldn't be happier for them!
I got back to "the Bend" at about midnight last night after a very productive evening of fishing, and after a short night, I went over to the hospital at 8am this morning for a day in the Interventional Radiology department. I have to be honest, it was very interesting for about the first 30 minutes, and then after that, it got really boring. Part of that may have had something to do with being tired, but also, there wasn't a whole lot to see except them running wires and tubes up peoples' arteries and veins. But at least now I know a little bit about what they do in IR.
Tomorrow, and for the next three days, I'm supposed to be with a cardiologist, which I hope will be a lot more interesting, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to use my stethoscope!!!

Back to it...

Today was the first clinical day of the program that I'm doing this summer. Yesterday we had an orientation for a few hours, and then today (and for the rest of the week) they had me with a urologist basically just watching what he does. It was definitely a different experience to be in the hospital versus just sitting at a desk reading.
To begin with, I had to actually go somewhere (the hospital). Also, I had to look professional, which includes shirt, tie and white coat (what more could you really ask for). In addition, I was actually seeing patients, instead of just reading about the Krebs cycle or something else equally as esoteric (although we did discuss the Krebs cycle this morning...).
Now, I don't know that I will end up being a urologist, but from the one day that I've seen of it, it doesn't seem too bad. We will see how things go...one day isn't very long. But I have to go, because tomorrow I'm getting up bright and early, and I get to sit in on a surgery with the da Vinci machine (it's a robot!!!).

Enjoying the Summer

There isn't too much to say about what's going on... I'm still waiting to start my HME program (on Tuesday). The explanation for these pictures is that I went back into Merry Lea this afternoon and did a little bit of photography. I'm also trying a new way of showing pictures, so hopefully it works for everybody.



That's all for now. Good news, tomorrow is Friday!

The Update

Admittedly, it has been quite a while since my last post. I wholeheartedly apologize for that. Now, down to business… What has Matt been doing for the past few weeks? Well, I finished my trip to the east coast with a visit to Washington D.C., the first time I'd been there. Nothing like all those monuments to remind you that you're an American… After that, I spent a few days in South Bend, and then I came down to the lake and hung out. Then I went down to Indianapolis and hung out for a night. Then I came back to the lake, where I've been since Saturday. Yes, it's true; I haven't worked or done much of anything productive for awhile. However, I am okay with that. It does, however, get a little bit boring, which is why I will be VERY ready to start my summer HME program (like an internship…I wrote about it before) in 2 weeks and 1 day.

In closing, I will say that I am enjoying this summer WAY more than I enjoyed any summer before it. Whether that is because it's my last summer vacation ever or because of something else, I can't say, but I'm liking it.

New York City

Well, as I write this, I am on a little island just east of Manhattan called Roosevelt Island. We spent all day walking around the city, seeing the sights and bsically just trying to have a good time. We went to the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, walked around Central Park, went to see the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site, and experienced public transportation.

Anyway, we're going out to dinner somewhere in about an hour, and after that our friend who we're staying with here has some friends that are having a birthday party, so we're going to go to that tonight. All in all, quite the day so far. I've never been to New York before, so its been quite the experience to see all kinds of things that I've only seen on TV on in the movies. For example, the tram that takes you from Roosevelt Island (where we're staying) to Manhattan is the same tram that was in the movie Spiderman (remember the scene where the school-children were stuck on a cable car?--that's it!).

I will cut this short. But just so you all know, so far, the trip has been fun.

I am not studying

So far today has been just another day of not getting up early, not studying, no stress, and best of all (redundant, I know) no studying. Although I have to confess, on Monday I went to Border's bookstore and bought "First Aid for the USMLE Step 1", which is a review book for the first step of the medical licensing exam process. But I am happy to report, I have not even gotten in out of the bag they put it in at the cash register, so we're good so far. The only book I've opened since I got done with the semester is "War and Peace", which I always heard was a good book. I have to be honest though, I really had almost no idea what it was about before I went to the library to get it.

By the way, the library at Notre Dame is quite possibly one of the scariest places in the world. I went in there just trying to find my book. So I found the call number and everything, and I thought it would be in the basement. So I went down there. No dice, but there are a whole bunch of books on these huge racks that are on sliders that you have to move around to be able to see what's on them. And if you happened to be between the racks when someone was moving them, you just might end up being crushed between them. Anyway, the book wasn't there. Turns out it was upstairs. So I went up to the 9^th floor. Then after about 5 minutes of looking around, I found a sign that said that the range of call numbers that I was trying to find got moved to the 8^th floor. So I went down there. I took the stairs. And this is where it gets a little weird.

The stairwell seems like something that you might find in a horror film. It's all painted yellow, there's no one else in there, and it's really echo-genic (yep, it's a word). Anyway, that's just to set things up. I got to the 8^th floor, found my book, and decided to leave. I had to take the stairs again because the elevator was broken. Anyway, I'm on the 8^th floor. So it's a few flights down to get to the bottom floor so I can leave. So I start going down. And down, and down. And eventually I get to a door that says "2^nd floor Emergency Exit Only" or something like that. So kept going down. At the next level, there isn't a door. Then I went down one more level (presumably the basement?) and opened the door to find some sort of offices or something. But not where I wanted to go. I still don't know where the door to the first floor is. I ended up taking the emergency exit. It was actually a little bit of an emergency. I mean, I was trapped in the stairwell.

Anyway, my story may not do it justice, but it really is not a place that you want to get stuck. I mean, I think I heard ghosts, possibly an exorcism, and even some inquisition-ing. I also saw Charlie Weiss, and he tried to eat me. Then he sued me because I wouldn't let him.

Feast or Famine

Well, it's official… I've finally gotten over the fact that I don't have to study all the time, and I have become just a little bit bored! Not that I'm really complaining… Its true, though, it's a feast or a famine.

Regardless, I am definitely enjoying all the extra time, even though I don't have a whole lot to do in it. For example, I tried to buy a spear (for spear fishing) today, but the store that I went to didn't have the kind of spear that I want. They just had frog spears, and the prongs on those are definitely not long enough to spear the massive-sized fish that I plan on spearing this summer. Oh well. I guess that I'll have to keep looking.

In other news, I'm in the middle of getting ready for my trip to New York and Washington D.C., but unfortunately, we still don't really know what we're going to be doing while we're there. Just that we're going, and that it's gonna be CRAZY! And by that I mean that we're going to party like its 1999.

Anyway, I think House is coming on now, so I have to go watch it. (it's like medical school, except way more fun!)

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”

Yes, it's true; I am done with my first year of medical school classes! It is a great feeling, and when I finished my Microbiology final on Monday it was like a huge weight just got lifted off of my shoulders. Since then, I've been spending time celebrating, sleeping, jogging, grocery shopping (that tends to get neglected… but you can only eat so much Subway!) and, um, writing papers.

I kind of have to hedge it when I say that I'm done with first year, because I actually have to write a few things before I'm totally done. I've only got one left to go, and if anyone is interested, it is about the ethics of the so-called 'savior sibling'. (The classical scenario is the parents of a child with leukemia who have another child so that they can do a bone marrow transplant to save the first child's life) It is an interesting topic, and I've kind of enjoyed spending a couple hours reading about the intricacies of it all, especially the paper that says things like: "For those who believe it is better to exist than not to exist…" I have to be honest, I laughed when I read that line. Anyway, I refuse to tell you all what I think about the 'savior sibling' ethical dilemma.

Somewhat unfortunately, I have to go to the medical school in a few minutes because they are dedicating the library. What that actually means, I do not know, but I think it probably means that they want to raise money to buy new books. The building for the medical school here in South Bend is only about 2 years old, and the library consists of two bookshelves of books. So I had to laugh when I got the invitation to go to the "library dedication". My first thought was, "We have a library?"

To close, I will say that it is great to be done with classes, and I would recommend that you all listen to a certain Alice Cooper song if you're wondering how I'm feeling about it right now.

Does it make me patriotic if I get Caffé Americano at Starbucks?

Well, I have to come clean… I have finally rekindled my love-affair with coffee. I know, I probably said somewhere along the line that I was giving it up for good, but as it turns out, that is just not true. I mean, I was on the wagon for a good two and a half months, which I am proud of. But I've realized that not only am I a happier person when I've had a little bit of java (that's pronounced YAH-va), I get a whole lot more done. I just thought I should share that… You were probably wondering what I was thinking this whole time anyway.

In other news, today we had our last actual lecture of first year. I still have to take another quiz, the microbiology final exam, and do my final history-taking session of the semester, but it really is winding down fast. In a good way. I mean, I love learning as much as the next medical student, but I REALLY could use a break. Which will be coming in about 6 days!

In other news, I registered last night for the Sunburst 10k here in town. I've never done a 10k before (I mean, I've ran that far, just not in a race), so I'm hoping it will be fun to try something new, and it sounds pretty sweet because it starts at the College Football Hall of Fame downtown, and ends at the 50 yard line of the Notre Dame football stadium. (I've heard that they even play "crowd noise" over the loudspeakers as people are finishing their races…) Anyway, I'm looking forward to that. And I have plenty of time to train, because it's not until the very last day of May, the 31^st. So, by that time I should be able to run 6.2 miles in just about 46 minutes… (just kidding, but that would be pretty sweet)

To bring this to a close (for those of you that follow politics), I will say that I am bitter. But instead of clinging to my guns or my religion, I'm clinging to my copy of "Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple", the best book ever written (about microbiology).

Uncle Matt

So, I found out last Friday that I am going to be an uncle in a few months. Great news! I've never been an uncle before. I'm not 100% sure what the responsibilities of an uncle are, but I was informed by a friend last night that they are mainly restricted to buying sweet gifts. So I'm thinking that the best part of Uncle-hood may be the (I hope) lack of responsibility…

But back to my life. I've spent pretty much all day at school today, ostensibly studying, but to be honest, I sat in lecture all day not paying too much attention, and thus far this evening, my studying has been less than fruitful. Oh well. I only have about 1 week left of the semester, so I think I can get thru that without making myself sick with all the studying, and I should be fine. I just have to pass my Microbiology final, and demonstrate my impeccable medical history-taking skills. Hopefully I will be able to pass both of those things.

To be honest, there isn't too much more for me to tell. Just studying, trying to study, and trying not to go crazy, all at the same time.

There's only one thing to do... Graduate.

I have been thinking about it, and I have decided that my life right now feels a lot like high school. Maybe everybody could say that, like on the Cadillac commercial they have on right now, but I think it applies to me.

On another note, I have only got 2 weeks left, and then its THE LAST SUMMER BREAK EVER!!! I've probably said that before, but I'm just a little excited. After these 2 weeks, I've got about a month off from everything, and then I start my internship at one of the hospitals here in town. Basically, all I'll be doing is hanging out in the hospital with different doctors every day learning what all of them do. That's kind of like 3rd and 4th years, except at this point, I haven't really learned enough to do anything, and also, I won't be getting graded on everything that I do (= low stress...). Which really will be nice (see above, where life is like high school).

So that's just about it. Plans for the rest of the summer include regular fishing, spear fishing, playing my guitar for approximately 9 hours a day, running a 10k (actually that one's true), doing some political campaigning, and a trip to New York and Washington, DC. So there you have it. After all of this, I get to start school again, and say goodbye to summer breaks, because ready or not, here comes the real world... well, kind of.

When is a door not a door?

Today is Monday, but that's OK, because in about 2 weeks, I get a pretty sweet summer vacation (the last one ever...)! I'm supposed to be studying Microbiology right now but I decided that I'd take a quick break and tell the world what is happening!

This past Saturday, I finally ran the 5k that I've been talking about. It was a real good time. It was in Valparaiso, and there were about 700 people there running the race (that was cool), and it was a really nice day (about 60 degrees and sunny--perfect running weather). Now, I didn't set any land speed records, but I did run it in under 23 minutes, which was good enough for me... One thing that I did notice is that running outside is a lot different than running inside on a track (which is where I've been running for the past few months). I'm not sure what it is, but for some reason, I was a little slower than the 3 mile time a did a couple of weeks ago... Anyway, its a lot warmer now, so I should be able to get outside to run pretty much whenever I want now (as long as I can find the time!). Sadly, I think I was born with the wrong body type, but I really do enjoy running, as crazy as that sounds.

So there you have it. My life in a nutshell. And now I'm off, to memorize everything.

I wish we could learn like the do in the Matrix

Big news, this is my 70th posting!!!

Now on to exciting things. This has been quite the week so far. We started microbiology, and we also started having class in the afternoon instead of the morning. I have to be honest, I thought that I would like it, but I really don't, even though I'm not really a morning person. We've got nothin until 1pm most days from now thru the end of April, and it really breaks up the day, so I feel like I'm not being quite as productive. Of course maybe its just because I'm not used to it. Regardless, we did have something in the morning today. It was a "Medical Ethics" lecture. Actually it wasn't that bad, it was pretty interesting. That's not to say that it was the greatest lecture I've ever been to, but it was better than hearing about antibacterial drugs, which is what we did this afternoon.

Of course, I've spent the remainder of the day memorizing said drugs. Well, let me repharase that, trying to memorize...

Quick update, my 5k is on the day after tomorrow. I should probably cut this short, I've got a long night ahead of me, and lots left to memorize.

Oh no!, Its, its, ...retrospect!!! AAHHH!

And so we come to the end of another weekend. A real one though, not one spent studying or working or doing anything remotely stressful. I watched a lot of basketball, did some relaxing, both by myself and with friends, and had an all-around good time.

I'm just about done with my first year here, and it was a nice night, so I was just sitting on my front porch relaxing, and I had a couple thoughts I thought I would share.

First, I've got it pretty good (not to brag, I just forget that sometimes). In reality, my biggest problems in life right now are things like "oh no, I have to study ALL NIGHT", or "I have to read all of that by WHEN?". And there's nothing stopping me from imagining a whole other set of problems as well. But in reality, it could be SO much worse.

Second, I need to relax... I spend so much time studying and obsessing over my grades, and studying all the time, that, well, its just not healthy. Moreover, I don't think that it helps all that much. I mean of course I need to learn the stuff, but does that last hour spent going over the material for the 18th time really help that much more than if I spent that same hour doing something else like (heaven forbid!) sleeping? I think not. (But of course, I say this now, in one of my "sober moments", at the end of a weekend--its a lot harder to say that the night before an exam)

So in the future, I plan to work had to finish out my last class of first year (I mean its only 3 more weeks, right?), but I don't plan to kill myself with overstudying. Maybe I won't get an "Honors Pass", but then again, maybe I will. What I am going to do is learn as much as I can, as well as I can--not because of a grade, but because it's important.

And the sign said...

There's a few signs near my place that just don't sit well with me. I thought I should share...


Apparently, the permit that you get is a permit to NOT DIE! I'd like to get one of those.


This one bothers just bothers me. There's a giant face on it, and its not reassuring, its acutally kind of unnerving, especially if you're driving by at 2 in the morning...

And on another note...

...in case anyone wants to move in next door!

You wouldn't hit a kid with glasses, would you?

Well, today has been quite the day... It all started out with the big Immunology final. No big deal, I just memorized everything, so it shouldn't be a problem, right? Well, I guess it all depends what you mean by not a problem. Did I ace it? No. Did I pass? Yes, without question. Which is really all that matters. Because sme of the things that we had to learn for that test may never come up again. Like which ligand for which receptor is downregulated is what reaction under what expirimental conditions, bla bla bla... lymphocytes...phagocytosis...macromolecules...DNA...Guillain Barre Syndrome...

Well I guess I better really know about Guillain-Barre Syndrome. That could be important.

After the test, I spent some time making my apartment clean again (time well spent). Then I had to do a Standardized Patient Interview this afternoon, which unfortuantely was not the greatest. Apparently performance suffers due to lack of sleep. But you knew that already, right?

After that, I watched some basketball at home, went out and watched some basketball with friends, and had an all-around good time. Good, first and foremost, because there was no studying involved.


So that was my day. In addition, today I became a "maverick non-conformist", deleted Windows from my computer, and installed Ubuntu linux. Because my old computer stopped working properly. So I decided that now was the perfect time to stick it to the man and start running linux, the open source operating system. In fact, I'm using it was we speak to write this post, and it is AMAZING!

By the way, the penguin is the Linux mascot.

In some ways, I'm a lot like Forrest Gump

Today has been a day filled with lots of studying, and not a whole lot else. Actually, this whole week has been... same story as always, right? I guess I haven't just been studying, I've been doing some running, in preparation for the 5k that's a week from Saturday.

I've been pleasantly surprised, actually. I mentioned that I wanted to run one this spring to a couple of friends, and they both said they would like to run one as well, and so we decided to see if we could get more of our classmates to run with us, and so we've got quite a few people (i.e. more than just me) who're going to run a 5k together. We're like the medical school cross country team. I've never been on a cross country team before (there's a reason for that...)! So I'm looking forward to that.

Something out of the ordinary did happen this week... so, my school is located "on the campus of the University of Notre Dame", but really its across the road from the main entrance. So there's a pretty well-trafficked street there. That's fairly important to the story.

In addition, there is a group at Notre Dame (some sort of acting group or theatre thing) that's putting on the play "The Vagina Monologues". Well, being the Catholic university that ND is, there was some opposition. The local (arch?)-Bishop said that it was not allowed. But the president of the school gave the group the go-ahead anyway. Anyway, its been the "hot topic" around campus for a couple of weeks. Anyway, there were some people out protesting it on the corner by our building on Tuesday. They were very offended by the play, they see it as "immoral".

Actually there was a pretty general consensus among the people in the medical school that these protesters were being ridiculous. One of the graduate students that I know was leaving early, and he stopped and talked to a few of the protesters on his way out and one of them (oddly enough named Matt), told him that they were from Pennsylvania and they were protesting because they felt that the play was immoral and vulgar and shouldn't be put on, especially not at a well-known Catholic university.

Well, I guess I didn't realize that it was such a big deal. First of all, I never really knew what "The Vagina Monologues" was. I looked it up and got the general feel of what it was about. I guess (after just reading the plot synopsis) I just didn't see what all the fuss is about. I mean, obviously I'm all for morality and personal responsibility and doing what's right and all of that. I'd be interested to hear what you all think... (i.e leave comments!)

In other news, the local high school told Hillary Clinton that she couldn't come speak there on Friday... that was a GREAT idea. Nothing like NOT participating in politics...

I've created My(own)SQL!!! (actually I haven't)

I had a quiz this morning. It was no big deal though. Just 20 questions, multiple choice. Not that grades really matter... I just spent all weekend studying for it. Actually, I know how I did already, because right after we took it, we then went over all the questions as a class and what the right answers were and everything. Unfortunately, I didn't count how many I missed, so I don't REALLY know how I did. Again, it's not like grades actually matter or anything.

After that, I went for a jog over at the fieldhouse. Then I spent a lot of time studying this afternoon. This evening, I decided that I wanted to try to be an IT professional and make my computers work. Well, really just the old one. It went crazy. So that's what I'm doing as we speak. Backing up files, and hopefully reinstalling the operating system. I just hope I get EVERYTHING backed up that I would ever need.

On a related note, I bought this big external hard drive at Best Buy (it was on clearance) so I could do all this "backing up", and it said on a sticker on the packaging "500 Glorious Gigabytes"! Which I thought was funny.

For the record, I DO realize that backing up files doesn't make you an IT professional. For that you have to do things like talk about proxies and "server downtime"... And get paid for it!

Easter

Happy Easter everybody! (don't worry, I won't be telling you what easter means today...)

I hope you all are having a great easter. I am spending the day studying... like always. I'm halfway done with my Immunology class, but its only 2 weeks long, so I have to have half of immunology memorized before tomorrow!!! No big deal though, I pretty much have it down. Seriously. The only problem is that, like everything else I've learned in school, I'll probably only remember about 20% of it for more than 1 week after the class is over. Oh well, I guess if I ever need it, I'll just have to look it up.

So, on to the question of the day...

The question:
Should Bobby Knight go back to coaching at IU?

The answer:
Yes, and I will give him as many chairs to throw as he wants.

March Madness

Its also the start of March Madness! I can't believe its already here!!! Can you? I have to admit, I haven't followed basketball AT ALL this year, and so my bracket that I filled out may get broken later on tonight. I mean, basically, when you pick Notre Dame to win it all, you're taking a gamble. Which is what I did. Hopefully they won't be the 5 over 12 upset this year.

Also, I've got a 3 day weekend! Due to Easter and Good Friday, we don't have lecture tomorrow. Unfortunately what that really means is that I just have more time tomorrow to study. But at least we won't be getting pages and pages of new material. So maybe I'll get caught up (or get ahead...wait that couldn't possible happen!) However, tonight I plan to watch a lot of basketball. In honor of Maundy Thursday.

Which brings us to the question of the day. Today, the question is:

What does Maundy mean?

The answer:

Maundy, which sounds an awful lot like 'Monday' comes from the old English words "mawn" and "dein". "Mawn" means "before" (loosely), but the use of the 'w' denotes that the thing that is "before" also comes first in a number series. Who knew the old English had such crazy words (for the record, the alternative spelling replaces the 'w' with 'gg' and changes the meaning of "maggn" to "before" in a "causal sense"). "Dein" is simply an old English word roughly equivalent to "Friday".
So the real meaning is Mawn-dein, or "Before Friday in a number series". Thus, Maundy Thursday literally means "Before Friday in a number series Thursday". Which doesn't make a lot of sense and is quite redundant. However, in some languages, repetition denotes emphasis, especially with regards to royalty and religious topics, therefore this refers to the day before Good Friday.

And you don't have to take my word for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday

I Have Antibodies

I decided now was as good a time as any to write my post for the day. So, I'm just taking a little break from studying to write about how I've been studying all day, and answer the most burning questions about the universe. So here goes.

Actually, I did more than just study today. I also went for a jog (training for my 5k in a couple of weeks), and after that, I got a phone call from the medical school's "professional assistant", saying "Can you make it back in? We have a thing that this afternoon that we forgot to tell you about."

It turns out the "thing" was the "Council of Elders", and while that may sound like something that you would see on Survivor, it really was a part of my Intro to Clinical Medicine class, and they had these older folks come in, and a 'Geriatrician' from Indianapolis was here, and we talked about issues that these older people had had to deal with in their encounters with the medical profession.

Then after that, I studied all day. For my 2-week-long Immunology class. At least at the South Bend center its a 2- week class. In other centers they have a longer time with it. But we all take the same final exam, so I kind of think they have an advantage, as far as grades go... but, oh well. I guess that happens.

And now, on to the burning question for the day:
(Still on the subject of dreams, and not really an original question)

The question:
How do we know that 'dreams' aren't our real life, and this 'real life' isn't just really a bunch of dreams?

The answer:
Well, I guess we can't really know that for sure. But I think what we can say is that if 'dreams' are in fact our real life, then we do a lot of sleeping (at least I do), because I rarely remember my dreams. Or at least we do SOMETHING so that we don't remember anything. And maybe that's just what happens. They say that nobody gets enough sleep anymore, so it would be nice if this non-sleeping "real life" wasn't real, and we got plenty of sleep in our REAL real life.

I hope that cleared it up for everyone. Of course maybe this could answer the last question (at least if we assume that dogs are real) because if we have dogs in this "real life" dream-world, then of course they do dream.

Saint Patrick's Day!!

Actually I forgot to wear anything green. However, I did start the first day of Immunology. It was like being in a foreign country, where they speak a different language. I've never had Immunology before, and although I know a little already about the immune system, I can't say that I've ever studied it in depth. So I was a little lost today. Hopefully we can remedy that tomorrow. I spent all day studying, so I hope that that will help. Of course I didn't study what we're going over tomorrow, so then again maybe not.

Now, on the the first of my series of questions about the universe. I spent the better part of 2 minutes thinking about what to write here, so bear with me.

The question for today is this: Do dogs dream?

I forgot to say this, but I also plan on answering these questions as well. So my answer for today's question is as follows:

Like all scholarly pursuits, the first thing we have to do here is define our terms. Most importantly, what is a dog? Based on my personal experience, a dog is a mammal. It barks. It has teeth, and is also known as "man's best friend". Now, what is a dream? We could say that dreams are what you do when you're asleep, the bedtime stories that everyone tells themselves. We could say that. But we could also say that dreams are the things that you would like to do in the future. And in that sense, we then have to rephrase the question:

Do these barking, toothed, mammals that we love so much have things that they would like to do?

I think the answer to that question is yes. They want to eat. They want to chew on shoes. They want to beg for food. They want to chase squirrels. And most importantly, they desperately want someone to teach them to "roll over". At least that is what I have been told.

In conclusion, dogs dream. What Freud would have to say about their dreams remains a mystery, and my Superego won't let my Id make up lies about what he would say if he were here to ask.

Speaking of Id, The Wizard of Id is one of my favorite comic strips ever.

The Start of Something Huge

I have decided to add some spice to this lame excuse for a weblog. For the next several weeks, I will be writing about the questions of life that keep me up at night. Things like: why do we write from left to right, why is alphabetical order in that order, why did the chicken cross the road, and what time is it when the clock strikes thirteen?

Of course this doesn't mean that I won't be including all the exciting details of my life. Have no fear. My burning questions about the universe start tomorrow. Today, I rearranged my apartment, and it looks AMAZING.

Also, today is the last day of spring break. And school starts again tomorrow, bright and early with Immunology.

Saturday, Part 2 of 2

The question:
"Do you realize how many holes there would be if people would just take the time to take the dirt out of them?"

My answer:
Yes.

Saturday, Part 2 of 2

I spent a few hours in Merry Lea the other day. I took a few photos. Here they are.

Saturday, Part 1 of 2

First, let me say how disappointed I am that no one else's favorite show is Lost (aka "the news"). I really thought that you all had better taste, and that you all cared about what is really happening in the world. So, how disappointed am I? Very disappointed.

Second, I am running a 5k in a few weeks, and in the spirit of that, here is something I have thought of. Everyone who's anyone has seen the movie "Chariots of Fire". And if you've seen the movie, you remember the quote "God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." Well, God made ME slow, and when I run, I feel Him LAUGHING at me!! (its only funny because its true)

Third... Bronze metal.

TGIF?

So, as it turns out, a week is not that long. Its already Friday, and I think I could use a whole other week of break. However, I guess that would be asking for too much. I still have a few days left though, and I plan on using them mainly for sleeping, although I might do some other things as well...
Then it's back to the books. Of course that isn't really anything to worry about. Obviously my next block will be easy, I'm going to have tons of free time, even though I'll still learn everything. Wait a minute, I think that I've heard that before. And it wasn't true.
But I guess that's life. I'm still on break now, enjoying the weather. I have to be honest, I have been looking forward to spring since it started getting cold last fall. Maybe the days of scraping car windows are over for the year. And I don't just mean scraping the outside of the windows, I'm talking about BOTH sides. For real though, winter is a great season. Except for the cold and having to drive in the snow.
I suppose that's about all I have to write about. I hope everyone is having a great day. I plan to enjoy the rest of mine.

The Real Super Tuesday

Today I am enjoying SPRING BREAK 2008!!! (its a lot more exciting if you type it in ALL CAPS)

What is Matt doing on spring break? Not a whole lot. Sleeping about 18 hours a day, not studying at all, playing Halo, watching American Idol (which I hate, but its on so...). Actually I didn't do completely nothing today. I out up some window trim with my dad today. So that was something. Unfortunately though, he must not have worn his glasses when he went to the lumber yard, because all of the wood that we were using was really, really warped. I mean it pretty much was shaped like a spiral. Not even joking.

So that's pretty much what happened today. To close though, I will leave you with the following utterly serious quote:

"Two fish were in a tank. One said to the other: 'You man the guns, I'll drive!'"
-Anonymous

Studying my life away

That's right, I'm still at it. While the 2nd years and the rest of the Notre Dame students are on Spring Break, I'm still here studying... I have to tell you, its a really great time. Of course, the only thing that makes it all ok is that I know that next week, while they're all in classes and studying, I know that I'll be on break. At least that's what I've been telling myself so that I'll keep studying.

I have found plenty of ways to keep myself from studying though. For example, I spent about a half an hour earlier looking at 5K races in the area this spring. We're trying to get some people together from my class to run one. And I guess it was kind of my idea so its up to me to find out all the details. Such as, are there actually any 5K's around (there are--I spent a half hour looking for them), and when are they. So that was fun. In addition, I have this problem where I get really distracted from studying by checking my email about every 3 minutes or so. Its more of an addiction than anything, but at least I know that I'll never miss that important email (or the one from Facebook telling me that I'm the #7 "Most trustworthy" person in my friends list--whatever that means).

Finally, I for one am glad that the election is still going on. In fact, I'm hoping that it will still be going on when it comes time for Indiana's primary. I think I might even register as a Democrat.

Inside the computer...?

Earlier today, I had a physiology test. I got my grade back, and apparently it went pretty well. Unfortunately, I have another physiology test (the final) on Friday. Its another NBME Shelf exam, so its really kind of up in the air as to whether its going to be easy or hard, or if whether or not its a hard test means anything when it comes to what grade I get on it. What that means is, its a standardized test, and its graded based on how everyone in the country does over several years, so if its a hard test, and nobody does real well, and I don't either, then I could still get a good grade on it, but if its an easy test, and everybody does well on it, but I do mediocre, then I wouldn't get a good grade. In summation, my grade is based on how everyone else does.

Also, I got a new computer today. Its pretty much a supercomputer. I think if I ever wanted to do any really really big calculations, I could definitely do it. In addition, it can also talk to you. And you can talk to it. In fact, I'm talking to it right now. Unfortunately, it's harder than you might think to get to your computer to listen to you. In fact, its not working all that well, and I think can actually type faster than it can. Oh well.

Well, that's about all that I have to say today.

Why yes, I DO have time for a garden

That's right, I have a garden. In fact, I'm growing onions. I guess this is what happens when you buy too many. In my defense, though, the onions have me outnumbered (and they're multiplying!!!)



Just for the record though (and in spite of the foliage) they're still pretty tasty...

Did I mention I have a physiology test tomorrow? Its gonna be a good time.

Let me tell you about my day.... I studied pretty much all day. Until about 8 o'clock, when I gave up.
Just another great day. Not too long ago, though, it wouldn't have been anything "to write home about". However, thanks to Al Gore and his modern miracle that is "The Internet", my boring day has become something that I can write about online for all to see. That's just one of the many reasons I love the 21st Century.

In case you're interested in what else I love about the 21st Century, here's a list:

What I Love About the 21st Century (in the order that I think of them)
(yes, I am seriously doing this...)

Airplanes
Bicycles
Cars
Dogs
E-banking (even though I can never remember my password)
Facebook
GreatClips
Homeland Security
Ice being all over the roads
Jack Bauer from 24
Kiterunners (I don't know what they are, but apparently there's a book and a movie about one)
Lupus (because its NEVER lupus...)
ME!!!
Not having to be afraid of Y2K anymore
Owing Sallie Mae my firstborn
Power windows
Quesadillas
"Remember Dale Earnhardt" stickers
Saving big money at Menard's
TXT MSG
Unbelieveable gas prices
V for Vendetta movie previews (never saw it, but the previews were cool)
Wikipedia
X-Games
YouTube
Zildjian cymbals (they got a lot better after 1999)

Now, that's just a smattering of things that I love about the 21st century. I may have forgotten a few. Remember, I just put them in there in the order I thought of them. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.
Goodbye.

Eclipse!!!!

Or is that eClipse? Perhaps iClipse? Definitely not. There WAS a lunar eclipse tonight, and if you missed it, then you missed out bigtime... By far one of the most meaningful events of my day, I assume that it is a sign of some sort--possibly a bad omen--but in all likelihood a beacon of good news from "the heavens"... So I'm eagerly awaiting finding out that I won the lottery or discovering an original copy of the Declaration of Independence in the closet in my apartment. Or, I would even settle for not having to scrape my car windows in the morning.

Too bad I'm not superstitious. (Though I am pretty convinced that the medical school is haunted)

Well, enjoy your day. I know I did.

Guess who passed Neuroscience?

If you guessed me, you were right. We got our final grades for that class today. Actually everyone in my class passed. So there you have it. I guess we succeeded. But of course we've moved on to the wonderful world of Physiology now, and forgotten all about Neuroscience.

Personally, I'm looking forward to this summer (yes, we do get a summer break, although this is the only year). No classes for a couple months is gonna be nice. Also, I got into this "Hospital Medical Education" program that the Indiana State Medical Association sets up with different hospitals around the state. So I'll be here in South Bend "working" (aka watching and learning) in a hospital for 8 weeks. They say the goal of the program is to expose you to as much of the diversity of medicine as possible, which I think will be good. Basically you get to learn some things and see what you might like to do down the road, and get paid to do it.

Well anyway, that's really all I have to write. It was just another long day of studying. Nothing to write home about. Well, there was a lot of ice on the inside of my windshield when I leaving school to come home tonight. But that's about the most exciting thing that happened.

My First Patient

For me, today was that big day in the life of any medical student when I met my first patient. Ok, so all I did was take a history, but it was big a big day for me. Obviously I can't say anything about this patient (HIPAA, your secrets are safe with me!), but I probably can tell you what I experienced.
First, I didn't totally know until this afternoon that I was going to be taking a real history today (its a part of my Intro to Clinical Medicine class, and the schedule for that is one of the great mysteries of the universe). Second--and probably more important--I've never done a history before, and also, I hadn't really ever been taught how to do it.
So, you can imagine my fear and trepidation (actually fear may be a bit of a strong word, but you get the point). In the end though, it did all work out. Everybody in my class met over at the hospital, in their auditorium, and there we got a crash course in history taking from our (crazy Italian) instructor. Seriously, it was less than an hour. But it really was a good lesson, because after that we went up to one of the wards and took patient histories, and for the record, I think I did quite well.
To be honest, it was a little nerve-wracking just walking in to a total stranger's room and basically saying "please tell me everything about your life", but it ended up alright. Turns out all you have to do is ask questions and listen...
After taking the history, the next step was to learn how to present a history. So we went back down to the auditorium, and got another crash course on that, and then I had to present my patient's history to one of the residents that was helping teach us. Apparently I did alright. Actually, all in all it was a real good experience. Not necessarily the the easiest thing I've ever done, but I think I did alright for my first time, and with practice I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

In other news, I have a joke for you all... So, G, A# and D walk into a bar, and say to the bartender, "We want some drinks." But then the bartender says, "We don't serve minors here."

At it again

That's right, yours truly is putting his nose back to the ol' grindstone. (talk about the mother of all cliches! oh well.)

This Monday I took the final exam for Neuroscience (a lab test and a National Board of Medical Examiners "Shelf" exam) and after that I was greeted with the whole day of Tuesday off!! Which was great. I slept in (didn't even set my alarm), did laundry, cleaned, went grocery shopping--things that normal people do... So that was good. Of course I really don't know how the tests went, but I am confident that I passed. So now on to Physiology!!!

In other news, Saturday was a big day. The St. Joe County Public Library has a program every year called "Science Alive!" for kids. Basically the library has a whole bunch of science-related exhibitors come and set up exhibits and then basically every kid in the 25 mile radius comes and learns about science. (Well, that sounds kind of lame but stay with me) Anyway the medical school had an exhibit (I was on the planning committee... no big deal though) where we had the kids go through a "mini-medical school" experience. The got to dress up like doctors, play 'Guess the Organ', learn all about why to never, ever smoke (and play with a GIANT cigarette model), and learn about the 'tools of the trade'. I think it loses something in the telling, but it actually was pretty sweet, and (a mark of success) there wasn't any time during the day when our station was empty. Anyway, I think it was success.

On another note, I hope everyone enjoyed Super Tuesday yesterday. I know I did, which is good, because I missed most of the Super Bowl due to studying for my final. Our boy Ron may not have won any states, but he DID get 3 delegates out of West Virginia. Of course probably the best news out of the whole deal is that they didn't decide everything yesterday. So maybe (I know this is a stretch), maybe our votes here in Indiana will end up meaning something...

So there you have it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (another cliche... oh no--but also a good song)

I hope you all enjoy my egregious use of punctuation. And the word 'egregious'.

What is this so-called "Super Bowl"?

If you don't like the weather now...

We all know the saying. 'If you don't like the weather in Indiana, just wait a couple of minutes!' That's definitely true today (except in reverse). This morning it was nice and warm, and even all through the day it was warm. Then tonight came, an it's cold, snowing, windy (I love winter!) and my car had ice on both the outside and the inside of the windows when I was coming home tonight. Which was awesome. It's times like these when I think to myself, "Matt, you COULD have gone to school somewhere warm. Good work!"

Big news. I joined the AMA-MSS (American Medical Association-Medical Student Section) today! Which pretty much rules. Actually, I'm not sure just how great it is, but I do get a "free" Stedman's medical dictionary (the best one), and a subscription to JAMA out of the deal. So, I guess those are good things.

In other news, I've got the big Neuroscience National Board "shelf" exam coming up in about a week. However, more importantly, my intramural basketball team won last night! 2-1! I think we only have to win one more game to make the playoffs!

Interview Day!

Today I had an "interview" for the "Hospital Medical Education Program" at a hospital in Elkhart. Interview is in quotes because there never really was an interview... Ordinarily that would be a bad sign. However, it was just an "interview day" in the sense that they had everybody that applied for their Hospital Medical Education Program there for a tour of the place and to get information about just exactly what was the Program would be like.
At this point, you are probably asking, "Hey, what's a Hospital Medical Education Program?"
To put it short and sweet, what it is is a program where medical students (like me) between first and second years get to spend a lot of time in a hospital observing real medicine. Its been billed as "a great way to see a lot of medicine without the stress of a grade coming at the end of it, like during rotations third and fourth years." In English, that just means that I would get to watch a whole bunch of different parts of medicine, and hopefully get a better idea of what I want to be when I grow up.
Which is always a good thing to figure out. Now this isn't the only hospital that does this, and it isn't even the first one that I've had a interview at. Although the other one was a real interview. And that hospital is right outside my door. Like, right across the street. So it would be nice to be at that one, and not at Elkhart.
Well, I guess that's about all I do got right now.

I love intramural basketball...

I guess the streak had to end sooner or later. Our winning streak in GFS (graduate students, faculty, and staff) basketball, that is. We were 1-0 until tonight. Unfortunately, we lost pretty badly. I think one of the compounding factors was that we only had 5 players, and all of us are medical students who spend about 37 hours a day studying (oh, its possible...). So, yeah, we lost to the law students. They also had a pretty clever name (and about 12 players, plays, and even people who came to watch), but I don't think I can repeat it here.

Oh yeah, I forgot. We had the Neuroscience midterm this morning. So, that was fun. And by fun, I mean it was like getting hit by a car.

Well, I hope you enjoyed Monday as much as I did.


Also, just FYI, when you go to the polls this spring, I heard Ron Paul eats baby kittens. I'm just sayin'... that's what I heard.

Good thing I wrote THIS one

Here we are again, at the end of another Saturday... I'll give anyone one guess what I did today...!

Did you guess?

Did you guess that I went on a crazy adventure, and met a wild grizzly bear that was about to eat me until I offered it a piece of my granola bar I just happened to have with me and then after that he didn't eat me but instead we became friends and he took me on a grand tour of the "Great Outdoors" (or as the bears call it "home") and most importantly taught me how to catch salmon with my mouth?

I hope not, cause if you did guess that, you were wrong. I studied all day.

Alright. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. (yet another song...)

Check out my awesome new post

Today has been a day full of learning... and fun. I won't bore anyone with the details of my day, but I did spend the vast majority of it studying Neuroscience. What is that, you ask? Well, it includes everything from the anatomy of the brain, to the little pathways of individual nerve cells, to learning about things like Parkinson's disease. It pretty interesting so far. In a few weeks, we are going to be learning how to properly do a neurologic exam (reflexes, shining lights in eyes, etc.) Which I am looking forward too, mostly because it seems more like learning actual medicine. Which is what I'm supposedly in school for.

In other news, the floodwaters have receded! I have let all of the pairs of animals that I had in my apartment back out onto the streets, and things are pretty much back to normal here. Its even cold. Which is good news, because I was scared for a little while that global warming was HERE! NOW! And that would be bad (I guess...I kind of liked the warm weather). But seriously, it would be bad. Can you imagine what would happen to the price of ice?!? I can, and it doesn't look pretty (i.e. no more ice sculptures).

Anyway, I think I've spent enough time convincing you all that I've completely lost it. So...I think I'll call this one done. Except for this picture of a graffiti anarchy sign I took in the park just down from my apartment:


Classic...

Just call me Noah

For the past few days, we've had some real unseasonably warm weather here, and also lots and lots of rain. Also, there was a lot of snow lying around before it got warm. Put those two together, and you get a river that looks like this. I'm pretty sure this is the St. Joseph River. Anyway, I took these pictures this evening just down the street from my house. I think they speak for themselves.


The end of the road...


From the bank. Usually the road goes along the river there, and then about a five foot dropoff, then the river. As you can see, all there is now is water.


From the bridge over the river (remind anyone of a song...?)


Also from the bridge

Some time later...

It's been awhile since my last posting. Since then, I have experienced winter break. And also the end of that break... My new semester is in full swing, and I can see that its going to be equally as tough as the last one, but this time, I have my new year's resolution. This year's new year's resolution is (drumroll please...): not go crazy! I think its been going well so far.
Last weekend was pretty crazy though (no studying either)... I went down to Indianapolis for my friend (cousin...?) Drew's wedding. I would say we partied like it was 1999. And it was a success... they ended up married.
And as it turns out, even with taking the entire weekend off, I'm still not even that behind in my studies. Which really just goes along with my new year's resolution, showing that I may not have to be doing school constantly to be able to pass.
So building on that, and also the fact that it was about 62 degrees today, I decided to take a little time off this afternoon and go for a jog. Which was a good idea, cause it was really nice out today, but unfortunately I'm a little out of shape. So I was feeling the burn pretty good. But it was definitely a good idea. In fact, I'm not quite sure now why I stopped running last fall. I kind of wish I hadn't... Oh well.

In other news, its really too bad about that national championship game...