I feel dum...b

I've wasted the past week... Haven't done nearly enough studying... I'm sitting here taking practice quizzes and tests from my text book software and I'm feeling like I've forgotten everything I learned the past eight weeks. Where's the epiglottis?! What does it do again?! What is this muscle in my mouth that is used to push food around while I chew?! What's the formula for teeth?! What is a macrophage?! AHHHHH ... This is simply an exaggeration... I'm freaking out a little, though. I'm glad I have an extra week to study because I certainly wouldn't be ready tomorrow for this silly final. Who would like to help me study?! I have the day off tomorrow and that's ALL I will be doing, from 7 am until whenever I fall asleep on my books. Please... anyone... ??

Todays Interesting Facts

Today, I am studying up on the blood chapter of my book. Let me tell you something about erythrocytes (more commonly known as Red Blood Cells or RBCs). Normally, five Million cells are in a cubic millimeter of blood (a very tiny drop). A single erythrocyte contains 250 million hemoglobin molecules, each one capable of binding four molecules of oxygen. Thus, each red blood cell can carry one Billion molecules of oxygen... That just gives you something to think about... That one little drop of blood sure has a lot of oxygen molecules in it...

Rescheduled

I haven't logged on to my school site for a few days since all I have left is the final exam, which is supposed to be August 1st. For some reason, I decided to jump on today, and I had an email waiting for me from my BIO160 instructor. The email started out saying there is going to be a scheduled power outage and server update that will affect Riolearn on August 1st. The next few lines I expected to say were something along the lines of the final being moved up a day or something. Then, much to my surprise, I got the best news possible. The final exam deadline has been extended one week, August 8th! Hooray!! I love the extra week I am given to study :) The only downside is that I took Thursday-Saturday off this week in order to prepare for the final, study study study. Plus, I'm scheduled to work on the 8th, and we have a meeting at 7am! YIKES!! The good news is that my schedule is pretty flexible so I can probably still get the time off that I need :) I love my job, in case you were wondering. I got so much done today; it felt good!

I better get back to this studying business! I am going to make the most out of this extra week and hopefully get an A+++

Serving Size: 3

I never looked at serving sizes until I started working out. It's not that I have a weight problem, unless being too light is a problem, I just got curious about what I was eating. Today, I went to eat some taquitos; I know, delicious. For as long as I can remember I would either eat 5 or 6 of them; after all, taquitos are an entire meal! Well, today, for the first time ever, I learned what a serving size of taquitos is... THREE. If any of you are familiar with Brian Regan, he makes a joke about the serving size of fig newtons (two cookies). I feel that way about this delicious, frozen, mexican treat. I wonder what the serving size is for the sour cream I'm going to have with them...

Going back to the 90's

Here I sit, in my office, studying for my BIO160 final when suddenly my iTunes (on shuffle) plays "Lightning Crashes" by Live. Naturally, I take iTunes off shuffle and listen to the entire album, Throwing Copper. I like it here in the 90's; I don't even care if I was 6 when this album came out. I didn't even know I had it... It absolutely reminds me of being a kid and 98 KUPD. Soon, I'll be back in the year 2009, or somewhere around there, listening to current indie rock. The 90's must remain a distant memory.

Success

My study snack from yesterday has paid off. (Why do you hate PowerAde, mom?) I got 100% on my quiz, and I still had about 5 out of 13 minutes left for my 25 questions :) A great way to start the day! I woke up at about 6:15 today, despite the fact that it is my day off and I could have slept in. Why does my body do that to me? I suppose I can get a lot done today since my quiz is finished and I had until midnight to take it. Slumber party at Melissa's tonight with all my sisters and mi madre! I can't wait :) I have until 3 to get everything done that I don't have to get done today :p Seems like it is going to be a nice relaxed Saturday! I haven't had one of these since... well last Saturday! Can I just say how much I LOVE my new position? Having my old one eliminated and taking a minor pay cut was well worth it. I am such a happy camper all the time now :) I have all this free time, and weekends off (for the most part). I get to spend more time with my family, since they all have regular jobs and have get togethers on Saturdays. I LOVE IT!

PS- I am NOT on Facebook. My blog is linked to my notes, and I get emails on my phone ;) I am thinking about taking my blog off facebook, so if you still want to stalk me you will have to visit my blog http://vpandep.blogspot.com/

Je suis étudiant!

Just wanted to provide a tip for all you college students out there: Goldfish + Powerade = Excellent study snack! Next time you have a final/midterm/important test, I bet you'll try it...

What I did on my summer day off...

Well, I decided to clean my office and the closet in my office today. I thought it would only take an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Nearly three hours later, I am finally done. I had so much junk in this place, it was ridiculous! Now that the office is complete, I should probably work on the other rooms in the house, but I'll study for my final instead.

I did get a small wound while working today. Go figure, right? I tried to pull the ledge down on my laptop chill mat, and miscalculated the distance from the edge to the ledge... And, the chill mat was on... Let's just say fan + index finger = blood. We're out of little band aids, so I have a big one on my tiny finger. It wraps around twice, which gives me some nice padding, but also makes it difficult to type this entry without many errors.

I did forget to eat today... I made muffins for breakfast and had some of those. But, I worked and worked and then it was 5 and I hadn't eaten since breakfast! I decided to have a cup full of goldfish instead of a meal... Eric should be home around 7:30, so maybe I'll have real food then. I am so unfit to be a parent...

Another one comes and goes...

I just finished up my study guide and quiz that was supposed to take up most of my day... It's only 1:30... Now what? I started looking at classes again, knowing that the ones I need to take are already full at every stinkin' community college in Arizona. Why do all of these people want to be nurses?? They're taking up all of my classes... I'm glad there will be a lot of them when I'm done with med school... but, seriously! I need to take some science classes... I also need to take the placement test so I can take english and math and get them out of the way. I'm actually looking forward to math, until I take the practice tests and realize that I have forgotten all of the upper level math I used to know, like logarithms and other random things. Awesome, huh? I guess it's a good thing the school gives you a window of opportunity from the last math class you took. The last one I took was MAT187 (precalc) my junior year of high school... Why did I slack off so badly senior year? Having a job was so not worth what it did to my college career... I wish I knew then what I know now. I guess that's a pretty common feeling, though.

Countdown to the final for BIO160 has begun... It's on Saturday, 8/1... I'm going to FAIL! But, I can get a 62% and end up with a B in the class... which is NOT satisfactory for me... The midterm killed my grade, and I got a C on it... EFF THAT! I studied my ass off for that midterm too... I would have got a B had I known my instructor wanted novels for the four essay questions in 45 minutes.... I used almost all of the time for the "basic" responses that I gave... I guess a B in an online biology class (anatomy and physiology no less) is something to be proud of, since most people fail or drop the class because it is too much work. Why can't I be happy about it?! Oh, right, because I'm a perfectionist...

On a happier note, Eric surprised me with a new camera last night! I have had my eye on the Canon SD780IS (in black) for months... And somehow I have "misplaced" my SD630 *tear* I think I left it at Sandi's on the 4th, but it's probably around here somewhere. I didn't come out of my office when he got home last night, I just kept on playing the Sims 3 (addictive). When he got off the phone with his mom, he called me out into the living room... and still I didn't see it, sitting on the dining room table. When I finally did, I was super excited!! I can't wait to take pictures with it!!! I love it!!! It also does HD video and has an HDMI output on it! Plus, it's tiny!!! Nice and thin, but still an amazing Canon quality camera with a DIGIC 4 processor (I know that means nothing to you... but it means everything to me).

Also, there is a new addition to the Percival family! No, I'm not pregnant! Eric's sister, Michelle, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Jeanne Nicole Moore, on the 14th! 6lbs 15oz, 20in long; she's such a doll!! I'm so excited to meet our niece on our trip to the in-laws in a couple of weeks. I guess, for now, I will have to get my baby fix from our niece and nephew, and friends' kids...

It's so deep, it hurts.

I'm talking about a cardboard cut that I got at work; get your mind out of the gutter if you wanted to say "that's what she said" to the title. Or perhaps, I should get mine out of the gutter. Usually, cardboard cuts are barely worse than paper cuts. They usually sting a little bit more, but are rarely deeper than a paper cut or bleed more than a paper cut. Well, this cardboard cut came from a 10 pound box slipping out of my hand while unloading the truck on Thursday night. It didn't seem too bad, so I ran up to AP and got myself some neosporin and a band-aid to prevent the cut from getting in the way. Later on in the night, the band-aid got too sweaty from working hard and wouldn't stay on, so I took it off. At this point, I was able to fully examine my wound. This cut was DEEP... and it is right down the middle of my thumb on my left hand. Since we don't keep peroxide at work for some reason, I just put a fresh band-aid on it and messed with it when I got home. We probably poured about 3 caps full of peroxide into the cut, and it still felt like it wasn't cleaned out enough! Ouch, it stung. Then, we applied some new skin to it to close her up. Well, I woke up Friday morning and forgot that I had cut my thumb, and found myself playing with a zipper on our body pillow. Bad idea... It hurt for about 5 minutes from that... I decided that a band-aid and neosporin is a better solution than new skin... At least with a band-aid I don't forget about the cut... and it protects the wound a little better from silly things like zippers.

It's not harassment if you like it...

My goodness, this first week without facebook and twitter has been quite a doozy. I seem to be getting just as little done as I did before I went "cold turkey." The detox period was rough, but I have finally quit shaking and vomiting, and can eat three full meals again!

This week has been pretty exciting though! I have been given the wonderful task of revamping the video game section of our store. The first day I couldn't find any of the baskets or fixture pieces that I needed, but I made it work. Apparently I am doing pretty well; my boss took me out to Olive Garden for lunch yesterday for all of my hard work. It is still far from being completed, but I must say it is looking much better than it did before. Gearing up for the holidays in July is definitely a good idea.

I'm down to just one class in school, and my final is coming up on the first of August. It seemed far away until I looked at a calendar... Damn. I have quite a bit of studying to do in order to feel prepared for the final exam. I will be spending the next couple weeks making flash cards and practicing my essay questions. For the midterm, I only got half credit for the essay questions because they weren't "thorough" enough. Please tell me that 45 minutes two write four in depth essays about anatomy and physiology is reasonable? I don't think it is...

Eric and I ended up buying some Harry Potter movies on blu-ray. We started watching the first one on regular DVD and couldn't really make it more than 20 minutes in before realizing how much we needed the HD versions. This week, Best Buy has them on sale for $20, and they're packaged with $5 in concession cash! It was a pretty sweet deal! So, we bought the first four since we already have the 5th. Hopefully we will be able to hit the theater and see the new one in the next couple of weeks. My last experience at the theater, to see Transformers 2, was not really all that I had hoped for. I guess I'm just used to the experience in our home without 15 year olds jabbering the whole time.

I got a new running outfit yesterday as well! Eric says the shorts look a little funny, but I love them! It brings me back to my track days... I decided to step on the scale at the gym the other day, only to find out that I had gained a pound. Hopefully it was just my heavy clothes! I'm looking forward to running a lot more once my class is over. I also am hoping that Sandi and I will be able to do Pat's Run next year!

Hey, Pre-Med!

The title of this post is inspired by a group I recently joined on Facebook. Since I've decided that med school is the track I want to take, I have noticed a lot of things about myself that fall into the characteristics described on this page. My friend are always coming to me, wanting to show me their wounds or asking me to analyze their symptoms. As I study anatomy and physiology, I find that I might have a minor case of hypochondria, as I find the "symptoms" described in the homeostatic imbalance sections to fit mine. One thing this group failed to identify was the fact that almost all pre-med students are perfectionists. I have probably sent Eric about 5 text messages that say "I only got a 96% on my quiz :(" Most people would be elated with an above average grade... But there's a part of me that thinks I won't be successful in medicine unless I can get 100% on everything I do! I know it is unrealistic, but that's just how I feel.