Tuesday, July 21, 2009

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...

Saturday, July 18, 2009

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.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

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.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

String Quartet Tributes

All I have to say is: The Vitamin String Quartet is my absolute favorite thing to listen to while I study. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that quartet, they basically just take all of your favorite bands and create string quartet versions of their songs. My current collection consists of The Beatles (my newest and most favorite), Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, and Death Cab for Cutie. I recently discovered the Vitamin Piano Series as well, and have purchased a piano tribute to Dashboard Confessional. These albums are great to listen to while studying, or if you have a regal event to throw. I LOVE classical music, especially when it resembles some of the great music I love to listen to. 

GET THIS ALBUM! The string quartet tribute to the beatles is a 20 song, 2 disc set of the most amazing classical music you will ever hear. It is worth every penny. In iTunes they only allow you to buy each song individually, or you can get it on bestbuy.com or amazon.com ... AMAZING...  

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Spring Cleaning

Eric and I have decided to finally decorate the house, which means we have to clean first. I never thought two people could make such a mess! Our house was a disaster... and still needs work. We have decided to make room for books, and have hidden away all of our DVDs and CDs. Turns out, we have over 300 DVDs and almost as many CDs. It's ridiculous! We put them all in books, and put the cases in boxes. I'm so excited to move my book collection into the living room!! We aren't quite sure how we want to decorate yet, that will probably take a while.

I also signed up for classes starting on the 13th. I'm taking COM110 and BIO160. Eric says a communication class will be good for me... thanks honey. I'm excited for A&P though, I got a nifty coloring book/study guide that I can use for three different A&P classes, which is neat. I'm looking forward to this whole doctor thing... It will be a lot of work but fun! I wish I would have figured out what I wanted to do a long time ago, I could almost be ready for med school by now... Dang me and my laziness. 

We had a game night for work last week that I put together, it went over really well. We had about 40 or so people show up to it and had so much fun! No one wanted to leave, and they all want to do it again soon! I love that I was able to get that many people involved and that they all had so much fun!! This month we are having our annual 3 on 3 basketball tournament at Freestone on Easter Sunday! We already have 9 teams signed up and a bunch of people who want to go. It's going to be awesome. I love my job! 

That's all I have for now. Eric and I are about to head out to photograph Crystal and Steven's wedding!! We have another one next weekend. Busy busy bees!! 

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I've got all these thoughts just floatin' through my brain

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything to this thing we call blogspot. Not much has happend. Cali was fantastic, except that I was sick most of the time. I think I was just stressed out about school and family... Strange how I was more stressed on vacation than I am on any other day. But, I still enjoyed it. My psychology class ended, and I got a B. I'm really disappointed because I only missed 4 points on the final... I wish it counted more towards my grade. All through high school our teachers said that finals and midterms would be so important in college... Well, I have yet to see where a final or midterm really affected my grade that much. I have finally decided that I'm going to med school. It has been a long year of nurse vs doctor. I finally decided that I like science more than anything. The whole time I've been debating, I've been leaning more towards the white coat. Becoming a nurse just seems like the easy way to get into medicine... I would rather work hard and go all out. I'm pretty excited. I got some information on the courses I need to take to transfer to ASU. These next few years I will be spending a lot of time finding the med school that's right for me. If you have any suggestions, let me know! Keep it realistic though... I'm probably not going to Johns Hopkins or anywhere like that... 
Work has been pretty interesting lately. Working retail in this economy you would expect to not have many customers to deal with.. But it certainly isn't the case. Since the new store opened up in the mall, we have had a lot more traffic. More people know we exist now that we aren't shoved into a little corner in a practically abandoned shopping center. It's funny how moving across the street can have such a huge impact on business. The mall staff is pretty amazing, especially mall security. This weekend is the big event that the mall is having for the new stores that have opened (Best Buy and Dicks)! It should be interesting. 
Well, that's all I really have for now. I really should get better at this...