I made it to Santa Barbara!

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and managed to get to Santa Barbara with around 3 hours to spare, so I took a walk, bought some supplies and managed to get a bite to eat before boarding the train.

I also managed to spot a glitch in the matrix. Can you see it too?

Amtrak:

My first Amtrak experience gets three gold stars. They have electric hookups, a meal car, you can walk around, recline your chair (they even have footrests), and they only charge $20 to ship a bike. $20!!! Can you believe it!? Stupid airlines.

Downside: it was an 8 hour trip from SB to SF.

Upside: it was really scenic.

Downside: Most of the trip was after sunset.

Upside: I got to sleep.

Downside: I can't sleep because my sleep schedule has been thoroughly messed up by a week of solid finals combined with excessive caffeine and anxiety.

This is me at the Jack London Inn. I'm pretty sure this place is a crackhouse. I will be using my sleeping bag tonight.

Flying with Dad

This was taken over Thanksgiving weekend. Dad is flying us over Logan, I think. I'm in the back with Charles. Greg is up front with Dad.

GOPR0034.MP4

Who has two thumbs, a mustache last quarter, and is skipping physiology lecture?

Ok, so the thumbs are missing from the picture, but you can guess I still have them. Otherwiseallmywordswouldruntogether.

So I'm using the time I saved by skipping physiology lecture and studying on my own (approximately 45 minutes) to update my blog with some random bits from the last little while.

Medical school

It is still good. Difficult. Exciting. Cadavers smell bad. I drink too much coffee. Stay up too late. blab lba blab bla bla.

Skydiving:

There has been very little of it going on recently. Last quarter I went once at the beginning, waited two months, then went again during the quarter break. Waiting two months between jumps on an A-license is no bueno. I showed up at Skydive AZ only to discover that I had to do a recurrency jump with an instructor before they would rent gear to me. After several hours of waiting for a free instructor and $200, I finally jumped once and then had to head home. It was fun, but way too costly in time and money - kind of frustrating. I honestly don't know when I'm going to be able to do more skydiving (aside from Christmas break), so I may end up doing more recurrency jumps....

Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

I went to Tucson for Hoasis last weekend! I've never had so much fun playing ultimate frisbee. We played 7 games and only won once. Doesn't sound good, but considering this was the first time many of us had competed, and the first time we had played together as a team, I thought we did pretty well.

Now that I try writing it out, my life sounds pretty boring. I'm really enjoying things, strangely enough. I'll be heading back to Utah for Christmas and a few days, then it's back to AZ for the remainder of this crazy quarter.

A long overdue video.

Pat wanted to know why I haven't posted any videos lately. Well, the answer is simple. I haven't done anything off of campus in ages. So here's a video I took back in June. 'Twas a simpler time. A time when I had time to spend time doing the things that took a lot of time that weren't related to study or work-time. Oh those bygone days of last June.

first pack

Ethical dilemma of the century!

Pat alerted me to the presence of a Regina Spektor cover of Radiohead's No Surprises this morning, which quickly lead me, giddy with excitement, to search for the album online.

It turns out, to my horror, that this track is only available on iTunes. Oh the humanity!

It also turns out that all of the proceeds from purchasing said track will go to Doctors Without Borders. *gasp!*

Ethical dilemma!!!!!

(also thanks to Pat for providing above link)

Do I:

1. Support Doctors Without Borders and download this cool track whilst simultaneously providing some credit (not monetary, but surely they're tracking downloads) to the whore of all the media world, iTunes?

2. Let my distaste for iTunes avert me from supporting Doctors Without Borders and enjoying this fine track?

Answer:

Neither!

I stole the track on the interwebs, then donated $5 directly to Doctors Without Borders.

Doctors Without Borders..... +$5 = win!

Regina Spektor track.... I have it now = win!

giving the proverbial finger to iTunes... = megawin!

Writing this blog instead of studying biochem.... uh... = lose.

Here is what I have been studying today:

DNA replication, transcription, repair, RNA translation, modification. Protein folding, transport.

Here is how it makes me feel.

Thank you BoingBoing.

Medical School: Month 1

I should be studying right now. At any given time during the day, that's probably a true statement.

I've been in Arizona at Midwestern University for about a month so far and I haven't written about the experience at all yet. So here goes. My first month:

It's been good. It's been really good. In fact, I didn't think I would enjoy school as much as I do. I don't think I've ever enjoyed school this much. Elementary school is a close second.

Elementary school positives:

1. Frequent exercise - recess

2. Fun hands-on activities - arts and crafts

3. Everything is new - you learn it for the first time

Unfortunately, elementary school also involves some really awkward social moments; you have scary teachers, scary sixth graders, and scary bus drivers.

Medical school wins because it has all the positives of elementary school:

1. Gym on campus

2. Fun hands on activities - anatomy dissections and OMM

3. everything is new. (ok maybe not everything - i've taken some of these classes before, but at least it's more in-depth)

But medical school doesn't have any of the awkward social weirdness of elementary school. Everyone here - Midwestern University - are really nice. I've been very impressed with the attitudes of the faculty, staff and students. Faculty are always willing to talk to you outside class, they coordinate their lectures well, and write very straightforward tests.

The only downside is the cost. I'm paying about 50k per year to go to school here. I have no idea how those loans are going to be repaid. The positive of this is that I now have an extremely strong incentive to become a success.

Arizona is nice, I guess. I really haven't had much of a chance to explore. I spend most of my time on campus. I have made a few trips out to Skydive Arizona, and that has been verrry nice. I also went camping with Sarah S. and some new friends. We went hiking in a slot canyon near Page and swam at Lake Powell. Good times.

This is club week on campus. So far I've joined these clubs/organizations:

American Medical Association (turns out the AMA welcomes DOs as well as MDs)

American Osteopathic Association

Emergency Medicine Club

Wilderness Medicine Club

Cycling Club

Triathlon Club

Pediatrics Club

Well that's about it so far. I think I'm doing well. We've only had 3 tests so far and I haven't failed any yet, so I'm on track.