This thing I refer to as My Life

Even though I’m still studying for my GI/Liver written exam (the two practical exams were yesterday) I am overwhelmingly compelled to share a little *pearl* of wisdom with you. The average composition of a fart is: 61.2% Nitrogen, 8.1% Carbon dioxide, 19.8% Hydrogen, 7.3% Methane and 3.6% Oxygen. No, there is not enough Oxygen to be used as an alternate source of air. Note, however, that 30.7% of the products take part in the combustive processes, given an ignition source. And, just to show that I am still a chemist, the balanced equation for the combustion of a fart is:

5O₂ + 2CH₄ +2H₂ –-ignition source-->2CO₂ + 6H₂O

Given that additional oxygen can be taken from the environment, there should be complete combustion of the methane and hydrogen since they are both independently combustible. Much to everyones' amazement (including my wife's), I have NEVER tested this.

Better living through chemistry!

My Dad made a good catch! Today, CNN reported that Bowfelx was having a voluntary recall on the Power Pro XTL (which is the one I have) for some design flaws that have caused a few injuries. I called the number provided in the article and after waiting on hold for a few minutes, they took care of it. Thankfully, they are shipping a couple of braces that will shore things up (as opposed to me having to ship the unit back to them, which would be MUCH more expensive). One brace goes to the lat pull-down bar, which I always thought could be a little sturdier and the other is for the inclined bench. This latter brace I'm not sure about. Everything seems sturdy there, but I'll understand it better when I see the brace.

Study study study! Final practical are less than 19 hours away!

Big Tests are brewing. Must sleep to study more tomorrow. Did work out today and will do again tomorrow. Only way to keep sanity! Have successfully created a six-pack, however, it is still well insulated! Over six inches of snow on car. Enough ice in the parking spot that ML could not pull in the spot fully.

This is a recording! =-)

Today I have lots to tell you! Well, not lots, but at least something! To start with, I did workout this morning. (My father is keeping track, so I’ll keep announcing. Hi Dad!)

I did not take my Liver/GI quiz until late on Sunday. I tried a new study method but found out it was not working. Usually, I will make my own summary of the notes from class and then study those. As you can imagine, that takes a considerable amount of time. I thought this time I would try to read through the original notes a few times and just take summary notes here and there. I could tell be Saturday morning that it was not working out. So all of my studying on Friday was nonproductive. To my credit, I had the wherewithal to tell our class counselor that I was going to try to tweak my study methods and to be prepared to catch me if I fall on my face. He’s the person you have to deal with if you don’t pass a block and have to remediate. It has happened to a handful of students, but not me: at least, not yet. It is not really that big of a disaster if it does happen as I do not think it impacts your record so long as you successfully remediate. Anyway, I just ended up taking the quiz about 8 hours later than would have otherwise and I did just fine.

Yesterday, we were done with class and lab around 3p and I spent two more hours going over the anatomy. We have our lab practical this week. So, by yesterday evening, I was completely burnt out and vegetated with Mary Lee while watching Da Dumm! (that’s Law and Order for those of you who don’t watch it). I never watched that show and then ML got me hooked on it when I was in Texas. I like the original cast best and then it went down hill. I cannot stand the newest cast, except it’s funny to watch Ice-tea trying to age gracefully.

Today, class was over at noon and I stayed until 6p in the anatomy lab. Okay, now what I’m going to say here in a moment may be considered by some as being less than respectful but it is not meant to be. Rather it is just a funny observation. In reality, we are all taught to treat our cadavers with respect and we all do. I cannot say the same for all other Medical institutions, but everyone seems quite respectful. As you know, if you’ve been reading, we have been studying the liver and GI tract. I was studying the intestines and looking around for various vasculature (arteries, veins and lymph vessels). I was moving the ascending colon aside and something the appendix caught my eye. Before I move on, realize that we’ve been studying this area for the last two weeks and I had noticed what I’m about to tell you. The appendix attaches to the base of the ascending colon and the colon was expanded. The epiphany I made today was the colon had a fart trapped in it!

Well, it seemed funny at the time.

In other news, we have what I consider our first “real” Midwestern snowfall. Maybe I have said this before, but we’ve got a good 6 inches on the ground. It started falling last night and on into the day today. And, again, NO PLOWING?! The busses were slipping and sliding all over! It’s amazing there were no wrecks: most of the time drivers cannot pull away from the bus stop without having to get off and back on the gas. In all fairness I did see two plows today. One had the plow up in the air. The other was actually plowing. But, if you looked carefully, the plow was about two inches off of the ground. So what they do is not really snow removal, but more Zamboni like in function. They smooth the snow out. There is no real pavement to be seen either. All of the cars and trucks are driving directly on the snow. There must be some trucks around that put some dirt down because the snow is dirty, but there is no salt being put down! I think it’s that huggy-feely Ann Arbor thing going on. It’s okay for people to die in car wrecks but we don’t want to have to fix potholes made by the plows or have the grass on the side of the road suffer from extra salts. Seems to me there should be a nice middle ground somewhere in there.

Time to go review some anatomy! Anyone want to join?

Monday mornings are always rough. Someone is a little late with her routine which gives me a little time for this. For the record, and those keeping track (which is probably no one but me), I did work out all last week and this morning. The weekend, as you could tell, was spent studying the liver and GI tract. I still have a final this weekend, but must of the material was covered in the first week. This week I have to get into the anatomy lab and get ready for the practical. Well, that’s all the time I have now, someone just got out of the shower. But, I really have to wait a little longer because one of us is a hot-water-hog and the other one of us really does not enjoy cool showers when it is below freezing. I’m sure I’ll pay for this posting. ;-)

Gotta’ big quiz this weekend!
Gotta’ go study all that is Liver and GI.
Well, about 2/3 of what is Liver and GI.

Last night I remembered to try the freezing soap bubble trick. It is a little known fact that when it is very cold outside you can blow a soap bubble and it will freeze in midair. It usually turns into something of a square, falls to the ground and then shatters like glass. I discovered this on my own when I was at Purdue, but there does seem to be some acknowledgment of the phenomenon on the web. Last night it was about 5F and a few of the bubbles were just starting to freeze. A few froze and landed on the door step. We tried to take pictures (which I have not looked at yet to see if they came out) but it’s not as neat as seeing it happen in midair. I think it really needs to be below 0F for them to freeze well. But when it happens, fear not, I will get some good pictures. Oh, and before anyone asks me what possessed me to blow soap bubbles outside when it was that cold outside, all I have to say is, "intellectual curiosity." Or maybe it was boredom. But I should not say that just my old mentor reads this.

Okay, cute story time.

Several months ago I decided to do something I’ve never had done before. I paid to have someone change the oil in my car. I drove up to the Speedy Oil something something and got in line. (It was the Saturday morning before the UM/Notre Dame game because I went to pick up my brother-in-law from the airport afterwards.) I figured I’d study while they did their thing and all would be right. Well, I found out that I could not just let them mess with my car without watching. So I watched and they did all of there stuff. Of course the $34 bill stung a little. Well, a lot. I had a coupon but there is a recycling fee and tax and I just didn’t expect it. But, that’s not the point. When they did all of this, I had just run out of washer fluid and they dutifully filled it up. Months later, once it got cold, I discovered that they did not use “winter” washer fluid. At first I had hopped that I had just run out again. So I bought some stuff at wally-world. When I went to go put it in the reservoir I discover a substantial chunk of ice!! I had resigned myself to heating it up with a hair dryer this weekend because it was getting difficult to see! But this evening, we finally had a warm snap (up to 32 with the snow) and it started flowing. So ran the wipers the whole way home (we had a dinner party at my “small group” leader’s house) and filled it up with the good stuff.

Certainly, that is the last time I pay to have someone change my oil and fill my fluids. Especially since I cannot study and I have to watch them. I might as well watch myself do it. But, most importantly, I now have a clean window!

cleaver man, clever man...it's all good.

I took pictures of the coats, but I had some homework sneak up on me so I will have to post them later this week. I reacquainted myself with the shunned exercise equipment in the basement for a good hour today. That was nice! Now it's time to catch some sleep before school starts up again tomorrow. Tomorrow night I will visit with my Family Centered Experience family. This is a "course" where two students go to visit the same family where one of the members is afflicted with a chronic disease. Meeting with them is really interesting, but the assignments associated with it are usually quite lame. I'll have to dig up a description I e-mailed to some folks long ago for a more detailed description.

I have been very bad. I need to be spanked, and hard. By someone who knows how. (That phrase is usually in reference to a kiss.) I did not get to work out this weekend on the bowflex. Although the two hours of sledding yesterday certainly to count as both aerobic and lower body exercise. It was not a small/short hill and both Mary Lee and I were “feeling” it today. Instead of exercise, we went to the super Wal-Mart and to the Target. And, at the Target, I did another BAD thing. I bought another jacket!!! I can’t help it, it was a soft leather jacket on sale for $25!! We bought one for Mary Lee, too. (We got her a man’s jacket since they were half as much as the woman’s that were on sale and actually constituted a jacket.) In reality, it is far too cold to wear them at the moment. But I will be all set for spring. Oh crap! Mary Lee just reminded me that we also bought me a flannel-lined canvas jacket, too. It was only $11! Since I’m off tomorrow, I will try to take pictures of them all and post Elliott’s Parade of Outerwear! Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. And consider this, when you come to visit, you don’t need to bring a jacket. We’ve got them to fit just about everyone! And we have enough jackets for everyone to visit at the same time. The rest of the day was spent cleaning out and doing chores. A typical Sunday for us. I did finally send out a broad notification about the web site since it seems to be working pretty well. So, a hardy Welcome to all of you newcomers!

Today is Mary Lee’s birthday. So it was a day dedicated to all that she wanted to do. Fortunately, for me, she likes to do things that I like to do!

Last night we decided to go to a Japanese restaurant and have sushi down the street to start the birthday celebration. It was pretty good, but not the Sushi Chalet (Gaithersburg, Maryland) or the Tokyo Bowl (in Clear Lake, TX). And, I think I do a better job, but that because I know what I like.

We slept in until we could not sleep any more. A good start! Last night, at some point I got up to use the potty and put up a banner over the bathroom door that said Happy Birthday. I wanted to put it downstairs, but I never had the opportunity without her knowing. So I used the opportunity when I had it. She did not notice the sign until she left the bathroom. Her eyes were apparently closed when she went in. Can you tell we’re not exactly morning people? We got out of bed, I surprised her with a present of her favorite chocolates and then got cleaned and dressed and met some friends for Dim Sum. After brunch, we went on the hunt for some plastic sleds. In particular, Mary Lee wanted a saucer.

First, we headed to Wal-Mart but had no luck. Nothing! So Meijer was the next stop. For those of you who don’t know, Meijer is the original super Wal-Mart. It is actually somewhere between Wal-Mart and Target, quality wise. But, it is more expensive than Target and the food is pricey, too. So we don’t go there frequently. But, we needed Milk and it was there so we tried but again, no luck. Finally, we found some plastic sleds at Target. No saucers but a couple of good ones. We hooked up with our neighbors down the way (who had invited us to go sledding with them Wednesday) who were actually on their way out to go sledding! What luck?

Then, we went sledding on this really big hill down by campus. The first time I went down, I had my feet down in front of me and I got COVERED with snow! I had this big rooster tail of snow flying out behind me. We all got a good laugh. We both wished we had brought a camera. After sledding for about two hours, I realized the parking lot was pretty clear. So I took that opportunity for Mary Lee and me to each experience how well the car handled in the snow. We had already tested the ABS in the snow around the apartment. It turns out that the Sebring handles the snow really well. Maybe too well! You can’t get it to hockey stop or do a doughnut without using the parking break, which we did do. It does much better than the BMW, but the BMW was MUCH more fun in the snow. There was one moment when Mary Lee was hauling butt toward the end of the parking lot before taking an evasive maneuver and nearly gave me a heart attack. No matter, we now have a much better understand of how the car deals with the snow. Speaking of the BMW, my Dad is supposed to help me get hooked up with an ’84 Maserati Bi-turbo. What’s up with that, dad?

In any case, we came home dripping wet. Well, except my hair was completely frozen and crunchy. We cleaned ourselves up, again, and had Thai for dinner. Now we’re enjoying lounging around in bed, watching Chicago.

I’m ready to expand the viewing audience of the site since it seems to be pretty stable. So, for those of you who are new to the page, I update it about once a day. It seems to get more frequent the closer I get to an exam and then I’ll skip a day or so after the exam.

It is finally time to tell you the story of my little hellish day yesterday. It started off innocuously enough. I had an anatomy and histology lab practical at 4p and then I had to take the written exam by 8a this morning. I had been studying all weekend and last week so I figured, how bad could it be? I woke to a snowy day and sat in my office until 2:30p. I was ready for the practical and I thought I was on my way to being ready for the online exam.

Over the course of the day, the snow had accumulated a couple of few inches. I decided to give myself a little extra cushion for the bus ride. The ride is usually 12 minutes at that time of the day-15 min at the longest. I figured I’d relax a bit at school and check my e-mail and what not. I’m at the bus stop just before 3:00p. The buses are supposed to run every 10 min, but the bus did not appear until 3:15p. A sign of things to come. The other thing I noticed was that there was about two inches of snow stuck to the street and no sign of plowing. Another sign of what was to come. Got on the bus, pulled out some papers to study and we pulled away. As we pulled out onto the main road, I realized that it had not been plowed either and the bus driver was driving very slowly. Okay, I left an hour early. Can you see where this is going? It’s a 3.5 mile trip from here to the medical school. At 3:45p, I was one block from the school, but the bus cannot go directly. I had three more blocks to ride! I asked the drive if I could get off, but no luck. Fortunately, traffic broke a little and I got out at 3:53p and got to the lab just in time. Took the quiz and it seemed to go okay. At 5p, when the quiz was over, I ran out to catch a bus at home. As I reached the streets, I see a tremendous line of traffic. The bus stop is up the street, but there is a bus just down the street in the direction I need to go. I walked up to the bus (because it’s not going anywhere) and knocked on the door to see if the driver would let me in. He did. I got on, standing room only, and started studying the notes that I had with me. After about 30 min, we had only traveled a half a block. I realized this was NOT going to work. So, I got off of the bus and headed back inside and started studying at one of the computer stations. On my way back, I checked to see if Mary Lee was in one of the buses behind me, but I could not see in well enough. It would turn out that she was in the next bus. She would spend the next 1.5 hours on the bus to get home. I started studying but I was missing some critical notes, unfortunately. Mary Lee, the devoted wife, offered to bring my notes and dinner out to me since, at that point, I decided to just stay at school and take the exam. She brought the notes and dinner around 8:30p. Boy, were my fellow students jealous! The studying was not going as well as I had hoped and I was not comfortable taking the exam until 12:45p. I still would have been happier with two more days of studying. But, when all is said and done, I passed. Yeah! I was not fun. We had a ton of material in the one exam and covered it in just a week and a day. Not pleasant, but no one ever called medical school pleasant. But wait, I almost forgot! So, I finished the exam at 1:45a and headed out to the bus stop. Mary Lee was fast asleep and I was not sure if the bus still ran. If it did not, I was going to just sleep at school or bum a ride. The bus was supposed to be running every 20 min until 2:20a. It did not show up for over 30 min. Boy was that unpleasant, too. Unfortunately, I did not have my warmest jacket. I was home by 2:30a (obviously the traffic had lighted up just a bit) but I was SO WIRED, I did not fall asleep until 3:30a just to be awoken at 4a by the trucks clearing the parking lot.

So want I learned from this? Ann Arbor does not the streets plow or seriously salt, at all. Well, until 4a the next morning.

No, I did not work out today. But, I did do some Nordic Track yesterday. Tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll be back on schedule.

So, sleepy. Can harddddddddddd. Oops, fell asleep.

No, really! We had a special kind of NEW hell yesterday. We had the lab practical and the on-line exam due on the same day. Well, I guess the on-line was not due until 8am this morning. My practical was at 4pm and then I stayed, studied, my darling wife brought me dinner, and I took the exam from 12:45a to 1:40. Stood outside from 1:45 to 2:15a waiting for the bus (that was supposed to be there at 1:50a, and tried to fall asleep at 2:30a. But, that did not happen until close to 4a, when the truck finally came to clear the snow. I'll be telling you THAT story later today, if I'm still awake. When it's all said and done, I passed but I can imagine that a significant number of people did not.

More later!

I don't know what possessed me to check (probably trying to avoid studying), but I have a total of 12 jackets! I'll have to do a jacket photo showcase. Maybe this weekend. :-)

MUST GO STUDY...MORE!!!! Cannot get enough KIDNEY!

Okay, so I did not get to post anything last night and I only have a few minutes before class. Good thing I have nothing to say! I did workout this morning, but I skipped the weekend (too busy studying). Now I have a full day of classes and then MORE studying. The exam is going to be on Wednesday instead of over the weekend. So, that has made preparation a little strange, but hopefully it won't be a big problem come test time. Since you're probably wondering how it could be after 9a and I still have a few minutes, UM has this strange thing about starting classes at 10 after the hour. Almost anything that say it will start on the hour actually starts 10 minutes after. They call it Michigan time. The Med school tried to break that with us, but found that professors that were teaching elsewhere before our classes, could not make it because the rest of the school was on the 10 after thing. I guess the admin must have forgotten that our teachers are not JUST our teachers. :)

Hey!! I almost forgot to post that I had a 2003 publication in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. It only took two years to have it accepted without revision. That is WAY out of hand! But, what can I do. Below is the link if you want to look at some squid brain. Actually, I should point out that it is the smallest cell body EVER to be imaged by MRI. It is the smallest cell body EVER to be imaged in situ (still in the native tissue for the lawyers that read this). It is the smallest cell body every to be imaged, in situ, with MATCHING conventional histology! It is first proof that MRI actually works at a cellular level. Had I stayed in science, this would have been a nice launch, alas, I was meant for something else. Masochism. It’s hard to believe that two small pictures could mean so much. I posted it over with the pictures. It's called MRH. You can also go to the journal following the link above, click on the Vol. 21, Issue 9, November 2003, and scroll down until you see my name. I'm first author, so it's a little easier to find.

Here is something new and fun since starting medical school. I have started talking in my sleep! According to Mary Lee, it usually does not make sense, but there are often words involved. What made me think of it is that we were just taking a nap and all of the sudden I heard Mary Lee say, “what?” I thought I was dreaming but it woke me up so I asked her if she just said something to me. She said, I asked up “what” because you said, “Hmmm.” Beats me, I was sleeping!

What is even funnier is what took place a few weeks ago. But, before I get into that, let me take a little aside. Usually when I sleep I do not snore. Sometimes I’ll have a quite gentle snore, but it doesn’t bother me or ML. But, if I’m really snoring, then when I wake up my throat is sore and I usually don’t sleep as well. So I asked ML to wake me up if I’m snoring so I can roll over. Once, every other week or so she’ll give me a nudge if I don’t wake myself up . Yes, my snoring usually wakes me up because I’m such a light sleeper. And I snore more often if I’m congested. So one night I had just fallen asleep and apparently started snoring.
ML: “Love, you’re snoring.” {gentle push on my back}
me: “I know, that’s because I was sleeping.” {said in a slightly annoyed tone of voice}
ML: “But Love, you were snoring.”
me: “I KNOW! That’s how you knew I WAS SLEEPING.” {said in a very whining tone}
ML: “But you told me to wake you up if you’re snoring loudly.”
me: {remembered the request, rolled over and started snoring again, woke up with sore throat and grumpy from not sleeping well}

Okay, that’s cute, but that’s not the funny story! About three weeks ago we’re in bed falling asleep. Mary Lee wakes up to a strange but familiar sound--and not the kind that comes from my butt. She thinks to herself, “was I hearing that in a dream” as she lies in the silent room. $#*! She hears it again, but refuses to believe the source and does not understand the context. Doubting herself, she tries to dismiss the sound waves traversing the room into her ear. $@#! Now with full comprehension of the source, the sound, but dismissing the need for a reasonable context she pushes me awake and said, “You’re MOOING!” Stumbling out of my slumber and said, “What are you talking about?!” Again, “You’re MOOING! You are mooing in your sleep! Why?! are you MOOING in your sleep?” As she breaks out in laughter, I fall victim to the humor and try to eek out that I have no idea why I was mooing. Once we were done giggling, it turns out that I released three very distinct and well spaced Moo’s: Plain, 4 year old child type of Moo’s.

Study break!

Worked out today, but did not get to do it until this evening. (So that only gets a lower case...yeah.) I had to make lunch this morning instead of exercise because we had not bread last night.

Lunch is one of my two responsibilities commanded by my better half (AKA spousal-unit). 1) Go to Medical School and 2) Deal with Lunch. I qualified #1 by stating passing Medical School. Yes, I married a quality woman, I know. (That is not sarcasm!)

The only slightly interesting thing that happened today is someone e-mailed one of our professors and pointed out a typo on one of the chemical structures in our handout. Apparently the class found this observation worthy of starting a ruckus. In fact, a student behind me threatened to “kill” whoever noticed the mistake. I cannot imagine who would have discovered such a mistake as having four covalent bonds to nitrogen without it carrying a positive charge. Lucky for that poor bastard, the professor never identified the author of the e-mail. If you click on “Class recording” (where the photos are) you can hear what transpired.

Back to the books!

Ah, the next installment! I’m sure you’ve all be waiting.

I have now *officially* passed my first semester. Yeah!
I did work out this morning. Yeah!
I did nap this afternoon. YEAH!!

Let me tell you a little about attending class. When it is not mandatory, which it usually is not, only about 1/2 to 2/3 of the class shows up. No big deal, as all of the lectures are taped and we can watch them on the computer. (If I were really smart, I’d stop going to class all together as I am sure it does not really help. I just don’t have the guts to try it.) Most of the class has settled down into their favorite locations with little alterations. I sit in the fifth row back (just a little forward of dead center) on the right side of the middle section. On my right is an isle so I can dangle-a-wing, like a good Georgia boy, and park my crap next to me on the floor. All of last semester, I had two friends (Helene and Candice) sitting to my left. We had a good grumpy-old-men type of atmosphere (that is until I made the observation that one of them MOO'ed during class, I won't say which just in case she reads this one day). But! Toward the end of the semester, there was a “floater” who started occupying their space. So, this semester they Helene and Candice defected across the isle. Everyone keeps asking me why I’m sitting alone? Where did Helene and Candice go? What could split up the three Musketeers? My state of being banished (really, it’s that there is no one to wake me up when I doze off) is not where I’m going with all of this. It is the observation that in a class of 170 (with 85 – 100 regulars), we all have our favorite seats and usually do not budge from them. And, if someone sits in our seats, it’s quite a coup. (And I do bitch when someone is in my seat.)

With all of that said, there was something else I wanted to post, but I don’t remember what it was. It probably had to do with a lame Family Centered Experience assignment that I am facing (or rather ignoring). But it’s bed time and I’m ready for sleep. And it will be driving me nuts in the days to come, so I'll tell you about it later.

PS. Note the counter I put at the top of the left frame. Now I will know how many people I watching. (I think there are only four of you at the moment. The rest of the hits are from myself! (I keep checking the page because I'm amazed it works!)

Oh, and just so you all know, I DID workout this morning. :)

Although the day started a little late, it sure did go long! We had a couple of morning classes and then a long anatomy lab on the abdomen. Lots of new terms to learn and it is going to take several hours this weekend hunched over my cadaver learning all of the bits and pieces. But that’s medical school.

Since my last post, my older sister is worried that after medical school I’m going to go to music school. Well, fear-not, I won’t consider it until I can get the music to play in my head while I’m awake! I’m just glad that it’s music in my head and not voices!

My dad was questioning if it is really me on the gunner bingo card since it’s spelled with one t. All I can say is there are no other people in my class with that name as their first or last name and the person from whom I got the card confirmed it was me. She pointed out that they get to mark me off (with gold stars) when the teachers ask me a question in front of the class.

There has been a couple of pimped questions which I did answer correctly. The first one was a Dx (diagnosis) of a man who collapsed while gardening. He arrived in a coma with a handful of other symptoms including sweating, salivating, etc. The professor asked the class what we thought it was. No one answered for a while and I went to scratch my head and so the professor called on me. I went ahead and answered, organophosphate poisoning from pesticides. There was a rumble from the class as the professor very little awestruck as the rest of his lecture fell apart. He was assuming someone would say heart attack. But, what no one else realized is that it was from an episode of SCRUBS that I had taped from the week before and watched the night before. There was a woman who had tried to kill herself with pesticides.

The other question (from a different professor) that went like that had to do with a diagnosis of a mailman who started becoming dizzy when exercising and had uneven pulse strengths on his limbs. I remembered all of the symptoms, but I was having a difficult time conjuring up the name of the disease. Finally I remember and again scratched my head and was called on. (I really need to start using dandruff shampoo on these days.) I said that it sounded like a subclavian steal. This prof’s mouth just hit the floor and the next this out of his mouth was, “what did you do before coming to medical school.” I did not have the heart to tell him that it was one of the cases that UTMB used to teach the new faculty how to teach the medical students.

Now, here is something noteworthy and since it just happened I thought I’d make note of it! Since going to medical school, I have started dreaming in music. Usually it is full orchestral arrangements that I do not ever recall having heard or played. They are usually quite complex but I have the sense of every note and measure of every instrument. It started happening when I was studying for my musculoskeletal sequence and usually in that just drifting off of just waking state: there are no associated visuals with the dreams, either. It has happened quite a few times (like a half dozen).

Well, it just happened again. I was preparing for tomorrow’s anatomy lab and decided I wanted to take a nap (I will occasionally partake in a power nap of 10 to 20 minutes). As I was waking up, I was dreaming of a rhythm and blues number. It was only a few measures but had quite a strong, foot-stomping, downbeat. All of the other times it has been classical arrangements, but not this time.

I never dreamed in music before medical school, I have no idea what it means and I wish there was a way to hold on to it all when I’m awake. They have all been quite interesting. And, oddly, all on key!

May I open with a BURR?!?! Winter time is finally here. Our high today was a blistering 13F and its all of 8F now at 4p. We will duplicate this tomorrow. At least it is sunny today—we have not seen the sun in a while, but now we have a strong wind. Yummy! Now I just have to find my soap bubbles.

If you don’t know what I mean by that last statement, it is something that I discovered when I lived in Indiana. When it is SUPER cold outside, blow a soap bubble and it will freeze in mid air. It will usually turn into a square, fall to the ground and shatter like glass. Sometimes it shrivels before it freezes, but it almost always shatters. If I get a chance to do it I’ll try to take pictures.

For those of you keeping score, I did manage to “lift” this morning, so that makes it two mornings in a row! And, NO this is not part of a New Year’s resolution. :)

Now I see the flaw in my plan. I am home and should be studying like a good student, but instead I am posting. Good thing the homework load is not too bad tonight. So, let me tell you about the grind of my medical school.

First, you would think that classes would be so scintillating that one could not help but to stay awake and be enlightened. Well, that is certainly sometimes the case, but not usually. Today we had one of those soft-spoken professors who did not rehearse quite enough. And, since I did not have a source of caffeine on hand, I will have to go look at the video tape to pick up the few places where I know I zoned-out. There are usually three hours of class in the morning (sometimes only two), an hour for lunch (or for a lunch meeting), another class after lunch and then lab of some ilk. So, it ends up being close to a 9-5 job. Maybe more like a 9-3:30. You come home and study until it’s bedtime. I usually take an hour or so to eat and relax with my spousal-unit. Almost all weekends there is a quiz or a final exam to take. Fridays I usually study until 1 or 2a and then again all day on Saturdays until 1 or 2a. Sometimes I take the exam/quiz late on Saturday but usually I review a bit on Sunday and then take it in the late morning or early afternoon. Sometimes it gets pushed to LATE Sunday night. Then I try to spend a little extra time with Mary Lee on Monday nights. So our weekends are more like Sunday night and Monday night. Fortunately, Mary Lee seems to tolerate the schedule well--probably better than I do.

What all of this means is, there is a lot of sitting around and not much exercise. So I bought myself a Bowflex on e-Bay and I’m working out in the morning. Well, at least I worked out this morning. Well see if it sticks tomorrow morning!!! I did have several really good workouts last week and am still quite sore.

Oh, so there’s a funny story I can spin off of that. We ride the Michigan J. Bus (our name for the UM school bus) to and from school and it’s about a 15 minute ride. It leaves every 10 minutes from the bus stop at the end of our complex (which is about 50 yards away). It snowed last night and the school had cleaned the walkway this morning. Well, I left with about two minutes to make it to the stop which is normally plenty of time. But, this morning, I stepped onto the walkway and promptly started to go into a split! They cleaned the snow, but they left a perfect sheet of ice. If that was not funny enough, my legs are like jelly after working out this weekend. Thus, every little slip was a new experience in pain. But, wait! It gets worse. I get about half way to the bus stop and I can see the bus! I try to run and I slipped again. Oddly enough, the bus is still there, so I thought maybe the driver saw me. So I start running again (as fast as I can slipping every few steps). I get up to the bus and it pulls away! I had my HAND on the bus! A classic Monday morning.

Okay, the first pass on the web site seems to be working so I thought I'd make another post. It has to do with a little thing some of the medical students are doing in class that I think is cute (mostly) and deserves a little attention.

So, when all of the students got together and started going to class, there were a handful of students that started ID'ing their fellow students as "gunners." Now, at a school like U of M, I think it is fair to say that everyone is a gunner. The average GPA is a 3.999 which is only because everyone else has a 4.0 and my GPA brings it down. It is worth noting, however, that the connotation of gunner in medical school seems to be substantially different than a gunner in law school. That is to say that a gunner in law school attempts to make the highest score at the *expense* of their fellow students. In medical school, a gunner is simply someone that asks questions in class. In my case--yes, I have been labeled as a gunner--it is due to the fact that my anatomy partner (Henry) and I dissected the knee, hip and shoulder joints even though it was not required. Although, I did ask a few questions in the first few segments.

The next question is how does one plays Gunner Bingo? First, there is someone that has a full list and makes up a card with gunners' names randomly on it. Each person has a different card and when a gunner asks a question in class, it is marked on the card (if you have the name). You see, just like bingo. If you get a full series, then you have to ask a question in class and work the word "bingo" into the question. So far, no one has won.

Since I am such a resourceful fellow, I manage to get my hands on a bingo card which I quickly scanned in and is now posted in the photo section. Go look! Unfortunately, I do not know who is the keeper of the names, so I only know of those on this card.

Now, to be sure, I'm not mad but I am HURT that I don?t get to play. *Smile*

December break is almost over: just a few hours to go. I wanted to get my web page set up so I can keep everyone up to date. You see, I feel badly about not having the time to nurture my friendships and it is not that I don't want to share; I simply don't have enough time. And, instead of writing one e-mail and sending it out to everyone, I thought I'd try this.

I have placed some of the photos I've taken over the years up on the site and there will be more to come. These were just the ones that were still on my computer. The rest are backed up, but I'll get to them.

Okay, some news! First, I have unofficially passed my first semester of medical school! Yay for pass/fail!!! I have really taken to anatomy although it is still one of the most difficult classes for me to deal with. I have no background for much of what we learned earlier in the year. It started getting a little easier toward then end because we started working on systems that were familiar. The biggest news is I did not pass out! Many of you know that I can get anxious when it comes to eyes and such, but I was the first person at my table to make the first cut and I have not stopped since. I should note, however, that we have not dissected the eyes YET, so there's still a chance. In any case, it is quite an experience and I'll probably start reminiscing about it soon.

We have made good strides at getting completely moved in to the townhouse. We even have the guest bed set up! Too bad it's too cold for anyone to visit, except for my buddy Logan living in Canada. We've (I've) also decided to invest in a home gym consisting of a Bowflex and my good old Nordic Track. I had some free weights down there, but it was just a little cramped and I kept hurting myself. So far, I really like the Bowflex as it's really quick and I'm getting good workouts. Now I just need to start dropping some of the lbs I added over the last semester. I guess that is the down side of having a spouse who is great at cooking in combination with sitting on my butt for days at a time. Hopefully this will be my fountain of middle age.

I'm going to stop here for the day because there is no guaranty I'm actually going to get all of this to work together. Especially because I have to go learn how to build a frame page! More later! Oh, and please send me e-mails. At least let me know that you are visiting.

I sure hope this works!!
Elliott