Surgery!

So yesterday, I went to clinic and saw patients with Dr. Moncure.

And today, I scrubbed in for the first time ever.

And made incisions into an anesthetized patient.

And inserted a veres needle and trocar.

And sutured up the incision afterwards.

AWESOME.

Our small group

I just stumbled across this picture of our small group that we had to take for the yearbook or something. Thought I'd post it people could see some of the other future doctors I go to school with.

Road Rash pt. 2

Wow I'm sore today.

Road Rash

Well, I crashed tonight.

Alex and I were riding back to his house after DB Cooper's, because he had promised me the best sandwich in the world, made from some steak that Took, his Thai (former) nanny had made for him. It was raining a little bit, and yet it was a beautiful warm summer night. A great night for a ride. So, just for fun, I locked up for a fun rainy skid. I was going way, way too fast to do this safely. I fishtailed for a while and almost recovered it, but finally lost control. I ended up falling straight back onto the road, smashing my hip, elbow, back, and (maybe) head onto the asphalt. After the wipeout, I lay there a while trying to analyze everything before I moved. Nothing hurt too badly. I will probably have a U-lock shaped bruise on my backside, from where the lock was stuffed into the back of my jeans. I got some road rash on the back of my right arm. My neck hurt a bit afterwards, and my head felt a bit tender on the back, but now it doesn't seem to hurt much (maybe due to the ibuprofen). Hopefully, the tricep scrape/scar will be the only residual consequence. All in all, it could've been much, MUCH worse. I was pretty lucky.

Lesson: I should wear a helmet, even if I'm only going for a short casual ride.

Also, the sandwich was probably worth it. It was a damn good sandwich.

Tour De Cowtown Pictures

So my second alleycat ever was the other day. Out of 12 checkpoints, we shot for 6 in the time-limit. 2 of these 6 were non-existent addresses. That's right. The places were not on this earth. One building had been demolished, another was simply a number that didn't exist (Pennsylvania St. doesn't go up to 5519). So, basically, we would've been very competitive, and high-scoring, but instead we placed near last and didn't win anything. Although in the raffle afterwards, I won some cycling socks, which work great w/ my new cycling shoes : ) And Kyle and I took 2nd and 3rd in the skid contest, respectively. Worth the experience, but the alleycat itself sucked.

Pictures of the pre-race time-killing are here.

Ah, sunny summer

Camping this weekend. Great weather, fun new toys to play with, did some fun road rides around the park's hills and valleys too. Also picked up Bill's old clipless pedals and shoes for a great price. It makes me feel like a bionic man; I am so connected to the bike. I will be a significantly stronger rider in them, I believe. I anticipate huge thighs. Bwaha!

Ah, summer : )

Man. Summer's great. We've been riding bikes, drinking beer, being outside, and today, I planted my garden.

It's a modest little one for several reasons; I have never really gardened before (although I did have a nice crop of peppers growing on my window-sill in Boston), and I didn't want to dig up too much grass... so I had to pick an area that was already sparsely-grassed, yet still got lotsa sun. I went with things I know I'll use. Peppers and tomatoes. Yes, I will be making miniature batches of salsa.
And tonight, I'm going to ride in another alleycat : )

And tomorrow, I'm going camping : )

Ah, summer : )

I'm done!

I am done with my first year of medical school!

The lab exam went well. So, I really didn't need to take the retake, but I had resolved to, so I did it anyway. I intended to take it as fast as I could and just see what happened. Turns out Chuck was gonna do the same thing, so we made a bet. A beer to the person who gets the highest ratio of points per minute. I finished in 34 minutes, 88/100 questions right. Not bad; a B in half an hour. I know Chuck was still working for another 5 minutes or so, since I didn't see him leave within that time... So hopefully I won.

Also, check out the email I just received, from the girl who bought the Shitbird from me (w/o a back wheel):
Hi Bruce! I just wanted to let you know how happy I am
that I bought your bike. I absolutely love it! I have
only driven my car a couple of times since I got it.
In fact, I'm so excited about it that I wake up at 5
AM, an hour earlier than I actually have to get up,
thinking about it :) So, thanks!

Baby Cardinal

In my backyard today, I noticed a male and female cardinal. It looked like the male was courting the female. But then, I saw the male fly into a little sapling, where he was feeding a cute little baby cardinal.

It's about 3 inches tall right now, and probably wider than that. It's a fat little thing. I can get right up next to it, and it just looks at me. Not scared at all. Hopefully it'll hang around for a while and I can watch it grow up.

Update

Haven't posted anything in a while. I've been really busy studying for this last test. I was a bit nervous about it, but as always, it seems that no matter how hard a module is, or how easy, and no matter how hard I try to study, or how lazy I am, I always get just about the same grades. Thankfully, they ain't too shabby : )

Now I just need to learn about 4 facts before tomorrow; I missed 10 on the practice practical, and I can miss 6 on the real one tomorrow to keep the grade I want. However, I'm really really struggling to care. I did some studying at the lab last night and feel like I've probably learned all I need to. Will just spend a while looking over the cadaver atlas, and then call it good.

Family Resemblance

uncle bill looks exactly like matt!!

GAAA

Oh my science I want to go camping so bad.

Sweeeet

My new toys just arrived.



Plus, my other recent toy looks like it's gonna carry everything great.
And shortly, I will receive this toy, for 65% off.
Sweeeet.

Hellkat Pictures

The photographer that was at the alleycat posted 174 pictures from the race and subsequent BBQ. Here. Gotta brag a bit, so check out:
-first page, last row;
-second page, second row;
-third page, first two rows.

Charlie Murphaaay!!!!

Interviewer: The Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories, you have to tell me how you came up with that.

Charlie Murphy: People that have been knowing me for years go, “I can’t believe that you got famous talking about something you’ve been talking about for twenty years.” They [already] heard those stories and they’re like, “And you actually got famous off of that?” (Laughs). For some reason when I describe something it becomes funny to other people. Now I’ve learned how to tap into that whenever I want.

Interviewer: Was the fight with Rick James true?

Charlie Murphy: Oh yeah, all that was true.

Interviewer: The basketball game with Prince?

Charlie Murphy: True.

Interviewer: Did he play in his outfit, that Prince outfit?

Charlie Murphy: No, he didn’t play in his outfit (laughs), but that wouldn’t have been funny if he had trunks on and sneakers. But we did play ball and he did win. (source)