please don’t overfeed your pet.
Pet obesity is probably more of a problem in this country than the obesity of its citizens. Thats because when I was working in a vet clinic, all the dogs are seemingly overweight. We spoil our pets and we spoil ourselves. We even spoil our street dogs. Because today, when we cut open our brindle pit bull (”Sassy” is her name) to begini dissecting the thoracic limb, we had to spend two hours just cleaning the fat off her muscles. Even some mutt that had to go to the pound had enough fat to make it through the winter!
(end rant)
In other news, the polo season started up today so that’s happy. I went out and had to ride Pow-Wow, who was in a pissy mood and tried to bite all the other horses. We just walked today which was good since I’m still super jittery and sensitive around the horses after my graceful leap this summer in Costa Rica (and a similiar incident last fall at polo). But it’s good to be out there again in the heat of dusk, in the dust, meandering around a chatting with friends. I met some nice people today and I think it’s because I have a lot more confidence now after my study abroad and I’m not as freaked out around people I don’t know. And I’ve been assigned photographer’s duty, so starting tomorrow and this weekend I will be the official photographer for all polo events and that’s exciting.
I also saw a very good friend today and that made me smile. I just wish I didn’t talk a mile a minute and hog the whole (5-minute) conversation!
Rent is due tomorrow. Hopefully there is enough in my checking account to keep living here in the lair…
old stuff | Comment (0)today was nice
Today was a beautiful day. I went to class around 7:45 a.m. and there was a nice cool breeze and it was probably in the upper 80’s and dry (43% humidity). I had a very pleasant 15-minute walk from my car and it made me regret that Wednesday is my day from Hell and I had ten hours of class to look forward to. Even when I had to run across the highway and dodge parking cars as I tromped hurridly to my graduate-level class, it was just perfect outside. The sky was really blue without a cloud in sight and it just made me feel happy.
I had lunch by the not-so-secret-secret fountain at the MSC. At first, I was the only one there, rifling through my brown sack lunch (and reading my new cookbook I bought at the bookstore along with surgical scissors and a #3 scalpel handle with blades) but by the time I left an hour later, the whole place had filled up with people eating from brown sack lunches and enjoying the clean afternoon sunshine. It really made me happy that I’m not the only person who likes to sit in the shade and swing my feet and eat chicken and salami.
I talked to Jason again today. He’s the graduate student at the SRPH from Baylor. He’s very nice and quite clever. I like to talk to him during epidemiology lecture (it is three hours long) because he’s one of the kinds of people who makes little comments about things, kinda of like how I do when I have people to talk to in class. The class looks interesting enough and the professors seem pretty cool. In the words of Dr. Carozza, “I study boring things like little sad children with cancer. Dr. Gorman studies fun things like, alcohol, drugs and… ssssssssex.” She stuttered and whispered the sex part. Which only made it worse because the whole class erupted into laughter. And we got to watch an entertaining Internet video about John Snow (not the government official) and cholera, complete with ridiculous dramatic music.
Tomorrow we begin dog dissection (I think it’s cool, even if you don’t Rob) and I’m looking forward to that. I also learned how to make really tasty semi-spicy breaded chicken tonight and now I have enough leftovers to last me a couple of days. And I get to go back to Dr. Tsai’s lab tomorrow, although I haven’t worked on my PHP knowledge since Tuesday.
Why is it that people who shop at HEB would rather circling the parking lot for 20 minutes like a bunch of hungry sharks rather than park six spaces away from the door and walk? I wish I could shop at Albertson’s again with all the old people, but it’s so damn cheap at HEB!
old stuff | Comment (0)up a certain creek
So I got a job. Well, it’s not a job because I’m not getting paid. And I don’t actually have set hours. But I am now allowed to sit in my old biochemistry prof’s lab and play on the computers and do some interesting things. He asked me to come and work in his lab back in May when I went to negotiate my grade in the class. So I decided I could, mostly cause what he does is really interesting and I really like him.
Basically, the way I understand it is that we are working on some kind of database project, converting a MySQL database to PHP. Well, not really even converting the database, mostly just writing a PHP script to read the MySQL database and return results. It sounds like I know what I’m talking about, but I really don’t. So, like I mentioned in the title of this post, I am up a certain creek without a paddle. I’m working with this guy Daniel and he seems nice enough though and at least like he has a clue as to what is going on.
I don’t know what it is about me, but I really like to work. I could have and probably should have gone this whole semester just simply focusing on my anatomy and biochemsitry classes (I already hate them and it’s only day 2) and then doing the busy work for my graduate class, writing class and communications class. But of course, there I go again, piling ninety other things on top of what I am supposed to be doing. But I really like to work. I really like to work towards something, something that interests me and something that isn’t graded. Your only measure of success is completion and perfection of the product. It’s not pointless and probably will help you later in life (unlike the majority of my classes so far).
I don’t understand people who don’t like to work. I have several friends like this. And my brother can be that way too - but he always does what he is supposed to so he just keeps plugging away at whatever it is he is doing. But for me… I like the often tedious and mundance activities that I know I can do well. I like to work with my hands and my brain. I just really enjoy being employed. I guess I am the American government’s ideal person… yikes.
Anyway, in other good news, I cooked a delicious dinner tonight to make up for my utter failure in the kitchen last night (the food was fine, it just wasn’t suited to my tastes).
old stuff | Comments (2)