I'm a couple of weeks into the second semester and it's going pretty well. I think that I learned a bit about time management from last semester and hopefully I will not be so stressed out in the next few months! We are learning about some pretty cool stuff right now like heart and lung physiology and pathophysiology! I think I am probably having a slightly easier time with these subjects than some of the others in my class because I am really fascinated by it. Also, having been on an ambulance for a couple of years isn't hurting either :)
In other news, Paul has been out of town since school started and there is really no word on when he will be back. His endeavors have not been without compensation though! He won his very first tournament and is very fired up to to win a few more :)
I found out the hard way that Panera will allow you internet access for only 30 minutes between the hours of 11 and 2. I thought I had found the perfect place to study...too good to be true!! It is almost impossible to find a coffee shop with a place to sit in Boulder at around 5 pm!
I wrecked my truck but it isn't totaled thank goodness!! It will cost about $8500 to fix but it should be fine. I am okay, I was very lucky. Stupid icy roads! I didn't think it was possible to do a complete 360 on a straight freeway .... but it is! ;)
Oh ya, and I'm completely hooked on the show House. I could watch it all day long. I kind of even sorta know what they are talking about some of the time! Yay
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Monday, November 30, 2009
Okay, two weeks to go and semester number one is in the books! My grades so far are pretty good. I have managed an A in Biochemistry, Anatomy, Problem Based Learning and Professional Seminar; a B in Clinical Medicine and Patho/Physiology; and a C in History & Physical Exam. My grade for Pharmacology is yet to be determined.
For a lot of people in my class this report card is A-OK, lucky for me I happen to be one of them. I sit in the back row and tend to be a lot more laid back. I don't ask a lot of questions because people who do that annoy me and I secretly think they just want show the rest of the class how smart they are by asking completely ridiculous questions. I don't study as much as a lot of my class which allows me to have some semblance of a social life. I am grateful for this! Sometimes I feel like a slacker but when it's all said and done I realize that getting an A in every class is not worth my sanity. "you know what they call the guy that got C's all through Med school? Doctor!"
Our instructors vary from being as annoying to me as nails on a chalkboard to being downright fascinating. One of our Clinical Medicine instructors (we have had approx 10 this semester) crams about 5 hours of lecture material into 2 hours. She uses abbreviations in her power points that none of us know and has given us enough handouts this semester to keep a cozy fire going all night long. Oh, and we're all pretty sure she makes her own clothes and was the inspiration for Dr Seuss' Grinch character. Key Point: I cannot stand her
Our Clinical Medicine class is this: 2 hrs on Mon, 3 hrs on Tues, 4 hrs Wed. We are never sure who is going to be lecturing because most of the time we have outside physicians and PA's coming in to lecture and it's always completely random topics. I posted something on facebook about our last test and I think we had well over 1000 power point slides, 14 handouts, plus the material from the last test. Each instructor gives our medical director 10 questions. The medical director picks the same number of questions from each instructor to put on the test. This means that if 70% of the material covered comes from one instructor, this instructor and the instructor that lectured for an hour will get the same amount of questions on the test. The test is 30 questions. I don't know, this just seems ridiculous to me. Also, you only pass the test if you stay with the pack. If you are more than 2 standard deviations away from the mean you fail. So if everyone does pretty good on the test (mean is 95%) and you got an 87% you could possibly fail the test. It's just craziness!
But...I am super happy to be there! I know everyday how fortunate I am to have gotten into this program. I just need to vent a little here and there. However, I am seriously wondering how a few of the people in my class got in. Seriously!! I think some files got switched around or some sort of foul play is involved. Also, a love triangle!!! Coming next on Kermster's blog!
Stay tuned :)
For a lot of people in my class this report card is A-OK, lucky for me I happen to be one of them. I sit in the back row and tend to be a lot more laid back. I don't ask a lot of questions because people who do that annoy me and I secretly think they just want show the rest of the class how smart they are by asking completely ridiculous questions. I don't study as much as a lot of my class which allows me to have some semblance of a social life. I am grateful for this! Sometimes I feel like a slacker but when it's all said and done I realize that getting an A in every class is not worth my sanity. "you know what they call the guy that got C's all through Med school? Doctor!"
Our instructors vary from being as annoying to me as nails on a chalkboard to being downright fascinating. One of our Clinical Medicine instructors (we have had approx 10 this semester) crams about 5 hours of lecture material into 2 hours. She uses abbreviations in her power points that none of us know and has given us enough handouts this semester to keep a cozy fire going all night long. Oh, and we're all pretty sure she makes her own clothes and was the inspiration for Dr Seuss' Grinch character. Key Point: I cannot stand her
Our Clinical Medicine class is this: 2 hrs on Mon, 3 hrs on Tues, 4 hrs Wed. We are never sure who is going to be lecturing because most of the time we have outside physicians and PA's coming in to lecture and it's always completely random topics. I posted something on facebook about our last test and I think we had well over 1000 power point slides, 14 handouts, plus the material from the last test. Each instructor gives our medical director 10 questions. The medical director picks the same number of questions from each instructor to put on the test. This means that if 70% of the material covered comes from one instructor, this instructor and the instructor that lectured for an hour will get the same amount of questions on the test. The test is 30 questions. I don't know, this just seems ridiculous to me. Also, you only pass the test if you stay with the pack. If you are more than 2 standard deviations away from the mean you fail. So if everyone does pretty good on the test (mean is 95%) and you got an 87% you could possibly fail the test. It's just craziness!
But...I am super happy to be there! I know everyday how fortunate I am to have gotten into this program. I just need to vent a little here and there. However, I am seriously wondering how a few of the people in my class got in. Seriously!! I think some files got switched around or some sort of foul play is involved. Also, a love triangle!!! Coming next on Kermster's blog!
Stay tuned :)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Yo Yo Yo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX7jme2b0N0
This is a really funny "rap" that was made by the Emory University PA program! It's about the first year of PA school :)
This is a really funny "rap" that was made by the Emory University PA program! It's about the first year of PA school :)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A blog!
I was searching the PA forum and I ran across a PA student's blog. After reading it I am 95% sure that the student is a Senior at my school. That means he is currently doing clinical rotations while we, the juniors, are going though our didactic year. He never mentions the program specifically but he does talk a lot about the individual instructors, class schedule, ping pong tables outside the classroom and he mentioned that it snowed a foot a couple of days before Halloween. Makes sense to me.
Anyways, his blog gave me the idea that maybe I would do a blog about my experience in PA school. It seems these days I don't have much to talk about that isn't somehow related to PA school. I'm sure that a lot of what I post will not be remotely interesting to most of the people that read this blog but I think it might be a good way for me to vent. The guy whose blog I found almost got divorced during his didactic year b/c his wife felt that he was neglecting her so much and he had a 3 year old son. Reading his blog made me feel very grateful that I have no real responsibilities outside of the program and that my fiance' understands that we will have to sacrifice time together for a little while ;)
So, more posts to come.....
Anyways, his blog gave me the idea that maybe I would do a blog about my experience in PA school. It seems these days I don't have much to talk about that isn't somehow related to PA school. I'm sure that a lot of what I post will not be remotely interesting to most of the people that read this blog but I think it might be a good way for me to vent. The guy whose blog I found almost got divorced during his didactic year b/c his wife felt that he was neglecting her so much and he had a 3 year old son. Reading his blog made me feel very grateful that I have no real responsibilities outside of the program and that my fiance' understands that we will have to sacrifice time together for a little while ;)
So, more posts to come.....
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Halloween Party!
For some odd reason I decided to have a Halloween party this year. It seems like every year since my parents stopped picking my costumes for me, my costumes have sucked and I have thrown them together the day before. There were so many Halloweens that I didn't even know what I was supposed to be. I put on random, mismatched articles of clothing from the thrift store, threw on a wig and called it a costume. Most of the time I was attending another persons Halloween party where I knew hardly anyone or I was freezing my ass off in some "downtown" Halloween craziness (Tahoe, Chico, Boulder, Berkeley?) The bottom line is...I always seem to let Halloween sneak up on me and then I am frantically throwing together a half ass'd costume and celebrating in a less than ideal way.
Well this year I decided to take the Halloween bull by the horns and plan a party! I have never planned a Halloween party before so I just went to the Halloween Super Mega Warehouse Store and bought a lot of cheesy decorations. I think it will be perfect and I'm so excited!!! I also invited my PA class to join the festivities and so far I have about 6 RSV P's. I hope anyone who is reading this blog is also planning to attend. :-D
Sunday, October 4, 2009
I know that no one really reads this blog anymore and I totally understand. I guess that blogging for blogging's sake is what blogging is all about...how many times can I use the word "blogging" in a sentence?
Anyways, I've been in school now for over a month. Here is what has suffered:
1.) My patience
2.) My social life
3.) My ability to find time to work out
4.) My pitching
5.) My trying new and awesome recipes
6.) My friendships
7.) My time spent with the new pup and the awesome Daisy
8.) My ability to talk about anything not related to the human body
9.) My ability to locate pretty much anything (keys, car, wallet, etc)
10.) My ability to have a meaningful conversation about anything other than physiological processes even when I'm trying
Here is what has strengthened:
1.) My ability to make friends in a new environment
2.) My ability to make choices about short term/long term gain and prioritize accordingly
3.) My ability to multitask
4.) My ability to accept that I am an intelligent person
5.) My ability to realize what is lacking and what is important in my life
6.) My ability to face most challenges and know that I can and will succeed
7.) My ability to recognize strengths I possess
8.) My belief that nurture can rise above nature
9.) My belief that my knowledge could actually help someone someday
10.) My belief that I can do anything if I want it badly enough
Anyways, I've been in school now for over a month. Here is what has suffered:
1.) My patience
2.) My social life
3.) My ability to find time to work out
4.) My pitching
5.) My trying new and awesome recipes
6.) My friendships
7.) My time spent with the new pup and the awesome Daisy
8.) My ability to talk about anything not related to the human body
9.) My ability to locate pretty much anything (keys, car, wallet, etc)
10.) My ability to have a meaningful conversation about anything other than physiological processes even when I'm trying
Here is what has strengthened:
1.) My ability to make friends in a new environment
2.) My ability to make choices about short term/long term gain and prioritize accordingly
3.) My ability to multitask
4.) My ability to accept that I am an intelligent person
5.) My ability to realize what is lacking and what is important in my life
6.) My ability to face most challenges and know that I can and will succeed
7.) My ability to recognize strengths I possess
8.) My belief that nurture can rise above nature
9.) My belief that my knowledge could actually help someone someday
10.) My belief that I can do anything if I want it badly enough
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Week Two
So I am officially in week two of PA school. So far...not so bad. However, I have the sneaking suspicion that the monster is merely luring me in and in no time, I will be fighting for my life...as a PA student. I don't know if any of you are this way but in order for me to put the time in to study a certain subject I need to have the EXAM lurking over my shoulder. I know that everything I have been told since being a PA student stresses the fact that I should be studying for tests that are 2+ weeks away. I just can't do it!! I need to know that test is in my very near future to be able to buckle down. It's how I've always been. I certainly don't "cram" but if I have a test in one week I sure as heck am going to study for it. Anywho, I know that the full force of the fire hose of information has not hit me yet but when it does I have only two words to say....bring it! :)
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