I am becoming too consistent. I had hoped to build some padding into my Neuro exam as the second year students suggested. Instead I hit my average of 94.5%. I somehow missed three on the written and forgot to transcribe one answer to my scantron, so I need to go to the review. But my score probably won't change.
Other than that, it's been a slow week. I received my new Dell subnotebook in the mail and wasted some time setting it up. Then this morning I found out it crashed while organizing my songs' tags. I may have to re-install the OS, but I'm hoping the repair process can fix the corrupted files.
Dr. Jones is finishing up my Fellowship application tomorrow. I hear there's a bit of a competition for the awards, but I'm hopeful that I'll "win". Anyway, I'm hosting a planning meeting for the Oncology Club tomorrow. I hope it goes well as I would really like a strong start and some plans on the schedule this Spring (guest speakers) and next year (Club week).
Last but not least, Becky got the kids' flu and has been under the weather so I've been watching the kids too. Bottom line is that I haven't gotten much studying done. Other that preparing for my Physiology presentation today, I haven't really done any studying. That sure needs to change.
Oh, had my Preceptorship afternoon (#2 of 4) yesterday and that was interesting. Interesting patients and a great Physician sure make it worthwhile, even if I'm getting much H&P or exam experience. Tomorrow evening I have a formal, simulated-patient, H&P exam for my clinical correlates class. In other words, this weekend is going to be full of studying.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Friday, March 25, 2005
Week 3 down
The weeks are going by faster now. I guess everything isn't so new. In fact this week was especially routine. On the bright side, I got back my first Immuno and Phys tests. While they weren't as high as I'd hoped, I'm not going to shed any tears over 94%+.
The rest of the week was studying, dealing with sick kids and studying for Monday's Neuro test. Well studying between freaking out over the ambiguous, unintuitive and and highly verbose nomenclature. Everything has three names; one after a dead guy, one the 'nerve' group it belongs to and an odd one just for kicks. Eight hours of doctorate level lectures a week on any topic is just crazy.
In fact, I should be studying now. I have three lectures more to review to get through all seventeen in this unit for the first time! That's 6-7 hours before I can start reviewing, which I really have no clue how to do. It's going to be a long weekend of going over the information time after time in hopes that it all starts to sink in. And somehow I have to fit in time for Connor's B-day and Easter.
Anyway, not a lot more to report. I'm making a little progress on my Fellowship proposal. But I still need to finish slides for a Phys case, line up CT & X-ray time with a local radiological group and get the Oncology club going. First meeting is scheduled for next week. I still have to send out an e-mail on that and try to ensure that turnout is good so we can make some progress this year.
That's about it. I'm riding my bike most days, but it's not enough to start taking some of the freshman weight off. The weather is great so I'm enjoying it. But it's going to take swimming in the pool when the water warms up and regular runs/rides after school is out. Of course I'm still reserving starvation as an option. I need to take this weight off before next year starts. It's going to be very hard to exercise and will be followed by Boards and then Rotations with no time to focus on exercise and shedding weight.
Ok, that's enough procrastinating. Time to head back to the student lounge and see I can get through two lectures this evening.
The rest of the week was studying, dealing with sick kids and studying for Monday's Neuro test. Well studying between freaking out over the ambiguous, unintuitive and and highly verbose nomenclature. Everything has three names; one after a dead guy, one the 'nerve' group it belongs to and an odd one just for kicks. Eight hours of doctorate level lectures a week on any topic is just crazy.
In fact, I should be studying now. I have three lectures more to review to get through all seventeen in this unit for the first time! That's 6-7 hours before I can start reviewing, which I really have no clue how to do. It's going to be a long weekend of going over the information time after time in hopes that it all starts to sink in. And somehow I have to fit in time for Connor's B-day and Easter.
Anyway, not a lot more to report. I'm making a little progress on my Fellowship proposal. But I still need to finish slides for a Phys case, line up CT & X-ray time with a local radiological group and get the Oncology club going. First meeting is scheduled for next week. I still have to send out an e-mail on that and try to ensure that turnout is good so we can make some progress this year.
That's about it. I'm riding my bike most days, but it's not enough to start taking some of the freshman weight off. The weather is great so I'm enjoying it. But it's going to take swimming in the pool when the water warms up and regular runs/rides after school is out. Of course I'm still reserving starvation as an option. I need to take this weight off before next year starts. It's going to be very hard to exercise and will be followed by Boards and then Rotations with no time to focus on exercise and shedding weight.
Ok, that's enough procrastinating. Time to head back to the student lounge and see I can get through two lectures this evening.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Friday, March 18, 2005
Second week down...
Wow, these weeks are rolling right along. I aced the Neuro quiz on Monday (it was easy) and think I did ok on today's Immuno test. But after three nights of <5 hours sleep I'm burnt out.
In other words I'm way behind for Monday's Physiology test. It's on 9 lectures so there's a lot to cover in two days. I just hope I can rebound tomorrow and get focused Satuday and Sunday. Then I'll have a week to catch-up in neuro (on over a dozen lectures). And after that the real fun begins with test after test for a couple weeks.
Somehow I have to fit research, oncology club and the family into this too. Oh, and did I mention that my B-day (today as a matter of fact) my wife dragged to a road side sale of "purebred" Golden Retrievers. We now have a new addition to the family that everyone is getting used to. Cedar was pretty upset initially (throwing up and now eating are far from normal for him). Now they are pals and Cedar is teaching good manners and tug-of-war. Julie has pretty much taken over training him. And got to name him and after several attempts we agreed on Artemis, from the Artemis Fowl books the boys love so much.
As for my B-day, we took Colton to the NextCare clinic (just a virus), purchased an ice cream cake and opened that presents that consisted of collars and leases for Artemis. I'm also shopping for a notebook or Tablet PC. I also got reminded by my mother-in-law in a loving way (!) that I'm only 365 days to 40!
Let's see if I can finally get those photos I promised uploaded.
In other words I'm way behind for Monday's Physiology test. It's on 9 lectures so there's a lot to cover in two days. I just hope I can rebound tomorrow and get focused Satuday and Sunday. Then I'll have a week to catch-up in neuro (on over a dozen lectures). And after that the real fun begins with test after test for a couple weeks.
Somehow I have to fit research, oncology club and the family into this too. Oh, and did I mention that my B-day (today as a matter of fact) my wife dragged to a road side sale of "purebred" Golden Retrievers. We now have a new addition to the family that everyone is getting used to. Cedar was pretty upset initially (throwing up and now eating are far from normal for him). Now they are pals and Cedar is teaching good manners and tug-of-war. Julie has pretty much taken over training him. And got to name him and after several attempts we agreed on Artemis, from the Artemis Fowl books the boys love so much.
As for my B-day, we took Colton to the NextCare clinic (just a virus), purchased an ice cream cake and opened that presents that consisted of collars and leases for Artemis. I'm also shopping for a notebook or Tablet PC. I also got reminded by my mother-in-law in a loving way (!) that I'm only 365 days to 40!
Let's see if I can finally get those photos I promised uploaded.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
First week down
Finished the first week of third quarter. It was a lot of hard work and errands.
Neuroscience is going to take a ton of time if week one is any indication. I studied it exclusively for the first three nights. We have to learn a new language for the practical test (quiz) on Monday. Immunology feels like a new language too, so I've spent a couple nights on it; reading the text and struggling through the lectures.
I haven't even cracked the Phys notes yet. But found out why I did so bad on last quarter's final. I forgot to transcribe the last page of answers (4 questions) to my scantron. Since I had the correct answers circled, I would have had an 88% instead of 75%, raising my class grade to 94% vs. 92%. Live and learn.
I also got a whole bunch of busy stuff taken care of. For my research, I had the safety lecture, got my card for access to the lab and went through thawing cells into culture flasks a couple times. Dr. Jones is back on Tuesday, so I hope to run through it on my own then. In the meantime I'm supposed to read a dozen journal articles (about 10 to go) and a couple chapters in a cell culture protocols book. One credit elective seems awfully low at this pace.
Also, I'm the new President of the Oncology Club. I started the week as the VHF, but the Prez and founder is a SGA (student gov) officer and an MS-2, so he can't hold the office. We had a good meeting with a community support group and a couple of our deans about an Oncology/Chronic Care elective for next spring. Now, I need to organize some of Brian's ideas: anti-smoking campaign, opening membership campus-wide, inviting guest speakers to campus (Onc pharm, radiation onc, Peds onc, etc.) and any other ideas Dean Kosinski has. A fellow MS-1 is interested in being VP and a MS-3 going for Rad Onc is Treasurer. Dr. Jones might even be our faculty sponsor. So I hope to have a meeting this quarter to organize things and prioritize our objectives. I also hope to keep Brian involved in an unofficial capacity.
Anyway, Becky's brothers finished their cancer fund raising bike ride from Seattle to here and are going to be guests at today's Mariner Spring Training game. They entertained the boys yesterday (boys played hooky) and now I'm going to take some time off from studying to see the game with everyone. Dan (my bro) and Miho are going to attend to, then take the boys for an overnight sleep-over. Becky, her siblings and I are then going to have dinner somewhere. Should be fun and after studying hard all week, I deserve a break :-).
Tomorrow I'll be back at it: a lot of neuro, review the last immuno lecture and hopefully get started on phys. I'm liking no labs and getting off at 2pm. Maybe this week I'll be able to use some of that time for studying instead of just taking care of errands. I even rode my bike to school four days this last week. Oh, and Tuesday I have a new Preceptor to work with here in town, so no bike commute and tie/white coat attire.
Whew!
Neuroscience is going to take a ton of time if week one is any indication. I studied it exclusively for the first three nights. We have to learn a new language for the practical test (quiz) on Monday. Immunology feels like a new language too, so I've spent a couple nights on it; reading the text and struggling through the lectures.
I haven't even cracked the Phys notes yet. But found out why I did so bad on last quarter's final. I forgot to transcribe the last page of answers (4 questions) to my scantron. Since I had the correct answers circled, I would have had an 88% instead of 75%, raising my class grade to 94% vs. 92%. Live and learn.
I also got a whole bunch of busy stuff taken care of. For my research, I had the safety lecture, got my card for access to the lab and went through thawing cells into culture flasks a couple times. Dr. Jones is back on Tuesday, so I hope to run through it on my own then. In the meantime I'm supposed to read a dozen journal articles (about 10 to go) and a couple chapters in a cell culture protocols book. One credit elective seems awfully low at this pace.
Also, I'm the new President of the Oncology Club. I started the week as the VHF, but the Prez and founder is a SGA (student gov) officer and an MS-2, so he can't hold the office. We had a good meeting with a community support group and a couple of our deans about an Oncology/Chronic Care elective for next spring. Now, I need to organize some of Brian's ideas: anti-smoking campaign, opening membership campus-wide, inviting guest speakers to campus (Onc pharm, radiation onc, Peds onc, etc.) and any other ideas Dean Kosinski has. A fellow MS-1 is interested in being VP and a MS-3 going for Rad Onc is Treasurer. Dr. Jones might even be our faculty sponsor. So I hope to have a meeting this quarter to organize things and prioritize our objectives. I also hope to keep Brian involved in an unofficial capacity.
Anyway, Becky's brothers finished their cancer fund raising bike ride from Seattle to here and are going to be guests at today's Mariner Spring Training game. They entertained the boys yesterday (boys played hooky) and now I'm going to take some time off from studying to see the game with everyone. Dan (my bro) and Miho are going to attend to, then take the boys for an overnight sleep-over. Becky, her siblings and I are then going to have dinner somewhere. Should be fun and after studying hard all week, I deserve a break :-).
Tomorrow I'll be back at it: a lot of neuro, review the last immuno lecture and hopefully get started on phys. I'm liking no labs and getting off at 2pm. Maybe this week I'll be able to use some of that time for studying instead of just taking care of errands. I even rode my bike to school four days this last week. Oh, and Tuesday I have a new Preceptor to work with here in town, so no bike commute and tie/white coat attire.
Whew!
Friday, March 04, 2005
Aced my last couple tests!
Got my grades back. My Biochem was only 90% as that 85% on the last test hurt. My Physiology got knocked down to 92% from 95%, but the piss-poor 75% on the last test normally would have hurt a lot more. Ok results, but I am disappointed in those two tests. I reviewed my Biochem test today on campus; no big surprises. A couple dumb mistakes, several "studied the wrong material" questions and two that were very poorly worded. One a true/false, only 25% got it right! Now you know something is wrong there, but they won't change it. That department certainly deserved the negative reviews I gave them. I will be checking on the Physiology score next week when the Prof for the Dept is back in town. Something is wrong when I drop 20% on one test.
Better news on Histo and Gross though! I just about aced Histo to pull out a 92% even though I had an 85% going in from the one previous test. Gross I pulled out a 94% overall and about that on the final. I'm very pleased. My cumulative GPA went up .5. I'll never make the top 10 in the class, but I should be well above the mean. And hopefully, board scores will helped by my efforts now.
Finally, had a good meeting on campus today with my summer research sponsor, Dr. 'Buck' Jones and a representative of the Amer Diabetes Assoc. Sounds like we have a great shot at an Innovation Research Grant. Even better, he said that he hasn't heard of anyone doing similar research so we might in fact be onto something orginal enough to be publishable! As part of my Spring elective, I have to get started on writing my application for a school Fellowship and I have a tour of the research lab (including safety lecture) scheduled with Dr. Jones for Monday afternoon. I'm really looking forward to getting started on this. This will really help my CV and provide my the opportunity to master cell culturing, Western Blots and fluoroscopy. Having a paper published would be icing on the cake!
Now it's time to enjoy one of my last evenings playing Xbox for another quarter. I figure I earned it after finally getting off my butt and exercising. I road my Kestrel (first time in AZ) for about 25 miles and then hiked Thunderbird Park with the boys and Cedar for an unexpectedly long 1.5-2 hours. Oh, and last but not least,last night I organized all my binders, files and books for the new quarter.
I have definitely recovered from finals week and am eager to finish up MS-1 ;-).
Better news on Histo and Gross though! I just about aced Histo to pull out a 92% even though I had an 85% going in from the one previous test. Gross I pulled out a 94% overall and about that on the final. I'm very pleased. My cumulative GPA went up .5. I'll never make the top 10 in the class, but I should be well above the mean. And hopefully, board scores will helped by my efforts now.
Finally, had a good meeting on campus today with my summer research sponsor, Dr. 'Buck' Jones and a representative of the Amer Diabetes Assoc. Sounds like we have a great shot at an Innovation Research Grant. Even better, he said that he hasn't heard of anyone doing similar research so we might in fact be onto something orginal enough to be publishable! As part of my Spring elective, I have to get started on writing my application for a school Fellowship and I have a tour of the research lab (including safety lecture) scheduled with Dr. Jones for Monday afternoon. I'm really looking forward to getting started on this. This will really help my CV and provide my the opportunity to master cell culturing, Western Blots and fluoroscopy. Having a paper published would be icing on the cake!
Now it's time to enjoy one of my last evenings playing Xbox for another quarter. I figure I earned it after finally getting off my butt and exercising. I road my Kestrel (first time in AZ) for about 25 miles and then hiked Thunderbird Park with the boys and Cedar for an unexpectedly long 1.5-2 hours. Oh, and last but not least,last night I organized all my binders, files and books for the new quarter.
I have definitely recovered from finals week and am eager to finish up MS-1 ;-).
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Milestones
Last quarter was really hard on me. I started out with great grades and felt like I almost ruined them in the last week (still waiting on Gross, Histo & Biochem results). It seems crazy to get pushed this hard when we are supposed to be learning this information, not "binging and purging" it as the joke goes. They really need to look at using the free summer between MS-1 and MS-2 for classes or going five years IMHO.
At least I can say that I'm 1/3 done with didactics. I think I can make it four more quarters without going postal. Boy did I chew up some Profs on reviews though. Bad lectures and bad tests are extremely frustrating with this much effort and investment on the line.
So I'm still leaning towards radiation oncology, but I don't know if I have a shot as such a competitive specialty. This week I'll be doing a little research on it and my summer project. Hopefully I can get in some summer job shadowing to really check out radiology.
In the meantime, I'm reviewing Biochem and Anatomy. Knowing how my brain works I can't wait until even this summer to start reviewing. This quarter was a good reminder that I can be a good student given enough time to cover the material 2-3 times in depth, but I'm no genius that can pick it up in one quick review after lectures. I'm really beginning to question whether going to lecture is effective for me at all. Since I'm starting Immunology and Neuroanatomy I begin the quarter going to classes and see how it goes from there.
I hope it doesn't get any tougher than this quarter. I can't remember ever having felt so much stress. I'm still in recovery after gourging on sympathetics. My nails are nubs, I haven't exercised in weeks and I feel like sludge. To correct the latter two I'm getting my bike ready (riding to school is only 2 miles, but better than nothing) for commuting. For the former I'm not sure what to do. If med school gives you 8 lectures to assimilate in 24 hours between tests, you're looking at very little sleep and a lot of stress. There's not much you can do.
For all its negatives, I can't imagine being anywhere else than in medical school at this moment. So I guess I'm still in the right place. And I'm going to be very proud of getting through this and the effort I put into it. I've probably done more than most of my classmates and most Americans for that matter (boot camp/NROTC, MBA, Dot Coms, starting a company, kids, living in 7 states, married 13 years), but this is very likely the hardest thing I've done yet.
I'll upload some pics from the last few days shortly, but now I'm off to enjoy my kids and vacation a bit.
At least I can say that I'm 1/3 done with didactics. I think I can make it four more quarters without going postal. Boy did I chew up some Profs on reviews though. Bad lectures and bad tests are extremely frustrating with this much effort and investment on the line.
So I'm still leaning towards radiation oncology, but I don't know if I have a shot as such a competitive specialty. This week I'll be doing a little research on it and my summer project. Hopefully I can get in some summer job shadowing to really check out radiology.
In the meantime, I'm reviewing Biochem and Anatomy. Knowing how my brain works I can't wait until even this summer to start reviewing. This quarter was a good reminder that I can be a good student given enough time to cover the material 2-3 times in depth, but I'm no genius that can pick it up in one quick review after lectures. I'm really beginning to question whether going to lecture is effective for me at all. Since I'm starting Immunology and Neuroanatomy I begin the quarter going to classes and see how it goes from there.
I hope it doesn't get any tougher than this quarter. I can't remember ever having felt so much stress. I'm still in recovery after gourging on sympathetics. My nails are nubs, I haven't exercised in weeks and I feel like sludge. To correct the latter two I'm getting my bike ready (riding to school is only 2 miles, but better than nothing) for commuting. For the former I'm not sure what to do. If med school gives you 8 lectures to assimilate in 24 hours between tests, you're looking at very little sleep and a lot of stress. There's not much you can do.
For all its negatives, I can't imagine being anywhere else than in medical school at this moment. So I guess I'm still in the right place. And I'm going to be very proud of getting through this and the effort I put into it. I've probably done more than most of my classmates and most Americans for that matter (boot camp/NROTC, MBA, Dot Coms, starting a company, kids, living in 7 states, married 13 years), but this is very likely the hardest thing I've done yet.
I'll upload some pics from the last few days shortly, but now I'm off to enjoy my kids and vacation a bit.
Two quarters down and time to celebrate
This one felt a real accomplishment. I'm done with Gross Anatomy, Histology, Embryology and Biochem!
Obviously I need to really this information better in the next year and a half before COMLEX 1/Step 1, but the formal instruction and grades are done. One caveat is that I haven't gotten all my grades back yet. The ones I'm most interested in are those classes listed above. I have a 90%+ in Biochem going in but the test was very hard. I think I'm close, but who knows. Gross and Histo was a real grind. I really wasn't sure if I was going to pass until 10am Friday, two hours before the tests started. Now I just hoping that I didn't blow my ~95% in Gross and I managed to pick up my Histo a bit (85% prior to the test).
Bottom line though, I made it through the toughest week yet. It was a bear! I hardly got any sleep and studied non-stop for over a week with stress up to the eyeballs. Cramming when you've been irresponible is one thing. It's another when you've been studying like crazy and still don't if you're going to pass in medical school. I can't imagine passing these if I or my family had health problems or some other unforeseen event come up in the last few weeks.
Gross ended with a nice ceremony thanking the people who dedicated their bodies to our use. Immeditately after we bagged the bodies and cleaned our areas I headed home to quickly pack. Julie has been a godsend these few weeks. She not only packed the kids, but has pretty much been their parent this last week while I've been cramming and Becky is finishing the Bar. Aunt Julie is doing a great job!
So we got on the road about 7:30pm and I was still awake enough to drive for awhile. I did manage to sleep a bit in the back row of the van while Julie drove but sheer exhaustion and the stress of the last week kept me awake for the most part. It was a joy and reward to allow my brain to wander and think freely. It was amazing how nice it was to free my thoughts from the discipline of the last few weeks.
We arrived in LA around 12:30am LA time and met Becky. All of us got up fairly early for the hour drive to Becky's graduation ceremony. She was equally relieved to done, completely done, with her JD and the bar. Two months wait until we hear her results, bt she doesn't need to pass it so we won't be biting our nails. (speaking of, last week the stress was enough that I started biting again and my nails are stubs!) Also in addendence were Becky's mom and one uncle, my Mom, Dad and Stepmother and one of our nieces.
The ceremony was interesting. Her class is definiately older than mine. And lawyers are just a different breed. The speaker was pretty good. He's the VP of Planning/Strategy for The Washington Post company that owns Kaplan and Concord University of Law. He was, of course, very pro-lawyer, but talked about how Becky's program was harder than many public schools where students didn't have spouses, kids and careers to juggle with school. He recommended a book call Hard America, Soft America that sounds interesting. The gist is that our schools are weak and our kids start way behind up until about 18 yrs old. Then universities and the "kick you in the butt" capitalist system we have forces most of the kids to grow up fast so that by their twenties and thirties, we are far more compeitive than most countries.
Afterwards, we had a nice lunch. Then is was a long drive home. The kids and most of the family had enough energy to go swimming at the hotel pool, but I crashed for two hours. I think the exhaustion finally hit me. And I hadn't slept very well, reliving at least tests in my dreams during the night.
We had a casual night at the hotel and ate too much. Sunday everyone headed to California Adventures at Disneyland for the day. Disney is way overrated, but I can handle one (very expensive) day every couple years. Colton was thrilled because he's finally tall enough to ride the big roller coasters (picture forthcoming). Even with the hassles of coordinating a big group amidst huge crowds we had a good time.
At 5:30pm or so we started the 5.5 hour drive home which included a stop at the airport to drop off most of the relatives. The drive was long, but uneventful. Monday I slept in until noon and got some of my To Dos done. Still working on them now, but making some progress. I definately need some down time too. Unfortunately Becky headed right back to work. Even thought it's a non-profit, she's part of the exectutive team working a big merger with another non-profit.
That's plenty of verbage for an update. The impact posting will have to wait.
Obviously I need to really this information better in the next year and a half before COMLEX 1/Step 1, but the formal instruction and grades are done. One caveat is that I haven't gotten all my grades back yet. The ones I'm most interested in are those classes listed above. I have a 90%+ in Biochem going in but the test was very hard. I think I'm close, but who knows. Gross and Histo was a real grind. I really wasn't sure if I was going to pass until 10am Friday, two hours before the tests started. Now I just hoping that I didn't blow my ~95% in Gross and I managed to pick up my Histo a bit (85% prior to the test).
Bottom line though, I made it through the toughest week yet. It was a bear! I hardly got any sleep and studied non-stop for over a week with stress up to the eyeballs. Cramming when you've been irresponible is one thing. It's another when you've been studying like crazy and still don't if you're going to pass in medical school. I can't imagine passing these if I or my family had health problems or some other unforeseen event come up in the last few weeks.
Gross ended with a nice ceremony thanking the people who dedicated their bodies to our use. Immeditately after we bagged the bodies and cleaned our areas I headed home to quickly pack. Julie has been a godsend these few weeks. She not only packed the kids, but has pretty much been their parent this last week while I've been cramming and Becky is finishing the Bar. Aunt Julie is doing a great job!
So we got on the road about 7:30pm and I was still awake enough to drive for awhile. I did manage to sleep a bit in the back row of the van while Julie drove but sheer exhaustion and the stress of the last week kept me awake for the most part. It was a joy and reward to allow my brain to wander and think freely. It was amazing how nice it was to free my thoughts from the discipline of the last few weeks.
We arrived in LA around 12:30am LA time and met Becky. All of us got up fairly early for the hour drive to Becky's graduation ceremony. She was equally relieved to done, completely done, with her JD and the bar. Two months wait until we hear her results, bt she doesn't need to pass it so we won't be biting our nails. (speaking of, last week the stress was enough that I started biting again and my nails are stubs!) Also in addendence were Becky's mom and one uncle, my Mom, Dad and Stepmother and one of our nieces.
The ceremony was interesting. Her class is definiately older than mine. And lawyers are just a different breed. The speaker was pretty good. He's the VP of Planning/Strategy for The Washington Post company that owns Kaplan and Concord University of Law. He was, of course, very pro-lawyer, but talked about how Becky's program was harder than many public schools where students didn't have spouses, kids and careers to juggle with school. He recommended a book call Hard America, Soft America that sounds interesting. The gist is that our schools are weak and our kids start way behind up until about 18 yrs old. Then universities and the "kick you in the butt" capitalist system we have forces most of the kids to grow up fast so that by their twenties and thirties, we are far more compeitive than most countries.
Afterwards, we had a nice lunch. Then is was a long drive home. The kids and most of the family had enough energy to go swimming at the hotel pool, but I crashed for two hours. I think the exhaustion finally hit me. And I hadn't slept very well, reliving at least tests in my dreams during the night.
We had a casual night at the hotel and ate too much. Sunday everyone headed to California Adventures at Disneyland for the day. Disney is way overrated, but I can handle one (very expensive) day every couple years. Colton was thrilled because he's finally tall enough to ride the big roller coasters (picture forthcoming). Even with the hassles of coordinating a big group amidst huge crowds we had a good time.
At 5:30pm or so we started the 5.5 hour drive home which included a stop at the airport to drop off most of the relatives. The drive was long, but uneventful. Monday I slept in until noon and got some of my To Dos done. Still working on them now, but making some progress. I definately need some down time too. Unfortunately Becky headed right back to work. Even thought it's a non-profit, she's part of the exectutive team working a big merger with another non-profit.
That's plenty of verbage for an update. The impact posting will have to wait.
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