First Year is Over!

Lot to cover in the three I haven't managed to update this site. So the big thing is that last Friday was one of those incredible days that I won't soon forget.

First, I finished MSI with an effort I can be proud of. Second, Colton (like his older brother) tested for the TAG gifted program his first time (as a 1st Grader). Finally, Becky passed the California Bar! Wow, what a day.

Now for a few more details. The couple weeks were hard but I managed to again pick up my average. Not all the grades are in, but it looks like I got between a 94 and 95% for an overall of 93%. I'm pretty happy with that. Kinda stinks that OMM is dragging me down, but after blowing one test in my main courses (Neuro, Immuno and Phys) I think I recovered well. Immuno was probably the most frustrating test of finals week because we had so little time to study 400+ slides of information. I assumed that like test #3 they would ask nit-picky questions, but I did very well on that test and feel it was fair.

This weekend I slept a lot, swam in the pool (110 degree weather does wonders for the pool temp!). Now I need to get back into shape and lose a few pounds. I started my summer research Fellowship today and learned how to run an electrophoresis experiment. The silver stain didn't turn out well, so I get to try again tomorrow with a different stain and see if we can nail down a glycation protocol that consistently creates AGEs.

On the extracurricular side of life, we are still trying to plan summer vacations for the family. But I do have a trip to the AMA Medical Student Section convention. As the VP I will representing the school with Jill (Pres) and Jason (former VP). It should be fun. Friday, right after finals, I had a great meeting with some AZCOM bigwigs (Assist. Dean AZCOM, Dean Student Affairs, club sponsor Dr. Jones), the other club officers and an investor who is supporting the club. He's a Hem/Onc DO I plan to have as my preceptor next year. We had a great meeting covering what we've accomplished so far and what we hope to accomplish next year.

I realize I have said this before, but I will try to get some more pictures up soon. Last time, the software kept crashing my mouse everytime I tried to upload one. Hopefully I can overcome that for posterity's sake.

Oh, Star Wars III was good but kind of a disappointment. Great effects, but horrible acting and dialogue and only passable storyline. I'm slowly nailing down to-do's but surprised to feel more motivated to study (review last year's subjects) than to exercise. It could have something to do with the heat though. Running or biking is not enticing in 110 degrees weather. My riptide (bungee cord) swim workouts are passable, but not 'real' workouts.

That's enough for now. Feels great to be an MSII. It feels even better to be an MSII with a good direction (RadOnc) and a strategy to get there (clubs, research, decent grades, early studying for Boards). I'm jealous of the MSIIIs cramming their last week before COMLEX, but it's time to enjoy a little break.

Been a while...

Not a lot to report. Had a hard week and a half after blowing a Phys test. I knew respiratory phys, but only got a 84%, then got slammed like 99% of the class on a Immuno test later that week (81% with an avg. of 74%).

Did better last week on our ICM final with a 96%. And studying hard now for our written OMM final on Monday.

Other than that, zapped my first samples on Friday (proteins) so this week I'll get see do some new stuff in the lab studying them. The MS-IIs had their last class on Friday and I am really jealous.

Oh, the Oncology club is going well. We had a great meeting with our first speaker and then a fun time at our first community event, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. I'm hoping we get to meet with a contributor to the school next week who is an oncologist. He sounded open to being my Preceptor next year.

And I got elected to VP for the school's AMA Chapter so I get a couple free networking trips to the national meetings. I hope we can live up to our predecessors example. The last President managed to the President of the AMA to AZCOM this year, the first time an AMA President has ever spoken at an Osteopathic school.

I doubt I'm going to have much time to write until after finals but hopefully I can provide a better update then - and some more pictures.