Happy Birthday Dad!

Thanks for everything! I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Happy Birthday Big Sis!

We've come a long way!

Happy Birthday!!!

Fighting the Weather

Over the weekend, I was determined to get out and see Boston, so even with the rainy weather, I took the bus to the Boston MFA. I saw some cool art and even found some with animals!
After the museum, I took the bus again down to the Prudential, a giant mall with a nice view. I was hoping to find some fall foliage, but this was as close as I could come to it.
After a nice walk, I got myself a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and headed back to Jamaica Plains.

On Tuesday, the sun came out when I was done at 4pm, so I decided to walk over to Jamaica Pond and eat dinner outside.
People were running and fishing around the pond.
It was very pretty and peaceful, but before I knew it, it started to rain again! I hadn't expected the rain so I had no umbrella with me and had to run back as soon as possible.

Yesterday, I decided to take the bus again to get some hot Thai food. I went to a restaurant called Chiang Bang House and got some yummy soup and a noodle dish.
Even though I was really full after dinner, I had to stop by JP Licks because people kept talking about how good their homemade ice cream was. It was really almost the best chocolate ice cream I've ever had.Again, I was able to find animals here! There were a bunch of cow paintings and they even had a cow statue.
Today, during lunch, Angell had a cookout for the employees to recognize people who had been working here for over 40 years. I think I ate a little too much. Here is my plate of food. If I had taken a picture of it after eating, it would have just been an empty plate.
This made it really hard to go back and scrub into the next surgery. I was having such a hard time keeping my eyes open. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of my rotation this week because being on Surgery, I can't really take pictures while I'm scrubbed in. I guess most people wouldn't want to see pictures of surgery anyway.

Dinosaurs And Other Exotics

During my exotics rotation at Angell, I saw a number of interesting animals. There was this dinosaur (actually it's a 20 lb iguana) that came in because it fell off a window sill. We had to take radiographs of its left front leg and they found a possible torn tendon. Later, the surgeon went in to repair the rupture, then placed an external fixator on the outside of the leg. This thing was so strong that it took 4 of us to handle it when it was awake.
There were also lots of guinea pigs that came in. This one was not eating because it had a tooth problem. We did a dental on it and it was all better!
We only got in a couple of hedgehogs, but they are so adorable! The sad thing is, they get some really bad diseases. This one was in for Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome which is kinda like Lou Gehrig's Dz. They start with a myelopathy causing paresis or paralysis in the hind legs that continues to progress forward until they can't breathe or swallow. It's very sad, and there is no cure. They are also tumor factories and can get any kind of tumor known to man.
After my first week, some people were leaving so I went around collecting new items for my room. I was able to secure another blanket to conquer the cold, a TV that barely works, some fooding supplies, and a mini refrigerator. I even put up a poster of a squirrel for decoration! I'm planning to go visit some museums today since it is still pouring outside. It might take me a while to gear up for this nasty weather.

Externship in Boston

I'm doing an externship in Boston at the Angell Memorial Medical Center. I'm actually in Jamaica Plains, which is at the end of the Green Line (E). So far, I've eaten at a few places nearby.

My first meal was at El Oriental de Cuba:
It was a very good Cuban Sandwich. It tasted better than it looked and I had already taken a bite before thinking about taking a picture of it, so here's a horrible picture that I took so I could quickly go on with my meal. I also got a nice papaya shake that is just like the ones mom makes:
For some reason, something possessed me to try Chinese food in the middle of this hispanic community at the Food Wall. I had broccoli and beef with pork (cha shu) fried rice. I didn't expect much, but still it was only okay:
My room is pretty modest. There is a window sill where I have to put my computer to get free wireless. Other than that, there's not much. I live on the 4th floor of the hospital. This place used to be a convent so each room has its own sink, but there is a shared bathroom down the hall.
I'll post some more pictures later of the hospital, animals, and whatever else I see. I haven't been able to leave this town since I don't get done until about 8pm every day. I was going to try to catch the last Red Sox series against the Yankees, but 3 things are keeping this from happening: 1) The tickets are sold out, 2) I don't seem to have any time off, and 3) the weather is cold and rainy. We'll see if I can get out to experience the fall season or see a little bit of Boston.

FA Medicine

My last rotation was tiring, but fun. I got to do a lot of surgeries. My favorite patients were my 2 mastectomy goats - Ebony (Pygmy goat) and Olivia (Nigerian Dwarf goat). They are just adorable! I am going to get me one of these someday. Here are some pictures from the rotation. (Warning! Viewer discretion advised. Some photos may not be suitable for children.)

Ebony:

Olivia:

Ask ChaCha

So TT told me about this mobile service that answers questions for you on demand by texting to your mobile phone. While I was driving, I heard the song "Don't you want me?" from the 80's and was curious as to who sang it. This was the perfect opportunity to test out the service! So I had to call them at 1800-2-CHA-CHA to get the answer. The service is automated, and since I wasn't sure of the title of the song, I had to sing it. After a few seconds, I got this message back: "ChaCha is working on your question: Who sings the song 'Don't you want me baby? Don't you want me oooooo?' You should receive an answer in a few minutes." Sure enough, I got the answer in a few minutes. (Call them yourself if you want to know!) They even added, "...and it was a smash hit in the 1980's." I went to check out their website and it turns out there are many things you can get on demand with ChaCha, such as weather, jokes, and local questions like information about restaurants. You can even sign up to become a guide! It's nice to get an answer from a real person on demand like that, especially if you don't have immediate access to google. What an awesome service! Sorry KH, that means more fees for text messaging! I promise only to use them on burning questions that need immediate answers.

Waynesboro, VA

I'm in Waynesboro, a little town close to Charlottesville, VA. It's in the mountains and is very beautiful. TT & I hiked, or should I say, climbed Old Rag Mountain last week, and it was so much fun, but I was really sore the next day. A good sore. I will post pics of this as soon as I can. I was going to upload a few pics today, but I left my camera at the Wildlife Center of Virginia where I'm doing my externship. So that will have to wait. I'm very allergic here. I think it's the massive amount of mold that is in this house. I am staying in the free student house with all the other students here. There is anywhere from 4-6 people at all times, and with the high turnover, nothing really gets cleaned well. I can't wait to have my bed and car back. They let me drive this really old van that stalls sometimes when you start. Better than nothing I guess. TT has visited me a few times since I've been here, but it is still 2 hours away from Richmond and he has really long hours for his medicine rotation, which makes it really hard for us to see each other more often. On top of that, I usually get out between 7:30 and 8:30 pm so it's not like I have lots of time to do stuff. I don't know how I'm going to write that 10 page paper by the time I leave--which is this weekend! Then I go straight back to my FA Med rotation for 4 weeks where I will be living in the hospital. Fun times!
Update (9/14/08): I've uploaded some pictures from my externship and from the Old Rag hike!

Zoo Med! And my garden is still growing!

This week was my first week in the Zoo Med rotation and I got to see a few really awesome animals. I went to various facilities in Northern Cali. Here is a glimpse of some of the animals I got to work with.

A baby lemur!

Sea Lion

Elephant (I didn't get to touch it)

There are more pictures of me on LT's camera since we kinda took pictures of each other, but we're really not supposed to be posting them publicly so I will refrain from pointing out where they were taken. Stay tuned for more!

The Nappa has been growing while I'm busy learning about zoo animals! Here is what it looked like this evening!

I also discovered that the sunflowers have sprouted. I think these are the sunflowers because there were a few patches of these evenly spaced, and I don't think anything else would sprout in such an orderly fashion along the edge where I planted these. It'll be exciting to see what comes of these little green sprouts!

My Personality Widget

I did this before when I saw it on KH's blog, but I saw it again today on GH's so I wanna do it again!

Prince is here!

My garden is expanding. The plants I brought up from mom are now in and they look great! I can't wait to see how they change.
Prince is visiting for the week. He's still as cute as ever! He'll be staying until Sunday. Fortunately, my schedule this week is pretty reasonable so I can spend some time with him. I hope he enjoys his visit!

Old Boxes

Was going through some old boxes last weekend and found a couple of things that I don't remember. For example, this picture of me and TT taken back in 1999 at an unknown place. Maybe TT remembers? I sure don't, but then again, I forget a lot of places or remember one as another. I think we haven't changed a bit!
Now this envelope from 1996 on the other hand is a complete mystery to me. I can't remember it at all! But I studied it carefully and found it very amusing indeed. The writing in blue is what I did before sending the envelope to him. Then he sent it back to me with a few modifications in black writing and a little cutting and pasting. See for yourself.

Nappa Sprouts

Last week, some of the nappa cabbage began to sprout. Let's see how far this goes! No sign of anything coming out near the sunflower seeds (or the area that may have been used as a litter box). Oh well.

My New Garden!

Yesterday I didn't have any classes, so I decided to finally work on the garden in the backyard. I had been meaning to do this since we moved in last summer. It doesn't look like much right now because I planted seeds rather than plants.

I don't know how this is going to turn out. On the outer edge, I planted white sunflowers.
In the center area, I planted Napa Cabbage! Yum! It's all supposed to germinate in 10-15 days, then maybe something will grow in the fall.
Right now, I'm concerned about 2 things: 1) The birds might come by and dig up and eat the seeds, and then I won't have anything to show for it. And 2) Pepper seems to have taken an interest in this area as a new litter box. Maybe it'll be good fertilizer?

Maybe they should just charge less...

Yesterday, I got a box of chocolate-covered strawberries and caramel apple wedges from my eye care center as a thank you for doing LASIK there. The strawberries looked and tasted really delicious, but the apples were a disappointment. Not only were they apples (definitely on the no-no list), but they were covered in cinnamon powder. Cinnamon is NOT GOOD unless it's a Cinnabon. I couldn't help but think that I would rather have gotten a discount than receive this box. But then again, I suppose it is kinda nice to get something delivered to you, and it looked very pretty.

Today, I forgot that I had all these desserts to eat already, so I went ahead and baked some Lemon Poppy Seed cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I thought they came out pretty good.Then I went out to dinner with my roommates to a really delicious tapas place in SacTown called Tapa the World. What a silly name. Good thing the food was really good! This is what I end up doing when I have a Friday afternoon off--the first one this quarter that I wasn't scrubbed into surgery! Tomorrow, we are doing a "Girls Only"...well alright, "Girls Invited Only" 1pm Matinee to the SATC movie! Can't wait! Then on Sunday, I'll be neutering (I hope!) a bunch a cats at the Sacramento SPCA. Of course in between all this, I have to do a take-home exam that is due on Monday.

Shiny Plane

When I was flying back from ONT to SAC, I was very impressed with how clean it was inside the SW plane, especially after my sister told me about how nasty the seatback pockets were and that I should never touch anything from them. Then I noticed that the window was squeaky clean. I don't know if this picture shows it, but the wing was so clean that it was reflecting the light from the beautiful sun that day and looked almost slippery.
I used to take pictures out of plane windows all the time, but this is by far the cleanest window I've taken a picture through on a plane. The view was so nice that I forgot how terrifying flying was... that is until it got really turbulent later in the flight. Good thing I treated myself to some coke.

Yoga in Bed

A few weeks ago, I decided to use my American Express reward points to get something so I can use them up and cancel the card that I never use. It turned out to be quite an ordeal. I ordered 2 things: A DVD called Yoga in Bed, and a Disney CD of children's songs for my niece. According to the point values, I would end up with 3 points left over. Well, something went wrong on the website and my points were redeemed for credit to my credit card, but the items were not ordered. Had I known that, I would have stopped there. When I realized that the order had not gone through, I called customer service and they ended up ordering the items for me. But after I hung up the phone, I checked my account and I ended up with 2 orders of the DVD and 1 order of the CD. I now had to pay for the extra item. Then I discovered that the shipping charges were at the ridiculous amount of about $10 per item, which were additional charges that were not accounted for when they redeemed the points! To make a long story short, I had to call them 2 more times, and then make one more phone call directly to the company from which the order was placed. In the end, I ended up with just 1 DVD (sorry Attie!), and a credit of $4.23 on my credit card, which wasn't enough for anything else.
I watched the DVD yesterday and it was just alright. I thought maybe it would have something that would help me relax before going to bed, but some of the positions require a lot of shifting around of pillows and such which takes a lot of effort. Maybe I'll try the morning routines another day. If anyone wants to try out the DVD, let me know. I would not recommend trying to get it for free from any rewards program. Now I just have to find something to spend the $4.23 credit on before I can cancel my card.