I've had enough of kitty's killing. Today's dead bird was the last straw. Now she must wear this reflective and bell-adorned collar.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Running with the dog
I took the dog for a run today during my 10-hour fatigue-break. I normally sleep the whole 10 hours but today is my last day at work for the week so I got up earlier in the hope of sleeping tonight at a reasonable time.
The weather isn't the best today but I thought to myself that that is the reason I have all the cold and wet-weather gear. We managed to stay dry on the 2.5km run but my ears are still frozen.
So today I wont have much time to study at work as it is such a short day for me now but that is ok because I actually got ahead yesterday. I discovered that I need to take more regular breaks now that I'm actively in calorie deficit but I was still able to get a lot done.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Motivation = 0
I find myself in this position at the desk at work often lately....
So, yep, I dyed my hair back to my natural-ish brown a few months ago after experimenting with black first.
Motivation: I'm going away again this weekend so it needs to be done NOW. Also, I get to start a new case study today! Hoorah!
(PS I don't know why my phone is don't that weird grid thing, but I am too lazy to use my fancy DSLR camera I bought last year and upload it when I get home. I'll try and take some more attractive photos soon.)
So, yep, I dyed my hair back to my natural-ish brown a few months ago after experimenting with black first.
Motivation: I'm going away again this weekend so it needs to be done NOW. Also, I get to start a new case study today! Hoorah!
(PS I don't know why my phone is don't that weird grid thing, but I am too lazy to use my fancy DSLR camera I bought last year and upload it when I get home. I'll try and take some more attractive photos soon.)
Ok everybody PANIC!
I had my lecture this morning and I felt like I knew NOTHING! I'm at Code Yellow. This is not an unfamiliar territory - I seem to do this to myself every term.
Dreading the quiz.
I hope I don't stuff up my good grades with a crap score this term.
If I could have afforded it, and done 5 terms a year, I would be up to clinical placements by now my motivation would not be flailing.
Ugh.
But I must remind myself it is the journey and not the destination, and this is a marathon and not a sprint.
If this is a marathon, right now I'm on the really boring bit of the loop, right at the back of the course, it's flat and barren, but I've come too far to go back and I'm in the ranking for a medal so I can't slow down to a walk now.....
Dreading the quiz.
I hope I don't stuff up my good grades with a crap score this term.
If I could have afforded it, and done 5 terms a year, I would be up to clinical placements by now my motivation would not be flailing.
Ugh.
But I must remind myself it is the journey and not the destination, and this is a marathon and not a sprint.
If this is a marathon, right now I'm on the really boring bit of the loop, right at the back of the course, it's flat and barren, but I've come too far to go back and I'm in the ranking for a medal so I can't slow down to a walk now.....
Sunday, January 29, 2012
iPad and no service
I've been trying to blog this weekend but my iPad Blogger app wont work and I'm not get enough signal strength on my mobile anyway.
So, my boss quit and now he's been packing up everything this weekend. It's so sad. He has been going though his stuff and found a lot of old paperwork he doesn't know why he ever kept in the first place. It has made me think I really need to go through my draws in my study at home and the top shelf of my locker at work. I generally take pride in having a clear in-try and in-box.
Being a vegan is going really good for me! My diet and workouts have been going really well too. I just had to motivate myself a LOT and during the day if I think of inspirational things I write them in a memo to myself in my phone.
Study - I have done a bit this weekend but not as much as I should have done to catch up (for various reasons - work, personal life commitments). It's ok. I'm not panicking just yet.
So, my boss quit and now he's been packing up everything this weekend. It's so sad. He has been going though his stuff and found a lot of old paperwork he doesn't know why he ever kept in the first place. It has made me think I really need to go through my draws in my study at home and the top shelf of my locker at work. I generally take pride in having a clear in-try and in-box.
Being a vegan is going really good for me! My diet and workouts have been going really well too. I just had to motivate myself a LOT and during the day if I think of inspirational things I write them in a memo to myself in my phone.
Study - I have done a bit this weekend but not as much as I should have done to catch up (for various reasons - work, personal life commitments). It's ok. I'm not panicking just yet.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Move on
The one good thing med school teaches you is to not get behind. If you get behind on your study too far, you simply don't have enough time to catch up.
I've had a bad week for study this week. Naughty me. I have no choice now but to do my best over the next 4 days and move on. One could probably adopt this philosophy to many aspects of their life.
TG it's stroke so I have at least some residual background knowledge from being a paramedic. Being a paramedic alone, I must add, is not necessarily enough to do well in med school (uh, duh) and in my four years as an ambo I have done extra reading and looked up cases in my own time to understand the pathophysiology much better than we were expected to know in paramedic school.
I've had a bad week for study this week. Naughty me. I have no choice now but to do my best over the next 4 days and move on. One could probably adopt this philosophy to many aspects of their life.
TG it's stroke so I have at least some residual background knowledge from being a paramedic. Being a paramedic alone, I must add, is not necessarily enough to do well in med school (uh, duh) and in my four years as an ambo I have done extra reading and looked up cases in my own time to understand the pathophysiology much better than we were expected to know in paramedic school.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Vase
Oh no, my favourite vase that my friend gave me for my birthday about 6 years ago is leaking :-(
In this photo you can also see; the rose I picked from my own garden, the table ny friend gave me when she upgraded, one of the four chairs I snagged for $8 at the local opshop, the water feature I've had "in progress" for about 18 months, and the small vege patch with dog-proof fencing made from my old boundary fence when it fell apart.
Easy money
Well I've successfully managed to procrastinate quite effectively this week. I DID get to do my neuro quiz 2 last night at midnight, and my score of 60% will unfortunately have to do. I spent too much time on the ventricles and not enough on the lobes. Fark.
As far as the research project at work - my contact has suggested I email my uni(s) to see if I can get any academic credit for it. She sent me some examples of the sort of article I could produce with the same sort of epidemiological data from work. It looks achievable. My only concern is the examples have three or more authors and I'm on my lonesome. Hmmm....
The vegan thing has been going remarkably well. In fact, I don't think I realized I was already half-way there anyway. I'm also trying to reduce the amount of soda I drink, especially energy drinks.
I worked last night on overtime. I got paid 12.5 hours at double-time and literally did half an hours "work" which involved driving to the next town only to be cancelled due to a closer available ambulance. Nice. The rest of the time I watched tv (I'm starting to like the mind-numbing experience of watching tv again - I must break this habit before it forms), did my quiz, and slept. :)
I tried to study before the quiz but my brain was not functioning properly. I just thought "stuff it" and attempted it as I was running out of time limit. Oh well, at least I know they will be easy grades to pick up in the final exam.
So time to break my study drought and return to the books.
As far as the research project at work - my contact has suggested I email my uni(s) to see if I can get any academic credit for it. She sent me some examples of the sort of article I could produce with the same sort of epidemiological data from work. It looks achievable. My only concern is the examples have three or more authors and I'm on my lonesome. Hmmm....
The vegan thing has been going remarkably well. In fact, I don't think I realized I was already half-way there anyway. I'm also trying to reduce the amount of soda I drink, especially energy drinks.
I worked last night on overtime. I got paid 12.5 hours at double-time and literally did half an hours "work" which involved driving to the next town only to be cancelled due to a closer available ambulance. Nice. The rest of the time I watched tv (I'm starting to like the mind-numbing experience of watching tv again - I must break this habit before it forms), did my quiz, and slept. :)
I tried to study before the quiz but my brain was not functioning properly. I just thought "stuff it" and attempted it as I was running out of time limit. Oh well, at least I know they will be easy grades to pick up in the final exam.
So time to break my study drought and return to the books.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Skinny Bitch
I was tricked (and it worked).
This book pushes the political agenda of veganism. There's a whole chapter on slaughter houses and the cruel things people have said, and have been quoted, to do to animals. My minds eye has been scarred. I cuddled my dog all last night because I was so sad about what people do to animals.
I'm already a "friend" of The Institute for In Vitro Sciences and The John Hopkins centre for Alternative to Animal Testing but I might look a bit more back into this now.
I know slaughter houses aren't pretty places, but geez, it's much harder to not think about it now, especially after my terrible recent experience going roo shooting.
I think I have become an instant vegan.
So my background is I was vegetarian that ate little diary for a while. And I have been, what I call, a "part-time" vegetarian for years. That is, I am quite selective about what meat I eat and I probably only eat meat once a day on average (which is not much when you compare that to three times a day for most people). I make the best choices that I can, and I don't buy leather (my work boots are leather but they are standard issue and I don't get the one pair I'm entitled to a year), and I always get free-range eggs. I also like tofu and soy milk and rice milk.....
So now I'm a paramedic, a med student, a Masters student, trying to get fit and healthy, trying to live sustainably, trying to live simply, AND and friggin vegan. Ugh.
My main concern is when I travel - I might not be able to be so selective. But thinking about it, in Samoa it should be really easy as they have no dairy industry (they have coconut milk), no cattle industry (almost everything is imported frozen), and I think I can avoid the seafood too.
I plan to chronicle my vegan adventures here on this blog now too.
Wish me luck.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Word of the day
"Streptococcus bacillae"
This is part of my series about the days when I sometimes wakeup with a word in my head. It's usually something I've been studying and if often long and complicated, so perhaps I've been repeating it to myself during the day.
Anyway, this morning at about 3am (when my dog woke me to let him out) I had the word "streptococcus bacillae" in my head. It is not a real word, but a combination of the pathogens I was studying yesterday in my bacterial meningitis case study.
This is part of my series about the days when I sometimes wakeup with a word in my head. It's usually something I've been studying and if often long and complicated, so perhaps I've been repeating it to myself during the day.
Anyway, this morning at about 3am (when my dog woke me to let him out) I had the word "streptococcus bacillae" in my head. It is not a real word, but a combination of the pathogens I was studying yesterday in my bacterial meningitis case study.
Too early 2
This morning began when I got rudely awoken by a phone call from New York - ok so I should have been up already but my alarm didn't work (I sleep through alarms when I'm that tired which is always worrying when I'm at home on-call). We have downloaded the latest version of Securexam and my fingers are crossed that I'll be able to do my quiz today.
It's research day today (wow - that came around really quick), so I'm just deciding whether to stay up or go back to bed for two hours before journal club.....me thinks beddy-bed-bed time.
Yesterday I had my new express 1-hour mentor meeting. It's too brief, but what can one do. My mentor thinks it's better to continue meeting weekly for the hour rather than fortnightly for two hours. My supposedly compensatory 1-hour academic advisor's meeting (via Skype until they can recruit some Australian academic advisors) really only lasts for 10 minutes, so I'm feeling a little ripped-off. I didn't feel well-prepared enough for my mentor meeting and I'm sort of kicking myself. I felt like a tool. I'll make sure next week I am the expert of hemiparesis.
In good news - I got a phone call last night from a student who is in his clinical rotations and he is absolutely loving it. He has managed to secure the best, most competitive core rotations at the best hospitals. It turns out he used to work for a pharmaceutical company and therefore....it's who you know sometimes. But what I'm so grateful for is he, and he classmates, are paving the way for the rest of us and doing so with a positive attitude. Big thank you to them. He also put my mind at ease a bit and said to keep over 75% in modules and I will be well -prepared for the clinicals. Whew. He also reminded me what a little gem Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine is, and I read a little in bed last night.
It's research day today (wow - that came around really quick), so I'm just deciding whether to stay up or go back to bed for two hours before journal club.....me thinks beddy-bed-bed time.
Yesterday I had my new express 1-hour mentor meeting. It's too brief, but what can one do. My mentor thinks it's better to continue meeting weekly for the hour rather than fortnightly for two hours. My supposedly compensatory 1-hour academic advisor's meeting (via Skype until they can recruit some Australian academic advisors) really only lasts for 10 minutes, so I'm feeling a little ripped-off. I didn't feel well-prepared enough for my mentor meeting and I'm sort of kicking myself. I felt like a tool. I'll make sure next week I am the expert of hemiparesis.
In good news - I got a phone call last night from a student who is in his clinical rotations and he is absolutely loving it. He has managed to secure the best, most competitive core rotations at the best hospitals. It turns out he used to work for a pharmaceutical company and therefore....it's who you know sometimes. But what I'm so grateful for is he, and he classmates, are paving the way for the rest of us and doing so with a positive attitude. Big thank you to them. He also put my mind at ease a bit and said to keep over 75% in modules and I will be well -prepared for the clinicals. Whew. He also reminded me what a little gem Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine is, and I read a little in bed last night.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Too early
It's too early to be up on my first day off. The sleep bank part of my schedule will have to be moved to Wednesday.
I'm currently on a 10 minute break from my three hour lecture, which will be followed by my weekly hour Skype call with my academic advisor, which will then be followed by my in-person meeting with my mentor. Whew. After that I will attempt the weekly quiz, but I'm not that optimistic as I still haven't completed last week's due to technical difficulties which I hope to resolve tomorrow morning at 7am with a Skype call to New York.
I'm currently on a 10 minute break from my three hour lecture, which will be followed by my weekly hour Skype call with my academic advisor, which will then be followed by my in-person meeting with my mentor. Whew. After that I will attempt the weekly quiz, but I'm not that optimistic as I still haven't completed last week's due to technical difficulties which I hope to resolve tomorrow morning at 7am with a Skype call to New York.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Nasty work
It's my last 2 hours at work for the week, it's 30oC, and I cannot wait to get home and get the barbie fired up (and the sav blanc opened).
I'm feeling good about this week and the study I've done at work. We weren't very busy this week so it made it a little easier. I also managed to catch up with some friends from uni (paramedic degree) and it's always great to do so.
I'm feeling a little sooky this afternoon as I overheard a nasty job unfold down at the beach. These types of things always make me want to go home and hug my loved ones and not let go. Life is so precious. My other superficial worries don't seem as bad this afternoon as they did this morning.
I'm feeling good about this week and the study I've done at work. We weren't very busy this week so it made it a little easier. I also managed to catch up with some friends from uni (paramedic degree) and it's always great to do so.
I'm feeling a little sooky this afternoon as I overheard a nasty job unfold down at the beach. These types of things always make me want to go home and hug my loved ones and not let go. Life is so precious. My other superficial worries don't seem as bad this afternoon as they did this morning.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
FA Organ Systems Review
I got my First Aid for the Basic Sciences General Principles two weeks ago, and my FA for the Basic Sciences Organs Systems arrived two days ago. I didn't get these two books intially because of the bad reviews on Amazon, but I have to say - I'm loving them!
I'm sure the second editions, when they hurry up and release them, will address the issues and I wish they would release an errata like they do for FA for the USMLE Step 1, but I can cope with them how they are.
For me, the visual lay-out is important. It needs to flow and be organised like the way I like my mind to be organised. I have spoken about the importance of gestalting before.
Anyway, I love them. I used FA Step 1 all the time. I almost never use the Kaplan versions "MedEssentials" due to the clunky lay-out.
---------------
I've done a little more work on the research project this morning at work, so I'm happy with how that is travelling - nice and stress-free. I wonder if I can make it into the professional magazine we have called "Response" by Paramedics Australasia and whether that would be good enough as a "published" article for my residency applications as a start. For my Masters I will have to do something bigger and better but this will be an excellent learning opportunity and at the very least it will help me next year when I get to that stage.
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Pretty much loving life right now. This helped me put things in perspective this morning:
Enjoy....
Happy anniversary
Happy anniversary to me! I't s four years today since I started at my job. Woo-hoo! Oh how the time has flown by....
My co-worker today (30 years in the job) asked me if I thought I would still be here after four years, given that the average paramedic lasted only 7 years in the job when I started, and now that figure has decreased to five years (or so I have heard). And the short answer is - I was already considering medical school but if my ambulance service allowed me clear career progression and other things such as time off without pay to work, say for example in an aboriginal community or overseas doing aid, then, yeh, maybe I would have been more satisfied to stick around. But from what I've heard, the longer a paramedic stays, the more they cost the company, so, really, encouraging ambos to stay longer is not a priority it would seem.
My co-worker today (30 years in the job) asked me if I thought I would still be here after four years, given that the average paramedic lasted only 7 years in the job when I started, and now that figure has decreased to five years (or so I have heard). And the short answer is - I was already considering medical school but if my ambulance service allowed me clear career progression and other things such as time off without pay to work, say for example in an aboriginal community or overseas doing aid, then, yeh, maybe I would have been more satisfied to stick around. But from what I've heard, the longer a paramedic stays, the more they cost the company, so, really, encouraging ambos to stay longer is not a priority it would seem.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Access
Internet access is obviously very important when studying a medical degree by distance. I am trying to figure out how I can access my mandatory lectures online when my work computer wont let me download Java, which is essential. And my iPad doesn't allow Java either, which I think is the worst idea Apple ever had.
My mobile phone allows a "hotspot" but I have to figure out how much data and speed I'll need to use Elluminate, and then I'll friggin have to dust off the old laptop which annoys me as my desktop and ipad are brand new.
Sigh.
Well at least my old laptop still works.
My mobile phone allows a "hotspot" but I have to figure out how much data and speed I'll need to use Elluminate, and then I'll friggin have to dust off the old laptop which annoys me as my desktop and ipad are brand new.
Sigh.
Well at least my old laptop still works.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
New plan works well
Well it was amazing what I accomplished yesterday after implementing my new study plan. It certainly helped me keep on-track and not get distracted doing other things.
Last night, after all my readigs for the day were done, and my eye-balls were tired, I was able to watch a bit of TV on the couch completely guilt-free! My house is still nice and clean and organised(-ish) and things are going great.
This morning I went for a run because I know I have enoug time for today's readings afterwards, although I am back at work which makes my study time a little unpredicatable for the rest of this week!
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My dog escaped again this morning but thankfully he seems to now always go to my neighbours house at the end of the street. She is retired and often sits on the bench in her front yard so I guess he reckons that's a pretty good place to go for company. He escaped by pushing out a front window (I have no front fence) which I only left open by about 5cm for airflow. It's one of those ones you wind out on like a bike-chain type thing. I hope he doesn't decide he can push it out from the fully closed position too!
The poor thing. I hope he can wait until I can have a second dog soon.
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I have managed to take my second step towrds this research project by emailing the grant people at the government. Apparently I need to register my profile on their system first.
Last night, after all my readigs for the day were done, and my eye-balls were tired, I was able to watch a bit of TV on the couch completely guilt-free! My house is still nice and clean and organised(-ish) and things are going great.
This morning I went for a run because I know I have enoug time for today's readings afterwards, although I am back at work which makes my study time a little unpredicatable for the rest of this week!
---------
My dog escaped again this morning but thankfully he seems to now always go to my neighbours house at the end of the street. She is retired and often sits on the bench in her front yard so I guess he reckons that's a pretty good place to go for company. He escaped by pushing out a front window (I have no front fence) which I only left open by about 5cm for airflow. It's one of those ones you wind out on like a bike-chain type thing. I hope he doesn't decide he can push it out from the fully closed position too!
The poor thing. I hope he can wait until I can have a second dog soon.
---------
I have managed to take my second step towrds this research project by emailing the grant people at the government. Apparently I need to register my profile on their system first.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Research day
Tuesdays on my schedule are research days. I attended my first Journal Club at med school. It wasn't as painful as I'd predicted, and it is really good practice to go through these articles as a group under the guidance of two experts.
One of my former classmates is ahead of me and is in her clinical modules. I heard they added a research block and she mentioned her clinical research project in the class today. It looks like I'll be doing a number of research projects in the very near future of my career. After this post I will work more on my current project proposal.
There is something about adding to the human knowledge-bank that is extremely appealing, and even more so when it is about helping sick people. Today's article was about Alzheimer Disease and it feels amazing to be among doctors and clinical research scientists that are part of a human effort to combat disease. Humans, as a race, do some many things wrong, but I feel more optimistic when I think about the things we do right, like advances in medicine, science, technology, and space exploration! (Been watching too much Star Trek lately....)
One of my former classmates is ahead of me and is in her clinical modules. I heard they added a research block and she mentioned her clinical research project in the class today. It looks like I'll be doing a number of research projects in the very near future of my career. After this post I will work more on my current project proposal.
There is something about adding to the human knowledge-bank that is extremely appealing, and even more so when it is about helping sick people. Today's article was about Alzheimer Disease and it feels amazing to be among doctors and clinical research scientists that are part of a human effort to combat disease. Humans, as a race, do some many things wrong, but I feel more optimistic when I think about the things we do right, like advances in medicine, science, technology, and space exploration! (Been watching too much Star Trek lately....)
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