*sigh*

Well, I know it has been quite a while since my last post, but things have been crazy at school lately. Last night I got my thrid organic exam back and I got the best score I've gotten so far in the second semester of organic, which was exciting. Granted, this score was the same as the lowest score I ever received on an exam in the first semester of orgo. It was still a cause for celebration (which of course manifests itself at the end of a quarter as a good night's sleep). I turned in my final paper in ethology this week, a review of the literature on upstream migration in salmon. As a result of my biology term papers this year, I have become an expert on orchidae in Peru and the mechanisms of upstream migration in salmon. I am confident that some day this new-found knowledge will become crucial to my survival :). Perhaps I will be lost in the Ecuadorian amazon and find a lost salmon whose nose led him astray and have to use the local orchid diversity to help him find his way out to the ocean and to the correct stream so his tired semelparous body can spawn before it perishes. Hey, it's one step closer to happening since I found out yesterday I was accepted to the study abroad program in Ecuador.
Now, every sophomore at K received letters announcing their accpetance to or rejection from the study abroad program they spent months applying for (or at least several hours on February 11th). Everyone that is, except the poor soul at box 343. Study abroad is the main hallmark of a K education so pretty much everything anyone talks about winter quarter of their sophomore year revolves around study abroad. So imagine the thoughts in this poor girl's head when all of her friends were celebrating their fat stuffed envelopes and she didn't get anything. Not even a thin one. Thanks to the wonderful staff of the mail hut, her acceptance to study abroad in Rome was placed in box 243 instead. Of course, because of the extended hours kept by our wonderful mailroom, she will have to wait until Monday evening to find the envelope finally stuffed into her box. I feel pretty bad for her.
Alright, back to orgo and ethology studying. Perhaps I should practice the piano for that final as well. Grrr. In less than 5 days I will be on a train endlessly annoying my fellow passengers, but headed for home. Granted, it will take me seven days before I actually arrive home, but who's counting :)

Good to know...

So in a futile attempt to avoid homework, I tried mom's random object quiz. And, as you can see by the result below, the results were less than wonderful on my self-esteem. Yep, I am toilet paper, used by all, apparently:

You are Toilet Paper. You are used and taken advantage of by a lot of people, including your friends. They make you be the one to clean up their messes in their life. But the only reason that this happens is because of your kindness and commitment. These are the qualities most members of the opposite sex look for, which makes you hot. Yes, toilet paper is hot. But be careful that your lover doesn't use you to their advantage, and be sure that they are not seeking too much control. Remember: Toilet paper is used by many, but is most often considered valuable when it is not there in time of need. Most compatible with: sock.

So, now that I know what random object I am (did I mention I think this quiz is pretty stupid), I should probably write my last organic lab report (!) I am really excited.

A little later...
I wrote a question for my SI session yesterday evening that I am still really impressed with. Yes, I did spend several hours of my Sunday afternoon researching small bats that inhabit Wind Cave :) Test your ecology skills and see if you can answer it if you're in need of a distraction:

Maybe I can put off veterinary school forever....

Since I was in 5th grade, I have known that I would eventually be a veterinarian. Although I have always assumed that would lead me to a clinical position, recently I have been thinking about teaching and attempting a dual DVM and PhD program through veterinary school. I also really like ecology so I have been thinking about getting a master's degree before veterinary school and I really want to join the peace corps at some point before I get too tied down with debt, a family, etc. By my count that would put me at no less than 31 before actually graduating with a veterinary degree. But today, we had a guest speaker in my ethology class talking about the kakapo bird in New Zealand. An enourmous effort has been mounted to save this bird and we were talking about ways to use observations about its behavior to help in conservation efforts. It was a really interesting talk in and of itself but at the end of the show he talked about opportunities in through the New Zealand embassy to do biological/conservation research for the Ministry of Conservation for a year after college. Basically, from how he described it you live at a biological station and do research (mainly consisting of hiking around the New Zealand backcountry and watching animals or counting plants). It sounds like a blast to me. So now I will be 32 :) Anyway, as a result of my summer research last year I discovered I am really interested in aquatic medicine because it is still in the experimental stages. My mom likes to tease me about this interest, tellimg me that she will take her future goldfish in to me to have catract surgery, but low and behold a few weeks ago there was a segment on NPR about aquatic veterinarians. I think it is kind of funny, but it is short and cool, too. Well, in the spirit of things aquatic, I am going to go see Life Aquatic with my good friend Reid in a few minutes. Happy Birthday, Becca!

bowling with drunk professors

Ahh, the joys of Tuesdays. Before 11:00am this morning I had written a chemistry lab report, drafted a pre-lab, driving a biology class to and from the arboretum, and attended my two hour spanish class. After a successful organic chemistry lab (we actually finished on time and my IR showed a pure product) it was 4:00 and time to do more homework. I worked a little on my research for this summer, carefully avoiding all organic chemistry studying, and soon it was time for some bowling. ACS sponsored a bowling night tonight but it was really a drinking with your professors night that just happened to be at a bowling alley. I really suck at bowling, but after a few pointers I almost broke 100 ;)
It's pretty amusing to be the designated driver for the person who is going to teach your chemistry class in a few hours.

Silly Californians :)

I was picking up some prospective students at the airport yesterday who happened to be from California. Like any good Oregonian, I am rightly suspicious of Californians, but I was trying to be cordial. It just happened to be snowing in Kalamazoo, not too unexpected for February, and so their plane was delayed several hours. When they finally did arrive (after I had carefully attempted to understand the deeper meanings in my spanish readings, read every sentance in the visitor's guide to Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, as well as browsed through all the housing lisitngs in the county) the looks on their faces made it clear that something was horribly wrong. They had never seen snow. Now, I am sure they had seen snow in movies and maybe read about it in a book, but these girls had never actually experienced the thrill of knowing you will never stop before the intersection because you are on ice, or the embarassment associated with painfully falling down a flight of stairs because you slipped. To me, snow is equivalent to winter, there is really no separating them, so it was incomprehensable to me that someone could never have seen snow. I was supposed to just drop them off at the student center where they would meet their host, but one of their hosts never showed up. I didn't really know what else to do except to invite her to stay with me instead. I normally love hosting prospectives, but given my incredible ability to procrastinate, I was not prepared to spend the evening showing someone around the college. I decided, however, to forget about my homework and let her experience snow. Needless to say, we spent most of the night outside. It is amazing to witness somone's first experience sledding, or building a snowman, or starting a snowball fight. I think she ended up having a good time, at least.
As a result, I was up at 5am this morning to study for my ethology exam. The exam ended up going pretty well (I hope) but by the time I got to work, I had been up for almost 12 hours and it just felt like a really long day. I alsways feel like arriving at work is like the start of a new day. Then coming home from work is like the start of a third day, since I do homework for hours on end. *sigh* It can be tough fitting three days into one.
Random fact for the day: look at the cool graph showing the planet breathing (the up and down of the CO2--more CO2 in the winter because all the green plants in the Northern Hemisphere are no longer photosynthesizing) and clear evidence for an increase in CO2 over time. There is another version of this graph that superimposes global temperatures, showing an interesting correlation that suggests global warming.

How to successfuly avoid homework

1. Wake up early on a beautiful day and go for a run
2. While running, go over in your head (or out loud if you are brave) all the homework you need to finish today in order to have a sane and maybe even relaxing day tomorrow
   
3. Because you just ran and are now all sweaty, take a relaxing shower
4. Even though you have over an hour until you have to be at work, consciously avoid productive activities by eating a long and drawn out breakfast
5. Catch an early bus to work so you can suprise your coworkers by your productivity
6. Stay after clinic closes doing miscelaneous chores (laundry, washing walls, etc)
7. Walk home instead of taking the bus because it is a sunny day
8. Organize your class materials so you figure out how overwhelming the homework situation is
9. Start laundry
10. Eat dinner with friends
11. Chat with your mom, or other neglected friend
12. Pick up and fold laundry
13. Have coffee with boyfriend
14. Go to sleep so you can get up early tomorrow and successfully avoid homework for yet another day
    

Secret motives of veterinarians

"Woody?" I called out in the waiting area. A large but skinny golden retriever bounded up to me. "Hi", I said to its owner, "let's get his I mean her weight before we go into a room". I thought Woody was more of a masculine name but a quick glance at her paperwork while 'his' slid easily out of my mouth made me second guess. Woody was a very hairy but kind ten-year-old dog who had a really gross bleeding mass on her right rear leg. But I try never to assume why a client has decided to bring their pet in to the vet clinic: "so how has Woody been doing? I see she has a good-sized growth on her leg. How long has that been there?" Most clients respond in short sentances, "oh, ***** is great, wow, I have never noticed that lump before. Hmm, isn't that interesting" and I still have no idea why they are here. This woman, however, was different. She turned to me and quietly but intently said, "the growth has been there for about a month and when I talked with a veterinarian here she told me that we should get it removed soon, but I just don't know. I talked with my husband and he doesn't want to pay an enormous amount of money only to find out that the growth is cancerous and have to put Woody to sleep". As she continued, something struck me about the way she was speaking. She was being honest and sincere and it was disquieting to me. She said that after she was told that the results of a fine needle aspiration were inconclusive, she wondered if we really didn't find anything but were just trying to scam her into surgery anyway. I sat on the floor of the exam room scratching Woody's belly and explained to her how I perceived our clinic; as a very reputable place where veterinarians are willing to admit when they do not have the expertise to make an accurate diagnosis. I talked with her about some of the options she still had adn the relative costs of all of them. After a few minutes, I told her that the veterinarian who was going to see her was particularly adept at finding inexpensive ways to treat pets and that I completely trusted her to be honest in her recommendations. We ended up removing the growth in a fifteen minute surgery in the afternoon and Woody went home an hour or so later. During the surgery, while watching Woody's vital signs, I combed her hair, shaved off some matts and clipped her nails. I really felt a connection with her owner and wanted to ensure that she left with a good impression of our clinic. It was really interesting because I have never felt that wrapped up in a client's impression of my work before; usually I just focus on the animal.
Well, since it is a Friday night and I work in the morning, I am off to bed. No partying for this working student.