Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Fire In the Night - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

The POT Calling the Kettle Black?

Hawkeye football....oh Hawkeye football....

We can't get our act together on the field and it's even worse off the field. 14 players have had 26 charges between them in less than year. It's crazy.

Last Saturday, two Hawkeye football players were arrested for possession of drugs. One player had 21 doses of oxycodone and 24 doses of carisoprodol. He was with unlawful possession but also with a drug-tax stamp violation.

You may have had the initial reaction I did: What the hell is a DRUG-tax stamp violation? They're taxing something that is deemed illegal? After checking with my live-in encyclopedia and getting a limited understanding, I started doing my own research.

That is exactly what they're doing. Drug dealers are required to buy a physical stamp that has to be placed on your drug of choice right after purchase. Because, yes, obeying the law is high priority for someone already participating in illegal activities. It makes utterly no sense to me. It's like the government is covering both bases. On one hand, it is illegal, BUT, on the off chance people are going to still deal drugs, we want a rake of the take. Really, who is stupid enough to walk into a governmental agency to basically announce to the world I'm dealing drugs, please, arrest me here. Now to be fair, supposedly names and addresses can't be shared with law enforcement. But to be honest, I wouldn't put anything past them.

What's even worse, the drug-tax stamp violation a class D felony. The two initial drug charges are only misdemeanors. It's just not adding up. What's REALLY the important offense here?

I'm hoping Kirk Ferentz can get his and the team's act together. It's not helping the football program or the university as a whole to have punks like this running around campus.

Monday, February 25, 2008

What's With the Limp?

I'm hoping the week won't be as bad as it started off. This morning in the shower, I dropped the Sam's Club-bulk-size condition on my foot. It landed directly on the bone and immediately started swelling up. I'm screaming and hobbling around since the pain was horrendous. And then I start to feel it coming on. I lose my vision and start getting sick to my stomach. So I'm trying not to pass out with my head between my knees while standing on one foot. I'm sure I was a sight. All passed and I'm left with a swollen, extremely painful foot and a nice limp all thanks to some conditioner. I think I'm prone to freak accidents, but that's a story for another day.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Mini-Vacation

We're in Iowa for the weekend. Our friends Scott and Ricki are coming down from Iowa City. Yay!

That's it, see you Monday.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Campathetic

Oh wow, I just saw a commercial for some sort of disinfecting cleaner. It was touted as killing 99% of household germs, while up on the screen flashes some sort of computer-generated, faux bacteria. And yes, I analyzed what kind of bacteria it was. This gives you a slight indication about how microbiology needs to end…soon. I’m losing my mind.

Oh, it was a curved rod with a single flagellum. I’m going with campylobacter.

If only the test on Friday would be that easy…..sigh.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Go Green.....Swimsuits!

The big thing now is to "Go Green" and try to "Erase Carbon Footprints". I won't pretend I completely understand it or well, even a little bit, but I do my part I suppose. We recycle every week . We bought a Civic because of the great gas mileage. I planted a tree once.......

Anyways, I was reading through a friend of a friend's blog about his New Year's resolutions. One his requests of his friends and family was whenever one of their old light bulbs burnt out that they would replace it with CFL bulb. Not an unfair request. He even explained that he was saving $30 a month on the electricity bill, which is $360 a year. Great, you can do a lot with the extra savings. He even suggested that $360 is the price for a Caribbean cruise, so take a nice vacation while going green. WHAT? Are you kidding me? I about blew a gasket. Does anyone else not see the hypocrisy in this statement?

All that energy and pollution you saved with your CFL bulb just went down the drain with the fuel the 200 ton ship just burned to cruise your butt around the Caribbean. Really? You're not helping your cause. So please, by all means, go green, but do be so naive to believe it is REALLY making a difference at that point in time.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

What We Did Today

At least one of us enjoyed ourselves.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Tranquility - Grand Cayman

August 2007

Early V-Day

Anthony is in Dallas on business for the week, which means he'll be gone for Valentine's Day. It's actually not a big deal to me. I'm studying for my exam next week, so I wouldn't have much time to celebrate anyways. Plus I've never been one to celebrate Hallmark holidays (don't let this out, the Halls pay for my school!)

I do buy cards for everyone that is close to me, though. They may not ACTUALLY make it to people on the holiday, but it's the thought that counts, right? So Mom, Dad, and Allison, you've been pre-warned this year.

And I don't just buy any old card. I really try to find the card that says everything much better than I can. I'll spend 20 minutes reading every card in the aisle just to find the perfect one.

I bought Anthony's cards this weekend. I found two from me and just couldn't decide on one, so I got them both. I also bought him one from Kimble because I've gone crazy and become pathetically in love with my cat. Well I woke up early to see him off this morning and gave him the cards. I don't know if it was the 6 am departure or it was the Kimble card, but all he could do was stare at me and shake his head when he opened it. Ah, he loved it.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

JayDoc-ing

I had my first real experience of actually feeling like I really help somebody working at the free clinic. Sure, I pass out antibiotics and do physicals and the people are always appreciative, but on Wednesday, I really feel like a made a difference.

An older man with diabetes came into the clinic because he had been out of insulin for a week. After taking his history, I started with my physical exam. He denied any of the major complications of diabetes, such as changes in vision, numbness or tingling in the feet, or chest pain. Everything checked out normal and then I told him to take off his shoes so I could take a look at his feet. He was reluctant to do so. Once he took off his socks, I found out why. He had a major injury to his big toe. It looked horrible, smelled infected, and was obviously spreading up his leg. After I got some labs drawn and his blood sugar was about 3 times what it should be, I knew we were even more in trouble. The doctor agreed that the situation was very serious between his high sugar and seriously infected toe. We sent him straight to the ER. I haven't heard what happened to him. I hope everything worked out for him, though.

I was really relieved I didn't assume everything was normal like the patient wanted me to believe and only do a cursory exam. Really, if I hadn't insisted, he would have walked out with a festering infection and there could have been really horrible consequences.

Times like these really help me get through all the studying and the other headaches that come with medical school. It reminds me about what's really important.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: "Paris" At Night - Las Vegas

November 2007

Babies and Giants

I finally ventured into Kansas this weekend.

Yes, it took me over a year and half.

My good friend from medical school is having twins.

Yes, medical school AND twins.

Shannon and I left in the morning to drive to Wichita. The thought of the three hour drive wasn’t bad. But it turns out, it is really BORING. Not that we didn’t have good conversations, we did. It’s just…Kansas…wow…there is nothing except a few random cows and miles upon miles of flat, flat land. I’m sure it’s beautiful in the summer and spring, but winter….BORING. Maybe I’ll actually find out in another year and a half.

The shower was nice. I think Delane was excited to see everyone. We only played two baby shower games. Relief for me! But, Shannon was actually excited about the infamous shower games. We had dinner with a friend down there and started the drive back. I’ve got so used to driving in the city that the pitch black roads were slightly challenging to get used to. More good conversation and we were back in traffic, lights, and civilization in no time.

Anthony and I went to a Super Bowl party on Sunday. Our realtor, Gary, and his wife were the hosts. We became good friends with them after our house fiasco. The exciting part is that Gary actually played NFL football…for the Giants. Yes, I still get slightly star struck. Yes, it’s stupid. He wasn’t a starter and he doesn’t like to talk about it. But he has a SB ring and that’s good enough for me to get all googly-eyed.

The party was fun. Good food. Nice people. I think Gary and I were the only two people rooting for the Giants. I’m a fan of the Mannings and have never liked Brady and especially Randy Moss.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Very little studying, but nice and relaxing. Now time to catch up!