Where Are You Christmas?

It all started on Christmas Eve, December 24th... I got up for work like any normal day, so it didn't really sink in til after I got home around 1pm. My dad was kinda silly and decided to save his shopping for the day before Christmas. Once he got home from work, we headed to the mall and did his last-minute shopping. Compared to other years, it went pretty quick and he was able to find exactly what he was looking for. So, we headed back home to do the wrapping. My mom didn't come home from work in a good mood, but that's nothing new. Dad got lots of wrapping done for her, so that seemed to cheer her up a little bit. Then it was time for church. It was a little weird since my sister and her husband weren't able to make it this year, but still all went well. It was good for them to be able to spend more time with his family, since there are multiple days with our relatives through-out the holiday season. After church, we all met up at my parents house for some yummy gingerbread dessert. Then it was time to dream of sugar plums...

Christmas day suprisingly went well too. Those of you who haven't known me for awhile know that this is a first for several years. I'm betting it's because no one was coming over yesterday. In other words, there was nothing to get ready for or clean the house for. We weren't rushed through opening presents or anything. It was very relaxing. We spent the afternoon playing Uno. We spent almost 2 hours playing the same hand! It was insane! It was a lot of fun though. Anyways, now we have my dad's relatives coming over for Christmas tonight and my mom's relatives coming over tomorrow. Now is when the real fun begins **sarcasm** Wish me luck everyone, I'm going to need it. My mom has been flipping out all day to the point of my depression returning. Once again I say, I hate Christmas. After going through this year after year, I dont think I will every like Christmas again. And I have my wonderful, pessimistic, border-line insane mom to thank for that.

Break Time

It has been a pretty relaxing few days, even though the weekend started out on a sad note. First off, I actually had 3 days off last week!! Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday were spent scrapbooking and cleaning in my pjs. It was pretty awesome to not have to worry about going anywhere or getting dressed for a couple days. It was relaxing time that I was greatly in need of. However later on Thursday, I had to say good-bye to a good friend of mine for about a year and a half. He decided to enlist in the air force, and he heads down to basics in a couple days. We met for lunch to catch up and say good-bye. It was good to see him and lunch was yummy, but I'll miss him over the next 18 months. Hopefully all goes well for him, which I'm sure it will. :)



Friday was another not-too-happy day, or so it started out. I had to be up early and head to the cities for some Christmas shopping. What I planned to get was no longer in stock, so I had to find a plan B. I'm still hoping that this plan B works out, so let's hope it all works out. Then I was off to school for a mock exam of boards in January. I decided to go in completely blind and unprepared just to see how much I would remember from my internship and classes and everything. I guess I didn't better than I thought I would on the mock exam, but I didn't do that great, or so I thought. Supposedly, anything above 65% is awesome on the mock exam. I averaged 68%, so I guess I did really well! After the exam, I met up with some school friends at IHOP (where else??) for dinner. It was great to catch up and see them again, even if the weather sucked. It too me almost 2 hours to get home! And usually it only takes an hour and a half or so. But I did make it home eventually.

The rest of the weekend has been spent working and decorating. Although, I took a break from the decoration last night to go to "Wonder of Nativities" last night with my mom. It was a free holiday activity that was worth checking out. There were over 200 figurine nativities from all over the world. It was really neat to see how countries all over the world create a nativity. Some were handmade, while others were crystal statues. It was so cool, and definately will become a new holiday tradition.

Temper Tantrums

Is anyone out there living with a mom who is going through menopause but in denial? I am, and it sucks. Just about every day she decides to flip out over something little and generally meaningless, and I'm getting so tired of it. Tonight it happened yet again. It all started, like it usually starts, with something my dad said jokingly. Being the crazy person she is, my mom took it seriously and threw a fit, stomping off down the hallway and slamming doors. About 5-10 mins later, she returns and starts complaining about the previous topic, my dad tells her to calm down, and she replies with an annoyed "FINE" and claims she won't talk anymore. A few mins later, she returns and the same thing happens all over again. This continues all night long until everyone goes to bed, and it's sooo annoying!!! If she is going to drop the topic, then just drop it! I don't understand why she can't follow through and just let it go. Flipping out and complaining about it doesn't do any good. It's not like anything can be done come 9pm anyways, so what's the point? All it does is stress out her and everyone around her. It just increases tension and makes everyone even more annoyed than to begin with. I was so happy earlier because I finally had a day off today, and then she decides to throw a little tantrum like a 4yr old, causing my dad and I to go to bed feeling frustrated, resulting in very little sleep. It's not good for anyone, yet she still can get it through her stupid little head.

So I ask all of your bloggers out there, does anyone else have this going on? My mom is over 50, and is clearly in the beginning stages of menopause. But she is in denial. When she has her mood swings, she claims she is as happy as can be and doesn't even realize what is going on. How do I get her to understand what is happening? How do I get her to calm down over the little things? How do I keep the depression away from the household? How do I keep myself sane during her outbreaks? I don't know how much more of this I can take. I have survived more than enough years of her outbreaks, and each one pushes me more and more closer to the edge. So if anyone out there has any advice, I would love to hear it!

A New Beginning

The internship came to an end this past Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. I can't believe the 3 months are over! It went by so fast, but I am definately glad that it's over. The days were long even though it went by fast as a whole. I learned a lot as an intern, but I still have more to learn. Most of you have heard that I was lucky enough to be hired on at the clinic. I am so releived to know that I have a job after the internship! No job hunting, at least not yet. I'm not sure how long I'll be down here at the clinic, but it will be for at least the next year. I plan to get as much experience as I can, and the clinic that I'm at is just the place. Not only do they see just about any species out there, they also have high tech equipement: all bloodwork machines, UA machine, digital radiography, chemotherapy, dentistry, laser surgery, and cremation services. Digital dental radiography is also in process. At least once a month, a speaker comes in to give a seminar which counts for continued education credits. Plus, the staff is friendly and likes to have fun while remaining professional. So sure, I didn't plan on ending up in a clinic after graduation. However, if I could be working in a clinic, it would be this one. The only thing I'm missing is rehabilitation, but I only have to drive about 20 minutes for that one. We'll see if I can find time to add a 4th job to my work schedule...

Another Week is Over

At least as an intern it is. I still have to work at Kohls tomorrow and then my usual weekend hours at the clinic. It wasn't a too exciting week. I was scheduled to be up front at the desk Monday and Tuesday, so those days were spent checking clients in and out and spending time on the phone. We are still cleaning out files so there were lots of phone calls reminding people of overdue vaccines. It wasn't very exciting. Wednesday was just as fun. The whole morning was supposed to be spent in exploratory surgery, but instead I was helping with an appointment and ended up in the lab. It was kinda sad, but at the same time not so bad cuz I still got in a lot of practice with urine. That afternoon I was up front again, so it was more phone calls. Today was a normal day of appointments, so not much excitement again haha As you can see, it was a pretty boring week. As is the life of an intern. Although, I only have a week and a half left of interning!!! It's crazy to think that my 12 weeks are almost up.

Lyme Sulfur Dips

Today was the slowest day of my entire internship. I had 2 appointments all day with my assigned doctor, and it was a 10 hour day! My morning started with cleaning. I was lucky enough to scrub down all 6 lab rooms; including, the counters, cubbards, walls, tables, and benchs. I also had to wipe down the canisters, computers, and ledges. It was pretty darn exciting. Half-way through my cleaning spree, I was interrupted to help with some kitty lyme dips. I've never done a lyme dip before, so I was all for helping with a new experience. Little did I know this experience would make me smell the rest of the day, and then some. Lyme sulfer smells horrible! I'm sure most of you know what sulfer smells like, so imagine that about 100 times stronger. The smell is horrifically breath-taking, as in it literally takes your breath away, suffocating you. It was bad. Anyways, we had to do it to 2 cats. It was hard enough keeping one cat in the bathtub, let alone having to do it a second time. All of us got some lyme dip on us, so of course we would smell bad too. I came home and showered; I scrubbed the crap out of my arm. And I still smell bad. Hopefully some perfume with drown out the smell when I go to work tomorrow at Kohls. Something tells me that they won't be quite as understanding.

On another note, the rest of the day wasn't very exciting. I finished cleaning out the rest of the lab rooms by the time my first appointment arrived. After they were all checked-out, I took over the lab duties. I ran some bloodwork, heartworm tests, and fecals. It wasn't too slow in the lab, so I was glad when they sent the lab tech home for the day. After she left is when the stuff started piling in. Then I finished the day going through paper files. As you can tell, it was pretty exciting, hense the sarcasm. There's bound to be one or two of them throughout the internship though. It was nice to have a slow day, even though it wasn't very exciting.

Kitty Dentals

Yesterday started a new month at the clinic, so I have been assigned to help out a new doctor/tech team. Sadly, I won't get to see all the crazy surgeries or exotic animals near as much this month, but it will still be great experience working with the youngest doctor at the clinic. She went to school with my sister, so I knew her before starting my internship. Anyways, her surgery day is monday. Yesterday we didn't have any surgeries set up, but there were 2 dentals scheduled. Since I'm in my 3rd and last month of interning, I was able to do both the dentals. At least half of each. The tech did one side of the mouth to show me how they do them at the clinic, and I did the other side of the mouth. I admit, I was a little slow, but it was the first time I've done dentals at the clinic. Yea I did them at school, but that was with different equipment and a different procedure. At school, I probed to check pocket depth in the gums, explored teeth pockets, scaled the crowns to remove tarter, and polished the crowns. At the clinic, you start scaling right away. Then you polish the teeth and probe the pockets. The explorer is only used if absolutely necessary. None the less, I was able to perform the dentals, and they went well. Luckily, the teeth weren't very bad, so no xrays or extractions were necessary. They were both routine dentals.

Today wasn't near as exciting. I was scheduled to be up front today since the doctor I'm with had the day off. It was pretty slow since only one doctor was taking appointments before 1pm. The other doctor on today was in surgery til then. Luckily, I had lots of projects to work on during the slow stretch. I made free treat bags of t/d for dogs and cats at first. Then I was lucky enough to organize the city license certificates to mail out to the government center. I also go to work on frontline coupons for those that bought 6 applications to get one free. Towards the end of the night I wrote up new client cards to mail out to our newest clients welcoming them to the clinic family. It was a pretty exciting day as you can tell. I'm down to 3 weeks left of the internship!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I feel so bad about not writing for the past 2 weeks, but it has so crazy! Some of you may have heard that I wasn't so nice regarding my graduation present to myself. I decided to give myself an upper respiratory viral infection cuz I just love myself that much. Anyways, I was sick for a week and a half. It wasn't fun. I'm still waiting for the tickle to go away for good. Aside form being sick, nothing too exciting happened until Halloween this past Friday. I was lucky enough to have the day off, so I ran some errands and took the dogs to the pet stores in town for some free doggie treats. That night I stayed in to hand out candy. However, we got a whole 5 trick-or-treaters. The first one "kidnapped" my mom to go to a haunted graveyard near by. The remaining 4 were all the same family, my little cousins. The rest of the night I played Scooby-doo clue and watched scary movies. It was laid back, but still a good Halloween.

Last night was when the real excitement happened. A family friend has an annual Halloween party the weekend of Halloween. This year's theme was Las Vegas, or as it said on their sign "Lost Vegas." My parents and I went as Blue Man Group and it was awesome! We had some of the best costumes there with our pure blue face, hands, and hair. At the party, there was a roulette wheel and a black jack table. All guests were given $200 to gamble at the party. Towards the end of the night I decided to hit up roulette. I bought in at $100 and cashed in with $18000. Now is only it was real money! I was pretty proud of myself though, cuz I never spent the other $100. I came home with a lot more money, even if it was paper :P Depending on how many chips we had determined how many raffle tickets we got. I got 9 raffle tickets for the drawing, and I won! For once, I was acutally lucky! My prize was a scarecrow head thats all fiberoptic. It was pretty cool, and its fallish so he can stay up past this weekend.

It was a great weekend, ending with daylight savings time. Since we didn't get home til 1am, it was a good thing we gained an extra hour of sleep last night. Time for yet another week of intering to start tomorrow. Only 3 1/2 weeks left of interning! And I guess til Thanksgiving too. Better get the holiday shopping started.

Graduation

It was one long, busy day yesterday. It started with getting up around 7:30am and getting ready for the big day. My sister and brother-in-law came over around 9am. My mom, sister, and I headed to the Women's Fall Expo while the guys hung out at home. It was a free event with lots of free stuff: samples, pens, and other fun stuff. One stand was giving away reusable shopping bags if you signed a petition and had ur picture taken telling why you would use the bag. So my sister and I did it and got free shopping bags. Too bad they didn't come with groceries in them! Another stand was giving away the new energysaver lightbulbs! So that was exciting to come across.

Anyways, after the expo, we headed back to the house to get my dad and brother-in-law. We then began the journey to the cities. Once up there, we got abunch of pre-grad photos around my school. Most of them were outside, but there were some cool shots taken on the staircase. Around 12:30pm, the journey continued to IHOP for a cheap, yummy lunch. At IHOP, we met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. I stayed with them for half my schooling, so it was nice to see them again. And lunch at IHOP is ALWAYS yummy! I got my usual stuffed french toast topped with strawberries.

We arrived at the school around 3pm to check in for the ceremony, and then there we more waiting til the ceremony actually started at 4pm. We took some photos outside to pass the time. Once the doors opened, my family went to find a spot to sit while I ventured behind stage to line up. Surprisingly, the ceremony was pretty quick. There should have been about 220 people graduating, but barely 100 decided to attend. Really the only bad part about it was the speaker. It was the President of the entire university, not just my campus. He opened his speech explaining how he knows that people do not look forward to the speaker because they talk forever and ever and ever... Yet, he spoke for almost a half hour! It started out interesting, but it wasn't the best at keeping my attention. Upon handing out the diplomas, each student got a picture of them recieving the diploma as well as posing between the American flag and the Minnesotan flag. After the ceremony, there was really yummy cake and not so yummy lemonade.

And then it was FINALLY time for ValleyScare, the Halloween Haunt of Valleyfair! And it was awesome! We made it for the starlight prices, so we saved about 10 bucks if not more per person. We went on some rides and through all the haunted attractions. These include Blood Creek Cemetary, Mr. Cleaver's Bloodshed, Hellside Farm, Carnage at Crimson Isle, Chateau du Damn, CarnEvil in 3D, and the Mangler's Asylum. We also watched a Ritual of Fire VooDoo show outside. I've been to it the last two years, and its amazing. The haunted attractions always have the same theme, but the trails are different every season. The show has changed too, but it is always hypnotizing. For those of you that love Halloween, I highly recommend checking it out. It's awesome!

After the Halloween fun, we headed to White Castle for a midnight snack. And because my dad needed his "crave case." So my car isn't gonna smell very good for the next few days. Hopefully I can get it aired out soon! Other than that, it was a great day. And it's exciting to say that I'm now a college graduate. Too bad I don't have a diploma to show for it! I won't get that piece of paper until I'm done with my internship, so I'll have it in a couple months if I'm lucky.

BTW...I've gots a new countdown for all you bloggers out there. Since I reached my first day off a couple days ago, it's time for a new one to start. So, today started that new countdown: 39 days of working until a day off. Since I had today out of the way, there's only 38 days left. And that just happens to be the same countdown til Thanksgiving. Better start that Christmas shopping!

First Day Off in 26 Days

After working 25 days in a row, I finally got a day off today. It was amazing! But first, let's talk about my last 2 days of working. On Wednesday, I did my first chemo patient. The poor dog has lymphoma reoccur, so chemo was necessary again. I wasn't aware of how much went into chemo for dogs. Besides the dog being hooked up to fluids the whole time, both me and the doctor had to full "gown-up" with a gown, goggles, gloves, and masks. It was very hot in the room with all that extra protection, but it was still interesting. The chemo drug was injected through the IV catheter over a time span of about 20 minutes, so it was hot for quite awhile. My goggles were even fogging up! But it was interesting. Aside from the chemo, the breed of the day was sharpeis. 4 appointments in a row involved the breed, in addition to 3 appointments later that day. It was crazy to see that many in one day! On Thursday, I was very busy with appointments. For a couple house, the doc and I went to a near by shelter for puppy shots. There were several labs ranging from 8 to 12 weeks old. They were mostly black, with a couple chocolate and one yellow. They were all so cute and playful! Very well socialized.

Anyways, today was my first day off in 26 days. It was pretty relaxing. I had to go to the cities to pick up my cap and gown for tomorrow. I also met a friend for lunch to celebrate since she can't come tomorrow. She is going to homecoming with her boyfriend instead, so I guess he is more important :P Other than that, I've been relaxing at home in my pjs with my puppies. I'm so excited for tomorrow! It's the big day. And don't worry, I'll be sure to share all the details when I get back.

Blood, Feces, and Urine

In case you couldn't tell from the title, the past 2 days have been spent working in the lab as an intern. I have done fecal exams in the past during my internship, so I have them down really well. However, I haven't done much with the blood or urine throughout my internship, let alone the machines. So I have been working side-by-side with the lab tech learning how to work the crazy machines. I was able to spin down some blood to check electrolytes and kidney/liver enzymes and spin down hematocrit tubes to obtain packed cell volume (pcv) values. I also learned how to work the CBC machine to gather RBC and WBC numbers. Aside from the blood machines, I have ran quite a few heartworm and feline leukemia tests. Luckily, only one was positive! Well, at least in the last 2 days. The poor dog was positive for lyme disease and anaplasmosis, both of which are tick-bourne diseases. The poor dog wasn't on any preventative, and now the owners will pay a whole lot more now. Other than the blood and feces, I have learned how to use the urinalysis machine and perform a UA. Back in school, we would have to analyze the urine strips on our own. At the clinic, there is a machine to do it for me! I simply apply urine to the strip and stick it in the machine. Within minutes, out pops a piece of paper with values. It's very nice to have around. During the slow times, I helped fill meds at the pharmacy and cleaned out rooms. It's been a busy 2 days.

Now for the latest countdown... I have only 2 days left of working until time off!!! And I graduate on Saturday!! It's gonna be a great weekend :)

Let's... Play... HOCKEY!!!

Last night was the first home season opener for the Minnesota Wild, and it was an awesome way to start the season! We played Boston, so of course there were quite a few Boston fans. The best part was that some of them were yelling for wild fans to go home. It was a home game, so we were already home! Boston people are silly. Anyways, it was a pretty intense game. First period, Boston scored the first goal. Towards the end, we tied it up 1-1. Second period had all the excitement in it. We scored a second goal a few minutes into it. That was followed by a third, and a fourth. 2 of which were power play goals! It was AWESOME! Sadly, Boston decided to score 2 more goals in third period. However, we still one 4-3. It was a great way to start the season. Since it was the home opener, all the fans got free stuff. Upon entering Xcel before the game, all the fans received a MN Wild calender, complete with all games and hockey events listed in it. Each month is a different player with basic info: birthday, hometown, ect. Since were were NW Division champs last year, the banner was hung during pre-game. After the game, all the fans got a mini banner. It is pretty sweet. Yay for fan appreciation! :)

BTW... I'm down to 4 days left of working until a day off. And that means, I'm halfway through my internship! It also means that I'm less than a week away from graduating! It's gonna be a pretty exciting week, or at least the weekend to come will be. Have a great Monday everyone!

5 Weeks Down, 7 To Go

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last posting. It has been a crazy week! Especially with me working every day. Last Thursday was a pretty intense surgery day. The first kitty was a 4-month old neuter victim. Since kitty neuters take a whole 5 mins, they are just masked down. As the kitty was waking up, he decided not to wake up fully and passed out again. Next thing I know, the kitty stopped breathing and was turning blue. I freaked out! Luckily, I had a tube on the counter just in case, so the doctor quickly passed the tube and started doing CPR. Within a few seconds, the kitty started breathing again and all was well. It was a good ending, but we were paranoid the rest of the day. It was a great teaching experience for me though, cuz now I know even more signs to watch for during recovery. And just how important monitoring throughout recovery is.

The rest of the weekend was spent working, as usual. Today started a new month, so I started with a new doctor today. This doctor just happens to be owner of the clinic, and he gets the weirdest scenarios. Today we saw a sun conure for a wing trim and a nail trim. I've handled conures before with thanks to the most awesomest lab partner in the world. Her green cheek conure is soo friendly. The other unusual animal was a box turtle. The poor "girl" had severe myelitis, aka a really bad bacterial infection in her shell. The shell was rotting and peeling off on the bottom and abscessing on top. Hopefully the antibiotics help her, cuz they 've only had her for about 4 months.

Thats the extent of the excitement in the past week. Tomorrow should be just as exciting, cuz Tuesday is my new surgery day. I'll be sure to post all the weird stuff I see tomorrow. BTW, only 10 days left til I have a day off!!

7 Days Down, 18 To Go

I have officially survived my first 7 day work week, or at least I think I have. I was able to sleep in today, but it was still 7:30am when I got up this morning. It's kinda sad when that early is considered sleeping in. Anyways, it was a pretty easy work weekend. Friday was spent working at Kohls. It was an associate shop weekend, so I went shopping after work for some goodies. I got a couple Christmas presents out of the way too. Early Christmas shopping is always a good feeling knowing that some things are out of the way. On Saturday I was up at 6am to run around the neighborhood before work. It was so refreshing in the morning, especially since the sun wasn't even up yet. But it was a great way to start the day. Work was pretty slow. It was a full day of appointments, but they all went a good half our long. Today wasn't too exciting either. Work was basically just checking out boarding patients and taking their owners money. However, I got paid this weekend! Since it wasn't part of my internship, it was paid. So I guess 7 days a week won't be sooo bad, but I'm really looking forward to that 2 or 3 day weekend. Only 18 more days to go...

Cockers Galore with a Dash of Endoscopies

This week has been pretty slow work-wise. Supposedly the "busy" season has come and gone. It's kinda sad, cuz I really like it being busy. There is always something to do and someone to find. Instead, I find myself staring aimlessly at the day's blank schedule with no projects to be done. So I've been wandering up to the front desk a lot since there's always phones to answer up there. Yesterday I spent all morning scanning old files into the computer. Since the clinic is digital, all records are on the computer. Therefore, all faxes received from other clinics need to be scanned into the client's file instead of filed away in folders. It's more work, but takes up A LOT less space. So I spent 4 hours scanning yesterday, and ended up finishing all but 4! It was insane! I guess I am the fastest scanner there, cuz it was announced at the meeting today. Everyone cheered; it felt good to be appreciated, especially since I'm only an intern. I also got to see an endoscopy today. Too bad there was no TV monitor, so only the doc could see inside the dog. All I got to see was a red light shining through the skin so I knew where the camera was, so not too exciting. Nothing was found though, so doc went in surgically. So I got to help out with that, and now I get to do it all again tomorrow. There's a whole 2 surgeries tomorrow, so it'll prolly be a slow morning again. The afternoon should be busy though, so let's hope for that.

BTW... As of this past Monday--as in 2 days ago--I won't have a day off until October 17th. In other words, I get to work 25 days in a row, and then get 2 days off. If I'm lucky, I'll get 3 days off! I dunno if it's worth it, but too late now. So I now have 3 days down. Only 22 left to go...

Apples and Squash

Another weekend comes to an end. It wasn't too exciting this weekend, but it was relaxing this afternoon. A couple years ago my dad bought an apple tree. It's planted out at a family friend's orchard, so he takes care of the tree and we eat the apples. If we don't take all the apples, then he sells the rest. So it works out for both of us. Anyways, my parents and I went out to the orchard this afternoon to check up on the tree. There were about 40 or so apples on the tree, all ripe and ready to be picked and eaten. And they are sooo yummy! Of course we had to visit the rest of the store. We couldn't just go there and take free apples. We got a couple acorn squash for supper later in the week and some homemade strawberry rhubarb preserves. I can't wait to have some on my bagel tomorrow morning for breakfast! Best of all, we got some freshly pressed apple cider. I don't know why, but cider always tastes sooo good in the fall. It must just be because its apple season, but its soo good! I had a glass the second we got home. :) That was about it this weekend. It was also my last weekend of freedom til the internship is over. Starting tomorrow, I'm an official member of the real-life working world. I'll be starting my 55-hr weeks, 7 days a week. I guess it's money though, so I can't complain too much. It's time to go rest up. Have a great week everyone!

Enemas, Ferrets, and Poop

It's been a crazy week so far. Yesterday was CRAZY busy, but it was awesome. I was able to do almost everything! I shadowed during the first appointment, and took over the rest after that. I was able to call the clients and lead them back to the rooms. I then did the patient advisor exam and informed the doctor of any concerns or abnormalities noticed by the owners. After some restraining and blood draws, I led the clients back to the counter to check out. I felt like a real tech yesterday, and it was a good feeling. Today, on the other hand, wasn't so exciting. For some reason, not all the techs believe in me. I wasn't able to do as much today, but that will change soon. I was offered a part time position today at the clinic. So I will be making some money! However, it wont be for my internship. I will still be interning 40 hours a week and working at Kohls 8 hours a week. And I'm going to be working as a part time tech 5-6 hours a week. So, I will now be working about 55 hours a week and only getting paid for like 14 of them. Oh well, maybe I'll get lucky and they will wanna pay me for some internship hours too. Cross your fingers for me!

Poop Soup

It has been a pretty hectic 2 days. I can't believe everything they have me doing on my internship! I mean, I love all the hands-on experience I'm getting, but I wasn't expecting to have this much responsibility when I've barely been there a week and a half. Starting yesterday, they had me on the phones. So instead of just picking up and saying "Cascade Animal Center, can you hold please?" they actually have me helping customers and answering questions. It was a little challenging at first since I am still learning the ways of Cornerstone. Today it was a little easier. I was able to schedule appts over the phone as well as answer questions. I even got to help out with call backs and confirmation calls today. So I was able to confirm appts for tomorrow and check up on animals that recently got vaccines. I felt very honored to have this much responsibility. It was a little scary, but still an overall good feeling to know that they believe that much in me. Besides the front desk work, I was put in the lab for a little bit this afternoon. The lab tech left early, so I ran a couple fecals. I got to make poop soups and sing the "poop soup" song. I feel bad for those of you who don't know the "poop soup" song cuz it's an awesome song. Anyone who has done a fecal before haven't done a full fecal without hearing the song. Some day you all might hear it, and then you will be singing it everytime you want to do a fecal.

It's Poopy Time!

This week has been pretty interesting so far. I thought this color would be appropriate with the title. You might be a little confused if you aren't used to being in a vet clinic. However, it's pretty normal to see and smell poop when in a clinical setting. Yesterday was the typical poopy day. This week I am technically scheduled to be at the front desk learning the computer system and dealing with customers. It was okay for the first hour or so until I was called to help with a blood draw in the back. I didn't think anything of holding this little old pomeranian since she wasn't putting up a fight. However, the poor little thing was basically pooping straight blood. It smelt like death! The dog was covered in a towel, but somewhere along the line of drawing blood from the jugular, the towel moved. I was hit with bloody diarrhea in the chest, making me smell like death. It smelt horrible! Once the dog was taken care of, I ventured to the bathroom. I was able to attach my scrub top with cold water and got the bloody poop out before it could set. Lucky for me, there's a washer and dryer on site so it could be washed while I was working. And there were extra scrubs so I had another top to put on. Other than that, it wasn't too exciting. I was able to check patients in on the computer and learn some other techniques of Cornerstone.

Today wasn't quite as eventful, but I did learn a lot. I helped more with checking patients in and answering phone (not that I could actually help the clients, but I could put people on hold :P). I was also able to get clients setup in rooms and answer the main questions to get client history. I was able to do it all on my own too! Today was only day 6, and I'm doing stuff on my own. It's only my second week as an intern! It's a very good feeling. I also helped out with checking people out. I can do that on my own now too, which the exception of a cashiers code since I don't have one. I also got to help count the money and total credit card slips to ensure that we were all current and not missing any money. So far it's been a great week, and there's only 2 days left. Let's hope these next 2 days go well too, and quick. Slow days are long days and not fun days haha Hope you all have a great week as well!

It's Finally Friday (figuratively anyways)

It might be Thursday for you, but it's Friday for me. No more work til Monday! My first week went well. You've already heard about my first day on Tuesday. Yesterday wasn't very exciting. It was filled with more nail trims and blood draws with a couple x-rays. Although, there was an ultrasound done. It was kinda cool to see the screen. A really sick kitty came in with lower back pain and LOTS of gas. After taking x-rays, the vet decided to do an ultrasound. The intestines didn't look quite right, as did the pancreas. The kidneys looked very healthy though, so that was good since the kitty was so dehydrated when he first came in. By the end of the day, we had the kitty eating off our fingers, so that was good.

Today, on the other hand, was a little more exciting. Thursdays are going to be my surgery day for the week, so thats what I helped with today. There were 2 cat spays, 1 dog spay, 1 cat neuter, and 3 cat dentals. All but 1 cat was pretty fractious and just wanted to scratch us apart, so they were boxed down. In other words, we stuck a kitty quickly into a clear plastic box thats hooked up to the anesthetic gas. Gas and oxygen enter the box to be inhaled by the kitty to slowly make him/her sleepy. It was quite entertaining watching them enter the excitment stage until becoming fully anesthetized. One cat even managed to slide open the box! But luckily it was disoriented enough to stay in the box. Other than that, it was more nail trims and blood draws. I was able to draw blood today on a kitty, so it was a femoral vein. And I hit the vein and got enough blood for a FIV test. I've never hit that vein before, so I was pretty excited :) I also helped with some ear cleaning, which was pretty darn easy since I have 2 cockers at home. There were a few anal gland expressions, which smelt HORRIBLE. For those of you that have never smelt it before, hope that you never have too. Think of the worst gas ever let out of your pet and multiply it by 100. It STINKS! That was about it for my first week as an intern. Next week is going to be spent at the reception, so it's gonna be a lot of one-on-one with the clients. Hopefully they have enough patience with me.

Day 1 as an Intern

I survived my first day as a vet tech intern! It was kinda a slow day, but I obtained a lot more hands-on experience that I expected for it being my first day. I did some blood draws, heartworm tests, CBCs, fecals, nail trims, ear cleanings, vaccines, and x-rays. I met a lot of new people too. All the techs were very welcoming today, as were the doctors. Although, the clients weren't so much. It was only my first day, and I already had a client from hell and a new puppy owner. The client from hell decided waiting for 30 mins was too long. Yet, how often do we go to a doctor appt and wait for an hour or more? Almost every time. 30 mins is normal, but he decided that it wasn't acceptable. He yelled at almost every tech, and demanded a discount. That's about it from my first day. Time to go to bed now and rest up from being up at 6:30am.

End of Summer

So today was my official last day of summer, and my last day of freedom before entering the "real world." It has been a great summer break, all 2 1/2 weeks of it haha Since my last update, I went to the state fair again for some more adventure seeking and eating yummy food that my stomach could handle. I've been sick for the past week, so it hasn't been too eventful. Yesterday I went to a potluck out at the campground with some family. It was very relaxing just sitting by the campfire and visiting. Having almost no cell phone reception just added to the peacefulness. As for today, it was more relaxing for me. I ran a few errands this morning to hit up the big Labor Day sales, and then headed home to kick back before my 50-hour weeks start up. I bet you thought I only had to do 40-hour weeks, which is half right. My internship starts up tomorrow at Cascade, and that's going to be 40 hours a week. However, it's only 4 days a week, which you might remember reading earlier. Because of that, I'm keeping my job at Kohls and working there on weekends. So I'm going from an 18-credit student to a 50-hour working intern. It's quite a transition, but it should be fun. It will be a lot of working, but at least there's no homework to worry about.

I'm pretty anxious about tomorrow. It's going to be my first day on the job as a full-fledged intern. I'm familiar with the clinic since I did some shadowing there my first semester in school. However, that was almost 2 years ago. Luckily, it's still mostly the same people there, so I still know some of the techs and a couple doctors. But I'm still a little anxious. It's all the little stuff that I can't help but wonder: How early do I get there? What do I bring with me? What should I be prepared to do on my first day? How much hands-on will there be or am I just going to be observing? I know I'm prolly just worrying too much and asking too many questions, but I can't help it. It's the next stage in my life and I don't want to mess it up. I gotta be up early though, so time to go review the paperwork and get ready for a long day. I'll let you know how it goes when I get home from my 10 hours of working.

The Great MN Get-together

I went up to the state fair yesterday with my mom and sister. Yesterday was Govenor's Fire Prevention Day, so there were fire trucks all over the place. It was a pretty long day. We were out of our house by 8:15am and didn't get home til about 12:40am the next day. We started out in Heritage Square, wandering through an old village cabin. There were even people dressed up in character to make it seem real. We went through the Education building and got free stuff. We toured the all-new International Bazaar while listening to polka music. Gotta love the sound of an accordian! My sister and I were lucky enough to find Smokey the Bear and get a picture taken. Now we can prevent forest fires too :P The Pet Center was pretty cool, but sadly there weren't any surgeries going on while we were there. And the rain decided to hold off so the parade still went on as planned; including marching bands, whack-a-wheel, Ronald McDonald, Smokey, fire trucks, and so much more. After there parade, it was time for more adventure throughout the park. There was smore making and pictures with Brad Paisley, teeth brushing, and gas pumping. We got to see a just born cow as well at the Miracle Birth Center. She was so cute! The long day ended with Brad Paisley in concert. Half way through, we ventured up to the fence and peaked through a crack where we could seen him perfectly! Best of all, we saw him for free! It was awesome. And then the fireworks followed, of course. I have never been so close to fireworks before. They were huge! And amazing. I love the state fair! So much that I'm going back on Tuesday. I'm just a nerd like that :P Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Interview = Internship

So I had my interview this morning at Cascade for my internship. After 15 minutes, I was hired! It was a pretty short interview since I am already familiar with the facility. Otherwise it would have been longer. Anyways, I did get to meet a lot of the staff. And I only work Monday through Thursday. It's 4 10-hr days just like I wanted! So now I can still work at Kohls once a week. Yay for money! Luckily I still have a couple weeks til my freedom is no more. But I will now be a vet tech intern. :D

Tommy James & the Shondells

I just got home from a free concert downtown. Yup, that's right. I just saw Tommy James and the Shondells in concert for free! It was awesome! The opening band was Judd, and they weren't half bad. The play a lot in the area at local bars. Anyways, Tommy James was awesome! Think sponsored the concert, and they were handing out blue battery-operated glowsticks. All throughout the concert, blue lights shown from everywhere. It was like a sea of blue candles. It was pretty sweet. Tommy came down to the audience too, but I wasn't quite close enough. But that's okay. I got to hear some awesome songs: Mony Mony, I Think We're Alone Now, Crimson and Clover, and Crystal Blue Persuasion. It was a sweet concert. Too bad it was the last one of the summer, for free concerts anyway. Hopefully next summer will be just as sweet!

School's Out for Summer

It's about time. I survived my last 2 finals, one online and one at school. So now there's nothing left but the internship! No more classes, no more homework, no more tests. It feels kinda weird being done, but it's a good weird. It's nice to not have to worry bout all the busy work anymore. Although, it is kinda weird being out for summer when it's August. Summer is practically over for everyone else! After all, almost all my other friends are leaving to head back to school this weekend. I guess gas will just have to go down so I can go visit them in the fall cuz I'll be bored otherwise. Anyways, since school is out I went on the annual trip to Medford with my mom and sister today. I got a couple new shirts for work, some smell lotion, and some chocolate. Gotta love chocolate! Especially from Russell Stovers. It's German black forest chocolate, and it's soooo yummy!! Then we went to the Steele County Fair, which was amazing. Of course TONS of food stands. I tried something new for lunch: chicken pie. It was kinda like a pot pie, but you ate it like a cheeseburger. It was really yummy. We played some bingo, but no one won. We visited the animals in the petting zoo too. There were ostriches, which are pretty intimidating up close. I tried to get a picture, but they just wouldn't stay still. It was exciting to see them though, even if they were a little scary haha It's time for bed now. Being up stil 6:30 is starting to hit me.

County Fair Fun

As if I didn't have enough greasy fair food a week ago, I decided to head out to the Dakota county fair yesterday for some more. I've always wanted to go to it but have never made it due to other conflicting events. But I'm glad I went yesterday. It was awesome! There was the typical greasy food stands, project exhibits, and midway. But there were a lot of commercial buildings and other demonstrations and hands-on activities as well. In addition to the barnyard petting zoo, there was a wildlife exhibit featuring wolves, foxes, and other wildlife native to Minnesota. It was very cool to be up close and personal with the dangerous creatures.



On the other side of the fairgrounds, there was a historic village based on the 1900-era. There was a library, post office, bank, church, train station, 1-room schoolhouse, fire hall, general store, jailhouse, blacksmith, and a basic house. Natives were in costume and acting in character to the 1900s as well. It was a great experience to step back in time. The commercial buildings weren't too exciting, but there was a lot of free stuff. I got some new pens and the usual candy stash. Underwater Adventures was there with live sharks and other sea creatures available to touch. The fair was defiantely one of the best that I've been too. Those of you in Minnesota should go check it out next year. You have to pay to park and enter the grounds, but it's well worth the cost cuz everything else in the grounds is free! And who can say no to free stuff?? Definately not me! :P

Arctic Fox, no longer remaining in the wild

Near Death Experience

That's right, I had a near death experience when I got off work this evening. After work, I was meeting my parents for supper at a local bar and grill about 5-7 mins away. I was just on the other side of the building from the parking lot when I almost had a near-fatal accident. I'll start at the beginning for you.

I was approaching a red light with a semi in front of me. My direction and oncoming traffic had green arrows, so I knew I would have a green light soon to go straight. I switched lanes, and once I got to the stoplights I had a green light. I knew the other directions had red lights so I didn't think twice about continuing through the intersection. However, a rusty orange corvette with 2 male teenagers decided that they were too important to stop at a red light. The approached from my right, so they obviously had a red light for awhile. Like I said, they were too goo to stop or look around. They floored it into the intersection to make a right turn, cutting off the semi next to me and continued into the lane in front of me cutting me off. I slammed on my brakes, squealing my tires, and blaring my horn. They didn't bother to stop or anything. And they didn't even have a turn signal! So the broke the law quite a few times and were centimeters away from being totaled. If I wouldn't have slammed on my brakes when I did, the driver would be dead--or at least in ICU--and the pretty car would be totaled, not to mention what would have happened to me and Buck.

So to all of those drivers out there, what out for clueless teenagers who think they are king of the road. I know I used to be one, but I realized shortly after getting my liscense that I had a lot of learning to do when it came to driving. To those teenagers out there, watch out or you will get hit. Not everyone will stop like I did today. Some people might be just as distracted and smack right into you at full speed. The road is only as safe as we make it.

And the Semester Comes to an End

My college career of classes has finally come to an end. It's so hard to believe that I don't have any more class! Once I take my last 2 finals, I will be done cept for the internship. And that's just work. So that means no more homework to worry about, no more midterms or finals to study for, no more discussion board postings. It's just a 3-month internship and a certification exam to worry about, and I can handle that after my 18 credit summer semester. It's hard to believe that it's finally coming to an end though. All my friends still have 2+ years left of college, and here I am ready to enter the real world. I'm excited to finally be done with classes, but it's still weird. I shouldn't be doing this for another 2 years, yet here I am. I must have done something right to be here already haha

No More Surgery! (for real this time)

Ok guys (and girls), it's official. I just got my final back for my anes/surg lab. And I passed!! Only by a few percent, but I still passed! So now daily points will get added, which should bring my grade up to a B-/B region. So I don't have to worry about taking it over again! Well the lab portion anyways. But I'm already getting a B+ in lecture, so I should be fine there. Anyways, just wanted to share the good news. Time to get back to studying...

County Fair

Last week was a pretty busy one. It was the county fair. Even though I'm not in 4-H anymore (last year was my last year), I'm still a nerd and entered some stuff in open class. There was about 15 projects scattered throughout foods, plants, photography, hobbies, and fine arts. I wasn't expecting to win much for ribbons, but almost every project got one! It came about to be about $16, so that was a nice surprise when I went to pick up my projects this past Sunday. Now if only open class projects won state fair trips. This is gonna be the first time in a long time where I didn't win a state fair trip. I have to actually pay to go there this year! I guess it's not a bad thing, but it's weird. I guess I'll just have to volunteer more so I can get in for free in the future :P Time to go study for finals now. I had my anes/surg final this past Monday, and I find out tomorrow how I did. Cross your fingers for me in hopes of passing! I get to take my comp review final tomorrow, so hopefully I pass that one too. Then I wont have any more classes! Yay for [almost] being a college graduate! Have a great week everyone!

No More Surgery!!!

That's right everyone, I just had my last surgery lab ever!! Well, as long as I pass that class that is haha So far I am passing, so as long as I pass the final, then I will be free from the class forever and ever!! I am so excited!! You have all heard me complain about the class all semester, so why not complain about the last day too? haha I was all prepared, as was everyone else, but the doctor was just hovering over us. Maybe she thought it would help us stay on task, but in reality it just stressed us out even more so we were a little forgetful. My biggest concern was when the doctor yelled at me about cleaning the endotrach tube and esophageal stethescope. In the beginning of the semester, I was told that we were not supposed to be using chlorahexidine solution because it is irritation to the throat tissues. So, just like every other lab, I soaked and rinsed in soapy water. However, this doctor decided she didn't believe it so I had to reclean them. So much for getting 5/5 daily points for the last lab. But thank God it is my last lab, cuz i think I just might go insane or have a heart attack or something if I was forced to do the class over. Now I'm off to the rehab center, so hopefully there's more than just 1 appointment today.

Clinical

So some of you had heard me complaining about the stupid clinical coordinator at my school. She is kinda slow and scatterbrained, and it's really annoying. Anyways, now that there is a whole 2 weeks left of the semester, she FINALLY decided to email me about my first choice for my internship. Wasn't that nice of her? Luckily the clinic is here in town and only about 10 mins from my house, instead of almost 90 mins away like school. The interview is set for 2 weeks from tomorow, so I can be done with school and everything first. I don't wanna mix finals with an interview. Cross your fingers for me that it all goes well! I'll keep you posted once I have the interview.

Buck's Sickness Returns

Yup, that's right. Buck got sick again; poor bonneville. I was without a car yet again, and it's not fun! Luckily, it only cost about $200 this time instead of $350 like the last time. One of these days I'm just gonna have to get a new car, cuz clearly this one just isn't lasting very well. Supposedly, everythign under the hood was replaced about a month before I got it. Yet in the last year, I've had to replace both brake lines, driver accessory belt, and a couple wheel barings, if not more. I'm not so sure it was worth the $3000 I paid for it, but it's too late now. I'll just have to wait until a better one comes along. Anyways, Buck is safe at home now. I only had to go a day without him this time. So all is well now. And, not that I'm counting or anything, only 2 weeks left of my current college education! AKA Only 6 actual days of class!! Providing I pass all my classes that is... *crossing fingers*

Stupid Girl Returns

Just when I thought my anes/surg lab was getting better, it plummeted greatly today. Stupid girl has been doing so well that last couple of weeks, but today something happened. She still showed up early for lab and was prepared, but she was so dang slow! We were doing a feline neuter today, so you gotta be quick when working with cats. They get fractious and stressed VERY easily and VERY quick, so we have to be quick. But it was as if she was in slow motion. And you can't be like that when the induction agent wears off in a matter of minutes. I could hardly hold the mouth open because the cat was waking up before she had even intubated. Sorry if I didn't feel like getting bit today. Anyways, she didn't even start writing in the record. The surgical assist had to pick up her slack doing that. It's so annoying! We have 2 1/2 weeks left; we should know what the hell we are doing by now. I can't wait to be out of class with her! I don't wanna be mean here, but I really hope she fails out of it. If you can't do basic procedures without a list of supplies in your pocket or do the procedures rapidly, then you are never going to survive. She'll be lucky to be hired at a clinic and stay at the clinic if she doesn't get her act together. At least there is only one procedure left, and thats surgery lab next week. Hopefully we can end it on a good note. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Grizzley Coast

As if I'm not doing enough driving with school, I decided to do a little more and went to the Minnesota Zoo yesterday with my mom and sister. We have been hearing all about the new exhibit, Russia's Grizzley Coast, and wanted to finally check it out for ourselves. And it was amazing! There were grizzley bears, sea otters, amur leopards, amur tigers, and wild boars. The entire exhibit was filled with boiling mud, steaming volcanoes, and guysers surrounded by rock walls. The entire exhibit was nicely done, and the animals were so cute! After checking that out, we wandered the rest of the zoo. Sadly, the mexican wolves were in quarantine having bite wounds being checked out, and the sea turtles were no longer there either. Although, the sea turtle has been released back into the wild, so that part it good. It was still sad to not see either animal. At least the moose were still there!

After spending about 4 1/2 hours at the zoo, we went to eat lunch at Ruby Tuesday. There salad bar is amazing for those of you who have never eaten there before. Then we wandered across the street to IKEA. My mom and I have never been inside the store before, so it was quite overwhelming but a fun experience. I even managed to find some cheap goodies to use around the house, including really yummy Swedish cookies.

All in all, it was a good day, even though it was VERY long. We left our house around 8:30am, and we didn't get back until almost 8pm. And it was A LOT of walking, which I'm sure you can imagine. But it was awesome. We covered a lot of ground, and surprisingly, I'm not too sore today. Gotta love taking Aleve before bed and when you get up to prevent muscle pain :)

Straight-lined Winds

Another week is over, and I'm another week closer to being done. Yes, I now have only 4 weeks left of class until the end of the semester! I can't believe it's gone this fast! Anyways, you've heard about most of the week already. Or at least the interesting part: my anes/surg class. Comp Review wasn't too exciting. We did a fecal, a UA, and a CBC all in one night. Some how I managed to do them all in about an hour and a half. I guess I know how to manage my time well haha For those of you who don't understand my medical talk, I had to check poop for parasites, check urine for high amounts of bad stuff (bacteria, blood, crystals, ect), and check the blood values (number of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets) and any abnormalities. Usually each one can take 30-60 mins, so I did quite well in my 90 mins.

Thursday wasn't very exciting for class. A huge storm decided to swipe through Minnesota, so sirens went off and my school had an internal evacuation. Straightline winds upto 70 mph, heavy downpours, rumbling thunder, lightning streaks, marble/nickel-sized hail, and possible tornadoes. Of course, me being the storm chaser I am, I was outside watching the storm move in. Once the heavy rain was blowing at me, I went in the doors so I wouldn't get soaked. Shortly after, I heard a high pitched whistle coming from the SW corner of the storm. It was a tornado. After about 10 seconds, it was gone. Luckily, it never hit my school so we were all safe. However, I heard later that it went through a trailor park about 2 1/2 miles south of my school, so I wasn't missed by much. Damage was insane. Anyways, another one is sposed to hit any time here so best to get off before we lose power. Have a great weekend everyone! And anyone in path of the storm, take cover and stay safe!

There's Light at the End of the Tunnel

Another school week is half-way through. And surprisingly, my anes and surgery labs have gone well for the most part today. I was anesthetist both days, so it was hectic for me. Especially after being sick all weekend. But [obviously] I survived. The Monday patient was a 76 pound dog, so it was pretty easy. The muscles and veins were easy, making injections practically fool proof. Today, however, was a 10 pound cat, so not such an easy target. Muscles were good, but the femoral vein did not want to stand up. I hit it once, but not enough to make the injection. The endotrach tube went in nicely though, so that part was good. Best of all, stupid girl wasn't so stupid! She showed up kinda early and was prepared for the most part. Still a little clueless on Monday though. She was the dental tech, and she was acting as if she'd had never seen teeth before. She was being a perfectionist as well, and we don't have time for that. So that was a little annoying. But we made it through with a little time to spare. Now I'm off to the rehab center. Hopefully there will be more than just a couple clients coming in today.

Yay for Independance

So it has been a pretty eventful 4th of July weekend. It all started on Thursday heading to the Cannon Valley fair with my mom. It's a pretty small fair, but it was still fun. There was a kiddie barnyard area sponsored by the FFA where baby animals could be held. Even though I'm not exactly a kid, I decided to partake anyways. I went after the baby ducklings, and they were so cute! I even got my picture taken by a newspaper editor! So I just might be famous as well. There were also kids, a calf, a pony, some bunnies, newly hatched chicks, a lamb, and some piglets. Then I was off to school to perform a physical exam in prep for being anesthetist tomorrow. Lunch was spent at IHOP of course! It's only one of the best restaurants out there, and it has cheap food. That night, I babysat for a few hours.


Friday, being the 4th of July, was spent working all morning and afternoon. I didn't really wanna work, but I did get holiday pay. So I guess that makes it a little better. That night, I watched the city's fireworks with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law. And of course, we lit a few off at our house afterwards. I got some pretty cool shots as well, which will be up here soon.

Saturday wasn't quite as eventful. I mostly just ran errands and did homework. So it wasn't too exciting.

Today, however, made up for it. Today was the kick-off for Concerts in the Park Summer 2008 Series. Kicking it off was Blue Oyster Cult. I only know a couple songs by them, but it was still a great concert. Best of all, it was free! People were handing out blue, orange, and silver beads throughout the concert too. Too bad I forgot to bring my own cowbell though :( And the concert almost got rained out, but the storm decided to be nice and stay south of us. So we got to chant "More Cowbell" all night long. Now it's time to catch up on missed sleep from the rest of the weekend. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Coming Down With Stubby Wings

So surprisingly, today's surgery lab actually went well too! I am kinda in shock since stupid girl showed up early BOTH days of lab this week. AND she was prepared with the necessary supplies! I think the doc talked to her and it is actually making a difference. THANK GOD. I don't know I could have gone the rest of the semester with the stupidity and carelessness. Although, I was a little out of it today when doing catheter. The dog would not stay still, so it was a challenge, but I got it in and taped up nicely. I'm so glad that the semester is over in 5 weeks. I can't wait until I'm done with this class!

After surgery, I headed to my weekly internship at the rehab center. I got to meet 2 new clients today, a cocker and a samoyed. The cocker was so cute! About 6 weeks ago, the poor guy got hit by a truck; freak accident. He is doing a lot better I've been told. The crazy thing is, he looks almost exactly like Bacon did when he was that young (2 1/2 years). If only Bacon was still that young, instead of 13 1/2. But no one can stay young forever. The other dog (the sammy) pulled a psoas (sp??) muscle so she gets laser therapy. It was the first time I've seen that done a well. It was a pretty exciting day there today, other than there was a break so I only saw stuff for about an hour and a half. Oh well, every little bit of experience helps.

Learning to Fly, Without Wings

So I half expected the second half of the semester to be less stressful since I have 3 less credits than before, but boy was I wrong. I guess it's a little less stress since I have a little less homework, but it is still pretty darn stressful and busy! I lost a day of class, but it just turned into another day of homework. For some reason, my online teacher thinks that we need to have more reading homework and harder essay assignments in the second half of the semester. Aren't classes supposed to get easier as the semester continues, not harder? I thought so, but clearly stupid teachers disagree with what students think. On a good note, I did well on my anes/surg lab midterm and it brought my grade up 12%! So now I'm actually passing the class! :D However, I only have about 5 weeks to bring it up to an A, or at least keep it above a C to ensure I stay passing. I haven't heard about lecture yet, so let's hope its just as good, if not better.

On a different note, the stupid girl actually showed up early for lab yesterday. She was actually prepared too! However, she didn't have a clue what she was doing when putting in the catheter. But I still give her props for being prepared. She may not have been prepared with the knowledge, but she was there and had her supplies. I guess the teacher talking with her actually made a difference. Yay for the doctor!

In addition to school, my social life is stressing me out, but I guess that's supposed to be expected when I'm going to school all summer. I never get to spend time with my friends at home since I'm at school and have homework, and they have full-time jobs. It's hard and frusterating since I never get to see them during the school year either. And when I think I get to see them, something comes up and I don't. Or else I do get to see them but they just want to hang out with their boyfriend and drink. I can't do either, so it's really not much fun on my part. But I guess its gotta get better sooner or later. I can't roam around forever with a guy, can I? At least I have my dogs; they can cheer me up in a heartbeat. It's still not fair though. Everyone around me has that special someone to hang out with and always seems to have something to go to. All I ever do is go to school or work, or I spend my life at home. And my parents are no where near exciting, seeing how my mom is always crabby and my dad spends almost 12 hours a day at work.

I just wish that stuff would stop adding up. Its getting pretty depressing, and I should be happy. Afterall, I only have about 5 1/2 weeks left until the end of the semester. Then I just have my internship and graduation. I'm going to be done with school 2-3 years before all my other friends from high school. I will be all settled in the job world (hopefully) before they even graduate. That should make a girl happy, but it doesn't. And I don't know exactly why. Anyone have any advice on how to survive the crazy hectic world of life without driving yourself mad? Feel free to pass it in my direction.

Half-way Point

Starting today, I have finally reached midterms! And survived! Just barely that is. I really didn't think I was going to make it to this half-way point, but I did! And thank God! The semester is starting to get better from my last post, but not much. The stupid girl in my anes/surg is still stupid, but hopefully she gets her act together during this second half. She has done everything at least twice and still doesn't have a clue. It's not that hard anymore! And if you aren't sure, it's not that hard to ask for help. Clearly it is for her. But oh well, I only have about a month and a half left with her, as long as I pass that is haha I feel like I did pretty well on the midterm, so my grade should be rising back up now. And I did really well on my quiz last week, so that will help boost my grade as well. Other than midterms, nothing too exciting has been going on.

I did do some stuff today to celebrate my half-way point though. It started with a 6 mile bike ride, and oh man did it feel good! I recently bought a new bike, so it was nice today trying it out. I can definately feel it in my legs, but it's a good pain. I biked over to Dairy Queen, and got myself the oh-so-yummy cotton candy blizzard, one of the best blizzard flavors ever! It kinda gave me a sugar buzz too in case you can't tell :P yay for cotton candy! That was about it for my celebration; not too much, but it was enough seeing how class starts up again tomorrow. No break for me, sadly.

*Insert Stress-relieving Scream Here*

So this semester is really starting to suck. I expected the first couple of weeks to not be so hot because it's summer. No one is usually stupid enough to take 18 credits in the summer; so I guess I'm not as smart as I thought I was. Anyways, most of my classes are going well. Anes/Surg is the only one NOT going well, and it's not going well at all. This past Monday, I was in charge of the IV catheter. I knew what I was doing, and I felt prepared. However, the teacher decided to ask random questions and I pretty much failed the quiz even though I did the reading. I hate it when teachers ask stupid questions. When I was up to catheterize, I ended up stabbing myself. My hand was extermely swollen. It's gone down for the most part, but it's still swollen. And it hurts. Also in the lab, the preanesthetist showed up to class, unprepared as usual. I don't understand how this girl can be passing! She shows up to lab about 5 mins before class starts and won't be prepared at all! She will have to calculate her drugs, but she won't have the protocol sheet so she doesn't know what to calculate. She won't grab everything she needs, so the rest of us have to pick up her slack. With only 4 people in the lab, we really don't have the time to do that. Hopefully the second half of the semester is better. This class is driving me insane!

And taking the lecture online isn't helping at all either. The teacher keeps asking questions about how she likes it in lab and what she prefers. How the hell do we know what she likes when we don't have her in lab?? And all she does is contradict our notes and textbook. So it's basically an automatic fail thanks to her stupidity! I just want the semester to be done. I don't know if I can take another 7 1/2 weeks of stupid teachers and inconsiderate classmates. I'm not saying that I'm perfect, cuz I'm not. But I at least know that I have to be prepared instead of relying on everyone else.

I am ready to just scream and pull my hair out, but there's no time for that because I have surgery lab in a couple hours. I guess it's time to raise the blood pressure even more. Anyone know how to prevent a heart attack? Cuz at this rate, I'm well on my way to having one.

Another Week of Randomness

So it wasn't a very exciting week these past 7 days. Monday was spent in Anesthesia lab taking teeth xrays of a skull. It was a lot easier than the normal xrays taking in radiology last semester! Although, that is prolly because it was just a skull and not a live patient, so no restraint was involved :P And we actually got out early for once! I never thought that would happen. After class I planned on going to the rehab center (TCARC), but that didn't happen since Buck decided to blow a fuel pump. I spent the rest of the day at school doing homework, which I guess isn't a bad thing.

Wednesday evening was pretty interesting. In my Comp Review lab, we were assigned new animals to check out and perform physical exams on. A new kitty that just arrived the day before was being examined when someone noticed her ears were very dirty. After doing an ear swab, we realized the poor kitty have a severe case of ear mites. They were crawling all over the slide along with eggs galore. Some mites were even mating on the slide! Which means that same thing was going on in the ear canal. It was kinda gross but really interesting at the same time. And yes, I was one of 2 people that pulled out a camera to take some pictures. I'll get them posted on here soon so you all can see the little bugs too.

Friday was spent at work, just like every other Friday. However, it was actually busy this time! Must be due to it being the first day of summer for everyone. I have never seen so many little kids running around. Sure, I was glad it was busy, but I'm sure it could have been a busy day without the kids making such a big mess in the store. But that's just what happens when you work in retail.

Free Food

So the weekend was a little better than the previous week, mostly cuz it was spent at grad parties aka free food. I also went to an old friend's wedding on Saturday. She looked sooo happy! And the husband seemed pretty nice too. And of course, more free food! Besides all the free food, the weekend didn't end on a great note. Buck (my bonneville) got sick this afternoon after the grad parties on the way home. He decided to blow a fuel pump and stop running. It's a good thing my cell phone service has roadside assistance. So I was able to get free towing! But now I don't have a car. Poor Buck :(

Sucky Week 4

So this week has been one of the worst ever, and it only marks 1/5 of the semester being done. I don't know if I will be able to make it throught the whole semester and stay sane at the same time, not to mention not pulling my hair out due to all the stress. It all started coming home to the death of a really close family friend. Upon leaving for the camping trip, we knew it was coming, but that doesn't make the situation any easier. She died of bone cancer, so it's good that she's not in pain anymore. However, she was only 54 and will never see grandchildren or experience the other perks of life.

Due to the funeral on Tuesday, I missed a day of class which consisted of a test. I made up the test this morning, but I do not feel very good about it. I wasn't able to study as well as I normally do. Hopefully my brain was able to override my recent thoughts with the information on the test, but we'll see what happened in a couple hours.

Retreating a little bit, my surgery lab yesterday was RETARDED. For some reason, the teachers thought it would be better having only 4 people in a group instead of 7. So we always start late and finish late, making the teachers annoyed and the class immediately after us forced to start late as well. Anyways, the lab on Wednesday did not go very smoothly, to say the least. The anesthetist/preanesthetist didn't know what the hell she was doing because she "looked at the schedule wrong." Sure, it can happen, but thats why you recheck it several times each week just to be sure you know what you are doing in the upcoming lab. Maybe she'll do that for next time. Anways, she was in charge of a lot. The rest of us tried to help her as best we could but the teachers wanted her to do her own work. Because I knew what needed to be done and had my stuff all prepared, I helped her out by getting the record started. She was supposed to finish it, but because she never initialed it, the teachers thought I wrote it all. Because the stupid anes/preanes didn't finish it I got docked points for her stupidity. And I cannot afford to have the happen, even if it is early in the semester.

The last sucky thing that happened has to do with my online class. Once again, it involves another stupid, inconsiderate, not-understanding teacher who doesn't understand the busy lives of college students and the driving distances of commuters. The teacher emailed everyone in the class this past Tuesday asking the students to come in this Friday to take a quiz. Cuz of course 4 days is enough time to request off work. So she sent another one out the next day saying that it could be moved to next week Friday instead. I don't know about other people, but a week and a half isn't really enough time to request off at my job seeing how that schedule is already posted. I emailed her back, and she said that my only options are Thursday next week during a class (cuz of course I can just leave class) or Friday while I'm working over an hour away. Why don't they understand anything outside of their stupid lives? To all of you college teachers out there, be more understand to college students, especially the commuters. There's a reason we do online classes; we are busy making money to pay for school and bills and food to barely survive. Be more understanding and considerate!

Among everything that's happened this week (and it's only Thursday), I have been doing a lot of thinking. Mainly, why can't people be more considerate and understanding of those around them? I just had a death in the family and was still ready for class on Wednesday. I helped out my fellow classmates and never even got a thank you! What is this world coming to? We need to stop taking people for granted all the time and start showing some thanks and gratification. We aren't going to be here forever. I don't know about any of you, but I don't want to die having everything think that I'm a mean, selfish, inconsiderate person. I want to die well-liked, not hated. So thanks to all that have helped me out in the past. Every little thing has meant a lot. :)

Annual Camping Trip

So this past weekend was spent at Whipporwill Ranch and Campground just like every other Memorial weekend. This year was quite interesting to say the least. Friday was pretty relaxing, like most weekends. It was just the immediate family (minus my dad) and some close friends. Everyone had a long week from work, so nothing too exciting happened that night besides the dogs being hyper out of excitement.

Saturday is when the fun started. The afternoon was spent playing cards (mainly "crap on your neighbor"), bean bags, and testie toss (golf balls). After some more friends joined in on the fun, it was guys against girls for testie toss. This year the guys one, so the girls were servents for the rest of the day. The girls had their winning turn last year so it was fair. Later on that night, my dad joined us from work. He had pulled a leg muscle, but that didn't stop him. The traditional "dollar bingo" occured that night. Even though there was less intoxication that normal, it was still a crazy bingo game. The best caller plugged his nose and eventually won the nickname "Douche" if you catch my drift. If not, it's prolly better left unsaid. Shortly into the bingo game, some distant thunder and lightning made itself known, soon followed by rain. That was the end of bingo. The rest of the night was pretty relaxed waiting for the storm to hit and waiting for cobbler. It was peach this time around, and it was sooo yummy! Peach cobbler is by far my favorite when camping.

Sunday started off with another tradition of mini donuts with breakfast. There was a little visiting with the other cousins. But the day was mostly spent helping my dad around the campsite. The pulled muscle had tightened up overnight, so he wasn't able to walk or move around very well. So that pretty much shot anything down from happening that day. He made it home safely, and after some ice and more drugs he is walking around mostly normal now.

Summer Semester Part Dos

So I have nos survived week 3, which means I'm 1/5 done with the semester! And it was one busy week. I am so glad the weekend has started. Anyways, this week was my scheduled week to do Animal Care. That means I was up around 4 every morning to be to school by 6am to clean cages and feed all the animals at my school. The first couple days I work on dogs: walking outside, cleaning cages, feeding, and cleaning the yard so its free of urine and feces. I then started doing cats mid-week, which was basically cleaning cages and feeding. This was the same for the rabbits, mice, rats, guinea pigs, degus, and ferrets. Luckily the birds only needed food and water. The evening people doing Animal Care got to clean the bird cages; lucky them ;) Once all animals were fed, the entire animal care area had to be swept and mopped, garbages were changed, and counters were wiped down. It is a pretty intense process that made for some VERY long days all week.

In adition to Animal Care, I was assigned to do evening shifts in my school's clinic, Tech On. I was soo glad to have the even shift, even if it meant being at school from 6am til 7:30pm. It was better than working in the clinic for an entire day in addition to classes and not having any homework breaks. I basically was in charge of doing TPRs on the surgery recovery patients and administering evening meds. It wasn't too challenging.

Now for the normal classes. There were 2 exciting things that happened this week. On Wednesday, I was surgical assistant for my surgery class. I got to "gown up" meaning scrub myself with iodine, wear sanitized gloves, and wear a santized gown. I also had the hair net and face mask. I looked pretty stylish. Anyways, I was the person in charge of giving the doctor the surgical instruments. What I didn't know was that I would be partaking in the surgery itself. After cutting opening the dog, I was the one grabbing his testicles with an instrument and holding them up so the doctor could suture the cords. Then I cut the testicles from the body. In other words, I neutered the dog! So all you guys out there better watch out ;)

The other exciting event of the week happened yesterday in my rehab class. A massage therapist came to visit and did a demonstration with us helping. We learned different techniques and strokes. Using her golden retrievers, we perform a therapeutic massage on each golden. It was an awesome experience! Now its time to pack for the annual camping trip for the holiday weekend.

Summer Semester

So I have officially survived my first 2 weeks of my [hopefully] last semester as a college student. And I am not exactly looking forward to it. I'm taking 18 credits with my internship, so I have 4 classes, 3 of which have 2 parts. AKA Thats why I haven't been able to keep you all up to date. But that would change now. I'm starting to get the hang of everything.

This semester I've got Anesthesia/Surgery, Lab & Exotic Animals, Comp & Integritive Approaches, and Comp Review.

Anes/Surg is by far the hardest class. We get one week as an intro and then are expected to step right up and do everything perfectly. It is very stressful, but that's gonna be just like in a clinic so why not get used to the stress now? Last week I was Preanesthetist, so I gave the preanesthetic drugs and charted EVERY single thing that happened in the animal's record while recording heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, and amount of oxygen every 5 minutes. What a way to start. Anyways, I survived, as you can see.

Lab & Exotic Animals (LEA) is a lot easier, and more fun. We get to play with rats, mice, guinea pigs, ferrets, rabbits, pigeons, parrots, and degus. Each student is also assigned an animal to be the primary student in charge. I was assigned a ferret named Tum-Tum. He's so fun! It's really fun playing with all 3 ferrets cuz they chase each other all over the lab room. The first week wasn't very exciting, but the second week we got out the guinea pigs. We performed physical exams, drew some blood, gave injections, and gave them a bath. It was pretty fun.

Comp & Integrative Approaches focusses on alternative medicine and rehab for animals. We will be studying topics like acupuncture, aroma therapy, chiropractic, hydrotherapy, and homopathy. We will also be taking field trips and having guest speakers.

The last class is Comp Review, which prepares us for our certification exam in January. It basically sums up everything we have learned in our entire college life into 1 14-week course. It is pretty intense, but at least we aren't learning anything new! This class also allows students to have a primary animal (dog or cat). My first animal is a rat terrier cross names PeeWee. He is really cute and playful, but he's dog aggressive. So no playing with other dogs for him.

In addition to my 18-credit load, I am a part-time intern at an animal rehab center not to far from school, so a couple times a week I get to assist with the water treadmill, exercises, and restrain for alternative medicine procedures. It should be a great experience. Thats all so far, time to get to my homework now. If only it could do itself.

Cinco de Mayo Eve

Happy Cuatro de Mayo! Since tomorrow is the first day of summer semester, I'm not gonna be home for the actual Cinco de Mayo. So, I decided to celebrate a day early and made dinner. It was sooo yummy!! It consisted of chicken enchiladas, chorizo con queso, dessert quesadillas, and margarita cake. My sister brought walking tacos for an appetizer. The beverages were pineapple limade slushies with orange sherbert. It was an awesome dinner. I think it topped out last years too! Anyways, its also the last day of my spring break. I'm excited to see my friends again, but I'm not looking forward to spending my summer as a full-time student. Time to get prepared for my first day back...

Spring Break

So my break hasn't been very exciting. I spent all last week scrapbooking, so my trip to Europe is officially scrapbooked! I have been showing it off so it's been fun. This past weekend I went to a Swarm game, the second to last game before playoffs. The dance team was there, as usual, so we got to see another routine. Also putting on a show during half-time were two olympic trampoline gymnasts. They jumped with skis and snowboards in addition to other trampoline tricks. It was awesome to see! And, best of all, the swarm has a cowbell man! Gotta love cowbells. Anyways, the rest of the weekend wasn't too exciting. This weekend should be though. My sister is having a Lia Sophia party on Friday, and the Annual trash 'n treasure with my mom and sister is saturday. Hopefully I'll get some good bargains at both places. Time to relax some more, cuz I only have a week left of break. Classes start back up again on Monday.

FREEDOM!!!

So guess what everyone?! The semester is over, and I'm free for 2 whole weeks! This is gonna be the longest summer ever (sarcasm). It should be pretty relaxing though, which will be nice. Having 2 weeks of finals can be a little stressful. To celebrate lab partner's bday, a group of us went out to eat at IHOP this past Tuesday. It was awesome! The Dr. Seuss specials are still going on, so yea, I was a nerd and got the mayor's breakfast with WHO cakes (see pic above), and it was aweosme! It was complete with green eggs and ham with hashbrowns. The WHO cakes were the best part. 5 diff sized pancakes were stacked like a tower and covered with mini rainbow chocolate chips. Fruity icing was drizzled all over the stack as well. The whole tower was topped off with a bubble gum flavored dum dum sucker. Sooo yummy! I had a happy tummy all day long because of the awesomely yummy lunch. anyways, now that the semester is over, the plan is to scrapbook all my pics from my Europe trip and catch up on my random events book. I am soo behind! I haven't scrapbooked anything since Halloween, so I am well overdue. Time to get busy!

Underwater Adventures

For my ecology class yesterday, we took a field trip to Underwater Adventures. It was exciting to go for free cuz its about $20 a person now. In addition to all the fish, there was also turtles and other aquatic animals. The fish were pretty exciting. 2 sharks are attempting to mate right now, so that was interesting cuz they have a 2 foot difference in length. After touring the facility like the normal public, we got a behind-the-scenes tour. We saw the kitchen, the procedures room, and were able to go above the tanks. It was an exciting field trip, but its sad to think it was our second-to-last one. The semester is over in 2 weeks. It will be awesome having a break, finally!

EUROPE!!!

Hey everyone! I am sooo sorry it's taken me this long to write! I have been so busy since I got back into the states. Europe was awesome! It started out in Germany: Frankfurt, Rothenberg, Uffenheim, and Munich. We toured each town, visited a couple castles (including Castle Neuschwansten, which influenced Sleeping Beauty's castle), and Dachau Concentration Camp. We then ventured to Italy: Venice and Verona. We took a water taxi from the hotel to Venetian Islands and back. It was awesome! We toured the islands, saw a glass blowing demonstration, and took a gondole ride. We also fed pigeons, and yup, I got pooped on. It was worth it though. Then we went to Austria: Innsbrook. It was just a rest stop, so we were only there for a couple hours. It was still exciting seeing the buildings and getting a break from the bus. The last country we went to was Switzerland: Lucerne. We toured the town, but sadly almost everywhere was closed because it was Good Friday. The only place that was open was the train station, which was good because it was raining outside. The last two days were spent in Heidleberg, back in Germany. We toured the town and saw another castle, which has the worlds largest wine cask. It held 58,000 gallons of wine. It was huge! It made me feel very short haha The trip was awesome, and I will post some of the coolest pics on here so you can see what it was like over there. I am definately going back within the next 10 years.

Dachau Concentration Camp

Castle Neuschwanstein

Glockenspiel

St. Mark's Basilica

Venetian Pigeons

Sunset over the Mediteranean Sea

Lake Como

Rhine Falls