Dinner and a Movie

Since I finished school and don't have to spend all of my time studying I've been able to watch a few movies and do some real cooking again.  Last night we watched Safe House and I made this fish dish although I substituted store bought mango salsa and I made Kale for the first time.  With all the southern cooking I grew up with I never acquired a taste for greens so I really didn't think I was going to like this, but it was pretty good.  I didn't put any sugar in as the recipe called for and was glad, the cranberries added plenty of sweetness.

Other good movies I've seen recently are Trouble with the Curve and We Bought a Zoo.  Both are good enough to watch more than once.

I had a conversation the other day about candy from my childhood.  See if you remember these:

Flicks

Zotz

Pop Rocks, of course

Jolly Rancher Sticks, everybody loved Fire, my favorites were Watermelon and Strawberry

Candy cigarettes, you don't see them anymore

Wax Lips and Cinnamon Toothpicks, not really candy but we had to have them anyway

One last topic for this post:  Football.  I really wanted to know what a Hokie is so I went to Virginia Tech's website:  http://www.vt.edu/about/hokie.html

Happy New Year.

Graduation!!!

Finally, I'm done!!!  

I finally earned a college degree in Clinical Laboratory Science,

 and it was the same week I turned 44.

Three and a half years of studying and sleepless nights led to graduation at the James Brown Arena.

Before the ceremony we were herded like cattle in these pens under the arena.  

These are just a few of my classmates.  There were about 18 in my class  (I was the only one here in Springfield) and a few more in the Masters class who will graduate in the Spring.

Everybody in Augusta, GA was so nice to us, they even gave us a special parking space.

The night before graduation was the awards ceremony and the professors arranged for dinner at the Olive Garden afterwards.  Only two of the Masters student and one set of parents made it.  

From left to right is Ms. Kraj (she taught Molecular), Dr. Anne Ranne (I love her name, she taught Professional Ethics), Rocky, Me, Dr. Pretlow (Biochemisty and research writing, also a great mentor for me through the program), the two Masters students, one set of parents (they thought I was from the South), Dr. Russell (Hematology and Microbiology; I've never heard a Southerner talk as fast as she does), and Ms. Eggert (she teaches Radiation Therapy, I did not have her as a teacher).  Mr. Wise did not come to dinner, he taught Blood Banking and Immunology.

I'll be bringing in the new year with a new job.  I can't wait to start.  PeaceHealth hired me to work in the Blood Bank at River Bend Hospital and I'll also work at the small lab they kept at Sacred Heart.  

GHSU

It has been a while since I've taken time to post. I am now in the last few weeks of my junior year Georgia Health Sciences University's distance learning program. I've been spending about two days per week in labs at Peace Health Laboratory here in Springfield. It has been such an interesting experience. I've learned what happens with those blood and urine specimens our doctors like to take. I know what things like malaria and giardia look like microscopically. It is all so fascinating.

Besides the labs I have class lectures that get uploaded to the Internet every day. I print out a Power Point presentation that the professor uses and log on to watch the lecture s/he gave to the campus class. It is really cool. I can pause the lecture so I can catch up on my note taking, or go back to the lecture if I don't understand something in my notes later on while studying for an exam.

Some of my exams are practicals that are given to me by the lab instructors at PHL, but most are online multiple choice or fill in the blank. Sometimes the instructors open the exams for three days or so and I can take it on my own when I feel ready and other times they are proctored where I have to go to the lab and sign on in front of somebody who can verify that I'm not using notes. There are time limits for all the exams so you really need to know the material anyway or you wouldn't be able to complete the exams. There's a little timer in the corner of the screen. I don't know what happens if you run out of time, fortunately I've been able to finish all of them so far. I did make the mistake of answering the phone once during an exam and only had about two minutes left when I clicked "Finished."

GHSU, formerly the Medical College of Georgia, was established in 1828 in Augusta. The school has an interesting history. It is the 13th oldest medical college in the U.S. The school closed during the Civil War to operate solely as a hospital for the soldiers. I can't wait to visit the school in person, learn more about its history, and meet my professors.

Last week was spring vacation. They schedule the spring break to coincide with the Masters' Tournament that takes place in Augusta. I guess all the locals like to get out of town for that. It didn't feel like much of a vacation; I studied, took two quizzes, and three exams. Rocky and I did take an inland marine fishing workshop through ODFW in Newport last weekend. It was fun and interesting. Rocky caught a female crab in a Crabhawk and I pretty much just lost tackle in the jetty. I did see a couple of migrating whales while we were in Yachats, that was pretty neat. In all my 40+ years of visiting the Oregon coast, that was the first time I've seen whales here.