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.