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.

Tidbits

My postings are getting farther and farther apart, this is mostly just because I'm so busy and when I'm not busy I'm tired.

I just completed the first semester of my junior year at Georgia Health Sciences University. It was constant hard work, but so interesting. I spent many days looking at blood cells in a microscope. I learned how to test for syphilis, sickle cell anemia, and a lot of other things that I've already forgotten. I also spent three days at a draw site learning how to draw blood. It was scary, but I did perform a few draws on real patients including one from a guy's hand. This coming semester I have to spend 30 hours drawing blood from hospital patients so the three days was good practice.

All but one of my angora and pygora goats have died so we bought some replacements. They are nubian-boer crosses. The brown one is Fudge and the other three, who all look alike, are Oscar, Elmo, and Kidd.



We did have a little fun this summer. We went camping at Gold Lake one weekend with the pontoon boats. Rocky caught one fish that he had to throw back. It was fun paddling around in the lake, but on shore the mosquitoes were so bad that we went home a day early. I think we went through three bottles of repellent. We even had to use it on Carly, her poor face was covered in welts.



Carly and I went hunting with Rocky a couple of times this fall. Carly really likes being out in the woods, she doesn't even mind the safety vest.

We only made it out to Fern Ridge a couple of times this summer. Carly absolutely loves the Seadoos.

Happenings

In my last post I forgot to write that we are now down to just one goat. Of course, it is Billy the bully. Even though he is the goat that I don't like I feel sorry for him. He cries a lot now that he's alone. So, yesterday I bought three kids. These are nubian/boer crosses so I won't have to deal with fiber. Two of them are white with black on their necks and faces and one is brown. The little girl I'm buying them from named them Oscar, Elmo, and Fudge. I don't get to bring Fudge home until July because he's only two weeks old.

As for school, I applied for my Associates of Science Degree last week. I should graduate next term. I found out that my interview with the lab about the medical technology program will be scheduled the first week of June. This is all so exciting, it is hard to wait for all the steps to happen.

When I came home from school on Thursday, I discovered that Carly had been sprayed by a skunk. I remembered that a friend had the same experience last winter so I called her. She found a recipe for skunk wash online that worked pretty well. It is hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dawn dish soap. I only had enough soda and peroxide for one batch and that was only enough for one washing. It helped a lot, but I think she needed a couple more washings with it. She still stinks, but not nearly as bad. Yesterday I brushed a lot of her undercoat out and that helped as well, so I think she's going to get brushed more today. She may be bald by the time I'm done with her.

Spring Vacation 2011

Now that Spring term is almost over I'm finally getting around to telling you about the Spring break. Since neither of us had ever been up to the northern Oregon coast we spent a long weekend up there.

Our adventure started at the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we tried squeaky cheese for the first time. If you've never had it it squeaks against your teeth when you eat it. I had to ask what makes it different and they said it is cheese that hasn't been aged yet. We brought some home and within a couple of days it quit squeaking; that explains why we can't buy it in stores.

We stayed in Seaside which was crowded with kids on Spring vacation. I didn't realize that there was so much for kids to do there.

We visited Fort Clatsop which is where Lewis and Clark ended up. It isn't very big, but it's a beautiful setting with a nice little museum. This is the rebuilt entrance to the fort:

We also visited Fort Stevens which was the only West Coast location that was bombed by a Japanese submarine during WWII. The only casualty was a baseball backstop. It was pretty interesting. They have a small museum and a lot of bunkers and structures you can explore.

We also enjoyed the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria. We spent a lot of time in there, it was so big. The history of the bar pilots is fascinating.

It was a good trip. Rocky doesn't usually do vacations like this but he admitted that it was interesting.

For now I'm just trudging away at the last three weeks of Spring term and thinking about what I want to do to prepare for the Black Sheep Gathering next month.

Another term down. I thought next term was going to be my last at LCC, but it turns out that one of the classes I need won't be offered until Summer term. This means my Spring term class load will be lighter, but no time for a vacation this Summer. We'll just have to schedule a Christmas vacation again this year.

Carly is all set for Summer with her new Doggles:
She is not very fond of them, but I think she'll keep them on while riding the Sea Doos.

I think she prefers the librarian look:

I finally had Jill's eye removed. It got to looking really bad, and seemed to be causing her pain.
I was really worried about her surviving surgery, but she came through it like nothing happened. Rocky's giving me a bad time about spending so much money on an old cat, but even he admits that she seems a little feistier than before.

Blue and Carly are getting to be such good friends now. Blue tries to get Carly to pet him and Carly has learned to watch for quick claws.

For the rest of this week and next, I have to get caught up on some of the chores around here.