I'm in Fort Collins!

I've been on my emergency and critical care rotation for the past 2 weeks, with 2 more left to go.  It's been some long, crazy hours, and I've pretty much studied, then crashed soon after getting out each day, so sorry I suck about updating.  CSU has been gracious enough to give the "visiting" students weekends off, so I've been able to drive the 2 hours home the past 2 weekends to see Tyler and the critters.  I've almost finished unpacking all of our boxes, and it's starting to feel like home.  Too bad I won't be around much this year to appreciate it.  I bought a used couch yesterday, since we got rid of ours before moving, only to find out that it won't fit through the door to the room we were going to put it in.  I was running late getting back to Ft. Collins, so I had to leave it where it was, blocking the entire kitchen for Tyler to deal with when he got off work.  Poor guy.

I finally got my last rotation booked for February, and while I'm super excited I finally found a dentistry rotation that'll take me, I'm also sad it's out of state.  My original plan for 4th year was to try to do all of my elective rotations in Colorado, and only have to travel for my core internal med and surgery rotations, but I suck at booking things, and somehow, out of my 6 electives, 1 was in Cali before we moved, 3 are out of state, plus the 2 required out of state rotations.  I'm going to miss the hubby so much.

Washing the California stink off of me

I've neglected posting here the past few weeks.  First, I was packing up my stuff in Cali, and had no internet.  Now that I've made the drive to Colorado, I've been slowly putting a dent in unpacking my boxes. It's really hard to unpack when you're unpacking about 700 square feet of stuff into a 500 square foot apartment!  I haven't even unpacked my Kitchenaid mixer, and I'm 99% sure I have nowhere in my kitchen to fit it.  Anyway, it's taken me so long to update, because I've been spending what feels like every free moment hanging out with the people I missed like crazy, and this is the first time I've had to sit down and write.  

I've only done one car, but I just got Colorado plates on my vibe, and damn, does it feel good to get those Cali plates off.  There's always been a palpable hostility towards California here (and Texas), due to getting tons of people immigrating from those states and contributing to the urban sprawl/mcmansion problem we have.  I wasn't really comfortable getting stereotyped into that group because of identifiable plates, so it feels good to have the car "clean," so to speak.  I also got pawprint plates!  I was supposed to get spay/neuter plates in Cali, but they needed a minimum order for the run before they could issue them, and I left too early to get them.  So now I have plates from a better state, with better artwork on them.  

Doesn't the California plate look like the dog is melting, or has a chromosome missing or something?  

One plus side of hitting up the DMV today, is that it's super close to Garden of the Gods.  Sure, I wasn't prepared to go hiking - I was wearing a dress, my cell battery was almost dead, and didn't have a water bottle, but who can resist on such a beautiful day?  

Having that in my backyard is exactly why I've spent the past 3 years homesick like crazy.  

It's weird being back though.  Random businesses have changed, entire buildings have been erected or demolished, urban sprawl has gotten worse.  But the differences between here and Pomona are stark.  Pomona has a doughnut shop on every corner, the springs has either a tattoo studio or a church.  Too damn many churches everywhere.  And the number of tattoo shops seems to have doubled since I left - precisely the reason why I had to quit piercing - way too much competition to be able to make it charging full price for top quality work.  It's out of control now.  

I do have some amazing news though.  I stopped by my old clinic, and was greeted with "hurry up and graduate so you can start working here!"  I was also informed that since the property may get taken by the city by eminent domain in the next few years, that the owner's looking for a new place - and since I'll be owning it someday, my input is wanted.  :)  I've also been given the open offer to work there during my gaps between clinical rotations, do exams, and work up cases.  Eeeee!

I start my emergency rotation next week in Ft. Collins.  I'm extra excited and terrified.  Terrified, because I hate navigating large institutions, and I'm always convinced I'll get lost, and because even with as much preparation I've been trying to do, I don't feel like I know enough.  (Which, I honestly don't and never will.  It keeps me constantly reading and bettering myself.)  However, I love emergency, and I get to stay with family that I haven't seen in far too long, so I'm excited about that.  Fingers crossed.  (And as always, if I write about 3rd and 4th year stuff, since so much of it involves clients/patients, details will be either fudged or left out completely.) 

Anyway, that's the super-quick past couple weeks in a nutshell.  I don't know what my hours will be like in Ft. Collins, so updates may continue to be sporadic.  

8 days to the big move

Moving truck delivered.  Check.  Everything that's not going to get used over the next week in boxes.  check.  All that time spent playing tetris being put to good use as I load the truck.  Check.  Finding an auto shipper for my 2nd car - not going so well.  Hopefully somebody will come get it in the next few days.  That's a whole drama in and of itself.

Speaking of drama, does anybody else have the problem of being a magnet for crazy?  I had to leave radiology early on Friday so I could keep biting my tongue without snapping at a classmate.  I really try not to be rude to people, and I don't know if they sense that, and see it as a weakness, or what.  But the last thing I need is a socially awkward person following me around in class, assuming a level of camaraderie that doesn't exist, and not picking up on social cues that I want to be left alone.  It happens to me all the time.  It's why I avoid using public transportation - it's almost guaranteed if I take a city bus, and there's 20 empty seats, that a crazy person will sit next to me and start talking.  It's why when I go to Stater Bros for a quick grocery run, I get stuck talking to some weird 40 year old guy who wants to talk about music, even as I'm acting disinterested and inching my cart away from him.  What body language are they picking up on, and how do I fix that, short of just being a raging bitch to everybody?

Do you remember this post from a few months back?  http://www.clawspawsscales.com/2012/11/i-need-smaller-dogs.html

In it I was joking about all the online searching I was doing for my 3rd year on-campus classes about reportable diseases, public health, and disaster management.  You know, using a giant chunk of keywords on this list.  With the news about Edward Snowden's leaks of PRISM, I don't know if I should say I told you so, or be very, very sad about the complete destruction of privacy and 4th amendment rights in this country.  

Anaheim silliness

Tyler and I had a rare day off together today.  Since I'm leaving California soon, my first thought that we should go to Disney before we move.  Then I realized that I'm not all that into disney, especially not for how expensive ticket prices are.  So we went to the Discovery Science Center instead.  Tyler's wanted to go since he found out there was a hockey exhibit, and I'm always game for a museum, even if it is geared towards kids.  We followed that up with German food (since there's no German restaurants near Pomona), and then we accidentally stumbled on the brick-and-mortar store for Ipso Facto.  All that money I saved by not going to Disney?  Completely decimated by going to that store.  Oh, well, at least I have something to show for it besides some photos and a sunburn.

Speaking of clothes, I ordered some swimsuits online, and the store I got them from had mystery grab-bag type shoes for super cheap.  I picked my size, and took a gamble.  It did not pay off.  I cannot walk in 6 heels.  If you're a size 10, not a klutz, and like leopard print, they're up for auction on ebay, before I break an ankle trying to walk in them.

We found a place to move to in Colorado.  It's a downstairs apartment in a 1900's house, and we've been warned that we will hit our heads on the ceiling if we're taller than 6', so we're cutting it close at 5'11".  But it's super cheap, it allows us to have our critters, and it's back home.  I'm stoked.  2 weeks and I'm out of the ghetto!

I'm still loving my radiology rotation.  We just finished up the first half of interpreting radiographs, and the next two weeks will be nothing but doing ultrasounds.  Did I mention how lucky I am to be able to take this course before Dr. J retires?

What a week!

I just finished my first week of 4th year.  Right now I'm taking Dr. J's radiology, which I am so lucky that he was willing to do for our class before he retires.  He was one of my favorite professors in the first 2 years of school, and he's really making all of this imaging come together and make sense.  I think I've learned more useful information in the past week than I did in all of 3rd year.

In the meantime, I dropped Izzy and Billy off at Banfield.  Izzy blocked, and passed a stone while I was in Washington, and I wanted to see if using the stone dissolution diet was working.  Umm.. it doesn't appear to be, but she hasn't blocked again, so I guess I'll keep her on it.  Billy, my most favorite kitty in the whole world had dropped an alarming amount of weight over the past 2-3 weeks, despite eating everything, and starting the bad habit of trying to steal food from me as I'm putting it in my mouth.  A t4 confirmed that he's hyperthyroid, and will have to be on daily medication for the rest of his life, or until I can afford to have his thyroid treated with radiation.  I'm just glad he's taken care of, and hopefully he'll start putting on weight again soon.

I had applied for a really perfect looking house back in Colorado, and got a call from the property management company saying they wouldn't even look at my application because I had too many pets.  Now I'm moving in 3 weeks, with no house to move to, and I'm starting to freak out.  I need a home!

Nothing to see here

I was just looking at my blog stats, and I just crossed 60,000 page views.  Wasn't it just a few months ago that I crossed 50,000?

My radiology rotation starts on Monday.  It's the official start to fourth year, and it seems like a good way to ease in.  It's taught by Dr. J, who's a wonderful teacher and radiologist, and whose wife was the founding dean of the school.  Hopefully by the end of the month, I can actually start to feel really comfortable reading films and doing ultrasounds.  Especially ultrasounds. It's a skill I need, but sometimes it's so confusing.  I need to dedicate this month to learning every little thing I can.

After that rotation, I need to get in a truck and drive to Colorado.  We've found a house that we want to rent (since our house has tenants in it until February), and we're just waiting to hear from the property management company about whether or not we've been approved.  It's so close I can taste it.  I'm so homesick, and ready to be back in a state that doesn't smell like exhaust.  Poor Tyler is especially homesick - I've been rather distracted by school for the past three years, and I've have the opportunity to make friends with classmates, while he's been working for a company he doesn't like, ripped away from his friends back home, without a whole lot of opportunities to integrate here.  One month, and we'll get back!  I can't wait.

So over this.

Done with finals. Counting down the days until I can return to Colorado.  Looking forward to my radiology rotation in a few weeks.

I'm pretty sick of my car right now.  I brought it in over spring break to repair a leaking exhaust manifold, and replace the bearings.  They replaced the manifold, and had to replace the intake gasket and re-machine the engine.  Then, it started to die on me again, and Tyler took it into the shop while I was in Oregon.  First they thought it was the fuel injectors, and I had to pay to replace those.  Then they finally figured out it was the O2 sensor.  It's been running fine for about 2 weeks, then last night, the check engine light starts flashing, and it's running rough like it's misfiring.  I am so sick of dealing with car problems, and I'm mad I ever bought this piece of junk.

I was getting lost in some rabbit holes online, and I found a couple articles about CU's dental school.  Apparently in 2010, they got into some problems with the DEA,  and then it looks like just recently, they're under investigation again.  Basically, they were letting students and residents prescribe and use sedatives for anesthesia that were all under a doctor's DEA number, even when he wasn't physically present on campus.  This got me thinking, since we don't have a teaching hospital here, what is the standard operating procedure for prescribing at teaching hospitals?  Does one doctor order all the anesthetics for the hospital, and everybody uses them?  I wonder if there are differences between states, and between the human/veterinary/dental divide.  Leave a comment if you know how your school works.

I bought a powerball ticket for tonight's drawing.  I feel like I should have my grades in statistics revoked from me.  :)