Friday, April 18, 2003

Since I was so excited to take pictures and shoot a movie with my camera yesterday, they weren't all that splendid but here they are for your viewing pleasure...
random movie
picture

note that I didn't decrease the viewing size so it looks really grainy at the moment
~me~ at 9:38 AM

Well, my camera arrived yesterday and since I already got my128 card, I started taking test pics and 1 movie of my tv (don't ask). The charger and fancy batteries come today. I really like my camera. It's tiny but packed with lots of fun features. Now for my mini annoyance about UPS. So while it's great when I have to be at school at long hours to come home and still beat the UPS man, I now have to wait all the way until 5 pm today to get my package because he comes around then. Yes, I'm impatient. But yesterday, the UPS man scared the crap out of me because instead of using the dainty little knocker on the door like most folks do, he decides to knock on the actual door. Now, I don't have a problem with that but I do have a problem when it sounds like he's trying to knock the damn door down just by knocking! How big does he think my apartment is that I can't hear the door unless he bangs on it?!? Anyway, I'm going to play around with my camera and upload some images for you guys to see. Like the picture I took of my origami soccer ball I made awhile back! I'm so excited!

Oh and the camera charge finally showed up on my visa online statement and I'm guessing the other charge will soon make it's appearance. Guess Jeff was right about these things taking some time. That just doesn't fly with my need for instant gratification.
~me~ at 8:57 AM

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

I just read about varicella zoster, the virus that causes chicken pox (aka varicella). Turns out that while >95% are symptomatic infections (you know what happens), 1/3 of adults who say they never had it (that would have been me if I didn't get the vaccine) are actually seropositive. That means they were indeed infected but were lucky to never suffer the clinical symptoms. So the question I now pose is this: was I seropositive before I got the vaccine or am I now seropositive because I got the vaccine. We'll never know...Even though I never touched my brothers' nasty skin lesions when they had it, they were breathing all over me and it can be transmitted by respiratory droplets so maybe I was infected but was asymptomatic because of a superb immune system. Did my parents waste money by paying for a vaccine I may not have needed? And does the vaccine provide the same lifelong immunity as infection provides or will I need a booster? I'd really be pissed if I got infected now cause the complications in adult infections really suck. Do I have a reduced risk, if any at all, of developing shingles later on? Hmmm...that would suck as well.
Oh and if you're ever really really really really bored, you can play around and see just how thin the floor of your mouth is by sticking one finger in your mouth and pushing downward while pushing up with a finger on your other hand from the outside. Yep, you can easily feel your other finger. No, I'm not bored, or at least not really really really really bored but I am tired of studying viruses. At least I have the humorous writings of Isolde to make it a bit more interesting while reading through noteset after noteset of mind numbing viral details.
~me~ at 4:02 PM

Well, my 128 card just arrived. At first I was quite confused because looking online at my detailed billing summary, it shows that I was charged $0 for everything but looking at my visa online statement closely reveals that my available balance is not showing about the same amount of credit available as was the cost of the card so I guess I'll wait in the next few hours (how can it be taking THIS long?) to see if it becomes posted. Another issue is with my camera. There's no indication on the online statement at all that this purchase has been charged. Like I said before, bizarre...
Oh and I guess people are in the mood to be giving me stuff for free since in addition to the bizarre things listed above, I had ordered a battery charger so I can use good rechargeble batteries in my camera (canon is too cheap to include it with the cost of the camera) from an online ebay store and the guy sends the same order to me twice! If I wasn't so honest and hadn't emailed him about getting two tracking numbers and sales receipts I would have had extra stuff. But since all I need is 1 charger and the 2 sets of batteries, what would I do with the extra stuff? And I'm sure he would have realized eventually that he made a mistake. Hmmm...maybe this is a good sign for the exams tomorrow...
~me~ at 3:07 PM

Bizarre moments. So I placed my orders for the camera and extra memory on two separate websites and both have already shipped and are on their merry way to my welcome arms yet both have yet to appear on my online visa statement. Usually when an order has shipped, the charge appears right away. So either I just got a camera and memory card for free or the charge is just taking an exceedingly long time to be sent. Mom says nothing is free anymore but until those charges show up, I'm saying that is what's happening. The fact that both have yet to show up makes me doubt that I will never be charged but I can dream, can't I? Oh and this buy.com website is a bit odd. I finally got a notice that my item shipped today and when I tracked it, it had been shipped 2 days ago and is on a fedex truck in new orleans as we speak ready to be delivered today. I didn't choose 2 day shipping though so I'm surprised how fast it's arriving. back to micro...
oh chris, I'll call you tomorrow after I recuperate from exams to tell you what flavors I enjoy and to find out more about those fruit wraps (are they like fruit rollups?).
~me~ at 10:19 AM

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

I've realized that ever since seeing Juliette Lewis in The Other Sister has made me think that she seriously has the mentality level of her character. Everytime I hear her speak, she has very similar speech patterns to what I always thought was just an act but perhaps not...Today, while eating my breakfast of strawberries, I watched a heavily biased bit on ADHD on the Montel show (hey, it was on and I didn't feel like changing the station for some reason unknown to me) and one of the advocates against ritalin use was Juliette Lewis and whenever she spoke, I couldn't take her seriously because of this mental image of her as Carla Tate in that movie. She was also dressed and had a hair style that at first made me think it was a show on the typical daytime tv stupid topics (my husband had an affair with a 3 legged dog and now the owner of the dog is suing me for money to take care of the man-pups) and she was one of the slighted women. Anyway, I need to go use the bathroom and then study micro.
~me~ at 11:07 AM

Monday, April 14, 2003

The family medicine thing was pretty fun. Got to talk with the folks associated with the dept like Dr. Streiffer, Dr. Wiseman, Dr. Merriwether, and Roberta (she puts together our assignments to preceptors). I actually found out that I need to go in and talk with her so she can get me with someone good for next year and hopefully with Dr. Degall since many 3rd years seem to enjoy him. Jeff just told me that this dr had a kid that went to tulane med and another that went to LSU med so perhaps that's why he serves as preceptor for both schools. Roberta said that he's one of the few preceptors who contacts her about being available to serve as preceptor instead of the other way around. Oh and there were chocolates there as well! I need to stop in there one day and get some malt balls. I guess that requires me to find out where the store is located first.
Other good news is that the pharm dept decided to bend to our whim and postpone the test on thursday until next block since there's only 1 lecture next block and Dr. Clarkson realized that it would make for a better exam and probably save the paper as well. So now I only have to study for path and micro.
~me~ at 6:43 PM

Sunday, April 13, 2003

Yea strawberries! I just got back from a fun filled day at the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival with Heather, Jeff, Kelly, and Nancy. It was pretty cool. They had rides and many different strawberry dishes. I had a strawberry dacquiri made with strawberries and that was pretty tasty as was the strawberry funnel cake, a chocolate covered strawberry, a spicy chicken stick (no strawberries there), and a taste of Jeff's smoked turkey leg (which was yums as well). We rode the carousel which was little but amusing. I kept smelling the nasty crawfish but I guess I'll have to get used to that stench. We bought some berries then left. I introduced Jeff and Heather to the strawberries dipped in sour cream and hawaiian cane sugar thing (another very delicious snack). It was very nice weather too (nice and sunny) so I think that has contributed to my post festival fatigue I'm experiencing. Unfortunately I now have to drive into the city (jeff and heather laugh at me when I say that) because Dr. Streiffer asked that the fmig officers come for a little visit at the post match celebration at Dr. Merriwether's place. Maybe they'll have the fancy chocolates from Dr. Streiffer's wife's store (Blue Frog chocolates - excellent mint chip malt balls). Then come back and study more peds pathology. What a fun day!
~me~ at 3:15 PM