Friday, May 02, 2003

So, I've been studying outside the past few days. It's really nice and I'm productive but I miss listening to my classical music (too lazy to get my cd player and collect cds). Oh and then I have to breathe crappy air when the smokers come out and instead of smoking on the other side of the courtyard where no one is, they smoke at the table on the same side that I'm on. And it sucks because I can feel my brain becoming hypoxic. Okay, maybe not but it definitely makes it harder for me to breathe and concentrate. If they want lung cancer and COPD, then fine but don't take me down with you!
~me~ at 3:55 PM

And here's another quiz...

Which monkey are you?
Another pointless diversion from Bijouriel
~me~ at 3:47 PM

Red/Green/Blue:
To you, the world is logical. Everything happens
for a reason, life is scientific. You like to
find solutions. I doubt you needed to take this
quiz in order to realize this.


What color do you see the world in?
brought to you by Quizilla
~me~ at 3:36 PM

Thursday, May 01, 2003

I just got pictures of Erinn and Mick's son Evan (my 2nd cousin). He's incredibly cute! I hope that they come down this summer so I can see him in person.
~me~ at 8:14 PM

Remember way back when I told you how I posted a comment on the apple discussion bulletin boards because people were griping about buying a computer a few weeks before the new ones came out? Well, not surprisingly, people are bitching about ipods. Some people had bought theirs a few days before so they can still return them (probably have to pay an open box fee but oh well) but even those people who bought them a few months ago are griping! So, I decided to tease them too...it was just too easy and too tempting not to. And of course, someone attacked me for teasing them and making a mockery of their frustrations, which made me laugh even harder (and I posted that I was laughing so hard that I might have an accident just to make them even madder...I'm evil yes but only in these situations). I then made a comment that if they had done research on the product they would have run into site that mentioned possibilities/rumors of potential new models (certainly didn't take me too long to find them) and if they had the patience, they could have waited a bit longer to see if it came to fruitition. Is it my fault I have more patience? So then someone attacked me and said I had no right to make comments if I base my purchases on rumors. Hey Moron! I based my timing on it and since I wasn't hard up for the ipod, I decided I could wait. Yeah, I didn't call the guy a moron but I told him his ASCOT was too high to be safe (Anal sphincter coefficient of tightness - a term our biochem prof introduced us to last year). I guess it is wrong of me to keep encouraging this guy and build up his anger but some people are ridiculous. They want new features on stuff they have and when these new features become available they expect the company to give them the new model?!? The windows people have a more valid argument because they have to wait another month for the special USB 2.0/power cord if they don't have firewire before they can use the new ipod. And they don't seem to be complaining as much as the mac folks. And most of these complainers like to list the computer stuff they own and some of them own 2 or 3 computers!!! Okay, if you're a student like me and funds are limited, then I won't care if you complain about the cost but owning 3+ computers (and not crappy ones either) and complaining about the price of the ipod?!? ugh they disgust me!
~me~ at 2:45 PM

Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Well, in my true form, I began searching out cheaper prices for the newest device in my dreams. A while back, way before revisions were a possibility, I had hunted down such cheaper alternatives and didn't seem to find a good one. Plus I was trying to justify buying it at bestbuy for the warranty. Now that I know about visa warranties, I can choose the store of my choice. Because Apple likes students, they have a special education store that takes $30 off the price of the ipod ($469) and there's free shipping. So, you're thinking, well, silly girl stop your hunting and buy it directly from apple. Yeah, let me reintroduce you to the thing I hate about louisiana (one of a few): 8.5% tax!!! And yes, apple will tax me. Even if I had it shipped to Chris in Oregon and had him ship it to me here to save on tax(we had discussed this possibility months before), there's the price for him to ship it to me and I'd get insurance and all that jazz so I'd at best be saving $15 after all is said and done. When I bought this computer, I decided to email all the apple certified resellers to try and get the education pricing because even with shipping (max $25 anywhere), I would be saving the big bucks plus getting the extra bonus stuff they bundle with computer sales that the apple store doesn't offer. And I found it at MacWarehouse. So, I decided to do the same with the ipod and this time Mac warehouse came through again! Not only will they give me the education price, but the tulane rep is going to ship it for free. He said he may no longer be the tulane rep in 30 days but if I email him back with the email attached, whoever is in charge will most likely honor the same deal (or I may end up paying shipping which won't be too much or at least not $47 (tax on the ipod)). MacZones also will honor it and they have $7 shipping so when I decide I want to buy this thing, I'll email the macwarehouse person first and if the no shipping fee is still there, then they're my store. I guess it didn't hurt that I praised them on my past experience in the inquiry email to butter them up. Well, time for lunch!
~me~ at 1:11 PM

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

I just got back from studying at Barnes and Noble. I had a coupon for a free drink so I thought I'd study a little there. I was reminded of why I prefer to study at home. Not only are there less distractions (people watching, books, annoying noises) but I have all my resources with me when I study at home. I hate not having something with me and because I don't like to move on if I haven't gotten a good understanding of the present topic, I end up sitting there trying to figure it out on my own which either is successful with lingering doubt or I draw incorrect conclusions. Either way, I'm screwing myself when I could be at home adn quickly look up the info and move on without wasting the time. So I came home after 2 hours of working on biostats stuff. And sure enough, a quick glance on a book I didn't bring with me made the situation perfectly clear, as I knew it would. So why didn't I just move on and worry about the problem when I went home? Because I hate doing that. Sort of like how I have a hard time falling asleep when I'm in the middle of figuring stuff out when it's bedtime. I just lie there and the problem floats in my brain keeping me from the restful sleep I seek. Sometime the problem penetrates my dreams and oddly enough I figure out the problem in the dream but when I wake up I can only remember bits and pieces of the solution. Sometimes the solution from my dream works and other times not. Though this last dream I had involved a metal beam smashing in my car from up top. I'm staying clear of construction areas for awhile just in case.
Did you have a chance to check out the new ipods? I think while the buttons around the touchwheel looked more sleek and sophisticated, the new look will grow on me. After all, the buttons all glow now from the backlight of the screen. A while ago I checked out this product called an iskin that protects the ipod from scratches and other careless damage and they have glowing iskins (I liked the light blue one the best) but now with the new design of the ipod, they've got to redesign the skin. I hope they do that quickly or at least before I have the $ to buy one. I want this so I can take it with me wherever I go for family medicine (especially so i can take my entire classical collection with me) so I can have study music, fun music, and my sleepy time music without having to lug around a cd player and cds. And when I'm back in town, I'll be studying at school during breaks or possibly spending late hours at the hospital so any chance I get to relax it would be nice to listen to some music. People asked me last year and this year earlier why I never seemed to run out of financial aid money like they did and the answer was simple, at first I spent only what I needed to spend with a few frills here and there and saved where I could while they were out buying $120 jeans (they're jeans for crying out loud! I hate spending $50 for them...am I paying per pound or something?!?), $70 bikinis (I rarely wear them in large social groups so I consider $30 the max acceptable price.I also think quality goes down as price goes up because eventually you're just paying for the label), $90+ shoes (?!?). And the result is that I actually have a bit of money left to now spend on myself. I actually have recently been spending most of it on clothes for next year. It's so much easier to find nice skirts than pants that I like. I need to find shoes to match my skirts though that are comfy yet nice looking. I think i might have to swing by the easyspirit and similar store since I've worn their heel shoes for formals before and those look stylish and are sooo incredibly comfortable. I don't care if I'm not really old, I'd rather have comfy shoes to pamper my feet rather than buy feet hating stylish shoes from other stores. The time i like to spend extra are for my electronics and for parmesan cheese (kraft vs store brand...why is store brand always that weird orange-yellowish color?). Oh and for meats without the fat on it (gross gelatinized fat makes me shiver). I kind of wish that I had more money to buy clothes for next year. But on the other hand, I haven't really found too much that I like. I've sunk into a sweater set collecting phase that I believe started this summer when we bought the sweater sets at the GAP for my professional look. It was my time of beige and neutral tones (magenta, graygreen, etc) and now I've discovered that I tend to be attracted to blues, greens, beige, and pinks. And most of them are paired with sweater sets. I can wear just the tops without the sweaters at least. I don't like the blouses I've found because you can see my bra, even when I tried one on with those seamless bras, you can still see it and I hate it when people can see my underwear, even when there's no way around it. Why can't I find a nice blouse that isn't see through, doesn't have stupid frills on it, oh and doesn't require me to sell a kidney to afford it. I love the ann taylor loft and petite sophisticate stuff but I've already sold all my internal organs off to purchase the stuff I have bought this year. Even Tshirts are ridculously priced (though the loady that helped me with my last purchase kept bringing them back to me). And why do I wear them, just so some sick person can barf all over my $70 skirt, $60 shoes, $40 sweater set, $300 worth of medical tools and resources, and $30 white coat? No wonder people get killed for their clothes, I'm wearing enough stuff to feed a starving kid and his pet dog in africa for a month! I'm going to end up wearing repeat clothes. Good thing there's dryel (it really works well)! I'm done.
~me~ at 4:28 PM

Monday, April 28, 2003

I'm so excited. Apple finally released their new line of ipods. I'm annoyed that they did a 10-15-30 thing instead of 10-20-40 or 10-20-30 since I really only want a 20 gig model but I may have to save up for a 30. And they also launched a music download store. Yeah, not free but since I usually only like to buy one or two songs I hear on the radio, this is good. I can also listen to a 30 second preview. And it looks like when you buy an album, you get a pretty good price since I checked out a Sheryl Crow CD and there were 14 tracks. At $0.99 per song, that would be about $14 but if I chose to buy the album, it would only cost $9.99. I have to check to see what the tax issues are since apple charges tax on all apple store purchases but even with tax, it's not too bad of a service. They only have 200,000 songs but they keep adding more and there's a feedback form to request albums or genres so I suggested hawaiian so I can listen to samples and see if any are good. I think I may also suggest some classical pieces that I've been trying to get but would have to buy other songs I either already have or don't want. The best thing is that I can burn CDs with these purchased songs as much as I want. Yep, unlimited burns. Like I said, I'm very excited! Don't worry, my love for my new camera hasn't been pushed to the edges of my right atrium but once I save enough money, it will have to share the voluminous left ventricle with the ipod!
Actually, I'm thinking of maybe buying a pass to the zoo now that the weather is getting nicer. A classmate of mine studies at the zoo occasionally and I think since the zoo, aquarium, and other nature park are all Audobon Society parks, the pass works for all three. And the aquarium has the IMAX theater and I want to go see some imax movies. I also need to spend one whole morning at the DDay museum (I wonder if I can take photos in there...) so I can see every inch of that museum. I wish Grandpa could come for a visit, he would like it. He might get sad like he did during Saving Private Ryan but even a quick short visit to the museum would be enjoyable I think. It's an awesome museum and I kind of wish my parents I went there during their last visit. The saddest part is the very end because the museum ends with a small exhibit of the atomic bombing of Japan. I found it disturbing to see the video of the US loading the planes with the bombs because they were all smiling and happy and it led to such a devastating effect with kids from back then now suffering high rates of cancer from the radiation of the bomb. I understand the whole shock thing working to help stop the war but couldn't they just drop normal bombs and still have the same effect? Don't you love my stream of consciousness rambles?
Now we're learning genetics and you know how much I love genetics! (not being sarcastic there, i really do love genetics) I was born on Gregor Mendel's birthday (the monk that is considered by some to be the father of genetics; he did the pea pod crossing experiments) 155 years later. And just think, if I wasn't a day late, whose birthday would it be (besides mine)?
~me~ at 6:57 PM

Coming to you live from the basement of the medical school...
I finished the parasitology exam. I hate that one test determines the grade for this class. I feel pretty good about it but still...(much better than that last micro test for which we still haven't gotten grades back yet and most are hoping they dump it completely) Yoon asked a 3rd year what happens if someone fails the exam and they just give a new exam. Sounds simple enough. I don't want to have to take another exam though.
Now I've got to hang out down here for another hour and 15 minutes until the pharm test. I wish we could just go to the pharm office and take the test already.
Apparently only my computer has issues with my guestmap and only in the two browsers I choose to use (how frustrating) since I can use netscape and if I view it through virtual pc, I can use explorer and it works. It seems to work on all windows computers but unless I hear that mom can't get it to work on her computer, then I'm guess my computer spontaneously decided to suck. I'm thinking of saving my bookmarks and redownloading the browsers. Doubt it will work but it's not too big of a hassle.
I love internet radio. I can study to classical music wherever I have internet access. Wireless high speed is always best (like here at school or at home) but even wired can work (wired? Ha! I laugh at wired networks! Ha! Ha! Ha!).
I guess I'll get back to reviewing drugs.
~me~ at 9:13 AM