She Took the Time...

Wednesday my mother took the afternoon off to come down for my induction into Gamma Sigma Delta (an agricultural honor society). I think that is very amazing and that I am very blessed!!
Each inductee was to give their name, course of study, hometown, a place they would always want to go at that hometown, and what they planned to be doing in 5 years. Now, what forever was I to suggest that they see in Hubbard*? There is nothing much in the area aside from hops. So I told them that, and mentioned the Table Rock Wilderness, specifically a hike to Rooster Rock (which is out past Molalla), as an attraction worth taking in.

We had a good time talking with a middle aged couple after the ceremony -- the guy farmed pigs for a while and had some interesting stories. For instance, a man on a fork lift ran into a transformer in a fed plant. The transformer began leaking PCBs, and they became mixed with feed which was sent to hog farms. The error was not caught for 2 weeks because a QC lab guy placed the first PCB-containing sample somewhere before testing it and went on a trip. This resulted in slaughtering thousands of hogs, and the guy we were talking to had to wait over a year before he could sell his animals even though his feed was free of PCBs. They couldn't sell any pigs out of Montana.

Mom and I then took a tour of the riverfront restaurants. This was not by design, but we happened to be picky in our selection and on top of that a couple of the places didn't serve meals. We aren't big on restaurants with bars, don't like to pay $15 for dinner, consider a balanced meal to consist of more than bread or gelatto.
We landed at New Morning Bakery, which I knew to be the most "bomb-proof" option all along but still avoided. Somehow I am not impressed with paying big money for a slab of lasagna that is removed cold from the counter cooler in front of you and heated in a microwave. And seeing all the food premade is weird -- it seems like it would be growing bacteria and of inferior quality. Now, the interesting thing about my prejudice is that other restaurants probably do a very similar thing, just heat something up from their refrig and cart it out to you. I just don't see them do it.
Is it a bad witness for Christians to drink sparkling apple juice in a bottle at a restaurant? Does it look like beer and would it be a stumbling block to a near-by recovered alcoholic?

Follow the repast Mom and I went to a Socratic Club debate in Gilfillan Hall. The Socratic Club is one of the most interesting clubs on campus, and this debate (organized by my friend Casey) was nothing to be ashamed of.
"Jesus Meets the Buddha: An Inter-faith Dialogue and Debate" -- the speakers were Dr. Paul Metzger of Multnomah Bible College (the Christian), and Dr. James Blumenthal of OSU (the Buddhist). Interestingly, Dr. Metzger was the Christian at the only other Socratic debate I've been to -- I thought I recognized him, and then he mentioned something about Friedrich Nietzsche and I recalled that the guy at the previous debate spoke at length about Nietzsche and also pronounced his name in a way I was unfamiliar with, as did Wednesday's fellow.
Well, I should enter into a deep and prolonged discourse about Wednesday's debate, but I think I will leave that for another time.

***
What do you think of Christians belonging to honor societies? Is that like being unequally yoked with unbelievers?

* Actually, Hubbard is a nice place and our new mayor has been working to make some positive changes. They have a hop festival every year (somehow the use of hops doesn't fit well with my lifestyle, and I have never gone), which is a definite community builder. Looking at this website indicated that it is actually a more active municipality than might first meet the eye. Still, there are not many natual wonders in the area.

Real Veterinary Medicine

This week, aside from the large animal neurology test, has been pleasantly exciting.
On Monday I received orientation in the small and large animal hospitals and on Tuesday began a rotation through the small animal hospital. We saw chronic renal failure and a prostatic adenocarcinoma on Tuesday.
Wednesday I got to take the history and do the physical exam on an Italian greyhound which came in to have a bone plate removed. This was a first for me and therefore exciting.
Italian greyhounds have crazily small bones -- this particular animal broke its radius by jumping off the couch! There is concern that the bones may not be strong enough with the plate out. They packed the screw holes with bone grafts from the humerus and left a lag screw in place to hopefully deter any breakage. Glad I wasn't doing that surgery!

Today three of us scrubbed into surgery (this means you scrub your hands and arms with special scrub brushes and soap for 6 minutes, dry your forearms with a sterile towel, slip into a sterile gown, and don sterile gloves in a sterile manner). This puppy had an infection of the growth plates (physitis) in two bones. The infection apparently exited the growth plates and created nasty abscesses under the skin. Last night they drained 0.4 or 0.7 liters of pus from the area -- for some reason vets are more excited the more pus there is.
During surgery they inserted needles into the growth plates and flushed saline through -- for "dilution is the solution to pollution". This could lead to premature closing of the plates and stunted growth of those limbs, but it's better than the dog dying of sepsis.

It's great to start applying the information we'd learned to real cases.

Classroom Tips

Now that you all think I am insane for that last post... I will try to type something more coherent.

Dr. Schlipf asked our class if we thought computer use in classrooms could be related to the decreased performance which has been observed. He was right on the money with that question.

Typing notes on computers is bad because:

It doesn't involve your brain in forming the words on the paper. This removes a visual component of the learning process.
Typing does not allow you to use your own non-computer style format -- for instance, I like to write some details in the margins if they're important, or in between lines to associate facts with each other. Typing also makes it harder to underline stuff quickly.
It is easy to zone out while typing words -- not as easy to zone when writing on paper.
It is harder to study off the computer screen.

PowerPoint is worse than writing on the board because:
It is harder to track what a teacher says along with the words on the screen.
They sometimes put way too many slides in their presentations.
They place too many lines on a slide.

That said, PowerPoint is easier to study off than a page of dense text, and it is better to have access to PowerPoints than to not have access to notes.

Surprisingly, Dr. Schlipf's own method of talking us through the notes (which he provides us) works quite well -- better, for me, than PowerPoint (except for the lack of pictures).

Proposed good teaching styles:
Write the notes on the board. (Best)
Provide students with notes and lecture without PowerPoint or writing on the board.
Do the same as directly above, and supplement with a slideshow of pictures.
***
On a different note... running is a strange thing. The first 0.1 or 0.2 miles are fine. My shins are sore from 0.2 to 2+ miles and running isn't much fun. Around 2 miles the soreness decreases and by 3 miles there is very little pain. Indeed, my legs are somewhat without feeling by then. This phenomenon probably means that I should stretch 20 minutes before running.

21

10 reasons why every girl should have a brother.
09 reasons why girls should enjoy hiking LONG distances.
08 reasons why it is better to get married when you are >20.
07 reasons why the "best" cook is not the best potential wife.
06 reasons why someone should run Hood to Coast in a dress.
05 reasons why girls should wonder why they like tea parties.
04 reasons why women sometimes turn off their thinking caps.
03 reasons why fainting women should not be more acceptable to men.
02 reasons why two exclamation points are less aesthetically pleasing than three.
01 reason why guys should not pointlessly demonstrate their capabilities.
00 reasons why I should be typing this right now.
-01 reasons why mice should effect hysterics.
-02 reasons why men should always drive pick-ups.
-03 reasons why perfume should be worn to church.
-04 reasons why jacked-up vehicles are cool.
-05 reasons why...
Oh, dear, I am running out of ideas.

I will refrain from divulging on these options. Nonetheless, as there is some truth in most every joke, there is meaning to be determined from these topics. The truly initiated will find themselves possessors of the esoteric information. They may even add their own topics to complete the 21.

Earth Day!!!

Today is Earth Day!

It's a day to promote good stewardship of the planet God has placed in our care. Go plant a tree, ride a bike, make an earth-friendly lifestyle change. Thank God for his blessings.

Interview Video

In class today we watched snippets of the videos from the interviews (there were five other students who interviewed). I noted a definitely Varney-style mannerism in one snippet of me -- Dr. Watson asked me a question, and I nodded my head slowly and said "yeah" (as if in understanding of the question) before answering. For some reason this seemed like something my brother would do as well.

I wish I had the full video of my interview.

American vs. English

All you English literature enthusiasts, take a look at this. I found it interesting.
Differences in Usage

Not particularly "colorful"

Take this test: What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
I was 70% general American English, 10% dixie, 10% upper midwestern, 10% yankee, 0% midwestern.

How many of you call the evening meal "supper"? I do fairly often, I guess, and have gotten a couple laughs/comments in return. It is apparently regarded as a southern thing.

It is possible that I picked up the habit after attending a Mennonite church -- Mennonites are also in the habit of using "supper" to designate the evening meal -- but I'm not too sure about that. I think I regarded "supper" and "dinner" as interchangeable before knowing Mennonites, and then I learned that "dinner" may actually be the noon meal if large enough.

Feeling Fake

I recently completed a mock interview for a fake small animal position. Needless to say I didn't do very well, which is exactly why it was good for me to do. I wasn't specific enough about myself, spoke too much about research/academia, floundered around.

I think it would have been easier if it was a real interview for a job that I was actually interested in. Strictly small animal practice is not my passion, and it's easier to be genuine than fake. Then answers can flow.

Because it was a mock interview with me posing as a fourth-year student, I made up some stuff and felt myself to be sort of "fake" through the process. When the interview was done I found myself still stuck in the ultra-nice/polite mode. It was sort of funny.

Lands

I am being semi-social this evening, moving beyond the confines of vet school, venturing forth into un-Claire-charted territory.

Well, er, actually I just ate a Subway with my friend Tracy -- it was delightful -- and now I am going to Warfel's for the mid-week meeting of Riverside Christian Fellowship (did I get that name right?).

My Least Favorite Topic

There's nothing quite like watching/listening to the men at church as they sing in 4-part harmony. They did a pretty good job yesterday evening.

***
For the record, since everyone else seems to be talking about it... my thoughts on immigration of Mexicans.

I have no problem with immigrants who enter the country legally, become citizens in the prescribed way, live as true citizens of the USA, work to build up society, etc. It is okay with me if they aren't doctors, PhDs -- from the upper echelons of society. They must have a good work ethic and a solid vision for themselves and their children. America was built from people like that, and can continue to benefit from them.

The American spirit allows for a melting pot of many cultures. It is fine with me if immigrants want to teach their language to their children, practice their cultural holidays, eat their cultural foods. It would be a shame for immigrants to discard everything they knew before in exchange for hamburgers, American football, and Hollywood. America would not be the interesting place it is if that were the standard practice.
What is important is that the immigrants be open to the other cultures that influence America -- as we are willing to embrace the positive aspects of their culture, they should be willing to embrace ours. In the true American spirit they should not comprehend any divisions between them and us. We are brothers in a great nation, striving together to make it better, striving together to build a solid society with an awesome future.

A true American will learn English very soon. A true American will not retain allegiance to their former country -- if they do, they should return from whence they came. A true American will not leech off the rest of the populace. Naturally, they may initially receive a bit of aid as they establish themselves, but the true American will desire to begin contributing to the community as soon as possible. A true American will not sneer at the laws of the country, but will make a good effort to obey them and will instill in his children a respect for government.

I have no problem with such immigrants. I do think the US should be wise in the number of people we allow in -- there are limits -- and I do believe we should perform careful background checks.

So, how do these concepts apply to Mexican immigrants?

If they jump through the established legal process, enter the country legally with legal identification, apply for citizenship before their visa runs out, renew their papers when the time comes (just like I would do if I went to Mexico) -- if they learn English, obey the laws of the land and teach their children to respect government, if they contribute to society and refuse to be leeches, if they value America and have no allegiance to Mexico... then they are fine.

But -- if they enter America illegally, then they have breached the security system of the US. They have shown their lack of morals and they have shown their willingness to disobey the government for their own gain. They have shown that they do not respect our country, and they have shown that they should not be allowed to be Americans. As they continue to disobey the law by staying here without papers, they continue to demonstrate that they are not good candidates for citizenship. They should be removed until they repent of their ways and decide to enter the country via the legal process. Make criminals citizens because of their criminal act? It makes no sense.

"Oh, but we need them to work in the fields." "Our food prices would increase without them." "It would cost too much to build onto my house without Mexican labor."

Those arguments demonstrate a lack of interest in sustainable economy. Or, rather, do the arguers expect a never-ending supply of underpaid semi-slave labor?
Sadly, a prevalent American value is "get it as cheap as you can." So we outsource to China (more semi-slave labor). We allow criminal immigrants to remain in the country. We buy cheapo stuff that doesn't last long. We are selfish and greedy.

We should be willing to pay according to the worth of a product, a service. Cheap food? Do you really think Americans need more cheap food? Maybe we as a country would be less obese if food cost more. Maybe we wouldn't throw out 40% of our crops if they cost more to grow. Hmmm.
Cheap construction labor? What's a few thousand dollars in the long run? Pay a man what he's worth. Maybe we should just have smaller houses.

Legally established, community edifying Mexicans? No problem.
Sneakers across the border who don't care about America? They may leave now.

There, I hope that article doesn't get me into trouble... may freedom of speech be upheld.

Dos Dias

Thursday, April 13, 2006:
9 am - arrive at OSU, look at histopathology slides
10-12 noon - look at histo slides with Dr. Cooper on the multi-headed scope
12-1 pm - listen to Dr. Val Shean talk about her ethnovet drug research in Uganda
1-2 pm - ophthalmology lecture by Dr. Maxwell
2-3 pm - large animal neuro lecture by Dr. Schlipf, outside in the fresh? air with crazy college youths driving past
3-5 pm - session by a licensed counselor about grief
5-7 pm - worked in library
7-8:45 pm - Josh and Carrie's for Bible study
9-10:30 pm - back to school to look at histology slides, etc
10:30 pm - drove home
Whew! No time to exercise.

Speaking of exercise, I seriously become addicted to it if I do it often enough. I feel good if I do it (even enjoy the muscle aching though it partially debilitates me), and I get headaches (sometime(s)) if I haven't exercised (this is purely anecdotal, no scientific study involved).

Friday I purchased some scrubs (purple, black and one with butterflies) and a lab coat for clinics. They will be upon me before I know it (i.e. 1 week from Monday). Yippee!


Don't you just want to move somewhere close to places like this? or this? (not necessarily with the horses -- they sort of detract from the main idea) I do, as far as temporal pleasures are concerned. Not that I ever will... we'll see.

Goals in Balance

Sunday as I was lying low recuping from a brief illness I read "Willow Whip" by Irene Bennett Brown. It is a good reminder for driven vet school types.

Willow, main character of the book, is motivated to help her father purchase the farm they rent so they don't have to move around all the time. Good aim, to be sure, but her motivation becomes an obsession and basically ruins half a year of her life. One of her best friends encouraged her to keep life in better balance, not work all the time, but she spurned him and his advice and plowed on toward destruction. Happily, she got heat stroke while crazily trying to single-handedly harvest alfalfa hay in searing hot weather. She was out of it for over a week, and gained a healthier view on life when she recovered.
Goals are good, but must be kept in balance with the ultimately important things in life -- God, family, friends, joy, love, etc.

Nasty

Oxidative phosphorylation.

Chlorophyll on white.

12 - 0.

Non-elastic collision.

Subluxation.

Vociferous.

Forlorn tomes.

Myalgia.

This, my lame attempt at modern, nasty, post-modern poetry. Would it really tell you much about my afternoon if I didn't inform you that I played flag football with vet classes 1-3?

Sleep of the Weary

Last Thursday was one of those unexpected days -- that is, I expected that it would occur, but did not anticipate its material contents.

I arrived late at the lunchtime Christian vet group meeting at which I heard a cryptic comment about Liz being with her horse. Liz's horse is pregnant, so my top explanation was that her horse was going into labor or something. I didn't think much more about it.

I arrived at the Thursday night Bible student, and heard some not-so cryptic comments about Liz's horse (Sunshine) being down, colicking, and not getting up. It didn't sound very good. A bunch of us headed over to her place after Bible study to see what was going on (in theory I could say, "to try to help", but I really had few illusions of being useful). We got there, and whaddayaknow, Sunshine was up and walking about. This was a great matter of praise -- it appears now that the horse became cast in her stall (being lame in one leg as well as pregnant) and being cast caused her to colic. As they were trying to get her up, she fell on one of the seniors. I have yet to hear if she broke her fibula as she surmised.

Well, Sunshine seemed to be doing well, but Liz wanted to check on her frequently through the night... so Gwen, Christina, and I spent the night and took a turn every 2 hours to check on the horse. Strangely, I slept well through the night on the floor with no pillow, mainly waking up only for my alarm (I don't know how that happened), wondering how two hours had already past, etc. The night may not have passed so uneventfully if Liz had not kept her cat, Esmeralda, in her room. Before (my) first dropping off to sleep, Ezzy jumped on my sleeping bag-encased feet on two occasions, eliciting shreaks from my person and causing my feet to flail. Apparently my response was too exciting for the cat to leave me alone... But I didn't trust her to not apply her teeth to my feet.

***
Friday afternoon, Casey, Shan, Heather, Janis and I went hiking in the McDonald forest. It was a leisurely hike of 1.5 hours, but/and (depending on whether you prefer strenuous hikes to leisurely ones -- for me, they both have their places. Friday was a time for a leisurely hike.) it was a time of good camaraderie.

More on Last Week

The fun that began Thursday evening continued with an earnest Friday night.

We left the coast and headed to Corvallis; met a little while later at Northwest Hills Community Church for an evening of worship and fellowship. This marked the official beginning of the Real Life/Real Impact weekend put on by Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM) and sponsored by Nutramax.
Dr. Steve and Kim Hiatt led the worship. They are currently state-side, but have been missionaries to Cambodia on two different long term occasions. I talked to their young son and daughter (<10 YO, amazingly social) for a time -- found out that they rode elephants about every time they had company. Interesting. Can't say I've ever ridden an elephant.

My parents returned dark and late Friday night, returned from their California job-seeking excursion. Perhaps I will shortly be the only Oregonian from our immediate family.

Saturday we heard from B.J. Newcomer, the fiance of the CVM student services director. He was a missionary in the Central African Republic, among mostly Islamic people. I found out later that he grew up Mennonite and still considers himself a pacifist. He advised me to find a job with a good mentoring situation rather than get an internship. Normal jobs pay more, anyway, so that might be a plan.

We also heard from Val Shean, who has been an missionary in Uganda for 14 years. She shared some heart-wrenching information about the Lord's Resistance Army. They raid villages, tell children they will be killed unless they kill their parents. The parents beg their children to kill them so the children can live, and this begins a cascade of brain-washing for the child. If the parents would only realize that the moral choice is always the best! -- that refusing to kill is always better even if your choice could result in someone else being killed.
Val teaches the Bible way and develops ethnomedicines. The power of forgiveness between tribes is apparently a very strong witness in her area.
She has quite the stories about the foods they eat. For instance, a bull's foot without the hoof on it -- they eat the tendons and the coria that connect the bones to the hoof wall! The one she was served had been held over the fire for two days, waiting for her. She saw something white on it and thought it had been cooked in rice... only to lift the whiteness toward her lips and see black eyes looking at her! Maggots. Yuck. Uganda also has very undelightful flies that lay their eggs in the elastic of certain clothes items while they hang in the breeze to dry. The eggs hatch and the larvae burrow under your skin where they grow larger. The first time Val had one she didn't know what it was and left it alone. One night she woke up/couldn't sleep and felt the larva moving under her skin! She is a brave lady.

Dr. Don Herriott (a vet for the USDA) shared some thoughts from the latter part of James 1 -- including one of my favorite verses: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

Sara-Louise Roberts (director of student services for CVM) shared her thoughts about being single -- it was a good reminder about being content and etc -- and then we broke out for lunch. I (among other students) joined Dr. Mark Amsberry at a Los Arcos, and was able to drill him with questions regarding the Christian way to fire people, etc.

During break times people went out to practice with Val's bow & arrows and spears.

In the afternoon we discussed a few ethical scenarios (it's always good to start thinking about such situations, even if there are not hard and fast rules about them).

And then we played the BaFa BaFa game -- a game designed to teach about how confusing/frustrating it can be for people of different cultures to try to interact. We split into two "cultures" -- my culture was trade-oriented, all about getting certain cards in our set. We spoke the BaFa BaFa language instead of English. The other culture turned out to be very people oriented with absolutely no greediness for certain cards. They were huggy, talked about their grandpas and fathers, etc -- and they spoke English. We could speak English when we went to visit them, and they were supposed to speak BaFa when they came to visit us -- only, they didn't know how. It was an interesting game and became very humorous when they came over to try to trade with us.

We had a neat time of worship that night with a really neat time of thanking God for various things.

The weekend charged me up to go forth and overcome for the kingdom of God.

Fun Begins

Er, that (all but the first sentence) was my friend Janis availing herself of the computer while I was some feet away.

***
As I was progressing toward saying... we have a really neat neurology teacher, Dr. Scott Schatzberg. Funny, intelligent, geeky (by his admission), excited about neuro, and on top of that a really great teacher. He shows us videos of neuro cases and has some great animated visuals to demostrate neuro pathways. He and his wife are avid mountain climbers/hikers -- he even showed us a movie of his wife crossing a snowy mountainside -- complete, I believe, with crampons -- in an avalanche warning area. We wish he would come here to teach, but apparently he hasn't been offered a job. Bummer. He's one of the best teachers we've ever had.

Oh, and about last week (now that the information is 0.5-1 week old)...

On Thursday I cleaned my car well for the first time in about a year (i.e. last spring break), and headed for Lincoln City. The OSU Christian Veterinary Fellowship group gathered at a small oceanside house to spend the night and enjoy the coast. We had a great time wave-hopping in the coldness (I joked to Liz that I might catch my cold of death -- apparently haven't yet), looking at the ocean, roasting marshmallows in the fireplace, and enjoying each others' company.
Friday we visited Dr. Steve Brown's clinic -- the most posh clinic I've visited anywhere. Heated cages, video-monitoring, carpeted floors with removable squares, an involved intercom system, separate stereos for each exam room... talk about it.

Actually, we didn't go there to see the clinic -- that was just a side benefit. We went there to go on rounds with Dr. Brown at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We got in for free (yeah!) and saw the behind the scenes, pre-opening activities. We spent the most time with the seals and sea lions, watching their obedience exercises (they're pretty smart), hearing about a mandibular fracture repair Brown did on a harbor seal, etc. They brought one sea lion onto the dock by which we stood -- we were warned that she didn't have much personal space... and sure enough she persisted in kissing Liz and attempting it to Keelan.

The lady in the aviary sent a dead common loon back with Dr. Brown so we could necropsy it. He nonchalantly stuffed it in his briefcase for ease in carrying (it was in a plastic bag, so that's not as bad as it sounds).

Do you know what the movement of a harbor seal is called? Galumphing, like the boy in the Jabberwocky poem.

Shan, Heather and I went to The Tea Party for lunch. Incidentally, this place had an Alice in Wonderland theme. The Cheshire Cat grinned down over the cash register as we walked through the short dorsally curved doorway. I bucked the system by ordering soup and an italian soda. The real tea stuff was too expensive/not lunch-like. I think that I would have a hard time working in a place like that. It would be possible to act the part of the prim and mannerly for a time, but it would eventually become "old" and I would become antsy/drop things.

I thereafter joined a large portion of our crew at South Beach State Park for more craziness -- getting wetter than the night before, a ride in K's Mustang Cobra convertible, etc.

That was the beginning of blessings for the weekend. More on it later. Cheerio for now -- it's late and I will get kicked out of the library if I persist much longer. :-)

Apparently I have been too busy listening to neurology lectures, jogging in Dixon, and wasting time whatever ways. I also seem to be developing the "Varney Twitch," a neorological disorder I discovered and named after myself following many, many long nights of experimenting on myself because I lack a sufficient outside life. Who needs that - someday I'll be a named disorder in millions of textbooks... something no useless hours of an outside life could ever hope to compete with! Haha!

Quickie Note

I had an absolutely awesome weekend that I'll have to tell y'all about... tomorrow. I need to spend some time studying tonight. Let's just say for now that I was blessed beyond measure, beyond what I had expected, period. Thank you to all who made it good.