Houston Rotation

Papa have ventured to Texas to visit our Houston family. We stayed at the lake house for a weekend, and then I started a preceptorship. Hopefully I'm doing well.



I still make my dad take the fish off the hook for me.

Papa has been enjoying himself :)

All the little notes I left for Chase when I left for my Houston rotation :)

Lazy Days Off

My game for Cardiology "Shunts and Ladders" - a trivia game regarding Patent Ductus Arteriosus

Irish Tea Cake :)

This is corn. But I thought it was oddly beautiful.

Chase and I went birding, and I made him set up the tripod for a picture of us. The scenery was just too pretty.



The snow is pouring down today. Juncos, goldfinches, house finches, and occasionally a red breasted nut hatch are hopping around our deck, pecking at the seeds Chase put out for them.

Thursday I leave for my "Texas Rotation," and leave poor Chase to fend for himself in the snow.


Plan for the day:
-Get oil changed in car
-clean the apartment (it's acutally already clean...but there's always something to clean)
-avoid looking at the adoptable children websites (because there's nothing I can do right now, and it makes me cry)
-cook dinner
-master the scone (attempt #2)
-read more books
-update my resume and print for upcoming trip...
-Read bible and pray (especially for Japan)
-stare at the birds while drinking coffee...
-work on my secret plan
-work on digital scrapbook
-Inventory the kitchen (ugh...so much food we don't use/remember buying)


^_^

The Half-Dead Duck

I finished my cardiology block last week. As I walked away from the vet school on the last day of that block, I had a sense of satisfaction in knowing that I put in my best effort. There's nothing like the satisfaction of doing a job well done. I loved the clinician we worked with, and I loved my classmates. I also loved my clients (but I always love my clients). Dr. Fine said I should consider doing an internship (the step before doing a residency to specialize). I thought about it, but I really just want to be a regular veterinarian. I want regular hours and regular clients. :) I'm not sure I even want to own my own practice. If you do an internship without going through a residency, "they" say you loose $50,000 just because of the lack of a substantial salary and the fact that your loans are accruing interest. You're better off just taking a cut in pay for the first year at your first job in exchange for mentorship. So my clinical experience so far has been A, B, A, A :) I was a mediocre student in the class room, but it's really important to me to be exceptional in clinics. After all, I want to be a darn good vet (even if I only want to work part time in someone else's clinic).

So what have I been doing with my free time? Well...I've been reading books, cleaning the apartment, taking the dogs on walks, sleeping, cooking, playing the Wii, and watching anime :)


Book:
The Hidden Art of Homemaking - Edith Schaeffer
This little gem of a book discusses simple ways to make where you live a home. As children of God, we all have creativity. No matter where we live, our lives will be enriched if we take the time to incorporate this creativity in our every day lives. It's a book that's best read in small doses and ruminating over the passages. Mrs. Schaeffer has helped me to change my attitude about the little apartment where we live. I've been lusting after a "real home" but I need to be content with the many blessings I already have. Let me share an excerpt that pierced my heart and nailed my bad attitude at its root.

It makes an enormous difference if someone creates an environment for you to live in. One person sleeps half the day, gets up looking like a half-dead duck, drags around with eyelids scarcely open, slurping coffee and leaving a mess all over the newly polished sink, leaves the bed unmade and a week of clothing in a heap or the bed, heaves a sigh and moans about what a drag life is, then prepares to sit and philosophize while you work. What is the effect of this on you? Surely, you begin to feel tired, discouraged, irritated,frustrated and hopeless. Your own energy begins to ebb away. You decide to put off the rush of getting your article written. After all, you might as well go out for a walk. And so one wasted, ugly life infects another.

A second person gets up when the alarm goes off, or soon after,puts water on for the tea or coffee and helps to get breakfast, takes a bath and dresses so cheerily that you feel the sun must be shining and have to look again to realize the sky is still gray, makes his bed and clears things up so that you feel the urge to get to work soon, tidies the living room so that it looks better than it had been left the night before, and talks with an awareness and enthusiasm that gives you inspiration for your article and you feel there will be no doubt about getting it finished in time. Both have pitched into work before the hope-for starting time, feeling a surge of accomplishment and energy that seems to multiply the time instead of wasting it.

I really want to be the second person and not the half dead duck.

Other books:
-God, Greed, and Money - for YP Sunday School.
-The Millionaire Next Door - because I need to learn how to manage my finances...

Anime:
Clannad and Clannad Afterstory
I watched this series from start to finish. It's an endearing slice of life tale about a shy, sickly high school girl and a pessimistic, self labeled "delinquent" who develop an unexpected friendship. The theme is family - the ups the downs, broken hearts, pain and loss, and forgiveness. The first series is a pretty typical high school anime, but the second season is an absolute tear jerker as the two main characters graduate and start life as a married couple. It's not the best anime I've seen, but it was a good one.

Well...I guess I have to go be person number 2 now and combat the half-dead duck that I am now :)

Peace and love, y'all!


Ps - Chase informs my blog is ridiculously slow to load b/c of all the huge pictures. So I'm going to *try* to remember to shrink them first from now on.

A Recipe Card, economics, and job hunting

Here's a recipe card I made for someone at ATCsforALL :)


We're starting a new book in YP Sunday school called Money, Greed, and God. This last Sunday was the very first day of the study and was merely an introduction to what we'd be discussing. We spent the first 30 minutes discussing how economics affects every aspect of your life: where you live, what you eat, when/if you have kids, all relationships, how much free time you have, EVERYTHING! So I left the class feeling remarkably depressed and worried about the future. The main worry on my mind now is finding a job where Chase is...ie close to Mizzou. The simple truth is...there are no veterinary jobs here...or even within 2 hours of hear. So it seems like my only option will be to move away and leave Chase here to finish up his doctorate...and then post doc. Having a distance engagement was no fun...and I can only imagine what a distance marriage will be like. And of course, my troubled mind wonders if Chase wants to work here forever..will we never be able to live and work in the same city again? With 120 new graduate veterinarians coming from Mizzou a year, it seems unlikely that a job will ever be open for me here. My loan repayment will be nearly 2K a month to pay off my student loans in 10 years...not working is NOT an option for me. I know these things tend to work out in the end, but it's hard to think about right now. I know I just need to focus on the task at hand, and do my best to develop into the veterinarian I want to be. It's so easy to let worries of the future drown out the joy of today.

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34