Happy Halloween! Last year at this time I was studying histology and handing candy out to trick or treaters with Kirk. This year I was working on histology exams explained and handing out candy to our six trick or treaters by myself. I was handing out candy by myself because Matt went the gym. I was writing a histology exam thingy because I can't say to no to reasonably insane requests (only sane ones get said no too).
This week is one of realtively little to do. There is party of some sorts on Saturday, but I doubt I will go as my friends are all heading out of town (SD, ND, other cooler places in MN). I think Matt and I will continue or Friday night hot dates consisting of dinner out (neither of us has energy to cook by Friday) at a bar (happy hour specials rock!) and grocery shopping. Sounds like fun huh! Oh, and then we come home, make popcorn, and watch a movie, followed by me reading a book and Matt playing video games. Yup, we are officially "that old boring married couple". Not that we were extremely exciting before we were married (I spiced things up by watching TWO movies in a night).
I sent an email out to my first mentor choice. We will see if he is willing to say yes. Picking an MD/PhD mentor is a lot like dating. You find someone you like, you "rotate" with their group for a while, then as to "take a break" so you can have "some space" and see other options. Repeat three times (or more!) and then have the great "bachelor rose ceremony" where you pick one and leave two high and dry. I didn't like this process to much.......
Shout out to Derik R. as he celebrates All Saints Day. I wish I was in Columbus with you man (just not in seminary, since I am a girl, married, AND Lutheran....)
Well, I am going to hit the hay. I just started The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is a fitting book for this time of year.

Still sleep deprived!
I am still sleep deprived from my massive studying last week. I was glad to have Jenny and Nancy as company while driving home on Friday. Unfortunately, the traffic was heavy, so I didn't get to Jamestown until after midnight! Karen's adorable cat then chose to wake me up at 6AM with her meowing. I had a great time at home. I got to see Aunt Donna, Debbie, Libbie, and Aunt Sherry, all without leaving the house. Enamine spent Saturday night with me, so I was woken up at 4:30am with kitty kisses. Karen was on the road with Brian at 7am, so Mom, Dad, and I headed to early church. The new interium at Trinity is not very good....I hope they find someone new soon. We went to Perkins after church, then headed home to sort through wedding proofs. As soon as I finished that, I went and picked up the Dalsteds and headed home.
The LA Angels completed their year losing to the Chicago White Sox in the ALCS. I had hoped they Angels would make it to the World Series this year, but they just didn't have the offense to get ahead of the White Sox early. I hope they learn from this year, and come back stronger next year. Matt and I are already making plans for when they come play the Twins....
Tonight we are going out with the girls for Thai food. Matt is coming so he can put a better face to the people I spend my whole day with. With him having parent-teacher conferences tomorrow and Thursday, and me having classes all day Friday, tonight is pretty much the most time we will see each other until Sunday night! Oh well, our lives will get back to boring after that......
I am on lunch break right now. I have one pathology class left, then I am heading to the gym. My stupid back and neck complained about my lack of activity last week (apparently for me, studying is good for the brain, bad for the neck and back), so I am working back into it. With Matt gone this weekend, I might call up Matt S. to find out if he is doing spin classes this weekend and check one out (Matt S. will probably try to kill me on the bike...maybe this isn't a good idea.....). I am also planning on hitting a chick flick, which one is the now the question. Well, I am going to go outside and get some fresh air. It is still so nice outside that I better enjoy it while I can!

Pharmacology is done. I could have done better, but the effort would have hindered my studying for my other exams. It really sucks that everything we are learning now has direct applications to patient care, but that we hardly have time to absorb it before moving onto something else. I am studying pathology slides right now (on my computer), while occassionaly peeking on ESPN to see the score of the Angels/White Sox game. It is going to be a long night.
Today I had class in the morning, followed by a quick work out and studying. My highlight of the day was going to the band to cash some check! Whooooo! Tomorrow I have my pathology exam in the morning, followed by the VA clinic in the afternoon. It will be a rough afternoon at the VA, as I read the assigned reading three weeks ago, and my mind is on anything BUT the nose and throat. The good news is that Hans and I get the standardized patient instead of a real one. It is hard to fake a clinic visit with the complex VA patients (they never have only one thing wrong with them....they are very ill men). Hopefully Dr. Bal will take it easy on us. WISH ME LUCK!

Tonight is the last Yankee/Angels game. I really hope the Angels win. I think that deep inside, Matt does too....he just can't admit it yet.
I passed the Pharmacology Exam, barely. I really need to work on reading carefully when I take exams. I seem to make the same mistakes over and over again, which is really really frustrating.
This week is studying, studying, or and I did mention studying! I have pathology on Wednesday and Pathophysiology on Friday. That means I don't get much time to totally change how I think about a disease process (pathology....what killed this person. Pathophys: what process is killing this person. NOT the same thing).
I am excited about my upcoming weekend trip to ND to see Karen and Enamine. I also will have the pleasure of Jenny's (and Nancy's?) company on the ride from the cities. This should help me stay awake.......
Well, I need to look at more slides of what TB does to the body....

A HOUSE DIVIDED!

Matt and I will probably be pretty mean to each other this week, as my LA Angels are playing his NY Yankees this week in the playoffs. I am of course cheering for Darin. I hope they beat the pants off the Yankees!

We had a great weekend with my parents. Our new bedroom set looks awesome, plus we finally got a decent sized TV. We were fed up with squinting at the writing whenever we watched a movie, news, or anything else that involved text.

This is the last week before exams. I feel so far behind! Oh well, panic breeds productivity!

Have a great everyone!
ANGELS