One More Winter For Us!

We just found out Wednesday night that Mara will be doing her clinical rotations (for the next 2 years) in Phoenix, Arizona!
We are really excited since it was our #1 choice. Colorado was #1 for a long time, but we found out they have 3 "out rotations" that each take a month, so Mara would be gone for 3 months out of the year next year, which didn't sound that appealing for either of us. Especially with the kid on the way!
We are just speculating right now, but I think we'll be moving the last weekend in May so we can start our lease June 1 there and avoid paying two rents. Hopefully the 24 drive time in the U-Haul won't be too terrible...but I can't sugar coat that one...:)
We are looking for places to live, daycare, and school/work for me. Not sure if starting a PhD program is the best idea if we are only guaranteed to be there for 2 years. I would have to leave in the middle of it, so it might be best for me to work for 2 years. I still have to see if I can find a program that will work with me in that area.
We are also REALLY happy that so many of our friends got their #1 choice as well. Our friends Brian & Jenny, Sasha, and Jackie are all coming to Phoenix with us as well so we are going to have some great times (when everyone isn't in the clinic!). Our friends Greg & Nicole live there as well, as does Mara's Aunt Heather & her family so we have people to show us around as well!
We are also happy to be out of Kirksville, and be somewhere with mountains, hiking trails, and places to shop other than Wal-Mart! Not to mention the lack of a winter...:) Greg had said that the Midwest has 4 months where you can't do much (winter) whereas the Southwest has 4 different months (summer) where it's too hot to do much. But the high the rest of the year is between 65-80! Perfect golfing weather...:) Here is an idea of the weather spread for the year in Phoenix. It shows record highs & lows, and the average high & low for each month:

Well, back to studying. Mara has Pharmacology and I have Biochemistry exams on Monday. Woo-hoo!

Baby Syring Update

We had another appointment today and he is growing just like he should. His heart rate was in the 160's and he was moving all over the place! The video Mike posted just doesn't do his acrobatics justice, he rolls around all the time.
Nothing else too new with us. I am knee, um, no elbow deep in exams and we are on two exams a week for the next few weeks. Finals are only 5 weeks away!
Well, sorry it's so brief but I have an exam at 8am tomorrow and then a pharmacology exercise where we have a very expensive mannequin that we need to keep alive as we go through a clinical case. (Yes, there have been groups that have "killed" their mannequin by making an inappropriate drug choice!)

My Cat's Name Is Mittens

I came across an old quiz I had taken at UNI. The class was Statistics, which never really made any sense until recently for me, as evident by my answer. I had most of the question answered but I just couldn't get the standard deviation (σ), nor could I get the z-score. I was close though, but just couldn't get it in time before the quiz was over. Before I handed it in I did have a nice quote from the Simpson's to add. From Ralph Wiggum: "My Cat's Name Is Mittens". Turns out my professor was a huge Simpson's fan too and actually wrote the name of the character who said it AND to top it off gave me a smiley face sticker and drew whiskers & cat ears on it, and gave me 9 out of 10...Classic...:) By the way the Std Dev. is correct, but the z-score is -2.88, a significance of 0.002. I finally understand statistics!



And just in case you are wondering...here is the clip from the Simpson's:

Wanna See The Baby Move?

Stuff

FINALLY a small break, at least for one of us...:) I just took a Biochemistry exam on Friday which had some teeth, but nothing 30 hours of studying last week couldn't cure. Mara has been buried in her Pathology, Principals of Medicine and Neuro Anatomy; not to mention OTM, Infectious Disease, Pharmacology, and D.O.! Shit. That makes my Biochem test seem minor. I honestly have no idea how she does it! Oh right...she's a brainiac...:)
We had a great visit with Josh, Debora and Thomas on Thursday night. We were really glad to see them one more time before they left for Germany (in 3 days!). Thomas was such a blast to see too. He was so playful and expressive, he was cracking us up. He was really interested in the cat & dogs, and vice versa. Josh & Debora were VERY kind to us poor college kids and gave us their washer & dryer, and just in time too! Our dryer was really taking a long time to dry our clothes and our washer damn near shakes itself apart on the spin cycle. They also had their cleaning supplies and freezer food they couldn't take so we are set for a while in both of those categories. I have to learn how to cook a 5lb leg of lamb now...:)
We also had a nice weekend last weekend when we went to St. Louis for a night. We had some friends check on the dogs, as well as Sasha's dog, Abby, while she took the train to Chicago. We left about 5:30am so we could enjoy as much time out of Kirksville as possible. We stayed close to Forest Park, which is actually larger than Central Park in NYC. If you ever go to StL it's a great place to walk, bike, run, or anything else outside. We brought our bikes and rode their 6.2 miles of trails twice and also rode back into some really nice neighborhoods, so all in all about 15 miles of riding in absolutely gorgeous weather (75°F & sunny). We then went and walked a round a large outlet mall and checked out stores that we don't see in the 'ville. Afterwards we went to downtown StL, parked near Busch Stadium (where the Cardinals play baseball) and where we did the half marathon in April. We walked for about an hour and then found a nice restaurant (Mike Shannon's Steakhouse). They had the BEST lobster tail I have ever had. It was the size of a small dog! We got seated in a GREAT spot where we had our own HDTV showing the Brewers/Phillies game, and watched the Brewers win the only game they won this post season, and it was at Miller Park, so it was very familiar to us. The Brewers didn't make it far, but they at least made it farther than the Cubs...and didn't get swept! :)
Here are several (albeit random) pictures from the last few weeks. Sorry for the long read, we'll try and post more often...:) Or I could just keep typing. That way you have to keep reading. OK, I have to get back to studying. STOP READING! :P

If You Haven't Seen These...

...Take a few minutes and watch. They are Hilarious! Tina Fey rocketed into my favorite SNL comedians.
They are skits from SNL doin parodies of Sara Palin/Hilary Clinton, Palin's Interview with Katie Couric, and the recent VP debates. If for some reason you can't see the videos, you may need to download ADOBE FLASH. If you still cannot see them you can see the videos HERE. They are the first 3 listed.
Her dead-on Palin impersonation is amazin'...:)

Cute needy pets

We've been as busy as ever just lately and haven't done much other than school/work, study, workout and eat...usually in that order. At the end of the night we usually take some time to hang out and play with the cat and dogs. Lucy has finally lost her "oh my god we have a cat" neurosis and is happily chasing her ball again; she wouldn't play with it for the first 3 weeks after we got Toquinho...can't wait to see what a new baby does to her:) I don't have any pictures of Lucy playing but picture a gigantic black blur running after a slobber soaked faded tennis ball and that would be what she looks like! Linus & Toqo are a bit more laid back and just enjoy some attention as you'll see in the pictures. Lucy enjoys some snuggle time too she just has to be worn out a bit more before she's calm enough for that:)
(Toqo is NOT like Linus...he doesn't like to "dance" when he's sleepy!)