i think there were a few things i've been wanting to jot down but keep forgetting come blog time:
on my walk to the metro i walk by a small lake/pond in Grosvenor park. for the past week or so, since it's been below freezing, there's been a thin layer of ice on it, and when it snows it's white and pretty. i wonder about the lake because there's a small flock of geese that hang out in the park. they must be so cold! while most of the lake is iced over, there's a small patch under a large shrub that's still free from ice, and that's where they huddle themselves. sometimes i see one walking on the ice. poor geese. why aren't they further south?
i hate it when i come out from the escalator to see the metro train already there, and knowing that even if i run, i won't make it. so i just keep walking normally. and i hate it even more if, after said train leaves, there turns out to be a delay on the next train.
i had a really strange dream last night. (and it was rare that i'd remember a dream, especially since i woke up to my alarm). blame it on the alcohol. i was still feeling the effects of 3+ beers and a screwdriver when i got home. so in the dream were random people - an old elementary school friend of mine (virginia), one of the guys from the ski trip (ben), i think some lbc'ers, and other people. we were all on a boat or something, maybe we were playing games or doing water sports, on a lake or in the ocean. somehow i got dragged down into the water, or someone else did, and while i was underwater, i could still somehow breathe a little. yeah, i dont remember much of it anymore, but i remember waking up thinking, "wow, that was weird." hehe, and oddly enough, when i got home i decided to watch Pirates of the Carribbean.
the imaging facility tour was neat. they just got a new 3-Tesla magnet literally the night before, and it's so much smaller than the ones we currently have. i can't wait to use it. i didn't know how expensive these magnets are to purchase and maintain! each machine costs between 1 and 3 million, and at least $200,000 per year for maintenance and whatnot from the engineers. wow. the animal facilty was really cool, it's so amazing what people can do to image things. there was work being done on all the tools there (different tesla magnets, ultrasound, etc). the coolest one i saw (and it freaked me out a little) was this machine that images bioluminescence. they have these genetically engineered mice that don't have an immune system response (that's so sad) and they inject tumor cells into them, which they image with different chemical reactions that release photons. the thing that freaked me out was that i saw the mice, and they're not cute mice like Diesel and Munch Nonez. They are hairless little things with big ears (and you can see the tumors on some of them), small and wrinkly and pink running around the chamber. You could see the tumors on some of them. And then the vet put some isofluorane gas into one chamber to anesthetize them, and that was a sight to see. i felt so bad. it's not like when you inject a rat for surgery (i agree with pat that the gas, i think, it is a little better than injecting them), but it's a little heartwrenching to see them hyperactive at first (it's a normal reaction, apparently) before finally going down. i always find myself in conflict like this. to think i really liked sacking rats....i was teaching undergrads how to perfuse the rats pretty well....man.
and all this talk about anesthesia has piqued my interest in the field some more...it's pretty fascinating how these drugs/gases can affect your brain/nerves/body in such a way that you can't remember or feel what is going on to you but your body can still function pretty well. when i was observing a surgery at hoag the anesthesiologist was monitoring the patient's brain waves, and said that even though the patient was moving a little, he was sure he would not remember any of the surgery, with the way his brain waves were going.
it amazes me to think of the things i've observed while volunteering at the different hospitals/clinics over the years. i just had a flashback of all the c-sections i've seen and seeing fibroids on uteri (is that the plural of uterus?).
hm, so much for the med school inteview question of the day. i'll get to it tomorrow.
on my walk to the metro i walk by a small lake/pond in Grosvenor park. for the past week or so, since it's been below freezing, there's been a thin layer of ice on it, and when it snows it's white and pretty. i wonder about the lake because there's a small flock of geese that hang out in the park. they must be so cold! while most of the lake is iced over, there's a small patch under a large shrub that's still free from ice, and that's where they huddle themselves. sometimes i see one walking on the ice. poor geese. why aren't they further south?
i hate it when i come out from the escalator to see the metro train already there, and knowing that even if i run, i won't make it. so i just keep walking normally. and i hate it even more if, after said train leaves, there turns out to be a delay on the next train.
i had a really strange dream last night. (and it was rare that i'd remember a dream, especially since i woke up to my alarm). blame it on the alcohol. i was still feeling the effects of 3+ beers and a screwdriver when i got home. so in the dream were random people - an old elementary school friend of mine (virginia), one of the guys from the ski trip (ben), i think some lbc'ers, and other people. we were all on a boat or something, maybe we were playing games or doing water sports, on a lake or in the ocean. somehow i got dragged down into the water, or someone else did, and while i was underwater, i could still somehow breathe a little. yeah, i dont remember much of it anymore, but i remember waking up thinking, "wow, that was weird." hehe, and oddly enough, when i got home i decided to watch Pirates of the Carribbean.
the imaging facility tour was neat. they just got a new 3-Tesla magnet literally the night before, and it's so much smaller than the ones we currently have. i can't wait to use it. i didn't know how expensive these magnets are to purchase and maintain! each machine costs between 1 and 3 million, and at least $200,000 per year for maintenance and whatnot from the engineers. wow. the animal facilty was really cool, it's so amazing what people can do to image things. there was work being done on all the tools there (different tesla magnets, ultrasound, etc). the coolest one i saw (and it freaked me out a little) was this machine that images bioluminescence. they have these genetically engineered mice that don't have an immune system response (that's so sad) and they inject tumor cells into them, which they image with different chemical reactions that release photons. the thing that freaked me out was that i saw the mice, and they're not cute mice like Diesel and Munch Nonez. They are hairless little things with big ears (and you can see the tumors on some of them), small and wrinkly and pink running around the chamber. You could see the tumors on some of them. And then the vet put some isofluorane gas into one chamber to anesthetize them, and that was a sight to see. i felt so bad. it's not like when you inject a rat for surgery (i agree with pat that the gas, i think, it is a little better than injecting them), but it's a little heartwrenching to see them hyperactive at first (it's a normal reaction, apparently) before finally going down. i always find myself in conflict like this. to think i really liked sacking rats....i was teaching undergrads how to perfuse the rats pretty well....man.
and all this talk about anesthesia has piqued my interest in the field some more...it's pretty fascinating how these drugs/gases can affect your brain/nerves/body in such a way that you can't remember or feel what is going on to you but your body can still function pretty well. when i was observing a surgery at hoag the anesthesiologist was monitoring the patient's brain waves, and said that even though the patient was moving a little, he was sure he would not remember any of the surgery, with the way his brain waves were going.
it amazes me to think of the things i've observed while volunteering at the different hospitals/clinics over the years. i just had a flashback of all the c-sections i've seen and seeing fibroids on uteri (is that the plural of uterus?).
hm, so much for the med school inteview question of the day. i'll get to it tomorrow.
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