Scott's MD-PhD Adventure

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Three Happiness

Mike and I went to Three Happiness tonight in Chinatown.
We got a giant-ass bowl of "chicken and sweet corn" soup for 3.95. I had "breast of chicken in phoenix nest" which consisted of stir-fried chicken with fresh vegetables in a taro-root fried bowl. Imagine a funnel cake-like thing made of taro root slices, and folded up like one of those taco salad bowls. Super tasty! Mike of course had mixed seafood over thin noodles, which were very good.

The waitress, being Chinese, didn't really know how to say "is everything ok, can i get you anything?" so we were asked "do you need anything to drink?" (while we had water and tea) 3 times - in the beginning, during our soup, and during our entree. She also described my phoenix nest as talo loot! :)

On the way back from Chinatown (which is on the south side), homeless guy came onto our car, asked me what I was holding (a fortune cookie wrapper), then said to the white 50-year old husband&wife near me "I'm sorry to interrupt, but your wife, she is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Husband held on tighter to wife. Meanwhile, homeless woman comes on and loudly asks the train for money cause she is hungry. Homeless guy yells at her, "Hey! I'm working this train!" She stares him down, and he leaves to the next train.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Even Lamer

Apparently a bunch of my classmates are going on a Spring Break trip together. They actually are telling people they are going to "Las Vagus" - how sad is that. :P

Lame Lame Lame

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has put a new "spin" on the non-invasive visualization of soft tissue.
-Neuro lab book

Daily Show meets NPR

Fresh Air with Steven Colbert

Clop clop

"The stapes in the middle ear connects to the tiny oval window in the cochlea. If you can imagine a very fat woman as she walks across a wood floor in high heels - all of her weight is being transmitted over two tiny points and thus the force is condensed. That's how the big area of sound entering your ear is condensed by the middle ear as it enters your inner ear."
- Our physiology professor today (who btw sounds like Betty Boop)

Grades

We got our grade reports today (yes, that's right, I did take my last final on Dec. 15)

I honored biochemistry & physiology! :)
(Honoring is being one standard deviation above the mean for the course.)

I obviously passed histo and human development. HumanD was a 1-credit 1-exam course - two more questions right and I would have honored. Histo was the worst course ever and consisted of solely memorizing shit and then being asked questions on things you didn't memorize because they were hiding in the book.

Besides, what will matter in the hospital? I think understanding how enzymes and organs are functioning will be more important than what they look like under a microscope. :P

Anyway, glad that's over. I won't have a final grade in anatomy until we take the cumulative final on March 4 or so.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Cranial Nerves

(Especially for Mike and Hillary - Cranial Nerve 8 can be "auditory" or "vestibulocochlear")

From my "Neuroanatomy made simple and understanding" book...

Note: A very old mnemonic device* for use in naming the 12 cranial nerves is
"On Old Olympus' Towering Top, A Finn and German Viewed A House"

*Modesty prevents presentation of the racier versions - ask the upperclassmen.

:)

Steve Feldman

Anyone know him? or his email address? Cause Susan Feldman, his mom/sister/wife seems to think it's my sfeldman@gmail.com address.

Steve
The best of luck tomorrow on the LSAT....I know you will do fantastic!!!!1
Make sure to get a good nite sleep
xoxoxox
Susie:-)

He's apparently trying to get into law school at USC or UCLA. Oh, and she told him about the Hanukkah party too.

Daily Show Downloads

For those of you who don't watch it but have free time at work every now and then (you know who you are) I found this site.

It's not full episode, but there are a bunch of potentially funny clips!
(might I recommend "repub. convention shrub movie")

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Spongebob McHomopants ;)

Check this out...

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Eye learned cool stuff today ;)

The word retina means "little net" or "net-like" because when Aristotle (or some ancient doctor man) cut open an eye and looked at it, he saw the net of blood vessels coming out from behind the eye and spreading over the surface of it. Turns out there was a net of nerves there that he just couldn't see.

Meanwhile, behind the retina is a layer of "pigmented epithelium." The pigment is quite dark, and in fact is the black spot you see when you look inside someone's pupil. However, behind that layer is the "choroid plexus" - a very rich network of blood vessels (that make cerebro-spinal fluid, responsible for the blood-brain barrier). Well it turns out that if you shine a lot of bright light inside the eye, you will see the red of the choroid plexus...hence red eyes in flash cameras!

Oh yeah, and LASIK eye surgery works by effectively removing parts of your cornea, since light passes through your cornea and then your lens. This way, even though your eye is mis-shaped and your lens isn't focusing stuff on the exact spot of the back of your eye, your cornea can be cut down and will fix your problem...assuming your cornea isn't lasered off altogether. :P

Monday, January 17, 2005

The Beekeeper

It's out!

If you want to download any or all of it check here or here:

For my mostly Tori-virgin readers, start with #16 - Hoochie Woman. I think you'll like it. :)

All of the lyrics (and notes about some songs) can be found here.

Here are my groupings/rankings:

Group 1 - I love them. Definitely will be making a point to put them on individually

Parasol
Sweet The Sting
Barons of Suburbia
General Joy
Hoochie Woman
Marys of the Sea

Group 2 - Quite good. I won't really skip them, but I won't be craving them

The Power of Orange Knickers
Mother Revolution
Witness
Original Sinsuality
The Beekeeper
Toast

Group 3 - The ok ones. I don't really dislike any of them as a whole. Parts of some are eh. May skip them every once in a while.

Mother Revolution
Ribbons Undone
Cars and Guitars
Martha’s Foolish Ginger
Goodbye Pisces

Group 4 - Utterly pointless. Painfully adult contemporary. Campy and spastic.

Jamaica Inn
Sleeps With Butterflies
Ireland


So much better than studying :)

Monday, January 10, 2005

P

I went to my new dentist today to get a cleaning - finally! (6 months past when I needed one). When they gave me the new patient form to fill out there was a checkbox thing for M, S, D, or W (married/single/divorced/widow). So I made a little P and checked that. After my cleaning ("you should floss more") the dentist did the screening/exam part. It turns out my new dentist is a fabulous black woman! She asked me what the P meant and I said "domestic partner - it wasn't on your form" and she said "you right, you right." The irony in this whole situation: her name is Dr. Gay.

Oh yeah, they decided as of Jan 15 that they no longer are using the insurance plan that I get for being a med student so I would have to pay 68 instead of 29 for a cleaning. *sigh* I guess I should find a new dentist again.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

How Med Students Argue...

Scott: you should watch the daily show today. tucker carlson got fired today and i hope jon stewart says something

Eric: ooo. i might watch....
Eric: THE ORIELLY FACTOR!!!!!!

Scott: oreilly would be a good lesson in how to lose synaptic connections

Eric: WHAT!~!!!
Eric: lol!!!!

Scott: your temporal lobe is so inundated with auditory information
Scott: from all that shouting

Eric: ORIELLY=GOD
Eric: GOD=ORIELLY

Scott: it prevents other parts of your cortex from functioning properly

Eric: BOW DOWN!!!
Eric: ok

Scott: and therefore your hippocampus doesn't let you remember how much of an idiot he is
Scott: or something like that ;-)

Eric: nice
Eric: thanks

Scott: anytime :-)

(this post is also how med students procrastinate)

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Spring Classes

Classes started on monday. Here are some updates:

Anatomy is back till march. we're doing head, neck, and a little deep back.

Neuroanatomy till march as well. The computer program "Brainstem" will replace "Histotime." :P

Intro to Molecular Medicine will last the whole semester. So far we've covered transcription and translation. Why? I don't know. If you didn't learn this in high school you shouldn't be in med school.

Nutrition will be till march. One of the nutrition professors (who sounds like Zell Miller!) explained the story of his email address today: "Well I've been teaching here since 1968. In the '80s some friends of mine who sat around and drank beer wanted to make some money for more beer. They figured I was smarter than Jim and Tammy Fae, and since I already talk like I have grits in my mouth, I should be a preacher. I would go to Washington and try to scam them all for some money, and then we'd all buy more beer. So my preacher name was going to be T. Otis since my middle name is Otis. I bet you I'm the only caucasian person named Otis. Well, when I finally had to register for my email address after teaching here for over 20 years, I thought I was making my password, but I was actually making my email address. So if you need to reach me, just email RevTOtis@ "

And last is physiology which continues till may. We start with central nervous system physio, featuring...the super liberal professor for like 5 lectures! Two excellent quotes from today:

"...so the brain uses a lot of ATP. In fact, about 4 x 10^21 molecules of ATP per minute are used. I really can't imagine 4 x 10^21 of anything...except maybe dollars being wasted in this ridiculous war.

"...and that's not really an experiment you want to keep doing becuase you're not going to get any results from it. In fact, as I said when I testified before Congress: You really ought to quit with this Cuba thing...As a scientist, I can't imagine doing the same experiment for 40 years and getting no results. I wouldn't get my grant renewed."