Studying, Lab, and Sisters

Marco and I were studying at Starbucks (it was Sunday, the library closed early and kicked us out, Starbucks has internet) for our most recent chemistry test. I got a water, and this is what they wrote on it. That counts as studying, too, right? ;D

This is Crystal, Dana and me from last week's biology lab. We dissected fetal pigs! I'll keep the internal anatomy photos to myself, would not want to gross anyone out. :)

This was from a few weeks ago, when we dissected squids and clams and various other sea critters. Poor Squidward. 

My little sisters are uber talented! They built this barn. . . 

. . . and these halters! Aren't they amazing?!

Decision UC Davis

Now that I have been officially accepted to UC Davis (I have a student ID # and email and everything, woot!), the future feels a little more tangible. I am worried about what it will be like to go from a little Podunk community college up to the largest (as far as campus size) UC. I feel like I am going to be behind as far as the neat stuff you learn just being some place for a certain amount of time. For example, at COD I know where to go on what days at what times to find a quiet place to study. I know who to talk to for math help or chem help, or straight tutoring. I know who not to talk to, too! More important that one might think. I know where to eat, sleep, have fun, hide. Compared to the other juniors at Davis, I will be two years behind in all the ways that help you survive college.  To counteract that effect, Davis puts on a program in early May called Decision UC Davis to help students decide what school they want to attend and adjust to that school more easily. Initially, I thought that I would not be able to go. The plane tickets were ridiculous, and driving would take too long.

Great news, Bonnie and I are going to fly up to Davis! I am so excited! On the evening of May 9^th we will fly out, getting into Davis around 10pm and be there to attend Decision UC Davis the following day. We get emails from Southwest and they sent us a coupon that made the trip very affordable. I think the boost that this information might give me will be totally worth it.

http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/decision/

I called Slatter’s Court, the trailer park that is about a mile and a half from campus, and made an appointment to see the place. We are going to check out both a spot that we might put Shorty the trailer, and see some of the units they have available. The trailer park has been around since the seventies, and they have original units that are around $400 per month. I am a bit worried about what a forty year old rental cabin looks like, but that is why we are going to see! The manager gal I spoke to also said they are bringing in three brand new park models. They would be more expensive to rent per month, but obviously would be much nicer. My biggest fear at this point is Shorty being too old (they have a limit of ’86 or newer on trailers). I misplaced the paperwork for Shorty in my seas and seas of papers and have been unable to find it so far. We are going to take a picture of Shorty up with us to show to the staff at Slatter’s.

http://www.slatterscourt.com/

I am sad that Sean will not be able to go, but he has been working so much that he could never get away for that much time. He will be able to go with my the second time I go to Davis this summer, on June 20th (his birthday) for orientation. That's when we will drive up and while there, get my student education plan filled out and hopefully visit Woodland Community college, where I plan to take my physics courses. 

Babies on the Brain

I am a girl, I guess that is why my hormones go crazy sometimes, but I am back into the “I want babies” phase. Every time I see someone with a little kid or a baby, I go all mushy. I want one of those, too! Or so I think. It is just not the right time for us right now, what with me in school and Sean’s career starting to take off. Where would we even put one? Not in our tiny apartment, or alone with me in that little trailer up in Davis. Plus, babies are ridiculously expensive. There are a thousand and one reasons to justify not having a baby, but I can still day dream about one. :)

I love to think about baby names, but I can’t decide if we’re going to go for a more unique type of name or a classic. I am pretty sure our kiddos will be somewhat athletic, so I want names that will sound decent being screamed out by a coach or a cheering crowd. But then again, they also need to sound professional if the kid decides to go that route when they grow up. It’s not like we’re in a hurry, though, plenty of time to decide. Here’s out top five of boy and girl names:

Boy

Legend Roger Miller (Ledge for short)

Noah Grayson Miller

Shiloh Miller (Shy for short)

 Rowan Miller (Roe for short)

Hudson/Logan tied for 5^th  

Girl

Liberty June Miller (Libby for short)

Everly Miller (Evie for short)

 Noa Grace Miller

Addison Miller (Addy for short)

Lillian/Piper tied for 5^th

To finish off this post, I thought I would post a couple photos made from combining a photo of Sean with a photo of me to see what our babies might look like. :) 

Another Perspective

In a mother's womb were two babies. One asked the other: "Do you believe in life after delivery?" 

The other replies, "why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later. 

"Nonsense," says the other. "There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?" 

"I don't know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths."

The other says "This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short."

"I think there is something and maybe it's different than it is here." the other replies, "No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere."

"Well, I don't know," says the other, "but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us."

"Mother??" You believe in mother? Where is she now?

"She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world."

"I don't see her, so it's only logical that she doesn't exist."

To which the other replied, "sometimes when you're in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her."

I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality....

Oh Sweet Relief

**Promotion**

Sean is officially a water tender operator!!! :D

Just an Average Friday . . .

Friday this semester is my absolute most favorite day of the week. Why, you ask? Well, I get to spend all morning listening to rock music and having my musical world expanded, then all afternoon I get to be in bio lab with some of my best friends cutting stuff open. Seriously, it doesn't get any better than that! 

HISTORY OF ROCK & ROLL

This particular Friday (last week), I have to say, was extra awesome. I am officially a "young" Beatles fan. I guess I'm about 50 years too late, but that's okay. My favorite song is "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Bonnie and I found this T shirt for a couple bucks when we went graduation dress shopping, isn't it perfect? Speaking of shirts, my History of Rock and Roll professor decided to show us a typical outfit he would wear back in the 70's. The shirt is one his group of friends made themselves. It's a play off of "This is your brain...This is your brain on drugs." But their shirt says, "This is a brain...This is a brain on a pillow...This is a Tonka truck." Brilliant. 

The skirt, now, I'm not quite sold on yet. . . ;)

Rockin' out in History of Rock and Roll! 

BIOLOGY LAB

The first half of the semester was plant slide after plant slide, to the point that our eyes were getting crossed from looking through scopes constantly! Now we're into the fun stuff. Two weeks ago, we dissected a starfish, a crayfish, a clam, and a squid. This last week we dissected a frog (actually was a bit disgusted by the frog, they had dyed the inside and it just looked wrong), a perch, and best of all, a shark! This Friday we will be doing fetal pigs. The anatomy of a pig is supposed to be very similar to human anatomy, so I am excited to get in there. 

Marco, Dana, me, and Crystal

Social Life. . . ?

When it comes to a social life, I pretty much do not have one. I am a friendly person, don't get me wrong, but school is so consuming there really isn't much time left over for just hanging out. I am boring, essentially. :) 

Last week I had chem and bio exams, and yesterday morning I had a calc exam. Since they were all over and the heat is off (somewhat) for a day or two, I accepted an invitation to hang out with my friend Alison on her 21st birthday. Dana and I went with her and her other friends to the Yard House, it's an awesome restaurant at the River (a man-made river that winds through a bunch of stores and eateries with a movie theater at the hub). 

We had a great time, laughing and chatting. I am 21, have been for a while, but drinking is just not something I enjoy or would ever want to enjoy. I tried to have a sip of a "weak" strawberry daiquiri, but even with only a splash of alcohol it tasted awful! Couldn't drink it. So, maybe I'm not the life of the party. Hey, at least I can drive everyone home. :) 

Car Wash

The Biology Club at College of the Desert that we started this semester is going great! We have planned an awesome trip to the Natural History museum in LA and the beach afterwards, but it is going to be expensive. We needed to do a fund raiser. 

So, the weekend after spring break, the Biology Club had a car wash. It was a little bit challenging to organize, more than I thought it would be! Turns out college students are hard to get together. We could not have done it without Jesse (3rd from the right) and his wife (pink shirt) and our VP and my BFF Dana (red shirt). It didn't go quite as planned, yet we had a wonderful time. Got more cars than we could handle, and we made over our goal of $650! Very much a success. :)

Dozer and Chloe

Dozer

Chloe

Nothing like Southern California in spring, must be one of the nicest places in the world. :) 

Nap time after a couple hour walk. 

Happy dog! 

We had a little visitor today, he split before I could get the camera up. 

Western U

Western University

My attitude towards Western University thus far has been hum drum, mostly because it is expensive (as a private veterinary school) as well as the fact that I have heard mixed reviews on their teaching methods. Well, Sean likes the idea of me going to veterinary school in Southern California so he can stay down here and keep his career localized while he finishes up his schooling, so he encouraged me to look into it more. I signed up for their preview day.

After a long week of exams, I did not even think I was going to be able to get the motivation up enough to go out there Saturday morning. Well, thankfully it worked out because WOW, did I fall in love! I drove out with Bonnie; when we arrived, we got a tour of the vet med part of campus (walked past the medical school with all the med students in their white coats).

After the tour we went up to a little auditorium and sat through some talks given by the recruiter and one of the faculty. Then, we did a mini PBL (problem based learning) example. It was about “Hendricks” the okapi, who was losing weight. We started filling out the board with things we knew, things we did not know (and needed to find out) and ideas about what might be wrong with him. I am completely smitten with PBL; it feels like my homeschool days, that was my mom’s entire teaching philosophy. She always said, if she didn’t teach us everything, at least she taught us how to find out everything. That is what happens in real life anyway, right? It isn’t like the patients come in with multiple choice exams stapled to their foreheads. PBL really resonates with me. :)

When the dean walked in, I was shocked! The dean of the vet school, coming to speak to us lowly little “prospectives”. Well, not only did he speak to us, he inspired us (or me, at least). The one thing that really stuck with me is he said that we need to prepare “all of ourselves.” When we will get to vet school, we will focus on becoming vets. Until then, however, we need to learn how to be human beings. He also talked about how their method is to teach us to learn, and to continue learning long after we have graduated from veterinary school.

To close, we got to do a Q & A with four students, three second-years and one first-year. The girls were so different but obviously great friends. Part of one of the things that really appeals to me about Western is their method of having groups of seven students working together that rotates every eight weeks. I think that gives an awesome opportunity to make solid friendships during a stressful time of life. Through the questions, we learned even more about how Western works. The faculty sounds amazing, obviously very supportive and wanting to see their students succeed. Each student gets an advisor and a “big sib”, a first-year student gets a second-year student (matched via compatibility survey) as a mentor to get them acclimated to the way of life of a veterinary student. They also do a WAVE program, so the animals we use are all donated by their owners after they die. Accordingly, the school has a high reverence for life. All animals, living or deceased, are treated with dignity and respect. They do not do unnecessary procedures on animals (i.e. put a catheter in a healthy dog for practice). I was extremely impressed! Oh, and their NAVLE (the equivalent to the bar for law students) pass rate is higher than the national average.

It’s hard to explain. . . I just loved the way I felt being there. I guess I should listen to Sean more. ;)

Graduation

It is finally starting to feel real: I got an email from the College of the Desert people giving me instructions for registering for graduation and purchasing my cap, gown and tassel. I can't believe that all this hard work is finally going to come to fruition! 

Bonnie took me shopping on our way home from Western, and we found the perfect graduation dress! It is a surprise, you’ll have to wait until the graduation to see what it looks like. It sure is cute, though!

Oh, and the greatest news? MY MOM IS COMING DOWN FOR THE GRADUATION!!! We got her plane ticket all set, she got the time off of work and I am ecstatic!! I know it’s just baby college, but it has been a journey and I am so glad that she is going to be there for the close of it.

Summer

Since I do not have to go to Davis early, I am looking into ways to cram in tons of vet experience this summer. I am going to try my best to get into Companion, the vet clinic that I have worked at before and is run by a vet I have known since I was ten years old. But, since I have plenty of small animal vet experience, I want to diversify. I am going to keep trying to get in contact with the Living Desert for their internship program (for which I cannot find any information about online). I am also going to try to get into either the emergency vet clinic in Indio or the exotics vet clinic in La Quinta. I figure it is a win-win situation; I get time spent in the environment I crave, and they get free labor! Plus I have experience and a decent head on my shoulders, so I will not be a burden. Lastly, I will be able to put in lots of extra hours at Guide Dogs of the Desert and the Riverside animal shelter. I might try to get in at the Yucca Valley animal shelter, too.

There is lots of other stuff to do this summer besides gaining experience. The trip alone is going to be a blast! Not only will it be a chance to get away for a bit, Sean and I will be able to spend an entire week together and get to celebrate our third anniversary in one of our most favorite places in the world. I think Cub is really going to enjoy it, too, since she loves water and there will be plenty of room for her to run and explore. Besides the trip, I do have to take a Spanish class this summer. Then Sean and I need to get Shorty the trailer fixed up since he is going to be where we live this summer and where I will live for the next year or two up in Davis. 

I am going to spend time with my great friends Don and Cathi, my awesome pseudo-family who has always been there for me. I have been neglecting them with my last two crazy semesters, and then I will be moving so that’s even worse. Need to make up for lost time and time that will be missed in the future. Oh yeah, and I will be spending plenty of time with the love of my life, Sean. Can’t wait! :))

Baby cow. :) 

I Love My Job

As a pet sitter, when I get new clients, it's like expanding my family. My new "kids" are Dozer and Chloe, a couple of adorable rescued mutts who are the pride and joy of their people parents. Both pups are extremely well behaved, and so loving and adorable. Here's some photos from this week, enjoy!