3/31/2012

I had a long day of work. Football was 8:30-5:30 today. It was fun and we looked fantastic. I meant to take a picture but forgot. Luckily we have plenty more games for me to remember. The teams looked pretty good.  The clubbies won, the reserves lost, and the seniors won. After I finished work I went to Katie's daughter's to help her move. We cleaned and installed new fixtures until 1030.

My weekend to do list isn't too bad this week but with all the work today I'll have to complete most of it tomorrow. Fortunately daylight savings time ends tonight so I get an extra hour! Yay! And it'll be light in the morning on my way to class. Yay!

3/30/2012

So my assignment just decided to submit this morning.  After 30 hours of fighting with it the file submitted on it's own.  I'm pumped, but man what a pain!
We had a patient this morning.  A real live patient! It was so fun.  This gentleman had worked as a physiotherapist who owned his own practice until he had a stroke at 45.  He is now a very active hemiplegic who is extraordinarily resilient.  We hung out and appreciated everything he could teach us until 11:20.  Luckily we got a short break before our 12p lecture because registration for the 2013 Melbourne Triathlon went on sale at 11a.  Reports said it sold out in 4minutes and it didn't look available when I initially attempted to register but someone must have taken to long and been logged out because I snuck in at 1124.  That's right I'm going to try to be full iron Maddie:) It's a fantastic course with tons of spectator entertainment(hint hint).  Check it out at ironmanmelbourne.com.
I tried to pay attention in the 12p lecture but between the ironman and the assignment I was having a hard time staying focused.  To add to that grade breakdowns for our exam went up.  I was exactly 75th percentile beating the average by 13 people and 10%.  I still don't know that I understand the grading system so I better just keep trying as hard as I can.
After lecture I road home, ate lunch, looked up ironman videos, went for a 6 mile run, ate ice cream, lounged around, had wine and cheese with Katie, planned out next week...
The ice cream was fun.  The don't really have cookie dough here so alternatively I had vanilla chocolate chip.  I would have taken a picture but it was too delicious.  I went on a 6mile run that ended at the ice cream shop.  Perfect plan, it makes the ice cream so much better. The girl at the counter said, "With an ice cream that big you'll cancel your workout" People in Melbourne seem to think that all runners are on a strict diet.  I try to eat healthily most of the time but I run enough that I have a few extra calories for sweets.
I'm working all day again tomorrow I think I'm going to need to adjust my skype day to Saturday afternoons.  If you're around tomorrow, try me, you may be able to get me on my phone between games.  Oh while I was bumming around this afternoon, I did a little bit of reformatting on my blog it should fix the crazy font issue.  Let me know how it works.

3/29/2012

I forgot to bring shoes with me this morning. My vibrums didn't really match my outfit so I went on a mission to buy new shoes. Since I was out I got breakfast and put some final touches on my assignments. I went to pie face because I've heard it's good. It is uniquely but not fantastic. Any guesses on how much my breakfast cost?

Do I hear $6.50? Yeah food is expensive around here.
I feel good about my assignments. I think that I will do well... If I can get it submitted. Actually submitting the assignments is harder than it sounds. I've been trying for about 20 hours and the submit button just doesn't work. My teacher says it's my Mac but I think it's the software not being able to accept the volume of data that she is asking us to submit.
I barely payed attention in the lectures because I was so stressed about my assignment. It was a review of pain responses and my mind kept drifting. We had a lunch meeting with the teacher causing my headaches, it was so awkward. She is my faculty mentor and I think everyone's least favorite staff member. She was rude to each person in the group at least once during the 45 minute meeting. Practical today was foot and ankle. Fun fun. We worked on Amelia, the ballet dancer so everything was really easy to find.
Football practice was fun. I had a couple cool bumps and bruises, one guy didn't even know that he had a huge bump on his leg. I met a bunch of new guys and we all had dinner together while we watch the professional Aussi rules teams play. I got home and continued to try to submit my assignment with no luck. I'll try again tomorrow.

3/28/2012

Ooops almost forgot to blog. I was in the process and then went to discuss some upcoming scheduling with Katie. That tool an hour and I was so excited to go to bed that I was distracted from my task.
I had a weird dream around 5:20 this morning that had me so confused that I didn't register that I needed to get up when my alarm went off. I finally got out of bed at 620, slowly collected myself and headed into campus. Today we dissected skulls. We more looked at pre dissected specimens. They were beautifully done. I am a master of skull anatomy! I out did even my most nerdy classmates. We evened out in neuroanatomy lecture where Tory totally showed me up. She hates that they teach us about pressor reflexes using the studies done on decerebrated cats but I think it's fascinating. I am familiar with the studies because I saw them at penn state. I think it is wonderful science and am very happy it can be shown without decebrating me. During lunch I polished the wiki a tad more. I am very happy with it and I hope my group is too. They all seem a but apathetic and willing to let me do the entire project. Oh well. Hopefully we get a good grade. Speaking of grades... I got my grade back from my midterm. I was 2 points or 5% above average. This translates to second honors but I don't know how to apply that to the American grading scheme. After lunch was prac. It was Jame's 29th birthday so we had delicious hamburger shaped cupcakes as we worked. People seem to think that I have a skill for the practical elements but I am undecided. I work hard and try to do my best. The day finished at 4 so I biked home, grabbed a snack, booked a trip for Easter break and went for a run. I was really trying to end my run at an ice cream shop but it was closed when I passed. Nothing crazy but it was a good day.

3/27/2012

I was a bit better about getting up this morning.  I biked in and went to body pump.  There was a substitute instructor this week.  She was ok but it's easy to tell why they hired Alex full time and her as a fill in.  On my way to go study I found that they stepped Ride to Uni breakfast up a notch or two.

It was delicious, I had pancakes, yogurt, muffins, and coffee.  Then I got to work on my Wiki.  I added an introduction and a conclusion.  Class today was sensory pathways of proprioception, pain, and temperature. On my walk to class I passed the world dodgeball championships.... Is this for real?

We had a two hour break for lunch and I tried to make you a video but unfortunately I got a bit lost on my jog so I didn't quite finish the tour.  In practical we evaluated knees.  They were fun.  Just like an elbow except better!
I biked home and really got to work on my Wiki. Right after I had a small drink of water.  Man I was thirsty!!

My Wiki is turning out to be pretty cool.  I really wish that I could do more with formatting but the system that they let us use is pretty basic. I'll give you a link to my very exciting and interactive Wiki as soon as it's available, right now it's still limited access.  

3/26/2012

The darker it gets in the morning the harder it is for me to wake up.  I didn't get out of the house until 6:30 this morning.  That is fine for a Monday but won't fly tomorrow.  I got to campus, took a shower and headed to class.  The first class was anatomy of the CNS our lecturer was interensting but unfortunately this was the only lecture he will be giving us.  More notably the lecture theatre was mostly empty and FREEZING.  It was 45 degrees in my seat.  The temperature was obviously warmer next to the sensor but I was cold.  About 1/3 of my class decided not to come this morning due to scheduling inconviences.  See after the 9am lecture we didn't have anything else scheduled until 12p so many people decided to just stream the lecture from home.  During the break I got some hot chocolate and went on a walk with Kat and Steph.  After going to the post office we stopped at a park and goofed off for a bit before returning to campus.

The sensation lecture was followed by lunch.  On Mondays we tend to stay on the north part of campus and that means fighting with the undergraduates for table space.  We gave up and had a picnic.  Unfortunately, I had finished my lunch during the first break so I just chatted while my friends ate.  Our afternoon lecture was packed.  Marilyn is very knowledgeable but she spends too much time on the first portion of the material and then realizes that she is running out of time and glosses over the last 20-30 slides.   I biked home and made some biking friends on my way.  I must have looked friendly because people talked to me at stop lights today.  When I arrived home I was ravenously hungry(as always) so I made breakfast for dinner and sat down to do some accounting.  With my professor's help and the assistance of Wikipedia I achieved this week's objectives.  I was feeling so good that I also took the mid-term.  I did well but not quite as well as I would have liked.  Captain dyslexia struck again.  I misread a question and therefore lost some easy points. With the course half over I am trying to work hard and finish with another A.  After the 3 hours of accounting I looked for some break plans.  I have a couple days off in April but so many responsibilities that I won't be able to do much traveling.  I have a few options right now but I can't finalize anything until I get my work schedule Thursday.

3/25/2012

Today was mostly a quiet day. I spent a long time working on my annotated bibliography this morning.  Now it is all fixed up and sent off to my editorial staff.   I went to a cafe for lunch in an effort to work on my Wiki unfortunately their advertisement lied and they didn't actually have free Wifi.  I had a latte and then headed to the grocery store.  My class Friday didn't teach me much but made me reconsider my current diet, so I picked up some supplies to eat a bit healthier.  I came home and made onigiri, fruit and yogurt cups, and grilled vegetable focaccia for class next week and a twice baked potato which I left in the oven for dinner.  I went on my run of the day even though my marathon training is kinda open ended at the moment.  The 13 miles took me right past Iron Man Melbourne.

I ran along the course for 3 miles on the way out and 3 miles on the way back.  I'm going to have to train for that next year.  It looks so cool.  When I got home from my run I heard back from my accounting professor.  He was really helpful,  I'm almost straightedged out but there was a formatting error in the last question so I had to send it back for clarification. Aside from my last accounting question I completed my weekend list and did a little extra I'm excited for another full week of biking, learning, and footie.

3/24/2012

My list is a little bit shorter this weekend but there is still plenty to do.

My morning started with a footie game.  I taped about 10 shoulders, 7 ankles, 2 knees and a couple fingers.  Michael the other trainer is getting on my nerves just a tad but I think that's because I have spent too much time with him recently. He is learning fast and keeps taking over the massages which I don't want to do anyway so I am very thankful.  It as a little bit chilly this morning, mid 50's so the Australians bundled up like we were about to have a blizard.  If you weren't aware UGG's originated in Australia and they aren't just for women.

The practice this morning in the Melbourne equivelent of Heinz field.  It was so big!

When the game ended at noon I biked home and had a lunch of egg salad and vegecado, the combination of vegemite and avacado.  It was tasty.  I crossed all of the easy stuff off of my list and started on my accounting homework.  I think I've gotten myself into a pickle.  I don't know if I can complete the rest of the course without the required textbook but I can't seem to find a copy. Well I can find several very expensive copies online however the class ends in 4 weeks and most places in the United States say allow up to 6 weeks for international shipping.  I kept getting excited thinking that I had tracked down a copy just to have it fall through.  I emailed the professor to see if he has any suggestions.  Stan came over and cooked me dinner.  I don't know if Katie and Stan think that I can't care for myself or if they are just being nice.  I was happy for the food although it wasn't what I wanted to eat but I was pretty antisocial because all I wanted to do was get my homework done.  I continued to work on my paper while Stan did house work around me.  I felt awkward and quite lazy since I live here and he doesn't.  However, studying is my top priority and I have quite a bundle this week.

3/23/2012

My day started off fantastically and ended up pretty good as well.  I had a less formal seminar on sports training responsibilities today instead of regular class.  Since I didn't need to look nice I ran into campus.  It was a refreshing 54 degrees and I was comfortable in my shorts and tank top.  I ran pretty quickly averaging 8:30miles.  As I was finishing my run I heard music coming from federation square.  There were hundreds of people trying to break the world record for the most people circuit training at one time.

It looked pretty fun but I didn't have time to join in.  I had finished my workout but continued to walk and jog into the city.  The lights weren't working at one of the biggest intersections in the city so I got to see Melbourne's version of S&T.  I don't want to brag but I definitely could have controlled the traffic more efficiently than they did.

I stopped at Victoria market to pick up 2LBS of strawberries and 5lbs of chocolate for a total of $7.  Then I continued up to the phisio building where I assembled chocolate covered strawberries with paper cups and the microwave.  The 8 hour course was sloppy and mostly un-instructive.  I did more complex athletic training techniques in high school.  Since there are less restrictions on who can become an Athletic trainer in Australia they replace skill with more expensive materials that are harder to mess up.  When the course finished I was in a hurry to get home so I took the tram and began campaigning my team to let me redo the supply budget.  I want better blister care supplies and less expensive tape.  It saves them money so I hope they go for it.  From the course today it appears that they are misallocating many of their medical resources.  When I got back to the house I had a wonderful shower.  I was starting to feel smelly.  I got dressed and went to Katie's brother's for dinner. It was fantastic.  Most definitely the best meal of my week.

I'm working tomorrow morning until 1 or so, if you are free to skype please call me after 9p Friday or on saturday evening between 5p and 10p.

3/22/2012

You know the drill by now.  I got up and rode into school. On my way to the shower I passed free breakfast. Yum!

Class today was the scalp, the facial nerve, and muscles of mastication.  During lunch I straightened out my weekend commitments so I'm all set for a busy, busy time.   In practical today we did strength and length of the hip.  It was quite lovely.  We had a very big group today because one of the instructors was sick.  The extra people also came with extra space and we were able to work with some new bodies.  While riding to football practice I was day dreaming about the hill workout that I was supposed to be doing today.  I rode up a hill and though to myself, "this wound be a great hill if only I wasn't biking...." luckily there was a bike rack at the bottom so I chained up my bike and backpack.  Unfortunately, I had decided not to change back into workout clothes and there were no bathrooms in sight.

I probably looked pretty silly but it was still a good workout.  Practice was busy but uneventful.  I was supposed to bake for class tomorrow but Katie was in a bad mood when I got home.  She's going away for the weekend and stressing out about the rude airport security personnel.  Anyway she said, "No baking at 9pm".  I don't really want to wake up at 5 to bake, so I guess I'll pick something up? That's it for today. I have a full day tomorrow so I'm off to bed.  

3/21/2012

Well I had a nice rain today. It started out as 70 and cloudy and by 10am it was 50 and pouring.  I was planning on the rain so I didn't bring my computer to class.  That meant that I could secure my cell phone in a sandwich bag and be safe to spend an hour in the rain.  My bike does quite well in the rain.  I went through some sizable puddles and it didn't have any trouble.  The classes today were gross anatomy of the spine and a skull lecture.  You may be a bit lost, it seemed like last week I was doing shoulder anatomy and now I've been through hip, knee, foot, back, neck and am onto skull....Don't worry I feel the same.  My afternoon was taken up by meeting the cable man to try to get the internet fixed. I think we got it straightened out. Yay!!!! I put in another large effort toward my research project.  I was feeling quite confident when Virginie pointed out to me(via facebook) that we are researching LATERAL lumbar flexion.  Captain dyslexia over here has been researching lumbar flexion not lateral lumbar flexion.  sigh.  Days of work down the drain.  I didn't even check to see if any of it was salvageable.  I gave up and went for a run.  I'll try again tomorrow.  I got back just before katie got home.  We had cheese and crackers and a yawn(australian for chat).  I'm a tad worried about her because she has told me the same story 3 times this week but maybe she's just super excited.  I promised pictures today didn't I?  Well, I was supposed to go to the Melbourne food and wine festival for lunch but that fell through because of the rain.  I was also in a bit of a hurry to meet the cable guy.  I have a couple pictures saved up but nothing too exciting.  Hold out for tomorrow and I promise to make it up to you for being boring this week.

3/20/2012

Thanks for the card Grammie it made my day:) just for you I'll stop falling off my bike.  


For the most part my day was same old stuff.  Biked in, went to my favorite exercise class, Alex, the instructor, was back from vacation and in a super energized mood today so it was fun.  Before class I studied outside and ate all of my lunch.  We had another radiology lecture today, she spent the first 15 minutes recapping last lecture, the next 15 recapping spinal anatomy so I only had 10-15 minutes of actual learning in a monotone, uninterested manner.   I meant to go for a run during lunch but ended up trying to study and fighting with my computer instead.  Today in our practical we evaluated the hip.  I was voted best butt in the class:) go Maddie! and her muscular running booty.  Unfortunately since I ate my lunch around 9:30 my stomach was deciding to growl loudly as I was modeling squats for the class.  From class I got a raspberry muffin. Yum.  I biked down to practice and worked my butt off for the entire practice.  We got another trainer.  Yay! Now there are 3 of us so hopefully after everyone is trained I'll get a day off! I biked home and had dinner and homework.  Katie counteracted my best butt euphoria by asking me why I was so fat around the mid section.  Sigh.  
Sorry no pictures.....again....I must be bad at blogging or something.  That'll change tomorrow.  Just wait!

3/19/2012

Sorry I'm a little late.  The internet was absolutely impossible last night and I didn't have much cell phone reception either.  Generally, I had a good but boring day.  I biked into class, learned about spinal anatomy and had my second problem based learning session.  We were too effective and didn't have enough time to go through all of her issues.  If you remember this is the case from two weeks ago where a woman fell and broke her hip.  Previously the instructor had been making us try to identify her problem.  Today we were in small groups facilitated by Louisa(pronounced Louiser if you remember your Australian language lessons).  We started along the same track as last time by Louisa re-directed us saying that anyone who wasn't immediately aware that this woman had a fractured head of femur probably needed to drop out.  Everyone was very relieved as it is boing to try to debate an issue everyone already agrees upon.  Instead we discussed the woman's life style and changes she could make to decrease risk of future falls and fractures.  After the problem based learning session we finished spinal anatomy.  If you're keeping track we had 5 lectures on the entire upper extremity, 4 on the lower, and 4 on the back.  That doesn't mean that it isn't important it just means that the lectures aren't much more than bullet points of topics that we are expected to learn on our own.  We had a nice lunch on the grass, it was  sunny and fantastic.  After lunch we had our theory lecture of the week and discussed hip pathologies.  I got called out as the most insane runner in the class but I couldn't convert miles to Km on the spot and sold myself short by about 15K.  I had a nice bike ride home, ate the stuffed pepper Katie had left me for dinner and went on a short jog.  I came back to do homework but the internet was down.  I wasn't in the mood to go to a cafe to finish my work so I decided to blow it off and do it in the morning at Uni where I have consistent internet assess.  Instead I finished Tread....love,love love!!

3/18/2012

Today was pretty chill.  I woke up at 6 and tried to stay quiet and still for the next couple of hours so that I didn't wake up the other girls in my room.  Last night when I came in I missed the two other weekend guests but found every bed full when I woke up this morning.  I got my stuff together as quietly as possible and then went downstairs for breakfast.  I was happily the only one without a hangover so I enjoyed my breakfast, coffee, and the paper while we waited for the last person to wake up so we could head home.  I did homework on the way home.  Michael criticized me for not using peer reviewed journal articles to look up what some common Australian drugs are.  I think he's being a bit picky and that wikipedia is a fine source when all I need to know is that Salbutamol is Australians call Albuterol.  He didn't even know what his assignment was yet.
After I got home I had a pretty chill day.  I was relaxing and reading when Katie interrupted me.  She has another get rich quick scheme and is trying to find 600K by the end of May so she can buy a new property.  She asked me to make dinner while she got exited and tried to find where she could get a loan.  I made spring rolls.  I thought they were good.  Not sure what Stan and Katie thought.  Last night I broke my sunglasses they were $6 so I wasn't heart broken.  I was planning on replacing them tomorrow but  while I was cooking Katie picked me up a new pair for 5 times as much.  She said it was a gift and then asked me to pay her back.  Arrrrg.  I would have gotten a better pair for less money on my own.  After dinner I went for a run.  Let me tell you the best way to make mile 10 feel better than mile 1 is to start with a belly full of spring rolls.  I felt like such a slug.  The run was absolutely beautiful as the sun set over the beach.

3/17/2012

St. Patrick's day was surprisingly uneventful for the large number of irish immigrants living in Australia.  I got up at 8 and went to breakfast with the guys.  They had pretty intense ham and egg sandwiches, I had a coffee and an Amazing Vanilla cupcake/muffin.  After breakfast we headed down to the football oval.  1minute into the game while I was still in the locker room taping up the last guy one of the best players broke their finger.  The coaches tried to get me to relocate it but I refused and sent him to the hospital.  Good thing because at the hospital under local anesthetic the still couldn't relocate the dislodged bone so they sent him back to Melbourne for surgery.  The rest of the game was pretty good.  Silver beat red by about 20 points.  I'm starting to learn Aussi rules but I'm no expert yet.

I got to do a good deal of taping of shoulders, ankles, and blisters.  So I worked for almost 3 hours and then we had lunch.  After lunch we went to the picnic races which is a very low key horse racing event. 
 
Some guys won a good deal of money, some guys lost a good deal of money, we all enjoyed the food, beer, and environment.


Well they did. I had a pretty sweet $2.50 hamburger and decided that getting drunk on cheap beer around the people I work for wasn't the best idea so I blew it off saying that it wasn't irish enough for me.

After the picnic races we went to the pub for dinner and more drinking.  I had chips(french fries) I keep trying but I haven't quite gotten the accent quite right some people tell me it's chups, some people tell me it's cheeps all I know is that I don't say it correctly.
They had scooner which is an australian type of pool. I was about to get schooled by some of the footie players but then the table was conveniently taken over by 2 children with very strong Australian country accents.


We hung around the pub as the boys got drunker and drunker until about 1 when I gave up and went back to the hostel.  I slept well in the girls room but there are rumors of one of the players breaking a glass frame. During the course of the evening the owner who was very drunk told me that they really like me and want to keep me around.  They even offered to fire the other trainer if he was getting on my nerves too much.  Ha:) point for Maddie!

3/16/2012

I have a busy weekend planned so I got my to do list together early this morning.

Since I only had an exam at noon I decided to call it the weekend and sleep in till 7. When I got up Katie made a fuss about my laundry. I don't know why it bothers her but she insisted that I do laundry before leaving for the weekend. I packed while my clothes washed and headed into campus with my 2 bags around 10. It's a good thing that I got an early start because my tram line wasn't functional. It was actually several tram lines. I think they were damaged in the storm? Or maybe by an accident. They sent a coach to give my tram line a free lift to the city. It took a bit longer but it was free. My friend Angela unfortunately ended up almost missing the exam because of her train and was forced to pay $30 for a taxi.
The exam was really intense we were put into a special exam building. The bathrooms were sound proof, we had assigned seating and we had 50minutes timed by a really intense timer. No one was allowed out of their seat until the timer went off. The 30 multiple choice questions were really hard. Almost all of them asked you to chose the answer that was incorrect and then gave 5 almost unrelated topics to choose from. The last 10point multiple choice question was: compare and contrast the shoulder and hip. I hope I did moderately alright. But it was a very hard exam. Luckily the exam building was right next to the queensberry(hotel(which means pub))so we all had pints and parmas.....for anyone who has forgotten that's a pint of light beer and a chicken parmesan on top of fries. At 2:30 I left to meet Michael at the southern cross station where we took a bus an hour and a half to take another bus to Philip island. The bridge to the island is pretty sweet.

Philip island has grand prix, national parks, tourist attractions and dairy farms. I know what you're thinking, and yes Australian farms are better than central Pennsylvanian farms.

We dropped our stuff grabbed some pizzas and headed off to see the famous penguin parade.
I tried to get video but there is a strict no photography/video so enhanced iPhone pics that I snuck quickly is the best I could do. The penguins were tiny. They are Australian little penguins that are smaller and more blue than others. It's molting season so they were especially fluffy.

We are spending the weekend in an up scale hostel. It is a bit nicer for all of the guys that get to bond and share rooms. I'm staying in a room with 7 other girls that I have no connection to and probably won't interact with much tomorrow is a big day so it's time for tread and then bed.

3/15/2013

My body didn't feel like sleeping when I wanted to last night. I went to bed and couldn't fall asleep, then I kept waking up with images of muscles. I finally fell asleep right as my alarm went off. I decided that being well rested was going to be more beneficial than an extra hour of studying so I slept in till 8. My ride in was peaceful I thought about all the muscles an bones in my upper extremities. Half of my class decided that studying was more important than class so they didn't come in today. Our second lecture was spinal imaging. It is a good topic but a horrible lecturer. Only 20% of our class stayed for it. Those of us who were there didn't really pay attention but studied for the test tomorrow. We were told that there are no imaging questions on the exam tomorrow so my classmates have decided not to learn even the most basic material that the guest lecturer is presenting. When she asked a question in the middle of the lecture about MRI differentiation I impressed everyone, including her, by giving an extended and detailed answer. We all studied during lunch. I feel confident in my knowledge. We had a practical on nerve lesions and sensation in the arm/hand. I still felt on my game. After that I rode to football practice, did a hill workout, and stretched some legs. I kept going over material and testing the other trainer the entire practice. Just as I was about to head home a thunder storm began. This is a problem because I have my computer and phone in my bag. Luckily I also had my pouch rain coat from the children's place. I would be embarrassed but it's fantastic. I put my coat on my bag and biked home as fast as I could. The rain dumped down in buckets the entire 10k home but the coat held up. I don't think anything got through. Katie made me an interesting dinner. A microwaved sweat potatoes with a yogurt, celery, peach, and cucumber salad. I liked all of the elements but not really together. I'm off to study more and then pack. Which brings me to my weekend plans.... I'm going away for football camp this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to blog but definitely no Skype:( I'll catch you next week. Plenty of pictures, videos, and excitement. All good things to make up for my boring week of studying.

3/14/2012

I'm still on my biking kick. It's going well. I like the speed, convince, and exercise it offers. We started the day with dissection lab. I wasn't doing so well with it today. I think I had a combination of fatigue and gross classmates but I was struggling to not get sick this morning. Unfortunately I learned less than is typical of anatomy lab but my handle on the material had been ok before the class started. The lecture today was inflammation. It's difficult because I feel that I understand the material while he is lecturing but when I go back and look at my notes I'm totally lost. After class Angela and I went to thrashers cafe to study. Angela wanted lunch and I wanted to study so we spent 2 hours studying each other's notes and eating chocolate cake sorry I ate it too fast to take pictures. I biked home and was feeling tired. I don't know if I took a nap or just reviewed anatomy with my eyes closed for an hour but it helped. I made grilled vegetable tacos for dinner and studied more. After dinner I went on Facebook to see what answers my classmates had and actually found more questions. I explained a couple things and felt good about myself. I packed up for tomorrow and maybe some tread before bed...hmmmm

3/13/2012

My bike in this morning was quite nice. I think I like this biking stuff. I made it in time for body pump, my favorite exercise class. It was good but between marathon training and my active commute I think I need to back off a bit. My muscles were fatiguing much faster than expected. I took a break from studying and did accounting this morning. I got a 90 for the week so not too bad. I'll kick it up a notch next week. I had a lecture on spinal anatomy from the university's top anatomist. Maybe he'll grow on me but do far I like the second best guy that taught us arms and legs better. Lecture was followed by a 2 hour break where we practiced mobilizations and chilled for a bit. Today's practical was on the hand. Shane who I practiced on had recently had hand surgery so it was interesting. After class was a 10k ride and football practice. It was a good practice but all the guys want is to be massaged. I treat their problems and tell them to come back later and I'll massage them if it's still a problem next week. That's it for today. Tomorrow is more studying and excitement:)

3/12/2012

Sorry guys the Internet is not connecting (again!)so the formatting has to wait till I get into class. If you're annoyed imagine how I feel. The repair man is coming a week from Wednesday so maybe things will get better after that.
My phone turned off over night so my alarm didn't go off. Oh no! That's ok I woke up at 730 anyway. I rushed into class and made it there by 830. I was on time for class but missed the gym and shower. 
Today was Melbourne labor day. If you notice I said Melbourne and not Australian. It is a city wide holiday that is only celebrated in the city limits, even the outlying suburbs don't get to celebrate. As a grad student I don't get to celebrate either. There were some perks though. Campus was much emptier and the road closures gave me a 4lane bike path.
Today's first lecture was adverse drug reactions. He's a really good lecturer so it was quite fun. After class we meet in one of our 4 research groups and discussed the assignment breakdown. I'm still supposed to be researching the drugs that have been on my to do list for the past week. After the meeting Tory and I went to get coffee. Our favorite place was closed so we headed to the backup. We had specifically said that we didn't want to study during the break today but found ourselves walking to the library anyway. We got in an hour which was just long enough for me to finish my outlines.

The next class was pharmacological interventions of inflammation. I think I need another lecture on what that one was about. It didn't seem bad at the time but looking back at my notes I don't know what's going on. We actually refrained from studying or talking about the exam during lunch. It was beautiful and I relaxed on the lawn with my friends. We went back for the theory lecture. I don't mind them too much but as my friends point out all she does is tell us what we need already know(but have never heard of) but doesn't really teach us anything.
Class ended at 4 and I rode home.


New bike $750Aud on Internet banking
New tire $24 on master card
Bike lock $50aud cash
beating your tram home....priceless!


When I got home I made a salad for Katie and myself for dinner tonight and a broccoli and garlic Stromboli to take to class tomorrow. 

Katie decided to buy some kind of weird special flour with chunks but it still came out quite good. I studied and prepared for class tomorrow. I could study more I suppose but I feel reasonably confident in my understanding of the material. I'm debating what to do before bed, read tread or take a practice exam.....hmmmm

3/11/2012

I studied less today as promised.  Yay!!
I woke up this morning and did my long run of the week.  2 miles down to the beach and 8 more on the shore for a total of 12.  I came home very smelly so I showered before starting to study.  Today I prepared for next week's classes instead of studying for the exam.  I put notes in my manual and reviewed specific muscle actions of the hand.  At 1p I headed over to my friend Amelia's for a house warming party.  My hour and a half train ride was spent reading about the wrist and hand.  I got her a fantastic sushi making kit with chopstick and holders.

Amelia is a fantastic host.  She made a ton of absolutely delicious food all while giving tours, picking people up from the station, and making sure all of her various friends had been aquatinted with one another.  Next time I have a party she's planning it.  This girl's got skill!

She has two pet birds.  Australia is so awesome, this is their version on budgies.  They also have parakeets but these are "the standard cheap pet store bird.  Yellow for Gillie, birds for Abbie....perfect!

Her house was really nice as well.  It's a 3 bedroom ranch with a deck. She has some really nice furniture like this indoor picnic her boyfriend made.  It's a wine and cheese holder with notches for the wine glasses and an ice bucket.

At about 5:30 half of my classmates left.  Tory and I were about to follow and Amelia said oh just hold on half an hour for some brownies.  So we did and they were well worth it.  Yum! Tory had driven and was nice enough to give me a ride back into the city.  She offered to drive me all the way home but I knew with the traffic that my house was an hour out of her way so I took the tram home and read more about the wrist and hand.
I got home in time to prepare for the week.  I made lunch, straightened up, made to do lists and packed my bag.  At the end of the weekend I still have a large list to catch up on but I feel accomplished.

3/10/2011

Since it's day 2 of the weekend I slept in a tad till 8.  Then I got up and started outlining.  I was a studying machine today! At 9 Katie, Stan, Saori, and I went out to breakfast before Saori had to go back to Japan. 

Stan and I enjoyed ourselves, Katie had a toast and and egg and Saori had a coffee. It was so good. Crustini with avacaso and eggplant:)


Katie and Saori left for the airport and I kept studying.  



I skyped for a bit and then studied some more.  At 5:30 I took a running break and then took a break once an hour for the rest of the night to get other items crossed off my to do list.  With a solid 10 hours of studying and a few more interrupted I have almost finished outlining the test material.  I stopped because I was starting to get a hand cramp.  I did finish compiling the practice test up to the point that we where we are in class.  There will be 4 more lectures before the exam but the materials are currently unavailable.  Go ahead and try them out. You don't have to sign up or anything, just give them a fake name.
http://www.quizmoz.com/quiz.asp?quizid=47807
http://www.quizmoz.com/quiz.asp?quizid=47808


I had a really productive day and I should hopefully have some time to not study tomorrow:) This coming week is even more study intense than last week but stay tuned I have a few tricks that should hopefully keep my blog exciting.

3/9/2012

I had the day off today, you know what that means! The weekend list!

To enjoy my day off, I started by going to school....
Actually since I had the day off I slept in till 7 made breakfast and took the tram into the city. I was reminded why I get up and into campus so early. The tram was packed, the tram line had mechanical failure and we got into a back up. After an hour I got off and walked the rest of the way. Along my path I bought replacement tubes for my flat bike tire and a gift for the house warming party I'm going to Sunday. I got to campus around 10:30 and practiced hands on stuff until 12. Then I went to the library until 3. I went home and studied unit Katie and Stan interrupted me with pizza at 7:30. After dinner I went back to studying. Man my day was thrilling.


Let's see the score card look surprisingly similar with all that I did today.


Score card:
Outlines 15/27
Questions 31/54
Annotations 4/7
Manipulations 6/5 I'm an over achiever :)
Drugs 0/?


With all the studying this week I haven't had much of a chance to accumulate fun facts.  To keep it fun here is the question of the week+awesome video for assistance in answering.  I have an answer but any suggestions will be considered.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2PBLcp9tWM

Q1. Freddie a baseball pitcher has been diagnosed with anterior shoulder impingement on his pitching shoulder. 

Explain in detail 

(a) how the shoulder will move in the different phases of the throwing action 

(b) how the scapula muscles will produce or control these movements 

c) Outline a common mechanism that is likely to lead to shoulder impingement 

Use evidence to support your answer. 

(20 marks)