Today I finally finished collecting all 120 stars in Super Mario Galaxy. Technically I could go on to collect them all again playing as Luigi, but I feel like this is a good place to stop. It took me quite a while to get those last couple stars, mainly because I had not played much since mid February when I started studying for block four exams.
I would say Galaxy that it is the best Mario game of all time, hands down. I found the game easy in some parts, but thoroughly challenging in others. However, unlike some of the other Mario games, I never felt like the platformer "jumping" puzzles were an exercise in futility. I always was able to get the star and move on after a solid effort, which made the game very fun. I think the next game on my list is Metal Gear Solid 4, then either GTA 4 or Metroid after that. I also want to get and play Resident Evil 5, even though some reviews have said it is good, but not great. I really enjoyed the last one, and I trust Brad Shoemaker's review more than most other sites anyway.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
In the OR
Last week Monday I followed a pediatric surgeon around for a day and observed my first "real" surgeries. I say real because I have seen ophthalmology surgeries before, but they tend to be very different.
There were three cases scheduled that day, and the first one was kind of a big deal. The pediatric surgeon I followed was working with the chief of Baylor's adult bariatric surgery program to perform a roux-en-Y gastric bypass on a 17 year old boy who was almost 500 pounds. There was a news crew from channel 11 to interview the surgeons and film the procedure. The whole thing was done laproscopically, and it was quite neat to watch.
The second procedure was to perform an excisional biopsy on an enlarged inguinal lymph node in a young infant. They weren't sure initially if it was a tumor or an infection, but upon cutting into the mass it oozed lots of pus, so they had their answer pretty fast.
The last procedure was to remove a thyroid adenoma from a young teenager. He was playing football and was injured a few months ago, and when he had an MRI done to look for head injuries, they noticed he had this small benign cancer growing on his thyroid. The procedure is relatively straightforward, except there is a nerve near the thyroid that controls vocalization and respiration, so almost the entire surgery is spent finding the nerve and making sure it does not get cut.
Overall I thought that surgery looked like a lot of fun. General surgeons (and pediatric surgeons) do a wide variety of procedures, and most have a balance of clinical days and surgery days. The downside is the ridiculously intense five year residency. Fellowships after general residency get even more competitive and even more time consuming. I'll have to see what it is really like when I rotate in about a year, and check out if it is worth the sacrifice.
There were three cases scheduled that day, and the first one was kind of a big deal. The pediatric surgeon I followed was working with the chief of Baylor's adult bariatric surgery program to perform a roux-en-Y gastric bypass on a 17 year old boy who was almost 500 pounds. There was a news crew from channel 11 to interview the surgeons and film the procedure. The whole thing was done laproscopically, and it was quite neat to watch.
The second procedure was to perform an excisional biopsy on an enlarged inguinal lymph node in a young infant. They weren't sure initially if it was a tumor or an infection, but upon cutting into the mass it oozed lots of pus, so they had their answer pretty fast.
The last procedure was to remove a thyroid adenoma from a young teenager. He was playing football and was injured a few months ago, and when he had an MRI done to look for head injuries, they noticed he had this small benign cancer growing on his thyroid. The procedure is relatively straightforward, except there is a nerve near the thyroid that controls vocalization and respiration, so almost the entire surgery is spent finding the nerve and making sure it does not get cut.
Overall I thought that surgery looked like a lot of fun. General surgeons (and pediatric surgeons) do a wide variety of procedures, and most have a balance of clinical days and surgery days. The downside is the ridiculously intense five year residency. Fellowships after general residency get even more competitive and even more time consuming. I'll have to see what it is really like when I rotate in about a year, and check out if it is worth the sacrifice.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The New Apartment
As promised, here are some photos of the new place.
As you can see, we now have a loft space that replaces our second bedroom as my study space. The kitchen is actually a little bigger than before and has a separate island type counter. However, just about everything else is smaller than before. One of the challenges was figuring out what I was going to do when Lisa comes home from work and starts making noise in the living room while I am trying to study up in the loft. Our solution was a small, $25 desk from IKEA that fits nicely in the corner of the bedroom, and so far it seems to be working out well.
One thing that is better now is the view. Being up a floor we look out over the ugly parking garage a bit more. In fact, we can now see that on top of the garage there is a set of tennis courts and a pool. Also, we get a better view of the park and can even see the med center skyline a bit.
We still have plenty of room for guests to come stay, so you are welcome anytime!!
As you can see, we now have a loft space that replaces our second bedroom as my study space. The kitchen is actually a little bigger than before and has a separate island type counter. However, just about everything else is smaller than before. One of the challenges was figuring out what I was going to do when Lisa comes home from work and starts making noise in the living room while I am trying to study up in the loft. Our solution was a small, $25 desk from IKEA that fits nicely in the corner of the bedroom, and so far it seems to be working out well.
One thing that is better now is the view. Being up a floor we look out over the ugly parking garage a bit more. In fact, we can now see that on top of the garage there is a set of tennis courts and a pool. Also, we get a better view of the park and can even see the med center skyline a bit.
We still have plenty of room for guests to come stay, so you are welcome anytime!!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
So much for posting more...
I just noticed that the month is over half-way over and I have yet to post. The reason... we moved! We decided to start looking early for living options for next year. After the first week in March, we started looking at other apartment complexes in our area, and we were not very impressed with their deals. We were looking for something a little smaller than the two bedroom we had before, and something much cheaper.
We discovered that the complex we live in right now has a great 1-bed + loft plan, but they have a 4 person waiting list for this summer already. However, a unit came up as of March 10th, so we really felt like we needed to snatch it up while we could. Did I mention that it is $400 less per month than what we payed before!!
Luckily, Lisa had spring break and Sara was coming down anyway, so the move went very well. However, the whole thing has left me a bit behind in school, and very behind in blog posting. I'll try to get some pictures of the new place up soon.
We discovered that the complex we live in right now has a great 1-bed + loft plan, but they have a 4 person waiting list for this summer already. However, a unit came up as of March 10th, so we really felt like we needed to snatch it up while we could. Did I mention that it is $400 less per month than what we payed before!!
Luckily, Lisa had spring break and Sara was coming down anyway, so the move went very well. However, the whole thing has left me a bit behind in school, and very behind in blog posting. I'll try to get some pictures of the new place up soon.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
A long time ago, in a state far far away
I noticed that Bryan was lamenting on his blog about how he only managed to post four times in February, and then I realized that I only posted once! I actually have had things to talk about, but my most recent round of exams were so hard I didn't even have time to procrastinate very much.
Since the beginning of January we have been in been in Block 4, which contains pathology, pharmacology, head and neck anatomy, and immunology. Path and pharm were not so bad, but head and neck had a lot to memorize, and immunology was the hardest subject we have had so far at Baylor.
With head and neck anatomy we finished up all of our pre-clinical anatomy classes. I am very surprised at how much I enjoyed anatomy. I came in thinking I wouldn't like it very much, and it turned out to be my favorite subject so far. Whether or not this means that I will enjoy a speciality that uses lots of anatomy (surgery, radiology) remains to be seen.
Earlier in February my mom was down in Houston helping Noni and Popi come down for the winter season (or at least the second half of it). We went to a Houston Symphony concert featuring the music of John Williams, which turned out to be a very well put together event. They played music from Jaws, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and lots from Star Wars. Apparently the theme music for the NBC nightly news was also written by John Williams and is a stand alone piece. Throughout the concert, they had various Star Wars characters come out do silly things, like Darth Vader stealing the baton and conducting for a while. Afterwards the characters were in the lobby, as can be seen by my poor cell phone pictures.
In other news, Lisa has to give her kids the Texas state assessment test this week, and she has been working had to make sure that as few of them fail as possible. I remember taking the MEAP every few years or so, and it was never as big a deal as these state tests are here.
Hopefully I'll be able to keep up better as I start block 5 this Monday. Many older students tell us that block 5 is the best block in pre-clinicals, so I might have more time.
Since the beginning of January we have been in been in Block 4, which contains pathology, pharmacology, head and neck anatomy, and immunology. Path and pharm were not so bad, but head and neck had a lot to memorize, and immunology was the hardest subject we have had so far at Baylor.
With head and neck anatomy we finished up all of our pre-clinical anatomy classes. I am very surprised at how much I enjoyed anatomy. I came in thinking I wouldn't like it very much, and it turned out to be my favorite subject so far. Whether or not this means that I will enjoy a speciality that uses lots of anatomy (surgery, radiology) remains to be seen.
Earlier in February my mom was down in Houston helping Noni and Popi come down for the winter season (or at least the second half of it). We went to a Houston Symphony concert featuring the music of John Williams, which turned out to be a very well put together event. They played music from Jaws, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and lots from Star Wars. Apparently the theme music for the NBC nightly news was also written by John Williams and is a stand alone piece. Throughout the concert, they had various Star Wars characters come out do silly things, like Darth Vader stealing the baton and conducting for a while. Afterwards the characters were in the lobby, as can be seen by my poor cell phone pictures.
In other news, Lisa has to give her kids the Texas state assessment test this week, and she has been working had to make sure that as few of them fail as possible. I remember taking the MEAP every few years or so, and it was never as big a deal as these state tests are here.
Hopefully I'll be able to keep up better as I start block 5 this Monday. Many older students tell us that block 5 is the best block in pre-clinicals, so I might have more time.
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