Day 8: Gibraltar

Land!  We're not walking on it yet but at least it's in sight.  This afternoon we sailed through the busy passage of water separating Africa and Europe that leads into the Mediterranean.  I knew it would happen sometime in the afternoon but had a precious (and very difficult to get) time slot at the gym around the expected arrival time.  So I proceeded to work out with ears open and the the camera ready to go.  Sure enough the announcement came and I was able to run off to check out the sights.  It was pretty overcast and hideously windy so the visibility wasn't great but you could see the two continents as we passed through the 8 mile wide straight.  Even with some of the fog, the famous Rock of Gibraltar was clear as we sailed by.  We're currently in the Mediterranean a few miles off the Spanish coastline and slated to arrive in Barcelona tomorrow night.

We had some really good pre-port sessions tonight including a talk by a Spanish college student and some safety tips by a ex-LAPD detective who works for UVA and has been around the world a few times.  Both had some interesting and helpful information.  Tomorrow is actually the last day of class for almost two weeks.  There's obviously no class in port and the one travel day to Italy is a "study day."  It's going to be pretty tough to focus again after we leave Naples.

That's all for now, I have an exam in Abnormal Psych tomorrow so I should probably put in some study time.

Day 7: Extended Family

Today again proved to be another pretty typical day. The ocean in the morning was very smooth, it had a nice glassy touch to it. This evening has been another story. There's a storm behind us so the winds have picked up considerably and we're staring to rock & roll again (thankfully just rock for now). Tomorrow or tomorrow night we should be entering the Straight of Gibraltar so we'll be very close to land and doing a semi-circle around Spain until reaching Barcelona.

I signed up for an "extended family" program that pairs a few undergrads with life-long learners or faculty to create a social group you can occasionally meet with and get to know. We had our first dinner together tonight and I met my "parents," Jim and Lesley. They are from Irvine and he is a professor of comparative politics while she is the communications coordinator for the voyage (the one writing the voyage blog). They're really friendly, great people and a valuable resource as they've sailed before both as faculty/staff and as parents. There's also a few other students who are my "siblings" and I'm looking forward to meeting with them for a little debrief after each of the ports.

We got the list of confirmed side trips today and since it's kind of long I'll post it in chunks starting with Barcelona:

On arrival Thursday, June 24 I'm doing a city tour/orientation of Barcelona. A few of the other Cal Lu people were going to try to find a cheap Flamenco that evening to go see. June 25 and 26 I'll be doing a trip to Madrid and Toledo. On Sunday the 27th we'll have the morning to check out Barcelona some more and I have two seminars for classes that evening, one on infectious disease and the other by Doctors Without Borders. It's shaping up to be a pretty good time. I'll post the other cities as we get closer but if you really must know I can email a tentative itinerary for each port.

That's all for now, we have another full day at sea tomorrow.

Day 6: Happy Fathers Day!

Besides celebrating fathers on and off the ship, today was a pretty typical day.  We had our first "map exam" in Global Studies.  Essentially it was a blank map of the Mediterranean and we had to fill in the major cities and seas.  It went pretty well, nothing too challenging.  Other tests are fast approaching.  While the ship appears to be moving pretty slow the classes go at warp speed. 

There have been numerous dolphin and whale sightings the past few days as we are now passing through some of the warmer more shallow waters found along the mid-oceanic ridge of the Atlantic.  I actually had a brief whale sighting this afternoon and saw three or four puffs of white water/air in the distance indicating more whales.  It was pretty quick for pictures but cool nonetheless.  I also came to the realization today that potatoes are served at every single meal here.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner...there's always some variation of roasted potatoes.  The food is good but I'm starting to get a bit tired of our starchy friends.

Since there wasn't anything else really exciting today I'll leave you with some of the demographics of our voyage that we got a few days ago.

Undergraduate Students—708
Undergraduate Female Students—531 (75%)
Graduate Students—28
Graduate Female Students—92%

Day 5: Bridge Tour

On the first day we were told that dates and days of the week don't really matter since we'll completely forget them by the third or fourth day at sea.  While I didn't think this would be the case at the time, it's true.  Even though it's Saturday (I had to look it up), we had class because every day at sea is a class day.  For that reason, days at sea are numbered C1, C2, C3, etc.  It's a little weird having class on weekends but since there's no real week-like structure I guess it really doesn't matter that much.  All the classes went well today, I'm still enjoying the unique yet really informative professors.

A few of us sighed up for a tour of the bridge this afternoon, it was quite cool.  The 2nd Officer showed us around and pointed out what all the equipment does.  All of the navigation stuff (GPS and paper) is really interesting.  I got a picture in the captain's seat, it was rather entertaining.  We're told that the most important item on the bridge was not the compass, radar, radios, etc but the pot of coffee brewing toward the back.  Nice to know the folks at the controls require caffeine to keep us on course.

The Academic Dean for the voyage is a circus historian/scholar and brought one of his friends, a world renown professional clown, on the voyage to preform.  He did a show tonight with a Q&A afterward.  It was a good show (his specialty is shooting water from his mouth) and I never knew you could actually make a successful living as a clown, but apparently it's possible.  That's all for now, tonight is one of the few without a time change so I think I'll take advantage of all the sleep I can get.

Day 4: At Sea

Today was what can likely be described as an "average" day on the ship.  It started early with Infectious Disease (still a bit on the basic side), continued with Global Studies (is the Mediterranean considered a unified body or a collection of numerous cultures?), and the academic part of my day was finished by noon with Abnormal Psych.  Classes move very fast since there are only about 20 meetings with some field components.  Getting up early is tough (especially with the time changing almost every night) but it's nice to be done early.  Signing up for a spot at the gym takes quite a a process since there's so little room and high demand.  I had a treadmill this afternoon for a half hour and it proved to be quite the balance exercise.  Many of you know my balance follies just standing on land, let alone the difficulties of a treadmill.  Today I got to experience running in place in a small room filled with mirrors while rocking back and forth.  When I wasn't flailing for the arm rail it was actually quite fun.

I had the opportunity to have breakfast today with one of the life-long learners who sailed on a previous voyage as a Physician Assistant.  He was a lot of fun to talk to and had some great stories from his time on board with the medical team during the infamous Spring 05 voyage.  If you're curious, google "semester at sea storm stories."  Or don't until I get back, it's understandable.  There was a really great seminar this evening on the food of Spain including the proper eating schedule, what to definitely get and what to avoid.  It looks like there should be some pretty great meals to look forward to. 

It's odd how we've only been here for 4 days, it seems like so much longer.  The Spanish food talk tonight really got me excited for the upcoming ports.  We also had to turn in our field program requests for the later ports today so hopefully I got some good trips.  They'll be confirmed in a few days.  The bookstore opened yesterday but I didn't bother going in because the line was out the door but stopped by today and rummaged through what was left.  I came up with a pretty neat shirt with the flags of all the countries we're visiting across the front.  Any SAS apparel requests?  That's all for now, I hope all is well on land.

Day 3: The Start of Classes

I awoke this morning to the sounds of unsecured items tumbling across the room and the sensation of slipping down my bed.  The timing was actually pretty good since I had to get up anyway.  We hit some moderately rough waters but it has since been a bit smoother.

I started off the day with my Infectious Disease class.  It is pretty slow right now because we're going through some basic intro bio review but I'm sure it'll pick up when we get into the content.  I like the professor a lot; he's an older Scottish guy who always has a Nike sweat band around his head and does nightly star gazing sessions.  The global studies class will be interesting but likely a bit on the boring side.  The largest room on the ship holds about 400 people leaving the other 350 to be in designated satellite locations (classrooms, lounges, etc) where the lecture is broadcast.  Most of the orientation stuff was also done this way so I'm getting used to the different setup.  I'm also really looking forward to Abnormal Psych.  It's a very good professor and a lot of the course is going to cover comparative mental healthcare policy which will be really great because we'll get to see it in action among the different ports.  As part of the "normal vs. abnormal" lecture today a professional clown who happens to be an inter-port lecturer on the ship (your guess is as good as mine) stopped by to do a little demo.

The past few days it has been stressed that the main theme of Semester at Sea is flexibility.  Apparently a lot of things come up (international conflicts causing a change in port, etc) and it plays quite a bit into the classroom.  It's a very unique situation in class as the students run in and out to be sick and the teacher occasionally grasps on to the podium for balance as we hit a decent wave. 

All is going well, this is a great experience so far.  I went to a session on Spain tonight and followed it up with a trip to the observation deck for the Astronomy class lab (aka star gazing session) which is open to anyone.  Only 6 more days of seeing nothing but water until we get to Spain!

Day 2: Orientation

We've been at sea for over 30 hours now and it's quite fun watching people struggle to earn their "sea legs." I think my favorite moment was walking down one of the narrow hallways in a line of people and watching the line unintentionally curve and snake with the roll of the ship. Today was all orientation. Like any good orientation, it was long and hideously boring. I learned not to set the room on fire, keep fingers out of a doorway to avoid amputation, and how it's not a good idea hop over the deck railing. Apparently all these intelligent moves have been done on past voyages. I also got to listen to the infamous alcohol horror stories directed at the 21% of my peers that can be medically classified as alcoholics. A fun day indeed.

Not having the ability to use a cell phone has revealed how dependent we are on these little bits of technology. I didn't think I would have that big of a problem (and really don't) but have never before thought twice about planning something like a dinner time and place with others well in advance...it's always been done via text. Another good experience to add to the list.

There was an "involvement symposium" tonight and I signed up for a few interesting programs. In addition to the medicine interest group there were some neat looking faculty-student social opportunities and an "extended family" program that pairs students up with the life-long learners. I'll let you know how those go. It doesn't look like there's too much music going on here but I ask around occasionally. Maybe something will come up. Classes start tomorrow so I better be off to bed as we lose yet another hour to a time change tonight.

Day 1: Embarkation & Departure

The day began with Canadian Starbucks and ended with an crepes over choppy Atlantic waters. We're lucky we got a very early start. The walk from the hotel to the port wasn't very long but transporting three pieces of heavy luggage proved rather taxing. We arrived to the port and entered the seemingly endless check-in line. I surrendered my passport, got my SAS ID, had my luggage throughly searched, and was frisked before finally getting to board. As I said, we were lucky to start early and got on board by 10:00am. To give you an idea of how long this all took, the last people finally got on a few minutes before 4:00pm. The cabin is cozy but nice and my roommate is a pretty cool international student from Dubai. I think we'll get along well (except he's a Celtics fan...).

Following a lifeboat drill (which was handled by most with surprising maturity) we departed around 5:00pm. After the initial excitement of getting out to sea died down there was dinner followed by orientation meetings. Since I know the maternal side of my family will be wondering, the food is pretty good so far. There are four meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night) and all are buffet style. Each day of the week has a food theme so I'm guessing we'll see some repeats in the future. The orientation meetings included a lot of introductions of administration, faculty, and various staff members. Besides the intros, they stressed two distinctions: (1) We're on a ship, a boat and (2) this is not a cruise but a voyage. We start early tomorrow with more orientation info before the start of classes on Thursday.

With 738 students on board, there are all types here. It's going to definitely be an interesting and good experience learning to live in such close quarters on this unique "shipboard community." I't's neat meeting a lot of new people and funny how the other CLU students and I tend to relate much better with people from smaller universities. I'm currently in my cabin experiencing the gentle rolls of the somewhat choppy Atlantic. As expected, the seas are getting a little worse as the evening progresses and we get further out. Some people are already having problems but I'm doing fine so far. That's all for now...I'm ready to call it a night.

Day 0: Halifax

There's really not much to do in Canada. Other than that, I really like it here. The 15% sales tax is a bit of a downer but it's very pretty and comfortable in the "pre-Summer" days. Apparently this north there are only about 2 months of recognized Summer. It's interesting to see/hear everything in English and French. In general the people live up to their Canadian stereotypes and are pretty friendly.

I got in late last night after a long day of flying and met with friends Daniel and Lacey from Cal Lu who are also going on SAS. There were quite a few fellow SASers on my flight here from Detroit and in the airport. The hotel we're in was recommended so the place is pretty much swarming with SAS people by now. I got lucky with all my luggage coming in appropriately because I've heard of quite a few problems already.

Today was spent exploring Halifax. The most "famous" site here is the Citadel. Halifax was a heavily defended British fort in the late 1800s. We took a tour and it was pretty interesting to hear how the geography was integrated into the defenses of the city. From there we walked over to the Museum of Natural History but a few people leaving mentioned it wasn't worth the money so we decided to head over to the Public Gardens. They were nicely done and had an interesting Titanic memorial. For some reason there are quite a few cemeteries around. A walk down to the port offered a quick gander at the ship which pulled in this morning. Our Halifax adventure concluded with a quite delicious plate of Nova Scotia Haddock before the rain began. Hopefully it'll clear up for tomorrow's departure.

Tomorrow I'll board at 8:20am and have the rest of the day to check out the ship, meet my fellow travelers and try to think of what I might need to run and buy before the trek across the Atlantic. That's all for now, I need to review some embarkation info for tomorrow.

Itinerary

I officially depart at 7:00am tomorrow morning from LAX and should arrive at the hotel in Halifax around 11:00pm. I’m anticipating a rather long and tedious travel day complete with thunderstorms during my layover in Detroit. Hopefully we won’t run into any delays.

As you can see on the itinerary below, we’re departing Halifax on Tuesday. At that point an interactive voyage map should be available on the Semester at Sea website complete with a ship position report icon and port info. Another great resource is the official voyage blog which can also be found on the website.

The itinerary:

Destination	Arrive Depart	Day	Date	Time
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada	Depart	Tuesday	June 15	1700
Barcelona, Spain	Arrive Depart	Thursday Sunday	June 24 June 27	0800 2000
Civitavecchia / Naples, Italy	Arrive Depart	Tuesday Monday	June 29 July 05	0800 2000
Dubrovnik, Croatia	Arrive Depart	Thursday Sunday	July 08 July 11	0800 2000
Piraeus (Athens), Greece	Arrive Depart	Wednesday Sunday	July 14 July 18	0800 2000
Istanbul, Turkey	Arrive Depart	Tuesday Saturday	July 20 July 24	0800 2000
Alexandria , Egypt	Arrive Depart	Tuesday Saturday	July 27 July 31	0800 2000
Casablanca, Morocco	Arrive Depart	Saturday Tuesday	August 07 August 10	0800 2000
Norfolk, VA USA	Arrive	Saturday	August 21	0800

Thanks to everybody for their kind words encouraging a fun and safe time. It’s going to be pretty awesome, I can’t wait. I’ll try to keep this updated as much as possible. As for now, I’m off to bed as there’s quite a big day tomorrow.

Summer (Part 2)

Four days. Bright and early Sunday morning I'll depart LAX for Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ship will take off on Tuesday and the journey begins. I'm at the "pile of stuff versus suitcase" packing stage and the next challenge is getting the pile into the luggage. My sisters and the boys all came over on Sunday for a "bon voyage" dinner the other night. It was cool to see everybody before I head off and enjoy the amazing chicken.

I've often described my time since finishing the semester as a "few weeks off" but it's been pretty busy. My EMT license is set to expire this summer so I've been working through the recertification process. I've always wanted to take a PreHosptial Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) class and finally got the opportunity. It was quite an interesting class and definitely a good thing to have done. The curriculum is heavily based on research which presents some really interesting contradictions to the "accepted" scope of practice in many EMS systems. The highlight was my first successful mannequin intubation. I do my skills refresher tomorrow and then deal with the paperwork nightmare.

Casey, Julian, Jamie and I had the chance to visit Tani a few weeks ago for our second annual NorCal Adventure. We had quite a bit of fun eating (I was once again exposed to numerous exotic Asian foods) and visiting the surrounding area. A few other folks joined us last Thursday for the first annual LA Adventure. We took the Metrolink downtown and did a pretty intense walk hitting Union Station, the cathedral, LA Music Center (with a tour of all 4 halls), Angel's Flight, Central Market, LA Times Building, City Hall, Chinatown, and Philippe's.

I don't watch much TV during the semester so this could be really old but I recently saw a commercial by the Corn Refiners Association declaring a "sweet surprise" that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is all natural and just fine for you. They way they make HFCS out to be a wonderfully natural treat is just plain disturbing. Too bad there is significant clinical research linking HFCS consumption to obesity, Type II diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. But don't worry, it's all natural so that makes okay. For good reason, you can find quite a few parodies of the commercial: Parody 1, Parody 2, Parody 3.

A few weeks ago I came across the video of a UK public service commercial encouraging seat-belt use. It is not only an incredibly beautiful commercial but one of the most amazing and artful short videos I've ever seen. Check it out, I guarantee you'll get the chills.

That's all for now, I have to start thinking about packing. Stay tuned for the travel journal, coming soon.

Summer (Part 1)

Earlier this month marked the official halfway point in my undergraduate career. It truly feels like a few weeks ago I was stressed about starting at Cal Lu. Now I see friends like Josh and Sheena graduating (I remember calling their house for band before their freshman year of high school!) and moving on to USC and UCLA respectively (hopefully a little rivalry won't put too much of a strain on their friendship). Overall I have two years down and about 10 to go before I start actually making money.

The end of the year at CLU was stressful and bittersweet as usual. Finals went well and Res Hall closeouts were very interesting (took home quite a few fun souvenirs residents left behind). I bid farewell to many great seniors and bon voyage to a lot of friends who are studying abroad. Overall it was a pretty good year and now it's time to prep for next year as I again tackle music and RA while adding Organic Chem and the MCAT. Fun times ahead.

Speaking of study abroad, I depart for Semester at Sea on June 13. I'm starting to get really excited and the realities of packing, money, communication, etc are starting to set in. I fly to Canada, meet the ship and depart for a trans-Atlantic cross. We'll be stopping in Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco before crossing back over to Virginia. This blog will soon transform into a travel journal and I'm making it my goal to update as much as possible so stay tuned.

The whole oil spill fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico is really a shame. In my Evolutionary Bio class we talked quite a bit about how humans effect natural life and processes in such detrimental ways without even realizing it. Seeing such a blatant example really brings attention to a lot of these human effects, big and small. I don't think there's really a clear-cut solution to any of these problems; we'll just have to see what happens. On a lighter note, at least BP has decided to take action by putting a new logo out.

Having a friend work for Apple makes poking fun at the company even more fun. I came across a pretty sad/funny but true graphic that pretty much serves as the basis for Apple's sales model.

I know a lot of people were excited for the Lost season finale last week. The show made quite a stir and, while I never actually saw any episodes, I did watch a short youtube synopsis. Quite a few people have said that the three minute video explains the plot better than the six seasons. I think it's just the sticky note usage that helps.

That's all for now...stay tuned for part 2 after the QHHS alumni band concert this afternoon.

Spring Break

A happy and blessed Easter to all.

One of my goals for my week off was to update this blog, hopefully multiple times. Well, here we are on my last evening off. At least I'll get one post in.

It's been nice having a break from the chaos that has defined my schedule this semester. The classes are tough but keeping me busy. At the beginning of the semester I was hesitant about how well I'd do in my Evolutionary Bio class but it has turned out to be really interesting. I like learning about the subject matter a lot, but being tested on a lot of memorization isn't quite as fun. We recently finished up the hallmark project of my Postmodernism class: a surrealist film. While it was quite fun to make I think the most entertaining part was devising the plot and script. If I get a chance, I'll post it here but it's on Facebook and I was tagged so check it out. Just be advised, it is surrealist so it's supposed to be somewhat disturbing and make no sense.

Back on the 14th I had a chance to solo with the University Symphony playing the Weber Concertino. It was a lot of fun to prepare but I'm a bit relieved now that it's done. Memorizing and soloing a piece like that took an incredible amount of time and focus. You really have to be "in the zone" during the performance for it to work. It was awesome just to have the opportunity. I also have a video that I'll try to get up soon.

The hospital is going well. I'm currently on my last rotation, again in ER. Being in the OR was a really cool experience (saw a total knee replacement on my last day) but I just like the feeling that I'm actually doing something more than observation. Even though it's a small role, I actually feel like a part of the patient care team in ER. I'll miss it after May but hopefully it will be on to bigger and better things.

Life otherwise is great. We did the big birthday rush in Feb and March including a half marathon with my dad and sisters. In late March my sisters and grandma planned a surprise birthday party for my parents. It was a big success and great to see family/friends and play with the quartet. I reapplied for and RA position next year and will be in the same complex. We'll have a pretty new staff with only two returners including myself, but I'm looking forward to it.

Semester at Sea is approaching. I'm currently in the paperwork process and pretty stoked...it's going to be pretty amazing.

The infamous iPad was released this weekend. Despite huge initial sales I'm predicting a bit of a disappointment later on. It's and interesting idea but I don't see it catching on for the long term simply from a practicality standpoint. Just a thought, time will tell.

The new Photoshop is looking pretty intense. Check it out.

That's it for now, have a Happy Easter.

Mozart Quintet K581 Mvmt 1

Pasadena Half Marathon

In celebration of my dad's recent birthday, my sisters and I ran the Pasadena Half with him last Sunday. We had a really good time over the weekend, and a great run. The weather was perfect and we finished together in 2:07:10. It was a really cool way to celebrate, some of the pics are below (I look way too excited in the last one...). Happy Birthday Po!

The Pirates of South

I've been back at CLU for a few days now. The Res Life staff has been somewhat frantically trying to put everything together for the start of the Spring Semester. The theme for our complex was "Disneyland" (so original) and our hall, South, happened to take on a Pirates of the Caribbean persona hence the "Pirates of South" door tags. Classes start up in a few days.
The classes:

• Biology: Ecology & Evolution
• General Chemistry II with Lab
• Postmodernism: The Politics & Philosophy of Art (my Sci Fi film class got dropped)
  
• Music Theory II
• Musicianship Skills II
• Keyboard Harmony II
• Band/Orchestra/Applied Lessons

Alas...20 units again.

Our trip to Colorado was great. It was nice seeing that Grandma is doing so well. We didn't get much fresh snow while we were there but what was on the mountain was pretty good. I took a half day ski lesson the first afternoon just to get a few pointers to work on for the rest of the trip and it really helped out. Ski trip in the future anyone?

The only positive aspect of a devastating tragedy like the recent Haiti earthquake is how it brings humanity together. When describing the aid given it's been said numerous times in the media how people pitching in to help as they can really demonstrates a sense of common humanity. However, it truly disturbs me when certain prominent individuals (i.e. Limbaugh, Robertson, Glover, etc) abuse their public forum and make some type of politically charged commentary or accusation with regard to the catastrophe. Simply pathetic.

Recent studies have shown that Choline, a micronutrient found abundantly in a good old fashioned bacon and eggs breakfast, can help boost the intelligence of an unborn child when eaten during pregnancy. There you go...bacon and eggs will make your kid smarter.

Pigeon: Impossible. A rookie secret agent is faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase. A problem I run into occasionally.

That's all for now...I need to spend some quality time admiring the intense rainfall.

A New Decade

Happy 2010!

A little poll: Will the year 2010 will be pronounced "twenty-ten" or "two-thousand ten?"

It's somewhat bothersome how quickly winter break seems to be moving along. It's nice having the time off and I'm getting used to the wake-up, go for a run, do a little reading, practice some clarinet, mess with the Wii, go to bed routine. I've been up in Thousand Oaks two days each week for winter RA duty during the nights and the hospital during the days. Despite the lack of sleep inherent in accepting a schedule like that, it's been kinda fun. I've only been in the OR for a month and have already seen some amazing cases. There's been lots of orthopedics but a fair amount of general and emergency surgery procedures also. Some of the doctors are really great at explaining things and letting me get up close to see. It's definitely one of cooler experiences I've had.

I met Casey, Julian, and Sheena in Pasadena last week at one of the annual Rose Parade Bandfest shows. PCC with it's 9 QH members looked and sounded great as usual. Even though it was pouring rain it was good getting out there and hearing the unique sounds of beefy marching bands. The parade looked great today also...I couldn't imagine the weather would be more perfect. My parents and I are off to Colorado the first part of January. I can't wait to get up to the cabin and fit in a few days of skiing. The Fitch family was up there this week and apparently the powder is amazing.

I've never been a huge fan of New Year Resolutions. Not only do they fail the vast majority of the time but the concept doesn't make a lot of sense. If you really have a burning desire to change an attitude, habit, vice, etc then why wait for a new year? To make a "permanent" lifestyle change it would seem to be much more effective if a single concept or behavior was implemented voluntarily at the time of motivation rather than making a list in late December that you'll talk about for a week and forget next month. Just a thought, if yours work out then more power to you. This little rant was brought to you by Calvin and Hobbes (dripping with Aristotle).

The news of security issues leading to the Flight 253 Christmas Day episode has been all over but there's also been a twist to the story circulating online with a growing presence in the past few days. Passenger Kurt Haskell has come forward essentially accusing multiple US Government agencies of altering events and "lying" to the American people. I'll let you read the details yourself. I heard an hour long radio interview with him on the way back from TO the other day. There's a lot of people out there ready to believe but I have a really tough time buying it. Mr. Haskell seems to certainly be enjoying the press and interviews. I don't quite understand why none of the other passengers have come forward corroborating his unique eyewitness accounts. Certainly someone else must have seen something suspicious if there was anything to see. And even if the "sharp dressed man" or "man in orange" theories are true, for the sake of national security I would hope that a thorough investigation is taking place. This generally means that a video tape isn't going isn't going public anytime soon. I can gladly accept lack of information if it means there's less of a chance others can use it against us.

2009 in review, complements of JibJab.

That's all for now, I've got a rough evening of Wii Fitness ahead.

Semester 3: A Review

It's hard to believe that another semester has already flown by. A 90 minute lecture usually feels like three days but I can't get over how quickly entire months can rush into the past. The previous semester was a busy one (as I'm sure can be inferred by my lack of presence here), but was definitely filled with many good times.

The rather daunting task of completing 20 units did not disappoint. Despite the many late night study sessions, it was really neat to settle in on subjects I really enjoy. There was a pretty even split of science (Bio & Chem) and music classes. You know you're in for fun times when the class average on the first test in Genes and Development is a 62%. Luckily a little hard work is all it takes and all turned out well. I recently bought an MCAT study book and have begun to try and devote an hour a week to it. Key word is "try."

Things in the music world are also going pretty well. Our new Honors Quartet is sounding quite nice and is available for your high profile event...just let me know. For a solo, I've been working on the Weber Concertino for a while. I have it down pretty good but the challenge is getting it all in my head. In addition to trying a few local young artist competitions, I'll be soloing with the University Symphony on March 14. Check it out if you're around. I began teaching clarinet regularly to a middle school student early in the semester which was a really goo experience for both of us. There's a whole new level patience and way of explaining things to master. I've come to agree with other teachers I've had that the single best piece of advice when teaching music is "lets try it again..." Unfortunately I don't think I'll have the time to continue next semester but I'm glad I had the experience.

A big change to my routine this year came with the job as an RA. In general, there's a lot of perks and good times countered by a good deal of challenges. I've met a lot of great people and am really enjoy my coworkers and residents. The responsibilities have been beneficial in getting me out there more and much falls into the category of "it was a good experience." It's a very interesting and unique leadership position to be in and overall I'm pretty happy with the way things have gone. The random events and duty nights are getting easier which is probably a good thing if I continue on the path to medicine. I've definitely "gotten more involved on campus" (my reason for applying during the interview) but the single room and money don't hurt either.

I'm still interning at the hospital on a pretty regular basis. I started working ER in September trying to hit the crazy Friday or Saturday nights. I saw many difficult and sad things as well as many amazing procedures that are routine in modern medicine. I find myself fulfilling the weird paranoid uncle role as the boys got bikes for Christmas telling them each to always wear a helmet. As in any ER, there was quite a bit of excitement and always something to do. I have plenty of stories, let me know sometime. I just recently started in OR and have already seem some amazingly cool procedures. More on that later.

I feel like I've exceeded the word count limit here but if you're still reading I'll throw out a few of the famous links:

• The bad economy isn't effecting just us humans.
• One of the better Christmas decorations I've seen in a while.
• 20 things that happen in 1 minute (another one of those factoid graphics that throw out miraculous facts, this one actually cites sources).

Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas. That's all for now, I need to work on my golf swing.

Merry Christmas

O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.

Pretty Snazzy Marketing...

Click image for higher resolution.