oodle doodle

JFK doodles

A few days ago I noticed a classmate doodling during pathology lecture. I was bored too so I looked on to see his doodling. His doodling was a series of rooflines and diamonds, however I didn't see any doodling going on during Reich's class! The other day in pathology we covered a paragraphs worth of "free radical" notes. So my analogy is as follows for my classes this semester:

pathology: person bored in library, wandering aimlessly.

neuroanatomy: worlds best car salesman has you in a trance and your about to buy a car!

immunology: trying to run a marathon, oh forgot on one leg.

virology: pick up a telephone book and memorize all the names and corresponding numbers.

physiology: trying to run a marathon with one leg, uphill while a dog is chasing you!

I'm gonna try and hit all these good and not underestimate any because I heard pathology snagged a few last semester. What probably happened is that folks focused so much on physio that they neglected poor ol' path.

During my breaks I get up in the library and browse around looking at books. It's not uncommen to come by my table and find many books that I shouldn't be reading (atleast not right now). So in path we spent fifteen minutes on a topic called "apoptosis", simply this is programmed cell death. So when a red blood cell has reached it's peak performance it tells other cells "hey kill me I've had enough". Well I say a book in the stacks titled "Apoptosis"! Go figure just when I thought I knew something I was knocked down. The more I study the more I realize I don't know jack shhhh...

So AVMA is finished with their initial site visit of the campus. I haven't heard yet from the top about how it went, so I imagine we'll be infored sometime soon.

On my way to school today I was bombing down a sugarcane road. A rut in the middle of the dirt road forced me to hug the edge, mowing down 5 foot tall grass with my arms. Out of nowhere a white blur hit my front wheel. I looked back and noticed a drunk looking cattle egret getting its bearings straight. It finally flew away, but I'm sure he's got some good story to tell the little ones back home.

Carribean looks glassy today. . . can you say Nautique?

be happy you don't get flats EVERY week!!

Back in the Groove

So far this semester is alot more palatable than last semester. Out of the five courses the only one I anticipate being painful to study for is virology. The one thing I've concluded is that I'm a physiologists at heart. That is because when I hear physio I'm mesmerized and find myself wanting to hear a few more minutes. Pathology on the other hand is painful, I mean looking at the clock only 10 minutes after the lecture has started says enough. Maybe it's all in the delivery, afterall some people are born story tellers.

Somehow I thought of a great idea, a life-long perhaps overzealous idea that has my gears turning fast. That is I wondered why my alma mater Loma Linda University doesn't have a veterinary program. So I thought well I'm going to figure this out and talk to some people. So during one of my breaks I ran into Dr. Kainer getting his coffee on. You have to understand Dr. Kainer is the oldest on staff (about 87 or so), nice guy. However, I'm afraid sometimes he forgets to take his meds because he sure can get moody:

Sergio: hey! Dr. Kainer how are you doing? Taking a coffee break? (happy)

Dr. Kainer: YES!! I DESERVE IT!! (serious)

Sergio (thinking): whoa! just me Sergio, not your boss.

he was fine after he got that off his chest. So he went on to tell me that the biggest challenge would be for me to find professors. I would of asked him as my first recruit but realistically he probably won't be around by the time I get this idea rolling. It makes sense too because I just read that UC Davis is seriously considering offering a public health program. However, there problem is recruiting professors of course. Currently only four schools in CA offer such program (berkeley, loma linda, ucla, and san diego). I can already see it "Loma Linda School of Veterinary Medicine", why not we have everything else except law and engineering school. Far fetched? maybe. Lots of work? yes. Willing to do it? definitely.

Being on the island we often forget about holidays as we are in a different world. Today I saw Dr. Hutchison with an american tie and recalled the date. It's a day of reflection on all the innocent lives lost on 9/11.

We Will Always Remember

One hundred and five stories up
Two hundred yards away in the crosshairs

A brother calls for help
An enemy stands unaware

Unaware worked a sister
Aware flew the enemy

Thinking of the task at hand
Destroying lives above and below

Afraid a mother stood with her children
Afraid the enemy ran

Looking on helplessly
Not knowing where to hide

Together we remember
Alone they shall die

Together we stand

Round 3

Back from the states. . . that was refreshing. We started with a trip to SoCal to visit my sis, Jaden and mom in Loma Linda. I also got to do the Tuesday night ride with the Redlands cycling group. It's amazing how the face of the group has changed. I remember riding in it about 6-7 years ago, I guess people come and go because I only recognized a handful of faces. I also got to do my two favorite rides with Jim Baden (Oak Glen, Angelus Oaks). The strange thing though was that I found myself able to easily pass Jim on the 50mph+ descents. So this made me wonder about my weight, because before I had to pedal furiously to keep up with the taller/heavier cyclists on downhills. Fastforward a week to my mother-in-laws digital scale which revealed a studious vet school weight gain of 7 pounds. . .no wonder!!

One proud "Mama Reyna"

We also got to visist with Uncle Dave and Auntie Carol in Bakersfield, my dad in Delano, and Dr. Ed LeTourneau in Madera. Once back up in NorCal we visited Marine World with the Palitang's.

We had to feed them on stilts! j/k

Weeeeeeeeeee

Nicole and Mika got to skid on Grammy's new floor!

Afterwards I visited with my ex-coworkers at Kindred Hospital, I miss them for sure. Sharie and I then spent a day in the Bay area. I somehow talked myself into racing a circuit race at UC Santa Cruz. Of course as I anticipated I was dropped at lap 2 of 15 and subsequently pulled out by the race official at lap 4, no regrets though, just fun. Afterwards Sharie and I spent the day in downtown Santa Cruz followed by a stay at the Old Monterey Inn.

Once back in the central valley I got to spend a day at Taylor Veterinary Clinic which is owned by Dr. Brooks. He was awesome to hang out with and I feel like I've found a home at his clinic. I was not only impressed by his facility but also by his staff and work ethic. He took the time to explain what was going on and even quizzed me a little on aging horses and a navicular series of radiographs.

Overall it was very refreshing to go home. I better get ready for lecture one this morning.

Round 3 classes: immunology, virology, physiology III, neuroanatomy, pathology I.

laters,

Sergio