David on TV!

Check this out, the third comment on Amy Klobuchar's new add is none other than my first year roommate and friend David Fine! "She stands up, she's strong" Go David!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! This is a first ever Co-Post. Megan decided to surprise me and show up for Halloween night. We have had three trick-or-treaters (and one trick-or-canned-good-er collecting for the food shelf). No pumpkin this year, but Megan and I are going to carve a gourd that we got from Rick's prairie. It smells like a pumpkin! I also hung out my headlamp and put it on "strobe." Spoooookkyyyy

My silly suburban neighborhood has no sidewalks and I think that is putting a damper on things. It is a very car oriented place and cars make lousy trick-or-treaters. *sigh* I wonder if we will get trick-or-treaters at the apartments next year. It doesn't seem like a kid friendly kind of place. Or rather, I don't think there will be lots of people with kids. But what do I know?

Winnie is going back home to Megan's tonight. She is declaring her free of kennel cough and she can go back to vet school again. It has been great having her! Here one last picture Megan found of someone's Halloween costume for their corgi.

Corgi guards the house
Scary monsters at the door
KILL THE SQUEAKY BONE!

-Chris & Megan

Monday

Today was a Monday.... It started with a biochem test at 8 AM, which is never the best way to start a week. I think I did okay, although I could be wrong. I felt like I had to do more guessing on this test than I did on the last one. *fingers crossed* The middle of the day was okay- lunch with some friends at a little restaurant called Mim's, and then our first Nutrition lecture. That was the last class of the day- then I went down to the anatomy lab to start studying for the exam next Monday. Anatomy lab never smells great, but today for whatever reason there were a whole bunch of very stinky horse heads in there. Ewwww.

I had a stomach ache yesterday and this morning... I thought I was just anxious about the test, but it's kinda sticking with me. I hope it goes away. I hate being hungry, but not wanting to eat at the same time.

Now I have to work on a radiology quiz, and study for the Clinical Skills exam that's on Friday (geez!)... I wish I could curl up in a spot of sun and take a nap...

Cash

Slow bloging day. Winnie is at home snoozing (I hope) and I am at school. I added Google ads down the side bar of the page here in hopes that when the traffic to our blog becomes crushing, it will generate enough revenue for Megan and I to live comfortably on. Its a long term goal but its worth a shot. So far it has earned $.27. Oh yeah!

In other news winnie was playing in our back yard off leash and saw a big fluffy cat. The cat ran up a tree and winnie got a time out after I managed to catch her. Bad dog.

Hahaha

Quote from my biochem book:

"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." ~E.B. White

Vet school bonfire

Chris and I went over to Nancy's (a classmate's) house last night for a bonfire. What fun! It was a great night for it- chilly enough for the fire to feel really nice. She lives about 40 minutes south of Northfield, so it was less of a drive for us than for some of my other classmates. We grilled hot dogs, sausages, and Mahi Mahi (someone's boyfriend brought Mahi Mahi that he caught in Mexico a couple of days ago...!), and had beer and pop and S'mores. We got to meet Nancy's pigs, and tried to meet her ducks, but it was too dark. Winnie went crazy playing with one of Nancy's dogs. She's been away from the dog park for so long because of her cough, but she's finally feeling better, so we let her play. I can't believe how long she kept it up! Once it got really dark, she turned on "guard dog mode" and patrolled the perimeter of her human herd. Buffbuffbuff at anything she thought was suspicious, especially Nancy's husband (who is a vet- no wonder she was suspicious!). At the end of the night we got to meet Nancy's six-week-old miniature Schnauzer puppies... awwwww, I love puppies :-)

Today, it's back to studying. Lousy biochem... of course, ask me any other time than just before a test and I will tell you that I love biochem ;-) Back to my flashcards....

The first time we met winnie

Winnie is staying with me again in a take 2 of last week. Since Megans car broke last week she had to go early. She still has 1 week of her kennel cough quarantine and we don't want her alone alone from 8-5. So in celebration I am posting the video I took the first time Megan and I drove out to Water Town MN to meet her. For those who know Winnie now, she is kinda cautious towards people for the first few minutes she meets them. She will hang around Megan or I's feet until until she knows everything is OK. So its amazing to see this video of her greeting total strangers so openly! I guess she just wanted to be with us from day one :)

Thermostat

So the Volvo never really warmed up well. Reading around I learned that this could mean your thermostat had failed. I replaced mine today - it had broken in half! I am interested to see how my MPG goes up after this. My milage has dropped about 20% as the weather has gotten colder, this should fix that.

Car update

Well the new $100 part I installed busted but the parts shop was kind enough to replace it for free. I think it was my fault but I am not sure. I realized something was wrong when I "seafoamed" the throttle and intake to remove carbon, the white exhaust that it produces started coming out inside the engine! Not good. I pulled it off and found a huge crack. I put on the old one for now, get the new-new one in monday.

Other than that, there is not much else I can do for the car. Its at the level now where it was at the way beginning of this mess last June. Sluggish but running. I guess I will just give it some time, see if any more symptoms occur, and hope for the best!

Fall behind

Don't forget to set your clocks back tonight!

I should be studying biochem, but instead I am looking at things like this:

PBF comics

More twisted comics here.

Blogger

I have been mucking around with the code behind our Blogger template and made some changes. The header is now blue and the page is a bit wider. I will keep working on it. Eventually it should look less and less like a "blogger" blog.

David G. was down and we hooked up with Andrew N. for some good times at the tavern. Reminiscing about China/Japan and such. We are excited to see "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (Yes that is the official movie home page). The movie is going to be a smash hit. Prepare your self for every one doing their own Borat imitations.

Megan will be here this weekend, that makes me happy. We are going to a party on saturday in Owatana that another vet student is having at her farm. That and take another stab at her car. We are going to remove the throttle today! I had thought it was all clean, but a closer (and more educated) look reviled a carbon mess. Perhaps its plugging up some sensor or tube. My car will also get a new thermostat. Finally something simple and easy that I know how to do!

Cow morning

Cows are all healthy
Small lymph nodes, no rumen pings
Healthy sneeze reflex

Winnie goes to the doctor

Seems like everything around me wants to break lately. The car went to the car doctor yesterday, and Winnie Bear went to the vet today. She needed her booster shot for her Lymes vaccine, but I also wanted the vet to check out her coughing. It hasn't gotten any worse over two weeks, but it hasn't gotten any better either. It was making me a little nervous because coughing can be a sign of heart disease or lung disease or any number of things. The vet said her lungs and heart sound just fine, so she probably just has a little doggy virus that needs to run its course. I was really proud of Win- last time we went to the vet (about four weeks ago), she was really skittish and didn't want to have anything to do with her vet or any of the techs. Today, she was still nervous, but she greeted everyone she met, and didn't even flinch for her shot (she was a big baby last time, and had to get muzzled for trying to bite the vet). She even took treats from two different people, which she never does! I have been giving her a couple flower essences (Rescue Remedy and Borage) to try to take the edge off of her anxiety in new places and when she's alone. Either they are helping, or she's just learning to be a more confident dog. Whatever works!

In anatomy lab today, we dissected the eye... kinda creepy, but really really cool. So intricate. I can see why people believe in creationism based on how complex the eye is- how could nature come up with that design?? But then I remember Prof. Swift and everything he taught me about invertebrates... nature just took it one little step at a time (starting with planarians, and their cute little light-receptive eye spots... awwww)


I can't believe we only have one more lab day with the dogs and cats. Then it's on to horses, cows, and perhaps a pig, goat, or sheep, depending on what they have for cadavers. I've heard from upperclassmen that the large animal dissection is a ton of fun. We'll see...

Blogger note

Just a quick note about Blogger for any one who does not know. All the old posts that have fallen off the main page are archived on the right hand side. You can also view the whole month on one page. That is all.

I need a MAP

Well the guys at the shop replaced the MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor and the car runs! And they charged a fair price for it too. But no cheering yet, it runs poorly. Here is an audio clip of the thing running. So yeah, not happy. I placed another call for help to the saturn community, we will see what response I get. I also might take it back to the place and say that there are still big problems. But their job was to just get it running again so we will see what I get.

Travel

Well, my theory was shot. Replaced the expensive part and that changed about nothing. Luckily Dad was able to come down and get me because today was Grandma's 82nd birthday!

While he was down, we decided to push the saturn into the repair shop. I got in the lifeless saturn and put it in neutral while dad took the truck and got on the back bumper. He gently pushed the car down the road and we made it to "Valley Autohaus." (rough map, it goes one turn too far) A cop car drove by just as we were about to get to the intersection! But we made it through the busy intersection where it was all down hill from there. Saved $50 though. Driving a dead car is strange. No power anything so its very unweildy. So here is to hoping to that the car is not that broken. I will post what happens when I learn it.

But I made it to the party and it was great. Winnie came and was a very good girl. She was a little shy at first, but ended up not wanting to see every one go. My Grandma got a "new" chair for her birthday. It is actually her grandmothers rocking chair! My dad found it in pieces in the pole barn and resorted it to full health. The arms are amazing, you can see all the hands that have warn the wood smooth. It was quite a party. Joan, Scott, Lesslie & Wayne and kids, John & Evone, Natasha stopped by and Megan was able to come too.

Department meeting tomorrow morning so I am heading back to Northfield tonight. Megan is driving me down after her study group is done. Gata get ready for that test on monday you know!

Bad day

Apparently, ever since I ran my car into a telephone pole last January, it's decided to hate me. I pamper it with new brakes, new tires, new transmission fluid... then new spark plugs, new ECTS... then a new alternator... then ANOTHER new ECTS... and a coolent flush (or three).... then new spark plug wires... plus my radio and CD player just got stolen a couple of weeks ago.... any more new things and I'll have built a new car. Sure hope this new valve does the trick.

On top of the car, I took my new laptop to the Apple Store to ask them about a little spot that's appeared in the center of the screen, and they told me that it looks like "bruised LCD", which isn't covered under warrenty because it's a result of some dumb thing I must've done. :-/

I was lamenting the fact that everything costs money, AND that stores have decided that Christmas season starts pre-Halloween now, so I decided to go visit Hercules.

Herc is the vet school's blood donor horse. He's a gigantic Belgian (his shoulders are as tall as I am), and a big teddy bear. He eats 50 pounds of hay a day! Anyway, he is one of two horses that live in the large animal hospital, and he's rumored to have magic powers and the ability to speak. We had a good chat, and he tried to eat my jacket. Awwww.






Haven't heard him speak yet, but people say he only does it late at night...

Cars

So just a small complaint about cars. They break. All the time. At the moment, Megan and I swapped cars because her's has been plagued with problems all summer. New spark plugs, new wires, new temp sensor and new alternator, and three (!) coolant flushes. It runs great for about two weeks and then some seemingly unrelated part goes. I have so far been able to do everything my self, saving $100s by now and learning a lot.

That brings us to now and Megan's saturn sitting in my driveway afflicted with the inability to start. I asked the online saturn community and they blessed me with a quick answer (I wont bore you with the details ) and I agreed with them and went biking away for a $100 part. It will be here tomorrow morning. Lets hope that fixes it! If not, I think its time for the pros to help out. I am optimistic though.

My Volvo needs a new thermostat as well. This picture is of my second modification (the first being the ceiling) that improves the car rather than just fixing it. That silver bit is a new pipe sucking cold air into the engine, replacing a broken contraption that was designed to heat up the engine faster but really was just restricting air flow. Cold air has more O2 and thus burns better resulting in better performance and gas milage. But it is also colder, and reviled that fact that my cooling system thinks that it is overheating all the time (by way of the broken thermostat) and is cooling it down way to much. Not good for winter! Brrr

Jessilyn

Vet school

Aprenti

Tonight was "art career night" at Olaf and Pete and Jane Becker-Nelson showed up to talk about their life. I missed the talk, but after we all went out to the cow for a drink and some talking. It was really fun, Wendell Arneson was there along with more of the speakers and most of the aprenti. And Winnie got to come too! The cow lets dogs in as long as they behave and Winnie was on her best behavior. She was a little nervous so she stayed in my lap most of the time. But she greeted people as they showed up and was her cute self.

Talking was good. Pete and Jane (apprentices two years ago) said that they didn't make any work for months, it was harder than they expected, not what they expected, and a whole host of emotions that we all have been feeling. Why is work not just sprouting from our fingertips? How come my studio still looks like I just moved in? Being in this place and in this position is interesting and has its own challenges. I will have to write more about it as time goes on.

Weekend!

So, most people get their weekends on Saturday and Sunday, but mine has shifted to Monday night since I have tests every Monday morning. I'm really boring all weekend because I need to study, but once I ready to play post-test, everyone else has gone back to work! It's tragic.

AND, Chris has the Pooh Bear this week since she still can't come to school due to her kennel cough. So I don't even have her to play with. So I'm studying. Again. :-/

Here's a few pictures of the Win to make myself feel better....




My car had snow on it today.. are these pictures really just 2 months old?



Win is a good camp dishwasher :-)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Cletus! I colored in the cake my self, amazing huh? I hope you had a great day and a great party, I wish I could have been there.

Its a belated blog birthday, but I just got home this morning from the city. I helped Natasha with a wedding from 11:30-10:30 that was a bit bizarre. We were treated pretty bad. Dinner would have been better if we had just brought McDonalds and smokes and hung out in the alley.

More school

I brought my camera to school this morning to take pictures of the training session from the DNR on how to remove lymph nodes from deer. During the deer opener, a bunch of us will be manning check stations asking hunters if we can remove the lymph nodes from their deer to test them for bovine tuberculosis. Anyway, so I thought the training session would be cool, and it was, but it was also gross so I didn't take any pictures. 100 heads from roadkill deer... yummy. :-/

So I took these pictures instead! This is my awesome study carrel mate Dee...


... and my awesome study carrel!

Spamland#1

To ward off evil blog spam, I offer this video. The text is from a piece of spam the artist received.

And my week...

Far less bovine related, I spent the week struggling to craft a show for January, working at the VRC and teaching little girls how to play with knives.

I am just recovering from teaching a two day printmaking session to three 6th grade and two 3d grade girls where we did stamps, wood block, mono-prints, and a kind of sticker cut-out print. It was billed as a relief class, but after every girl cut at least one finger, I decided to move on... Chaos, V-Gouges, and small children do not mix. From talking to my art-ed friend Derek and my roommate Amy who works for HighPoint printmaking center in MPLS (you would think I would have talked to them before) they knew of some much better tools and materials to teach with, including a tool to pull towards you with both hands. Next time I guess! Art Org is still gaining its legs, so things are kind of learn as you go for now.

Tomorrow I am continuing to teach my adult Intaglio/Lithography class. That is going much smoother for now! Then shoot a wedding with Natasha on sunday. Should be a party!

I am also going to use this blog to share some youtube videos that are worth seeing. If I like em I will pass them on!

My week

Here's what happened this week at the CVM:



-Spent the week with these lovely ladies, learning how to do a bovine physical exam (you can see aaaaall the way down their throats!), how to herd them and restrain them, and how to tie three different kinds of knots (er, in vet school?). Yes, I did stick my arm up a cow's butt. It was awesome :)
-I diagnosed Winnie Bear with kennel cough (with a little help from her vet), so she had to stay home all this week, and next week too.
-Learned how to do a proper surgical scrub- I immediately dropped my nice sterile nail pick on the floor, and then failed the "always keep your hands higher than your elbows" portion. D'oh.
-Transected a canine penis. There's a lot of stuff in there. Who knew?
-Learned what makes feces brown and urine yellow (finally!).
-Heard from a vet for organic dairy farms- organic farming is cool, and is probably the last hope for the small family farm. Go organics!
-Spent a little time with Jessilyn, my HorseAngels horse. HorseAngels is a program where students groom and snuggle with the horses in the teaching barn. They put up with getting poked and probed and palpated by us, it's the least we can do to thank them. Jess is a sweety, but a little skittish. She'll get better with time.

Six weeks down.......

Obligatory first post

Yes, Megan and I have a blog. And a puppy! Named Winnie. She is so cute that we had to make a blog, just for her.