What am I doing this summer

I am officially one month into the summer break now. Honestly, time flies when you are having fun, and I trully enjoy what has been happening since the beginning of the break.

I spent couple weeks shadowing the cardiology department here with the small animal clinic, and learned a great deal from the knowledgable (and most wonderful) clinicians and staff about heart. Not mentioning made great friends with the 4th year students during that rotation. Since I just finished first year, there's not a whole lot that that are clinically practical for me to use during this rotation, but I think the most beneficial thing about this rotation for me is that I finally understand what a "heart murmur" sounds like!!! I am very very VERY excited about that. They also offer weekly ECG rounds on Wednesday mornings for students to attend. My grand plan is if I continue going to this thing, may be one day, just ONE DAY...I will be able to read those squeekly lines...

Following that, I started to work at the small animal clinic front desk. I used to work here before I entered vet school. It is later on that I find out my boss didn't really think this job can get me into vet school(we joke about it now). But I filter emergency phone calls and taking payments. It is not that exciting, but I got a lot of free time, where else can you find a job where you get paid by doing your homework? Besides, it exposes me to the business side of the practice, and I get to deal with clients. I am up front when they have financial difficulties or complains or complements for our services, it is definitely very eye opening and a good practice to have (before I enter the real world).

This summer, I am also working for a professor at the large animal clinic. He IS SOOOOOOOO nice. Even though he knows that I have "ZERO" (or close to zero" horse handling experience), he still hired me for work for his horse lab. His philosphy is that being in the university teaching setting, we should never turn away students who wants to learn. So he tries his best to get me some horse handling experience and introduces me to as many other professors as possible during this summer, and also encourages me to work in the lab and be exposed to research side of the studies. I am already learning a great deal from him and his lab staff and I am loving it! Also since it is a student worker position, my schedule is so flexable that I can come in whenever is convinient for my schedule, so that gives me more time to go find other working opportunites~~

AS of today, I also arranged shadowing opportunites with the school ER room on Saturday's afternoons. Oh, and with another equine hospital (not the A&M one, this one is out of town) on Tuesday mornings. I mean just by standing there listening to them is a great opportunity for me to learn. My classmate also offers me the opportunity to stay in the OR room whenever possible to observe small animal surgeries...!!! I am soooo grateful that these people are part of my life and help me alone the way. SO GRATEFUL.


So far, on a regular base, I am going to Wed morning's ECG rounds from Cardio, Saturday afternoon is with ER, Tuesday mornings are with the Equine hospital, and then MW evening for the Japanese classes, and T and Th working at small animal front desk, and here and there I fit in to work with the professor's lab...It might sounds busy, but believe me, I am fully enjoy what I am doing this summer, which is learning! I mean while I am in vet school where all the frontfield technologies and knowledges are avaialable, I want to take full advantage of this!! After I get out, I don't think I will ever find a place where these much information will be concentrated at one single place, and so easy for me to grasp and collect. Call me crazy...:D

Diet Dairy 6/5/09-6/11/09

6/5/09- FIRST DAY!
wt: 73.4 (it takes some guts to put this number on here...)
Have been running for the past week, but only for about 15-20 min...this morning for the first time, I jogged (plus walked) for about 35 min!-very proud...:D

Anyway, here's today's data:

Exercise: Run/Walk-35 min , Sit-ups - 80
7:40a --1 cup of 2% milk (120); 1 cup Cereal +HEB granolas (200)
9:50a --1 HEB Lemon cookie (53)
10:30a --1 small fuji apple-peeled (70); 1 Orange (45)
Lunch --3 pieces of Bran&Wheat (210); 5 pieces of thin turkey breast (40); 2 pieces of swiss cheese (120)
Dinner --half Bacon Cheese burger (400); half of the french fries (200)
8pm --1 Orange (45)
TOTAL :1500 kcal

6/6/09
wt: 72.1 (ding ding ding!!! water weight, water weight)
Has to work in the morning, but still managed to take K-nut to run (because weekends are the only time I can let him off leash the whole way, traffic are close to zero)
Exercise:
Jogging/walking - 40 min ; Sit ups - 100; leg raise - 15 on each side
7:10a -- 1 cup 2% milk (120)/ 1 cup Cereal + Granola (200)
11a -- 1 Small Fuji Apple (70)/ HEB Blended Yogurt-Strawberry (120)
12:30p -- 1/2 Bacon Cheese burger left over from last night (400)/ 1/2 bag of French Fries (300)
4:16p -- 1 Lemon Cookie (53)
7:30p -- 1 cup of sticky rice with a piece of Teriyaki chicken thigh (490) with pine nuts (80)
Cole Slaw (recipe from SueAnn)(230!!!!) GEEZ...now my whole day is ruined...
TOTAL: 2063 kcal (>.<)
I thought I was eating healthy with the cole slaw, but look at this...sigh

6/7/09
Exercise: Jogging/walk: 35 min

7a -- 1 cup 2% milk (120)/1 cup cereal & granola (200)
11a -- 1 orange (45)
12p -- Teriyaki chicken with 1 cup of sticky rice (490)/Cole slaw (230)/pine nuts (80)/Broccoli (30)
Pic attached :

Lunch~~~

4pm -- Starbucks:Caffé Vanilla Frappuccino Light Blended Coffee-TALL (140)
7:30 -- Strawberry/75g (23)/Broccoli/105g (36)/Cole Slaw (230)/2 piece of bread (140) plus 1 piece of American cheese (70) plus butter spread (40) = Old fashion American grill cheese!

WHAT A colorful meal...

Total: 1874 kcal

It's not easy to keep the calories down when you are cooking, even with lots of vegetables. But as you can see, I am trying to make this dairy as entertaining as possible, today with couple pictures :D. Also, I am definitely lacking protein intake, that might explain why it’s so hard for me to run today…I need to find out a good way to cook meats, quick! Otherwise, you might have to call 911 to find me off Nuc Center (where I run with K-nut)
Tomorrow won’t be a running day, got to especially watch out the intake…

6/8/09 Monday
Wt: 71.8 (!!!! I reached my goal for this week!!! hopefully it's not just water weight, I have been drinking planty of water)

Lunch~

6/9/09 Tuesday
I woke up this morning and felt really tired, so I didn't get to take K-nut running today...my bad...but on the other hand, I did watch what I am eating today because I didn't have a big space for extra intake.



5:30p - McDonald's Happy Meal Cheese burger with coke...I ran out of time to go home and grab my prepared meal!!! and of course no big surprise, 640 Kcal!!!! mana...no more McDonald's...so bad...

Diet and losing weight...a women's forever enemy

So happen that I am surfing on the internet, and came across a taiwanese blog about diet, and keeping track of how much weight does she lose (plus how much is the intake, and bowel mvt, etc.)...

Sigh...those two digit numbers...are always my forever pain...

fortunately (or unfortunately, depends on how you look at it), I live in a great nation where overweight has a different standard. American friends are always positive and telling me that I am not fat, but you can ask any Asians and their answers can be the complete opposite. Granted that I am taller than the average woman, but according to the BMI (Body mass index), I am officially overweight now...after first year in vet school.

I blame on vet school because I was doing so well before then, the Corps keeps me in shape and let me eat healthy. For the past year, I didn't know how many times I cooked ramen noodles for dinner, and how many times I have been through McDonald's drive through (before every Anatomy exam for sure). Compare to some of my classmates, I might be doing well by just putting one 7 lbs...but THIS IS STILL UNACCEPTABLE!

I guess I can always blame on my age too, as we get older, hormones in our body can do "wonderful" things.

So while I can, this summer, I am hoping that I can drop back to the "normal" range, and I am not greedy, 10 lbs is all I am asking~ I mean ,2 months, 10 lb? c'mon, is really not that bad. I did earned a nutritional science degree in my undergrad, so I won't be stupid and try to lose weight in a matter of 2 weeks. I still want to have a healthy liver/heart/gallbladder/etc by age 70. You talked to any Chinese youngsters, skipping meal is their ultimate tool...I mean how sad is that, and soon when they enter their 30s, they will wish they never have done that...

Having a slim body is a wonderful thing, you will look good in any clothes that you wear. and in general, you will feel fantastic. But I am not that desparate that I will risk my health just for some superficial reason.

for the next two months, I want to keep a diet blog up here. Because I know just writing down what you eat and what you do is already going to help me control my intake. I have been running 20 mins for the past 5 days with K-nut, in order for him to run off-leash, I have to be out there by 6am so that the morning traffic is not quite there yet, and the temperature is not hot enough to put both of us through heat stroke. But I need to work on my intake control, food is my best friend, and also my worst enenmy, hopefully by writing down those can help me to build my determination.

These are not my goals...I can never get to that skinny...but just for motivation purpose...

Best wishes! Just thinking about a brand new you when you return to school!! It's time to go! Move, Move, MOVE!!!

Done with FIRST YEAR!!!! yeah~~~

Can't believe that I am actually done with my first year in vet school. I am a quarter finished! Looking back, this year is trully a very tough one for me. I lost some, and gained some. I lost my ability to speak English (because all I am doing is sitting in the classroom and take notes), but I gained a tramendous amount of knowledge (now, let's not talk about how much of that is retained...)

Anyway~ I am just glad that my first year is finished! and I can introduced myself as a 2VM now~ you don't understand how proud I am when I say that name. I decide to do something memoriable every semester while I am in vet school to celebrate each semester, something unique. First semester, I went to U-paint-It here in town to paint my own "dragonfly" fridge magnet, this semester, I decide to go with something bold--donating blood!

To most Americans, donating blood may be something ordinary. I have never done it and I have heard horror stories about how difficult to find a vein, and how much bruise did it cause when you end up with a newbi nurse, oh, not mentioning how HUGE the needle can be. I have tried to donate blood once during undergrad, but the nurse sent me home because they couldn't find my veins when I lay down, and they want to make sure I have a pleasant first experience. So this time, I started to drink gallons of water the night before until I have to run to the bathroom every hour...

Brooke went to the Red Cross center with me, I was worried 1) pass out while donating...2)unable to locate the vein and end up poking me more than once...Let's just say, Brooke commented at the end that I was a trooper. I was actually surprised that 1) I felt just fine after donating, 2) the nurse actually find my vein on the first try (even though she didn't look so promising before poking) 3) I finish bleeding within 10 minutes. I think I kind of freaked people out when I keep asking to touch the bag of blood. It is warm...I never thought my blood can be that warm...thinking about those 600ml of blood being transfused to someone who are in dying need, thinking about this one bag of blood may just save somebody's life...It's an amazing feeling, and ... undescribable.

I am very fascinated by my blood temperature...since I am a someone considered as a medical personnel, those really don't freak me out, the only thing somewhat surprised me is the dark color of my blood, I was expecting some what bright red...but I guess if that's the case, they will be poking my artery, and that would be bad bull....

So...what I summarized for this memoriable experience

1) I felt just fine after donating 600ml of blood--took a nap in the afternoon, and went on to watch Final review with my buddies

2) My arm does feel sour for the next 24 hours, more like weak

3) My blood is warm

4) I have a vein, and American nurse can actually find it on first try

5) the needle is indeed...huge.

6) I want to continue donating (even though my mom is somewhat every against it...and she said there's a inverse correlation between the amt of blood you donate and your intellengence level--which she even know it's not true...I think she just made that one up to prevent me from going in the future) , but may be at the end of the semester

7) drink a lots of water does speed the process up, and I am a trooper in doing that~

8) I did not pass out :p

more korea trip pictures!!!

Just in case you dont know, there are about 3 links for the whole trip...I took a lots of pictures!!
Part 1:
http://www.slide.com/r/A3yr9-Su7T8TgzPqcu_CIHQeUqr6Z1AN
Part 2:
http://www.slide.com/r/oMibonsFlz8JnasZ8YOrOmRpE8s89R4o
Part 3:
http://www.slide.com/r/YKbmG6D4pD__KBfr4cU7zSEmHU9axP5f?view=original
(be aware, there are 106 pictures here...it might take a while for you to see them all...but it took me more than couple hours to write all the descriptions, so plz take your time)
Attn: If you move your cursor (mouse) to the pic, there will be explainations at the bottom of the frame, this is the only way that I can make the pics look bigger to view...

let me know what you think about slide.com, if the pictures are too small to view, I might look for other sources~

These pictures are from my friends' cameras...see I am not lying~~~ I really did meet some strangers, friendly strangers on this trip !!! http://www.slide.com/r/7Ov1sINi0D9UCRxDC94S3916d7ssHZH6?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Last part Korea~ Pictures are here !!

People may worry about safety issue in Seoul, but I found that Seoul is a sleepless city. Even though the working hours are from 8:30a-6:30p, but it is generally understanding that employee/employers stays late afterwards because there are too much work to do, too many tasks to complete. Korean people are the number one stressful people on earth, even Japanese admits that. They work hard, and work too hard. Most of the time, my friends had to stay in their office past 8pm, sometimes until 10pm, and then come back early in the morning again. There are many many shops on the streets that are open 24 hours for the sleepless group. You can walk on the street at 1am and there will be people walking by (sometimes they can be drunks…). I admit that I like working, or like to be called a “workaholics”, but even to me I think working in Korea is a stressful thing, I wouldn’t want to work like this…My friends told me the average age for men to get married are a little over 30, and for women are somewhere at late 20th. They have to work to a point that they can save enough money for their wedding, and for a new apartment. Because of all these, Korean people eats really fast. They usually get one hour of lunch break (that is usually after 1pm…) but they ate super fast, and usually finish by 15 minutes. Both of my friends are jealous at Chinese working classes, because usually they will get one and half to 2 hours of lunch break plus a nap break.

Sorry that I couldn’t write dairy about this trip, but I took all the pictures that I can and put them on the website (http://www.slide.com/r/ebV-LUz14D8GAQr3YLk27f2uuqvEiiqS?previous_view=lt_embedded_url ) take your time and browse through them. It is my whole trip~ 200 some of them. Hope you like them!!!

Korea , more to come, read from the bottom up~~~

Living in korea is expensive, but as a travelling/shopping destination, not too bad…transportation is not a problem, they have a very complicated and detailed subway system. You can literally get to anywhere within Seoul by subway. It is usually cost around $0.90 - $1.20 USD to go one way, depends on how far you go. And as long as you are not in rush hours (7am-9am, 6pm-7:30pm), the subway is not crowded at all. In the subway, they always save 12 seats for elderly, children, sick, and pregnant women. No matter how crowded the subway is, those seats are always open. My friends told me, watch out the middle aged housewives in the subway. They usually rushed in first try to save seats, no rules on that…my friend described it as like American football ^o^. They sometimes throw their bag across the air try to occupy the seat first. Too bad I haven’t seen any crazy lady this time…
The weekend that I was in Korea was a traditional festival time, it is called Dano in Korean. It is a seasonal festival that is the fifth day of the fifth month by the lunar calendar. We have the same holiday in China, but apparently a little different way to celebrate it. Korean people believed that Yang (from Ying-yang, brightness) energy reaches the highest level on Dano. In korea, Dano is truly a holiday, people celebrate it by playing on high swing rides, watch performances on stage, and ssireum (Korean wrestling). It used to be one of the 3 biggest festivals celebrated in Korea. Because of this, I had the opportunity to watch a traditional korean clothes fashion show. The models are too pretty so that at the end of the show, I dragged my friend to the backstage and hoped to take pic with the models…my friend wasn’t even expect that would happen, but it did!!!
In general, I like Seoul. Even though it is expensive, but people are friendly, and fun to watch. Stuff here are cute, and food, very healthy! If I really end up working in China, korea wouldn’t be a bad place to get away. Only 90 minutes to get to, no passport needed as long as I get out in 30 days, and I only plan to spend a weekend here every once in a while. Young people now speaks very good english. I met couple students from Seoul National University (no.1 university in Korea), and because they want to practice English, they asked if they can tag alone with me and my friend (we were talking in English in the subway, later on that day I learned that those students heard us talking, and thought that I was Korean who were raised in America…) Anyway, they were not Seoul natives, which means it is extra hard for them to get into any Seoul university. Now they are master and ph.D students in Chemical Engineering dept, and hoping to study abroad someday. They knew a lot about Korean culture and history (from passing the college entrance exam…), so they were happy to serve as tour guides for the day. Showed me a lots of places. Their original plan was to take some pictures in the nice weather, photography is their hobbit (which by the way, it is a trend in Asia now to have a fancy professional camera…) Anyway, quite an unique experience. At first I thought they were stalkers…:p but end up they are very very friendly and funny students. If they really send me the pic they took as they promised when we separate, I will post the pictures they took on the blog so you don’t think that I am lying…
Another thing amazes me is that girls/women drinks as well in korea. I know American women drinks too, but Korean women drinks for social. You can see girls at dinner table each one holding a beer jug. To me, it was a weird scene, maybe because I don’t see a lots of women drinks at Northgate…I mean, at least not the way I see korean women drinking...it's just weird for me to see women drinking period...especially holding beer jugs and/or soju (rice drink, about 15-20% alcohol)