Hip-hip horray! I just finished my Epi exam & don't have another exam until 11/10/04! I'm also looking forward to the wonderful Halloween treat this weekend of an extra hour of sleep due to daylight savings time ending!

Well, I had my 2nd Pathology exam Wednesday and my 2nd Pharmacology exam today. I don't think I did as well on either as I did the 1st ones. In Pharm we learned all the opiods (endogenous & exogenous cathecholamines), alpha & beta agonists, alpha & beta antagonists, parasympathomimetics, antimuscarinics, and neuromuscular junction blockers for almost every animal in 2 weeks from a very attractive teacher! The test only had a few of those drugs on there and some of which aren't as commonly used as the others. Quite a few of them also had quite similar names to make matters worse. Oh well, @ least we have longer to learn the next set of pharmacological drugs....and thank goodness for Plumb!

Well, my Jurisprudence exam was not that bad. It was 84 questions & it is the only thing our grade in that 1 credit hour class is based on. I was a little shocked about my Parasit exam because it was not as easy as the last one & it should have been more easy because it was on hooks, whips, rounds, & heartworms. Oh well, Jurisprudence is done & now it's time for Dr. P's Ethic's class. I also have one more Parasit exam & a case study report to help make sure I get an "A" in that course because my lab quizzes really aren't helping me much. So tonight I'm headed to watch a flippy cup tournament @ a campus bar and then to a Fall Conferance Party!

This weekend has been rather eventful. Friday night I went bowling with some first & second years. Saturday night a fellow second year had a party at his house with good food and quite a few round of tippy cups. In between the social events I've been studying for my Jurisprudence exam & Parasit exam on Thursday.

Well, I had my second Bacti exam on Wednesday as well as my skills test. Both of which went quite well; although the skills test had a bit of controversy surrounding it. We were given a broth culture with 2 organisms & in 1 hour we had to figure out whether they were Gram + or - & if they were cocci, rods, branching rods, spirals, or yeast. It seemed rather simple since we had only seen Gram + cocci, Gram + & - rods, & Gram + yeast. Unfortunately the criteria on which we were to determine yeast was not quite accurate; one can also see Gram + rods on 40X.
Also, the test proved to be challenging because each of the 2 organisms present in the broth did not appear to be in equal proportions for most of my colleagues, including myself.


This is what my Gram + cocci organism looked like.


This is what my Gram - rods looked like.

Buster, 1 of my 3 dogs

Well, I've now received grades in all but 1 of my classes & I must say this year is going much better than last year. I'm not sure if its the professors, my new place of living, or just being in "the swing of things." I do like that this year is more clinically applicable. During my summer job at a cooperate animal hospital I tried to put my anatomy to use; I learned its not important to know its the popliteal lymph node but instead where it is & if it normally should be palpable. Also, now when I look at fungal scrapping I'll know I'm looking for macroconidia of Ringworm.