2008...Already?!

It's the 31st. My new patient is a sweet Italian Greyhound named Giovanni that was hit by a truck! He's going to be getting surgery for some broken bones. Ouch! But that's what pain meds are for! Yeah! Now I'm at home relaxing a bit. Marcus is at work, Twinkie's patrolling our apartment as usual. Tonight after I'm done with my stuff at the hospital, Marcus is going to cook some dinner and Stacy's coming over. We're renting "Superbad" and the last of the Rush Hour movies that went straight to video. The Rush Hour flicks are guilty pleasures of ours, and both Marcus and I were so disappointed to find out that the latest installment went straight to video! Well, I guess it's time to make a New Year's resolution. Mine is to never take the boards exam again. Ha ha. That may not be in my control. What's yours? I checked out the top 10 New Year's Resolutions...most are predictable. P.S. if you're lacking a resolution, don't forget you can always donate! I just donated to Heifer International...great organization.

Pre New Year Updates

Wow. Time flies when you're away from your blog! So much has happened in the past few days. First, Stacy got engaged on Christmas Eve! Exciting! Then, I went down to New York (quickly) and saw my family, then interviewed at AMC. I think it went well, so that made me happy. It was stressful, but everyone was very cool. I went through a medical case and seemed to do well. I briefly got to see Terry-a and Steve, too. Of course, I've seen some movies. Marcus and I watched "This Is England", a good movie about a 12 year-old boy who gets mixed up with Skinheads. Right now we're watching "Bourne Supremacy" on TV. I'm back at the hospital, but it hasn't gotten really hectic lately which is good. My plans for the next couple of days until the hospital returns to a normal schedule is to try to relax and spend time at home.

Live Free or Die (Hard)

Don't you love that quote on New Hampshire license plates: "Live Free or Die"...it's so hardcore, so absolute, no room for compromise. I've always loved that quote! This reminds me of the movie we just watched, "Live Free or Die Hard". Good action movie! Love the Die Hard franchise. One of the few sequel based movie franchises that don't mess up a good thing. It's because there's no real story to keep going with, it's just the same guy put in some crazy, but different situation over and over again. But there's no real strain on the story line, because they don't need to keep building and building on it, like "The Matrix" series, which in my opinion really got bad with each sequel. Anyway, this morning I cooked coconut milk french toast with challah bread, then I made grilled cheese with ciabatta bread and extra sharp cheese. We cleaned up, and also watched "Violette", this french movie about a young woman who leads a bit of a double life. It was alright. Well, tomorrow I'm jetting down to New York, interviewing at AMC, then coming straight back to start back up at school...

Christmas

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. Marcus and I grew up celebrating Christmas on the 24th, not Christmas day, so today's "the day" for us. But I'm no longer Christian, per se, so it's sort of just a gesture for me...but that's a whole other story. Don't you love this photo? It's Oki, a Shiba Inu, who belongs to some friends, Ron and John. I love this photo, it was on an evite they sent out once, and I had to save it. Anyway, last night we watched "Eastern Promises". I personally thought it was pretty weak in multiple areas. The most memorable scene was when one of the characters is in a Turkish bath house and ends up fighting these guys, with knives, completely naked. It was ridiculous. But Marcus and I had to give it up to the actor, Viggo Mortensen, who bared it all, in multiple angles and positions. Of course he's not 100% American-blooded, because there are not many major American actors who'd sign up to do this. Of course this actor is part Scandanavian, you know, where everyone's just prancing around naked (just kidding).

There Is No Snooze Button on a Cat Who Wants Breakfast

My first day off! All the surgery students worked it out so we all get five days FREE of the hospital over the holidays! It was my first day that I didn't have to wake up to an electric alarm clock. And notice I said electric, because there's always Twinkie the cat who feels the need to wake us up at 4A.M., 5A.M., and 6A.M. Everyday. So let's just say Marcus and I rarely get a full night's rest 100% the way through. Well, the past few days have been busy, but good. More surgeries, more opportunities to practice suturing techniques and all that good stuff. I overdid it last night wolfing down a LOT of brownies. Then I felt sick. Oh well. I went to the gym this morning. We watched a pretty bad movie with Ben Stiller called "The Heartbreak Kid". Don't even bother! We should have known better, but we really like Ben Stiller. We also watched the french film "La Pianiste", a twisted little story about a piano teacher who has a dysfunctional relationship with her mother and has submissive fantasies. The fantasies take a major turn for the worst. Interesting. Tonight we're eating at a french restaurant called Dijon. It's supposed to be good, we'll see...

Feel the Power of Drilling through Bone!

Tuesday night and I'm tired. Marcus is back in North America and tired, too but from jet lag and time changes. He had a great time back in the motherland and brought me great Swedish chocolate that I will devour. Well I'm now on small animal orthopedic surgery...and I LOVE surgery, especially orthopedics! Yesterday my rotation mate and I got to perform an extra capsular repair on a cadaver (a type of surgery used to repair a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament, or as you humans call it---the anterior cranial ligament or the ACL). It was fun and we had a surgeon at our disposal to walk us through it. Then today I scrubbed in on my patient's TPLO surgery, another way of fixing a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. The patient is a 120+ pound Newfoundland, so let's just say it's really not a pleasure walking him with a sling and bearing most of the weight for him post operatively...plus he slobbers everywhere! Yuck. He's sort of a mess, but it's not his fault, he's a gigantic, furry dog. BUT the best part of my day was I got to use the power drill and drill through bone! His tibia...and a drill! And I also learned how to place screws and helped suture up his skin. Great fun! I told one of my friends how happy I was that they let me do it, and she said that surgery, especially having to drill through bone in no way excites her, but instead scares her....Now how could you NOT want to take a power drill to bone!?!

Wintry Mix and Overexposure

I just got back from brunch at one of my favorite local spots, the Elizabeth Restaurant. And once again I got to see my little friend "Prep", the pot bellied pig. Because it was cold outside, he was hanging out with some ducks, chickens, and a Golden Retriever in his warm barn. But we had to say hello to him! The weather is kinda nasty. I love the term "Wintry mix", it's so funny. Anyway, I have noticed recently that Beyonce is on every commercial known to man...it's really too much. I understand the concept of money, endorsements, publicity, but this is ridiculous! She's on this painful Direct TV commercial where she's singing and dancing about upgrading your service. Then there's L'oreal, then American Express, then Armani's new perfume. Come on, is this really necessary??? I like Beyonce, but this overexposure could backfire! Well, back to scouting out my movie watching possibilities for this afternoon.

C'mon, Everyone Likes Lara Croft

Saturday evening. It's been relaxing. I did a little housecleaning, did some laundry, attempted to watch pretty bad romantic comedies on TV, then ended up watching "Lucia Y El Sexo" through the Netflix website, which I really enjoyed. Then I watched a personal guilty pleasure of mine, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider". I love that movie. Doesn't it sound like fun being a renegade archaeologist? Guns, travel, danger...FUN! Well there was a chance I would meet up with some friends at a bar tonight, but I haven't gotten any word, so it's likely off due to the impending storm. So my plans are to watch Hitchcock's "Psycho" which I'm looking forward to. I went to the gym last night, so I'm feeling good. You know that sort of "worked muscles" feeling, as opposed to the nasty blobish feeling. And I've been eating lots of salads these days, especially since Marcus has been gone and I don't enjoy cooking. He's traveling back to North America tomorrow which is great!

Snowstorms

The Ithaca region was hit pretty hard with snow today. But we were fairly busy at the hospital. We worked on a super cute 8 month old Umbrella Cockatoo. So cute! Yesterday at the zoo it was really fun watching the elephants get their feet radiographed. They really love their keepers and are incredibly obedient. They lifted their feet and trunks on command. One of them was even asked to lie down on her side so we could examine the bottom of her feet. We also examined a Golden Lion Tamarin and a Fennec Fox. Tonight I watched the beautiful film "Hiroshima Mon Amour". A little bit documentary, a little love story. The other day I was introduced to the disturbing, yet entertaining rendition of "My Humps" by Alanis Morissette. Even more disturbing and entertaining was that the head veterinarian of the service and the technician were the ones that brought it to my attention.

Tuesday Slump

Today we didn't have many appointments. We went to that man's house...the one with the Angelfish. Nice house! Gated, huge, had an elevator...you get the picture. Anyway, he's not sure if he's going to pursue treatment, but the mass looked like cancer. The recommendation was to have it surgically removed. Before Marcus left for Sweden, he got me flowers which have finally bloomed. The apartment smells so nice and the fragrance fills our entire living room. They're lilies, which by the way, can cause kidney failure in cats if ingested, so again beware! Speaking of lilies, my absolute favorite flower is the calla lily. It's been the subject of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography (a favorite artist of mine) and Diego Rivera paintings. I tried to watch Kurosawa's "The Bad Sleep Well", but I just wasn't in the mood, which was too bad. I think I needed something a little more mindless tonight. I briefly spoke with Marcus, who's having fun in Sweden. Tomorrow I'm going to the zoo. This is the same zoo that I spent a month at working with the reptiles and amphibians. It's a great place because it's not too big, so you can easily see the various exhibits within a few hours. And the collection is pretty impressive. We're going to take x-rays of the elephants' feet. That should be fun. Apparently the elephants are trained to lift their feet for the procedure. I love the zoo!

Holiday Cheer...Beware

Tonight I went to the gym, stopped by Wegman's to get dinner, then drove back to the apartment. At our doorstep was a pretty little poinsettia plant with a card! My first thought was, "what a sweet little gift"...and my immediate second thought was "this plant is toxic to dogs and cats"! So just as a friendly reminder, many things are toxic to our furry and feathered friends...so if you get a poinsettia for the holidays, place it way out of reach because it can cause gastrointestinal signs including hemorrhage and blistering. Holly is also toxic. I could go on and on. So beware! Anyway, tomorrow one of our patients is a prize winning saltwater Angelfish who apparently has some sort of mass on its operculum (flap of skin covering the gills)and eye. I'm not sure of the exact breed of fish, though. So that should be interesting. Last night after I blogged I ended up watching another french flick, "Under the Sand". Great story about how a widow lives in denial after her husband took a swim at the beach and disappeared.

Weekend Update

It's Sunday night, and I've been on call all weekend...when I'm on call I can never truly relax and feel free to do what I want, because I always fear getting paged. Well, last night Stacy and I tried to go socialize while I was on call. We watched "Awake", a really bad movie! I was intrigued by the fact that it has to do with anesthetic awareness but it's really not even about that. But that's besides the point. I got paged four times during the movie and had to make about 15 phone calls in the process!!! Frustrating. Then I was actually called in twice. Well, I spoke with Marcus, he's having a great time in Sweden. A few days ago I blogged about a "nature sounds" alarm clock that I got...it turns out that when I sleep heavily, I don't reliably wake up to the sounds of frogs and a rushing brook. So I returned that alarm clock, and I ordered the one that makes the cathedral bell sounds, because I know I wake up to them. Tonight there's not much on TV. I watched a french film called "The Bridesmaid" off the Netflix website. It was okay. It's about a man who quickly falls in love with a mysterious (and shady) woman and is obsessed with a stone bust that resembles her. I hope to go to the gym this week and catch up on some major housecleaning! Plus I really need to get into holiday mode, but without Marcus here and my being busy, it's a bit challenging.

My Latest Obsession

After saying I felt like a blob because I haven't been able to go to the gym in the last two months, I finally went last night and tonight! I feel great. Marcus is getting on a plane tomorrow to visit Sweden, specifically his home town and Stockholm, where his father's family lives. I'll miss him, but he's going to have a good time. I'll see him soon enough. If you've never made it to Sweden, you should (in the summer though). Great food, very environmentally and animal welfare aware, and fun times. Well, I've launched onto a new obsession: the alarm clock with sounds of nature. Ever since I stayed at a hotel in Syracuse the night before my boards exam, I've been on this kick. It's because the alarm clock in my hotel room had a church bell sound when it went off! So I think I need to retire my 22 year old (literally) alarm clock to try something with a fun wake up sound. I found one that actually had elephant sounds and bird chirping as alarms, but that clock was discontinued! Damn! So I think I'm getting this Timex model that has chimes and birds chirping as options. I'm so excited. I hope it's all it's cracked up to be. Or I would probably be safe without any alarm clock, since Twinkie loves to wake us up every morning at 4 A.M. and 5 A. M.

Cheese!

I got home from my first day on the exotic pets/zoo rotation at 5 P.M....but I also got to school at 6 A.M. to finish up my morning responsibilities on the horses I had in the large animal hospital. It's been a long day, but exotics is pretty chill and a lot of fun. I also got to see my "senior" class photo that's going to be up on the "Wall of Fame" (photos of previous graduates) in the veterinary school. They have every class from the very first veterinary class that ever graduated Cornell up till now. It's so funny to say that I had my senior photos taken, with the cheesy standard photo background and all... Today I dealt with a really cute albino rat and I have a Quaker parrot as my patient. He's very afraid of people, which is too bad. Tonight I'm going to try to chill out, even though I'm on call. Marcus went to Boston on business, but he's back tomorrow. So it's just me and Twinkie the cat at home. I really hope to have a little down time for the next two weeks...I feel like a blob since I haven't been working out lately. YUCK.

Another Sunday and Winter Has Arrived

Brrr...last night we didn't have heat and it was 50 degrees in our apartment! And no hot water this morning. I left the apartment at 6:45 A.M. to get started on my morning treatments and had no idea it had snowed overnight. Yuck! The good news is that the heat is finally working again and there's hot water. We watched "The Lives of Others", a German film about the Secret Police in East Berlin (before the Wall came down). It follows the surveillance of a group of artists and how it ends up affecting their lives. GREAT movie. Both Marcus and I really loved it. Now I think I'm going to watch a personal favorite of mine, "The Servant", which explores the relationships between the rich and the poor and even alludes to vampires. LOVE IT! You should check it out. Last night I roasted a whole garlic, unpeeled, in the oven for a while. Then we sliced up some fresh focaccia bread. And we cut open the garlic, took out the cooked cloves, crushed and mixed them with olive oil for dipping. Very delicious.