Sunday, December 25, 2011

Day 1314: Merry Christmas!




Happy holidays my fair reader...s? Here are some pictures of our Christmas tree. Like the presents? They're fake! I love them. I wrapped them five years ago because without them, our tree is very very very bare and un-American, haha. Thus, was birthed my desire to wrap some gorgeously fake presents. Anyway. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season with family, friends, and loved ones! You are all wonderful, fantastic people and I thank you for your friendship (first) and readership (second).

xo,
Jess

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Day 1310: Five pictures or less, with some text.

A very intense Christmas tree at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA.

Current loves. The Sartorialist (a gift!), Florence + the Machine (who I'm always in love with), and this funky organic hipster chapstuff which I apply religiously under my nose since I've been blowing it every five seconds.

Driving back to the bay area, I forgot about all the topographic texture that California has. Milwaukee is very very flat.

A boat featured in the Newport Beach boat parade.
I need to start wearing socks at night people.

One of the many messages in the SEED parking lot in Irvine, CA. I found this to be apt for my life. PS, check out the license plate! Also a theme in my life. HA.

The text: I wasted about 20 minutes on my sister's Facebook this morning. I only logged on to see a good friend's engagement ring and the next thing I knew, I perused pictures of people I neither care about nor am friends with. It's these flubby moments in my life that remind me how happy I am to be off Facebook. You'll never convert me (back) Mark Zuckerberg!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Day 1306, Part 2: 5 Pictures or Less

My sister found a big bow while craft-shopping at Michael's.

Being lazy and watching Sex and the City at my sister's house.

New polish!


New polish fun. Pretty things for Christmas cards. New ring!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Day 1306: Almost home!

Oh hi. How are you?

My exams Thursday went surprisingly well. After my lab practical on Wednesday, I rocked that practical out. I did so well on the practical, and have had such a steady grade in that class, that I could have actually gotten a ZERO on that exam and my grade would not have moved at all. So. I stopped studying for that baby shortly after I posted my "Day 1303" post.

Human development/embryology went very well actually. I have discovered that the best way for me to actually learn this material is to teach it to someone else. So. That is the plan for next semester. Learning it. Teaching it. And then winning at it.

I left for southern California that night. I got to see my gorgeosa amiga Nickita Banana and hang out with her very redwood-like boyfriend. It's always good to see gal-pals and (re)connect. She's so smart gettin' her masters/PhD. Now I'm at my sister's place in SoCal, waiting for everyone to wake up, haha. I am very excited to come home and pay for expensive yoga (blech, no fun), see my friends (!!), hang out with my family and just be very grateful for all of the good in my life.

AND HELLO. I JUST COMPLETED MY FIRST SEMESTER OF MEDICAL SCHOOL. Thank baby Jesus, baby Buddha, and my favorite, baby Ganesh.

Images from here, here and here.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Day 1303: Home, tomorrow!

Monday, 12/12/2011. Biochemistry exam. Fine. Could have gone better. I'm not too stressed about the results of this exam or my performance in the course.

Tuesday 12/13/2011. Lots of studying. Much less stress. I'm at the point where I have to royally screw up my exams to move my grade in a negative direction.

Wednesday 12/14/2011. Anatomy lab practical. They tagged a few structures more than once (which they never do), but I knew the body so I wasn't fooled. Studying for my written anatomy/human development test tomorrow and then I fly home! To California! Whee!

(Be on the lookout for back-dated posts of my sister's visit!)

Friday, December 9, 2011

Day 1298: My sister is here!

My favorite sister in the entire world is here to visit me!

Here is the best picture I have taken of her so far.


I love family!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled studying.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Day 1295: My life in five pictures or less

My mother told me I shouldn't blog so often for fear that it is a distraction.

In response, I have decided to post five pictures (or less) that sum up my life at the moment.

Here we go.

My current view at my school library (edited for visual fun)

Currently trying to learn vasculature of the lower limb
before going into lab to find them.

A picture made for me by a big sweetheart
(and current background on most of my technology).

A page of my biochem notes that I am reviewing.


Thursday, December 1, 2011

Day 1290: Drugs

Okay. I figured something out. I am going to summarize the general things I am learning in biochem here, for you all, in plain English in hopes that a) you learn something and b) I learn something while typing it. Sound good? Great. (Feel free and leave now, haha)

Today's post is on drugs. Things I have learned from my biochem lecture(s):
  1. A patient at a hospital is given, on average, 9 drugs during their stay. (NINE!)
  2. These drugs stimulate or repress (science word: upregulate or downregulate) specific proteins in your body (science: cytochrome P450). The stimulation/repression of these proteins affects how your body reacts to drugs.
  3. The fun food-and-drug pairings I mentioned in my previous post? Well, here's an image to give you some 411.
Image from the Wall Street Journal
So what does this image mean? Basically, these foods will either increase or decrease the amount of time a drug stays in your body. Today's post will focus on pomegranate, cranberry and grapefruit. As we can see in the image, these three fruits increase Lipitor's stay in the body. Well, wait. Isn't that good? To have Lipitor stay in the body longer in order to increase it's effects on cholesterol levels? No. No, it is not good.

The reason that you don't want Lipitor to stay an extra weekend in your bloodstream is because Lipitor (as previously discussed) is a statin. This particular statin blocks an enzyme in your body from creating more cholesterol. Cholesterol, despite all the hullabaloo, is actually good for you. Granted, not the seven cheeseburgers and four orders of fries, but the "good fats" like avocados (yum!) or omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish, for example). We need cholesterol to keep all of our cell membranes nice and fluid and cushy and moving around. If Lipitor stays too long in the bloodstream, it begins to affect not only the amount of bad-cholesterol in the body, but also the good. What does this all mean for you, Dad? DON'T EAT LARGE AMOUNTS OF CRANBERRIES, POMEGRANATES OR GRAPEFRUIT (juice included)!

Okay Team. That's all for today's science lesson. Upcoming lessons include alcohol detoxification and oxidative stress.