Date Night Recap

Our date last night was great. It was exactly what I needed to de-stress for a few hours. The ballet was absolutely incredible. The costumes, set, music, and of course dancing were beautiful. It was so romantic and dramatic. Dinner was great too. It's been a long time since we've gone out for a really nice meal and gotten all dressed up.

The only downside of the evening was that my group was having problems with our experiment. I was in the lab from 9am-11am that morning, but then I had plans the rest of the day. Three of my group members were there from 9am until 9:30pm (with a break for lunch and dinner). They texted me at about 3pm and asked if I could come in because they were having problems and it was taking longer than they expected. But we already had dinner reservations and I really didn't want to cancel on Daniel. He did this nice thing for me to help me relax and it would be so rude to cancel to go work on school stuff. So I told my group I just couldn't come in. They were very understanding and weren't upset at all- but I still felt guilty of course. So then at 4pm they reminded me that I had to have my powerpoint done by tomorrow morning. Of course I forgot. So I had exactly one hour until we were leaving for dinner to make my powerpoint and get dressed and ready to go. I was kind of freaking out and I didn't think I would get it all done, but I did. So we went to dinner, and during dinner my group members were texting me questions about things that I had done earlier that morning. And then during the ballet one of my group members called me to ask about my powerpoint presentation. I kept seeing that red blinking light on my blackberry and it was stressing me out because I knew it was my group member that called and left a message. So basically during the whole night I was reminded every hour that the rest of my group was working on this project while I was out on a date with Daniel. It kinda took some of the fun out. But I guess I deserved it.

So this morning we met at school and drove to Dr. Verl's house about 45 minutes out of the city. He lives in the foothills of the mountains basically. It's a beautiful neighborhood. It wasn't quite as awkward as I thought it would be, mostly because the entire class was there so we had each other to joke with. Dr. Verl was surprisingly nice and funny and hospitable. He cooked some pretty good food for us and helped us a lot with our presentation and troubleshooting our experiment. And it was great to spend some time with my classmates actually socializing and being friends instead of group members. I'm so lucky that our group all gets along really well. We actually like each other and we never argue about what to do. We all pull our weight and show up on time, prepared, and ready to work.

The one thing that's irritating to me is that Dr. Verl expects us to be in the lab every day up until our presentation on Thursday. He expects us to keep trying because so far the experiment isn't working. He doesn't care that I have two papers, two other presentations, and two finals for other classes. He actually told us that. He doesn't care that we have other classes. We have to work on this class. There just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. I have to meet with 3 different groups, and trying to coordinate everybody's schedule is virtually impossible. So we're going into the lab again tomorrow to try to finish up as much as we can. There goes my weekend. I have a paper due on Monday so I absolutely have to find time to write that. I'm going to wake up early tomorrow and try to get it done before everything else. I'm so sad I don't get to sleep in this weekend.

I guess I have to have some horror story to tell my children someday about how hard college is. I have never experienced anything close to this. I have had class/work/group meetings from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed this entire week. And it will be the same for the next week too. I haven't had time to cook so we've been going out way too often. I haven't had time to clean so our house was a mess until today when Daniel cleaned it. He's the best. He did so much today while I was gone. I ripped two pairs of jeans in the last few weeks (long story), so I've just been wearing ripped jeans because I don't have a free hour to drive to the mall and buy a new pair. Jackson is so desperate for attention that he got a tennis ball, dropped it in my lap while I was working on my computer, and sat there staring at me for 30 minutes. I feel so bad, like I'm a bad parent. And Daniel and I have had almost no time together- except for last night of course. I've been close to throwing a fit and just giving up. But it hasn't happened yet. If I can get through this week fulfilling all my obligations and doing well on all my projects, I will be a better person for it. This is real character building. I can feel it physically changing me. Or maybe that's the cortisol coursing through my veins. Cortisol is the stress hormone for all you non-sciency people :-)

Well I guess I should stop wasting time and work on my paper/ presentation/ final exam studying. Any encouraging words and/or prayers are welcome! I'm going to need them.

I'm going crazy!

The interview went great, what a relief. I'm just glad it's over. I couldn't sleep at all the 2 nights before, and I thought I was going to throw up the whole day up until I got there. I left an hour before, even though it takes less than 30 minutes to drive there. It's a good thing because traffic was terrible (at 3 in the afternoon- dumb!) so I got there about 15 minutes early. It's a HUGE campus with 2 hospitals, a medical school, and lots more so I had to find the building I was going to and the nearest parking lot. I wasn't paying attention, and I got pulled over by campus police. Definitely not what I needed ten minutes before my interview. Apparently, I was going 29mph in a 15mph street. Oops. I have absolutely no record because I've never been pulled over before so he let me go with a warning. But by the time he let me go, I was already late. I took a deep breath, parked, and ran there. I got there about 7 minutes late. Nobody seemed to mind. The lab is very small (3 women, compared with about 30 in my current lab). It's brand new, and they are about to move to another floor to get more space. I got the impression that I'm very qualified, especially since I have so much experience working with animals. The only problem is that I want to start graduate school. I didn't exactly tell them I was ready to start the application process and if I get accepted I will start next June. I just told them I wanted to go into the PA program there on campus eventually. But I think they had a feeling it would be soon, because at the end of the interview the PI told me she was hoping for someone who would stick around a while. But, if it's a good fit then that doesn't matter as much. She also is hoping to hire 2 people and the second person could be on a year-to-year basis. So I could definitely be that second person if they have the funding. Overall, a very positive experience. I really fit in well with everyone, and felt like I could see myself working there very easily.

What a relief that's over because I have a million other things going on! My Frontiers project is my biggest concern right now. We have absolutely no results, and we are presenting one week from today. That means we need a poster, a full length journal article, a powerpoint, and a coherent 50 minute presentation complete with answers to any questions asked by the chemistry faculty. To get results by then I will need to be in the lab every single day. Unfortunately, I can't because I have two other group presentations on Monday. So I have to meet with each of those groups, make a powerpoint presentation for each, and write a paper for one of them. I have no idea how I will get all of this done. Especially considering my professor "invited" (translation: required) us to come to his house at 10am on Saturday morning and stay all the way until the barbeque at 4pm! That's the entire day that I won't be able to work on either of my other presentations or paper. And I have no idea what we are going to be doing for 6 hours. I guess making our powerpoints and working on our presentations. Except that will be kind of difficult to do without any results! I'm freaking out. I have no brain power left to think about anything but all of these assignments and group projects. Did I mention I also have two final exams next week? I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to study for those in my spare time. Ha.

So Daniel has heard me talking about all of this and what does he do? He plans a date night on my only free night this weekend. I am so excited! I get to forget about all of this and go to a nice restaurant and then the ballet to see Romeo and Juliet. It's restaurant week in Denver which means that practically every restaurant has a deal where a couple gets a 3 course meal for $52.80 (Denver is the "mile high city" which means that its elevation is 5,280 ft). So Daniel made reservations for us for restaurant week and then we can get student rush tickets 2 hours before the performance if there are any seats left (which the box office told us there almost certainly will).

I hope I can get through the next week without going insane! And if you're reading this, don't call me or email me or add anything else to my to-do list (please). I just can't handle anything besides school and work.

The Next Big Step!

Oh my goodness, so much has happened in the last few days! I have such a busy day today, so I only have 10 minutes to get this down.

On Friday, I visited the UC Denver campus where I'm hoping to go for PA school. They had a whole presentation about the physician's assistant career, the curriculum at the school, and admissions. Then there was a student panel that answered our questions. And there was a short tour of the classrooms and labs. Luckily, a DU alumnus that I knew was on the student panel so I got to speak with her afterwards.

A few things I learned: PA is a fantastic profession! You still get to see patients, write prescriptions, and even assist in surgery at a hospital. You can change specialties very easily throughout your career. This program has an emphasis in pediatrics. Right out of school, the average salary is around $77K and it goes up to over $100K with experience. I'm very happy with that! The program is also very impressive. It's the longest in the country, 3 years. But, it's also one of the cheapest- for CO residents, it's about $38K for all three years. That's less than DU is for one year. Definitely affordable. Unique to their program is that you begin rotations your very first year. You have class 4 days a week, and rotations on the fifth day and then the weekend off. The students said it's very similar to an undergraduate schedule. It's not much more rigorous or time-consuming. Over the summer you are just doing 2 two week rotations and then your whole third year is in residency. And when you're done, you have a master's degree in physician's assistant studies. The program is very closely integrated with the medical school. The campus is an all medical campus. There's a medical school, dental school, pharmacy school, physical therapy school, pharmacology school, children's hospital, general hospital, and outpatient center. And your first term, you take anatomy which is a whole human cadaver dissection! Crazy. My biggest concern now is getting accepted. My current overall GPA is within the range of the students they accepted last year. My science GPA is a little under the range, but I still have 3 classes this quarter and 3 classes next quarter that will be factored into that. I have all the prerequisites, and the GRE is no longer required, but highly recommended. I'm definitely going to take it because if my GPA is a little low, but if my scores are really high, that will look much better on my application. I am SO EXCITED to start PA school and learn everything about treating patients.

The other exciting thing is that I got an interview for a job! I applied kind of on a whim last week. An acquaintance told me about the job, so I applied really quick. Yesterday I got an email that they want me to come in for an interview TOMORROW! Yikes. This is a full-time salary with benefits position in a research lab at UC Denver- the same UC Denver that I'm applying to for grad school. I've heard the salary will be around $30K. The lab researches breast cancer. The job description sounds just perfect for me. The list of requirements is practically the same list of skills on my resume. I just hope they can wait until June for me to start. But they wouldn't be interviewing me if they weren't willing to wait. They know I'm a student, it says it on my resume that I'm graduating in June. And when scheduling my interview, they said they knew we had to work around my class schedule. I have never had a real in-person interview before. My last job was a phone interview. So I'm super nervous. I've already read up on the lab and their current research. Now I need to think about some good answers to common interview questions.

Alright I'm going to grab some lunch before I meet with a professor, and then have a group meeting, and then a class, and then go pick up Daniel, and then have my piano lesson, and then pass out from exhaustion and nerves!

Things are Getting Better

This quarter has been a million times harder than I thought, but the end is near! If I can get through the next 3 weeks, I will be on the fast downhill path to graduation, freedom, and independence! I can't wait. I registered for next quarter, and I'm taking fairly easy classes. On purpose. I am giving up one of my minors because the last class I need is only offered at 8:30am. No thank you. I don't need 2 minors though, one is enough.

Yesterday we got back from visiting my sister in Columbus. I'm so glad I got to go and see her new life. Her apartment is very nice, perfect for her. It was so much fun to go to Ikea and spend all of Nicole's money! She was also really generous and bought us tickets to see a few shows, and took us out to some nice places to eat. We had a great time. I am so lucky that her and Daniel are such great friends. Daniel actually wanted to go visit her and had just as much fun as I did.

Of course, any trip creates stress. I missed a few classes, and switching time zones, traveling for 8 hours, and getting up at 4am twice in 4 days kinda threw me off. Daniel teases me that I'm kind of like a baby- I have to be fed on time, go to bed early, and kept on a schedule or I get cranky. It's true. So now I have to get back on schedule. And until them, I'll admit I've been a bit cranky. But this week is already almost over (the nice thing about being on vacation at the beginning of the week) and I'll have all weekend to catch up and get back on track.

The next big thing in my life is final exams. Which, this quarter, is more like final presentations. In three classes I have a group presentation, and in the fourth I have a recital (piano). So that's a lot to do in one week. For two of the 3 group presentations I also have a large paper to write, and for the third I have a test. That sounds like a lot when I write it all out like that. But I have to take it one day at a time and I'll figure it out. I always do :-)

After that is lovely spring break! I am definitely going to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather that Phoenix has in March. And I have meetings scheduled with the florist and bakery, and I'm trying to schedule a gown fitting and food tasting with the caterer. We'll see if that ever happens- they won't return my phone calls! And my Dad is going to take me to a Spring Training game. In all, I will be there for 6 days. Which is kind of a lot. I'm a little nervous about staying at my parents house, without Daniel or Nicole, for 6 whole days. I wish I could get a hotel, but it would be kind of rude I think- and expensive. So I'll deal with it. It won't be that bad, I'm sure.

And then a mere 10 weeks later I will officially be a college graduate. What a relief that will be! You spend your entire life working towards something, and here I am just a few months away. Crazy.

I'm sure you all want to hear how my class from hell is going. The truth is, it's gotten a bit better. We FINALLY got our procedure approved (8 weeks into the 10-week quarter), which leaves us about 2 weeks to do the actual experiment, analyze our results, and write a paper/presentation on it. Our final meeting with the professor, where our procedure was approved, we took a different approach. In the past, we have come to him saying "this is what we decided to do because.....". Well this time, we just pretended like it had already been approved. We asked him when we can sign up to be trained on the instrument, and when we can start. He said next week. And just like that, our procedure was approved! He wasn't mean, he didn't yell at us, he just told us what we needed to know to get started. I think we were a little lucky because he seemed flustered. There were a bunch of old guys in his office so maybe he had a meeting or something that distracted him. Regardless, we were absolutely thrilled. Now the real work starts! I completely re-wrote my paper from scratch, and I hope it's more like what he wants. Who knows? I guess I'll find out next week.

I have the professor from hell.

The title is not an exaggeration. This professor is a complete nightmare. He tore our group to pieces on Tuesday. Yelled at us, told us we were stupid, we know nothing. He constantly lectures his students about not going deep enough, not understanding the basic concepts, just spitting out vocabulary that they read in a textbook. Today he lectured us about how textbooks are useless. The authors probably know nothing about what they're writing. They just learn it on the surface and write a chapter on it and sell it for lots of money. And authors of journal articles are all just publishing crap because it looks good for their career. 90 percent of journal articles are crap. And certain journals, like the journal of membrane science, is written by engineers who know nothing about chemistry but try to write about it anyways. He is so critical of everyone else. How are we supposed to know what is "approved" and what isn't? I mean a textbook isn't an appropriate source of information for a college class? That's ridiculous!

Every time our group meets with him it is a terrifying experience. I'm not joking. We have to work up the nerve to go talk to him. None of us want to be the one to speak up, because as soon as we open our mouths he exclaims that we don't know anything and we can't come to him until we have done the background research. We can't ask him stupid questions. We have to research. We have to know the basics. This is not "voo-doo" science (that's one of his favorite phrases along with "black box" science). So he spent 2 hours telling us that it's the end of the 6th week, and we have to present our data in the 9th week, and he still won't approve our procedure because we have no idea what we are doing. Does he think we are just blowing this off?! That's completely false! We spent ten times more time and effort on this class than any other and yet we are confused and frustrated. Our group meets 3 times a week for at least 2 hours each time outside of class. Class itself is another 6 hours a week. So that's 12 hours a week on one 3 credit class. We spend hours and hours besides that doing research on our own. I can't tell you how many journal articles I've read. And the project he gave us: it turns out that nobody knows the answer! He's given us an impossible task to complete in 10 weeks and berates us for not knowing the answer. And nothing I'm saying is specific to our group. He treats every one of his students like this. He makes every group think that they are the "bad group" and they are behind everyone else and they aren't putting in enough effort like everyone else.

On top of being yelled at and called stupid, he writes all over our papers. We turned in our first draft of our own journal article last week. This was just the introduction, about a fifth of the whole paper. The front page of mine was completely covered in red pen. He wrote right over my words. At the very top was written "if you keep this up, you will get an F" I'm not even kidding. He wrote that on my paper. He also wrote a giant question mark over a paragraph, and wrote in giant letters "where is the chemistry." I should post a picture just so you can see. Daniel was appalled when I showed him. He thinks I exaggerate when I talk about this professor, but now I have proof in writing.

This class is torture. Everybody hates it. Everybody hates our professor. He scares us. We get all tongue tied and nobody wants to speak up because we'll look and sound stupid. He asks us a simple question, that we all KNOW the answer to, but nobody will answer it because somehow he will make it look like we don't know. He contradicts himself constantly, like telling us that we can't just follow the procedure someone else came up with and then telling us that we need to find someone else who has done the same thing that we want to do. Everybody's paper has red pen all over it. Everybody's says "poor work" and he lectured each group individually on how their writing is "sub-par for this level of class." On my group member's paper, the third page in, he wrote "I'm not even going to finish reading it because it's nonsense." Unbelievable! Even the other professors feel sorry for us. But I WILL NOT CRY. I will not. I want to, but I won't. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of knowing he's getting to me. He can play these mind games, but when this class is over my life will go on. I have a life. My life is not chemistry. I have a fiancee, and a puppy, and a house, and a family, and a wedding. And no matter what he does to me, as long as I pass this class, I can forget all about him and it. He will not break me. HA!

New Honeymoon plans

I think we've pretty much given up on Egypt for our honeymoon. It was going to be so perfect! But with all the protests and violence, it's just not safe. I kept thinking that by December it will be all back to normal again, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. President Mubarak has indicated that he will stay in office until September, when there will be a new election. Which means in September, there will be a whole new round of political unrest. That's a little too close to December 5 for me. So we spent all weekend trying to come up with a new vacation that we could still be excited about. It's remarkably difficult to find a nice place in December. All of Europe and most of Asia is way too cold. Australia and New Zealand are going to be really expensive, and 10 days just won't be enough to see everything there. An African safari would be incredible, but also incredibly expensive. There isn't a whole lot in South America that appeals to me, besides maybe Peru (Macchu Picchu) and the Galapagos Islands. But December is their rainy season where there is a downpour every single day. Costa Rica would be great, but Daniel's already been there. He's also been to Jamaica and the Bahamas before with his family. So that leaves..... Hawaii! It's so stereotypical I know, but I think it's exactly what we're looking for. Beautiful weather (of course), not in the middle of their high season (late December into January) so things won't be exorbitantly expensive, the flight is about half the cost of Egypt's flight, we'll be able to see everything in about 10 days, and there's a good mix of adventure, culture, natural beauty, and relaxation on the beach. Daniel's parents just went last summer, so they can help us a lot with the planning. In one weekend I'm already further along in the planning than I was with Egypt. Obviously there's a lot more resources out there for trips to Hawaii. We were hoping to keep the cost down a little bit. Egypt was going to cost us at least $5000, so we want to keep Hawaii under that. So far, I've determined that it will cost about $4500 including the flight and everything for 10 days. It adds up so fast!

The first big issue we ran into was the rental car. I will be 23, and Daniel will be 22, which means we can't rent a car. You absolutely need a car to get around, because there's no public transportation. With a little research, I discovered that most companies will rent to people 21-24 years old, but with an added fee of about $25 per day. That's an extra $250 for our trip! Crazy. With a little more research, I discovered an awesome perk of being a USAA member. They have a deal with Hertz, Avis, and Budget. All three will rent to 21-24 year olds for no extra fee! They also waive the "extra driver" fee, give a discount of 20-25% off, and free unlimited mileage. Can you believe it? That brought the quote from about $600 for the cheapest car to under $200 for the whole 10 days! That made me so happy.

We've also already found some gorgeous bed and breakfast places to stay that aren't ridiculously expensive, and are very romantic. My favorite so far is called Aloha Guest House. They have 4 or 5 rooms that all have ocean views. They serve a full breakfast every morning out on the deck for all the guests. They have snorkeling gear to borrow for free, and kayaks to rent. Every review says that this was the highlight of their trip to Hawaii, and they all want to come back. After a little bit of research, it seems like Hawaii is going to be much more romantic than Egypt. And our money will go much further. I even planned a day at the spa for us! I've never spent a day at the spa. We will go to a beach that has all black sand, and one that has green sand. We can see an active volcano. We can watch the lava flow down the mountain into the ocean. We are going to snorkel with manta rays at night, and go to Mauna Kea Observatory where you can see every star because you're out in the middle of the ocean! We can go snorkeling in a marine preservation that spinner dolphin families use as their nursery, and sea turtles nest there too. I'm so excited already! December needs to come really quickly!

Spring needs to come quickly too! We have gotten so much snow in the last week. We had a snow day last Monday evening/ Tuesday all day. Then that all melted and we got more snow all day on Thursday. That stuck around until Saturday, when it again snowed all day and night. Sunday morning I woke up and shoveled about 4 inches of snow off our driveway and sidewalk. My shoulders are very sore because a lot of it froze on into ice which I had to chip away with the shovel. And we have yet another winter weather advisory for tonight into tomorrow. We are going to get 6-8 inches overnight and all day tomorrow. That's on top of the 6 inches that are on the ground right now. And the high is 11 degrees. The local news mentioned that there's a good possibility it will be a snow day. That would be nice- but it will have to be really bad for the University to cancel two Tuesdays in a row. I hope they do though. Last Thursday when it snowed traffic was a nightmare. It took me an hour round trip to pick up Daniel from school and get back home. That's over twice as long as usual. I'm already dreaming of spring break in Phoenix. I can pull out my shorts and tank tops and get a nice tan while I'm there. It's only four and a half weeks away! And I get to see my gorgeous wedding gown again :-)

It's a SNOW DAY!

It's almost noon and I'm still in bed. Be jealous. It's a SNOW DAY! Or more accurately, a really REALLY COLD day. It is about negative 9 degrees outside right now. The high is below zero. Literally. Definitely record low temperatures. How exciting! We didn't even get that much snow actually. It snowed all day yesterday and we got maybe 3 inches. It's supposed to snow lightly all day today too, but accumulation won't be that much. Less than an inch probably. I feel like I should shovel because all that snow is going to freeze to the sidewalk instantly. Actually, forget that it's already frozen. I'm not going anywhere today. No way. Yesterday it took me 15 minutes to chip the ice off of my car. You know what "frosted glass" looks like? Well, it looks exactly like real frosted glass. That's what my windshield looked like until I scraped it all off.

So, my plan for today: stay in bed until noon (check)

make some homemade-from-scratch macaroni 'n cheese for lunch

read my biochemistry textbook (gotta take advantage of the free day since I'm way behind)

and watch a lot of daytime television

YAY! I know I should really savor this because very soon I will never get a day like this again. Schools may close, and a lot of businesses close, but National Jewish is not closed. I called the snow line last night and they said it's just business as usual. But I'm pretty sure that everyone on salary is choosing not to go in today. The roads are just scary. And imagine getting into your car when it's negative 10 degrees outside! Just the walk from the car to the door is miserable. The weather service says any exposed skin will get frost bite in under 30 minutes. No thank you. So as soon as I get a real job I won't get another snow day for the rest of my life. Once you have kids, you don't get to stay in bed until noon. I know that for sure. So Daniel and I are taking advantage of this day when we literally can't leave the house. We get to spend the entire day together with no obligations. Thank you God for crazy weather!