Happy Birthday, Mr. Woodward

Chase in the LCHC hoola-hoop contest

Today is my friend Chase’s birthday, and since blogs have played an important role in our friendship, I thought it would be appropriate to wish him a happy birthday here. Chase and I met during our time at Lawndale Christian Health Center in Chicago. We were summer health interns there during the summer of 2007. I wrote about our time here. We only spent a month at Lawndale, but while we were there, I convinced Chase to start a blog, and we’ve been keeping in touch ever since. Another testament to the coolness of blogging.

So Happy Birthday, Chase “The Wire” Woodward. You’re one of the good ones.

The LSMP gang minus Jess

allow me to introduce you

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com

As many of you know, I love blogs. I would definitely consider it a hobby, and probably one of my favorite ones right behind cycling. This doesn’t just include writing on my blog, it also means reading other blogs. Some belonging to people I know, some belonging to people I kind of know, and some belonging to people I have never met.

Today I would like to introduce you to two of my favorite blog things. Ok, maybe three.

1. Google Reader

Google Reader is great if you like to read many blogs on a regular basis. You need a Google email account (Gmail) which  you can get at Google.com. Once you’re signed in, there’s a thing at the top which says “Reader.” You can “subscribe” to blogs and then when someone posts something new, it automatically adds it to your reader. So instead of actually checking blogs to see if there was anything new, Google Reader puts all the new blogs in one place for easy reading. Check it out if you haven’t already.

2. Pioneer Woman

I think I may have mentioned her in a previous post. She has a very popular, very elaborate blog which is actually several blogs in one. One about cooking, one about photography, one about home and garden, one about homeschooling, and one just about her everyday life on a cattle ranch. She’s married to a hot cowboy whom she calls Marlboro Man and she periodically posts new chapters in their incredibly romantic story. Warning: This blog is highly addictive and may make you want to be a pioneer woman yourself.

3. Post Secret

If you live under a rock and don’t know about Post Secret, you must check it out. People send in postcards which they have decorated with their secrets and then the guy who runs the site picks some to post every week. It helps people to see they’re not alone in their secrets. It’s eerily cathartic.

Happy Blogging:)

a long long time coming

Have you ever gotten everything you ever wanted? Me neither, but a week ago last Friday I got some news that came close. After two years of being rejected from medical schools, I got my first acceptance!

It isn’t everything I ever wanted. I wanted to go to IU. I think this is the time to pull out one of my favorite quotes. I saw Dana Buchman, a fashion designer on Oprah about a year ago. She was talking about putting her career on the back burner to spend more time with her child with learning disabilities when she said this: “You can have it all, but the it may not be what you think it is.” I don’t know if Dana was speaking from a place of faith, but I am. I thought that having it all was going to IU Med School right after graduating college. Now I can see how the timing of the past few years has been perfect. I got a masters degree, lived with my best friend, and learned a lot about myself.

Now the knitty gritty: The school I was accepted at is Lincoln Memorial University Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, Tennessee. I also have interviews in Arizona and Missouri and expect to get a couple more. So I don’t know for sure that I’m going to Tennessee, but I know I’m going somewhere! Which is a little bittersweet- I’m excited to be going to medical school, but sad to be leaving Indianapolis.

Here are some facts/my thoughts about Lincoln Memorial:

1. It’s an osteopathic medical school. Check this out if you’re interested in what that means. But basically, I’d have a DO after my name instead of an MD. DOs can do absolutely everything that MDs can do, it’s just a different type of school with a different philosophy- more wholistic.

2. This school is brand new. I would be a member of their third class. This has pros and cons. Since the school is new, they want to graduate successful students to demonstrate that their school is a good one. They will do whatever it takes to make sure their students succeed. It also has all the latest technology: 4 simulator dummies, very nice clinic areas, an incredible lecture hall with push to talk microphones at every seat, and tablet laptops for all students.

3. Harrogate, Tennessee is a very small town. It’s right by Cumberland Gap and the Cumberland Gap National Park. Lots of opportunities for great riding! But it’s in the middle of nowhere. No sushi. No Starbucks. No Target. There is, of course, a Walmart. The school is literally nestled in the mountains. It’s the building in the middle of the aerial picture below with the undergrad campus behind it.

 

Obviously the area is beautiful. I think I would be happy there.