House Sitting

For the last week and a half, we were house sitting for our bishop. They have two dogs and some fish, but overall, it was so easy and relaxing staying at their home.

The other day, Mike made a comment about how he was craving meat loaf. So one night, I went all out making this gourmet meat loaf. I went to the garden, picked vine-rip tomatoes, and roasted them in the oven along with garlic to make my own tomato sauce. I found some great seasonings and actually measured out the bread crumbs so it would be perfect. Last, I found this Pamper Chief stoneware bread loaf. This would definitely make it the best. I stuck it in the top oven and set the timer for 45 minutes. When the timer went off and I walked up to the oven, it smelt a little brunt. Oh great. When I open the oven door, all the smoke billowed into the kitchen. I had cremated the meat loaf. I carried the pan out to the garage. Just in that short distance, the pan had burned the hot pads. We tried cleaning the pan a few days later, but I guess the pan got so hot it cracked. It wasn't until afterwards that Mike reminded me that the top oven was broken (doesn't stop heating), and they told us not to use it. Here are pictures of before and after. The bishop's wife had two other bread pans, so she wasn't worried. Thank goodness.

Before

After

Life as a Medical Student

So, I'm writing this post at 11:39 PM. I'm finally getting done with all the studying that I needed to do today. As I sit here and eat my Blue Bell Ice Cream before I go to bed, I decided that I had enough energy in me to do a little write up explaining how medical school is going.

I can't believe we've been in Lubbock for over a month now. The first 1 1/2 weeks, before we started school, went by ridiculously slow. Now, my days fly by and I can't find enough time to study.

Med school is busy, but great. You really get thrown into it from day 1. The first day of class we had to go down to the cadaver lab, meet our cadaver group, dissect the whole back and memorize all the muscles, nerves, arteries and veins that had to do with the back. Then it happened the next day with the neck, then the next day with the shoulder and so forth, and there is no sign of a stop or slowdown of the information coming my way.

Today a I was talking with a friend who used a good analogy to describe what med school is like. Med school is like eating 500 pancakes. After the first 3 or 4, you're like, "I got this, no problem. I like pancakes." But then they just keep coming and coming. Soon you're so full that you don't feel like you can eat any more, but you have to, there's no other way around it. The worst thing about it is that I know that I have to know this. This is not just something that I can memorize to get by, spit it up on the test, then forget about it. Anyways, needless to say, my cadavers has been seeing way more of me lately than Katie.

Overall, I really like it. We're starting to discover the ins and outs of Lubbock. Great people, great food, and enough fun things to keep us entertained with the small amount of time we have.

(The pictures above were taken from my white coat ceremony)

New Calling

The second week here, the bishop called me to be the ward chorister. He stressed the importance of smiling. I guess there was one chorister in the past who didn't smile, and it affected the quality of the singing. This Sunday was my big debut. When I got there, the songs had already been picked out (I had emailed some songs earlier to the program maker but hadn't heard back) and the old chorister was sitting in the front row to the side (the unwritten but well known of designated spot for the chorister). We talked for a bit and ended with the conversation with, "Okay, I'll start next week." When the first song started, neither of us went up. I guess she thought that I would start leading the music and she liked sitting in that spot. In my mind, who would want to sit right there if they didn't have to. Strike one. Well, I learned my lesson and went up to lead the sacrament hymn. Josh told me that I needed to be like Brother Annas but the whole time I was up there, I was trying to figure out where to look. There were people who were actually looking at me, which made me feel awkward. I was too caught up on not staring back that I messed up during the second verse. Strike two. During the last song, I focused my energy on smiling. I finished the song beautifully with no mistakes. When I hurried back to my seat, Mike gave me a funny look. He asked me if I didn't like the fourth verse. I didn't know what he was talking about. I guess I was so focused on smiling that we skipped the fourth verse. Strike three. Who knew that such a simple calling could be so dramatic?