I got interviewed again! I am not so keen on this website but the woman was really nice, and kept bugging me.
http://www.dugdug.com/blog/future-of-veterinary-care-gettysburg-college/
~Melissa
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Universe Giving Back
So yesterday I was dying of thirst. I had just gotten out of a lab working with mouse melanoma cells and for some reason I just really wanted something to wet my whistle. I was in the library, studying for my cell bio "quiz" on Friday, and I went down to the machine to get something. Of course, I only had a five dollar bill, and the machine only takes ones. I had some quarters and other change, and I very excitedly realized that the machine took nickels and dimes ( I only had four quarters). So I sit there and feed about ten coins in. The readout says 1.70 put in. Drinks are 1.75. I have no more change. I stared in desolation at the machine. I really just wanted a cherry coke- was that too much to ask?? I pressed the coin return and the machine spit out my coins, one at a time, filling up the little holder. I retrieved them and looked sadly at the machine, then at the snack machine next door. Little hope in my heart, I reached into the coin return of the snack machine, out of habit more than anything. Deep in the recesses of that black hole, I found a dime. I stared at it in disbelief, then quickly re-fed my coins in. The machine spit out my cherry coke, and a nickel, which I replaced in the snack machine's coin return.
Later, I found a very, very important notecard that I thought I had lost hidden in the bottom of my backpack.
Luck is apparently with me. Perhaps the universe knew I needed a little help this semester.
~Melissa
Later, I found a very, very important notecard that I thought I had lost hidden in the bottom of my backpack.
Luck is apparently with me. Perhaps the universe knew I needed a little help this semester.
~Melissa
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Course Selection: Successful!
I picked classes this AM for next year, and I got in everything I was hoping to!
In the fall I will be taking:
Comparative Animal Physiology
Biochemistry I
Anatomy and Physiology I
Native American Studies
In the Spring I will be taking:
Vertebrate zoology
Neurobiology
Anatomy and Physiology II
Roots of the English Language (I have heard this is helpful for medical terms)
I will have three labs both semesters, but one of those three is a combine lecture and lab, so it is essentially 4 hours of lab twice a week with those. I will be in class 23 hours a week! If I have to go to part-time status I will be retaining the biology classes, dropping A &P and my two non-science classes. I will be graduating on-time (rather than early as my high school self had wanted), but I will be graduating with a strong background in the sciences, well-prepared for grad school.
By this time next year I will know if I am going to vet school directly out of undergrad or not! My back up plan? Probably becoming a research tech somewhere to get experience with that.
I still haven't heard from either of my Summer internships, though I emailed the FDA one last night since their 45 day prediction is about up. I have a sinking feeling that I will indeed be working on the farm this Summer, and that my chance to get into some sort of research is gone. BUT my advisor did tell me I was welcome to come piddle around in his lab this Summer and get a little unpaid experience if I wanted (since the time for grants has come and gone), and this I will do since even a little research experience is better than none!
We are skyping with a distinguished alumni this evening, and I'm sure hoping that club members will show up. The last speaker to come only had three other officers and one general club member show up (which was kind of embarrassing!). She was a local vet, and extended her offer to those at the meeting to come shadow and even possibly work for her, so that was a great opportunity that many people missed out on. This speaker is a faculty member at a vet school, and has authored hundreds of articles, as well as two novels! I'm pretty excited to meet him.
Anywho, back to homework!
~Melissa
In the fall I will be taking:
Comparative Animal Physiology
Biochemistry I
Anatomy and Physiology I
Native American Studies
In the Spring I will be taking:
Vertebrate zoology
Neurobiology
Anatomy and Physiology II
Roots of the English Language (I have heard this is helpful for medical terms)
I will have three labs both semesters, but one of those three is a combine lecture and lab, so it is essentially 4 hours of lab twice a week with those. I will be in class 23 hours a week! If I have to go to part-time status I will be retaining the biology classes, dropping A &P and my two non-science classes. I will be graduating on-time (rather than early as my high school self had wanted), but I will be graduating with a strong background in the sciences, well-prepared for grad school.
By this time next year I will know if I am going to vet school directly out of undergrad or not! My back up plan? Probably becoming a research tech somewhere to get experience with that.
I still haven't heard from either of my Summer internships, though I emailed the FDA one last night since their 45 day prediction is about up. I have a sinking feeling that I will indeed be working on the farm this Summer, and that my chance to get into some sort of research is gone. BUT my advisor did tell me I was welcome to come piddle around in his lab this Summer and get a little unpaid experience if I wanted (since the time for grants has come and gone), and this I will do since even a little research experience is better than none!
We are skyping with a distinguished alumni this evening, and I'm sure hoping that club members will show up. The last speaker to come only had three other officers and one general club member show up (which was kind of embarrassing!). She was a local vet, and extended her offer to those at the meeting to come shadow and even possibly work for her, so that was a great opportunity that many people missed out on. This speaker is a faculty member at a vet school, and has authored hundreds of articles, as well as two novels! I'm pretty excited to meet him.
Anywho, back to homework!
~Melissa
Sunday, March 31, 2013
What a Week!
Well this week I got back two not so great exams- an 83% on a physics exam and an 83% on an organic exam. The class average was much lower both times, hovering around a 75 for the physics and a 64 for organic. I'm not so happy with either one, but there is nothing I can do about it, and I'm just hoping that my other grades will balance them out. On Tuesday I was invited to go to a private dinner with a visiting author by my poetry professor. I really didn't know what to expect, but it was a fantastic multi-course meal at a prestigious restaurant in town, and there were multiple faculty members, mainly involved in my professor's main job- a review magazine. I was one of two students there, and there were only 15 people invited. I had a wonderful time chatting with everyone, and was invited again this coming week for another meal with a visiting author at a different restaurant. After the dinner, I went to a reading by the poet, and had my book signed. He also came to class the next day and talked with us, so that as well was very neat.
My lab partner "forgot" to tell me that she was going out of town for the end of the week, which meant that we couldn't do our lab project. This coming week we will then have to do two lab projects at once, on top of having another cell exam on Friday to study for. I'm a little nervous about doing all of it, but I'm sure that it will work out.
Yesterday was a pretty big day for me; it was my first full 8 hour day at the farm! I fed the animals in the morning, went to the feed store, refilled the feed barrels in all the barns, and then got called to give a hand with a prolapsed uterus. The owner gave me some gloves and helped catch and hold the ewe, and I washed her up, stuffed her uterus back inside and put a harness on her to keep it in. They are planning on getting rid of her soon... if you know what I mean... so they didn't want to have the vet out to staple her uterus in place (the normal procedure for a permanent fix). This is the second time she has done this, and on a meat farm this is an unfortunate event they can't afford to worry about. She did get an antibiotic shot to prevent infection, and she will be kept until her babes are old enough and the antibiotics are past the required time. I finished up with the evening feeding, checked on her again, and then heading to my grandmothers for a shower before shadowing.
Last night I shadowed at the ER, and had a really interesting time. The vet that I shadowed with ended up being pretty involved at VMRCVM. He is a very active alumni and part of their mentoring program. He has done small animal practice, emergency practice, and currently does lab animal medicine at Virginia Tech. And he is one of the 4 interviewers for vet school applicants. Talk about intimidating! He kept asking me questions about things he was doing and why he was doing them, and I'm pretty sure I failed about half of the questions. He was a really nice guy though, and had fantastic client interaction skills, probably the best I have ever seen. I was also in surgery with him for three hours, doing both an exploratory and a cryptorchid. The exploratory was negative, so he took samples of the intestines for biopsy. The cryptorchid surgery also did not go as planned- the second testi was in a bizarre place, and was only a centimeter long! Talk about difficult to find. He never gave up though. I did notice that his hands shook during the entire surgery, something that I found fascinating, though his cuts were as clean and straight as can be. He told me all about different structures and arteries as we went, and I really enjoyed the surgery. I'm certainly hoping that I ended up leaving a good impression with him! If I get that far, it would be helpful to have a familiar face on the other end of the table, and if I get even further, it would be really neat to have him as a mentor.
Cheers,
Melissa
My lab partner "forgot" to tell me that she was going out of town for the end of the week, which meant that we couldn't do our lab project. This coming week we will then have to do two lab projects at once, on top of having another cell exam on Friday to study for. I'm a little nervous about doing all of it, but I'm sure that it will work out.
Yesterday was a pretty big day for me; it was my first full 8 hour day at the farm! I fed the animals in the morning, went to the feed store, refilled the feed barrels in all the barns, and then got called to give a hand with a prolapsed uterus. The owner gave me some gloves and helped catch and hold the ewe, and I washed her up, stuffed her uterus back inside and put a harness on her to keep it in. They are planning on getting rid of her soon... if you know what I mean... so they didn't want to have the vet out to staple her uterus in place (the normal procedure for a permanent fix). This is the second time she has done this, and on a meat farm this is an unfortunate event they can't afford to worry about. She did get an antibiotic shot to prevent infection, and she will be kept until her babes are old enough and the antibiotics are past the required time. I finished up with the evening feeding, checked on her again, and then heading to my grandmothers for a shower before shadowing.
Last night I shadowed at the ER, and had a really interesting time. The vet that I shadowed with ended up being pretty involved at VMRCVM. He is a very active alumni and part of their mentoring program. He has done small animal practice, emergency practice, and currently does lab animal medicine at Virginia Tech. And he is one of the 4 interviewers for vet school applicants. Talk about intimidating! He kept asking me questions about things he was doing and why he was doing them, and I'm pretty sure I failed about half of the questions. He was a really nice guy though, and had fantastic client interaction skills, probably the best I have ever seen. I was also in surgery with him for three hours, doing both an exploratory and a cryptorchid. The exploratory was negative, so he took samples of the intestines for biopsy. The cryptorchid surgery also did not go as planned- the second testi was in a bizarre place, and was only a centimeter long! Talk about difficult to find. He never gave up though. I did notice that his hands shook during the entire surgery, something that I found fascinating, though his cuts were as clean and straight as can be. He told me all about different structures and arteries as we went, and I really enjoyed the surgery. I'm certainly hoping that I ended up leaving a good impression with him! If I get that far, it would be helpful to have a familiar face on the other end of the table, and if I get even further, it would be really neat to have him as a mentor.
Cheers,
Melissa
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Farm Hand
First of all, I did want to apologize for not being as up-to-date on my posts as I have been in the past. It has been one rough semester for me, and while I post when I can, it's nowhere near what I'd like to!
Some updates about the new job:
I went on Saturday to follow around the current farm hand for feeding time and see what needed to be done. My duties are basically to feed and water the cows, hogs, sheep and poultry (both broilers and layers), gather eggs, and (surprise, surprise) scoop poop. Builds character I have heard. I certainly don't mind it, especially since right now there are tons of baby animals on the farm! They have about 20 head of cattle, 7 hogs (and 9 piglets!), probably 100 chickens and tons of sheep, as well as two sheep dogs, and two barn cats. The entire farm isn't "organic" but it is sustainable; they do everything as close to organic as they can while still being able to make some money. Basically, they buy non-organic hay because their neighbor sells hay and it's cheaper and easier. The farm is absolutely beautiful, and at the top barn you get a gorgeous view of the valley and the nearby horse stables of the farm one over. The animals are taken care of really well (besides the minimal vaccines and vet work, which I'm not a fan of, but it's not my place), have tons of space and pens are cleaned daily. Even the hogs are allowed to nurse their piglets freely (which unfortunately results in squished piglets). I'm excited to be there, even if it is only on a farm hand capacity. We did find the first dead lamb of the season; no visible marks, but just dead in the paddock. The main sheep dog was really depressed about it, and wouldn't even look at her food. She is a Great Pyrenees, and the sweetest thing I have met. The other farm dog is a 8-month old mixed-breed puppy with no manners who jumped all over me and was absolutely ridiculous. We will have to have some talks because I hate being jumped on by huge obnoxious animals, especially when it results in my butt landing in sheep poop.
I start next weekend for my first full-time day, and then skip a week because I am going to VMRCVM's Open House! Taking whoever wants to go from the club, and I think my mother is going to go down with us/drive us since she wants to go too.
This morning we moved my horses back to my mom's (quite a feat). I will miss them, but not the added responsibilities of stall muckings, getting feed and shavings, and scrubbing out the water tubs! They have a much larger pasture there and acres to run in and have a grand ole time. They certainly were happy when we dropped them off!
Shadowing this weekend was pretty busy. There is some dissension in the ranks between the admin and the staff, which made me feel kinda uncomfortable, but I still enjoyed myself. We saw a strange lump on a dog's toe (possibly a bone infection), diagnosed a huge mass in a very sweet, young dog, patched up two dog-bite victims (both of the same breed, ironically). Saw a small puppy who ingested a couple pills of mucinex and was extremely drunk-acting. And euthanized an old, old cat.
Similar to the toe; our dog was missing it's complete claw as well (and had been for months):
(From brooklynvetgroup.com)
~Melissa
Some updates about the new job:
I went on Saturday to follow around the current farm hand for feeding time and see what needed to be done. My duties are basically to feed and water the cows, hogs, sheep and poultry (both broilers and layers), gather eggs, and (surprise, surprise) scoop poop. Builds character I have heard. I certainly don't mind it, especially since right now there are tons of baby animals on the farm! They have about 20 head of cattle, 7 hogs (and 9 piglets!), probably 100 chickens and tons of sheep, as well as two sheep dogs, and two barn cats. The entire farm isn't "organic" but it is sustainable; they do everything as close to organic as they can while still being able to make some money. Basically, they buy non-organic hay because their neighbor sells hay and it's cheaper and easier. The farm is absolutely beautiful, and at the top barn you get a gorgeous view of the valley and the nearby horse stables of the farm one over. The animals are taken care of really well (besides the minimal vaccines and vet work, which I'm not a fan of, but it's not my place), have tons of space and pens are cleaned daily. Even the hogs are allowed to nurse their piglets freely (which unfortunately results in squished piglets). I'm excited to be there, even if it is only on a farm hand capacity. We did find the first dead lamb of the season; no visible marks, but just dead in the paddock. The main sheep dog was really depressed about it, and wouldn't even look at her food. She is a Great Pyrenees, and the sweetest thing I have met. The other farm dog is a 8-month old mixed-breed puppy with no manners who jumped all over me and was absolutely ridiculous. We will have to have some talks because I hate being jumped on by huge obnoxious animals, especially when it results in my butt landing in sheep poop.
I start next weekend for my first full-time day, and then skip a week because I am going to VMRCVM's Open House! Taking whoever wants to go from the club, and I think my mother is going to go down with us/drive us since she wants to go too.
This morning we moved my horses back to my mom's (quite a feat). I will miss them, but not the added responsibilities of stall muckings, getting feed and shavings, and scrubbing out the water tubs! They have a much larger pasture there and acres to run in and have a grand ole time. They certainly were happy when we dropped them off!
Shadowing this weekend was pretty busy. There is some dissension in the ranks between the admin and the staff, which made me feel kinda uncomfortable, but I still enjoyed myself. We saw a strange lump on a dog's toe (possibly a bone infection), diagnosed a huge mass in a very sweet, young dog, patched up two dog-bite victims (both of the same breed, ironically). Saw a small puppy who ingested a couple pills of mucinex and was extremely drunk-acting. And euthanized an old, old cat.
Similar to the toe; our dog was missing it's complete claw as well (and had been for months):
(From brooklynvetgroup.com)~Melissa
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Fingers
You can always tell how stressed I am by the bad habit I have. That habit is destroying my fingers. I think they are worse now then they have been since the fifth grade when I tried to stop ripping them apart. I peel the nails off, and get rid of all the skin on the sides of my fingernails and rip my cuticles off. It's not pretty, and it is a really nasty habit. This week has been one blow after the other. I got my cell midterm back that I took before break, and it was bad. I mean BAD. I went in to meet with my professor, and he did tell me that I'm 16th out of 60 in the class, but that's not saying much since half the class is actually failing. My lab grades are bringing everything else up. His exams are graded essentially question by question pass/fail. So if you write a 10 point essay and don't use the exact terms that he is looking for, or miss a couple of details, you get a zero. There is very little partial credit, and that he only gives if you were spot on with everything and only missed a little bit. I can understand it, and I realize that probably more classes should grade this way but... it was kinda harsh for me, especially when some of the questions had to be answered in only one sentence.
On top of that, I had a midterm in American Poetry on Wednesday (which I rocked), and an exam in orgo yesterday which I didn't do so hot on. The worst part about the one yesterday was that it was really unlike the professor- he threw stuff in there from last semester without even a warning or an indication to look back over it, and even the format was different than his past exams. Nobody that I talked to actually finished the exam, and I myself left two parts of questions blank, and guessed on quite a bit. It was pathetic, since orgo is normally my strong suit by far, and I went in feeling good about the material. Maybe I'm developing text anxiety? After the exam I went to my next class and was just miserable. Even a few tears leaked down my cheeks as I took notes on lecture. This semester is rough. I have a physics exam on Monday, so I'm hoping to do alright on that one, and get at least two good grades this semester. Unlike last, this definitely won't be a 4.0. My great GPA for vet school is quickly dropping with every exam, and I can almost see things slipping away from me.
Oh, and the school is probably slicing down my grant money for next year. Which means that I am looking at the possibilities of going part time just to be able to make ends meet (I can do this with the amount of credits I need, though I sacrifice the courses I have been looking forward to for years, and this looks awful for vet school applications, especially after what this semester is shaping up to be). There are bigger things than vet school though, and one of those is not putting my parents into debt just because of what I want to do. I'm looking into taking out more student loans as an alternative as well.
My poor fingers...
~Melissa
On top of that, I had a midterm in American Poetry on Wednesday (which I rocked), and an exam in orgo yesterday which I didn't do so hot on. The worst part about the one yesterday was that it was really unlike the professor- he threw stuff in there from last semester without even a warning or an indication to look back over it, and even the format was different than his past exams. Nobody that I talked to actually finished the exam, and I myself left two parts of questions blank, and guessed on quite a bit. It was pathetic, since orgo is normally my strong suit by far, and I went in feeling good about the material. Maybe I'm developing text anxiety? After the exam I went to my next class and was just miserable. Even a few tears leaked down my cheeks as I took notes on lecture. This semester is rough. I have a physics exam on Monday, so I'm hoping to do alright on that one, and get at least two good grades this semester. Unlike last, this definitely won't be a 4.0. My great GPA for vet school is quickly dropping with every exam, and I can almost see things slipping away from me.
Oh, and the school is probably slicing down my grant money for next year. Which means that I am looking at the possibilities of going part time just to be able to make ends meet (I can do this with the amount of credits I need, though I sacrifice the courses I have been looking forward to for years, and this looks awful for vet school applications, especially after what this semester is shaping up to be). There are bigger things than vet school though, and one of those is not putting my parents into debt just because of what I want to do. I'm looking into taking out more student loans as an alternative as well.
My poor fingers...
~Melissa
Friday, March 15, 2013
Two Interviews and a Ride
Had both my interviews today!
The first one went really well- the owner forgot I was coming, however, and so it was kind of a surprise that I was there! She was really great about it though, and sat down to talk with me about everything. I loved how organized she was, and also how incredibly nice. She offered me as much work as I want to take on, starting Saturdays and if I feel comfortable to do an evening during the week, I could do that as well. She showed me all of the barns, and everything was well taken care of and very organized, clean and kept up. It impressed me a lot, especially on a fairly large farm. They offered me the position on the spot, and in my heart of hearts I knew it was right, and I accepted. She was so excited to hear that I had experience with power tools and farm upkeep, and could drive a stick shift, which her current worker cannot (he is also 15!). I met one of the other full-time workers and he as well was extremely polite and friendly. The place had a wonderful vibe to it. So I start in April! I will be taking care of hogs, sheep, cattle and poultry, and any general farm maintenance that needs to be done.
I headed home after that for a short break, and then went to the trail riding place. Yes, I know I had already accepted one job, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to check out the other and possibly do both. Well, it was a little different. The paint on all the buildings was peeling, there was trash and random junk piled into outbuildings, and goats, turkeys, chickens, an emu and what must have been ten dogs running around without containment. It was right off of a main road, so I was little concerned, but everyone seemed to stay away from it. When I got there the place was empty, though there was one horse in a stall by himself. I figured they must have been out on a ride and so I waited. The barn was the nicest place, and was obviously well-kept, though very small. The horses as well looked really nice, well-groomed and well-fed. I had my interview once they came back from the ride, and was told that there were a ton of people applying for the position. I was supposed to go out for a working interview and ride as a second trail guide, but the ride cancelled, so I just talked to her for a few minutes and left. She didn't really seem too interested in what I had to say, just seemed really busy and anxious to be done. She did invite me back for another working interview in a couple of weekends, but I think I might email her and let her know I am no longer interested in the position. As much fun as I think it would be, it is also a much longer drive, and I don't know that she is really someone that I would want to work for!
I was all itching to ride once I got home, so after a nice dinner with my grandparents, I hopped on my horse. It was a pretty short ride, since she spooked at a plastic bag and almost dumped me off, and then was being a complete brat. I honestly just get tired of fighting with her sometimes, and I did today. I half-heartedly made her do a few things such as turns on fore and rear, trotting some figure eights, walking up to the terrifying plastic bag, but then just let her head on back to the barn. I brushed her down again and gave her some lovings, mucked stalls and headed back home for the night.
Time to get cracking on some homework!
~Melissa
The first one went really well- the owner forgot I was coming, however, and so it was kind of a surprise that I was there! She was really great about it though, and sat down to talk with me about everything. I loved how organized she was, and also how incredibly nice. She offered me as much work as I want to take on, starting Saturdays and if I feel comfortable to do an evening during the week, I could do that as well. She showed me all of the barns, and everything was well taken care of and very organized, clean and kept up. It impressed me a lot, especially on a fairly large farm. They offered me the position on the spot, and in my heart of hearts I knew it was right, and I accepted. She was so excited to hear that I had experience with power tools and farm upkeep, and could drive a stick shift, which her current worker cannot (he is also 15!). I met one of the other full-time workers and he as well was extremely polite and friendly. The place had a wonderful vibe to it. So I start in April! I will be taking care of hogs, sheep, cattle and poultry, and any general farm maintenance that needs to be done.
I headed home after that for a short break, and then went to the trail riding place. Yes, I know I had already accepted one job, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to check out the other and possibly do both. Well, it was a little different. The paint on all the buildings was peeling, there was trash and random junk piled into outbuildings, and goats, turkeys, chickens, an emu and what must have been ten dogs running around without containment. It was right off of a main road, so I was little concerned, but everyone seemed to stay away from it. When I got there the place was empty, though there was one horse in a stall by himself. I figured they must have been out on a ride and so I waited. The barn was the nicest place, and was obviously well-kept, though very small. The horses as well looked really nice, well-groomed and well-fed. I had my interview once they came back from the ride, and was told that there were a ton of people applying for the position. I was supposed to go out for a working interview and ride as a second trail guide, but the ride cancelled, so I just talked to her for a few minutes and left. She didn't really seem too interested in what I had to say, just seemed really busy and anxious to be done. She did invite me back for another working interview in a couple of weekends, but I think I might email her and let her know I am no longer interested in the position. As much fun as I think it would be, it is also a much longer drive, and I don't know that she is really someone that I would want to work for!
I was all itching to ride once I got home, so after a nice dinner with my grandparents, I hopped on my horse. It was a pretty short ride, since she spooked at a plastic bag and almost dumped me off, and then was being a complete brat. I honestly just get tired of fighting with her sometimes, and I did today. I half-heartedly made her do a few things such as turns on fore and rear, trotting some figure eights, walking up to the terrifying plastic bag, but then just let her head on back to the barn. I brushed her down again and gave her some lovings, mucked stalls and headed back home for the night.
Time to get cracking on some homework!
~Melissa
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