Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday, friends.  It's been a good day--church, 3 hour nap, and a yummy dinner with friends (more to come on that).  I leave you with this as I go to bed and get ready for another exam week.  It more or less approximates what I looked like when I started dating Jess.

H/t derp.com

Inception picture

So this picture has been making me laugh a lot, both today and a few weeks ago when I first saw it.  Please enjoy.  FYI, it actually doesn't have anything to do with Inception, but the screen captures are from the movie.

Things We Saw at the Pumpkin Show

• A pumpkin weighing over 1600 lbs.
• A replica of the world's largest pumpkin pie.
• More food vendor stands than things to see and do (aside from people-watching).
• Some friends from our ward.
• A fat guy saying, "I want sum' funnel cake."
• Some scary looking carnies (and some normal looking ones, too)
• Girls dancing to Irish music.  Either they had all slept with tight curlers the night before, or their teacher went wig-happy.
• A castle house.
• A handful of spaces in mouths where teeth should have been, but weren't.
• Pumpkin chili and pumpkin sloppy joes burgers.  And pumpkin waffles, and pumpkin bread, cookies, cake, pie, etc.
• Delicious mini pumpkin donuts, only $3.50 a bag (heaven, especially when fresh from the oil)
• A nice lady running the mini donut stand, who recognized me when I came back an hour later for another back.  Yes, they are just that good.
• A 3-mile long line of traffic waiting to get off the freeway to attend the Pumpkin Show--fortunately we noticed these as we were headed the opposite direction on our way home.

Celebration!

Last week was my 150th blog post (yay.), and to celebrate, I provide you with this most excellent picture.

Yep, it's Darth Vader on a chipmunk.  That about sums it up.

(Thanks, Giz, and good work Powerpig on Flickr)

It's bedtime

Well friends, the test went well and I had a nice relaxing weekend.  Time to hit it again this week, and I'm gonna go to bed now because I was up studying until 2:30 on Thursday night.  So I leave you with this.

Thanks, Derp.com!

In lieu of a longer post

Because I have an anatomy exam on Friday and I want to pass this one, I will be using this time to study rather than composing a longer post.  Please enjoy the video--these folks are pretty amazing.



Special thanks to Up Next In Sports

New SotM!

Just recently, one of my favorite bands released a new album--that's right, Guster has a new release after four years! The album is called Easy Wonderful, and the new SotM is called Do You Love Me (track 2, for those interested).  Check it out, and revel is their returned glory!

Sad to say, Guster was here in Columbus last weekend, just across the street from campus.  Because we had previously-made plans I was unable to attend.  I hope this is not the case next time they come 'round.

Excellent moment in testimony meeting

One of the guys who shared his testimony today said something very clever.  He likened medical school to the mortal portion of the plan of salvation:

"We come to Earth, receive a body, and get tested.  We come to medical school, receive a body, and get tested."

I let out what was probably the loudest laugh that I've ever produced in a chapel, and apparently (Jess said) about half the congregation turned to look.  I hadn't noticed, because I was too busy being entertained.  An excellent Sunday today.  I only wish I had been clever enough to think of it first.

How Do You Learn?

As I mentioned previously, medical school often feels like drinking from the firehose.  The whole process basically involves absorbing large amounts of information at a quick pace.  This is easier in some subjects for me (concept-based ones) than others (memorization-based ones).  Anatomy just happens to be one of those memorization-based subjects, and that is what we're slogging through right now.

I've found that flash cards tend to be a helpful way for me to memorize things, partially because they are very portable (I can go through them on the bus!), and partially because for my brain to memorize things, I have to beat them into it repeatedly.  And then some more.  Occasionally I'll try to come up with mnemonics to help things stick a little better.  Discussing things with other people and reviewing together also helps, as does drawing things out.

But as I am always looking for a better way of doing things, what do you do, dear (5) readers, to make things that you learn stick?

Costco Trips

I love Costco--they have great stuff in bulk for cheap.  They give food samples.  They have a tasty food court.  And where else can you buy a package of toilet paper that weighs more than you do?

We went there on Friday for date night (how romantic!) and picked up all of those aforementioned things.  We got a delicious pizza for ten bucks that's much bigger and much tastier than the Hot and Readys at Little Caesar's.  We also got a yummy tub of cookie dough, ostensibly for baking, but really just for snacking on out of the fridge (yum).

So here's two more things about Costco that I wanted to share with you.

1. Costco milk in Ohio comes in a different shaped jug.  Totally weirded me out the first time I saw it.  But hey, they're stackable!

H/t The Brown's Sanitarium

2. "Pat".  At our local Costco gas station, there is one attendant that we have seen every. single. time. we've filled up.  Like the SNL character, "Pat" (not the real name, so as to protect the innocent and ambiguous) is of indeterminate gender.  Pat's name is one that is usually a female name, but spelling would allow it to be a male's name, too.  Pat's build is completely ambiguous, but skinnily so rather than SNL's fatty.  Hair? Ponytail.  Voice?  Sounds like Shawn from the early seasons of Boy Meets World.  Most of this wouldn't bother me so much if Pat weren't so chatty.  At least half of my visits to the pump consist of awkwardly conversing with a person that wants to come across as a woman, but all of my senses are screaming to me is a man.  And the pump just doesn't seem to pump fast enough.