life has been crazy busy lately. school is really starting to get overwhelming, and it takes a lot of time to stay caught up with it all. we took finley to see ELMO live tonight. and tomorrow we are headed on a weekend roadtrip to East TN. i have had basically no time for pictures, but i have posted some on facebook that i have reworked in the last month. you can see them through this link... PHOTOS
that's all for now
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
a day in the life
well i am starting to get used to life in the big city. i would not say i'm adapted yet, but i at least know how to get to school and back without using the GPS. i thought i would show you around a little bit, so you can get a visual of my day. below is an aerial view of our apartment complex. the orange line to the east is Germantown Parkway which is a six (sometimes 8) lane giant of a road that has every restaurant, shop, church, store, school etc. you could ever imagine. i have circled the church that we went to this week. it's off of germantown. we absolutely loved it, and look how close it is to our apartment! the orange in the top corner is I-40, which is very convenient. notice the big white square building just southeast of I-40. that's bellevue baptist church. they have 20,000 people a sunday for worship. compare the size to the little orange dot that is our apartment building (containing 24 units) this church is ginormous! (our home is in the lower left corner... in case you didn't notice)
(you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger...)
SO.. in the mornings, i take off with finley and we head north to Bartlett. I take her to daycare in the mornings and Crystal picks her up in the afternoons. you can follow the blue lines below to see my route. i drive 7.5 miles to drop off Finn, then drive about 16 miles in to school. traffic isn't too bad during rush hour. it is usually only slow if it rains. and when it rains here it rains huge, and it rains for days at a time. it's nothing at all like east TN where it might rain for half an hour. anyway, on the way home i take the interstate the whole way(that's the green route). from school it takes about 25 minutes to get home. 35 if rush hour traffic is bad. notice the mississippi river to the left of the picture.
The worst part about driving in to school on the interstate, or coming home on the interstate is the junction of I-40 at the I-240 loop. I-40 was originally supposed to go straight through the heart of downtown... but the zoo was in the way. right where i have written "health science" in the picture above, the road stops. so instead, they dumped I-40 onto the loop, and then back on it's own in time to cross the river. the stupid thing is that the only way to get from I-40 to I-240 is a one lane exit ramp (coming from both directions). that was just terrible terrible planning, and nothing has been done to change it. so everyday there is, without fail, a line a mile long (honestly) of cars and trucks going 10 miles an hour waiting to get off on the ramp. dumb.
this is an aerial view of my school. the orange line is I-40, and you can see the famous bridge across the mississippi. that park that my grandpa told me about (the one that those pictures a few posts ago were from) is in the lower left hand corner. the school is pretty much in the heart of downtown which is pretty cool, but can also be a little scary sometimes. 
below is a picture from google earth that shows my parking lot at school (it's circled in orange at the bottom) and you can see my main classroom (it's the circle in the middle of the page). I park and walk a quarter mile to class. not bad. the library and administration offices are about a half mile away.
there's a nice park across the street...
The library is right across the street from The Med (which is a huge hospital, it's also where Morgan Freeman was taken when he wrecked his car and needed arm and shoulder surgery). There are always a lot of people hanging around the front of the hospital which can be a little unnerving sometimes, but you get used to it. what you see in the picture below is just the front part of the hospital, there is a lot you can't see here. you can see the library to the left of the med (across the street). and beside the library is a huge hole in the ground where they are building the new $60 million pharmacy building. neat.
This is the view from my parking lot. it's not really as scary as it looks.
This is the view from where i like to sit in the library. this is the Med building again (you can see it labeled in the google earth photo above). you can see some of the people hanging around out front. if you look closely in the reflection you can see the trolley going up madison. it is reflected directly above that maroon van. you can see it better in the large view.
i think someone may have died upstairs. this is what the lights look like in the library.
old old old.
so that's about it. i drive a a lot (about an hour a day, and about 300 miles monday to friday) but i like it. and i am really liking school. but i do miss a lot of things about east tn.
(you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger...)
SO.. in the mornings, i take off with finley and we head north to Bartlett. I take her to daycare in the mornings and Crystal picks her up in the afternoons. you can follow the blue lines below to see my route. i drive 7.5 miles to drop off Finn, then drive about 16 miles in to school. traffic isn't too bad during rush hour. it is usually only slow if it rains. and when it rains here it rains huge, and it rains for days at a time. it's nothing at all like east TN where it might rain for half an hour. anyway, on the way home i take the interstate the whole way(that's the green route). from school it takes about 25 minutes to get home. 35 if rush hour traffic is bad. notice the mississippi river to the left of the picture.
The worst part about driving in to school on the interstate, or coming home on the interstate is the junction of I-40 at the I-240 loop. I-40 was originally supposed to go straight through the heart of downtown... but the zoo was in the way. right where i have written "health science" in the picture above, the road stops. so instead, they dumped I-40 onto the loop, and then back on it's own in time to cross the river. the stupid thing is that the only way to get from I-40 to I-240 is a one lane exit ramp (coming from both directions). that was just terrible terrible planning, and nothing has been done to change it. so everyday there is, without fail, a line a mile long (honestly) of cars and trucks going 10 miles an hour waiting to get off on the ramp. dumb.
this is an aerial view of my school. the orange line is I-40, and you can see the famous bridge across the mississippi. that park that my grandpa told me about (the one that those pictures a few posts ago were from) is in the lower left hand corner. the school is pretty much in the heart of downtown which is pretty cool, but can also be a little scary sometimes. 
below is a picture from google earth that shows my parking lot at school (it's circled in orange at the bottom) and you can see my main classroom (it's the circle in the middle of the page). I park and walk a quarter mile to class. not bad. the library and administration offices are about a half mile away.
there's a nice park across the street...
The library is right across the street from The Med (which is a huge hospital, it's also where Morgan Freeman was taken when he wrecked his car and needed arm and shoulder surgery). There are always a lot of people hanging around the front of the hospital which can be a little unnerving sometimes, but you get used to it. what you see in the picture below is just the front part of the hospital, there is a lot you can't see here. you can see the library to the left of the med (across the street). and beside the library is a huge hole in the ground where they are building the new $60 million pharmacy building. neat.
This is the view from my parking lot. it's not really as scary as it looks.
This is the view from where i like to sit in the library. this is the Med building again (you can see it labeled in the google earth photo above). you can see some of the people hanging around out front. if you look closely in the reflection you can see the trolley going up madison. it is reflected directly above that maroon van. you can see it better in the large view.
i think someone may have died upstairs. this is what the lights look like in the library.
old old old.
so that's about it. i drive a a lot (about an hour a day, and about 300 miles monday to friday) but i like it. and i am really liking school. but i do miss a lot of things about east tn.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
so today we had our first meeting of our basic skills class. this is where they try to take all the data that we will learn in the next two and a half years, make sense of it all, and teach us how to use it all in our interactions with our patients. neat. sounds exciting and harmless enough. The professor told us that we would learn to counsel patients regarding any questions they may have about their medications. no problem. so we should, therefore, know how to use the apparatuses correctly to ensure proper drug therapy. cool. which means that we will learn all about asthma inhalers, patch administration, and of course, injections. got it. i'm not crazy about needles. but i am okay with learning how to shoot people. it can't be that bad, right. but then he told us (and he was very excited about this, like it was going to be one of the most invaluable, most exciting, simply the coolest things we would ever get to do...) he told us that we would get to take an insulin syringe, fill it with placebo liquid, and inject it into our own stomachs!!! WAIT, what am i doing!?!? i know i am entering a job in the health-care world, i am well aware that this will involve the use of needles, but this is pharmacy school, i didn't sign up for this, i can inject my peers, but you want me to SHOOT MYSELF IN THE STOMACH!!! wow. that is going to be a hard day. i don't know what it is, i don't mind blood, i'm excited to try a surgery rotation, perhaps i'll even do a critical care or ER rotation, but there's just something about needles. and i've always had it, as long as i can remember. i give blood. but i can't look, or even think about it really (that's a terribly big needle). i get shots, but i can't look. at registration i had to have a TB skin test (and i have to get a second round tomorrow actually). i told myself that i would watch, and i did. at least i did until the needle reached my skin, and i had to look away...
i know i will overcome my aversion. i have to. right. i'm just nervous. what's gonna happen when i stab myself in the stomach and then pass out. what if i fall out of my chair and permanently lodge the syringe inside my abdominal cavity. what then? i just know i'm gonna look pretty silly on that day, laying on the floor, with an insulin syringe lodged in my bare stomach, crying like a small child. but i will persevere...
i know i will overcome my aversion. i have to. right. i'm just nervous. what's gonna happen when i stab myself in the stomach and then pass out. what if i fall out of my chair and permanently lodge the syringe inside my abdominal cavity. what then? i just know i'm gonna look pretty silly on that day, laying on the floor, with an insulin syringe lodged in my bare stomach, crying like a small child. but i will persevere...
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
this is Finley watching her favorite movie of all time "the many adventures of winnie the pooh". honestly, she will quote half the movie along with the characters as she watches it now. she is such a big girl!
Today after orientation i went down to the river for a minute. i remember my grandfather telling me that there was a nice little park along the river where you could sit and watch the traffic on the two bridges. and i found it, just like he described it. it was really beautiful.
At one end of the park they are building what will be called "the Beale Street Landing". there was this interesting boat that seemed to be some type of a dredge. it was neat to watch.
tomorrow is registration. then classes start monday! yeeha!
i think this is about how i feel these days...
Today after orientation i went down to the river for a minute. i remember my grandfather telling me that there was a nice little park along the river where you could sit and watch the traffic on the two bridges. and i found it, just like he described it. it was really beautiful.
At one end of the park they are building what will be called "the Beale Street Landing". there was this interesting boat that seemed to be some type of a dredge. it was neat to watch.
tomorrow is registration. then classes start monday! yeeha!
i think this is about how i feel these days...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
today was my first day of orientation. and it was long... and most of it i'd heard before. but it's all very exciting. it was such a relief to show up and have my name on the list. you have no idea how many nightmares i've had where i show up for today and they look at me and say... "who are you!??" but i'm in! and my loans are on the way! and classes start monday. tomorrow orientation/registration goes from 8:30 to 3:30 or so, and friday from 8:30 to noon. that's all for now...
FUTure Pharmacist
FUTure Pharmacist
Sunday, August 10, 2008
twilight
this is from East TN. it's one of my new favorites.
Last night i finished Twilight (yeah, that one about vampires that everyone is so crazy over right now). Crystal is reading the last of the four books and I sat down with her to read some of the first one. She read Twilight in a weekend. I have been reading it since mid july. but last night the story got so intense that i ended up finishing the book. I read 150 pages in about three hours and i literally did not move from where i sat. and i didn't fall asleep either (which is saying a lot) the last book i read was No Country For Old Men. and i've been reading a couple other books since then. but nothing has gotten to me like this one. it is just really that good.
today Finley was playing in her toy room by herself. she pulled out a little "little people" umbrella and held it over her head. then she started dancing around and said "tut tut... raining... tut tut... raining...". for those of you who don't know, Christopher Robin says that to try to help Pooh Bear fool the bees in the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. so she just says this out of nowhere, and it floors us. she is SO observant and so smart. we asked her who got stuck in the tree...? "tigger" she said. and they say kids don't learn anything from tv. pretty cool... and pretty scary! love her!!
tomorrow is a big day. Crystal's first day of school with the kids. Finley's first day of school at the daycare... again (a new, better, and recommended one this time...) and I have to go get re-certified in CPR. fun fun fun!
(i can't believe nobody commented on my hamburger...)
Saturday, August 9, 2008
last night we went to Red Robin because we were craving hamburgers and we had never been to one of these places. well it was awesome. it was rated number 6 on Parent magazine's top ten family friendly restaurants, and i would have to agree. free refills on the steak fries (which were awesome, and they even brought our first serving of fries out before our burgers got there!), pizza and balloons for Finn, and interesting burger choices for us! I had the Au Brie Burger (which was created by a twelve year old! see story) it was a sirloin burger topped with brie cheese all on top of au gratin potatoes. Of course i had no tomatoes on mine. here's a picture. oh my goodness, it was the best burger i have ever had from a restaurant. i will have it again!
Friday, August 8, 2008
we'll, i'm in memphis for good now. i will miss the wonderful hospitality of the Booth house. it was good to have such great friends to keep me company when i was so far away from my girls. the best times were just sitting around on the couch and watching ghost shows and murder mysteries. this was my view from the toilet... every time i had to concentrate i would just focus on that little fleck of blue paint on the floor board.
My final in Organic Chemistry was moved up to Tuesday instead of Thursday. and since Tuesday was our third anniversary, I was so excited to be able to surprise Crystal. It was so incredible to be able to spend the evening with my love. I knew when I turned in my final that I had done well. I was the second one to turn it in, taking less than half the class period. It turns out that I made a 101 on it! and that gave me an A in the class! So that was a huge relief.
I am so glad to be done traversing this long, beautiful, crazy state. I made it through an overturned tractor-trailer, a huge chemical spill that closed I-40, a burning tractor-trailer, a church shooting, and lots and lots of road construction. and I am glad to be done with it all. I saw some interesting things... and it's good to know that traveling by car is the most reliable form of transportation...
On the way to Memphis I had to stop when I saw a cannon on the side of the road. It was Parker's CrossRoads, a civil war battlefield. It was such a beautiful place and I had to take a few shots. there will be more to see later.
So here I am, dealing with a hundred and one things to take care of before school starts next week. definitely nervous. starting to feel more like i'm drowning that floating. but so so glad to be here, to be a family again.
and always remember... Got Problems? Just have Faith in Jesus!
My final in Organic Chemistry was moved up to Tuesday instead of Thursday. and since Tuesday was our third anniversary, I was so excited to be able to surprise Crystal. It was so incredible to be able to spend the evening with my love. I knew when I turned in my final that I had done well. I was the second one to turn it in, taking less than half the class period. It turns out that I made a 101 on it! and that gave me an A in the class! So that was a huge relief.
I am so glad to be done traversing this long, beautiful, crazy state. I made it through an overturned tractor-trailer, a huge chemical spill that closed I-40, a burning tractor-trailer, a church shooting, and lots and lots of road construction. and I am glad to be done with it all. I saw some interesting things... and it's good to know that traveling by car is the most reliable form of transportation...
On the way to Memphis I had to stop when I saw a cannon on the side of the road. It was Parker's CrossRoads, a civil war battlefield. It was such a beautiful place and I had to take a few shots. there will be more to see later.
So here I am, dealing with a hundred and one things to take care of before school starts next week. definitely nervous. starting to feel more like i'm drowning that floating. but so so glad to be here, to be a family again.
and always remember... Got Problems? Just have Faith in Jesus!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
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