knitted heart

P9271606
Originally uploaded by searchn4thought

Here's the worst knitted anatomical item EVER!!!

It really is a horrible pattern, and it kinda looks like a heart. I really just like the coronary vessels that I stitched on. I am so not going to be a cardiologist.

Socks

PC101662
Originally uploaded by searchn4thought

Another sock... the pattern.. Charade
http://www.imaybeknittingaranchhouse.com/archives/Charade.pdf

I think I am making them for my mom.. not sure yet. I've just started the pattern part on the second sock.

Sorry gina... yarn that wasn't bought at Mosaic. I got this lovely Kougi at Purl in NY,NY. Right before we saw John Mayer walking down the street. Mosaic is still number 1.

Monkey Socks

PC101667
Originally uploaded by searchn4thought

I did finish my Monkey socks... they are bright...

They need more ribbing on the top, then tend to fall down. but overal not bad.

I didn't die... just moved across the country

So.... I've been bad about updating. I guess it comes with the fact that I live out of my car, change hospitals every 27 days, have driven 8,000 miles in 4 months, get very little sleep and just don't have the motivation to write at the moment.

Here's a brief re-cap.

October - I was in Danville, PA at Geisinger Medical Center. Rotation - General Surgery. LOVED IT!!.. minus my annoying resident, but he got better by the end of the month. Apparently all I needed to say was I didn't want to be a member of his harem and it made me cool. Who knew.. I would have said that much sooner. I worked mostly in surgical oncology, big belly cases, ovarian tumors, Whipples, lots of breast surgery. All things I love. I didn't knit much, I went to bed at 8:30-9 pm every night so I could get up at 4 am. Yay for rounding at 5 in the morning. But I did get to spend most days in the OR and we all know I love that, so I'll get up at un-godly hours of the morning for that. I interview in Chicago, Danville PA, and Lancaster PA. Chicago was hands down my favorite of those.

November -- I traveled up to West Hartford, CT to do Ob-gyn at University of Connecticut. Love UCONN... don't so much love ob-gyn. I had really great expectations for that rotation and it failed miserably in all aspects. I did get to stay with one of my best friends Heidi and her husband Hank, both whom I went to undergard with (Heidi and I also went to med school together). So it was good seeing them. I think they might have swayed me to pick general surgery... I enjoy ob-gyn in theory but the daily application of it makes me want to kill patients, and that's a bad thing. I did some knitting... started too many projects. I really need to finish projects one of these days (maybe that will be my new year's resolution...) I interviews in New York, Maine, New Jersey, and Connecticut. I liked Maine as a state, not sure I am ready to move that far north or for the moose. I did learn how to properly hit a moose with your car... always from the back, it's the only way you don't die. good thing to know. UCONN is my number one choice right now. I just love their hospitals, and all the things they have to offer. It will be a rough year, but I think I'll be super genius smart at the end of it.

December - I am currently in Hershey PA at Penn State doing Surgical Endocrinology. I've gotten to see thryoidectomies, parathyroidectomies, couple random surgeries here and there.. splenectomy, gastric by-pass, hernia repairs, etc. I did a couple days of pediatric endocrinology clinic, which reminded me why I am not going into anything outpatient based and pediatrics. I like Penn State. I might apply here next year when I do surgery (again 90% sure on this decision... but after next year I could change my mind again). Lots of knitting this month... seeing as I had no friends or TV and my computer was being temperamental most of the month and would randomly stop working. Again started more projects than finished any... I am really bad about that. I head home to Florida on Saturday... 17 lovely hours in the car with my cat....yeah it should be a blast.

I'll spend Christmas in Florida and then head back to the burg sometime after the holiday. I have to move all my stuff to storage. .... long story with the roomie and selling the house etc. I hope to come by the store and oogle yarn, and if mommy listened correctly spend Christmas money on some new yarn (noro sock yarn if any is left... or something equally as nice to look at)... then it's back to Florida until April. The family got tickets to the Orange Bowl, so we are going to that game. YAY!!! I've seriously missed some hokie football this year... it makes me very sad. It's a problem when you have no TV... I am ready to not be homeless anymore. I have two more interviews.. then it's time to sit down and make the final list.

So here's the plan for the rest of the year....

January -- I am doing ER down in West Palm Beach. I'll be quasi close to my family (1 hour) which is far better than normal. My grandparents live down there and I don't see them much, usually only once a year, if my Grandpa is feeling up for Christmas.

Match day is February 11th (the day where they tell me where I am going next year..) I'll be in Honduras... so we shall see if I actually find out or not. I hope I match, I really don't want to have to deal with the scramble process from a third world country.

March -Rotation in Florida... for some reason I decided a medical intensive care rotation would be good.. yeah pretty much retarded on that topic. I should remedy that soon.

Then April I am back to Salem, Va... which is like being in the burg. I'll be doing Plastics and Anesthesiology.. so I should have free time :-) Good job for picking slightly slacker rotations to end the year with ;-)

May I have OFF!!!!...I will be moving to where I match, getting stuff ready for Graduation, going on vacation, and seeing all my friends get married.

June.... GRADUATION!! I think today is 170 days... so close.

Oh.. I passed my Physical Examination Board Exam...where they grade me on simulated patient encounters. so YAY!!! all official board examinations required for graduation DONE.. one more before I get my official licence. Now all I have to do is write a paper, then all requirements for graduation complete.

So that's about it... enjoy the couple of pictures I have uploaded to the web.

al

knit.1 heart

I am trying to work on the knit.1 anatomic heart, but I just don't have the motivation to do so. I think it might have something to do with my lack of love for cardiology. I have the ventricles, aorta, 1 or 3 arteries and most of one atrium completed. It shouldn't take me much more time to finish the other atrium and but out a couple more arteries and veins, after all they are mostly a tube. If am going to make this for my doc, I need to have it done in two days, along with a presentation I haven't really worked on, and I need to bake something for the office and start packing. Hopefully tonight I'll find some motivation and bust some stuff out...

Ravelry

I got my ravelry invite this morning... I have a feeling this might be a BAD thing seeing as all I want to do is look at yarn and patterns, and add all my stuff and not do work. Anyway.... I don't know if anyone else has it but I am Kaydgirl on it.. so be my friend.

Congratulations to the Bride and Groom

Apparently it was wedding weekend... So congratulations to Gina and Bfriend for tying the knot. Congratulations to my KD Big sister Amanda and her new husband Dave.

A couple of pictures from the wedding in Williamsburg...

The Bride

Big Sister and Little Sister

Best Friends from College.. and yes we are in a bar, and that is football on in the background.

Best part of cardiology

Look how official I look. That's right after the cardiac cath we had today... only a few more weeks until OR time all the time.

So funny...

The LandLady

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Crochet???

I might need to learn to crochet just to make that skull... OMG... I need one or 2 or those lying around. I'd prefer to just adapt the pattern to knit, but I am not exactly sure how to do that. It's on the lion brand website if anybody cares (http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/70464A.html?noImages=)

I will be making a knitted heart this weekend, so I'll have plenty of knitted anatomy fun soon.

Boards Update 2

I PASSED!!!!

Ok that is all.

I'll update about knitting soon.. but my head hurts for the moment.

Knitting party

Ok people..

I'll be home in a week. We need plans for a knitting party during the month of September (mimi and Belinda.. hint hint). I have a wedding to go to during the weekend of the 22nd but other than that I am free.

So who's hosting? And what do we all need to bring (besides yarn).

I am working on another uterus for the doctor I am working with this month. I am also almost done with a pair of socks. I promise pictures soon.

I am also teaching the lady I am living with how to knit socks... so that's fun.

ok back to writing my personal statement on why I need to be a doctor

Boards update

The NBOME did get all 400 questions... yay!!!

So as long as I didn't fail I don't have to take boards again.... :-)

SOCKS!!!

I finished my first pair of socks.... sock knitting might be the new crack. As long as it's not boring or on magic loop... *shudders*

I used this pattern...http://magknits.com/Mar07/patterns/rainy.htm

I changed the CO to a twisted rib. I think I did 6 rows.

This is the basic pattern...

Rnd 1: *k1, p1, k2, p1, k1; repeat from *
Rnd 2: *k1, p1, yo, ssk, p1, k1; repeat from *
Rnd 3: As rnd 1.
Rnd 4: *k1, p1, k2tog, yo, p1, k1; repeat from *

At round three I slipped the first stitch on every needle (I used 4) to the previous needle so that the first stitch was a purl. Then at the K1 at the end and k1 at the beginning of the pattern I made a mock cable. So the pattern became p1, K2, p1, mock cable 2.
I did the mock cable as k2tog but don't slip the stitches off the needle, insert the needle back into the first stitch, knit, then slip both stitches off. I got that from Weekend Knitting (see Union Square poncho).

I also made the heel with a twisted rib.

So those are my socks. Now it's off to bed so I can start work tomorrow.

Cross posted

I wrote this on my lj...

So today was COMLEX Level 2. Started the day at 9:40. Did all my sections, breaks, etc.

I was finishing my last 50 questions. I hit submit and verified YES I want to end this section. Then ERROR.. and the computer restarted. AHHHHHHHH.. I stared at the computer for a good 5 minutes like WHAT??? No maybe if I close my eyes it will go back to the test and tell me it actually finished it. There is suppose to be a survey at the end where I get to tell the NBOME that their graphics suck and I didn't have problems, etc. Well no survey. The lady at prometric couldn't print my verification that I finished the test, her computer was saying it was still incomplete. She called the IT people and they said they wouldn't know anything until after she closed the site. So I called prometric help center at 745 before they closed. The lady there thinks the test was submitted to the NBOME. I have to call them to make sure it actually did and they got all the sections. I left a message with NBOME but they won't be there until Monday at 9am. So I may or may not have a test to grade. I'd really like to not take boards again. I just don't have time to study again, and I am not smart enough to keep all that random garbage that only boards ask in my head for another month. ...uhh.. As soon I called my mom to tell her how the test went I lost it.... stupid prometric people.

There were several EVMS kids taking USMLE 2 today. Sarah and I chatted with a couple of them during our breaks. There is something about taking medical boards ... well that just screams "I AM TAKING BOARDS TODAY"!!!! Maybe it's the lack of sleep look or the stolen hospital scrubs but there's definitely a look. I told one of the kids who I was rotating with next month... and he said "yeah Dr. Archer is a big deal..".. Awesome I am going to look like a moron. Really looking forward to being dumb next week.

That's all for now.. I am too tired to write anything else...

Picture Happy

So in the process of packing I did eventually find my camera cord, so I uploaded pictures. YAY!! I wish there was more time to play and knit but sadly I need to finish packing and studying.

Anyway I give you tons of pictures...

Here's the clap that I started that will probably never be finished... oh well. It's pretty to look at.



HARRY POTTER
Ok this dates back to Harry Potter 7 release date. Mimi, Loren and I all went out to dinner and headed over to Barnes and Noble to wait for the books to come out at midnight. Miranda and my roommate Ashley met up with us. Of course we brought knitting and found fiber friends near the knitting books. We brought all the house scarves with us.. .even if they are the wrong colors. Oh well. Here's them mostly done. It was our little area until they had potions class at which time we were almost plumbed to death by small children. I would say around 11 pm... Mimi had either too much coffee or not enough sleep, or maybe a combination of the two. This is what happens when knitters go crazy. Watch out they are letting her teach little kids soon.. you might want to home school your kids. ;-)

But the night was not a total waste... Look at the awesome pattern we found. How was my life complete before this... I totally need a knitted Little Tea Pot hat... and with arm gestures and everything. I think this is going to be the newest "it" item... you watch.


But where can I find such an awesome pattern... oh no worries here's the source. Better hurry up and get your copy before they are all gone. I mean with patterns that HOT it's going to be hard to keep it on the shelf.

The latest knitting project (along with the 8 million things I haven't finished... SOCKS!!
Now I thought I hated knitting socks. But for some reason I decided I wanted to knit socks last week. I have tried several times to knit socks, I get 3/4 done with one and get bored, put the stupid thing away and never get it out again. I have decided a couple things. I don't like knitting socks with magic loop, although there are not 4/5 needles, it's just inefficient with all the moving and looping. It just takes too much work/time to get the stitches where I want them. I much prefer DPNs. I also figured out I don't like knitting plain socks. I have the attention span of about 5 minutes (see 8 million unfinished projects.. and I don't think I am really exaggerating). So knitting a stockinette sock kinda makes me want to take the needles and poke my eyes out. So the remedy: knitting a quasi patterned sock with DPN. I give you a modified version of the Rainy Day Sock from Magknits. I turned the rib section between the YO into a mock cable.
So now I am starting the second sock, because right now I have one, and that doesn't do me any good. I also bought a lovely shade of purple Koigu that will be made into socks when I am done with boards.

In other news... I leave for EVMS on Thursday. I take my second set of board exams on Friday morning. I need to pack and study but yarn is way more fun. Ok aback to work...

I just realized

I have knit 7 uteri so far this year....

1. Russian Uterus
2. FSU Uterus
3. John Deer Uterus
4. Heidi's Uterus
5. Dr. Fox's Uterus
6. Women's Center Uterus
7. Gina's Uterus

I think I might have a problem with either knitting or anatomy.

Harry Potter

Miranda or Mimi... (or anyone else who reads HP)... you game for getting books at midnight. Miranda I know you are going out of town, but I wasn't sure when you planned on getting your book.

I am super excited about reading the book. I am giving myself 26 hours to read it..... wooo...

I have returned from falling off the face of the earth..

So I kinda fell off the face of the earth for a while. I was really busy last month being on ob-gyn. I liked it, didn't love it. So that makes me confused on what I want/need to be when I grow up. But right now I am not thinking about that because it causes me stress and to not sleep.

I spent last week at the beach (Sanibel Florida) with my family. It was nice to sit around and do nothing all week. I ate good food, slept, read a little (mostly school related.. I know not on vacation), knitted, and sat on the beach. I have tan lines, and the only part of my that is burned are my ears. I am so excited that I didn't turn into a burned painful mess.

I did visit a yarn store in Sanibel. It was not as lovely as my yarn store here. I still love you the most Gina. I did buy a new skein of yarn, because well you can't go to a yarn store and not buy yarn. I think I will join the bandwagon and knit the clapotis with it..I'll have to take pictures of it later, first I have to find my camera. I am not sure where half my stuff is right now. In the past two weeks I moved from Wytheville back to Christiansburg eptied out my car and suitcases and then headed to Florida for a week. So my stuff is everywhere and I can't find a single thing.

We have end of the year testing this week. It's so joyous, please note the massive amount of sarcasm in that statement.

Well that's my update for now.

I'll post pictures of knitted things when the camera is found.

Graduation Countdown

In honor of the Class of 2007 graduating tomorrow... I thought I'd start the countdown until my graduation...


Create yours at BlingyBlob.com!


Carry on..

No I haven't died

Just letting you know I am not dead...

I am DONE with psych. Oh so happy about that. It was funny when we got our evals from the psychiatrist. Everyone in my group (except me) had increased interest in psychiatric disorders. Mine said "well liked by staff." Which is true, but I just found it amusing, I think it's all my preceptor could muster up instead of writing "Allison hated psych and showed no effort in disguising this fact." In other news I got to watch an appendectomy the other night on my way home from Marion. Why you ask, because my surgeon loves me and entertains my neurosis. He still maintains that I will become a general surgeon. I do love surgery but I don't know if I love GI anatomy that much. I was thinking of knitting him a pancreas and somehow also make the surgery rules. He lets me come to a lot of surgeries and is just the most fabulous person in the world, I adore that man. If I haven't taught you the four rules of surgery here they are.
1. Eat when you can.
2. Sleep when you can.
3. Read when you can.
4. Don't mess with the pancreas.

So I think we should start a knitted anatomy collection for my surgeon... he already thinks I am a little crazy, and he does already have a gallbladder. I guess I could cross stitch the rules... because that just wouldn't be feasible with knitted items... because knitted alphabet just doesn't not sound like fun. There is always the computer but really doesn't help the dexterity factor. I'll see how much free time I have this next month on OB-GYN!!!

That's right Ob-gyn is FINALLY here. I start in the OR on Monday morning. We have a couple of hysterectomies scheduled, and a bladder tact (or at least that's what I think it is based on the OR schedule I have). Which reminds me I need to call over there this morning and make sure nothing else was added on.

I turned in square number 16 yesterday. I don't know my call schedule yet for next month so I am not sure if I will be able to make it Blacksburg for the knitting party. But if I am not working I'll definitely be there, otherwise I'll be sitting in Wytheville staring at my pager wishing it to go off thinking of knitting squares together.

Well friends that is my update... now it is time to get my eyeballs examined and find out exactly how blind I've become this year.

For Gina

This is the first uterus that also has ovaries.. so feel very special. Really this is why you don't give medical students yarn at random hours of the night.... I started the uterus at 1 am finished at about 4 am. Now it's back to squares.

Addiction to squares

My new book

Tulip Lace in progress

Completed squares from this week... the psych patients stress me out a little, ok. I need to knit.

Birthday money

My sister sent me a Barnes and Noble gift card for my birthday. Well seeing as I own literally every book in the medical section, and I really don't think I am exaggerating with that statement, I decided to buy a new knitting book. Really you can never have too many books and you can never have too many books about knitting. I looked at the Vogue knitting stitch dictionary thing for a while but decided against it. There was a really nice pattern book based off lingerie type things, but I doubt I'd wear half the things, even if they were pretty. I finally chose the regular Vogue knitting book. It states on the front it is the ultimate knitting book... you can't go wrong with that. I really need to stop looking at the book and do some real work.....

More Sqaures.....

Check Pattern

Purled VT.. it comes out better in person than in picture.

Eyelet rib

Hunter's Stitch

Houndstooth Tweed

So far I've made 10 squares. I think I will work on the black Alpaca one.

Here are some pictures from Mosaic... look at all the squares coming in.

That is all for now.

Silliness

Yes I changed my profile picture to the knitted gallbladder... it makes me laugh. So now when I comment.. you too can have a knitted gallbladder on your page.

Squares!!

Two more squares done. Both are in two color brioche stitch, black and white, and maroon and orangy/yellow respectively. I have another square on the way -- two color houndstooth or something like that. I'll take pictures when it's done. Hopefully the squares will dry soon so I can un-pin them from the floor. (the color on the black and white one is off a little, but the flash kept the stitches from coming out in the picture)

Does this tree remind you of knitting? The leaves look like little I cords to me... maybe I knit too much. Oh well.

Oh and I hopefully should be recovering from the death (sinusitis/ear infection/upper respiratory infection) soon, I started antibiotic today. So my snotty nose, painful ear, sore throat hacking cough might be gone soon. :-)

Frogging

So the sporty little numbers vest fit horribly in the back. I took it to Mosaic so the knitting geniuses could rescue it. Well due to it's construction it could not be saved as is. Frogging is really no fun, all that time and hard work ripped out in just a few minutes. I had to take out everything but the front. The entire back was frogged to the ribbing. I think I am just going to rib the entire back so there doesn't have to be an entire reworking of the pattern. I am not sure if the vest will actually ever get done now. My schedule is not going to be real nice for the next year for massive amounts of knitting. I won't be living in the same place for longer than a month starting in August. This is my schedule as of right now. August - Norfolk, September - Farmington Connecticut, October -- Danville PA, November -- Blacksburg, December -- Hershey PA, January -- Florida, February -- Honduras, March -- Florida, April -- Blacksburg, May -- OFF (hopefully moving to my new residency), and then June -- GRADUATION!!! I really hope I actually finish it, i will be super cute when it's done.

I made 3 Hokie squares. One was a maroon and orange stripped square. Here is a picture of the fake cable one. It's really soft alpaca (Blue Sky). It's amazing all the varieties of the squares coming in. I hope we get all the squares we need. I know I'll me making more, especially this month.

Here's a picture of pretty yarn. It's Be Sweet yarn. I think I wrote about it already. I am not sure what I am making with it... but it's just nice to look at. I think I have a yarn obsession.

I will leave you with a Panda picture from the National Zoo... because who doesn't love Pandas?

Washington DC

Greetings and Salutations from our Nation's Capital.

I am here at the Student Osteopathic Medical Association's (SOMA) spring conference. I arrived on Tuesday, I got to spend a few hours knitting in the car. I worked on the Union Square poncho, it's pretty brainless knitting. Just prior to leaving for DC I finished the sporty numbers vest. There are a couple problems with it (I need to bring it to the store for help). It fits in the front but there is just too much fabric in the back. I am really at a loss for how to fix it. I don't know anything about taking it apart once it's together or anything like that. It just doesn't fit they way I'd like it to. So we shall see what I end up doing with it.

Wednesday was my birthday (happy 25th to me). I spent the day at the Zoo. I took a million pictures of the panda bears. They are just so darn cute. I can upload some of the pictures if people want to see them. Again I really bad about bringing the cord for my camera places with me, so you have to wait on pictures. I then spent the rest of the afternoon painting pottery, yes I know it's not yarn but we don't have a pottery place near Blacksburg/Christiansburg. I did knit a little bit on the metro. I felt very cool, even if my stop was only 5 minutes from where I got on, minor details.

Thursday was DO Day on the Hill. Osteopathic medical students and DO from across the country come together and lobby the state representatives and senators on the important medical issues of the year. This year our main objectives are medicare payment for physicians, the SCHIP Act which insures children that don't qualify for medicaid, and the resident physician shortage Act. Did you know that physicians medicare reimbursement is not altered for inflation. Many doctors are refusing to take medicare patients or limit the number they see in their practices. If you know anyone who is a medicare patient this greatly limits their access to good quality medical care. But physicians can't afford to pay their staff if their entire practice is medicare patients. The physician shortage act is dealing with residencies programs. In 1997 Congress said the number of residencies programs we have right now is all that we will fund. The country is very aware that there will be a physician shortage the problem is now we have increased the number of medical students but we have not increases the post graduate programs. Ultimately this also goes back to medicare payments because that is ultimately what limits hospitals on the number of residents they take. But basically I talked about that all day. I did get to actually meet Dr. Dave Weldon who is my Florida representative, so that was cool. I had some free time between my meetings and spent a few hours at the National Museum of Art. And of course I knitted in front of the senate building. Really you think I can go anywhere without my knitting... hahah.. no.

The SOMA conference has been uneventful so far. We spent yesterday afternoon exploring Gerogretown. I found a yarn store because really I need more yarn. I went to DC Stitch. They have three stores, it wasn't quite as big as Mosaic and they had some yarns that I never heard of. I had to buy some yarn, sorry Gina. I still love you more don't worry. I tried to buy stuff that I couldn't get at Mosaic, because well that would just be dumb. I got a ball of Be Sweet Ribbon yarn. It's made in South Africa by women in a job creation program. It's pinky/peach mohair with ribbon randomly tied throughout it. I am not really sure what I'll do with it, but it's pretty and I like it. I also bought a cone of the stainless steel wool. Again not sure what I am doing with it, but who can pass up something so bizarre. I got two skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca, one in Black and one in orange to make Hokie Healing squares. I also talked to the manager of the store and gave her the info about the Hokie Healing project. She'd heard about it but didn't have the details. Gina she also knew about Mosaic, just thought you should know.

Tonight we have our banquet dinner at the Watergate Hotel. Then we will be out and about around town. I love how our conferences are planned around social events and then our work. It's a nice change from the usual pace. Well that's my very long update for now. I promise pictures when I get back home.

Virginia Tech

This whole week has been very surreal. It's one of those times that you'll always remember what you were doing when you heard the news. On 9-11 I was in Genetics class with Dr. Morvillo I had just come from my 8 o'clock class and I hadn't seen any of the news. April 16th 2007 will also be one of those days. Monday morning I was in the OR watching Dr. Harris, Dr. Deal and Sarah do a colon resection on a very nice lady who is mostly going to die from stage 4 colon cancer. Dr. Perona came into the OR and announced there had been a shooting at Tech. At first it was a shooting in a dorm building. She came back in a second time to tell us there was another shooting on campus.

After my OR time and came back and watched the news for a few minutes before I needed to sleep in preparation for my ER shift. I watched and the number kept increasing. At least 20 dead, then 22, it just kept rising. I would have watched all afternoon if I hadn't had to go into the ER that night. My phone wouldn't stop ringing. All my friend from Florida who don't really understand what rotations are and don't fully understand that the medical school really isn't at Tech called. I got messages... Allison your school's on TV, please call me back and let me know you are ok. Message after message. I answered I am safe. I am not sure if we will be OK from this or not. I hope some day we are, but I won't guarantee that.

We watched the news all night in the ER (remind you this is now 2 am or so). The story kept changing the shooter was still unidentified and was not a student, then about 5 am he was a student. He was a student that lived in West AJ... just kidding, he didn't live there either. It seemed like every five minutes there was a different story. We continued to watch. They interviewed the doctors that worked in the ER at MRH. Dr. Joe was on CNN. Now this is not the local Roanoke news, this is CNN and this is Dr. Joe. The same Dr. Joe who's house I've been to, who's kids I've hung out with and the same man I've been to Africa and back with twice. This is the man that interviewed me during my medical school interviews. And now here he was talking to CNN about this tragedy. By the time I got off work and home it was almost 9 am. Just about the time for the mornings press conference. They announced the identity of the shooter. I spent the rest of the day napping on the couch and watching the news. I watched the convocation. I got upset at the camera men who focused on the father who was overcome with grief in the middle of the service and had to leave. Showing it is one thing, focusing on it for entirely too long is just wrong. The man lost his child, something that I can only imagine is the worst feeling in the world. The family deserves respect. Dr. Giovanni's poem was just amazing. I don't think words can properly describe how inspirational she was.

When Gerri got home from work we decided to head up to Blacksburg and meet up with some of the other medical students so we could attend the candlelight vigil.

I am a Hokie. Although the main campus really isn't something we are very familiar with. It is a part of our school. It's like our big sister, close to us when we need it but also a little unknown and mysterious. It was really great to see the community come together like that. The hokie spirit is definitely alive. It might be bruised and hurting for the time, but it's not dead. We stood there with our candles surrounded by Hokies. We were all there because we love Virginia Tech, to remember those that were lost, and to support those that will deal with the aftermath.

I am sorry that this is what Virginia Tech will go down in history for. Even if some great discovery were to come from the Engineering department, Math department or medical school they will always bring up April 16th 2007. I just hope we do not let this event define who we are. We will endure and hopefully overcome it. We are Hokies.

I pray for the families affected. I pray for the students who are recovering. I pray for the friends that are mourning. I pray for the EMS, Police and Firefighters that came to the rescue. I pray for the Virginia Tech community that not only is in Blacksburg but extends across the state and throughout the country.

No matter your Alma mater or school loyalty today we are all hokies. We are the Hokies...we will prevail. We ARE Virginia Tech.

Meet the FSU Uterus

As promised here are pictures of the FSU uterus' trip to the ER. This is one reason why I should never be bored in the ER... ah but it was highly amusing to me at 4 am.

Sometime this week it will be mailed to Stephanie and hopefully it will have a nice life in Florida.

Now it is time to read about surgery before bedtime because I am visiting the OR tomorrow (yay!!).