leumasd

Not unlike the rest of the northwestern US, I've been experiencing the snow and bit of a cold snap. You still won't hear any complaints about the temperature from me though. Where I grew up wasn't unfamiliar to subzero days in the winter and North Dakota is notorious for having brutal winters. It has been a balmy 10 degree above zero and you can actually be outside for a while without your skin freezing. My biggest concern right now is that I won't be able to make it home for Christmas because of bad roads and mountain passes. I'll just have to wait a couple days and see how things look then. I am still really really hoping that the three or so passes I have to cross to get to Seattle will be at least moderately ok to drive on around the 28th or 29th so I can make it over that way for New Years.

I am just about done with the Hematology portion of my clinicals. It isn't bad but still not the most exciting place to be. All of the automation kind of takes away from my enjoyment. I've also realized that only half of what I learned in school actually applies to general lab work. I'm sure being able to diagnose a dozen or so diseases just by looking at a the patient's blood under the microscope is a good skill to have but unless I was working in a research lab or special heme lab it doesn't really make much difference. The doctors are the ones makes the diagnosis, we are just the ones who run the tests and make sure the results make some kind of sense. Good new though, my teachers changed the grading scale for the online tests and quizzes we have to do so I am back to getting A's and B's, which is much more consistent with my grades when I'm actually in the classroom.

Christmas is fast approaching and although I'm not a religious person by any means I am still traditional and enjoy spending the time with my family. Being on a poor college kid budget means that I only spent about $10 total on presents but my family and I have talked about it more than once and everyone understands. I could go without presents and just spend time with my family and I'd be content. Hopefully I'll be able to get down to Cali. in a few months to see my brother. He has been back up here but I haven't been down to see him in about 4 years...I'm slacking.

At any rate. Have to be up in 6 hours for another 14 hour day, Weeee! Only four and a half months and I'll be done with all that craziness. Have a great week. Happy Holidays!