Goblin King

Goblin King
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

My friend Derek decided to be the Goblin King for Halloween this year. I don't know how many of you have seen the movie the Labyrinth with David Bowie and Academy Award Winner Jennifer Connelly, but it was quite the hit in the 80s. In fact, they may still run it on TBS Sunday mornings :)

The scariest part about this costume (besides the protective cup Derek wore to make the costume more authentic) was the fact that he borrowed my boots!

Halloween Party

Halloween05 - 02
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

My roommates and I threw another fabulous party over Halloween weekend. Here's a picture of me, Miss Somerville, kissing a "naughty husband."

I'm been really busy with school, but was able to relax a bit and have a great time at the party.

Erik & I in Denver

Erik & I in Denver
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

My brother met us all out for food in drinks @ a brewery in Denver... I don't think he knew that he'd be having dinner with 5 women... lucky guy!

My mom thinks he looks older than me in this picure.

student conclave

student conclave
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

I headed out to Denver in order to attend a conference for students in the APTA (American Physical Therapy Association). They had a ton of different seminars on aspects of the profession, along with talks on financial aid and on how to get the most out of your clinical experience. I went to the hour long talks on Pediatrics, Neurology & hand theraphy. All very interesting.

I came back to Boston more charged up about my classes. Once you see the differnet paths you can take after graduation, you begin to see a flicker of light at the end of what appears on most days as a really long tunnel.

Here are all the other gals fromt eh program who went with me (left to right: Melanie, Jae, Kelly, me, and Joanne). Kelly is a first year with me and the other 3 are all 2nd years in the program. It was great to chat with them, and find out that they were all as stressed as we are once and they loived through it!

It hurts so good

I finally was able to attend another yoga class at Baptiste in Porter Sq. Gregor was the instructor and he gladly showed me what muscles I haven't been using for the past 3-6 months. Yeah, I'm still sore today, but it was such a good workout! I'm so glad Vivian dragged me out to a class. It's been way too long, and I forgot how great it was to sweat out all your stress.

After the past few months, that was exactly what I needed!

Davis Sq. bike seat thief!

Someone decided to steal my bike saddle and seat post last night. Even though my light(which I left on accidentally) was loosely attached to my handle bars and could have been removed effortlessly, this person decided to loosen the bolt of my bike rack and yank out my bike seat. I even think the light was worth more! The seat being missing this morning meant I had to make a mad dash for the T @ 6:30am to try and get to my computer lab job at school by 7. As fate would have it, I caught both trains quickly and even the shuttle over to school from North Station. I was only 5 minutes late, which was a miracle! This morning commute usually takes 25 min. on bike, and 45 min. on the T.

I now get to spend a nice chunk of tomorrow hunting down a new bike seat post & saddle for as little $$ as possible. I don't believe there is a hot market in Boston for bike seats, and am guessing that the Davis Sq. bike seat thief is a 15 year old punk with nothing better to do last night that make my morning awful. Perhaps he has a closet full of his many conquests....

A new obsession

So, I started doing these Sudoku puzzles. I was first introduced to them by the Boston Globe when Brian and I decided to go read the paper and hang at Diesel one night over the summer. Then I saw them in the NJ paper while visiting my grandparents, and then they were in the Metro... you know that something is completely mainstream to the point of being played out if it makes it into the Metro. I can finish the Metro Sudoku puzzle in 4 red line stops, but this one online can keep me entertained for a good while. I even have some classmates addicted to this now.

Forget crossowords (which I never really got good at), it's all about the numbers 1 thru 9!

No longer an overachiever :(

I got my first test of the semester back, and I got a 90 which I should be happy with right? wrong. The class mean was 89.5 with a standard deviation of 5.8. I'm used to being a little ahead of the curve, and being average is something that isn't sitting well with me. I am struggling to get the hands-on techniques down because I am not a tactile person, but I had hoped to do better on the exams.

I know I need to just relax and be happy that I wasn't one of the people who got below hte standard deviation and need to chat with the professor.

I'm still learning how to manage my time and get my work done while still remaining sane.....

Missing old co-workers

Brian and I decided to spend the afternoon walking to Harvard to pick up some more chai tea (I have him addicted), and I ran into an old work colleague, Pat. I was great to chat with her and hear all the Sun gossip. Apparently my horrid old manager actually got promoted. Just to give you an idea of how bad he is: I was one of 4 to quit his group within a year. According to Pat, another guy just quit and they actually hired a couple of people. I guess the group must be thriving if they managed to miss the last round of layoffs and were even able to hire someone. That's great to hear, since I'd hate to think about any of them losing their jobs. Pat also told me that my officemate finally bought a house and 2 people are becoming parents in the very near future. I guess a lot has happened since I left in May.

I definitely miss everyone, although I don't think I'd want to still be working there. I really like where I'm at right now. I enjoy getting up in the morning these days, which was not the case 6 months ago. I hope I am able to keep in touch with Pat and others at Sun, because it was great to hear what they were all up to. :)

Highschool wedding

I went with a couple of other Tafties to Matty Fisher's wedding in South Boston. I'll admit that intially I wasn't too thrilled to be going to yet another wedding this year (I'm up to 3 and have another in 2 weeks). I guess I find that I spend most of the night chatting with people I don't know about what I do for a living, where I live, how I know the bride and groom, etc. and I never really get to talk with the bride or groom. I have to say that Matt and Dana made sure to spend a ton of time with all their friends and I had a blast.

I can't believe another highschool friend is married! I guess I am of the age that all my friends are making their way down the aisle. I don't see myself taking that plunge anytime soon, although Brian and have talked about moving in together. His roommate is moving to DC to be with his girlfriend, and we have starting thinking about me moving in to his place... I don't think that would happen for a while, but it's a thought..

Clinical

So, I am assigned to the RACU for my clinical assignement this semester. For those of you not familiar with the myriad of acronyms at MGH that means the Respiratory Acute Care Unit. (I just learned that myself a couple of days ago.) I will be working with a physical therapist and another MGH student there every Wednesday morning this semester. Our first day was this week, and our CI (Clinical Instructor) had us reviewing a patient's chart, performing a reevaluation and writing up a diagnosis. I was expecting more of a tour of the facility and an introduction to acute care, but it appears as if we are going to be learning by getting right in there and doing. What a shift from undergrad!

Our patient was recovering from an auto accident where he collided head on with a truck, was found next to his vehicle (he was not wearing his seatbelt), and then airlifted to MGH where he was treated for a broken sternum, 2 broken collarbones, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. We were seeing him 3 weeks later and trying to help ween him off the ventilator and get him stable enough balance wise to return home. Crazy, huh?

Thanks to Kate

I would like to thank Kate for introducing me to links within posts and to side bar links. Yes, that is correct: my former roommate who is a medical writer helped out the former computer engineer :) So, now in addition to random thoughts, you can check out random websites that I find interesting. Nice!

Time to stop slacking...

Ok, so tomorrow I have to return to being a full time student again. It's been nice to enjoy some time off and to see family and friends. I think everyone needs 3 weeks off to catch up on life, but I guess that is only possible for those who have given up a paycheck and forced themselves back in classes... one of my only perks!

I just got back from spending 4 days at home in the Middle-of-no-where, PA. A real culture shock when I was in NYC & Boston earlier in the week. I got to spend a lot of time relaxing with my mom, and even spent a good deal of time catching up with my best friend from college. She grew up in Williamsport (a some what booming city about 45 minutes from where my family is from), and has recently started a grassroots newspaper aimed at promoting culture, awareness and education in North Central PA. I believe it may be the only liberal paper in print out there. Way to go Liz! I would expect no less from a Brown graduate.

I must admit that it was weird to walk around Boston in the middle of a work day. It was just me, the full time moms, the unemployed and the mormons... quite a different scene! I must admit that it was great to be able to watch Days of Our Lives and have that be the first real thing I did in a given day. There is something about watching a soap (this one I have followed since my friend's mom watched it with us at age 8, otherwise, I don't think I'd watch it) that makes you realize that you truly have nothing to do. For me, it almost defines relaxation... strange, huh?

Oh well, back to school

Camping at Island Pond

Camping at Island Pond
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Since I am still on break from classes, Brian and I decided to go camping with Ainsley and Igor (and the dogs). Igor found this amazing campsite on a pond in VT.

Here Brian and I are hiking with Fenway (Igor's pup) and Mookie (Brian's dog). I think Wrigley must have been napping at the top of the mountain and missed getting in this picture :)

We stayed up there for 2 nights and I've decided I would love to head up there again. It's right near a beach and tons of hiking trails. I think we all had a great time.... I wonder if I can get another hike or two in before I get completely bogged down with classes again...

Brian enjoying himself

Close up
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Here's a picture of Brian sitting next to me on the banks of a stream in Waterville Valley. We were able to sit and watch Mookie play in the stream. It was refreshing to just sit there and do nothing.

Crazy to think that this was our year anniversary. Here's to another good year!

NH hiking trip: Mookie & I

Mookie & I
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Brian and I headed up to NH for our 1 year anniversary. We stayed up in Gorham, NH near the Maine border Saturday through Monday. We went hiking all 3 days, although our big hike on Sunday was rained out. Mookie hiked with us around Waterville Valley (pictured here with me), and up to Lonesome Lake near Cannon Mtn.

It was great to relax with Brian after finishing up my first semester of school. I know have 3 weeks off before returning for the fall semester, which I hear is more difficult (yikes!) It's funny because even though I accomplished a lot of errands and what not today, I couldn't shake the feeling like I had something I wasn't doing.

For how hard it was to shift gears to student study mode, it seems even harder to shift out of it for these couple of weeks.

Sarah

sarah
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

I drag a new friend from classes to the hash and she poses for a nice picture. She's a fellow career swapper, so we've had a ton to talk about!

Rainy Day at the Hash

Hash
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

Here's a picture of me running through the streets of Boston with the Boston Hash House Harriers. We went all through the North End, along the waterfront, through South Station and ended up near the Boston Common... not a bad tour of the city! Apparently the camera man was slower than me :-p

it's been a while

I guess I have been really wrapped up in school stuff of late. I spend at least a day of each weekend studying for anatomy as well as a couple of nights a week.. craziness. And, I'm only getting an A-! I know, I should be happy with that figuring that I didn't major in anything related to anatomy in college and half the class are ex-exercise physiology majors, but I'm used to putting forth much less effort for better grades. I guess I could always go back to being an engineer, but what is the fun in that, right?

Well, I am definitely learning that I need to balance things out more. I need to take nights off to spend with Brian and my friends and I need to be ok with A-s, B+s, and hell even the occational C... ok, maybe that's taking things too far!

It's just a lot harder to change your life than I thought: more effort, lack of free time, and a ton of questions as to whether or not you are doing the right thing. At least there are others there in the same situation, and I think each of us has already had a day or two where we've contemplated going back to the our familiar former lives. Perhaps in a couple more months I won't believe I ever doubted myself. We already have had one girl withdrawal, and it was really sad.

Grad school is definitely more than I thought it would be!

Ithaca

Brian and I spent the holiday weekend in Ithaca with his Cornell friends, and I was pleasantly surprised with how the trip turned out. I was expecting a typical college town with your usual ugly 70s-style buildings (which there were some of) and dive bars (there were those too), but I was blown away by the gorges. You could park a block from campus, walk down a ravine and be in a completely different place. It was great! Besides the gorges it reminded me a lot of Burlington, VT: very laid back, hippy-like rural town with more democrats then Dunkin Doughnuts (can the state of MA claim that?) Although I was worried about not having a weekend to really crack the books, I am really glad I went on this trip... and I did manage to read an entire chapter about the Abdomen in between gorge swim sessions :)