I start Pharm on Wednesday, so I pre-warning anyone who reads that I will not be posting often.

CONGRATS to my friend Michelle who just got engaged to her boyfriend, Fabian!!

The next time you hear a politician use the words "billion" casually, think about whether you want that politician spending your tax dollars.A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective:

A billion seconds ago, it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate Washington spends it.

Back from Las Vegas! I had such a great time. It was nice to get away from everything. I am horrible at loading pictures onto this page, so you will have to see them the good ol' fashioned way (and there are A TON of them!)

Thursday: Woke up at 3:40am and got ready; picked the girls up at their house at 4:30am and headed to the airport; boarded flight at 7:10am, arrived in Las Vegas at 8:30 their time; took taxi to hotel; took hotel shuttle to strip; ready for lunch had McDonald's breakfast instead; stopped at Mandalay Bay and took in the sites; visited the Shark Reef exhibit; became jealous of the Mandalay Bay pool (it was a beach with a wave pool and also a lazy river); went over to the Luxor and saw the IMAX movie The Mystery of the Nile; had some Little Caesar's pizza; took shuttle back to hotel; took nap; got ready to go out in the evening; went to Caesars Place and walked around the shops; ate at the Cheesecake Factory; made our way to MGM Grand in heels (1.3miles); got into Studio 54; danced until feet were unbearable; took taxi to hotel; slept!!!!!!

Friday: Woke up arpund 9:15 and had some free breakfast; headed to the strip via shuttle; some more window shopping at the shops at Caesars Place (turns out first day had missed a WHOLE section); had Planet Hollywood for lunch; headed to the Mirage; went to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat; saw cute dolphins and lots of tigers and lions and one elephant; had some ice cream; headed back to the hotel and cooled down in the pool; Jaime and Michelle headed out to a show called Thunder Down Under; I stayed a watched a little TV and read poolside; Jaime and Michelle brought back some Pizza Hut; slept!

Saturday: Woke up around 9:30 and had some free breakfast; headed to the strip via shuttle, walked a ton and saw the new Wynn hotel along with some of the other ones on the north side of the strip; hungry and hot stopped at Chipotle for a late lunch; headed back to the hotel; cooled down in the hotel pool; got ready for the night; headed out to the Flamingo and had the buffet (it was very tasty); took the city bus downtown to Freemont Street; got a henna tattoo; bought some goodies for family and friends; saw the light show; waited at the scary bus stop; heard a poor Irishman talking about how we had just gotten pick-pocketed in one of the casinos; took the long, hot bus ride back (it took nearly 90 mins); took taxi home and slept

Sunday: Woke up and had breakfast and then went back to bed!; decided we had enough hotness of walking the strip and hung out poolside all afternoon; got ready for evening; had some good ol' McDonalds in NYNY; went to Coyote Ugly; disappointed we stayed for around 5 mins; walked to the Bourban Street hotel and hung out till our show started; saw a hilarious hypnosis show! took taxi home and slept!

Monday: Woke up and had free breakfast (Jaime and Michelle slept through) and then got ready to head home; went to the airport and left Las Vegas at 2:20pm.

It was a great trip!!

P.S. I think I am officially a Year 4 now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I never thought this day would come!!!

Path is officially over now!!! We took our Chairman's Exam today. It was really hard. Almost the entire test was composed of two-part questions. I am really not a big fan of those. If you are not familiar, you read the question and get really excited because you know the diagnosis and then you get to the end and realize they are asking something else all together (example: what is the gene mutation? or what does it look like histologically). All my friends thought the test was equally difficult, so that is always nice.

I am off to LAS VEGAS on Thursday bright and early!! It is going to be so much fun. I am going with Jaime and Michelle. We will be there until Monday, May 24th. I will let you know all about when I get back! :)

Sorry again for not writing. It seems when you have the least to do, you seem to do the most. :) Busy studying for Chairman's!

Sorry that I have not written in awhile. Here's what's being going on.

Friday: Final went pretty good. I was so happy to be done with it. Then, I got really sick on Friday night. Keith ended up having to take me to the emergency room at KU because I was having such troubles breathing. (THANKS KEITH!) They gave me some meds and a breathing treatment.

Saturday: Slept in to like 1:30. Then, showered and went and picked up my Rx from the pharmacy. When, I got back to my apartment Jaime was waiting here. I finished getting ready and we went to Michelle's graduation. They filled up Swinney to it's max capacity. The speaker was horrible. He told the graduates that it was okay that they ONLY graduated from UMKC and they were trying to make it a cooler place. The final alumni speaker even told them life is going to suck and nothing is easier than being a student, so get used to it. Nice parting thoughts for the new graduates. After graduation, I went with Michelle's family to Cracker Barrel. I had the country fried steak. We went back to Michelle's house after that. They had a cake and Michelle opened some of her gifts. HAPPY GRADUATION Michelle!

Sunday: Happy Mother's Day!!!! Woke up and had breakfast casserole with my family. Then, my mom and I went shopping for her Mother's Day gift. I got her a cute pair of black pants and a shirt. We also got some swimsuits and had a pretzel at the mall. When we came home, I discovered my dad and Nick had cleaned my car! It was really nice of them to do. If you had seen its condition you might have taken pity on it too! In the afternoon, we took pictures around the yard. Mom wanted to have some good pictures of Nick and I for her desk at work. We had shishkebobs for dinner. They were very tasty. At 7, we watched Home Extreme Makeover:Home Edition. It was the edition in Kansas City. It was really cool to see. The funny thing was UMKC had sent an e-mail telling us to watch it because they were giving out 5 full-ride scholarships to the kids that lived in the house. We get to the end and no scholarship annoucement. I got another email yesterday saying they were promised it would be there, but oh well, try to watch the How Did They Do It and it would be there.

Monday: Slept in. I haven't been able to do that on a Monday in months! Had lunch with Keith and turned my final assignment in at school. Went grocery shopping and then came back here to start studying for Chairman's (on May 17th). Made dinner for Keith and I. I made Porcupine Meatballs with mashed potatoes. It was my first time making the real mashed potatoes by myself. :) Both turned out excellent, I thought. After some TV, Keith and I went mini-golfing at the local mall where they have a blacklight indoor course. Since it just opened you get to play 56 holes for only $5. I lost every round!!

Well, that was the past couple days!

Pathology final tomorrow!! It was been quite the struggle to motivate myself to study today. As usual, I was doing great this morning and then the afternoon hit. I never like afternoon studying pre-test. Well, I have made it past the afternoon (though I think if I had been taped or something people would have been taking bets). I went to Panera for dinner to partially have really tasty food and partially to get out of the house. At Panera, I saw a two fellow classmates, Ashely Ryan studying and Lauren having dinner with Brian (her BF). It was nice to see them. Then, I came back here and once again began to aimlessly look at the computer screen and that pretty much brings you up to speed. Material covered tomorrow includes:

• Liver tumors malignant and benign, gall bladder, exocrine pancreas
• Endocrine lectures, lab and individual CPC
• Peripheral Nerve & Skeletal muscle
• CSF
• Central Nervous System
• Bones, Joints & Soft Tissue Tumors
• Laboratory Testing for Viral Hepatitis and HIV
  

Well there you have it. If I can learn that, plus get a couple of the review questions correct, another step to becoming a doctor will be completed(well almost, we have to pass a Chairman's test for Pathology on May 17th)!

Up-date: I guess I learned it! I did quite well on the test (for me at least)!

My ant problem is still going on!! About two months ago they were coming in the front window and now they have gone away from that window. But, now they are in the bathroom. Everytime I am in there, there are a couple of ants to kill that are randomly crawling around. What a pain!! The strange thing is that the bathroom has no exterior walls and I live on the third floor. They sprayed last month, but they are still here. Will they ever go away?? Must call again today to have them spray again!!

Sunday night TV

After Alias was moved off of Sundays, my Sunday nights became kinda bland. But recently with new shows added, Sunday night is now my favorite TV night. My current line-up includes: Cold Case, Home Extreme Makeover (usually recorded, so I can cut out all the commercials) and Gray's Anatomy. I know Desperate Housewives is a good show, but I have purposely not watched because I know it would become another Sunday night addiction. If you find yourself bored this Sunday night, try Tuning on the tube, you might be pleasantly surprised.