Preparing for Wisconsin!

Monday I spent a long day in lab and didn't get to put my Western Blot into primary antibody until 8PM!  Yeeesh!  I felt bad because I told Paul I would make dinner, but the lab experiment kept me late.  To make up for my crazy Monday, I skipped going to Pimanti Brother's on Tuesday with the MSTP after class and I went home to make Paul a big dinner.

Cooking up a storm, it's all about the display, and the pants!

Dinner was great, I made spinach and ricotta stuffed shells covered in tomato and garlic sauce.  It was a really good meal, complete with Tiggy salad!  We enjoyed a glass of wine and relaxed for the evening.

Paul enjoying his first paycheck!

 On Wednesday I fired up my cooking skills by making a repeat dinner for Josiah, Josiah's sister, Anna, Paul and I.  I was going to snipe their free laundry (washer and dryer) to get my clothes clean and ready to go back to Wisconsin.  The dinner was good, but the laundry left something to be desired, haha.  The spinner was broke, so the spin cycle was non-functional.  It took forever for things to wash and dry which included me ringing everything out by hand.  In fact, I don't even know if things were actually washed or just wet.  Oh well, they smelt okay, and that's the major issue.

Thursday night, Paul and I were packing to head back to Wisconsin and I was going to get up and run Friday morning, but I was dead, so I decided to snooze.  I had to drop Paul off at the hospital that morning and come back to drop the car off at the house.  I can just take buses everywhere, but Paul doesn't have that luxury.  So after I dropped the car off, I took my luggage and headed for the 88 Bus towards the Children's Hospital.  The day went by quickly, and before I knew it, I was on the 28X headed to the Pittsburgh airport!  Destination: WISCONSIN!!

Hackam Lab BBQ: Moped Ride!

Sunday morning I worked on some paper work in the morning and went to the Gym to get in my long run for the week.  It went pretty well, but the bus didn't come quickly after the run, so I called Paul to meet me halfway in the car.  I put on another 0.5-1 miles that way!

After the jog, I scurried about to get ready in time to head to Dr. Hackam's Lab picnic.  Each summer he hosts a BBQ at his house for the people in the lab to attend.  It was pretty close to our place, so we decided to moped there for lunch.  It was a fun little moped ride, after stopping for gas at the Shell, we parked out front and walked to the backyard to be greeted by the rest of the lab!

Turns out we were fashionably late but there was a lot of great food and company.  We talked and watched the kids run around and play games on the swing-set.  After getting our fill and over-indulging on fruit and snacks we jumped on our mopeds and headed for home.  Dr. Hackam and Macky (with his son) came out and watched us speed off, it was pretty classic.  I made a pit stop at giant eagle for Popsicles and ricotta and then over to Panera Bread to pick up my free drink, it was a fun and warm afternoon!

Short week and jam-packed weekend!

After a long weekend, the short week flew past! With a bunch of grand events!  On Tuesday after class, I quite popped into the gym for a short 3.5 mile run and then ran right over to Hemingway's to catch up with the MSTP boys who were grabbing a bite to eat.  I made it just in time to place my order of a Chicken Caesar wrap (hold the Caesar).  We gabbed about class and medicine as usual, then I made my way home for a busy night of homework.

The following evening, Paul and I wanted to use our other Hemingway's coupon, so we met up after class/work to walk down to dinner at Hemingway's.  They had a Blue Moon Special, which was excellent.  We had a nice, inexpensive, and filling dinner.  It was a lot of fun and a nice treat after work.

Happy BIRTHDAY Annie! Happy 21st!

Thursday I had class again after lab and we were walking down to go out with Annie for her Birthday!  I quickly went home and got a bottle of wine because the place was BYO-Bottle and Annie was turning 21!  It was an excellent dinner, we went to Ali Baba and celebrated with the craziest chocolate cake after a large vegetarian dinner.  It was really delicious!

MSTP Gang (and hole where I'm sitting)

Josh, Eric, Alex, Johannes, Michelle!

Singing Happy Birthday like fools!

 So that makes going out to eat three days in a row... yeesh.  On Friday I was able to relax and hang out with Paul at home, it was really nice to just take it easy.  Saturday morning I had to go into lab to get some immunostaining done on cells, so I ran in and started working.  Paul called, and we had a quick change of plans and headed to the Anesthesia department picnic.  It was in the afternoon on a hot day, so we were all warm and feeling the heat.  The Director's house was absolutely amazing and the party was excellent!  They had a buffet of catered food and a massive backyard filled with a pool, outdoor patio, massive grill, and small waterfall.  It was such a beautiful place to host a party!  We stayed and mingled with faculty and students.  Paul was the only first CBY (Clinical Base Year) that was at the party for a long time until some of his classmates showed up.  All of the students and faculty brought their families, so it was nice to mingle with other couples and smile at the kiddos!

After the picnic, Paul and I went to Ikea to browse around.  We looked for tables and different things, but the best purchase by far was our magnetic knife blocks!  We finally got to hang our knifes up and get them off the counter top!  They look great, and Paul did a good job of hanging them up.

That Saturday evening was a continuation of Annie's Birthday Party!  Josiah and just driven his UHaul from Chicago with Anna so I met up with the gang late on Carson Street to bring a load of MSTP peeps home to Ellsworth.  It was a low key night, and I drove which was a welcomed relaxation!

Fourth of July Weekend!

We celebrated our first Fourth of July in Pittsburgh!  The three day weekend was really nice and full of action! Sunday morning Paul and I were lazy and then caught the church service.  I went for a run in the afternoon and thought that I was going to suffer from severe heat stroke.  People were looking at me funny, and now I realized it was because my face was extremely red and I appeared to be on the verge of death.  After my run I came home quickly and showered before heading downtown to the hospital with Ryan.

We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to shadow Macky while he took trauma call.  I am as fresh as med students come, so I definitely played the undergraduate roll of shadowing and watching from a safe distance.  There were a few fast pace cases that came into the Trauma bay which required all all capable hands.  I was able to observe a variety of procedures and test my stomach for trauma.  To my relief I didn't feel faint or queezy, so I made it through med school test numero uno.

In addition to shadowing in the trauma bay, I also was able to go into the OR and observe a few surgeries.  I am fond of intestinal surgeries, as one could imagine, and I was able to see a few belly surgeries which was AWESOME.  Again, I can barely handle watching an IV or LP, but for some reason surgeries were fine to watch (even sleepless!).  The night spent shadowing helped me learn a lot.  It was so nice to be able to see the different procedures and services working together.  I know I'm really going to like this job....

On the fourth, I came home around 9:30-10AM and blabbed to Paul about the previous evening, obviously excited about it, and asking questions about how everything comes together.  I took a nap until the early afternoon and then Paul and I took our mopeds up to Children's Hospital because I had to do a few things at work.  He saw the spectacular view from Rangos and saw the tissue culture hoods were the magic happens.

We came back just in time before it literately rained on the parade.  It down poured on the rest of the MSTP who were grilling out at Darragh, so I'm glad we held tight at home.  Overall it was a good Independence Day, even without the fireworks! 

Strobel's Birthday Dinner and Evening...

On Friday after work, I went home, raced to the bank and took the bus to Oakland.  I was pretty excited because I left my moped in the ramp over night and there wasn't a ticket or anything on it.  That makes me feel more confident that I am able to park my moped in the garage and ride it to work.  It would be super handy to be able to fly around on the moped, but I always have to go to Oakland after Children's - so the shuttle is pretty convenient to get to Scaife and Peterson Events Center.

Happy Birthday Strobel! Rock on!

Anywho, we went out to eat at Joe Mama's, an Italian place in Oakland, close to the hospital.  I had a drink and a salad, and it was really great!  We used the MSTP Birthday Candle and I had the honors of cutting the cake!  Annie did another amazing cake purchase, strawberry from Squirrel Hill!  It was delicious, I was so full I could barely move again.  After taking a rest back home, I met up with Michelle and walked down to a fellow classmate's house in Shadyside to socialize.  It was a good time and I was able to meet a few people there...  Ryan and I shared a lot of laughs, so it was just like another day in lab! Haha...

This morning, Paul and I made a haul at Sam's Club and Wal-mart.  I picked up some ingredients for dinners I want to make this week, so it was a much needed trip.  We also got normal size recycling bags (instead of the epic fail ebay blue bags from China).  All is well in the world!

Trials and Tribulations of Lab...

This last week has been quite interesting...  I have had a rough week in lab while doing a lot of work resulting in, well, no results.  It has been a week of troubleshooting and mini-experiments to try to get the cells that we're using to attach to plates so we can stain them and take pretty pictures.  I turns out nothing has worked so far...

One productive thing that Ryan and I did though was make a sign for Macky featuring creepy Care Bears.  That helped to brighten my week.  We are also in the process of working on a review, so we'll see how that comes out among the midst of these experiments.

I'm not the only one though, our whole team (Me, Macky, and Ryan) were busted during the week.  I guess you have to laugh to get through these trials of research, and if you can hack it, you'll be in science for a while!

On the bright side, my new computer finally arrived via FedEx, woot whoooot!  And, Paul and I had a nice dinner on Wednesday evening.  I don't have class on Wednesdays, so I scampered home and whipped up some spicey pasta and Tiggy salad... it was so delish.  Paul already cleaned out the leftovers, but luckily I have the ingredients for another batch!

Paul enjoying pasta and chicken breast...