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Weird Things You Find…
03 Friday Oct 2014
Posted Med School, Regular Life
in03 Friday Oct 2014
Posted Med School, Regular Life
inTags
05 Wednesday Dec 2012
Posted Regular Life
inTags
Budgeting, Cleaning, Complaining, Fleas, Pests, Pets, Veterinarian
When we moved in, there were tiny little ants in the baby’s room, bathroom and kitchen. Those were taken care of with ant traps and liberal cleaning of the nicotine* they were feeding on off the walls with vinegar.
After the ants, the weather got cooler and flies started coming in the house. We fixed the screens and that took care of them.
Then the dog got fleas and they spread to the rest of the house. I think that with the 2nd professional extermination and a vet visit that ended up costing $800** that they are on the way out. The past few days we’ve seen one or none, thank goodness.
Now we have giant-ass crickets. By “giant-ass,” I mean like 3 inches across. I don’t know if they’re actually crickets, but they have huge hind legs. It was in the hallway. The Husband killed it.
*The walls and windows were DISGUSTING when we moved in. See the 8×10 color glossy photographs below.
** (Initial exam + Prescription flea medication) x 3 pets + steroid shot for crazy anxious cat who’s been chewing her fur off again + (antibiotics + pain meds + anesthesia for cleaning out blocked anal gland of the dog that was discovered when we got her shaved) + vaccines that expired in May that the NH vet didn’t give at the dog’s annual exam in June for some unknown reason. Ugh. November budget blown. Don’t expect fancy Christmas presents from us this year.
21 Sunday Oct 2012
Posted Regular Life
inThe dog has fleas. She was on Frontline. I asked about it at the pet store, the clerk said they’d been getting a lot of complaints about it not working recently. She thinks they changed their formula.
For the moment, that means the dog is banished to the outdoors and the kitchen because it has no rugs. It also means I need to sweep under the high chair a lot more.
08 Saturday Sep 2012
Posted Regular Life
inTags
How many hydrogen peroxide and baking soda applications do you put on a cat-pee-smelling closet hardwood floor before you give up and shellac the heck out of it?
If you have any other suggestions I’m all ears. Or eyes, as the case may be.
06 Thursday Sep 2012
Posted Med School
inBecause I like hyperbole! And exclamation marks!
I have alluded to my love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with flashcards on the blog before, but have never really explained why I loathe them so. Yes, I understand they are a fantastic way to learn discrete facts. But (and it’s a big but[t]!) there are a lot of facts one needs to know for medicine.
The pre-med years were an explosion of flashcards. I would almost clear the shelf of index cards at the drugstore, The Husband would cut them into quarters, and it still wasn’t enough. He was always running out of blank ones.
On top of that, they were everywhere–all over the counters, fallen behind the bed, and in every pocket of his that I emptied for laundry.
It took a year before I thought I purged the house of them, yet we still found more when we packed up to move.
The Husband made perhaps two class days’ worth of flashcards (already in the dozens) and I may have thrown a mini-fit and/or had an episode of PTSD. Details are sketchy. We’ll never know for sure.
Since his new tablet computer came in the mail that day, he downloaded the Anki flashcard app. He can create flashcards with words, pictures, chemical notation, mathematical formulas, etc. and here’s the best part: They’re only electrons. Electrons are so much smaller than pieces of cardstock. I don’t mind if a stray electron falls behind the desk.
Electrons can be sent from one device to another. He can create flashcards on the desktop and review them on the tablet. He can access them on the Internet. He can even send them to friends.
He can organize the flashcards into “decks” for the different tests or different subjects. He can rate each one on a scale from easier (shows up less often) to more difficult (shows up again soon).
The house is so much cleaner with no baskets full of cards! Best app ever!
UPDATE 7:50 PM: The Husband mostly likes it, but says Anki does have a tendency to crash.