Hello World Wide Web! Oh how I've missed you! The tenants of the apartment next to mine moved out last week, requiring the unplugging of their services. Apparently the cable man unplugged the wires to my apartment instead and I have since been without cable or internet, until tonight. So, many things to update since I last shared my thoughts.
Last week ended fairly well. I spent a few hours Friday learning CASA (computer-automated sperm analysis). It is a program used to analyze sperm (motility, concentration, etc) and I will be using it to run stress tests on some bulls once I perfect the technique. It is not a difficult task to perform, but there are many specific steps that require immense concentration and aseptic technique at all times. It takes some getting used to, but I am more aware of where my hands are, where the pipette tip is at all times, and how to keep things sterile that need to be.
Saturday was a lab-wide sushi party held at Louisa's house. Louisa works in the lab and lives about 45 minutes from Knoxville in an area that is full of rolling hills, green fields, and trees. It is very pretty! I, being a person of particular taste, was skeptical at first about trying sushi. I do not eat seafood, so I did not know what I would be able to eat. When I arrived, there were a plethora of things we could put in the rolls other than seafood. I made my roll with tempura-fried green beans, cream cheese, and cashews. The rice Louisa made for it was white, fluffy, and sticky. Yum! She also made some delicious potstickers (pork, mushroom, cashews, various seasonings, oils, etc stuffed in a little triangular, thin pastry). It was nice to be with everyone in the lab out of the lab setting and to meet most of their significant others.
Sunday, I visited First Baptist Knoxville which is downtown. I attended Sunday School in a combined college/young careers class. The worship service is very similar to Hayes Barton, which was comforting. They have a fabulous choir and sang many familiar hymns. The pastor, Dr. Sheill, gave a great sermon on being our own, unique selves and allowing God to restore us when we're led astray. I met two other girls there who were first-time visitors and they were extremely nice. I plan on going back to FBK as they are starting a 6-week Fall Festival of Faith, which is a church-wide curriculum during Sunday School using John Ortberg's The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You. I'm glad to have found a place where I can attend, that feels familiar, comforting, and welcoming. I know it will help me immensely to have a church family to guide me through the journey ahead.
Essau has been doing very well. Everyone still OOH's and AHH's over him, which I think he enjoys. I have lunged him a few times and ridden him a few times. It amazes me the difference in his gaits between the two activities. He acts like a 20-year-old Quarter Horse on a lunge line, but a 4-year-old Thoroughbred under saddle. I guess that's just part of what makes Essau special.
Today was the first day of classes! I started the morning with Theriogenology over at the vet school. It is a class for 3rd year vet students, but Jessy and I seem to fit right in. The course is going to be spectacular! We have about 10 different professors teaching it and will go in depth into the reproductive systems of male and female for each of the main species. I really enjoyed our lecture today, a brief overview of sex determination/differentiation, female reproductive tract, and abnormalities of the female tract. Jessy and I realized that we saw one of the abnormalities last week while cutting tracts! I made an interesting observation while waiting for the class to start. The vet school classes seem to have the same environments no matter where you are. I can feel the energy in that room, the bonds between classmates, and it is the exact same as when I am around Justin and his vet school class. I just thought it was cool how similar they were. I guess being with the same 80 people all day every weekday for years yields similar effects.
My next class, Molecular Biology & Genomics, was very quick. Our professor simply went through the syllabus, answered any questions, and dismissed us. We will start with our first lecture on Friday. That class will be an in depth study of the cell. It will cover a lot of information I learned in genetics, as well as biochemistry. There are two different professors teaching it and we have weekly discussion sessions.
Some other tidbits: While I did not have cable and internet for the past 5 days, I "read" The Da Vinci Code. By "read" I mean that I listened to it. Rankin and Kristen (from HBBC) let me borrow a bunch of books on CD for my long trips in the car. I really liked it! The book itself was very magnetic, suspenseful, and interesting. It reminded me a lot of National Treasure. I also very much enjoyed having it read to me. I find that when I read books, I am somewhat slow, and get tired quickly. When I could listen to the book, it allowed me to picture what was going on in my head more clearly and also allowed me to do other things (ie brush my teeth, cook dinner, etc). I just started Angels & Demons tonight, which is 15 discs compared to the 5 discs of Da Vinci Code. This one will take me MUCH longer to finish...
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