Interview Update

As most of you know, I am in the stressful process of applying to Medical School. So far, I have only interviewed at the University of Utah, and unfortunately was not accepted. After a day or two of extreme depression, I decided to e-mail the other schools to figure out what the heck is going on. Here is the exact e-mail that I sent to the schools:

"Dear Admissions Folks,
"I am writing to check in on my application. I am curious as to the status of the application, and when you’d like to have me come out to interview. I haven’t made a final decision on which medical school I will attend, mostly because I am waiting to hear of my fate at your school. I would love to have any chance of getting closer to acceptance there.
"Please send any updates and good news you might have my way (you can even send the bad news: I’m getting anxious of just waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting…). If you need to, please have the committee take another look at my application. I am a great candidate, and I would make an excellent addition to your school!
"Thank you for your time and your help. Yours is not the easiest job with so many people like me constantly asking for an update. I appreciate it."

Pretty good letter, right? I impressed myself at how well I executed it. I had to bluff a little, but I didn't want to sound desperate.

As expected, I received feedback from the schools. All of them said in one form or another: "The committee will continue to look at your application and let you know soon..."

Lame.

Well, a few days later, Wisconsin stepped up to the plate and offered a real interview. Thanks, Wisconsin! Not my first choice, but I'll take it. I have plane tickets ready and a room reserved. Although lonely, my trip to Milwaukee should be fun.

About a week after the Medical College of Wisconsin contacted me, I got a call from Thomas Jefferson University. A call from a real person from the admissions committee?! And the Oscar for Best MD School Correspondence goes to...TJU! Anyway, they called to invite me to interview. They read my e-mail, took my advice and re-read my application, and loved me. They normally don't call people, they said, but they had to let me know as soon as possible so I didn't have to continue to wait, and wait, and wait... They said explicitly that my e-mail is what prompted an interview.

I'd like to thank the academy, and Dr. Blackett, Eliza's OB, for the awesome idea to contact each and every one of my schools and pester them to action!

Also thanks to Dr. Blackett, I applied to a DO school in Kansas City, MO. Dr. Blackett herself attended school there, and recommended that I apply. I applied, and before I could even submit the secondary application, I received an invitation to interview. Interview #4! I can't believe it!

I am having the best luck this month, but if you do the math, the statistics aren't very good. I applied to 12 MD schools, interviewed or will interview at 3, and have been rejected from 2 so far. I applied to 5 DO schools, and will interview at 1. I suppose there is more time for good news, but I only anticipate more interviews from the other DO schools, and more rejections from MD schools. I'm okay with that. I will be happy to go to any school that accepts me.

Now for something completely random:

Biochemistry

My professor showed us this video in class this week. I'm glad this isn't a common reaction with gummy bears, otherwise I don't think I would have a liking for them. (Video may not be suitable for young children that might be affected by flying gummy bear appendages).

Your Eggo is Prego

You've requested them, now here they are! Pregnant pictures of Eliza: just look at that belly! I sure love this prego lady.

P.S. If you haven't seen JUNO, you should check it out (if you can handle the irreverence and borderline crude humor involved). Here is a preview:

The Dorsets

One of my favorite mission companions, Chad Bowman, is an awesome musician. He had a guitar on the mission, and he used to play and sing all the time. He even played for our wedding reception, and it was killer. Well, he has a band now, and they are sweet. Here is a clip of one of their songs. Enjoy!

New Cat Update

Eliza took the new cat (Vincent) into the vet again today. The report was good. In the six days since his last visit, Vincent gained 1.3 pounds, taking him from 5.3 to 6.6 pounds. The vet was impressed. I was impressed! We really know how to bulk up here! His front paw is also doing much better; he's almost done with his antibiotics.
As for the cat-cat relationship, it isn't going so well. Vincent is a very sweet cat, and would accept Fergi with open arms, but she isn't willing to share the house. However, he doesn't take her crap when she hisses and growls at him, and he chases her down. They have a little scuffle, then she gets to higher ground (because he can't jump very high). One of them needs to establish dominance, and fast, because we are tired of playing the referees.

Milwaukee, here I come!

I've got tickets and everything: it's final. I'm going to Milwaukee on March 6th, and coming back March 8th. I'm interviewing at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Due to the times the planes fly in and out of there, I'm going to be spending two nights. Can't wait!

If I were a nut, I'd be a...

LOST!

LOST is incredible this season. I have a very good feeling that we are going to learn a lot of the secrets that have been building up since the beginning. I have to admit that I haven't seen this series all the way through, but I came in strong last season, and I am hooked.



On a different note, I got a paper shredder as a graduation present from my parents, and I just barely set it up, and I love it. There is something so satisfying about thoroughly destroying documents--it appeals to me on a few different levels: 1) you get to destroy something, 2) you are protecting your private information, and 3) there isn't very much work involved for you as the destroyer. It's an amazing thing, and I recommend that everyone who doesn't have one, get one.

It's a Boy, Again!

Well, we found out that our new kitty is a boy. We had to wait 'til we took him to the vet to figure out what he was. We've decided to name him Vincent. It is fitting since his ear is damaged and, as the vet said, may partially sluff off (from what we believe to be the effects of frost bite). His limpy leg isn't broken, but may be infected. We have to administer antibiotics each day to stop the infection and fever.
Since our last post, we decided to try to incorporate the new kitty into the house, not knowing the drastic affect he would have on Fergi. The way we perceived things, Fergi seemed like the big, bullying resident cat, and this poor, traumatized gimp seemed like a victim to Fergi's verbal assaults. But during one of the interactions, the kitty snapped and started to hunt down Fergi, chasing her at top speeds throughout every room of the house. On our second attempt, hair began to fly, and we knew that we had to give them more time to adjust to each other.
So, Vincent is banished to the bathroom for the time being, and Fergi is continually on the look-out for the black devil cat. Although we call him "devil cat", he is still completely submissive and affectionate with Eliza and I.

In other news, the Medical College of Wisconsin finally decided to invite me to interview. What the heck took so long?! I am a good applicant. I am a catch. When will these schools realize that?

What?! Another...

Cat? That's right. Another cat has entered our family. Yesterday on her way home from work, Eliza called to tell me she was bringing home a homeless kitty that found its way to her work. (She would be telling the story, but she's pregnant and unable to type.) We think its right ear is frost bitten, and for some reason it doesn't walk on its front right paw, but it is very cuddly and content to stay in your lap for as long as you want it there. And compared to Fergi, this new cat purs like an engine.

We don't yet know the sex, so we can't name it yet. And as far as Fergi is concerned, this new cat is trouble. She's not ready to share the spotlight with another being. I suppose this is good training for the baby.

In unrelated news, Eliza's car died today. Michael came over to help us install a new battery. It seems to run fine now.

What happened to you?

For our regular readers, you will notice some format changes in our blog. I was never a fan of the polka dots, and I didn't like how confined we were in the skinny columns, so here we are now. You'll also notice that I posted a few things yesterday to try to catch up on a month of no blogging.

I have to give a shout out to Heidi and Amber, my two sisters. It's their birthdays today and tomorrow, respectively. We missed out (like always) on the celebrations, but we wish you a happy birthday. We hope to see you soon.

Merry Christmas!

Wait a minute! Christmas was a month ago. I know, I know. We're way late putting these pictures up, but here they are. Our Christmas was relatively uneventful. We opened present on Christmas Eve because we both had to work on Christmas morning. But Eliza and I had fun together, and we even had Michelle and Wendy over for Christmas dinner.

Um, I graduated...

For those of you that might have heard, I graduated on December 15th (or on a date really close to the 15th; I can't remember)! Here are some pictures of the blessed event:

I am very proud to be a college graduate, even though I only graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts (whatever the heck that is). I wish that I could say that I miss the college life, but I don't, because I'm still taking classes. I had to take Biochemistry for the University of Utah (which I didn't get accepted to) and I go to class three days a week.

Thank you, Michael, for taking these pictures. It's about time I show them off.

I give it a week...

Greetings from Logan, UT!

It continues to snow here with only a day or two between storms. I'm beginning to hope that I get invited to interview at the medical school in Glendale, Arizona, so that I have a good reason to get out of here.

A few weeks ago, the icicles were growing treacherously long over our porch. Eliza was starting to worry about the wellfare of our eyes (especially after watching a Mythbusters episode that confirmed the legend that an icicle CAN be lethal.) So, to ease her concerns, I set about trying to take care of the problem. Being that our townhome is two stories high, I had to find a sturdy but nonthreatening object that I could throw to knock down the icicles. Solution: a soccer ball.

The task wasn't as easy as you might think. After only a few successful attempts, and after Eliza took a few shots, I gave the soccer ball one last heft, and it would be the heft that landed the dear ball on the roof of our house, lodged in snuggly in a snow bank.
Again, being that our house is two stories high, the only thing we could do is wait for the snow to melt. Eliza, being the betting woman that she is, asked how long I would give it before it melted off the roof. "I give it a week," I said. "A week?" she replied. "I give it to February, at least!"



The ball was found on our sidewalk in four days time.