It’s a deal

Ok deal with myself: if I get 87% or above on this upcoming test, I’m getting myself the new Mocean Worker CD:

If I get 93% or above, I also get the Brandi Carlile CD:

I’m still here! Just a little tied up.

Monday is our first test this year — Microbiology — so I’ve been busy getting ready for that. But I haven’t forgotten you guys!

This past week I was also tutoring a first-year. So I had to re-learn a lot of the material that I was supposed to have learned last year. Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve forgotten a lot of this stuff. But we’ll just re-learn it, right?

Fun Micro Fact: Listeria monocytogenes is found in unpasteurized milk, soft cheese, and improperly cooked deli meats and hot dogs. It is able to grow at refrigeration temperatures, and can invade the brain to cause meningitis and brain abcesses.

Giving myself a haircut

I have wanted to learn to cut my own hair for some time. It’s just not worth it to pay $12 or more every month to have one week of good hair and three weeks of “it’s getting really long but I just got it cut.” Especially since I never get a really complicated cut anyway. Just #3 on the sides and #10 on the top.

So I went down to Rite-Aid and bought a hair trimmer set and a hand mirror, and went to the bathroom and started clipping. There were a few times when I was sure I trimmed too much, but for the most part I’m pleased.

(EDIT: By the way, the kit did not go up to #10 in comb attachments, so I had to go a little shorter — #8. I’m less pleased about that.)

New Kelly video + TV hotties

So Kelly has a new video?! And it’s full of celebrities?

Speaking of celebrities, here are some celebrities that I am currently crushing on: Joel McHale from E!’s The Soup (funny and fun to watch). David Bromstad from Color Splash on HGTV. Brice Cooper from Design on a Dime, also on HGTV. Chris Meloni from Law and Order: SVU. Jon Tenney from The Closer (a show that I love), because he makes me melt when he kisses Brenda. Michael Chiarello from a show on Food Network that I caught at some weird hour.

Last quick thing — I started an online trading account with Zecco, thanks to the persuasion of my old college roommate. I don’t really have an income to invest with, but hopefully I can partially offset the interest accruing on my student loans. Is this a good idea? I’m still wondering.

Your secret ingredient: CHICKEN!

I’m cooking now — whenever I have time. I love it. Sometimes the food even tastes pretty good.

Recently I bought some boneless chicken thighs, and I divided them between two bags. The first set I made with a modification on a recipe I had used a long time ago. I put a lot of cumin and a good amount (like 2 tbsp) of Cajun seasoning on the chicken in a Ziploc bag, and mixed it around so that it was well coated. Then I just seared (sauteed? fried?) it in oil in a hot skillet on both sides until it was cooked through. So simple.

And then I saw the bits left in the pan and I thought, “I could deglaze it like they do on the Food Network instructional video.” So I poured some leftover Merlot into the pan and scraped up the bits, and then poured it over the cooked meat. It tasted fantastic.

By the way, the whole set of Food Network instructional videos on basic techniques is right here.

For my second attempt on the chickens, I tried a “Deviled Chicken Thighs” recipe that involved a lemon-juice-and-Tabasco marinade, a breadcrumb coating, and baking. I have to say, I’m not such a fan of this recipe. The chicken got really soft and sort of mushy, and the coating burned in the oven and was really salty. I think with chicken, in the future, pan-searing is the way to go.

I’m also going to learn guitar. I’m pretty excited.

Smoking in the apartment

My roommate has been smoking in our apartment again. I’d like to say something (and I did at one point, but I think he is still doing it), but I just think that it will cause a lot of drama.

Which I don’t have time for right now.

But now our place has that old-apartment/motel-room smell. And I’m kind of embarrassed to have people over now, and the place always feels dirty to me. Even though I clean it.

Then there’s the coffee that’s always spilled around his coffee machines, and coffee grounds that are always dumped in my dishes in the sink, which stain everything brown.

This is going to be a long year.

Alan Keyes is a douche

Alan Keyes, who is now running for president, is the biggest smug-faced bigot I have ever seen. Just listening to him makes me want to punch his face. Watch this part of a debate with Barack Obama.

Note that Keyes does not give any indication that his own daughter is a lesbian. And that he kicked her out of the house, refused to pay her college tuition, and is not speaking to her.

And now he’s carrying on as if he doesn’t have a gay daughter, and he has the nerve to call Mary Cheney a “selfish hedonist.” What a douchebag.

I’m just glad that he’s such a lunatic that he’ll never get the nomination.

Updates about my mom

My mom has completed her radioiodine therapy and is recovering in Taiwan. My sister has flown back to stay with her, and they are all coming back to the U.S. in a week. Even though there’s still follow-up to do, I’ll feel a whole lot better when they are all back in the country.

Also, I was mistaken in quoting the survival rate of thyroid cancer. It looks like the form of cancer that she has/had, papillary thyroid carcinoma (by far the most common form), has a much higher survival rate — up to 94% in patients without metastases. This is one case in which I’m more than happy to be proven wrong.

It also goes to show that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Whew! That was exhausting!

This week has felt like a marathon of scheduling, with one thing right after another. I may have to start cutting things out and/or fall off the face of the earth for a while to get back to my studies.

One thing that has suffered these few weeks has been my workout routine. I’ve just been either too tired or too booked to make it down to the gym. Yesterday my workout buddy and I finally set a time and stuck to it. And man am I out of shape. I was out of breath and seeing stars by the time we finished weights, and I told him that I probably couldn’t do any running that day. But hopefully we’ll keep this up and get a lot better.

I have to get to studying now (I’m so behind!) before my afternoon class, meeting, and getting ready for a dinner event with the LGBT med school groups from multiple schools in southern California.

Well, hello!

I have never seen this woman before in my life, but apparently Brenda Dickson is a former soap star who believes that she has important information to share with all of us about diet, fashion, and exercise.

She gives us insightful tidbits like: “In shopping, you’ll find that your eye will be drawn to the things you like.”

Ha ha! She’s lost her mind! Also check out the many parody videos out there. But don’t watch these at work or while drinking milk:

Welcome to Our House

(the “Camel Toe” version)