here's what's up

So I know I have been slacking in the blog update department lately, but I've been super busy.  Here is a play by play of what I have been doing in 4 sentences or less per topic (to put a twist on it and to expedite the process so that I can finish this post and go to bed).

Last week...

Tuesday:  I played intramural softball with a team of classmates.  I played right field.  We lost because the other team was made up of students that had played in college.  No fair.

Wednesday: We had the third competency of the year.  Dexter got a new set of veneers.  The picture is not from the competency, but from a set he got earlier in the week.

Dexter's veneer preps...my professors said they were the best ones at my bench.

Thursday: We learned how to do shade selection in sim clinic and Jay played the part of the patient/tooth model.  Since we had a little extra time, some benchmates made realistic looking vampire fangs out of composite and bleaching trays for their Halloween costumes.  Then at night, I studied like a mad woman for the pharmacy test.  I was very thankful that I had spent the past week and a half making flashcards for the 50+ drugs that needed to be memorized.

Friday:  I took a crazy hard pharmacy test and actually did pretty well.  Then I spent the afternoon in the rat lab measuring rat aortas, which as far as I am concerned is the most boring thing EVER.  (And I thought sectioning the aortas was bad...) Friday night I had a girl date with Mindi at Cheesecake Factory where we were able to sit outside on the patio because the weather was GORGEOUS.

This is what a rat aorta looks like under a microscope.  I have to measure the circumference of the lumen (inside) and the outside of the aorta.  It takes about twenty minutes to do one.  We have hundreds left.

Saturday: I played some more softball with my friend Hillary and her church team.  I played second base.  We lost.  Then I came home and found another scorpion in my apartment.

Sunday: I discovered some dents in my car from the nasty hailstorm.  Apparently the covered parking did not completely protect my poor Pontiac.  Then, I underestimated the amount of time it would take to write a paper (500-2500 words) on dental materials.  So I was up until 3:30 AM and felt very sleep deprived the next morning at my 8 AM class.

Monday: After class and finishing/handing in the paper, I spent some more time in the research lab.  Thankfully this time, I did sectioning instead of aorta measuring.  I never thought that there was a lab task so boring that I would actually want to section...I have been proved wrong.  Then I played more softball with my classmates; we won and are probably going to the playoffs.  (Good thing too, because I was starting to think that I was a bad omen as neither team had lost until I played for them.  Oops...that was a bonus sentence.)

Tuesday (aka today): I did 3 crown preps.  My professor brought in some projects he did while in dental school...over 50 years ago!  There were 2 complete dental arches with the teeth made out of wax that were incredibly well done.  None of the waxing I did last year even comes close, and even the other professors were impressed.

And we got a new typodont.  I think it will train us quite well to work on hillbillies and red necks.  Don't you think?

Actually, this typodont is used for endodontic procedures.  You use some acrylic to hold natural teeth in place so that you can learn how to do root canals.  It just looks funny empty!

And that is what's going on in Arizona!