Summer!

The Sunday before our mini-term finals was Allison's birthday. We decided this would be the perfect time to have that tea party we had been wanting to have since last fall. (I just knew we would get along when I mentioned that I wanted to host a tea party and my new roomie was just as excited as me!) We had an assortment of cookies, little sandwiches (Aunt Kate's cheese spread, I was thrilled it actually turned out), and three types of iced tea. About a week before the party we started scoping out the flower selection around our apartment complex and plotting the best time to do a little "pruning." The night before the party we executed our plan. The result: 4 vases of beautiful flowers...

The party was a huge success. We had about 25 classmates join us in celebrating Allison's birthday. Here are a few of us:

Finals were over at 10 o'clock on Wednesday, and my adventure to Orlando occurred shortly after. Brace yourselves for this adventure...

About 3 months ago I was having a bad day. I overslept, my hair-dryer stopped working (actually both of them), and my car would not start. I had been thinking of going to Optometry's Meeting in Orlando, but once all of this occurred I had made my decision: I wasn't going to go, I couldn't afford it.

Optometry's Meeting is hosted by the American Optometric Association (AOA) and is a giant convention for optometrists to go to for continuing education courses and socializing and the like. There is also a student component to the convention put on by the AOSA (American Optometric Student Association). One of the events for students is the Student Bowl. This is a Jeopardy type game with one representative from each school.

It just so happened that the evening of this awful day three months ago was when we were having a mini student bowl at school to determine who would represent SCO at the meeting. I went to the mini student bowl to support two of my classmates and good friends who were competing, and for the pizza (free food = a little better day). At this event there was also a raffle for travel grants to attend Optometry's Meeting. I ended up winning a $300 travel grant to attend the meeting!

Fast forward to the last day of finals...

-6:30 AM Rise and shine

-8:00 Final

-9:30 Al and I treat ourselves to McD's iced coffee as a treat for being done

-10:30 Nap (this is important)

-11 Start packing/cleaning apt

-5:10 PM Load car for airport (starting to sprinkle)

-5:15 Pick up Janelle (starting to rain)

-5:20 Pick up Megan and Maria (pouring)

-5:30 Pull over on way to airport (raining so hard, we can't see the road)

-6:00 Get to airport (I receive lecture on how my plastic baggy of toiletries is too big)

-6:30 Flight is delayed (we are assured it won't affect our connection)

-6:40 Flight delayed more (looks like we'll be spending the night in Atlanta)

-9:30 Finally board the plane

-10:00 Take off

-12:30 AM Get to Atlanta and wait in line for hotel voucher, and flight to be re-booked

-1:00 Man waiting on me jokes I "must have pissed someone off in Memphis" since instead of booking me on 7 AM flight with the rest of my friends the system was putting me on the 10 PM flight (I think "Oh God, I am now on the terrorist list, because of earlier toiletries fiasco"). After three tries to get me on the proper flight, it worked.

-2:00 Get to hotel, and vouchers are not for a free night as we were led to believe, but a discount (we decide that $50 is not worth a hotel room for 3 hours)

-2:30 Go back to airport, complain to airtran, get food and wait around for the security gate to open

-4:00 Get through security, go to gate to wait for the flight

-6:15 Board plane

-8:50 Finally arrive in Orlando

-10:30 Get to our condo and take a half hour nap before getting ready to go to opening session of the meeting!

At the end of the first day of the meeting I had been up for about 28 hours with about an hour and a half of naps sprinkled in. Overall a good time was had, and I picked up a lot of free contact solution, eye drops, and other goodies.

Here is a picture of my travel companions as we were leaving the airport to go to the hotel. (We look happy because we think we are headed to a free hotel room with a bed)

A few friends and I at the student bowl on the first night:

Enjoying the free food after the student bowl:

The hotel where the meeting was held was HUGE! There were even alligators in the atrium:

After a pleasant and uneventful trip back home, I learned that the apartment was going to be power washed. So I went to bring in my plants. Now I knew they would look a little rough since they hadn't been watered in nearly a week, but one looked really rough. It had a lot of leaves and branch like pieces in it:

Then I realized that it had a bird's nest in it, WITH 4 EGGS!

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to lose my plant, but I couldn't kill the little birds. I couldn't leave it out to get power washed, and I couldn't bring it into my apartment. I wasn't sure if birds were like other animals that abandon young when the catch the scent of human. I ended up bringing it in for about a half hour while the building was sprayed down. I figured this was the best chance of survival. The next day I went out to water the plants and there were 5 eggs in the nest, and the following day there were 6.

For the past four days there has been 6 eggs. I have sort of turned this into my own kiddish ecology project. I have been trying to take pictures each day, but Mamma Bird has been in the nest almost all the time, and frankly I'm afraid to go out there when she is around. She has a long and sharp looking beak. More to come on this project later...

Better than Avatar

This semester, as with the previous two, I have Theory and Methods lab. This is where we learn the procedures that we will be doing everyday once we get out into the real world. This semester we are learning how to use the slit lamp aka the biomicroscope. Basically this is a microscope that is used to look at the outer part of the eye, and the inner eye with the help of some very high powered lenses.

Previously we had looked at pictures in class. Pictures are only 2D, but when looking at the back of the eye with the slit lamp you can see depth. Now this doesn't sound like a big deal, but you really don't know what you're missing out on till you actually see it in 3D. Here is what the back of the eye looks like in a healthy individual in 2D:


Normally one person can use the slit lamp and see the image, but slit lamps at schools have an extra part called a teaching tube that allows a second person to also view the image (but in 2D). This is how our professors help teach us and grade us. It also comes in handy when we are practicing on our own.

As I was getting my extra lens lined up and focused on the back of my partner's eye for the first time a professor had wandered up and was watching through the teaching tube. At my initial awe of the sight he said to me "Better than Avatar in'nit?" (in'nit= isn't it, with a southern drawl). It really was a sight. In the picture above, where all the red lines are coming out of the yellow circle you actually see them coming out at you when using the slit lamp. Granted it is subtle, but comparing it to 2D vs 3D movies is really the best comparison that I can offer.

Below are the lenses used for the slit lamp, well I only know how to use the two little ones. I'll learn how to use the big one later. At the start of each semester we pick up the equipment that was ordered for us and learn how to use it during the semester. In the past we've gotten some pretty fancy kits. I think we all felt a little gypped when we were charged $700 for 3 lenses.