Time to Rest

Well, I've officially survived my first week of school. Every morning, I've had to wake up just after 5am, since my commute is almost an hour long. The motorcycle is a godsend. I can't even imagine having to face the morning traffic in a car! I filled up the motorcycle today and checked the gas mileage. Even with the luggage rack flying high on the back of the bike, I'm still getting over 50 MPG. To me, that actually blows my mind, since I've tricked out that motor so much for racing performance.

Yesterday morning, we had a quiz. I've been reading 3-4 chapters per day, since class started. That's pretty much par for the course, taking a Summer class- still brutal nonetheless. We've got our first exam scheduled for Wednesday. I'll be ready. I can't wait!

For now, it's time to take a few days off to slow down and enjoy the 4th of July weekend :)

One Step Closer

A few days ago I finally purchased the beer ingredients. The local store I usually frequent in Livermore had a nice IPA that I wanted to try. When I had visited them a few days beforehand, they were out of some of the hops, so I had to make another trip. Also the recipe kit they had was in extract form, so they were going to convert the recipe to all-grain for me. Unfortunately, when I showed up to make the purchase, the store owner, who I had been working with, was out at the Giants game! Luckily, his "helper" had a solution for me. He had developed his own secret IPA recipe and he was willing to share it with me! He also taught me a few more techniques and terms I wasn't yet familiar with, so it was a win-win-win for me! He told me that it was his "Old Rad Lab Maris Otter IPA", his label named because he was one of the old timers at the Lawrence Liver Lab- he worked in the "old rad lab", as they all called it. He has since retired, but he's working part time at the beer store to share his love of brewing. Just my luck! Hopefully, we'll be brewing on Sunday.

Behind the 8-Ball

Wow! Just had my first day of lecture and I'm already four chapters behind!! Need to get some reading done TONIGHT!!!

Free HDTV!!

Well, it's been tested and confirmed. If you already pay for a Comcast Cable internet connection, you can get HDTV on your flat screen TV for FREE!! I just called Dish Network and canceled my contract with them. Of course, they're going to make me pay the $15 to send back the DVR. Bastards!

I've been wondering about it for a couple of months now. For the past week, I've been crawling under the house, hooking up my LCD to see what kinds of channels it can actually "see". The verdict- I can get a over 100 digital channels, but most of them are just the same channels in various formats. But I did get all the major TV networks, including NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox in high definition in a full screen (and not stretched) format. The pictures are crystal clear. Of course, your selection isn't going to have all the bells and whistles compared to if you are paying a provider. But you can get all the basic channels, plus a bunch of Chinese, Latin and Korean channels. I'm also able to get PBS, HSN and a bunch of other stations. I'm still figuring things out- it's still a work in progress for me. Yes, I am going to miss the free movie channels, ESPN, Food Network and the Travel Channels on Dish, but if I'm going to save $43 a month, I think I can deal with it. With my "new" life about to get moving in high gear, I doubt that I will have much time to watch TV anyway.

The next step is to build a DVR out of a Vista/Win7 box. I was shopping around the Web earlier and it looks like it's going to cost me about $60 to put in a card. Media Center is built into all the latest editions of Windows, so it should just be a drop-in operation!

I'm so happy!!

Odds and Ends

So I've been shopping for beer ingredients. Hmmm...turns out that there's been a run on certain types of hops this year, creating a shortage. All the local stores are completely out of some hops (in whole leaf form), leaving the only other option to use pellets, which they might not even have those in stock! I could possibly buy my stuff online. But even many of the online stores are sold out of what I need. Plus there's the added shipping costs, a real disincentive. Okay. Time to rethink my plan. Might have to switch to a different recipe. It might not be all that big of a deal, since I'm going to do some citrus dry-hopping later anyway. Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

I've got just over a week, before classes start. I'm trying to address the fact that my daily commute is going to be long and (when on the motorcycle) dangerous. I just ordered a pair of motorcycle kevlar riding jeans, so I can add more safety to my commute. I know that I should probably ride in full motorcycle garb every day, but I'm being realistic, knowing that's not going to happen. So the next best thing is to outfit myself with comfortable safety gear. A couple of months back, I was lucky enough to find a screaming deal on some Sidi Doha riding boots, a nice alternative to wearing the full-blown racing Sidis I also own.

Since I'll be spending a good part of my waking hours on a motorcycle, I'm looking into buying a Bluetooth headset for the helmet, so I don't miss important phone calls. That is usually one of the big disadvantages of riding a motorcycle, but with this solution, I've got just about all basis covered.

And finally, as totally uncool as it might be, I'm probably going to have to mount that Givi top case back on the back of my bike. That way, I can store my helmet and jacket away, after I get to school, because I doubt they have lockers available on campus.Wow! so many logistics involved!!

It's Almost Beer O'Clock

Okay, it's time for me to do good on a promise I made at the beginning of the year. One of my letters of recommendation came from my chemistry professor, who wrote me a glowing recommendation, which I sent out to four schools. She's a beer lover, like me, as I have shared some of my home brews with her before. I told her that when I get accepted into rad school, I would brew up a special batch of beer for her, the flavor of her choosing. Looks like I'm making some IPA! I'll be shopping for ingredients early this week, hopefully brewing by Friday. It should only take about eight weeks from start to finish, just in time for a nice Summer Bash!

Dotting My I's, Crossing My T's

Things are moving along. I enrolled in my two Summer classes, bought my book and paid my tuition. I bought a parking permit, which is transferable between vehicles. It's nice that they don't have a problem with this, as I had to purchase a permit for my car and my motorcycle, while attending Merritt College. I later discovered that Cañada College lets motorcycles park for free! Hmmm...I'm wondering if I can get a refund on that permit. I doubt I'll be driving a car that often during the summer.

Don't Give Up the Ship!

I was just reflecting back on when I actually took real action to get this drive toward X-ray school began. In the Fall of 2009, I was pretty ill from some mysterious virus that got into my central nervous system. By the end of November, I had taken a sick leave from work, which they did not like, since we were always short on engineers in the first place. My sick leave lasted six weeks, before they decided to replace me permanently.

But I had a feeling that they would let me go, because that's the kind of business-minded imbeciles my company was made of. Realizing my probable outcome, rather than having to sit around, feeling sorry for myself, looking for a job, I took preemptive measures by enrolling in some science classes. Yup, and sure enough, the ax came down on me.

But right from the start, it wasn't an easy road. By the time I had realized the fate with my employer and had made the decision to move towards a new career, the Spring semesters were going to in less than two weeks! I had to review and scrutinize all the prerequisites of all the local rad tech programs in my area and cook up a plan of execution, if I was to complete all my course work before the end of the calendar year! It was going to be tight, but it could be done.

After checking 4-5 times a day on their registration website, I was finally able to enroll at Merritt College, in Oakland, for an anatomy and a chemistry class- horrible time slots, but at least I was in! I got on the wait list for an anatomy class at the community college that's just around the block from my house, but when I sat in on the first day of class, there were thirty other students waiting to get in. I had NO chance of enrolling in that class. Leading up to the first day of instruction, I kept checking on the Merritt registration page, sometimes checking up to ten times per day. As the first day of class got closer and closer, sure enough, students began dropping their classes and shuffling their schedules. With much luck, I was able to massage my schedule to exactly the way I wanted it, but it took an immense amount of effort!!

The struggle to get my Summer schedule was no different. As I was becoming more familiar with what each rad school wanted, I was adding more classes to my list of prerequisites. I suddenly decided that I didn't feel like taking five math placement tests (to apply for five different schools) with questions ranging through to calculus. I had already been through the business calculus and the math calculus series, but that was over ten years ago! I figured it would just be easier to take a bonehead algebra 2 class and get my A. I found the math class I needed at a different JC, but it was like pulling teeth to get the instructor to email me back to let me into her class! At that same school, I found a medical terminology class that I figured would help my chances for applying, but the same went for getting into that class- it was so hard to get the prof to admit me into her class!! After a couple of weeks of desperately trying to email these instructors, I got my classes!!

The final semester was the easiest to enroll in. The only class I had issues with was trying to get into a physics class- no class fit my schedule. I was finally able to find an online class that the instructor let me in to.

By the end of December, I had all the classes I needed to apply to the five X-ray programs I wanted to apply to. It was tough trying to get all the classes, but if I wanted to increase my chances of getting into a school, it had to be done! With a lot of studying, worrying and stress, I was able to get straight A's for that entire year.
But if I had let the first signs of difficultly stop me at the beginning of the year, there's no way I would be where I am right now. If you want something badly, don't take no for an answer! Just be persistent and keep your eye on the goal and you can make it happen!!

Insert Fist Here

According to Spike TV's MANswers TV show, this is the best place to be hit in the head, if you're going to get punched. They claim that in this area of the skull, the average bone thickness is 2.9 mm, so you might actually have a chance of surviving the blow, and then some! Have at it!

Wow! That was quick! The markers arrived in the mail today! I had my reservations about how they were going to turn out, but they completed my order to perfection- they got my initials right, the colors on the right sides and the emblems just where I asked for them to be! Kudos! Now, I just need something to X-ray :)

Farewell, My Friends

Not you guys! After volunteering at Kaiser Hospital in Walnut Creek for thirteen months, I turned in my badge. It was a sweet gig that was actually gifted to me...well, kind of. I accidentally found a year old ad for a Kaiser volunteering job in Livermore in ambulatory services. When I finally got the chance to speak with Jill, the Volunteer Coordinator, she offered me the position in the X-ray department after I told her I was studying to be an X-ray tech! Every Thursday evening, that was my thing, either working with the techs in the ED, X-ray or CT departments. They were a great bunch of people! They were all very helpful and I will miss them fondly.