Proficient!!!

On Thursday, Whitney passed her 2nd year proficiency in order to obtain clinic privileges and start seeing real live patients in just 3 short weeks. The proficiency is when 2nd year students have to perform and entire exam on a randomly assigned non-2nd year optometry student while an assigned faculty member watches your every move and instruction, grading each component the exam. The exam consists of nearly every optometric test known to man including dilating the patient and performing the associated tests--all under the two hour time limit. I have been practicing for this by completing over 20 exams throughout the course of the semester. I PASSED!! My faculty member was nice and easy, as was my patient who turned out to be one of my best friends. (Luck of the draw, I should have bought a lottery ticket yesterday.) It is such a great feeling to have this done and over with. Proficiency is one of the biggest events of an optometry students career, second only to the national board exams, the first of which will be next March.
On Thursday May 8th the second years are honored for their accomplishments at a White Coat Ceremony where we officially receive our white coats to enter the clinic!!!

Earthquake: It shook us awake....well one of us

If you have not turned on a TV, radio, or computer today, then allow me to be the first to tell you that there was an earthquake felt by many Midwesterners at 4:30am this morning. Depending on which of you lovely followers is reading this, you may have felt the shake yourself. St. Louis was one of many large cities within range to feel the earthquake, and I am sure you are wondering if Brian and I felt it.........well...........
Last night I was up until about 2:30am studying - OK let's be honest, cramming - for Friday morning's Binocular Vision test. I was sound asleep when I awoke (well opened my eyes at least) to Brian's "its shaking, we're shaking" cries as he sat in bed tapping me. [He'll deny it, but its totally true.] I was far from awake and I sort of felt the bed shaking side to side, but was not sure if it was the end of my dream or real. As it stopped I rolled out of bed stood up on the ground and informed him nothing was shaking and then crawled back under the covers and back to sleep. When 6:30 rolled around and it was time to get up, Brian went straight to the TV and turned it on. The only news of the morning on local stations was the Southern Illinois earthquake felt in St. Louis. It was not until then that I even realized that the shaking I had felt was real! I was so out of it when it all happened that it never occurred to me that if it were just a dream Brian would not be feeling it too.....long nights of studying can have detrimental effects to any brainpower needed beyond the test! Brian yelled from the TV, "I told you it was an earthquake. Do you remember what you said to me last night?" I did remember, it wasn't shaking by the time I got out of bed. He was surprised I was able to go back to sleep because from 4:30 on he didn't do much sleeping--he was worried about the foundation. Heck ya I went back to sleep, I thought it was all part of a dream and I never really woke up in the first place. Even if I had totally awoken, I doubt earthquake would have been my first guess, explosion or plane/train crash seem much more probable.
The earthquake was a HOT topic that morning at school and it wasn't done giving us stories. Fifteen minutes into the test, the table started shaking, I looked to my left and Derek was erasing furiously. I thought to myself, "good god, you are shaking the whole table!". Then the floor shook and the ceiling and walls started to rattle....it was an aftershock. I am kind of glad I got to be awake for that one to really feel what it was like!
So I survived my first Earthquake--and my test too!! I never would have guessed that after 22.5 years in KS and 2 years in MO that I experienced an earthquake before a tornado! But I'm NOT complaining.

On Capital Hill

On April 7th - 9th I was in Washington D.C. fighting for my future profession on Capital Hill. Several weeks ago I received an email that the American Optometric Association was looking for students who were interested in going to D.C. and attending the Congressional Advocacy Conference. At the time I was not certain what all this trip and conference entailed, but they were offering to pay for my flight and hotel...how could I turn that down??

I flew into D.C.'s Reagan National Airport early Monday morning and took the subway to my hotel. It was rainy and chilly when I arrived (which was far from the sunny 60 degrees that weather.com claimed it would be). I had a few hours to kill, but the weather was not exactly explorer friendly so I relaxed in my hotel until the conference started. My roommate arrived within in that time, she is also a student at UMSL but is one year ahead of me in school. I knew who she was but had never actually met her. I traveled that day wearing a shirt that had the biggest Jayhawk on it that I could find and this is what I was wearing when I opened the door to let her in the room....come to find out she went to undergrad and UNC and is an avid Tarheel fan...great first meeting huh? Despite our differences we got along just fine, but she did not share in my joy later in the night when we won.

The conference began Monday afternoon, we sat through some lectures about what to expect in the days to come. That evening we had a reception for all conference attendees which included optometry students, doctors, faculty, and staff from all over the nation. After the reception we headed to a bar that had been rented out just for student attendees of the conference. I made sure that this bar had TVs available to watch the game before I committed to going. Once we arrived I learned that these TVs (only 4 in each corner) were about the size of my bedroom TV I got for Christmas in 3rd grade and there was no sound. Additionally, a vast majority of the other students could care less about the game, so I stood against the wall with my eyes glued to the distant TVs. During the second half a friend and I ventured downstairs to the part of the bar not rented out just for our party...come to find out that part of the bar had sound and 10 LARGE flat screen TVs! So we stayed down there for awhile, but things started to turn bad. As the KU lost the lead and the were further behind I decided it was bad luck and went back upstairs to watch the game where I started it.....and it must have worked b/c as we all know Mario made the miracle shot and KU won the National Championship!!

Tuesday morning came much, much too early! The conference began around 8 am. Today's lectures were educating us about the Congressional bills that we were going to Capital Hill to talk to our elected officials about. They also coached us on how to talk to our leaders &/or their staff about our desired issues. Lunch was the best though, not the food believe it or not, but rather the speaker. The keynote speaker was Paul Begala, CNN commentator and former Clinton White House Aide. He was absolutely hilarious!! The best speaker I have EVER heard. He made fun of everyone, Republicans, Democrats, Bush, Clinton, sex scandals....no one was safe. FANTASTIC speech!!
Later that afternoon, I met with the members of the Kansas Optometric Association (KOA) attending the conference and we headed out to our first appointment with Representative Tiarht. Rep Tiarht was not available so we met with one of his staff members. The other Docs did most of the talking, my role was to offer up the amount of debt I will be in when I conclude my education because we are trying to get support for a bill that would include Optometrists in the National Health Service Corps which would offer loan repayment for practicing in rural areas. After the meeting we attended another reception on Capital Hill in which a few Optometry friendly Congressmen were honored for their support of our profession. The KOA members invited me out to dinner and I had the best pork chop I have ever had in my entire life. One of the members is the next KOA president who happens to be the Doctor in Oskaloosa that just built a new office next to the jailhouse on 56 Hwy in Oskaloosa. She and her husband apparently were on the square for 13 years and just built that building....I didn't know there was an O.D. in Oskie...oops.

Wednesday morning was an even earlier start (7:30 am). The students were placed in a hotel about 5 blocks from the conference so getting to the these early meetings meant waking up even earlier. Wednesdays activities were primarily comprised of visits on Capital Hill. Our first was with Sen. Pat Roberts. To discuss our business we met with one of his aides who is a KU alum. (KU winning was a great conversation starter with all f the offices!) As our meeting was coming to an end another member of the office came in and told us that the Senator was running late but he would like us to wait around for him. We hung out in his office and talked KU some more with the alum until he arrived. I was pleasantly surprised at what a nice guy he was. Again we talked basketball, he is a die hard KSU alum, but he told us that on the Senate floor he did the ROCK CHALK Chant! He asked where each of us was from and had a current event or story for each town. When I said Valley Falls he slowly repeated it a couple times, I thought he was stumped, but he then said "Valley Falls Vindicator". He proceeded to tell us about his connection to VF. His great grandfather owned the Vindicator and his other side of the family owned the Oskaloosa Independent. Apparently the two families did not get along (imagine that an Oskie/VF rivalry), but two members ended up getting married. I guess that's how the two papers essentially became one. He said Clark Davis asks him if he's going to get a subscription whenever he visits.

Our next meetings overlapped to the group split up. I asked to go to the meeting with Sen Brownback because my cousin Leslie is on his staff. Our meeting again was with a member of staff, not Leslie she does not do the healthcare related meetings. After the meeting I stuck around and went out to lunch with Leslie. It was nice to sit and chat with her, I don't know if I have ever just sat and talked to her one on one. She gave me a brief tour of Brownback's office, introduced me to him briefly, and also gave me some insight on how the things work in a Senators office. After lunch she took me on a quick personal tour of The Capital. She could have a second career as a tour guide, but I am sure working for the Senator is a little more interesting. We took the underground "trains" that connect all the buildings that have the Congressional offices and The Capital Building. Visitors are only allowed on the trains if they are accompanied by a member of staff. We rode on the elevator with some elderly Representative of the House who was very nice. I did learn from Leslie that Sen Brownback will limit his terms and be done in 2010 and will likely run for Kansas Governor, which means she has the opportunity to move to Kansas and stay on his staff-should he win-or stay in D.C., at this point she's not sure what she's going to do.

My next meeting was with Rep Moore's office he is a KU alum. It looked like Lawrence threw up in his office....it was covered in Jayhawk decor! The last meeting of the day was with Rep Nancy Boyda. She was between meetings and was able to sit down and meet with us. She was a very interesting meeting and had a very different approach to the way she addressed our requests. She stated that she is not in this to make people happy, its just a job and if she's not re-elected she would be just as happy returning to her farm work in Kansas. I found it comforting to know that there is someone there not trying to win over those with the most money and is actually concerned with doing what is right. Another unique statement was in regards a bill that is being heavily opposed by our enemy Ophthalmology. She said that she wanted to hear from both sides before making a decision and it would be difficult to do so with each giving differing stories. She proposed scheduling a meeting (either formal or informal) sometime when she is back in KS with us and the local Ophthalmology leaders to sit and discuss the differences we have on the this particular bill. I was absolutely shocked by this proposal, can you imagine what things would be like if all of our elected officials were willing to take this kind of time to make the decisions that are best for our state/country?? Amazing.

This was the end of the conference and it was time to head home...if my flight had not been canceled that it. I was quite nervous, I was scheduled to be on a 7pm American Airlines flight to St. Louis. The day before over 15 American Airline flights were canceled at Reagan and the 2 o'clock on this day had all ready been canceled. I was quite scared I would be stuck in D.C., but luckily my flight was NOT canceled. Turns out we were the only flight that wasn't!!! It was a full flight too, with many people who were supposed to have been on some of those previously canceled flights. I returned home just in time too, because the past two days they have canceled more and more AA flights.

As you have read....if you have hung in there this long (kudos to you for your determination) you now that I had a very busy couple of days and thus had no real time to site see. We did manage to walk a couple blocks out of our way one night to see the White House, but it was dusk and the pictures did not turn out so well. From that vantage point we could also see the Washington Monument in the distance. I also walked by and was inside The Capital, but never took any pictures.

I was absolutely amazed at how clean this city was. Compared to any other large city I have been in (Atlanta, Chicago, London, St. Louis) this was by far the cleanest! The subways were unbelievable clean and spacious. I would love to go back and actually get to see some of the sights (hopefully it won't be cold and rainy the next time I am there). Optometry's Meeting, the annual national Optometry Conference, will be in D.C. summer 2009....guess I will have to go!

This was an EXCELLENT trip on all accounts: I got to network with KS ODs, it was the best Conference I have been to, it was free!, and DC is spectacular!!

Cardinals Opening Day (Try #2)

Opening day was Monday 3-31, but due to the rain in STL the game was cancelled. On Tuesday I got a call from Brian asking if I wanted to go to the Cardinals game....April fools?? Nope, it was real. A co-worker was supposed to use the company tickets to take clients to the game on Monday; however, because of the rain, it was rescheduled for Tuesday night. It was a little chilly out, but we layered up and went to the ballpark. It was the first opening day for either of us and we had a good time. However the Cards gave it away late and lost 2-1 to the Colorado Rockies.

Spring Break

Another Spring Break has come and gone and I sadly realized that this Spring Break luxury will soon come to an end. (March 22-30)

I ended school with a brutal Ocular Disease/Pharmacology test on Friday and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the NCAA tournament, packing for the week and napping. I woke up "early" Saturday and made the drive home to KS. My first stop was at Gary and Jayne's for Easter lunch. Brian was all ready there waiting for me as he headed back right after work Friday. Oh and lunch was delicious...as always. We watched the KSU vs. Wisconsin game there and then went into Jeff Browns to watch the KU game.

Sunday we went to my grandparents house for Easter lunch with my family. My parents, sisters, niece and grandparents were all in attendance. (Aubrey was dressed in an adorable pink dress as you can see in the picture above). We had our annual Easter Egg hunt for $$, but this will be our last as Aubrey will be of age next year (and some of us are about 10 years to old now). Lunch here was delicious as well. Brian drove back to STL on Sunday because he had to work Monday morning, and we still had a basement full of damp carpet....but not for long because he spent all of Tuesday removing that carpet (but that's another post to come). I stayed at Mom and Dad's for the week enjoying the company of my parents, Hayden, David and Aubrey. Being able to spend time with Aubrey is a real treat!! She is such a great baby and I love being able to spend any time I can with her.

Thursday evening I ventured down to Olathe to have a mini-slumber party with Makenzie. She cooked dinner and dessert.....as if I needed that. This was the first time I had been to her and Dominic's new apartment--its nice.

Friday I had a hair appointment, got some color and a cut. I met Mom, Mak and Hay for appetizers and a drink in Topeka and then we went to Jeff's again to watch KU beat Villanova.

Saturday morning I was back on I-70 Eastbound to STL.

Arriving home was both a delight and the disappointment of having to resume the workload of school. The house was quite different than when I left a week ago. Everything from the basement is now, temporarily, upstairs.
Only six weeks until the end of the semester, and I have a lot to get done before then!

Rain Rain Go AWAY!

Tuesday in St. Louis was nothing but rain! That night Brian went into the unfinished part of the basement and found water bubbling up through a small hole (in the picture right between the water heater and furnace). Luckily it wasn't far from the drain and thanks to the slope it was running right into the drain (pic above). We decided to clear out the boxes (that were located to the right in the picture) and move them over to the finished side....just in case. Turns out that wasn't the greatest idea because over night water seeped through on the finished side. The carpet was wet from wall to wall!!!
Luckily there was not enough water to have any free standing puddles, but enough to leave footprints when you walked.




Every step you took water squished out under your toes! (This is what I am trying to illustrate in the picture below)




Brian spent Wednesday evening removing 30 gal of water!! But there's still some under there, and I am not so sure it is even done coming through.



The boxes we relocated from the unfinished side onto the finished side soaked up some water, so we then moved them to the kitchen to get them out of the way and try to dry.

At this point nothing appears to have been lost (except the urns from the wedding that got knocked over when we were shuffling things around in the basement). We have all the fans we own down there trying to blow things dry; keeping our fingers crossed that we will not have to replace all of the carpet.

As for the unfinished side, a little water is still coming from the hole, but the pressure has decreased as it is no longer bubbling out. A couple other little streams were found running to the drain, but otherwise not much water on that side....good thing we moved those boxes!! HA HA!!

A Student Again!!

Brian has been accepted to the MBA program at Washington University in St. Louis. He will enter the part time program, beginning in August, and continue working full time at USBank as a Corporate Analyst. The program is three years, however, it is possible to finish in just two and one-half if the scheduling works in your favor.

WAY TO GO BRIAN!!