My Chipotle Burrito:

Chipotle Fan.com

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here in Colorado! I haven’t been missing out on too much summer because the rain and the research keep me inside most days.  Research? That’s right.  I am learning everything I can about cancer and its treatments when I am not busy infecting my bladder cancer cells with bacteria (bad news).  To my dismay, I am not good at keeping them alive and evenly seeded yet, but I will be soon.  I am really excited about my project though, which will hopefully identify a mechanism of how bladder cancer cells become resistant to docetaxel, and maybe even a way to re-sensitize them.  Woohoo!

When I am not at work, fun things have been going on.  Hiking in the rain, running in the rain, and eating the delicious Indian food that my new roommate has been making, yum! I am also going to submit my primary applications for medical school any day now….

Shiny, soggy flatirons. Weird.

In other news, sometimes people ask me why I am a vegetarian.  There are lots of answers, but every so often I learn a reason in my field of biology.  Aside from creepy parasites and MRSA that often reside in meat, this week’s reason is that I like my thyroid hormones to be at normal levels.  Check it out!

Last but not least, my garden is finally becoming everything I always hoped for, and is taking over our deck.  I planted some herbs from seeds, so that will be particularly exciting if I end up with edible basel and mint for my pasta/mojitos.  Yeah!

Well, it is official, going to camp really was “the best week of the year”!  I have been thinking a lot about how to sum up such a crazy week filled with so much fun and emotion, and fortunately 9News started doing it for me.  Check it out!

This article was made during the second week (I did the first) but it looks like these kids had as much spirit and heart as ours did.   I was a companion on the green team, which was clearly the best team (although we didn’t have as clever of cheers as the yellow team: Chinchilla-Yella!)

My camper was a sibling who had been through lots in her time.  She has a great personality though- honest, kind, and a little competitive.  Our week was filled with delights, including mini golf, a zip line, a high ropes course and a low one, mafia, signs, color wars, boat races, and a seriously tear-jerking poetry workshop.  It was a wonderful time acting like a kid again at times, but also a great learning experience in terms of how kids work and how to be persuasive with them.  Everyone at camp was having so much fun that it was nearly impossible to tell who was sick and who was well- everyone was just a caring, optimistic human that week.  I danced so vigorously that my triceps were sore after the dance party.  It was sad.  Overall though, it was a great experience, and I can’t wait for next year!

Here are a few pics that I have:

The boat race (boats made of wood, duct tape, styrofoam, milk jugs, engineered by 8-year-olds)

Me on the power pole (yeah conquering fear of heights!)

View from Camp

Companions with grills before singing some Flowrider

Some paddle boat on the lake

One of the most exciting things that I am doing this summer is volunteering at Camp Wapiyapi! It is a summer camp for kids with cancer and their siblings to have a week of fun away from hospitals etc.  Unfortunately, not all kids that want to go this summer are able to because of the cost associated with sending each camper (about $800).  The organization makes it completely free for the kids and their families.  With that, I am trying to raise some money for the cause!  If you want to donate, please do!  Just click here! And, it is tax deductable! Woohoo! Thank you!

Other info:

As per usual, I have been doing a lot of science since my last entry. A quick update on that: I took the real one on April 24th armed with coffee, grape juice, PB&J, my best green pen and a dose of hope. Unfortunately it was more like feeling stupid and sad than vanquishing the dragon that it is. Presumed retake date: July 17th. Will celebrate by dressing up like Bellatrix Lestrange afterwards and cackling madly at children. I also had my Physiology final on Saturday evening, which was the culminating event in my Post-Baccalaureate career! 189 credits down, med school applications to go.  Yeah!

Other than that, there have been some fun events occuring.  On Ryan’s birthday, we celebrated with a pancake lunch, followed by a delightfully rich Happy Hour at Brasserie 1010 and even more fun shuffleboard at the West End with Alex and Kyle.  I flexed my baking muscles and made chai cupcakes, and as usual, they were a 3 out of 5.  Blah.

Post-MCAT we had one heck of a celebration… Friends from all over convened in Ryan’s backyard for a rousing game of beer frisbee, a spaghetti dinner, and some Kemps.  Much fun was had.  In other news, I have developed an unhealthy addiction to The Office (Pam rules), and today I got to pet a sting ray!  We ventured to Denver for a trip to the aquarium and a nice lunch at an English tea joint on Platte Street.  I had a Pickadilly sandwich and delightful lentil soup.  I may have to swap to cooking instead of baking, my exploits are so sad. Additionally, a new penchant for puzzles has stricken the Colby house, and should be taking up our spare time.

This month I am looking forward to relaxing in the sunshine, jogging, deciding where to apply to medical school, and gearing up for my summer job- bladder cancer research at UCHSC! I am also going to start reading again, so if you know of any books that I may like, please do let me know!

In all of my consuming obsession for doing passages por el MCAT, I had forgotten temporarily the glory that is break time! Let me tell you, Spring Break has been filled with delightful treats.

I started the week with an obscene amount of sleeping. Naps were had every afternoon, after a healthy nine or ten hour rest. I had a game night involving Cranium and Taboo with Kyle, Giuseppe and Ben, which was a nice break for the brain. Swimming outdoors in the seventy degree weather was a treat, and I have even been getting my running legs back!

I took a trip down to Denver, and got to hang out with Ben again. We walked all around Wash Park in the sunshine, then took some time to make friends with the dogs at Stella’s. I saw Anna-Lisa for some delightful window shopping, and had a great sleep in my bed.

I ended the week with a trip to the Springs, lots of cookies, some homework, and I am coming off a three day squash bender. Oh my, I have some sore hammies. It is back to the grind for me, but I am really enjoying studying hard, working out and eating healthy. Things are going my way. And as if life wasn’t already perfect enough, I found this on the internets:

Out in Denver for a little reunion:

It is a funny thing, the MCAT.  It gives you precious little to blog about that others might find interesting.  Sigh.

I went running for the first time in over two months on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day in Boulder, and it didn’t take me long to remember why I love running here.  Sunshine pouring down on mountaintops is tough to beat.  Much to my dismay, it appears that my legs which were once able to carry me up large hills have been surreptitiously filled with lipids.  Fatty lipids to be precise, maybe even some triglycerides.  Yikes.

A lot of fun has come out of these past few weeks though. I have had my share with outings in Denver, playing squash, ping pong, hot tubbing and a new fitness class called Zumba at the gym.  Let me tell you, I have felt like quite the novice lately.  Imagine salsa dancing at 8:30 in the morning.  None of the steps are described, and hot 50 year olds are saché-ing around like professionals. I think I was everyone’s morning laugh, including my own.


When not preparing for gut-wrenching interviews or awaiting news of what I will be doing with my summer, I spend most of my days reading up on post-ganglionic neurons, pedigrees, hydroboration oxidation, and fluid dynamics.  It isn’t a bad existance at all.  I just need to make it into genius territory in the next couple months.  No big deal, right?



Finally, and most notably, I think I will be going base jumping at some point in my life.  Until I was about 14, it was always my birthday wish to be able to fly, and these guys get as close as I think I ever will. Just tell me this doesn’t look amazing:

In this case, my vacation. That’s right.  One glorious month of relaxing, caput.  No more indulging in the delight that is watching two seasons of Friday Night Lights in two weeks.  No more never-ending bowls of goldfish (the cracker variety of course) while watching Tim Riggins work his magic.  No more nights of Christmas parties followed by birthday parties followed by New Years Parties followed by dinner parties.  

Though I have been a sloth, some good has come of my time off, including a little (or a lot) of R & R, as well as applications for summer internships, and, a working draft of a personal statement! Now all I have to do is conquer the MCAT, physiology, applications, and interviews and I am totally there!

This is where tomorrow comes in.  I will start the day fully charged with a cup of café to tackle the world.  I know how I am with goals and lists, so here is the plan.  40 hour work week starts now (MCAT and Physiology).  An additional ten or more hours per week can be spent on other miscellaneous medical things.  Exercise will be had.  I am so excited to try Zumba and let out my inner salsa siren.  Also, thank the weather gods, because I like it to be 70 in January.  Colorado winters aren’t so bad when it is like this! Yay!

One last sweet moment of freedom….

Yes, it is that time of year again. The time that I love to revel in making unreasonable goals (at least this last year’s were.) Goals with timelines are great! And so is the embarrassment of failing to reach them for a public audience, so that is why I am posting them here.  As an update from last year, I did drink enough water, visit a friend in a far away place, and minimize taking things personally, but failed to make my IRA contribution, do 500 hours of health related things (70), and I cannot do the splits.  Darn!

Let’s hope I do better in 2009.  I did decide to simplify though, there are only 2, just with detailed subgoals, that is simpler, right?

1. Get into medical school!

School: Get an A in physiology

MCAT: 35 or higher. Spend 30 hours a week on it. More if necessary, try my hardest. 

Health Related Experiences: 5-10 hours/week, shadow 2 docs

 Doctor prep: read an article every day in the health field/scientific papers

 Committee letter: meet deadlines and prepare thoroughly

 Personal Statement: Write 1^st draft by January 5^th.  Read book. Edited by 10 people.

 Sanity: Meet with Sarah

2.  Be Healthy!

Exercise 4 days a week

Drink 5 glasses H2O a day

Get more flexible

Take time to relax every day

I’ll let you know how I do next year!

Happy New Year to all!

Hilarious.  I am making chocolate mousse, but I am sticking to tofu instead of avocados.  What a rebel I am…

Deep within my brain, there is a small, domestic goddess waiting to come out.  Always lurking, it causes me to rip recipes from magazines to be saved in folders for ever, only to gather dust.  However, when the time comes for school to be out and free time to abound, creativity in the kitchen ensues.

This year, I tried many a failed experiment.  First, the Strawberry Pate de Fruit, not a success.  After four days (not two hours) my jellies finally condensed and solidified, only to be coated in a treacherous layer of bacteria, or some other foe that made my tummy immensely angry in the night.  Needless to say, I did not share with my friends and family.

My very kind friend got me a vegan cupcake cookbook, and thus my obsession with making cupcakes begins! The first attempt at Gingerbread cupcakes with a Lemony Buttercream frosting was just ok.  My rating went from a 3 to 4 out of 5.  Clearly not my best work.  My frosting was a soppy goo, unlike the cloudlike turrets I planned to adorn them with.  How does my mom do it? 

I am not giving up on the cupcakes, but I may stick with soup for the next couple days, straight from the can.  That way I can’t mess it up! Maybe some crackers and cheese too….