5 Restaurants in Madison

I have some recommendations for those who care....
NOT RED LOBSTER YOU SICK PEOPLE OF JANESVILLE

1) Bandung Restaurant (Indonesian)- WOW, what a great place. Try the Krakatau Chicken, its exactly like the volcano chicken from the King & I in Milwaukee, which for those of you who just tuned into radio EWAN, is Kentucky Fried chicken in a fiery tamarindy goodness sauce with cabbage and carrot. Also try the Rendang and Krupuk.

2) Taj Indian Restaurant - good vegetarian stuff and breads.

3) Wasabi Japanese Restaurant- Hot damn, best japanese food in a long long time. Good hibachi stuff, goma-ae, sukiyaki, sushi, you name it...

4) Inka Heritage- great ceviche, oversized corn kernel dishes and peruvian music sans pan flute thank God. The chimichurri with fried corn kernels is particularly good.

5) This gelato place on state whose name escapes me. Its awesome... I'll fix this post later and tell you the name... The white chocolate hazelnut was worth the price of admission

Defining Music of the Past Few Months

Thought I would share music which I have lately become interested in as the result of watching more Wes Andersen movies and other things. I have been really enjoying the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, David Bowie (from the late sixties early seventies phase), the Animals, the Zombies, and generally noticing that punk is fun. I also hit up iTunes to see what the pickings were like for early 90's alternative and found that the great thing about dead bands is their greatest hits albums are ALL available. I was disappointed and pleased to find out that The Man Who Sold the World is a David Bowie song from 1972 not a Kurt Cobain song from 1993. Anyway, check out some of this music particularly Powerman, This Time Tomorrow, Man who Sold the World, Gimme Some Shelter, The Passenger (by Iggy) and I Finding it Harder to Be a Gentleman Everyday (The White Stripes). Hope you enjoy!

Activities over the Past Months

The last few months haven't been without excitement. For instance, I delivered a calf, participated in the International Crane Foundation annual health check, did an avian necropsy workshop and led trips to an elk farm and a fish hatchery... Some pics are below.

The Things They Carried

The last few months of vet school blurred together from October through the last exam on December 22nd. I won't lie, this semester was all about survival. I have never pulled so many consecutive days of studying staying up until midnight or 1 and waking up at 5:30AM for the next day at it. I had no nights or weekends to spend at home in particular. It is amazing how much we learned in one semester and how little of the total this amounts to. One thing I did notice as we all became more weary is that the contents of our backpacks changed. I admire Tim O' Brien's writing greatly, and must cite him here. This is what my backpack had the first
week...

Week One
3 pens
1 memory stick provided by purina
1 binder containing notes
Veterinary Physiology
Miller's Guide to Dissection
1 standard issue Wisconsin notebook
Keys to the histology drawers
1 plastic folder for additional handouts

Final Week of Classes
15 pharmaceutical company pens
4 highlighters
1 3-sided highlighter Banfield
1 graphing calculator
1 dissection coat (soiled)
1 pack dissection tools (haphazardly cleaned)
4 scalpel blades
1 pack wasabi peas (half-eaten for staying awake)
1 pack flashcards
1 chocolate bar (half-eaten)
Millers Dissection guide to the dog
1/3 of the course notes in a dilapidated binder
1 pathology report (for job)

I will try to see what the contents of others packs are. One friend was carrying over 600 filled out flashcards. This next semester we have less lab time but more classes. We will have Neuroscience, Nutrition, Large Animal Anatomy and Lab, Biochemistry, Physiology, Large Animal Radiographic Anatomy, Ethics and Physical Restraint and Exam of the Large Animal. Right now I am enjoying the calm downtime.

The Waiting Game, Plexi and All

So, I am waiting to take my first histology exam in vet school right now. My head is crammed with facts, two groups are ahead of me, and I have to wait an hour to take my test. Developmental is at the end of the week and then cardiac physiology is next week's exam. On the bright side, I am going to the international crane foundation health check on Saturday and life is actually not that bad.
The weather in town has been decent, and fall is definitely on the way. The trees all around are turning colors, and the temperature has been dipping down. After six weeks or so, it really seems like I am a bonified vet student now. I am over that initial phase of nervousness and agitation and am now prepared for what lies ahead, at least until next fall.
Other than that, my family and pets appear to be well, and Wes Anderson has put forth another offering on the screen. After thoroughly enjoying The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, I cannot wait for the Darjeeling Limited, which with any luck will come to a nice theater near us soon. Anywho.

Last Couple of Weeks and First Life

Ok, so I do things other than vet school too (although lab is in 10 minutes). Last weekend we went to see Cyrano de Bergerac at the Rep in Milwaukee. It was quite good. We also went to the thai pagoda at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (google it, now). We have managed to get out to have drinks on the terrace, momos at Himal Chuli and some variety of indonesian dish in a buttery sweet soy curry sauce at Bandung on the east side. Our dog continues the long road to being behaved and will soon be enrolled in classes (he can get tutored again!). I have pics of him to post, now that infections are gone and he sits for pics.
Other than that, I must get to painting the bookcases finally, and raking the yard, its fall here and really nice! What else to tell you. The swine lab was great. I learned that not only "are pigs bags of pork, they also have teeth!". Who knew.

Whirring By

Hi folks. I know it has been a long long time since I have last written in this blog, but life has been busy. I know this sounds funny coming from a vet student. Lets see. Right now we're about to have a lab on the THEORY of swine handling. Its a 3 hour lab. Apparently pigs are daunting. We have an optional hands on or 'wet' lab in December in which we can actually handle swine. I can't wait. Soo... The other things that are going on...
1) Test in Histology including epithelium, muscle, nerves, blood vessels, integument, and some other things...
2) Test in Developmental from the ball of cells to the unshelled peanut stage with funky markings.
3) We get to do EKGs on dogs tomorrow.
4) I am working on some articles
5) World Dairy Expo- this event is awesome....
Other than that, nothing much else is new. How could it be. I am far too busy for words which is why I haven't written anything.