LAPTOP!

My laptop has arrived! It has been a glorious day. The beach was wonderful.

Dance everyone! Dance!

Now. What all do I need to buy to make my laptop experience complete? So far I have:

1. Laptop lock
2. Cross-Over Cable
3. Laptop Mouse
4. Proper Virus and Microsoft Software

Oooh, this is so exciting.

What happened to July?

This last month has been very busy. Vacation was good. New Orleans is beautiful, although not a great place for a vegitarian to eat.

I am extremely excited about beginning medical school. I've quietly been fearing that something will go wrong and I won't actually get there. But I made a couple of calls today to verify that my transcripts and immunization records made it in, and everything looks good to go. I'm moving my first load of stuff on Monday, and getting my varicella titer done. Then, next Wednesday or Thursday, I'll move my clothes grump of a cat out to the city for good.

In other news, I have turned out to be an excellent babysitter. I rock. Seriously. I'm goooood. The baby and I have connected - she smiles when I come and it's wonderful. She's started crawling and pulling herself up, which is so amazing.

Ben joined us three weeks ago, he's the eight year old brother. He has camp during the morning, but is home in the afternoon. We have a good time too - he can be so funny (See "The Hand that Ate New York" and it's ally "The Body"). I've even managed to survive his temporary temper-tanturms well. He helps out with the baby if she gets upset. I know he takes advantage of me, but he's a good kid. He thanks me for stuff and doesn't make outragous demands. It's mostly "can I go over to my friend's house? can they come over here? can I have ice cream?" I've never granted the last one, but he doesn't actually expect to get ice cream.

Basically, I've had a great time. I'm kind of sorry that I'm leaving them. I mean, I'm excited about med school, but I'll miss them.

Marathon Redux

Well, this morning was extremely frustrating. It was a beautiful day for a run - not too hot, clear skies. But my knee pretty much kept me from running in the Good Neighbor's Day 15k. I jogged the 5k with Mom, but I'm paying for it now. I probably shouldn't have done it at all.

Anyway, I was so upset that I decided to find a new race to focus on and begin training for. I would like to do a marathon/vacation thing. I would love to do a marathon in Alaska or something, but that's mostly wistful thinking. Plus, most marathons are finished for the summer - the next series of marathons are in November.

There are two possible races. I briefly considered the Columbus Marathon, but it is too close to a major exam. Since there are better races, I threw it out. However, The Harrisburg Marathon and The Philadelphia Marathon are both potential races.

The course for the Harrisburg race looks better, plus it is closer and cheaper. But, it is two days before an exam. The location means I would have to leave at 3:30am from Pittsburgh to get to Harrisburg on the day of the race.

On the other hand, the Philly marathon is the weekend before Thanksgiving. It is more expensive and more hilly, but I think it is a more convient race. The week of thankgiving only has two days of class before the break. So, academically, I would be able to go to the race without worrying about studying. Plus, since it's in Philly, I could drive home Friday evening and spend the weekend at home. Depending on the lecture schedule - maybe I could just stay home and skip a couple of days. Or I could drive back to Pittsburgh Sunday evening after the race.

So, I think I will go ahead and start training for the Philly race. I'll have to begin the second week of August. If I still feel good, I'll go ahead and register in October. I doubt I'll run a good time, but it'll give me something to work on.

My First Trip to the ED

Well, I am miffed.

On Friday afternoon, I looked down at my leg and discovered a rather large bug bite on the back of my knee. I didn't think much of it at the time, but the next morning I woke up and it was considerably larger. So, I showed it to my mother and asked her what she thought. She assumed it was a spider bite, so I went to the literature to see what they said about it. After determining that I had not been bitten by A)a Black widow B)a Brown recluse or C)a Stingray, we reached the conclusion the books were useless.

I ignored it for much of Saturday. I went on an abbreviated run and then shopping. During shopping, it started to get more stiff. Afterwards, we determined that the swelling had increased. Later that night, a track mark developed along the blood vessel on the inside of my thigh. I started to get a little concerned, but an internet search seemed to indicate that there wasn't much to do for it. We decided to wait and see if it would resolve.

Today, I woke up to a increased track mark and increased stiffness. I went on the bike ride with Mom anyway, but I was having problems bending my knee as we progressed. It wasn't so bad when the muscle was warmed up, but getting on and off my bike was getting painful. My knee got even more stiff when I came home and the track mark became puffy and painful.

So, this evening we went down to the Chester hospital ED. They took a look and put me on an IV antibiotic and proscribed an oral one. I suppose it was a good experience, but I HATE needles and I have having needing stuck in me. Waiting 30 minutes for an IV to finish was not fun. Plus - spurting blood. Didn't really bother me, but I hated having that catheter in me.

Now we're waiting. They told me to come back tomorrow, but I don't think I will. Mom said the next step is to admit me and give me IV antibiotics for 24 hours. I have to work, and I can't call out sick. I was shocked when they told me they were going to start an IV - I really hadn't thought it was that serious. I can't do the race tomorrow, which pisses me off. But if I'm not going to show up at the ED, I'd better not push it.

Hopefully, this IV will fix it and I'll be able to bend my knee again. The location of the bite is terrible - it's really hard to keep your knee straight and still be mobile.

Bleah. I did nothing to deserve this. How irritating.