This past weekend really turned out to be a family weekend. First my mom came to visit on Saturday. I had a ton of cat food stock piled for her, and she brought me some stuff for easter. We went to Whole Foods (there are no Whole Foods or Trader Joes in Albany so she wanted to buy a couple unique organic ingredients that she needed). Then we met up with Mark and went to Diesel Cafe in Davis Square for an amazing lunch. My mom bought for all of us, and I guess while I was scoping out the table Mark was assertive and said he would buy tickets to the art museum, and my mom laughed, smiled and told him she knew when to back down.
We went to the Fogg at Harvard. It was fun, my mom spent a lot of time telling Mark about art history, which I think he enjoyed. Sadly, it started pouring, and we were without umbrellas, so we ran over to TeaLuxe in Harvard Square for tea. Then I went in to the Harvard store to buy an umbrella (I was glad I found one without the Harvard name on it) and after that my mom said she was ready to go. I was bummed since I had planned on going to dinner in Boston too, but since we had a late lunch and the bad weather she seemed ready to leave after 5 hours. Still, I had a good time, so did she and Mark.
Sunday was Easter at Mark's parents house. I haven't ever talked to his mom so much in my life! Mark wasn't feeling to good, so he spent a lot of the time on the couch with his dad sleeping or watching golf, but I stayed in the kitchen chatting with his mom and helped her do all the dishes after dinner too. Mark thought it was amusing since Mark's mom and I both talk a mile a minute non-stop sometimes, and it seemed like a competition between the two of us to him of who could talk more. (Mark says his mom won). I still enjoyed it and talked to his mom about quite a wide variety of topics, it is so nice to really like your significant other's parents. But still, after 4 hours I was BEAT. We swung by Amy's new house in Andover to drop off a painting and got home after 9pm. What a fun but tiring family weekend!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
wine tasting nights
Mark goes to "poker night" with the guys once a week, something that I think is common among a lot of guys. But then back in December Mark recommended that I host a weekly or close to weekly event with wine tasting as its theme. Mark, Ryan and I all love wine and it would be a fun way to have friends over to relax during the week and try new wines.
I started wine tasting night in January. Although the crowd was small for the first night, it was fun. It was on a Tuesday, and we all enjoyed the tasty food I made for dinner (vegan lasagna) and had a couple bottles of wine amongst the 6 of us.
I wasn't able to host another one for several weeks, but started the tradition up again a couple weeks ago. 3 weeks ago I hoted "Wine tasting: New England Style" where all the wines were from New England, and I made corn chowder, apple pie, and bread for dinner. The same crowd came, and it was another success. Then this past week was night # 3, this time "Obscure varietal" themed. And this time it drew a crowd...we had 10 people, a new all time high (it actually almost got too crowded, but it was still fun). I made a vegan fake cheese impasta dish, apple muffins, vegan cookies, and bread as always.
I am really glad Mark recommended this tradition, and I am hoping to keep it going in Connecticut once I move there. I will miss these nights out here in Boston...I will have one more before graduation in 2 weeks from now, with an african wine theme.
I started wine tasting night in January. Although the crowd was small for the first night, it was fun. It was on a Tuesday, and we all enjoyed the tasty food I made for dinner (vegan lasagna) and had a couple bottles of wine amongst the 6 of us.
I wasn't able to host another one for several weeks, but started the tradition up again a couple weeks ago. 3 weeks ago I hoted "Wine tasting: New England Style" where all the wines were from New England, and I made corn chowder, apple pie, and bread for dinner. The same crowd came, and it was another success. Then this past week was night # 3, this time "Obscure varietal" themed. And this time it drew a crowd...we had 10 people, a new all time high (it actually almost got too crowded, but it was still fun). I made a vegan fake cheese impasta dish, apple muffins, vegan cookies, and bread as always.
I am really glad Mark recommended this tradition, and I am hoping to keep it going in Connecticut once I move there. I will miss these nights out here in Boston...I will have one more before graduation in 2 weeks from now, with an african wine theme.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
David Sedaris
This past weekend Mark and I finally got to use the last of my xmas gifts to him. I got us tickets to see David Sedaris at UMass Amherst. We drove out at 5pm and got some thai food for dinner. The show lasted from 830-1030. I LOVED it. He read several short stories as well as pages from his diary. I loved his story on the Obama inauguration and one about internet porn. He was really funny. Mark enjoyed himself too, but sadly the kid next to him was obnoxious and laughed too loud at everything, which I think annoyed Mark (it would of annoyed me too). Sadly it was a long drive home...we got back at 1am and I had to get up at 6am for school, but it was worth it. David Sedaris is quite a funny guy.
conservation medicine elective
The week after my avian elective I spent another week at the wildlife clinic, but this time in a didactic (lecture based) elective on conservation medicine. We covered two topics a day with various guest speakers (experts) from around the country. Most of the course grade was based on participation, and I was surprised that by the second day I had established myself as one of the most vocal in the class, and I also had knowledge of and had heard about every topic we discussed. It saddened me that getting an amazing job as a conservation veterinarian involves kissing ass and knowing the right people, which I am obviously not good at (example, my international program experience). Plus if not, then you get paid shit.
The various topics discussed included:
1. conservation medicine: the emerging new field (ask me about it sometime, I would love to tell you SO much about it)
2. chytrid fungal infection in amphibians (the fungus decimating out world's frog populations)
3. antibiotic resistance and its link to farm animals
4. lead toxicity (in wildlife and humans and pets)
5. bison and brucellosis transmission to cattle
6. sea birds as sentinals for health
7. the ocean's health and sea turtle conservation
8. wildlife trade and law enforcement
Then on the last day we had to choose a topic of our own to present a 1 page briefing and 5-8 page paper on. The topic had to be controversial and we would pretend that we were presenting it to congress and making an arguement for intervention (government participation) if warranted. We were given a list of 20 topics to choose from, or we could make up our own with the prof's permission. I was the only one of 8 students to choose my own topic: The Navy's SONAR Use and Its Impacts on Marine Mammals. I learned SO much. Mark Pokras had me email some colleagues of his to ask for articles on the subject, and they sent me 56 articles. I spent too long reading, and all thursday night writing. Mark reviewed my paper for me at 11pm on Thursday, which went over, well, ok. He basically tore my paper apart, and while I wanted to argue and tell him he was wrong, I knew he wasn't. He didn't comment on the subject matter at all, it was my way of writing. I write passive voice, and I am not a good arguer in articles...I use too many coulds and maybes. Mark helped me re-phrase the first 5 pages by getting rid of ambiguous statements. It was exhausting for both of us, but I think I was very mature about it and took his criticism well since it was deserved.
My presentation on Friday went GREAT! I volunteered to go first, and it was a huge hit. I had answers for ALL my profs and classmates' questions. Later in the day my prof pulled me aside to tell me I had done a superb job. And now I feel like an expert on NAVY SONAR use and Marine Mammals.....again, ask me about it sometime, I will tell you yet another reason why to hate the Bush Administration...at least you will if you like whales and dolphins!
The various topics discussed included:
1. conservation medicine: the emerging new field (ask me about it sometime, I would love to tell you SO much about it)
2. chytrid fungal infection in amphibians (the fungus decimating out world's frog populations)
3. antibiotic resistance and its link to farm animals
4. lead toxicity (in wildlife and humans and pets)
5. bison and brucellosis transmission to cattle
6. sea birds as sentinals for health
7. the ocean's health and sea turtle conservation
8. wildlife trade and law enforcement
Then on the last day we had to choose a topic of our own to present a 1 page briefing and 5-8 page paper on. The topic had to be controversial and we would pretend that we were presenting it to congress and making an arguement for intervention (government participation) if warranted. We were given a list of 20 topics to choose from, or we could make up our own with the prof's permission. I was the only one of 8 students to choose my own topic: The Navy's SONAR Use and Its Impacts on Marine Mammals. I learned SO much. Mark Pokras had me email some colleagues of his to ask for articles on the subject, and they sent me 56 articles. I spent too long reading, and all thursday night writing. Mark reviewed my paper for me at 11pm on Thursday, which went over, well, ok. He basically tore my paper apart, and while I wanted to argue and tell him he was wrong, I knew he wasn't. He didn't comment on the subject matter at all, it was my way of writing. I write passive voice, and I am not a good arguer in articles...I use too many coulds and maybes. Mark helped me re-phrase the first 5 pages by getting rid of ambiguous statements. It was exhausting for both of us, but I think I was very mature about it and took his criticism well since it was deserved.
My presentation on Friday went GREAT! I volunteered to go first, and it was a huge hit. I had answers for ALL my profs and classmates' questions. Later in the day my prof pulled me aside to tell me I had done a superb job. And now I feel like an expert on NAVY SONAR use and Marine Mammals.....again, ask me about it sometime, I will tell you yet another reason why to hate the Bush Administration...at least you will if you like whales and dolphins!
advanced avian elective
two weeks ago I again found myself at the Tufts Wildlife Clinic, but this time in the senior class Advanced Avian Medicine elective. It is hosted every other year for interested fourth years who want to work with birds. Lectures occurred every morning on psittacines (aka parrots) and raptors (birds of prey) or passerines (song birds and finches). In the afternoons we had labs. In one lab several employees on campus who owned birds brought their pets in for us to learn basic physical exam, nail, beak, and wing trims and other basic procedures on parrots. Another lab involved cadavers (dead birds from the wildlife clinic) in which we passed catheters and did fake surgical procedures. One day we drove to Rhode Island to visit Foster Parrots, an amazing parrot sanctuary (not open to the public) full of HUNDREDS of abandoned pet birds. They are going to be featured on NPR's morning edition shortly on the economy and people giving up their pet birds. I loved the lab and learned a lot. The nice thing is once I graduate I will be allowed to practice on exotics as much as I want...hopefully I can drum up some pet bird clients!
bringing things up to speed...
it has been too long since I have posted, so what is about to follow is a series of short blogs on my last 3 weeks...enjoy!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
damn drowsiness
MIDOL 20 tablets $4.99
active ingredients:
acetominophen 500mg
Pamabrom 25mg
caffeine
Generic Menstrual Pain Relief Midol substitute 40 tablets $4.50
active ingredients:
acetominophen 500mg
Pamabrom 25mg
pyrilamine maleate 15mg (Antihistamine)
which would you choose? Probably the generic, more pills, less money, basically the same ingredients, right? So I did. Then 30 minutes in to class (an hour after I took two pills) my eyes start drooping. For 3 hours I fought sleep realizing that I am WAY too susceptible to antihistamines and their drowsiness effects. Darn.
active ingredients:
acetominophen 500mg
Pamabrom 25mg
caffeine
Generic Menstrual Pain Relief Midol substitute 40 tablets $4.50
active ingredients:
acetominophen 500mg
Pamabrom 25mg
pyrilamine maleate 15mg (Antihistamine)
which would you choose? Probably the generic, more pills, less money, basically the same ingredients, right? So I did. Then 30 minutes in to class (an hour after I took two pills) my eyes start drooping. For 3 hours I fought sleep realizing that I am WAY too susceptible to antihistamines and their drowsiness effects. Darn.
Monday, March 30, 2009
for the birds
What an interesting week....last week I did my advanced avian elective, a one week course in advanced avian (bird) medicine. It was great! We did some hands on with live parrots from the school's employees, and then did '"surgery" on cadavers from the wildlife clinic, and had TONS of lectures on various subjects from great lecturers. We took a field trip one afternoon to Rhode Island to visit Foster Parrots, quite an amazing site with hundreds of abandoned birds in a sanctuary situation where they can live out the rest of their lives well. I loved it, and was overwhelmed by all the sad stories of birds with mental issues or birds being given up for adoption for sad reasons...people should not be allowed to have birds for pets if you ask me, but I could see myself with one if it was adopted since I would know what to do (the only birds I would want for pets are chickens and ducks though).
Poor Mark's apartment has been being renovated for over a week now, and he has been living with me for the week. It has been interesting. I enjoy the opportunity to cook dinner and do other domestic things on a regular basis, but I also have grown tired of running the laundry every 3rd day since he is allergic to my cat, and while he has not had any problems yet I think it is mainly because keeping a fresh pair of sheets and blankets on the bed every 3rd day keeps him healthy.
I went to Montreal this past weekend. A nice thing about being with Mark all week was that while I would of liked it if he had come, I was able to have a great time doing girly things without him as well. On Saturday Heather and I went dress shopping and I got a hot purple and black short, professional dress for Alicia's wedding. That evening we watched Star Wars, classic, it is so awesome that Heather and I are both such good fans. Even though I never watch except when with Heather and Denis, I strangely like formula one and watching some of the race on Sunday morning was fun. Tina reinforced that I do in fact love dogs and my resentment towards my roommate's dogs is not me being a bad person, but that they are not the best dogs. Tina, however, is the perfect dog, I wish I could of kidnapped her. It was a long drive home Sunday in the bad weather, but I was able to enjoy it by listening to the first book of the twilight series on cd.
This week I am in the conservation medicine elective. A lot of the grade is based on participation, and I was surprised how confident I was and really me and one other girl seemed to dominate most of the conversations. I wasn't trying to keep other people from talking, but the other 6 classmates in the course are shy, and I realized I have a great background in this area, (too bad international didn't think so and kicked me out of their program).
Poor Mark's apartment has been being renovated for over a week now, and he has been living with me for the week. It has been interesting. I enjoy the opportunity to cook dinner and do other domestic things on a regular basis, but I also have grown tired of running the laundry every 3rd day since he is allergic to my cat, and while he has not had any problems yet I think it is mainly because keeping a fresh pair of sheets and blankets on the bed every 3rd day keeps him healthy.
I went to Montreal this past weekend. A nice thing about being with Mark all week was that while I would of liked it if he had come, I was able to have a great time doing girly things without him as well. On Saturday Heather and I went dress shopping and I got a hot purple and black short, professional dress for Alicia's wedding. That evening we watched Star Wars, classic, it is so awesome that Heather and I are both such good fans. Even though I never watch except when with Heather and Denis, I strangely like formula one and watching some of the race on Sunday morning was fun. Tina reinforced that I do in fact love dogs and my resentment towards my roommate's dogs is not me being a bad person, but that they are not the best dogs. Tina, however, is the perfect dog, I wish I could of kidnapped her. It was a long drive home Sunday in the bad weather, but I was able to enjoy it by listening to the first book of the twilight series on cd.
This week I am in the conservation medicine elective. A lot of the grade is based on participation, and I was surprised how confident I was and really me and one other girl seemed to dominate most of the conversations. I wasn't trying to keep other people from talking, but the other 6 classmates in the course are shy, and I realized I have a great background in this area, (too bad international didn't think so and kicked me out of their program).
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
google yourself
Yes, I have googled myself before, I find that I can find the most websites by putting in "Lindsey Nielsen Animal" since almost all my online publications are in regards to something animal related.
Well, I got a big boost of self confidence today. I have the list of all the interns I will be starting with at Darien in June. I googled all of their names followed by the school they are at and "veterinary student". Of the 9 I googled, I found stuff for 5, one is actually the daughter of a famous washington post columnist, so she wasn't on any websites, but her dad was and she was mentioned in some of them. Another was a co-manager at the wildlife clinic at her school. Another spent 2 months with the humane society on a mission in Latin America spaying and neutering dogs. And the last was on a veterinary school basketball league that one a tournament. I really wanted to find pics, but it was neat reading small parts about the people I will be spending most of the next year getting to know well.
Then out of curiosity, I googled "Lindsey Nielsen Tufts Veterinary Student" since I had never googled that before and wanted to see what others would find if they did the same for me. I was pleased that the first 6 slots were all publications or references in Tufts magazines to the things I have done around campus. I still wish I have done more in the last 4 years, but having that much come up on a google search made me feel a little better about myself.
Well, I got a big boost of self confidence today. I have the list of all the interns I will be starting with at Darien in June. I googled all of their names followed by the school they are at and "veterinary student". Of the 9 I googled, I found stuff for 5, one is actually the daughter of a famous washington post columnist, so she wasn't on any websites, but her dad was and she was mentioned in some of them. Another was a co-manager at the wildlife clinic at her school. Another spent 2 months with the humane society on a mission in Latin America spaying and neutering dogs. And the last was on a veterinary school basketball league that one a tournament. I really wanted to find pics, but it was neat reading small parts about the people I will be spending most of the next year getting to know well.
Then out of curiosity, I googled "Lindsey Nielsen Tufts Veterinary Student" since I had never googled that before and wanted to see what others would find if they did the same for me. I was pleased that the first 6 slots were all publications or references in Tufts magazines to the things I have done around campus. I still wish I have done more in the last 4 years, but having that much come up on a google search made me feel a little better about myself.
Monday, March 2, 2009
MATCH RESULTS!
I matched at VCA Darien, my top choice, which is in Norwalk, Ct. 40 minutes outside of NYC. I am excited and nervous as hell. Time to start figuring out the living situation, etc., but I will have 3-4 weeks after I graduate to get it all settled. I am 95% happy, the 5% is a wish that no matter what Mark could come with me, I know things will work out no matter what, but I am bummed that in these financial times it will be difficult.
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