Back To Chemistry

I'm not quiet in the real world about the issues surrounding the chemistry at my alma mater. It is not the professors themselves anymore, the one with the issues was subsequently told to stop showing up for work, it is the overall mentality that the department is untouchable.

So, I'm taking chemistry elsewhere. The professor seems approachable and yet completely NOT creepy. The professor is funny without being crude and slimy. The professor is helpful without digressing into his own personal life struggles with his wife (yes, there is WAYYYY more to that than I will ever post on here).

I'm excited again! Came home last night, renewed with energy, excited to be part of a classroom where I can learn the material, digest and ingest it for the MCAT because as we already know, the MCAT is our beast to slay... in my case, MCAT is going to be my best friend, my ticket to a little envelope that gets delivered by the UPS truck and says, "Congratulations!"

Yep, I'm on the path... one day at a time.

Now, if I could only find my pencil pack, the flash cards, my desk, the floor, the pots/pans, and food... :)

Make it a great day!

Moved, Unsettled - School Starts

The move went. Things I've found out in the process:

Don't buy furniture unless at some point you are willing to leave it behind, put it on Craigslist, or burn it in effigy to a former home. Two pieces I knew would not fit and was going to store. However, my favorite formal furniture would not fit through the door. Sigh. The big screen tv, perfect for that upcoming scrum? FAR too large to fit down the stairs and the opening into the family room below. So it, and the piano are crammed into a room with a teensie sitting sofa from my former sitting room in the front room of the house.

Hire the best movers you can. In my case, this is a shout out to Matt's Moving, they were phenomenal. Actually, let me be more specific: Mike and Jesse were amazing!!! On a day that snowed like hell, roads were icy, furniture didn't fit, I was not really ready at old house, they were the absolute perfect fit for me. They made my move less stressful, more manageable, were precise and careful with my personal items up to and including, the urns that carry the solo cremated remains of my furkids, Tank, Boozer, and Abby. These guys were so polite, so accommodating, I was blown away.

Matt's Moving - use them if you can!

Last, I learned that sometimes home can feel like home even when you don't own it and all the stuff doesn't fit. Last night and today, I feel like I'm home not just occupying space.

I'm home. I start school ASAP.

Make it a great day, smile for someone who can't, and enjoy your life!

Moving Day T-14 Hours

LOL - okay, I'm running out to buy a SanDisk card for my camera and will post pictures later...

I'm SO not ready to move, READY to start school, but dang - how am I going to get this boxed, packed, moved, unpacked and put in place before I start school!?

Gadgetry

A long time ago, in a lifetime far, far away... I heard stories about the latest and greatest gadgetry: from pencils that recorded the physicians comments as he walked the hallway to the neck cabling that hailed the physician's nurse to other assorted items that I cannot remember.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I was doing a little digging and found this little gem.

Imagine no longer needing to be anesthetized to have your stomach viewed through a rigid tube with a camera attached. Imagine no longer worry about choking as the tube is inserted.

While it might take longer, make that will take longer, to view the images the patient comfort factor has to have been raised by 10x just by alleviating the stress.

And for the radiologists, I imagine they still get to bill for the extended time. Patient comfy, physician paid. Sounds like a win-win situation.

Asked my dad what he thought, he said that the gadget would be awesome for his once a year viewing of his ulcer (it's right near the aorta and they monitor him closely)... adding, now if they could come up with a colonoscopy type gadget... wondering if this piece of technology wouldn't help as well... as it ... traversed the digestive tract.

Making Life More Simple

As school approaches, I'm looking into ways to simplify my life including how to cook things I like, that won't stretch my Kraft Mac-n-Cheese ability too far (I've managed to ruin a box of that).

I LOVE Pei Wei, the "fast food" arm of P.F. Chang's which I fell in love with in Phoenix. Below is the recipe for the Mongolian Beef, sans mushrooms that do come in the entree. Brown rice topped off with this entree sounds easy... now to figure out how to do up rice appropriately... yes, I've ruined that as well, much to the glee of my canine companions who get all my rejected dinners.

Mongolian Beef

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 lb flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions

Preparation:
Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat. Don't get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/8" thick sugar packet size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.

After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.