"Dye"-ing for a change

I think I'm going a little crazy waiting to hear back about PA school.
Also, I get a little restless once in a while, and need to liven things up a bit. This time, it was my hair. I dyed it red, or more specifically "Auburnin' Hot". And I am hot! I love red hair. Actually, it looks really natural, so much so, that not many people have commented on the change in my hair, (except the girls at work that I see all the time). I'll have to post a picture later, because I don't have one now.

Also, I was going to change the backdrop of my blog, but decided to harass my sister to do it for me. She did tell me she would do it for me...for my birthday in November. But, I'm not complaining...presents are always better late than never, and I LOVE MY NEW PAGE!! She is a genius and I think it's so cute, so...THANKS MARZ!

My sister is AWESOME!

Look how cute my blog is! My most artistic and talented (and good looking) sister made this for me. He he!

Happy late late birthday, Rachel. I hope you like your new look! I used pink because I know you love pink. I loved this picture of you and it looked so good together. It was meant to be!

Love you!
Marielle

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New Years Resolutions and all that

I guess it's about time. They say the first step to making goals is to tell people so you have support. Keep in mind something. I don't think I've ever stuck to a goal, so I'm taking baby steps, folks. Baby steps. So here goes:

1. Read material for Sunday lessons before hand. (I've never so good with reading every night, so I figure having content to read instead of time, might work. And be more meaningful. And I'm excited about studying Joseph Smith's teachings and want to get the most out of it.)
2. Make a budget and stick with it.
3. Read a religious based book every 3rd book. (I don't read a lot, but figure I read enough that I can read better material. Takin' in up a notch.)
4. Exercise once a week. (Baby steps.)

So far, how have I done? I'm, uh, "testing the waters" on those goals.
But today was a good day. All around, a good day. I exercised AND read scriptures (go me!) and I've gotten three loads of laundry done. In addition to that, I took and picked up Zander from preschool, and rescued a friend who was out of gas. Then my boys helped me (wink, wink) make a great dinner. It's not often I get to say that. I made red snapper fish. It was delicious. I googled recipes and found a great one. Garlic and butter and lime on the fish then grilled on the barbecue. We also had tossed salad, baked potatoes, and that cottage cheese/cool whip/jello/fruit salad. Not sure what it's called, but it was really good. I was pretty proud of myself. We even ate on the china. Oh, and we had lime water to bring out the taste of the lime in the fish. Yes, sometimes I'm a genius (who just had to google the word to spell it. Sad.). Zander was so proud of our beautiful dinner when we were done!

Well, I didn't hear anything yesterday or today from the U of U, so I'm not in the top 10 candidates, but I'm not giving up hope. I just hope I don't have an ulcer by the first week of February when I find out.

my BIGGEST interview: part II

Well, I realize my last post was a little long, and by a little I mean if you made it through the whole thing you should get a prize. This will be much shorter.
Day two was busier, but much better. I had two individual interviews and two group interviews. They all went very well. I felt good about today. The group interviews were interesting. In both groups, we had two interviewers, and they gave the 4 of us a paper with 3 questions on it. The first was define "_______" and tell us what it means to you. The second was an ethical dilemma. Interesting questions here. In my first interview it was that there was a 16 year old girl who was in a car accident, has lost a lot of blood and needs a transfusion and go to surgery right away. Her parents are Jehovah's Witness and say they don't believe in blood transfusions. She tells you that she doesn't share their beliefs and wants the blood/surgery. Your doctor decides to do the surgery, but several others are not participating. What do you do? Yeah, it was an interesting discussion. The two interviewers just sat and listened to our self-guided discussion. They were 'flies on the wall'. But in the end they told us we did very well, so I felt good about that. I was told in a personal interview that I answered the ethical dilemma question well, too.

In short, today was much better than yesterday! And because I had 4 interviews today and only 2 yesterday, I'm hoping overall was better than not. They will offer a handful of positions (about 10) next week. Then they have a second round of interviews in 2 weeks, then a week later we should know one way or the other whether we got in or not. I'm holding my breath. With that in mind, I hope I get a call on Monday, because I'm not that great at holding my breath for very long. =)

My BIGGEST interview

My first interview for PA school at the University of Washington in Seattle was my big interview because it was the first one, and I was super excited to even get one. My interview next month at Northeastern University in Boston is my bigger interview. Again, excited I'm good enough to get an interview. My interview today at the University of Utah is my BIGGEST interview! They have such a great program, nationally ranked in the top 5 programs, and it's home! We were told today that they received 600+ applications, are interviewing 84, and accept 36, and that getting an interview made up the top 15% of all applicants. Wow.

So, my BIGGEST interview so far, isn't fantastic. Crap. The process is so different from Seattle, I'll just start with that. There we had one day, 3 group interviews, 2 written tests and and information session. I was totally drained at the end of the day. At this interview, it's two days, I have 4 personal interviews, 2 group interviews, a written test, and an information session. I'll give you a run down of day one:
8:00-8:30 Welcome/Writing Sample
Pretty simple. One page essay about ways you would improve the community as a PA.
8:30-9:15 Faculty Panel
They introduced themselves and took questions. Pretty standard so far.
9:45-10:10 Individual interview #1
Went okay. Questions here are harder than at Seattle, I think. The hardest question in this one was being asked about a patient that I dreaded coming in to clinic. Someone that made me cringe knowing I had to check them in. I couldn't think of one off the top of my head, so I thought of one that was close. Then they followed up that question with 2 others about what about me made me feel this way, etc. Because I didn't have a great example to begin with, I felt like the more they asked me to expand on that, the more I was digging my grave. The other questions I did okay on, I think.
12:15-2:15 TESTING
Okay. I went to the info session and the admissions director told us this would be a simple anatomy test with questions like how many chambers are there in the heart. Fantastic. I can do basic. I open up the 150 question multiple choice test and the first questions is "Transitional epithelium is the lining of what? A. bladder B. GI tract C. liver D. eye socket" Hello?! Was I supposed to study for this? I don't remember being told this was in depth! The doctor and PA I work with joked that it would be a portion of the boards taken at the end of the program to certify. "If you can pass 25% of what should already know, then we'll let you in." Yeah, I thought it was a joke, but apparently not! The heart question I do remember was a little more difficult than number of chambers: "What chamber of the heart receives the systemic blood from the superior vena cava?" I do know the answer to both the questions I listed here, but there were plenty that I didn't. Whew, was I glad when we were told they put a lot of weight into those test scores!
3:45-4:10 Individual interview #2
Went a little better than #1. Interviewers were a little more personable. Again most difficult question was talking about a patient conflict. I had a better example this time about a patient that borderline sexually harassed me. Not intentionally, but every time he came in he made me feel very uncomfortable. Also better question because they didn't follow it up with more questions. 'Give a girl a rope....' This one had a funny question, "If you were an animal what would you be?" I said a duck. My mom always told up growing to be a duck, because the water just rolls of the back. The feathers don't get ruffled, they don't get bugged. Don't let anything negative soak into your skin. Be tough. Let it roll off your back. Be a duck. So today, I was.
4:30-5:15 Student Panel
The current first year students introduced themselves and answered our questions. Informative.
5:15-7:15 Social
It was a fiesta! They made us a mexican dinner that was delicious. I was really hungry, so it was nice to have food! This is (informally) designated as "Introduce yourself to all the interviewers that you are not interviewing with so everyone knows your name (and hopefully votes for you) when the two days is over" social. It was pretty fun, but super noisy. We had 40 applicants, 20 students, and about 10 interviewers (not all of them) in one kitchen/lounge area and one classroom.

As I'm sure you noticed I had HUGE chunks of time when I wasn't doing anything. I got to know the other applicants pretty well. Made a few friends, and talked about our experiences interviewing today and at other schools. I didn't get home until about 7:45. Now I'm tired and going to sleep so hopefully my brain functions a little better tomorrow and I can show them what a shining star I am!

I am the woman!

Not often do I put up a title like that, but I'm feeling pretty good today. We went skiing on Jan 1st (I know it was a week ago), we had a blast! I went with Michael, my dad, and my brother. We rocked that mountain! We did 19 runs and 20,000 vertical feet. Here's me on my skiis tearing it up:


And to add to the bragging, at 3:46 we got on the lift and the attendant told us it was the last time up, and to head toward the parking lot because this lift would be closed. We told him we'd be back before it closes at 4:00. He told us we wouldn't, we said we would, and he said, "Whatever, it's not me who has to hike out at the end." It takes 6 minutes to get up the lift. At 3:52, we were back down at the bottom. He looked at us, looked at the clock, and with genuine amazement he says, "Wow, you even made it with 4 minutes to spare!" Then the girl next to him talked to him, looked at the clock, and also expressed her amazement. Thank you. We made it down a very long run in 3 minutes. Yes, we rock! Here are two of the satisfied skiers at the end of the day:




And driving home, there was an amazing sunset. Pictures never do them justice, but here's my best shot:


And to add EVEN MORE to my bragfest...I have an interview for the PA program here at the U of U!!!! This was a huge surprise. I was on the wait list, but then they didn't have any open spots. They asked if I wanted to stay on the "short notice wait list". I said sure, why not, but didn't expect much. On Friday I got a call saying they would love to have me come interview this week, Thursday and Friday! Yeah!