Saturday, March 19, 2011

Spring Break!

Never have I valued spring break as much as now. Imagine hiking up a steep mountain and the incline finally gives way to a more level path. You're still marching forward but it gives your legs a chance to cool down. Ahead of you lies the summit of the mountain. It's still oh so ever far away, but your destination is in sight. The level path ends shortly up ahead and you know that soon you'll be climbing up higher. In the meantime, you enjoy what short time you have before the steep incline begins again.

The majority of my classmates have wisely decided to spend their vacations in full, either going out of town for sightseeing or staying with family. I'll be spending this week here in Morgantown completing a forensic photography presentation and reviewing what we learned the previous two weeks in class for anatomy and anatomical techniques.

I appreciate our teachers for finishing up our tests before the spring break. There's no immediate test to worry about the day we come back after the break. I've come to realize that one of the things that I like about West Virginia University's PA Program is that the teachers have so far been flexible about test dates. If the test date conflicts with the schedules of anyone, we usually have a class vote on when to postpone the test. It has worked well so far. I'm not an advocate of being strict just for the sake of being strict.

10 comments:

  1. Nice, man. From the sounds of it, you could use a bit of a breather, even if it's such that you only have to worry about one or two things instead of twelve.

    One thing I've been wondering, is precisely how long is this program you're in? And when precisely will you be coming back home? Liz and I are having a wedding reception-esque sort of thing in May, probably around the twenty second and want to try and make it so you can attend, if possible.

    Keep on, keepin'-on, man. You're whooping some serious academia ass :D

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  2. Hey Dennis, good news! I'll be coming back during our summer vacation. I'll be in town from May 9th to June 1st and I'd be honored to attend.

    The program that I'm in is a Master's Program that lasts for two years. West Virginia University's program is unique in that it starts in January and ends in December. I should be out by December of 2012.

    Some other interesting news. After I graduate I just might even be able to find a job in Clovis at a place called Pathology Associates off of Villa and Herndon. It just depends if they're hiring at the moment that I graduate or not.

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  3. Hi Forrest, I've been reading your blog with interest. I'm looking into the possibilities as a Path Assistant. I'm from California as you are and would want to work as a PA in California if possible. Do you have an email address so people can contact you? I don't have a blogspot, so I'm not sure how to privately contact you. I have questions and think you have a wealth of info to share about being a PA, how to apply to PA schools, and the PA industry.

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  4. Thanks for the praise Anonymous! I'm certainly no expert, but if you have any questions I'll do my best to help answer them. You can reach me at:
    pathotoko@yahoo.com

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  5. Huzzah! Look forward to hanging out with you again, and seeing at our wedding reception thing!

    Hang in there, and continue kicking some academia ass! (Gently, though, you're on break :P)

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  6. Ya. Can't wait for you to come back Forrest. I have some board games that I think you will enjoy playing. (Yes I am becoming a board game geek).

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  7. I've always enjoyed board games with a group of friends over video games. We need to have a Civilization board game tournament one of these days.

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  8. I agree. There is a lot more interact with each other plus ,unlike video games, the rules of a board game can be changes into to make it more fun.

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  9. Hi

    Thanks for the opportunity to follow your experience. I'll be starting a PathA program in May! I plan on starting the self study of anatomy too although it mainly will be limited to weekend studying. Good luck in the rest of your program and future career :)

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  10. Thanks and congratulations! It's never too early to start studying. The University of Michigan Online Anatomy Course really helped me get a head start.

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