snapshot of my day and duck curling

snapshot of my day and duck curling
this is a bit of what i'm accomplishing (hopefully) this semester:

publishing two papers as primary author (one a case study using CT imaging in an amazon parrot with skull fractures and the other a paper on soft tissue surgery technique - specifically scrotal urethrostomy - whoopee!)

chairing the Exotics committee for Open House '07 - which means organizing the entire exotics ward, all the animals, a flight show, a parrot behavior demonstration, etc etc

president of the avian, wildlife, and exotics club (AWE) = planning all the meetings (lunch and dinner), wetlabs, having teeshirts printed and selling said teeshirts, etc

tutoring a 1st year student in microanatomy

finishing(? or starting?) my research paper from the last 2 summers of parrot work

practicing suture and surgery techniques for my advanced surgery elective

taking 7 classes

i think i bit off more than i could chew this semester. just a bite too much maybe. my derm exam went fine. i think the lowest grade in the class was an 80. but come on people, it's skin. how hard can it be?? watch. given my slackerdom and general ambivalence if not outright apathy - i'll be the one with the 80. whoo me!!

i saw something funny on the way to school this morning. really funny. the weather here was unseasonably warm (global warming, har har) for a while in january. and lately it's been nipple-erecting cold - that biting cold that makes me want to stay in bed, no matter what my obligations. (i would die up north, btw). AAANNNYWAY - i was driving the backroad to school, as i always do - and i passed the pond near the medical center. it was frozen - which isn't usual around these parts lately. what killed me was that the ducks (who obviously have lost track of what season it is and that whole migration thing) were trying to land on said pond. they'd come cruising down from altitude, graceful and lovely against the morning sky, land on the ice, and go skidding a good 5 feet before sliding to an ungraceful stop. what made it all the more funny was the crows STANDING on the ice and watching. it almost looked like a sporting event. duck curling. why didn't the ducks see the crows standing on the ice and make a very simple deduction about landing conditions? seriously - they need like -- duck air traffic control to warn of icing conditions. i laughed all the way to school.