Update

I've been learning a lot about myself over the past few months.  The most notable thing is that I need transitions. Let me be more specific: I need more time to adjust to new situations than the average person.  Last semester, the dental school had us on a miserable half class half clinic schedule.  Looking back, I don't think I ever got that down very well even after months of it.  Over Christmas break I spent extra time at home, effectively pushing my return to the school routine back a few days.  Combine that with my inherent laziness and it's a recipe for disaster.  I still have a pile of 'stuff' that needs to put away.  Most of it was emptied from my backpack before I traveled home for break.  This clutter is a pretty good representation of how I feel about my life right now.  There's a big pile of junk that I trip over every day as I try to get the meaningful things accomplished.  I'm trying to prioritize as best I can.  Clinical responsibilities are always at the forefront of my thoughts, even during hours I'm supposed to be enjoying my sleep.  I worry about patients, their pending treatments, what I'm going to tell the one that doesn't know about the misplaced dental implant (not my fault!), and what's going to happen the next time some of my charts are audited.  I'm on an extremely regular schedule, more-so than any other point in time.  I suppose it'll be that way for the rest of my life, though that doesn't trouble me.  This semester I theoretically could be in clinic all of the time except tuesday mornings, when we have class.  In practice, it's relatively difficult to book enough chairs to max out on clinic time.  There's a fine line between keeping busy enough not to feel like you are behind the pace and being so busy that you are stressed out, running only on coffee, as you run from clinic to clinic.  Somehow, I manage to feel both of those ways every single day.  On the bright side, at only a month into this semester, I seem to be in a pretty good groove.  Perhaps it's too early to call it a groove, but I'm hopeful I have truly found some footing.  I need the stability.  


Sorry for the wall of text.  I needed some therapy.  You know what else would be therapeutic? Hearing from some of my favorite people! Leave a comment below, please.  

Teh facebook

So, I know this is entirely self induced, so before you point that out to me, I already know it.  I feel like facebook is less and less about my friends, and more about how 'liking' something will enter me in a contest to win.  I like the new features and how easy it is to share with different groups of people.  I like the new album previews for photos.  I regularly hide/unsubscribe/kabosh app privileges, but my news feed is more cluttered than I would like.  Any tips on how you keep your feed clean? 


Finally, the whole ticker is strange to me, because I feel like that is the more important stuff.  To illustrate my point, I made the following graphic. Thoughts?

More Music --- Remains by Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon

If you know me, or have read this blog, you probably know that I'm a huge fan of the TV series Dollhouse. What you might not realize is that a year and a half after the show was cancelled, it is still influencing me.  I had previously mentioned a song from the show that has become an all-time favorite of mine.  This time, I'm back with another song that I just can't seem to shake.  Perhaps this will balance out the cheerfulness of the last post I did.  


The music video is wonderful, too.  Do yourself a favor and watch it. Now.





The Zune store doesn't have this song, but thankfully Amazon does.

Another Music Post - Rachel Platten

I know I did a post on music not all that long ago, but I really just have to share one more artist that I've been listening to for the past couple of weeks.  Her name is Rachel Platten, and her newest CD, Be Here, was just released back in April.  I'll stop talking, though, and let Rachel convince you herself. Amazon has the album for $5.99, which in my opinion is a complete steal! Grab it here.

Current Musical Interests - Spring/Summer '11

So, I don't want to sound melodramatic, but I am not sure I could have made it through the past year without amazing music. Either keeping me awake and pumped during a long study session or helping me fall asleep after I'd ingested more caffeine than is probably healthy for anyone, music was at the center of it all. This post is dedicated to a few of the songs that have helped me through.

Young Blood - The Naked and Famous

This song is simply amazing. I discovered it during finals week about two months ago. Since then it has become the 3rd most played song in my library, no small feat considering other songs have had years to amass plays. The lyrics are good, too:

We lie beneath the stars at night
Our hands gripping each other tight
You keep my secrets hope to die
Promises, swear them to the sky

The bittersweet between my teeth
Trying to find the in-betweens
Fall back in love eventually
Yeah yeah yeah yeah

The music video is somewhat lame, but the song is so good I can look the other way. Definitely go and listen to this song right now!


Nightwatchmen - Bell X1

Bell X1 just released their second fifth album (thanks to Ivan for pointing this out to me), and while as a whole it's pretty decent, this song stands out. It's a soft, romantic ballad, that builds throughout the song. I also feel that it's been ages since I've heard a song as musical as this one. It's so simple, but I can't seem to get over it.

To the girl among nightwatchmen
My other, my joy
With your oil-drum fire
You were my gentle unfolding
The wool and the dye
The needle and eye

These songs you sing
as you waltz her up the stairs


You can listen to it here.

Also, if you like their sound, I'd recommend checking out the song How Your Heart is Wired from their first album.  I actually played that song more up front, but Nightwatchmen grew on me more. A lot more.  

The Killers

I know what you are thinking:  "The Killers are sooo 2004... or maybe 2006!" Well, I've always liked The Killers, but I think I got a little burned out on them.  As such, I didn't really look into getting their third studio album, Day & Age.  Over the past year, I have found that there are a few tracks that the radio stations never picked up on. The hidden gems on the album are This Is Your Life and I Can't Stay.  I realize that if you are a true Killers fan you probably already know what I'm telling you. In the chance you are like me, missing a song here or there, I'm trying to get you back on track. 

Gravity Happens - Kate Voegele

So, for those of you that have known me for a while, you might remember that I've had an obsession with singer/songwriter Kate Voegele for many years now.  If Taylor Swift was a brunette, she'd still fall short.  I've even stalked her at a concert full of teenage girls... I'm pretty sure I was the only single guy in the place.  Anyway, Kate just released her third album and it's really solid.  I'm glad to report that she has continued making music that sounds like her.  Too frequently, a record label tries to dictate an artist's sound (like the monstrosity that was Marié Digby's second album).  Her song, Sunshine In My Sky is the perfect summer song:

I want a violet bicycle
Flip flops and sand between my toes
These are the beautiful things in life

So give me that off-the-shoulder dress
The one that the boys will not forget
Well I want just a little bit more from life

Maybe I should fly my bags and fly to Costa Rica
Put a flower in my hair, a dancing senorita 

I'm a huge fan of the entire album, but my favorite song is titled Impatient Girl.  It's incredibly catchy!  Also, I like the songs Say You're Mine, Hundred Million Dollar Soul, Enough For Always, and Sandcastles.  There are a couple of sad/dark songs that I find enjoyable, too.  Look for Heart In Chains, and Burning The Harbor.  

You asked to dance and I got shy
And you said honey there's no time for excuses

Finally, I'll say that I bought this album on Amazon.  It was $6!  But somehow I had a $2 promotional credit applied to the purchase, so it ended up being only $3.99 for this entire album.  I actually felt a little bit guilty, because I like Kate so much.  She's playing a show in Philly with Natasha Bedingfield, but it's the same weekend as Thomas' wedding.  I'm really bummed that I can't see Kate. If you are still having your doubts about how good looking she is, check out this photo.

The Way It Was - Parachute

I was really rooting for this band, hoping that they wouldn't fall victim to the sophomore slump that many musicians have with their second release.  It looks like they did okay!

My favorite song is called What I Know.  It's a sad song.  :-(

I stop the car and close my eyes
I can see her face, but It takes a while
And it feeds it like the morning light
Slow and unfocused, So I go home and
She’s sitting on the kitchen chair
Oh a suitcase waiting by the stairs
Oh they’re both worn out from all the years
They’re ready to let go
And I realize the only thing that’s sure is

She said , I’m in love with some one else she said
I fell in love with some one else and I
I’m in love with some one and that’s all that I know for sure
She’s in love with some one else she said
She fell in love with some one else and that
She’s in love with some one and that’s all that I know for sure

Other notables are American Secrets and Philadelphia. The song Philadelphia was really unexpected, because the band is from Virginia.  It's mellow and beautiful.  

Amazon also has this album for $5.99.  One of my fellow dental students was claiming this album to be the best pop album in recent history.  I don't know if I can claim that, but it is pretty good.  

Finally, if you've made it this far, I commend you.  I have one final song to share, fellow listener.  Recently, my sister showed me an amazing music video for a song I'd never heard before.  The editing is supurb.  U2 is epic.  What more can I say? 

Well, that's all for now.  I spent a decently long time on this post, so please let me know what you think of the songs.  Also, is the formatting over the top?

Photoshop Magic

This was more work than you could ever imagine. The sky, bluffs, and road were all edited separately.

One of my first attempts at cloning, probably about four years ago.  Check out the backgrounds.

Beer Can Chicken

I'm giving this new recipe a try. I put half a can of beer, along with some butter, garlic, rosemary, paprika, and some chicken seasoning inside the chicken. Yes, the aluminum can is inside the chicken. I'll let you know how it turned out...

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Friday

A strange voicemail I received about an hour ago.

Blog Giveaway!

I just finished my last class before spring break, so I'm in a really good mood right now.  I've had this toothbrush sitting around for a while, so I figured I'd do something with it.  Basically, this is a brand new electric toothbrush, the msrp is about $125, and I'm going to give it to someone who would like it.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post to be entered.  This is open to anyone who wants it, not just regular readers, so if you know anyone who could use this, tell them to come post a comment.  The deadline is going to be March 21st, 2011.  I will select the winner randomly. 

Now that that's done, I have a proposal for my friends and family who I know in "real life."  I had a friend who is interested in purchasing a Sonicare toothbrush, and as I am a dental student, I can get them at a discount.  I have a Sonicare brush, and I love it immensely. So, if you would like to buy a professional model for an extremely reasonable price (less than 1/3 msrp), get in touch with me.  Or, if you already have a Sonicare and would like replacement brush heads, I'm your man.  Also, I can order products from Crest/Oral B very cheaply, so if you'd like to get some Professional Whitestrips, a power brush like the one above, regular toothbrushes or toothpaste get in touch with me. The Whitestrips do wonders, I promise. Basically, if you need anything dental related let me know.

Why Live In Utah?

Consider the following, as per my facebook news feed:

Dreaming of YouTube

A friend of mine runs a YouTube channel that is wildly popular with youngsters interested in learning origami, how to solve a Rubik's cube, or seeing his cat chase around a laser pointer.  YouTube basically consumes a good chunk of the time not devoted to dental school.  I decided to have a little photoshop fun with one of the pictures I found on Rob's phone.  

Hubley 12

A guy in my class had these made for their intermural team. I don't play, but they were so cool I just had to get one. Twelve is still my favorite number.

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Welcome to North Philadelphia

So, today I grabbed lunch at the McDonald's across the street from the dental school. While my friends and I were waiting in line, I looked over to see this character living the High Life. This guy was pounding down a 40 oz. Miller while leaning against the garbage can. I don't think he was even worried about putting an order in. He seemed pretty content. Only in north Philly.

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Dentists are ______

What can I say?  Ouch.  So this is the general public opinion.  My theory is that people take out on dentists what they should possibly be directing internally.  I mean, seriously, if you don't floss, then you should be angry with yourself. Dentists are just a scapegoat for the people who don't take care of their teeth.  Ha ha! Take that, general public.

September Update

I downloaded an app for my phone that allows me to post to my blog, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I have survived the first round of exams, and am experiencing a very brief lull before things hit the fan next month. In October I have exams for every single class. It's going to be a great time...

Recently, I had exams for both Microbiology and Pathology. Both went decently well, so I'm off to a good start for the semester. Additionally, I took my first two practical exams for Restorative Dentistry III. I had to do a crown prep and make a provisional crown out of acrylic in a three hour time limit. It went about as good as it could have, and I averaged 95/100 between the two. I snapped a quick picture of the temporary crown (its a little yellower than the other teeth, fyi). I took a photo of my friend Rob's preparation, too, which I will upload so you can picture what it looks like under the temporary.

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Current Musical Interests

I just wanted to do a quick post about some of the songs I'm currently listening to.  It'd be too hard to list everything that I've been discovering here, but I wanted to offer a few suggestions.  

It's you know how you learn a new word, and then all of a sudden you hear it used everywhere around you?  The same thing happened to me this summer with a group called Florence & The Machine.  This video was the first instance, but since then it seems I can't turn on the TV without hearing one of their songs.  The band is pretty minimalistic, just great vocals, guitar and some percussion.  Anyway, the video below is pretty mind blowing, and has inspired me to try something similar here in Philly.

You've Got to Love London from Alex Silver on Vimeo.

Moving on, I have a couple of songs that I consider hauntingly beautiful.  The first is Your Ghost by Greg Laswell.  It was featured on an episode of Dollhouse a bit less than a year ago, and has literally been floating around in the back of my mind ever since.  The next is Hawaii by Meiko.  There is just something about these two songs that I can't get over.  Creepily wonderful.  

Katy Perry's got a new CD out. She's pretty trashy, but I really like the song Firework.  It's catchy, and upbeat, and I've listened to it a bunch.  (The previous statement is largely understated.  I've listened to it a TON.  In addition to still liking the song, somehow my Zune got set to repeat with that song on, and it cycled for 20+ hours.  I don't think you can reset playcounts with the Zune software, so it's currently my #1 song.  It also appears it's going to be in that position for a very, very long time.)

I'd also like to bring up a song called Dice that can be found on the first mix from show The O.C.  The artist is Finley Quaye.  Run and listen to this song.  Run along...

Finally, I'd like to highlight a song that I lost.  But first, it's storytime...  It was sophomore year of high school, and I was taking Fitness For Life.  Linkin Park had just released Reanimation, an album of remixes of tracks from their first effort, Hybrid Theory.  Anyway, that CD was the one that was in the player in the school's weight room.  I remember hearing the song My December and absolutely loving it.  Another memory I associate with the song My December is having my best friend Thomas help me ask a girl out to Jr. Prom.  We were in his 4Runner getting all of the little folded stars together when it came on the radio.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  Anyway, fast forward a couple of years later when I was in college.  I had bought my first (and last) iPod and I was building my music collection up.  I downloaded My December, and I recall feeling very disappointed because it just wasn't as good as I remembered it.  Well, last fall, I found the version of My December that I associated all of those high school memories with.  It was actually spelled differently, as in My < Dsmbr.  When I heard it, I all of a sudden knew I had downloaded a different version all those years ago.  It makes me happy to have found it.  

D1 - First Year Summary

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I'm really bad at updating the blog.  I've scraped together some photos to share with you all.  Hopefully, this will give you a pretty good idea of what I've been up to for the past year.  

I don't really have much to say about the classes that weren't Restorative Dentistry, despite them being 75% of my class time.  You all probably don't care that much about Histology, Biochemistry, Neuroanatomy, etc.  Not to mention, I don't have any cool pictures to go along with this post. BORING.  

So, Restorative Dentistry is the most important class in dental school, so much so, that we have it every semester for a very long time.  As such, these classes are affectionately called "resto" (rhymes with pesto) or "RDI" (or RDII, RDIII, RDIV...).  The first semester is RDI, and I had such a great time.  We spent the majority of our time doing what is called waxing.  Waxing is a step in the fabrication of a crown, but it is really helpful when you are learning the shapes of teeth and how they fit together in the mouth.  During our first week, we were given a fractured maxillary central incisor and told to recreate the missing portion out of wax.  

Here is what mine looked like:

By the way, the fake mouth is called a typodont.  The teeth are interchangeable, so we can easily replace them if we mess something up.  Trust me, we replace a lot of teeth.  We waxed up all sorts of teeth during the first semester.  Here's a shot of the waxing instruments as well as most of the waxing projects before I turned them in:

We also got our first opportunity to work with amalgam during the first semester.  For those of you that don't know what amalgam is, it's an alloy consisting mostly of mercury, silver and copper that hardens when it is shaken together.  It's one of the most biocompatable materials we have available, and it is close to the natural hardness of teeth, which is important, too.  It is also relatively inexpensive.  

This was definitely one of my first amalgams.  Nothing special, anyone can do something this easy.  We also did our first provisional crowns during the first semester, but I have better pictures of my second semester stuff, so you'll just have to wait...  The following restoration is a bit more complicated, but it is still first semester material.  In fact, this one was supposed to get turned in, but I wanted to bring it home and take a picture of it and it never made it back.  I still got my A in the class, so I think I'm in the clear.  

So, that's pretty much all of first semester.  I personally felt that it was a very easy introduction to the shapes of teeth and a few common dental materials.  Oh, yeah, this was also in December:  

Second semester (RDII) was much more difficult.  Dr. Boberick pushed us very hard and I always felt like I was behind on my labwork.  The course focused primarily on restoring decay i.e. drilling and filling as well as fixed prosthodontics (crown and bridge) and boy was is long.  We had class from January to June, for a total of six months.  It was intense, but I learned a lot.  Most importantly, I had a great time doing so.  I've definitely chosen a great career.  

Anyway, getting back to pictures, here's some of my first cavity preps:

Here are a couple of shot of large amalgam restoratations.  We did a lot of these, but a bunch of upperclassmen have said that these types aren't very common. Good practice, I suppose.

Once we moved onto crown and bridge, we spent a lot of time doing crown preps and then making provisional crowns out of acrylic.  Acrylic is basically a polymerizing plastic, which is also used in fake nails.  You've probably smelled the inside of a nail salon.  Imagine how it would smell to have 128 people in one big room mixing their own acrylic.  It was awesome...   Can you tell which of the two teeth below are temporary crowns? One is much better than the other one, but I'd bet they are both clinically acceptable.  

The final project for RDII was quite intense, but left me very satisfied once it was competed.  We were required to to turn in two preps for a bridge, as well as a provisional bridge for those preps, a crown prep, and a provisional crown and gold crown that fit on it.  Here's the three unit bridge:

For the gold crown, we didn't use gold because it wasn't going in a patient's mouth.  That said, it still polished up quite nicely.  I was very proud of the quality of work I was able to turn in for this project.  The first picture is my roommate Chris polishing his crown.  The next two photos are my finished products.  

That's it.  Let me know what you think.  If you have any questions, ask!

My Sister, The Scientist

Despite claiming to not enjoy science, my youngest sister entered a few science fairs this year. She did quite well, and I am proud of her. Her project had to to with the chelation of metal ions by insulin to increase its shelf life. She was awarded a $20,000/year scholarship to Westminster, and the honor of representing Northern Utah at the International Science and Engineering Fair sponsored by Intel. At that fair, she received an $8,000 scholarship from the United States Army. Please join me in congratulating Frances for her hard work, and my parents for their continued support.

I took this photo last summer, but never got around to editing it until now.

P-Chem Throwback

So, I've been pretty bad about this whole blogging thing, and I want to get back to it. I've taken a whole ton of pictures from my first year of dental school, mostly pertaining to the things we have been up to in our restorative dentistry class. I hope to get those things up in the next couple of weeks. Also, I've got a few scanned items that I want to put up, hence this post, which I am dedicating to my senior year of college. Being a chemistry major was pretty demanding, especially the last two semesters. Even though I had spaced out my generals, I still had a ton of upper division chemistry classes to take. Physical chemistry almost did me in. I was a bit rusty on my calculus, since I had taken Calc 3 in my first semester of sophomore year. All things considered, I made it though P-chem. However, I ended up having to take biophysical chem in place of the second half of P-chem. The class was relatively small (no more than 25) and apart from two other chem majors, was entirely populated by Bioengineering hooligans. There was no TA, the lectures were exceptionally dull, and although the professor was quite brilliant he was very much interested in making the class as hard as he remembered it. Our homework assignments were all doozies, and I remember being at or slightly below average on all of them.

This is why this scan of the first page of one of those assignments is such a gem. You might look at the score, shrug, and think it's not that great. But, when I found this paper in a hidden pocket of my backpack last semester, I was quite pleased to recall how proud of this score I was at the time it was handed back.

So, here's to all of those science majors, who struggled through some tough classes in the pursuit of their educations. Being a chemistry major really prepared me to continue my education in dental school. I'm glad to be a part of the next generation of health care professionals.

Just Messing Around