Physiology text book talks Farts

"To selectively expel gas when feces are also present in the rectum, the person voluntarily contracts the abdominal muscles and external anal sphincter at the same time. When abdominal contraction raises the pressure against the contracted anal sphincter sufficiently, the pressure gradient forces air out at a high velocity through a slitlike anal opening that is too narrow for solid feces to escape through. This passage of air at high velocity causes the edges of the anal opening to vibrate, giving rise to the characteristic low-pitched sound accompanying the passage of gas." (Sherwood, 504)

Making farts sound excessively scientific: what a fun writing assignment! I feel like writing resumes every day with high school students about babysitting is almost equivalent.

A note to self:

Order desired seed potatoes in March 2010. They sell out early! Why stick to boring varieties when the Andes mountains have created a whole spectrum of complementary tubers. Why not dig this out of the ground:

I would thrive on dinner parties where I served these unassuming outer-jacketed potatoes baked, only to have guests be blasted with different wavelengths of light when cut open.

118/70

My blood pressure. According to me that is. Reliability is an issue though. 50% of the time I have found my patients/victims to be heartless and pressure-less. Taking an online physiology course does have its benefits. Part way through the year they send you a big box of goodies to perform experiments with. A REAL BLOOD PRESSURE CUFF AND STETHOSCOPE!!! Needless to say that I brought that to work this morning and took all the ladies' blood pressures. Remembering to put the stethoscope in my ears forwards (not backwards) was my biggest hurdle as it limited my ability to hear the blood squirting through the brachial artery.
Other things in the kit:
-fake blood
-typing serum for said fake blood
-a stop watch
-reflex hammer thing (there are more reflexes than just those obvious knee ones!)
-an eye patch

Sadly everything eventually has to be returned. Most experiments require a guinea pig...poor Mark.

My most masculine attribute

probably has to by my handwriting/printing. It is just sloppy. I try to make it pretty and round and full but (especially if I'm writing a lot or the word is long) by the end of the word it is just a big jumble of bumps and lines. This is a stereotype attributing poor orthography to males but my experience has backed it up (I work with high school students.....)

Studying for a physiology midterm on Tuesday has caused me to focus on the shapes of my letters more than usual since I'm writing out key points (I just can't learn without writing it out!). Do you ever consciously alter aspects of your handwriting? I remember deciding in 2nd grade that 2's with the curly bottom were prettier and started to write them back. I returned to the less superfluous side back in high school. In university I adopted the flat-topped 3. Right now I'm in the process of assimilating the print-style 'a' (just like that one!). It is just so much more fun. I'm not sure how successful it will be since it is much more common than numbers so I often forget to form the shade-giving portion unless I'm focusing closely.

Maybe someone should have rapped my knuckles with a ruler when I made misshapen letters way back in the day, then others could read my writing now. Then I could read my writing now.

pet peeve

When someone gives a card without actually writing something in it (aka just signs their name). It just seems so impersonal. I mean, Hallmark is eloquent but I do know that all those fancy words were not written by the giver lol.

Anyway, this was not stemming from any specific experience except maybe Mother's Day having been yesterday. Lots of cards were given out, I hope most people put more than just their name in the cards for their moms!

My mom is pretty cool. She drove 8 hours to help me move back from school this year. TWICE! In one week!

This blog has been neglected for a few weeks. About as long as I have been home. Being back at work has been more stressful than I had anticipated, it saps a lot of my emotional/social energy. BUT I should really just keep reminding myself that I'm very fortunate to actually have a steady job right now. Times are extra tough here for students this summer. A lot of my stress comes from feeling like I'm not helping them enough!