The Poet Know It

Robert Louis Stevenson on Edinburgh: "But Edinburgh pays cruelly for her high seat in one of the vilest climates under heaven. She is liable to be beaten upon by all the winds that blow, to be drenched with rain, to be buried in cold sea fogs out of the east, and powdered with the snow as it comes flying southward from the Highland hills. The weather is raw and boisterous in winter, shifty and ungenial in summer, and a downright meteorological purgatory in the spring. The delicate die early, and I, as a survivor, among bleak winds and plumping rain, have been sometimes tempted to envy them their fate. For all who love shelter and the blessings of the sun, who hate dark weather and perpetual tilting against squalls, there could scarcely be found a more unhomely and harassing place of residence.


Nuff said.  This describes Edinburgh to an absolute Tee!!!!  A schoolmate sent this to me after I whined about the weather.  I at least now know I am not imagining things and am not alone in my distaste for the dark, dreary, misty, rainy, overcast winter.  Blehhh.


In other news, exams are rapidly approaching and everyone is buckling down.  It has been study, study, study around here.  We have exactly 2 weeks until we begin our 4 days of hell.  They have stopped our lectures and all we have this week are a few practicals. Wed and Fri we are off and the other days we have one dissection, one clinical anatomy lab, a trip to a boarding facility, an ultrasound practical and two review sessions - one for cell bio and one for anatomy.  


Last week was great fun. We had another sheep practical in which we got to trim their hooves.  The ewes are pretty preggers now and quite heavy, at around 70 kgs.  It was not nearly as easy to cast them (get them from standing on all fours, to resting on their backside with full body weight against you), but my partner and I devised a two-man casting system that worked like a charm!  We managed to trim up 8 ewes while some 3-4 person groups did half that amount.  It was fun stuff.  This is what it looks like after you cast a sheep while your partner trims the hooves:

I will not be posting much between now and the end of finals, but am definitely thinking of everyone.  I do have a few fun things to look forward to in the next couple of weeks.  The first is this Friday - it is the Vet School talent show.  It is supposed to be a riot and one of the funniest nights of the year.  Then, on Sunday, a classmate is hosting a Superbowl Party!!  Yay, NFL football....Yay.  The following Friday, a few friends are going to cheap movie night. Gotta love student discounts.


Ok, it will be a slow month for posts until after exams, but I'll update as much as possible. 


Over-N-Out 

What I Most Adore about Edinburgh

The UFC, baby!  I am a ginormous Mixed Martial Arts (MMA/cage-fighting) fan as those nearest and dearest to me know.  I spent a small part of my net worth on pay per view UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fights over the years. My biggest complaint is the TV programming here (or lack thereof), so this is a complete shocker.  I did buck up and get the TV package that included ESPN.  Not the ESPN I'm used to, by the way. The advertised 'football' games got me hook, line and sinker only to find out it's soccer 'football' not U.S. college of NFL football. Well, we do get Monday Night Football, but that's IT.

So, imagine my complete delight when I realized the UFC fights are on ESPN here for FREE!!!!!!!! Utter disbelief. Absolutely thrilled.  I squealed like a little girl when I figured this out.

So, UFC 124 is now on my TV from Saturday night and I am going to spend the next 2 hours watching it. I might glance at some anatomy on the side....

Letttttttttttttt's Get Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyy to Ruuuuuuuuummmmmmmbbbbbbbbllllllllleeeeee   ..............Off to get the beer and popcorn.

Over-N-Out