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.

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Grrrrrr......Not Again!

Yep, pretty sure I did it again.  It was all for a good cause, I really NEEDED the exercise.  I had a long break from soccer for various reasons, but mainly because it is a haul to get to where most practices are held and by the time I walk/run there, my feet are absolute toast.  My feet are hanging on by threads these days. So, I got an email that there was a practice on Sunday in the park right near my flat...Yay.  It had rained all morning, so it was nice and muddy. I played better than expected considering my absence and felt great. It was such good soup for my soul.

Well, it was very messy and slippery, so many of us fell and were muddy messes by the end.  We were playing 4 v 4 without a real goalkeeper.  Well, my goalie instincts kicked in a few times and I found myself deflecting balls.  One particular time I actually went down to block a shot and felt an sudden 'ouch' in my left wrist.  I thought, 'that probably wasn't good' and kept playing.  A few hours after I got home and the adrenalin was gone, I realized what I had most likely done.....re-fractured my wrist!  Yeah, I'm fairly certain of it.  If I were a horse and my wrists were my feet, I would surely be euthanized!  The bone I've now broken in both wrists is the same one - the scaphoid, or navicular bone.  Yep, even coincides with a bone in the horse's foot.  Go figure.

So, I found my splint with thumb spica in my closet and put it on. My ortho surgeon from VA actually told me to bring it here..thank goodness.  During lunch, I called my GP here to set up an appointment this week, figuring I'd have to go there and then to an orthopaedic.  Nope.  Just proceed straight to the ER.  Huh?  Seriously?  I have to go sit in an ER to get an xray?  Oh brother, this should be good.  I'm really stacked up with vet school this week, but have a half day Wednesday.  I may go either Tuesday after dinner, knowing I have an 'easy' day on Wed, or I may go Wed afternoon, which is more likely.  I detest this.  I will write all about my first experience with socialized medicine after the fact.  Wish me luck!

In other exciting news, we did our first dissection of the dog today!  Just part of the head. We do a lot of dissections on the dog cadaver.  Today, we took off the skin to reveal the muscles of facial expression. It was quite a delicate little dissection.  The muscles lie just under the skin, so you have to be ever so careful not to cut too deep and to not peel the muscles off with the skin.  Plus, we had a greyhound and they have thin skin anyway.  Tomorrow, we continue with the head and investigate the course and distribution of the superficial nerves of the head.  We will also look at superficial lymph nodes, major superficial blood vessels and some glands.  We have to keep record of all of our work, so we take lots of pictures.  We have to eventually assemble a workbook with either drawings and/or pictures from our labs all labelled.  It will be a lot of work, but a great source for revision and to assist us once we get into surgeries.

Basically, I'm living the dream and loving it!

Time to wrap it up for tonight and prepare my goods for tomorrow.

GO SKINS!!!!  Monday night football tonight and it will be recorded and waiting for me tomorrow!

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Sore, sore, sore

I DID IT!  I finally got back on the exercise train....whew, that was hard.  So, I got peer pressured into going out for soccer practice last Wednesday.  Thank goodness it was on astroturf, because I do not have cleats (excuse me, boots) yet.  The field is over 2 miles away.....so, I jogged/walked there to make it on time.  We are the Dick Vet Vixens, which are made up of all vet students from all years.  The experience levels range from never having played to those that have played in high school.  There were 4 other Americans at practice and about 4 or 5 UKers.  After warming up and doing some drills, it was time to scrimmage!  Some girls left early, so we were left with 4 vs 5.  I was on the 4 person team and 3 pretty good Americans were on the other.  They all have good skills.  I must say I am ecstatic with my performance.  It all seemed to come back and for a moment I felt like Pele!  I was able to trap the ball, dribble and even juke out some defenders to score some goals! I actually had some explosiveness in my step.  I think this ole lady even impressed some of the young'uns.  They asked after practice how long I'd been playing. I figured it was longer than some of them have been alive...YIKES. So, all in all, a fabulous decision.  The walk home was brutal and by the time I got back to my flat, my one foot felt like it was going to simply fall off. 

The next morning, my left heel hurt so bad I could barely walk, but after getting the moving parts lubricated a bit, it was ok.  There was practice again that evening, but I did not go.  For one, I was out at the farm all afternoon and had to run home to let the bugaboos out, but also my foot was still pretty sore, as were my legs now.  On Thursdays we practice in the Meadows which is SO convenient for me and on grass.  I still need to get cleats though.

And yesterday, I took this out:

It was my first time on the mountain bike since last May basically.  I went out with the EUCC  - Edinburgh University Cycling Club.  The men and women break up and go their separate ways.  There were 4 of us.  There is some pretty good mountain biking around here, but you have to get there first.  If you don't drive to the site, you bike.  It's about a 10-12 mile ride (depending on where you enter the Pentland Park), which I didn't know.  It took forever......and ever....  We did not ride very fast and stopped a bit, so it was fairly brutal.  When we got there, we only rode on basically flat trails and maybe 6 miles and then went home.  It was a 28 mile trek.  I was a bit disappointed in that I'm used to riding a lot harder and better trails.  I'm told there are many very good options at the Pentlands, so I'll have to give it some time.  It was so good to get some exercise on such a beautiful day and the scenery was breathtaking - fields of cows, horses, sheep, rivers, etc....  I should have brought my camera, but wasn't sure that was a good idea given I had not been on a bike in a while and uncertain as to what to expect as far as difficulty on the trails.  I will take it next time.  We got so muddy, we had to spray our bikes off at a gas station.  I got home, took a shower and laid down with the pooches for a bit. Then, I got up and ate everything in sight..nom nom nom.

Today it's overcast and drizzling a little.  It's a perfect day to stay in and revise my notes and read, which is what I'm going to do right now!

OH, and a friend convinced me to sign up for this:  http://www.mhsurvival.co.uk/page34.asp.  It's the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest 10K.  I am NOT a runner, but it has all kinds of obstacles on the course and is done right downtown. It looks like an absolute blast. I think we start at the castle esplanade!  It's a few short weeks away...Oct 17th....and I can't wait!

Ok, off to study and I will be back to post the cow naming contest results later today, so stay tuned!

Over-N-Out