Tucker Crawling

Tucker crawling.  Test video to see if it works.

Tucker's First Attempt at Food

I know it's been a while, but I'm back. Here is Tucker's first attempt at Rice Cereal. Enjoy!

Round 5

It is hard for me to believe that today was my first class of my final semester here on Saba. My life has changed so much over the past 17 months. I am going to do my best to sit back and enjoy the last 3 months that we have here living on this tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Something tells me that these final 3 months will go by just as fast as the first 17 did.
We didn't go home over this break between semesters. That is the first time we have stayed here. I found a few things out about Saba that I never knew before while staying on break. This place is actually a really nice place to live when you don't have medical school staring you in the eyes. I realized that I am really going to miss this island that we have learned to call home. Although it is tough sometimes being so far away from everyone we know, we also love our life here. It will definately be bittersweet when we leave. I will do my best to keep this updated as the semester progresses. I apologize to those who check it so often for not keeping it updated. Hopefully I will do a better job at it the next 104 days.

Another Day in Sunny Seattle

I'm beginning to feel like that Saba has been sucked through warp hole in the earth and secretly we are now situated at Seattle, WA 47.62N -122.36Wa. I'm waiting for Oceanic Flight 815 to wash up on shore here anyday now. For those of you who don't watch the TV show LOST do not be alarmed. There wasn't really a plane crash. It's just my ill attempt at humor. Who knew that it could be 65 and rainy so much here in the Caribbean. I guess its par for the course on how this semester has gone. This has been by far my most challenging semester. I recently received an email from my best friend back home telling me that he missed my blogging. It gave me a sense of home. It's so comforting to know that those that you think of so often still remember you as well. It also gave me a sense of vision and accomplishment. So, for this reason, I have returned to log more of my thoughts onto this website.

I have just recently finished 4th block exams. I have 13 days left in this semester and I can't wait for it to be over. I often feel like I dont know anything but then when I start talking I realize at how much I have learned. Going through this experience has taught me something that is often misunderstood about the people who choose to become doctors. Medical school isn't a place for the smartest people in the world. This is often the biggest misconception about the people that you choose to go visit when you are sick. Doctors are given the power of almost god-like creatures that should be able to fix everything. So, for the first time, I'm going to give all you people the insight into this crazy profession. We aren't the smart ones. That title belongs to all the other people who weren't crazy enough to put themselves through this type of torture. Doctors are however, some of the most driven people I have ever encountered. No matter the task that is put infront of me I someone seem to accomplish it. This is not from my intellect alone. That is for sure! I think that 90% of it comes from sheer determination. I never dreamed in a million years that I could learn 1600 drugs and everything about them in 3 months. But, it is slowly happening. I appreciate Chad for getting me back on this. I have missed the feeling of releasing my thoughts into cyberworld and letting the 4 of you that do read hash over them.

2/3 of a Bibliophile

Good news! I made it out of another set of block exams alive. Today marks another milestone for us here on Saba. I am officially 75% done with my basic sciences here on Saba. That is very hard for me to believe. Fifteen months ago Beth and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. This has been one of the best/worst experiences of my life. I have never experienced anything quite like Medical School. It is for sure the most mentally, physically, and emotionally challenging thing I have had to face so far in life. Ok, so now lets move on to the title of this post.

I have a confession to make. I am an aspiring Bibliophile. The sad part of this is that I can only make it to 2/3 of my aspiration. Over the past few years I have grown extremely fond of collecting books. I absolutely love going into book stores and looking around. I think I could spend days inside of old bookstores as well as your nearest Borders. There is only one problem with my aspiration of becoming a bibliophile. By definition, a Bibliophile is one who meets three separate criteria. They are as follows:

1. One who Admires books

2. One who loves to collect books

3. One who loves to read books.

You see, it is the last part of that list that is keeping me from accomplishing my dreams. I have tried MANY times to fulfill this last task. Unfortunately, it always ends exactly the same. It is not that I don't like the book that I read. Most of the time I am totally engulfed in each book that I read. But, for some reason, I walk away from it. I leave it sitting there never knowing how the book ends. I know some of you are reading this with disbelief. How can any sane person just stop reading a novel in the middle and never know how it ends? You are in good company if you are currently asking that question. I ask it all the time. The truth is that I don't have a good answer to my antics. Maybe it is the fact that I like to have things unfinished so that I feel like I still have something to do. It could be that I"m just lazy, or that I simply have ADHD. I think Beth would vote for the latter.

My guess is that everyone has something in their life that they leave undone. I'm pretty sure that at the root of this nonsense is the fact that we all have some sense of fear to finish certain things that are active in our lives. For me, that comes in the form of books. My guess is most people finish the books they start reading. I am positive that the majority of you don't continue to go to the book store and buy classics only to have a nice collection of great authors on your shelf that you have never read.

Beth must be the most patient and understanding girl in the world. The fact that she goes with me to bookstores KNOWING that 99% of the time I will never finish the book is pretty amazing. So, give me a few years. I will have all the greats. Just don't ask me for advice on which ones to read. That is unless you want to know about the first 100 pages.

Comments from my posts

I have fixed the problem that would not allow some of you to post on my blog. Feel free to post away. If you still can't get it to work you can email me and let me know.

leebouldin@gmail.com

I will write another blog when some new thoughts enter my mind.

The sky is falling..... No wait, thats just the dollar

It's tough going to a school where over half of the students are Canadian. I remember when I was a child that if I ever found a Canadian quarter it was about as good as monopoly money. Somehow they would work their way from Canada all the way to Tennessee and end up being handed to me as change for my baseball cards that I would so often purchase. I normally wouldn't realize that I had been shafted until I had walked to the Coke machine later in the day. It was standing in front of that machine with my mouth watering that I would find out that what I assumed was a U.S. Mint quarter had been replaced with yet another crazy Canadian coin. I must have had sucker written on my forehead because I this scene happened to me time and time again.

Now lets flash forward 15 years. Although the entire world still takes my US dollar, it is becoming worth less and less every day. I have lately started looking back and regretting all the bad thoughts I had against our northern neighbors growing up each time I was denied a Coca-cola Classic because I had been tricked yet again by the Canadian quarter. In retrospect I should have saved all of those coins. I would have turned a 100% profit in a 15 year period. Thats not too bad with todays current market. I will learn from this mistake though. I am currently looking forward to the next time I return to Mexico. I will collect every peso that I can find. I will not miss out on another opportunity to double my money from one of my neighboring countries. So, for all the Canadians that read this, enjoy your time on top of the dollar. My suggestion is that you start collecting US quarters. Don't make the same mistake as I did and lose out on a nice profit when things turn back to the days of Parker Bros.