Oklahoma

I liken Oklahoma to Canada: far up there and pretty darn cold!

As I drove (the speed limit) north I kept watch for the Red River to signal my enterance into the state, but somehow missed it!? How? I have no idea! I figured out I was in OK by the cop cars lining the highway ticketing speeders. Glad I was going to speed limit... although it's nothing for my mother's Cadalliac to go 80 mph.

I stopped somewhere north of the cacinos and south of Oklahoma City to grab a bite to eat. It was the first signs of civalized life (city rather than miles of rolling hills) and near a mall. I got side tracked trying to find Xmas presents, which was both fun and relaxing. Then (when fully awake after a jolt of coffee), I continued on to Peter's.

Stillwater was nice. I think I went through 4 traffic lights before I hit plains again, but they have a Super Walmart! Walmart was very exciting. I got guinea pig food, make up stuff, and bubble gum mouth wash. When Peter recovered from his shift, he took me for a tour of the town and the school. It was very odd to see "Aggies" in burnt orange. I can't say that if I went to OSU that I could wear burnt orange or support their football team. (Especially when the Aggies beat the hell outta OSU! Whoop!)

The vet school was very large animal oriented, which I consider a positive. That, and they had a CAMEL! Sooo cool. Actually, the camel was in for some problem, and was knocked out cold, strapped to a table, inserted into a CT machine. Very cool.

Everyone was super friendly and nice too! Several students gave me contact info so I could find a place there to keep my ponies close to the school. I consider that a major positive point, plus their rents were all quite cheap. I felt good about checking out OSU before I make a decision on my clinical placement in May. Hopefully my grades are good enough to get my top choice wherever I decide to go.

Loyality

I arrived at DFW greeted my my mom and my little Pomeranian, Starbuck. It took 20 minutes for that little dog to recognize me! So much for man's best friend.

My cats were much worse-- they had no idea who I was. Well, but they are cats. I think after 2 days Sage finally sorta remembered me. I say this because she came and hopped on my bed and let me pet her. When I made a loud noise, since she's a skitzo cat, her eyes got really big and she vanished in a flash of black fluff. Barney didn't care either way, he loves everyone. Morris would not let me touch him, and he was quite happy outdoors.

When I went to Terah's house, however, and whistled from her porch, my horses turned around to look. Then Zaldi and Natalie, my two spectacular Arabian horses, came running! They remembered me after two years! What amazing animals. They were so excited to see me! And they wanted to go riding and didn't buck at all! Now that's love!

Guess we now know what the moral of this story is-- don't be mean to horses, because they're like elephants and won't forget!

Grades?!

Packing, as expected, was a disaster. I somehow lost everything I needed to bring. All of my clothes were dirty. My grades were not posted. And my SIM card was MIA.

I'm not quite sure which was more important-- knowing my grades or finding my SIM card. Rest assured I was hysterically searching for my SIM card. I found it finally in my wallet wrapped in a small piece of cloth. I was near tears by that point.

Jossie left island the day before, so I had no internet, something we hadn't considered upon entering our little arrangement. I frantically asked a friend to check, which he did, about 30 times.

There's a policy here that says you can't get your grades (unless you fail out of school) unless you fill out a stupid end of year essay format survey about the classes you took (fresh while their torments are on the mind). The survey was not sent to me. If I had kept my big mouth shut, which knowing me is near impossible, I probably would have gotten my grades on time, but instead, I emailed them to inform them I did not receive the survey.

They responded by sending the survey Tuesday night, right before my Small Animal Medicine final. Super, I thought, knowing full well I'd never have time to complete this in the 2 days left of school... and I was NOT going to eat into my beach time by filling out stupid surveys.

Thus, Saturday came, and no grades. I didn't get a nasty dismissal letter informing me that I failed either though. Not knowing is quite concerning, especially when at the airport with 700 of your peers all congratulating each other on their successes into the next semester. I could have no such joys, but instead I'm sure I furrowed my brow when I replied to them "I do not know."

When I arrived in Dallas, I again checked my grades, this time for myself with my mother's wireless internet connection (which is fabulously fast). Still no grades, so I sent a few key people an email: My grades are not posted. I can only assume it is because of the survey mishap. I want my grades please.

This methodology ended successfully and I achieved my goal of a 3.0 or better GPA, thus I am able to be paid next semester for the research stuff I try to do! Yeah! :o)

December Exams

The upcoming week will be an exhausting one. I ask that you kindly leave me the heck alone. Don't expect me to answer the phone or respond to emails (although I usually check my email every 30 minutes when I study). Here is my schedule:

Monday, December 8 - Toxicology 8am-1pm
Tuesday, December 9 - Diagnostic Imaging 8am-1pm
Wednesday, December 10 - Small Animal Medicine 8am-1pm
Thursday, December 11 - Anesthesiology 8am-1pm

Friday December 12 - pack/sleep/beach

Saturday, December 13 - Flight 2280 SKB (3:45 PM) to MIA (6:05 PM) & Flight 1724 MIA (9:15 PM) to DFW (11:25 PM)

Internet Woes

My DSL modem has died. Sad sad... but is it good luck or bad luck?

The modem had been patchy since I moved into my apartment 16 months ago. The service would fade in and out, and I'd constantly be resetting it. I think it was old.

The oh so fun power outages that we've been having shouldn't have affected it since I was sure to plug it into a surge protector. My really awesome massage chair thingy died that way-- being plugged directly into the wall. That was really sad! It was a comfy chair, but I used it for my feet more than my back. I got 6 months out of it, and it was free, so I can't complain.

Anyway, the modem was plugged into a surge protector, so it wasn't that. Then the service provider guy seemed to think it was lightening through the phone line. I suppose that's possible, however improbable. I guess anything is possible here though.

I actually went in to town, modem in hand. A cruise ship was in town, so I had to drive around and around to find a parking spot. Then the streets were covered in ultra pale tourists migrating to the slums of downtown. Not smart. I ignored, after all, it was mid afternoon.

I walked into Cable & Wireless and though, just perhaps, I could just ask for a new one, or at least see if they could fix mine. For some reason, that was way too complicated. I was basically presented with three options:

1. Buy a new modem for $250EC ($93USD).
2. Make an appointment with the repair techs to come out and "re-program" my modem and check my phone line.
3. Cancel my service. (Keeping customers isn't a main priority here.)

Having never got one from Cable & Wireless when I started my service 16 months ago, I refused to buy a new modem, when I should have gotten one for free. (Everyone else got one for free.)

The guy convinced me to to have the DSL tech come out to the house. I told him about my upcoming exams (actually it was Tox), and he said he could have someone out tomorrow. "Super!" I thought. When would I be available? "After NOON, 12 NOON... not afternoon."

They called me at 9:45ish the next day to set up an appointment. I was in class. My phone rang. Embarrassing. I returned their call during my next break, and was told they would be at my house at 4pm. "Great!" I thought, impressed by the prompt service response.

Well, 4pm came and went. So did 5pm, and 6pm. The next day, they called me at 10:30ish to set up an appointment. I was, again, in class. I did tell them I had class until NOON, then would be available after 12 NOON. They said, "Great! We'll meet you at 11:30am." I paused for a second, thinking they be daft, and again explained that I'm in class until 12 NOON.

Somehow they still did not grasp this concept, but eventually I convinced them to meet me at 12 NOON rather than 11:30am. Then they said, "Great! We'll call you at 11:30am for directions." Wanting to shake them, I again explained that I would be in class, therefore I will be unable to answer my phone. Perhaps, while they had me on the line, and it was 11am, they should get the directions now. This again, had to be explained twice... and then I gave them directions.

At noon, I rushed to my car to beat the DSL tech to my house. At 5 minutes past, I was early. Noon thirty came and went. So did 1pm and 2pm. Eventually the DSL tech came, speeding down my street. Rudder and Salty came at him from either side. I think they've perfected the attacking locals guard dog part. I put them in the yard and showed the guy in.

He looked at my modem and said, "there should be 4 lights on." Duh. He plugged a new modem in, and all worked just fine, so he confirmed that my modem was indeed junk. Great. He also noted that I had a very old modem (several years), and that they stopped using that model because of this very problem, that i was lucky to get as long as I did out of it. I have to say that he was quite nice.

He offered to leave me a new modem, but he cautioned that I might be charged the $250EC. I declined and informed him that I would be canceling my services. Then he left.

Meanwhile, I've had my wireless adapter plugged into Jossie's cable internet modem. Would you believe it's actually faster than the DSL? I didn't realise, but it's also much cheaper. I was paying Cable & Wireless $125EC/mo, and she was paying The Cable company $100EC/mo. So from now on, I'll pay her $50EC/mo... $450EC total from now until I depart in August. That will save me $675EC ($250USD). So, I must ask again, was it good luck or bad luck!?