Silly Vet School Pics

I've finished a few exams and started a few new classes over the last 2 weeks. I just sat through 8 hours of classes today, so I'm pretty brain dead right now.
One fun thing I did today was give a presentation to the vet school's diversity club about Iran. I learned a lot about Iran while doing it, as well as found a bunch of beautiful pictures of my dad's country. I really want to go visit now.
I need to put myself to bed soon, so enjoy the pics.
-Shirin

Me, Beth, and Wesley studying for Large Animal Anatomy

Rebecca...aka Dr Mario

Beth, pre-mustache.

My mustacioed lab partners.

My new physical diagnosis class. We got to learn how to do a proper physical exam and then hold the teacher's sweet doggie while she lectured on other things!

Brownsie taking a nap on my classmate's lap.

Jakey giving Wesley five for studying Virology!

The tomb of Saadi in Shiraz, Iran (my dad's hometown)

This is Beth and I having a cram

session for large animal anatomy

The Week, In Pictures...

Gabriel getting ready for work, Mr. Rogers-style.

Beth & I studying for our Renal quiz (we both got 100s!)

Trying to teach Gabriel all about pressure naturesis of the kidney..jk!

We got a new bookcase! (Yes, it's second-hand, from one of our neighbors who is moving).

One of the Modaresi cats, snuggling in a blanket (taken last weekend in Rock Hill).



Clayton trying to help me with impossible body fluid dynamics/measurements.

Irysse still has 2 puppies for sale! They are big and fiesty, so come and get one!

That's right, folks. The big business man still does the dishes! (Garrett, please notice the Zojirushi behind him...it was a wonderful wedding present, thank you).

Hey everyone. It's about to be my bed time, but I had some recent pictures to post. We're both doing well...still having fun being married, working and/or studying most of the time, and trying to see family or friends when we have time. Gabriel's job is going well and my school is...well, the same as always: hectic.
Much love to all,
Shirin

A week and a day into my new job.

Look how serious I am when I blog.


I wanted to update everyone on my job after a solid 48 hours of time on the job. I'm a little less stressed now. I feel like I know enough now about what goes on in the hospital to at least be able to place the new stuff I learn in the appropriate place in my brain. The biggest thing now is just getting used to the kind of position this is. I have an enormous amount of freedom. My main duty seems to be to make sure everything is running well and to think of ways to improve things. The fact that everyone around me is competent and knowledgeable makes that relatively easy. I've also come up with something already that has the potential to be tremendously helpful. I talked with my boss last Friday and proposed starting a wiki.

For those of you not familiar with a wiki, it is similar to the website Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia, which I love). Wikipedia is an example of a wiki. Basically a wiki is an online, collaborative, searchable database. The advantages to a wiki are that it's extremely easy to edit, organize, and access. We could use it for lots of things, but will probably start with entries detailing job duties for the various positions in the admissions area of the hospital.

A wiki would allow us to cater better to the 7 or so different medical services we support (who are constantly changing how they want things done) and would improve upon, possibly even supplant, the current system of leaving post-it notes everywhere. If this works out well we could expand it to other departments and maybe even hospital wide. Even if it just turns into a great information organization tool for our department it would be a nice feather in my cap and would vindicate my boss for persuading the executives to offer me more money.

So I'm mainly working on the wiki this week. My boss told me to work up a proposal to pitch to the IT department and the executives. I went to the library today and checked out a book on wikis to help me with my proposal (I did it on company time, that's right, I got paid to go to the library).

Well, I'll keep you guys updated and let you know how my little project goes.

Too much fun, not enough studying...

We had a great 3 day weekend, although I studied way too little...ie, not at all. EEEK!
However, it was worth it because one of my (and my sister's) closest college friends Saskia flew down from DC to visit. It was great to see her, since she's in law school at George Washington University and we don't see each other very often. We had a lot of fun, but since I should go look at my virology notes, I'll let the pictures tell the story of what we did this weekend...
-Shirin

Played tennis (I stink). Chased the Cha Cha when he stole our balls.
The tennis stars.
Had my cousin Tannaz and her husband Masih over for dinner.

Family, friends, and food...the 3 best Fs.Gabriel spoiled the baby.
Cha Cha got into some mature material.

Went out for a night on the town...a lot calmer than our college days, though.

Ate some delicious vegetarian pesto pizza (who's that stud posing on the end?)

Tried pumpkin cheesecake ice cream...mmmm.

Cooked and ate lots of good food (this is Persian Breakfast...see, Daddy? I like Persian food!)

And Life in Vet School Goes On...

My first week back at vet school is done and, boy, am I tired. They just launched us back into 8-5 o'clock days in class and/or lab with only 1 hour for lunch. Therefore, I am mostly definitely considered a full-time student. I haven't even had the energy to open any books after class yet, but I'd better get busy, because the tests are gonna start coming next week.
Despite my less-than-enthusistic attitude, I'm definitely glad to be back and feel like I'm really settling in for the long haul. Meanwhile, Gabriel is exploring his new job in the hospital where I will get trained in 3 years and is giving me all sorts of insight as to what I'll be facing then. It's pretty exciting.
Here are some pictures from my cell phone. If they are fuzzy, it's b/c I'm not good about cleaning off the dusty lens like I should.
-Shirin

WARNING: graphic photos of dissection lab below. (Some of you have asked me if I am troubled by the fact that a dog and a horse have died for me to dissect; the answer is most definitely "yes.")

Tita meeting a patient at my hospital over the Christmas Break.

Snuggling with the resident ferrets

The place where the doctors all type up their charts

It's not really possible to hold four ferrets at once!

Horse dissection lab. It's really surreal. There are cows and goats too. :(

My lab partners working hard.

My other lab partner working on our dissection.

A sick cat picture during a drug rep lecture/lunch.

Gabriel, Beth, & Emily, watching FL kick OH's butt.

Baby Elwood with Gabriel's hat on.

Happy Marriage Day, to us!

I legally married Gabriel one year ago on this day. It's been a lot of fun getting to know him better and getting to have him as my permanent roommate. I can't believe how fast it's flown by. Are we still newlyweds?

-Shirin

The Compact

This is more an informational post than anything, but it's something that might definitely affect our friends and family, so listen up!
In an effort to show more environmental responsibility and prevent rampant consumerism, Gabriel and I have entered into a mutual agreement not to purchase anything new. Now, before you think we're crazy, we are still going to be allowed to buy food, toiletries, and vet school books as much as we want. However, anything else we want or need will have to be found on eBay, in thrift stores, or freecycle.com, and all be second-hand.
Before we seem too innovative, I should say that we are modeling our decision after a group in San Francisco that created this "Compact," from which we stole our guidelines. I am sure we will be challenged at times, and may even have to cheat a little (ie my best friend's wedding in Sept), but we both feel dedicated to this way of living. If you would like to read more about the original "compacters," go to the following link. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/13/BAGH3H7DH71.DTL
Since we're already such avid second-hand, yard-selling, E-bay shoppers at heart, we hope not to struggle with this lifestyle change too much, but either way we plan to stick to it.
-Shirin

Day 0

I worked so hard my eyes won't open.



Well, I've gotten my first day working at the vet hospital under my belt. I found out shortly after arriving this morning that Elizabeth Hunter (the woman over the entire admin side of the hospital, also the person who hired me) was home sick. So, after filling out the standard paperwork and getting a new UGA id, I spent most of the day learning about the incoming calls. People call our department for all sorts of reasons and we need to route their calls appropriately (usually we have to locate a doctor and get them on the phone).

So far everyone has been very nice. They told me that Elizabeth told them very good things about me and my skills. They're also giving me a bit of the big dog treatment, saying things like "Well, we do this like such and such, but you'll probably redesign all this when you learn it", which is nice because I've never really been a big dog.

I currently work with all women, not including the doctors, techs, and students. There are about 6 people in my department, three taking calls, one handling patient admissions, one setting appointments, and one patient advocate (as far as I can tell her job is to talk to irate customers and to try to get people to donate money to the hospital). They all seemed very competent and I look forward to working with them. I've found several problems and inefficiencies already with our hospital software and will hopefully be able to lobby to change them.

Actually, I probably won't lobby for anything until I understand everything better. There is just so much stuff going on all the time, it's incredible. I like when I get the chance to just walk through the halls and see and the animals in rooms getting examined or having surgery performed on them. I'll probably be in the just-trying-to-comprehend-everything phase for a little while. I experienced this a bit with my job as a loan officer. When I went to my first loan officer meeting it was as if everyone was speaking a different language. It's the same here. However, I know that in just a short time I'll be speaking this strange new tongue too. The ladies I work with were very nice today and said that I was picking up everything very quickly, so I'm not too worried.

Okay, we're eating dinner so we can go over to Shirin's friend Beth's house to watch the national championship game tonight. If Georgia can't win then it might as well be Florida. Go Gators!

Gabriel

Trip to Florida

During our last little bit of freedom, Gabriel and I opted to go to Florida to visit his hometown, his family, and his friends. We had a good 4 days there, getting to watch his nephew's basketball game, stay with his brother and sister-in-law, shop with his mom for new work clothes, visit and meet his friend's new baby, visit his oldest friend, and eat good Asian food with the whole family.

It was good to reconnect and rekindle ties with all of Gabriel's--and my new--loved ones before he starts his new job and I start another hectic semester of school.

Happy New Year, everyone!

-Shirin

Gabriel actually got the trumpet he asked for for Christmas! (A hand-me-down from his nephew Cruz).

Trying on work clothes with his mom.

Cruz, lined up with his basketball team before the game.

Gabriel's brother, Casey, does the announcing at all of Cruz's homes games.

Gabriel watching the game with Janice (in purple), Rita (hiding behind Janice), and Susie (Cruz's mom--in blue).

At Casey and Janice's house, with their baby Jordan.

Janice is a top-notch chef, and I got to help her make breakfast.

Eggs benedict with key-lime hollandaise sauce. Pretty fancy, huh?

One of Gabriel's best friends, Nick, with his new baby girl.

Gabriel's with Nick's baby, Lexie.

I got the pleasure of holding her through her whole nap. Babies are so yummy.

Our fantastic Japanese dinner with the whole family (except for Brendan, b/c he's in London...sorry Bren! It was really good!)

Cruz and Gene, discussing which sushi was which.

On our way home, we got to visit one of Gabriel's other best friends, James. He took us on a walking tour of UF. (He's getting his Master's in Managment Science there).

Childhood friends, catching up.