What a deal! Free PRIME membership if you have a .edu email address. This includes unlimited free 2-day shipping on books! Plus, what can’t you buy at Amazon?

Thanks for the alert, Melissa Odermann, D.O.’11.

Posted in Current Students, Life in Des Moines, New Students, Student Bloggers, Student Life | 9 Comments

I just saw this clip on Yahoo and I am amazed!

Imagine being a medical student on rotations and not having to worry about where to live – a portable house! Yes, it is less than 100 sq feet (yep, one hundred) but imagine the possibilities. You don’t have to worry about mortgage, utility bills, cleaning, and all that stuff.

Stuff!! It seems like the more space there is, there more STUFF fills it up. Isn’t that the truth. How sweet it would be to go on rotations and not have to pack and unpack every month. What do you think of the tiny house? To crazy for you? It is for me!

There’s more info on YouTube.

Posted in Current Students, Student Bloggers, Student Life | 5 Comments

I’ve spent so much money on spices without finding a go-to combination of spice so I’ve resulted to another ultimate lazy meal. You think you get a good meal out of ramen noodles? Try making it into TWO meals.

What I’ve done is saving the broth and cooking up another batch of noodles (try egg noodles or mung bean noodles to change it up – the Double Dragon grocery store on 2nd Ave. has a wide selection of noodles) making it meal #2. I really don’t drink the broth and just need it to soak some of the flavor for the noodles, so I do this a lot and it saves me so much time. Give it a kick with some frozen veggies and left-over meat.

Any pointers on stretching a meal?

Posted in Life in Des Moines, Student Bloggers, Student Life | 8 Comments

Have you ever read a book that has affected you in some way?

My current read is the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and I’m only about halfway through it. I am really enjoying the book because it talks about my favorite subject, food, and the agricultural industry too.

There were moments in the book where I felt compelled to be vegetarian but have come to the conclusion that eating meat is not bad as long as the animal was treated right.

The book also reveals some startling facts regarding the food industry and how consumers are blinded by the source of their food and how it was produced – and how interesting that this is completely acceptable! For instance, how many cows goes into one McDonald’s hamburger? Before reading this book, I didn’t even know a hamburger could be from several cows! Or that a chicken nugget is hardly made from a chicken. There is a big mention of Iowa and corn (no surprise) but it is surprising to learn how corn really is everywhere in your food and even in your gasoline.

Posted in Student Bloggers, Student Life | 1 Comment

I just moved to my new place out in Michigan after getting hitched in California, so it’s been a busy month! Although moving to a new place is really exciting, I don’t have any internet at home. (sad face!)

I’m bunking with a buddy too and so to minimize the mess I have limited my cooking to my ultimate lazy meal: spaghetti and canned pasta sauce.

Just when I was ready to add a can of peas (a great fiber source) I couldn’t find the can opener – so I resorted to an alternative (see picture). No worries though, I get a meal card at my current rotation so will most likely absorb all the necessary calories during lunch time and switch to cereal for dinner. This should be an interesting month!

Do you have the ultimate lazy meal?

Posted in Current Students, Podiatric Medicine, Student Bloggers, Student Life | 7 Comments

I woke up at 5 the other morning to get ready for rounds (visiting patients in the hospital). I had my morning bowl of chocolate Cheerios with soy milk, took my iron pills (I have chronic fatigue but not technically anemic by laboratory standards, I beg to differ), and went on my way as I do every morning. I made it to the hospital with time to spare and felt like my usual self, under-caffeinated but ready for work.

After unwrapping a wound from a recent amputation, I leaned over to get a closer look and… 5…4…3…2…I just blacked out. I started feeling lightheaded like when I stand up too fast and everything goes black for a second. But I started to get nervous too because I didn’t want to pass out in the patient’s room (in front of my preceptor!). So as I started realizing I was experiencing a black out, I grabbed the wall and slowly walked out without causing a scene. I was now really confused and the dark haze I was seeing didn’t go away quickly so I struggled to find a restroom (clear across the building it felt like) and made it safely to the sink. It took a few minutes before things would clear up and then I looked in the mirror and saw how pale I’d gotten. Then I thought, “who spiked my cereal?”

Posted in Current Students, Podiatric Medicine, Student Bloggers, Student Life | 2 Comments