School Days

This is my last semester of dental hygiene school, I know, I know I've said it before, and believe me I will say it again! What can I say? This is a very important milestone in my life and I am enjoying every minute of it. Now, that being said...this isn't the easiest of semesters by any stretch of the imagination. All of our course work is going to be done by mid-March. This is done so that when we send in our application to take the State Board exam they know that we will be passing all our courses. There aren't many reading assignments this semester, our main focus is projects!
Projects to be done:
1. A report of the fluoride content in the city of Anaheim
2. A table clinic--this is a group presentation showing either clinical studies or research on a certain subject. It involves presenting the information formally with a speech. My group is doing a research project on diabetes in the dental office and the proper protocol for treating such a patient.
3. A group project focusing on a target group of the community. A group of us students are to survey a group in need (we are doing the school's disability center) and prepare a lesson plan, then implement some kind of orally beneficial plan in this group.
4. We have to write a report on a patient that we saw in the clinic this last semester which includes photographs, nutritional counseling, and an oral presentation with slides.
5. A report on a specialty in the dental field. Mine is in oral and maxillofacial surgery. I will be observing an office and also writing a very detailed report based on a topic observed in the oral surgery office that is related to my job in hygiene.
6. Another observation of a dental hygienist. This is so we can see how offices work, and it gives us a chance to scope out potential employers.
7. We have to write a series of National Board type questions based on California Law for dental hygiene to help us study for the National Boards
And last, (for now)
8. We have to go out to an elementary school and present a lesson plan that we created for a specific age group. The grade that I will be "teaching" is 4th grade. My plan is to teach the children about eating healthy foods and flossing their teeth as two important ways to keep their teeth healthy. This has actually been a very fun project to work on because I got to make visual aids! I will put a few pictures of what I came up with.

The first one is a picture of a large model of teeth that I made out of styrofoam. I will be using this large model to show the children how to floss correctly. The next picture is a game board I made. When the children first see it the mouth will be missing it's teeth. I will have a volunteer come up and read a question on the back of the tooth. Once they answer the question correctly they can put the tooth in the mouth. The idea is that in order to keep our teeth healthy we need to do certain things, and I will be quizzing them on the information I give in my presentation. I am pretty proud of my game board. I made the whole thing and it took me two days to makes, which is why I feel obligated to put pictures of it on my blog.

So now that I have completely bored you all (and probably scared you away), I will just show you the pictures and end this endless rant.

Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

So my mother who lives in Utah just called me to tell me that Gordon B. Hinckely, the modern-day prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died an hour ago. He is the eldest prophet in the history of the latter-day church and died at the age of 97. His wife Marjorie passed away a few years ago.
Gordon B. Hinckely was a man of intellect and humility. He had traveled the world many times and has met with leaders from around the world. He has led the church in progression. In his time as the president of the church we doubled the number of temples around the world. He has always counseled the members of the church to find ways to better ourselves, to serve others, to come closer to Christ, and he always has uplifting words which are inspired. He is a silly man. He spoke slowly and eloquently, then he would find a way to crack a joke which would sometimes catch you off guard. He will be missed greatly, but I am happy to have followed his counsel over the past decade or so and that he is now with his loving and adored wife.

By the way...I will have other things to post about soon, not just obituaries!

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger
April 4, 1979-January 22, 2008

So I was very sad to hear about one of my favorite actors dying today. Heath Ledger was born in Australia and is probably most famous for his role in "Brokeback Mountain" which I never saw, but my dad said it was a very good movie. I kind of fell onto the Heath Ledger bandwagon when I saw "10 Things I Hate About You" and I continued loving his adorable mug on "Knight's Tale." I haven't seen all his movies, but I was sure looking forward to the next Batman flick with him AND Christian Bale...how did I get so lucky???

I think that his untimely death (it kind of creeped us out cuz he is the same age as Matt) is extremely sad. He isn't one of those actors who splashes his life all over the media. He seemed pretty put together and any loss of a family member is sad. My warmest prayers go out to his family.

Oh, by the way...

Oh, by the way...Merry Christmas! It has been awhile since Matt and I have taken a decent picture of ourselves together and so I finally got one this Christmas. Too bad I didn't do it earlier and send out Christmas cards! Maybe next year.

Oh, by the way...At the end of this last semester my school program held a pinning ceremony. It is a pin that they used to give out at graduation, it is to symbolize that we are ready to take our board exams. We also give pins to the juniors, to symbolize that they are ready to see patients.




Oh, by the way...I finished the semester! I have now begun my FINAL semester of the dental hygiene program. My schedule for the rest of the year is this:
1. Take the National Board exam (an 8-hour written exam) on March 25 (yes, before I am done with my classes)
2. Graduate May 20
3. Take the State Board exam (the practical exam) on June 14
4. Wait 6 weeks to get my results
5. Find a job!

Goodbye Gemina Giraffe

Today I received the sad news that Gemina the giraffe at the Santa Barbara zoo died at the age of 21. She was born at the San Diego Wild Animal park in 1986 and was brought to the Santa Barbara zoo when she was about a year old. What makes Gemina special is the near 90-degree kink in her neck.

The kink in her neck never seemed to impede her life. X-rays never showed what caused her neck to grow this way, but it never seemed to matter. It only made her a famous giraffe...at least to nearly everyone in Ventura County and Santa Barbara. She shall be missed as a "landmark" of the Santa Barbara zoo.

CREEPY!!!

Each night as Matt and I get ready for bed we usually turn the tv over to channel 13 to watch re-run episodes of Seinfeld. Well for some reason last night we didn't bother to change the channel and the local news came on. I wasn't watching every news story in depth but as soon as they flashed this mugshot up on the screen you better believe me I was all ears.

This person, James, has been arrested for raping a girl in Huntington Beach, CA. Of course this is upsetting, and thank goodness that he has been arrested but the main reason I was so intrigued by the story is because I have actually had interactions with this person!!!

Without divulging information that I am morally obligated not to divulge the gist of it is this: I spoke to him on the phone for about 15 minutes as he proceeded to yell and scream and curse at me, because my organization (in his mind) had caused him great distress. I got to be his verbal punching bag to let off his steam. Believe me, it wasn't easy to sit there and take it with a smile, but I figured that he was crazy.

The next day I actually had person-to-person contact with him, and unfortunately his reputation of being a real big jerk was confirmed.

I can't tell you how freaky it is looking at a mugshot of someone you "know." Granted I am not like a daily person in his life, but having had any kind of contact with him creeps me out! Last night I prayed that the "judicial system will be fair and accurate in their dealings with this person," instead of him being released early and allowed to roam the streets of Orange County. If I ever have to see him in person again, it will be too soon.

Living in the 'burbs

Have you seen the movie "The Burbs" with Tom Hanks? Basically this man is trying to relax at home, meanwhile his next door neighbor's home has some strange goings-on. I was more than reminded of this movie lately as my next-door neighbors home has begun to have its own strange activities:

Neighbor-watch 2007
Current evidence:
1. Please remember my scary encounter with my crazy neighbor who decided he would like to "come on to me" for lack of a better phrase.
2. After a few weeks of avoiding my neighbor at all costs there was a significant absence of my neighbor. The entire family just seemed to completely disappear.
3. No cars, ever...none coming, none going. (also, no moving vans...at least not in the day time)
4. The school bus stopped coming (when school was still in session of course).
5. Trash cans left out on the curb were pulled up to the front of the house and left on their sides.
6. The side gate was left open.
7. A tag on the meter in the back of the house marking a discontinuation of service.

Photographs:











OK, so I poked my head over the back fence too to get some pictures, but can you see how strange this is? It is like they just disappeared, and some how we didn't notice. Well, I was keeping a very watchful eye on the house, and then I saw this:



So it appears, that sometime during the night my neighbor creeped back to his house and put up this really sad looking for sale sign. Obviously with a little desperation... you think?
Well, this was something I just had to post about, because I needed to expose my crazy neighbor...oh, and if any one is looking to buy a house...:)