Another day, another anatomy class, another quiz (9/10), another set of muscles to learn. Now we learn the anterior and posterior muscles of the lower leg.
English translation: calf muscles and stuff.
Not much else to report from class.
From the "life" side of things, after a week of it being in the shop, we finally got the commuter car back. It still has issues that we will address with our new mechanic.
Please.Don't.Get.Me.Started.
Showing posts with label commuter car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commuter car. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Day 151 - Loofah Vandross
There are many words in the English language that just sound funny. Squash. Thesaurus. Catharsis. Loofah.
Tonight, we had the joy of working with dry loofahs to exfoliate our partner for the evening. (Exfoliate - another funny sounding word) Exfoliation is the removal of dead skin. It helps to relieve dryness, improve circulation, and give the skin a more youthful appearance.
Oh sorry, I was starting to sound like a commercial.
My partner this evening like the patchouli oil I used the other night, so when we got to the massage part after the exfoliation, we both used it. Patchouli reminds me of hippies for some reason. But hey - maybe sometimes I like to think of myself as bohemian. Even though I'm totally not. Usually. Most of the time.
Where was going with this anyway?
Oh yeah...should I start working in a spa someday, I may be doing body treatments, such as body exfoliation - and maybe I'll be using a Loofah with patchouli while listening to some Luther Vandross. Or space music. Or a tuning fork.
On the "outside of class" part of life, which isn't much, WGH was cruisin' home from work this afternoon when the commuter car decided that it didn't want to work anymore. After a AAA tow to the shop, I picked him up and was able to get home in enough time to scarf down some chow and run back out the door. Unfortunately, I forgot my uniform shirt for class. Fortunately, I was already wearing a black shirt - not to dress code for class, but at least it was black. Also fortunately, it's winter and it's pretty stinkin' cold out so when I didn't take off my fleece sweater/sweatshirt thingy-ma-jig, it wasn't as obvious that in dress code. And if they had sent me home...oh well.
It would have been more time at home.
Tonight, we had the joy of working with dry loofahs to exfoliate our partner for the evening. (Exfoliate - another funny sounding word) Exfoliation is the removal of dead skin. It helps to relieve dryness, improve circulation, and give the skin a more youthful appearance.
Oh sorry, I was starting to sound like a commercial.
My partner this evening like the patchouli oil I used the other night, so when we got to the massage part after the exfoliation, we both used it. Patchouli reminds me of hippies for some reason. But hey - maybe sometimes I like to think of myself as bohemian. Even though I'm totally not. Usually. Most of the time.
Where was going with this anyway?
Oh yeah...should I start working in a spa someday, I may be doing body treatments, such as body exfoliation - and maybe I'll be using a Loofah with patchouli while listening to some Luther Vandross. Or space music. Or a tuning fork.
On the "outside of class" part of life, which isn't much, WGH was cruisin' home from work this afternoon when the commuter car decided that it didn't want to work anymore. After a AAA tow to the shop, I picked him up and was able to get home in enough time to scarf down some chow and run back out the door. Unfortunately, I forgot my uniform shirt for class. Fortunately, I was already wearing a black shirt - not to dress code for class, but at least it was black. Also fortunately, it's winter and it's pretty stinkin' cold out so when I didn't take off my fleece sweater/sweatshirt thingy-ma-jig, it wasn't as obvious that in dress code. And if they had sent me home...oh well.
It would have been more time at home.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Day 140 - Sympathetic Redneck
As I was growing up, I learned some important "improvisational engineering" skills from my dad*. When we would be out on the river on his boat, and it may do something like - well - stop, he would figure out the problem and be able to fix it with a beer can (of which there were ample supply) and rope or duct tape.
I have fixed our toilet in much the same way a couple years ago. When the little floaty thing didn't want to float that well making it keep running water, I affixed a small empty plastic bottle with twisty ties for added buoyancy. Viola! It floats and turns off the water when it's supposed to!
Last night, I took CC (the Commuter Car) through the car wash. Afterward, I noticed the radio didn't work so well on the way home from school and discovered that the antenna had been damaged in the car wash. WGH noticed it as well this morning so when he got home from work, he took a page out of my dad's book by breaking off the antenna and then "replacing it" with a wire hanger, duct taping it in there for good measure, of course.
We're rollin' real redneck now, boy, I tell ya.
So much for life OOS (Outside Of School). Back to class.
Tonight, we had more Core class and more bodywork! One of the things that we have learned in our studies is that there are basically two states of the Nervous System: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Sympathetic is the "fight or flight" state while the parasympathetic is the "rest and digest" state.
As Massage Therapists, we generally want our clients to be in a parasympathetic state so they can get the most benefit out of what we're doing.
Over the years when I've gotten professional massages, I noticed that I wouldn't fall asleep, but go into "the zone" - my best word to describe what happened to me. I now realize that I went into a parasympathetic state.
While getting bodywork during these Core classes, there have been times when I've gone into "the zone." Between last night and tonight, I was there.
So, much like last night...ahhhh.
Good night.
*More stories about my dad can be found by clicking here to read my eBook about him.
I have fixed our toilet in much the same way a couple years ago. When the little floaty thing didn't want to float that well making it keep running water, I affixed a small empty plastic bottle with twisty ties for added buoyancy. Viola! It floats and turns off the water when it's supposed to!
Last night, I took CC (the Commuter Car) through the car wash. Afterward, I noticed the radio didn't work so well on the way home from school and discovered that the antenna had been damaged in the car wash. WGH noticed it as well this morning so when he got home from work, he took a page out of my dad's book by breaking off the antenna and then "replacing it" with a wire hanger, duct taping it in there for good measure, of course.
We're rollin' real redneck now, boy, I tell ya.
So much for life OOS (Outside Of School). Back to class.
Tonight, we had more Core class and more bodywork! One of the things that we have learned in our studies is that there are basically two states of the Nervous System: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Sympathetic is the "fight or flight" state while the parasympathetic is the "rest and digest" state.
As Massage Therapists, we generally want our clients to be in a parasympathetic state so they can get the most benefit out of what we're doing.
Over the years when I've gotten professional massages, I noticed that I wouldn't fall asleep, but go into "the zone" - my best word to describe what happened to me. I now realize that I went into a parasympathetic state.
While getting bodywork during these Core classes, there have been times when I've gone into "the zone." Between last night and tonight, I was there.
So, much like last night...ahhhh.
Good night.
*More stories about my dad can be found by clicking here to read my eBook about him.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Day 133 - Pathologeez
I have to say right now that I enjoy my classes, my classmates, and most of the teachers and even some of the substitutes. And as you know, there is always a BUT. BUT I'm really looking forward to not seeing any of them for two weeks over Christmas break. I need to just sit and stare* for awhile and not think about massage, anatomy, pathology, shiatsu, russian, acupressure, structure, cranialsacral, or professional development. If that's wrong, sorry.
At any rate, our teacher - I'm not really sure is supposed to be our "regular teacher" for Pathology anyway - wasn't there, so we got the joy of having one of our favs teach us tonight. She definitely knows how to handle our class, and I think that she is one of the only teachers that all of us respect and enjoy at the same time. And I'm not just saying that because I know she reads my blog.
Anyway, in our class tonight, we had a quiz first thing. Apparently, the majority of the class didn't do so well on it (I got seven out of 15), so she gave us the option of retaking it. I took the lifeline.
And ended up getting a 14 out of 15 in the re-take!
I have to say, Pathology has a lot of diseases/abnormalities that all sound the same, and it's really hard to remember which symptoms go with which name.
We then learned some pathologies of the nervous system. Some of them were very familiar, like ischemic stroke and intracranial inflammation - which is what happened to my dad almost exactly three years ago, but that's a whole long story in itself.
We also learned about seizures and some symptoms of the different types of seizures. Like muscle spasms or staring*. When we were talking about the symptom of staring, all I could think of is one of my frequent status updates on facebook: *blink*blink*stare*...meaning that I'm just so tired or out of it, that's all I can manage to do right at that moment.
Also of note, since we got CC (the Commuter Car), I fill it up with gas every night right before class or during the first break. Hey - with 200 miles a day between WGH and me, go figure. Anyway, oddly enough, the gas station I usually frequent next to the school was out of gas tonight. So I went to one down the street and found that it was also out of gas. What's going on in Linthicum that there is no gas???
There are a couple of guys that work at the gas station I normally go to. They are a trip. I was minding my own business a couple months ago, pre-paying for my gas with cash, and when I came back inside to get the change, Rashid told me that they don't give out change on Mondays. *blank stare*
The next night, he told me that they don't give out change on Tuesdays, so I said, "I thought that was Mondays." He said, "Monday is Kumail's night. Tuesday is my night." So we started a little rapport about it. Well, I had built up so much change from them, that one night, I took all of the one dollar bills to pre-pay for my gas and he was quite surprised and said something about all the ones. I told him that it was from all the times I worked the pole. I told him that I needed to get a better club where they throw fives and twentys. Yeah, I enjoy picking on my guys there.
Then there's the young lady that works at the Subway. She sees me and knows exactly what I want. Wow! Now that's service!
Anyway, a little long-winded tonight, but I remembered all these things that I wanted to share. Have a great night and a pleasant tomorrow.
At any rate, our teacher - I'm not really sure is supposed to be our "regular teacher" for Pathology anyway - wasn't there, so we got the joy of having one of our favs teach us tonight. She definitely knows how to handle our class, and I think that she is one of the only teachers that all of us respect and enjoy at the same time. And I'm not just saying that because I know she reads my blog.
Anyway, in our class tonight, we had a quiz first thing. Apparently, the majority of the class didn't do so well on it (I got seven out of 15), so she gave us the option of retaking it. I took the lifeline.
And ended up getting a 14 out of 15 in the re-take!
I have to say, Pathology has a lot of diseases/abnormalities that all sound the same, and it's really hard to remember which symptoms go with which name.
We then learned some pathologies of the nervous system. Some of them were very familiar, like ischemic stroke and intracranial inflammation - which is what happened to my dad almost exactly three years ago, but that's a whole long story in itself.
We also learned about seizures and some symptoms of the different types of seizures. Like muscle spasms or staring*. When we were talking about the symptom of staring, all I could think of is one of my frequent status updates on facebook: *blink*blink*stare*...meaning that I'm just so tired or out of it, that's all I can manage to do right at that moment.
Also of note, since we got CC (the Commuter Car), I fill it up with gas every night right before class or during the first break. Hey - with 200 miles a day between WGH and me, go figure. Anyway, oddly enough, the gas station I usually frequent next to the school was out of gas tonight. So I went to one down the street and found that it was also out of gas. What's going on in Linthicum that there is no gas???
There are a couple of guys that work at the gas station I normally go to. They are a trip. I was minding my own business a couple months ago, pre-paying for my gas with cash, and when I came back inside to get the change, Rashid told me that they don't give out change on Mondays. *blank stare*
The next night, he told me that they don't give out change on Tuesdays, so I said, "I thought that was Mondays." He said, "Monday is Kumail's night. Tuesday is my night." So we started a little rapport about it. Well, I had built up so much change from them, that one night, I took all of the one dollar bills to pre-pay for my gas and he was quite surprised and said something about all the ones. I told him that it was from all the times I worked the pole. I told him that I needed to get a better club where they throw fives and twentys. Yeah, I enjoy picking on my guys there.
Then there's the young lady that works at the Subway. She sees me and knows exactly what I want. Wow! Now that's service!
Anyway, a little long-winded tonight, but I remembered all these things that I wanted to share. Have a great night and a pleasant tomorrow.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
About The Commuter Car
There are a couple things about the Commuter Car I have neglected to mention. Well, ok, I forgot actually. Usually when I post to this blog, it's late at night and I'm possibly already half asleep.
When I was on the phone with Matt at the insurance company to add CC, the 1995 Geo Prizm Commuter Car, to the policy, we were discussing liability (a requirement) and comprehensive (in case of SSD - Stoopid Suicidal Deer*), and I was being a wee bit sarcastic in my description of the car, being as how it's a 1995 Geo Prizm. Hey - don't get me wrong. I think the car is great and it serves its purpose as to why we bought it in the first place. Anyway, I asked Matt if he suggested any other types of coverage for it. He replied, "Towing."
I like Matt.
The other observation about CC is that it has NO lumbar support for the back, to which my back has protested. I had a classmate work on my back during clinic yesterday, and I have put a little pillow in the car for support for my back.
*Due to an unfortunate incident with a deer last year, WGH has renamed them to DAD, short for Dumb A$$ Deer, but this being a (mostly) family-friendly blog, I didn't want to write that.
But I just did. Well, you may see either acronym (DAD or SSD) pop-up again. Well, hopefully, you don't because if you did, that means that there was another unfortunate incident with one of them.
When I was on the phone with Matt at the insurance company to add CC, the 1995 Geo Prizm Commuter Car, to the policy, we were discussing liability (a requirement) and comprehensive (in case of SSD - Stoopid Suicidal Deer*), and I was being a wee bit sarcastic in my description of the car, being as how it's a 1995 Geo Prizm. Hey - don't get me wrong. I think the car is great and it serves its purpose as to why we bought it in the first place. Anyway, I asked Matt if he suggested any other types of coverage for it. He replied, "Towing."
I like Matt.
The other observation about CC is that it has NO lumbar support for the back, to which my back has protested. I had a classmate work on my back during clinic yesterday, and I have put a little pillow in the car for support for my back.
*Due to an unfortunate incident with a deer last year, WGH has renamed them to DAD, short for Dumb A$$ Deer, but this being a (mostly) family-friendly blog, I didn't want to write that.
But I just did. Well, you may see either acronym (DAD or SSD) pop-up again. Well, hopefully, you don't because if you did, that means that there was another unfortunate incident with one of them.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Day 105 - Anatomizer
Our class has had at least two anatomy classes, classified as V and VI. Well, this evening, we started Anatomy I. I think that Anatomy I would have been a lot more helpful SIX MONTHS AGO!
That could, of course, be a personal opinion.
At any rate, I put gas in CC this evening, with a total of 178 miles and put in 5.4 gallons, for approximately 34 MPG. It's not AS exciting as last night's report, but still pretty cool anyway. WGH's commute can be very much stop-and-go-in-rush-hour-traffic-on-the-270-parking-lot whereas mine is straight down the highway at 70 MPH. Or so.
We began our first class of Anatomy I with Jenna Kate as our instructor. She is a self-professed anatomy geek and gets very excited about anatomy. And she makes it more interesting than just learning facts. She can relate it to us by playing Simon Says or demonstrating "dorsal" vs "ventral" with a chocolate bar.
I'm thinking that some of this stuff is going to be a refresher, since we've gone through so much already, but I did learn some stuff tonight. A good portion of it is just about WHERE to find anatomical parts and how to describe a location. For instance, I have a three inch scar medial to my right patella. I could go so far as to say it's on my inferior limb, but right patella is pretty specific. Most NORMAL people would just say that they have a scar next to their right knee.
I do think it's kinda cool though - just being able to toss out anatomical terms like I was ordering lunch at Panera.
Hmmm...Panera.
That could, of course, be a personal opinion.
At any rate, I put gas in CC this evening, with a total of 178 miles and put in 5.4 gallons, for approximately 34 MPG. It's not AS exciting as last night's report, but still pretty cool anyway. WGH's commute can be very much stop-and-go-in-rush-hour-traffic-on-the-270-parking-lot whereas mine is straight down the highway at 70 MPH. Or so.
We began our first class of Anatomy I with Jenna Kate as our instructor. She is a self-professed anatomy geek and gets very excited about anatomy. And she makes it more interesting than just learning facts. She can relate it to us by playing Simon Says or demonstrating "dorsal" vs "ventral" with a chocolate bar.
I'm thinking that some of this stuff is going to be a refresher, since we've gone through so much already, but I did learn some stuff tonight. A good portion of it is just about WHERE to find anatomical parts and how to describe a location. For instance, I have a three inch scar medial to my right patella. I could go so far as to say it's on my inferior limb, but right patella is pretty specific. Most NORMAL people would just say that they have a scar next to their right knee.
I do think it's kinda cool though - just being able to toss out anatomical terms like I was ordering lunch at Panera.
Hmmm...Panera.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Day 104 - A Good Day
Last post, I discussed the new "Commuter Car" that WGH and I are sharing. This evening, it proved one of its points as to why we purchased it, which was to save money on gas, wear and tear on our other cars, and just to have an extra car - just in case something stoopid happens. On Friday, when I took possession of the car, I filled it up with gas for $25.00. I drove it Friday evening to class and back Saturday, and then WGH took it to work today and then I took it to school for a total of 246 miles since I filled up. I like to fill up at the gas station by school, and since I was going there, I went ahead and filled up, even though it didn't absolutely need it as it was on a half tank.
I ended up putting $19.00 in for 6.8 gallons, for an average of - wait for it - 36 miles per gallon!
Yay! That's what it's all about!
For those who use modern vernacular, that's the shizzle!
After my excitement about getting gas, upon arriving at the school, I entered the classroom and I think I saw the heavens open up! The instructor from our first class was standing at the front of the room, getting ready to teach us Russian Sports Massage! It's safe to say that the whole class was excited to have Molly back. One classmate even baked cookies for the occasion, which we did NOT eat in the classroom since we're not allowed to have any food or drink in the classroom besides water.
Of course we wouldn't eat cookies in the classroom.
You betcha.
We wouldn't DREAM of doing such things.
Anyway, after having a cookie or two, our world was opened up to Russian Sports Massage. This modality actually makes sense to me. I can see it and touch it, unlike CranioSacral or Acupressure. I GET it, and it's only the first class.
In a nutshell, it teaches a certain protocol to use, specifying exactly which muscle group to work and what type of stroke to use, at what pace, and for how long. It's pretty much like the recipe for how to give a massage for repairing muscles that have been worked due to strenuous activity. If you can read a cookbook, you can understand the modality.
I think I'll like it, even if I don't play sports.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Day 103 Core Being
On Day 103, we took our final exam for this week's Core class. It was pretty much simple and straight-forward: come in, get the table set up, get on the table, get massaged for 50 minutes, get off the table, clean the table up, reset the table, have my partner get on the table, do a massage for 50 minutes and the instructor comes around and asks to see a couple strokes. Pretty simple.
Enough to earn me 99 points out of 100 for the exam! Yay!
I do have to say that my partner was not having a very good day, but I am so impressed with her that she was able to lay all of that aside and give me a great massage! She was truly "in the moment" which is what "beingness" is all about.
After the exam was over, we were free to go, and it was a bit earlier than usual, so that was quite exciting. A classmate and I ended up crashing at another classmate's house and we enjoyed the rest of the evening hanging out.
This morning, we got up and went to our Student Clinic orientation so we know what's expected of us for this portion of our education. It's going to be a gruelling six months. So the question is, should I count clinic in my "day count"? If so, we're talking Day 104.
In other news, since WGH and I end up driving about 200 miles between work and school each day, we purchased a "commuter car" that will be less of a hit to our pockets for gas. He took off yesterday to get it legal to drive with registering and such, so I got the chance to drive it to school last night and then home again this afternoon. It's a 1995 Geo Prizm, a smaller car than what I'm used to, and it actually does pretty well. What was really fun was filling the gas tank and it only took $25.00. I've driven 100 miles on it since filling it up and it was on about 3/4 tank. So, I think this is going to be a great thing for us in saving a little bit of dough, between gas and maintenance costs on the two other (bigger) cars.
Enough to earn me 99 points out of 100 for the exam! Yay!
I do have to say that my partner was not having a very good day, but I am so impressed with her that she was able to lay all of that aside and give me a great massage! She was truly "in the moment" which is what "beingness" is all about.
After the exam was over, we were free to go, and it was a bit earlier than usual, so that was quite exciting. A classmate and I ended up crashing at another classmate's house and we enjoyed the rest of the evening hanging out.
This morning, we got up and went to our Student Clinic orientation so we know what's expected of us for this portion of our education. It's going to be a gruelling six months. So the question is, should I count clinic in my "day count"? If so, we're talking Day 104.
In other news, since WGH and I end up driving about 200 miles between work and school each day, we purchased a "commuter car" that will be less of a hit to our pockets for gas. He took off yesterday to get it legal to drive with registering and such, so I got the chance to drive it to school last night and then home again this afternoon. It's a 1995 Geo Prizm, a smaller car than what I'm used to, and it actually does pretty well. What was really fun was filling the gas tank and it only took $25.00. I've driven 100 miles on it since filling it up and it was on about 3/4 tank. So, I think this is going to be a great thing for us in saving a little bit of dough, between gas and maintenance costs on the two other (bigger) cars.
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