TRI-4, Wk7, Day 229 - Tuesday

- NASA, the Master's Program and Welch Allyn -

We had a couple pitches thrown our way yesterday involving the Master's program offered at Logan as well as a presentation by Welch Allyn. Welch Allyn manufactures medical equipment and has been doing so for about 100 years. The ophthalmoscope is used to peer into a patients eyes and there has been an improvement over the traditional instrument known as a PanOptic Ophthalmoscope which is what I would like to have. It provides a view of the inside of the eyeball about 5 times the size of the traditional instrument. We'll also need to get an Otoscope which is used to look into the ear. A stethescope and blood pressure unit are all that's needed to round out the required equipment needed for Tri-5. We need to order these intruments in advance so they're ready to go from day one of Tri-5. With the student discounts, it looks like $1,100.00 will cover the entire cost. Welch Allyn does carry some nice guarantees with their equipment and while a student, the guarantee is kind of like the Craftsman guarantee Sears has with their tools - if anything happens to any of the equipment while a student the instruments can be replaced, no questions asked for any reason under the sun. In fact, one instrument was literally crushed by an elephant via a veterinary student and replaced.

The other pitch we had was for the Master's program which I may be able to start in Tri-5. It's a Master's degree in Sports Science and Rehabilitation. The super interesting part about the program is the internship which would traditionally take place the semester after graduating from the DC program. The guy that runs the Master's program has placed two students with NASA for their internships and, while studying for today's orthopedics midterm practical, I found myself daydreaming about how cool it would be to somehow be involved with NASA.

I still remember while in grade school that I either wanted to be an astronaut, magician or doctor. I'm not sure what the magician thing was all about but I still have a keen interest in the astronaut and doctor aspect of those youthful dreams.

I guess I better get back to the studying if I want any of these things to actually come true.

I'm still kind of happy about my pre-test results for National Boards. Out of the 127 people who took the test, about half of those students are from Tri-5. As a Tri-4 we haven't even covered all of the material that we're going to be tested on so, I'm thinking my initial test results bode pretty well. I am hopeful about passing all six parts of Part I.

Today's picture is of the Saturn V rocket NASA first used to put a man on the moon. Good stuff :)