Random Ramblings

I don't have anything big to say this week. Just lots of little things. Some funny. Some serious. Some inconsequential. Some pretty important, I think. Take a look.

• As mentioned in earlier posts, we've done a lot of dissection the past few weeks. This week, we dissected the GI tract. When I read, "cut open the cecum (part of the colon) and wash out the contents," this was me 100%:

• I mean really. Who wants to cut open the intestines? There's a 0.3% chance that there is going to be something other than a bunch of poop in there. Why can't we just imagine what the inside of the colon looks like? Next time I design a lab dissection curriculum, I'm definitely taking that part of the dissection out. On the bright side, we did get to dissect the heart and lungs this week, too. IT WAS SOOOO COOL. I'll spare all of you non-medical people the details, but using the electric bone saw was one of the funnest things I've done yet in med school.

• So...at some point this past week, I started wondering how much a cadaver costs to purchase. While I was trying figure this out, I ran across the web site, cadaverforsale.com (See how much you're worth on http://www.cadaverforsale.com/). According to the site, I'm worth $4,125, or approximately the Kelly Blue Book of a 1987 El Camino. Which would you take? Me? Or the El Camino? Tough call, but personally, I would take me. El Camino credit: BK Motors. Apron credit: http://www.flirtyaprons.com/.

• Have I told you I live in the most gorgeous place on earth? Because I do. Even when the weather isn't perfect, it's still stunningly beautiful:

• So, there are actually quite a few Mormons here at UVa med. I don't have an exact count for the other classes, but we have 5 in our class of 154, which puts us at about double the U.S. population average. Not too shabby. When I came to take a second look at UVa last May, I stayed with Ben Ogden, who is a fourth year LDS (aka Mormon) student here at UVa. Prior to my visit, I was really unsure of where I should go to school. After a great visit and lots of prayers, I received a definitive answer that I should go to UVa. And that's how I ended up here! Anyways, Ben is a fantastic artist. He just finished some anatomy drawings that are incredibly realistic and very anatomically accurate. Here are a few:

• Last week, I was in the cadaver lab (which, as you've probably figured out, is basically where I live now), when one of my classmates came up and asked me a completely random question. He asked, "Nate, you're Mormon, right? Is Brandon Flowers (lead singer of the band "The Killers") a Mormon?" Slightly caught off guard, I laughed and told him that Brandon Flowers is, in fact, Mormon. Did you people know that? Well, he is and here's what he has to say about it:

• For those of you who haven't listened to radio the past decade and aren't aware, the Killers are a great band. Below is a music video of my favorite Killers song. It was filmed at Goblin Valley State Park, a place I visited last summer. Looks like Brotha Flowers and I have a few things in common. Here's the music video and a picture from my trip (Can you find me??):

• Last thing for this post. The video below made the rounds on social media a few weeks ago. I loved it the first time I saw it, but, after finding out that the kid in the video suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta (aka brittle bone disease), it became even more meaningful to me. Osteogenesis Imperfecta is a genetic disorder that messes up the formation of collagen (the main fibrous component of bones). This results in bones that are extremely weak. To give you a little perspective, people with OI can break a femur just sitting down onto a couch. Often, they have hundreds of breaks during their lives. HUNDREDS. I can't even imagine. It's a serious disease, one that takes a heavy toll, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Which makes the kid in the video all the more impressive. If he can have such a positive attitude, we all can! Here's the video. Give it a watch: