It's amazing how many tiny tasks there are to do on the computer that simply don't get done during the week anymore. Silly things, like performing a hard drive backup (which takes all of five seconds), or responding to someone's Facebook comment (the 2009 equivalent of answering an email, I guess). Anyway, I've made a list of things that generally need to get done on Fridays, and I've been sitting in front of the computer, snuggled up in my red plaid flannel PJ pants and Ton-A-Wandah sweatshirt, drinking coffee and trying to complete the list. Posting to the blog is one of the things on it, by the way. :)

Let's see... what's new with me? Well, I made the decision to drop my organic chemistry class -- to use Liz's accounting terminology, the 'cost-benefit analysis' just made it completely not worth it. It was $362 (a lot of money for me) for a 3-credit class that was, in actuality, requiring 9 hours of work per week (two or three times what it theoretically should have). Also, the exams were going to be a bitch to arrange (instead of being an totally online course, as I'd been told, it turned out that since I'm not from the Oregon area, I was going to have to get each exam faxed to a local college and go there to take the exams while a professor proctored me), and -- most importantly -- I only needed the class for 2 of my prospective schools (MUSC and Pacific). Not for Duke, not for ECU, and not for UF... the three schools I'm most likely to end up attending. So I decided to cut my losses and get out (on the last day to still get a refund, as it happened). It kind of sucks that I spent so much time and energy stressing over the details of it (finding a class that didn't cost two thousand dollars, enrolling in yet another community college, making sure I got into the necessary course, doing all the work for the first chapter or two...), and it does sort of suck that I have to email MUSC and Pacific and tell them I'm withdrawing my application (another thing on the Friday list...) but them's the breaks. I wouldn't have ended up at either of those schools in the end anyway. So, even though I may have to defend that choice in my interviews, I've been a LOT happier and less stressed since making that decision, so I think it was the right one.

Not much else to report... oh, yeah, I got my (seasonal) flu shot and my (H1N1) flumist yesterday, so if you guys haven't done that yet, go ahead and do it now. I love how cavalier we are about that stuff at work -- everyone, doctors and nurses alike, just rolls up their sleeves like, oh, yeah, as long as you're getting yours, I guess I'll get mine too. We don't even bother to sit down. It's a nice change from how serious we have to be about vaccines with our patients. And I literally did not even feel the shot -- or, rather, I guess I technically felt it, but it didn't hurt a bit. I hadn't had a shot of any kind since 2006 (though I've given thousands of them since then) and I sort of forgot that I'm really NOT lying when I tell my little patients that shots really don't hurt that much... even though they always think I am. :)

Also, the NC state fair started yesterday, and we live within walking distance of the fairgrounds, which is one of the many awesome things about this apartment. On the 4th of July, we just took an evening stroll out our front door and watched the fireworks. While other people paid $10 to park at the U2 concert last weekend, Liz and her friends just walked across the street. And every day for the next week or two, we'll be able to mosey on up the block whenever we the mood strikes us and ride a Ferris wheel or eat a fried Snickers bar. And my parents are coming up for a visit in honor of the fair and the fall leaves (oh, yeah, and I guess to hang out with me and Liz a little, too), which should be a lot of fun. :)

Anyway, I guess I'll brave the unseasonably cool weather and go ahead and crank out my long run for the week. The half marathon is on November 1st, so we're getting closer. Of course, I then get no break at all before I have to start training for the full marathon in February, but the end result makes the training worth it.