Excellent news

So last class we got word that if we had 500 points so far this semester we will be able to forego the comprehensive final. This is probably the best news I've had in a long long time. It's a huge weight lifeted off mine and probably everyone elses shoulders. I bet it will save Dana a lot of time also due to the fact she won't have to grade as many papers.
In class on Tuesday we learned about the urinary/digestive system. Well, we started it at least. I'm sure there is still lots to go. The glomerulous filters. Plasma cells go through the cell walls, but are then reabsorbed. If this did not happen, then we would be constantly loosing our blood volume and would "crash".

AWSOME DAY

Well I got to class today and was waiting outside. Normally the door is unlocked and other students are already there waiting. After 5 minutes of waiting I was pleasantly surprised when I found out there was no class. It was such a nice day outside that I ran to my motorcycle and went home for lunch. normally I just head over to a fast food place and grab a quick bite to eat, but since it was a nice day I decided I'd travel all the way back to Carmel to grab some grub.

I'm wondering if Dana is ok or if she knew since it'd be such a nice day today that we should reconvien class at a later date :P Either way, I hope shes good. I'm looking forward to seeing how I did on our last test. I know I left quite a few answers blank. I don't feel as bad though, because from what I've overhead some of the other students, they left alot blank as well.

Class

I feel this class was very informative and was pretty fun. Dana has been a good instructor. She's kept it pretty laid back. This is how I imagined a college course to be (when I was not attending class when I was younger). The end of the semester is coming up on us pretty quickly now. Things are going to start to be flung at us left and right. I still need to go and volunteer for a couple hours at a bloodbank or something. Maybe I'll call one today and set a time up for friday.

Blood

So we have been learning about blood the past class or two. In lab today, we kinda put everything to gether as well. I learned that I was A--. This means, I think, that if my future wife were rh negative she would not have to get a shot. if she was positive she would?? Either way, the doctor would more than likley give it to her just to be on the safe side.
Spring break is coming up. We will have a test on the blood/heart/veins and arteries and whatnot. It should go fairly smooth since it is going to be a takehome test. Also during the break I will be doing my 4 hours of volunteer. I was thinking of hitting up the blood bank first to see if I could help in some way. That's it for now. Time for A&PII lecture.

Upcoming Quiz

Today in class we learned mainly about the two different types of secondary messanger system paths there are. The cAMP pathway was easily understood by myself when we had to physically draw it on our paper and also write down/describe the steps as we went along following our diagram. Very very nice way to do this part. This part of the next quiz should be fairly simple because it seems to be stuck in my head now.
I also enjoyed the end of the class where we were told what we should be studying for the upcoming quiz #4. The endocrine and autonamous systems are both large systems with many many parts to each system. This sort of study guide we were given should be a HUGE help in studying and preparing for the quiz. I expect to do decently on it. We'll see though.

Class after break

In our last class we had to use playdo and twine to make 3D models of part of the spine/nervous system. It went pretty well. Doing hands on work instead of just lecture/writing/looking was a nice change of pace. Our group had to present ours first and I was chosen to be the first half commentator about what we did and point out certain anatomical parts to the diagram. I was nervous, but soon got over it. If I didn't know the answer, others helped out.
I don't think I will use my atistic talents for working or making money. I'm not an artist. I'll stick to the using my hands as a mechanic or something. Who knows. We'll see.

Quiz 2 Results

I was pleasantly surprised when I recieved our take home quiz back. I got a score of 51/50. As for my problem with WeBCT, that has been fixed. Sara did an EXCELLENT job at it. My username was not what I was expecting. It was Matt. My first name is William which is what I use for documentation and official business. After several failed attempts Sara just started pluggin in random names or nicknames that could be used for William and Matthew. She ended up hitting the nail on the head. Thank you.

Quiz 2

Yeah, so I just got done with this second quiz. Thank god it was take home because I would have gotten a 25% on it for sure. I had no idea about any of the information on this quiz. It took me like 2 1/2 hours at home just to do it. The information given to us was from all different parts of the book. There is no one specific part of our book we can study for the quizzes.
So, with that said. I have a feeling I will be barely passing this class this semester. This is the second quiz and both have been extremely hard. I am just not absorbing the information being taught in class. When I get home, I have no idea where to look at the information to use repition to help me learn because the course is not being taught by the book. Its jumping everywhere in everywhich direction.

"Quiz"

So we took a quiz last week. It didn't seem like a quiz at all. It felt like an exam. Granted they are not worth as much as an exam or regular test, but the information required to know was intense. We havn't recieved them back yet (should get them today). I'm kind of anxious to see what I got. I got back the bonus sheet and got all five correct. However, I am thinking I didn't do so good on the stuff we were supposed to know.
I am still trying to get used to this teaching style. It's not really working too well for me. I need to be able to somewhat follow along in a book so i can read/look at the pictures while being lectured. I'm not a good note taker. I write down all the stuff from the board, but when I go back to look at it later it looks like french. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I will have taught myself how to learn with your teaching style.

Nervous System

Yeah, so this past week or two we've learned all about the nervous system. It included the makings/make-up of the neurons and the way they are supposed to act in their typical environments. We also learned about the developing fetus (was a very small part of our lecture though).
What I found interesting were the chemicals involved for all this stuff to happen. You need calcium, sodium, potassium and other types of enzymes/neurotransmitters all working in sync in order for stuff to happen.