Instead of bidding 1 dollar over the previous bid, I might bet 5 dollars over just as a gesture of kindess and empathy.

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Today is Thursday, we had an exam on Monday. We have another, bigger exam next Friday, and then the following Monday and Tuesday we have more exams and practicals awaiting us. Thankfully, some of the material presented this week is "reviewish" in that anyone who has had basic microbiology has seen this stuff before. For that matter, anyone who has taken the MCAT (all of us) have seen this stuff before. Unfortunately, there is a lot of bug and drug memorization going on as well -- some of it is familiar, some is not. Many of us (as students have done for thousands of years, I'm sure) tackle the rote memorization of seemingly (at this point, at least) abstract terms by making up sayings, or attaching stories or internal meanings to the words. Tetracylines and Aminoglycosides inhibit the 30S ribosome. I remember this by reciting: I mean, Tetris is for 30 somethings. It works. There are so many of these out there and there are abundant lists to be found on the internet, but sometimes it really is enjoyable to come up with my own relationship with the material we are learning.

On the way to school today, some retired NFL guy was talking about how during the NFL season's bye-week it is important to spend a few days away from the facilities, coaches and fellow players. But he went to great lengths to emphasize that even if a player is physically away from the game, that his mind will never be away, during the season at least. Of course, as most things do these days I couldn't help but relate that to medical school. The week prior to this one we didn't have any classes but I definitely spent most of my time studying. It was our bye-week. I did get to watch the Price is Right, though. Does anyone else think that Drew Carrey is doing a really good job? Don't get me wrong, Bob Barker was great too, but I can't take anything away from Drew's body of work on the Price is Right. He even chuckles when someone places a bid of "420" which I'm not sure Bob ever did, for better or worse I suppose.

Comments

Becklynn's Thinkabouts said…
I'm reminded of an episode of Frasier, in which he tries to help Kirby, the loser son of a girlfriend, with history homework. He shares with him an acronym that will remind him of a historical fact. Kirby is incredulous that the way to memorize one thing is to memorize two things?
October 27, 2011 at 2:41 PM
Dr_JLP said…
Well, there definitely is a fine line as far as mnemonics are concerned especially. This is why the dirtier the acronym is or the more meaningful (sometimes both, I suppose) it is the more effective it is. Somethings are just not worth the extra storage space in the brain.
October 27, 2011 at 4:18 PM
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