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I went to FOLE, our orientation camping team-building thing, on Wednesday and Thursday and was honestly not looking forward to it. I don't like forced interaction and knew that a lot of the activities would be lame touchy-feely kind of stuff to get us to open up and connect. Anyway, it was actually a lot of fun! My small group was awesome, we all got along well and were hilarious. Day 2 was a little bit less fun, just because I don't think anyone got much sleep (and a lot of people were a little hungover) so we were all dragging. But I made some new friends and am grateful for the experience.
 
Minnerbelle said:
Try traveling with my lil baby girl, and you'll change your mind. She sits in her crate behind the front passenger seat and sprawls out to sleep like the whole ride. Everytime you say her name (even in passing in a conversation), she answers. It's really funny. After doing it several times in a row, her answers turn into an annoyed meow, but she can't help answering. Every 4 hrs or so, you just put her little potty in her crate and tell her to go, and go she does! Sometimes she feels the need to only go when the car is moving (wtf?) so you have to give her the potty at the gas station, and drive 1 min down the road to the nearest fastfood place for lunch. By the time you get there, voila! She's great in a harness too, so if we get food to eat outside, I just get a leash attached, and she eats under a shade tree with us. Once we get to the hotel for the night, she gets so happy she can't stop doing figure eights around your legs really fast (we call that move her "turbo").

and I was so worried this time last year about how she would behave during the car ride I was thinking about getting sedatives for her from the vet. couldn't ask for a better kitty companion to travel with.
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I am so jealous. My girls are all reasonably well-behaved, although Roxie whines a little for the first few hours, Lucy will chirp at you when you talk to her, and Eva is just silent with terror. The REALLY fun part is when Dorian, the deaf cat, starts screaming his brains out, and every time he yells Roxie has to answer him, and he's running around the backseat squishing the big girls in their soft carriers, and climbing into the rear window, and he and Roxie are both yelling, and you just want to throw someone out the window. :help:

And none of them will eat or drink or use the litterbox. Even on a 12hr drive.

Trade? 😀

Dorian's current mission: Find boxes with tape on them. Rip tape off, eat it. Vomit tape. Repeat.
 
Bearby said:
I went to FOLE, our orientation camping team-building thing, on Wednesday and Thursday and was honestly not looking forward to it. I don't like forced interaction and knew that a lot of the activities would be lame touchy-feely kind of stuff to get us to open up and connect. Anyway, it was actually a lot of fun! My small group was awesome, we all got along well and were hilarious. Day 2 was a little bit less fun, just because I don't think anyone got much sleep (and a lot of people were a little hungover) so we were all dragging. But I made some new friends and am grateful for the experience.
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I was so shocked by how awesome FOLE was! I was really expecting the touchy-feely things too. The party that night was crazyyyyy
 
Chinola said:
I was so shocked by how awesome FOLE was! I was really expecting the touchy-feely things too. The party that night was crazyyyyy
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Damnit. Mizzou's retreat was 4 days of straight touchy feely and there was NO BOOZE since we were at a baptist camp. Jealous.
 
breenie said:
Damnit. Mizzou's retreat was 4 days of straight touchy feely and there was NO BOOZE since we were at a baptist camp. Jealous.
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we were at an episcopal camp, and booze "wasn't allowed." It was a good time
 
Minnerbelle said:
huh, if anyone goes to CSU and wants to play on the computer during class, I'd suggest sitting in the way back (and maybe with a screen protector just in case), at least for first-year. Or smart phones would be your safest alternative. If a couple of the core first-year professors saw you do that, they would probab ream you out in front of the class. When we get taught in the computer lab, sometimes we'd all have to turn all of our monitors sideways to assure that no one's secretly facebooking. It's kind of kindergarten-ish like that. I sat in the middle of the lecture hall, and of the few computers that were up in front of me that I could see, they were all note-taking. Plus, we had a conduct police in our class who would sit in different parts of the lecture hall to keep an eye on everyone and threaten the class of an honor code violation for lack of professional behavior. Hope no other class goes through that saga, like ever again.
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I am speechless.
 
went to the beach for the first time today! it was GORGEOUS! and the water felt amazing! i can't believe that its going to be this warm and this nice out year round, I can't wait to be swimming in 80 degree water in december!

edit: oh man am i sunburned!!! i was only out for 1.5 hours and and heavily applied sunscreen before i left and my upper body looks like i flat out skipped the sunscreen! its crazy!!! i would have expected to be a little red, but this is surprising! learned a lesson in just how strong those rays are down here! (now back to being an itchy lobster studying anatomy 🙁 )
 
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Minnerbelle said:
huh, if anyone goes to CSU and wants to play on the computer during class, I'd suggest sitting in the way back (and maybe with a screen protector just in case), at least for first-year. Or smart phones would be your safest alternative. If a couple of the core first-year professors saw you do that, they would probab ream you out in front of the class. When we get taught in the computer lab, sometimes we'd all have to turn all of our monitors sideways to assure that no one's secretly facebooking. It's kind of kindergarten-ish like that. I sat in the middle of the lecture hall, and of the few computers that were up in front of me that I could see, they were all note-taking. Plus, we had a conduct police in our class who would sit in different parts of the lecture hall to keep an eye on everyone and threaten the class of an honor code violation for lack of professional behavior. Hope no other class goes through that saga, like ever again.
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I just got done reading about such issues in the intro info for anatomy I believe. Not that I was planning on doing it, but it was interesting to see it spelled out so specifically! I'm afraid to even bring my phone in on silent now! I think I'll either turn it off entirely or leave it in the cubes so I'm not tempted. The way it was worded it sounded like one best not even have it out before class. I hadn't heard about the conduct police in your class.... really hope we don't have that drama in ours!

Good luck on capstone tomorrow, Minnerbelle!!!:luck::luck::luck:
 
nyanko said:
Conduct police...I would probably get kicked out in the first week for calling them the Facebook Gestapo or something.
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I agree - it is ridiculous!!! For heavens sake - if we made it to vet school we should be able to decide when and how to pay attention!
 
twelvetigers said:
If I wanna use facebook in a class I'm paying for, well... tough titties. As long as I'm not disrupting things.
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Yeah like that one time in vert morph when you were looking at those hilarious pictures...oh wait, you did cause a disruption.
 
I'm all moved into a truly sweet house, and I'm officially in love with Philly. Maybe I'll hate it by November, but for now I plan on ordering from streetside vendors, strolling through the parks, and thoroughly enjoying the honeymoon phase. Orientation tomorrow!
 
pooter said:
I'm all moved into a truly sweet house, and I'm officially in love with Philly. Maybe I'll hate it by November, but for now I plan on ordering from streetside vendors, strolling through the parks, and thoroughly enjoying the honeymoon phase. Orientation tomorrow!
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There is an amazing van with Indian food at around where 37th street would be (it's on the undergrad campus where there are just walkways no streets) between Locust Walk and Walnut Street. Also an amazing, cheap fruit salad van at 37th and Spruce. Have fun!
 
bunnity said:
There is an amazing van with Indian food at around where 37th street would be between Locust Walk and Walnut Street.
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Now that is something that should be in the survival guide! Good Indian food in West Philly? I will be there TOMORROW!
 
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I know, it's hard to find. I think Tandoori is OK though.
Just realized that since the undergrads aren't around, the van may not be there over the summer - I hope it is there tomorrow for you!
 
My Bengal, Yeti, is pretty high energy and gets bored, stressed and destructive when he's left to his own devices all day. He also has obstructed once and has had two other episodes of non-obstructive stranguria so needless to say I am trying to manage his boredom and stress levels well (in addition to giving him a canned diet supplemented with additional water).

Anyway, he's a bit of a dry food addict, so I found out rather quickly that a bag of c/d dry + a clicker = Yeti will learn to do pretty much anything and the kibble given one by one as treats means the bag lasts FOREVER. I have him trained now to sit, stand up on rear limbs, give high five, give low five, lay down, "go to sleep" (puts his head down on his paws however he's laying and closes his eyes) play dead, roll over, speak, come, and heel (on the harness outside). He loves people and will often approach people (and dogs, we need to work on that!) at the park when he's on harness. He is in great condition and hasn't had an episode of stranguria since the diet and environmental changes. And he's so much happier too, and tired enough that he isn't pestering the other cats too much or destroying things all day.

I think the next step for us is to get him into doing therapy cat work. He will sit with anyone and cuddle and purr.

...and people say cats can't be trained. 🙂
 
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I finished my personal statement :soexcited:. 4997 characters 🙂. Finishing up my descriptions and submitting later on today :woot:. That was the hardest thing to write, but I think I managed to show how my love of wildlife led me to choose vet med and how I will love being a vet since it is similar to rehabbing in the ways that matter most to me. We'll see 🙂. Now to work on the supplementals.
 
nyanko said:
...and people say cats can't be trained. 🙂
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I should PM you my youtube link of my cat learning to play patty cake with me 😉. It comes with an original song I wrote for her as well! I think she's a righty... so it was hard to get her to alternate with her left paw.

But you're so right, clicker training would be an awesome way to get my boyfriend's Bengal to stop being so destructive. Like, he would jump and lock his jaws on my bf's comforter at the top edge of the bed, and pump his legs (his tigger move) until it rips and shreds all the way down to the floor.
His new roommate has a cat, so that has helped a ton. But Bengals are bat**** crazy. He gets dog toys (hard tire toy), and he's chewed it up so bad that it's really squishy now. His prob is that he likes to dunk it in his water and leave it there for the water to turn rancid. Of course he doesn't drink from it after that. So I'm worried about his urinary health as well.
 
Minnerbelle said:
I should PM you my youtube link of my cat learning to play patty cake with me 😉. It comes with an original song I wrote for her as well! I think she's a righty... so it was hard to get her to alternate with her left paw.
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haha, Yeti is a lefty - it was hard to get him to do things with his right paw!

But Bengals are bat**** crazy. He gets dog toys (hard tire toy), and he's chewed it up so bad that it's really squishy now.
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Yeah, we burned through tennis balls like nobody's business before I stopped giving them to him. I chalked it up to the fact that Yeti grew up with his bff being my old roommate's Miniature Schnauzer and he just picked up the bad chewing habit from her. He stole my bf's JRT's Kong the other day and growled when I was taking it away, so I'm thinking about getting him one. Reviews on the cat Kong say that it is wussy and flimsy, so I'll probably go straight to a dog one.
 
twelvetigers said:
Just ordered what books I want. Ended up with a good deal from a random search, thought I'd share:

Code "BTSAF15" gets 15% off of all orders over $40 on half.com. 🙂
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That is who I just tried as well (and used a discount code as well). I ordered just over a week ago and the shipping said 3-6 days. Meanwhile, they haven't even sent out my book yet - apparently they are still "processing" my order. Hope you have better luck.
 
This began as a rant, but has now become a rave. I ordered my anatomy book from amazon.com and the tracking said it was out for delivery yesterday. I saw the UPS truck in my apartment complex but no one ever came to my door to deliver anything. Well, this morning I checked the tracking and it said it was delivered last night. BS. So I called UPS and they said I would have to contact Amzon.com. I was heading out of the house to go to class so I called my mom and she apparently is a goddess! I got a text from her saying that Amazon was going to give me a refund and send me a new book at no charge. Then I got a call from UPS saying that the driver thinks he made a mistake and was going to try to find the package and deliver it correctly. So, I will end up (if everything goes correctly) with two books, not having paid for either of them. I didn't care if they refunded the cost of the book, just wanted to have it to study...but I'm not going to fight them on it. 🙂

Also, so far vet school is awesome.
 
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nyanko said:
My Bengal, Yeti, is pretty high energy and gets bored, stressed and destructive when he's left to his own devices all day. He also has obstructed once and has had two other episodes of non-obstructive stranguria so needless to say I am trying to manage his boredom and stress levels well (in addition to giving him a canned diet supplemented with additional water).

Anyway, he's a bit of a dry food addict, so I found out rather quickly that a bag of c/d dry + a clicker = Yeti will learn to do pretty much anything and the kibble given one by one as treats means the bag lasts FOREVER. I have him trained now to sit, stand up on rear limbs, give high five, give low five, lay down, "go to sleep" (puts his head down on his paws however he's laying and closes his eyes) play dead, roll over, speak, come, and heel (on the harness outside). He loves people and will often approach people (and dogs, we need to work on that!) at the park when he's on harness. He is in great condition and hasn't had an episode of stranguria since the diet and environmental changes. And he's so much happier too, and tired enough that he isn't pestering the other cats too much or destroying things all day.

I think the next step for us is to get him into doing therapy cat work. He will sit with anyone and cuddle and purr.

...and people say cats can't be trained. 🙂
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Awesome news, dude! I have a tortie kitten (well, like... 1 year old? maybe? we don't know) I got back in June, and she's cranky with me being gone for school already. 🙁 I play with her when I get home, but it's not enough, and my old cat just isn't entertaining or energetic enough for her. She's very bold, so maybe I'll try some of your ideas to get her a little less destructive and obnoxious. Understimulated cats are a nuisance.
 
Speaking of Amazon, you get 6 months of Amazon Prime Student free with a .edu email address (just don't forget to cancel it in 6 months if you decide not to keep it or you get charged $40 - still cheaper than regular Amazon Prime though). I order all my books from there to avoid the exorbitant school bookstore prices, and they get here in 2 days. Saved my life this semester because my financial aid was a week late, and I have assignments due Monday 🙄
 
lareinesoleil said:
Speaking of Amazon, you get 6 months of Amazon Prime Student free with a .edu email address (just don't forget to cancel it in 6 months if you decide not to keep it or you get charged $40 - still cheaper than regular Amazon Prime though). I order all my books from there to avoid the exorbitant school bookstore prices, and they get here in 2 days. Saved my life this semester because my financial aid was a week late, and I have assignments due Monday 🙄
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I had a free Student Prime account which just recently expired and have never gotten charged anything. Don't think I entered any card info for it either, though I did have an Amazon account already. The free and quick shipping is great, though the free offer obviously doesn't cover the streaming video (which the cheaper student Prime rate does cover though).
 
kakurubird said:
I had a free Student Prime account which just recently expired and have never gotten charged anything. Don't think I entered any card info for it either, though I did have an Amazon account already. The free and quick shipping is great, though the free offer obviously doesn't cover the streaming video (which the cheaper student Prime rate does cover though).
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I think it has changed... I definitely signed up when it was a year of free prime, and read the fine print pretty closely to ensure that it wouldn't auto-renew on me. (I'm notoriously forgetful and don't sign up for things that do). I think they've adjusted the program a bit.
 
It must have changed, because I definitely got warned about getting charged $40 at the end of the 6-month period. I've definitely saved more than $40 in textbooks just this semester, though, so I might keep it. Having all that streaming video wouldn't be half bad either 🙂
 
Oh, wow, didn't realize it had change. I actually checked all my statements online before posting just to make sure I didn't miss something.

Maybe my hatred for auto-renews should go in the rant thread... I try to always check for things like that, but I hate that such things can happen without people being told, "yo, you're going to get charged for this at some point."
 
breenie said:
Awesome news, dude! I have a tortie kitten (well, like... 1 year old? maybe? we don't know) I got back in June, and she's cranky with me being gone for school already. 🙁 I play with her when I get home, but it's not enough, and my old cat just isn't entertaining or energetic enough for her. She's very bold, so maybe I'll try some of your ideas to get her a little less destructive and obnoxious. Understimulated cats are a nuisance.
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This is the walking jacket/harness that I use for him. The only downside is that it covers up all his spots. 😉

Other than that I highly recommend it!
 
nyanko said:
This is the walking jacket/harness that I use for him. The only downside is that it covers up all his spots. 😉

Other than that I highly recommend it!
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Thank you so much! I think I'll give it a shot. I've been making her to do tricks for dinner (she can do "sit" and "up", which is just her sitting on her butt and stretching like a prairie dog) but she needs some things to DO. She's been so naughty lately I've started just calling her Badcat. Harness time!
 
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nyanko said:
Here he is modeling the purple walking jacket in my office on campus. (that's one of our postdocs' desk/ball he's occupying)
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Omg he's adorable.
 
So cute, Nyanko! I miss my kitty* 🙁



*kitty is with the SO's parents since there was a month there where neither of us could keep him, and now he's just so far away we haven't gotten him back yet.
 
nyanko said:
Here he is modeling the purple walking jacket in my office on campus. (that's one of our postdocs' desk/ball he's occupying)
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That's awesome. The PT ball just makes it better. Like: "Why do these stupid dogs find these balls so hard to use, anyway?"
 
LetItSnow said:
That's awesome. The PT ball just makes it better. Like: "Why do these stupid dogs find these balls so hard to use, anyway?"
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Haha, yeah.

He's not usually the most graceful of cats, so when he was exploring the office and about to jump up onto the ball I was like "uh oh he's gonna wipe out" and that's why I had my phone camera ready, to capture his failure. Then he just jumped up and sat down and I was like damn....

And yes, he certainly knows he's adorable. Look at that arrogant expression.
 
The boy took his GMAT this weekend and rocked it with a 690! He's got his early-decision interview at Duke in September so we hope to know by December. I am crossing every single finger and toe that he is accepted and we can finally live together! 2.5 years of long-distance down, hopefully only one more to go!
 
NittanyKitty said:
The boy took his GMAT this weekend and rocked it with a 690! He's got his early-decision interview at Duke in September so we hope to know by December. I am crossing every single finger and toe that he is accepted and we can finally live together! 2.5 years of long-distance down, hopefully only one more to go!
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AWESOME news! :clap: We've all got our fingers crossed too! :xf:
 
breenie said:
AWESOME news! :clap: We've all got our fingers crossed too! :xf:
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Aaaaaah! Thank you! I know I shouldn't be considering it a done deal, but I can't help getting so excited when I think about it. It'd be the best Christmas gift ever! 🙂
 
I rode for the first time in over 3 weeks today and decided on a whim to set up jumps. The mare I was riding did great. For a matter of fact, I think she liked it. She was picking out lines and take offs like they were second nature. (she has been jumped very minimally in the past and has been primarily trained in dressage) It was a blast. I actually haven't jumped since last summer so I couldn't breathe after 5 minutes in 2-point. hmm....😳
 
heylodeb said:
I rode for the first time in over 3 weeks today and decided on a whim to set up jumps. The mare I was riding did great. For a matter of fact, I think she liked it. She was picking out lines and take offs like they were second nature. (she has been jumped very minimally in the past and has been primarily trained in dressage) It was a blast. I actually haven't jumped since last summer so I couldn't breathe after 5 minutes in 2-point. hmm....😳
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This happened to me last week too (well, kind of)! Hadn't jumped since April and had a jumping lesson and it was WONDERFUL. It was with a trainer I've never worked with before and she slightly changed my seat and all of the sudden my ducking and jumping early problems were gone. And I had a few lines where all of the sudden riding leg into hand through the line and riding OVER the fence, not just before and after, completely clicked.
And, I've always had confidence issues over fences, but the mare I was on ran-out of a line (or two or five) and had a few little bucking fits and we worked through it all and I didn't collapse and become weak about all of it. So, yes, a lesson with run-outs and bucks was basically the best lesson I've had in months.

I love how a good ride can completely turn around a bad day (or week or month...)!
 
I haven't even started vet school yet and I already LOVE my classmates. I knew I would because those of us in Columbus already have been hanging out quite a bit and going out to bars and stuff, but the past couple of days have really sealed the deal for me knowing just how awesome these people really are. My girlfriend and roommate and I moved out of our undergrad apartment and into our new apartment yesterday, and we knew we'd need some help getting the furniture down from our old third-floor apartment and into our new townhouse. I posted a message on my class Facebook page and immediately got responses from 3 guys willing to help out. One of them I hadn't even met before and he and his girlfriend, who isn't even in our class, were the first ones to show up and the last ones to leave. Literally, all these people from my class just showed up at my house and helped me load the trailer, rode with me to my new place and helped me unload, and did it all over again for a second trip. Pretty much complete strangers and they were so eager to help. It was fantastic. The move went great, I love my new place, and I'm quite certain that my class is going to be the kind where we all help each other through these crazy 4 years!
 
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