What a difference a Dean can make!

The second person I met at Midwestern University when I came down to the open house in 2012 was the Dean of Optometry.  He was great.  It was like visiting with my grandpa.  He made you feel welcome and respected.  It was great to hear from someone who had a great deal of respect for and pleasure in the field of optometry.
The second time I met this man was at my interview the following October.  It was the same experience.  He was kind and friendly.  Nothing but the utmost respect as he talked to us and told us about the school.  He made it feel as if you were at home when you came to the school.  He even remembered me from 6 months before when we had had very little personal interaction.
This was not just a show he put on to get people to come to the school.  It never stops.  On a couple of occasions, it always seems to happen when I decide not to stay to study, he has purchased dinner for the students who have been practicing in the pre-clinic for hours getting ready for a practical exam. Does he have to do this, no, but he does it anyway.  He always seems to know what is going on in your school schedule.  He will ask you if you are ready for the test you have that day, or how the test you just took went.  He asks you about your classes and what makes the quarter more difficult.  He is always trying to make the school better, and a better experience for the students.
Just the other night as I was leaving he was walking down the hall and as I opened the door to the room I was in he stopped and told the person he was walking next to that he needed to see if that was one of his students.  He was mid-conversation and stopped to check on his students.  Why did he stop and talk to me, he was offering me candy to help me get through some studying.  When I said I was just about to leave he said well come to my office and get some anyway.
At the beginning of next month he will be holding the annual school christmas party.  For this party he invites all the students and faculty to come into his own home.  He has food and drinks, a bouncy house for the kids to play in.  Last year my family had a wonderful time.  Once again, this is not something he needs to do.  I don't think anybody expects it of him, but he does it, and he and his wife make you feel like you are just one of their kids who have come home to visit.  They are some of the most wonderful people.
In speaking with some of my fellow students a few of us have decided that beyond the newer equipment, the closer location, the warm weather in the dead of winter, the reason we came to this school was our wonderful Dean.  We owe so much to that wonderful man.
Thanks for everything!

Everybody Gets Offended Sometimes

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

So it has been brought to my attention in recent days that I have posted things that people have found offensive.  This means that there are some of you out there who, like many of the members of my wives family, find me to be a bit bold and blunt in my words.  The list of people I have offended in my life, I would guess, is not a short one. 

To those I have offended specifically with this blog I would like to say....THANKS!  Thank you for taking the time out of  your busy day to read the worthless ramblings of this random person.  When I began writing this blog it was just a place for me to express myself.  If someone chose to read it, great.  If nobody chose to read it, great.  It didn't matter to me either way.  Yes I have posted links to it on Facebook, but that didn't mean I expected people to read it, I was just merely letting people know it was there.  

As my blog has now counted over 500 page views, I am amazed.  I was never expecting this many views at all.  So thank you all for giving it a read.  

Now to address more fully the people who I have offended.  I have looked over all of my posts and have come to the conclusion that you were probably offended by one or a few of the following: my speaking of hassling the teachers, not being allowed to fail, not following the dress code, or possibly using abrasive or vulgar language. Now the only way I can see these offending you is if you fit into these categories as usually those things that offend me are things that apply to me.  A wise man by the name of Nephi living about 2600 years ago said speaking of this "..the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." (1 Nephi 16:2) Boy isn't that the truth.  I have been cut very deeply at times by the words of others, but usually only when I find what they say to be pointing out something I find to be a flaw in myself.  Please don't take this the wrong way.  My post was not meant to offend, it was merely stating my opinion. I do not think less of you as a person because you do any of the aforementioned things, I just don't agree with them, and yeah it might bug me a little that you do them.  But this doesn't mean I will act differently around you.  

I will say when writing these posts I made an effort to not state any names.  To not be specific, but to just state general times that peoples actions were ones I didn't agree with.  I could have been more specific, but I chose not to.  In fact the only post where the person being talked about can be easily distinguished by anybody is when I am talking about a fault with myself. And if you want to blog about me, the person who sits in class and falls asleep all the time, (or the person who has no real ability to write but does it anyway) by all means go ahead.  You can even mention me by name, I would love to hear another's perspective on having someone constantly fall asleep.  

I am so grateful that I live in a country where I have the freedom to speak the words that I want.  I can do this to myself, my family and friends, or (in this age of technology) the world.  I also have been given the freedom to NOT read.  I don't have to read anything that someone has put out there.  I don't have to pass it on.  I don't have to tell others about it.  After all most of the time if you don't agree with something and start telling people about it they will probably want to check it out for themselves and now you have just helped them get there voice out even further.

I am not trying to make enemies. I don't like it when people don't like me, but it is bound to happen.  However I will say I came to school not for the social aspect.  I have a wife, I have children, I have friends that I still keep in touch with from every stage in my life, including some from this latest adventure in my education that I would hope I remain lifelong friends with.  But this is not why I came to school.  I came for the education.  And if it so happens that I make some enemies, well it was probably bound to happen anyway.  

Please can you at least do one thing for me.  If you have a problem with something I said, talk to me about it.  There is a comment section at the bottom.  I am sure you can even find a way on this thing to message me directly.  Or talk to me in person.  But really there is a reason the comment section at the bottom exists, I would love comments.  I would much rather you say, "you are the biggest jerk I have ever seen" than to make someone else say it for you. 

Language

I have come to the conclusion that I was just raised differently.  I was raised in a smallish town in Utah, by good parents who had respect and courtesy. I was raised in a place where professional people were people you could look up to as someone to model your behavior after.  That these people had gone through enough schooling to become the best society had to offer.  Man, people were raised differently than I was.
I attended a meeting last night at which a prominent Optometrist gave a speech about how to go from being a student to a solo practicing OD.  Over all it was a good meeting.  But I was struck by something, the language the man used.  Now don't get me wrong all that come's out of my mouth isn't the tickling of little bells and fairy wings, but when I am in group of people leading what I assumed was a professional discussion I would expect clean language to be the norm.
It started out fine.  A "damn" here, a "hell" there, but then it escalated.  I began to feel it going over the line when he was talking about a regional manager in a corporation he used to work for.  In reference to this women he said something to the effect of "the regional manager who, while we new her name,  we usually referred to as bitch."  Does that seem over the line to anyone else.  Come on was that really necessary. So maybe she was a bit on the grumpy side, maybe this is how you referred to her, but when giving a speech is this really something that needs to be put in it.
He followed this up a short time later with a comment in which he dropped the F-bomb (yes I am not typing that word, nor do I ever use it).  This word I feel just doesn't belong in a professional environment.  I naively thought that all people felt this way.  Boy was I wrong.  While sitting in one of my classes at school we, out of necessity not choice, we end up intermixed with the dental students.  This is not all bad.  What is bad is that usually some of the only seats that are left when we com in are in front of a student who cannot say anything without the aforementioned word in it.  It doesn't matter if he is happy, angry, pleasant, or annoyed, every sentence that comes out of his mouth has this word in it.  Why? He seems like a fairly smart kid.  Did he really make it through undergrad and his first year of graduate school with such a limited vocabulary that he can't think of any other words to use?
I was speaking with my father-in-law over the summer and the topic of being professional came up.  He mentioned how when he was young you never saw an older man out of the house without slacks and a button up shirt.  His father, one of the owners of a large construction company, would be on the dusty, dirty construction sites in his slacks and button up shirt. Did he have to dress this way? No, but he was taught to dress this way.
I guess in the end maybe the speaker just felt he was talking to a group of his buddies rather than professional colleagues. Okay, whatever.  But my question is, if you went to a doctor and they began using foul language, is this someone you would choose to go back to?  I can honestly say, No I wouldn't.  I am glad that my goal is to go back to Utah to practice where the norm still seems to be presenting yourself as a well educated, caring, knowledgeable, clean mouthed doctor.

I Can't Keep My Eyes Open!!

Back in high school I stayed up late sometimes and, for at least part of my career, had to be at the school at 5:30 in the morning.  I used to spend my days sitting in school, then when school was over if I wasn't participating in sports I was shooting hoops with my friends or playing with my dog.  What I am trying to say is I was an active kid.  I wore myself out everyday, and then would have trouble turing my brain off to sleep at night.  The strange thing is, I very rarely found myself falling asleep in class.  The only class I truly fell asleep in was calculus, a class I doubt I will ever use again. 

Now fast forward 15 years and I face a non stop battle every day.  I am fighting to keep my eyes open, and they are fighting to close.  If I didn't know better I would think I had a Pseudo Apraxic Blepharospasm, a condition characterized my the involuntary slow closer of the eyelids with the inability to open them.  I can be focused on what the professor is trying to say and just slowly drift off to sleep.  Or worse than that I can be sitting at home and fall asleep with my kids talking to me.  I just cannot seem to stay awake!

When did this happen?  Growing up my brother and I used to make fun of my dad because any time he sat down he would fall asleep.  Well he was nice enough to pass this disease on to me.  Luckily I have friends and family who wake me up when needed.  Not always in the most pleasant way, but hey sometimes that's what it takes.  

During first year I would try drinking some caffeine to stay awake, then I noticed that really didn't help me. Then I tried taking something snacky to eat, this would keep me awake while I was eating then as soon as it was gone away I would drift.  (Not to mention sitting all day in class munching on something wasn't very good for my waistline either.)  However this is not always the case as my wife has been witness to me falling asleep while chewing.  She also likes to make fun of the fact that we usually take a couple of nights to watch a movie because we start falling asleep.

Part of it is my fault.  I don't make the time for sleep that I should.  I stay up to enjoy some time with my wife, without my children running around.  And then I am addicted to running so most mornings I wake up between 5:00 and 5:20 a.m. and head out for a run.  So I usually only get about 6 - 7 hours a night.  But back just 8 years ago or so this would have been more than enough. 

So what has happened.  I believe I am just getting older.  This 31 year old body just isn't what it was a few years back.  

So anybody got any suggestions?

Eye Don't Care

Let me propose a question. If you had to choose between losing a limb. and losing your vision which would you choose?  Think about it for a second.  Which do you feel would be easier to live without.

In my opinion I would say cut off the leg, (and I'm a runner so this would be hard for me). I feel that it would be easier to adjust to having a missing leg or arm, than to be blind.  Imagine the world without vision.  No longer able to drive, to play games, to see your children grow up. I may be wrong as I have never lost a limb or my vision, but this is how it seems.  Maybe you agree, maybe you don't, but either way I'm sure that given the chance you probably wouldn't want to lose your vision.

Some recent posts on Facebook have led to this thinking, one by me, one by another.  Really it's not the posts that concerned me, but the responses.  A few days ago my daughter got a bug bite on her leg, not unusual for a 7 year old.  This bug bite was a little different than any she had had before.  It not only became swollen and red, but also got a raised blister in the center.  (Said blister was accidentally removed while trying to remove her from the bathroom so her sister could concentrate on brushing her teeth.) The next day the bite had some bruising around it, and also had a larger area of red.  I was curious as I have only lived in the area for a year, so I posted a picture to Facebook and asked it anyone knew what kind of a bug might have bit her.  Almost every post was about how I needed to take her to the doctor.  I have had enough medical training to recognize cellulitis and while a worry, I was pretty sure that was not a problem.  But people were so eager for me to take her to the doctor.

Now to contrast that with another post.  Someone had posted that they had just experienced a kaleidoscope of colors and flashes of light in there vision, and was wondering what that might mean. Most of the comments to his post were don't worry about it, it's probably just an ocular migraine.  A very select few encouraged this person to seek advice from medical professional.

The difference in responses were mind blowing to me.  I can't believe that people are so eager to run to the doctor for a possible infected bug bite, but the signs of a possible retinal detachment are just ignored as no big deal. This is the question I posted in the beginning, the choice between worst case scenarios of losing a limb and losing vision.  It seems that because people can't see what it going on inside the eyeball, or with a persons vision, they just don't care about it.

In the end it appears that both of the concerns people had ended up fine.  My daughters leg is just fine, and the person on Facebook has posted lots of things since then without a mention of any other visual firework shows.

I bring this up because it will be something I will be dealing with for the rest of my career and life. Please educate yourself on proper vision and eye care.  This will help you as well as me as we enter our futures.

Having just started my second year of Optometry school at the age of 31 it has become much more apparent that I'm in a different walk of life and have a different outlook on life than most of the students in my class who are in their early 20's.

I love technology. The first time I heard of using a computer for anything other than typing a paper or playing a game was when I was in 7th grade.  (I used to go to a book to learn material to write a report on.  A real cut down trees and mill them into paper book.)  If my memory serves me right the first time I knew a computer could do other than those things stated above was when I had a teacher who helped a member of my class email someone.  This was so hard for me to imagine.  No body had to use a stamp and the person got the letter within seconds! It was amazing.  The next year I became a TA in the computer lab and got to learn about using the internet. All that information at your finger tips, it was just amazing.  I didn't have my own email address until the end of 8th grade.

My family has aways been a little slower to adopt technology so I guess it makes sense that while I love technology it also scares me a bit what it is doing to the world.  All the things technology makes possible, I can pull my phone out of my pocket and have a world full of information at my fingertips, some good, some not so good, and much terrible, uninformed or just plain disgusting. But it is what this technology has done to my generation that I began thinking about this week.  With so much information available instantly it has become so common for everyone to want to know everything, NOW.  The first day of class students are asking the teaching what the final is going to be like.  Has it ever occurred to them that the teacher hasn't written it yet and so they don't honestly know.  The teacher can't tell you the exact format and content of a test that they won't be writing for another few months. Sometimes we just have to wait to find out.  I remember when you went to school to learn everything you could to prepare you for the test, not just ask, and ask until the teacher breaks down and tells you what the test questions are going to be. (Don't get me wrong I love having an easy time passing a test, but I feel much more satisfaction when I was prepared for the test, not when I was told what would be on it before hand.

My generation has also decided that they are so important rules don't apply to them.  When a teacher wrote a syllabus it used to be how the class would be run. Period. I had a class last quarter in which the teacher asked the students opinions on one aspect of the class, from then on some of the students began to think they ran the class.  They would call the teacher out in front of the class to change the way the test was written.  What?! Isn't the teacher in charge of the class? Granted the fact that she gave the class a small amount of power to begin with puts some blame on her.

Failing grades don't apply either.  Several students failed classes. Not unusual, but what is unusual to me is that they fought the school on it enough to get a chance to take a shortened version of the class again to see if they could pass it.  In the beginning you are told if you fail you have to wait a year and join the next class.  Why should they do this, well they are millennial's and are so much more important. And you can't fail someone who tried, isn't trying good enough.  No! In some things maybe, but we are studying to be doctors here. People are going to trust us with there vision and in some cases their lives.  There has to be some point where we say you are just not cut out for some things.  I love basketball, made the team in high school and sat the bench the whole year.  I worked my butt off in practice but didn't get to play, why because I wasn't good enough.  I still love to play I just quickly figured out it wasn't going to be my career.  Shoot for you dreams, but sometimes you have to except that they are just a dream.

One last subject, how hard is it to follow a dress code.  Business casual or scrubs, seems straight forward to me.  But no, we have to push limits. Can we get away with a t-shirt instead of a scrub top, can we sneak some jeans if we wear a nice shirt.  Can we wear a romper that has shorts that barely cover our rear end.  Really?! Just follow the dress code! It won't kill you! You are training to be a professional, ACT LIKE IT!

I love technology and I love the perks of being a millennial, but I'm just not sure we are the next "greatest generation" as I have heard proposed.