On the new laptop front:

• I’m loving it. I need to do a virus scan on my HP before I go and copy files over and make my Asus my primary computer, but I love it.
• It turns on (after being shut down) in 16 seconds, it’ll ‘wake up’ from being in sleep mode in 3 seconds. It’s amazing.
• I have all the programs that I love and adore on there right now.
• I love having a shut down button (yes, I’m repeating myself from my last post) – that’s how much I adore it.
• It’s super light-weight. My HP is well over 7lbs (it has a 12-cell/extended battery instead of a 6-cell battery). My Asus is under 5lbs (2kg!). You wouldn’t think a scant few pounds would make a difference, but my shoulders can tell.
• My biggest problem so far is that despite being the same in screen size (technically), it doesn’t fit into the laptop sleeve in my backpack (woe), but it can fit in, if I pop it into a laptop sleeve first and have it in the main area of my bag.

I started school last week and it’s been go-go-go ever since January 7th. It’s term 2 for me. I have some one new-to-me class and the rest are just a level up from last term, which is nice. I’m really making an effort in my class where the students do the teaching by participating and whatnot – it’s hard though, for me, as I’m not a chatty, talkative type (with people that I don’t know well). And as it’s a group (11 students, 1 instructor), and not a small group (2-3), it’s even harder for me. But I’m making an effort, really trying to anyways.

So far classes are going well… I think. There hasn’t been too much for me to be evaluated on yet, I don’t think, so my grades are still in tip-top shape! I think I’m going to enjoy clinical this term. I’m on a general surgery ward (primarily post-op patients). Last term I was on an acute general medicine ward, so it’s pretty interesting to compare and contrast the differences. One of my instructors for clinical skills is my clinical instructor, so he quizzed me a lot in lab today – nice thing to know that I can (hopefully?) make a good impression outside of the hospital! I get my first patient assignment of the term tomorrow afternoon and I’m trying to be proactive in making drug cards for the ‘common’ drugs from the list he had provided (but there’s probably like 50, so I will not be making them all in one go…)

In other news though, I’ve made things! Like socks…

And laminated notes for clinical…

And lastly, I got an all-metal construction 3-hole punch (the only plastic is in the tray that holds all the punched out paper). It may be the best investment I’ve ever made for school. Not only is it fantastic, but it’s so much better than the $2 3-hole punch that I previously had (it was metal and plastic and had holes to fit in a 3-ring binder) and it doesn’t hurt my hands when I try to punch holes into papers. Best thing ever.