This is my new son, Felix Christopher. He was born at 3:22 a.m. one week ago today. I think he's perfect. He doesn't cry or fuss, he burps himself, and he loves to eat. Xander had terrible GERD, so a milk hound is pretty refreshing. I hope he keeps that up.
My favorite thing about him is how alert he is. If you hold him, he will just stare at you. He gets this profound look on his face like he's contemplating the deeper mysteries of your soul. And his coordination is incredible. On his first day of life, he grabbed my hand and pulled it into his mouth. That's not something your average just-born baby does.
I've been blessed to be able to take two weeks off of work to be home with mom and baby. It's been incredible. Also, with the semester winding down, I skipped pretty much all of my classes last week and the remaining three for this week. Now it's juts five exams and I'm done. I think I can pull this off. Then four weeks to work and rest and be with my baby. I'm excited for that. I need some time off to recharge and gear up for the spring semester. I don't think it could be any more grueling than the fall was. From my conversations with upperclassmen, I get the impression the fall of the second and third years are the worst two semesters, so hopefully that holds true.
I don't know that I wrote too much about the Interdisciplinary Ethics Course, at least this time around. That class was a source of great frustration to me. Every school on the campus participates in this class, which meets in small groups (mine was 9 in the first semester and 8 this time around), so you get some exposure to other disciplines, which I liked. You spend five weeks of your semester basically discussing ethical scenarios. For instance, you have a minor patient (under 18) who comes in for a dental exam and you find signs that she might have bulimia. When you confront her about it, she breaks down and asks you not to tell her parents. What do you do? The course teaches you to think through ethical dilemmas completely, considering all points of views and all the values at stake. The idea is to equip you to (1) work with a team of health professionals and (2) make ethical decisions that you are able to defend later.
Well, I really liked this class. What I didn't like was the timing of it. Ethics is a discipline that interests me, and discussion is probably my favorite type of classroom activity. This semester we had a great facilitator, too. He was a graduate student in philosophy from CU-Boulder, and he was great at guiding our discussions. But because this P2 fall is so hectic, I didn't have time to really do the course justice. That frustrated me. I wish the course happened over the summer so I could really give it the time it deserves. Regardless, I got a superior grade. The class is pass/fail, but students who go above and beyond are recognized by the facilitator with a letter reflecting superior performance. I was really honored that he decided to award that grade to me.
I think that's all I have to say right now. I've got another "not in my pharmacy" brewing, but it's not ready for publication yet. Stay tuned.
Thanks for stopping by.
