These past few weeks have flown by! I've gotten to observe a lot of patients the past week, and a few of the therapists and patients actually let me get some hands on experience! For example, Erin almost always starts off by having the patient stand facing away from her. She finds the posterior superior iliac spines and places her thumbs on them. The patient then performs a series of movements, such as bending forwards, backwards, side to side, and marching, and Erin traces the movement of the ISPS. Sometimes one side will move farther than the other or one won't move at all, and from there she determines what joint is stiff or what muscles are tight. So one patient today has been coming in for a while now, and she was experiencing lower back pain and stiffness in her hips. Erin showed me where to place my hands in order to feel the acetabulofemoral joint not gliding smoothly. We compared one side to the other, and one was clearly immobile. After some stretching and cuing to attempt to release the joint to no avail, Erin resorted to a manual manipulation. The patient was laying on her side, with the bad joint facing up. Erin was behind her, and firmly hit the back of her hip forward. It looked pretty strange, but the patient seemed very pleased that she had found just the right spot! She got up and walked around and felt some immediate relief.
One really cool thing about this profession that i've noticed is that you can do things that will provide patients with instant results. That's a pretty amazing skill to have. I've noticed many patients sigh in relief as therapists are doing traction techniques with them or being able to stretch farther after the dry needling.
Tomorrow is my last day in the office. I'll only be in for about half the day, but I made sure I'll be there for the patient whom I am doing my cast study on. Hopefully she's doing better today! My family is heading to Florida on Wednesday, good thing we missed the storm this weekend!
hours: 12/27 4.5
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
More internship!
This week there has been another intern helping out. It's been nice having someone help fold towels and shadow the PT's. We are the same age, and she plays volleyball at Hollin's College.
Lately I've been able to help Johanna out more with getting people set up on ice and heat packs. Today she even asked me to greet a client and get him heat while she was finishing up with someone else. I was also allowed to feel a woman's neck in order to feel how certain muscles were atrophied compared to others. It wasn't extremely obvious, and it took a few tries to get my fingers in the correct positions. The patient helped direct me, based on where Johanna's hands had just been.
Today, a lady came in with her MRI and she didn't understand any of the technical writing, so Johanna talked her through it. I brought over the life size skeleton and helped point out a few bones and articulations. Johanna was extremely good at explaining everything at a very basic level. It's really fun to shadow her, especially because she takes the time to explain things to me, too.
The first day I was a little skeptical about all of this, but I'm really starting to find it fascinating!
12/13: 6
12/14: 7
12/15: 7
12/16: 7
12/17: 6
12/20: 6
12/21: 5
total hours: 44
Lately I've been able to help Johanna out more with getting people set up on ice and heat packs. Today she even asked me to greet a client and get him heat while she was finishing up with someone else. I was also allowed to feel a woman's neck in order to feel how certain muscles were atrophied compared to others. It wasn't extremely obvious, and it took a few tries to get my fingers in the correct positions. The patient helped direct me, based on where Johanna's hands had just been.
Today, a lady came in with her MRI and she didn't understand any of the technical writing, so Johanna talked her through it. I brought over the life size skeleton and helped point out a few bones and articulations. Johanna was extremely good at explaining everything at a very basic level. It's really fun to shadow her, especially because she takes the time to explain things to me, too.
The first day I was a little skeptical about all of this, but I'm really starting to find it fascinating!
12/13: 6
12/14: 7
12/15: 7
12/16: 7
12/17: 6
12/20: 6
12/21: 5
total hours: 44
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Dry Needling
On Tuesday, I was shadowing Rich, one of the clinic directors and physical therapists, and observed him using technique called "dry needling" on a patient. Dry needling may appear to be similar to acupuncture, but the techniques are actually very different. Acupuncture inserts needles along a meridian, bases on a "flow of energy" through one's body. What most people call a "knot" in someones back, to physical therapists is known as a "myofascial trigger point." This consists of a tight band of muscles that is contracted. In dry needling, a very small needle is inserted directly into this trigger point. The technique is called "dry" because no substance is injected through the needle. As the needle is inserted, the muscle with the trigger point will twitch. This is known as the localized twitch response. Healthy muscles will not twitch. It is believed that the needle will release a build up of neurotransmitters.. The buildup of these chemicals, such as acetylcholine, norepinephrine, substance P, and bradykinin can cause the muscles to be painful to the touch. The trapezius is a common muscle to contain trigger points, and that was where Rich was working with the patient yesterday. There was no blood, no screaming, nothing out of the ordinary. The needle is tiny, and the patient barely felt anything except for the twitch and when he inserted the needle deeper. After inserting the needle into several different locations along the trapezius and lower in the arm, Rich was able to stretch her back farther than he was previously able to. This technique displayed instant relief, and took only a matter of minutes. There was a lot less work for Rich since he didn't need to physically manipulate and massage out the knot. One insertion, and it was fixed.
One of the PT's, Erin, took a look at my ankle today, and she says that I could use the dry needling on my peroneus longus, so Rich says he will do that tomorrow. Cool! Hope it works! Erin found all sorts of other things wrong with my foot and the biomechanics of how I walk and how my back is shaped. Looks like I'll be coming in for a few more treatments while I'm here. Might as well, right?
Total hours: 20
12/13: 6
12/14: 7
12/15: 7
One of the PT's, Erin, took a look at my ankle today, and she says that I could use the dry needling on my peroneus longus, so Rich says he will do that tomorrow. Cool! Hope it works! Erin found all sorts of other things wrong with my foot and the biomechanics of how I walk and how my back is shaped. Looks like I'll be coming in for a few more treatments while I'm here. Might as well, right?
Total hours: 20
12/13: 6
12/14: 7
12/15: 7
Monday, December 13, 2010
Internship: Day 1
So, today marked my first day at Virginia Therapy and Fitness Center. I arrived at 9am to the office in Reston, VA. Johanna, the PT I will be shadowing (more on her later), was busy with a client so I met with Heather who works at the front desk. She showed me how their computer system works for scheduling appointments and keeping track of all the clients. There are nine physical therapists that work in this office, so there is a lot to keep track of! She has this extremely detailed coloring system which is how she displays if someone has checked in, if they cancelled late and will be charged, if they cancelled early and won't be charged, or even if they cancelled because their insurance is out of network. Plus there was coloring systems for massages scheduled, new patients, and re-evaluations. Basically, I learned early on that there is a LOT of behind the scenes work that goes on!
Johanna later showed me around the office, which is mostly a large open room. There are about 10 tables lining the side wall, cardio equipment in the center, and strength training equipment along the other side. I was also introduced to the washing machine and dryer :) I did a bit of towel folding today, but I still had other things to do. I'd rather do something that's actually helpful to them, rather than just following someone around all day, anyway.
One really cool thing I got to do was assigned to me early on in the morning. Johanna had seen one girl who is about 16 and had been to a series of doctors with some unknown chronic pain in her knees. A doctor finally diagnosed her with Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy. Johanna didn't know much about this, so she asked me to do some research to determine what physical therapy treatment could be provided. Cool! Now this is something definitely more helpful than folding towels! From my research, there is very little known about this disease. There is no one specific cause, and no known cure. I haven't gotten to discuss what I found out with Johanna yet, but I will definitely write more about this disease. I'm also not sure if this girl will be coming into the office while I'm there, but if she does I'm considering doing my case study on her.
Anyway, more on this curious disease later along with some info about Johanna and how I met her. Very cool story! Off to go christmas shopping with my brother....
Total Hours: 6
Johanna later showed me around the office, which is mostly a large open room. There are about 10 tables lining the side wall, cardio equipment in the center, and strength training equipment along the other side. I was also introduced to the washing machine and dryer :) I did a bit of towel folding today, but I still had other things to do. I'd rather do something that's actually helpful to them, rather than just following someone around all day, anyway.
One really cool thing I got to do was assigned to me early on in the morning. Johanna had seen one girl who is about 16 and had been to a series of doctors with some unknown chronic pain in her knees. A doctor finally diagnosed her with Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy. Johanna didn't know much about this, so she asked me to do some research to determine what physical therapy treatment could be provided. Cool! Now this is something definitely more helpful than folding towels! From my research, there is very little known about this disease. There is no one specific cause, and no known cure. I haven't gotten to discuss what I found out with Johanna yet, but I will definitely write more about this disease. I'm also not sure if this girl will be coming into the office while I'm there, but if she does I'm considering doing my case study on her.
Anyway, more on this curious disease later along with some info about Johanna and how I met her. Very cool story! Off to go christmas shopping with my brother....
Total Hours: 6
Winter Break? Sure doesn't feel like it...
So, after my horrendous computer glitches, I finally have a site with images! Woo hoo! Thanks Jim Groom for the tremendous amount of help! (however I still don't have a functioning laptop... or any of my files minus what was on my site). It's been a long weekend.
Anyway, from here on out I will be discussing my INTERNSHIP over winter break! No more image stories, video commentary, or anything fun like that :(
rip ds106
Anyway, from here on out I will be discussing my INTERNSHIP over winter break! No more image stories, video commentary, or anything fun like that :(
rip ds106
Saturday, December 4, 2010
DS106 Reflections
DS106 was probably my favorite non-major elective that I've taken. I didn't need it for an art credit or anything like that, but I was intrigued especially because it was a computer science course. I had already taken CPSC 110 (because the rest of my family are computer geeks, I needed to take intro to comp sci in order to understand dinner conversation), and I thought another comp sci class would look good on grad school applications. I was kind of hoping to learn some more coding and programming skills, so maybe the fact that this class is classified as a computer science course is somewhat misleading.
Leading up to the semester, Amy and I had been trying to figure out what we would be doing in this class. Well, looking back I'd say we were completely wrong. The class got off to a somewhat slow and frustrating start. The two articles we read were interesting, but I think I would have appreciated them more at the end of the semester. Setting up my blog was slightly difficult for me, but after a meeting or two with Prof Groom, I got it all worked out.
I think my soccer theme worked out really well. My teammates loved being featured and I would post the article onto their facebook pages. I would actually get comments from my other friends saying how they saw my blog and thought it was really cool. Getting feedback from non classmates was probably the best because they weren't getting graded for reading and commenting! My mom also commented here and there... but I'm not sure if that counts. Unfortunately our season didn't go quite as long as we had hoped for, so that kind of cut my blog short. Last year we had a thriller of a tournament, upsetting the first seeded team in penatly kicks, coming back to tie the championship game with less than 2 mins left, and going to TN for the NCAA tournament. I was hoping to be able to share an awesome story like that, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. At least I have a crazy ankle injury to share, although I'm not sure how interesting that is to anyone else lol.
As for the assignments, I definitely had some frustration producing some of them! The videos were especially hard for me. I remember downloading tons of different converters, and I finally got it right after several hours of struggling with it. Meanwhile, I kept getting a pop up saying that I'm running out of disk space on my computer. My computer was running so slowly, and It was nearly impossible to edit the video. Immediately after I finished the first video project, I deleted everything I had downloaded in hopes of freeing up some space and having my computer run at a normal speed again. I'm sure you could imagine my frustration when I heard we had yet another video project.
Despite my frustration with the video, I really liked adding the commentary. I thought that project was a lot of fun. The Mash Up was pretty challenging for me. I had so many ideas that I wanted to do, but didn't quite have to right technology to make it all happen. If I had unlimited amounts of time to complete that project, I would have been very meticulous and worked for perfection. After struggling with the converters, I was slightly fed up and started to become unmotivated. I really liked making the google map project, even if it was boring for other people to watch. I liked Wes' idea of exploring somewhere new, instead of discussing somewhere familiar. The audio stories were pretty cool, along with the image stories. I think the best part about the image stories is that they are short and sweet. Anything that is longer than 5 minutes looked a little daunting to watch, and I know half of my stuff was longer than that. Maybe if they were shorter more people would have read and commented.
As for reading other peoples blogs, I really enjoyed many of my classmate's projects. I REALLY wish I knew who everyone was in person though! There were times where I would get caught up in checking out everyone's new posts, that I would stay up really late reading and commenting. I loved doing it! I think if I had taken this as a summer course when I had a lot more free time, I would have been able to read and comment more often. This course along with several upper level bio and chem classes is maybe a little bit of a time crunch. Also, after spending hours fighting video converters, the last thing I want to do is read someone's blog or even think about ds106...
Overall, I really enjoyed this class and producing my blog. I'm glad that I was exposed to flickr, twitter, audacity, and windows moviemaker. What other class would require you to make a twitter account?? I already have and will continue to recommend this class to my friends. I think one aspect of this class which made it so successful was Professor Groom's enthusiasm. I think it was because of his excitement that we were able to produce some pretty sweet projects. So, thank you for pushing us and setting the bar high. As for the fate of my blog, I'm going to continue to update it over the next month while at my physical therapy internship in Reston. This is so my faculty advisor can keep up with what I am doing to give me credit for the volunteer work.
Peace out ds106, it's been quite a ride!
Leading up to the semester, Amy and I had been trying to figure out what we would be doing in this class. Well, looking back I'd say we were completely wrong. The class got off to a somewhat slow and frustrating start. The two articles we read were interesting, but I think I would have appreciated them more at the end of the semester. Setting up my blog was slightly difficult for me, but after a meeting or two with Prof Groom, I got it all worked out.
I think my soccer theme worked out really well. My teammates loved being featured and I would post the article onto their facebook pages. I would actually get comments from my other friends saying how they saw my blog and thought it was really cool. Getting feedback from non classmates was probably the best because they weren't getting graded for reading and commenting! My mom also commented here and there... but I'm not sure if that counts. Unfortunately our season didn't go quite as long as we had hoped for, so that kind of cut my blog short. Last year we had a thriller of a tournament, upsetting the first seeded team in penatly kicks, coming back to tie the championship game with less than 2 mins left, and going to TN for the NCAA tournament. I was hoping to be able to share an awesome story like that, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. At least I have a crazy ankle injury to share, although I'm not sure how interesting that is to anyone else lol.
As for the assignments, I definitely had some frustration producing some of them! The videos were especially hard for me. I remember downloading tons of different converters, and I finally got it right after several hours of struggling with it. Meanwhile, I kept getting a pop up saying that I'm running out of disk space on my computer. My computer was running so slowly, and It was nearly impossible to edit the video. Immediately after I finished the first video project, I deleted everything I had downloaded in hopes of freeing up some space and having my computer run at a normal speed again. I'm sure you could imagine my frustration when I heard we had yet another video project.
Despite my frustration with the video, I really liked adding the commentary. I thought that project was a lot of fun. The Mash Up was pretty challenging for me. I had so many ideas that I wanted to do, but didn't quite have to right technology to make it all happen. If I had unlimited amounts of time to complete that project, I would have been very meticulous and worked for perfection. After struggling with the converters, I was slightly fed up and started to become unmotivated. I really liked making the google map project, even if it was boring for other people to watch. I liked Wes' idea of exploring somewhere new, instead of discussing somewhere familiar. The audio stories were pretty cool, along with the image stories. I think the best part about the image stories is that they are short and sweet. Anything that is longer than 5 minutes looked a little daunting to watch, and I know half of my stuff was longer than that. Maybe if they were shorter more people would have read and commented.
As for reading other peoples blogs, I really enjoyed many of my classmate's projects. I REALLY wish I knew who everyone was in person though! There were times where I would get caught up in checking out everyone's new posts, that I would stay up really late reading and commenting. I loved doing it! I think if I had taken this as a summer course when I had a lot more free time, I would have been able to read and comment more often. This course along with several upper level bio and chem classes is maybe a little bit of a time crunch. Also, after spending hours fighting video converters, the last thing I want to do is read someone's blog or even think about ds106...
Overall, I really enjoyed this class and producing my blog. I'm glad that I was exposed to flickr, twitter, audacity, and windows moviemaker. What other class would require you to make a twitter account?? I already have and will continue to recommend this class to my friends. I think one aspect of this class which made it so successful was Professor Groom's enthusiasm. I think it was because of his excitement that we were able to produce some pretty sweet projects. So, thank you for pushing us and setting the bar high. As for the fate of my blog, I'm going to continue to update it over the next month while at my physical therapy internship in Reston. This is so my faculty advisor can keep up with what I am doing to give me credit for the volunteer work.
Peace out ds106, it's been quite a ride!
Moving to Blogger
So, I've finally moved everything over to blogger. It was a little tricky, but nothing terrible. I received an error when trying to import everything, but I found a site http://wordpress2blogger.appspot.com/ which was super easy to use and worked perfectly! So, now I need to work on my background. I think pink hummingbird doesn't exactly fit the whole soccer theme. And just as I was becoming extremely familiar with wordpress, I have to switch it over.
However, I'm slightly confused. I still have my godaddy.com thing, so my domain name is good. Is switching over to blogger sufficient to keep everything running? I don't need to pay/sign up for anything else? How will my site.stratcat.info page be affected? Any thoughts??
However, I'm slightly confused. I still have my godaddy.com thing, so my domain name is good. Is switching over to blogger sufficient to keep everything running? I don't need to pay/sign up for anything else? How will my site.stratcat.info page be affected? Any thoughts??
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Installing ThinkUp
Well, I believe I have successfully added ThinkUp to my site. Only problem.... I'm pretty sure the wordpress app only applies to Twitter! Problem because I haven't posted anything since our last dailyshoot assignment. I was kind of excited to see all the facebook data since I'm a facebook junkie, but I can't seem to access any of it.
Anyway, I created a separate page for this application, because I wasn't really sure what it would do. I started off my downloading a random plug in (which is why my header is gone, bye umw soccer!), The first five I tried said they would screw up my header, so I just decided to change it and be done with it. So, once I got a random plugin (it was actually a twitter plug in ha-ha), I went to editor, erased all of it, and c/p the thinkup data. I'm getting ahead of myself.
So BEFORE all that, I went to the ThinkUp site, and clicked the download for the wordpress app. I opened the file folder, opened the PHP document, and when prompted, I clicked the option to open it with Notepad. From there, I copied the entire text that appeared in notepad, and pasted it into the plug in editor. As a side note, this sounds like it took 2 minutes. It took me about 30 before I figured all of this out. phew.
So next, in order to figure out what to do, I opened the ReadMe file for ThinkUp. There, it tells you to go to Settings in wordpress, choose ThinkUp, and edit the settings to include your twitter name. It also gives you things to paste into a post (things with [brackets] around them, not really sure how they work). So I posted the brackets into my new ThinkUp page, and fingers crossed went to check it out. It came back with, There are not recent tweets from StratCat. Success!!
Doesn't sound like success, but at least I know it works! So I went ahead and tweeted something. Still hasn't shown up on my page, but I'm not sure what the turn around time is. Anyway, yay for archiving nothing!
Anyway, I created a separate page for this application, because I wasn't really sure what it would do. I started off my downloading a random plug in (which is why my header is gone, bye umw soccer!), The first five I tried said they would screw up my header, so I just decided to change it and be done with it. So, once I got a random plugin (it was actually a twitter plug in ha-ha), I went to editor, erased all of it, and c/p the thinkup data. I'm getting ahead of myself.
So BEFORE all that, I went to the ThinkUp site, and clicked the download for the wordpress app. I opened the file folder, opened the PHP document, and when prompted, I clicked the option to open it with Notepad. From there, I copied the entire text that appeared in notepad, and pasted it into the plug in editor. As a side note, this sounds like it took 2 minutes. It took me about 30 before I figured all of this out. phew.
So next, in order to figure out what to do, I opened the ReadMe file for ThinkUp. There, it tells you to go to Settings in wordpress, choose ThinkUp, and edit the settings to include your twitter name. It also gives you things to paste into a post (things with [brackets] around them, not really sure how they work). So I posted the brackets into my new ThinkUp page, and fingers crossed went to check it out. It came back with, There are not recent tweets from StratCat. Success!!
Doesn't sound like success, but at least I know it works! So I went ahead and tweeted something. Still hasn't shown up on my page, but I'm not sure what the turn around time is. Anyway, yay for archiving nothing!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Homage to Sport Science
So, as much as I would LOVE to recreate my own episode of sport science, I do not posses any of the technology needed to do so. However, I do own equipment to do basic physics experiments in my kitchen! With the help of my family and a few friends, I've created my own Kitchen Science video.
I left a lot of this unedited in order to truly capture the essence of my family dynamic. I hope it gives you a good look into the Strat family, because not only am I obsessed with science, as much as I hate to admit it I'm a big fan of my family's quirky nerdiness, too.
I left a lot of this unedited in order to truly capture the essence of my family dynamic. I hope it gives you a good look into the Strat family, because not only am I obsessed with science, as much as I hate to admit it I'm a big fan of my family's quirky nerdiness, too.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Ankle Update
So there have been a few more twists in the adventures of Karen's ankle. I went to my pre-op appointment last week where my doctor was going to read my MRI and CT scan. He determined that it is inconclusive what exactly is giving me pain (either the extra bone or the sprained ligament) so therefore he wouldn't perform the surgery. He then told me to wear a walking boot for 8 weeks to heal the ligament. I obviously was not very pleased with this conclusion! I went from being able to have a simple surgery to fix my problem to not even knowing what is wrong with my ankle anymore!
I decided to get a second opinion from my teammate's ankle doc, whom she really likes and recommended. So this new doctor took a look at all of my images and took a few more x rays. She determined that the ligament (which I've been wearing this stupid boot for a month now) is not what is giving me pain (which is what I've been sayin the whole time! I didn't even know that ligament was injured). She also pointed out chips of bone in the ankle joint which have come off of my tibia and fibula (the two leg bones that make up your shin), but those aren't the problem either. She thinks that the extra bone definitely broke off of my talus, and has reattached itself. However, it's possible it could have reattached itself in a different position, therefore getting in the way of my ankle's range of motion and causing me pain. The procedure to fix this would be to simply remove the extra bone, approximately 3 weeks recovery, which was the original surgery I had planned on getting all season.
OR, she thinks that I actually fractured my talus and since it went undiagnosed it wasn't allowed to heal properly. Normally, bones take 6 weeks to heal, especially in young people. It's possible that it never fully healed and the blood supply could be cut off to the bone (bones have a lot of blood vessels running through them). She said worst case scenario, if I keep running and doing high impact things my talus may actually collapse on itself. Scary. The procedure to fix this would be to actual drill into the bone, which would stimulate bone growth and ossification. I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure that would mean at least 6 weeks in a non weight bearing cast, plus more recovery time on top of that.
So, next week I am getting a bone scan. I wasn't really sure exactly what this entailed, so I went to WebMD. "For a bone scan, a radioactive tracer substance is injected into a vein in the arm. The tracer then travels through the bloodstream and into the bones. This process may take several hours. A special camera takes pictures of the tracer in the bones. This helps show cell activity and function in the bones. Areas that absorb little or no amount of tracer appear as dark or "cold" spots, which may indicate a lack of blood supply to the bone (bone infarction) or the presence of certain types of cancer. Areas of rapid bone growth or repair absorb increased amounts of the tracer and show up as bright or "hot" spots in the pictures. Hot spots may indicate problems such as arthritis, the presence of a tumor, a fracture, or an infection."
So based upon the bone scan, the doctor says she will be able to determine what treatment will solve my problem. I went to the hospital today to pick up the initial x rays I had done the night of the injury. The two men working there were somewhat confused as to why I needed x rays that were taken over a year ago.... I told them it confused me, too! Hopefully these can help rule out some more possibilities of the mysterious ankle injury.
I decided to get a second opinion from my teammate's ankle doc, whom she really likes and recommended. So this new doctor took a look at all of my images and took a few more x rays. She determined that the ligament (which I've been wearing this stupid boot for a month now) is not what is giving me pain (which is what I've been sayin the whole time! I didn't even know that ligament was injured). She also pointed out chips of bone in the ankle joint which have come off of my tibia and fibula (the two leg bones that make up your shin), but those aren't the problem either. She thinks that the extra bone definitely broke off of my talus, and has reattached itself. However, it's possible it could have reattached itself in a different position, therefore getting in the way of my ankle's range of motion and causing me pain. The procedure to fix this would be to simply remove the extra bone, approximately 3 weeks recovery, which was the original surgery I had planned on getting all season.
OR, she thinks that I actually fractured my talus and since it went undiagnosed it wasn't allowed to heal properly. Normally, bones take 6 weeks to heal, especially in young people. It's possible that it never fully healed and the blood supply could be cut off to the bone (bones have a lot of blood vessels running through them). She said worst case scenario, if I keep running and doing high impact things my talus may actually collapse on itself. Scary. The procedure to fix this would be to actual drill into the bone, which would stimulate bone growth and ossification. I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure that would mean at least 6 weeks in a non weight bearing cast, plus more recovery time on top of that.
So, next week I am getting a bone scan. I wasn't really sure exactly what this entailed, so I went to WebMD. "For a bone scan, a radioactive tracer substance is injected into a vein in the arm. The tracer then travels through the bloodstream and into the bones. This process may take several hours. A special camera takes pictures of the tracer in the bones. This helps show cell activity and function in the bones. Areas that absorb little or no amount of tracer appear as dark or "cold" spots, which may indicate a lack of blood supply to the bone (bone infarction) or the presence of certain types of cancer. Areas of rapid bone growth or repair absorb increased amounts of the tracer and show up as bright or "hot" spots in the pictures. Hot spots may indicate problems such as arthritis, the presence of a tumor, a fracture, or an infection."
So based upon the bone scan, the doctor says she will be able to determine what treatment will solve my problem. I went to the hospital today to pick up the initial x rays I had done the night of the injury. The two men working there were somewhat confused as to why I needed x rays that were taken over a year ago.... I told them it confused me, too! Hopefully these can help rule out some more possibilities of the mysterious ankle injury.
Monday, November 22, 2010
My Obsession: Sport Science
So, I would like to share with everyone a show that I love called "Sport Science." Barely any of my friends have heard of it, so I really wanted to spread the word. This show is a fascinating mix between athletics and physics. They slowly break down all of the minor components of the physiology that goes into simple (and not so simple) athletic movements. The show brings in all sorts of professional athletes, most of which are pretty famous, and has them run the tests for the scientists to analyze. There is a lot of interesting and unique technology that provides all of the data. So here's a taste of a few of my favorite episodes, in order to let you get a better feel of this show.
Who can squeeze tighter, a boa constrictor or a wrestler giving a head lock?
Who can run backwards faster, a sports car in reverse or a corner back?
Who can run faster forwards, an ostrich or a wide receiver? (they seriously had an ostrich)
How well can a receiver catch a football in a variety of circumstances, including being hung upside down?
What types of lies can a golfer hit a ball out of? Sand, popcorn, jello, spaghetti?
Who can punch harder, male or female boxers of the same size?
How much can a person eat in food eating contests?
How difficult is it to bite off someone's ear like Mike Tyson did?
How force is required to break a backboard?
Who can run faster, a zombie or a golfer? (just kidding, that ones from you J Groom)
What's really embarrassing, is that I recalled all of these episodes from memory... in about 2 minutes. Anyway, to pay homage to this great show, and maintain the theme of my blog, I really want to share this episode. It compares the force of blocking a punt in football to standing in a wall and blocking a shot in soccer. As a defender, it's REALLY important to block shots. Granted no one we play against can kick the ball as freakishly hard as the pro in this episode, but it still sucks to be so vulnerable! Hope you like it! You can find more clips of episodes on youtube if you're interested!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Meet Dubs
Meet Marianne Dubinsky, also known as Dubs. She attended Blacksburg High School where she ran track and played soccer. She is now a junior at UMW and plays defense for our team. Her freshman year, she gained all-conference honors after scoring two goals and adding one assist. She also started all 19 games. Dubs didn't play her sophomore year, but this past year she consistently started, playing both midfield and defense.
Marianne is a jokster. She tells the best jokes, always has a smile on her face, and wears a lot of colorful clothes. She's just a fun person to be around! She's very smart and a hard worker, both on and off the field. The past week we have been doing baseline fitness testing. Dubs tore apart the 1.5 mile run, finished 40 seconds faster than the 2nd best time. So far she can do the most pull ups on the team, too! Dubs is an athlete, that's for sure. I'm not sure what her major is, but I do know at one point it was math, then chemistry. I also think she wants to go into food science. Maybe her mind changed after she had been working at McDonald's for a few weeks (she worked at mcd's across from jepson before they started the renovation on it). Basically, dubs is awesome. How many of your friends have worked at McDonald's?
Marianne is a jokster. She tells the best jokes, always has a smile on her face, and wears a lot of colorful clothes. She's just a fun person to be around! She's very smart and a hard worker, both on and off the field. The past week we have been doing baseline fitness testing. Dubs tore apart the 1.5 mile run, finished 40 seconds faster than the 2nd best time. So far she can do the most pull ups on the team, too! Dubs is an athlete, that's for sure. I'm not sure what her major is, but I do know at one point it was math, then chemistry. I also think she wants to go into food science. Maybe her mind changed after she had been working at McDonald's for a few weeks (she worked at mcd's across from jepson before they started the renovation on it). Basically, dubs is awesome. How many of your friends have worked at McDonald's?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Fan Fiction: Part 2
So, I just spent an hour at seaco with Amy, where we were brainstorming our obsessions. I learned that Amy LOVES Gilmore Girls, french fries, some book series about a bounty hunter, the twilight books, Outback, The Notebook, Mean Girls, Taylor Swift.... the list goes on! She immediately would get extremely enthusiastic and would slightly bounce up and down in her seat from excitement. I, on the other hand, racked my brain for something that would make me jump for joy like her. We decided that I love eating, but don't like to cook. I love dancing, but don't know much about music. I know nothing about celebrities or movies or tv shows. I'm pretty lame, apparently.
Something that I really like to do, on the other hand, is explain to Amy (despite her lack of interest) the biology and chemistry behind all sorts of things, mostly fitness related stuff. Such as why bones heal faster than ligaments, why lactic acid is produced in muscles, even how we have evolved from monkeys. Once I even explained to her why ice cream gets slightly less sweet and becomes gritty over time. I love talking about this stuff! It was around this time, that my mind took me back several years ago to an AWESOME show that I would record on DVR all the time. This show is "Sports Science." I don't think any more episodes are being produced, but for the one month where I think I watched every one of them, I loved it. So there is my obsession: analyzing the science behind everything, but more specifically the science of sports. All of which, was captured in a TV show. Amy's gonna be mad, I'll probably dig up a lot more stuff to explain to her!
Something that I really like to do, on the other hand, is explain to Amy (despite her lack of interest) the biology and chemistry behind all sorts of things, mostly fitness related stuff. Such as why bones heal faster than ligaments, why lactic acid is produced in muscles, even how we have evolved from monkeys. Once I even explained to her why ice cream gets slightly less sweet and becomes gritty over time. I love talking about this stuff! It was around this time, that my mind took me back several years ago to an AWESOME show that I would record on DVR all the time. This show is "Sports Science." I don't think any more episodes are being produced, but for the one month where I think I watched every one of them, I loved it. So there is my obsession: analyzing the science behind everything, but more specifically the science of sports. All of which, was captured in a TV show. Amy's gonna be mad, I'll probably dig up a lot more stuff to explain to her!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Fan Fiction
Ugh. I'm trying to think of something, anything that I'm crazy about for our last project. I've come to the conclusion that, I'm not obsessed with anything. Ask any of my good friends, I'm really not! This is kind of embarrassing because according to Prof Groom's prompt, obsession is what drives the internet and it's creativity. Soo.. sorry I'm not contributing my share. So I don't really watch any shows frequently... I don't have a favorite song or artist or movie. I'm very nonchalant about pop culture. I guess I do really like to dance... and I'd dance around in my room to nsync when I was younger. So if we have to create some sort or mash up again, maybe I'd do something about dancing and music videos or something..? I also like watching football, but I haven't been good at following my skins lately (ugh, last night. now that was embarassing) so I can't honestly say I'm obsessed with them. I kinda feel like I'm going to struggle with this last assignment due to my lack of obsession :(
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Movie Mashup- How to Train Your Mean Girl
I definitely struggled with this assignment a bit. The windows move maker didn't have all of the features that I wanted, and this limited me on how much editing I could do (within our time frame and without me going nuts). I had tons of ideas in my head of where I wanted things, what order, a second added here, a couple seconds deleted, but I couldn't quite make them a reality. I got pretty close, but I'm not completely satisfied with the outcome. Hopefully you can pick up on my idea of "How to Train Your Mean Girl." On a side note, if you haven't seen How to Train Your Dragon... GO SEE IT. It's absolutely one of my favorite movies. I wanted to use it as my video (not audio) but it didn't quite make sense that way. Hope you like it!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Don't surf under the influence...
I stumbled upon this quote in my "quotes of the day" on my computer....
"The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect." -Esther Dyson
I thought this completely applied to our class, and I also think it's very true. I had no idea who Esther Dyson was, so I decided to use the wonderful tool called wikipedia to look her up. She is a journalist and commentator on emerging digital technology, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist from Switzerland. Other than that, there's not much else about her besides her very interesting view of both the internet and alcohol.
On another note...(this is slightly a different spin on what the quote is saying) is it possible to become addicted to the internet? Do we rely on it, and have we become dependent of it? Is it possible to have "internet-ism"? Is there such a thing as being on the internet too much? Of course there are no rehab centers for over-use of the internet.. should there be?
One thought jumps into my head initially, that kids (or adults) stay up waay too late playing video games, tweeting, facebook stalking, etc. I think it's definitely possible that some people are addicted to the internet and technology. Is this just the new social norm or is it becoming an actual problem?
"The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect." -Esther Dyson
I thought this completely applied to our class, and I also think it's very true. I had no idea who Esther Dyson was, so I decided to use the wonderful tool called wikipedia to look her up. She is a journalist and commentator on emerging digital technology, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist from Switzerland. Other than that, there's not much else about her besides her very interesting view of both the internet and alcohol.
On another note...(this is slightly a different spin on what the quote is saying) is it possible to become addicted to the internet? Do we rely on it, and have we become dependent of it? Is it possible to have "internet-ism"? Is there such a thing as being on the internet too much? Of course there are no rehab centers for over-use of the internet.. should there be?
One thought jumps into my head initially, that kids (or adults) stay up waay too late playing video games, tweeting, facebook stalking, etc. I think it's definitely possible that some people are addicted to the internet and technology. Is this just the new social norm or is it becoming an actual problem?
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Booted.
So, I recently spoke to my doctor who will be doing my ankle surgery. I got an MRI two weeks ago as a pre-surgery procedure, so my doctor could have a better idea of what's going on in my ankle before he cuts me open. Initially when I got the MRI, he read it very briefly at his house and said that there wasn't much to talk about it. However, when I spoke to him on the phone on Monday, he says that the MRI shows that I have sprained ligaments in my ankle! He told me it was my deltoid ligament, see the picture below, but I have absolutely no pain or swelling there which is why I'm kind of confused.
Anyway, my doctor told me to wear a walking boot in order to heal the ligaments. He made me an appointment to get a CT scan (think 3D x-ray) to take a better look at the extra bone I have. He's now not sure if I really need the surgery (I think I do) so he wants to reevaluate me after the CT scan next monday.
So, I'm kinda bummed because well, first off, the boot is really annoying and people stare at it. But I'm also missing out on our teams 2v2 tournament, soccer tennis tournament, and a few other fun things. Also, I wanted to be able to go running and to the gym before my surgery. Looks like that won't be happening :( On the bright side, this twist gives me more to blog about!
Anyway, my doctor told me to wear a walking boot in order to heal the ligaments. He made me an appointment to get a CT scan (think 3D x-ray) to take a better look at the extra bone I have. He's now not sure if I really need the surgery (I think I do) so he wants to reevaluate me after the CT scan next monday.
So, I'm kinda bummed because well, first off, the boot is really annoying and people stare at it. But I'm also missing out on our teams 2v2 tournament, soccer tennis tournament, and a few other fun things. Also, I wanted to be able to go running and to the gym before my surgery. Looks like that won't be happening :( On the bright side, this twist gives me more to blog about!
Monday, November 1, 2010
that's all folks
Well, our season has come to an end. Our 3-1 loss to St Marys this past weekend knocked us out of the tournament. We just weren't clicking during the game. We were scored on early in the first half and came back to tie it up before halftime. In the second half we had several opportunities (as did they) but we couldn't finish our shots (and they did). On a more positive note, Chrissy, one of the three seniors, scored our lone goal, so at least she could finish out her season on a high note. Anyway, it was a bumpy season, but overall I think we did alright. Didn't make it quite as far as we had hoped, but there's always next year.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Meet Tina Brehm
Tina is our AMAZING goalie! She's probably one of the most important players on the field, and she's one of my best friends, so she gets the next bio :)
Tina is a junior from Springfield, VA where she attended Robert E Lee high school. She played soccer, basketball, volleyball, AND football! Yup, she was their kicker, but during practice she worked with the wide receivers. At UMW she is a double biology/psychology major and plans on going to veterinary school. Tina is probably the nicest person on the planet. She is extremely selfless and very caring. At practice, if you forgot socks...Tina has extras. Need sunscreen, a hair tie, a band aid, tissues? You ask Tina and she will ALWAYS have it. Tina is kind of a big deal. Here are some stats from our 2009 season where she was our starting goalie as a sophomore.
Tina gained first team all-conference honors after posting 8 shut outs. She had 101 saves and a .808 save percentage (81% of shots on goal were saved). She allowed only 24 goals all season, with a 1.16 goals-against average (in an average game, only 1.16 goals were scored on us). She made 12 saves in the CAC tournament quarterfinal win over St. Mary's, and a career-high 18 saves against Salisbury in the semifinal game. Basically, Tina had an awesome season. I'm so glad we're the same year because I don't know what I'd do on the field without her!
Tina is a junior from Springfield, VA where she attended Robert E Lee high school. She played soccer, basketball, volleyball, AND football! Yup, she was their kicker, but during practice she worked with the wide receivers. At UMW she is a double biology/psychology major and plans on going to veterinary school. Tina is probably the nicest person on the planet. She is extremely selfless and very caring. At practice, if you forgot socks...Tina has extras. Need sunscreen, a hair tie, a band aid, tissues? You ask Tina and she will ALWAYS have it. Tina is kind of a big deal. Here are some stats from our 2009 season where she was our starting goalie as a sophomore.
Tina gained first team all-conference honors after posting 8 shut outs. She had 101 saves and a .808 save percentage (81% of shots on goal were saved). She allowed only 24 goals all season, with a 1.16 goals-against average (in an average game, only 1.16 goals were scored on us). She made 12 saves in the CAC tournament quarterfinal win over St. Mary's, and a career-high 18 saves against Salisbury in the semifinal game. Basically, Tina had an awesome season. I'm so glad we're the same year because I don't know what I'd do on the field without her!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
2010 CAC Tournament
So, we tied St Mary's last Saturday, 1-1. Not a bad game, but it really would have helped our standings to have won. Anyway, all of the regular season games are finished, and we are ranked 6th. Here are all of the standings:
1- Stevenson (6-1-1)
2- Frostburg (6-2-0)
3- St. Mary's (5-2-1)
4- York (5-3-0)
5- Salisbury (5-3-0)
6- Mary Washington (3-3-2)
7- Marymount (2-6-0)
8- Hood (1-7-0)
9- Wesley (1-7-0)
As you can see, the top 5 teams are all really close. I'd also like to point out that yesterday we played Hood. We lost 1-0. They packed five defenders in the back! Essentially, the game didn't matter for standings at all. Win or lose we would be 6th, and they still don't make the tournament (top 6 make it). Sooo I'm not going to say we didn't really try that hard, but we were kinda nonchalant going into the game. And there goal was pure luck. Jus sayin. However, from here on out, it's do or die. If we win, we advance. If we lose, the season's over. Wish us luck!
Anyway, here's the break down for the tournament.
1 and 2 both get byes in the first round, so they are guaranteed a semifinal game at home. 3 plays 6 (at 3), and 4 plays 5 (at 4). So, here you can see how higher rankings are important, because it means you get home games. That means no sitting on a bus for several hours, no eating on the road, and no obnoxious fans. We will be traveling to St Mary's this Saturday. I think there is a very good chance we can win this game, but I don't want to talk about it too much because I don't want to jinx it! We're planning a slightly different formation, and I think it can definitely work.
Last year, we were 4 and St Mary's was 5. It was a soaking wet, muddy game. We won in overtime 2-1 and advanced to play at Salisbury, who was ranked first. More on the tournament last year later....
1- Stevenson (6-1-1)
2- Frostburg (6-2-0)
3- St. Mary's (5-2-1)
4- York (5-3-0)
5- Salisbury (5-3-0)
6- Mary Washington (3-3-2)
7- Marymount (2-6-0)
8- Hood (1-7-0)
9- Wesley (1-7-0)
As you can see, the top 5 teams are all really close. I'd also like to point out that yesterday we played Hood. We lost 1-0. They packed five defenders in the back! Essentially, the game didn't matter for standings at all. Win or lose we would be 6th, and they still don't make the tournament (top 6 make it). Sooo I'm not going to say we didn't really try that hard, but we were kinda nonchalant going into the game. And there goal was pure luck. Jus sayin. However, from here on out, it's do or die. If we win, we advance. If we lose, the season's over. Wish us luck!
Anyway, here's the break down for the tournament.
1 and 2 both get byes in the first round, so they are guaranteed a semifinal game at home. 3 plays 6 (at 3), and 4 plays 5 (at 4). So, here you can see how higher rankings are important, because it means you get home games. That means no sitting on a bus for several hours, no eating on the road, and no obnoxious fans. We will be traveling to St Mary's this Saturday. I think there is a very good chance we can win this game, but I don't want to talk about it too much because I don't want to jinx it! We're planning a slightly different formation, and I think it can definitely work.
Last year, we were 4 and St Mary's was 5. It was a soaking wet, muddy game. We won in overtime 2-1 and advanced to play at Salisbury, who was ranked first. More on the tournament last year later....
Friday, October 22, 2010
Homecoming.
The weekend is finally here. After what felt like the longest week ever, it's finally Friday night. Tomorrow's game against St. Mary's is huge. We're currently 3-2-1 in conference. With two more wins (tomorrow and next tuesday at Hood) we will be 5-2-1. With this record we will most likely be ranked 3rd in the conference. Assuming we win, there is only one game which will throw this off. Salisbury and Frostburg (the two teams we have lost to) are playing each other tomorrow as well. I have a feeling frostburg will win this one. They are currently both 5-2. So, it really doesn't matter who wins, but someone has to win; it can't be a draw. If it is, three teams will be 5-2-1. Stevenson has just about clinched 1st place, but 2nd-6th are still up for grabs.
If that was too confusing, go to the CAC website which will sum up all of the standings.
Soooo.... 1) it's homecoming.
2) we need your support!
3) why wouldn't you come to this game? Maybe you want to go to the guys game, and watching two full games of soccer sounds awful (I admit it, it can get kinda boring). However, if you hydrate yourself properly and are shouting obscenities it probably will be pretty fun.
4) I will personally guarantee that I will wreck someone tomorrow. And I have a good feeling that Amy will score.
5) they just painted an eagle onto our field, so all you artsy people should come check that out
6) Let's have some school spirit, I'm only asking for one weekend, that's not too much!
If you want to see some of this
then be there tomorrow, 1pm at the battlegrounds.
If that was too confusing, go to the CAC website which will sum up all of the standings.
Soooo.... 1) it's homecoming.
2) we need your support!
3) why wouldn't you come to this game? Maybe you want to go to the guys game, and watching two full games of soccer sounds awful (I admit it, it can get kinda boring). However, if you hydrate yourself properly and are shouting obscenities it probably will be pretty fun.
4) I will personally guarantee that I will wreck someone tomorrow. And I have a good feeling that Amy will score.
5) they just painted an eagle onto our field, so all you artsy people should come check that out
6) Let's have some school spirit, I'm only asking for one weekend, that's not too much!
If you want to see some of this
then be there tomorrow, 1pm at the battlegrounds.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
U-10 girls team supports the Eagles
A local under-10 girls team came out to our game vs York last weekend. They got to stand on the sidelines and be ball girls for our game, and we did a meet-and-greet with them afterwards. They recently won a tournament in Virginia Beach and wore their 1st place medals to our game! One of the players, Madeline, her mom is a chemistry professor here at UMW. She is currently me and two of my teammate's biochemistry professor, and Amy has her for general chemistry this semester, too. They were a great group of girls, hopefully they will make it out to a few more games!
First, please notice that I'm sitting at the front left with my leg sticking out to the side.
Second, please ATTEMPT to find me. You can see my leg sticking out, but I literally vanished. And yes, getting jumped on by five 10 year olds and several 20 year olds is extremely painful.
First, please notice that I'm sitting at the front left with my leg sticking out to the side.
Second, please ATTEMPT to find me. You can see my leg sticking out, but I literally vanished. And yes, getting jumped on by five 10 year olds and several 20 year olds is extremely painful.
Erin Reynolds, #3
Erin Reynolds is a freshman forward at UMW. She is from Oakton, VA where she attended Oakton High School (same as me!). Erin was also on the swim team for the cougars and advanced to the state swim meet three time. Erin is undecided on a major, but will be working with the elementary education program.
So far this season Erin has one goal against NC Wesleyan and two assists, one of which came in our recent match against Stevenson (video below). Erin is playing through an ankle injury which will require surgery after the season. Once she's up to speed, she, as our head coach said, "has the potential to be an All-American." Erin will be doing a lot of great things for our program, and we're so excited to have her as a key component of our team.
Erin will receive the ball on the far side of the field from a throw in, dribble towards the end line, and cross the ball across the goalmouth to junior Becky Clark. This goal tied the game at 1-1 in the beginning of the second half.
So far this season Erin has one goal against NC Wesleyan and two assists, one of which came in our recent match against Stevenson (video below). Erin is playing through an ankle injury which will require surgery after the season. Once she's up to speed, she, as our head coach said, "has the potential to be an All-American." Erin will be doing a lot of great things for our program, and we're so excited to have her as a key component of our team.
Erin will receive the ball on the far side of the field from a throw in, dribble towards the end line, and cross the ball across the goalmouth to junior Becky Clark. This goal tied the game at 1-1 in the beginning of the second half.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Video from NC Wesleyan game
As promised, here is a video clip from our match two weeks ago. This is the second half of the game and we are wearing blue. Two goals were scored in this half. The first comes at about 1:10 on the video. Freshman Erin Reynolds scores on a break away. The goal that I scored is at 7:30, assisted by senior captain Sarah Tryon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x92vUeOaIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x92vUeOaIA
Sunday, October 17, 2010
what's next?
Sorry, got a little carried away with that last post. We played a great game yesterday. Our team finally "clicked." We moved the ball really well in the first half, which paid off because we were up 2 goals at halftime. The first goal was a long cross from outside the box which Amy deflected off of her head right inside the back post. The second goal came about fifteen minutes later. Lindsay Bennett, a freshmen, drilled a ball on the ground from just inside the 18. Morgan Thompson did a great job setting a pick on the goalie (...not really sure if that's legal..) and the ball slid right into the net. It was extremely windy yesterday, and it was blowing in our favor in the first half. The second half we struggled a bit. We couldn't quite find out rhythm again, but we kept up the work rate which was critical. We made a few mistakes in the back, but covered for each other really well. All in all, it was a good game for us; we really needed a solid win.
Next, we head to Stevenson University in MD on Tuesday. When we played them last year, we lost 3-2 in overtime. We played them again in the conference championship game, where we won in penalty kicks. This will definitely be a great match and another win here would certainly help us in the CAC standings.
This is our team hanging out at me and Amy's house after our win!
Next, we head to Stevenson University in MD on Tuesday. When we played them last year, we lost 3-2 in overtime. We played them again in the conference championship game, where we won in penalty kicks. This will definitely be a great match and another win here would certainly help us in the CAC standings.
This is our team hanging out at me and Amy's house after our win!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
home game tomorrow!
We have an important game vs York tomorrow! They are currently ranked 3rd in the conference (we are 6th, but haven't played as many games as everyone else...). We have four more games left before the conference tournament, and it is critical that we do well!! We could definitely use some support this weekend and next weekend at homecoming! Come out the Battlegrounds off of Hanover at 1pm on Saturday! Go Wash!
Meet Emmalee Denkler
Our second bio goes to # 13, because her dad is the one that takes all of the awesome pictures I've been posting here! So, a big thank you goes to Mr. Denkler!
Denkler (I don't call her Emmalee, that just seems weird now) is a sophomore from Arlington, VA. She attended Yorktown high school, where she played soccer and basketball. As a freshmen, Denkler immediately made an impact playing defense (with me!). She started all twenty games, and was nominated to first team all-conference at the end of the season. Denkler is a very smart, athletic player. She is great at winning balls in the air and loves to take the ball forward from the back. I'm pretty sure she has the longest throw in on the team, too! She wears super cool head gear because last year in the semifinal CAC game, big ol' tina from salisbury had a dirty hit from behind and gave Denk a concussion. But we won, so tina can suck it (we don't like her very much). Anyway, Denkler has been playing defense and some center midfield this year, too. Although when she's at midfield, I really miss her in the back!
Denkler (I don't call her Emmalee, that just seems weird now) is a sophomore from Arlington, VA. She attended Yorktown high school, where she played soccer and basketball. As a freshmen, Denkler immediately made an impact playing defense (with me!). She started all twenty games, and was nominated to first team all-conference at the end of the season. Denkler is a very smart, athletic player. She is great at winning balls in the air and loves to take the ball forward from the back. I'm pretty sure she has the longest throw in on the team, too! She wears super cool head gear because last year in the semifinal CAC game, big ol' tina from salisbury had a dirty hit from behind and gave Denk a concussion. But we won, so tina can suck it (we don't like her very much). Anyway, Denkler has been playing defense and some center midfield this year, too. Although when she's at midfield, I really miss her in the back!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Social Network
What a great idea, making a movie about the invention of possibly the greatest social network of all time. Most movies about historical events are created decades or even hundreds of years after the event occurred (think Blackhawk Down, 300). This one was made less than 10 years later. Good thing too, because it was our generation that essentially made facebook what it is. A generation ten or twenty years from now may not appreciate this invention as much as we would. Besides, facebook, yes I'm going to say it, may not even exist in ten or twenty years from now. Weird thought, right? I'm really curious to see how it will continue to evolve.
About the movie though, at the end it said that Mark had to pay 65 million dollars to the Winklevoss brothers. If he had originally fessed up to stealing their idea, what would his repercussions be? Would he have to turn the company over? Would it only have been maybe $6,500 at the time? I'm not sure how Intellectual Property Rights are enforced, but I'm curious as to how an early confession would have affected the outcome of the company. Anyway, I really liked the movie and it actually made me appreciate facebook and the business side behind it.
About the movie though, at the end it said that Mark had to pay 65 million dollars to the Winklevoss brothers. If he had originally fessed up to stealing their idea, what would his repercussions be? Would he have to turn the company over? Would it only have been maybe $6,500 at the time? I'm not sure how Intellectual Property Rights are enforced, but I'm curious as to how an early confession would have affected the outcome of the company. Anyway, I really liked the movie and it actually made me appreciate facebook and the business side behind it.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Airborne School- a story from papa strat
This is a story told by my dad of when he attended airborne school when he was in the army.
The first parts follow our assignment of finding an "uninteresting story," but if you listen all the way to the end, I just had to add a slightly more interesting piece about the blackhats.
Enjoy!
dad's story
The first parts follow our assignment of finding an "uninteresting story," but if you listen all the way to the end, I just had to add a slightly more interesting piece about the blackhats.
Enjoy!
dad's story
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Chrissy Reardon, #10
Meet Chrissy. She is a senior midfielder and captain. She is the first of many player bios I'll be doing this semester. She is the lucky first bio because it was Chrissy that first came up with the nickname strat cat. So, she rightfully earns the first one!
Chrissy is a senior from Springfield, VA where she attended Robert E. Lee high school. She played both soccer and basketball. At UMW she is a psychology major. During her first three years she has scored seven goals, one of which was in the 2009 NCAA tournament. She has scored two goals so far this season. Chrissy is a fantastic captain and is one of the hardest workers on the team. She sends emails to all of us telling us what practice uniforms to wear each and every day. Now that's a lot of responsibility! Chrissy is a camp counselor over the summer and she can also play the ukulele. Go #10!
victory in NC, off to PA
Finally back on track! We beat NC Wesleyan yesterday 5-1. It was really nice to score some goals and possess the ball. They weren't a bad team, but they did have a very small roster! I think they only had about three subs on the sideline, compared to our sixteen. We had five different people score: Tryon, Rader, Sunny, Erin, and me! I got my first collegiate goal yesterday, really exciting! Everyone got on the field yesterday, including our freshmen second string goalie, Maddy. We were all ready glad she got on the field for the first time.
Saturday, when everyone else is going home for fall break, our team will be headed to Pennsylvania to play Haverford College. Just like NCW, this game isn't important for conference standings, but it is important for our team's confidence and rhythm. Gotta keep the goals coming!
Saturday, when everyone else is going home for fall break, our team will be headed to Pennsylvania to play Haverford College. Just like NCW, this game isn't important for conference standings, but it is important for our team's confidence and rhythm. Gotta keep the goals coming!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Project Proposal
For my project, I'm going to be taking my readers through a typical varsity soccer season at UMW. I'll be including when our upcoming matches are, who we are playing, and what happens in the games. I also hope to have a few player bios and introduce you to our team! Once we get a little farther into conference play, I'll be detailing how the conference tournament works and where each school is ranked. Hopefully I'll even be able to tell you about how the NCAA tournament functions, as well. However, the season will eventually come to an end. After that, I'll be blogging about the ankle surgery I'll most likely be having in late November.
Go Wash!
Go Wash!
Down to NC tomorrow..
Lost on Saturday 1-0. Don't really want to talk about it.
Tomorrow we're headed to North Carolina Wesleyan. Should be a good game, but doesn't really matter for our standings. We need this game to build our confidence and start scoring some goals! We've been in a rut the past few weeks so hopefully we can build out of it tomorrow and this Saturday at Haverford. Then it's fall break! Finally! I think our whole team could definitely use a few days off to get some extra rest. I know I could.
Also, I have my doctor's appointment over fall break to set up a surgery date for my ankle. eek! Gotta get through two games first. Wish us luck!
Tomorrow we're headed to North Carolina Wesleyan. Should be a good game, but doesn't really matter for our standings. We need this game to build our confidence and start scoring some goals! We've been in a rut the past few weeks so hopefully we can build out of it tomorrow and this Saturday at Haverford. Then it's fall break! Finally! I think our whole team could definitely use a few days off to get some extra rest. I know I could.
Also, I have my doctor's appointment over fall break to set up a surgery date for my ankle. eek! Gotta get through two games first. Wish us luck!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Big Game Tomorrow!!
On Saturday, the team will be heading to Salisbury, MD to take on the Seagulls! Salisbury is a huuuge conference rival for just about every sport at UMW. Our team has a lot of history with them. Last year during the regular season we lost to them 2-1 in overtime. At the end of the regular season they were seeded 1st, and we were 4th. After winning the first round in the CAC tournament, we headed to salisbury to play in the semifinal game. We were out shot about 35-7, but they couldn't score. With the score at 0-0, we went into overtime and still no goals were scored. After a series of penalty kicks, they STILL didn't score a single goal, but we did, so we advanced to the conference championship game. They obviously were not pleased being beat on their home turf!
Salisbury is a very important game and getting a W here is crucial for our conference standings. It'll be a hard game, but I think we can pull it off!
Salisbury is a very important game and getting a W here is crucial for our conference standings. It'll be a hard game, but I think we can pull it off!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Daily Shoot Recap
After a long week of dailyshoot.com photography, it's time to choose some winners! These are my favorite photos from each day.
Day 1: Foliage
I really like the lighting in this one, and the color of the bricks.
Day 2: Complimentary items
Love the background story about a beer suggestion that compliments the dessert! Also like the color of the wooden table/seating.
Day 3: Something you carry with you
I really like how the ear phones are arranged. The iPod is a cool color, too!
Day 4: Something soft
Adorable! If this thing isn't soft, I don't know what is. Beautiful blue sky, too.
Day 5: Use a mirror
Am I allowed to like my own the best? I just really like the colors and repetition in this one.
Day 6: Chaos and disorganization
I absolutely love this picture. The colors and shapes are so great, it turned out really well.
Day 7: Symmetry
The color editing looks great. I also like how this is very representative of campus!
Day 8: Stack of books or magazines
I like how there are some books that are neat an organized, and others that aren't perfectly aligned. Cool touch! Also think the black shelf and book look good together.
Day 1: Foliage
I really like the lighting in this one, and the color of the bricks.
Day 2: Complimentary items
Love the background story about a beer suggestion that compliments the dessert! Also like the color of the wooden table/seating.
Day 3: Something you carry with you
I really like how the ear phones are arranged. The iPod is a cool color, too!
Day 4: Something soft
Adorable! If this thing isn't soft, I don't know what is. Beautiful blue sky, too.
Day 5: Use a mirror
Am I allowed to like my own the best? I just really like the colors and repetition in this one.
Day 6: Chaos and disorganization
I absolutely love this picture. The colors and shapes are so great, it turned out really well.
Day 7: Symmetry
The color editing looks great. I also like how this is very representative of campus!
Day 8: Stack of books or magazines
I like how there are some books that are neat an organized, and others that aren't perfectly aligned. Cool touch! Also think the black shelf and book look good together.
Friday, September 24, 2010
The Daily Shoot 8
A stack of magazine/newspapers/ads that were on our kitchen table. Before they were thrown away, they were captured in my daily shoot.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The Daily Shoot 7
Symmetry! This one was challenging for me. Once I decided to play with food, it became fun :) One of my favorite things to do is to waste time and people watch... I bet you can guess where!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Following in her Footsteps
While researching my rare ankle injury (os trigonum syndrome), I stumbled across a website about a ballet dancer named Michelle who had the same injury. Michelle blogged/posted images about her injury, surgery, and rehab. I practically read the entire thing, because I had no idea what the recovery from the surgery would be like. Her posts and pictures really opened my eyes about the entire thing. Not all doctors prescribe the same rehab treatment, but I didn't realize there was a chance I could be in a cast for several weeks! I had surgery on my foot two years ago and had a nerve from the ball of my foot removed. I was able to walk three days later. Getting a nerve removed, bone removed.. same thing, right? Wrong! I still need to talk to my doctor, but her posts really got me thinking about when I should have the surgery done and made me realize what an awful winter break I'm going to have! I'm not quite sure if this blog counts as an image story, but it certainly has impacted me and I'm really glad that I found it.
Michelle's Website
This injury is very common in ballet, soccer, football, and gymnastics. When the foot is pointed, the os trigonum bone is pinched between the distal tibia and the calcaneus (or in plain english, the heel and back of the ankle). It sometimes is mistaken as an achilles tendon injury. The surgery basically consists of just removing the bone, which I think is a little smaller than a marble.
Michelle's story has been both intimidating and reassuring. It's scary in the fact that surgery is surgery is surgery. No matter how minor it is, you're still going under the knife! However, it's very comforting hearing a success story and all of the details about it. Hopefully my recovery will be just as successful!
Michelle's Website
This injury is very common in ballet, soccer, football, and gymnastics. When the foot is pointed, the os trigonum bone is pinched between the distal tibia and the calcaneus (or in plain english, the heel and back of the ankle). It sometimes is mistaken as an achilles tendon injury. The surgery basically consists of just removing the bone, which I think is a little smaller than a marble.
Michelle's story has been both intimidating and reassuring. It's scary in the fact that surgery is surgery is surgery. No matter how minor it is, you're still going under the knife! However, it's very comforting hearing a success story and all of the details about it. Hopefully my recovery will be just as successful!
The Daily Shoot 6
This prompt was kind of fun! I think my hair product picture would have worked really well, but I ended up choosing that one to use yesterday. Anyway, Amy's mom keeps our house fully stocked with candy, this is the variety we have this week!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Daily Shoot 5
"Use a mirror as a part of a composition." I thought this one was really fun! I started off using a small mirror, like one that flips open. Then I grabbed my big mirror which I never actually put up on my wall, and started trying that out. I think the pictures came out so differently, which is pretty cool. In the second picture, you can actually see the framed drawing which is in the first picture!
Which one do you like best? I haven't decided which I want to post to twitter. Or tweet. Whatever you call it.
Which one do you like best? I haven't decided which I want to post to twitter. Or tweet. Whatever you call it.
Monday, September 20, 2010
two umw victories this weekend
Another long weekend of soccer, two games, two wins! Saturday's match was against Wesley College from Delaware. After a very long, ugly first half, no goals had been scored. Our coach was NOT happy with how we were playing (no one was, really) and he took off all of our starters. By the end of the half we were playing a man down, that's how pissed he was. After a nice half time "talk" we came out and played much better in the second half. It took us not even 45 seconds to score our first goal, and we scored another 5 minutes later. The game ended 4-0.
Our second match was at Averett University in Danville, VA. We got on the bus at 6am and headed south. After the poor start to yesterday's game, we were threatened with several days of fitness if we didn't bring some intensity right from the start. We scored in the middle of the first half, but they came back with a goal several minutes later. In the second half, we dominated the possession, and finally scored with about 20 mins left. We held on to our 2-1 win, went to pizza hut, and watched a few movies on the long bus ride home.
No practice today :) but it will be a hard week leading up to our next conference game on Saturday at home against Frostburg University.
Our second match was at Averett University in Danville, VA. We got on the bus at 6am and headed south. After the poor start to yesterday's game, we were threatened with several days of fitness if we didn't bring some intensity right from the start. We scored in the middle of the first half, but they came back with a goal several minutes later. In the second half, we dominated the possession, and finally scored with about 20 mins left. We held on to our 2-1 win, went to pizza hut, and watched a few movies on the long bus ride home.
No practice today :) but it will be a hard week leading up to our next conference game on Saturday at home against Frostburg University.
The Daily Shoot 4
Another tricky theme! I love my bed, it's the softest thing of mine. I was going to take only a close up of the blanket, but I think everyone can relate to a comfy bed, so the pillow made it into the background.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The Daily Shoot 3
I don't really carry a charm of any sorts, but I definitely have my anklet on all the time! I don't quite remember when I made it... probably the beginning of the summer. Usually they don't last through soccer season, but this one's holding up pretty well!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Daily Shoot 2
This prompt was certainly much more challenging for me than the first one. I tried a few other objects, but didn't like anything that came out. I then stumbled across a few "complimentary" objects in our kitchen. It is Saturday night, after all! However, I'm staying in tonight because we have a game tomorrow.
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Daily Shoot 1
This is the first of seven daily pictures. I'm really curious to see what the next prompt will be! This plant is actually on my desk in my house, I love the stripes on the leaves!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
umw defeats randolph macon
We won our game yesterday 2-1! Our record is now 3-1-1, with our first conference match coming up on Saturday. Amy scored the first goal on a break away, with a perfectly placed shot past the keeper. Below is a picture of her getting pummeled by their gigantic defender. To celebrate, Amy and I came home and made image stories of our favorite movies. Because that's our favorite thing to do :)
A link to an article about the game: UMW Athletics
A link to an article about the game: UMW Athletics
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Adding Pictures
After a long week of having a dysfunctional blog, I'm finally getting it going again! I've been playing with backgrounds. The header is a picture of our starting line up before our game v Rowan University this past weekend. Below is another picture from the game against the nationally ranked team. It sums up what I had to do all game, track down their All-American forward, #2. Talk about a long game! We ended up losing 2-1, but were the first team to score on them all season (and #2 didn't score :) ).
Next game is tomorrow v Randolph Macon!
Next game is tomorrow v Randolph Macon!
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