Sorry for being MIA the past few days. My laptop bit the dust at a cafe on Friday night. I know it is a Windows problem and not the hard drive at least. Frankly, I got 4+ years out of it and all I wanted was for it to make it through med school. It basically did that, so I can't complain too much. I managed to get it going long enough yesterday to get most of my important stuff off of it for now, and once I replace it I can pull out the hard drive.

We also still do not have DSL. Moving really gives you a chance to evaluate your providers and our great company that we had no problems with up to this point is not distinguishing itself. They blame the phone company for not updating our # in some database. The phone company, which I know is not great on customer service, blames the DSL company. For now, the DSL company gave me a "free" dial-up account until the problem is resolved. Blogging on dial-up blows, but going to cafes and buying unwanted $4 drinks to use the Internet or driving around to look for wireless is getting old too.

In other news, I tried venison for the first time over the weekend. I am one to try out bizarre meats, and this one is not really that out there compared to others. It was just okay--kind of tough and gamey. I think I prefer bison or ostrich which lack the gamey taste and have much less fat than beef.

The graduation festivities begin this week. There are a bunch of class social events, the Senior Banquet, and loan exit counseling before the big event on Saturday. Speaking of loans, does anyone really understand their loan paperwork? There seem to be different numbers on each set I get from different sources: the school printout, the government. I guess I'll have to trust the government on this one seeing as I owe the $$$ to them. It looks like I may want to do another consolidation too. Hopefully, the session later in the week will make it all clear. Our financial aid office is quite good.

So this week I hope to order a new laptop, get DSL and cable in, get the wrinkles out of my gown for graduation without ironing, understand my loans, figure out what has to be done to register for Step 3, finish unpacking, and have some time to relax before graduation. We'll see how much I can accomplish. Once I get a new computer, or at least DSL in, hopefully I can write some of the posts I would like to do on the end of medical school.