Class is finally over. I took my final last Monday and I was pretty excited when I didn't have class this Monday! I have to say that Dr. Pasqualini did a great job of teaching this course. I went into the class caring nothing about Bio-Psych and every week she made it interesting and made real world applications about why it matters that we study Bio-Psych at all. I learned a lot and I even enjoyed learning it. Unfortunately, I bombed my final. I was so embarrassed to turn it in leaving some of the essays blank! I did pretty well on all of the other assignments so its doubtful that I did so bad as to bring me below a B in the course.
I'll share some of the interesting topics/stories we discussed.
The book Picking Cotton (a New York Times Bestseller) is about the true story of a girl named Jennifer who was raped and picked Ronald Cotton from a line-up as the her agressor. Based on her witness alone, he spends 7 years in prison before finally being released after DNA proved that he was not the man who had raped her. Both Jennifer and Cotton are now friends that tour together to speak at conferences about how memory works in the human mind and are advocates for research about working memory.
Jean Dominique-Bauby is a man who suffered a stroke and was left completely paralized except for the ability to wink with his left eye (with help, obviously). This man went on to write a book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,that was made into a movie that won a Golden Globe and four Oscar Nominations. Due to the brain monitoring, the doctors were able to confirm that he was still alive and not a "vegatable", which allowed him to communicate with his friends and family.
As an assignment, we were to find a popular press article and do a critique after reading the real research to determine if the author was objective and accurate. I found an article from the Washington Post about how childhood poverty affects the working memory of the children once they become adults. It's more than just that they have less opportunities to learn or have unavailable parents because they work two jobs, but due to the changes made by chronic stress in the brain, the children who grew up poor tested lower as adults in their working memory as those who grew up in middle class. The author deemed this important due to more families crossing into the poverty level with our current economy.
We talked about a man named HM who lost his ability to make new memories after a surgery to remove his amygdala in 1953. He could tell you directions to the house he lived in at the time of the surgery, but could not name the street at which he had currently lived for 10 years. He just recently passed away. Another man, Clive, once an accomplished musician, "wakes" up every moment to claim that now, for the first time ever, he is conscious and writes it in a journal. Moments later, he scratches out his previous writing and writes it again, only this is really the first time that he has been conscious and says that when he wrote it before, he must really have been uncounscoius. Clive lives one hundred percent in the moment and is completely unaware of his past yet he can still conduct music beautifully.
We studied about how the brain process pain and watched a documentary about a woman who fell off a cliff, shattering her leg, yet she managed to climb to help for two days never feeling pain. We watched a video about children who get an entire half of their brain removed and that they survive normally with the ability of language and thinking skills just like the rest of us. And we watched a video about people who feel pain in a limb that has been removed (referred to as a phantom limb) and why/how the brain can process the pain in a limb that is not there.
My intention was not to bore you, but to share just some of the modern day examples about why brain research and study is so relevant. Again, for me to be interested at all to even blog about this, is just a testament to the professor who worked hard at making the class enjoyable for a bunch of counseling psychology students with minimal interest in bio-psych at all.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Pictures and Videos
Here are some recent Jackson pictures and videos
Jackson's First Easter Egg Hunt
California Vacation Pictures
Spring Pictures
Miscellaneous, but still cute
Jumping Jackson
Jackson NOT rolling over
DISCLAIMER: After uploading and posting this picture, Jackson did indeed decide to roll over for me. I didn't actually see it, but he was on his back when I put him down and the next thing I knew, he was on his stomach.
My brother has been living in Dubai for the past couple of months and I was trying to get some footage to make a video to send him a video-- so that's why I was trying to get him to talk for Uncle Phil.
Jackson's First Easter Egg Hunt
California Vacation Pictures
Spring Pictures
Miscellaneous, but still cute
Jumping Jackson
Jackson NOT rolling over
DISCLAIMER: After uploading and posting this picture, Jackson did indeed decide to roll over for me. I didn't actually see it, but he was on his back when I put him down and the next thing I knew, he was on his stomach.
My brother has been living in Dubai for the past couple of months and I was trying to get some footage to make a video to send him a video-- so that's why I was trying to get him to talk for Uncle Phil.
Asthma, Ear Infections, Excema... Oh My!!!
As soon as we were finally recuperating from our vacation, Jackson started getting a nasty cold that turned into a horrible cough, wheezing, and a fever-- so we ended up in Urgent Care at the doctor's office. He had blocked airways and after asking about the family history of asthma, allergies, and excema the doctor concluded that this was probably Jackson's first encounter with asthma. Lots of babies deal with asthma when they are little and grow out of it, and we hope this will be the case. Since babies can't quite use an inhaler, we give him breathing treatments when needed. He wears a little oxygen mask and we use a nebulizer, drop in the perscription, and the medicine is like a vapor that he inhales. Doing this feels like it takes hours, but in all reality it's probably only 10-15 minutes-- but it's still a long 15 minutes!!
The whole Urgent Care, asthma diagnosis all happened on the day of my midterm.... It really threw me for a loop and it was really hard to concentrate. Fortunately, I still pulled a B on the test, and I am okay with that.
Four days after the urgent care visit, Jackson's cough was better, but he was still having horrible problems sleeping at night-- ever since our California trip. It was only at night that he was upset and during the day he was SO happy. I thought he might have an ear infection, so back to the doctor we went. Jackson did indeed have an ear infection. After only a couple of days on the antibiotic, Jackson started sleeping though most of the night again-- thank goodness!!
And while we were there, the doctor also prescribed a medicine for Jackson's excema, as it has gotten worse. So when you see blotchy, red checks in pictures-- blame his father! :) It is normally not so bad, but it flares up and down at times.
Jackson is better and he really is a healthy little guy. He is doing great and we are SO thankful that these are just minor little things that are treatable and easy to deal with. It was just that one week that we felt bombarded with all of this!! But, I suppose that is just how life goes!
The whole Urgent Care, asthma diagnosis all happened on the day of my midterm.... It really threw me for a loop and it was really hard to concentrate. Fortunately, I still pulled a B on the test, and I am okay with that.
Four days after the urgent care visit, Jackson's cough was better, but he was still having horrible problems sleeping at night-- ever since our California trip. It was only at night that he was upset and during the day he was SO happy. I thought he might have an ear infection, so back to the doctor we went. Jackson did indeed have an ear infection. After only a couple of days on the antibiotic, Jackson started sleeping though most of the night again-- thank goodness!!
And while we were there, the doctor also prescribed a medicine for Jackson's excema, as it has gotten worse. So when you see blotchy, red checks in pictures-- blame his father! :) It is normally not so bad, but it flares up and down at times.
Jackson is better and he really is a healthy little guy. He is doing great and we are SO thankful that these are just minor little things that are treatable and easy to deal with. It was just that one week that we felt bombarded with all of this!! But, I suppose that is just how life goes!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Our California Vacation
Well, our trip to California has come and gone and I am just now getting a chance to write about our vacation! We had a wonderful time, but were completely exhausted from vacationing with a baby!! Even just packing for Jackson took forever because we had to plan for every what-if with extra outfits, burp cloths, food, medicine. And then it was a mess planning to take milk on the plane and I of course forgot to take the liquids out of the bag before it went through the x-ray machine, so they had to search (mess up my organization) and do special tests on the liquids greater than 3 oz.
Jackson did fairly well on the plane, only getting fussy a time or two. On our second flight, Jackson was having a really hard time while the plane was descending and the flight attendant brought us some apple juice to dip his pacifier in and Jackson loved it and stopped fussing immediately! Unfortunately, Jackson didn't adjust as well to sleeping in a new place as he did to traveling by plane. We really didn't get much sleep as Jackson woke up nearly every hour or two, and because of the time change, he was up and ready to play around 6:00am.
On Thursday, Grandpa, Derek, Jackson and I toured the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. I don't even like jelly beans, but it was just SO interesting to see the process of how they are made! I had no idea it takes between 9-21 days to make a jelly bean. After the tour, Grandpa took us up to Lake Berryessa. It was a beautiful drive in the Califronia countryside. On our way back, we drove by tons of orchards. I was bummed that the trees weren't in bloom, but it was still so neat to see!
The next day, we all drove down to Vallejo to catch a ferry over to San Francisco. Once there, we then got aboard another ferry to travel over to Alcatraz- what an neat place!! I loved the audio tour; I think its a real creative way to make the history of the prison so interesting! I was bummed that we couldn't finish the whole tour, but all of us were so worn out that we just needed to go home.
On Saturday, we left Grandpa at home and Derek, Jackson and I drove down to Muir Woods, a national forest, to check out some of the California Redwoods. What a site to see, but man was it chilly!! We really enjoyed our walk through the park and someday, we hope to get back when we aren't pushing a stroller so we can make our way up some of the "off road" trails.
We then headed back down to San Francisco and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove around the street of San Fran for awhile and drove up Lombard street and I really thought we were literally start falling backwards because the street was so steep. Once we got to the top, we then drove down the windy street-- Derek wasn't impressed. We headed for Pier 39 and visited there for awhile, but it was just soooo windy and Jackson was upset that we left to go home after about an hour or two.
Sunday, we visited Grandpa's church. Jackson really turned on the charm and impressed all of Grandpa's friends. In the afternoon, we helped pack Grandpa up and then headed to the outlet malls, which were practically in his backyard. Derek even helped me pick out a new purse and we got Jackson some sunglasses.
All in all, we had a good vacation. Traveling with a baby was definitely an adventure and now that I have had about a week to recover, I might even consider doing it again but not for a loooonng time! Well, we are headed for Springfield this weekend, but at least there isn't a plane ride involvd! I am so glad we were able to go out to visit Grandpa before he moved back here. But I'm more excited to have Grandpa here just a few minutes away so we will get to see him more!
Jackson did fairly well on the plane, only getting fussy a time or two. On our second flight, Jackson was having a really hard time while the plane was descending and the flight attendant brought us some apple juice to dip his pacifier in and Jackson loved it and stopped fussing immediately! Unfortunately, Jackson didn't adjust as well to sleeping in a new place as he did to traveling by plane. We really didn't get much sleep as Jackson woke up nearly every hour or two, and because of the time change, he was up and ready to play around 6:00am.
On Thursday, Grandpa, Derek, Jackson and I toured the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. I don't even like jelly beans, but it was just SO interesting to see the process of how they are made! I had no idea it takes between 9-21 days to make a jelly bean. After the tour, Grandpa took us up to Lake Berryessa. It was a beautiful drive in the Califronia countryside. On our way back, we drove by tons of orchards. I was bummed that the trees weren't in bloom, but it was still so neat to see!
The next day, we all drove down to Vallejo to catch a ferry over to San Francisco. Once there, we then got aboard another ferry to travel over to Alcatraz- what an neat place!! I loved the audio tour; I think its a real creative way to make the history of the prison so interesting! I was bummed that we couldn't finish the whole tour, but all of us were so worn out that we just needed to go home.
On Saturday, we left Grandpa at home and Derek, Jackson and I drove down to Muir Woods, a national forest, to check out some of the California Redwoods. What a site to see, but man was it chilly!! We really enjoyed our walk through the park and someday, we hope to get back when we aren't pushing a stroller so we can make our way up some of the "off road" trails.
We then headed back down to San Francisco and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove around the street of San Fran for awhile and drove up Lombard street and I really thought we were literally start falling backwards because the street was so steep. Once we got to the top, we then drove down the windy street-- Derek wasn't impressed. We headed for Pier 39 and visited there for awhile, but it was just soooo windy and Jackson was upset that we left to go home after about an hour or two.
Sunday, we visited Grandpa's church. Jackson really turned on the charm and impressed all of Grandpa's friends. In the afternoon, we helped pack Grandpa up and then headed to the outlet malls, which were practically in his backyard. Derek even helped me pick out a new purse and we got Jackson some sunglasses.
All in all, we had a good vacation. Traveling with a baby was definitely an adventure and now that I have had about a week to recover, I might even consider doing it again but not for a loooonng time! Well, we are headed for Springfield this weekend, but at least there isn't a plane ride involvd! I am so glad we were able to go out to visit Grandpa before he moved back here. But I'm more excited to have Grandpa here just a few minutes away so we will get to see him more!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Jackson, Biology, Oscars, California
Our little fella turned four months this weekend! I just can't believe how much he has changed in just the past few weeks. He is playing (bonking his head) with toys, talking up a storm, and bouncing like crazy in his Jumparoo. He started sleeping through the night, from about 10pm-8am, about three weeks ago. I sent out an update email to some family last week bragging on this new feat and since that night, Jackson has been waking up three or four times a night. Derek says I jinxed it. Per the doctors suggestion, we started feeding Jackson cereal this week. The kid loves it! This increases the amount of laundry and the number of baths that Jackson takes!
I took Jackson to get his 4 month pictures taken last week. The little stinker will smile and giggle up a storm until you get a camera in front of his face. He would rather stare at the big black thing to figure out what it is! We did end up with a super cute picture. Isn't this kid just adorable!?!?!
More Pictures
I am almost half way through my class this semester. This is a tough one for me. I love Psychology, but more on the social and personal side as opposed to the biological stuff, which is what I am taking. When I read the textbooks for my other classes (Developmental Psych, Mental Disorders, Career Counseling, etc...) I read through it once and it all makes sense. Reading this Biological Bases of Behavior book... blah! I can read and read about dendrites, axons, basal ganglia... and I still don't really get it. Lying in bed at night I go over the flowchart of the Central Nervous System hoping it will stick with me one of these days!!!
I can't believe we got so much snow on Friday night... and it really caught me off guard! I try really hard not to watch the news (it is overall depressing and often keeps me awake at night) and so I never know what the weather is going to be like. I'll leave the house in just a t-shirt because it is 70 degrees and by the time I am on my way home, I'm freezing because it is sleeting outside! I am just so ready for spring to be here.
Last week, we had some friends over for an Oscar Party. We filled out ballots marking who we thought would win. I have won for the past three years, but lost this one. I still did pretty good. I am hoping to get out and see Slumdog Millionaire sometime. I don't really know what to expect... the past couple of years we watched the Oscar winning movies and weren't all to impressed. I do have to say that I was very entertained watching Hugh Jackman dance and sing. I think he put on a great show!!
We will be taking our first family vacation to California in a couple weeks. I am so excited-- I've never been to northern California. I went to visit a friend in San Diego over Thankgiving Break a few years back. This time we are flying in to Sacramento to visit Derek's grandpa before he moves back here! We have plans to visit San Francisco and to check out some of the giant Sequoia trees out there. I am a little anxious traveling with Jackson, like I don't quite know what I'm getting myself into. Feel free to share any advice!
I took Jackson to get his 4 month pictures taken last week. The little stinker will smile and giggle up a storm until you get a camera in front of his face. He would rather stare at the big black thing to figure out what it is! We did end up with a super cute picture. Isn't this kid just adorable!?!?!
More PicturesI am almost half way through my class this semester. This is a tough one for me. I love Psychology, but more on the social and personal side as opposed to the biological stuff, which is what I am taking. When I read the textbooks for my other classes (Developmental Psych, Mental Disorders, Career Counseling, etc...) I read through it once and it all makes sense. Reading this Biological Bases of Behavior book... blah! I can read and read about dendrites, axons, basal ganglia... and I still don't really get it. Lying in bed at night I go over the flowchart of the Central Nervous System hoping it will stick with me one of these days!!!
I can't believe we got so much snow on Friday night... and it really caught me off guard! I try really hard not to watch the news (it is overall depressing and often keeps me awake at night) and so I never know what the weather is going to be like. I'll leave the house in just a t-shirt because it is 70 degrees and by the time I am on my way home, I'm freezing because it is sleeting outside! I am just so ready for spring to be here.
Last week, we had some friends over for an Oscar Party. We filled out ballots marking who we thought would win. I have won for the past three years, but lost this one. I still did pretty good. I am hoping to get out and see Slumdog Millionaire sometime. I don't really know what to expect... the past couple of years we watched the Oscar winning movies and weren't all to impressed. I do have to say that I was very entertained watching Hugh Jackman dance and sing. I think he put on a great show!!
We will be taking our first family vacation to California in a couple weeks. I am so excited-- I've never been to northern California. I went to visit a friend in San Diego over Thankgiving Break a few years back. This time we are flying in to Sacramento to visit Derek's grandpa before he moves back here! We have plans to visit San Francisco and to check out some of the giant Sequoia trees out there. I am a little anxious traveling with Jackson, like I don't quite know what I'm getting myself into. Feel free to share any advice!
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