So I was secretly hoping that Ike would come a little closer so I could postpone my exam again...but now that I've seen the devastation, I retrospectively take that back.  We haven't gotten ahold of Marlon since the hurricane hit, when he called several hours earlier to tell us that he was having a hurricane party.

This weekend I completed some of my required community service hours at the Saturday clinic.  The T4 I worked with made me actually do a full exam on all of our patients, which is different from the usual hovering I get to do.  Unforunately, HEENT exam skills isn't until this week, so I had a lot to learn in a hurry.  Fortunately, my patients didn't mind, and actually seemed interested in watching me learn.

We have a prospective student staying with us this week, which I'm really excited about.  There's something about not hanging out with medical students that I feel adds value to my life - and is a great distractor from all of the dumb microbiology jokes we make now.  (I think everyone has cat-scratch disease.)  We're hosting two girls this month, and another guy the first week of October.  Finally, some non-med school conversation.

And for some political non-commentary - the SNL skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin was awesome.  Also, I think I might not vote for the first time since I've turned 18.  In every election that I've been eligible for, I'm made sure to apply early for my California absentee ballot, and then read the voter guide and send my ballot back the day after it arrives.  This year, I'm not sure who I'd pick.  It's really a sad state of affairs - really old people running with really inexperienced people.  Hopefully, things will start to become more clear for me in the next few weeks.

We left Houston at 9pm last night to avoid any major traffic.  Our evacuation actually became a pretty good hurrication, spending time with med school and non-med school friends in the area, while learning a little bit about bacteria and fungi in between.

Houston is a pretty great place to be, if only because it reminds me a lot of being in Northern California with wide freeways and big shopping malls and fewer incompetent people.  I have to say, I was truly disappointed by the Mexican food we had there, from the fast food joints to Tex-Mex.  Chipotle, which I am constantly hearing my Texan classmates RAVE about, was a major disappointment.  I've never tried it, even home in California, and it was awful.  Perhaps Dustyn and I are the only people who think lime-cilantro is over the top and not very good, but I'm definitely not going back.  The local tex-mex was also overpriced and bad.  My favorite food ended up being queso and tortillas late night at Taco Cabana.

So, seeing as I had packed literally my entire life into my car, I had a neat little set up on Marlon's coffee table with my laptop, my 24" monitor, and his 47" plasma screen in the background so I could feed my neuroses about hurricanes for the first four days.  It worked out well for the studying I was able to do, and wasn't a terrible hassle to pack back into my car.

We went to a place downtown where it was 80s night, playing a really fun band, the Spazmatics.  Interestingly, at some point, a girl picked a fight with me after trying to shove me over in front of the stage for several minutes.  I'm really not quite sure how it happened except I turned around  to look at her and she clawed me in the arm.  If it weren't for the claw marks and three witnesses, I wouldn't have believed it happened.  Apparently I won.  This is also a source of confusion for me because I just stood there and looked angry.  Perhaps I am very scary looking?  Hope not.

Now we're back in NOLA, with an exam waiting for us this week.  Also waiting for us: another hurricane!  I'm so not unpacking.