Twas the week before Spring Break...

And I could have sworn it was the death of me. They should really call this week "Dead Week" cause that is surely how I am feeling. All of my professors like to give exams and make projects and papers due the week prior to Spring Break so we do not have to split the material up over the break. Well naturally this means that this week is super crazy. I have 3 exams, a paper due, a project due, all the while trying to stay awake and alert.

And to make matters worse we are finally escaping the grasp of winter as temps are reaching the low 70s. If that doesn't make me get spring fever and long to be outside, I don't know what does. So that is the reason I have pretty much buried myself in the library for the week, attepting to accomplish something on my paper, cram all this exam information in my brain, and somehow convince myself that I will indeed live through getting my wisdom teeth taken out on Monday. (Yes, I do have an eternal fear of all medical procedures and I do not do well with the thought of having to go through them.) Not to mention the pending interviews that are waiting on the far side of Spring Break,

The paper I am writing is for my Animal Reproduction class and covers the use of recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and lutenizing hormone (LH) for superovulation in livestock. Basically these are used to stimulate multiple ovulations at the same point in time in order to harvest embryos for transfer. This is a common practice in many high value, breeding stock, especially in the seedstock cattle and horse industries. It is proving to be a pretty interesting topic because there is a lot to cover. I will post a copy of the paper when I finish, so you can read more about it.

We got a "I am disappointed in you" lecture from my cow/calf professor today, as expected. Our first exam didn't go so well with 57% of the class getting a D or worse. I blame it on him being really picky on looking for a particular, specific phrase in each short answer question, but aren't we always looking to put the blame on someone else. He had a very good point though. Graduating from one of the top Animal Science departments in the country, we should have a certain level of competancy about the livestock industries, even if a specific species is not our favorite or intended area of work. I guess some of us can get a little lazy when we think "Oh I will never use this in real life" when the truth is that we just might.

Well I best get back to my studying and reading about rFSH before I get off track too far. Oh by the way I am looking for any alumns of the TCU ranch management program to get the inside scoop on their time there. So if you know any, or you are one, give me a let know. I am headed to Ft Worth to visit the program in a few, and it would be great to speak to someone that has been there. Have an awesome week and I hope you are getting to enjoy some warmer weather where you are this week!