Next time I start to get unnerved at the money aspect behind PA education, I need to remind myself of these things (that for whatever reason I forget sometimes): my second year I get instate tuition if I go to a state school; get a job with NHSC for two years and automatically subtract $50grand, and it actually is a crazy crazy awesome investment: invest $100,000 and get a $75,000 return on that investment each year? That $100,000 turns into something like $3million. Now I'm definitely not going into the field for money, but that's just plain smart right there.

I've decided recently that I live the lifestyle of a pansy. What does that mean exactly? I have a very, very cushy life. I'm taking two classes for prereqs. One is online and takes no more than two hours a week in work, the second is only on Saturday mornings which I do virtually no work for because it's all review. I spend the early early mornings three days a week babysitting, and one morning a week babysitting, one afternoon at the ER, and that's essentially it. I've pretty much been working out and flubdubbing on the internet, filling time until the boys get home and I finally have something to do. I've been concerned that I'm getting soft and losing the "academic conditioning" I gained at my undergrad. Therefore I have been brainstorming ways to add discipline to my life.

First thing, I'm prohibiting any internet surfing not related to email or school until after 6pm (exception being Facebook for communication purposes only). Interesting but it's working. The biggest hit obviously is my time on the PA forum. That is probably what consumes most of day time. It's just a great resource. However, waiting to check it at night has opened up an unbelievable amount of time. It takes me a while to get through all the posts though.

I'm debating changing the rule though...I really like checking the news on the CNN website. I've started listening to NPR more to compensate, but I really do like cnn.com. Maybe I'll give myself five minutes of time in the morning.

Since I'm only doing email in the mornings, I surprisingly now have all this time for devos. Interesting. Somehow it shouldn't have ever gotten to this point, but oh well.

I'm gonna be at the gym 5 days a week, and starting to push myself with weightlifting.

What else. My no sweets challenge is still going strong. I'm currently at 17.5 weeks.

Oh, I've also been devoting 1.5-2 hours to doing GRE vocab. I really do want to rock it.

That's all I can think of for now. It's still not a very challenging lifestyle, but I guess this is what seperates the student from the learner. Making the best of your time and choosing the harder route instead of coasting through life the easy way.

ps-I'm completely over the other school that I am on the alternate list for, and very excited about the school I'm applying to next. It's a big D1 school, has a great basketball team (definitely a plus!), and has a HUGE medical campus. I think it would be fun to be on a medical campus because of all the resources available. Oh, and also, it's cheap too :)