Just a sample of my Wacom skills

I purchased the Wacom Graphire 4 (4x5) tablet for my laptop, because I wanted to be able to practise drawing structures in anatomy (which is the only way I am able to learn). So after fiddling around with it for a few hours, I created this using Corel Painter. I'm a little rusty in my art skills, as I decided to leave that part behind me... so lemme know what you think.

And who said med school was cheap??

Here is the main steps to my new medical school, AUC, on the island of St.Maarten.


Well with only less than two weeks to go, I have racked up more bills than than I have. So far my checklist has been the following (at least what I can remember):

Notebook = $2300
Notebook accessories = $300 (at least the new ones I purchased, and not including the stuff I'm taking with me)
Health Insurance (yes my school is trying to rip me off) = $661
Enrollment deposit = $1500 USD
First semester's tuition = $10,100 USD
Plane ticket (which includes a 7 day stay at an all-inclusive hotel) = $1095 + 84 more dollars for going over the baggage restrictions
Rent for four months = $4000 USD (I'm hoping this will be less)
Food for four months = $2000 USD (I'm budgeting a max of 500/month)
Clothes + shoes (including scrubs+things I bought on sale) = $150
Books = $500

Grand total for 1st Semester: $24,894 CAD (I didn't include any miscellaneous expenses like the internet costs, car rental/lease/purchase, lab materials)

Anyways, now my next dillema is trying to pack all this stuff into two suitcases, and be under 70lbs (32kg), according to Air Transat's guidelines. Although this sounds small, you have to take into consideration that this is a vacation airlines, so most people do not take that much luggage, but we'll have to see how we can be accomodated. And by we, I mean my two good friends and myself.

I should mention that I have the good fortune of having two good friends joining me on this new chapter of my life. The first is Dan, my highschool buddy, whom I thought I'd never see again because I left highschool early; and the second is Peter, my university buddy whom I met in our animal physiology lab, and was able to relate because of our desire to leave York and get on with med school. Both of these two individuals have allowed my move to AUC much more smooth, and be able to have the support that a group of peers would be able to provide. Not only that, we'd be saving so much by getting our own place, and sharing the cost of expenses, which is a MAJOR plus!

Another hard part about leaving is leaving behind family and friends. This truly could be the beginning of the end of my stay in Canada, and although this is painful to say, but it must be done for my sake as a person who wishes to enter the medical profession. My mother is gonna be a wreck because I'll be leaving and not staying here in Canada to pursue medicine. Well, if any of these schools gave me a chance, than I'd stay in a heart beat. But unfortunately things do not work out the way one may desire it to be. While having dinner with a good friend this past weekend, she gave me an insight as to the medical schools here in Ontario in terms of what type of students they look for. She brought up the point of how many 21 year-olds have the life experience to enter a profession such as medical school?? Although there are many students out there in the same boat as myself and her, I'd have to admit that not everyone has the life experience needed to deal with such a profession. BUT, when coming from a familial situation such as myself, where I practically grew up in a hospital due to my father's constant heart problems, I'd say I infact possess the life experience needed to fully understand what it takes to be in this profession. However, the unfortunate part about this whole process is that it really is the luck of the draw. And I must play with the cards that I am dealt with.

These next two weeks I'll be trying to meet up with as many friends as possible, and with those that I have already met up with, thank you for taking the time out of your busy scheduels to do so. I have begun packing, and weighing my suitcases. I still have to buy a tri-band GSM cell phone, and send in my papers by Fed-Ex this week.

I'll try to keep this blog running, if time permits, with at least two entries per week. I believe that I should keep up the habit of writing, as I find it quite productive to cast my thoughts on this screen. It sort of puts things into perspective, and allows my friends and family to catch up on my trials and tribulations. Take care all, and we shall see each other soon enough. I always would appreciate a good luck here or there, because I'm sure I'll need it, so the more the better. I fly out on the 17th of next week, so if I have an internet connection, I'll be sure to show you what a 4.5 star all inclusive hotel looks like (I've never been to one, and I'm not expecting much other than all the food I can eat).

Ciao

And the planning is fully underway...

I'll be getting the ASUS z70va, with the following specs:
Centrino 2ghz with 2gb of DDR2 Dual channel support RAM
80gb 8mb cache 5400rpm Fujitsu hard drive
128mb ATI x700 series PCI-express video card
8x Panasonic DVD dual layer
15.4 WSXGA+ screen
Wirelss G & Gigabit LAN
Bluetooth

price: $1987 CAD (before tax)




As for the notebook stand, I'll be going with the Kensington Expandable Notebook stand, with expansion USB2.0 dock which includes:

Swivel base and adjustable height position for optimal viewing comfort

Built-in 5.1 audio support with rear, front and center speaker outputs for full theater sound

Provides USB 2.0, parallel, serial, ethernet and stereo surround sound with just one USB 2.0 connection

I'll be making the purchase from Dell.ca, for $119.00. Here is a review from notebookreview.com.




The next item on the list is the keyboard and mouse accessories.

KEYBOARDS
1. From infonec.ca, they have a special on the Logitech Office Pro Keyboard PS/2 for $9.00


2. Also from infonec.ca, they have a Microsoft MultiMedia Keyboard PS/2 with Wheel Mouse Optical USB 2.0, going for $27.50.

3. At canadacomputers.com, they have the BENQ x800 going for 14.99. I'm leaning towards this or the logitech, because it is slimmer as well as light.

4. Infonec.ca has this ViewSonic ViewMate USB Silver/Black, going for $15.50. The only plus about it is that it comes with the option of hooking up via USB port rather than PS/2.

5. Too many mice to look over, but infonec.ca has a good selection, and the one that caught my eye was the Logitech Pilot Optical Mouse optical, going for $16.50.



I'll talk about notebook bags and notebook sleeves next.

Laptops to consider

Toshiba Satellite M60 Specifications (MSRP: $2,399.00)
M60-BK3:1.86GHz/100GB

	NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6600 with 128MB DDR Video Memory
	17.0" wide-screen TruBrite™ display
	DVD burner (DVD SuperMulti Double Layer) reads and writes to the seven most popular CD and DVD formats including the new double layer discs with 8.5GB of space
	TOSHIBA® Express Media Player for quick access to CD, DVD Playback converts this notebook into a mobile DVD player.
	5-in-1 Bridge Media slot* supports SD™ Card, xD-Picture Card™, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick Pro® and MultiMedia Card™

Toshiba Satellite M50 (MSRP: $1,799.00)
M50-YK5: 1.73GHz/100GB

	Intel Centrino Technology and a new 14” Wide product form factor brings mobility to the next level.
	14.0" wide-screen TruBrite™ display
	DVD burner (DVD SuperMulti Double Layer) reads and writes to the seven most popular CD and DVD formats including the new double layer discs with 8.5GB of space
	TOSHIBA® Express Media Player for quick access to CD, DVD Playback converts this notebook into a mobile DVD player.
	5-in-1 Bridge Media slot* supports SD™ Card, xD-Picture Card™, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick Pro® and MultiMedia Card™

Toshiba Satellite M40 (MSRP: $2199)
M40: 1.86GHz/80GB

	Highly mobile notebook, outperforming many desktops
	15.4" wide-screen TruBrite™ display
	DVD burner (DVD SuperMulti) reads and writes to the seven most popular CD and DVD formats
	NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX Go 6600

Sony's VGNFS660W VAIO® FS-Series Notebook with Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology & DVD+R Double Layer/DVD±RW Drive (MSRP: $ $2,199.99)

Processor
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73GHz¹ , 2MB L2 Cache) Front Side Bus Speed: 533MHz

Integrated Wireless LAN
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection(802.11b/g)³

LCD
15.4” WXGA (1280x800) with XBRITE™ technology

80GB² 4200rpm Ultra ATA, 1GB PC-2700 333MHz DDR (512MB x 2)

Graphics
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6200 with TurboCache™ supporting 128MB (NVIDIA® TurboCache™ technology combines the size and bandwidth of video memory and dynamically available system memory for optimal system performance.)

DVD+R Double Layer / DVD±RW Drive⁴

Audio: Windows® sound system compatible, Built-in stereo speakers; Monaural mini microphone jack + Headphone jack

Memory Stick® Media Slot
Supports optional Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO™ and Memory Stick DUO™ media⁵

Standard Battery: 2.5-5.5 hours⁷

Weight
6.28 lbs. with standard battery (weight is approximate and may vary)

Dimensions
14.33”(W) x 1”-1.41”(H) x 10.41”(D)

Sony's VGNFS675PH Grey VAIO® FS-Series Notebook with Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology & DVD+R Double Layer/DVD±RW Drive (MSRP: $2,499.99)

Processor

• Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86GHz¹ , 2MB L2 Cache)

Front Side Bus Speed

• 533MHz

Chipset

• Intel® 915PM

Integrated Wireless LAN

• Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection(802.11b/g)³

LCD

• 15.4” WXGA (1280x800) with XBRITE™ LCD technology

Hard Drive

• 100GB² 4200rpm Ultra ATA