waiting...

Well, not much has been going on this last month. I should be getting my military ID soon, so I'll be able to head over to the base and get some tax free shopping whenever I decide I need something big enough to justify getting it tax free! Which will probably be everything.

Anyway... I'm required to collect 100 intact human teeth for dental school and I believe I'm almost there. About 2 weeks ago I went out to all the offices (4 total) that I dropped jars off at and had the following count at each one: 4, 4, 20, 45. So I took the jar with 45 home with me (the solution was pretty murky), emptied it out, put them in my own little jar at my house, and ran it back over to them the next day. I left the other 3 at the offices because the solution was still clear and there was no reason to waste a trip home and back just to unload some teeth. I also have a jar at a local free clinic with about 12. So the tooth quest continues...

Other than that, I'm just waiting a few more days for that 60 day mark to hit so I can get some stuff taken care of so the Air Force will reimburse me. Oh, and I may need about $800 of work done on my car... luckily I have a pretty good job right now and I'm blessed to have a car as it is. So despite the big bill that is staring me down, I'm just smiling and plugging along.

Should be hearing from me again in a couple of weeks at the latest...

Finding all my ducks... and getting them in a row.

Well I haven't posted in about a month... but seeing as no one is probably reading this right now, I think we'll all survive...

I took my oath of office on March 5th so I am officially a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force! I don't feel very official yet, probably because I don't yet have a military ID (hopefully in a month!) and haven't really done any "military" things yet. Speaking of military things, on the 4-year scholarship, they "require" you to attend COT during the summer before dental school. I had mine deferred to the summer between 1st and 2nd year because I have an orientation thing for dental school that was the same day that COT was set to end this summer. So for those of you wondering if you can change your COT date around, the answer is yes. To an extent. If I didn't have this legitimate reason to move it, I would have, in all likelihood, been in Alabama at COT this coming summer and missing the last week of my job... not good. Luckily I will be able to work the final week and hit up COT between my first and second year, giving me one last summer of salvation before school. For those on a 3-year scholarship, COT will be tacked on after your 4th year. So you'll graduate, go to COT, and be off to the Air Force!

Here are some other things I have been up to lately...

I got my scrubs ordered! Our class, the great class of 2014, will have hunter green scrubs. There are far worse colors than hunter green to be stuck with for 4 years. In fact, I think hunter green is probably the best color we could have gotten in my opinion... I really like that color.

I have to get a CPR certification for dental school (CPR with Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers, aka BLS) and I plan on doing that sometime in June just before school starts. The certification through the American Heart Association expires every 2 years (as opposed to every year like some others, for example, the Red Cross) so I checked the 2009 school schedules to make sure my certification will extend beyond my 2nd year so I will have a gap with no school when it expires.

I also recently got my vaccination history from my pediatric doctor and was lacking 2 minor things which I got taken care of a couple days ago.

I had my final transcripts mailed off to dental school this morning... since I graduated in 3 1/2 years, I don't have to wait around for grades to be posted in May (since I graduated this last December) because I'm not in school right now. So bonus for me and my sanity.

One other thing that is slightly irritating is that to be reimbursed through the Air Force, my required items must be purchased within 60 days of the start of my scholarship. For a 4-year guy like me, this means the start of school in late June. That's not a HUGE deal, but it did require some delaying of payments with the scrubs company (who were very nice about it and helped me out a ton) as well as some potential little things that may not get covered (vaccinations, etc.). Not terrible, but a bit annoying. Obviously I have yet to send in a reimbursement form but hopefully when I do my first one that will go smoothly.

Other than that, I'm just waiting for an updated book list from the school so I can go ahead and purchase thousands of dollars in books! How exciting... I know...

As a final note for anyone who is interested... I have yet to determine where I will be living for my first year of school. Possibly with my dad which is preferable in terms of $. Stay tuned...



I'll try to be more diligent about keeping up with this so that people referring to it years down the road will have a better idea of the steps I have been taking with the start of dental school just over the horizon.

The Oath

So today I went out to the State Capitol of Oklahoma to check out some places that I might be able to take my oath for the Air Force HPSP. My recruiter told me I just have to have a place with an American flag and an Air Force Officer (which he's going to work out for me) so I wanted some place neat and memorable and I think the State Capitol building would be really neat.

I've been looking into the Commissioned Officer Training material a bit and I'm hopeful that my schedule will work out to allow me to go to COT this summer (May-June). I'd like to get that under my belt before dental school so I don't have it looming at the end of my 4 years, although I've heard it's just fine either way.

Once COT gets closer, I'll be creating and updating the COT page. I've found lots of great information on the internet but it seems to be scattered in several locations. Hopefully when it's all said and done I'll have lots of great first hand experience information to pass along to those looking at the HPSP scholarship or COT in general.

Since I haven't mentioned it yet, I'll talk about what I'm doing this 'semester' since I'm not in school.

I currently work as a high school math and chemistry tutor for a few kids in the area. My dad is friends with a lady who started her own tutoring company a few years ago and had told my dad she was looking for a new tutor. Lucky me! I was looking at the possibility of waiting tables (again...) and I'm much happier with this job. It's a shame that my favorite job to this point in my life is a job that will only last a few more months but all good things must come to an end.

I'm off... hopefully I'll get some time to work on these pages quite a bit this week!