Do Not Cross

Ok, ok, status updates:

1. I graduate this Saturday.

Yup, that is right. After two years of classes learning about fingerprints, firearms, DNA, autopsies, homicides, crime scenes, and the like, I will be getting my Master of Forensic Science degree from The George Washington University. I’m feeling a tad ambivalent about it though. On one hand I’m extremely happy that I’m done with school (for probably the rest of my life). On the other hand, I’m wondering what I’m going to do with myself. I won’t have classes, homework, a job, and a life to juggle. I’m fearful that I’m going to be bored. But I have lots of hobbies I want to pursue (like my photography, guitar, and violin). Maybe I’ll actually keep updating my blog consistently (what a concept!).

2. No Remicade for Me.

I visited my GI doctor last month and he decided that it isn’t the right time for me to go on Remicade (more about Remicade here). He felt that my symptoms weren’t severe enough to warrant me going on such an extreme treatment method. Instead, he upped my 6-MP dosage. Hopefully this will slowly heal my fistula. Since the visit the pain and discomfort from my fistula has dropped a lot. I’m going to set up a visit with my colon and rectal surgeon for next month to see how it is doing and hopefully see if the drain that is set in there can be removed.

3. Flickr and Twitter Updates

I have seriously become uber-addicted to Twitter lately. I’m updating at least once a day (if not more than that sometimes). I’ve also set it up so that I can update it via SMS text messaging through my cell phone. Since I don’t have an unlimited text messaging plan with my phone company (T-Mobile), I am trying to keep myself from updating via SMS only when I’m not within reach of internet access (which is pretty rare).

I’ve also updated my flickr with a bunch of pictures. Some are from my friend Larry’s wedding and some are from Cheri’s friend Melissa’s wedding. There are also a bunch of random other images as well. Here’s one of my favorite photos from this last batch, our friend Kate (left) with Cheri (right) getting ready for Larry’s wedding:

This past week was my first week at my new job. I’d rather not go into details, but I will say that I love my new job. The people are great, the atmosphere is very laid back, and I’m loving what I’m doing. Even my commute isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. My entire commute is in the opposite direction of the rush, so that makes it very easy to do.

This upcoming week I begin my last semester at The George Washington University. I’m excited to be finished with this program. I’ve been in school for seven years now and I’m ready to be done for good. As of now, I have no desire to get a PhD in anything, so I’m pretty sure I’m done for a long time. Who knows, maybe in the future I’ll pursue some sort of forensic science PhD, but for now, I’m happy working and gaining experience.

This semester, I’m taking three courses. I’ll be taking Firearms and Toolmark Examination, Trace Evidence Analysis, and Moot Court. Out of all of these, I’m most excited to be taking the firearms course. I don’t know anything about guns and I’ve been eager to learn about how they can be forensically analyzed.

So, recently I began reading the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay and its protagonist got me thinking about some career ideas.  The main character, Dexter, is a blood splatter pattern analyst.  I’ve been intrigued by blood splatter but haven’t had the chance to study it in a course yet (I will this summer in my Crime Scene Investigation course though).  But this book made me investigate it a little further.

One thing I learned is that it is one of the few specialties (other than accident reconstruction and ballistics) in forensic science that uses a lot of math and physics.  This made me happy to learn because I’ve been struggling with the idea of just giving up my math and physics background for forensic science.  But now that I have learned about this career path, I’ve been seriously considering going for it once I graduate.

So I did a little research and in order to become a blood splatter pattern analyst, you’ve got to first start off as a general crime scene investigator.  Once you do that, you can begin taking specialized day courses at different police colleges and seminars during the year.  Once you go through the courses, you can get your certification (through the IABPA), and then you can work on getting a job as a blood splatter pattern analyst.

Have I mentioned here that my masters program in Forensic Science is very underwhelming? Compared to the year I spent in graduate school for Physics, this program just feels like it isn’t as hard as it should be. I mean come on, IT IS GRADUATE SCHOOL. But I’m at a crossroads about the whole situation.

I love my classes (which is very difficult to say about much of my time in Physics). My Homicide Investigation course is truly interesting. The readings are very interesting and the teacher–a former homicide detective–is a riot in class. The only problem is that I don’t find it very challenging. I mean, I’m learning a lot about how a homicide investigation is ran and the many different types of homicides there are, yet I don’t feel like I’m having to work hard in the course.

My other course is Forensic Pathology. And this course is wonderful. Despite the fact that it isn’t taught on campus, it is still a good course. I’m learning all about things like post-mortem changes in the body, blunt force and sharp force injuries, forensic dentistry, forensic anthropology, and so on. It is taught by a group of licenced medical examiners who have tremendous amounts of experience in the field. Every class is very well done. And once again, I don’t really do anything for the course except listen to lectures and take two tests. I mean I haven’t even bought on of the “recommended” text books for the course, and I don’t think I will.

I guess my problem is that a majority of the college work I’ve ever had involved spending hours upon hours on homework sets only to get a poor grade back and an urgence to pluck my eyeballs out. But in these courses, there is no written work. We have readings, mid-term exams, and final exams. Some courses have a corresponding lab, and others occasionaly have us write a paper or two (OH NO!). That’s it! Like I’ve said before, this is graduate school. Isn’t this supposed to be hard?

Oh well, I guess we’ll see if I’ll be eating my foot when I take my mid-terms this week.