Vol 143

I don't get the fancy double-decker train. *pout* Terrible night of sleep. I don't even think I slept. Not cool since I'm on my way to NYC today and the last thing I need to be is sick and sleepy. Speaking of sick. I packed the wrong pills. I was supposed to pack the antibiotics but I packed the valium instead. Yes, I know. Considering that I didn't sleep, the valium would help me but i'm not taking that crap. That mess wilds my life.

Vol 142

Joined the chat over on TKA tonight. Got to talk to NS, GS, Jill Monroe, and Jessica Andersen.

GS said that she loved writing Neeka but wouldn't tell more about her. THEREFORE, I'm going to take that as a "we'll see more of Neeka in the future." Since GS has a LoTU spin-off coming out, I can only pray that we'll see Neeka again in that. I loved that deaf but deadly harpy.

NS said that the ghost is a character we've met and his identity will be revealed soon. *faints*

And I won one of Jessica Andersen's Night Keepers novels. *squeal* Free books are great. Free books about hot ancient Mayan folk is even better. This has been the best book filled birthday weeks everrrrrr. *dances*

Vol 141

People expect your birthday to be a joyous, carefree day, and sometimes it is. Yesterday was a bit of both. Got out of school insanly hourly, 6 hours or so early. I went shopping and bought a nice pretty orange waist length Inspector Gadget jacket. When I got home, I enjoyed one of the two birthday gifts I bought myself. Both are books. (STRIDEY-MAN, how I now adore thee. Kaia's too good for you, but that's okay. Defeat will make you better.) But my jaw ached and so did my head, and the pain pills I took, ones prescribed by my doctor for headaches, didn't work. Let's just say it went down hill from there. So, when I woke up this morning, I called my dentist to have this tooth that's usually the source of all aches and pains checked. But that isn't until 4:30 and it's barely three. I'm killing time down at the Inner Harbor. This is the other side, across from my job, stretched out on a bench in the shade with my kindle. Still feeling a little weird, a combination of having a cold and what ever the hell is going on with my mouth and head. Oh yeah, got a 50 dollar amazon kindle card for my birthday. Amazing. Three years ago I wouldn't be caught dead reading a book. Now, that's all I want to do. I fell old.

Vol 140

STRIDERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Now isn't this a wonderful gift to myself. Happy Birthday to meeeeee! *swoons*

Vol 139

So I finally did it. I finally cut my hair off. Just call me Justina Beiber. P.S, I have no clue why i'm making that face.

Vol 138

I love this part. Wake up! Wake up!

Vol 137

Look at the big orange ball of fire. No seriously. What do you think the sun is? 
I'm a bit snappy, snippy, and bitch today...well, this week, but I just know today will test my patience and it's only 7am....Aw fuck. Forgot my work shirt. Oh well. I' m not going back to get it. They can either take me in my sweat jacket or not. There was a reason I blogging today, but my less than patient self has forgotten.

Vol 137

Shit. My notes so far and I still have 30 minutes of class to go.

~~~~~~~~~~

Psych 390

Sept 6^th

Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology

Division of the nervous system

Central Nervous system (CNS) – brain and spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system (PNS) – nerves outside the brain and spinal cord

            Somatic –sensory nerves to CNS

                              -motors nerves to muscles and glands

Autonomic – neurons that control heart, intestines, and other organs

Organization of the Spinal cord

Organization:

White = Fibers (malinated axis)

Gray = Cells (cell bodies)

Dorsal = Sensory (import)

Ventral = Motor (sensory output)

Ganglion – site of cell bodies

Functions:

Transmit information to and from the brain

Reflex control of motor activity

Some integrative functions

Sympathetic System: (Thoracic/Lumbar system)

Controls fight or flight response

Release ACH at ganglia (ganglia are interconnected)

Release norepinephrine at target

Increase heart rate, increase blood pressure

Parasympathetic system: (Cranial/Sacral Origin)

Counteracts the effect of the sympathetic system.

Helps build resources.

Ganglia are not interconnected

Release ACH at both ganglia and target. No release of adrenaline.

Division of CNS:

Spinal cord

Medulla

Ascending/descending fiber tracts

Postural reflexes – maintain upright position

Reflex control of swallowing and vomiting

Pons

Continuation of fiber tracts

Postural reflexes

Bulge – fibers connect to cerebellum

Locus Coeruleus and Reticular Formation: maintenance of sleeping and walking (collection of nerve cells)

Midbrain
Tegmentum
Reticular formation: Cortical EEG

Sleeping/Waking

Dopaminergic nuclei – substantia nigra, VTA; Parkinson’s Disease

Tectum:

Superior colliculus; visual reflex center (located above inferior colliculus)

Inferior colliculus; auditory reflexes

 Forebrain

Cerebellum

Sensory-Motor

Coordination

            Jerky movement

            Input from all sensory systems

Hypothalamus

Controls pituitary

Sympathetic NS

Motivation

Regulation of food intake

Thalamus

Relay nuclei (every sensory system goes through)

Sleeping/Waking

Basal Ganglia

Striatum: caudate globus palldus putamen

Motor Functions: Extrpyramidal system

nAccumbens: reinforcement

Limbic System

Limbic Lode include temporal neocortex

Emotion/Motivation (amygdala, septum, cingulate)

Hippocampus: Spatial learning/memory

Cerebral Cortex

Organization

            Six distinct layers of cells

            Organized into columns in which cells have similar or related properties

Sensory, motor, association cortex – modality specific

Relative increase in association cortex: higher nervous processes

Bilateral representation (with some exceptions, e.g.,  language)

Corpus callosum: Fiver bundle responsible for interhem

Blood-Brain Battier

Refers to permeability barriers that present obstacles to the diffusion of chemicals from blood and CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) to neurons.

Produce by close-fitting, continuous epithelial cells of brain capillaries

What can pass the blood brain barrier?

Passive transport – require no energy to pass

            Small uncharged molecules such as O₂ and CO₂

            Molecules that can dissolve in fat

Active transport – requires energy

            Glucose, amino acids, vitamins and hormones

Circumventricular Organs:

Neural structures that are functionally on the blood side of the barrier

Monitor blood and CFS and communicate with neurons on the other side of the barrier

Glial Cells

Glia cells are concerned with the maintenance and integrity of neurons.

Oligodendrocytes produce myelin sheaths that insulate motor axons in CNS

Schwann cells have a similar function in the periphery

Astrocytes pass chemicals back and forth between neurons and blood and among various neurons in an area

Microglia proliferate in areas of brain damage and remove toxic materials

Neurons

Designed to admit and receive information

Vol 136

I can't really show you what it looks like on because it's hard taking the picture with it on. It's very soft, lamb skin leather, kinda feel bad about the poor lambs. It's really thick, double lining, so i can wear it in the fall and winter. Yay. It was on sale for $200 but i talked him down to 150 because i'm cheap. He said 170, but when I saw that it's a little sratched on the back i refused to pay more than 150 so got it for 150. I really wanted one since last year and i said if i ever buy a leather i want a real one, not pleather.

Vol 135

When life gets you down, just keep loving. Hahaha! My drawing skills own the world.

Vol 134

I know I complain about the price of ebooks all the time, but let's go further into that.

Back before I bought a Kindle, I had the kindle program downloaded on both my ipod and PC. A lot of novels that I read run $7.99 in paperback format when I buy them from Barnes and Noble, and when I would purchased them on Amazon, I would pay about $5.99. Now, the prices are equal. It pisses me off because I paid over $100 for the ereader, yet I still pay the same amount for the book. Therefore, I actually spent more money when I was originally trying to save.

And what do I get for it?

I get the book instantly. That's a plus, but is that a big enough plus. I also save trees and space. That's another plus, but still, is it plus enough? Sometimes it feels like it is, but other times it doesn't.

Right now, I'm not happy I'm paying the same amount for an ebook that I pay for a physical copy. I could actually buy it used from someone for a penny. I feel cheated. Then there's the fact that amazon will sell the hard copy book for less than the Kindle edition. WTH man! Other times, like when I buy self-published books and I only pay $1 or $2, I feel satisfied.

There have been plenty of arguments between customers and publishers about the price of ebooks costing so much but publishers spending less to actually produce the novel, and publishers will say that's not true, and even if it does cost a bit less, they don't sell as many copies of the ebook as the hard copy, therefore, they have to make up the money some way. B.S. Publishers also complain about books being pirated. *rolls eyes* When you put anything on the internet, it's going to be pirated. It's as simple as that. The question is, should they charge so much for the ebook to make up for a lost that was guaranteed from the beginning? Hey! Here's an almost-not-really-solution. How about dropping the price of those ebooks that are even with the hard copies by a few bucks (depending on how much the hard copy cost) and maybe more people will buy the novel when they first look at it instead of looking for a book and saying, "Oh hell no!" to the price, then turning around to find a torrent for it. That's what I would do Just saying. But it doesn't matter what the publishers decide because stupid fans like me will still buy the books...a third of the time.

You know, I want to boycott over priced ebooks. I mean, it's not like I have the same privileges with the ebooks as I have with my paper copies. I can't loan it to anyone who highlight it (although most ereaders allow you to highlight text, it's not the same). It's actually more time consuming locating pages. But, will I boycott them? It depends. I'm a little obsessive over some books and will pay for them regardless of the price if I want it terribly, and my utter dislike of library books cuts that option. But if it's not a novel of a series I already read I would probably not purchase it.  

So really? Am I being scammed by publishers who feel they should charge more for ebooks so they can recooperate the money or am I breaking even and/or getting off?