Intro to Astro 101

[astrochick00]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Lindsay, and I'm a 32yo female living in Birmingham, AL. I'm currently a professional student in a program called the "Medical Scientist Training Program" (MSTP) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The program is an 8ish year curriculum which will, God willing, eventually result in an MD and PhD. So when all my training is done I will treat patients in the hospital, like any other doc, and also run a research lab on the side. I'm in the medical school part of the program now, and that keeps me pretty busy. But here's the inside scoop for anybody out there who hasn't been through med school: it's insanely hard, but being able to help people makes it all worthwhile.

In addition to the crazy fish population here, I also have a Doberman, Summer, who is a little over 1 year old. She is as sweet as she can be, very smart, and is deathly afraid of the mailman. Interestingly, the mailman is also deathly afraid of her. Pretty funny scenario when we all have to pass on the sidewalk

The two authority figures who oversee everything are, of course, the cats: Badger and Moonpie. And there are two mice…..this is a long story and one for another day.

My most interesting fish is not a discus. Her name is Kracken, and she is an electric catfish. I will post a picture of her at some point, but if you imagine an 11" long overstuffed sausage with a tail…..that's pretty much her. I used to breed a lot of domestic strain livebearers, and Kracken is the best cull-eater of all time. She's also a pretty humane death for larger fish; she doesn't eat them, but she can discharge close to 200V. That is very quick and probably pretty painless. She also hunts by stealth, so no panicked chase before the end.

My off-site animals are the two horses: Jester and Pepper. Pepper is a Westphalian, and Jester is a Clydesdale/Thoroughbred cross (that's like the budweiser horse crossed with a race horse). Both are boys, and Peps will be 16 this year,J 13. I've had them for 11 years, and they are my joy.

I will post pictures of the crew and all of the discus stock eventually.
And I will explain the username "astrochick." But all this must wait until the second installment.

Thanks for stopping by!
Lindsay

[Keith Perkins]

Someone with an interesting new way of culling...my kind of woman.

[nc0gnet0]

Someone with an interesting new way of culling...my kind of woman.

Interesting indeed, I am waiting for the video!

-Rick

[Disgirl]

Hi Lindsay, so good to "meet" you. I look forward to pics of all your pets, what a good mixture! Do you have time to come to NADA in June? Would enjoy meeting you in person.
Barb

[Discus-n00b]

Interesting. One thing I've noticed is a lot of fish keepers also tend to be horse keepers. Just seems like a strange pair haha. Question....how on earth do you do water changes on an electric eel tank?

[Wes]

[astrochick00]

Interesting. One thing I've noticed is a lot of fish keepers also tend to be horse keepers. Just seems like a strange pair haha. Question....how on earth do you do water changes on an electric eel tank?

Step 1: resist urge to reach in and grab the electric catfish (easy for me since I'm not a 19yr old male)
Step 2: change water

[astrochick00]

Hi Lindsay, so good to "meet" you. I look forward to pics of all your pets, what a good mixture! Do you have time to come to NADA in June? Would enjoy meeting you in person.
Barb

Hi Barb,
I'm hoping to make it down to Austin. I would love to meet some of you characters in person!!
I need to get in touch with you anyway to talk about some pots or bowls for some of my aquarium plants.
Thanks for the welcome!
Lindsay

[Elliots]

Lindsay, after you finish this 8 year program will you have to do a residency or is that included?

[astrochick00]

Lindsay, after you finish this 8 year program will you have to do a residency or is that included?

I will have to do a residency, but I'm pretty sure that I'm only going as far as medicine so a fellowship is unlikely. I got started on this a little late in life

[Second Hand Pat]

Lindsay, would definitely like to see your horses. Nice having a fellow horse owner on the forum.
Pat

[astrochick00]

Today's installment:
Photos of the crew.

Jester playing in his pond (you may notice how really, really big he is):

Pepper being noble and sophisticated:

Summer enjoying the strange Alabama snows this year:

Fantastic photo of Pepper, a friend captured this early one morning:

Summer looking pretty:

Jester doing what he loves best:


I hope everyone is having a good week so far, and thanks for looking at my photos!
Lindsay

[Bill63SG]

Hi Lindsay,interesting read.

[nc0gnet0]

Lindsey, is that you riding the jumper?

[judijetson]

Love your horses, just beautiful! Long time ago I had show horses, a thoroughbred and a quarter horse thoroughbred mix. Hope you post more pics!

Sent from my Galaxy Note 3