Friday, March 13, 2009

Arizona

My latest adventure was with Pearl and Gene Simmons (the Mail room guy, not the rock star). We were going down to Arizona to attend the graduation of their son Slade, who is now a Doctor of Audiology (he is the one that outfits Pearl with the special earpeice on her phone). Our first stop was at the Glen Canyon Dam. Please read and enjoy some fun facts about all of the stops on my trip.

Glen Canyon Dam - By 1959, the Glen Canyon Bridge was completed permitting the trucks to deliver equipment and materials for the dam and the new town of Page, Arizona.
The next year concrete placement began and continued night and day until the final bucket was dumped three years later. A bucket held 24 tons of damp concrete and it took over 400,000 of them to build the dam. Over five million cubic yards of concrete make up the dam and power plant -- that's equal to enough to build a four-lane highway stretching from Phoenix, Arizona to Chicago, Illinois. Construction began on the 3,700 foot dam with blocks of concrete 7.5 feet high.
Next, turbines and generators were installed from 1963 to 1966. The dam was dedicated by Ladybird Johnson on September 22, 1966. It took 17 years for Lake Powell to completely fill for the first time. The plant generates more than 1.3 million kilowatts of electricity with each of the 40-ton steel shafts turning at 150 rpm, generating nearly 200,000 horsepower. With all eight generators operating at full output, over 15 million gallons of water will pass through the power plant's penstocks each minute. The electricity is upgraded on a transformer deck from 13,800 volts to 230,000 and 345,000 volts for transmission to distant markets.

Sadona, Arizona - I met a Sheriff of a little town on my way to Slades graduation. He was the Sheriff of Sadona, which is located 120 miles north of Phoenix Arizona. The population is around 24,000, and the average rainfall is 17.15" per year. Found here are cliff dwellings constructed by the Southern Sinagua people, who inhabited the area from about 650 A.D. to around 1300 A.D. However Sadona's first settlers came in 1876 but wasn't founded until 1902. The City of Sadona became incorporated in 1988. I made it across three streets in this town without getting hit! YEAH!

Next stop on this plesant little trip was to Slades Simmons graduation as a Doctor of Audiology.
How many years of schooling did Slade take?
Bachelor's Degree = 4 years. Master's Degree (Audiology) = 2 years. Doctorate Degree (Audiology, Au.D.) = 2 years.

How many training or precepting hours did he put in? I don't remember the specific hours, but as a Master's Student, I probably did about 20 weeks of full-time externship, another 12-20 weeks part time, and maybe 3 semesters seeing patients at the clinic on campus (U of U). After completion of my Master's Degree, I moved to Palm Springs, CA to complete a required fellowship which was 9 months full-time.

What was your favorite class?
Probably anatomy courses. Usually these were among the toughest classes, but it was a topic I enjoyed and found it easy to study.

Is the Anatomy Similarities in the ears of humans and Armidillos?
Unfortunately, I don't know!? I tried to find some info on the Armadillo ear but couldn't get any details. There may be some differences either with the hearing or the balance mechanism, but I can't say for sure.

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