ELECTRIC KARMA

John, George, Thao, Virginia

We went to George's favorite Indian restaurant. This was the first time I can remember having Indian Food. We only sat at this table for 5 mins, then moved to a real table.

DR UPATHAM

For the first part of our break, George and I spent the morning down in San Diego with Dr's McLaughlin and Upatham.

THE BOILING CRAB

George has been talking about going to The Boiling Crab for months now. We finally made it over there and it was worth the trip.

Some of the new first yrs tagged along.
(L-R) Thao, John, George, Virginia, Scott

Your order comes in bags and everyone just takes from the bag and eats on the table.

Scott is having some Crawfish brains.

George admires his accomplishment.

DR BANH

I was free one afternoon so I hitched a ride to Dr Banh's office. Dr Banh bought the practice of my Orthodontist and treated my cousin in Covina. Sorry for the blurry pic, but I can't take them all :)

EL CHOLO COVERT OPERATION

The guys took a covert operation to El Cholo to meet with a Rep since USC has banned all Lunch and Learns.

DR WILSON

This was the 2nd lecture from Dr Libby Wilson on Cleft Lip/Palate.

After our lecture we went to Dim Sum with Dr Sameshima. This pic was taken on the way out. I think they are trying to figure out what we just ate. It was good though.

THANKS DR LOOS!

Dr Loos provided Pizza and cake for the clinic as a celebration for the 1st yrs completing their first lab course. In return the 1st yrs bought a USC tie for him.

WELCOME CLASS of 2013

Class of 2013 Welcoming Brunch
@ The Oakmont Country Club

(L-R Back) Nathan Coughlin (USC), Bita Moalej (USC), Ryan Hecht (UNLV)
(L-R Front) Thao Nguyen (UCLA), Scott Morita (USC), Virginia Pham (UCSF)

Thanks to the USC Ortho Alumni Association for providing gift bags to the incoming residents.

Class of 2013

(L-R) Virginia Pham (UCSF), Bita Moalej (USC), Nathan Coughlin (USC), Thao Nguyen (UCLA), Ryan Hecht (UNLV), Scott Morita (USC)

Lindsey, Donald, Nicole representing the Class of 2011

Bay 5
Lindsey, John, Thao

KOREAN BBQ

For the past few weeks we have had some visitors from Yonsei University in Korea. For their last night out we took them to Korean BBQ. It's delicious, but the smell stays with you for a while.

I HEAR THEY GOT SOME TASTY BURGERS.....

After clinic today we headed to The Father's Office for a burger that George has been ranting and raving about for the last 6 months.

It's a little like ordering from the soup nazi for all of you Seinfeld fans that can relate. First off you order from the bar. Second, if you order a burger it pretty much comes as is. You don't pick and choose what you want on it. Third, There's NO Ketchup! Sounds a little strange but that was a tasty burger.

Mike went to the bar to order and asked "what kind of burgers do you have?" Their reply was "We have 1...." Luckily he did not get "No Burger for you....NEXT!"

George, Dr Sameshima, John, Mike

"Well, if you like burgers give 'em a try sometime. I can't usually get 'em myself because my girlfriend's a vegetarian which pretty much makes me a vegetarian. But I do love the taste of a good burger. Mm-mm-mm. You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France?"---Name that Movie quote.

TRIP TO DR KAWATA'S OFFICE

Well I forgot my camera so this is the best i could come up with. Today we had a day off since the new first years are starting today and we are not allowed near the clinic. Dr Sameshima probably doesn't want anyone corrupting the newbies.

George and I went out to Corona to spend the morning in Dr's Kawata's and Matsumoto's office.

DR VARGERVIK FROM UCSF

Garrett, Laura, Dr Vargervik, Stefan, George, John

Dr Vargervik, from UCSF, came to lecture to us on cleft lip and palate treatment. You will note that Stefan no longer wears a tie bacause it chaffes his neck. He's a little sensitive.

LUNCH

So George called me and said "Do you want anything from Panda Express?" Of course I said get me some Orange Chicken. This is the little box he came back with. Who doesn't get rice or chow mein? Luckily Garrett had some rice from somewhere else to lend me.

DR McLAUGHLIN COURSE TAKE II

USC 2nd and 3rd yrs along with UCLA 2nd yrs went down to San Diego for a course with Dr McLaughlin. Of course we hit up Phil's BBQ a few times.

BLEED FOR TWEED

The Class of 2012 attended the Charles H. Tweed Orthodontic Study Course for the last 10 days. The following is a brief summary of our time in Tucson AZ.

The course was a labor intensive ecercise in wire bending and wax work. Each of us had a typodont with teeth mounted in wax. You would bend the wire, place it in the typodont, dip it in warm water bath and watch the teeth move through wax.

Laura and John showing off their skills. Dr. Jim Vaden was our instructor the first day. He used to be the director at the Univ of Tennessee. He wore his USC shirt the day he was our instructor. Interesting that he never wore any other schools shirt.

Dr Diguilio is our instructor from USC. He demanded perfection from us that day. Mike is clearly a little frustrated.

The Class of 2012 enjoying a our last night out to dinner as a class. We found a pretty good Mexican food place called El Charro.

Mike showed off his cooking skills one night. Too bad he was wearing white skinny jeans.

Here is a collection of all the wires we had to bend. It was about a total of 30 archwires. Doesn't sound like much but trust me it was. Our days went from 8am-7PM. Luckily we were one of the faster schools so we would finish early a few days.

The Class of 2012 with Asst course director Dr Jim Vaden and the course director of some 30 yrs Dr Klontz. Dr Tweed is in the picture on the the wall.

All of us appreciate going to the course and are glad that it is over. Our fingers are calloused from all of the wire bending, our minds are spent from all of the lectures, and our backs are sore because of the benches we sat on for many hours.

We made friends from Residencies all over the US and all over the world.

SENIOR GRADUATION

The Seniors had a graduation banquet held in Palm Springs. I did not take many pics. Since I was working on the video all weekend. The following is the video that. was show at the banquet. Mike and I drove all night to Tuscon right after the video. We arrived at 430AM, slept till 630AM in a smoking room, then started class at 8AM.

EXTERNAL REVIEWER

Dr Cangiolosi from Columbia University came to USC as the external reviewer for USC. He met with each of the Seniors individually and looked at 10 of their cases. He then attended the presentations of the seniors research and presented himself.