There is a narrow sidewalk on the north side of four lanes of fast traffic, that's where I ride. When the road is wet it's easier because there's not so much dust flying around from the traffic, getting in my eyes. But I like crossing the river every day. From the top of the bridge, if it's clear, I can see Mount Hood. It's a very long bridge too, across the river and above another highway too. The most exciting part of the bike commute is coming off the Ross Island bridge and merging into two lanes of traffic while going around a curve, then merging across all that traffic to turn left into the school. So far so good. I wear lots of blinkie lights, signal big, and then just go for it. On the east side of the river there's a ridable pedestrian bridge that keeps me from having to fool with traffic. It's low stress. I haven't taken the bus a single time since I moved to the new place. There's no waiting around to ride a bike, you just get on it when you're ready to go.
At school here all the first year ND students are studying Biochem like there was no tomorrow. I have been over it all a couple of times and feel like I understand it well, so I'm taking a break. I got a big fat breakfast burrito from the divine cafe (food cart in east parking lot) and then came here to check email and post my thoughts. The biochem we're about to be tested in is basic enzyme kinetics (I posted a lot about that during my LAST biochem class at NAU in AZ), carbohydrates, redox review, and the first few ideas about metabolism. I think I know it. I even remembered to bring my calculator, and know the formulas that I need to know. So all is well.
In cadaver lab this morning we looked at the muscles of the face and neck. It was pretty straightforward. There are just a couple of muscles that I did not exactly see, but I know where they are, under what. There are at least five different muscles that connect to the hyoid bone in the throat, one of which (the omohyoid) which attaches to the top of the scapula. It's very educational to see these structures on a real human. They're slightly different on each and every person.