Hi, my name is Alexis Martinez. I
am currently a senior at the University of Oklahoma. I am a health and exercise
science major. I plan on going into physical therapy after graduating. That is the
goal at least. I did some research with Dr. Bemben who is the chair of the
health and exercise department. We focused on the psychological responses to
exercise while using blood occlusion cuffs at different pressures around the proximal
portion of the thigh. It was a great experience to actually do some hands on
research and it gave me an idea of what research is all about. I am also a
McNairs scholar which this will be my last semester being in the McNairs program.
I will miss it! I plan on starting my observation hours required for physical
therapy school applications this semester as well. I have not applied yet and I
am a bit nervous!
I have one sibling who is like a
best friend to me. He is 18 years old. I’m 21 by the way. I moved out into my
own house three weeks ago. I am actually very excited! It has been a tuff
process transitioning from my parent’s house to my own space. Its especially
difficult when you don’t have your parents going around doing all the “house
stuff”. I live with my girlfriend who I met in high school. One of my favorite hobbies is to ride horses
and care for my animals. I have horses, dogs, and pigeons. I actually train my
pigeons to fly long distances and make it back home. I actually have a business
dedicated to white pigeons releases for weddings, funerals, church events, memorials,
etc. My business is called White Wings of OKC. Which you can find us on
Facebook and Instagram! I came across this hobby when I was 15 years old. I use to work with my dad out in fields and I remember always seeing pigeons eat the grains that we put out for wild birds to eat. I spotted a pigeon which had a band around its leg and I decided to catch it. The band had a phone number on it and I called to let the owner know I had his bird. I went over to this mans place and he showed me his pigeon loft. HE gave me a few white pairs and by the time I knew it, I had over 50 of them. Today I have about 150 that free fly and return to their pigeon loft at night. I also enjoy watching professional bull riding! I have
tried it a couple times but I am no pro!
This is a short summary about me and
the things I enjoy. I hope you guys visit my blog more often!
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| My dog Boomer. The Day I bought him. |
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| My dog Rambo |
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| Professional Bull Riding: Flickr |
Hi Alexis!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on being a senior at OU! What a ride, but now quite like bullriding! OMG, you are probably one of the most brave people ever. You have some interesting hobbies. What a neat idea for your own business with the pigeons!
That is so cool that you are heading into physical therapy. Many times in my life I have needed the help of a physical therapist. I am so grateful for those people who helped me to learn to walk again after a bad car accident, and others who have helped me to be able to recover from other accidents that involved my neck and spine. You will get to make a huge impact on your clients life! That is really great!
Nice to meet you, Alexis!
ReplyDeleteI was really taken aback by how unique and varied your hobbies are! I would not expect a physical therapy student to be into training horses or releasing pigeons -- I think it's super cool that you've found so many ways to express yourself and contribute to our world!
I remember how weird it was to live on my own for the first time, but I've found that once you get accustomed to true independence, it can be really hard to imagine living any other way. One summer I had to move back in with my dad while I was between leases, and I hated it, haha!
Good luck with all of your efforts this semester!
Oh, it is so nice to meet someone in McNairs Scholar program, Alexis! They are one of my favorite OU Twitter feeds to follow. And how cool about your pigeons: I have never heard of anything like that before. I was curious and looked at your website: WhiteWingsofOKC.com/. Wow! I read the question page: it was so informative. Maybe you will want to do a project about the birds of Indian mythology. One of the most important gods is Garuda, and he is a bird! You can find more about Garuda here: Garuda ... and thank you for sharing about your WhiteWings business. I have never heard of anything like that before, so I will file it in my "learn something new every day" file for today!
ReplyDeleteHi ALexis!
ReplyDeleteFirst off the passion you have for your major is incredible. I really admire that and hope that I have that same amount of passion for my major. I think if you love what you do you are well off in life. I also think your business is really cool. How did you come into that business? I can't wait to get to know you more throughout the semester.
Alexis,
ReplyDeleteI’ve known you for 10 years but I still loved reading your introduction. I’m so glad you are in the HES major with me so we can suffer through all the hard classes together. I’m also super excited that we both want to go into PT. That means we need to get our butts into gear and start getting our studying hard and getting more volunteer hours. I’m so happy you and your girlfriend are doing well (tell her I say hi!). I also didn’t know you’ve tried bull riding! I would never, ever consider it. It’s way too scary. I did learn some new information from your blog post so I can’t wait to explore more of your blog!
Alexis, I enjoyed reading your introduction. You sound like a very goal orientated person and that is going to get you far in life. Thats cool that you are planning on doing PT for a career. Sounds like a lot of Anatomy to me lol. I think you'll do well! Im looking forward to getting to know you better throughout this semester.
ReplyDeleteChristian
Hi Alexis! I think it is awesome that you want to be a physical therapist because I think it is an extremely important job that has dramatic results. I also saw that you have a lot of animals. I have heard of horses and dogs as pets but I think his is the first time I have heard of pigeons. That is awesome!
ReplyDeleteNice meeting you!
-Sara
Alexis, wow that must have been an amazing opportunity to get to do research with a professor from your department! I bet you learned a lot and got a very good experience out of it (as well as some sprucing to add to your resume). I bet moving into your new place has been exciting but very stressful. While having your own space is great, getting it set up is a lot of work. That's amazing that you already have your own business! I can only imagine how hard it must be to train pigeons. But of luck with your physical therapy school applications!
ReplyDeleteAlexis, wow bull riding! I recently saw a movie where the main guy is a bull rider (can't remember the name), but it made me realize how difficult/terrifying it really is. Moving away from home is always tough but exciting! I'm a senior as well, so I am definitely looking forward to graduate as well. Thank you for sharing Alexis!
ReplyDeleteHey Alexis,
ReplyDeleteHope you're adjusting to independent living by now! That is a seriously cool business you have (I checked out the instagram). How very unique and interesting.
I am also interested by your research. I'm currently a research assistant at the OU visual neuroscience lab. What was the overall takeaway from the research? Psychological responses to exercises? Were they good responses, bad, how can I use that information in my own workout routine?
Hi Alexis,
ReplyDeleteYour introduction was very interesting. I also thought about physical therapy as a major. I had a knee injury a couple of years ago. I had a great PT team and was able to regain full mobility of my knee. I think you will find PT to be a rewarding career. I hope you are transitioning well. Moving can be both stressful and exciting.
Hey Alexis!
ReplyDeleteIt is very nice to meet you! I am also a Health and Exercise Program but am applying to occupational therapy school instead of physical therapy so I really understand your jitters! Speaking of nerves, I cannot believe that you ride bulls! Just watching I get severe anxiety! Good luck with getting into pt school and in all of your future bull rides!
Hi Alexis, your hobby in pigeons is kind of interesting. One of my biology professors once said that OKC actually holds a pigeon convention every year. Have you ever heard of it or been to it? Transitioning to your own place can be very difficult. It took me forever to adjust to the “adult world”. I hope you enjoy physical therapy and be safe bull riding!
ReplyDeleteHey Alexis, It's really cool that you're into bull riding. I don't think I could do that. I'm mean they're just terrifying, running around in that heavy makeup, jumping in and out barrels... and the bulls are scary too (haha). That is pretty cool though.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, congrats on being in the McNairs program. I was never into research too much myself, but it's cool that your doing so much with it.
It was great meeting you, and I'll be looking out for you in the next PBR championships.
It is really nice to meet you Alexis! Sounds like you are quite the entrepreneur! I hope to own my own business some day as well. I miss the good old days of living with my parents and getting all the “house things” done for me. I thing we all took that stage for granted. I think that is so cool that you have done some bull riding! I’ve always been intrigued by the sport.
ReplyDeleteYour dog is the cutest thing EVER! Also, I think that it is so cool that you have your own business and that you are doing so well with it wow. I may have to hit you up at my wedding, a white pidgeon release would be so cool.
ReplyDeleteAnyways. Nice to meet you!
Alexis, Physical therapists do great work! I think I would really enjoy this occupation. Good for you for following your heart! I am so curious to know how you train pigeons to fly long distances and makes it back home. That is awesome that you came across such a neat hobby at such a young age and even started your own business!
ReplyDeleteHey Alexis!
ReplyDeleteNice to "meet" you! I was particularly captivated by all of your pictures! I am from Houston and I go to the Houston Rodeo every spring! It is by far my favorite time of the year! The Bull Riders are insane and very talented! It takes a lot of strength and bravery I think, to be a bull rider! I think it is so cool that you aspire to be one, one day!
Hey Alexis, it is nice to meet you and read a little bit about you! I haven't been assigned to you, but I wanted to check out your blog and some of your stories. I think your dog, Boomer, is SO cute! I just wanna pet him. It seems like you have done a lot to work towards your future career goal! I think it's so cool that you have done so much research while in college!
ReplyDeleteHello, Alexis. Thank you for sharing a little info about yourself. You sound like a very adventurous person! There is no way that you could get me on a bull. I think it's cool that you would though. It is always interesting to hear about HES research. The human body is so amazing! Props to you for going through the research process. From what I understand, it is requires a lot of time and effort. Without a doubt this discipline will help you in PT school. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteHey Alexis!
ReplyDeleteIt’s great to meet you. Physical Therapy is a great career path and from the people I know that do it also say that it is very rewarding. Wow, that is so cool that you train your pigeons to do that! Another Wow, you have ridden a bull before! That is so cool and unique! Best of luck with this last semester of undergrad, Alexis!
Alexis!
ReplyDeleteThis is our last week in the class so I wanted to catch up since I haven’t talked to you since Wednesday haha! Anyway I’m glad we had this class together to keep each other on track. Every time we were in the 8am class together we kept checking up on each other’s progress on storytelling or reading assignments. It was fun and I’m glad we finished off strong!
Hey there Alexis,
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to meet you! Even if it is this late in the semester. The pigeon business you have is so unique! I loved that you explained it. That is something someone definitely just walks into. I don’t know much about bull riding, expect there was chickflic I was forced to watch and one of the guys was a bull rider…
Ollie