Voicemail Hilarity

Pharmacies have voice mail systems, mainly for doctor's offices to leave messages, but patients can leave messages as well. Of course, this can lead to people pressing the wrong button and getting in there by accident. Most people just hang up, but every now and then someone leaves a message, usually on accident, that winds up being funny. It seems it's usually and older person, and it usually is something to the effect of "I can't get anyone to answer the (expletive) phone!" They don't leave their names obviously, but you can almost always tell who it is. Anyway, as frustrating as it probably is for the patients, it can be down right hilarious to to the pharmacy staff.

One message was left by a patient just the other day, who knew he was leaving a message and just wished to express his displeasure with the automated menu, explained that he had tried calling us 50 times and couldn't get anyone to answer the blankety-blank phone. Of course, this particular person has expressed his displeasure with a lot of things, so I wasn't that surprised.

Why Does NASCAR stink?

Okay, so it didn't take me long to think of something to write about.

Way back in the day I was a pretty big NASCAR fan. I still remember the first race I every watched, the 1992 Daytona 500, won by Davey Allison, with Morgan Shepard coming in second. Over the years, probably about 2006 when I moved to Denver I stopped watching races for what ever reason. Since I'm often bored these days I decided to start DVR'ing the races to watch at my convenience (where was DVR when I was a big fan?). I have noticed that the races aren't as entertaining. I realize that if anyone actually reads this post they will say the the races were never entertaining, but stay with me here.

I've though up several reasons why things aren't as good anymore. Thanks to youtube, clips of old races are available to watch and analyze. So, in no particular order, here is what I think.

1) Increased popularity lead to changes. Back in'92, NASCAR was still pretty much centered in the Southeast. There were a few races up in the Northeast, and out West, but not many. As the popularity increased, I think some things happened. Ticket prices increased and as a read somewhere a while back, "the loyal fans that built the sport were priced out."

2) New tracks were built and old ones closed. As the popularity increased, there was more demand to have races in newer markets and new tracks were built. For some reason, the majority of these newer tracks are 1.5 miles in length. A lot of the shorter tracks had their races taken away because they didn't bring in a lot of money. I know a lot of people don't like short tracks, but I like the variety if nothing else. I'm not sure if there are still any tracks that have both front and backstretch pit lanes. I remember when Dale Earnhardt qualified so poorly at one track that it was the first time in his career he had to pit on the back stretch. Oh the horror.
Whatever happened to North Wilkesboro and Rockingham?

3) They decided to make this new rule where the top teams where guaranteed spots in the races regardless of their qualifying effort. I suppose this is good for the sport, ensuring the big names are present, but I king of liked the days of good drivers stinking up qualifying and not having a provisional spot. Better luck next week.

4) The instant caution, where the field is frozen when the caution is thrown rather than drivers being able to race back to the line. I can see the logic in this rule though. If you watch old clips and see drivers dodging stopped cars at 200 miles an hour, there were definitely concerns for driver safety.

5) The cars all look the same. Back in 1992, you could tell the Chevys from the Fords, Pontiacs, and Oldsmobiles. Now all the cars are basically the same shape with headlight decals being the only way to tell the different makes apart. It is also kind of strange that Pontiac and Oldsmobile are long gone from not only NASCAR but the world in general. The cars back then were nowhere near "stock" either, but I liked it better then.

6) The newer drivers whine too much. Enough said.

That's about it. I could probably think of other things, but I guess this is enough.

It's Been a Long Time--Random Thoughts

So it has been quite a while since I wrote anything. So long that I couldn't remember the address to my blog and had to go to my sister's and click on the link. I can't really ever think of much to say though.

So why do people ask you your opinion if they don't want to listen to you? It happens a lot at work. People ask for a recommendation to treat a particular ailment. When you recommend something, they say, something to the effect of: "My brother/sister/neighbor/friend said I should take this." To which I want to reply: "Then why did you bother asking me if you take more stock in what your brother/sister/neighbor/friend says."

Why do some people realize that most illnesses can't be treated with something available over the counter? People don't like it when my recommendation is go to the doctor.

Not much else to say for today. Maybe soon I'll think of something exciting to write about.

Is This Really Progress?

Remember back in the good old days when you'd head down to the video store, rent a VHS tape. and take it home for a couple of days before taking it back? That has now been replaced by getting DVD's sent directly to your door. Sound's convenient of course, because there are no late fees or such. You can't lose can you?

Of course you can. I don't remember the last time I got a DVD from Netflix that wasn't scratched to the point that it skipped at some point during the movie. This has to be the most annoying thing ever as far as I'm concerned. Back in the days of good ol' VHS tapes, they worked flawlessly 99% of the time.

That's about it for this rant. I hope you enjoyed it.

Blast from the Past

While flipping through the channels yesterday I stumbled across the NFL network, which was running some sort of Football Follies marathon or something. I haven't thought of Football Follies for quite some time, but tuned in for awhile. I watched the 1987-88 edition. It was pretty hilarious, but the thing I saw that I had forgotten about was the multi-purpose stadium.

Now, if you google multipurpose stadium, you'll get lots of pictures of fancy stadiums that host concerts, etc. but the kind I'm talking about is the football/baseball type. The kind where, while watching football, you can know that a player is tackled somewhere in the vicinity of second base.

I thought that Oakland was the only place that still had one, but Marlins/Dolphins share a stadium at least until next year and the Blue Jays share a stadium with a CFL team.

So whatever happened to those days, before stadiums had to have retractable roofs and giant score boards and cost $1 billion dollars? Doesn't it get more high tech than Mile High stadium, which featured and entire side that could be moved back and forth depending on what sport was being played. Apparently, having lots and lots of luxury suites has something to do with it. Seems like it would be more economical to have one of these, but then again, probably no one wants to go back to playing football on dirt.

The Finished Results

What I thought would take a week or so to complete ended up taking about a month. I sanded the table down and then stained it a dark walnut, and it came out looking pretty bad. I think it mostly stemmed from my choice of brush. I could have sanded it down and restained it, but I didn't really want to do that, so I bought some primer and paind and this is the finished result. It looks pretty decent as long as you don't look at it too closely.

My New Project

I know some people still have hard feelings that I inherited this fine piece of furniture. The end table with the lift up top. Well, it needed some refinishing, and since I have the time on my hands, I decided to start. I started sanding it today, and at this rate, I should be done with that part by this time next year if I'm lucky. I was going to sand it all by hand, but I think I'll be investing in a power sander instead.

I didn't think to take a picture until after I started, but it is looking better already. For those of you concerned, I sanded it out on the patio, not in my living room.

Pharmacy Customers in Las Cruces are Nicer than in Aurora

This has been my observation over the last month. People don't seem to be as rude here. Maybe that is because the majority of Kmart customers are older people, although there were some pretty vicious old people frequenting Walgreens in Aurora. You can tell people here that there prescription is going to take 45 minutes and they're just like "OK, whatever." In Aurora, some people would freak out if they were going to have to wait 1o minutes. Of course, Kmart had no drive through pharmacies either, so maybe people don't think they're picking up a burger on the way home from work as well.

My favorite part is that the people aren't anxious for you to ring up there prescription just so they can tell you the price is wrong and that their insurance should pay for that and they have good insurance and blah, blah, blah. I really wanted to tell many a person in Aurora, your insurance company doesn't care about you, they care about their bottom line. But that is another topic.

Learning to be an Adult

Now that I'm all graduated I had to start doing grown up things like paying for my own car insurance. I spent many a night trying to decide what company to go with. I finally decided to go with Progressive since they seemed to be the cheapest. Fortunately, my car is old. Now I have to register it in New Mexico. It's a lot cheaper than Colorado, so that is a plus. At least they have a license plate option other than the yellow plate. I might not be able to handle that. I also have the health insurance stuff that I have to pay for. Being an adult is fun!

I wrote two posts in one day. I hope that satisfies some people.

Life in the LC

I've now been a Las Cruces resident for 5 whole days. So far it's pretty good. My only major complaint is the lack of a suitable grocery store. The only major ones are Albertsons (too expensive) and Wal-Mart (need I say more?). I do miss my low stress shopping trips to King Soopers at 8:00 on Friday or Saturday night. It's not as hot as one might think either. At least it doesn't seem too bad.

Work is dandy so far. I've mostly just been doing computer training, which is less than thrilling, but I've done other stuff as well. Next week I have to start doing 12 hour shifts. That should make for a long day, but on the upside means I have 4 days off.

LC seems to have just about everything you could want (grocery stores excepted). I think it is probably one of the few places in the US where the number of Kmarts (2) is more than the number of Targets (1) and equal to the number of Wal-Marts.

My First Day at the New Job

Today was my first day training for my new job. Since it was the Monday after a major holiday, it was pretty boring actually. Most doctors offices were closed, so there weren't a whole lot of prescriptions rolling in. The computer system is older, so that will take a lot of getting used to, but overall, it wasn't too bad. Hopefully it will be more exciting tomorrow.

Are Proofreaders Expensive?

In order to help study for the upcoming tests that I will be taking, I purchased a review book. I bought it last summer so I don't remember exactly how much it cost, but I think it was at least $50. Considering what it costs to actually take the test, it's not that much. While this book is helpful, I can't help but think that they formatted this book and then said "It's ready for print", and then cranked up the presses. You can tell that nobody actually bothered to proofread this book, and if they did, they just flipped through the pages and declared it good. The errors are mostly with formatting. Maybe they used one program to do it and then switched to another program that didn't support the formatting or something, because there are some weird symbols that show up. There are a few places where the information is actually wrong too, but hopefully anyone who has been to pharmacy school recognizes these errors. Some of the review questions also have answers that contradict information given in other places. Anyway, I think that if you're going to charge fifty bucks for a paperback book, you should probably at least make sure there are no grammatical errors. Maybe the cost of paying someone to proofread is so outrageous that it cuts into their bottom line.

Why I Never Write Anything

So, my blog is pretty boring, but I have a pretty boring life. I just finished pharmacy school, so maybe I'll have time to actually do something now. I hope this satisfies all those who say I never write on my blog.

Seriously?

I heard on the news the other day that CU-Boulder wants to ban on campus parking for their students in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Before implementing such a ban, they want to be sure that the $1.2 million dollars that they would lose would not have a negative impact on their budget.

This sounds like a bad idea to start with, but they say that 75% of the students already use an alternate form of transportation and that a car isn't really necessary on campus. According to their website, CU-Boulder has a student body of almost 29,000 students on campus. Sure 75% is alot, but that also leaves 7520 students who do commute in a car. Where are they going to park? On the street? The administration says that bus passes are included in student fees, but sometimes RTD isn't too convenient, at least in Denver.

So that's my rant about that. I don't go to CU-Boulder, so I'm not sure why I care. Maybe they should take a cue from the Health Sciences Center and ban parking lots first.

Just as I Suspected

Anybody who watches TV in Denver, and maybe those who live elsewhere, have probably seen the commercial with the mom venting her frustrations at the government for wanting to tax juice drinks and sodas. She rants about how the pennies can add up when you're trying to feed a family. This commercial annoys me on so many levels. First, if you're so concerned about not having money to feed your family, why are you tanking up on stuff that had no nutritional value in the first place? The answer to that is, of course, that the commercial is paid for by the group Americans Against Food Taxes. Who are these Americans? If you guessed Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Dr Pepper Royal Crown Bottling, Canada Dry Bottling, The Can Manufacturers Institute, 7-Eleven, and Yum! Brands, you'd be correct (its nice the internet allows you to find out such things). I don't really have any beef about people drinking soda, I just think that the commercial is funny since this mom is so concerned about the price of nutrionally deficient junk food going up when she's trying to feed her family.

Pharmacy School Rotations

For my once quarterly blog, I will talk about my pharmacy school rotations so far. They are each six weeks long and consist of going to various and assorted sites throughout the state, or, if you are particularly ambitious and want to go through all the work, the country or even the world. Since I'm not that ambitious and preferred to have someone else do most of the work, I chose to do all of mine in Colorado.

My first one was in a hospital. It was my first experience working in a hospital and was interesting. The end of my first day came to an end when I passed the "mortuary guys" as they are called wheeling someone out of the hospital in a body bag. Then I remembered that people tend to die in hospitals from time to time. But overall it was pretty good, I got to see lots of interesting stuff like a PCI and a knee surgery. I also learned what hospital pharmacists do besides sit in front of a computer and do order entry. Once I had to do some research about what could medications could be causing a problem that a patient had, and typed up my response and it got put in the patient's chart. A few days later I was reading a progress note on the patient and the physician that wrote it mentioned my sheet. I wanted to tell everyone: "I wriote that." But I refrained from doing so. I had to drive quite a ways to get there every day, so I'm glad to have that part over with.

My next one is doing diabetes management at a community pharmacy in a small town. It starts tomorrow and should be interesting. I'm especially excited about not having to commute. It can't take more than 5 minutes to drive across the whole town, so that should be great.

Bracket Fun

I'm not an expert on college basketball, but I'm pretty proud of myself for correctly picking 13 of the Sweet 16 teams.

Oh the Horror

Something bad has happened in the world of pharmacy. Generic Percocet 5/325 is apparently on some sort of nationwide backorder. For anyone unfamiliar with how often this is prescribed, let's just say that it is a lot. Not as much as Vicodin, but probably #2 as far as painkillers go. Although I haven't had to deal with anyone with one of these unfillable prescriptions, I can imagine that there are a lot of unhappy people out there. My only hope is that doctors got the memo, and aren't prescribing it. I didn't see any last time I worked, so maybe that's the case.

In Case You Were Wondering

There are some commercials that seem to have been airing for a really long time. The Discount Tire company one with the old lady throwing the tire through the window and the Tootsie Pop commercial with the owl. I was wondering how long these have been on. Thanks to the internet, such useless knowledge is available at my fingertips.

According to the Guiness Book of World Records, the Discount Tire commercial is the oldest first airing in 1975. However, a further search reveals that the Tootsie Pop commercial has been around since 1970. Aren't you glad you know that now.

Other fun facts are available about the Discount Tire spot. The old lady is actually a man, because the tire was too heavy for the old lady they had cast to throw. They also had to throw the tire at the window three times before they got the desired results. The first time the window didn't break, the second time the tire didn't hit the logo, and the third time it worked as planned.

Ah, Memories

For some reason, I was thinking about live chickens the other day, and it reminded me of being in Honduras and how people used have tons of chickens that would sleep in trees. They would put up ladders against trees and then the chickens would just climb on up. I never thought that chickens would want sleep in trees, but apparently they don't mind. I think it's funny though.

On a similar note, I was taking the bus home from school yesterday, when the one ahead of mine broke down, which lead to about 25 people boarding an already full bus. That also reminded me of Honduras, where it was not unusual to pack over 100 people on a bus. I remember one time traffic got stopped because of a wreck or something and I counted 128 people on the bus with me. There may have been more too.