Transpacific pears

Last night at work I had a prepacked cup of pears for dessert. It was delicious, but as I ate it I noticed printed on the side the words "PEARS F/ARGENTINA PACKED IN THAILAND." I thought that was odd. There's something fundamentally flawed with the global economy if it's really cost effective to grow pears in Argentina, ship them across the Pacific Ocean to be packed in Thailand, then ship them back across the Pacific to the United States for consumption. I mean, it probably makes sense to grow in Argentina, at least during certain parts of the year. I get that. But really, it's cheaper to ship it halfway across the world so little kids can pack it instead of packing it either (1) where it's grown or (2) where it's sold? Staggering. Think about how bad that is for the Earth. Think about how oppressive that is to the people of Thailand and, for that matter, Argentina. It makes me angry. It makes me not want to buy fruit from Dole. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

So, sorry I haven't posted for some time. I have no excuse, other than being a full-time student who works 32 hours a week and has a family to take care of. I got through "hell week" fairly well, scoring an A on two exams and a... passing grade... on the third. Also, I passed the verbal telephone exam (it was pass/fail). I think the rest of the semester is going to be a continuous gauntlet of tests, assignments and activities. I'll trade to drop updates as I go, but I'm having a baby at the end of November, so don't be too upset if I don't have a ton of time for you, my readers.

I also want to go on the record (so I can brag about it later) on the baseball playoffs. Since TBS started airing playoff games, the team that plays its League Championship Series on FOX (and therefore starts their series one day later) has won the World Series every year. That means the winner of Phillies/Giants, whoever that is, is in line to win the title this year. Let's see if that happens.

Football!

Since my last post, the National Football League has returned to action. And the Bears are 2-0. Also, Carlos Gonzalez is the latest to fall victim to the Buffalo Pharmer curse (see also: the MLB.com survivor contest, Monday blog entries, the 2009 Chicago Bears, P1 class president, the Chicago Cubs as a franchise) . He hasn't hit a home run since I wrote the MVP article, and the triple crown looks like it won't happen this year. In fact, Troy Tulowitzki looks more like the MVP candidate than CarGo right now. Whatever.

A classmate of mine sent me a link to this article, in case I needed something to blog about. At first I thought, no thanks, I don't want to write about that. Then I remembered that I take requests, so I thought I'd chip in my two cents. The article admonishes Derek Jeter for acting hurt after a pitch hit the butt of his bat. The basic idea is that while this sort of thing happens all the time in baseball, it's not typical for Derek Jeter to behave like anything but a model citizen. I guess I agree with that, but I sort of don't care. A lot of stuff goes on in baseball that isn't really the most honorable. Pitchers throw at hitters. Players apply phantom tags, and get away with it. Matt Holliday slides right past home plate and the Rockies go to the World Series. This writer seems to be making a big deal out of nothing and, rather than showing Jeter to be a cheater, I think he shows the opposite. If this is the biggest thing we can get on Jeter, how much can we really say about him? A ball came close to hitting him, and he hammed it up enough to get first base. Chances are his reaction to the pitch had nothing to do with the call. My guess is the ump thought it actually hit him on the hand, and logically awarded him the base. I don't think major league umpires are in the business of making calls based on the player's reaction, for the most part. Also, all the bad calls and missed plays average out over the course of the season. I'm sure at some point, the Yankees lost a close call, probably even a wrong call, and ended up losing the game. So Jeter overreacts and ends up scoring and winning the game. Let's move on.

Anyway, since you asked, that's what I feel about it. Keep your requests coming! For my next entry, I'm going to talk about something I totally haven't mentioned this year, which is school. Isn't that a novel topic for my pharmacy school blog? Thanks for stopping by.

Vacation report

After this week, I have two weeks before the school year starts. Ugh.

I had a great time in Wisconsin. I'm so glad my grandmother finally got to meet my son, whom she has been spoiling rotten since he was born. They took to each other immediately. He also spent quite a bit of time with my cousins Thomas (age 9) and Michael (7). They, like everyone else, adored him. It was great to spend almost an entire week a) with my extended family and b) with no responsibilities. Having my cousins around took all of the pressure off my wife and I to play with Xander. He was thoroughly entertained the entire time, to the point that bedtime became something of an ordeal because he just wanted to go play with his new Thomas the Tank Engine trains or with his super cool cousins. By the end of the week, he was asking for Michael and Thomas by name and spontaneously telling my grandma, "Lovoo, gramma." Waaaay cute.

My cousin Ashley got married on Friday with a backyard reception on Saturday. It wasn't really what I expected. They got married at the courthouse and had the reception at her husband's Aunt's house (I think - I'm still not entirely clear on whose house that was). It was obviously not a big budget wedding, which is fine. It made me really appreciate coming for the entire week. We looked at just going for the two key days, since that would mean less time off of work, but that would have been a disappointment. It wasn't a big enough event. I don't mean that to take anything away from their wedding or their marriage, it just wasn't a big enough deal to mandate flying a thousand miles for. Being able to spend time with all my Midwestern relatives made it worthwhile. And I don't regret going to the wedding, either. I'm glad I was able to be there for that.

Whatever was under my L key that was making it touchy in my last post is under the / now. It sucks for writing questions.

Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th career home run on the three-year anniversary of his 500th home run. If he keeps up that pace (he won't), he'll be 40 years old when he becomes the all-time leader and 41 when he hits number 800, in 2016. Maybe I'll start caring then. Even though he's only the seventh player in major league history to do this (hit 600 homers), I'm entirely unimpressed. It just always seemed inevitable. I also think that his admitting to using steroids took some of the thrill out of it. I mean, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa almost certainly juiced, too, but it seemed different a few years ago. And it wasn't blatantly obvious at the time Bonds hit 600, either. We sort of figured that out later. The part that does impress me is that A-Rod is the youngest player to reach 600 home runs. It's not ridiculous to think he could clear 800, or maybe even 850, before he retires, especially when he inevitably moves to a DH role. My big hope is that Albert Pujols can continue his torrid pace and make a run for A-Rod's eventual record, whatever that ends up being. It certainly appears that Pujols never used any performance enhancing drugs. It's not as easy to say that as it once was, since the saving grace for Barry Bonds breaking the record was that A-Rod would eventually catch up to him and the idea was that we would only have a steroid player on top of the pile for a few years. It no longer seems safe to assume that anyone was or wasn't juicing back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Still, I'm pulling for Pujols. And I hate the Cardinals. He's just fun to watch.

That's the other piece that makes A-Rod's accomplishment sort of nonplussing. I don't think anybody really likes Alex Rodriguez. I mean, Barry Bonds was hated by a lot of people, but Giants fans still rooted for him, and a lot of people liked him before his head got huge and he started just belting long balls. Sammy Sosa was beloved by Cubs fans and many others. Ken Griffey, Jr., is a baseball icon about whom nobody has a bad word to say. And of course Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron are baseball icons, so all of the other members of the 600 club are these really interesting, iconic guys and A-Rod is just sort of unlikeable. You either hate the Yankees or you love the Yankees (I happen to fall into the former category), but I get the sense that even Yankee fans don't really like A-Rod.

I did get some requests since my last posts. I'll start dealing with those the next time I write, but I wanted to take care of my news while I actually had some. Thanks for stopping by.

Cruising through the summer

Well, things have quieted down a little for me. I only work two days at Kaiser this week, including tomorrow. That's left me with time to see friends and extended family. Tonight I went to the Rockies game, which they won. It seems like their offense is finally getting it going, which they'll need if they're going to make a playoff push. That's not really my point here, though - it's that this summer has been extremely enjoyable, and relaxing, after a difficult push to the end of the semester. I'm working a ton, spending time with my family, sleeping enough, and generally not stressing out about school.

My son turns 2 on Monday. I think I'll write about that then.

Every shift I work at Kaiser makes me resent the casino job more. Don't get me wrong; it's still fun and I still like to do it. It's just very clear to me what I'm meant to be doing for the rest of my life, and it certainly isn't dealing cards. Getting a taste of a more respectable profession is just making me yearn for the day when I can finally quit the job that was never supposed to be a career, but was very quickly becoming one.

At the end of the month, my cousin is getting married. She lives in Milwaukee, where my grandmother does, too. I'm excited for that trip because she's never met Xander, even though she's spoiled him rotten. I can't wait for that meeting.

Unfortunately, I haven't got a lot of news to report. I was going to try to work on some non-time-sensitive entries (along the lines of the one I made last week) on various topics that interest me, so I can go to those when I have a slow week like this one. Maybe I can put out one of those on Monday.

Summer update

Oh, hi there. I took a month off from this blog after finals. I took a month off from a lot of things. I've just been working and spending time with my family. We went to Vegas right after the end of the semester. That was relaxing, but Vegas isn't really my scene. I'm not big on partying or clubbing. The shows are pretty cool. I don't gamble too much, either. We were there for three nights, and that felt like plenty. A big thank you goes out to my sister-in-law for joining us there and providing some babysitting so we could go out like adults a couple of times.

My final grades were respectable. For the semester I have a 2.9 GPA; for the year it's 3.1. That's not going to win me any scholarships, but it's respectable. All things considered, I think that's pretty good. And more importantly, I feel like I was studying smarter at the end of the semester. I think I can get on top of it earlier and do better in the future.

I went through orientation at Kaiser Permanente last week. It's not enough hours, and doesn't pay enough, to be my only source of income, so I'm still working at the casino, but it's good for me to get into a pharmacy and maybe some day it can become my main/only job.

MLB.com has a contest where you pick a team to win each day and try to build the longest streak. Each year I play and each year I put together a decent, double-digit win streak, but as of this morning I am actually tied for the lead with 20 wins in a row. If I win, I get a trip to next year's All-Star Game, and if my streak is 37 or more, I get $10,000 with it. Today I picked the home town team, the Colorado Rockies, if you want to cheer along at home. Right now I'm less worried about winning and more about the guy that I'm tied with losing. Of course, if both were to happen, that'd be ideal.

Saturday was my six-year anniversary. I'm more in love with my wife today than ever before. Sorry to bombard you with that sap-fest, but really, I'm not sorry. I think a lot of people get married for the wrong reasons today, or from the wrong state of mind, or to the wrong person, and I'm not ashamed to brag about my own marriage. It's not been easy, but it's been a success, and I like to brag.

I'm on twitter now @buffalopharmer, if you want to follow me. I don't know how often I'll be posting blogs this summer, so for tiny updates, Twitter is probably the way to go. For now, thanks for stopping by.

Buffalo Pharmer

So why did I change the name of my blog? Well, the Buffalo is the mascot of the University of Colorado Boulder. It's not really supposed to be associated with the other three campuses (Denver, Colorado Springs, and the Anschutz Medical Campus). They don't use the Ralphie logo any more, and student organizations aren't allowed to, either. None of the other campuses has a mascot, so I don't personally see the harm in borrowing the buffalo, but apparently the administration does. Whatever. So I dropped the buffalo from my blog. That said, the Buffalo Pharmer name was such a great pun, and people seemed to like it, so I think I'm going to switch back next week. Sorry to keep doing this to you.

There are some things that I like to do but hate to have done to me. Tousling my son's hair is a good example. I know it doesn't really feel good to the recipient, but I can't resist. He's too cute.

It occurred to me that my last several posts were written on very little sleep. I bet that makes them seem whiny. So sorry. I'll try not to do much more of that. Last night, I got three hours of sleep after work before my exam. What a difference that made! Now maybe I'll end up with a good grade in Principles of Drug Action.

I wasn't really looking forward to the Masters, but it turned out to be a great show. Seeing Phil Mickelson win it, the way he did, with his wife looking on, put a lot of perspective on the whole Tiger Woods thing. I'm sure what Tiger and his family are going through is very difficult for them, and I don't mean to diminish that hardship for them. But Tiger's predicament is directly the result of Tiger's actions. Yeah, it's tough for him, and yeah, he clearly wasn't 100%. I think we forgot, though, that Lefty's wife AND mother are battling breast cancer. It was a stark contrast. And I get the sense that while Tiger's off-the-course issues were getting in the way of his golf, I think for Phil it's the opposite. Over the past year, golf has really gotten in the way of Mickelson's personal life. It was refreshing to see such a high-profile guy who has his priorities in the right order. I like Tiger, and I admire him as a competitor, but as a family man or even as a man, I'm not all that impressed.

The weather has been extremely nice this past week. It's made studying a little difficult. I got to go to the Rockies home opener on Friday. I love baseball. It was a perfect day. I got sunburned on the right half of my face. The Rockies won.

My son split his head open on a door frame. Again. He's fine, but he's got six stitches in his face. He gets them out today. I feel bad for the guy. It's just about half an inch above the spot where he got hurt last time. If he can get another injury running sort of perpendicular to those two, he'll have a nice Harry Potter-style lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. That might make me feel better about it. I mean, kids are going to get hurt, but I feel a little bad that he's going to have facial scars for his whole life. Well, maybe not. I got burned on my hand pretty badly as a child and the scar lasted for ten years or so. Then it spontaneously disappeared. I guess that could happen with Xander, too. Here's hoping.

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to come back to whatever URL I'm using next week. Check them both, just to be sure.

Baseball returns

Sorry I missed last week. April is sucking already. But now it is also awesome, because last night was the first day of BASEBALL!!!! Dustin Pedroia, my fantasy second baseman, hit a home run. Also, I love baseball. All the other teams get in action today. I'm stoked. The Rockies should be excellent, and the Cubs could be good if enough things go their way.

I made flash cards for this morning's exam, and it really helped. I like my flash cards.

I won both of my March Madness pools. Of course, gambling on sports is illegal in my state, so there's no financial benefit to me, but the pride is well worth it. Also, I like being proved right. I get a better score if Duke wins tonight, but there's no way I can lose. Nobody really picked Butler to win it all.

How cute is this? At my dad's house last week, my son was hamming it up for the camera. Whenever my dad tried to take his picture, my son gave a goofy fake grin, closed his eyes, and tilted back his head. To your left you can see him and my sister doing the face together. Then when I tried to take his picture a couple days ago, he didn't respond at all. He stared at me with his mouth agape and a little bit of drool coming down his chin. I guess he doesn't like daddy's camera as much as grandpa's.

You'd think I would have more to say after two weeks without an update, but it's been non-stop hard work. I hate it. I miss my family. I have to remind myself all the time that it's just four years, and that this semester is just six more weeks and then it'll be three more years. I need to beat that mantra more or less to death.

Well, I guess I'll leave it at that. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm not sure where to start with this one

This picture is from the handicapped stall in the men's room at Wal-Mart. I find several things hilarious here: 1. They have a seat to strap your baby into while you take a dump. 2. They think you might need instructions on how to operate the device. 3. Somebody tagged it with a Sharpie.

Last week was Spring Break, and also my birthday. We took a mini-vacation to the Seattle area, where my brother-in-law lives. He was an excellent host, providing us with a bed, a car, and tons of food. It was only four days but it was extremely refreshing. We spent my birthday in downtown Seattle, first at the Space Needle and Science Fiction Museum and later at Pike Place Market. I got a coffee from the original Starbucks. It's not that big a deal, actually. I mean, it's a cool, urban Starbucks, but it didn't feel like sacred ground or anything.

I've been awake for 21 hours. I feel like a broken record at this point, with every Monday blog making mention of my crazy 6-night week. Anyway, I just took my exam so the rest of my day is wide open. I might take a nap, or I might stay up until six or seven or whenever Xander goes to sleep and just turn in early. Or a little of each.

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is the greatest sporting event ever conceived. I love it. I love filling out brackets and rooting for Cinderellas and bragging when I pick it right and crying when Kansas loses in the second round and I have them in the championship game. Kansas, for the record, screws me every time. When I pick them to do well, they miss the Sweet 16 (i.e., 2006). When I say, "Not this time, Jayhawks!" and knock them out early, they win the national championship (i.e., 2008). So all you Jayhawk fans, you best hope I pick them for an early exit next year. I like your chances if I do.

The semester is halfway over. I get the sense that it's about to get a good deal harder. IOS 1 was a review of physiology. IOS 2 starts getting into specific systems and specific disease states and specific drugs for the treatment of those diseases. Bring it on. Oh, and the Interdisciplinary Ethics course starts next week. Woohoo.

The first regular season baseball game is two weeks from yesterday. Interesting baseball fact: Jason Marquis has played on a playoff team in each of his ten seasons in the major leagues. This year, Jason Marquis is playing for the ridiculously bad Washington Nationals. There's no way that trend can continue, is there? I'm guessing Marquis gets traded to a contender. We'll revisit in September.

OK, that's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Resetting my circadian rhythm

Here we go again.

Right now my work schedule is 6-2 on Friday, 9-6 on Saturday (that's 9 pm to 6 am), and 8-4 on Sunday. Monday mornings we have exams. That's every Monday for the rest of the semester. So basically, I only sleep six nights a week. On Fridays I wake up at a quarter to six (a.m.) and stay up until 3 or 4, effectively setting my circadian rhythm to the graveyard shift. On Sundays I wake up no earlier than 4 p.m. and stay up all night, doing my best to make it to 8 p.m. and set the rhythm back to that of a normal human being. And this is the routine I'll work on for the rest of the term.

As a result, I fell asleep on the bus this morning and in the foggy haze between clear, coherent thought and some crazy dream I invented the word "faculcade." I'm pretty sure that's a portmanteau of "faculty" and "cavalcade," but I'm open to suggestions. I've no idea what the context of that word is, but it fit seamlessly with my nonsensical train of thought.

If you like the Oscars and you like gambling, I have the perfect event for you: My annual Oscar pool! Shoot me an email if you want in on some of that action.

My wife and I had a night out with no baby. We went to Breckenridge, saw a comedy show, and stayed at our friends' parents' condo. It was fantastic. That was the first night that Xander's been home without one or both of us there. My wonderful sister and brother-in-law stayed over, and it actually went pretty well. I was a little worried that I would be too worried about him to enjoy myself (Wow; when I say it that way I sound neurotic) but for one night it wasn't so bad. I don't know if we could do more than that, but it was really nice to go out like adults and not have to worry about getting home to relieve the babysitter or anything like that. (Kyle and Nicole, if you're reading this, THANK YOU.)

The downside to all that fun weekend having is that I was severely underprepared for my exam today. I still passed (I think) but my chances at an A in this class are getting slimmer by the week. That's OK. I'm not going to school for the grades, am I?

In sporting news, pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training (with position players not far behind) and the New Jersey Nets are the worst sports team of the young century with a winning percentage of .089. I think that's even more impressive than the Lions' 0-16 season because basketball is less predictable a game. I mean, even a bad team can win against a good team in basketball once in a while (you know, like 5 times out of 56, if you're the Nets) but a bad football team will probably never beat a good one.

I guess that's all I've got for this week. I'm probably forgetting something but I'm pretty tired since I've been awake for 22 hours.

New reasons to hate Boulder

Last night, I took my family to Pearl Street in downtown Boulder for some shopping and dinner. That sounded like a pretty good idea, right? Not so much.

First, the temperature dropped ten degrees or more on our way (we left as the sun was setting, so that's partly on us). An outdoor mall is not so cool when you can't feel your toes. But that wasn't terrible. A lot of the shops were either closed or lame, but that was something we could deal with. We ended up eating at Old Chicago, which was great. Just getting to spend some relaxed time with my wife and son was worth all those hassles, including the crazy lady that was yelling at the cops in front of one of the bars. (Actually, that was pretty entertaining, aside from feeling a little concerned for Xander's safety.) Then we went to Starbucks and things got ugly.

After we got our drinks, Xander was tootling around the store (Cafe? What do you call a Starbucks?), tripped on his scarf and fell right onto the sharp corner of the door frame. Ouch. He falls a lot, because he's a toddler, but this time he was bleeding, badly. Don't worry; he's going to live. We stopped the blood right there in the bathroom and got it bandaged up. I don't know about scarring yet, but I don't think there's any brain damage or skull fracture or any of that serious stuff. It was just a scary, stressful moment.

Then I couldn't find my way out of Boulder. After a couple of missed turns we finally got onto a good route (with the help of my wife's GPS) only to drive past a guy lying on the ground next to his bike. My first thought was, Wow, that guy's so drunk he can't stay on his bike. Then my thought was, Wait, it's eight o'clock. He's probably dead! Then my thought was, I really should stop because I know CPR. And very quickly, I don't really want to give CPR right now. We ended up driving in a couple of loops to get back to the guy only to find that he was just fine. I don't know if he was drunk, high, or terribly uncoordinated, but we saw him walking next to his bike (Excellent idea, sir!) and figured he was in good enough shape to get home.

So I hate Boulder even more than I used to. I probably won't be going back there ever again. Well, that's an exaggeration, but not likely to go on family dates to Pearl Street any more.

In other news, someone told me to include more baseball and more pictures of my son in my posts. With that in mind, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in six days. I'm very excited about it. My favorite non-Rockie, non-Cub players, Tim Lincecum, was offered a three-year deal today by the Giants. That's sort of a big deal to baseball fans. Lincecum has requested a record salary for his upcoming arbitration hearing. He's going to make a crazy amount of money for a player in his third year. The kid is a year younger than I am and will probably make ten million dollars this year. That's ridiculous. I wish I did something that well that I could demand top dollar for my services. I'm not even talking about millions. I'd just like to be able to go to my employer and say, "Hey, you know how you pay everybody this much? Yeah, I really think I should get double that." Anyway, that's my baseball news. Here's a bonus picture of Xander.

The Nuggets are playing extremely well right now, and they're fully healthy. Watch out for this team in the playoffs. They've beaten the Lakers twice, once in each city, once without Carmelo Anthony. Only one other team has beaten Kobe twice this year, and that's the Eastern Conference favorite Cleveland Cavaliers. LA will face the Nuggets twice more this year - February 28 in LA and April 8 in Denver. If the Nuggets can win both of these, it gives them a ridiculous psychological edge come playoff time. Remember the chant last year to the Dallas Mavericks? "You can't beat us..."

That's all I got for this week. Sorry it's later than normal. I'll try to get back on schedule this week. It should be easier with Monday being a holiday. Thanks for stopping by.

This feels like a trick

So far, this semester has been much more manageable than the fall. We just had our first exam yesterday, and I figure to make a high B on it. Even if it went disastrously wrong I still made a low B/high C. I've spent less time studying and it feels like I'm in class for less of the day. What's the catch? I think Integrated Organ Systems II (and all subsequent IOS classes - we have these for the next four semesters) is harder than IOS I. And at the end of March we get an interdisciplinary ethics course that runs for the last month of the semester. My gut tells me that April will be hell month. But until then, I'm going to enjoy a lighter load.

Xander got sick in Texas. I think he's finally better, but he was an absolute terror for a week. My wife's been dealing with this largely on her own, which is the part I hate the most. This is what I have to give up in order to be both a full-time student and the household provider. All that stress of dealing with a non-stop crying baby who can't be consoled falls on her. I got a good taste of what that was like yesterday, and after an hour I was losing my mind. I'm not sure how she does it. Sometimes I think I won the marriage lottery.

I'm excited for baseball to start. I know, it's a long way off, but I'm still getting excited about it. Both of my teams have made some moves in the off season. I'm not terribly optimistic about the Cubbies because I think last year is roughly indicative of their abilities as a team and I don't think they got any better. The Rockies, on the other hand, flipped the World's Luckiest Pitcher, Jason Marquis, for a more promising arm in Tim Redding. And they re-signed the most crucial piece in Jason Giambi. I used to think their general manager Dan O'Dowd was an idiot, but I'm starting to see that he does, in fact, know what he's doing and he's getting remarkable things done with cheap ownership. I'm sure the Rox will end up with 70 wins or something now that I've jinxed them, but I like their chances at the NL West or another Wild Card this year. Especially with Jeff Francis finally healthy.

OK, enough baseball. It's February. I just couldn't think of much else to talk about. I guess I'll just see you next week. Thanks for stopping by.

Blogging from class

Hello, faithful reader. I come to you today from room 1102 in the Education 2 North building at the Anschutz Medical Campus. We (well, some of us) are presently listening to a presentation about the Colorado Board of Pharmacy and licensure requirements. This is important for us to know, yes, but that doesn't make it interesting. All week has been like that. Monday: Introduction to the library, learning styles, and a personality inventory. (Free breakfast and lunch, though!) Tuesday: professionalism, pharmacy care, finding your strengths, and teamwork (the "corporate retreat" day), as well as intro to campus services. Wednesday: curriculum-related, extracurriculars fair, and a really good nap (not really). Thursday: clickers, ethics, career pathways, and medical terminology. Friday (today): Half day! I think I'ma take a nap later. Probably not, but it'd be nice.

This week begins the semester-long, non-stop sleep deprivation experiment. That's not 100% true; I get to sleep in on Saturdays and can probably go to bed early on the days I don't work, but I don't have a day off from both work and school until Thanksgiving. I'll let you sit on that for a second. Thanksgiving is 97 days from today, and my last day off was last Thursday (the 13th). So that's 105 days without a break. And I work the day after Thanksgiving, so the break is one day. I feel a little like Superman. I hope I get a prize at the end (other than the Pharm.D.).

So Tuesday is the first class that counts. This week is a course, and I have to pass it to continue into the Pharm.D. program, but it's not really pharmacy-related. 8 a.m. on Tuesday is the first lecture of Pharmacy Law. That should be fun after working all night. If I had to pick one potential problem for this semester it's that combination of working 6-2 Monday night and going to Law Tuesday morning. So if you're awake late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, think of me. And give me a call maybe. I won't be sleeping.

The pharmacy career paths exercise was sort of interesting. It asks you 48 questions like "How important is vacation and time off?" on a scale of 1 to 10, then tells you which areas of pharmacy are the best fit for you. Mine came back pretty high for compounding and clinical pharmacy, which interest me. Compounding is preparation of custom doses, medications with short half-lives, and special dosing methods like lollipops and creams. Doesn't that sound fun? Clinical pharmacy is a specialty field where you generally deal with patients in a hospital and with a specific disease, type of disease, or patient population (such as pediatrics or geriatrics). If I had to pick today, I would specialize in psychiatric pharmaceuticals or in addictions.

I'm not giving up just yet, but it looks like the Cardinals are going to run away with the NL Central and the Giants and Rockies will be the only players in the Wild Card race. If true, it means no playoffs for my precious Cubs. That's OK; they'd have lost in the first round anyway. The Cubs need to work on developing for the future right now; I think this season pointed out how thin they are beyond their top talents. I haven't looked at the free agent crop, but they do have money to spend, so that's one way to get better in a hurry. Time now to focus my fan energy on those lovable Colorado Rockies. A four-game series with the Giants begins tonight, and the Rox find themselves just three and a half games back in their division. A good homestand could put them in place not only for the Wild Card but for the outright division win, something they've never done in their fifteen seasons spent as also-rans (and one as National League champions).

I'm like 98% certain that the logo I used for my picture here is not a copyright infringement. I don't want to step on anybody's intellectual property toes here, so if any of my pictures belong to you and you don't want me using them, just let me know. I'll take them down immediately.

That's all on my end. Thanks for reading, and come back soon.

Here we go, Cubbies!

Well, it took long enough, but that Cubs rally beard finally worked! I don't think that was it; it was probably the return of Aramis Ramirez and a mental adjustment at the All-Star break, but they are now a half game ahead in the NL Central. That's what I'm talking about. And in the meantime, the Rockies went ahead and took the Wild Card lead! Even after today's loss (and Giants win), they're a game up. That's sweet.

So there's this deal in Colorado - when the Rockies score seven or more runs in a game, Taco Bell will give you four tacos for a dollar. Last year there was no other condition; this year you have to buy a drink. It's still a good deal, but I think it's probably a major factor in my high triglycerides. I think I've missed it six times that they've qualified, and for three of those I was in Hawai'i.

We have two more weekends before school starts. I'm freaking out. We also put our house on the market today. I'm not thinking it'll sell, but if it does we have the chance to chop about 50 grand off our mortgage by moving into a cheaper house. That would certainly ease some of the financial strain of going to school full-time.

Just a quick one today; go Cubs!

The slowest day in sports

Today is the slowest sports day of the year. There are no games in baseball, and the other three major sports are in their off-seasons. The NBA and NHL drafts have already taken place; NFL camps don't start for a few more weeks. Golf brings us the British Open, but that won't start until the wee hours of tomorrow morning. Even Major League Soccer is dark today. If you're desperate for action, the WNBA brings us five games and the NBA summer league has six. When I used to work on Wednesdays, this day was just torturous. Wednesdays are slow days in the casino, too, and having literally nothing to watch while sitting around is just... yuk.

My wife suggested I tell some antidotes in my blog. So, for carbon monoxide poisoning, fresh air and oxygen is best. Amyl nitrate, sodium nitrate, and thiosulfate are indicated for cyanide poisoning. I think she meant I should share some anecdotes, but if you want more info click here or read the Wikipedia entry on antidotes.

How can you make an error in the MLB All-Star game? How can you do it if you're Albert Pujols, playing at home in the middle of an incredible, Hall-of-Fame caliber season? How can you do all that and go 0-3 at the plate? I guess he's trying to prove he really isn't a machine. Josh Hamilton had a throwing error, too, but he didn't belong on the All-Star team to begin with. It's disappointing to me that in the game that's supposed to showcase the best talent in the big leagues we end up with two errors. Seems to me the best of the best ought to hold it together for a couple of innings. Dan Uggla had two in one inning last year. In fact, the last All-Star game without an error was in 2002, and that game ended in a tie. Maybe this is the reason baseball isn't taken seriously by many people any more.

I start school in 30 days. Now I'm sort of in freak-out mode. I went almost instantly from tired of waiting to needing more time. What happened?