Down my Alley

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Go Spurs!!!

I watched the majority of the NBA finals this year, and I am quite pleased with the outcome. Two main reasons: 1) I like the Spurs (and Tim Duncan....and I'm not on any band wagons here, I put Wake Forest in the final 4 twice when Duncan was playing there....they didn't make it either year and cost me big.) and 2) I strongly dislike the Pistions (every player is a whiner, especially Wallaces and Prince). So I greatly enjoyed them losing!!!

On the warfront, I'm on the next to last level and keep getting myself killed. The thing is tough. One of these days I'll either figure it out, or quite and more on to basketball again....I'm leaning towards figuring it out.

In case your curious, I bowled on Thursday and played around with some equipment. Here's the results. 1) the Viscious is my most agressive ball, 2) the Big Deal has a ton of back-end, but a touch more length than the viscious, 3) the Shock & Awe is a nice ball with a good roll, it starts up early, but with some oil will get down the lane and just rolls hard through the pins, and 5) the Big Blue Pearl gets good lenth and turns hard on the back. I played the vicious and the big deal about the same spot. I was 3-4 boards right with the shock/awe, and then another 1-2 right with the Big Blue pearl. There you have it. Now you know.

That's it. I gotsta get meself ready for work.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Batman, F1, and Medal of Honor...Oh My!!


I know it’s been awhile since I last posted, and for that I apologize. I’ve managed to keep myself relatively busy. Plus, I’ve not really been online much at home. I use the internet at Methodist due to hi-speed to check most things, but I feel bad about wasting time to update this site. However, that will not be stopping me today. In fact, I’m pretty much done with what I need to do today and will probably be leaving after posting this. But I digress. Allow me to update you on the past week.

1) Rotation at Methodist: It’s going well (I think). I’m picking some things up, but do not really feel overwhelmed with knowledge. I kinda feel like I’m just walking around and going through the motions. Luckily, I do not have lots of busy work like some of my fellow classmates. I do believe that I would not want to do this as a career. The main reason….it’s no fun!! Granted, staff pharmacist may be routine and uneventful, but it can be fun (depending on co-workers).

2) Batman Begins: This movie is really really good. It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s good. They made Batman cool again. I think Christian Bale does a good Batman, but his playboy Bruce Wayne side needs some work. I would recommend it. If you go, try not to fit this into the other Batman movies. It pretty much ignores most of what happened in those (thank goodness). An excellent job of making the comic book into a movie!!

3) USGP: The US Grand Prix at Indy was a joke. 6 of the 20 cars are all that ran the race. I’m sure most have heard the stories surrounding this fiasco. All in all, it took a boring race and made it a really boring race. The worst thing of all this is going to be the crap that IMS catches. And it wasn’t IMS’s fault. All blame should be placed on Michelin, F1 and team Ferrari. Michelin for failure to make a good tire, F1 for failure to get a compromise done by race day, and Ferrari for failure to discuss other options. I believe the contract is good for 1 more USGP, but I predict attendance will be way way down. There may never be another F1 race in Indy after that. Only time will tell.

4) Medal of Honor European Assault: I purchased this game on Monday. I have beat the first 2 stages (St. Navaire France and North Africa). I have 2 stages remaining (Russia and Battle of the Bulge). I really love the single player game. It has improved upon the already great line of games. The game is more realistic in some aspects (and less in others). The graphics are amazing and you can now only carry 2 guns (instead of unlimited). The levels are also greatly improved. In the other medal of honor games, each level basically consisted of hallways and hangers. A series of repetitive halls that you walk down turn and go down another one, or open hangers. This new game is more of a free range battlefield. Towns are actually townish, battlefields are large and open. I also like the use of cover. The other games, the only cover was duck down or hide around a corner, then step out and shoot. Now, you can duck down or hide around a corner, aim, and shoot without having to expose yourself. It is pretty cool. Now, the multiplayer is very disappointing. Primarily because there are no computer opponents. The only way to do multiplayer is Vs. mode. You have to just fight each other. That stinks. But as a single player game, I recommend it….so far.

That’s all. Sorry for the length, but that’s the price to pay for not updating regularly. I’ll try harder next time…I promise.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Updates happen

Well, another week has gone by and not all that much has happened. Yep, my life is pretty much a matter of day-to-day replay. So, I'll give the quick update and let all of you stalkers get your fill of my life.

1) Methodist hospital (Gen. Med. rotation) -- the place is huge, but I have not yet gotten lost (woo-hoo). So far the rotation is going well. I kinda feel like I'm just walking around, but things will pick up (I imagine). I better get used to it, I have 7 more weeks at this site.

2) The Peterson - I was up in Chicago yesterday to bowl in the Peterson. It's a fun tournament. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, was way too inconsistent. I averaged about 160 (my goal at the Pete is about 170-175). "This was absolutely my next to last time."

Well, that's really about all I've done this past week. Kinda boring, but that's what I've done.

Cool beans!

Sunday, June 05, 2005

1 down, 9 to go

I am referring to my rotations of course. My first one was a really good experience. My preceptor was cool, he understood his job, and did not make us do busy work. I experienced nearly all of the areas that a staff pharmacist can pursue in the hospital setting (at least at St. Vincent Hospital in Indy). Everyone was nice and the comraderie (spelling?) amongst the staff was really cool. In fact, if the life of a staff pharmacist becomes my calling, then hospital pharmacy will get a serious hard look. But the current game plan is still grad school and beyond.

Starting on Monday I begin General Medicine (gen. med. for short) at Methodist hospital. This rotation will last 8 weeks (officially, it is 2 rotations). On this one, I will be part of a medical team in charge of a number of patients. My primary responsibilities will include ensure proper medications and doses for the patients. On the side, I will also begin working on my Pharm D project at the site. Something to do with their unique Alcohol withdraw program. Sounds semi-interesting. We'll see how it goes.

That's about it for now. The weather is becoming summerish...but it is June after all.

Until next time....Stay fresh!