More Pics

Brandi has a couple of cousins down in St. George who do a little photography as a hobby. Brandi took the kids down a while back and had them do a bunch of photos of them. Here are the results:

Why is it?

1) Why is it that no matter how eternally long the pharmacy is open, even if we were open 23 hours per day, someone would show up 3 minutes to closing time, and want their prescription?

2) Why is it that a person who shows up 3 minutes to closing time ALWAYS has some issue...usually they have a new insurance card, and of course they didn't bring the new card, and then they look at me like I'm the idiot, as though their new insurance card should have been mailed to me at the pharmacy?

3) Why is it that people think every pharmacy in the known universe is interconnected, where they think they can give me the prescription number from their prescription filled at "Bob and Daryl's Pharmacy and Lawn Tractor Repair" and I should somehow automatically know what the drug is, dose, dr., etc. and be able to fill it?

4) Why is it that people never claim to "lose", "dog ate it", "girlfriend snuck up behind me and scared me and I dumped it down the sink" with their blood pressure medications, but always do with their Lortab, Xanax, Percocet, Ativan, Valium, Oxycontin, and Tylenol #3?

5) Why is it that doctors sign their presciptions as though they are a major league baseball player signing a jersey to be put on display rather than in some legible manner where a pharmacist might actually be able to tell who the doctor was that wrote the prescription?

6) Why is it that some people get the same look on their face when you hand them their narcotics as you see on the face of people at Chuck-O-Rama's dessert bar...the look that says, "Woo hoo, I'm about to get fed"?

7) Why is it that people wait until late on Friday night, or the weekend, or on a holiday when you couldn't find a doctor with a gps tracking device, to suddenly realize they have no medication left and no refills, and it's our job to fix it?

8) Why is it that when a patient's doctor doesn't call in a prescription like they said they would, the patient acts like the doctor really did and we're just sitting on it and don't want to fill it, as though we're in business to NOT fill prescriptions?

9) Why is it that the prescriptions you couldn't decipher even with the use of the Urim and Thummim is always missing the doctor's phone number, clinic address, and often times, the doctor's signature itself?

10) Why is it that some days I feel like the people who come to get their prescriptions are the enemy?

Worst Ever

Okay...I was willing to give our new computer system at the pharmacy the benefit of the doubt. But, after 10 days of hell, I'm ready to officially call it the worst pharmacy system EVER. I think it was built/designed for small independent pharmacies that fill about 30-50 prescriptions per day. It is too labor intensive and nonuser friendly for a pharmacy that does 250-300 prescriptions per day. We've been coming in early and staying until nearly midnight in an attempt to stay on top of things, but to no avail. Prescriptions keep piling up and people keep getting more and more angry. There have been a few people who it's taken us 2-3 days before we could even process their prescription because we just couldn't get to it.

I want to believe it will get better, but I'm not so sure. I'm sure we will get a bit quicker at working the system, but the system will always be inherently flawed and slow. I'm not loving my job so much right now, but I guess I should just be grateful to still have a job in these economic times...at least that's what my corporate managers keep saying in an attempt to make us feel better about the cesspool we're stuck in.

Take-Over Woes

Let me just start by saying I'm grateful to have a job. In this economy, with jobs and businesses dropping like flies, having a paycheck is a great thing.

That being said, the transition from Albertson's to Associated Foods is not going as planned. Well, at least it's nothing like I planned. Maybe they planned to make every one of my patients angry. If so, they didn't inform me.

Just to bring everyone up to speed, at the end of July, I was asked (told) to join a conference call where SuperValu (owners of Albertson's) announced they had sold all Utah Albertson's to Associated Foods. So many things became instantly clear. Since coming on as the pharmacy manager, I had to install safety handles on my behind so management could safely ride me over everything...labor hours, inventory, warehouse utilization, etc. The minute SuperValu announced the sale, I saw the past 6-7 months with striking clarity...essentially I was an auto-detail boy. I was polishing up the hubcaps and shining the hood...getting this baby ready for sale. I am certain SuperValu has been courting buyers for sometime now, and all I was doing was making it look more profitable to potential buyers.

I tried to approach the sale with optimism. Associated agreed to hire virtually 100% of Albertson's employees, and keep our payrates the same. We would also retain our seniority and vacation time. So far, so good...

Then, we learned of the new computer system with which we would be throttled. I had a little personal experience with it from working at IHC. I was employed with them when they transitioned to this computer system, and I witnessed the pharmacy lose about 1/4-1/3 of it's business over about a year. Of course, decisions about which computer system to use is never posed to the people in the trenches. Those decisions are made by accountants and people who don't work in the pharmacy.

Regardless, I chose to try to remain optimistic. Associated sent us to some (4 hours) of training for the new system in August, assuming the transition would occur soon after. Anyone familiar with corporate buy-outs knows what happened next...it got delayed. Then, it got delayed again, and again, and again....

In the mean time, 3 new computers got delivered to my pharmacy to replace my 7 I currently had. I'm no math whiz, but I immediately fired off e-mails informing them that 3 computers would not sufficiently replace 7 computers. I was assured more computers would be installed before we went live. About 2 weeks before we went live, I e-mailed again stating I still only had 3 computers and was assured I would get more. After much delay, the transition began last Sunday. They picked the first Monday of the month (busiest day of the month) to go live with all 34 stores at once. We closed on Sunday while inventory was taken and the new computers were installed. If you're a student of foreshadowing, you know what happened. In their defense, they did install 3 additional computers for a total of 6...not quite an even swap, but 6 isn't bad.

Come Monday morning, 2+ months since our 4 hours of training for the new system, we fired up the system and...we had 3 computers working. The other 3 didn't even have the software installed on them. We were supposed to be open and running by noon. I didn't even try to open my doors until 4 p.m. Talk about a mess...Where was the voice of reason in all of this? Where was the rational individual to stand up in their planning meetings and tell them the first Monday of the month is the worst possible day they could have picked even if they weren't trying to do all 34 stores at once?

We are now 3 days into the new computer system. Things are getting a little better. We now have 6 computers working. We are actually better off than many of the other pharmacies. We had a trainer on site who was suppose to be with us through Thursday. He had to leave us on Tuesday and go to Salt Lake to a pharmacy that still couldn't open as of Tuesday evening. Right now, we have cookies and punch in front of the pharmacy in the hopes it will apease a few people. It's not uncommon for folks to wait an hour or so for their prescriptions. I just hope people will give us another chance after we learn the system, although I'm not sure they will. I fear the choice to open before all these bugs were worked out will result in losing a lot of customers.

The worst part is that none of this is mine our my techs fault. Nobody asked our opinion about when to go live or what system to choose. But, it is us who gets yelled at and is spending 2+ hours after closing time just trying to get caught up.

I want/have to believe that eventually things will get better. From a management standpoint, I think working for Associated will be VASTLY better than it was for SuperValu. They are much more laid-back and don't seem to ride their middle-management like SuperValu did. I think it will be a great thing for the grocery end of things...prices are already dropping. I just hope we still have any customers at the pharmacy once this all gets worked out.

Coyote Calling Anyone?

Now they are attacking singers.

Home School Anyone?

Maybe we should consider home schooling...

Clean Blood

Good news....got my blood work back today after the needle stick incident (see below). My blood work came back fine (which I knew it would). More importantly, the patient's (who I'd used the needle on) blood work came back clean as well. So, needless to say, I'm pretty relieved.

PhotoShop Fun

As I mentioned below, I got Brandi a new camera for her birthday. She's always been a guru with PhotoShop, so I've been having her teach me a little bit. I played with this pic of Pacie in PhotoShop a bit and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out...just thought I'd share it on here.

A Few New Pics

I got Brandi a new camera for her birthday. She took it out the other day and got some pics of the kids. I think they turned out really nice. Here are a few.

Needle Stick Fun

So, I thought I went to pharmacy school. Apparently, my bosses think I am an R.N. For the past few weeks, I've been giving flu shots fast and furious. I especially love how my bosses shroud it with this whole "providing a valuable public health program to increase health" rather than calling it what it is...basically a way to make A LOT more money. And, of course, I don't get paid any more. I just get to do more work and make them more money. Can you tell I don't care for giving flu shots all that much?

Well, I REALLY hate them after today. I gave a patient a flu shot. We have these special syringes where the needle is suppose to retract up into the body of syringe after giving the shot to prevent a needle-stick injury. Well, it didn't retract and I didn't notice it. So, when I went to clean up, I accidentally got stuck with the needle.

So, I got to shut down the pharmacy for about an hour while I took a trip to the hospital to get my blood drawn. The patient who I had given the shot to also had to get her blood drawn. They'll check us both out for Hep B, Hep C, and HIV, and I'll get the results on Monday. Assuming she doesn't have it, then they'll recheck me in about 6 months just to make sure. Kind of scary, but this patient is 100% positive that they don't have any of those infections. But, we have to go through the protocol/testing to make sure.

Lots of fun...I just want to be a pharmacist. I don't need to give immunizations to feel important.

At Least He Has Medicare

These healthcare reform protests are turning ugly. Now they're biting off fingers.

Is That A Woman Or A Man?

Gotta be honest...she looks like a man.

Stick Figure Fun

Quite possibly the greatest cartoon/video of all time:

Video

ATV Adventure

Brandi's family has planned an annual ATV trip for the past 3 years. This year was my first chance to join them, and what a blast!!! Pacie and Gavin were able to come along, and we had a great time together. Total, we had about 15 people who went. There were 2 side x side wheelers, 7 four-wheelers, and 1 motorcycle. Brandi was such a big sport and a HUGE help to all of us. Each night, she pulled our trailer with her Dad's truck and met us at our planned camp spots. She hauled everyone's tents, sleeping bags, dutch oven cookers, gas, etc. It was particularly nice for me since it meant I had a trailer to sleep in and and I got to see Brandi.



We started out driving the ATVs right out of Richfield into the west mountains. We then turned south and traveled along the mountain eventually dropping down by Fremont Indian State Park and then further south up into the mountains known as "Kimberly". After riding about 53 miles the first day, we met up with Brandi and camped the first night.




















On the second day, we took a side-trail that took us up onto some of the highest peaks in the area. Known as "the baldies", they are named that because they are above the tree line. It was an awesome trail and had great scenery from the top. After returning to the main trail, we continued our ride which took us up over the top of the Tushar Mountains and down to Puffer Lake where Brandi met us for the night. As we were going over the top of the Tushars, we saw a heard of mountain goats which was very cool. Puffer Lake sits high up in the mountains above Beaver near Elk Meadows ski resort. Having traveled about 45 miles for the day, we camped there for the 2nd night.







On Saturday morning, it was time to head for home. Pacie headed home with Brandi and Seth while Gavin and I carried on. We dropped back down the mountain to the town of Junction. We then headed north and back to the east up onto the Monroe mountains, across the top, down Cove Mountain and back to Richfield. It was a killer day...when it was all done, we rode 100 miles that day bringing the grand total for the trip at almost exactly 200 miles.




We had an amazing time. Gavin and Pacie were troopers and they had a blast. In fact, Pacie may have had more fun than anyone. There were many times when we were driving along in the Teryx and I'd look over to see Pacie singing away and waving her hands. It only took 3 showers and a box of q-tips to get all the dirt out of my ears. It was the first time in my life that I actually had to follow the directions on the shampoo bottle that says "lather, rinse, and repeat"...I actually had to repeat.

Marijuana-Smoking No Good Pharmacist

I can't tell you just how "rewarding" working with the public is. When I say "rewarding", what I really mean is there are times I'd sooner have bamboo shoots driven under my fingernails. Case in point....

For a long time we've had a couple of chairs in front of the pharmacy where people sit and wait for their prescriptions. Problem is that the chairs block an end-cap display that a vendor has paid good money for. In addition, it makes privacy difficult. So, we decided to move the chairs approximately 10 feet into our little waiting area. You'd think the world had tilted off its axis. You should see people throw a fit when they can't sit right in front of the pharmacy.

A lady came in the other night and starts tearing into my tech about it. My tech patiently tries to explain to her that there is a privacy issue and we can't have people sitting right in front of the pharmacy listening and seeing what meds everyone is getting. But, this lady won't hear any of it and just keeps ranting about it.

Finally, I walk down and ask her if she'd like a bunch of people sitting there listening to everything she is taking. She replies, "Well, I don't care. I don't have anything to hide." I replied, "Well, if I were taking a bunch of medications, I wouldn't be comfortable with a bunch of people sitting here listening and seeing what I'm taking." She then replies, "Why? Are you on that marijuana?"

I just had to walk away. It was such an asinine comment that I couldn't even reply. Even after I walked away, she kept saying things like, "Well, I don't care if you're on marijuana. It doesn't bother me if you're doing that kind of stuff."

Apparently, people get their marijuana from the pharmacy...at least according to this lady. Of course, this might be possible in California in the near future.

Reflections on the 4th

We had a great 4th of July this year despite Gavin showing me up...more on that later.

The day started with my masochistic brother-in-law making a tee-time for 6:30 a.m. Of course I like golf just enough to drag my sorry butt out of bed at that hour to go. I'm glad I did...I played the round of my life. I actually had a legit birdy and a few pars.

Following golf, we headed to the parade to absorb solar radiation and get pelted with candy. After the parade, we headed to the park. Richfield has a tradition called the "fish grab". They set up three pools each about 25' x 25' big and about 1' deep. They release a bunch of fish into them and let kids go for them with their hands. It was a mad house. I couldn't even see Gavin. I knew he went in, and pretty soon here he comes packing this huge fish through the crowd. He was so proud and is happy to remind me that it's bigger than any fish he's ever caught with me.



We then went to Brandi's parents' house for the traditional picnic/barbeque/drenching. They have a huge water fight every year. At one point, there we people on the roof of the house with hoses. They take their water fights serious.

After the water fight, it was home to change and then to Brandi's grandparents' house for fireworks. The live right by where Richfield City sets off their fireworks, so the whole family converges on their lawn come night fall. They put on a good show this year.

We decided to wait until the following night to light off our own fireworks because then the neighbors wouldn't be expecting loud bangs and screams at 11 p.m. We even had one neighbor join in with the illegal stuff. We had dogs howling and things shooting in the air and exploding up until well after 11 p.m. It was sweet, although our other neighbors may not speak to us again.

Anyway, we had a great 4th this year.

New Tunes

Figured it was about time to update a few songs. I left a lot of them the same, but added a few new ones I like. Enjoy...

Long Time, No Blog...

Wow...It's been a while. I've been thinking about updating my blog nearly every night. Procrastinators unite!

Just shy of eternity, my fellow pharmacist retired at the end of June. He was a decent guy, but it was time for him to retire. His heart/mind hadn't been in the job for a while now. In the interim, they have been sending me float pharmacists. This has worked out perfect for me. I can basically work whenever I want and they send the float pharmacists for the other days. So, for the past few weeks, I've had every weekend off.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. I was informed this week that a pharmacist who works at the Albertson's in Price is transferring to Richfield. Now I have to go back to being fair with the schedule. It sucks...

Determining that we weren't in quite enough debt, Brandi and I decided to buy a trailer. It's been a blast! It's a hybrid...something of a cross between a regular trailer and a tent trailer. It's light enough to pull with the Pathfinder, so that makes it nice. We've taken a couple of quick trips up to Fish Lake with it and have had a blast. We're looking forward to many more fun family trips.

Otherwise, family is doing well. Seth is getting big and Gavin and Pacie love having a little brother. Brandi continues to amaze me. She redid our entire loft upstairs and turned it into a kid's dream. She painted big multi-colored squares on the walls, made a chalk board table, had me build a stage, and many other things. I'll have to post some pics of it.

You Never Know...

Do you ever look back on your day and think, "Wow! I would never have expected THAT to happen today?"

I had to work at the pharmacy today. Kind of sucked with it being Fathers' Day, but oh well. It was my weekend to work. No big deal really. That is until a lady came in with diagnosed swine flu for a prescription. Luckily she was wearing a mask and taking precautions. Regardless, it was a moment of truth. While I whole-heartedly believe the media has blown this WAY out of proportion, there was still that moment when I wanted to handle her prescription with barbeque tongs. I actually did go into the bathroom and scrub immediately after helping her...better safe than sorry, right? I keep coughing in my wife's general direction just for fun.

Then, I received a phone call from my Dad informing me that my oldest sister was in the hospital and wasn't expected to live through the day. My sister has had an incredible amount of health problems and multiple surgeries throughout her life. So, while I was initially shocked, it was not completely unexpected. For the past few years, she has been living in a nursing home and has been in/out of hospitals for sometime now. It's hard to know what to feel. Given her quality of life, this is a blessing in one regard. On the other hand, I still feel sadness over the loss of a sister.

Turkey Lurkey Do

I drew out for a turkey tag along with my bro-in-law, Rocky, this year. Neither of us had ever hunted turkeys before and really had no clue what we were doing. But, we read and talked to people and tried to gain some clue into how to do it before the hunt started.

Friday morning we headed out for the hunt. We spent most of the day scouting a few areas. About sun-down, we heard some gobbling down in a canyon we were watching. We started to move down the canyon towards the sound, calling every so often so we could hear where they were. As it turned out, the turkeys were moving up the canyon towards us.

At one point, they gobble and I'm almost right on top of them, but I can't see them. I quickly sat down right in the trail to give myself some cover in the hopes I could see them before they saw me. As it turned out, where I sat down just happened to be under a huge Ponderosa Pine tree...the largest one in the entire canyon. Turkeys like to roost in the tops of large trees for the night for protection. So, I'm sitting there and I finally see some movement in the bushes. I get a quick glimpse of the turkeys and they were about 50 yards away. They moved back into the bushes, then I hear wings flapping and they fly into the top of the tree I'm sitting under.

Now I'm stuck. I can't shoot them out of the tree and I can't just get up and walk away because they'll see me and we'll lose our chance of getting them. I sat there for a while, with 3 male turkeys (toms) gobbling in the tree directly above me, trying to decide what to do. Eventually, I rolled over onto my belly and tried to crawl away as stealthily as possible. It took about 2 hours for my adrenaline to burn off.

We headed back to the area before daylight the next morning, and they were still in the tree. We set up our decoys and started calling. They are gobbling back, but then they fly out of the tree in nearly the opposite direction of where we were. Either they saw us, or they had probably seen me the night before and were a little nervous. Regardless, we had to start stalking them again.

We started working up the sidehill they'd flown to. I was working up the hill from underneath them, and Rocky worked his way from the side. We were getting close, but I still couldn't see them. Finally, I was crawling on my hands and knees up the hill for aobut the last 75 yards. Finally, I could see movement in the bushes. Then, a tom walks out about 30 yards away and looks at me and then walks back into the bushes. I'm in my camo, but I'm not sure whether he saw me or not. I was kind of waiting to see if Rocky was going to shoot because he was even a little closer than I was. The tom walked out again and looked at me and started moving down the hill a little bit towards me. I decided that if one of us didn't shoot that they were going to see me and take off. The tom moved behind a bush and I raised my shotgun while he couldn't see the movement. When he walked out again, I shot and got my first turkey!

It was one of the funnest hunts I've ever done. I can see how guys get addicted to turkey hunting.

I Could Have Sworn It Was Mothers' Day

So, a few days ago Brandi calls me at the pharmacy and says, "I have your Fathers' Day present and I'm not sure how to hide it. Should I just give it to you now?" I replied that it would be fun, but that whatever it is, she should wait.

Then, today, as I'm leaving for work, she says, "Well, I have a surprise for you this afternoon."

After I get off work, we head to Brandi's mom's house for Mothers' Day dinner. My brother-in-law pulls up and has a new Kawasaki Teryx on a trailer. This didn't strike me as terribly odd because he works at the dealership that sells them. I just assumed he must be delivering one or demoing it or something. Brandi and I had looked at them a few times and had talked about how much fun one would be. I saw it on the trailer and jokingly told my brother-in-law that he could drop that off at my house if he wanted.

Well, a few minutes later Gavin and Pacie come running up and say, "Dad, come look at your new wheeler!" I laughed and said, "Yeah, wouldn't that be fun." And then I notice everyone is staring at me and Brandi has her camera out taking pictures.

Needless to say, I love it and have the most wonderful wife in the world...and not just because she surprised me with a new Teryx. Now, I've just got to figure out what I'm going to get her for Fathers' Day.

Will The Mud Ever End?

So, I woke up this morning and laid in bed planning out my day in my mind. Construction on our fence is supposed to start on Thursday, so I had a few things I needed to get finished for that. I get dressed and head outside to dig part of the footing and:

"Surprise"!!!

There's a huge sink hole in the front of our house. I walk out of our garage and the first thing I see is one of our big landscaping rocks sitting on a 45-degree angle. I then notice that a bunch of my paving stones have disappeared along with one of our bushes. There's a huge hole right next to our sidewalk where our sprinkler system ties into our water main. I step out onto our lawn and it completely caves in. Holy crap...Or I said some other choice words along those lines.

So, I begin tearing our edging, raking back decorative rock, pulling up paving stones, etc. I finally get everything uncovered and what a mess. All the dirt has washed away and left this huge cavern under a big chunk of our lawn and flower bed. I mean BIG...I could stick my entire shovel down into it and still not reach the bottom.

I then start shoveling down to the water main. Luckily my father-in-law showed up about that time and we dug and dug. Shoveling dirt is one thing, but mud is a whole other fun ball game. My neighbor came over and helped. We finally reached the main and discovered that the pipe to our sprinkling system had slipped out of the elbow where it connects to the water main. I guess not enough glue was used or maybe the joint was a little dirty or something. Regardless, basically a 1" pipe was running full-bore for probably 12 hours.

So, we got it fixed. I then proceed to transplant the sod I tore out to our backyard, figuring that we might as well use it for something. My father-in-law then starts pounding away on our lawn with the bucket of his backhoe to cave in the sink hole.

And, that's where we sit tonight. The cavern has been caved in and the pipe is fixed. We've got to get more dirt to fill the hole back in. Then we'll compact it, put edging back in, rebuild flower beds, place decorative rock back in them, relay paving stones, and lay sod. Yee haw....

I can't tell you how good watering my lawn with a hose and sprinkler sounded today when I was staring into this abyss that used to be my front yard. We were finally just getting our front yard about where we wanted it...bushes were growing and I actually had to mow our lawn for the first time last week.

Oh well....guess it could have been worse.

Stiff Competition

Some teams will go to any length to win...including killing horses.

Meet Seth

So, Seth it is....Seth Craig Olsen. Craig is Brandi's Dad, so we thought we'd give him that middle name. Here are a few pics.

Brandi is doing well and is getting more mobile as her c-section heals. We had pretty bad weather for the first few days we were home, and I was about ready to chew my own arm off. But, the last couple of days have been a lot of fun. I got Pacie and Gavin out of the house on Friday and we went rock hunting out by Capital Reef. Yesterday, we went down to the farm and helped with the calves. Gavin and I then went golfing. And then Gavin, Pacie and I went on a picnic and did some fishing in the evening. We would have liked for Brandi and Seth to be there, but we both agreed that having the kids out of the house and letting Brandi relax was the best thing...particularly since Brandi doesn't have the stomach right now to clean up the mess if I chewed my arm off.

It's a Boy!

It's a boy. He was born at 7:36 a.m. this morning. He weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 21 inches long. The c-section went really smoothly and Brandi and baby are doing great. We are leaning towards Seth for his name, but it's not set in stone yet. I'll post pics and more info later.

Mistaken Identity

Quote: "With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie," he said.

Well, sure...I can totally see how you'd mistake a photographer for a zombie.

What?

Some stories are just too weird to even comment on.

Babies, Viruses, and Fences...Oh My

Man...I've been a slacker at posting lately. We're just getting ready for the baby by cleaning everything in sight. Brandi has even taken to giving the kids Clorox wipes and setting them loose on the house. If DCFS stops by, they're going to think we're running a sweatshop in our home. We are down to less than 2 weeks to the c-section, and we are still not discussing names because we can't agree on anything. What was once one of my wife's favorite boy names 4 years ago, has now become the most horrible, awful name she's ever heard...a name she wouldn't dream of calling her most despised enemy. I happen to still really like the name. I keep telling her that I'll have the last say when I bless the baby. I'll omit here what her response to that is. Pacie told us the other day that we can name the new baby Pacie because when she turns 5, she is turning into a boy and her name will be Austin (Backyardigans character for those who are wondering why).

Besides that, we've had a few other things going on.

With the help of my brother, I had to wipe Brandi's laptop clean. I would just like to pause here and state that I hope there is a special place in HELL for people who create malware/spyware/viruses. What a friggin' nightmare that was. I tried every piece of software I could to remove it from Brandi's computer with no luck. Ultimately, we had to wipe out and reinstall windows. Yee haw.

We were hoping to get a block fence built around our place in the next few weeks, but we've now decided that we want to sell our house and move someplace remote...possibly the moon...to get away from neighbors. Basically, our neighbors want to pitch in on the fence, but they don't have the $$$ right now. We told them fine, that we'll cover it for now, and they can pay us if/when they can. However, this hasn't stopped them from forming an opinion on everything and thinking they should be the ones to decide who will build it, how, and when. Ahhh...gotta love having neighbors.

Disney's Sequel

Perhaps Disney should redo Anastasia given this latest discovery.

Free To A Good Home

Seems like a reasonable choice given the state of the economy.

Quote: "That just totally blew me away," she said. "You can't give your child away, not without paperwork."

St. George Trip Photos

Brandi put together a slide show of our trip, so I thought I'd share it here.

Pucker Up

Come on baby...Give me a kiss.

My, What a Nice New Coffee Table

Odd...A coffin appearing in the living room raised suspicions.

Quote: Only one of the tenants, who knew of bad blood between Davilla and Woodson, was suspicious enough to call police about the shabby coffin that appeared in the living room of the home.

Only one tenant was suspicious?

St. George Trip-Final Day

The sleeping arrangements last night had me with Pacie. At some point in time in the night, somebody swapped out Pacie for a small nuclear power plant that looked exactly like her. She was very warm and insisted on snuggling right up against me. I finally got out of bed with the intention of sliding back over to her own side of the bed. That's when she saw the chink in my armour and went for the kill. In the dark at 4 a.m., she says, "Dad, you're my best friend in the whole wide world." I'll be darned if that didn't turn me into a ball of mush. I quickly crawled back into bed and snuggled with her for the rest of the night...nuclear heat and all.

We went swimming again this morning before checking out of the hotel, and then met up with both sets of Brandi's aunt/uncle who live in St. George, and had breakfast.

Following breakfast, the geology nerd inside me got the best of me. Brandi's uncle told me about an area where he has collect petrified wood. Well...I've always been a bit of a closet-rockhound, so I asked him if he'd take me hunting some petrified wood. So, he, Gavin and I headed out there and hit the motherload. I could not believe how much petrified wood there was in this area. There were even areas along cliffs where you could see the petrified trees imbedded in the rock. It was really cool. Gavin had a blast and he keeps talking all about the pieces he collected, and he's planning on taking some for show-and-tell to preschool next week. We collected a bunch of it and I'm going to decorate some of our flower beds with them.

While we were out feeling manly gathering rocks in lieu of something useful, the girls went shopping and got their nails done. Pacie thought she was pretty special and couldn't wait to show me her toe nails.

We grabbed dinner on our way out of town, hit the freeway, and were home in about 2 1/2 hours. We had such a great time on our trip and we're sad that it's over. It's something we're definitely going to have to do again in the near future.

The Ring Was Where?

I think he should have to "retrieve" the ring. That will show his unconditional love for her prior to their marriage.

St. George Trip-Day 3

Okay...we had a much better night's sleep last night. No musical beds was played and I slept as well as could be expected with the "slurp, slurp, slurping" in my ear. Gavin still sucks his thumb when he sleeps.

We got right to it this morning by heading down swimming at 8 a.m. Given what I've eaten over the last few days, it's a good thing Captain Ahab wasn't around. I would have a harpoon stuck in me still. Thankfully, the pool was empty either because no sane person goes swimming that early, or they thought they were about to be attacked by a hairy amorphous blob and ran for their lives. Eventually, a lady did come in to swim, but Gavin quickly made friends with her. She is still wondering how an amorphous blob had such cute kids. The answer, of course, is thank heaven for Brandi's genes.

We then headed out shopping to Target. We love Target. We really miss Target. We had a Target about 1/2 mile from our place in Centerville, and loved shopping there. Now, we are stuck with Satan's empire (Wal-Mart) in Richfield. Anyway, we picked out a few things for the baby between trying to find our kids.

We grabbed lunch and rode up to Snow Canyon where we made a $5 donation "for the improvement and betterment of our state parks." I nearly lived in Snow Canyon when I was at Dixie going to school. I used to do a lot of rock climbing, believe it or not. There was no charge to use Snow Canyon back then. As near as I can tell, nothing has changed about Snow Canyon since then. I guess the $5 per vehicle charge must be getting used to improve things that you don't really see. Regardless, we paid the fee and took the kids out on the sand dunes to let them play. It was like playing inside a sand blaster. We easily could have removed paint and rust with the way the wind was blowing. We quickly got about 2 pounds of sand in each eye and headed back to the car.

Next up was a trip to Fiesta Fun to drive go-karts and bumper boats. I soon found myself shouting things like "rubbing is racing" and "take 'em on the high side, Cole"...bringing back memories of the movie "Days of Thunder". I drafted Brandi's uncle, who also had Gavin riding with him, and passed them to take the checkered flag. I'm not sure how I'll fit this trophy in my luggage to take home.

Our last adventure for today was dinner at Pirate Island Pizza. It's a themed restaurant made out to look like you're on a pirate ship. The kids had a blast, and we brought about 4 pounds of pizza back to the hotel with us. You just don't realize how big a 24" pizza is....even with Brandi's aunt and uncle joining us, we didn't even come close to finishing it.

Another day down.

St. George Trip-Day 2

We went to bed last night with Brandi and I in one bed, and Gavin and Pacie in the other. About half-way through the night, Brandi moved to the couch where Pacie joined her. Shortly after that, Gavin joined them on the couch. Pacie, deciding 3 on the couch was too much, joined me in bed. Gavin then went back to bed. I got up to use the bathroom, and Brandi took my spot in bed with Pacie. I then climbed in bed with Gavin. I didn't realize we were playing musical beds when i turned in last night. Had I known, I would have slept in the car. Needless to say, none of us had a very good night's sleep.

We headed out this morning around 9 a.m. Our cholesterol was feeling low, so we hit McDonald's for some breakfast and then headed shopping. We then ran into a small snag...apparantly nobody crawls out very early here...no store opens in St. George before 10 a.m. We killed about an hour, and then did a little shopping. Pacie wanted to get a new dress so she "could get married", which is ironic because she initially didn't want to go to the Draper Temple open house because she "didn't want to get married." I convinced Brandi to let me swing in to Sportsmans Warehouse. She disguised her excitement by gnawing on the upholstery.

Following Sportsmans, we took the kids to "Jumping Jacks". It's one of these places with the inflatable slides and things to climb on. I quickly showcased my physical prowness by smacking heads with Pacie which sent us both crying to Brandi. After she gave us each a kiss and dried our tears, we were back at it and had a great time.

We grabbed some lunch and then took the kids for a ride in the hopes they'd nap for a bit given the night we had. After they woke up, we headed to the bowling alley. This was Gavin's main request for our vacation...he wanted to go bowling. This may come as a shock, but bowling a 200 on Wii bowling doesn't translate to the real thing.

We then met up with Brandi's aunt and uncle for dinner, and then headed back to the hotel. The kids are now in bed and I'm watching Jay Leno. I hope everyone gets a little more sleep tonight.

St. George Trip-Day 1

I had a week's worth of vacation I had to get used or I'd lose it, so we decided to take a little trip down to St. George.

Brandi had a doctor's appointment this morning. We got up and got everyone packed and ready to go. She ran to her appointment and then promptly ran back home...her appointment wasn't until Thursday. So, she rescheduled it and we hit the road. Approximately 2 minutes out of Richfield, the kids began asking, "Is this St. George?" and continued to ask the question every few minutes until Pacie fell asleep and Gavin was given "squeeky" cheese. Did I mention we swung off the freeway in Beaver and got some cheese curd at the Cache Vally Cheese factory?

We arrived in St. George and instantly remembered one of the few things we really hated about St. George when we lived there....the traffic. I had to trim my nails twice while waiting to pull out of a parking lot. We grabbed some lunch and headed out to Sand Hollow Reservoir to let the kids throw sand in each other's eyes and play in the water. We then went to the hotel and swam for a while. Brandi's aunt came by and we went to dinner at Chili's with her and her husband. Now, the kids are jumping on the hotel bed and I'm watching Pace Manning and Thurl Bailey try to master the English language on the Jazz postgame show. It's been a fun and eventful day. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Legolas? Is That You?

They should give this guy a medal rather than a citation...200 yards? Wow.

Projects-Part Deux

I posted recently that my wife is "nesting". However, she doesn't nest in the normal sense. Rather, she decided to decorate my boy's room by attaching tin to one wall. Generally, in these moments, I can cower in the corner or work extra shifts and remain invisible. My wife used this to her advantage by springing the whole tin-on-the-wall project by having her dad deliver it while I was working. I can't believe my father-in-law would do such a thing. In the end, it turned out great and Gavin loves it.

Well, for anyone who has more than one kid, you know exactly what happened next. Pacie started asking when we were going to do something to her room. After asking approximately 500 times, Pacie had us feeling like the mucous that infects pond scum for having the gall to decorate Gavin's room without decorating her's. At any moment, we expected DCFS to knock down our door, storm in, and seize our kids.

So, we took Pacie to Home Depot and let her pick out what color she wanted to paint her room. This will come as a shock, but she picked pink. We bought some 8" tongue-and-groove strips of bead-board and painted them alternating pink, purple, and yellow. We attached them to the bottom of the wall, and painted the upper half of the wall. To complete the decorating, we distributed sunglasses to all family members. It's BRIGHT!!! We don't even have to turn her bedroom light on anymore. I guess we're at least saving some money on power now. Regardless, Pacie loves it and hopefully DCFS will leave us alone now.

Quick Trip North

Last week we decided our level of frustration with traffic and idiot drivers was getting low, so we decided to take a quick trip north.

We went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point where the kids endlessly tried to climb into exhibits and ride the dinosaurs. Gavin has yet to stop talking about the giant turtle dinosaur. Pacie was wearing her "Dora" socks and was certain that all the dinosaurs wanted to see them. She then successfully removed all of the skin and most of the fingernail on her pinky finger playing in the sand...we have no idea how. Mission accomplished.

Next, we went to the Draper Temple open house. Here I should mention that the terms "reverent" and "quiet" are understood about as well to a 2 year-old as a fashion show or the Twilight Series is to me....Neither of us has the foggiest clue. That being said, besides Pacie singing throughout the entire tour, repeatedly yelling that the chandeliers are "awesome", and trying to climb into the baptismal font "so she could kick her legs", we had a really nice time. It was a special experience to be in the temple with my kids and wife.

We met up with some old friends and had dinner at The Mayan. The kids loved seeing each other and watching the divers.

We then drove back down to Provo to the hotel, checked in, and took the kids swimming. The kids repeatedly tried to give my wife a heart attack or at least jump-start her into labor by jumping into the water without regard to whether I was there to catch them or if they could reach the bottom. We had a good time.

The following morning, we took the kids to get pictures done. My wife, feeling sorry for JC Penney, purchased at least 3 sheets of every pose and successfully increased JC Penney's stock by a few dollars and kept their CEO and shareholders off the sauce for at least a few days.

Following pictures, we took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch where I skillfully showed the kids how to score nothing at skeeball and contract diseases from previous users of the arcade games. I don't know what it is, but Chuck-E-Cheese brings them out.

My contribution to the trip's plans was a stop at Cabela's. We had a great time watching the fish swim. Pacie quickly named an albino catfish "Kathy" (I have no idea why), and the kids loved seeing the animals. We stopped at the waterfall to feed the fish and Pacie relieved somebody else's grandpa of the fish food he'd purchased for his own grandkids. We're not sure...I think he was just offering a couple of the pellets to her, but she took the entire handful and quickly threw them into the water.

We then met up with my brother and his family for dinner. We had a great time catching up with them while the kids crawled under the table and ate food off the floor.

Following dinner, we made the trek back south to Richfield having successfully replenished our levels of frustration for traffic and having thoroughly enjoyed our trip.

Extra Protein

Makes you wonder what makes their peanut butter "chunky".

Superbowl Trick Play

And I just thought the Cardinals used it to distract the Steelers. Clearly I was watching the wrong Superbowl.

Prince On A White Horse

Your prince, my lady.

Setting The Odds

I'm pretty sure that this is how Vegas does it.

Why Is It?

Why is it that individuals who contribute the least to society gripe the most and loudest at the pharmacy? It never fails, but we had an individual who picked up approximately $1000 worth of medications tonight. Medicare (i.e. you, me and other productive members of society who pay taxes) paid for all but $6.40 of it. And I bet you can guess what happened next. That's right! This person griped and pitched a little fit over having to pay $6.40 for them. And, just so you don't find me an insensitive pig (actually, it's probably too late for that), this person was NOT a little senior citizen who will now have to choose between spending the $6.40 on medication or food. I nearly had a come-undone.

It really raises a bigger question about entitlement and what makes individuals feel entitled. There is a huge chunk of the population who feels that because of circumstances, whether of their own making or not, are entitled to special treatment. For instance, they feel the pharmacy should fill their prescription first, that they shouldn't have to wait like everyone else, that their insurance should pay more on their prescriptions, that they should be allowed to get refills early, etc. because "we deserve it." I actually had a lady come right out and say, I should be able to get my prescription now because I've worked hard my whole life and I think I'm entitled to it." I really had to bite my tongue to keep from saying that I didn't care what she'd done in her life. That nothing entitles her or makes her more important than anyone else. It's an interesting mentality that I don't think I'll ever grasp.

Projects, and More Projects

I haven't posted anything for a while. I need to get back into the habit.

We are down to about 80 days until Brandi's due date. It's always a little strange picking your child's birthday since Brandi has to deliver by c-section. But, the scheduled date is April 13th. I imagine a birthday including black cats and balloons on a Friday the 13th at some point in time in the child's life.

Brandi is now in full "nesting" mode. Some women clean everything, sort laundry, get the nursery ready, etc. My wife attaches sheets of corrugated tin to walls...Honest. She decided to accentuate Gavin's room. She painted the top half of one wall is his bedroom red, and the bottom half is covered in corrugated tin to go along with his Lightning McQueen theme. I'm continually amazed by my wife's creativity. As usual, it turned out really nice and Gavin loves it.

My recent project has been building storage shelves in our cold storage area under our front porch. As near as I can tell, the contractor must have decided to make the area under the front porch a cold storage area some time after pouring the foundation and then having an indefinite number of alcoholic beverages. I'm not sure what happened, but the room is definitely the shape of a trapezoid. It's so rare to find a square wall in the room that I have to assume when I do that it happened by chance alone. As near as I can tell, they came back in and poured the 2 additional walls to enclose the area after the main foundation was poured but didn't let a little detail like getting the walls square concern them.

Regardless the project gave me an excuse to use a power actuated nailer. I can't tell you how much of a man I felt like using that baby. It's the kind of tool that has a 12-page user's manual, and 11 1/2 pages of it are "WARNINGS". Basically, you load a single 3" nail into it and a load that basically looks like a .22 caliber bullet. You then push the barrel against a 2"x4", close your eyes, pray, and squeeze the trigger. It fires the 3" nail through the board and about 1.5" deep into the concrete. Pretty dang sweet...It's been the highlight of the entire project.

Bad First Day?

Seems like a bad start.

Wedgie

I can't remember the last time I received a wedgie, but I'm sure I flew into a homicidal rage as well.

Scrotum?

I'm not sure which is worse...Having this woman as your mother or the fact this child will turn out to be a serial killer because of all the teasing for having some dreadful name.

Either way, I think EVERYONE should bid on it.

Go, Mark, Go!!!

In my opinion, anything that has the potential to bring about change is a good thing, even if it is a lawsuit.

How Many Days?

On rare occasions I can still get shocked by what people tell me in the pharmacy. I had a patient come in today to get a medication. This particular medication is only effective if taken within 72 hours of a certain occurrence on which I won't elaborate. Anyway, when I explained this to the patient, they asked, "How many days is 72 hours."

I'll admit I'm not a math expert. But, we're not talking calculus here...if you don't know how many hours are in a day, maybe you shouldn't be allowed out of the house alone.

One Of Those Moments

Every once in a while it seems everything is right in the world.

Yet again the BCS system is exposed for the sham that it is. I believe ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski says it best in this video.

Important Issue

That's what I like about CNN...They always report on the most important issues.