A Pharmacist's Life

Are Those 18 Monkeys In Your Pocket...

2010-07-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

Or are you just happy to see me?

Economy Hitting Everyone

2010-03-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

Wow...I knew the economy was bad, but I didn't think it was this bad.

Why Men Never Ask For Directions

2010-01-12T08:56:00.001-08:00

It just leads to unnecessary murder.

More Pics

2009-12-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-12-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-10T22:46:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-10-29T03:05:00.000-07:00

Now they are attacking singers.

Home School Anyone?

2009-10-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

Maybe we should consider home schooling...

Clean Blood

2009-10-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-05T23:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-03T21:17:00.001-07:00

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

Is That A Woman Or A Man?

2009-08-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

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

Stick Figure Fun

2009-08-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly the greatest cartoon/video of all time:

Video

ATV Adventure

2009-08-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-18T00:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-07-17T23:00:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-06-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-05-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T22:19:00.001-07:00

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

Meet Seth

2009-04-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-12T21:49:00.001-07:00

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?

2009-04-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Some stories are just too weird to even comment on.

Babies, Viruses, and Fences...Oh My

2009-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Disney should redo Anastasia given this latest discovery.

Free To A Good Home

2009-03-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

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

Pucker Up

2009-03-03T14:57:00.001-08:00

Come on baby...Give me a kiss.

My, What a Nice New Coffee Table

2009-03-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-02-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-26T21:26:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-25T19:23:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-02-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

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

Projects-Part Deux

2009-02-18T21:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

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

Superbowl Trick Play

2009-02-02T20:50:00.001-08:00

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

Prince On A White Horse

2009-02-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

Your prince, my lady.

Setting The Odds

2009-01-29T20:31:00.001-08:00

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

Why Is It?

2009-01-28T20:46:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-01-21T20:52:00.001-08:00

Seems like a bad start.

Wedgie

2009-01-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

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

Scrotum?

2009-01-12T16:28:00.001-08:00

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!!!

2009-01-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-01-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-02T22:54:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-01T09:02:00.001-08:00

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

Viagra

2008-12-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

Now useful for gathering intelligence.

Karaoke Gone Wrong

2008-12-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

He must have made a VERY poor song choice.

Looking Good

2008-12-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

I always knew my wife liked a man in candycane-striped tights.

Addicts "R" Us

2008-12-22T21:21:00.000-08:00

I may have misspoke...Today may have brought out more crazies than yesterday did:

1) We had one lady come in with a prescription for Oxycontin. She then essentially demanded that we give her a couple of tablets immediately to take because she was in withdrawal and couldn't wait the 15 minutes until we actually had her prescription filled. We proceeded to fill the prescription as we normally would whereupon she came up to the counter and again demanded that we give her some to take "right now." I finally had to lose my cool a little bit with her...I essentially told her there was a process to filling the prescription and they were not her tablets until I had finished that process.

2) We had a lady come in with a prescription for a medication called Flagyl. It's a medication used to kill a variety of different "bugs" including parasites like giardia and trichomonas. When I'm ringing her up and counseling her about taking it, she proceeds to say, "Not only did my ex-fiance leave me pregnant, but he also left me with something else." Nice...Like I (or anyone) needed to know that.

Ahhhhh....Sunday In The Pharmacy

2008-12-21T21:15:00.000-08:00

There's just nothing like working a Sunday in the pharmacy. I don't quite understand it, but the ratio of irrational to rational people increases incredibly. Just a couple of examples that all happened just during today's shift:

1) A lady calls me and asks me what manufacturer of Morphine we have because "She has to have the little pink oblong tablets, and no other Morphine will work for her."

2) 75% of the prescriptions we filled were for Lortab.

3) A patient was traveling into town and had forgot her medication. She then asked if I could just "give her a few" to get her by until she got home. When I told her that I could not unless I could contact her home pharmacy and get the prescription transferred, she got angry, told me her home pharmacy was closed, and then hung up on me.

4) Another patient called and claimed she needed an early refill on her Ativan "because I'm moving and I packed it and can't find it."

Always a joy working the weekend.

Oh, Honey...What's That Fragrance You're Wearing?

2008-12-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

Eau de Burger King

And, whatever you do, do NOT visit this website and click to "spray" the bottle 4 times.

Cyanide-Producing Millipedes

2008-12-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Perhaps some species are better left undiscovered.

Only 30 Years To Go

2008-12-16T20:55:00.001-08:00

Do you ever wake up and realize that you really hate your job today and don't want to go? And, then you are comforted by the fact that you only have 30 years or so before you can retire? It's a great feeling, isn't it?

Generally, I enjoy being a pharmacist. But, I'm realizing more and more just how much I hate being a manager. And, being a manager wouldn't even be so bad, but my fellow pharmacist is a 65 year-old adult-child who has been placated and coddled his entire career and has never had anyone put their foot down in regards to his antics. Let me just tell you...It's a lot of fun dealing with him.

Fox Urine?

2008-12-11T21:31:00.000-08:00

When plain old water just won't cut it.

Happiness Is A Trap Snapping Shut

2008-12-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

We have mice...Yee Haw! A couple of weeks ago we heard some scurring in a wall in our loft. Then, we started noticing some droppings under the kitchen sink and in our pantry. Shortly after that, my wife came face-to-face with one in our pantry...the announcement of which you would think would have scared all the mice out of house, but no luck.

So, being a manly man, I headed to Home Depot and bought traps, glue boards, poison, and a flame thrower. I proceeded to place all of the above items around the house. Each day, I would carefully check the traps much like you would check a closet for a serial killer...namely I'd throw the door to the pantry open and then jump back just in case the mice had mobilized and mounted an offensive.

After about 2 weeks of this, we hadn't caught anything. One night I got looking closely at the glue boards and noticed little paw prints all over them. Apparently when the box states that mice will stick to them, they don't actually mean mice will stick to them.

I was telling my father-in-law about not being able to catch anything, and he instantly said, "Chocolate. Works every time." I had been using peanut butter, but figured I couldn't do any worse, so I placed a little piece of chocolate in the middle of the glue boards and in the traps. I go back and check the traps after about an hour and discover that the chocolate in the glue traps has all been chewed on, but the mice still aren't sticking to it. Then, finally, just as I was about to fall asleep last night, I hear "snap". Sweet music to my ears. I jump out of bed and check the trap under the kitchen sink and there was a dead mouse with its little head snapped shut in the trap. AWESOME!!! I threw it away and rebaited the trap and there was another dead one in it this morning. Two down, and hopefully not too many to go.

Close To Heaven

2008-12-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

The DirectTV man came yesterday and hooked up our DirectTV. I've forgotten how much I enjoy T.V. It's been nearly 5 years since we've had anything but an antenna. And, can I just say that a DVR and HD may just be the greatest inventions ever?

Who Knew Hitler Was A BYU Fan?

2008-12-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

#347

2008-12-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

347...We filled 347 prescriptions today. Just for the sake of easy math, let's say each prescription had 30 tablets or capsules in it (lots have more than that, and a few have less). That's 10,410 tablets and capsules that we counted today. Holy crap!!!

I'm tired now...I'm going to bed.

Merry Christmas To Me

2008-12-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

The diseased turtles finally arrived (see "Making Progress...Like Molasses Running Uphill" post below), and MAN, am I EXCITED!!! Here are a few pics of my new set-up/Christmas present. I think it turned out okay for a guy who is all thumbs when it comes to "Do-it-yourselfism".

I got this thing through Amazon.com. They had free shipping along with a free Samsung Blue-ray DVD player. I was a bit nervous purchasing a T.V. off the internet, but it worked out just fine. It was delivered and carried into our house by a freight delivery line. Once I had all my wires routed and the wall mount attached, we put it up on the wall and we were in business.

Our kids love it. My wife was a little worried about the total infatuation with it...the blank stares, blocking out of all other sounds, glazed looks, mouth hanging slightly open, drooling, etc., but she has gotten use to me doing that now. The kids on the other hand just have fun watching Kung Fu Panda on it.

This Just In...

2008-11-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

I got this in an e-mail from my bro-in-law. I thought it was too good not to share:

Did you here that after the game on Saturday Max Hall (BYU's quarterback) tried to shoot himself?....But the bullet was intercepted.

Making Progress....Like Molasses Running Uphill

2008-11-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

My cables for my T.V. came today. I've never been so excited about wires with special ends on them. I know...it's kind of sad. I proceeded to run them through my wall without a problem other than I soon realized that these aren't nice supple, bendable cables. These cables don't say, "Oh, you'd like a 90-degree bend here to run to the port on your T.V. without enough stress to break your drywall, I'd be happy to do that." No...they say, "Go ahead...try to bend me, sucker!!!"

So, I just ordered 2 additional wires/port savers. They are 8 inches long and a smaller gauge of wire designed specifically to make 90-degree bends and run from the hdmi ports on the backs of equipment to the wiring that runs down the inside of walls.

Initially, I hated to have to wait for more wires out of fear my T.V. would arrive and I wouldn't be able to hook it up. But have no fear....It appears that Amazon strapped my T.V. to the back of 2 diseased turtles in Pennsylvania and sent them on their way to Utah. I keep "tracking" the shipment of my T.V., and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast.

BCS Busters

2008-11-22T20:36:00.000-08:00

I'm very happy that Utah won, but for more reasons than the usual rivalry feelings. I HATE the BCS. What a sham! It is set up to help and cater to those conferences who feel smug and superior and reinforces an elitist view. And, ultimately it claims to crown a national champion based on some computer program that decides who is the best team. So, anytime a team can bust into the BCS, I love it. Anything that creates havoc and chaos and exposes the BCS for the joke that it is, I love. Therefore, well done Utes. Until the powers that be within the BCS (a.k.a. morons) realize there is no way to crown a true champion without a playoff, we will have to settle for this.

Closing Time...The Perfect Time To Run To The Pharmacy

2008-11-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

Why is it that no matter how incredibly long the pharmacy is open, people will still wait until you have the doors shut, lights out, computers shut down, and registers counted out to show up banging on the door with a sob story about how sick they are? Do you really expect me to believe that you just barely realized you were sick and had to run to the pharmacy? If we were open 23 hours each day, I guarantee these people would show up at closing time and want their prescription filled.

It happened not once, but twice tonight....One person shows up 5 minutes after closing, and in the middle of helping that patient, a second person showed up. I guess I can't blame them. What?...We were only open for 10 hours today. I don't know how I could expect them to find some other time rather than 7:05 p.m. to make it down to the pharmacy for their prescription. I'm sure they weren't feeling ill at any other point in the day other than right at our closing time, right? And, of course catering to these people is MUCH more important than spending the few moments I have in the evening with my kids. Are people really this self-absorbed, or do they just not care? Don't answer that...

I Am A Utah Man

2008-11-21T21:34:00.000-08:00

Well...Here we are on the eve of another BYU/Utah rivalry game. Please, oh please...I hope the Utes win. It's ironic, but it's in BYU's best interest for Utah to win the game. If Utah wins, they go to a BCS bowl game. And whether they win or lose in the BCS Bowl, each of the teams in the Mountain West Conference get lots of $$$....something like $500,000. Maybe BYU could build a new locker room complete with hymn books and a statue of Captain Moroni that each player must touch on their way out of the locker room onto the field. Sorry...they wouldn't ever do anything that sacreligious, right? Their coach would never compare their new uniforms to the "Title of Liberty" in the Book of Mormon, right? Oh wait...He already did that. BYU players would never make statements such as their "living right on and off the field is what leads to their success," right? Oh...wait again.

Every year when this comes around, I'm reminded of a time a few years back when I was teaching Elder's quorum. The day after a Utah/BYU rivalry football game in which Utah had one, I opened my lesson by saying, "You know, I got up this morning, and I couldn't help but think of what a perfect day this was. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and BYU lost." The next week the Elders' Quorum president actually pulled me aside and told me that my comment was inappropriate and that there were members of the quorum that took such comments very seriously and would be offended.

You gotta love people who can't take a joke.

Anyway...I have to work tomorrow, so I'm going to miss the game. Suck! But, hopefully I can pick it up on the radio. GO UTES!!!!

Shiver Me Timbers

2008-11-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Arrrrgggghhhhhh....It's getting out of control.

Why I Like Golf

2008-11-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine an athlete in ANY other sport having the integrity to do this? This golfer realized he had used a golf ball that wasn't on the approved list. He didn't realize it had happened until after his round had ended and he was back at his hotel room. He knew he would be disqualified and lose his ability to play on the tour in 2009. So, what does he do? He turns himself in...

Motorola Cell Phone

2008-11-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

Use it, or else you'll be totally dead.

Quote: "(Doctors) said, 'If your cell phone wouldn't have been there, and if it would have hit you straight on, you'd be totally dead,' because that is where my heart is."

This Is Your Captain Speaking

2008-11-19T23:20:00.001-08:00

No need to be alarmed, but do we have a passenger on board who knows how to fly a plane?

Disappearing Tools

2008-11-18T21:18:00.001-08:00

I swear the same thing happens to tools around my house. One minute they are there, and the next...they've just floated away.

It's Not My Fault. I Just Work Here.

2008-11-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Can someone explain to me why the "unique" side of our society seems to be concentrated in my pharmacy? Or perhaps it's just that my pharmacy brings out the "unique" side in everyone.

On at least 3 different occasions today I had people angry at me because their prescription was EXACTLY the same cost as it was the last time they got it. If we screwed up and ran their prescription through the wrong insurance (such as Bob and Phil's Prescription Drug Coverage and Tractor Repair), then fine...bring it to our attention and we'll fix it. But our computers don't just randomly come up with a new price for kicks and giggles. When I looked back on these patients' profiles, they were being charged exactly the same as they always have. But, they didn't let a little detail like that get in their way of having a little snit and stomping their feet at the register.

Which brings me to my second rant. I have no clue why your copay is what it is. We enter the prescription into the computer, and we enter all the little numbers and letters on the prescription card. Then through some process (I believe it's black magic), our computers talk to the insurance's computer and the insurance's computer gives us the copay and then asks our computer out on a date. That's it...There is no explanation as to the charge. I have NO IDEA why your copay is $2 more this month than it was last month. Call your insurance and ask them. Who knows...Maybe if your lucky you'll get to talk to one of their good-looking computers and you'll have yourself a date for Saturday night.

Tim The Tool Man...

2008-11-17T21:30:00.000-08:00

Well...I took the plunge. I just bought a Samsung 52" LCD T.V. Now, I will deal with buyer's remorse for a week or so, and then I'll be happy. It won't actually be delivered for a couple of weeks, so I have some time to get over my moronic quirk of always kicking myself after I purchase something rather than being able to just enjoy it.

Anyway, I got the wall all set up for it tonight. I ALMOST felt like a real man running wires, installing boxes, and cutting drywall. I'm sure my wife was a nervous wreck seeing someone as incompetent as me attacking her drywall with a box cutter.

In reality, it turned out just fine. I just cut the drywall and installed an electrical box into the wall directly below where the T.V. will hang. Now I can run all my wiring from the DVD player, satellite box, etc. up the inside of the wall to the T.V. I'll have to post some pictures once it's all set up.

$5 Should About Cover It

2008-11-16T21:41:00.001-08:00

I have the same problem when I try to get patients to take their meds...

Indecision

2008-11-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

Please tell me that I'm not the only person who is nearly paralyzed by indecision.

So, here's the situation. The wall in our great room of our new home is wired for a flat-screen T.V. to be hung on the wall. The other night, my wife and I were sitting there staring at the wall after having gotten the kids to bed. We had a fire going, and my wife says, "Wouldn't it be fun to have a great big T.V. hanging on that wall? We could put in a movie and sit here by the fire and enjoy it."

GOLDEN opportunity, right? The kind of permission that every guy hopes for, right? Except I can't FREAKING decide what to buy. I think we've narrowed it down to a 52" LCD after spending the day on Friday looking at them. But this model doesn't have as deep of blacks, and that model tends to blur more in fast motion like sports, this model has more HDMI inputs, and on and on....

The bane of my existence....I suck at making decisions.

You'll have to excuse my friend. He's a little slow...

2008-11-15T23:50:00.000-08:00

Okay...So after kicking around the internet for nearly 3 hours, I finally figured out how to put a music player on my blog. I'm a moron...It's now 1 a.m...I hope you enjoy the music.

Speaking of Awesome

2008-11-15T20:38:00.001-08:00

This is probably the greatest t-shirt website of all time.

Scorpions and Monkey Pox?

2008-11-15T14:14:00.000-08:00

Do parents really need to be told that scorpions are a bad idea as pets for their young children? Apparently so...

Pure Awesomeness

2008-11-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

Let's be honest...Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar, etc. are geniuses. I was far more excited for "Kung Fu Panda" to come out on DVD than my kids were. So much so that I went out and bought it last night and had a movie party with my kids. My wife was out of town, so we all camped out on our bed and watched the movie. Of course, 15 minutes into it, both my kids were asleep but that didn't stop me from loving it.

After watching it last night, I changed my tag-line for my profile to something Jack Black says at the first of the movie. And, then I found this demotivational poster....

Let's Get The Ball Rolling

2008-11-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

I've always been a bit of a sheep. Everyone else seems to have started a blog, so after deciding that "yes, I would jump off the bridge", I've decided to start my own blog as well. I'm not quite sure what form it will take, but I do like the idea of sharing quirky stories from the pharmacy. We'll see where this takes me....Probably to prison for a HIPAA violation.