who's soonger??

August already?!

Friday, August 1

What's going on here? The summer is flying ... hardly any time to sit back and enjoy. It's been seasonal here. Quite dry (as the lawn is as brown as hay) but the car stays clean, right? Been working a lot of hours as of late. Only had 2 days off in July. Have a few more this month before the big trip in the fall. Still have yet to purchase plane tickets! Also have to figure out what I'm going to do between weddings... (sigh) Decisions, decisions!

Not much on the agenda right now. At the start of a Shoppers Drug Mart work marathon. Six days in a row at the same place -- good thing it's near my house otherwise I'd go nuts! Worry a bit that I might burn out working at the same place for so many consecutive days. We'll see how that goes.

Did do some socializing this week -- a friend came down from Toronto to see her folks. (Dad works in HK) I did help wash & wax (Zaino, to be exact) her car. Looks sharp -- took some photos (which I'll upload in due time) of my hard work. Went out to Moxie's for Bellinis that night -- good catching up with her.

A very sad day

Wednesday, August 6

It was an awful start to the day -- I found Rex dead on the floor this morning outside of my room. He must have found a piece of meat that fell out of the garbage (no one fed him this AM) and tried to swallow it. He choked to death.

What freaked me out is that I woke up at 6:30 and 7:15 but opted to sleep in until the alarm went off at 8. I doubt I would have found Rex in time or even if he would come and find me to help him. No idea where that piece of meat came from??? I know I shouldn't do this -- to think about what I could have done. It's natural, I realize ... but somehow I feel very sad that I was totally powerless to help him. I helped him out a few months ago -- he did the very same thing. Why didn't he learn to chew?! His greed costed him.

Before work, I had to bury him in the backyard. It was very sad. My whole family said our goodbyes before we covered him. There is talk now that we will get another dog. I think we should wait ... but sounds like my dad wants one (soon).

It's been a trying time here. So strange to have no one greet me when I come in from work or play with. I'll take down Rex's jail to the basement. His food & water bowl sits idle in the front hall. So strange not to have my 'best pal' around. =(

Work was busy and I wasn't my normal 'chipper' self today. I'm glad that I have tonight & tomorrow off. Seems quite surreal to have one less in the household.

Saturday, August 16

Wow ... already time flies around here. What's been going on here? Not a heckuva lot going on right now. Workin' a lot of hours, trying to keep busy, and stay out of trouble at the same time. You know that can be quite a daunting task when it comes to me!

Did go to a drug sponsored talk earlier this week. Over at a Greek restaurant on the east side of town. Sponsored by Merck, it was to deal with congestive heart failure and how ACE inhibitors (drugs ending with the -pril suffix) increase life expectancy and reduce risk of further infarct, etc. It was nothing new to me -- just reaffirms what I remember from school (I'm only 2 years removed!) Since it was sponsored by Merck, they pushed how great enalapril (aka 'Vasotec') is via studies. The speaker, who was probably under duress, spoke how superior this study was to the HOPE trial (ie the very reason why every physician in Canada practically writes for ramipril) in CHF. The speaker skewed the point of view ...

What else is going on here ... hmmm ... I went up to Toronto last weekend. Went up to see friends, get my car serviced, go to a car meet, see my aunt and a friend recently diagnosed with brain cancer. Left late Friday night (it was my dad's b'day so we went out for dinner first) and got to my friend's condo around 1AM! Got up early the next morning (7:30) to get my car serviced at Woodbine Acura. Took 'em about an hour to get everything inspected. I was slightly disappointed that they weren't able to adequately resolve why my front seat belts squeak. Will have to take out the WD40 myself, I suppose... Had tasty Lick's Homeburger for lunch ... then went to the car meet at Dave & Buster's at 400/7. A pretty good turnout -- it was unfortunate that it had to 'rain on our parade', so to speak. A couple guys took some pics while we were there. Here's the link to the pics from the meet.

Went to see my ill friend in the evening. Went out to eat -- this place called Saigon Sister on Yonge. Food was decent -- service was something that requires a lot of improvement. They asked us to move, mid-dinner, to another seat. People with reservations came 1/2 hr early... what kinda manager does that?! At least we got free drinks out of it, otherwise I would have told them to jump in the lake... I was glad to see how good spirits my friend was. Considering how bad the prognosis is (she's a MD), I don't know how I would have handled that kinda info...

Sunday ... I went to see my aunt up in North York. Edit: I was going to write more but got lazy ... will stop here.

Wednesday, August 27

WOW -- I was surprised to have 2 mystery e-mails in my inbox today. A couple of pharmacy students wrote me ... one who's an international student wanting to learn more about preparing for the PEBC / OSCI and another aspiring UofT pharmacy student asking me about what the future holds for her. Actually makes me happy to think that people come to my website and actually learn a thing or two from me ... =) One word of warning: the people who know me well are probably scratching their heads wondering who would *want* to learn something from the likes of me ...

What else is going on here ... the past week has been a blur. Working a lot of hours at the neighbourhood pharmacy, helping out. It's so convenient to live so close (leave the house at 8:55 to be in before 9:00). Also can go home and eat during lunch break. These are the little things that help with job satisfaction. It's not that I am anti-social with my coworkers but it's nice to have a nice lunch, watch TV, check your mail, e-mail and run any other errands needed during the working hours. Well ... this is beginning to sound like a long journal entry so I'd better quit while I'm ahead. Dinner awaits me... (drool)