who's soonger??

Thursday, May 27

Ok ... summary for the past month ... been working A LOT as of late. But at the start of the month, I took a week off (and yet neglected this webpage). Drove up to Toronto for a conference (cardiology/nephrology). Nice to catch up on the latest developments in medicine and new practices in hospital. While I was there, I got a chance to check out the Egypt exhibit at the ROM, had coffee with my hospital preceptor (Nancy) and had dinner with my aunt, living in North York. Quite an action-packed w/e! (The drive up was horrible ... lots of rain and in the dark ... a little tired after working ... but the noise from the tires kept me awake!)

It's been a pretty good schedule for me this month. Got at least every other w/e off (or 2 days off in a week) so that's been relaxing. I did do a couple of stints at a Shoppers Drug Mart in the east end (new place for me) The first day was pretty good ... very dead so I really had nothing to do. I was so bored I even put away the drug order and did all the callbacks. The last shift ... totally different. Having only 2 techs at any given time and 1 pharmacist as overlap ... totally unbefitting a store that does about 300 prescriptions a day. I don't like working in sweatshop conditions. Plus, SDM is a boon for phone calls and stupid questions. Guess they don't want to call their discount pharmacy and ask 'an expert' at SDM. I really hate that. Why do you go to a place that you get what you pay for ... but when you want medical advice, you ask the full-price store? I normally ask for their name or a prescription # so I can verify who they are. Why should I (or the store) take liability for someone else's job???

What else ... yeah ... I went over to the States a couple times to pick up gas (aka petrol). Prices here are ridiculous and in protest, I got it over in the States. Also did some other shopping .. got some iced tea mix (ironic -- made in Canada yet only sold in the States -- Lipton Ice Tea mix is awesome!) Did some shopping for new tires for the car ... the Pirellis are making me deaf. Toyo Proxies4 are great tires. Saved about C$100 / tire versus gettign them here in Windsor. I can speak at a normal level and performance is improved. Haven't tested them yet but I like the tread design and better tread rating.

This past w/e, I was supposed to have the full 3 days off but got called in some place last minute. Wasn't bad ... worked 9-3 ... the clinic was open 9-12 so I was surfing the 'net between 12-3. Life was good. Weather's been so bad so I didn't really mind working. So much rain ... terrible. My car has paid the penalty two-fold. I've been working a lot AND the weather's been bad. The car has been really neglected as of late. Over a week since I last washed the car. So many worm guts from all the rain ... looks terrible. I am honestly embarrassed to drive the car around in its current condition!

The weekend ahead: work Fri (9-5) & Sat (9-1). Driving up to Toronto to meet up with friends. Then car meet on Sunday ... get some good food. =) Drive home on Sunday. Hope the weather holds up! June looks really bad. I average 53hrs/week. Only have 4 days off ... 3 for a cousin's wedding in New Jersey and my mom's b'day. What a sad life I'm leading right now ...

Thurs, June 10.

Wow ... already 2 weeks and I didn't touch this website again. My apologies. It's been a hectic little bit ... weather's been bad and when it does get better, I try to make the most of it by doing more outdoors-y things. Since it's been raining a lot, I haven't washed my car as often as I would like. That equates to there not being enough wax (Zaino polish, to be exact) as I would like. My car is out, exposed to the elements a lot more, now that I don't have a covered car park like I did at the hospital. (sigh)

What's new with me? Not much ... working a lot. This month, I'm gonna average about 55hrs/wk. The bank account hasn't looked any better but I am quite wiped out by day's end. That, in turn, has taken its toll on my exercise regimen. Stanley Cup finals came and went -- kudos to the Lightning ... poor Calgary. Now basketball finals are here. Detroit shocked the Lakers in game 1 and (almost) game 2. Kobe to the rescue there. I am quite excited to see if Detroit can contain Shaq & Kobe to squeak out another game. Detroit might not play high-flying west coast offense but they get the job done with defense.

What's going on ahead: tomorrow, I head out to New Jersey for my cousin's wedding. I do not look forward to the 11-hr drive there. Thank goodness I booked the hotel a couple weeks ago (love the 'net!) so we have a place to stay. It's cool to see that there will be a shuttle to and from the wedding and lunch reception. (What? No dinner?) Anyway ... it'll be nice to see my mom's side of the family. Haven't seen them in ages. Will bring the laptop with me. It might prove to be handy on the long drive (to and from) 'Jersey.

Happy Father's Day

Sun, June 20.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. I know this is a Hallmark holiday but it would be bad form not to acknowledge it. Didn't do anything special for my dad ... taking him out for dinner tonight. Probably will run over to Home Depot / Rona and pick him up a power tool for the garden (electric hedge cutter). Sounds like a plan!

You're probably wondering about the wedding in 'Jersey. Let me tell you how opulent the wedding was ... unbelieveable! No expenses spared. The ceremony was held outdoors -- couldn't ask for better weather (sunny, low 70's, low humidity, slight breeze). The gods must have been smiling on them. Food fantastic ... locale was top-notch. I was in awe of everything. Definitely the *nicest* wedding I've ever attended. I was impressed at how well my uncle (and cousin) spoke ... very touching.

The work schedule has been not that bad, despite the # of hours actually working. I wisely chose to spread the work over various locales to minimize work fatigue / frustration. Currently, I'm out in Essex working at a pharmacy attached to a walk-in clinic (ie NOT Shoppers Drug Mart) so the number of phone calls and other sorts of annoyances is far and few. The technician I'm working with is playing on Yahoo! games (good). This is a great location. Thank goodness for broadband (along with no firewall). ;)

What have I been doing for the past bit? I finally got all my Quicken / financial business all in order. I did discover I was LATE in paying my quarterly income tax (dammit!). I did over contribute in March so the burden of tax was smaller this quarter. I hope the gov't overlooks this late payment and doesn't charge me interest. Paying tax sucks ... especially when I see all the proverbial fat that can be trimmed. If I were a politician with real power I'd ... well, let's not get too overboard. There's a tendency for me to be politicially motivated but no aspirations in reality.

Thurs, June 24.

Well ... at least I updated only after 4 days instead of the 'usual' 2 weeks (or more). It's been feeling like summer here -- humidity up and a lot warmer. Guess we were lucky with the mild weather as of late. Looks like more of the mild stuff this w/e.

Work has been pretty good. My 2 days at the busy Shoppers Drug Mart wasn't bad, either. In fact, it was so dead on Tuesday night, I was able to read magazines. =) But of course, it wasn't totally dead -- things have a tendency to come in bunches. I wonder what inspires people to come into a place of business with 5 minutes expecting to do 20 minutes worth of shopping? What's wrong with them? If you were a worker in a place, would you want to have to stay longer than you have to? If this was a union, unless you got O/T, you could walk out when the clock hit 1 minute after your schedule. That's what irks me -- when people say, "Aren't you open until [close time]?" and they ask this when it's 2 minutes before that time. Duh!

Locally, the fireworks (celebration of the US and Canadian independence days) was yesterday. It's usually the last Wednesday of June so it does not favour either side. Tragedy over on the Detroit side -- some idiot decides to shoot randomly at a crowd. Nine are hospitalized, one of which is in critical condition. What motivates people to do crazy stuff like that? Would it be funny if something happened to the shooter's family? I tell you ... this society is going to the pits. Gladly, none of this madness has come to this side of the river ... but we do have some joker that spread HIV to unsuspecting women for 10 years ... (sigh)

What's in store for me ... work galore. There is a small break on Saturday. After work (9-1 out in Essex), I'm driving over to Detroit to meet up with guys for a car meet. Yes, another car meet! But this time with Americans whom I only know from a car enthusiast website. Now I'll meet them in person. Hope traffic won't be horrible. We're meeting in a restaurant parking lot specializing in buffalo wings (drool). Heard good things about it from a guy I know who works in the States (MHH). Should be a good time! Will bring my camera.

Sat, June 26.

Two updates in a week! Must be a record for 2004! ;) Not much going on here. I'm out in Essex working at this pharmacy attached to a walk-in clinic. It was hopping earlier but has died down a bit during the lunch hour. Waking up was a bit hard but I did finally manage to roll out of bed. Ate part of a sandwich yesterday that I kept (tuna ... mmm) Got in late to work (stupid road work on Huron Church Rd!) but luckily, the MD wasn't right on time.

Finish up here at 1 ... then it's a quick lunch and off to Detroit for a car meet. =) Haven't gone to this place in Novi before, Buffalo Wild Wings. Heard good things about it from friends. Should be a decent turn out. Never met any of these guys but hear from them from the car sites that I frequent on the web. Nice to see fresh faces and get new ideas on mods. ;)

Not much else planned for the w/e. I was supposed to go out for drinks with JJ's friends but that didn't pan out. Supposed to see a movie, too but I don't know about it now. I did notice that Fahrenheit 9/11 was out at the local movie theatre. Might make a trip out to the movies and see that one! Also out ... I might go see Dodgeball or Chronicles of Riddick. Just cheese movies I realize, but there isn't anything I *must see*. Kind of a disappointing summer (so far). I know there is a Will Smith and Tom Cruise movies coming out that have a lot of hype to them.