who's soonger??

Saturday, August 19

As you can see, I have taken a summer hiatus from this webpage. School has been kicking me in the you-know-where. It was really bad, despite only having 2 courses to focus on. The kinetics course wasn't too bad but the therapeutics class was rough. I'm not sure if it was due to my lack of focus (due to the great weather we had much of the summer) but I attribute a lot of the strain to the mental fatigue of studying at a high level of intensity for such a long period of time. Balancing work (cut back hours to ~~4 days/wk) and school was really tough later on in the year.

I had my final exam the past Monday. It was a very different experience than most would take. Using the power of modern day technology and the internet, I wrote a virtual exam. Using my webcam, headset (microphone + earphones), and a broadband connection, I was given 60 minutes to review a case and answer 2 questions posed by my professor. I had 30 minutes to record my answer and submitted my answer (video recorded to the prof to be reviewed at a later time). Our faculty uses the honour system -- it was a closed book exam and there's a lot of temptation to help yourself out. But what's the point in doing that? You're only cheating yourself. I could have done a take home PharmD from an American school for less money and less stress (ie Florida).

I was glad that was over and done with. Also had to compose an essay about diabetes. Something interesting on how a retrospective study (using Canadian data) found that a medication to control sugar (metformin) had a lower incidence of mortality in patients with heart failure than a different class of sugar controlling agents called sulfonylureas. This goes against conventional wisdom because metformin is contraindicated in patients with heart failure due to an increased risk of a dangerous condition called lactic acidosis. In this 3 year follow up study, there was no reported cases of lactic acidosis. Perhaps the bum wrap metformin has received due to its predecessor, phenformin, can be put to rest based upon this study.

I went up to Toronto area 2 weekends ago for a friend's wedding in Orangeville. It was nice seeing the bride, the groom, and the bride's parents. JJ and I knew no one else besides the above mentioned but we still had a good time, nonetheless. We stayed at the night and did a little shopping the next morning before returning home after lunch. (We had a really good Japanese all-you-can-eat sushi buffet!)

It was stop-and-go traffic on the 401. Unfortunately, there was some people in a hurry (typical GTA drivers) and weren't paying attention to the traffic, and caused an accident. This Chrylser minivan crashed into a '97 Honda Civic, which in turn, ran into the back of my car. Great ... my rear end got smashed. I heard the squealing of the tires -- checked my rear view mirror (NEVER look back, check the mirror) -- heard the bang, a second bang, and my car being pushed forward. I didn't have enough time to sneak into the shoulder, even though I had enough space in front of me to do so. Getting rear-ended in a traffic accident has happened before (in Pennsylvania), so I know what was needed. However, because my car sustained more than $1000 in damage, the police needed to be called in to take depositions. There went 2 hours waiting for the cops. I was glad no one was hurt.

Friday, September 28

A lot happened this past month. Back to school ... it's tough to get back into the groove ... "focus" isn't quite there. I can say I am mentally fatigued and physically tired. Don't know if I can easily let go of my work commitments and keep on top of work. It's the 4th week of school and I do feel a bit better and getting easier to complete school work / readings.

What else is going on ... well, my car got finally fixed. It's back to where it was prior to the accident. Did I tell you that the person who hit me is suing me? Can you believe that? Well, that's the problem with lawyers and our system. I bet the legal representation to that family advised them to sue me and hope to get some quick cash out of it. It's often cheaper to pay out than to fight it out in court. That is so ironic. You followed me too closely and potentially hurt me or JJ ... YET ... you sue me and have my insurance company compensate you for hitting me. Where is the justice in that?

I should also document that I changed the oil myself today. Finally got down and dirty ... got the stupid 17mm bolt off the oil pan. I also got the oil filter off (the threading is the opposite than you'd think ... it's a left- handed Archemedian screw threading). Well, an hour's work to save $$$. I put in Mobil1 synthetic 5W20 ... the good stuff but with a cheap filter. Well, I will only run it 6000km to ensure what conventional oil that's in the engine will be 'washed out' in the next oil change. (I let the oil drain for 1/2 hr.) Then it will be an oversized Mobil1 filter + Mobil1 5W20 every year from now on.

JJ is in San Fran with MHH. At least MHH is keeping JJ company and keeping her out of trouble (or so I think!) It's good for them both to get away from the day in, day out of mundane living. Sometimes I wonder what I would be doing differently had I not entered the PharmD program. Would I be cranking out the hours I was doing previously? Would I commit full-time to the hospital in hopes that I could move into a clinical position without the formal training (ie school) to back me up? I think I would be left with a quasi-role that would allow me to move sideways in the proverbial totem pole. With school and/or a residency ... that would get me somewhere.