Insert witty title here

The kids have all gotten over their illnesses and are healthy again. It was a rough couple weeks with both kids (in succession, not at the same time of course) being sick. I also got sick and I'm on the tail end of it, but I have this nagging cough which won't go away, which in turn causes my asthma to act up. I guess I should go to the doctor to see if anything is wrong. Both kids needed antibiotics (Beka needed 2) so I probably should make the attempt. And naturally, Jen didn't get sick at all.

Otherwise, I have been busy with work. Being back in the clinic has been good. I have been seeing all kinds of patients and encountering new problems and issues I get to solve. Every day is different, which is one of my favorite things about this job. I start having P4 students on rotation again next week. I am looking forward to it, especially since it's been a while since I've had them. I had this whole plan worked out as to how I was going to change the rotation because I was doing inpatient. That plan has gone completely out the window, but at least I already have the old plan working so well. I am not only seeing my own patients who were referred by the psychiatrists, but also the general clinic patients. Seeing the general clinic patients will be different for my rotation students. I like to take the time between patients to describe what my thought process was about why I chose to do what I did. It helps them to develop their own problem solving strategy and it shows them how I integrate all the different knowledge I have to make a rational decision. Because the clinic is so busy and usually at least double-booked, I won't have the time between patients to do that. I'll have to come up with some way to have the discussion after the clinic, by having the student take notes or something, but I don't know if that is the best way.

I finally got to see Harry Potter with Jen last week. We had a babysitter come and watch the kids (even the same babysitter who watched Beka for us when she was sick earlier that week. She's some kind of angel or something). We really enjoyed it. It was a great finish to the series of movies. I liked that they included the epilogue from the book, since it really gave the series a solid finish. There were some differences from the book obviously, but I think the endpoint was the same. The books were much more complex overall, and there isn't enough time to hit on everything. That's why people should read the books. I've never seen a movie that was better than the book I read. Some have been as good, but never better. That's my own bias I guess, since my imagination is much more full than any movie.

Another movie I saw recently while in San Antonio for AACP was Super 8. I have to say it was a very good movie. I enjoyed the characters and the mystery of the alien. The train crash scene was very well done and appropriately disastrous.

Jen and I have just started watching Season 1 of Breaking Bad on DVD. So far so good. I like that the chemistry and other information is accurate. I guess only I would care, or even know whether it's correct, but I'm glad it is. The acting is first class for sure as well.

That's all for now. Have fun....

In which a new music streaming service is reviewed

So I promised a review of the new music streaming service, Spotify. This service has been around for a while in Europe, but it has taken a while to reach the States. It had something to do with music companies and copyright regulation. Anyway, it's here now. So here's the deal: You can stream any song you want (well almost any, some songs/artists aren't available yet) for up to 20 hours per month for free. There are advertisements when you use the free version as well which are interspersed in your music. Unfortunately, you can't mute the computer and let the commercial play; it knows you have muted and waits to play the commercial when it's unmuted. Pretty sneaky. You can pay $5 a month which basically gets rid of the ads and the time limit. Or you can pay $10 a month and you can access your playlists off-line and use the iPhone (or other smartphone) app. So you basically "own" any of the songs you play. People are saying that this is going to replace Pandora or even iTunes. I don't think so. Yes, you can "download" unlimited music with Spotify, but you don't actually own it. One cool feature is that Spotify imports your downloaded songs from iTunes so you can mix and match your own songs with whatever you get from Spotify to make playlists.

I think Spotify would be good for people who know what they want to play, since you have to search the songs yourself and build your own playlists, which is in contrast to Pandora, where you don't pick the songs, they are picked for you based on what you already like. If you want to discover new music or have more variety (and are too lazy or don't have time to spend building playlists), I like Pandora better. If you are looking for that lost Jimmy Eat World album that you can't find since your last move and need it to complete your catalog, Spotify is what you want. Another difference is that Spotify has software that needs to be downloaded to your computer to run. You can access Pandora using any internet connection and don't need to download anything to your computer. Spotify also has a social networking feature, which I haven't tried out. This feature enables you to trade playlists with friends and see what other people are listening to (friends and otherwise). You can also use Facebook with Spotify, but I don't know how that works.

I like Pandora for every day listening and Spotify for listening to specific music I don't already have or listening to full albums before buying on iTunes. I'll continue to use both until my free time is up for the month.....

Returning to the blogosphere

So I have been remiss in my duties as the family chronicler. It's been a long time since I've blogged. There are a whole host of excuses I could give, but I don't really want to write them. Suffice it to say, I've been busy. Now that I am back, I will try to blog a little more regularly. I find that having an outlet for my creativity is healthy for me so I'll blog to get that done.

So a quick update about the family since I've been gone from the blog so long. Jen and I have a son, named Raymond who we named after my father. He is now 9 months old and it has been quite a ride. He is almost crawling, but he is trying to pull up on everything, so I figure he may be walking before he crawls. Beka is doing great. We have enrolled her in preschool and she really is thriving there. Every day she comes home having learned something new. The school uses a Montessori approach, which I think is really good for her since she is so adventurous and outgoing. Raymond is there too, so we don't have to go to 2 different places. He is really just in the nursery, but he seems to enjoy it as well. We abandoned the nanny as a child care option since it was going to be a hassle to find a new one after Jen took time off from having Raymond. The plan was to put Beka in school anyway, so it worked out.

Jen has recently been moved to a new pharmacy and is working much closer to home. She's still the manager and her boss has a lot of faith in her that she'll be able to turn this store around. I am proud of her and excited to see how she can do this. She has also started precepting students on rotations from Auburn's pharmacy school. She seems to really enjoy it and I am sure the students do as well and learn a lot from her.

My work has been about the same. Still teaching and seeing patients at the clinic. I had a brief stint in the inpatient hospital, but that was short lived. Not because it didn't work. It did actually work really well. But because the organization needed me to be in the clinic more than it did rounding with the docs inpatient. I am OK with it, since I built relationships with the docs there and I could go back anytime, when the need isn't as great in the outpatient clinic. I am able to teach my P4's in any arena, so it doesn't matter. I have been doing a ton of research as well. It's definitely stuff I am interested in and passionate about. But almost no one reading this blog will care what I am researching so I will refrain from discussing it here. If you want to know more, you know how to contact me.

Well, there is a lot more I could talk about, but I'll stop here for tonight since Jen just got home from work. Keep checking back for more updates!