The Lorenz Ledger

Call me butter, 'cause I'm on a roll

2012-01-26T20:18:00.006-06:00

We made it through the holidays with nary a scratch. It was nice to see the kids open their gifts on Christmas morning and to have my in laws here. We got a playhouse of sorts for the kids to use outside. It's a little mini house, complete with fake fireplace and fake food. It has a real doorbell though. I could regale you with the tale of how my father in law and I put the playhouse together, but it would mostly come down to "AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!" Luckily we had a drill that was mostly functional (when the battery was charged) which made it go smoother. I've put together enough toys to have a working knowledge of idiotic pictures which not only look nothing like the product you're trying to assemble, but seem to actively inhibit you putting it together. The directions had no words, only pictures, and it seemed they were drawn by the 3 year old the playhouse is for. So that was a little challenging. We did have to put it together outside since it was big enough that it wouldn't fit through the patio door once assembled and while it is L.A. (lower Alabama) it was a little nippy outside. It was an experience I'm sure will be repeated many times over the next 18 years.

With the holidays over, it was time to get back to normal with work for Jen and I and school for the kids. With my new job, I didn't get the 3 weeks off for winter break I used to when I was teaching, and I did kind of miss it. But not having all that time off did make it easier to go back to work. Work is going very well at the moment. I have a good pharmacy student and an excellent pharmacy resident on rotation with me this block. I hope they are enjoying learning about psych pharmacy as much as I enjoy teaching them. I also have some research I'm working on which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I have a couple papers and posters I am hoping to get accepted soon. I seem to enjoy the research and writing much more now that it's not required. I don't know if it's because I can work at my own pace and there's not something hanging over my head that says "if you don't do this, you may not have a job any more" or what. But I'm sure that's not it at all though.... I've had an M4 medical student do a couple weeks with me in the clinic after Christmas and it was a great experience for both of us, I think. I feel like I learned more about medical education and what med students are capable of at that level. Which is basically everything. I guess it could have been just that student though. I also had a pharmacy student shadow me in the clinic around that time and I know I can count on her to bring her A game to clinic since she wants to become a psych pharmacist. It was good to have both students with me at the same time, since they were able to complement each others' knowledge base. I actually had them do a mini-inservice to each other with the med student presenting on diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders and the pharmacy student presenting on treatment. It turned out better than I thought it would.

Jen's had a stressful month in the pharmacy. It started out bad, but it did gradually get better. A couple of the problems: beginning of the year, so everyone seems to have new insurance and they don't know it. Or their deductible resets for the new year and don't remember this fact until they have already paid for their prescriptions. January 3rd was especially bad. First business day of the new year It was also the first business day of the month and the 3rd is when everyone gets their SSI checks. The entire situation was complicated by the fact that some of Jen's pharmacy techs didn't renew their licenses on time and they can't work without being licensed. So it made for a hectic week for her being short staffed. Things seem to be settling down for her now though so that's a good thing.

The kids are doing well. We got a great "report card" from Beka's preschool. She is excelling in almost every area and the teachers say she'll likely be reading at the end of the school year. How awesome is that? Apparently, she has the social skills of a 5 year old. At least that's what they tell us. Raymond is doing just as well. He finally decided that walking is a good thing and is toddling all over the place. He is doing fine after his tubes were placed and (fingers crossed) no ear infections, even though he had a cold this past week. I am hopeful that this will be the end, at least for a little while, of the constant ear infections. I really think they were affecting his balance and that's why he took so long to walk. Or not. I'm not an ENT so what do I know? Beka went to a friend's birthday party this past weekend at the local "paint your own" place and had a blast. She and another girl are basically inseparable and BFFs. It's actually kind of sweet.

And the other big event from this past weekend was the Evanescence concert Jen and I went to in Biloxi. We went early to eat dinner with a friend at the casino buffet (which was much more expensive than I thought) and we pigged out. We had to, if only to get our money's worth. After dinner, we went to the concert. The place was actually a fairly small venue for such a well known band with maybe a few thousand people present. We had seats in the 14th row, but we were able to see everything very well. We missed the opening band, but did see the second band before Evanescence went on (called Rival Sons) and I didn't really like them, not because they were bad performers or had bad songs. They just weren't my cup of tea. They sounded a little like Black Crowes, who I like, but not enough like them that I was enjoying their music. It seemed kind of an odd pairing anyway. That kind of music before Evanescence didn't gel with me. Then Ev came on. Amy Lee was amazing and the band was tight as well. They were spot on and they actually played my favorite song off the new album, "Sick", so I was rocking out to that one even more than the other songs. I tried to video record it with my phone, but it didn't get any of the music, only the video. Yeah, it kind of sucks. But otherwise Jen and I had a great time and I was really happy to get to see Ev play live. We didn't get home until almost 1 AM, but it was so worth the exhaustion the next day. Well, at least for me it was.

Hopefully, I'll have more updates soon. Have fun!

December is a busy month

2011-12-24T13:14:00.000-06:00

Like most of the rest of the world, December is a busy month for our family. It started off with Raymond and me being sick. Let's start with me since I was easy. I finally went to my PCP and got some good medication to knock out whatever was ailing me before. Raymond was on antibiotics, which cleared his ear infection. Well a week later he gets another one (with fevers as high as 103.6). Then we were put on the same antibiotic he finished the week prior (Omnicef). Why? I don't know. I fought for a different antibiotic, but was shut down. Then we end up at an urgent care place in Atlanta because he still has fevers and his ear hurts. We get a new antibiotic (Bactrim) and he actually starts to feel better. Then this morning Jen notices what she thinks is a rash, but isn't sure. I pick him up from day care and sure enough he has a rash all over his trunk. He's not itchy or having trouble with it. I call the pediatrician and get the nurse on call. Why I don't get a doctor I don't know. I have no problem with nurses answering questions, but she wasn't much help. All she says is that we need to bring Raymond into the office to see if it's really a rash (seriously? I am a health care professional). Would I be able to get a new medicine for his ear infection called in since he still has that? No, not until he's seen by the pediatrician. I bring him into the office the next day and yep, he is allergic to sulfa drugs and still has an ear infection. Finally we get put on Zithromax and this seems to be working. Our doctor actually commented that she didn't know why the fill in doctor we saw last week put him on the same antibiotic he just finished. I obviously agreed with her. At least now he is feeling better.

We actually also got an ENT referral by our pediatrician (finally!). I had already made an appointment with one recommended by a coworker who just had her son's tubes put in, but the gesture was nice. The appointment went well and Raymond will be getting tubes next week. Hopefully this will help him not get as many ear infections. It's kind of ridiculous that it's taken this long.

On top of all the sicknesses, we had some holiday parties to go to. The first was my work party which was held at a colleague's house in Fairhope. We got a baby sitter for the kids, even though they were invited to the party because it was going to be too late for them anyway. And I knew I wouldn't have had as much fun if I had to be constantly saying, "Beka, don't touch that. Raymond, put that down." etc. We had a good time chatting and eating with some of my coworkers. It was nice to see people outside of the work environment. We also had a holiday party for Jen's work. They did a dirty Santa gift exchange. I spent almost the entire time hanging out with the host's husband in his bonus room watching football. Seeings as we were the only 2 guys at the party, there wasn't much of a choice, but I genuinely liked him and I hope we can find some time to get together again.

We also went to my in-laws house in Atlanta to have an early Christmas with the family. Jen's brother and sister-in-law came down from Rochester to visit. It was nice to have everyone together, especially because it's such a rare occurrence. However, there was some drama before we left home. Well, I get home from work and let the dogs out like I always do. They make a bee-line for the fence, where they had been apparently digging a hole for a while. Biding their time until they could make their escape. Well, they get out, I run outside after them, calling their names the whole time. Of course they don't come immediately back. I go out in the car to look for them with 2 starving children in tow and I can't find them anywhere. Oh, I think I forgot to mention that they were supposed to go to the doggy hotel for boarding that evening after they went outside because we were leaving early the next morning for ATL. Yeah, seriously messed up. So they don't come back until 5 hours later, which is much too late to take them to the doggy hotel. I seriously didn't think they were going to come back, but when I went to take out the trash, they were in the garage waiting for me. So we ended up having to bring them in the morning and leaving much later than we wanted to for the family Christmas. Which sucked. But all in all, it was a good weekend. I got some really nice gifts, including an awesome new watch. All the kids got together to buy one big gift this year for Jen's parents. We decided on a new flat screen HD TV. We needed to bring them into the 21st century. When I walked in carrying the TV, the look on Debbie and Corny's face was priceless. It was surprise, disbelief, and joy all at once. Seeing that is what Christmas is all about. Of course, Beka and Raymond made out like bandits, and that's even before Christmas morning!

We also went to Bellingrath Gardens which is a local attraction that, during Christmas, transforms the gardens into a light show. So we took the kids, with some of our friends and their 3 year old, to see all the Christmas lights. We went last year, but I thought it would be different. It wasn't, but it was still fun to go and see the kids' reaction to all the lights. Also, there is going to be a surprise visit on Christmas eve from Gramma and Grampa for the kids. The kids don't know that they'll be coming, so it'll be nice to see how they react.

Work for me is going well. I have submitted a paper for publication, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be accepted. I am also working on submitting a couple abstracts for the CPNP annual meeting that discusses some research I am working on. I always look forward to that meeting every year, not only because I get to see friends I only really see at the meeting, but because I actually get a chance to learn something.

Anyway, that'll be it for me. Have a great new year!

It's definitely not seasonal allergies

2011-12-02T21:08:00.003-06:00

I feel like some updates are in order. I have been working and enjoying my new job. I thought I would miss teaching, and I do, but not as much as I thought. I have a lot more time for doing research, writing papers, and focusing on my rotation students. I like to think I have become a better preceptor than before because 1. I have more time in clinic for the students to become more comfortable in psych and 2. I have more time to devote to teaching them. I can't say any of this with absolute certainty of course. I have to wait until next summer to see my evaluations from this year and compare them with last year's. I hope it comes out that the rotation is better.

In the past month we have had some real health issues. Raymond got an ear infection, which we thankfully caught early. Well, after over a week on the antibiotic, it turns out he is allergic to it. How do I know this, you ask? He broke out into hives all over his body. Now, it wasn't as bad as when Beka had the same reaction to the same antibiotic. She couldn't even walk because her joints were so swollen. Raymond's didn't get that bad, but it did get serious enough to treat with steroids and benadryl. When we brought him into the pediatrician they saw his ears were clear, so we didn't get another antibiotic. Of course, a week later, he has to go back (this time to the urgent care place on a Saturday) to the doctor for, you guessed it, another ear infection. And then they give him another antibiotic, which he isn't allergic to yet, but I am. See, cephalosporins make me break out in hives just like Raymond did with penicillins and they gave him an antibiotic in that class. So I have to be super careful when I am administering it to him not to get any on me or breathe it in. Turns out, I don't actually have to ingest any of the medicine for it to cause me to have a rash. After administering just one dose, I got a drop of it on the back of my hand. I washed it off with soap and water. Within 30 minutes, I had a rash there, which didn't go away for a full day. So now I try to have Jen give him the medicine whenever we can. He seems to be getting better now thankfully. I think it might be time to look into tubes from an ENT.

I have been sick recently as well. I got "the crud" a few weeks back. I went to the urgent care place and was given steroids (since "the crud" was making me have fairly severe coughing fits and my asthma got a lot worse) and an antibiotic. After about 5 days, I was breathing much better, but I still had stuffed up ears, nose, and a sore throat. At Jen's insistence, I went back to the urgent care and got prescribed a different antibiotic, but no more steroids since my lungs were clear. Well, here I am 2 weeks later and I still have a cough, stuffiness, and ear pain. And I know what you are thinking, yes, I did take all my antibiotic and finished it out. Jen seems to think I need to go to my primary doctor to have him check me out and that my asthma is getting worse. She's probably right, but I don't really have time to go to the regular doctor during the week. I will probably make an appointment next week if I am still having issues.

We had a good Thanksgiving, especially since this was the first time she didn't have to work since we moved to Alabama. In the morning, I played in our church's "Turkey bowl" held at the local high school stadium. There was a great showing, which kinda sucked since there were so many people it was difficult to play. I really would like to get involved with an adult kickball or dodgeball league so I can be more active. Unfortunately, there are a lot of barriers to this, including who will watch the kids so I can do this on the nights Jen's working. OK, that was completely random and off topic. I guess it's late enough that my ADHD meds are wearing off. Back to Thanksgiving. Jen made a turkey breast and all the trimmings. It turned out amazing! Not that I am surprised; she's a good cook. Jen did have to work the rest of the long weekend, but it was nice to have that time together.

Jen and I went to our last Auburn game using my faculty tickets. It was the Samford game and while we had a good time, the football team didn't play very well, until the second half. This didn't bode well for the following week for the Iron Bowl. Speaking of the Iron Bowl, I got to go with a friend who is an Alabama fan. He's not obnoxious or anything, so it was a lot of fun. Auburn kept it fairly close until the 4th quarter, when Alabama decided to crack open that gallon jug of whoop-ass. As I said though, it was fun. The 3 1/2 hour drive, each way, didn't seem that long and we had some good conversation. I need to give a shout out to my mother-in-law for coming down from Georgia and watching the kids since Jen had to work.

We are getting ready for Christmas around here. The tree isn't up yet and we don't have decorations up, but we have done a large portion of our gift buying. I have to say ordering online with free shipping is probably one of my keys to a less stressful (notice I didn't say stress free) holiday season. We will be doing Christmas early with Jen's family since she has to work Christmas weekend. Her brother and sister-in-law will be coming down from NY and we'll meet them all in Georgia. We'll still have a traditional Christmas at home, but it won't be the same.

Well, I'll try to blog again about all our holiday season festivities. We are planning on going to Bellingrath Gardens, a company holiday party, and other various activities. Have a great Christmas or Chanukah or Saturnalia or Festivus or whatever you celebrate!

TV, Books, and Music

2011-11-03T20:30:00.001-05:00

I figured since I am bored tonight, I would give a general overview of TV shows I am watching, books I'm reading, and music I'm listening to.

As far as TV is concerned, I'm still watching some long time favorites like The Office, but it doesn't seem as funny as it used to. I don't think it's because Michael Scott left; it started to go downhill before that. I still make sure to watch it every week, but the funny factor went from every episode being comedy gold to only one in four being that good. Breaking Bad finished its season a few weeks ago, but I am still completely engrossed in it and can't wait for it to come back next year. Glee has been off the air for the past few weeks, but the first couple episodes of the season were good. I am still waiting for some more songs I know. I think this makes me sound old, since most of the songs recently have been newer pop songs. At least, Jen seems to think I'm old. Modern Family is as funny as ever. Great show and every week I can't wait to watch it. Same with the Big Bang Theory. When they had both Wil Wheaton and Brent Spiner on, I completely geeked out and it was great to see them on TV.

A couple new-ish shows I am still enjoying:

Raising Hope: I'm glad it got renewed for this season since we got into it pretty late last year. The writing on the show is good and the actors are great for their parts.

Happy Endings: A mid-season replacement from last year that also got renewed for this season. I think it's a funny show, the characters have a lot of chemistry, and it seems that they are going for a more "edgy" Friends kind of show.

The Sing Off: Liked this show the past 2 years when it was on for a few weeks around Christmas time. I like the addition of a new judge and the singing is first class. The judges aren't snarky or mean like on other shows and when they have a criticism it is always given in a constructive manner. I seem to have the same problem that I have with Glee though: I seem to be too old for some of the songs.

New shows from this season

Last Man Standing: I am glad to see Tim Allen back on TV. It's basically the same show as Home Improvement, but now he works at a sporting goods store, has 3 daughters (not sons), and the story lines are more modern and less preachy. I didn't think Jen would like this one, but she actually does.

Once Upon a Time: Fairy-tale story updated. I think it's a rip off of the Fables comic book series by Bill Willingham, but the details are different. I guess maybe you could say it was "inspired by" Fables. I'm enjoying the show so far (only 2 episodes in) and I am interested to see where they go with it.

Up All Night: Baby comedy with Christina Applegate and Will Arnett. It's funny and I like it, but I don't know how long the writers can keep it fresh.

Pan Am: I haven't actually watched it yet, but I record it to my DVR every week. I figure when I don't have anything else to watch, I can catch up. I don't know if it's getting favorable reviews, but I'll still watch it because of Christina Ricci.

Jen likes to watch a bunch of TLC shows (Little Couple, Sister Wives, etc.) and The Biggest Loser, which I don't usually watch with her, but I do on occasion. I can't understand the fascination with Sister Wives, but once in a while I enjoy watching The Biggest Loser. Until someone starts crying because they only lost 9 lbs and not 10 or they are having an "emotional breakthrough". I get enough of that at work. Oh, and the ridiculous music that supposedly "builds tension" during the weigh-in is over the top and completely unneeded.

OK, onto some books. Of course I read A Dance with Dragons, which was awesome. I don't want to have to wait another 4 years for the next book though. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a great book for anyone who likes fast paced science fiction set in the near dystopian future and has a healthy love for everything 1980's: video games, movies, pop culture, etc. Even if you don't love the 80's its still a great read. I also recently read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card which I did enjoy and think I'll pick something else up by him next time I am lacking something to read. I am currently reading the conclusion to the Acacia Trilogy called The Sacred Band by David Anthony Durham and I am enjoying it thus far. If you haven't checked out this series, I think it's worth a read. The first book reads more like a historical fiction, but it is still good. On my reading list for the next few months (in order of getting read): The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, The Kingdom of Gods (book 3 of a trilogy) by N.K. Jemisin, Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, and only last because it won't be out until Spring is A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. I do have a Goodreads account if you want to see more of the books I like.

As far as music, it won't surprise those of you who know my taste in music who I've been listening to recently. The new Evanescence album came out a few weeks ago and I have to say, I am impressed. I am really enjoying it and it's much heavier than their previous albums. Amy Lee's voice is still the best female voice in rock right now in my opinion. Her voice is full of emotion and the lyrics seem to fit the songs very well. The drum parts are also more complex than the previous two albums, but I am probably the only one who noticed. I'm also digging the new 3 Doors Down album and the new StainD album. 3DD don't change the formula, but it's still good music. StainD's new album is their heaviest since Dysfunction which was their first album. Enjoying it for sure.

Well, that's all for now. If you've got a suggestion for tv, book, or music leave it in the comments. I think I've wasted enough time talking about watching tv, reading, and listening to music. Time to go do one of those three!

Birthday and Halloween

2011-10-30T15:45:00.004-05:00

So Raymond had his first birthday party a couple weeks ago. I know, I can't believe it either. He seems to be growing much faster than Beka did, but probably not. We didn't have a big party or anything, since he won't really know what's going on, but it was nice to have family come in. My mother and father in law came and so did my mom. My mom was planning to drive up with my grandparents and aunt, but they had to turn around because my grandfather fell and hurt himself. He is fine now and I'm glad everything is back to normal there. So my mom ended up flying to Atlanta and driving down for the weekend. Well, weekend is stretching it. 36 hours is more like it. She came in Friday night and left very early Sunday morning. I am glad she was here though and able to share in the festivities and visit with her grandkids.

At the party, Raymond seemed much more aware of what was going on than Beka had. We got a free "smash cake" from Publix since we ordered a first birthday cake there. Kind of cool actually. He was in his glory, I think. We took some video of it and even though my grandparents, step-father, and aunt couldn't be there, they were able to Skype to see the mess that was Raymond's first cake experience. He just went right for it, digging his hands into the middle of the cake and dragging out entire handfuls to shove into his mouth. Most of the cake ended up on him and not in him though. He had to get a bath immediately after the cake fiasco and the water in th
e tub was quite filthy with cake. He then opened his presents and, as you would expect from a one year old, was really interested in the packaging. He did eventually get to the toys and he did like them.

After the party we took the family to the local corn maze (Barnhill Farms) to pick out a pumpkin and have fun getting lost in the corn stalks. It was actually quite a warm day for mid October in Alabama, but we had fun. Beka did great "leading" the family and using her map to navigate us out of the maze. She also enjoyed all the other activities they had like riding in cows fashioned out of 55 gallon drums pulled by a tractor and the "corn box" which is a sandbox, but filled with corn kernels. Raymond was tired and hot when we left, but the grandparents took good care of him while Jen and I enjoyed some time with Beka. It was a good weekend and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Jen and I went as Julius Caesar and his wife this year for Halloween. We needed costumes for the Wake the Dead party put on by the local Phi Delta Chi chapter (of which I was inducted as a graduate brother last Spring). That's what we decided on since it would be easy and didn't require me to try on a thousand different costumes. The Wake the Dead party was a lot of fun. We got a babysitter and we were out past 11 pm for the first time in a long time. Even though we don't drink, it was nice to catch up with some of my former students and see how things are going at Auburn since I left. As I've said before, that is the part of my former job I miss the most. Jen and I were also delighted to have some time to ourselves just to talk about whatever without being interrupted constantly by children. It was a late night and I was tired the next day at work, but it was worth it and we were both glad to have gone.

We also had the "Trunk or Treat" at church on Friday night. It is a great way to trick or treat in a safe environment where you know there aren't going to be razor blades in the candy. Jen was working so she wasn't able to go. Usually I would decorate my trunk and handout candy, but if I did that I wouldn't have been able to take the kids around. Anyway, Beka had fun and she had good practice for the main event on Monday. We were joined by a friend and his daughter for the trunk or treat and it was made that much more enjoyable. I was one of the handful of adults dressed up in costume, but it makes it more fun for me. Halloween is my favorite non-religious holiday. However, I was completely unprepared for the chilly night. Beka is dressed up in her Tinkerbell costume and Raymond was dressed up in his spider costume. I figured they would be warm enough while trick or treating, but I was wrong. Raymond didn't have anything on his arms, so he was cold and Beka didn't have anything on her arms or legs. Thankfully, our friend brought some extra clothes for his daughter and I was able to put some pants on Beka. I still had no coats on this blustery night for either child, so I should probably win father of the year. Since it was so chilly outside, we didn't stay very long, but Beka still got her fill of candy.

Saturday night we had a nice party at a neighbor's house. They have a daughter a little older than Beka, but she had a good time. She didn't really know anyone else there and she fell down the stairs leading to the back yard twice (she was fine), but she still enjoyed the games and hay ride. She was overtired though because she refused a nap earlier in the day. This tiredness is probably why she fell.

So now we get to do the main event on Monday. We are just going to go around our immediate neighborhood, but it should still be fun. Raymond still won't know what's going on, but Beka will enjoy being able to dress up one last time before we retire the costume. She'll get her fill of candy yet again. The only problem is that she doesn't really like a ton of different kinds of candy, mostly just chocolate in all its various forms. It's a problem for Jen and I since we end up eating WAY too much candy.

One last thing. A plea for a Miami Dolphins win. I mean I just watched them blow a nice lead last week against the Broncos and this week again against the Giants. Seriously guys, get your stuff together and win one game. That's all I'm asking; just one. As a lifelong Fins fan, I can't stand to see them lose week after week after week. I guess maybe if they continue to lose, they'll get the first pick in the draft and hopefully they'll draft a quarterback. I like Andrew Luck from Stanford, but I don't really have a say. Again, my plea is to win just one game. Thanks, Your loyal fan Ray.

Various updates

2011-10-06T18:48:00.005-05:00

So, I have been strangely silent on the blog lately, mostly because there isn't a lot going on and I've been busy. Now you're probably thinking "how can you have nothing going on and still be busy?" Well, the answer is pretty simple, I've been busy doing every day things that aren't necessarily blog-worthy. But in the spirit of being true to the blog, I'll provide some updates.

We've been to a couple Auburn games this year already and had a good time at both of them. That means we've also been doing a lot of driving. And a lot of visiting with my in laws who watch the kids while Jen and I go to the game (thanks!). It's nice because we are able to spend some quality time together without the kids to talk about adult things. The games we attended were the Miss State game which went right down to the last seconds and the FAU game which didn't. The next game we go to will be the Samford game and we sold our Florida and Ole Miss tickets. Then I get to go to the Iron Bowl with a good friend who, unfortunately, is an Alabama fan. We should have fun though.

Speaking of driving, my car finally had to have some major work done on it. I was telling a friend a couple weeks ago about how my car was low maintenance, didn't need a lot of repairs, and was generally a great vehicle. Well, the next day, it completely died on me. The air bag light had been on for a little bit, but I didn't really think anything of it. Well, I had gotten home from work and needed to check out a doggy day care place around here for my mom when she comes to visit for Raymond's birthday in a week. So before I pick up the kids from person day care, I stop by to check it out. I come out only to find that my car won't start. Battery is dead, alternator is shot, etc. Well, I am stranded, but I need to get the kids from daycare. So Jen sends her pharmacy student in her car to jump me. Turns out the jumper cables I had weren't big enough to jump my car, but Jen had bigger ones in hers. After successfully jumping my car, I had to leave it running when I went to get the kids and it died again once I got home. Well, I take into the dealership and everything gets fixed, but it was so expensive we had to spend our Disney vacation money to pay for it. Which sucks. But I need a vehicle to be able to get the kids from daycare. Then the check engine light comes on the next day I try to drive it. Yeah, ridiculous, right? Nothing was wrong with it, I guess they forgot to reset the computer or something. But I did have to take it back to the dealership to find this out. What an ordeal!

The new job has been going well and I am enjoying it. I really like using all my clinical knowledge more and actually being able to focus on some research.

We are getting ready for Halloween around here, my favorite non-religious holiday. Every day Beka comes up with a different character she wants to dress up as for trick or treating. One day its a princess, then a cowgirl, then a punk rocker, then a fashion model, then Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba. We are probably going to make her choose something in the next week, so I'll keep you all posted. Any suggestions for my costume this year? We also don't know what we'll do with Raymond's costume, so any ideas there would be helpful. Speaking of Raymond, he is so close to walking I think he can taste it. Cruising all over the place.

We have a really fun weekend in store coming up. Dinner with friends, bowling, the circus, and a ton of other things. Can't wait, and maybe then I'll actually have something interesting to blog about.

The end of an era

2011-09-16T21:04:00.006-05:00

So I have finished my time at Auburn University and have moved from academia to true clinical practice. My last few days as an Auburn employee went by very quickly. I had so much to finish up and transition to other people. If I am honest with myself (and you my faithful readers) I am sad to leave. I am going to miss the students most of all. While I'll still have some interaction with the students on their clinical rotations, I won't have the level of interaction with the underclassmen. I do feel like I have made an impact on the students and hopefully they learned something from me (even if it's how they don't want to be!), but I guess you'd have to ask them. I could be delusional about my teaching ability. I am going to miss my colleagues and friends there as well, but I learned a lot. Not only about academia, but about myself as a clinician and educator. Also, it's the only job I've ever had in my professional career (not counting moonlighting and residency).

While I am sad to leave, I am hopeful for my future career with my clinic. I think I'll be able to make more of an impact on patient care in psychiatry and on pharmacy practice in the state. I guess I am trading my influence/impact on the students for more of a global influence/impact. I know this is the right move for because I got into psychiatric pharmacy to help patients and do the clinical work, not to teach. Teaching was just something that I enjoyed (and thought I was fairly good at, but you'd have to ask my students about that one.) I'll still be doing the clinical education, which is what I truly enjoy. I am excited to start my "new" job and see how I can excel there.

In other news, as I mentioned in my last blog post, a fallen tree destroyed a section of our fence. This time a tree fell in the woods and I may not have heard it, but I saw the damage. Anyone know a good fence repair person in my area? In addition, our air conditioning is fixed, but not fully so they are coming back to fix that as well.

We went to the Auburn game last weekend and it was a great game. I was glad I was there to witness it. I wasn't glad I got sunburned. Apparently, sunscreen was really needed. But now I have a nice tan going on, albeit a ridiculous farmers tan. Jen and I got to go because the in-laws watched the kids for us. It was a nice trip and we're doing it again in a week for the FAU game. I gotta use these faculty tix while I can still get them!

An update about the kids: Beka is loving school and she has started there full time. She now goes to school all week and there doesn't seem to be any end to how much she can learn. I guess this is a good thing, right? She is also in dance which she absolutely loves. She goes to Little Gym dance which is a little bit of dance and a little bit of gymnastics. If she likes the dance portion (which she seems to) we'll probably enroll her in a real dance class. Raymond is also growing more every day. He is so close to walking I think he can taste it. At least that's what I tell myself when he is trying to eat the furniture, toys, and people. More than likely he is teething, but I like to think he is just itching to walk and using his mouth for balance. I know it makes no sense, but whatever. He is also in the Little Gym, but he hasn't caught on yet that he can go away from mommy and daddy to play. He is still adjusting to be able to crawl around and play with anything in sight. Maybe he is overwhelmed, but I don't think so. Raymond is also eating a lot more real food. Well, he's always eaten real food; it's not like we've been feeding him pretend food, but I guess I mean people food. Not baby food. He seems to really like sweets, which I guess is no different from his daddy.

Anyway, I guess that's enough for the updates for now. Hopefully I'll have some more for you soon. I'll end with a question I was asked in clinic by a colleague: how many refills do you want on this Vyvanse prescription? My answer: well, just for this month, we'll won't give him any, just so we're in compliance with the law....

Vacation? Part two

2011-09-13T20:40:00.003-05:00

Saturday

Saturday was the wedding day so we didn't really do much in the morning except get ourselves ready for the wedding. We did have some real New York pizza, grease and all, for lunch before the wedding, so I was happy with that. The only thing I didn't like was that they used the little pepperonis and not the regular size ones. I don't know why it matters, but it does.

After hours of getting ready for the wedding (remember, Jen, Beka, and I are in the wedding and Raymond was wearing a "cute" little suit), we finally leave to meet up with the rest of the wedding party. We did need to drop the rental off at the reception sire because we get to ride in the limos to the wedding. How cool is that! The groomsmen all got into one limo at the best man's house to ride to the church. Unfortunately, my nightmare was realized: I am in a tuxedo, there is no air conditioning in the church, and it's quite possibly the hottest day ever in the history of time in western New York. So thankfully I came prepared with a handkerchief to mop off the profuse amounts of sweat pouring off my forehead, neck, etc. The ceremony was great and very beautiful. Beka did so well as a flower girl and I was so proud of her. Raymond even did well with someone other than Mommy, Daddy, or Grandma holding him (Thanks Fran!). But he seemed to be as hot as I was! Eventually, the wedding was over and it was picture time. After about 2 hours of pictures not only at the church, but at various other places across Rochester, we arrived at the reception site.

The reception was a lot of fun and we were able to eat, dance, and be merry. They even had a photo booth where you could take funny pictures. Of course, Beka, Jen, and I had to partake. The food was good, but the dessert table was awesome. Candy and cookies galore. It was enough to keep me awake after a long day. Beka had a great time with her cousins and Jen and I were able to catch up with some of our favorite relatives. We partied into the late night, which for us was about 9 PM or so and drove back home to the hotel where we promptly put the kids to bed and passed out.

Sunday

On Sunday, we took our time getting up in the morning, after our big evening the night before. We got to meet some good friends for breakfast at Cracker Barrel who we don't get to see very often. It is always a fun time when we get together with one of my old college roommates, his wife, and their son. I am glad we have such a connection with them, even though we don't visit frequently. The late breakfast was great, not because of the food (which was great) or because of the service (which was awful), but because of the company. We made plans to get together the next day, since Monday was the only day we didn't really have a ton of things to do. The original plan was to go to the pool at the hotel, but as you'll see that didn't really work out.

After breakfast, we met my mother-in-law to drive together to Syracuse for a baby shower for one of Jen's cousins. I was thrilled to be going (not). Apparently, the shower was at 3 and Jen thought it was at 2. So we got there more than a little early. We did get to set up though. I thought about going to one of my uncles' house, but decided against it since I wanted to play video games at an arcade like I hadn't in years. As Jen says, "it's a waste of money", but you could say the same about any hobby really. While at the arcade, I had a couple tweens challenge me to some motorcycle racing game, since I was continuously winning and getting free games at it. I warned them not to bother and really waste their money. There was no way they could actually beat me at since I'd been playing for a good while and hadn't lost, even though I was playing at the hard level. Needless to say, I beat them handily and then they finally left me alone. So after spending a couple house wasting money, I headed back to the shower. Jen had texted me telling me when the other husbands would be back. I get back to the house where the shower is and no one but the wives are there. So, I turned on the TV and watched some football. After everyone else showed up, I got to talk with some of Jen's relatives and catch up some more with them. It ended up being a good day all in all.

Monday

Monday started off with us taking our time in the morning and getting a message from our friends that their son was being a little fussy and they didn't really want to take him out that morning. This was cool so we just went to the pool with the kids ourselves. The pool wasn't heated and I was cold in the water so I didn't last very long. Raymond was also cold (as evidenced by his blue lips) so I took him back to the room and put him down for nap. Eventually, Jen and Beka come back and we decide to hit up the Strong Museum of Play, a literal museum of things that you play with. I probably don't have to tell you Beka was in her glory. She couldn't get enough: running around, playing, yelling, etc. They even had a mock grocery store where she could shop, ring up her purchases, and bag them herself. There was even a small section for Raymond-size babies. Insanity. So, a few hours later (we planned on being there maybe an hour) we get into the car and head over to out friends house for some dinner and good conversation. We didn't want to leave, but our flight was taking off very early and we needed to get back to the hotel and pack.

Tuesday

So we get up so early on Tuesday morning I can't even call it the crack of dawn because it was even earlier than that. We get the kids all ready to go, check out, get to the airport, turn in our rental car, and make our way to the check in counter at Delta. Lo and behold, our flight was cancelled due to weather and changed to that afternoon. Yeah, after having been up at 3:45 am, that's what I want to hear. So we sort through our options and decide on trying to get the rental car back (since the place wasn't even open yet and we still had a whole day) and hanging out in Rochester for an extra day. Doing what, you might ask. We didn't know either. We were all hungry for breakfast so we got the rental car back once the place opened up at 6 am. We couldn't even get through security because our flight was more than 6 hours away and we can't get boarding passes. Also, we only had enough baby formula for half a day since we were supposed to be home by mid-day. So for breakfast we head to Denny's. This was a HUGE mistake. We ordered food, but didn't really eat much of it since it wasn't good at all. But Beka ate, so that was good. Jen and I then went to Dunkin Donuts to actually eat. It was after 7:30 am by this point so we had the idea to see if our friends were home. Thankfully, even though my old roommate was at work, his wife was going to be home most of the morning so we could have a place to hang out. This was a life saver for sure. We're so grateful to have such good friends.

After being there for a few hours, we drove back to the airport and boarded our flight home. The flight home was fairly uneventful, actually, but we wanted to be home already. Our poor dogs had to stay at the doggy hotel for an extra day because we didn't get home soon enough to pick them up. The perfect end to the trip: finding out that the tropical storm that we had here actually knocked over a tree in our yard and destroyed a section of our fence. Fun!

Vacation? Part one

2011-09-09T20:51:00.002-05:00

So we packed up the family and went to upstate NY for Jen’s brother’s wedding. But naturally, we took some extra time to visit with family and friends. Our adventures follow organized by day. Just a fair warning: I am exceptionally long winded and this is going to be a monster post, so I have divided it into 2 separate posts. Here is part one:

Thursday

We were required to get up so early in the morning it doesn’t even qualify as the crack of dawn, because the sun didn’t come up for hours after we were at the airport. We wanted to have enough time to get through security with 2 kids and the various accoutrements that come with 2 children (stroller, 3 backpacks, etc.) so we didn’t have to rush and miss our flight. It was funny that even though we got there so early, after checking in, going through security, and having breakfast we were right on time to board the plane. The kids did really well on the plane rides. They were tired (me too!) and Raymond slept on the plane a little while Beka watched her princess and Dora videos on the portable DVD player. The only time Raymond got a little fussy was when we were landing in Rochester because his ears must have been bothering him. Jen was a trooper as well since she was a little under the weather with a cold and cough. I love traveling with her since she is so organized and laid back (usually…). After we arrived in Rochester we got our rented car with XM radio (I can’t be without my satellite radio after all) and checked into the hotel. Interesting side note- just because the company website says there is a pull out couch in all the suites, doesn’t really mean there really is. Thankfully, I complained and got a rollaway cot for free! It would have been tough to have Beka in the bed with us since she is a fairly violent sleeper and likes to move around a lot more than I am used to.

After we checked in, we then got immediately back on the road to head to the wedding rehearsal. At the church I realized my first issue- there was no air conditioning and the expected high for the wedding day was 92. I was preemptively sweating just thinking about it. The rehearsal went well and even though we started late, we got done fairly quickly. Then came the rehearsal dinner (great, I’m starved!), but first I needed to go try on my tux for wedding since I was a groomsman. Now I had tried to go try it on before the rehearsal (since I was told it would be ready by 4 PM), but alas, it wasn’t ready (“oh no, we wouldn’t have told you 4, it’s always after 6” but that’s not what I was told….). Another interesting side note- just because you send in your measurements, doesn’t mean the tux shop will actually have your size. The tux they provided me to try on was for a man much, much smaller than me. The only thing that fit was the shoes. Why would they think a guy who wears a size 14 shoe would fit into a size 30 waist pant? Seriously, what did they think I was, a clown? Needless to say, they ordered me a new tux which I was supposed to try on the next day. Then I was able to get to the dinner, which was mostly finished and actually eat some food. I scarfed down the BBQ my in-laws had gotten and then proceeded to be eaten alive by mosquitos. Shortly thereafter, I got a gift: a new Miami Dolphins cap embroidered with my name. The hat is made out of wool and is dry clean only. Maybe not so practical for south Alabama, but still awesome. Then we retired to the hotel for some sleep (finally).

Friday

This day started with us getting up with the kids and getting ready to go to the NY state fair. I have been to the fair only once before, right before we moved away, but I had enjoyed it. I knew Beka was going to really enjoy the rides, animals, shows, etc. We got up and drove from Rochester to Syracuse to meet at Jen’s aunt’s house and get our tickets which we bought ahead of time. When we got there we got to see some of Jen’s aunts, uncles, and cousins who I really like and get along with very well. Then we took a shuttle bus to the fair. Beka was in her glory. She loved everything about the fair from the chocolate milk and ice cream to the rides and the circus. In fact, I was so proud of her because she rode a roller coaster all by herself. Now, it was a kiddie roller coaster, but I am no less proud because she was probably the youngest on the ride. They actually had to stop it to let an older kid off who was crying uncontrollably. She also got to ride a camel with Jen. Beka’s appraisal: “it was bumpy Daddy.” Raymond was just along for the ride really. He did very well with napping and not being fussy, but the fair wasn’t really his cup of tea. We ended up staying there much longer than I thought we would, but my in laws were really helpful with the kids so it didn’t really seem like a very long day. I was actually starving on the drive home, but I was so tired I couldn’t eat. That should tell you how tired I actually was. But unfortunately I still had to go to the tux place and pick up my tux for the wedding. They just handed it to me to take, but after my earlier experience I wanted to try it on to make sure it actually fit. It did, albeit the pants were a little long and didn’t have buttons for suspenders, which I like to wear with tuxes and suits.

Stay tuned for part 2!

Big news

2011-08-21T10:44:00.003-05:00

Before I get to the news of the week, I wanted to give an update about the kids. Raymond has started doing The Little Gym, which Beka started about the same age. He seems to really enjoy being able to crawl around with the reckless abandon that can only be seen in a 10 month old. He also seems to like the interaction with other kids. Raymond has also come down with a little cold this weekend, so we are hoping it doesn't turn into an ear infection. Beka is still doing Little Gym as well, but she has started dance class now. She is so excited to be doing dance and to be able to wear her leotard, tap shoes, and ballet shoes. She actually pays attention and does what the teacher asks. I guess her ADHD only comes out when she is bored, unlike me where it's present all the time. We are also probably going to send her to school full time soon instead of only 3 days per week like now. She says she really enjoys it and she seems to be learning a lot there.

Our air conditioning went out this past week which was no picnic. Thankfully we have a home warranty so it covered the cost to fix it. We had about 24 hours without working a/c and in south Alabama, this was horrible as the heat was absolutely miserable. Although, it wasn't as bad as it had been the week before where heat indices were in the 110's. So I guess we should be happy it was "cooler" than before, but it was still hot as heck. We had to sleep only one night without a/c, but it was not fun. I have a lot of trouble sleeping if it is too warm, so I didn't sleep well at all. Tossing and turning all night trying to find a cool position to sleep in wasn't my idea of a good time. Oh and the sweating. Lots and lots of sweating. Gross I know (and probably way too much information), but if you know me, you know I perspire quite a bit even when the a/c is working. Having the a/c broken only made this much, much worse. Once we got it fixed, we were glad to be cool again to say the least.

So onto the news I spoke of above. If you haven't heard yet, I am leaving my current position at Auburn University. I am going to be taking a clinical position with my practice site. I have not only made a positive impact on patient care there, but also on the psychiatrists and other staff I work with. I am very proud of the work I have done there and my new position will enable me to further advance psychiatric pharmacy in the area. I'll also be able to start a PGY-2 residency in psychiatric pharmacy within the next few years.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Auburn and I have a learned a lot that I'll be able to use in my future career. I will especially miss the easy and continuous interaction I have with the students at the pharmacy school. While I have been their teacher, I have learned so much from them. I'll also miss my coworkers, but since I'm not moving to a different area, I should be able to still see them. I'll still take P4s on rotation with me since I think they will learn a great deal about psychiatric pharmacy and what pharmacists are capable of doing in clinical settings. I will also take a more active role with the medical students and psychiatry residents. Thankfully, I will be able to do research at my clinic and continue to produce publications. I am excited to start this new phase in my career and I appreciate all that Auburn has done for me.

For my new position, I will basically have the same job I've always had, but without the multitude of teaching responsibilities and with more time for clinical practice. As I said, I'll have a bigger impact on patient care, but I traded that for less time with students. At the end of the day, I got into clinical pharmacy because I enjoy clinical pharmacy, not because of teaching. I enjoy teaching, and I think I am fairly good at it, but it's always been an added bonus, not the goal of my career. It wasn't an easy decision to leave Auburn, but now that I have made it, I am glad I did.

I am enjoying having more time in clinic over the past few weeks and being able to use that time to teach my P4s. I feel like having more time in the clinic will make me a better clinical teacher and the students will enjoy the rotation more, especially those that are interested in psychiatry. It's nice to teach students who are interested in your topic area, but definitely not required, since I can probably mold the rotation to make it applicable to any student's future practice. So now that I will have more time in practice, I'll have the time to continue to improve my clinical teaching skills, resulting in a better experience for whatever students I have, be it pharmacy, medical, or nursing.

Well, now that I've gotten everything off my chest, I guess I am done writing for now. Have a good week!

Weekend warrior

2011-08-02T20:51:00.003-05:00

It was a busy weekend on the home front. Jen didn't have to work, so we were able to spend some time together as family. Jen's mom and dad came for the weekend to visit the kids (and us I guess), but Saturday before they got here I had to mow the lawn. We've had a good couple weeks of rain and even though we are still in a drought, the yard was starting to look ridiculous. I honestly don't mind mowing the lawn. It was always something my father and I did together and I even though I complained (like I do now) it was a bonding experience. I guess he instilled in me a love of taking care of your own property. I am sure Jen would disagree because she usually has to threaten me to do it, but I really do feel good taking care of the yard, at least when it's done. Maybe I can instill the same begrudging love for the lawn in Raymond. Don't get me wrong though, if I could afford to pay someone to do my lawn for me, I would. Anyway, it was only 84 degrees when I mowed the lawn at 7:30 AM with a heat index of 91, so it was nice and cool compared to what it would be later in the day. After that was done it was time to take Beka to her gym class and Raymond to a birthday party.

The pool party was for a friend's son who was turning 1, so he had no idea what was really going on. It was a good time especially once I got into the water with Raymond. It was so hot outside and the sun was scorching so it was nice in the pool. Raymond really enjoys the water and being able to splash. It's funny though that he doesn't really like the bath tub all that much. I don't know what's different for him other than in the pool no one is trying to scrub him down. Raymond had sunscreen on, but I didn't. I know, I know. I should have had it on, even though I was only out in the sun for an hour, especially finishing an antibiotic which makes you sun sensitive (poor judgment for a pharmacist, of course). So I got a little burn. It wasn't really that bad and it doesn't hurt now, but it was somewhat uncomfortable that night. Raymond even got some ice cream, which he REALLY liked (I guess this proves he is my son...).

When Raymond and I got home after the party Jen's mom and dad had met her at Beka's gym class and then come back to the house with her. I guess they had shown up at our house before I left for the party, but didn't stay. Jen, Beka, and Grandma went to the mall to see if they could find Beka some shoes for the wedding we're going to in the next few weeks. They ended up being out for quite a while, during which Jen's dad and I sat in house and did nothing, except read, watch TV, and look after Raymond. We had Mellow Mushroom for dinner so it was a good afternoon and evening.

Beka has been doing well at school and we are thinking about sending her 5 days a week, instead of only when Jen is working. She really enjoys it and she would probably get a lot more out of it, but the cost may be prohibitive. We'll see. I think Beka is going through a growth spurt since she is eating everything in sight so hopefully she still fits into her flower girl dress for the wedding.

I guess that's all the updating I have for now. Have a good week.

Insert witty title here

2011-07-27T20:35:00.004-05:00

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

2011-07-27T20:13:00.002-05:00

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

2011-07-18T20:57:00.002-05:00

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!

Halloween weekend

2009-11-03T20:03:00.003-06:00

Jen, Rebekah, and I had a fun weekend this past week. It all started on Friday with the Trunk or Treat at church. I had been to one before but I was part of the planning and had to make sure everything ran smoothly so I was never really able to enjoy it. Plus this year I had a 17 month old toddler to go with. Everything seems new when it's seen through her eyes. For those who aren't familiar with the concept of the trunk or treat, I will explain. This is an activity in which people decorate the trunks of their cars, set up in the church parking lot, and pass out candy to the children who come by. You know all the candy is safe because it is coming from people at church who also have children, and the environment is safe because you don't have to worry about you child being run down on the street by some drunk coming home from a party. Jen and I decorated our trunk like a haunted forest. It was really fun and I wish I had remembered to take some pictures to post here because we did a great job. As I said previously, Rebekah was little red riding hood and looked VERY cute. She even carried around a little straw basket to complete the look. Jen and I went as trees and we were disappointed that almost none of the adults dressed up. We didn't really care because for us we were having fun. Jen made the costumes by herself and they came out awesome. I didn't know my wife was so crafty. All in all, we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I know Rebekah did too since she didn't get to sleep until 9 (bedtime is usually 7).

For work on Friday I went as a nudist on strike, which didn't turn out as funny as I would have liked, but again, I don't really care since I just did it for me. It was a busy day for sure.

On Saturday morning, we all went out for breakfast at my favorite place: Cracker Barrel. If I could afford to eat there every day, and I didn't have to worry about my health, I would. After breakfast, we went to Rebekah's gym class. It was bring a buddy day, so we had one of Jen's friends from work come with us with her 10 month old daughter. I think they both liked it, so hopefully next time they'll come with us again. It was nice to be there with Jen and Rebekah though since every other week it's just me and Rebekah. The festivities continued (after a nap) with going to the Greater Gulf State Fair. I capitalize only because that would be the only thing that was big about this fair. I don't know what people around here consider a large fair (as Jen was told it was), but this was far from that. There weren't very many exhibits, the petting zoo consisted of a few goats, a camel, and a yak. They didn't even have cows or horses on display for everyone to look at. Now, I didn't expect it to be as big as the New York State Fair (capitalized because it is that big) or even like the south Florida State Fair. But honestly, a few booths that sell funnel cakes, corn dogs, pizza, and cotton candy do not make a fair. After the disappointment of the fair, we hoped that trick or treating at our house would go well. While we didn't get an overabundance of children, we did have quite a few. It was about what we expected since we don't really live in a big neighborhood and the next neighborhood over is a retirement community. So now we have a whole lot of left over candy which we get to eat!

Then on Sunday, we had a very relaxing and spiritual day at church. What a great way to end a weekend.

So I promised a review of the new Creed CD, Full Circle. It is actually quite good. While you can definitely tell its Creed, their sound has evolved some since their last album almost 6 years ago. We saw them in concert and it was a great show. The album has some slower power ballads, as you would expect from Creed, but there are some heavier hitting songs as well. The drumming has gotten more complex as well. This is because Scott Phillips is growing as a drummer and he is still one of my favorites. The lyrics are empowering, and about starting new or overcoming adversity. This makes sense considering what Scott Stapp has been through the past few years. The guitar work is a technical mastery and Mark Tremonti is amazing. So my grade is A-. Overall very good and it will be a long time before it leaves my CD player.

Also, I am about 150 pages into the new WoT novel, The Gathering Storm. One word: Awesome. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Sickness, coldness, holidays, and geek news

2009-10-27T19:35:00.004-05:00

So I just thought it was time for an update. Things have been very busy around here and I haven't had much time to blog. Today I had to call in sick to work. I don't call in sick to work very often, almost never actually, because if I am away for a day I get so behind on grading, students don't get taught on rotation, and patients don't get seen in clinic. A whole cascade of things happen when these tasks don't get done, ultimately resulting in much more work for me. So having a day off because I am sick doesn't really make me feel better, it just keeps me from getting others sick or killing someone. Sleeping last night didn't really occur as much as I'd like, so that, in combination with the illness did not make for a good morning. Also, remind me to NEVER go to the doc in the box again. I don't need to go into the particulars, but trust me on this.

Rebekah is being her usual boisterous self and keeping us very busy. She has been running, saying a lot more words, and understanding more commands. She is still going to the gym class on Saturdays and loves every minute of it even though she doesn't really follow along and just plays on the equipment. Jen and I went to an Auburn game a couple of weekends ago when they were playing Kentucky. We drove up to Atlanta to drop Rebekah off and gramma and grampa's house and then drove back to Auburn for the game. It was cold. Auburn played horribly and lost. It was cold. Wait, I said that already. What I should have said was "it was darn cold for a southern boy like myself". Jen was cold as well and we wish we were more prepared for the weather, but who would have thought a sweatshirt, 2 t-shirts, and a coat weren't going to be enough to keep the elements off us? We are going to the Alabama vs. Auburn game after Thanksgiving and hopefully since it's a day game the weather will be a bit warmer. We are going to have to drive up to Atlanta on Thanksgiving day (after Jen gets out of work), but it'll be fun.

This weekend is Halloween and it is my favorite non-religious holiday. I love getting dressed up and eating pumpkin seeds and candy. This year Rebekah is going as Little Red Riding Hood and Jen and I are going as trees. So that she is walking through the forest, right? I think it's a pretty good group costume and I am excited for it. For work, I am going to be a nudist on strike. I am wearing my regular clothes and hanging a sign around my neck that says "Nudist on Strike". I wanted something easy and not overelaborate, but different as well. I think that fits the bill. Last year I went as Peter Griffin from Family Guy. No one got it. I don't think I hang out with the right people for that costume to make sense. And work just thought I was wearing my normal clothes. We are also decorating our car for the trunk or treat at church as a spooky forest and graveyard. It's going to be fun. So we have a busy weekend ahead of us, but we are thankful for it.

Since it's almost Halloween that means its time to think about Christmas for me (the stores have had Christmas stuff out for a while, which I don't really like or understand. Does having Christmas stuff out in September really boost sales that much?). For gifts this year, Jen and I are just getting each other hardwood floors. No other gifts for us. Well, something from Rebekah for each of us, but that's it. Unless we get other things from family and friends. This year it is all about Rebekah. She has a gift list a mile long and as this is her second Christmas, we want to make it even better than the first. I guess it doesn't really matter though because 10 years from now she won't remember it. Heck 10 minutes after she opens the presents she'll forget about them. But it'll be a good winter since my entire family is coming for Christmas and Jen's entire family is coming as well. I say good, but what I really mean is hectic and enjoyable.

So my favorite series of books is the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan. Unfortunately, he died about 2 years ago with the last book unfinished. Brandon Sanderson was chosen to use RJ's notes to complete the last book which is actually going to be 3 books. BS is a great author in his own right and I am excited for this 3rd to last book. It's called The Gathering Storm and was released today. I did preorder the book of course, but through a bookseller in Utah so I could get the book personalized and signed by BS (that's where he lives). So it may not get here for another couple of days. I am really looking forward to reading it. I'll give a full review once I finish, but the ones that have popped up online are very favorable. Also, in an unrelated, but still important to me news item, the new Creed album dropped today so I picked it up from Best Buy. I'll give it a good listen on the way to work and let you all know what I think. Not that anyone cares, but you must have some degree of interest in my opinions, otherwise the 5 of you who read this blog wouldn't bother.

Well, that's enough for now. More updates later. Have a good week.

A dog who gets sick isn't fun

2009-09-30T19:55:00.003-05:00

I figured I needed to update the blog this week, so this will be a quick one. Jen and I have been pretty busy the past few days. Rebekah is getting more and more active and now that the weather has cooled off (finally!) it will be nice to get her playing outside. She has been doing well with walking while holding Mommy or Daddy's hand and not running off. She is understanding so many words and can actually follow basic commands, like "can you bring daddy's shoe to him?". Soon enought we'll be having conversations and she'll be talking back. Oh I can't wait! Rebekah is still going to the "Little Gym" on Saturdays and she is actually starting to participate. It's good that she is getting exposure to other kids and some exercise at the same time. Most of the time though, all she wants to do is dance to the music. She dances all the time, any time she hears the music. It's really funny. Visualize a toddler shaking her shoulders and jumping up and down. Quite the sight.

Jen and are having to get the carpets cleaned. We have been resisting doing it because we're planning on putting in hardwood floors. However, this hasn't panned out yet and it's still in the "planning" stage. In other words, I don't know when (or even if) this will happen. So we broke down and are getting them cleaned this week. They haven't been cleaned in a long time. Here is the story that finally pushed us over the edge. Jen and I had just put Rebekah down to bed and we were sitting down in front of the TV for dinner. Dinner was ready and I had just laid it out on our coffee table (which actually lifts up so its more like an actual table). Then we hear a retching sound coming from the other side of the table. Well, lo and behold, Perrin, our 8 year old Beagle, is vomiting up the entire contents of his stomach onto the carpet around and underneath the coffee table. So I get up and throw Perrin outside (not literally, but it was close), only to have to clean up the vomitus all over the carpet. I didn't know a dog had this much stuff in his stomach. Perrin was fine; the carpet, on the other hand, was not. The throw-up was mucus-y and membranous and disgusting. It was sticking to the carpet and it did not want to be picked up even with the copious amount of paper towels I was using. After almost a whole roll of paper towels, the carpet was still stained a nasty brownish-red color. We cleaned it up as best we could with some spot remover, but it's just not enough. Now this entire time, you would think Jen would be helping me clean up, right? Wrong. She was so grossed out by it she refused to even get near it. She said the smell was making her nauseated and the sight and smell of the vomit reminded her too much of a patient who threw-up on her counter a few months ago. Yes, you read that right, ON her prescription counter. You'll have to ask her about that some time; it's a hilarious story. Needless to say the dogs will not be present while the carpets are being cleaned. So that's a long way to say this is why we are having the carpets cleaned. That and the months of wear and tear on the carpet.

We also went to the eye doctor the other day and I am going to see if I can get contacts. I'm kind of over glasses. Anyway, that's all for now.

Random quote from an actual patient chart this week: "Patient is a particularly average looking middle-aged woman." Does this mean she was so average looking, it beared mentioning? While it is an accurate description of the patient, it does seem kind of weird to write it in that manner. Also, it could be kind of wrong. Still funny, but maybe wrong.

Why I didn't like New Orleans or Uneasiness in the Big Easy

2009-09-21T18:27:00.006-05:00

So Jen and I went to New Orleans this past weekend for a concert. Before I let you all in on how awesome the show was, I wanted to expound on the title. I have been to New Orleans (NO) only one other time before this weekend. That was after a hurricane last year (I don't remember which one it was) to perform service for the people there who had had their homes destroyed. Then, I didn't really pay all that much attention to my surroundings since I was there to do a job and not sight-see. Plus, I was in some suburb that wasn't all that devistated so I didn't get to see the city. So this time around I was much more in tune to what was going on around me and taking in all the "beauty" of the city. First, when we drove in all we could see were abandoned buildings, shanty towns, and garbage. In fact, we could smell the general funk through the car, even though I had the windows closed, and the recycle inside air was on. Yeah, that bad. It was even worse when we were walking around the city. Maybe I was super sensitive to the smells because I haven't lived in a city for so long, but Charleson, Mobile, or even Albany NEVER smelled that bad. I guess it could have been the swamps surrounding NO on all sides, but I have lived near those most my life and it didn't smell like that either.

So anyway, back to the general appearance of the city. While some parts did look OK (really nice apartments next to a hollowed out shell of a building), the majority was dirty. It looked like they still haven't fully recovered from Katrina 4 years ago. Now, don't get me wrong, I know how long it takes to rebuild after a hurricane. I did live in Florida for most of my life and lived through Andrew in 1992. Maybe I was just acutely aware of the fact that they are still rebuilding and I was looking for things to complain about. But this was all secondary to the general uneasiness I felt there. I don't know why; I can't really put my finger on it, but I didn't feel comfortable there. Maybe it was the dirtiness, or maybe the stories of crime, or maybe the smells, or maybe the outlandish drunkenness and depravity and general disregard for human decency on Bourbon St., or maybe the parking ticket I got after being there only 2 hours. I don't know. Maybe it was a combination of all these things, but I just didn't feel OK. Don't get me wrong, I slept fine, because our hotel was clean and neat and everything you expect from the Ritz-Carlton's cheaper, sister hotel. Well, except for the spot of fresh blood on the shower curtain. THAT wasn't cool. We even stayed only 1 block away from Bourbon St., but it was still nice. I have been to big cities and not felt this general unease. I am not knocking NO at all, it's just not for me. There didn't seem to be much to do other than drink and gamble. Neither of which I am a fan.

It was really nice to spend time with Jen away from the stress of home. We missed Rebekah, but it was really great to have Jen's parents come and watch her for us. It was good to reconnect and get some us time. The concert was great. We had amazing seats about 100 feet from the stage. Creed rocked the house and really made me remember why I like them so much. They started off with the song Bullets complete with pyrotechnics and fireworks. Of course they played all their hits (ending up with Higher as the last song of the encore), but I really enjoyed hearing the B-sides from their earlier albums (Faceless Man, Say I, Ode, Unforgiven). Scott Stapp does look a bit older, but Scott Phillips (drummer) was awesome as usual. Mark Tremonti (guitar) is always impressive, but it was something else to see him live. I have seen Creed a couple of times before and each time they get better. Their new CD isn't out yet, but I will be sure to pick it up when it does hit stores at the end of October. StainD was also really good. I have probably seen them over half a dozen times, and they were just as good now as they were back then. Again, I enjoyed their older stuff more than their singles on the radio, but on the whole it was a great show. The only down side was the people sitting in front of us had obviously been pre-gaming and were completely drunk. They were probably in their early 40's and looked only a little out of place. One lady even passed out completely before Creed even took the stage, then continued to sleep through the rest of the show. Our tickets weren't cheap, so I couldn't understand wasting all that money only to sleep. Like I said though, it was a good time.

Quick update on everything else: Rebekah is doing well and is learning more and more each day. My job and Jen's job are going well. Basically status quo around here.

Here is the disease state of the day: Delusions of parasitosis. Had a patient with that the other day in clinic. I love my job.

I'm back

2009-09-13T14:51:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know it's been a while since I have written on here. I have been so busy and haven't had the energy or time to write. What have you been doing, you ask? Unfortunately not too much other than living life. Jen and I went to Portland, OR, had a blast, really enjoyed our time there without our Rebekah, and learned that Portland is apparently the strip club capital of the world. Yeah, I didn't believe it either, except I saw these establishments (from the outside obviously) and how numerous they are.

School has started back which means I am super busy again. I really enjoy my job (both teaching and clinic work), but it is quite tiring. The teaching part is not only rewarding, but also fun. The clinic part is also rewarding and can be even more fun, when the patients don't get up and storm out on you. Or maybe because they do that, it's fun. I don't know. The was a fire at my clinic during the night a few weeks back. Thankfully no one was injured and the only thing that was damaged was an entire wing of the clinic. Luckily not the wing where my office is. THAT would have sucked. So the clinic still smells vaguely of smoke which is an improvement over what it smelled like the first few days after the fire. Jen is working still as well. No changes there. She still likes where she works, but she wishes she could stay home with the toddler.

Speaking of the toddler, Rebekah is doing really well. She's running (usually head-long into things, or diving head first onto the floor), talking (well babbling, but her vocabulary is expanding every day and she can actually understand most of what we are saying to her now and can do some basic sign language (I mean VERY basic)), and generally being a 16 month old. She is full of vim and vigor and LOVES to get into things she's not supposed to. The other day I had given her my keys to play with and she decides it would be more fun to throw them into the dogs' water bowl. So, as I am getting up from hearing her do this, she starts to splash in the water as if it's a bath. Then, as I am running toward her, she decides to completely flip the dogs' bowl on her head, soaking her and the kitchen floor all at once. This happened all in slow motion to me and all you need to picture me saying is "Nooooooooooooo" while diving uselessly onto the kitchen floor. Needless to say she got a bath right away and I dried my keys off as best as I could, then put them in a small bag of rice to really get the moisture out of them. Normally keys are metal and this isn't an issue. So what if they get wet, right? The problem with my keys is that I have an electronic remote door opener for my car which I figured at this point was ruined. Thankfully, after a night in some rice, the remote still opens my door. She got her fluy shot this past weekend and she was a little trooper. Rebekah only cried once the needle was in her and then stopped right away. She was a very good girl. Then after the shot, we got to go to the Little Gym and have fun playing on the equipment, chasing bubbles, and playing with balls. She really likes going, but isn't so much into any kind of structure. So she basically plays the whole time with me doing all the activities by myself. It's OK. Hopefully, she will learn soon enough that having structure can be fun too. Then again, I am not one much for structure either (this is evident after knowing me for like 3 seconds), so this may be an ongoing problem.

Jen and I are going to see Creed (with opening act StainD) next weekend in New Orleans. It's oly 2.5 hours away and Jen's mom is coming down to babysit for us on Friday night through Sunday so we can spend some more quality time together. We'll probably see a movie on Friday and go to the church for some adult volleyball, then get up on Saturday and drive to New Orleans. Don't really know what we are going to do there, since we don't drink, but I'm sure we'll find something. We got a hotel in NO so we don't have to drive back after the concert. I am excited since I haven't seen Creed in a more than a few years and it's their reunion tour, so I'm sure it will rock. It's awesome of Jen's parents to come babysit for us, but I am sure they don't mind since they'll get to spend a lot of time with their granddaughter. Jen will like the concert, but I'm sure she'll miss Rebekah, as will I. We also have season tickets to Auburn Tigers football games, but we will only go to 2 games this year and sell the rest. I am excited since it looks like, so far at least, this will be a better season than last. But then again, we have only played 2 very weak teams. Next week it's West Virginia and we will see how they hold up.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Hopefully I will be posting more regularly so I don't have to write so much all at once! One more thing: Congrats to a couple of our Charleston friends and a couple of our NY friends on their pregnancies! (not together, each couple is having their own child, of course)

Quote for the week: "Being manic isn't fun; it's kind of like a medical emergency."

It's OK to throw a fit as long as you don't hit anybody with it

2009-07-17T11:00:00.002-05:00

So not a lot has been going on here. Just kind of grinding through the days. Rebekah has been getting much better at walking and only falls infrequently now. These falls seem to come as a complete surprise to her, but it doesn't really phase her. She has also become more aware of her surroundings. When we walked by a bin of play balls at walmart (you know the kind that are so tall you would have to be a giant to slam dunk it), she kept saying "Ball! Ball! Ball!" over and over again until we walked over and picked one up. Now this ball is about as big as Rebekah. She can barely hold on to it, and when she does you can't see her behind it. Before you go thinking we let her have whatever she wants, we did go to the store with the intent to get her a new toy. It's not the toy we were looking for, yes. But it did keep her entertained. While checking out, we realized the ball we picked up didn't have a bar code on it. Meanwhile, Rebekah is throwing an honest conniption fit because we took her ball away to scan it on the self scanner. Yes, screaming, crying, jumping up and down in the cart, etc. ensued. It was not a pretty sight. When we finally got the ball to the car (Rebekah holding it all the way, in the front of the cart), we had to take the ball away to strap her in the car seat. You would think we were murdering the girl by the way she screamed. Then she carried it in front of her in the car seat the entire way home, didn't want to give it up to come out of the car seat, and continued to hold it while I carried her into the house. After about 15 minutes of holding the ball, she decided it was safe to put it down, and then she started to chase it around the house. This lasted another 10 minutes or so. Now the ball sits completely unused somewhere in our living room. And I thought I had a short attention span.

Jen and I are excited about our trip to Portland, OR. We are going to have some fun there and can't wait to see some old friends. There seems to be a lot to do there so I am sure we will keep busy. Since the toddler won't be with us, we will have some alone time. The first thing we are going to do: See the new Harry Potter movie. Not what you thought, right? But we can't really bring her to the movie since a. she won't watch the movie and b. she won't sit still for 2 1/2 hours in a dark room with other people and lots of noise going on and c. she's only 14 months old, Harry Potter is definitely not age appropriate! We'll also go to the museum (they have an MC Escher exibit going on) and many of the gardens and other attractions Portland has to offer. You know, do grown up stuff. This will be the first time we are both leaving the baby for an extended period of time, and we are both pretty nervous about it. I am sureRebekah will be fine (she's staying with my mother and father in law at our house, Thanks!), but she is still my daughter and I can't help but worry. We will Skype with her, but we don't really know how she will react to seeing us on the screen, but not be able to reach us. Not to mention our flight leaves early in the morning so she will go to sleep and the next day Mommy and Daddy are gone. Hopefully that won't bring up any abandonment issues. It'll be interesting to say the least.

Work is going to start picking up again soon. The students come back in a couple weeks and I start taking rotation students soon as well. I am excited though to how well this class does compared to the last class since their curriculum was slightly different. I am also going to be doing a presentation for the state mental health board, which will help increase my profile around the state and maybe get me some better paying gigs.

Alright folks, that's all for now. Enjoy your life; it's the only one you get. I know I am.

Are you being served?

2009-07-04T14:40:00.001-05:00

It has been a busy week back at work. I came back and on Monday had a lot of catching up to do. Kind of like how Lucy has some 'splainin' to do. Except mine was in the form of email. See I forgot to set my "out of office". I thought I had, but apparently I didn't remember to. Oops! Silly me. So in every email I wrote I had to apologize for not responding sooner. Since they didn't know I was out of town. Other than that work has been pretty standard this week. Lots of patients needed to be seen. Papers I had written needed to be revised and reviewers needed to be responded to. While I do enjoy writing, I don't think there is anything more tedious than responding to reviewers' comments. Every little punctuation mark, comment, addition, etc. needs its own response. Now I have done that for one of the papers. Two more to go, and a book chapter. Maybe then I can take it easy for while....

Rebekah has been talking more and walking all over the place. She has a toddler couch that has Disney princesses on it that Jen and I bought her last week. She loves this thing. I don't know what it is about this couch that has Rebekah so enamored. It can't be the princesses, since I don't think she even knows what they are, and I don't really think the fact that its a couch is that novel since she has seen them before as well. One thing she has figured out is how to change it from a couch to a fold out bed after watching me do it a few times. She is so smart.

On Wednesday, we took the youth from church to tour a Coast Guard cutter. We have a member who is the captain of one of the boats that are based out of Mobile. The youth really appreciated it and they actually behaved which was a welcome surprise. I really thought it was cool as I have never been on a Coast Guard boat before. We got to ride on a jet powered raft, use a fire hose, and see the engine room and bridge. I am glad the youth had that experience. I'm sure that is something they will never do again (well, unless they join the coast guard). I was off on Friday, and since we had the nanny anyway, I went and helped someone move. You know, loading their stuff into a Uhaul, making sure it is packed well and tight, and generally sweating my butt off. Then when I was done I was able to come back home and spend the day with Rebekah. We visited Jen at work, since she was pretty slow on the day before a holiday. Then Saturday morning I was able to help with some yard work for a couple from church. They have been having some health problems lately and haven't been able to take care of their yard. Let's just say that the back yard has person high grass and weeds. Honestly, I never thought that possible, but it is. I had to leave early when we were about 75% done because Jen had to work. It felt good to help out and serve others.

Having to work on a holiday stinks, but at least Jen gets paid holiday pay in addition to her regular salary. We don't really have any plans for Indepenence Day, since Rebekah likely won't cooperate to be out late watching fireworks. We may end up at a friend's house for a cookout, but I don't know whether we'll go. We also recently bought a new refrigerator. Our old one was functional, but it was just too small. Now we have a larger fridge to put all our food in. It also dispenses water and ice from the front, which our old one didn't do.

I guess that's it for now. Have a good weekend and Happy 4th of July!

Travelogue and other sundry items

2009-06-29T19:55:00.001-05:00

Quick update on Rebekah: She's walking! It's official. She was doing a little bit of walking before I left for Utah, but now she is full on walking. She can actually get almost around the whole house without falling. Jen and I are so proud of her. She has also done a lot more talking. Well, talking isn't the right word. Gibberish is the right word, but it is sounding more and more like real words. It was really tough to leave her and Jen to go away and I missed them like heck the whole time I was gone. Jen was a trooper though and took care of the child care duties while I was gone and I commend her for that. Gold star! Jen and I have also decided to enroll Rebekah in a "Little Gym" so she can meet other children, have some exercise, and socialize a bit. We went for a "free trial" on Saturday and Rebekah had a ball. She couldn't have enough fun. There were balls, an air filled bouncy thingy, bubbles, songs, and free play. Basically, she was in toddler heaven. I guess we did have to fork over the money to get her in the Fall semester which will start in August. Every Saturday Daddy will be going with her and Mommy will be coming along on the weekends she has off. I really do think its a good "investment", so I won't complain too much....

So I went out to Salt Lake City (SLC from now on) and got my learn on. Some items from the flight out: 2 layovers instead of one really messes with your head. I don't care how much one stop costs. From now on I am doing a MAX of one stop. Thankfully they didn't lose my luggage, but it was still a hassle to change planes twice and navigate 2 airports. I think that if they make you pay for your bags, the airlines should guarantee that your luggage will arrive with you. Maybe I am off-base, but if this was the case, then I might not mind (as much) paying to check my suitcase. I was so sick going out to SLC. And by sick I mean ill. Really, really ill. I had the worst head cold I have had in a long time. Taking off and landing was heck on my head. I pumped myself full of Sudafed (the real stuff that's behind the counter not the crappy PE garbage you can get OTC) and ibuprofen around-the-clock to be able to function adequately. Oh yeah, and a lot of vitamin C (not that it really helps that much, since you pee out anything your body doesn't need, but it makes me feel like I am doing something). With all that medicine coursing through my veins, you would think I'd feel better. Well, it took about 2 days or so before all the junk was gone, but I am still dealing with the plugged sinuses, chest congestion, cough, and runny nose. Hopefully I'll feel better soon. When I arrived in SLC and could see Great Salt Lake it was really cool. I could actually see downtown from the plane with the state house and temple and big buildings and everything. Then I took a cab (a $35 cab, mind you) to the University of Utah to check into the dorms.

The dorms weren't that bad, considering I didn't have to share a room with anyone. I don't know why that was, but I wasn't going to complain. Especially since I had my own bathroom. There was no TV though, which was actually OK. I proved to myself that I could go a whole week with out TV. I knew I could do it though, since I had no TV for the first couple months of freshman year in college. I just had to read the newspaper. I had internet, but by the time I got back to the room after a long day of meetings, I just didn't have it in me to go on and watch TV. The problem with the dorms was that they were WAY too far away from where the conference was held. I walk fast, and it still took me a good 20 minutes to walk to the conference. Thankfully, after the first day, they had buses running and this significantly shortened my walk. Also, I had the students I was with drive me back after the sessions usually. More on that later.

SLC is a very clean city, with wide roads (which were labeled very strangely) and a back drop of the Rocky Mountains. Brigham Young said something to the effect of he wanted wagon drivers to be able to turn around in the street without resorting to cursing, which is why the roads were wide. It was very difficult, though, to find something to eat on Sunday, after our sessions. We were starving and couldn't find anything open. We finally settled on a McDonald's 24 hour drive through after about an hour of looking. I didn't think it would be THAT hard to find something open, but apparently it was. The dry air was my only complaint because it was killing me. Chap stick became my best friend and water became my drink of choice. There was a "humid" day (45%?!), but this was not humid by my standards, especially coming from temps in the upper 90's with heat indicies of 110's. The weather as a whole though was very good: not too hot or too cold and it didn't really rain. I guess this was the time of year to go to Utah.

While the conference was pretty basic on a scientific level, I did learn a lot about the different psychosocial interventions, 12-step programs, and personal stories of people who were addicted. I think addiction can happen to anyone. I did have a good time and like I said, I did gain some knowledge I didn't have before, but overall I don't think I really need to go back again. Once was enough for me and it will enable me to understand better what is going on with someone who has alcoholism or any kind of addiction. I guess I can take something from the conference and use it in my every day work: empathy.

In the evening, most every night (well every night really) I went out. The first night was a Sunday and other than I couldn't find anything open at which to eat, it wasn't a bad night. The next night I was able to see a friend from high school who I honestly haven't seen in person since high school. It was really good to catch up and reminisce with her. We had awesome barbeque at Famous Dave's which is apparently a chain, but I have never heard of it. Most of the other nights the students and I hung out at various places: the Olympic ice skating rink, Temple Square (which was awesome, I wish I had more time there), Einstein Bagel, and many other places. It was actually kind of nice to hang out with some of my students, even though I am still their teacher. It was an interesting dynamic and it was weird to be called "Dr. Lorenz" in public when I am not at work. I still don't really know how I feel about it. I didn't want to impose on the students, but they kept inviting me out so I kept going. It is safe to say a good time was had by all. And there were TONS of "that's what she said" jokes. I will refrain from giving any specific examples, but let's just say it got only a little out of hand.

Overall, the experience was a good one. I learned. I had fun. I was a teacher. Vini, vidi, vici. My old latin class is coming back to me... I was glad to come back home though and be with my family who I missed a lot. We had a great weekend with each other and I wish every weekend was like this last one.

I guess I can't get away without mentioning something about Michael Jackson. He was a groundbreaker and I LOVED his music when I was younger. He got all weird towards the end (some would say he was always weird) but he should RIP. I didn't even hear about it on the news; I heard it from a student who got a text message. That is one drawback to not having any TV and minimal internet access: no news. This is why I started reading the newspaper when I was in Utah. Also, I can't believe Ed McMahon AND Billy Mays are dead as well. Just weirdness.

Anyway, that's probably more than enough for now. It is time to go have some ice cream. Have a good week!

Travels and Travails

2009-06-17T10:00:00.006-05:00

So I am gearing up to travel to Salt Lake City, on Father's Day, having to change planes twice for a total of almost 9 hours of travel. While that sounds kind of daunting (especially the long flights), I am looking forward to going for a couple of reasons. I get to attend a conference on alcohol and substance abuse at the University of Utah which will help me further my career (and the college is paying for it). I also get to visit a state and city I have never been to before and poke around. I am looking forward to seeing all the different church sites like Temple Square. But I am also really excited to visit with a friend from high school who I had lost contact with. After meeting up on Facebook, we discovered we had more in common than ever. So it will be good to catch up and hang out.

The reason I am going to SLC is really as an advisor to the 26 students from the pharmacy school who are attending the conference. I guess even grad students need a chaparone? No, probably not. I think because the material is intense and there is a lot of information given, it is good to have someone the students can go to to ask questions and what not. I know almost half the students who are going since they are at the local campus. The rest I am sure I have met, but won't remember until I see them because they are at the main campus. The downside to going and staying at U of U is that the "hotel" is really code for "dorm room". They don't make any excuses for this and we will see how I like dorm living now that I have my own house. Its been almost 10 years since I was in that situation. I guess I am going to be getting good use of my flip flops.

As my usual OCD self, I made a list of everything I need to bring in order to make it a successful trip. Hopefully I don't forget anything. You have to bring your own towels and pillows, so packing light otherwise (so I only have to pay for one checked bag) will be paramount. The only negative is having to leave Jen and the baby for a whole week, but I think it will be a nice change. In other trip related news, Jen and I are heading (sans Rebekah) to Portland, OR in a few weeks for a good friend's wedding. She was in residency with me and we have stayed in contact ever since. We have never been to Portland and are looking forward to experiencing new things. If anyone has any suggestions for what to do while we are there, we're all ears! This will be our vacation (note the lack of quotes) for the year. For next year: beach house on Folly!

Rebekah is getting closer and closer to walking. She will walk for a couple steps between Jen and I when we are sitting on the floor, but doesn't really initiate the walking on her own. It's only a matter of time before she is. She wants to play with the other kids her age at church, but they are all walking and I have a feeling she feels left out. So maybe that will get her motivated to walk. Rebekah has also been quite sick the past few days. She has a stuffy nose (which when she sneezes comes out in torrents that are subsequently wiped by her hand all over her face and everything else), a pretty good cough, and has been running a fever. With a lot of tissues, a quick hand, lots of Tylenol, a cool mist humidifier, and some cooperation with Rebekah, she has been getting better. Hopefully we are on the tail end of this illness, which we think she picked up while we were in NY and/or traveling. Otherwise, since it's been mid ninties (actual temperture, heat index mid 100's) Rebekah has been pretty house confined. We don't need her getting heat stroke on top of being ill! Indoor activities she will tolerate are far and few between, so any ideas anyone has for entertaining a 13 month old are welcome. She has also learned that she can feed the dogs with her finger foods. She takes one of the Gerber puffs of the table and puts it in her mouth and then throws another puff on the floor for Maude. We have been trying to discourage this behavior with limited success. Perrin has caught on that he needs to be in on this deal so he's been playing nice with Rebekah, which heretofore, he's been reluctant to do. Maybe the way to Perrin's heart is through his mouth? Yeah, most definitely.

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there! I don't know what I'll be getting, but I know what I won't be: a motorcycle or motorcycle safety course registration. It seems Jen is pretty set on me not getting either of those things for a long while. And every time I mention it, she gets a little upset. So I guess Ray will be motorcycle-less for a lot longer. :-( Here's to hoping though!

I think I may start to write reviews of books, TV, music, etc. on here, but we will see if I have the ambition for that. That's about it for what's going on here. Random quote: "My girlfriend was telling me to take my medication, so I smacked her across the mouth for disrespecting me. The voices told me God would forgive me for putting her in her place. I don't see why that's a problem." Very wrong, I know. Don't ask me why he doesn't understand the need for his medication....

Triumphantly I return

2009-06-10T19:20:00.005-05:00

In the category of new Rebekah tricks, she has decided that she doesn't like to use her pacifier normally. What I mean by this is that when she has the business end of the paci in her mouth, she needs to have the ring part tucked up under her nose. It is quite interesting and slightly dismaying. I don't really know why she needs that specific configuration, but it is causing a minor blister to form under her nose.

So my "vacation" went really well. We had a great time with family and friends. All of our planning and list writing really helped make the trip a success. We only forgot one thing: Swimmy diapers, which we had to buy so Rebekah could go swimming. She loves swimming. I think she would rather be in the water than out. So swim diapers are a necessity. We initially tried to use a regular diaper, thinking "it can't be all that much different". Well, I am here to tell you it is. You see, apparently regular diapers are made of some kind of material which sucks up water. In any form, regardless of whether it is coming from inside (i.e. from the baby) or from the outside (i.e. from the pool). After using the regular diaper to go swimming it was so full and heavy there was no way it was going to be able to hold any baby urine. I have never had a diaper THAT full. Ever. I don't know what the technology is that allows swim diapers to not expand when they get wet but still absorb urine, but I thank that inventor whole heartedly.

On the plane ride up there, Rebekah did reasonably well. She was about 10 minutes away from a melt down when we landed in Rochester, so if we needed to circle the airport waiting for an opportunity to land we may have had a significant issue. But as it was, she didn't really care about any of the toys we had, or the DVDs we brought or really anything other than wanting Mommy to hold her. She was very cranky that first day since she was woken up by us at 3:30 AM and didn't really have a nap until well after noon. Needless to say, she slept the entire ride to Auburn where we were staying. Speaking of sleeping in the car, that was the only way we could get her to nap the whole trip. There was one day when I rode around in the car with her for over an hour and a half just to get her to sleep. It was a fun day. If any of you are familiar with Central NY geography. I drove from Syracuse to Oswego and back again. It was a long drive. On the flight back, I think she was so exhausted from not sleeping and meeting so many new people that she slept most of the way back. This was a serious blessing. There was only one incident when we were landing in Atlanta where she was completely inconsolable because of her ears popping. We had the pacifier and the Tylenol, but it didn't really help.

Like I said, it was good to catch up with Jen's family. We used to be close to most of them, and I guess we still are, but it is different not living in close proximity to each other. I always enjoy hanging out with her cousins and aunts; they are really fun people. The wedding was beautiful and we had a good time, except for having to leave way early because of an absolutely done little toddler. Stephanie's graduation party was fun as well. I hope she enjoyed it. There were so many people there, more than half of which I had never met or even heard of. It wasn't too hot and there was good food, drinks, and conversation. Rebekah was able to crawl around and not be fussy most of the time which was good. The coolest thing that happened was that Rebekah was asked to be a flower girl in Amber's wedding in Charleston next May. We are very excited and happy for her and Evan, and almost as excited to have an excuse to go back to Charleston (like we need one). We are probably going to be renting a beach house on Folly Beach so that will be even more awesome.

We really enjoyed reconnecting with some old friends who we haven’t seen in forever and hanging out with my old college roommate and his wife. It was also very fun seeing some of Jen’s old friends from when she lived in Auburn. You know you have good friends when you can just pick up and talk like we've been living next door to each other when in reality we haven’t seen each other in years. It’s very good to have that connection with people.

We also were able to get professional pictures of the family done for free (thanks Delia!). Rebekah loves the camera and it shows in the pictures for sure. Unfortunately, I didn't get an electronic copy of the pics, so you all will have to wonder just how cute Rebekah is (trust me she's ADORABLE). We were also able to tour some historic church sites in Palmyra. This was probably the most peaceful and relaxing time of the trip. I wish we could have stayed all day. I know when we go back to NY next time, we will block off more time to visit there.

Anyway, that’s the major part of the "vacation" experience. We were very busy and we were going non-stop for 6 days, but it was worth every second and every instance of FBS (fussy baby syndrome). When will we be back to NY? I don't know, maybe not for a couple of years. I know when we do return, we will be just as busy again! But that doesn't preclude some of our NY friends from visit us here in podunk Alabama!!

Leaving on a jet plane...

2009-05-30T13:45:00.000-05:00

So Jen, Rebekah, and I are going to be going on a "vacation" this coming week. I put vacation in quotes because I don't know if it will really be a true vacation. A true vacation to me is one where I don't have to do anything, have no obligations, and can be myself. This "vacation" we will be traipsing around upstate New York going to a wedding, a graduation party, and visiting family and friends. In other words, being very, very busy especially since most of the family in NY has not met Rebekah yet. Now don't get me wrong, just because it's not a "real" vacation for me doesn't mean I won't have fun. In fact, I am sure I will have a lot of fun. I will enjoy the wedding, and the family, and the friends, and the graduation party. It's just that I doubt I will have any real time to just relax. In addition, we will have Rebekah to entertain while doing all these things. That's actually not that bad, but a toddler who is off her schedule (i.e. not eating or sleeping properly or at her normal times) will likely be very fussy, which doesn't make for a happy Daddy.

All of that is really minor compared to the impending airplane ride(s). I had no idea how difficult flying with a baby can be. I mean, we did go to Charleston on a plane with Rebekah, but she was only 6 months old, easy to entertain, slept the whole plane ride, and the total time on a plane was only 2 hours. When we go to NY the total plane time is going to be somewhere around 4 and a half hours! And she is not sleeping as easily, harder to entertain, and much, much older. I think keeping her amused will be the challenge part and we have a variety of hints and strategies we picked up from friends and websites we are going to try out. Some of these are things like giving her a new toy, using sticker/activity books, playing with pipe cleaners, and reading new books. Well, she LOVES to read (like her mommy and daddy), so that is one thing I am sure she will like. However, I have heard that giving her Benadryl would be easiest (so she will sleep, unless she has the opposite reaction, which would be bad, so a test dose is always prudent), but Jen isn't into drugging our child. I, on the other hand, am all for it. Whatever works easiest, I say. But I think Jen is going to win this one and we will have to make sure Bekah doesn't get bored and try out the multitude of entertainment strategies. And then we get to do all over again on the way back. Fun, fun, fun.

In addition to the actual plane ride, you have to make sure you have everything you need packed in the appropriate places. For me this means it's time to make lists. I am a list person; I like them, they keep me on track and they ensure I don't forget anything I thought to put on the list. Now if I forget to put something on the list, well that's out of my hands. So we will have a list of stuff that needs to go in the diaper bag, into the carry on bag, into the checked bags, etc. The list of lists seems infinite. Making sure we have all the clothing we need, toiletries, etc. is a full time job. Usually we wouldn't go to this extreme, but because airlines are charging per bag, we want only 1 bag each not including Rebekah. This entails much forcing of baggage closed, but it should be cheapest (as long as we aren't over the weight limit). We'll be carrying on some clothing (since I have such horrible luck with lost baggage) and all of the aforementioned entertainment equipment for Rebekah. If I'm not enough of a geek for you already, Jen and I are going to make an itinerary of where we need to go when. Not that we have to follow it, or that I'll be upset if we don't get to everything exactly on time or at all, but because we are seeing so many people at disparate times it will make sure we don't forget anyone or any appointments.

So as you can see, this is going to be quite an adventure. With the traveling, shlepping around a (possibly quite cranky) baby Rebekah, and general business of the week, you can understand my trepidation about calling this a real "vacation". I will definitely be looking forward to our other trip this summer (sans baby Rebekah) to Portland, Oregon in July which I can call as much of a vacation as I am likely to get any time soon. It will be nice to get away with Jen for sure though and go to my friend's wedding there. And yes, I know we are not the first parents to have to take a toddler on a flight, but it's our first time so cut me some slack. And this is my blog and I'll complain if I want to! :-) I will have Jen to lean on and she is the much more prepared one for this sort of thing, but I'd like to think we will have a learning experience. And isn't that what life's all about?

Incredible naked baby

2009-05-27T18:54:00.002-05:00

Rebekah has recently begun dancing to music. She swings her one, yes just one, arm back and forth in a kind of sideways "Hey! Ho! Hiphop Hurray!". It is quite amusing actually. She pushes the buttons on her many musical toys and waits until the music starts, then goes to town. The only problem is when I try to go to get her to dance with me she gets upset. I guess she already knows that Daddy can't dance!

She also has decided that being naked is fun. So this morning when I got Rebekah up for the day, I realize she had peed through her diaper, even though its one of the "overnight" kind of diapers. Weird I know. I guess her kidneys were working overtime last night. And since she peed through her diaper she also wet her pajama pants. So I change her diaper and decide that I don't really need to put pants back on her since we don't usually get her ready for the day until after her morning nap. Well, I put her in living room while I was making lunch (which I conveniently forgot, by the way) and all of a sudden, I don't hear her normal ruckus. Knowing this to be a tell tale sign that she is getting into trouble, I walk into the living room to find Rebekah in the middle of the floor waving her diaper above her head in a triumphant motion. My first thought is, "I really hope she didn't pee on the floor." I mean our dogs do that enough that we don't need to have people peeing as well. Thankfully, she didn't pee on the floor and I was able to successfully put her diaper back on. Quite the experience for sure.

Otherwise, everything is well here in Lorenz Land. I have one review article in and I am working on a second. It's nice not to have students on rotation or in class now. I can actually do some scholarship work. This is Crazy Ray and you have been warned.

Newness is fun

2009-05-24T16:51:00.000-05:00

OK, so I finally decided it's time to set up a real blog so I can keep my friends and family informed on the goings-on in my life. Jen may be "guest blogging" on here sometimes as well. I used to blog on myspace a lot, but since no one really uses myspace anymore, I figured it was time to do this. I think doing this will be fun, but we will see. I don't know how often I will be blogging, probably when I have something to say. I may review books, movies, albums, bands, or anything else that tickles my fancy. And yes I just used "tickle my fancy", so sue me. Well, don't because I don't really have all that much of value and you wouldn't get much. Just a bunch of student loan debt.

Everything is going pretty well. I have been very busy with work this past semester. I had a bunch of papers to write and things to grade and stuff to do. It has slowed down somewhat now its the summer and has freed me up to do some more writing and research. I enjoy seeing my patients at the mental health center. I have been much more focused and attentive the past few weeks and it has enabled me to get a lot more done. I have a conference coming up soon in Salt Lake City and I am looking forward to that. It will be a very good learning experience for me (I hope).

Rebekah is now officially a year old. Where has the time gone? I don't know. She is becoming more of a little girl and less of a baby. She definitely has her own personality and wants. She has started dancing while sitting down and, although she isn't walking quite yet, she is getting very close. She is keeping Daddy and Mommy very busy chasing her and keeping her entertained. Our new nanny has been working out well. She is very good with Rebekah and takes her places. Rebekah has started to miss Mommy (not so much Daddy) when she is leaving in the morning to go to work, but our nanny says she gets over it pretty quickly. She has also started to say some words like mama, dada, and dog. She also has started to recognize many more words and can tell you where Daddy's nose is, and where her belly button is. She can also say "moo" when asked what a cow says. We had a birthday party for her, but it was just family and everyone had a good time. Rebekah had no idea what was going on and didn't like the cake, but I think she enjoyed all the attention. The newest adventure with her is that we are trying to cut out formula and bottles, so this will be a challenge. She had a pediatrician appt. last week and got a clean bill of health as well as a couple immunizations. She weighs in at a little over 23 lbs. and is 32 inches long (tall?).

Jen is still working for Rite-Aid and she has a new partner who seems to be working out for her. I think she likes working, but would much rather be at home with Rebekah. She is a very good mom and I am lucky to have her raising our children. Our relationship is even stronger now with the baby and we try to make some time for us to go out and have a date night. We recently saw the new Star Trek movie and it is highly recommended, even if you aren't a fan of Star Trek. Rebekah got a pool for her birthday (thanks Gramma Geri!) but it is quite large (10 ft. x 3 ft.) and we are able to get in it with her and cool off. She also got a whole host of other toys which sing songs or make noise, or sing and dance (Elmo live! is the first sign of the apocalypse and the machines are going to rise up against us. It is way too smart for its own good.). Jen and I also had birthdays which went well, but we didn't really exchange gifts. Just another year older. I only have one more year before I am officially out of my 20's. Man I am getting old.

Jen, Rebekah, and I are going to be in and around Syracuse, NY in the next couple weeks. Jen has one cousin who is getting married and another who is graduating from high school. Almost no one in Jen's family from NY has seen Rebekah in person, so it will be an adventure for her. I am sure she will be shy initially, but will eventually warm up to everyone. We are also going to see some of our close friends from college since it has been forever since we have seen them. It'll be good to catch up in person. The only part about the trip I am dreading is the airplane rides. There and back we will have to keep Rebekah entertained without her being able to crawl around. This is going to be fun!

The last couple days have been pretty rainy here, but now it has cleared out and I think Rebekah and I will go for a walk. Well, I will be walking and she will be in a stroller. But it will be nice to get outside in the warm weather.

Just two more random thoughts: You can be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but can you ever be just whelmed? and I can be dishevelled, but what about shevelled? I don't know. Maybe you all have an idea. Also, drop me a line and let me know what you think of the blog or what you would like to see on here.

This Crazy Ray and you have been warned....