Life As I Know It

New Orleans

2011-12-17T09:26:00.001-08:00

I recently found myself in New Orleans for a pharmacy conference. While the conference was a bust, the city turned out to be a neat place to visit. For the first time ever while traveling for work my wife, Lori was able to join me, which made the trip all that much better.

New Orleans is a lively place full of history and people with a lot of pride in their city. If you're looking for a place to have a good time at all hours of the day, then New Orleans is the place for you. I'm not the partying type, but I still managed to find things to do. Just walking up and down Bourbon Street watching all the weirdos was enough to hold my attention.

My days were spent on the conference floor, but the evenings were relatively free for Lori and me to explore the city. We stayed at the Queen and Crescent hotel, which was only a couple of blocks from Bourbon Street and the rest of the French Quarter, so that's where we spent most of our evenings. The hotel wasn't anything to brag about, but it worked for what I needed, i.e. a place to sleep for a few hours each night.

The French Quarter is interesting place, and is where Lori and I spent most of our free time. It has a neat feel to it; lots of older buildings with brick architecture along with plenty of places to eat. Every time we asked someone where to eat they would point us in the direction of the French Quarter. We took their recommendations to heart and found some great food.

The Food

I didn't have a bad meal the entire time I was in New Orleans. I ate red beans and rice with Andouille for the first time ever, had some awesome beef dishes, ate some unique deserts and my wife was in heaven with all the seafood dishes that were readily available in every restaurant we tried.

Some of the places I ate include:

Mother's Restaurant: Mother's was just around the corner from my hotel right in the path of my walk to the conference. While Mother's is nothing to look at, the food reminded me of my childhood; it was that good. Homemade jelly and biscuits, freshly baked ham, grits with everything and so on. I ate there three out of the five mornings I was in New Orleans, and I was never disappointed. The other thing worth mentioning at Mother's was the coffee. The coffee was strong enough to curl your toes, but it was good. Apparently restaurants in New Orleans like to put chicory in their coffee. I have no idea what the chicory is supposed to do, but it certainly adds to the flavor.

Cafe Du Monde: Cafe Du Monde is a historic place in New Orleans. They're open 24 hours a day, serve good coffee and Beignets (French donuts) covered with tons of powdered sugar and always have a line out the door to get in. My wife and I braved this place on a Saturday night. The Beignets were awesome and the coffee was great. In fact I liked the coffee so much that I bought some to bring home along with my souvenir mug. I must admit, the coffee is good when I make it here at home, but it was much better sitting at Cafe Du Monde eating Beignets with my wife.

Red Fish Grill: The Red Fish Grill may have been the best food I had while in New Orleans, and that's saying something. My wife had the Red Fish and I had beef tenderloin. We also had some deep fried clams, which was interesting. I don't like clams, but I liked these things. If I had to describe them I'd say it was like eating a squishy buffalo wing. And to top it all off, we had their "world famous" chocolate bread pudding. It goes without saying that it was incredible.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The eating establishments mentioned above were the best places we ate, but a other places I had a meal included Luke's, Walk-On's and The Palace Cafe.

Walk-On's is a sports bar down near the Superdome; good sandwiches along with about 40 big screens all playing sports. How could you go wrong?

Luke's was decent food. I had their "famous top ten burger". I've had better burgers, but I don't think I've ever had better fries. No kidding, they were that good.

The food at The Palace Cafe was good, but pricey. It was easily the most expensive meal I had while in New Orleans. I'd certainly eat there again if given the opportunity.

Night Life

As I said previously, if you like to party, then New Orleans in the place for you. Bourbon Street wakes up around 10:00pm at night and gets livelier until the wee hours of the morning. My wife and I ended up on Bourbon Street almost every night. It's where everyone wants to be, so we were always with a group of friends.

Bourbon Street is crowded with all kinds of people, both young and old, all just wanting to have fun. There's live music to meet anyone's taste as well as a host of establishments that serve every kind of booze and food imaginable. I heard cover bands for Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses and so on. In addition there were bars playing country music, jazz and just about everything else you can imagine. It was cool.

With that said, "the place to be" had to be Pat O'Brien's. Lori and I ended up in there a couple of times. It was always packed. The signature drink of O'Brien's is The Hurricaine, and everyone in the place had one in their hand. Me? Nah, not my style. I'm a Diet Pepsi guy myself, although I had to settle for Diet Coke at O'Brien's.

O'Brien's was also the location of the dueling pianos. My wife and I sat listening to the two piano players go back and forth one morning until 2:00 am. It was fantastic. People in the audience would write their request on a napkin, pass it to the pianist along with $5 and that was it, off they'd go. I would do that again.

Other Tourist Stuff

Lori had a lot of free time during the day while I was at the conference. She went on two tours during our stay: a plantation tour and a general tour for points of interest in the city. She enjoyed both activities. I only wish I could have gone.

NFL Football: Some friends of my company CEO had extra tickets to the Saints game on Sunday, December 4th against the Lions and they were kind enough to give two tickets to me and Lori. It was my first trip inside the Superdome. What an experience.

It was hands down the most exciting thing I did in New Orleans. I had a great time. The seats were in a prime location at the 40-yard line only a few rows up from the field. I could make out the faces of the players on the side lines. Yes, I was that close. The game was exciting as the Saints rolled the Lions 31-17, and the game was never that close.

The people of New Orleans love their Saints and the Superdome is a rocking place, especially when the Saints are winning. I would recommend that anyone visiting New Orleans during football season try to squeeze in a Saints game. You won't regret it.

I had such a great time at the game that I'm thinking of rooting for the Saints from this point forward as long as they're not playing against the Cardinals or the Bears. I might even buy myself a Brees jersey; easily the most popular jersey in New Orleans by a long shot.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Summary

Overall I think New Orleans was awesome. I'd love to go back. There were a ton of things that I wanted to do, but didn't have time for. Like a river boat cruise, or a plantation tour, or a tour of the areas hardest hit by Katrina. I wanted to go look at the dyke system around the city, and so on.

Something to consider is whether or not the city is family friendly or not. I believe it is given the right approach. Obviously you'd want to keep the kids off Bourbon Street, but other than that I think my family and I could easily fill a week with great stuff to do in New Orleans.

Technology in the IV room - it's time has come

2011-12-01T21:52:00.001-08:00

The cleanroom environment, a.k.a. the IV room, is one of my favorite areas inside an acute care pharmacy. It is often alive with activity, and can often be the busiest area of the pharmacy. It is also a unique place since the use of intravenous (IV) medications is vital to the successful outcomes of patients, but at the same time can result in some of the most egregious errors in healthcare. While the IV compounding process is under tight control as demanded by USP guidelines, the method of preparation and distribution is decidedly more conventional, i.e. IV rooms often rely heavily on humans. It’s an interesting dichotomy found nowhere else in the pharmacy. It is for these reasons that I find it interesting that pharmacy IV rooms have lagged behind other areas of pharmacy operations in automation and technology.

However, that’s beginning to change. Pharmacy IV rooms are no longer overlooked when implementing innovative technologies. As pharmacy operations continue to evolve it is becoming clear that IV rooms are starting to receive their due respect.

A certain percentage of healthcare systems already utilize some form of technology in the IV room, however the numbers are small. A 2007 ASHP national survey on informatics found that, depending on number of beds, between 9% and 27% of facilities were utilizing some form of device in sterile product preparation¹ (small-volume and large-volume parenterals). It is unknown what technologies these facilities were utilizing at the time of the survey.

Based on information from the 2011 Pharmacy Purchasing & Products survey on the State of Pharmacy Automation, adoption of automation and technology in the IV room remains low. Only 4% of those pharmacies surveyed were using a robotic IV device.² Of those 4% most implementations were in large hospitals. Furthermore, the survey shows that the overall use of robotics in acute care pharmacies is declining. However, that same survey showed increased interest in IV room automation, specifically “workflow management” systems. Approximately 20% of all survey respondents indicated interest in implementing one of these systems, 10% within the next two years.

This was the focus of another recent Pharmacy Purchasing & Products article.³ The article discusses the implementation of IV workflow management tools at two sites within Indiana University Health: Riley Hospital for Children and Bloomington Hospital. According to the article “Prior to adopting IV management tools, [they] employed [a] rather unsophisticated method for processing IV orders common in many hospitals. Labels were printed for individual IV doses or batches three or four times a day and a pharmacist would hand off the labels at the cleanroom pass-through window for a technician to sort by time.” This is common practice in many acute care pharmacy operations.

Indiana University Health determined that their system was outdated and basically unsafe, which led them to search for a viable alternative. Their review resulted in the selection of an IV workflow management system because “such technology could provide the solution [they] needed to bridge the gap between [their] overall bar code scanning protocol and [their]IV dose preparation process.” Implementation provided Indiana University Health with several advantages over their previously utilized system for IV preparation. Items specifically mentioned in the article include:

Improved safety through the use of bar code scanning
Reduced waste
Expiration tracking for compounded medications
Standardized method of training and preparation
ncreased accountability
Improved data and reporting for medications compounded in the IV room

Overall the technology has been well received and successful at Indiana University Health. The article concludes with “this type of scanning should become the standard of care for all facilities with compounding processes in place.” I agree.

References:

Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2008; 65:2244-64
State of Pharmacy Automation, Pharm Purch Prod. 2011
Pharm Purch Prod. Nov. 2011, Vol. 8, No. 11

Afterthought: DoseEdge is dominating the workflow management category inside the IV room at the moment. I've talked with a lot of pharmacy directors over the past 6 months and they're either using DoseEdge or evaluating it as an option. I wrote about DoseEdge nearly two years ago here.

Baxa Corporation webinar on "DoseEdge®: Changing Pharmacy Practice Through Workflow Management." Presented by Dennis Tribble, PharmD, FASHP. Original air date: March 25, 2010

Germany - Düsseldorf and Cologne

2011-11-18T12:51:00.001-08:00

I arrived in Germany a couple of days ago from Paris by way of train to Cologne. I am here for Medica, The World Forum for Medicine being held in Düsseldorf. But that's a post for another time.

The German countryside is can be quite beautiful. About halfway between Paris and Cologne I started to see sprawling countryside out my train seat window. There were rolling hills with green grass, lots of trees and an occasional grouping of houses. As I approached the city the landscape changed and became more industrial with lots of cement, building, roads, etc. Pretty much what you'd expect from any large city.

I arrived at Cologne Central Station (Köln Hauptbahnhof) where I hopped a secondary train to get to my hotel.

General info

As I mentioned above the Medica Conference is actually in Düsseldorf, but the hotels were sold out so we had to stay in Cologne at the Mercure Hotel. It's a decent hotel that backs up to the Rhine River, but there isn't much to see. The weather is kind of gray and gloomy; normal for this time of year I'm told. Anyway, it's not exactly a short hop to the conference from my hotel. In fact, I have to take a short walk from my hotel to the train station (about 10 minutes), where I then take two trains to the Düsseldorf Central Station (Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof) where I finally catch a subway to the Messe Center where the conference is held.

The first time I did the trip it took me two and half hours. Now that I've done it five times I've shortened it to two hours. The person from my company that booked the hotel must be laughing their butt off about now. Ok, you got me. Very funny; four hours a day in freezing weather moving to and from a conference.

Onward and forward I suppose. The area around the hotel is what I would consider a stereotypical German village; in my mind anyway. Even though Cologne is a fairly large city with over a million people, I've been told by the locals that most of the areas like this one were small suburbs that have been brought into the city limits over the years. So what you get are small pockets of villages spread throughout the city.

The small areas of Cologne like this one basically roll up the sidewalks at 6:00pm, which I'm told is normal. Forget to eat something? Ha, jokes on you. Actually there are a couple of places open until 7:00pm. However, I was told those places "are not run by German people".

The main area of the city is a lot like many large cities in the United States. In fact, with the exception of a few minor differences, it would be hard for anyone to tell the difference in my opinion.

With that said, there are a couple of significant differences and one of those happens to be incredibly old, beautiful cathedrals like the one below. This particular image of the Cologne Cathedral happens to be a stock photo, but I have pictures that I will post later.

The Cologne Cathedral is just outside the Cologne Central Station, so I made it a point to stop and look around. It is absolutely incredible to see something like this up close. The scale of the cathedral is impossible to describe. You have to see it in person to unserstand what I'm talking about. Photos simply don't do it juste. I'm not exactly a world traveler, but in my life I've seen few things to compare to this magnificent building.

The People

So far the People in Germany have been great. When they hear that I'm a stupid American tourist, they try their best to help, even when they have limited English. As with Amsterdam, I've found that many Germans speak at least a little English, which has been more helpful than you can imagine. It's been a much better experience than the one I had in Paris.

It may sound strange, but I prefer listening to the German language when compared to French. French sounds so snotty, while German sounds very "working class" to me. I can relate to that.

Something else I found amusing was listening to little kids, i.e. 4-5 years old, speaking German. It sounds funny hearing such a harsh language coming from such small, squeaky voice. I enjoyed listening to it. It brought back memories of when my little ones used to sound like that.

Transportation

The public transportation system in Germany is every bit as good as the one I used in Paris in my opinion; perhaps better. The stations and subways are clean and relatively easy to use once you get the hang of it. The people are helpful and the main stations have lots of places to eat and shop. Even though it's taking me a while to get to and from the conference, having the main train stations have made things easier.

Food

The food in Germany has been a saving grace for me. Meat and fried potatoes. It doesn't matter what kind of meat you like because they have it all; beef, chicken, pork, fish. This is the kind of food I grew up eating, and I haven't had a bad meal yet. Of course I had to try "schnitzel", which reminded me of a pork chop that's been breaded and deep fried...mmmmm. The Germans sure know how to eat.

Most of the places I've eaten are what I would consider a pub (image below), which are quite common in the areas I've been. But that doesn't change the fact that they serve good food. I've also been told that the beer is pretty good as well. Apparently the Germans like their beer. They find it quite odd that I order Coke Light with my meals. They look at me with what could be best described as a cross between amusement and disgust. Fortunately the guys I've been with have put away enough for all of us.

What about the cost? Similar to the United States in most regards. The cost of food in Germany was quite reasonable. My average meal ranged anywhere from 15-20 Euros; much better than France.

Summary

Overall I've found Germany to my liking. I would like to visit Germany again, but next time as a tourist. I can see having a great family vactiaon in this part of the world. There are plenty of things to keep you busy as well as enough history to make it worthwhile. Maybe someday I'll have an opportunity to come back. Until then I'll simply say that it was a great place to visit.

Oh, when I asked some locals what city would be best to visit, I was told Munich.

Paris France

2011-11-16T15:03:00.001-08:00

I’m sitting on another “high speed” train headed from Paris to Cologne Germany as I compose this post. I’ll have to wait to post it as my wireless is sketchy at the moment. I’m in “Comfort 2”, which is general seating and the wireless isn’t free like it was in “Comfort 1” on the ride from Amsterdam to Paris. I find this a little odd as I am literally sitting 50 feet from where I was last time I was on one of these trains. Oh well.

Paris was nice.The weather was clear, but cold. The high for Tuesday was 37 degrees Fahrenheit. I certainly didn’t pack for that type of weather and basically froze my butt of the entire time I was in the city.

The city feels historic; read that as old, which gives it a certain charm. The people however, are not nearly as polite as those in Amsterdam. They’re quite rude in fact. And you can forget about them trying to speak English with you. It’s a good thing that pointing works for most things, i.e. point at a menu selection or point at a location on the map. I managed to get by for a day and a half by trying not to speak to anyone. It worked ok, but I wouldn't recommend it long term.

I stayed at Radisson Blu Le Metroplitan Hotel which is just a shor t walk away from the Eiffel Tower. They ran out of “regular” rooms so I ended up with a suite. It was pretty nice. I would say it’s was slightly larger than an average hotel room in the U.S., but significantly larger than the normal rooms in this particular hotel (the guy I was traveling with, Darcy got a normal room and it was tiny compared to mine). I would stay there again in a heartbeat, but you can be sure it won't be on my own dime. The room was 304 Euros per night (that's about $410 U.S.). Yikes! Fortunately I go where my company sends me, and this time they sent me to a really nice hotel.

The food in Paris is definitely something that would take some getting used to; lots of bread and cheese. Coffee is totally different as well. When I think of coffee I think of drip coffee. What they serve is what I would call espresso. I couldn't find a regular Cup O’ Joe to save my life. Artificial sweetener was also extremely hard to find. It's pretty much sugar or nothing. [Note to self: throw a bunch of Splenda in my travel bag]. I started drinking my "coffee" with milk just to make it palatable. And how about some good old fashioned Diet Pepsi? Forget about it. I struck out again. I couldn’t find one anywhere. Ended up drinking Coke Light with meals. Throw that in with the French "coffee", bread and cheese and needless to say, my normal eating habits went totally out the window.

I did get a little free time in the afternoon on Tuesday. I used the time to check out the Eiffel Tower. Since it was a short walk from the hotel, and the chances of me ever getting back to Paris are pretty slim, I figured it was something I had to do. The Tower itself is impressive. It’s quite elegant as is the surrounding area. Darcy and I decided to take a ride to the top so we purchased a couple of tickets (13.40 Euros each) and jumped on the elevator. I’m not fond of heights and quickly realized I had to stop at the second observation deck. Darcy continued to the top. From where I was you could see for miles. The city is much larger than I had anticipated and quite breathtaking.

After the trip to the Eiffel Tower I had dinner at Le Malakoff at 6 Place Du Tropcaero, a small streetside cafe on the way back to the hotel. I had a sandwich, a bowl of soup and a Coke Light. It wasn't bad, but it was expensive; about 23.00 Euros ($32 U.S.). They’re quite proud of their food in Paris.

I ended up back at the hotel around 7:30pm. Did a little work, answered some emails and was in bed by 10:00pm. I was up at 5:00am and headed for the subway. Paris has a robust public transit system, i.e. trains and subways, but the subway is like every one I've been in; ugly, dirty and inhospitable. Two subway trains later we were at the train station where we had a little breakfast at a coffee shop and hopped on the train for Cologne.

Overall Paris was a nice place to visit. Besides the language barrier, the look and feel of Paris could be any large city in the United States. Would I vacation here? Yep. I would love to brink my family to Paris for a vacation, and I think they would enjoy it too.

Tell you about Germany later.

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Amsterdam The Netherlands - November 14-15, 2011

2011-11-14T15:19:00.001-08:00

I just arrived in Paris after spending a day in Amsterdam. I'm here on business, which makes it bittersweet. On one hand I get to see Amsterdam and Paris (and later Dusseldorf Germany), but on the other hand I'm here without my wife and daughters and that kind of sucks. Communication with them has been a real pain in the rear because I don't have an international phone. So far I've been limited to email when I can find wireless, and we all know how some people respond to email. I've tried to Skype with them a couple of times, but the time difference is murder (3:00PM in California now - the kids are just getting out of school and it's midnight here).

Anyway, Amsterdam was a dirty city with a weird vibe to it. Everyone smokes and you better watch your butt or your likely to get run down by a bicycle, which appears to be a popular form of transportation. I walked through the Red Light District just to say I've seen it. It was disturbing and depressing. It's sad to see that kind of thing in my opinion. Overall I didn't like Amsterdam. You can have it.

I stayed at the Inntel Hotel Amsterdam Centre. Nice hotel. Small room, but it was clean, had a TV and free Wi-Fi. And the price was right; about 115 Euros a night. I'd stay there again if I ever had to come back to Amsterdam. The food wasn't what I'm used to, but it wasn't bad. Everyone wants to have beans with their breakfast. What's up with that. What can I say, when in Rome.

Finding Diet Pepsi has turned out to be difficult and very expensive. They don't serve soft drinks on tap, so I've had to purchase all my softdrinks in bottles and cans. The bottles are 200mL, which is less than an 8 oz. can in the U.S., and cost 2.60 Euros. That's just over $3.50 U.S. a pop. I had 8 of them today. You do the math on that travel expense. By the way, it's not called Diet Pepsi in Europe. It's called Pepsi Light.

The people are friendly enough and apparently all speak pretty good English. I feel like an idiot because I speak exactly one language; English. Kudos to everyone that helped me out.

The train system is crazy good. I used it for a business meeting. I went to see a guy at a company about a thing (non-disclosure - bummer because it was pretty stinking awesome). I also used the train to get to Paris tonight; just arrived about an hour ago. I was quite comfortable on the 2 and a half hour ride from Amsterdam to Paris. They had food and drinks on the train along with free Wi-Fi, which I used for the entire 2 and a half hours.

That's it for now. Tell you about Paris later.

Interactive Handbook on Injectable Drugs for iPad and iPhone

2011-10-14T14:09:00.001-07:00

It feels like a day doesn’t go by that I don’t receive an email letting me know of something cool for mobile devices. With the ever increasing onslaught of tablet and smartphone use in pharmacy practice it’s only a matter of time before everything will be available in some electronic media format.

In this case it’s ASHP’s Interactive Handbook on Injectable Drugs: IV Decision Support by Lawrence A. Trissel. Every pharmacist working in a hospital pharmacy knows about this reference. And if they don’t then they have a big problem because it’s only one of the most definitive reference sources for IV compatibility. Over the course of my career it’s simply been know as “the Trissel’s”. (kind of like “the Talyst”…just sayin’ – private joke people)

There’s a link in the ASHP web store leading to a “getting started video”, but I couldn’t get the video to run. Little bit of a fail. Perhaps ASHP’s never heard of YouTube. Who knows.

via jerryfahrni.com

Tarascon Pharmacopoeia available for Android and iPad

2011-10-14T11:17:00.001-07:00

I received the email below a few days ago announcing that The Tarascon Pharmacopoeia is now available for Android and the iPad. I’m not a big fan myself, but the reference appears to be popular with certain crowds. Historically it’s more popular with community/retail pharmacists than hospital pharmacists. This might have something to do with the availability of drug pricing in the Tarascon Pharmacopoeia. Who knows.

Link to Android version is here.

Link to iPad version in iTues store is here.

via jerryfahrni.com

HP webOS dies a quick, albeit painful death

2011-08-19T07:54:00.001-07:00

HP decided to discontinue the webOS, which means the TouchPad is no more. I can’t say that I’m totally surprised that it failed, but I am shocked at the speed at which the company pulled the plug. I thought this might happen. I even went as far as to say “the webOS died in 2010” in a post back on December 31, 2010.

I have no idea why HP killed the webOS, but I’m sure we’ll find out more in the weeks to come. The operating system itself was awesome. I personally think it had the best user experience of all the current tablet platforms. I was looking forward to it’s maturation as a mobile computing ecosystem. With that said I think HP failed to offer the smartphone variety necessary to make the HP TouchPad meaningful.

I considered buying a TouchPad, but ultimately decided against it. Like many others I have a host of tablets to chose from these days. Why did I baulk at the TouchPad? Basically it boils down to cost, lack of smartphone choice and the feeling that the TouchPad still had some growing pains to go through. These are the same reasons that lead me to hold off on purchasing many of the early Android tablets.

Good-bye TouchPad. Your death was premature to say the least. Shame on you HP for destroying such a beautiful tablet operating system.

Ever wonder why forklifts have roll cages?

2011-08-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve driven my share of forklifts. I had several manual labors jobs before deciding to become a pharmacist. In fact, it was those manual labor jobs that helped me decide to go back to school and become a pharmacist in the first place. But that story is for another time.

I was searching for something completely unrelated to forklifts when I came across the video below. I was both horrified and amused.

Funny Sony Spoof

2011-08-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

I don't approve of the language, but this is seriously funny. And the reason that it's so funny? Put simply it's funny because it's true, not only of Sony but of many high tech electronics companies.

More fanboy douchebaggery

2011-08-02T23:35:00.001-07:00

Someone, actually several people, posted this on Google+ today "Android is No. 1 in 35 countries, approaches 50% global market share". The article attached to the headline can be found here.

Simple, right? Of course. It’s just someone passing on a bunch of shipment numbers from an article.

Enter the Apple fanboy:

#1 by what measure? Sales volume (# of units)? That is interesting, but Android still appears to be a very very distant 2nd (or maybe 3rd) in terms of application ecosphere for both users and developers. Compared to iOS, the typical Android app is flaky/buggy and incomplete....Android may be selling a lot of handsets, but they have a very long way to go to be the "#1"..."

I hate it when someone throws out an opinion like it's fact. Saying something is better than something else with nothing more than an opinion is absolute worthless. Can you say something is faster? Sure, if you have the numbers to back it up. Bigger? Yep, piece of cake. Tougher? Absolute, if you have the data to prove it. More apps? If you know how to count. But to simply say something is #1 because the alternative is "flaky/buggy" makes you sound like a complete idiot. Unfortunately this is typical of the conversations I get into when iPhone users see that I use an Android smartphone or when I say I prefer Android over iOS. They just can't understand why I'd use an “inferior device”. First of all I don’t think my Android smartphone is inferior. Furthermore I have reasons to choose Android over other operating systems, but they are my own. My opinion, my choice, my smartphone.

Is Android #1? I don’t know. I don’t care. And just in case you were wondering, the next time you feel the need to tell me how great your iDevice is, do me a favor and keep it to yourself.

Patients still not diggin’ the idea of an EHR

2011-08-01T08:59:00.001-07:00

EHR outlook: “Patients are still worried about how secure their data will be when stored in an EHR systems, a new study suggests. Xerox Corporation found that of 2,720 poll respondents:

80% were concerned with stolen personal information
64% were concerned with lost, damaged or corrupted files
62% were concerned with the misuse of information”

I’m not surprised by the numbers. In general people are afraid of change and the unknown. With that said, I think all you need to do is walk a patient through the paper processes that we use now to give them some insight into how bad things really are. Stolen and lost personal and medical information is a major problem within the current healthcare system. It’s not uncommon in any given week to hear about patient records that have been lost or stolen. And as far as misuse of information, well lets just say that’s all too common as well.

The advantages to an EHR outweigh the concerns listed above. Just sayin’.

via jerryfahrni.com

Tablet hunting–Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q550 not so good

2011-07-31T07:30:00.001-07:00

I’ve been contemplating a new slate tablet PC. The market is full of them, which should make choosing one a piece of cake. Unfortunately it’s turning out to be much more difficult than originally thought.

The most common problem, for me at least, has been short battery life. Less than four hours just isn’t an option, which eliminates what I think is the best slate tablet on market the Eee Slate EP121. So you can imagine my elation when I saw the specs for the Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q550. The screen size of the Q550 is a little small, but the pen and multi-touch input along with the claims from the manufacturer of extended battery life, up to 8 hours, caught my attention.

I had the opportunity to play with the Q550 today, and I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t impressed. Writing with the stylus was painfully bad. I use my tablet computers to take notes and prefer using a stylus over my finger for navigation in many cases.

One of the first things I do when looking at a new tablet computer is rest my hand on the screen and start writing. You can see the results in the image below; pretty crappy. The screen kept registering my hand, making writing difficult. The writing became instantly better when I moved my hand off the scree; bottom right of screen.

The other problem with the tablet was the speed. It was downright clunky. According to the placard at the Microsoft Retail Store the Q550 runs an Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz process. Well, I don’t know how good the processor is, but it runs like a dog in this tablet computer.

Overall I was disappointed with the Q550. It’s not even on my list of potential tablet PCs anymore.

Still waiting for the right tablet PC to come along to waste spend my money on.

via jerryfahrni.com

Cool Technology for Pharmacy - PharmASSIST OPTIx

2011-07-31T07:29:00.001-07:00

ThomasNet News: “PharmASSIST OPTIx enables remote prescription verification by taking a high-resolution image of each prescription's vial contents and vial label, and automatically displaying them on a designated pharmacist's workstation. The pharmacist compares these images to the appropriate drug image from a standardized drug database, along with specific prescription details to complete the verification. The verifying pharmacist can be stationed anywhere - in the front of the pharmacy counseling patients or offsite at another pharmacy, a central processing center, or working from a home office. PharmASSIST OPTIx stores each prescription's images as part of the patient history record, enabling pharmacies to quickly retrieve them for pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) audits and to confirm the quantity dispensed.

Pharmacies can use PharmASSIST OPTIx in stand-alone mode or integrated with Innovation's PharmASSIST Symphony® workflow systems, which enables end-to-end prescription tracking, problem management, and reporting. In addition to processing a pharmacy's countable medications, PharmASSIST OPTIx handles all non-countable products (e.g., ointments/creams, liquids, syringes, inhalers, etc.) for prescription filling and remote verification. The system can also assist pharmacies with physical inventory control.”

It reminds me of a non-cleanroom version of DoseEdge.

Additional automation is needed for it to be a real game changer, but it’s still pretty cool technology. It would be slick if the person filling the prescription never had to touch the product and the end result could be remotely verified.

Product website here.

OPTIx brochure (PDF).

Interesting college football weekend

2009-09-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

I love college football season. There is plenty of action for everyone. If you’re not happy with the game you’re watching, just change the channel. There were at least six games going on yesterday at the same time. I just bounced from game to game. Cool!

- AP top 25 and USA Today Poll following yesterday’s action can be found here. Of course, the big change is the fall of USC to number 12 and the rise of Alabama to number 2 in the AP. Dude, 'Bama looked good yesterday. However, I don't think I'm ready to put the Washington Huskies at number 24. Someone is being awfully loose with the rankings.

- How is it that a team as good as UCS can lose to the Washington Huskies? I love USC and they continue to disappoint year in and year out by losing to unranked teams. Beat Ohio State then lose to the Huskies. Go figure.

- Texas put the hurt on Texas Tech. I was a little worried for a while. Texas can’t afford to start that slow against a good team. Not to say that Texas Tech is a good team, but they’re no Florida, Alabama or USC.

- Cal won and looked good doing it. Do we have a new Pac-10 champion in the making? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

- How good is Florida, really? They beat Tennessee, but weren’t impressive in the win. I’m looking forward to someone beating them. I’ve grown tired of all the Florida and Tebow talk.

Some interesting mactch-ups next week include:

7 LSU at Mississippi State

Arkansas at No. 3 AlabamaTickets

6 California at Oregon

Arizona at Oregon StateTickets

Iowa at No. 5 Penn State

Notre Dame at Purdue

24 Washington at StanfordTickets

Jetbook eReader

2009-04-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of eReaders. eReaders have tremendous potential, but also have a long way to go before main stream use in any healthcare setting. The Jetbook eReader by ECTACO is appealing due to it's unique screen and ability to more easily read PDF files. Most pharmacy journal articles I read are available in PDF format. Carrying a few hundred articles with easy access would be ideal.

One difficulty is the inability to physically touch and inspect a majority of eReaders. I've only personally had the opportunity to play with the Sony Digital eBook. It is impressive, but it is also difficult to read PDF files on the device due to configuration of the file and sluggish screen response. The Jetbook has a LCD screen which makes it a little more responsive, and now I can handle one up close and personal at Bed Bath and Beyond of all places.

Zotero

2009-01-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

As mentioned before, I am a big fan of Firefox (Windows XP). Lately I've been using a plugin called Zotero. This amazing little app allows you to capture references from various sites including PubMed (where I spend a lot of time). It's easy to use and has some incredible features, like automatically downloading reference information for you. You can quickly sort references by creating any type of hierarchy desired and use this information with the Microsoft Word plugin to make creating bibliographies quick and painless. It also has the ability to take snapshots of web pages, store attachments to references and best of all allows you to work offline. Simply amazing. It's always sitting there at the bottom of your browser when you need it. When not in use all you see is the icon in the bottom right hand corner of you screen.

Internet Browsers

2009-01-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

I spend a lot of time surfing around on the internet. Looking for information about this or that, reading pharmacy literature, trying to find information on pharmacy and technology and of course checking sports scores. Finding the right browser means a lot to me. Like almost everyone else, I've pretty much tossed Microsoft Internet Explorer out the window. It's junk.

I've been experimenting with Google Chrome for a couple of months. I like it. It's kind of bare bones, but fast. I've gotten used to opening it up and getting to work quickly. The other think I think is pretty cool is the incognito mode for private browsing. When in this mode none of your browsing will show up in your history.

Firefox has been my staple web browser for quite a while now...better than a year. It is still the king in my eyes, even though it takes a while to load. I've gotten in a habit of using all sorts of neat plug-ins.

Plastic Logic e-Reader

2009-01-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

PDAToday has a little review of Plastic Logic's proposed e-reader. Based on the available specs, this device could be ground breaking. It's size coupled with it's weight (or lack there-of), a touch screen and eInk technology make it a winner. Too bad the company has backed off on it's original projected release date of 2009 and is now saying that units will not ship until sometime in 2010.

The product is paticular appealing for me as I spend quite a bit of time reading PDF files online or printing them out to take them with me. The additional screen size of the Plastic Logic offers significant advanteges over most of the currently available e-book readers such as the Sony Digital Book or the Cybook Gen3. The only real competitor would be the iRex line of digital readers with their larger screens. The biggest drawback to the iRex digital readers is their staggering price. The Sony and Cybook are much more affordable, but suffer from relatively small screens when compared to the Plastic Logic.

For more information check out this Wiki at MobileRead. It's pretty detailed and has sent me on many hours of web searching tangents. MobileRead is an excellent source of information for beginning digital reader fans as well as advanced.

eInk technology is well worth investigating as it causes significantly less strain on the eyes for general reading. I've heard reading items on an LCD computer screen is similar to looking into a flashlight. I know it's gives me a headache after a while and I would welcome a device like the Plasitc Logic e-Reader. Although by the time it's released I'm sure something better will have come along. Only time will tell.

Steelers win AFC Championship Game

2009-01-18T22:16:00.001-08:00

Should be an interesting around my house during the Super Bowl. Me a Cardinals fan...my wife a Steelers fan. Sorry, Lori, I have to pull for the Cards.

Cardinals win NFC Championship Game..

2009-01-18T16:13:00.000-08:00

The Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl! Doesn't get much better than that. First time in life that it's happened. Nice!

NFL Playoff Thoughts

2009-01-12T20:14:00.000-08:00

Ended the weekend 2 and 2. I can live with that considering my Cardinals shocked everyone and came up with a big win.

Who every thought Eli Manning was a Pro Bowl Quarterback should have their sports card revoked. He floated some serious ducks out there, overthrew open receivers and basically lost the game for the Giants. The Giants "D" kept 'em in the game all the way through the 3rd quarter, but even they couldn't overcome Eli imcompetence.

The Ravens looked "ok." The Titans shot themselves in the foot with sloppy play.

If the Cardinals can play like that for 1 more week you will see them in the SuperBowl against the Steelers, which would be infinitely interesting considering my wife is a big Steelers fan. :)

Arizona Cardinals WIN

2009-01-10T20:30:00.001-08:00

The Arizona Cardinals have defeated the Carolina Panthers 33-13 in the NFC Divisional Playoff game to advance to the NFC title game, and a chance to play in the Super Bowl.. So much for all the experts.

NFL Divisional Playoffs 0-1

2009-01-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

The Ravens did it. I'm 0-1 so far, but glad to see the Ravens win. I'd like to see San Diego win tomorrow. That would be an interesting game - Ravens vs. Chargers for the AFC title game. Now, if only my Cardinals can win and make me 0-2.

NFL Playoffs Jan 10-11, 2009

2009-01-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

Ravens at Titans
I love the Ravens. They have that defense that just knocks people around, but I don't expect them to beat the Titans. If Joe Flacco has the same type of game as last week I don't think they will be able to match the Titans, especially in a game that could be as tight as this one.

Cardinals at Panthers
Oh, my Cardinals. A pleasant surprise last week as they beat the odds and won the first round playoff game against the Falcons. Don't look for them to repeat the feat this week. They just don't have enough defense to stop the Panthers and don't let the Cardinals spark of a running game last week fool you. I don't expect them to run the ball against the Panthers and if Bolden can't go for the Cardinals, it may be a long day for Warner.

Eagles at Giants
I desperately want the Giants to win, but I have that strange gut feeling that the Eagles are that NFC team that is destined to run through the playoffs like the Giants did last year. If Jacobs plays for the Giants I believe they have a decent chance, without him I think they are in trouble.

Chargers at Steelers
Gonna' be a great game. The chargers are rolling into the playoffs because they played in one of the weakest divisions in football, but then they shock me and beat the Colts. Go figure. I think the Steelers defense will make it too difficult for the Chargers to score points, especially since everyone knows Sproles will be playing every down. don't expect the same anemic offense from the Steelers you saw earlier this year when these two teams met. And don't forget that the score should have been 17(18) to 10, but the refs blew the Palamalu interception at the end of the game.

Oaklahoma gets the shaft....

2009-01-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Poll lists Oaklahoma as number 5 following all the bowl games. I'm not sure how you drop 4 spots in the poll when you play a close game in the "national title game." Shouldn't they have been number 2? I'm a USC fan and I'm glad to see them move up, but should they have leaped over Oaklahoma. Doesn't make sense. You have the top 2 teams playing in the title game...acoring to all the hype...no matter the outcome they should be #1 and #2 based on the outcome.

BCS National Title Game

2009-01-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official. The Florida Gators are the best team in the country. I'm sick of hearing about them and I think Tim Tebow is the most over rated player ever in the college ranks, but it is what it is. I'm glad it's finally over.

NFL Week 16

2008-12-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

The Jets let me down again! Miami won...all they had to do was win and the Patriots would be out of the playoffs. Too good to be true.

How can Favre be such a bad cold weather quareterback...he played in Green Bay for how many years?

The Cardinals are probably the worst team in the history of the NFL to make the playoffs. Seriously. They will end up 8-8 and win the NFC West and be the 4th seed in the playoffs.

The Titans re-asserted themselves today. That was a quality win against the Steelers.

So much for the runaway Eagles.

Colts versus Jags

2008-12-18T19:48:00.001-08:00

Wow! Could the Colts defense be any worse? There is no way this team can make it through the playoffs with that "D"

NFL Games on TV today

2008-12-14T10:59:00.001-08:00

Sometimes living in the central valley of california sucks. I love football and have to sit here and be exposed to the 49ers and Chargers due to "regional coverage" rules of the NFL. I could be watching the Jets play Buffalo, which has meaning.

The afternoon game....Raiders vs. Patriots...I can't catch a break.

NFL Picks Week 15

2008-12-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

Thursday Night Game

New Orleans at Chicago...gonna' be cold for those boys from the dome.

Sunday Games

Tampa Bay at Atlanta...a great NFC South matchup.
Washington at Cincinnati...gimme a break.
Detroit at Indianapolis.....Colts are on a roll.
San Diego at Kansas City...even though the Chargers are under-achieving I think they can take 'em.
Seattle at St. Louis...do I have to pick a winner?
San Francisco at Miami....come on Miami...I hate the niners.
Buffalo at NY Jets....Gotta' go with the Jets because I hate the Patriots
Tennessee at Houston.....Tennessee is still the best team in the NFL.
Green Bay at Jacksonville.....Jacksonville is hurting and Green Bay has to get a win.
Minnesota at Arizona ....Cardinals have taken the NFC West and I believe they'll take this game.
Denver at Carolina....Carolina's running game is awesome and Denver's isn't.
Pittsburgh at Baltimore....This is going to be a GREAT game. I think Baltimore can take 'em.
New England at Oakland....I don't think I've ever rooted for Oakland; until now.
NY Giants at Dallas....after last week, I wouldn't want to be the 'boys.

Monday Night

Cleveland at Philadelphia....are you serious? The Browns are that bad.

NFL Week 14 wrap up

2008-12-10T19:28:00.000-08:00

What the heck is wrong with the Jets? They had a chance to take the AFC East AGAIN and blew it AGAIN.

Green Bay is down for the count. Did Favre just have some intangible quality that made the Packers win? Don't know, but Rogers is playing well and losing.

C'mon Seattle, you had 'em.

Why can't Cardinals play like that every week.

What happened to the Giants defense?

NFL suspends player for using bumetanide...

2008-12-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Six players were suspended by the NFL for using bumetanide. Kevin and Pat Williams from the Minnesota Vikings, Deuce McAllister, Charles Grant and Will Smith from the New Orleans Saints and Bryan Pittman from the Houston Texans.

The NFL claims bumetanide is used to mask steroid use. I suppose that could be true, but c'mon guys, it's a loop diuretic. It's not an ilicit substance by any means. I see 60 something year old women on it all the time. The thing that makes this even more ridiculous is that Matt Jones from the Jacksonville Jags was busted for cocaine possesion in July of this year, and he's still playing in every game. I'm not entirely sure, but I think cocaine is slightly worse than bumetanide. What do you think?

NFL Week 12 Wrap-up

2008-12-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

Why haven't the Colts ever developed some type of power running game? They could have used it yesterday. C'mon! Put a big body in the backfield and blow some body up.

Why would a multi-million dollar athlete need to carry a loaded weapon in a night club? For those of you that don't believe in pure stupidity...look no further than the NFL.

Should Drew Rosenhaus be allowed to live? Case in point; he represents:

- Terrell Owens

- Plaxico Burress

- Chad Johnson

- Kellen Winslow, Jr.

Need I say more......

Man I hate the Patriots...the beating they took at the hands of the Steelers was poetic justice.

Should anyone have to watch Raiders play the Chiefs? Not unless you've been sentenced to some horrible fate.

The Jets blew a great chance to take complete control of the AFC East.

Sean Taylor was inducted into the Washington Redskins ring of fame on Sunday. Why?

Oh yeah...I went 12 for 16 with this weeks picks.

OUCH!!! Cardinals Get Blown Up!

2008-11-28T20:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official...the Arizona Cardinals are not ready for primetime NFL just yet. Fortunately for me (and the Cardinals) they play in the worst division in the NFL, the NFC West. They will win the division and be the 3rd or 4th seed in the playoffs where they will promptly lose to whoever they play.

The offense wasn't too bad. Without the "bad" Kurt Warner and his plethora of mistakes they may have had a chance. The defense on the other hand was pretty bad. It is clearly their weakness. You can't even hope to win a championship with out a rock solid "D".

My NFL Picks For Week 12.......

2008-11-26T21:41:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day Games:

Tennessee @ Detroit
Seattle @ Dallas
Arizona @ Philadelphia

Sunday Games:

San Francisco @ Buffallo
Baltimore @ Cincinnati
Indianapolis @ Cleveland
Carolina @ Green Bay
Miami @ St. Louis
New Orleans @ Tampa Bay
N.Y. Giants @ Washington
Atlanta @ San Diego
Pittsburgh @ New England
Denver @ N.Y. Jets
Kansas City @ Oakland
Chicago @ Minnesota

Monday Night Football

Jacksonville @ Houston

eBook Readers

2008-11-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

I spent a little time in San Jose this weekend shopping with my girls. While in the Sony Store I took a long hard look at their ebook reader, the 700BC and 505SC (who thinks up these names). I have to say I'm pretty intrigued. There are several features I like, but decided that I'd make a killing by creating something similar that allows you to take notes. The whole e-paper thing would make a perfect electronic notepad. So while I was putting my idea on paper I decided to do a little online research...you know so I'd know how rich I could get with this incredible idea. My hopes were dashed as I found the very thing I was trying to invent. The iRex iLiad is a full blown ebook reader with the added benefit of allowing you to take notes, and save them, and organize them, and transfer them to your pc via wireless connection, and blah, blah, blah. The only major downside is the outrageous price ($700+) and the fact that you have to order it from Japan. Another option is the Hanlin V9 by Jinke due out sometime early next year. Again - available only in Japan. Too bad, I'd really like to have one. I guess I'll start saving my pennies.

NFL Week 11 Results

2008-11-24T21:35:00.001-08:00

Oh baby! The Saints spanked the Packers. Anyone want to rethink that Brett Favre trade?

Anyway....I went 10 for 15 this week. 66.7%. Not bad. We'll see if the trend continues this week.

NFL Picks Week 11

2008-11-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

My picks for week 11 straight up (no points)....

Philadelphia @ Baltimore......Baltimore
Houston @ Cleveland............Houston
San Francisco @ Dallas........Dallas
Tampa Bay @ Detroit...........Tampa Bay
Minnesota @ Jacksonville ...Jacksonville
Buffalo @ Kansas City .........Buffalo
New England @ Miami .......Miami
Chicago @ St. Louis ............Chicago
N.Y. Jets @ Tennessee ........N.Y. Jets (MAJOR UPSET)
Oakland @ Denver ..............Denver
Carolina @ Atlanta ..............Carolina
N.Y. Giants @ Arizona .........N.Y. Giants (as much as it pains me to say it)
Washington @ Seattle .........Washington
Indianapolis @ San Diego ...Indianapolis
Green Bay @ New Orleans ...Green Bay

Steelers versus Bengals

2008-11-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

I just saw a little blurb on Hines Wards hit on Keith Rivers on the NFL network. Listening to those bosos is comical. Steve Mariucci called Hines Ward a "football player", "a tough guy", "a defensive player playing offense." He and Deon Sanders and Marshall Faulk talk about how they admire Hines Ward for how he plays. I've watched the play several times on video and I will conceed that it was clean...but was it a cheap shot. Absolutely. The player with the ball was going down, the linebacker was pulling up and Ward snuck up from his blind side and "BAM" smacked him, then celebrated. I've met people like Ward in my life. Little man with big man's disease, looking for an opportunity to smack someone bigger when they aren't looking. Several players in the NFL have eluded to the fact that Ward is a "dirty player" and you should "watch your back" when playing against him. What does that mean to you? Do you think Ray Lewis takes cheap shots on other players? No. He makes vicious hits, head up and when necessary.

There are several videos out there with Ward taking cheap shots on other NFL players. What does that say of his character...his moral value.

Kurt Warner MVP?

2008-11-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

Sounds funny, but it's entirely possible. His stats at the moment:

Highest QB rating in the NFL at 105.5
Second in total passing yards with 3155 (Drew Brees 3251)
Highest completion percentage among QBs 70.9%
Second in passing TDs with 20 (Phillip Rivers 21)
Only 7 interceptions.

Assuming he continues on this pace, I see no reason why he woulnd't be the NFL MVP for the 2008 season. Tony Romo was in the race until he was injured. Drew Brees is a valid choice, but his Saints are on the skids.

Let's say Kurt Warner wins the NFL MVP award this year...does that make him a valid Hall of Fame candidate? I don't know. Let's look at his entire body of work:

2x NFL MVP 1999, 2001
Super Bowl XXXIV MVP following the Rams vicotry over the Tennessee Titans.
Only the 6th player to win both the leagure MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year (Bart Starr in 1966, Terry Bradshaw in 1978, Joe Montana in 1989, Emmitt Smith in 1993, Stever Yound in 1994 - Some pretty good company)
Holds Super Bowl record with 414 passing yards (Super Bowl XXXIV versus Tennessee Titans). Only QB to pass for 400+ yards in a Super Bowl
Second highest yardage total in Super Bowl history with 365 yards verus New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI
Highest completion percentage, career -65.75%
Highest average passing yards per game, career - 261.2 yards/game
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing - 45.2%
Most consecutive games with 300+ yards passing - 6
Most games with a perfect passer rating - 3

Hmmmm....I'd have to say he is a possible Hall of Fame QB. Give him a couple of more years and another 10,000 yards and 40 or so touchdowns and I think it becomes more clear.

NFL - Week 11

2008-11-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

Is there really any question that the NY Giants are the best team in the NFL at this moment. Nobody wants to get in front of 260 pound Brandon Jacobs when he gets rolling. I'm an Arizona Cardinal fan (for 30 years now), but can't deny that the Giants are poised to capture a second straight Super Bowl. I respect the 10-0 Titans, but feel that they are just one step away from a few loses.

Cardinals Logo

2008-11-14T20:08:00.001-08:00

I've always been an Arizona Cardinals fan (from St. Louis to Pheonix to Arizona). The cardinal logo always appeared a little generic to me.

Ball State (NCAA)

Louisville Cardinals (NCAA)

Arizonal Cardinals (NFL)

Yankees offer Sabathia Record Deal

2008-11-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

Apparently the New York Yankess are pissed that they missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993. So, to solidify their stupidity, they have offered CC Sabathia somewhere in the neighborhood of $140 MILLION over 6 years. Yes, that's right...MILLION. It's hard to imagine offering someone that kind of money to play a kids game.

Our country is clearly in a recession, but somehow people have enough money to pay a grown may millions of dollars to go out and throw a baseball 60 feet, better than someone else. Professional baseball has so many things wrong with it that it's hard to figure out why the game really exists. C'mon...there's the steroid scandal, the fact that they play 162 games a year (about 100 too many), they players are way, way, way over paid, it interferes with the first 3 months of football and it's just darned boring. What a worthless sport.

Jets 34 - Patriots 31

2008-11-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

Oh how sweet it is. I hate the Patriots. The Jets tried desperately to give it away with the stupid prevent defense, but managed to win with pure, dumb luck. If their lead would have been anything less than 7 points, they would be headed for NY in second place in the AFC East. Again, the prevent defense proved to be nothing more than a way for a team to basically roll over and play dead. I'd rather go down fighting. I'd gladly offer my defensive "genius" to any team interested. I can guarantee you I'd never allow a team to march down the field in 60 seconds for the tying score without one heck of a fight.

The Physician Ego

2008-11-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

I've been a pharmacist for better than 11 years now and I'm still a little shocked at the size of the physician ego. It's the only profession I've ever worked with that honestly thinks they are never wrong. Nice!

Cardinals escape by 2.5 yards

2008-11-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

The Arizona Cardinals exposed themselves for what they truly are....pretenders. They nearly lose to a pathetic SF 49ers team with poor defense, bad special teams and enough penalties to chock a horse.

I know it's been said, but I'll say it again...the prevent defense is the single dumbest defense I've ever seen in my life. How is it that an over weight nearly 40 year old pharmacist can clearly see that, but defensive coordinators that are "experts" and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars can't? Pisses me off!

Pansy league fines.

2008-11-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

The NFL fined four players Friday Nov. 7.

John Henderson of Jacksonville $10,000 for fighting plus an additional $5,000 for illegal hands to the face.
Andrew Whitworth of Cincinnati $10,000 for fighting
LaMarr Woodley (linebacker) of the Steelers $10,000 for "slamming" Washington quarterback Jason Campbell to the ground during the Monday Night football game.
Justin Tuck (defensive end) of the Giants $7,500 for a hit on Dallas QB Brooks Bollinger.
Jared Allen of the Vikings $50,000 for hits to the knees or Atlanta's QD Matt Schaub.

Some of these may be justified, but some are ridiculous. You know I saw the hit Justin Tuck laid on Brooks Bollinger and I have to say it's a load or crap. It was a clean, solid, text book tackle. The NFL has got to stop, they are killing the sport. Hey Roger (Goodell), knock it off. You're ruining the game we used to call "tackle football."

Hospital found incompotent...

2008-11-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

My mother in law is dying of lung cancer. She had to make a recent visit to the hospital secondary to uncontrolled pain. They ran a battery of tests, pumped her full of morphine and sent her home. Pretty standard stuff. Got a call this morning from my father in law wanting me to come by and remove the IV canula they forgot to remove from her arm. It appears she started bleeding from the site. Not unexpected considering she's on warfarin for a previous PE. Did my duty and got it taken care of, but I ask you.....what hospital sends a patient home without removing the peripheral iv canula? An incompotent one in my opinion.

Driving in the dark....

2008-11-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

I've decided that the IQ of the average person goes down with the sun. I have to drive about an hour each way to work. I leave to come home at the same time every night. Haven't had a problem all summer long. Now...time changes, gets dark earlier and BAM, traffic jam all week long.

NFL a pansy game?

2008-11-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

Troy Palamalu made some interesting comments regarding the NFL and fines handed out for certain hits. I don't believe the NFL is for the weak, but I do think the NFL has gotten carried away with fines.

The horse-collar tackle rule is an excellent example. You can tackle a player, just not by his collar. I think it's a significant problem when I see players with the opportunity to make a tackle from behing, but let the player go (possibly for a score) simply because they don't want the fine....