What Was the Benefit???

I was gone with my niece and my sister all Sunday morning. My sister had driven all morning until we returned home and washed up. Later that afternoon, we got a call from the neighbor telling us to check our cars for vandalism because his car had been damaged. When we walked outside we noticed that all four of my tires were flat with the car sitting on its rims.

I stood there dumbfounded! How could all my tires be flat? I had just bought these tires eight months ago, there was no way they could be flat!

Upon inspection...all four tires had been slashed with a knife.

How? Why? Who? Why?

Initially I was mad. I had just gotten new tires. I was just a visitor in this new state, town and was only staying for a month. I was legally parked next to the curb in front of a residential home. Was someone mad at me? Why? What had I done in the week of my being here? What a jerk! How could someone do this? Why would they even think this is ok?

I have gotten over the mad stage and have moved into the confused stage. What benefit does a person get from slashing another human being's tires? Slashing a total stranger's tires? Maybe about 10 minutes of laughs? Which is a heck of an expensive laugh! You get no payback, no honor, no money, no glory, no justice. You just ruin someones property and cause some frustration. I mean at least when you steal a car you have the car to show for it. When you slash someones tires...you gain NOTHING. Besides hopefully guilt, that I believe should stay with the person who slashed my tires for the rest of their life!

The Things You Will Find

The highways in St. Louis have the most random items littered all over them. You might expect tires, car parts or animals on the side of the road but in St. Louis you will find many other 'treasures' along the highway. In one week, while traveling to and from work on the highway I have seen:

A mailbox

A ladder

Pair of shoes

A blanket

A bag of groceries

A sweatshirt

A mattress

A few pillows

A bicycle

And...

more 'treasures' as they appear!

Rotation #1

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

STOP #1 on my whirlwind tour of rotations! Thanks St. Louis Family for welcoming me in!

Get to Read for Enjoyment

Since I have left me textbooks behind with the memories of my most recent semester, I now have time to read for my own enjoyment. I am extremely excited. I know, it sounds dorky and sad but when you have been reading class assigned text books for over five years, fun books become a vacation!

Now I need suggestions for books. I love to read books that other people have liked and suggest because they usually turn out as good reads. I like different themes but really enjoy mystery, funny stories, history and adventure.

I am starting two books, suggested by a dear friend, entitled: The Shack and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

What suggestions do you have?

I Made it So Far...

I have made it out alive so far! I am learning a LOT with a few stumbles here and there. I am not sure what I think of hospital work yet and do not want to make any judgements until I have had more experience. I spent most of my first day in the ER completing medication reconciliations (matching the patients' home medications with the medications they are taking at the hospital). I spent a lot of the second day working on drug information research as well as medication clarification on different doctors' orders. I will get more comfortable at the hospital and the new city with time. One of the biggest positives...I get to spend much more time with my sister, brother in law and ADORABLE niece!

Nervous Like The New Kid On The Block!

I start my first pharmacy rotation tomorrow and am EXTREMELY nervous!

It is a big change for me considering I have been doing the school thing for more than five years. I also am in a new city, state and living situation (which I appreciate more than I can explain but am still getting used to). In addition, I do not have much hospital experience and my first rotation is at a hospital. I have to wake up early, go to work and try not to mess up. I am scared that I will be the little minnow in the big lake and that I will not know enough. Everyone keeps telling me that I will be fine, but I am still nervous/scared. Wish me luck! I hope I make it out alive!

Finishing College Classes is Like...

Lifting a HEAVY weight off your shoulders.

Reaching the top of a large hill only to see the mountains ahead.

An athletic competition, happy that it is done but going to miss every moment of it.

Moving to a new neighborhood, you have to leave friends behind and make new ones.

Finding gold, you now have something extremely valuable as long as you know how to use it.

Getting through the clown room at the haunted house only to realize the dark forest is ahead.

Just getting to know who you really are and then having to start all over again.

Going from the big strong lion in familiar territory to the timid cub in a new place.

Funny How Time Flies

Just as you really start to get used to something and enjoy it, it is over!

This seems to be how everything in life goes, including college. I feel like I just started my fabulous college years and now they are almost my history. It seems almost unfair. If only we could hit the pause button on life...

Do not get me wrong. I am excited about rotations; however, I know I will miss what I have had for the past few years.

No Private Doctor line and Need a Little More Info

Customer: “My mother is taking some medication and it is making her sick. Can you tell the doctor?”

Me: “Did you try contacting the doctor about your wife's medication?"

Customer: "No I did not want to wait on the phone to talk to the doctor but thought you could."

Me: "Alright. I can try to help. What medication is it?”

Customer: “It’s a little white pill.”

Me: “Do you know the name of it sir? Or what the medication is used for? We do have many white pills in the pharmacy.”

Customer: “It is either for her pain, her heart or her brain. Just search for the little white pill.”

Quotes about College

"College is like Chocolate Godiva Ice Cream, it is expensive but rich and well worth it is comforting and at times regretable but overall irreplaceable"

"The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means to an education"

"Talk may be cheap but intelligent conversation is very expensive these days. Ask anyone with a kid in college.”

"College is like a fountain of knowledge - and the students are there to drink"

"If you feel that you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you"

"Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man’s lifetime income–which he then spends sending his son to college"

"A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad."

My Favorite:
"A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don’t have a J.O.B."