Exceptions

Stitches

I've been crocheting for about 6 or 7 years now, and I've gotten a little bored with following patterns. These days I usually try to come up with my own patterns. It takes a lot of time and patience, but it sure feels good to know I created something original.

Sometimes I make exceptions to the no pattern policy for special projects like the 7-pointed star baby blanket for a co-worker's grandson. He's due any day, and my co-worker doesn't know I made this. I'm counting on her being too busy to see this before I give it to her. The pattern is from a book by Ruthie Marks that is on my virtual bookshelf at Powell's books. Click here to check out my shelf.

The hat was also a pattern from a book. The hubs has resisted letting me crochet anything for him, but I knew he wanted a warm hat. I searched the web for pictures of finished hats, and gave him 3 or 4 to choose from. He chose the one from Son of Stitch and Bitch which is also on my virtual bookshelf. I was surprise he chose this one. I was sure he was going to want the Flying Spaghetti Monster hat.

Scripts

There are a couple of dramas on TV right now about nurses, which has me wondering why there aren't any shows about pharmacists. I think my professional life would make a great sit-com. Of course, the lead would have to be played by a stunningly gorgeous brunette actress. The pilot episode would be about the time a customer brought a bug in a bag to the pharmacy and asked me if it was a louse.

I Actually Finished a Crochet Project!

Stitches

Yay! I finished the tote bag. It turned out deeper than I wanted, and it's still a little poofy on the sides. But I think I have the concept down. I'll go ahead and use it for awhile, see how well it holds up, etc. Then I'll try to make one more the size I really want.

I rarely use patterns anymore. I'd rather try to figure out how to make something on my own. As a result I end up doing a lot of frogging, but I sure love finally getting something finished.

Selling Out

Yes, I will gladly sell-out for Powell's credit. A click on the Powell's logo will take you to a list of my favorite crochet and science books. If you buy something from my list or anything else from Powell's site, I'll get store credit. Yay! I love the internet!!

Powell's, if you haven't already heard, is the most awesomest book store ever.

Now that that's done, it's time to push my blog on unsuspecting friends and family members.

What do pharmacists really need to know about urine?

Scripts


It's continuing education time again.

For those of you not in the biz, we are required to prove that we have been attempting to keep up before we can renew our licenses each year. How hard we have to work to prove it varies from state to state. The requirement here in this state is minimal. If all I did was make the state board happy every year, I would be sadly uninformed.

The computer age has made the process so much easier (and more relevant in my opinion). When I was just getting started back in the stone age, we had to either go to a boring, expensive lecture or find a print lesson, take the quiz, and mail it in. You really had to pay attention to who was sponsoring the correspondence lessons. They very often were thinly veiled advertisements for drugs.


The expensive day-long lectures have either pretty much gone away, or I'm just not on the mailing lists anymore. There are still plenty of 1 hour lectures out there, but I rarely go for moral reasons. These are sponsored by drug companies, and the lecture is following a dinner at one of the expensive restaurants downtown. You want to know why drugs cost so much? Because big drug companies spend as much on this crap as on R&D. And they spend even more lobbying congress. (Getting down off my soap box now)


Now I can sit down at my computer and chose from at least 50 different lessons to take online. This means I can get credit for gaining knowledge I might actually use. Yipee! Back in the old days, if all I could find to get credit was a lesson titled "Unrinalyis: A Guide for Pharmacists", I would have to learn about urine.


For my cont. ed. this year I've got the quizzes on pressure ulcers and zinc for colds under my belt. The pressure ulcer article had some detailed info that I doubt I will ever use, but I wanted to know what the current treatment recommendations are. The zinc lesson was timely because I just self-treated with zinc for a cold. The lesson says that studies are mixed, and further research is needed. My own research has been very positive. There are always zinc lozenges in the house, and my colds rarely get past the scratch throat phase before might zinc stops them in their tracks.


I've got about 6 weeks to finish, and 6 online quizzes should take care of my requirement. My license doesn't expire until November, but I want to send it in early. The Dept. of Health got a new computer system for license renewals over a year ago and is still having trouble processing the renewals in a reasonable amount of time. That's government oversight for you.

Setting Trends

Stitches

Here's the tote bag I've been working on.

I was pretty down on it before, but I've decided to give myself some credit for attempting my first bag without a pattern. I think I know what I did wrong now. I'll frog the sides and try using a smaller hook so that they will lay more flat and be more dense. Hopefully, that will give it a little more structure.

Once I get it down, I'll post the pattern to AssociatedContent.com along with a couple of others that are already there.

My crochet empire is growing by the minute. Now if I can only get Oprah to make my bag one of her Favorite Things.....

Scripts

I discovered a breakthrough in suspension reconstitution today. After adding half of the distilled water, tightly cap the bottle, turn it upside down and drop it on the floor. It works great!! Those little chunks that sometimes would stick to the bottom of the bottle and refuse to mix go away just like that!

Of course, I discovered this by accident. I'm a more than a little clumsy, and I didn't mean to drop the first of 4 bottles of amoxicillin on the floor. But when I saw how well it worked, I dropped all of them. I'm sure they will be teaching this method in the pharmacy schools this fall.

Are there any happy pharmacists out there?

I waited this long to start blogging mainly because I didn't think I had the time. I'm working part-time. I've got a kid and a house to take care of. And a lot of my free time is spent with hooks and yarn. But the other day I decided to check out the pharmacists' blogs out there, and you would think from reading them that all pharmacists are homicidal or suicidal or probably both.

Wow, people, if you hate it that much, get a different job. I know it's hard to walk away from the paycheck, but your negative attitude is making the rest of us look bad.

OK, so I'm complaining about people complaining.

I think it's all about how you say it. For example, one of my pet peeves is when customers act like the 30 seconds I want to spend counseling them is a total waste of their time. I could go on about how they roll their eyes or are sometimes downright hostile. Or I could say how I love it when they act that way and then it turns out that I actually do have something to tell them that they didn't know. Yes, I am more that I pill-counter. Yes, I know what I'm talking about.

So in the script section of this blog, I will attempt to keep it positive and share the stories of the funny and rewarding parts of the job.

In the stitches section, I'll post my progress on various projects. (I always have several going at a time.)

I'm trying to make the sun catcher idea work, but I need yarn that will drape better (I love excuses to go yarn shopping!) And I just finished my first tote bag that I designed myself. It looks pretty bad actually, but in the spirit of positivity, I'll say it was a learning experience. I'll post a pic as soon as I figure out how, and then I'll frog it and start over.