*EDIT* Must watch video:  http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2677329?loomia_si=1

Grocery store flower arrangement of the week (the last set was actually
from last monday...not thursday....i don't go through them THAT
often!).  i LOVE white flowers...especially with green and light
pink.....

On another note, let me express my feelings about the public
transportation here in Beantown.  IT SUCKS.  So some of the
trains run above ground (like on the street...sort of like
trolleys)....and for some reason, those trains are two subway cars long
MAX.  They either run one or two cars....you never know what you
get.  So imagine rush hour....and the train comes....and it is
only ONE freakin car.  There is NO WAY that everyone is going to
fit.  It is SO annoying.  Even TWO cars is not even enough.

Another annoying thing are the subway riders here.  You know in
NY, how people get onto the train, but don't step all the way into the
middle.  So the middle is crowded, but manageably crowded. 
That is NOTHING compared to what bostonians do.  They step into
the door and just STOP there.so the area right by the doors are
completely PACKED.  BUT....if you look at the area between the
doors...where the chairs are, there is absolutely NO ONE standing in
that area....AND, most of the time there are multiple EMPTY seats
too.  So everyone is cramped by the door, even though there are
empty seats everywhere.  So i just do my push and shove...and i
shout "excuse me" in my obnoxiously NY voice....then i get a seat.

So I went with some of my friends to this Taiwanese restaurant that I
found near my apt (NOT taiwan cafe in c-town).   It's
actually on Newbury street, which is this really trendy shopping area
in boston. The location is kind of weird, especially since the food
tastes pretty authentic...probably the most authentic i've had yet up
here.  Anyhow, for some reason, even though they serve a lot of
Taiwanese dishes, none of the wait staff speaks taiwanese....only
mandarin.  And i'm bad at figuring out what's what based on the
english translation on the menu (and i can't read chinese).  
So i was trying to ask them if they had "bah-wan"....but they didn't
understand what that was.....and i didn't know the mandarin translation.

What is "bah-wan" in mandarin?   And what is "bah-gneh" (i know i asked this before, but i forgot)?

My grocery store flower arrangement of the week...little pom
crysanthenums....does the vase look familiar to anyone?!!!  Plus
last week's peonies from a farmer's market (no arrangement...i just put
single stems in vases).  i LOVE the picasa picture collages....i get to cheat xanga's 10 picture a month upload policy.

Well....today i walked into a POLE. No joke. In Boston, some of the trains run on street level...such as the train I take. So the tracks go straight for about a block and then it curves. So in order to see further down, you have to really turn your head and body all the way to the right. So i usually start looking while I'm walking towards the station to see if i have to start running or not. And so i'm walking and walking then BAM. My head slams into something. I whip around and i'm standing literally 1 inch from a light post. I hit my forehead so hard i felt it in my teeth. So now i have a nice welt on my forehead. Luckily there was no one walking near me...so i just pretended like it didn't happen. But i think i almost had a concussion because my head literally bounced off that pole. STUPID POLE.

If anyone comes across a chien-ming wang yankees t-shirt in NY...in a small size (either kids..or x-small womens), LET ME KNOW! I want one...but naturally can't find one here.

On the other hand...it is finkin HOT!!! Good thing i figured out the short cut to work last week (after getting lost multiple times). I basically have to cut through Harvard to get to my pharmacy from the subway stop. It's quite a pretty campus....actually, reminds me a lot of Brooklyn College's campus!

But STAY COOL!!!!! and drink lots of water.

Oh...and i still hate retail pharmacy....

My first week at retail pharmacy....DONE.  Five more to go.

And after having to stand about 10 hours a day STRAIGHT (with the
exception of my 20 min lunch break)....i have figured out the secret to
non-sore feet.  (And by straight, it's literally NO
SITTING....because....there are NO CHAIRS).   It SUCKS having
to stand...my first day, i wore ballet flats, thinking that would be
okay.  BIG MISTAKE.....i could barely walk home because my heels
felt totally bruised.  Then i started wearing my ugly clogs (the
ones i posted about a couple of months ago...that were super padded on
the bottom).  And my feet STILL hurt.

So i went and got the REALLY ugly clogs....the ones that physicians
wear in the hospitals.  And it WORKED.  IT's weird because
the sole isn't really cushioned AT ALL....so i totally didn't think it
was going to work.  i guess with the super cushioned, your weight
still falls mostly on the balls of your feet and your heels.  But
with the REALLY ugly clogs, the soles are hard...but they're coutoured
to follow the curves on the bottom of your feet...so the pressure of
your body weight is distributed throughout your enitre foot...not just
the two areas.  So no heel pain!

So i wear the REALLY ugly clogs.....along with some pretty nasty
looking knee high compression stockings.   How's that for
some stylin' footwear?!

I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE community pharmacy.

So have i mentioned how much i hate community pharmacy?  Today, i
got bitched out by this lady because she took my words and twisted them
around....and made it seem like i told her to come in and pay the full
amount for a medical device, when i told her TWICE that her insurance
company will not cover it.  She kept going on and on about how i
have to work on my phone skills and communicating.....i was like
beotch, you just need to learn how to LISTEN. 

I've noticed (over the past two days) that women customers are way more
annoying than male ones....maybe because i'm a female.  Even the
male patients that the pharmacists think are annoying and they stay
away from, I'm totally fine with them.  A little banter and a big
smile....and they're perfectly nice to me.  If they get annoyed,
they get over it pretty quickly.  Women customers, on the other
hand, will complain and complain and complain.  It's like SHUT UP.

Oh....how i miss the IV room.

Today was the first day of my second rotation.  I'm doing my required community pharmacy rotation now (like CVS, eckerds, etc).  But i'm doing mine at a family owned community pharmacy....which is supposed to be better than those big chain community pharmacies. 

But it still sucks big time.  I am never going to work in community pharmacy no matter how much more it pays.  People say that once you go hospital, you never go back.  And given that i've ONLY worked hospital.....I am SO glad that i didn't spend those 3 years in community pharmacy.

the first thing the asked when i got in was if i knew how to use their computer system (I guess it's kind of common in community pharmacies).  I said no...and they run through it REALLY REALLY fast.  And it's a DOS based system, so there are all these commands.  And of course, i don't remember any of it.  The second question they asked is if i knew how to work a cash register and credit card machine.  Again....no.  So they sort of showed me REALLY fast.  I was like WHAAAAAAAAT???  There are so many freakin buttons on that thing. 

So i spent the whole day just filling prescriptions and working the cash register.  Luckily they had an automatic pill counter so i didn't have to count by hand.  But still, i  felt like a robot all day.  I did not use any of my pharmacy education........AAAAARGH.  And i had to stand the ENTIRE day....in SHOES
 Even though i wore flats, my feet were KILLING me (sneakers not allowed).  Including commute, that consitutes 10 hours straight of standing.  I need to wear my ugly clogs and compression stockings tomorrow....there's no other way.

The way the pharmacy was organized was way different from work.  At work, all the meds are alphabetized by generic name.  Here, there's a section for drugs that ONLY have brand names out...and those are alphabetized.  Then there's another section for drugs that have generics on the market........and those are alphabetized by their BRAND names.  So i can never find ANYTHING.  It's hard enough for me to search for stuff when they're alphabetized.....but in this case, the meds look like they're in random order because they're alphabetized by their brand names (even though the name on the bottle is the generic).  So i have to mentally convert the names into brand names and go one bottle at a time.  And since at work, we never use brand names, it takes me SOOO long.

ARGH.....5 weeks and 4 days left.

On a good note....at least the pharmacists there are really nice...i just feel like an idiot all day because they were too busy to really train me and show me what to do.....so i was just fumbling around all day.

Oh....i also spend the day answering the neverending ringing phone lines (there are 5). 

SUCKS.....

i am TOTALLY doing hospital pharmacy when i graduate.

GOOOOOOOOOOO italia!!!  I was rooting for italy because france
beat portugal...and an enemy's enemy is your friend.  And after
the incident with Zidane, i wanted italy to win THAT much more...why
would you want to end your career on that note!?!!

But this weekend, i played texas hold 'em for the first time...and
WON!!!  Well, at the end there was two of us left, and it was
already pretty late, so we agreed to split the pot.  But it was
really fun!!! A lot more fun than just watching it on TV.....there's
actuially a lot of strategy involved...like knowing when to raise...and
when to back down (which i learned very quickly during the practice
round after going all in on a bluff......and lost it all...hahaha).

My next rotation starts tomorrow....it's my community pharmacy
rotation, which i am predicting that i am going to HATE.  Having
to deal with rude customers...and insurance companies...and having to
count pills by five's all day....UGH.  Put me back in hospital
pharmacy PLEASE!!!!

Tonight, i'm off to see the one and only Madonna in concert.  The
arena is right by North End (boston's version of little italy)...so i'm
sure there'll still be quite a celebration going on.  Should be
fun.

Have a good week everybody