Can't believe the crazy amount of snow that we've been getting.  Here's the damage that has accumulated thus far.

As you can see, the snow is taller than me... and it's VERY hard to back out of my driveway.  There isn't even enough room for MORE snow.  Please, no more snow please!!!  We've been getting at least one snowstorm every week now.   Spring, please get here faster!!

Rotation 1 of SPEP ended a week ago.  I'm so glad that it's over.  My hospital rotation wasn't too bad, but I needed a change in environment.  The patients and staff were extremely nice.  I was never grilled or looked down upon by other pharmacists or doctors.  Rotation 2 at Shoppers Drug Mart started last Thursday for me.  So far so good.  My preceptor is awesome.  She's an 0T5, so she went thru the whole SPEP experience.  (She had Kori at St. Mike's for half of her hospital rotation   I can only imagine it being hardcore and intense).  She's letting me counsel on some prescription stuff.  I did a couple of medication reviews as well.  Those were interesting.  The customers here are really nice as well.  The population is mainly young couples and kids.  However, I imagine that the whole senior population would come to our store on March 27th, since it's Senior's Day that day.  LoL  I've already got some ideas for my health promotion and presentation.  Practice issue is kinda hard, but hopefully I can improve on their workflow, because their counter is often cluttered with baskets of prescriptions.  I have a feeling I'm gonna like working for SDM.  Heck, I better, since I signed a one year contract with them.    Can't wait to finish this rotation and go on to cram for PEBCs.  Arrrrgh.  At least I'll have studied for the OSCEs with counselling OTC products right now.

Hope everyone is enjoying their rotations so far. 

(I love it when customers address me by my first name... I feel so special after the conversation )

Back from vacation in HK and Tokyo and I've just survived my first week of SPEP.  It's amazing how much I still remember from therapeutics, even after 3 weeks of no thinking and no reading.  AND it's even more amazing that I survived my first day, since my flight arrived at 6pm the night before. 

My vacation was a well deserved vacation.  It was really good to see my family again, including my grandmas, uncles, aunts and cousins.  It was a relaxing vacation as well, since I slept in everyday for 2 weeks.  Didn't really get up early for anything.  I didn't do any crazy shopping either, just bought some nice dress pants and shirts for work.  My brother also took me to Wong Tai Sin (the famous temple) and we also rode on an old school boat (DUK LING, Icon of Hong Kong, is an authentic Chinese junk originally owned and manned by Chinese fisherman)  The ride was kinda windy, but the view was awesome.  Took lotsa pictures, just go to my facebook page.

On Jan 1st, I travelled to Tokyo with my brother.  That trip was alot of walking and eating AND of course shopping.  I was fortunate enough, b/c they did have my size... (ie I'm a large in Japan).  The girls there were also taller, which was different from HK.  They also dress better than HK girls... very office lady-like.  The dudes on the other hand........... let's just say, they're too crazy for me.  LoL  I'm glad that Takeshi is half Taiwanese.  Hahaha  The sushi there is AMAZING.  The piece of fish is gigantic compared to what we get served here in Canada.  It's also very fresh and it instantly melts in your mouth.  Mmmmmm  The people there are also very polite.  As soon as you walk in, every salesperson (including the cashier) greets you.  They don't hound you like those HK salespeople either.  And even if you don't buy anything, they'll thank you for coming in.  The pace there is slower than HK.  HK is just too fast for me... plus they're all workaholics there!  Shops close at 10:30-11pm, sometimes even at midnight!!  Jap stores normally close at 8 or 9pm.  The transportation in Japan is also very convenient, if you know where you want to go.  LoL  There's so many transit/rail/metro lines.  Good thing I had my brother there, or else I'd probably end up in some remote area.

After 3 weeks of vacation, I was glad to come back home.  I missed my parents, my bed, my laptop and my friends.  I didn't have too much trouble adjusting to the time, probably took me a couple of days.  I normally woke up at 6am, which is the time that I would get up anyways for SPEP.  Driving to Burlington doesn't take very long either, just 20-25 minutes depending on traffic.  Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital is right by the water, so it's a very relaxing and quiet place to work.  The hospital is small and everyone is so friendly there, even the patients!  My preceptor is super nice, and she didn't overwhelm me with work during the first few days.  I did some counselling on Fragmin and Warfarin, and did some patient interviews regarding allergies.  Nothing TOO crazy yet, but I did manage to pick up an ICU patient on Friday.  So we'll see how that goes.  I'm actually enjoying SPEP, very different from school, but I definitely need to brush up on my therapeutics.  Couldn't remember my antibiotic coverage.  LoL

Hope everyone is doing well in their SPEP rotation!!!

So I'm done my summer job at St Joe's.  It was fun, interesting, frustrating and rewarding.  After these 3.5 months, I can honestly say that I want to work in a hospital when I graduate.  I love the interprofessionalism, teamwork, challenge and the absence of third party payor issues. LoL

One of the interesting things that I learned during my rotations:
- when men age, they lose their hearing in middle to high tone
- when women age, their voices become more high pitched
- therefore, this is why you see alot of older women screaming at their husbands LoL

I am sad that my work at the hospital is over... but, I am sorta glad to go back to school, because there is sooo much stuff that I don't know yet.  Anyhoo, I shall write a Monograph article about hospital life... and how it differs from retail.  That should be interesting, eh?

On a side note, FUTURE SEX/ LOVE SHOW WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!  LoL  Mmmm, JT

Can't wait til Maroon 5 in October!