Move Day

It's been 6 years since the last time we picked up and moved hundreds of miles to start a chapter of our lives. When the wife and I moved from Philadelphia to Charleston there were some things similar to this move. We knew that the job I was taking would be a lot of work. We knew that we didn't know that many people at the new place.

There are some differences this time. We've got the boys to try and adjust to a new area. There's family that are a few hours away, and notably close to the nearest temple.

Ohio Bound

If there's anyone left who hasn't heard, we are going to be moving to Cleveland Ohio in the next 10 days. I was offered the position of Director of Pharmacy for Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and after a lot of thought, I accepted.

Personally, I'm excited to get into another situation where a department needs help figuring out the basics. I've got a great gig here in SC, but it was starting to get hard to generate a lot of enthusiasm for the future. As I was installing a new software system in one of the pharmacies here it became clear that it was not going well. I had to spend a bunch of time and effort talking about best practices and solving problems to get consistent and safe practice from the technicians and pharmacists. I was exhausted each day and totally spent at the end of the weeks. And I love it. It reminded me of why I got into management and leadership, to solve everyday problems and make things better over time. It was after that software install that I knew I needed to get serious about finding the next place to turn around.

From my families perspective I think we are ready for something new. We've lived in SC for 6 1/2 years and we've absolutely loved almost all of it. The friends we've made are people I hope to keep in touch with for the rest of my life. My wife and I have worked with the youth for almost the whole time we've been here and it's been really great to watch them grow up and get ready to go to college.

One of the things I'm sad about is that I don't know how much J is going to remember SC, and I'm positive E won't remember any of it. It's such a great place that will be reduced to a few scattered memories for them. But they will have many opportunities in the new place that they wouldn't have had here.

As someone who lived in the same house until I left home after High School it's sort of weird to think that my kids will have a different childhood experience than mine. But that is life. When I left Utah 11 years ago I did it because I felt strongly that I was needed somewhere else. It's been a grand adventure to see where that somewhere actually is.

The New OS

Here I am, sitting in the dark trying not to wake up the wife while I'm trying to update the OS of my devices. There's a phone, a laptop, and a desktop. This all started earlier in August when I upgraded the desktop to the new OS. The wife was on vacation at the time and it was a good thing. It gave me some time to try and figure out why it did crazy things when buttons were pushed, or the mouse was used a certain way. I think I've figured out most of the essential features. It's funny how the company might list that there are "over 200 new features" and then I can't find a complete list of the 200. I think that the most I've seen is possibly 20 of the 200. Personally, I think they double dip on their claims. All I'm asking for is a list people. After the list google could take care of the rest of the training. Or it might not because so far it's failed me in producing a list of enhancements.

The next real installment in the "I'm trying to be more productive" effort was the laptop purchase. I think I've progressed just far enough in my career that I have to have a full size keyboard and access to Office available at any time or place. I've also progressed just far enough in my career that if I take a few minutes of quiet thought, I can come up with 2 or 3 things to do on the laptop that would actually qualify as productivity. I got my first laptop when I went to pharmacy school. I actually brought it out during lectures and took notes on it. It worked for some classes and was a miserable failure for others. It's strikingly difficult to express an elimination constant of a particular drug when you're taking notes in Word. And strikingly simple if you have a pen and paper in your hand. As we all neared graduation, there were a few of my friends who confided that they thought I was really strange to pull out a laptop during class. I've seen recent photo's of college classes now and you can't find a single person who doesn't have a laptop. I was totally a trendsetter. I was also not very efficient. I found that most of what I needed to do was read enormous books and browse online medical journals. What I used the computer for was to pursue hobby interests: digital photography, digital recording of myself playing the guitar and singing, and surfing the almighty web. I really needed a desktop.

The next phase was the desktop phase. I actually learned how to use one. There was a need for a mobile device, but the devices were really clunky with terrible battery life 6 years ago. When things like the iPad were really introduced I was out of the clinical arena and firmly behind a desk. Again, chained to a desktop.

This next phase I guess is categorized by frequent enough travel that it's difficult to be truly unplugged for multiple days at a time. Projects are due, papers need to be written, emails need to be sent, and business suites at hotels are filled with clunky slow computers that are out of the way to get to. And some aren't free! I've had the displeasure of spending about $100 a year on computer time because some project had to be completed or worked on during a trip. It was about 4 years ago that I learned there is no such thing as a vacation. If you unplug, risk being unplugged permanently from your job. I was sad about that at first, but then you get over it. I don't think the wife has really gotten over it yet, but maybe in the next 10 years she'll see the cold truth of it.

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We're now in the home stretch of the update. The download bar is almost completed. After the download is complete there's a restart and then some options to check or uncheck. I really hope this all gets easier in the future. I'm really looking for a conversation in the future.

Me: "Hal, isn't it about time for your update?"
Hal: "Your right Dave, I do need to improve myself."
Me: "You know it creeps me out when you call me Dave Hal."
Hal: "Yeah, but I can't help myself sometimes. I'll schedule the update to begin when you go to bed. All devices and components will be updated and upgraded before you get out of the shower in the morning."
Me: "Excellent. Thanks Hal."
Hal: "No problem....Dave."

The Camping Photos

Some of my readers aren't regulars on my Facebook account and didn't see my camping photos with J. So here they are with all of the lo-res glory of an iPhone camera.

Called to task

Thank you Jeff for pointing out a failing of my blog ambition. Around Christmas I set out to review some root beer that my wife had given me as a gift.  I got to number 3 and then I found an excuse to stop writing.  I hope it’s at least some consolation that I didn’t just start writing about something else, I just stopped writing altogether. 

So let me go back and make amends and review the worst of the lot.  It was the Oogave.  That was probably the worst liquid I’ve purposefully put in my mouth in a very long time.  I have a particular aversion to crèmesicle and my good friend, and task master, Jeff understands why.  Oogave was nasty at room temp and nasty cold.  Anyone who would like to take on the dare and drink the whole bottle slowly, so all the nastiness can wash over their taste buds, are hereby challenged. 

As far as the best root beer goes, it really is a hard thing to judge.  The wife really like Dad’s for all of it’s commonness.  The Maine Root Beer stands out in my mind all these months later, and so does the Sioux City.  So there you go, a real endorsement. 

Thanks for the reminder Jeff.  And if there are any other stories that remain untold, feel free to leave a comment.  I’ll be blogging for at least another day or two (hahaha).

The Big Project

A while ago I mentioned on my blog that I was beginning a project at work that had some potential to make a significant difference in the pharmacy world.  We took several steps forward on that project in the last week and it’s exciting to see us get started on some of the challenges. 

As we’ve been battling a budget for the project and what seems like an endless amount of red tape, there are other hospitals that are getting close to their own implementation.  I’m starting to wonder if the first real project that I submit for publication from this needs to be a collaboration with other sites or if I can still have a relatively independent assessment.  For those who do research regularly, I imagine this is a common thing to think about: are you going to be beaten to the punch by someone else.

There’s a portion of my feelings that are still very genuine that I’d like to be able to describe the situation and set the tone of the debate.  And then there’s a fairly selfish side that would just like to cross this finish line first.

One thing to remember for me is that it only really matters if I actually can pull together the information into an actual publication.  This is a step that’s been elusive so far for me.

Computers

You know, sometimes things can be different than you expect and still be good.  I’ve recently been introduced to a new Windows PC and I have to admit it doesn’t suck.  The set up was easy, the user interface is relatively straightforward, and I haven’t run into any major issues in the first 2 hours. 

There are a few things that I’d like to figure out, like how to backup files to my already established backup method.  Or possibly how to stream the music from my other computer to this one without downloading the actual files.  Anything is possible right?