November

Wow. It's been a bit over two months since my son arrived and around a month since he came home. The amount of work required to keep things together for a small one like that (never mind the NICU stuff beforehand - he was two months premature) is stunning. I am so grateful for my parents coming down to help out with baby and house care until we got our footing again. Now he's 7 lbs, 2 ounces and terribly cute. One thing that really caught me off guard was the amount of noise he makes - he spends a lot of time during the night just clucking away. While it's hard to sleep through apparently it's completely normal. Also, he's got an umbilical hernia - the muscles around the umbilical cord area haven't sealed off yet. Apparently they don't do anything about that either for the first 4 years (until school age) partly because most seal up in the first year and the alternative is surgery. Our pediatrician related a story where she saw one that was 6 cm long and the surgeons still didn't want to touch it since the child was so young.

Anyways, I'm just grateful that everything seems to be going well. Thanks to whoever is responsible for that!

Update

The little fella's doing well, much better than could be expected of a 31 week preemie (now 35 I think). He's out of the incubator and into a cot, and splitting his feeds between the NG tube and breastfeeding. The parents on the other hand are really starting to show the wear. Mom's holding up fairly well given that she has to pump every 3 hours (except the night where she has a slightly longer interval), and has to spend 9-12 hour shifts at the hospital NICU now to get the little guy used to breast feeding. She's broken down once or twice recently about wanting to get out of the NICU. Don't let anyone tell you this NICU stuff is easy (it's not)! The line between functioning and not functioning is very thin, and I hate to say that we're both pretty close to it.

I finally crashed yesterday. Got home from the hospital yesterday with the worst headache in recent memory and slept over 12 hours. For the most part it's gone but I can still feel it in the background, it won't take much to bring it back I fear.

Can't wait to bring him home, but only when he's ready.

Premature

Wow. Just wow. My son chose to arrive much sooner than expected (delivered at 31 weeks). The event was a much larger and more dangerous affair than I expected it to be and I'm still recovering from it. When I get some more time I will write more but for the time being, that's what's on my mind. Wow. What an emotional overhaul that is!

Penpals

Visually a stylish platformer, done for a ludum dare (time constrained) contest. The art's the winning element of everything that's laid out here as the game itself isn't very complex. The story goes like this: a bear has to gather acorns for his hedgehog buddy who's not doing well in a toxic world ruined by humans. Bear runs around in a fishbowl filled with oxygen, that gets refilled at the start of each level and at oxygen pumps. Kept me busy for a bit. About the only real criticism I have is that it's not very deep and some of the jumps are much tighter than they need to be for a game like this (not very forgiving). Not my choice, but then it's probably a conscious design choice by the designers. Regardless, it's worth your time to check it out. Go for the download version over the web one, the music's worth it (the web version doesn't have music). Designed with GameMaker Studio.

http://indiegames.com/2013/09/penpals.html

Slow Cooker Kalaua Pork

This is what I have cooking for dinner tonight, it's been going since last night and smells awesome.

Easiest pulled pork recipe I've ever tried, if it works out (and it smells like it will), it's going to be a staple!

http://allrecipes.com/video/1316/kalua-pig-in-a-slow-cooker/detail.aspx?e11=kalua&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&event8=1&prop24=SR_Showcase&e7=Home%20Page

Update: Came out pretty good indeed! Not as smokey as I had hoped for, but it is pulled pork of a sort and still tasty

Icarus Proudbottom Teaches Typing

I found this one an amusing take on learn to type programs - it keeps you going with a narrative, so there's a story of sorts there. Also, there's some funny bits and strange lines of text to type. It's off just enough to be interesting but not so much that you'll have trouble recommending it. Playable in both browser and download forms, and fairly easy to play through too - give it a go!

 

http://www.holywowstudios.com/

Beatrix: Battle Dentist

Kind of a cute concept but didn't keep me interested for very long. You run along the teeth to clean them and use your mouse/LMB to shoot a fluoride gun at yellow blocks and nasties running around. The name of the game (Battle Dentist) is pretty awesome - it's worth a try just for that.

Found on the Oddities blog (http://odditie-s.tumblr.com/post/58548453365/beatrix-battle-dentist)
Link to game:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49699282/beatrix/index.html

Molson Old Style Pilsner

I found this one while visiting my folks up north. Have not seen it around Toronto at all. Figured I would give it a shot since you never know with these things, maybe it would be a gem.  At first I thought I got a sense of saaz hops and was optimistic, however as I got further and further into it all I was able to taste was sweetness, like corn syrup was added (or some other adjunct). It is not something I would pick again under normal circumstances - not with much better pilsners being available (steam whistle, King brewery, even Creemore) for a similar price point. Disappointing.

Dog of Dracula 2

Just finished Dog of Dracula 2. It's worth it, just like the first one. Not much of a game really, more reading and a few choices to make - but it is entertaining reading and the art/music aesthetics are pretty choice. It's more difficult to design things this way than it looks especially for a whole game. Regardless of whether it is going to be considered as a game or as an interactive book I would still recommend going through it. It's bizarre, it's funny, it'll only take a couple hours and if a 3rd one comes out I'll play that as soon as I can


http://www.freeindiegam.es/2013/06/dog-of-dracula-2-cyber-monogatari-team-batsu/

Happy Canada Day!

Heads Up: Dog of Dracula 2

I liked the first one so much, that when I saw this I figured I'd share the news even before I had the chance to try it out!

http://www.freeindiegam.es/2013/06/dog-of-dracula-2-cyber-monogatari-team-batsu/

Indie Alehouse - The Belgian Barnyard IPA

This one's nice... I know not everyone's into the bite that rye can give a beer but it can be quite nice if it's blended properly with the right hops so it is a bit more rounded. Also if the rye is added in moderation so that it's not all you taste - I've had one or two rye beers where that's all you get and it wasn't all that pleasant an experience. There are many ingredients that one can add to beer where it can be beneficial to add in smaller quantities (certain types of dark crystal, chocolate malt, buckwheat, molasses, brown sugar, biscuit malt, caramber malt,...) but if you add too much in relation to your base malt backbone it can totally wreak havoc with the resulting beer and overwhelm everything. Rye is like that I feel.

This particular beer, to my palette, is just a bit much with the rye, but is still very agreeable. The flavours of the malts including the rye are well balanced with the hops, the bitterness is pleasant and there is a noticable aroma of something like rye bread.

I prefer the Cameron's RPA to this as it feels just a smidge more refined, but would not turn the Belgian Barnyard down if it was on offer. Now back to my growler... I've got a porch to occupy and a beer to drink

http://indiealehouse.com/

Will You Ever Return - In Da Hood

FYI there are some very NSFW moments in this one, including a very excited Satan.

I haven't been able to complete the other Will You Ever Return games... mostly a lack of patience. When this was posted on the IndieGames.com site with a comment saying that this was his most accessible one yet and that it was a bit shorter I jumped on it. My first try was frustrating as I had trouble crossing the road and got stuck. Later on I found that you could only cross the road at crosswalks, and then after that the game opened itself up. It's sarcastic, trashy, a bit melancholy and also self aware in its dialog. I laughed out loud a number of times but then my humor goes down this road. Also you have to be able to handle the way things look. We're talking sloppy pixel sprites here, I think it suits the game very well but it's not everyone's cup of tea so... Anyways, I felt this one was worth playing so I'm posting it.

Just don't play it if you're easily offended.

http://gamejolt.com/games/rpg/will-you-ever-return-in-da-hood/14788/

ccatch

Really neat and simple concept. Objects fall from the sky in arcs and you try to catch the ones that match the color of the paddle ... the retro graphics and sounds match well. The pace quickly escalates if you play it well. Feels simple yet elegant. I like it, it's definitely worth your giving it a try in my opinion!

http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/ccatch/14126/

Candy Box!

I really don't know what to say about it other than it's a bit strange like Frog Fractions, and has consumed far more of my time than I ever expected it to when I first started. It's called Candy Box. It starts off simply, and really you should just start it and walk away for about half an hour, it'll make more sense to you when you return. From there it expands into a somewhat bizarre world where candy is currency, you can farm lollipops and go on quests. I don't know where it goes from where I'm at but they could put just about anything there and it would make about as much sense as anything else in it. I love it when things catch me off guard like this, as I really wasn't expecting much - if you are of an open mind I recommend you to do the same.

http://candies.aniwey.net/

Life marches forward!

The past couple weeks I've been spending most of my days off painting the house. Reason being is that this has to get done so all of our furniture can go to their final destinations, we can get out of boxes etc. It gets more complicated if you do that after you are done painting... so that's why it's this order. Anyways, painting is tiring work and there isn't as much time to do it as one would think... Why the rush? My wife is pregnant and this sure isn't getting done when the baby shows up. There'll be plenty more things to do then! Also, due to said pregnancy she's not doing so much since she's dealing with a significant amount of pregnancy related nausea. Food and movements of certain sorts aren't nearly as easy as they used to be. Exciting stuff - lots of work!

All this work also leaves me wondering when I'm going to get my garden in gear. We've got a backyard now, and I've been jonesing to get that growing tomatoes and veggies ASAP. The rule of thumb I've been working with (from more experienced gardeners than I) is that if you start planting sprouts before May 24 in Toronto you run the risk of frost. That being said, it's over 20 outside - what are the odds that frost will happen again? I think it's minimal.

Things are getting better on the job front now too. I've been between two pharmacies since being licensed - the one I interned with and the one that I've been placed with since becoming a pharmacist. I've recently switched back to the one I interned with because I feel it's a better situation for me with better long term employment prospects. Also, the one I'm leaving was very draining for various reasons... partly due to having to have my "spidey sense" on 10/10 for whole shifts all the time due to sloppiness on other peoples' parts. There's more to it but I'll leave it there... regardless, I'll be glad to be getting back to more familiar digs.

So life marches forwards for me in more ways than one! Ok, on to the second coat for the second floor hallway...

Lake of Bays - Spring Maple Belgian Blonde Ale

I started having some respect for the Lake of Bays with their red (Spark House Red).... if you've never had that one, it's a regular of mine at Boo Radleys on Dupont in Toronto. Very nice, malty and interesting beer for doing whatever needs doing while drinking beer.

But this isn't about that lovely brew, this is about the Spring Maple Belgian Blonde Ale. This was a bit of a revelation for me as most of the maple beers that I've had have had a tang of sorts to it, where it just didn't taste right... or it would taste like they've added maple syrup to the beer afterwards and it would just be too sweet... like drinking one of those wine coolers where it's got a syrupy flavour. Whatever. This beer focuses on it being a good Belgian blonde first and foremost. Tasty stuff indeed! If you're looking for it you can get some vanilla and caramel out of it too, but nothing that overwhelms. It's a nicely made brew that combines all that creates it into a well blended whole. I'm buying 6 more tomorrow, I want this to be on call whenever I need it.

http://lakeofbaysbrewing.ca/our-beer/spring-maple-belgian-blonde-ale/

Alexander Keiths Hop Series - Hallertau, Cascade

Full disclosure: I knew going into this that I wasn't the target audience for these beers. I also was a bit confused about who the target audience for these products were. Craft beer people will go for more adventurous offerings from smaller brewers, and  I doubt this will be enough to convert anyone firmly in the "yellow beer in brown bottles" crowd.

There's enough hops in each so that you can tell some of the differences between them, the Hallertau is more spicy (grassy, herbal) and a bit milder bitterness wise. You can get a some citrus and pine out of the Cascade if you're looking for it. Neither of which are particularly hard on the flavour or bitterness profile which is fine if you're looking to get a beer out of the fridge for my mom or dad. A bit different and might make them a bit more aware of what's in their drink given the label but other than that... I think they'd drink it if I poured it for them but I doubt they'd pick it out themselves.

Personally I'm looking for a bit more out of my beer, I appreciate the effort but think it was a bit of a miss. Keiths' biggest mistake in my opinion was in not going harder on the hops and really making the different flavours of the hops pop. As it was, it was sort of meh.

http://keiths.ca/

Dupont - Monk's Stout

The first one of these Dupont beers that I've been disappointed by. Every single one of the other ones that I've tried so far has been fantastic. This is just ok. To me, it tastes like like molasses and dry chocolate along with a some smoke and roasted malt flavours... but something just doesn't taste right.Off somehow, like the bottle went, or it was meant to be a bit tart in the first place. Perhaps this bottle didn't hold up as well as the rest did, or maybe it's really meant to taste this way. Either way it's not quite what I was hoping for.

http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/dupont/

Brasserie des Rocs - Grand Cru

7 types of malt, 3 types of hops, 9%. This is a tasty beer, and another winner. I'm glad the LCBO has no shortage of this sweetie for the time being, since I'll definitely be picking more up. Pours a nice dark red with plenty of malt, caramel and dried fruit to the palate. The scent matches too, I'd say it smells quite a bit like an abbey beer - perhaps that's the point (Abbay. It's a very nice and complex strong Belgian beer... hmm.... now I'm getting a wee bit of chocolate taste in it. Maybe even a bit of molasses, although if that's the case it's way in the back. Why don't we have these in more often LCBO?
http://www.abbaye-des-rocs.com/

It's happening

Ok, one of the things that I alluded to in a previous posting is actually happening now. I'm going to go sort out some of the details today - hopefully this will make things MUCH more stable.

I See You

Not too sure what to say about this one. It's obviously inspired by I'm Scared, and the author claims as much off the bat. It tries a few old tricks and a few different tricks with varying degrees of success. I think that may be partly because I had already played I'm Scared so that when certain things happened I was not too surprised - which may have led to my feeling that it was not as successful as its inspiration. Feel free to give it a shot if you have maybe a half hour to walk through it however, maybe you'll find more to it than I did!


http://gamejolt.com/games/other/i-see-you/13843/

Dupont - Moinette Brune

Just started trying this one, continuing to explore the Dupont offerings at the LCBO as part of their seasonal offerings. This is quite good. It's a strong brown ale but doesn't taste like a brown ale. Tastes of chocolate, dark roasted malt and smokiness aren't really present at all - it reminds me more of a dubbel or a brown abbey style beer where what is noticable is more along the lines of fruitiness. The fruitiness is noticable in the scent as well, it smells like that style of beer as well. A bit floral, a bit caramelly. It's nice, I'd definitely have it again. Not sure that I'd stock up on it, but if it was available at the LCBO on a regular basis I'd pick it up occasionally.

http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/dupont/en/6966-moinette-brune.html

Tree Brewing - Captivator Doppelbock

The first thing that caught me when I opened it was what a wonderful aroma there was. As a homebrewer, if I knew what it was that gave it that awesome smell I would use it every time.

It's a great dopplebock. A bit sweet, tastes like dark fruits, biscuits and bread. The maltiness is just right. Pours dark red-brown. Not nearly as boozy as I expected it to be given the percentage (8%).  I think I'm going to go back to the local LCBO to clean them out. I recommend that you at least give it a shot while it's in stock.

www.treebeer.com

Eyes - the horror game

This is an interesting take on the whole sneak/hide/scare type of game.You aren't capable of much in Eyes, save for walking and running around a house going in and out of rooms, picking up bags of money and a few other trinkets that let you get at more money. It may sound simple enough except for one thing: There's a creepy grey ghost like figure roaming the hallways that will catch you if you aren't careful. To be honest I wouldn't like some strange fella in my house taking my stuff anyways, and the game does introduce itself as a break and enter type of deal. When the ghost gets close to your location, you hear things rattling and voices moaning. If you're in a room when that happens and you stay still and quiet it'll likely pass without much of an event. If you're out in the hallway or running around like an idiot, you'll see the grey misty figure, a bright red warning telling you to run will show up although even if you run you're probably screwed by this point.

There's also these eyes on the walls that you can pick up that'll let you see through the ghost's eyes. This will let you know more or less where the creature is in the house, although if you're not familiar with all the floors this won't do you a whole lot of good.

I could have done without the selectable items sparkling, although it does make the game more accessible for first timers and it does save a lot of time on useless clicking. I would have also liked a bit more of a hunt and chase type of thing with the ghost, where you have to spend more effort trying to find good places to hide and the ghost chases you rather than just ducking into a room when you hear rattling. As it is, it feels like when the ghost gets you it's all over very quickly. The chasing part of it, the "I'm going to get you" aspect, if it was there a bit more somehow I think it would add a lot to the game.

It really is done quite well, especially for a free game (Windows). I bought the iOS version just to support development though I find it far choppier and the controls much less precise and slippery on my iPod touch 3G. Development is ongoing so I'm sure it'll be addressed at some point. It's also available for Mac, Linux and Android.

http://eyesthehorrorgame.com/

Update: Just updated to the 2.0 windows version - holy cow, they've replaced the ghost with a scary flying severed head! More effective for the shock horror they're going for than before, that's for sure! Doesn't really change the game much but it looks scarier

Stuff going on

Apologies for the delay between posts, but there is a lot going on over here both at home and work. I've been focusing on making both of those happen and it is starting to look very good. Updates as they come!

In the meantime, I've found a couple games that have occupied my interest much in the same vein as "I'm Scared". One's called Eyes, another's called Slender - the eight pages (probably the inspiration for many of these, but I haven't gotten to it until recently). Also, another one that seems interesting that I'll likely get to tonight called I See You. Hopefully it will pay off!

Dog of Dracula

Really, this little game is pretty amazing for what it does. It's a short and simple adventure game where you try to find the dog of dracula some sauce - which then unrolls into larger conspiracies. It's not going to change the world, but what it is, is delightfully bizarre. Play it for more than a few minutes and give it a shot.

http://www.freeindiegam.es/2013/01/dog-of-dracula-team-batsu/

Junction Craft Brewing - Conductor's Craft Ale

I am overdue to say something about this lovely ale. It's on tap at our local, Boo Radley's along with a number of other establishments in town. A very hop forward American Pale Ale (meaning it is definitely hoppy), combining 5 malt types and 5 hop types (unless I'm mistaken on reading their chalkboard the other night) resulting in a beer that has both a well rounded maltiness and hoppiness to it. The hoppiness is in that range that you could definitely say "Yes this tastes hoppy and I like it" but not "This thing is so hoppy I'm being blown out of the water". I like it and my wife likes it, which is rare for a beer of this type, usually when the hops are at the level that I like she's hands off. It's my go-to beer lately when I'm out and I recommend that if you have the chance to try it that you do so.

The Junction Brewery isn't that far from the Junction area of Toronto either, just up on Keele and a little bit east from there (90 Cawthra Avenue Unit #101). It's worth visiting as they have a number of other beers on offer there as well, each with their own merits. Perhaps in later posts.

http://www.junctioncraftbrewing.com/jcb/

technicians, location differences

Right now I'm working at two pharmacies. I had spent a lot of time at one prior to being licensed as an intern/student and have a good relationship with pretty much everyone there. People there generally know what needs to be done and how to do it with minimal direction. That's partly why it was such a surprise when after licensing I got assigned to a new store and the technicians there weren't like that. There could be a huge line building up on one side or the other of the pharmacy and people would be just standing around discussing someone's trip. That is not how things are supposed to be.

I have found that they needed more hands on direction. Maybe after a while it won't be needed, but for now I need to keep my eyes open and make sure that things that need doing are being done. I've found so far that taking charge of the situation has helped a lot, hopefully I'll be able to ease off a bit later on just so I'm not on peoples' cases so much.

Goats yelling like humans

Seriously funny stuff, give it a look you won't regret it. Gets really good after the second goat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7z_zyy1sa8

Daschund UN

Apparently there's supposed to be a live stream going up at
http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage/dachshundun/
as the performances go on. I'm hoping that it will be a good representation of what the performances are like since I won't be able to make it down there on time.

Daschund UN

http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage/dachshundun/

I really do hope that I will get a chance to see this spectacle. It combines performance art and daschunds, one I love the other done right is inspirational. This combination, I am hoping lives up to its billing.

The only downside of this is that somehow, what I thought would be a fairly accessible event now has reserved seating? When did this happen? I'm hoping that we'll be able to see it too! I've been paying attention to this for a while, we go to Hawaii for 10 days and come back to this being possibly inaccessible... I hope that this does pan out for us and we can get in.

Kona Brewing Pipeline Porter

I'm slowly becoming more impressed with this brewery. I've only tried a few beers by them from their sampler pack, but each are good and with their own admirable qualities.

This one, the pipeline porter is a good porter on its own. Between Bellwoods and Indie Ale House TO porter lovers are spoiled, this isn't in that category of goodness ... But it was good enough to surprise me. It was pleasant throughout, dark malty chocolatey and coffee tones. Also has a nice coffee finish. It was brewed with local coffee so there is a good reason for that.

I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. I suggest you give it a shot if you can without spending a ton of effort doing so.

Kona brewing Big Wave Golden Ale

Now this was a surprise. The wife and I went to Hawaii with my folks to spend almost two weeks at a vacation rental on Kauaii. The place we were supposed to stay in wasn't up to standards (nonfunctional appliances, ants, run down) so mom took it on herself to find a new place. Where we are now is a two bedroom condo on the ocean. I can't complain at all since it was a last minute save and the new place is just fine.

Anyways, we had shown up and the folks had these beers from the Kona brewing company there. There was the Longboard lager which tasted like a good quality lager, a bit like Creemore but without as much maltiness to it. The real surprise for me out of what was there was the Big Wave golden ale. Quite nice and a surprising amount of citrus to it. I could almost swear that I was getting pineapple out of it but I don't know of any hops off the top of my head with that profile. Quite nice and you can do far worse on a sunny day than a nice light citrusy ale like this one. Well done!

Closing Saturday night

I was originally supposed to close Sunday, a much gentler night than Saturday. However, nobody was scheduled and the manager was left hanging so I offered to flip my Sunday for the Saturday to buy him some time to find someone. Things were reasonable for the most part and were steady until the store started getting close to closing, then a few things became obvious. Mainly that I can't rely on this set of pharmacy technicians to manage themselves. The times given out were not sufficient... I'd be mad too if it took over an hour and I was told 20 minutes. The dispensing machine going down didn't help, however the people doing the actual filling didn't help the case much either; it was slow, and by the time baskets reached me people were already showing up to pick up. On top of that there was no logical order to the baskets after peoples' prescriptions were filled, they just kept piling them on top of each other so that there was no rational way to know what needed to be checked next. Someone started instigating out by cash and then a few other people joined in as they often do when they smell blood. It was more of a mess than I'd care to admit.

There were not enough people there, there should have been more techs at a minimum. Also, I'm going to have to force them to give out strips of paper for pick up times along with writing times down for promised time of pickup. I'm also going to have to adopt the practice of calling out wait times just so I can manage expectations better.

Anyways, we got everyone out with a 1/2 hour overtime on my part - more from others. I'm probably going to be hearing about it after I get back from holidays :( but according to the other staff members these end rushes happen often enough on Saturdays that I shouldn't be too concerned about it. Hopefully I can just chalk it up to experience and get on with things.

Also, my engine's light came on during my drive home. Thankfully it wasn't anything other than a lack of coolant, it just needs to hold together for another couple months.

Surgery Simulator 2013

Not really sure how to feel about this one. It's a neat concept, applying awkward Envirobear and QWOP (awkward) controls to surgery and should feel a bit more natural than it does. The problem I'm having with it is the 3d nature of the controls, I find that these types of games work better in 2D than 3D so you're only really dealing with the awkwardness of the controls rather than that and spatiality (eg: am I lined up properly to grab the bonesaw?). Also, grabbing objects is arbitrarily difficult... while you have a key for each finger and the thumb for some reason you're only able to flex 4 of them at a time.

The short version is that I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't. There! That said, there's nothing stopping you really from going out and trying it yourself - have a go, it's free!

http://www.kongregate.com/games/BossaStudios/surgeon-simulator-2013

No breaks!

I've been through a few shifts as a pharmacist with my new employer (same as before, different location), and a few points of contention have come up that I need to find a solution for. The first is the lack of face to face patient time... to date it seems that mainly they're interested in my prescription checking abilities and not in my warm patient manner with patients, or related counselling/Medschecking abilities. I'm hoping it's not always going to be this way since that would not bode well - it's the patient contact that really keeps me doing this. Not as much of a deal-breaker as the second though... The second point is that contrary to what we discussed during the entry interview, the manager feels that pharmacists don't need to take breaks - that standing in one spot checking prescriptions for 8 hours or more (without bathroom breaks or a lunch break) is expected. I remember him saying as much to the students there as if it was a point of pride, that you need to get used to it or you won't succeed. I'm going to take a stab at getting a break in during a lighter period next shift, just to see how he reacts.

The sad thing is that he did address taking breaks during the entry interview before I transferred over... as if it was common, that it really depends on the load at the pharmacy and who you're working with at that time. Personally I think it's dangerous to do a whole shift without breaks: First your eyes can "glaze over" and you stop seeing things clearly making it more likely for errors to get through. If we were dealing with say a chair that might not be such a big deal, but with medication it can be harmful or even fatal. I actually had to slow down quite a bit towards the end of my last shift since I was catching myself on the edge of making mistakes. Second, putting patients at risk in that manner also puts your license at risk - putting your ability to practice at risk in this manner isn't worth it. Third, it's unnecessary and unpleasant. I get headaches and snappy if I don't get a break to eat partway through a shift, I don't want to be -that- person in the pharmacy that people are afraid to approach because I'm being -that- way.

Really, patients need to be put first and this practice does not put them first. Unless the place is swamped next shift I'm definitely going to fit one in, it's unreasonable otherwise.

Frozen pipes

After yesterday's shift, I came home to a plumber in the house for the second time this week to defrost some pipes - Toronto's cold snap is not agreeing with our house. This plumber thinks that the front wall of the basement where the city's water pipe is coming in is not insulated well enough. That much is obvious when you stick your hand in the hole in the wall where the access is and feel around - it's cold. The city's water comes in, then goes up that wall and along the ceiling after. The plumber feels that the water's freezing along that section of pipe that's going up the wall. For the time being we're going to leave water running to make sure there's no freezing over again and look at more permanent solutions next week. More likely than not we're going to have to tear down a big section of wall and really insulate the stuffing out of it.

1st day at new job

Just finished the first day at the new job. Things went relatively well... but I do feel that they are understaffed. The manager told me they lost 3 people recently due to various transfers and relocations so that probably  contributed to it. I hope that some of those were pharmacists since that would explain the relentless basket backlog. I had time for a few Medschecks while there was another pharmacist on, and did counselling etc... but whenever I returned to the workflow always felt like there was another fire to put out. I'm not a slow checker either, I know I'm fairly quick so that it went that way surprised me. I'm only going to do things at a speed that I feel that I can be professional with - both my license and the health of patients are more important than just getting things out.

I saw a few things that made me suspicious of corners being cut, such as prescriber information not being written down on verbal prescriptions and people using other peoples' logins to verify prescriptions. It has only been my first day at this place though so I don't know if this was something isolated to today or is a more systemic problem. Definitely will have to keep my eyes open.

Another problem I noticed was the wait times being given out seem sufficient at the time, but because of the technicians disordering the baskets for the people waiting (they unintentionally LIFO them I think) the ones that need to get out first are pushed back or put on the bottom of the stack. I think this is indicative of what's going on here - people are working hard but not as efficiently or as organized as they should be. I can deal with this kind of thing eventually since these organizational habits can be easier to change... The other stuff (unprofessional shortcuts) I really hope isn't happening on a regular basis since that's going to be more difficult to do anything about.

David Attenborough Calls Humans a "Plague Upon the Earth"

I love David Attenborough. It's a risk for him to take a position like this on an issue like this but I'm glad that he has. It falls in line with much of what he's said and done in the past.

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/david-attenborough-calls-humans-plague-upon-earth.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Job Success!

Well, that was much simpler than I expected. It wound up being a simple internal transfer and we wound up discussing shifts and when I was coming in before he even looked at my resume. Everyone seems nice there, so this whole switching locations business seems to have worked out much nicer than I could have expected when it started. So, tomorrow I get my first -real- pharmacist shift (yes!).

Complicating the mix is that while waiting for this one to sort out, I applied to a couple other positions. One wants to talk over the phone, I think it's a phone screen. I'll see if they can hold off on that phone call until next week so I can get a better sense of how the work environment is at this new place first.

Progress

After my initial reaction to finding out about the potential position in my present employment location not being available anymore, it took me a few days to calm down. It's hard to really say how much something that gets to you really does until you're trying to relax. I had a hard time these past few days. Anyways, the person in charge of the hiring for the area returned my call placed a few days ago and said something is opening up close to where I'm working. That location has a good reputation too and the hours sound reasonable. I just have to get a hold of the manager there to chat about it and if I don't screw that up then it should be mine.

I'm trying to keep my expectations in check, but if I'm able to pull this off and get a few good shifts per week without having to fight too hard for them it's almost the ideal situation. Fingers crossed.

First Person Tutor: A Game of Grading

http://gradinggame.com/prototype.html
This is a surprisingly interesting game. You're a tutor sentenced to grade papers to pay off your student debt - the professors employing you inevitably want you to fail each student based off of social media criticism of the prof. Most of the errors I've found so far are single word spelling/repetition errors, but that doesn't mean that it can't mix it up later on with more advanced grammar. I just haven't seen it yet.

I think it's a pretty cool concept for a game and will definitely be playing this later on tonight to show my wife, she loves this language stuff

Back to the drawing board

This has been a frustrating week for a number of reasons, hopefully writing it out will clear my head a bit

To set the stage: I'm licensed now. I've been working as an intern, and have been in discussions with my manager regarding positions. There was a theoretical position opening up due to an impending departure that would have been mine up until she decided to turn it into registered technician positions. I was crushed (after work... not during) and now I need to go back to the drawing board to figure out what my game plan is. It certainly wasn't anything I did as I was exceeding expectations and she said as much then and previously.

There is a chance they might keep me on in the region so there is some hope - I'm just in no position to be relocated long term. I really do hope this works out in such a way that allows me to stay local

I woke up this morning with a wicked migraine partly because of that and partly because of sleep lost thinking about it. I really need to let this mood/condition blow over so I can get on with things so I'm going to be taking it easy today.

Boil the Frog

http://static.echonest.com/frog/

This is a neat website, where you can punch in a few artists and it'll come up with what should be a logical transition between the two of them songwise. Say, heading between Weezer and Lady Gaga in 18 songs (or Iron Maiden in 14 songs - somehow Maiden's easier to get to than Gaga from Weezer). It's a neat toy, I doubt it'll keep my interest long but it's interesting to see what it can come up with in the meantime

Beertone

http://gizmodo.com/5974774/forget-pantone-heres-beertone

I saw this on Gizmodo this morning and thought to share it. My wife and I have been going through paint colors for the house in anticipation of the drywall getting done so I've seen quite a few of these types of things, but I've never seen anything that would let you match a color to a beer. Apparently once you find your color you're able to get the RGB, CMYK and SRM values right off the card. Could be useful for those who want to grade the color of their beer while on the go as well as those who want to match their walls to their beer (I want to sleep in the stout room...)

Two things I have learned in the past week

This past week has been one for the books. There's been a number of very interesting things going on in the background that could prove to be very good for us (myself and my wife), but I'm not going to comment on them until they actually happen. Don't want to jinx it! I've also applied to get my status changed with the regulatory college from being an intern to being a practicing pharmacist. It's taking them a while to get to it but I can't blame them given that everyone that just passed the exams must be applying all at the same time.

Ok. Now to the column topic.
This week has been an educational one in some more human ways than I would care to admit. I like Soundgarden. A lot. Their new album's pretty good too. Anyways, I was listening to some of their old stuff, really getting into it and started "rocking out" in a door frame and smacked my head into it. Still wearing the mark almost 5 days later but at least it's almost gone. When you do something like that and the wife's commenting on the size of the hockey puck on your head you can't really say much to regain your pride - just that it happened and that you're sucking it up. Lesson learned: don't head bang in a doorway!

Next lesson: Barbecues. I wanted one really badly, especially since buying a house - now we're able to actually have one! We have a couple of friends that had a spare that they weren't using and we thought we could fit it into my car. What a mistake that was. We had to disassemble the entire thing practically and it didn't fit into the car even then. We had to use my friend's car to take it over. Because the barbecue was already used there was a bunch of crap in the bottom of it and the briquettes... it was leaving a mess. Even with the car liner it was leaving a mess. Also some of the screws and nuts were rusted so they weren't coming apart easily which prevented us from disassembling some crucial pieces that would have let us fit it into my car. Anyways I guess the short version of the lesson is if you're moving a barbecue don't bother disassembling it and just wait until you can get access to a vehicle that'll let you move it in one piece (or as close to it as possible). I think we spent 3 hours out on the street in cold weather with tools trying to take that thing apart - it didn't win but it almost did!

CatStop continued again

So, I'm waiting by the back window watching a grey and darker colored striped cat. It's hanging around an old firepit that we're not going to be able to use (it's illegal now - besides, it's crumbling). It only has one option from where it is: to walk in front of the Cat-Stop since it can't get out of the pit due to the height of the snow on top. It walks up to it, sniffs the side, looks at the front and slinks away over to another part of the yard. I was expecting shock and awe, not "I'm annoyed, I'll go over here". After I went out to chase the cat off I moved the CatStop to where the cat was going to hopefully let the unwelcome annoyance know that he's not welcome there either.

Am I doing something wrong? Does this not work? Do I need an array of 5 of these to properly cover my yard?

Penumbra Black Plague, Requiem

Just finished playing through Requiem (the last of the trilogy) and am left with mixed feelings. The first one (overture) started with quite a bit of promise and a few rough edges to work out. Black Plague (the second) largely resolved the rough edges, got rid of most of the annoying combat and was a fairly well rounded experience. There are enemies present, but you spend your time hiding from them since you can't fight them. I've got a soft spot for stealth games so that's a plus. For the most part the puzzles make sense and are solvable by anyone who's spent time with these sorts of games. The real negative for me in this is the voice for Clarence, a 'personality aspect' you pick up part way into the game. The voice was super annoying, and the dialog didn't do that much for me. Well on its way to achieving its potential, it's too bad the third installment didn't follow the same trajectory.

Requiem dispensed with any story for the most part and presented itself as a set of puzzles. Even with the annoying voice over (Clarence) for most of Black Plague, I still preferred it to Requiem largely because of the story elements. Removing them really hurt the package... I've read someplace that Frictional Games originally intended it to be a trilogy and did most of what they wanted to do in two games and intended on leaving it there. The third (Requiem) was apparently an afterthought and it feels like it was. The graphics, puzzles and sound are all there and acceptable given its age, it's just that it lacks that 'something' to draw you in. The moving block puzzles that didn't pretend to be anything but, and an audio commentator that announced how many keys you had left to find did not help to draw me in at all (it took me out of the experience). Not a bad experience by any means, it just feels unnecessary.

CatStop continued

Just installed it behind a high traffic tree in the backyard. I could hear some noises being created as I walked in front of it so I know it's doing something. Hopefully I'll be able to see it work successfully soon!