scott in real life

Hey dudes… weeeeeeell… everything going swimmingly so far this month… Watching some deleted scenes from ‘Dan in Real Life’, … MAN- my Oppo DVD upconverter is so sweet… it really does seem to bring it up to about 80% HD quality-… I actually did some research before I bought it- there really seems to be a big chasm in upconverting technology [i.e. there’s a very noticeable difference between the “best” upconverter and the “worst”/”cheapest” upconverter…] and CNET was really positive about it. I can tell a gigantic difference after watching something on the Oppo and then going back to the xbox360 (which is STILL progressive-scan, a step up from “regular” DVD watching…)… it’s crazy… just watching ‘dan’, the color saturation is outstanding… the blacks are really black (the plasma has a lot to do with that as well), the colors all just pop out of the screen… in simplest terms, it would be like taking a kinda bad, grey-ish picture, and then using picasa’s shadows and highlights to fill out the spectrum- that’s exactly what it looks like… I actually ran out of batteries for my upconverter’s remote… so I put the DVD in the 360 to finish the 2nd half and it just looked grey and washed out… blurry… I know josh will get me on this, but I couldn’t even watch it! I had to take the batteries out of another remote and put it back in the oppo’s and move the DVD back over… the whole thing is like (pretty sure only josh and todd will get this) going back a generation on a game console… it’s amazing to me how going back to a PS2 after getting adjusted to the 360 suddenly- I start to see weaknesses, flaws, imperfections that I never knew existed- and no doubt in 4 or 5 years the I’ll look back on the 360 from the view of my PS4 and wonder what on earth I was thinking…

These special features are a lot of fun... Steve Carell is so great… he seems like a genuinely nice and down to earth guy in all his little interviews. ... I would recommend this movie to anybody and that’s not something I can say about very many movies… it’s something that touched me, spoke to me- the music is great, characters, actors, script, storyline- all great… easily my favorite movie of the last several years. I hope those of you reading this who haven’t seen it go out and rent it at your next opportunity. You won’t be sorry. J and J, the ‘making of’ part about the music (that I’ve been watching for the last 15 minutes) you’d really love- Sondre Lerche is a very talented musician, great voice- things he was playing around the set sounded just as good or better than the finished product…which is probably what I'd consider my definition of a good musician- not needing a lot of production on their work to make it sound

This month so far has been great… I’ve got so many stories built up from last month, and I’m already making some great ones this month- make sure to ask me about them when I get back to Nashville before I forget! So many stories… You know, I’ll be honest, for a long time here in pharmacy school I often told myself “man… If I could just hit ‘fast-forward’ and get out of school with the information I need to be a good pharmacist, that’d be great!” but these last 3 months of rotation have shown me a new light… I’d been looking forward to these for awhile, and they’ve turned out to be everything I wanted and more- it’s something MORE than just the INFORMATION I’m getting… it’s the experience of it all… of being taken under the wing of some of the most amazing minds I’ve ever met … the one on one time has really been great… I feel like I’ve been able to really grow as a professional, as a clinician- as well as seeing growth in my confidence, autonomy, purpose, and ability to troubleshoot… it’s like… this whole process is actually working.

Going on rounds with the ICU team this month… I’m a participating member on a team of doctors taking care of very sick people. I understand what they’re talking about, interject when medication errors are made (and they are made), even fill in gaps on patient histories (because I like talking to people!)… I get asked questions… not hypothetical/testing questions; I get asked things they don’t know… seriously, how amazing is that? What an incredible feeling to know that by using knowledge you possess- someone is able to feel better… wow. I see MD’s I’ve worked with in past months in the halls and they stop and smile and ask how I’m doing… it’s so hard for me to not take pictures of stuff throughout the day- there have been so many times on rounds where we’re all (all 11 of us) standing around in a group talking (official count this month: 5 MDs, 2 MD students, 2 PharmDs ,2 PharmD students) that I just want to whip out my camera-phone and snap a picture… because I honestly feel like- as well as I might describe it, it’s still quite unbelievable… if someone had told me what I’d be doing 5 years ago, I’d have said “uhhh… yeah.. sure”… I’d have probably nodded and smiled and halfway believed, but I wouldn’t REALLY have believed… how could I? How could you? Hey- I’m just glad you’ve made it though this much blogging and are still reading!

The preceptor this month is just out of this world smart... like stupid amounts of smart...- and just to go along with the whole “you can’t really believe it till you see it” theme, everyone has told me how smart this guy is… I’ve heard 4 people on 4 separate occasions call himthe “smartest person they’ve ever met”- no joke, but I still wasn’t convinced-- until the 1^st day. He told us:

“I’m not going to go on rounds with you because I don’t want to be there for them to ask questions- I want you guys to get those… and you’re at the end- you don’t have to run things by me. If you want to get a level, get a level… if you want to change an antibiotic for better coverage, or adjust it for renal function just do it. You know what to do- you’re not going to hurt anyone. I want there to be no doubt that WE are the drug EXPERTS. Just get out there and do what you know how to do.” It was actually pretty inspiring!

This guy… recited so many studies, so many statistics, always asks the best questions at noon conferences… the pure VOLUME of information this guy has crammed in his brain… I’m simply in awe on a daily basis.

…So after all of that… like I was trying to say to begin with- it’s not just about the information accrued… if anything, it’s equal-parts experience and information… which is not at all counter-intuitive… I simply think I had previously underestimated the impact of some of the ‘intangibles’… but it’s almost over… (don’t think that I’m any LESS ready for that than I was before)

yikes! It’s getting really late… holla!