week dymbedhjete

I want to apologize for the delay in posting this blog, as you will see, I took the weekend off and that included from blogging.I promise not to let it happen again! So this week we had an exam in Pharmaceutical Biochemistry, always a fun class. The lecturer is awesome, but the material is sub-par to say the least. So we learned about the Serine proteases and crammed our heads full of vitamins. Oh and GLYCOLYSIS and Krebs cycle or Citric Acid Cycle, I call it The CAC, pronounced cack. It was a demon to say the least. All of you pre-pharmacy studs reading this, be sure and learn it now and save yourself some time. Other than that, and changing up professors again, it went pretty smoothly last week. Speaking of changing professors, I get the concept, each teaches what they are best at, and it hasn't been too bad so far. However, it is kind of annoying to finally get used to one's teaching style and then have it all shifted on you. Some is for the better and some for the worse, but you think the one thing they could keep stable for you in the crazy life that is PharmD would be the profs. Nah! That'd be too easy! I guess the biggest change from undergrad to PharmD is the craziness of it all, I feel like I am perched on the edge of a great abyss and it'll only take one more little thing to push me over. I know I am not the only one to feel this way, but I guess it is for the best. Pharmacy is almost never structured and every day is a new day. So it is best we be prepared for the craziness that is being a pharmacist. One of our labs is finally done! Woot! And we had our last Introduction to Pharmaceutical Care, or whatever that class is called. To say the least, it feels like the end is near and it's nice to have a little more taken off our plates before the three weeks of hell that follow Thanksgiving.

In other news, as I said above, I took the weekend off and we went to the Renaissance Festival (RF) in Plantersville, aka BFE, and Wurstfest in my hometown of New Braunfels. Both of which were way fun and a nice relief from the usual study filled weekend. Though I did feel guilty every once in awhile, I think I needed the respite. Otherwise I might have fallen off the edge of slightly insane to bonkers.

The RF, acronyms all day baby, was quite enjoyable, especially since I got to wear a kilt all day and have a healthy breeze. It's a little uncomfortably sitting down, but other than that is was fine. We walked and looked at all the crazy shit and watched a whip cracker, who was cracking jokes as much as his whips. (BA-ZING) They had many weapons and I totally wanted to get a sword, mace, and battle ax, but it just wasn't in the cards. They also had some sweet hats with big plumes on them, but the $80 price tag put a damper on me being a pimp with that hat also. Whenever I graduate, I am gonna buy one of them hats fo sho! We had great fun and met a wizard!

This dude was a baller to say the least.

Here we awesome folks be, my sleeves were very puffy, and would have been perfect for stashing a wand. EXPECTO PATRONUS!

The Wurstfest was also a great time, and we had lots of beer! It's a little bit pricey, what isn't these days, but since it was the last day we got in for free! Plus we woke up late, had breakfast, then went back to sleep. It was a much needed break from living life in the fastline that we have been doing. We ended up running into my mom and my little brother and had a great time with them. Got to dance to the Chicken Dance and some polka. Oh and did I mention they had beer, lots of beer! Potato pancakes, that we waited in line for 45 minutes for, but were amazing, and brautwurst in a stick. Marie dressed up but wasn't able to make me a costume, so I procured a hat and we made plans for me to be rocking the lederhosen next year.

Marie's awesome costume, and my hat.

A.J. doesn't mess around when it comes to the Longhorns. Check out that serious face!

Alright my blogger friends, I need to start studying! I have a whole weekend to make up for and a test the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to own and not get owned by. I hope you enjoyed this week, remember to give an animal some love, the good kind only! Pervs. Just glad to have survived another week in The PharmD life. Pray I make it through finals!

Week Zwolf

Sorry for the delay, I am just now getting the chance to sit down and blog. It's been a pretty action packed weekend, between working and partying I haven't gotten too much done. So last week blew big dragon ballz. To start off the fabulous 3 test, 3 quiz week, my body decided to pull a fast one on me and get sick. So I started the "hell" week feeling like crap, and didn't start to feel better until yesterday. So I took a whole bunch of knowledge assessments with a head full of more boogers than knowledge. Hopefully I didn't fail any. I think it's crazy how much my perception has changed since undergrad. I honestly considered B's as a failing grade in undergrad. Now I just want to pass. My brain is sore from all the exercise it's getting and I have no time to rest it. Even if I don't have a test to study for I still think about tests coming up. It makes me want to vomit. But enough of the biotching, I have made it through another week in the PharmD life and I haven't failed out yet, so there is still hope.

I got to relieve some of my stress by going to a Sysco roll out party for the new warehouse they're opening. Open bar and getting to hang out with my wife and the in-laws. It was perfect! Then we went to Perry's Steakhouse, good food, ridiculous prices. I had a $40 steak, thankfully Sysco picked up the tab. Then we ended up on 6th street and things got crazy. Marie's dad's friend from work was plastered and buying us drinks and being all crazy. We quickly vacated or else we knew we'd be puking in the bushes. The hotel room was amazing, it had two TVs and a living room with a couch and table! The place was bigger than our apartment! It was a wonderful little mini vacation. Marie and I got to spend some time together without pharmacy notes. I wish it wasn't over already. Now back to the grindstone.

I found out how much of a nerd I am and how much pharmacy school is drifting in to my normal life. As I am laying in bed last night, about to pass out, I start hoping that I have enough Alcohol and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase enzymes to be able to convert the ethanol to the less harmful acetyl form. How nerdy/lame is that? And then I start pondering whether water is used in the reaction which is why people become so dehydrated when drinking heavily. And then I passed out. Only a pharmacy school kid would be wondering about their converting rate while still drunk. I cannot escape it! Luckily my rate is good and I had no hangover to accompany me to work today. I think that extra hour of sleep really helped out.

Alright, that's all folks! I need to start studying for my Bio-chem test on Wednesday. I hope you enjoyed my 12th week of Pharmacy school craziness. Hopefully I won't be crazy when I get out of here. See you next week in the PharmD life, if I make it that long......

week одиннадцать

First of all, those are some weird letters huh? I did copy and paste them and as part of the interactive blog you can copy/paste into Google to find the language. Secondly, this blog is going to have to be short this week, somebody hates us PharmD kidz and decided next week would be perfect for three tests and three quizzes. Oh well, story of our lives. Just got through a rough Anatomy exam and came home last night and prepared to start studying for pchem. Unfortunately, the Rangers game and huge glass of boxed wine got in the way. Instead I spent a little time hanging out with my wife. It was well needed! I feel bad for her all the time, I have to spend all my life wrapped in school that I think she is getting the short end of the stick. We just keep telling ourselves it'll be worth it. Marie had a similar blog just yesterday about how crudy our lives are right now. It could be worse though and that thought is what keeps us trucking on.

For all those thinking about Pharmacy school, and I know I have said this before, be prepared for a rough 4 years. It's no walk in the park and for the most part it isn't very fun. There are some people who hang out and have fun over the weekends, so if you are smart enough to not need to study everyday, then you can still have fun every couple of weeks. Just don't take this life choice lightly and DON'T put things off. Get stuff done whenever you can, there is a lot of busy work, and you will be less stressed and have more time for you or your mate or your family or your dog/cat/bird/snake/scorpion/rat/hamster/ect. or your television or your Facebook account.

So to recap, this week sucked a little, next week will suck a lot and I have now made it through ELEVEN weeks in the PharmD life. Only eight more in this semester and 84 more total. I'll keep taking them on one by one and hopefully I'll come out a Doctor of Pharmacy. Thanks for reading and since this is a kinda lame and sad post, I'll leave you with an awesome pic.

That is Sophie helping Marie cheat at Scrabble. What a fatty!

Week Zehn

This week in the PharmD life we were in the eye of the storm. We finished a week of three brutal tests and then, nothing. Now we begin the onslaught of tests again. We have the second Anatomy test and it is going to be hard. It is over the nervous systems and that happens to be our professor's specialty, so he likes to make it very in-depth. However, I have faith that all of us can make it through. Everyone above us, save a few poor souls, made it. So why not us? There was a silly research paper due on Thursday that some people put off and they ended up pulling all nighters to finish it in time. That sucks! I think I would probably die if I tried to stay up all night. My hat's off to you, and I hope you get to catch up on sleep this weekend. Who am I kidding? We are all going to be studying this weekend. Gotta learn the material! Because it is vitally important to know what wouldn't work anymore if I got shot on the left, lower side of my spine. That way I know how much I need to cry while bleeding on the ground.

In other news, Marie and I have been very bad and watching MOVIES! I flipping love movies and that is one of the main things I have had to give up while in pharmacy school. So it has been very relaxing to get to sit on the couch next to my wife and enjoy an escape from the real world. We have been on a Halloween theme and watched Hocus Pocus, which is a very good movie and reminds you of all the ugly crap the 90's had to offer, Sleepy Hollow, Johnny Depp is such a good actor, Beetlejuice, a classic for certain, Casper, not gonna lie, this was Marie's pick, and the only actual scary movie.......The Shinning! Jack Nicholson can play one creepy MoFo. Those freaking eyebrows! I swear he doesn't have control over them and they are trying to be an actor also. The score in The Shinning is amazing and, in this day and age, the only thing that really makes that movie scary. I cannot wait until I graduate and we are able to watch movies whenever we want! And maybe even go out on a date and see one! How awesome such simple little things sound when your life consists of nothing but tests.

October is already almost over and next comes November and then it's December! (A sneak preview of Rachel Black's next song) Which means that we are almost done! One more full month and three little weeks between us and freedom! Freedom for a month at least. Then it all begins again. But I think it'll get better as we move on, or we'll just think it's getting better. All that matters is that I am one week closer to getting that beautiful piece of paper that says Dr. Brendon Hogan is a bad mutha! Oh and then I have to take an exam to get my license. Hopefully that'll be a cake walk after all we'll have been through. Enjoy your next week my spooky friends and I will talk to you again next week! Piece out from this worn out student in the PharmD life.

Week Huit

That's French. I looked it up online. I figure I'll use a different language for the number every week. That way we can all learn something!

Alright, so yesterday night was the end of the most hellacious week to date in this man's pharmacy school career, but I know it can only get worse! I am thankful to have made it through three action packed exams and a quiz that I would call a test in undergrad, just shorter. Maybe that is the definition of quiz? Oh well, the point of the story is, that every type of examination that you undergo in pharmacy school is hardcore, and needs to be treated as such. It's like a lion, treat it with respect and caution, or you'll get eaten!

The Pharmaceutical Biochemistry exam started the week off with a bang, Monday night at 7pm. It actually wasn't too bad in my opinion, I am very glad I learned the Amino acids! Why does my computer not know how to spell amino? Anyways, so if you are planning on going to pharmacy school, learn the amino acids! I have already had two exams that cover them and honestly, they're essential to life, so know them! Then we had a day off, HAHA! as if there are such things as days off in pharmacy school, from tests and we all studied our brains out for the coming Biopharmaceutics exam on Wednesday morning. It came, and went, nothing spectacular. Just a lot of memorization. Then Thursday night showed up. Medicinal Chemistry Lecture and Lab tests, at the same time! They give you two tests and say have at it. Vomit! And don't think that the lab is lab so it's easy, nope, the lab was the harder of the two. So we'll see how that week turned out. Hopefully I'll check blackboard on Monday and find three nice and crisp A's! Even if they are 90's I'll take it!

Needless to say, everything else in my life had to take the back burner. I shoved my brain so full of knowledge that it literally ached every single day. I never thought that I would have a study induced headache. I guess the longer you live the more experiences you get exposed too. Just remember that pharmacy school is a huge undertaking, so know that this is what you want to do, and make sure you're okay with not getting to do much else besides study. Now a lot of people do have fun on the weekends, so if you can get away without working, I would suggest it. Or work like once a month.

We finally have a free week, besides those stupid lab quizzes, this week. It is our last free time before the real fun begins. We have tests every week leading up until finals, and then we have more tests! And a Saturday one to boot. But at least we will be done earlier by taking one on Saturday.

Enjoy your weekend and get some rest, but don't fall behind! For all the pre-pharmacy students. Enjoy your life while you still can! Or alienate all your friends and family now. It'll make it easier when you start school! Remember to have your pets spayed or neutered, and stop by The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and buy a ribbon for the Austin Humane Society. Not only will you get a discount all month, but you are helping the animals! And as a reminder for why you need to help the animals, I will sign off with this beautiful picture of a true study breaker.

El seventh weeko

Awesome! We have made it through three tests so far! Not to mention plenty of quizzes that are fairly difficult as well. Things are starting to roll pretty quickly and we are fast approaching the end of the semester. This week ending actually marked the half-way point of the semester! I know Marie is glad about that! Hopefully we all survive together. 

I wanted to take a little chunk out to commend all of the spouses/significant others/boyfriends/girlfriends out there. Pharmacy school is rough, but not just on the PharmD student. I know my wife is having to make a lot of sacrifices and she is stressed out over this too. So be sure to let them know you appreciate what they are going through as well. It will be worth it in four years!

Next week is our first week from hell. We have a test Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, plus two quizzes on Friday! I know my brain is going to fall out when I finish, but this week will only be an appetizer to what happens after Thanksgiving. Those last three weeks are going to be miserable. Hang in there my Dear Readers! We will survive this turmoil, we MUST survive this turmoil! 

A little note from the working side of me. Do NOT take negative things patients say to you, to heart. You will be called names, cussed out, yelled at, pleaded with, bribed, and many more, in your career. Just let it roll of your back, give them a smile and thank them. Don't go home and cry yourself to sleep about it. If you cannot handle being cussed out, pharmacy is not for you. If you cannot tell people no, pharmacy is not right for you. Well retail and hospital anyways, go into research if you can't handle these types of things. The good news, you will have patients that are so nice and you care so much about, that you think of them as family. It is these people that you wade through the manure everyday to help. Don't expect to have an easy life as a pharmacist, expect to have a rewarding life. 

I am going to start studying some bio-chem now! Pre-pharmacy students, MEMORIZE THE AMINO ACIDS NOW! Pharmacy students, good luck and may the Force be with you for the next four years and beyond.

Another week has passed in the PharmD life and I hope the next 188 weeks pass by as quick as possible!

Seis Semananas!

My Dear Readers, today is a joyous day, it is the end of the school week! We had our first exam this week. Some people thought it to be easy, others challenging, and some even cried. I myself though the material was fair, but the questions were a little rough. Almost every question had a none of the above, all of the above, A and C but not B, A on Tuesday B on Wednesday, and all other crazy types of combinations. It completely defeated the purpose of having multiple choice which, upon reflection, may be a good thing. However, being the red-blooded American that I am, I always wanted there to be an answer so I wasn't comfortable putting none of the above, I missed a question because the answer was "Not enough information given", and I just thought I was doing the problem wrong and chose the answer closest to my worked out answer. When I saw that I just about puked in frustration. It was a learning experience and I now know to expect there to be answers like that on the test. So now we have begun the crazy loop-to-loop, corkscrew, sharp turn, head banging, chest slamming, scream filled decent, of our roller coaster ride that I call pharmacy school. We finally made it past the ka-chink phase and so far have survived. Five tests in the next two weeks! May the force be with you my PharmD seeking brethren.

In other news, I did a volunteer stint at the American Heart Walk this morning. We did a health screening and it was very fun and enlightening. I took blood pressures and directed traffic. Put listen and ask a lot of advice from you if you wear a white coat while doing it. Pretty neat. I didn't get to do the glucose and cholesterol checks this time, but next time I will be sticking folks like a porcupine! I was also interviewed by someone from the American Heart Walk Association and she said she is putting it up on the national website! Now I just have to wait to be discovered! I always told Marie I would be famous one day.

I have decided that sleep is going to be something that pharmacy students are not allowed and hopefully I get used to that soon. For now I will just pop caffeine pills like they're Tic-Tacs. I realize why a lot of pharmacists have trouble sleeping after they graduate. This is a rough life style to get back out of afterwards. Hopefully Marie will understand. By the way if you don't read her blog, you should fool! It's good! Lot's of arts and crafts and great recipes. Also she has a very cheerful disposition and it's a good read. And this is coming from a completely unbiased third party. Here's the link  http://marieeliz.blogspot.com/. 

I will leave you with a picture of one of the few things that brings me pure unadulterated joy.

Is she not the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen? No doubt about it, her and Greg are our babies!

I hope this next week treats you well my homies! I will hit you up again in seven days. Peace be with you!