...As I lay down by the curbing...

2003-03-04 - 12:17 p.m.

So this is management. The Mole never told Cheesecake that I was going to be joining him for the next four weeks so Cheesecake was totally unprepared. Of course it's also my fualt because I never told Cheesecake either, nor did I follow up to be sure the Mole talked ot him. But anyway, Cheesecake had his secretary give me a copy of his schedule and I've been going with him to all his meetings. As far as I know I'm not expected to do anything. In fact, I think I'm expected to do nothing. Except, perhaps, stay awake and look interested. I see now how people get addicted to caffeinated beverages. I feel wide awake until the moment my butt hits the chair and then my eyes start closing. Actually that's not true, I think I have a good five minutes before that starts to happen. I have this game I play in my head during meetings in which I'm expected to stay awake but not necessarily to pay attention. It's a little goofy. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime. But I'm afraid to play it now for fear that someone will ask me a question. Cheesecake said that tomorrow his schedule is less full so he will have a chance to go over what exactly will be expected of me over the next month. You know, it's funny, for some reason Cheesecake strikes me as a small man. Maybe it's his cute little ass. But today I was standing next to him and for the first time I realized that he is actually taller than me. He must be a very smart man, though. He was a pharmacy manager in Colorado before moving out west to work here. In order to practice out here, even as a manager, you have to have a California license. So coming from being years out of school and years out of practicing real pharmacy, Cheesecake had to take the California Board Exam. He passed it on his first try. That, to me, is impressive.

Yesterday out in clinic I was talking with one of the medical residents. She was talking to some other people about finding somewhere to moonlight to pick up some extra cash. I was sitting right by her so when those other people left she asked me my opinion on the matter. We discussed it a bit and then she asked me the inevitable, "What are you going to do after your residency?" I told her I really don't know. She asked if I was restricted in location and I told her I really have no attachments. I didn't go into any of the specifics of anything I'm looking into but we discussed the pros and cons of different types of pharmacy, namely retail versus clinical. Her opinion was that while I'm young and "footloose" I should go out and find the most interesting job possible in the most interesting place possible because I'll have my options severely limited later on when I have a family. And you know what? She has a point. I liked the way she said "when" and not "if" I have a family. No, I'm not throwing the whole Quincy idea out the window, but I'm beginning to look a little more closely at some other options. The best thing about being a pharmacist right now is that almost everywhere is hiring. I was thinking of working somewhere in the Pacific Northwest like Portland or Seattle. These are both places where I could still have ready access to both the ocean and mountains. Portland is cheaper to live in than Seattle, so I hear, so I was looking into Portland hospitals that have job openings for pharmacists. They all do. At least all the ones I looked at. It made me think a bit. I can do whatever I want to do. I mean, I only have to convince somebody I'm not brainless for long enough for them to hire me, right? And after that my smiling face and hard-working nature will be enough for them to want to keep me regardless of my brainlessness. Of course if I moved out of state I'd have to pass the NAPLEX, but that's not nearly as hard as the California Board. The passing rate of the Cali Board is about 50% over all while the passing rate of the NAPLEX is around 98%. So I'm not worried about that. Although it would suck much more to be part of the failing 2% on the NAPLEX than the failing 50% on the Californing Board.