Counting down the days

It's hard to believe that I have only seven more work days here in Virginia. Like most things in life, the days have gone slowly and the weeks have rushed by. Yesterday I felt that my manuscript draft was advanced enough to print and edit. I just might meet my goal of having a manuscript ready to submit when I leave here. So beware those of you who foolishly agreed to read the draft and give me comments. Watch your in-box today.

I met Diane (one of my cubicle-mates) and her husband, George, for dinner last night at the Macaroni Grill. It made me really miss the one in Lexington. When it closed, I was hopeful that they were just moving to Hamburg. Haven't seen one yet. George is an interesting guy. He was a Navy man and now, as a civilian, he works for the Navy. He is in charge of some system on all the submarines--too technical for me to understand. He is an engineer who went to MIT so you can see the problem I have in figuring out what he does.

As I count down the days, I will feature some of the friends I have made during my time at AACP. I don't have enough days to feature everyone so I will focus on those with whom I have spent the most time. Today's feature is on Diane. She works two cubicles over from me so I can easily hear her phone conversations. She works with the PharmCAS system (pharmacy school applications for those non-pharmacy types). She fields lots of calls from potential applicants and parents. She is infinitely patient answering their questions and is a wealth of information about schools, pharmacy as a career, and lots of random stuff too. Her experience as a parent of college students comes through in the empathy that is evident as families go through the trauma of choosing a school and hoping for acceptance. I really like Diane, and I did even before she brought me her homemade strawberry jam, but that sealed the deal.

Motherly Pride

I am struggling with my writing this morning so I thought a good avoidance behavior would be to make a blog entry. The weekend was pretty boring for me. Even though it didn't rain a lot, there was a threat of rain all weekend so I didn't do the sightseeing I had planned to do. I switched to some indoor activities--primarily shopping for a new derby outfit for next weekend. It doesn't rain inside the stores!

Since my life has been pretty boring lately, I thought I would make a post full of my motherly pride. Last Thursday, Mike and three of his friends got to have a dream golf day (see the photo). They drove to Louisville and played Valhalla. Just to show how upscale the place is, you have to have a caddie when you play there. Rough life! Then they went to Cardinal Club where John works and played some more. With his connections from working at Valhalla, John had arranged the day for them. What a great son! Mike said he encountered several people at Valhalla who found out he was John's father. They all told him what a great guy John is. I think so too.

Thursday night Chris flew into Louisville in preparation for the Derby Marathon on Saturday. He has been training since January for this. There was some rain in the morning, but for the most part, the rain held off and Chris finished in under 4 hours which was his goal. He looks pretty good in the picture for what he had just been through. Chris, John and Brittany celebrated on Fourth Street after the race. I would like to have been there, but I think I made a wise choice not to go to Louisville for the weekend. I worry less from a distance.

I guess I have procrastinated (and bragged) long enough. Back to my writing.

TGIF

Today looks like a nice day but the weekend will be rainy. That is too bad because it is my last weekend in Virginia and I wanted to do some sightseeing. I thought about making a last minute trip home to support Chris when he runs the Derby Marathon tomorrow. The plane tickets start at more than $600 and the only convenient itinerary is $900. I guess I will support him from afar. It is supposed to rain or thunderstorm in Louisville. I hope it holds off till afternoon for the runners.



Yesterday I made some progress in writing the discussion of my manuscript. I have so many ideas from the related literature and my own data that it has been hard to sort it all out. It is also hard to stay on the topic and not stray into other, but related, areas. I had a conversation with a consultant who was here yesterday working with AACP on their strategic plan. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that the BPS, Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties for you non-pharmacy types, is looking for evidence of the value of getting board certified. I mentioned that promotion and tenure documents address this issue. He was interested and is going to discuss it with the BPS folks. Maybe another collaborator!



Today should be quiet in the office. Several people are travelling--some to the ACCP meeting in Charlotte. I will try to make good use of the quiet atmosphere to get a lot of reading and writing accomplished.



Rain, rain go away.

Sports Update

Things are somewhat quiet for me at work these days. I am primarily writing a manuscript and getting things wrapped up to move home. So I thought a sports update might be a nice diversion. Here is what is going on in my sports world.

That world class marathon runner, Chris Piascik, will be arriving in Louisville this evening in preparation for running the Derby Marathon on Saturday. Go Chris!

My choice for a derby horse has got to be Homeboykris (for obvious reasons). He is the long shot. That means I only need to bet $2 to make a big profit!

I am moving up in the fantasy baseball league. This morning I have moved ahead of John in the standings. We'll see if it lasts. Family bragging rights are very important.

What is the world of baseball coming to? The Nationals appear to be good so far this year. They are expecting to bring Strasburg up to DC in about 5 weeks. I will miss him by about 2 weeks.

I guess that is it for today.

I missed him

You may recall that I made a post about Joe Theismann's restaurant a while back. I was complaining that his website makes it look like he is always around, greeting diners and serving food, etc. Well, a few days ago, Rebecca, Melinda, Maureen and Lucinda came back from lunch and announced that Joe Theismann was at the restaurant and they had their picture taken with him. I demanded proof and you can see what I received. Just my luck--I missed him!

I see that I have not posted for almost a week. I guess that shows how fast the time is going as I try to finish my manuscript and prepare to come home. Most of draft is in good shape but I am really struggling with the discussion. There is a lot I want to write and it all swims around in my head without any organization to it. I'm sure it will gel in time but I don't have much time to spare.

Yesterday we had a happy hour gathering with wine and cheese. Let's add that to the PPS department agenda. I'm sure the provost would be glad to find out we served wine at a department faculty meeting. It would improve attendance I think.

After work, I met Diane, Whitney and Jake at Bonefish for dinner. I had already eaten half of my dinner in cheese so I just had appetizers. It was quite tasty. It's too bad that I am just learning my way around here in time to come home.

Today and tomorrow there are strategic planning meetings. I know it is a necessary evil, but I really don't like strategic planning.

Nothing going on here

I haven't posted for a few days because there hasn't been anything to report about. I've been hearing more often from my Kentucky co-workers lately and yesterday got an email from one of the upcoming rotation students for May. So my real life is slowly re-emerging and I am seeing the end of my time in Virginia. It is too bad that I am just starting to get more comfortable here right before I leave. I am very familiar with the services I need now--post office, bank, grocery, etc. I bought the Wii Fit Plus so I can do some exercising in the condo. I got my car washed yesterday (note to self: don't go to Rt 1 at 5PM on a work day).

I guess the highlight of my day was finding a new smoothie place (Tropical Smoothie is temporarily closed and it puts a damper on my consumption of fruit). When I got back to the condo parking lot, there was a pickup truck parked in the NO PARKING area. The reason it is the NO PARKING area is that I can't get into my space if there is someone parked there. So I had to park over at the office for the rest of the day.

I missed a trip to Keeneland yesterday by not being in Lexington. Mike, John and Brit went out for the afternoon and then had dinner at Malone's. To add insult to injury,they texted me pictures. My revenge was that John planned to play some Big Bass Fishing on the Wii only to discover it missing. Don't worry John. It is coming home soon.

I have meetings today and tomorrow with staff here to show them my data and get some feedback on my project. I have done quite a bit of writing already. My goal is to have a manuscript ready to submit (or already submitted) when I get home. May will be a busy month with rotation students, my on-line summer course and Chris's graduation week. So it would be best if I can submit before I get home.

It looks like a beautiful day in Alexandria, Colorado Springs, and Kentucky. Let's enjoy it!

Sightseeing

Yesterday I visited the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. It is the most recognizable landmark in Alexandria. I see it every day and thought I should see the inside before I leave here. It was very interesting but not quite what I expected. I got there just as a tour began so I joined in. The main floor is sort of a rotunda with a huge bronze statue of George Washington and lots of murals and stained glass windows about GW. The building has 9 stories and we had to take elevators to view the upper floors. The building is somewhat like a cathedral with lots of stained glass and the feel of a chapel on some floors. The main focus of the displays is more about the freemasons than GW. There is a floor with many GW artifacts that has a resemblance to the Mt Vernon exhibits, a floor with the theme of King Solomon's temple with a reproduction of the Ark of the Covenant, a floor with a theme of the Knights Templar, a reproduction of King Solomon's throne, and an observation deck.

I overcame my fear of heights to go out on the observation deck and identify the condo building, the AACP building and a view across the Potomac to the National Mall. It was quite windy up there so I didn't stay outside very long.

The movie of Dan Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol, is set in Washington and there are some scenes at the Memorial. It will be interesting to see the movie now that I have seen the Memorial and have some understanding of the freemasons. I can see why people think of the masons as a religion. There are many religious overtones to the symbols and rituals. My visit was very educational and it was good exercise climbing up to the place.

I also did some errands, housework, Wii Fit, and watched the third round of the Masters. TV golf is not usually very interesting but it was pretty exciting yesterday. I'm going to work on my project this morning, go out for a walk and be back to see the back nine this afternoon. I like to see an American win the three U.S. major tournaments, so I will be rooting against Lee Westwood.

I saw in this morning's sports news that Patrick Patterson is 50-50 on returning to UK for his senior season. Keep your fingers crossed!

More visitors

I have been lucky this week to have lots of visitors to make the days pass quickly. I had dinner for the second time with my nieces Joyce, Jennifer and Amber on Wednesday night. We went to the Capitol City Brewing Company in Shirlington, a part of Arlington. I am starting to know how to get around in the car. Too bad I am getting good at it just in time to go home. You not only need to know where you are going. You also need to know how to avoid the most traffic. My first rule is to avoid any road that starts with an I.

On Thursday I rode the Metro in to DC at lunch time to meet my friend, Susan Jay, who moved to North Carolina a couple of years ago. Her husband Mike comes to DC occasionally to serve on NIH study section review committees. We had lunch at Chef Geoff's which is a few blocks from the White House. It was a beautiful but windy day so it was very pleasant to walk around DC. It reminded me that I only have a few weeks left here, and now that the weather is good, I need to take advantage of some more sightseeing before I go home. I think I will try to get out this weekend and see some things I haven't been to see before.

My project is going well. I am starting to feel the pressure of finishing a manuscript before I leave Virginia so I have my nose to the grindstone. I will probably work on the project with some of my weekend time. Speaking of my project, it is time to get to work. More news to come over the weekend.

I've been lazy

I logged in to make a post this morning and saw that I haven't posted since the end of March. I went home on April 1st for a long weekend and I never think of posting while I am there. Friday morning I went in to my UK office to meet with Mikael Jones about communications skills lectures. I appreciate that he and Mandy plus the rotation students are going to take over those hours for this semester. It will probably result in an improved schedule for the future too. I got to see a few other people and some students. It is amazing how easy it is to just jump back into my other life when I go home.

I used my time over the weekend to catch up on some things like a haircut and some shopping. On Friday we went to opening day at Keeneland. It was crazy! I wasn't surprised to see that it was a record crowd. You could not move because there were people everywhere. The weather was so beautiful. Spring in Kentucky is very colorful and always lifts your spirits after the cold, gloomy winter weather. It has continued to be warm and sunny on my return to Virginia. There are also lots of springbreakers around right now. Of course, you can't tell any difference on the roads here because traffic is always bad. But I see a definite increase in families on the Metro headed in to DC.

For Easter Sunday, we went to John and Brittany's house. Brittany's mother, Vickie, was there too. We had a great dinner and were very impressed with the home improvements they have made.

Monday morning it was back to Virginia on the direct morning flight and straight to the office. I have spent the last two days learning the basics of SPSS and getting my data organized. I have started the analysis and I am pretty excited that I will be writing results and discussion for my first paper pretty soon. I hope to get Part 2, a survey of department chairs and faculty, up and running before I leave here. That is an ambitious goal but I hope it is doable.

Last night I had dinner with Joyce, Jennifer and Amber. They were in town for Amber's spring break. We ate at Joe Theismann's. I must say that I have been there at least 6 times and Joe has never been there to take my order. On their website, he appears to hang out there a lot. This is very misleading to customers.

I'd better get to work. SPSS awaits!