Either today or tomorrow I will finish going through promotion and tenure documents for about 100 pharmacy schools. It has taken longer than I anticipated and has sometimes been mind-numbing. The biggest problem has been finding that I didn't have all the necessary information from some of the schools. Either they didn't send me all the documents I needed or I found a reference in the documents to something else I wanted to read. Searching school websites for what I need has taken a lot of time. I'm looking forward to seeing what the data has to say.
I spent some time working over the weekend but I also spent quite a bit of time watching basketball. Both of my teams moved on (actually all three counting the Kentucky women). I'm worried about Cornell. They look awfully good. I'm counting on the Buckeyes todd put Bruce Pearl and the Volunteers in their place!
On Saturday I went out to enjoy the great weather. Somehow I ended up at the mall and bought a few spring items --earrings, shoes and tops-- since I don't have much warm weather clothing here. On Saturday night I went to a gathering at my nephew Jeremy's house in Lorton. It is always fun to visit with him, Heather, Joel and Lacy. He had invited people over from work in honor of a coworker who is deploying to Iraq for 6 months. It turns out that he and his wife are from Louisville! Once again returning to my theme of what a small world it is. I drove my car there even though it meant getting on the dreaded I-495 and 95. How is it possible for there to be so much traffic headed south on I-95 at 5PM on Saturday. I don't think I will ever complain about traffic in Lexington again.
Well, I'd better get to work and get my P&T documents finished. I'm having company tomorrow and I want to take some time off to spend with them.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
TGIF
It is another beautiful day in Virginia. I hope the weather is this good in Kentucky, Ohio and Colorado where all my blog readers are located. The weather is supposed to be in the 70s through the weekend so I plan to get outside as much as possible.
Yesterday was a good day for basketball-lots of exciting games and 100 points for UK! Today I will watch my other team, Ohio State. Wouldn't UK and OSU in the final four be a great way to finish the tournament? Georgetown's loss ruined my bracket but at least they won't keep Kentucky off the TV to broadcast the next Georgetown game.
My work is going well. I hope to have my review of P&T documents finished by Monday so I can start working on data analysis. This will be particularly painful since I am a statistics dummy. I guess it is time to learn to do this for myself. The early indicators are that I will have some interesting findings. I hope so. It has been mindnumbing work to read 100 sets of boring P&T documents.
I am invited to Jeremy and Heather's house tomorrow so I will set the navigation system and set out on another driving adventure. Last week I drove my house guest Gayle in to the convention center in DC because her meeting was early on the weekend and the Metro didn't start early enough. I decided that 6:30 AM on the weekend is the optimum time to drive in DC.
I hope all my readers have a great weekend. GO Bucks and GO Cats!!
Yesterday was a good day for basketball-lots of exciting games and 100 points for UK! Today I will watch my other team, Ohio State. Wouldn't UK and OSU in the final four be a great way to finish the tournament? Georgetown's loss ruined my bracket but at least they won't keep Kentucky off the TV to broadcast the next Georgetown game.
My work is going well. I hope to have my review of P&T documents finished by Monday so I can start working on data analysis. This will be particularly painful since I am a statistics dummy. I guess it is time to learn to do this for myself. The early indicators are that I will have some interesting findings. I hope so. It has been mindnumbing work to read 100 sets of boring P&T documents.
I am invited to Jeremy and Heather's house tomorrow so I will set the navigation system and set out on another driving adventure. Last week I drove my house guest Gayle in to the convention center in DC because her meeting was early on the weekend and the Metro didn't start early enough. I decided that 6:30 AM on the weekend is the optimum time to drive in DC.
I hope all my readers have a great weekend. GO Bucks and GO Cats!!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Madness Begins
This morning I slept in until 7 so I didn't get to make a blog post at the condo. The walk to the office this morning was great. The sun is shining, the air is crisp and it will be 71 degrees today. I definitely have to spend the lunch hour walking around Alexandria.
The NCAA tournament begins today and I love to watch the games. I worked ahead last night and reviewed two of my schools on the list for today. That will buy me a little time to check on the afternoon games. Kentucky doesn't play until 7:15. Unfortunately, that is the same time Georgetown plays. So Kentucky won't be on regular TV. I will either have to watch it on the internet or go to a sports bar if I can find someone to go with me.
I guess I'd better get to work so I can stay on my schedule to finish the document reviews before Mike and Chris come to town next Tuesday.
GO CATS!!
The NCAA tournament begins today and I love to watch the games. I worked ahead last night and reviewed two of my schools on the list for today. That will buy me a little time to check on the afternoon games. Kentucky doesn't play until 7:15. Unfortunately, that is the same time Georgetown plays. So Kentucky won't be on regular TV. I will either have to watch it on the internet or go to a sports bar if I can find someone to go with me.
I guess I'd better get to work so I can stay on my schedule to finish the document reviews before Mike and Chris come to town next Tuesday.
GO CATS!!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Back to Solitary Living
The APhA meeting is over and yesterday my visitor Gayle went home to Buffalo. We had a good time while she was here. I was glad to have company and a companion to travel back and forth on the Metro. I was a little concerned that we would not be comfortable living together in this small space for 5 days, but it worked out well. One reason was that we spent little time in the condo other than sleeping. Gayle brought me two books. I am reading "The No Complaining Rule." I'm sure my family and co-workers will be glad to hear that.
It rained all weekend. Coupled with the melting of the snow, there was some flooding here. For those of you who have visited Alexandria, there was flooding down by the river. If you want to see what it looked like, watch the video from Channel 7 http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0310/716342_video.html?ref=newsstory
I am back to working on my P&T documents for my project. It is getting very old to read these very dry documents day after day. I am anxious to be done with this part of the project and get on to looking at the data and writing. I have set a goal of 10 school document reviews a day to get down by next week. It is tedious but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Happy St Patrick's Day to all. I don't have any green clothes to wear to work today. I hope I don't get pinched.
It rained all weekend. Coupled with the melting of the snow, there was some flooding here. For those of you who have visited Alexandria, there was flooding down by the river. If you want to see what it looked like, watch the video from Channel 7 http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0310/716342_video.html?ref=newsstory
I am back to working on my P&T documents for my project. It is getting very old to read these very dry documents day after day. I am anxious to be done with this part of the project and get on to looking at the data and writing. I have set a goal of 10 school document reviews a day to get down by next week. It is tedious but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Happy St Patrick's Day to all. I don't have any green clothes to wear to work today. I hope I don't get pinched.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Weekend at APhA
It was a busy weekend--professionally and socially. This year the programming did not have a lot of topics of interest to me for teaching. I attended the sessions relating to personalized medicine and phamacogenomics, the pharmacy workforce, and a few miscellaneous things. I also like to stroll the exhibits and see what is new. I no longer collect a lot of stuff at the various exhibitors because most of it ends up in the trash later. One of the things I enjoy most about these meetings is talking to colleagues about things going on at their schools and catching up with friends.
My friend Gayle Brazeau from Buffalo stayed with me during the meeting and we Metroed in to DC for the day every day. It was a very cost effective way to attend the meeting (Think about $239/night plus tax times 5 days = at least $1300). The downside is that we have nowhere to go during the day to get off our feet and take a break. Since we have been going in to the meeting between 7-8AM and returning about 1o PM, they are long days.
This morning Gayle asked me what I learned about pharmacy at this meeting. I have been pleased to see that the chains were highlighting their patient care services and community residencies. They are either embracing patient care services or realize that today's new practitioners are trained for more than dispensing and are not looking for that kind of practice setting. I am not as pessimistic as many others that we are training too many pharmacists (at least not yet). Now that there are enough pharmacists to fill traditional roles, and students are seeking dual degree and residencies, I think we will see the development of innovative pharmacy services and graduates who are attracted to pharmacy careers that have been underserved--like academia!
I enjoyed having all my Kentucky colleagues in town because it gave me a chance to spend a lot of socializing time with them. I got to try some new restaurants in DC and expand my culinary horizons with some new entrees. We went to Old Ebbitt's Grill, Zenga, and Georgia Brown's. Of course, all the Kentuckians were at a sports bar for the SEC tournament. It was a little more exciting than we really wanted it to be--but the Cats prevailed and got their #1 seed for the tournament. I also experienced the beer tower. Since there were anywhere between 12-30 people at each game, there were a lot of beer towers purchased.
Today, there is only one session I want to attend. I am going to try to be time efficient and take some work with me on the Metro to get something accomplished as I travel. Hopefully, the rain will stop. It has rained for the whole meeting! More tomorrow.
My friend Gayle Brazeau from Buffalo stayed with me during the meeting and we Metroed in to DC for the day every day. It was a very cost effective way to attend the meeting (Think about $239/night plus tax times 5 days = at least $1300). The downside is that we have nowhere to go during the day to get off our feet and take a break. Since we have been going in to the meeting between 7-8AM and returning about 1o PM, they are long days.
This morning Gayle asked me what I learned about pharmacy at this meeting. I have been pleased to see that the chains were highlighting their patient care services and community residencies. They are either embracing patient care services or realize that today's new practitioners are trained for more than dispensing and are not looking for that kind of practice setting. I am not as pessimistic as many others that we are training too many pharmacists (at least not yet). Now that there are enough pharmacists to fill traditional roles, and students are seeking dual degree and residencies, I think we will see the development of innovative pharmacy services and graduates who are attracted to pharmacy careers that have been underserved--like academia!
I enjoyed having all my Kentucky colleagues in town because it gave me a chance to spend a lot of socializing time with them. I got to try some new restaurants in DC and expand my culinary horizons with some new entrees. We went to Old Ebbitt's Grill, Zenga, and Georgia Brown's. Of course, all the Kentuckians were at a sports bar for the SEC tournament. It was a little more exciting than we really wanted it to be--but the Cats prevailed and got their #1 seed for the tournament. I also experienced the beer tower. Since there were anywhere between 12-30 people at each game, there were a lot of beer towers purchased.
Today, there is only one session I want to attend. I am going to try to be time efficient and take some work with me on the Metro to get something accomplished as I travel. Hopefully, the rain will stop. It has rained for the whole meeting! More tomorrow.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Visitors
Today there will begin a large influx of pharmacists into DC for the annual APhA meeting. For me, it means company and people to socialize with. Gayle Brazeau from Buffalo will be staying with me. When we aren't at the meeting or socializing with other faculty, we will be working on our project that is a spinoff of my sabbatical project. We are going to take the promotion and tenure documents I have collected and evaluate them for evidence of service as part of faculty evaluation for promotion and tenure.
Historically, faculty were expected to be good "citizens" by participating in college and university service and participating in professional organizations. In recent years, this concept has expanded to include the scholarship of engagement. This includes working with the community either as community service or using professional expertise for the betterment of the community. That is an oversimplification but you can get the point.
I have been forgetting to send a thank you to John and Brittany for the letter I received from them. It was fun to get a handwritten letter.
Also, thanks to Chris for correcting me. Mike and Chris will not be coming to visit next week. It is the following week, March 23-25 when they will be here.
It is almost 8AM. I need to get to work since it will be a short work day.
Historically, faculty were expected to be good "citizens" by participating in college and university service and participating in professional organizations. In recent years, this concept has expanded to include the scholarship of engagement. This includes working with the community either as community service or using professional expertise for the betterment of the community. That is an oversimplification but you can get the point.
I have been forgetting to send a thank you to John and Brittany for the letter I received from them. It was fun to get a handwritten letter.
Also, thanks to Chris for correcting me. Mike and Chris will not be coming to visit next week. It is the following week, March 23-25 when they will be here.
It is almost 8AM. I need to get to work since it will be a short work day.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Mid-week report
It is Wednesday already. This week seems to be flying by. That is probably because it has been a pretty busy week. I am making good progress with the P&T documents. I am also helping score the Wal-Mart scholars applications. Just about everyone in the office is reading a portion of the applications. The number of applicants is much greater this year. That would seem to be a good thing for academia since these students have all expressed an interest in a faculty career. The applicants are quite impressive too.
Tomorrow is the beginning of arrivals for the American Pharmacists' Association that starts on Friday. Last night I grocery shopped and started making some spaghetti sauce so I can host some people for dinner at the condo. There will also be plenty of sauce to have a pasta dinner when Mike and Chris come to visit next week.
Unfortunately the good weather will be coming to an end today and the rain will start tomorrow--just in time to travel in to DC by Metro for the APhA meeting. Time to get ready for work.
Tomorrow is the beginning of arrivals for the American Pharmacists' Association that starts on Friday. Last night I grocery shopped and started making some spaghetti sauce so I can host some people for dinner at the condo. There will also be plenty of sauce to have a pasta dinner when Mike and Chris come to visit next week.
Unfortunately the good weather will be coming to an end today and the rain will start tomorrow--just in time to travel in to DC by Metro for the APhA meeting. Time to get ready for work.
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