Saturday morning coffee [March 30 2013]

MUG_MPSo much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug to the right comes straight from Moonstone Pottery in Los Osos, California. It’s a pretty cool mug. It was a gift from my brother, Robert. Thanks bro.

The Croods was #1 at the box office last weekend to the tune of nearly $44 Million. I didn’t see that one coming. I knew that the movie was out, but had no interest in seeing it. My family chose instead to see Olympus Has Fallen. It was terribly predictable and a bit corny, but I liked it. It was full of lots of gratuitous violence and gun play, which makes it my kind of movie. Just for the record, Jack the Giant Slayer has officially flopped at the box office.

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Saturday morning coffee [March 16 2013]

MUG_ASHPSM2011So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug to the right was presented to me as a gift from ASHP for winning the 2011 ASHP Summer Meeting Twitter Contest. Not to be confused with the one I put up last August for the 2010 ASHP Midyear Twitter contest. The mug was accompanied by a $50 Best Buy gift card; very nice. The meeting was held in Denver, CO and was the first ASHP Summer Meeting I ever attended. The Summer Meeting is quite a bit different from the Midyear Meeting held in December each year. Midyear is much larger and has a much wider variety of educational sessions. Midyear also has a bigger exhibitor area. With all that said I found the Summer Meeting quite enjoyable as it had several informatics related sessions that I was able to attend. It was the last pharmacy conference that I was able to enjoy as an attendee.

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Saturday morning coffee [March 9 2013]

MUG_genericSo much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug to the right isn’t one of my personal mugs. Instead it’s the kind of generic mug you get in cheesy hotel restaurants. And that’s because I’m not at home. I’m in Las Vegas for my daughter’s volleyball tournament. In lieu of that, and the fact that I had to crawl off into a “quiet” corner to open my laptop, I’m going to make this quick.

Jack the Giant Slayer was #1 at the box office last weekend. Not a big surprise as again there was little in the way of competition at the box office for a second week in a row. Jack brought in a measly $27 Million on its opening weekend. Not too bad, but when you consider the $195 Million production budget that makes it a flop. Yikes! My family and I saw Jack over the weekend. We enjoyed it. Identity Thief continues to do well as it came in second place for weekend box office totals.

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Saturday morning coffee [March 2 2013]

MUG_WisconsinWelcome to March everyone. So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

I picked up the coffee mug to the right in Fitchburg, WI last summer while on a business trip. I drove there from Chicago after stopping off to visit a hospital in Winfield, IL. Wisconsin was a pretty nice place to visit in the summer. I wasn’t able to do a bunch of touristy stuff, but I did get a chance to see a movie at one of the nicest movie theaters I’ve ever been in. The theater was big, and it had a piano in the lobby. Strange thing about Wisconsin, they have the nicest highway rest stops I’ve ever used. If you’re ever in California I’d avoid the rest stops; good place to skip.

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Saturday morning coffee [January 26 2013]

Amsterdam Coffee MugSo much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug to the right comes straight from Amsterdam. I stopped there back in November 2011 on my way to Germany on a work trip. It’s a dirty city with a weird vibe to it. Everyone smokes and you better watch your butt or you’re likely to get run down by a bicycle, which appears to be a popular form of transportation. I walked through the Red Light District just to say that I’ve seen it. It was disturbing and depressing. It’s sad to see that kind of thing in my opinion.  Overall I didn’t like Amsterdam. You can have it. By the way, that’s a pretty big coffee mug. It hold a lot of coffee.

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Cool Pharmacy App – MediSafe Medication Reminder [#android]

I came across this app the other day and thought it was pretty interesting. The app, MediSafe Medication Minder, is part of the MediSafe Project. The website isn’t very informative, but it’s worth checking out. What’s the MediSafe app all about? Well, this pretty much sums it up: “It’s simple. When it’s time for you … Read more

Year end thoughts 2012

fathertime_babynewyear2This is my final post of 2012. Random thoughts about things that I’ve seen, heard and/or read over the past twelve months.

Twenty-twelve was an interesting year for the Fahrni clan, and not in a good way. We lost one of our own and had some bad things happen. We also had some good times, but it won’t be a year that I’ll miss all that much.

We all survived the Mayan Apocalypse

We experienced the last repeating date of the century: 12-12-12

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Saturday morning coffee [December 15 2012]

So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

Pike Place Market Starbucks Coffee MugThe coffee mug to the right comes from Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA, home of the first Starbucks Store. I got the mug on my first trip to Seattle, which just so happened to be during a trip to give a presentation for the company I currently work for. I wasn’t an employee at the time, but they invited me up to talk about the automation and technology that we were using in our pharmacy at Kaweah Delta Medical Center where I was employed as an “IT Pharmacist”. One of the things I really wanted to do during my visit there was visit Pike Place Market and see the first Starbucks. My brother, Robert used to work in Seattle and he gave me a list of things to do and see. I only managed to get  to a few of things on the list, but this was one of them. The first Starbucks is different from any other Starbucks I’ve ever been to. It doesn’t have that corporate-lets-make-money feel to it.

Here’s an interesting twist at the box office, Skyfall continues to do well as it rose back to the#1 spot last weekend. Good movie, highly recommended. Rise of the Guardians came in at #2.  This of course will be short lived as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will kill at the box office this weekend. There is no doubt that I will see The Hobbit, but I must say that the reviews have not been flattering. I read the book as a child and again as an adult.

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Saturday morning coffee [December 8 2012]

So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug to the right comes from Jason DeVillains, better known to many as The Cynical Pharmacist. Jason and I met via Twitter (@TheCynicalRPH) and have been chitchatting via the web ever since. I mentioned that I was running low on coffee mugs and he decided to help me remedy the problem by sending me four of them. When my daughter and I opened the box this particular mug made her laugh, so I felt that it only fitting that it be the first one to make an appearance online. Jason also has a blog aptly called The Cynical Pharmacist, where he talks about all kinds of stuff; some healthcare related, some not. He has an interesting blogging style where he makes good use of video clips. Check it out.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2 was #1 at the box office last weekend pulling in just about $17.5 Million. Skyfall was a close second with $16.5 Million. That says something about the quality of Skyfall as it continues to draw big crowds even after being out for four weeks.

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Saturday morning coffee [November 17 2012]

So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug to the right is part of the “Indivisible” project from Starbucks. “America is about opportunity. About liberty and justice. About a job for every woman and man who wants one. Right now, these jobs aren’t out there, but we believe we can all help change that. When you buy this mug, you help too. Two dollars from the sale of each mug goes directly to Opportunity Finance Network® and the Create Jobs for USA Fund” I don’t buy much from Starbucks because I don’t like their coffee, but it’s my fallback position when I’m desperate. When I saw the mug it reminded me of the iconic symbol of pharmacy, i.e. the mortar from pharmacies famous mortar and pestle. I can’t remember where I picked it up, but I was on the road somewhere because I remember having to stuff it in my carry-on bag to get it home.

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