Addiction to over-the-counter drugs is a serious, "often forgotten" problem, doctors warn in today's British Medical Journal...Although codeine phosphate is only available on prescription, it has been available over the counter in combination with aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen for many years.

Advice for my British colleagues:

Stop selling codeine (or rather, codeine containing products) without a prescription. I guarantee an immediate decrease in the number of people addicted to over the counter painkillers. Please...codeine addiction is just embarrassing. Let your people find something worthwhile to abuse.

Sure I should be working...

I was thinking of getting an alligator. I had thought that an alligator would make a great pet. Don Johnson had an alligator.


Sadly, my extensive research on the subject has informed me that alligators do not make good pets.

Whoa! Keeping an alligator as a pet is a very bad idea, my friend.

How to lose 5 pounds in 5 days.

1) Cut intake of delicious rum containing drinks, with names like Jamaican Delight and Dirty Banana, (from seven to twelve a day) to zero.

2) Stop eating that extra meal between breakfast #1 and lunch (I call this meal "breakfast #2).

3) Stop having that afternoon snack of jerk chicken or fillet mignon. Just because it's there does not mean you have to eat it.

I think I will call my diet the "Jamaican-free diet". I am certain that this revolutionary new diet will increase traffic to my blog. Prospective dieters: I guarantee that if you just gained 7 pounds at an all inclusive Caribbean resort, you can lose 5 pounds with my new diet. You could end up spending thousands of dollars on exercise equipment and diet pills...how about a donation to the boat fund?

I know I'll feel safer walking around Costa Mesa this morning.

(Alternative title was: It's always 5 o'clock somwhere...but I think I just used that one somewhere).

Costa Mesa police have scheduled a driver's license/ DUI checkpoint from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today. Police will be checking vehicles heading westbound on Victoria Street just west of Harbor Boulevard, police said.

More than 1,000 drivers in 2006 were removed from highways in Costa Mesa for suspicion of driving under the influence, police said.

Funding for the program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

— Kelly Strodl

Note to drunk drivers: Do not leave the bar until after 12:30 PM today.

1.04 terabytes does not sound that big...

Actually, I only have 600 GB of space remaining on my H:\ drive. As your company likely uses a different lettering system, the H:\ drive is my personal space on the company server. Personal is a loose term; earlier this year, I was instructed to remove 4 GB of photos...copies of most of the pictures from this here blog. Even with the photos deleted, I am still using almost 400 GB of the company's storage space. A few GB are old spreadsheets and word documents...probably work related stuff; the rest is 3 and a half years of email...some of it could be considered work related, though most of it are gems like this one (all names [save mine] have been deleted to protect those that have gone on to positions of management):


_____________________________________________
From: xxxx xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 12:00 PM
To: Lasko Michael B; xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx; xxx xxxxxx; xxxx xxxxx
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

If following Lasko's email format you should write the compliment as "xxxxxxx, you handled the call really well. You know how I know this? Because you are loud".

Then you should innocently say that you were complimenting.

Then you should apologize, because you are wrong.

And you should buy me ice-cream because you owe me.

Thanks.

_____________________________________________
From: Lasko Michael B
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:58 AM
To: xxxx xxxxxxx; xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx; xxx xxxxx; xxxx xxxxx
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

Let me let you in on the general format of email correspondence with xxxxxxx:
Start off with a compliment, that could also (and will) be interpreted as an insult. (Example: Kudos, you handled that call really well!)
Apologize for your “misinterpreted” email.
Apologize again.
Promise to buy ice cream to make up for your misstep.
Come up with some reason why you can’t buy ice cream today.
Tell a story about the delicious ginger ice cream your wife made last night…mmmn, mmmn, ginger.
Write a few lines about frozurt.
Change spelling of frozurt to frogurt, and then to fro yo.

There, you are a quarter of the way through the day.

_____________________________________________
From: xxxx xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:51 AM
To: xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx; Lasko Michael B; xxx xxxxxx; xxxx xxxxx
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

This is not a forum for suggestions. It is not a load, it's an opportunity to interact with a coworker.

_____________________________________________
From: xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:50 AM
To: Lasko Michael B; xxxx xxxxxxx; xxx xxxxxx; xxxx xxxxx
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

That sounds great Michael. Takes the load off of us. Or you should just set up 100 emails to be each delivered at different times throughout your vacation. It’ll be like you are still here.

_____________________________________________
From: Lasko Michael B
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:48 AM
To: xxxx xxxxxxx; xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx; xxx xxxxxx; xxxx xxxxx
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

I’ll try and drop into ein Internet-Kaffee.


_____________________________________________
From: xxxx xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:45 AM
To: xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx; xxx xxxxxx; xxxx xxxxx; Lasko Michael B
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

Uhmm…try about 30? I guess you can split it up--10 emails each?

_____________________________________________
From: xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:44 AM
To: xxxx xxxxxxx; xxx xxxxxx; xxxx xxxxx; Lasko Michael B
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

Is there an email quota that we have to meet? How about 1 email per day? I think that is fair.

_____________________________________________
From: xxxx xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:42 AM
To: xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx; xxx xxxxxx; xxxx xxxxx; Lasko Michael B
Subject: FW: You have pto starting weds?

I need email buddies from the 12-26th of July. Please think of topics to email me about. You have until weds.
_____________________________________________
From: Lasko Michael B
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:39 AM
To: xxxx xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: You have pto starting weds?

See you on the 26th.

_____________________________________________
From: xxxx xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:39 AM
To: Lasko Michael B
Subject: You have pto starting weds?

HRMPH!

xxxxxxx xxxx, Pharm.D.
Consultant Pharmacist
RxSolutions

___________________________________________________________________________________
It reads much better if you start at the bottom. I am struck by two things:
1) I used to have a whole lot more free time at work.
2) I almost miss the quibbling. Almost.

Bob Marley has no American equivalent.

If you could meld Elvis Presley, George Washington, and Jesus (I know Jesus is not an American, but you get the idea), you might come close to the stature Marley has in Jamaica...maybe not even that close though, as neither Elvis, Washington, nor Jesus can be considered at all hip in the year 2007.

When there was no Marley playing over the resort speaker system (which was rare), the bartenders would give impromptu a cappella renditions of "No Woman, No Cry" and "One Love/People Get Ready"; In our room, we had Songs of Freedom playing nearly continuously through the CD player/clock radio. The room service attendants always seemed impressed by the music and would remark: "You got the Marley playing, Mon".

Perhaps most interesting, the terms "Marley" and "Bob Marley" have entered the Jamaican vernacular, and are used much like the word "Smurf" in Smurf Village. Shortly after we arrived at the resort, a bartender asked where we were from. After we told him, he got excited and said: "You have some great Bob Marley in California". It was not until after he asked if we were cops that I knew what he was talking about.

Here's a video Nicole shot from our room:


Speaking of our room, we had the best view(s) in the joint. Our corner unit, gave us four, count them four, fantastic views. The first is from the jacuzzi tub/shower. It will be difficult to return home (and to taking non-view showers).





I would have some cool underwater photos to post, except the sea conditions were too rough through most of our trip to scuba or snorkel. That was our only real complaint about the vacation (that, and the British guy who coughed on me, causing me to get sick for our last day of the trip). We did manage to get in some sailing (you can see our room behind Nicole--second floor, right side). Please click here for a previous review of the Hobie Wave.


And I learned to windsurf. Windsurfing is far harder than I had imagined. (Picture #2 is me being overpowered by the much larger 5 meter sail).



Nothing cures the pain of windsurfing like a little bit of rum. Here's Easton, delivering either a "Mai Thai 2000", or the drink right after that...which was "something with a lot of rum in it." If you have to ask what the difference between a mai thai, and a mai thai 2000 is...well, you probably shouldn't be drinking it.


After the sun when down, I switched to rum martinis. The pink thing is Nicole's cosmo.


I am certain that I have uploaded too many photos already (sorry, parents...you really should upgrade to DSL). Oh well, here's Nicole with a couple of parrots. The first one would not talk, but would occasionally laugh at us. The second one would say hello, goodbye, and not much else. Also, a photo of Nicole and Charlie, the resort's 100 year old turtle. Believe it or not, the turtle was better at following posing directions than was Nicole.




How about some proof that Nico and I were on this trip together? Here we are at Dunn River Falls.


Sorry for the size of this one, we'll use it for the next vacation, when the tour organizer demands a non-bicycling/non-sunglass photo. There was a cool sunset going on, but it appears we waiting just a little too long to have the picture taken:


While I'm on this picture uploading spree: Here's me in front of the Ocho Rios Pharmacy. If you can picture a full sized Rite-Aid, compressed down to the size of a Taco Bell, that will give you an idea of how cramped Jamaican pharmacies are. Like a Rite-Aid, each section (cosmetics, cold products, sun screens) had an employee asking if we needed any help...only due to the size of the store, they stood about three feet from each other. There was a long line to get to the pharmacist, so no interesting international RPh dialogue like in Mexico or Europe.


I was going to end with some hard hitting commentary about how the Jamaicans don't like us very much. I am actually not sure if that is the case or not...perhaps I'll think about it and post something later. If there is a Jamaican middle class anywhere in the country, we did not see it. We saw a few mansions, and many, many huts...many missing roofs and/or second stories. Here's one in a good state of repair.


Like my coworkers, those Jamaicans did like my last name; Lasco is like the Nabisco of Jamaica, or something. There were Lasco signs everywhere. And a hostess at one of the restaurants at our resort told us that we must rent Lasko Deathtrain.

Heav'n has no Rage...

I first heard the following proverb at Disneyland prior to the start of a guest (crowd) control shift. The lead (supervisor) pulled out this worn copy of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones and proceeded to give us a spiritual pep talk. The following paragraph changed my life:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

Thinking about that strawberry is how I manage to get by during those 51 weeks every year when I am not in paradise. Okay, Newport Beach is not that bad, but it is still a good idea to have some zen handy for those days when your company misses earnings estimates by six cents.

Just in case Jamaica is absolutely the most fabulous place anywhere...

I thought I would look into getting registered to practice pharmacy in Jamaica.

(If you want to read a similar story about the Hawaiian Boards, click here.)

Unfortunately, the people of Jamaica do not appear to be actively seeking American Pharmacists. Here is all the information from the Pharmacy Council of Jamaica website under the link "Policy for the Registration of Foreign Trained Pharmacists".

It would appear there are not very many pharmacists in Jamaica. In California, you can go to the Board of Pharmacy Website and search by name and/or license number to find a specific pharmacist (I'm number 52 thousand and something). Things are simpler in Jamaica. Click here to see the 25 pharmacists with last names starting with A. Half of them are named Allen, and half Anderson. Are those common names in Jamaica, or are there two competing pharmacy dynasties?

Anyway, in case I don't get another post in before Friday, I'll be in:

Kingston

I thought Jamaica was 3 hours ahead of us. I suppose there is no need for Daylight Saving Time in the Carribean.

I told the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email sent to my coworkers on Saturday:

Some friends were going to come over for dinner tonight, but have cancelled due to illness.

If I know Mrs. Lasko at all, she’ll be spending the day cleaning up the condo and cooking something fabulous (while I slave away here at work). Were I to relay the above information promptly, it is likely that neither of these things will happen.

So the question for the group is: at what hour am I required to let the Mrs. know that nobody will be joining us for dinner? Hmmmn, why isn’t Minh working today?

My tally from the all female crew yielded one "LOL" (which I took to mean, "No need to tell her yet"), 3 responses of the: "Have you no conscience?" variety, and 3 abstentions. (This world is run by clowns, who don't get my jokes).

I ended up breaking the news to Nicole before any of the extensive cooking and/or cleaning occurred...I was rewarded with: a clean house, tamales from scratch, and a mojito. I don't think it's a gay drink...mo-hee-tohhhh.

I guess those Mormons might be on to something.

And if you don't expect too much form me, you might not be let down...

For the first time since leaving my job at the happiest place on earth, I have exceeded expectations on an annual performance review. Oh my God, I entered the pharmacy profession (or at least pharmacy business) 12 years ago...

Certainly, the main reason for my run of mediocre (met expectations) performance reviews has been the fact that I am rarely in a job long enough to be evaluated, let alone long enough to receive any sort of commendation. But also, I tend to do my work very well when I start a job (if it's interesting, at least...Crescent Healthcare was not interesting); after a few months, I get bored, and begin the search for a new job. I suppose much of life is like this. I really need to reverse my strategy in the future...exceeding expectations would be a breeze.

So I am not really sure what I did differently during this last year of employment. Just in case somebody important is reading my blog, I will not write about how I've been phoning it in here for as long as I can remember. (I have a friend who once had a merit increase revoked [due to UC budget constraints, not lack of merit]--I think he hung a sign over his desk that read: "I will pretend to work for as long as you pretend to pay me". Or was that the other way around: "As long as you pretend to pay me, I will pretend to work"?)

Note to anyone that has recently complained that my posts are of no interest to anybody except the writer:

1) Please put blog related comments and/or complaints in the appropriate comment field. Yes, registration is required, but it takes 10 seconds to register, and you are more than welcome to make up a name.

2) Read more carefully, maybe something will be applicable to your own existence. Maybe not, I am not particulary deep, and I am well aware my writing style can be less than clear. If you want easy, try USA Today (The only newspaper in the country that is not afraid to tell the truth: that everything is just fine).

Sorry, I did not mean to chastise my 3 or 4 remaining readers. On that note, a special takealotofdrugs shout out to my Uncle Terry, who somehow stumbled across my page a few days ago. Hey Terry, how much UNH stock is too much UNH stock?