Another Prescription

I had to get another refill for Cota at my favorite Meijer Pharmacy. I went though the drive through, with the top down, since it was probably the last day of nice weather until April. I was lucky enough to have the same pharmacist wait on me too. Of course, she commented on the car, but that was really all she said. I was a bit disappointed. I guess at the drive through, it’s not the ideal setting to discuss new-age animal therapies.

A couple idle thoughts - This one has to be very quick. What a season for the Spartans! There are 2 games left, and I don’t want to jinx us, but what a great season thus far.

I love the new Led Zeppelin channel on Sirius. I knew a lot of their songs, and now I actually know the names too.

Birthday

I am a little late writing this one, but it is a good story. It was my sister Juliann’s birthday 2 weeks ago on June 15th. For her birthday, Mom and Dad, and my Uncle Mike and Aunt Toby, and I went to Mackinac Island where she is living for the summer. We walked around the island, took a carriage ride, and had a very nice dinner. After dinner, of course we had cake, and of course we sang the “Happy Birthday to you…” song. For the first time in a very long time, I had met my 2 drink minimum that evening. (Jamaicans make very strong daiquiris.) I thought we should also sing the Beatles “Birthday.” So I started into “You say it’s your birthday, It’s my birthday too…” Well, four pairs of 64+ year old eyes stared at me like I was crazy! Their looks were priceless; you could just see the “Our daughter/niece has gone insane” looks on their faces. Juliann and I had to explain to them that this really was a song. It is a Beatles song. I wasn’t making it up. They had never heard it before. Their reply was that the Beatles were after their time, so why would they know a Beatles song? Well, then I guess I should not have been singing along with Miley Cyrus to “I can’t wait to see you again” when I heard it on the radio a few days ago. (Aside from the fact that it is just plain embarrassing for anyone over the age of 13 to know a Miley Cyrus song.) So, there are 4 people on this earth who do not know the Beatles “Birthday,” and I was in a hotel room with all of them. What are the odds? I should have played the lotto that night.

Prescription Refill

Do you know how to be popular at a pharmacy? Get a prescription filled for a dog. I’ve been back to pick up refills a few times, and even if my favorite pharmacist was busy when I came to the counter, she recognized me and always waved. The last time I actually spoke to her, she had another dog story. The theme again was how pets are important to us and how they can get expensive. Again, I think this story was from her sister. Her little dog was outside loose (I didn’t ask if this was the same dog from before) and the mailman came by and sprayed the dog with Mace. The dog had to go to the vet, of course, racking up big bills.

Another time, I called the pharmacy to see if the refill was ready. I didn’t speak to my regular pharmacist though. I think I got the pharmacy manager instead, because I remember seeing his name plaque on the wall. But he also proved amusing. He told me that the refill was ready, so I said I would be in to pick it up after work at about 5:00. He kindly informed me that they are open until 9:00, so if I got an offer to go out to dinner after work, I should feel free to do that! Since no dinner offers came through, I saw him promptly at 5:00.

This sadly may be the end of the pharmacist stories. I am getting one more refill at Meijer, then I may be getting Cota’s prescriptions by mail-order because it lots cheaper. With a price tag of $90 a month, maybe the pharmacists think I should have some entertainment while spending all that money. I have enjoyed it.

Is it Mustang time yet?

Thanks to the weather, no, it isn’t, and it’s just as well because it is sitting in the garage with a dead battery. Thinking back to the winter of 2006, I thought it would be a good idea to back the car into the garage in case it needed to be jumped, that way the battery would be easier to get to. But nothing happened last winter. It started up right away last spring. Now jump to Fall 2007. The battery was fine last winter, so why bother to back it in again, right? The battery was fine last winter, so why bother to periodically let the car run for a few minutes to keep it charged? It was so cold this winter, why would I want to spend one second longer outside than absolutely necessary? It was fine last year. Well, I should have done all of the above.

When I discovered this, since I didn’t back it in, the front of the car was under the storage cabinet in my garage, and I couldn’t raise the hood to get to the battery. So I called AAA and explained that the car might have to be pushed or towed to be able to open the hood. When the AAA guy got here, we found that I couldn’t even put the car in neutral to try to push it. He ended up wedging the hood about open four inches and was able to squeeze the cables in. Car started right up. I was late for a meeting, but I thought rather than rush off, I’ll at least turn the car around and back it into the garage. Then I remembered all the trouble I had doing that last year. There is a slight curb up to my driveway, so I have to give it a little gas to get over the curb. This is quite manageable when pulling in forward, but in reverse it is a bit trickier. (At least it is for me, someone whose parallel parking skills can evoke laughter.) So on the first attempt of getting over the curb, then slamming on the brakes so I didn’t crash into the garage (the door opening is narrow), I remembered that last year, I put the top down when I did this because I could see better. So, in the dark, at 35 degrees, and in March, the top came down. On the third try, hoping that none of my neighbors were watching all of this, I succeeded in backing it in, with no damage to the car or garage. But I was late and in a hurry, so I put the top up and turned the car off. It was only after I pulled the key out that I thought maybe I should have let it run for awhile. But considering all the time it took for this whole ordeal to unfold, it was already running for about 10 minutes, so it should be okay, right? Wrong! It wouldn’t start again. So there the car sits, but at least it is turned around now.

Cota

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Cota, tailgating right outside Spartan Stadium this fall. You have to get the last little drop of soup out of the cup, don’t you? She has Spartan spirit! I took the other picture today. I think she is just as cute as Uno, the beagle who won the Westminster dog show. What do you think?

Thank you to those who have expressed concern about Cota. She is doing fine. Cota has chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She was diagnosed about a year ago. Even though her white blood cell and lymphocyte counts were high, she didn’t seem to be affected by it, so I decided to wait on treatment for her. I took her back to the vet for her regular check-up a couple weeks ago, and every measure in her blood was worse than a year ago. I reluctantly started her on a chemotherapy drug this weekend, and she seems to be taking it well.

All of the many vets I have taken to her say she should be feeling lethargic. But she’s not. Cota is such a trooper; you wouldn’t know anything is wrong. She acts like she always has, and still has her personality, energy and appetite.

I went to Meijer Friday to pick up her prescription, and had quite an interesting conversation with a very chatty pharmacist. Right away, she could see that the prescription was for a dog, so I asked her if she had any experience with this drug and dogs. She said no, but launched into a crazy conversation. Apparently this nice pharmacist was also trained in France in acupuncture. Her sister once had an accident where she backed over a small dog who was too fat, and pretty much destroyed the dog’s hip. The dog underwent acupuncture treatment and subsequently recovered. Then this lady went on about how animals are good for us, always happy to see us, and truly appreciate us. We get attached to pets. She said she does not have a dog, but for a time she and her daughter had a pet rat. Her daughter dropped the rat (accidentally I’m sure) and it hit its abdomen on the edge of the trash can. The rat was hurt very badly and they cried for 3 hours. But they nursed the rat and it lived for awhile after that, but when it eventually died, they had cried so much before that they didn’t cry when it passed away. Thankfully, another customer came up behind me at that point and she had to turn her attention to them.

So I left the pharmacy area and escaped to the deli to get liver sausage to hide the pills in. I guess the good thing about this is a dog doesn’t know it’s getting chemotherapy. To Cota, it’s a big hunk of braunschweiger that she wolfs down, and then since it’s sooo good she licks her bowl completely clean at least 3 times to make sure she gets every last little bit. That can’t be so bad.

Progress Report

I have been sick with a cold and the flu for about the last three weeks, I think. I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I last felt good. So the two drink minimum has fallen completely by the wayside. Since I’m not doing so well with that goal, I’m trying really hard to keep my other one. My second New Year’s goal was that I am not going to gossip about my family. It hasn’t been too hard to keep that one, until now, that is, because I had not heard any new gossip. But now that I have, I still intend to honor my pledge. I’ll go with this one for as long as I possibly can, even though it may get tough.

Since I don’t have any energy lately, I have been falling asleep during the second half of MSU basketball games. So I guess it’s good that I missed most of the loss to Purdue and the second half of the loss to Indiana. We will play Indiana again at Breslin, so I think it will have a different outcome next time. Tomorrow we have Penn State at Breslin, so that should be better too. I'll try to stay awake for it.

Spartans Crush Wolverines!

I think those are my favorite words in the English language! (Maybe “Tami wins huge lotto” is just a little better.) Final score was 77-62, securing our 17-2 record on the season. We were ahead by more than 20 for part of the second half. This was the only regular season game we will have against Michigan this year, so it's too bad we won’t have another opportunity to clobber them again. Well, maybe in the Big Ten tournament. Since Michigan’s record is now 5-14, can we be pretty sure at this point that U-M won’t make the NCAA? I hope not.

The best news is not only did we beat U-M in basketball this weekend; we also beat them in hockey. MSU beat number one ranked Michigan in hockey on Friday, playing at Michigan, and then tied them Saturday night at Munn. So we are 2-0-1 in major sports against Michigan this weekend. Great weekend to be a Spartan!

GO GREEN, GO WHITE!

Car Commercials

So do I have this right? Has anyone seen the commercials from Ford for their new technology, Sync? This is the best thing I could ever imagine! So as I am cruising down the street on a sunny day, I could say “Play artist Bay City Rollers,” and the next thing I hear would be “S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!” “Play artist Bob Seger” could cue up “Roll me Away” or “Betty Lou’s Getting Out Tonight.” Is this happening in my lifetime? Is this for real? This is not the Jetsons? I am just so excited about this. I had little doubt that my next car would be a Ford, (thanks to the awesome Mustang) but this really seals the deal. Here is the scoop on Sync:

http://media.ford.com/newsroom/feature_display.cfm?release=24513

Has anyone seen the new commercial for the Jeep Liberty where the guy is cruising along a country road and critters from the forest jump into the car and start singing “Rock me Gently?” It is a hoot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8qVM6f9Ogs

Notice the large furry creature who is the last one in. It is a wolf, isn’t it?

Senior Citizens and Taxes

Illinois is in a crisis about funding public transportation. I’ll try to briefly explain this for those of you not in Illinois. The latest legislation awaiting the governor’s signature calls for a .25 percent increase in the sales tax in Cook County to fund transit. The increase is .5 percent in other counties. But the governor wants to add even more to the bill. He wants senior citizens to be able to ride transit free.

Another break for seniors? Ridiculous. I hear there truly are poor seniors out there somewhere who I’m sure could benefit from something like this. I don’t know any though. All the seniors I know have gobs of money. Why do they need anything free? This bothers me enough, but let’s move on to the more important part of this, the tax increase.

I just went shopping at Carsons in Mt. Prospect and paid sales tax of 8.75%. Tax on my lunch in Schaumburg is 10.5%. If this bill passes, both of those will increase another .25%. When does this stop? So I am forced to declare, Illinois, you lose. Wisconsin and Michigan, you win! Does it occur to these law makers that many of us can make our purchases in neighboring states with lower tax rates? I recently started doing this, and now I will continue even more diligently. At 6% in MI verses the 8.75% here, I saved $27.50 in tax on my recent shopping sprees in Birch Run. I did a quick search, and the highest sales tax rate I found in Wisconsin was 5.6%. I am in both those states often enough, so I will now do my non-urgent shopping there. I am really going to try to buy only food in Illinois from now on. Usually there is plenty of room in my car, so I can load up when I am visiting Michigan. I can’t save Michigan’s economy single-handedly, but I’ll do my best to give it a microscopic boost! Now who wants to go on my spring Birch Run trip with me?

My First Weekend

To those of you who have expressed concern over my 2 drink minimum – RELAX! I was kidding. In fact, I failed miserably this weekend. I had no drinks whatsoever. The closest I came was that I had one regular Coke in the place of one Diet Coke. That will put me on the road to ruin!

I had dinner Saturday night at the other Tami’s house. As we were finishing, she pointed out to her daughter Hannah that the cup her applesauce came in can be recycled. That reminded of a decision I agonized over recently. I am no longer recycling. I don’t have curbside pick-up. I have to take the recyclables to separate dumpsters at the back of the complex. As the fall was growing colder, I began to think it would just be easier to stop doing it for the winter. I felt very guilty about it, but my plan was to start again in the spring. In fact, I felt so guilty about it that it took a month before I really went through with it. But once I got over all those pangs of guilt and threw newspapers directly into the regular dumpster, my feelings changed from guilt to liberation. No more separating, no more rinsing cans, no more special trips to the special dumpsters. Is recycling really worth it? I would save it up for 2 or 3 weeks, then load it into the car and drive to the bins. But I couldn’t park close to the bins because there are glass fragments all over the driveway. (I noticed this a couple years ago before it caused a problem for my tires.) So I parked 20 feet away, outside the gate, and made 3 or 4 trips from the car to the dumpsters. All this time, the car was running, spewing pollution into the atmosphere, and increasing my carbon footprint. (Is that how the environmentalists talk?) And what about the extra water I used to rinse the cans and bottles? So I have decided to stop recycling, and I don’t feel bad about it anymore. I dare you - Go ahead and throw a can right into the trash and see how you feel. You might be surprised!