The Crescent City Classic Photo Album

My friend Bj drove all the way from North Carolina to run this with me! My time was 53:27 - his was like 52 minutes. Are we cute enough to kiss or what?
The party-pooper in normal clothes is the hubby.
P.S. Aren't my squirt guns the awesomest finishing touch?

SWINE FLU

What you need to know from your friendly pharmacy intern (soon to be pharmacist!!!):

1. No one here is dying. Why? We don't know. Theory has it that this strain already hit the US, meaning there is a certain level of immunity here already. Hmmm.
2. Tamiflu still works. There are very few drugs that actually treat any viral infections (and to date, we can't cure any viral infection medically, excluding some anecdotal reports of Hep C. Viruses can't be killed because they're not alive! Plus they mutate like a science fiction thingy. So treatments are hard to design).
Anyway, regular influenza is growing resistant to the current stand-by drug, Tamiflu. But swine flu still runs screaming, so that gives us a weapon at least.
Oh by the way the wholesalers already have it on allocation; last night we could only buy 4 boxes and everybody and their brother was in the ED with "flu" (our standard hypochondriacs always pop in with the latest news story illness).
3. It spreads by respiratory droplets, and we're not ruling out person to person as well. So -
WASH YOUR HANDS. Don't bother with antibacterial soap because it's a virus, not a bacteria. The rubbing motion is what displaces the virus from your skin.
Don't kiss. That's right, no sloppy kisses. Tell him to wait until the next date :)
Or you can just both wear masks, which might make kissing some people more pleasant anyway.
Cover your mouth and glare in disgust and indignation at those who don't.
Feel free to call in to work with suspected swine flu (this did not work for me).
4. Keep your immunity up.
So sleep well, stay hydrated, eat raw fruits and veggies, and it will not hurt my feelings if you take vitamins, even though it's so much better to get your vitamins in your food.

World's cheapest graduation outfit!

I am GRADUATING in just a few days, and to celebrate we're having a party at the dear in-laws' beach house. The theme is sort of Southern summer" - seersucker, mint juleps, etc. I decided that a great outfit would be a strapless white linen dress that I could use again at White Linen Night (a New Orleans event - check it out at http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/festivals/artfestivals/whitelinen.html), with bright shoes.
Guess what? Nobody is selling white linen dresses right now except GAP, and that dress fit me all weird. The solution? Why, my old friend Sal...Salvation Army, that is!!!!
I headed to the S.A. superstore, walked up to tjhe dress rack, and nabbed a lovely white number by EXPRESS. The price is the best part - it was $4.99!
Now for the shoes. Would you believe Payless had precious turquois peeptoe wedges on sale for $16? They did!
Of course you are probably dying for a pic and I will supply one when I have the final item -a luscious mother of pearl necklace I am designing in my head right now. It will be quite beachy.
Woo hoo for cheap clothes!
Woo hoo for graduation!

how did i do???

Well, officially I finished...

17th in the Ochsner run!!!!

But guess what? I actually did BETTER than that - I just didn't realize you had to grab your finishing tickets in order. Even though you wrote your time down on them, for ranking the officials just used the number on the ticket. Naturally I stopped to chat with someone after finishing the race and let 5-6 people pass me and pick up timing tickets before I grabbed mine. So silly of me. So I don't really know my rank, but I'm sort of happy with 17th anyway. It's in the top 20, and it's a cute little number. What if I finished twelfth or something? That's so hard to say - so many consonants right next to each other. TweLFTH. Doesn't roll off the tongue at all, you know. In fact it sounds like you inhaled a fly and are trying to expel it. Yeah, I'll stick with 17th.

My awesome shoe luck

I would just like to take a moment to share with you the story of my awesome shoe luck.
I will preface this by telling you that I shop in thrift stores. I am not ashamed of this! I am the original frugalista - WAY before it was cool to be cheap.
Since I don't think I've ever paid full price for anything, thrift stores are like my mall (only the patrons are elderly hispanic ladies doing the rosary instead of aggravating teeny boppers talking in sentences that all go up at the end like a question).
This week I made a quick stop at a Goodwill in Kenner - a new one for me since I rarely ventures to the suburb horror that is Kenner. Now when I say quick stop, I mean about 10 minutes - including helping the cashier make change for$9.53 out of $20.03 (those extra pennies totally threw her off). Why the speed? Because as soon as I waltzed in the door three pairs of shoes jumped into my arms!
1. Adorable Gianni Bini brown leather flats, brand new, soles as pure as a nun's [soul. That was a pun].
2. Rugged looking red "Cloud 9" by Nine West mary janes that make great shoes for work - comfortable but not as thoroughly ugly as nurse clogs.
3. So-new-the-sticker-was-still-afixed-to-the-inner-sole A. Martinelli slip-on heels with tweedy gray fabric and a black button embellishment that make me look like a grown-up (but not a Medicare recipient).
They just hopped into my shopping basket.

And now just a word about buying used shoes.
It's ok, I promise, you won't get a fungus. Just follow these easy steps!
1. Clean well with soap and water.
2. Clean again with bleach. Yes it bleaches the insole. I don't care. Just avoid the outside of the shoe.
3. Sprinkle the insides generously with Zeasorb AF or another anti-fungal powder; let sit for 48 hours; shake out.
This is totally overkill but it makes me feel less grimy.

Ochsner run!

This Saturday I hauled my rear out to the Ochsner run - a 5k that runs down River Road, up to the top of the levee, then back. All of our hundreds of feet pounded on the top of the levee, tearing down the only levee that withstood Katrina! Hehe. I tried to be gentle.

My time was 24: 23 but I never got official results so I'm not sure how I placed. It was a beautiful day, though.

Problem: Pharmacy director did NOT show up at race. But she DID show up later at Luke restaurant (totally the best restaurant in the city, and that's saying a freaking heck of a lot, you should come visit and order the Express Menu. It's $23 for a soup, entree, and dessert, all lovely prepared by Chef Besh's own hands - or at least kids trained by him). What are the chances? I avoid her at the one event I'm sure she'll attend, just to see her later at dinner?!

I told you, it is SO complicated.

So how ya like my time? It could have been faster but I ran TO the race from my house (2 miles) and was winded when it started.

My Starbucks dilemma

I am studying for the NAPLEX, the pharmacy licensing exam for those of you who were wondering. Occasionally I leave the house to avoid the compulsive cleaning that I prefer to studying.
My old favorite haunt was the PJ's by my house. I'm not a huge Sbux fan because:
1. They aren't local and I prefer to shop local... if I have to pay someone $3.00 for a cuppa, it might as well help out my local economy.
2. It's freaking freezing in there. Are all the barristas menopausal?!
3. The emo, artsy music is fine, but it's way too loud. In fact it's drowning out the high-pitched adolescent wine coming from the gaggle of legging-wearing, iPhone-toting, low-fat-frappucino drinking rich girls at the next table.
Pj's is a little softer, no music, a little more study oriented, and honestly they have better, richer, less-burnt coffee. So that's where you used to find me, nose in a book. But now they've offended me. You see, one of the employees - he's new and not very nice - overcharged me on a sale bag of coffee. Then when we came in the next day for a refund, the coffee was no longer on sale, and he refused to refund us. I was annoyed because the coffee was half price, and basically I lost $8 on the deal. I'd like to boycott the place, but I still need to study.
I'm thinking about just boycotting that particular employee. Maybe if I see him I'll just leave and go to Sbux (they're next door to each other, conveniently).
But I miss my Pj's coffee.