I just realized that I have not linked this blog to my new and much improved one. Check it out! CLICK ME.

We took the tuxedo cat to the vet today for his shots. His main complaint of the day wasn’t the vet or the shots, but the ride in the car. Tuxedo cat HATES riding in the car. We think his favorite color is Yellow, because that is what he keeps calling out as we go on down the road. “Yeellooow, Yelllowwww, Yellloooooww…” He also says “Mama” just before he throws up.

The new cat and the tuxedo cat are getting along famously now. They are quite a pair, and the new kitty has much to learn about being a proper house cat from the older and much wiser tuxedo cat. Example: Tuxedo cat has transformed grooming into an art form. He is perfect, and I seriously doubt there is any other cat that can out groom the tuxedo. He goes about his grooming in a very deliberate and dignified fashion, starting always with the paws, then the face, then the paws again and so on…. He never falls or rolls accidentally. He sets every hair in its exact place. New cat, on the other hand, looks like a complete clown when it comes to grooming himself. He rushes and is clumsy. Everything to him is a game, and that includes grooming. When he is done with his bath, he leaves his hair wet with spit and sticking out randomly in any which direction. He is only seven months old though, and barely out of kittendom. Tuxedo cat will surely teach him the secrets of this art form, as well as many others.

The Naming of Cats

by T.S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover -
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

End of poem.

I am still scrutinizing over a name for our new friend. The Litter Box Wars seem to have ended, and New Cat is roaming around the apartment freely….merely being tolerated at this point by Tuxedo Cat. I think they will eventually become friends. Hopefully….

That about sums it up for today. I’m not sure where the rest of the week went….I’ve been in a zombie frame of mind since Monday. I’ve been kicking some major tail at work, or so I thought. I was off yesterday, and the pharmacist told me first thing this morning that they missed me and were running behind all day. See, we were hit by a winter storm the past couple of days, and as usual, the public freaks and wants all of their meds filled early. Luckily, I was enjoying my day off (winter storm or no). My fiance and I decided to adopt another cat to add to the one we already have, plus the two kids. So we spent a good portion of the day at the humane society picking out a younger cat to give our tuxedo cat a playmate.

We brought home a cute little long-haired tabby-like cat that is about 7 months old. He’s a lot more skittish than I was planning for. Tuxedo cat didn’t really appreciate the new cat right off the bat…and I still don’t think he likes the idea of sharing his humans or his litter box quite yet. In fact, there is a Litter Box Drama going on in my apartment right now as I blog. New cat poops then covers up poop, tuxedo cat watches and then for some reason feels compelled to re-cover-up the poop himself. This keeps going on.

The winter storm continued into today, and school was canceled. It was INCREDIBLY slow at the pharmacy, so when I found out that I had been exiled to the drive-thru as my workstation for the day, I opted to come home early so the kids wouldn’t be alone after the fiance left for work. Can I just say, that it is a complete and utter insult to my nine years of tech-ing to place me in the drive-thru for a whole day. I am the Senior technician of the pharmacy and the only one that can take voice mails and transfers, etc. I know just about every in-and-out of insurance insanity, so that I can prevent it from occurring at the point of sale, provided that I am in the position to do so. But in the drive-thru, I am reduced down to near cashier status. I do nothing but scan and swipe credit cards all day. This is a complete waste of everything I know. ……Of course, I have also learned over the years that the drive-thru can be a position of ultimate power. One could, if they so chose, scan EVERY script that comes in through the drive thru as a “waiter”. That is A LOT of damn waiting scripts.

I am THE Technician. I don’t have a PharmD, but I have nine years of front line technician experience. I know just enough to make or break your day. Just try me.

Oh yeah….we haven’t decided on a name for the new kitty. I don’t believe in naming pets stupid names like “Pebbles” or “Tiger”, or whatever other pansy name you can add on here for yourself. I think we’ll wait around a couple of more days and see what New Cat is like. But for my own sake…you’ll probably never see their real names on the blog.

Today started off as your typical Monday morning would. I work 8am - 4pm on Mondays….definitely nothing to complain about there. I hit the snooze a time too many so had to rush getting ready. Got to work in just enough time to purchase myself a box of Pop-Tarts and a drink, bothered the manager for my cash drawers, then headed back to pharmacy.

I work with three pharmacists, two of which I actually enjoy working with, and the third I loathe working with. RPh #2 was working this morning, so my morning was going okay so far. The first hour was unusually slow, and that always leaves an unsettling feeling with me, because I know we’ll pay for it later. Unfortunately today, I had another of my blood/sugar attacks while I was trying to help a lady with an insurance problem in our drive thru. I’m not sure what is causing them…most likely my eating habits….but these “attacks” don’t seem to be related with whether or not I’ve eaten, or what I’ve eaten. They seem completely random and while usually in the morning, sometimes it happens in the evening too. I stumbled out of the pharmacy and into the break-room before I might faint, sucked down a glucose tablet, and gathered my wits enough to make it home. This one hit me hard enough that when I got home I checked my sugar, which was at 63 (and that’s after the glucose tablet), then collapsed into bed. That was at 11:30 am. I didn’t wake up until almost 5pm.

The kicker about this whole thing is that I feel guilty because my co-workers had to suffer through a Monday one tech short. I bet that lady in the drive-thru was mad because I had told her I would call her insurance company to get her ID # so I could process her husband’s scripts (he had just had some teeth pulled). Then I just suddenly disappeared.

I hope my insurance kicks in soon. I need to go to the doctor.