I heart the Cubs/Ninjas!

http://www.azstarnet.com/sports/174627.php


Baseball
Spring training
Cubs closer has goals: save 50 games, learn to use nunchucks
Dempster wants to be ninja; will he come to his senseis?
By Sarah Trotto
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 03.21.2007


Ryan Dempster says he is training to be a ninja.
He says this with a straight face, claiming he has trained with a sensei in Vancouver.
"You have to (learn) how to throw a throwing star and nunchucks and all those kinds of things," the Chicago Cubs closer says. "Obviously you've got to do martial arts and learn how to be really quiet, which is a tough task for me because I talk a lot."
It is difficult to tell when the 29-year-old right-hander is joking. He does not smile or laugh once.
Humor is one of his favorite hobbies. He has practiced stand-up comedy. He impersonates late Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray. And Tuesday afternoon at Hi Corbett Field, he claimed he wanted to be a ninja.
"It's pretty cool. I wear the outfit around the house and try to sneak up on people," Dempster deadpanned before the Cubs lost to the Colorado Rockies 4-2.
So how does one train to be a ninja anyway?
"You can read books," Dempster explained. "I watch a lot of the movies. You go through different senseis."
Why would anyone want to be a ninja?
"I always liked the ninja movies when I was growing up," Dempster said. "That's about it."
The hilarity continued after Dempster pitched a scoreless inning against the Rockies. He allowed a hit and a walk in his first outing in a week after dealing with a knot in his shoulder.
"I think it should be mandatory for me every year," Dempster quipped about taking a week off. He went on to say he felt good and fresh, and that he would be ready to pitch today if it were opening day.
Not so fast — Dempster has thrown only five innings, posting a 1.80 ERA.
Told of Dempster's assertion that he could pitch today if it were opening day, Cubs manager Lou Piniella took his turn at being funny.
"It's going to be 86 degrees in Cincinnati, too," Piniella said. "We're going to be drinking piña coladas. Yeah.
"He needs a little more work."
But in all seriousness, the Cubs have been pleased with Dempster's performance this spring and they have confidence in him rebounding from last season's 1-9 record and 4.80 ERA.
"Dempster is going to be our closer. We haven't deviated from that," Piniella said. "We just have to get a little more work in between now and the end of spring training."
An 0-2 mark with a 6.57 ERA in September especially marred Dempster's 2006 season.
"There weren't a lot of opportunities," he said. "And when I did get them I didn't do my job, and there were games I was getting work and not getting guys out.
"Strike one, I wasn't throwing that very often."
Dempster said he lost nearly 25 pounds in the off-season by cutting out sweets, breads and red meat. He and his wife, Jenny, ate meals delivered to their home.
"I have a sweet tooth," Dempster said. "I could never work in a Hershey's factory. I'd eat everything in there. I've disciplined myself.
"When you eat at home you know what's in the food. When you go to the restaurant, as good as it tastes, you never know what it's smothered in."
Dempster also has changed his approach and gained confidence by pitching more aggressively, unlike toward the end of last season.
"My command has been good and I've been trying to attack guys and be very aggressive. I found myself being very passive toward the end of last year, almost pitching away from contact and I've been my best when I've gone after people," he said.
He has also set a goal of 50 saves this season. He did not laugh or smile. So maybe he is serious?
"It means we're winning a lot of ballgames," he said, displaying a small grin.

It's Doctor Ninja to you Bitches!

Flordia Pictures

Right after my last rotation, Mike and I took off to Flordia to be with my family. Here's a few pictures.



Mike and I getting ready to golf with my grandparents and the gators!

One of the gators that tried to eat me while golfing!

Me attempting to golf!

Me and Mike at the Magic Kingdom

Mike getting ready to race at the Nascar go-carts iat the Magic Kingdom

A super sweet ninja at MGM during the Indiana Jones stunt show!

Mike and I at Epcot

Me and pirate before mini-golfing

My sister, Megan, and me mini- golfing

Mike preparing for me to kick his ass

Me kicking Mike's ass at mini-golf

Valentine's Day

Mike and I celebrated Valentine's day early since he would have to be out of town. He took me to my favorite resturant Hiway Harry's. Then we decided to go to HoChuck casino. I usually do not go crazy style and waste too much money, but this time I was out of control! I was down $100 in like 45 minutes. Mike was still playing so I decided to use the potty. I was just about to sit down when some old lady was all like "can somebody help me". I was like what the jazz! People were laughing and I could hear them leaving. Mind you I was in the back bathroom where there wasn't a lot of traffic. I was like shit I better see if she's dying. So I ask if she's ok. She says I just need help up. I told her she'd have to wait while I took care of my business. A million thoughts went through my head...is she on the floor covered in shit...yada yada yada? So I go down to her stall where her giant hoover round is parked in the door way I look in and here's this huge ass old black lady on the stool with her depends down. I had no idea how I was going to get her up. She told me to lift her by her armpits...so I did and about bust my back out I swear. While I was helping her up she was saying at the top of her lungs "you're so strong!" I was like shut the hell up since people were now in the bathroom wondering what was going on. I come out of the stall to a lot of weird looks, wash my hands, and go find Mike. I tell Mike my story and he was like ummm ok....that's all I got from him. I wanted to yell at him "Hey I just helped a huge ass lady off the stool give me something...like a that was nice of you or a high five! Anyway...me believing in krama thought it was a good idea to get money out of the ATM and see if I could win now. I played for less than 10 minutes and won $200. Man I wish I could give that lady in the bathroom a high five!

Month in Review

Here's some quick tid-bits that have happened in the last month...

1. I was visited by the FBI at my rotation...thanks Holly! That was secretly one of my life goals.

2. I'm nearly finished with my 4th out of 6 rotations....yippy!

3. Two weeks until I move in with Mike...double yippy!

4. I had four interviews with Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Osco.

5. I have received 4 sweet offers from the above listed...let the negotiations begin!

6. I finally got rid of Sprint....quaddriple yippy! The cost was hefty but my sanity worth more! I am a proud owner of a pink razor!

7. Octoberfest at my cousins got rained out but we still enjoyed scrampous food and Mallrats!!

8. Genevieve is now Mrs. Murray........CONGRATS again and again!

9. This last weekend we celebrated Missy's birthday with some asshole burning tacos from Manny's...I just have to put that hot sauce on even though it's painfull!!! I heart Grandma!

I think that's it that I can remember.

Our pumpkins....Mine is the ghost....Mike's dad made me the pink pumpkin (how glorious) and Mike made the one with the face 

Our first pumpkins! ....and yes Mike and I fought over who got to make the ghost....I won! 

My first attempt at wreath making...not bad huh? 

New Address

The new address for Mike and my apartment were just emailed out. Let me know if you didn't receive it since your in-box was too full.

*hint hint* :)

A Day in the Life of a Pharmacist

Here's a little email I received...enjoy....it's the truth!

Why your Pharmacist hates you so much....
Sunday, August 06, 2006
I Realize Today I've Done You A Disservice

WARNING: This post may be painful for those in the profession to read.For over a year and a half now, the first thing anyone visiting my little blog garden has seen under the headline at the top of the page is the promise that the question of "why does my prescription take so damn long to fill" will be answered. Tonight I looked over this blogs archives and realized it was a promise not kept. While many topics have been covered here, and you have been provided with ample evidence of how drugstore workday life does indeed warp the mind, the question of why it took 2 hours for you to get 20 Vicodin has remained unanswered. I can't help but to think there may be someone out there who has been logging on every day for the last 18 months hoping in vain for this mystery to be solved. Should such a person exist, I offer my humble apologies. To everyone else, I offer the following prescription scenario:You come to the counter. I am on the phone with a drunk dude who wants the phone number to the grocery store next door. After I instruct him on the virtues of 411, you tell me your doctor was to phone in your prescription to me Your doctor hasn't, and you're unwilling to wait until he does Being in a generous mood, I call your doctors office and am put on hold for 5 minutes, then informed that your prescription was phoned in to my competitor on the other side of town. Phoning the competitor, I am immediately put on hold for 5 minutes before speaking to a clerk, who puts me back on hold to wait for the pharmacist. Your prescription is then transferred to me, and now I have to get the 2 phone calls that have been put on hold while this was being done. Now I return to the counter to ask if we've ever filled prescriptions for you before. For some reason, you think that "for you" means "for your cousin" and you answer my question with a "yes", whereupon I go the computer and see you are not on file.The phone rings.You have left to do something very important, such as browse through the monster truck magazines, and do not hear the three PA announcements requesting that you return to the pharmacy. You return eventually, expecting to pick up the finished prescription.....The phone rings........only to find out that I need to ask your address, phone number, date of birth, if you have any allergies and insurance coverage. You tell me you're allergic to codeine. Since the prescription is for Vicodin I ask you what exactly codeine did to you when you took it. You say it made your stomach hurt and I roll my eyes and write down "no known allergies" You tell me......The phone rings.......you have insurance and spend the next 5 minutes looking for your card. You give up and expect me to be able to file your claim anyway. I call my competitor and am immediately put on hold. Upon reaching a human, I ask them what insurance they have on file for you. I get the information and file your claim, which is rejected because you changed jobs 6 months ago. An asshole barges his way to the counter to ask where the bread is.The phone rings.I inform you that the insurance the other pharmacy has on file for you isn't working. You produce a card in under 10 seconds that you seemed to be unable to find before. What you were really doing was hoping your old insurance would still work because it had a lower copay. Your new card prominently displays the logo of Nebraska Blue Cross, and although Nebraska Blue cross does in fact handle millions of prescription claims every day, for the group you belong to, the claim should go to a company called Caremark, whose logo is nowhere on the card.The phone rings.A lady comes to the counter wanting to know why the cherry flavored antacid works better than the lemon cream flavored antacid. What probably happened is that she had a milder case of heartburn when she took the cherry flavored brand, as they both use the exact same ingredient in the same strength. She will not be satisfied though until I confirm her belief that the cherry flavored brand is the superior product. I file your claim with Caremark, who rejects it because you had a 30 day supply of Vicodin filled 15 days ago at another pharmacy. You swear to me on your mother's'....The phone rings.........life that you did not have a Vicodin prescription filled recently. I call Caremark and am immediately placed on hold. The most beautiful woman on the planet walks buy and notices not a thing. She has never talked to a pharmacist and never will. Upon reaching a human at Caremark, I am informed that the Vicodin prescription was indeed filled at another of my competitors. When I tell you this, you say you got hydrocodone there, not Vicodin. Another little part of me dies.The phone rings.It turns out that a few days after your doctor wrote your last prescription, he told you to take it more frequently, meaning that what Caremark thought was a 30-day supply is indeed a 15 day supply with the new instructions. I call your doctor's office to confirm this and am immediately placed on hold. I call Caremark to get an override and am immediately placed on hold. My laser printer has a paper jam. It's time for my tech to go to lunch. Caremark issues the override and your claim goes though. Your insurance saves you 85 cents off the regular price of the prescription.The phone rings.At the cash register you sign....The phone rings........the acknowledgement that you received a copy of my HIPAA policy and that I offered the required OBRA counseling for new prescriptions. You remark that you're glad that your last pharmacist told you you shouldn't take over the counter Tylenol along with the Vicodin, and that the acetaminophen you're taking instead seems to be working pretty well. I break the news to you that Tylenol is simply a brand name for acetaminophen and you don't believe me. You fumble around for 2 minutes looking for your checkbook and spend another 2 minutes making out a check for four dollars and sixty seven cents. You ask why the tablets look different than those you got at the other pharmacy. I explain that they are from a different manufacturer. Tomorrow you'll be back to tell me they don't work as well.Now imagine this wasn't you at all, but the person who dropped off their prescription three people ahead of you, and you'll start to have an idea why.....your prescription takes so damn long to fill.A year and a half late, but a promise kept. I feel better about myself already.

Home Sweet Fabulous Home!!!

tYes it's official....Mike and I moved into the apartment this last weekend!....and I'm a CHEESE-HEAD!!! It was lots of work, but wow it's fabulous and perfect...and just the right amount of pink. It was hard not to pink it up crazy-style! Right now I'm back home still finishing rotations and Mike is up North working Monday through Thursday. Tonight the first thing we both said were " I miss the apartment and you, of course". hehe

Anyway I'm not feeling well...my throat is killing me. So that's why this is all pictures.

The official address will be emailed out sometime next week. I just don't have it in front of me and I haven't memorized it yet or I'd email it now. Plus, I'm finishing up my hospital rotation, which means it's case presentation time...busy busy busy!

***Note: No pictures of the two bedrooms since they are a work in progress***

OUR APARTMENT....yippy! The arrows are Mike and My door and balcony!!!  

Our stairway up to the second level 

My pride and joy....the living room 

Another living room view....check out my first curtain!  

That patio furniture is fabulous (hey at least our furniture matches in our first apartment)... my favorite is the table....THANKS TONYA!  

Living room and Kitchen view 

Our two bathroom sinks...pretty nice...huh? Note the pink
and green bath towels and accessories...THANKS MICHALIN!

My favorite...the bathroom in all it's pinkness...Mike says the shower curtain has to go...we'll just see about that!  

Another view of the kitchen 

Our clean kitchen....for now 

My birthday kitchen table...and we even have a washer and dryer behind those wood doors!!! Yippy!  

What a Lovely Table we'll probably never eat at..but it's nice to look at 

24 and Fabulous!

I know I promised to keep up...but again I'm behind.

So a little over a week ago, I turned 24...WHOA! I handled it well...but 25 I might have a break down. So after work two fridays ago, I drove up to Wisconsin to be with Mike for my birthday. When I got there, we got all pretty and headed to my favorite resturant Hiway Harry's where he had made reservations. When they escorted us to our seats there were my beautiful flowers waiting for me and extra cute little candles. After we smooched for a minute, he told me that he drove the flowers to the resturant eariler that day, after hand picking each stem out at the florist. He even hand pick our table out. It was completely romantic and one of the best birthdays I've ever had.

The next day, I go and look at the apartment he had picked out. I absolutely loved it! Trust me I'm relieved. So Mike signed the lease and he gets to move in October 1st!! I'm super excited and he's even letting me decorate the whole place however I want...I've bought tons and tons of stuff!!!

This last weekend we stayed with my sister since I had a professional meeting that I had to attend for graduation requirements. No joke my meeting was at McDonalds Cooperate in Oak Brook at the Hyatt Lodge and Hamburger University. Despite the name, it was pretty darn fancy there. There was even a fountain pop machine outside of one of the lecture halls...I was grinning ear to ear once I had my McDonalds coke. Overall though it was super boring and Mandi and I snuck out half way through the day. Then Mike, Mandi and I had a glorious lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. Then Mike and I went to IKEA and bought lots of goodies.

That's about all the fun stuff I can remember...now it time to do a little work before my early bedtime.

My Birthday Flowers - a little lopsided from the car ride home 

Mike does such good work!