She's back

The woman of the hour just landed in Chicago and unfastened her seat belt.  The college mini-reunion in Las Vegas was great fun.  The side trip to the great State of Texas was just as lovely.

More to come ...






I came to Las Vegas May 2nd not for the fight of the century but to attend our college biennial mini-reunion.  Since I haven't been to Sin City in two years, everything seemed to be new and different.  For instance, for such a small airport I was looking for my ride for almost an hour.  I was waiting on the wrong door!  My friends got dizzy going round and round the airport looking for me.  You see there is a side for limousine/taxi pick up and on the opposite side (Door 2) for passenger pick-up located on both sides of the building.  I was told to wait between door 7 and 8.   Each side turned out to have door 7 and 8.  Well, very confusing for me.  I did not have a checked-in baggage so I just got out on the first door of Baggage Claim #2.  Door #2 ( Passenger Pick-Up) is  near Baggage Claim #14 ?  I did ask an airport guard and was told to go to Door #2.   I had no idea what she was talking about.   Ya, right, next time go to your baggage claim at this airport even if you don't have a checked-in luggage.

I usually take a taxi or car rental when I go to Las Vegas.  This time my classmates Edith and Marilou picked me up at the airport.  Thanks girlfriends kahit na nahilo yong driver nyo.

Chicago O'Hare  International Airport is the best for travelers: Once you get out of the terminal there's a first lane for limousines; second/middle lane for taxicabs; third lane for private pick-up and hotel shuttles.

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DELAYED FLIGHT,  MISSED CONNECTION
Next time I have to remind myself not to purchase a ticket  flight with multiple carriers, that is United Airlines and American Airlines.  The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport  is the main hub of American Airlines and not the main hub of United Airlines.    My American Airlines flight to Dallas was delayed by an hour and a half because of bad weather in Dallas.  When I  landed in Dallas I could not find my United  Airlines flight's gate on the Departure monitor and  anyway just took the Skylink to terminal E for United Airlines.   American Airlines terminal B is a bit far from terminal E.  Anyway, I went out the wrong E gates, going back and forth, signs with missing terminal E  (A, B, C, D only) until I missed my flight.  In the past, I'm used to taking only one carrier on a round trip flight.  In the end, United Airlines bounced me back to American Airlines and had to re-book.  

Lesson: Avoid DFW.  Always a bad weather in Dallas.


AMERICAN AIRLINES IS THE BEST  WHEN IT COMES TO GOING THROUGH AIRPORT SECURITY.  Once I have self check-in, get my ticket, I go where I don't have to remove my shoes and just have my handcarry bag inspected.  The flight menu is much better than United Airlines.


Recycled Web Page

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Dear Professor Joe:

May I add the following recommendations with those
submitted by participating UST alumni - please disregard if few and not all may
have been suggested and duplicated already....

In our 1st USTPMTBBAA Grand Reunion, you invited a very
impressive list of guests (UST professors and distinguished alumni) from our old
alma mater.  It would be nice to invite them again to be one of the keynote
speakers in the session you are planning for the date of June 24, 2005. 
Being here in the United States and so out of touch I am so interested to
know the current status of Medical Technology in the Philippines.  Topics
like:

• When did Medical Technology reach its peak as a
  course?
  
• Statistics like how many have taken the course in the
  past decades?
  
• It would be interesting to listen to stories, anecdotes
  and what not; see color slides of memorable spots in the school - Pharmacy
  Botany Garden, UST Chapel, UST Hospital Lab, the halls of the main building
  and library where I'd only been there once.
  
• Who are the university-affiliated hospitals involved in
  training Med. Tech. interns and what state-of-the-art instruments are they
  using?  I remember when I was an intern we're not allowed to handle the
  super-expensive electron microscope at the time.  You know, look but
  don't touch!
  
• Are students still being kicked out of school when they
  fail in one subject?  Is there a second chance?  I want to
  know.
  
• I'd like to know since the smart professors are the same
  people teaching Pharmacy, Medical Technology, Biochemistry and Botany subjects
  - how had medical technology changed inside and out through the
  years?  When I was a student, I liked the diversity of classmates
  admitted to the school from different provinces and socially interacting
  with them with their (and my Ilocano) funny accents.  I liked going to 6
  hospitals in my last year of medical
  technology internship:

          San
Lazaro Hospital & TB Sanitarium  - Microbiology, Interaction with TB
patients

          Veterans
Hospital - Pathology, Histology, Autopsy, Chemistry

          National
Childrens Hospital - Hematology, Pediatrics

          San
Juan De Dios Hospital - Urinalysis (Pregnancy Test with frogs),
OB-GYN

         
Camp Crame Military Hospital - Phlebotomy, Sterilization (It's a no-no now but
then we used to sterilize glass syringes and needles by boiling them. 
Thanks for disposable plastics!)

          UST
Hospital Laboratory- Parasitology and Forensic ( ALIAS Crime Scene
Investigation)

Dean Father Lorenzo Rodriguez, really and truly had an
excellent and wonderful Medical Technology program - providing the foundation in
our earlier days and preparing us to a path of knowledge that will guide us in
our chosen career and made it easier for us after we'd gone beyond the sea
and journey to the far horizon of distant lands and laboratories.

I've been browsing at our USTPMTBBAA souvenir programs and
I see impressive array of pharmaceutical sponsors and adverts of very successful
alumni.  May be one of the CEOs and pharmaceutical
representatives would like to talk about their products and technological
advancement.  Boring???

May be a fellow alumni living and working in Las Vegas
could check and call the University of Nevada (Las Vegas) and invite a Medical
Technology professor or instructor to speak for an hour or 30 minutes.  I
don't know what they have there but how about calling the Nevada Department of
Public Health?  People in public health service are so dedicated, friendly,
patient and full of information - at least that's my satisfying experience
whenever I used to call the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Last but not the least, I'd like to see someday (in
picture if not in person) a USTPMTBBAA plaque or sign in a significant little
rest area in the UST Pharmacy Garden where I, as a student and
many grads, had spent many restful hours and talking and dreaming of
going to America.  Or.... just being funny, misbehaving and gossiping with
classmates.  Or.... just eating our banana leaves-wrapped lunch (rice
tasted better). Yes, I'm willing to contribute.  Don't you think it
will be a nice way to say to future alumni, "Been there, done that?"

School is....Not bad.  Not bad at all!

______________________________________________________________________

Hi

Saw your latest message on the ASCP workshops on May 25-27,2005
in Schaumburg,IL.

Can you find out if they have similiar workshops in Las
Vegas that will coincide with the
USTPMTBBAA reunion on June 24, 2005? I am
trying to arrange for CE sessions for Pharmacists and
Med Techs in the
afternoon of June 24.

Details of the reunion will be mailed during the
middle of March.

Warm regards.

joe


Published 3/3/05  ALT MSN Group
Web Page: 3rd USTPMTBBAA Reunion