Magic Kingdom, my ASS

I spent last week at the Dolphin hotel at Disney World, for a work national sales meeting. This means a few things.
1) I never get to see the much if any of the destination.
2) I am stuck in a hotel room for eight hours a day in meetings.
3) People drink too much and act like it is the last night of beer on Earth.
4) The ammount of ass-kissing hits a year high crescendo.
5) Lilly goes all-out for a night to keep the spirits high.

All the above held true. It was a standard Lilly issue meeting. Sessions were long and relatively inconsequential, as it relates to communication of new material. There were some nice perks like an East area dinner at a cool theme restaurant & the run of MGM park for a couple of hours. The meeting was definitely well organized, and came at a good time, as moral is a little low in the rank and file.
Yes, there were a LOT of drunks running rampant. I have one rule at these meetings. Would I do this at home on the same night? How many people get shitfaced on Tuesday, to where they can not control what comes out of their mouths? When was the last time you drank a dozen plus beers on a Thursday? Whatever, who am I to judge? Really more of an interesting observation, as all these people still made their meetings and contributed the following day.
To watch the ass-kissing is almost unbearable. So many people think that they can name-drop their way to the top. Granted being connected and recognized is VERY good, within Lilly. Unfortunately, being an ass-kisser is also held in high regard. So another year down and another National meeting gone by. I saw some old friends and got to better know my teammates. So for that, the meeting was good for me.
My biggest and most conflicting take-away from the meeting was this. Our US affiliate Vice President showed a quote from the President of Wisconsin Power & Light about winning in business in the times we are in. It goes as follows, paraphrased. "We can not continue to do the same thing, give me rebels, radicals, revolutionaries and people who want to howl at the moon." Immediately after reading this quote our VP (horrible communicator) states, "now go back to your meeting rooms and practice your sales messages for perfect implementation."
WHAT THE FUCK!!!!
Practice a script and spew this back verbatim to a doctor. You Rebels, that is radical dude. Implement, implement, implement. It is rare that the word SELL ever gets mentioned. AARRGGHH!
I do have a new-found respect for our President. She gave a great closing speech, without the use of a tele-prompter. Sadly enough, she was the ONLY presenter to go sans prompter. DC gets HUGE respect in my book.
I could go on and on, but am getting generally tired of this post, kind of like I waswith the meeting. Well, I have a field day with my manager tomorrow. Hopefully I can leverage another peer award I recieved into some action, to further my stalled career.
Time to go and watch Two and a half men. Good comedic relief.
Oh yeah, now I am getting sick. BLAH!
2,500 road miles so far, since 12/20, pretty much all base. Hopefully I can turn that into some form soon. 900 more miles than last year this time. No wonder I was so tired last week. Hopefully a week off the bike and a relatively easy week will bring some form this weekend.

Fragile

Most things in life really are, however since this is my bullypulpit I will focus on a few that affected me this weekend.
Relationships
Mindset
Form, for all you cycling geeks

Relationships. Actually this is the one where my fragile mind is rather at ease. I am however very disappointed in myself for a lack of Anniversary surprise or gift for Ames. It is our twelve year anniversary, and I hate to say it, it was another day. Some may feel that is callous or uncaring, some may see it a little like me. In that, I see the day as expected. I do not love Ames any more or less today than I did yesterday or tomorrow. However I should have at least done something. Especially when she got me two very heartfelt gifts. Walk the Line DVD & the accompanying soundtrack. I enjoy the Man in Black and I enjoyed the movie. It was an extremely thoughful gift. I on the other hand got a card. "I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen!" well not as bad as that, but still somewhat schlepish. We did go to a great dinner at the Accomac Inn in Wrightsville, courtesy of Cal. It was superb.

Mindest. This gets tricky. Those who know me, know that if I experience any doubt about something, it is not good. I start to second guess things left & right. Right now work is very unrewarding, but I am encumbered by a pretty nice set of golden handcuffs. I enjoy my job, when I get to actually see and speak with physicians and have meaningful discussions with them. Lately they are few and far between. So I wonder a great deal, when it was that I actually sold my soul for cold hard cash? Would I be any happier doing something else for less money. Would a change just lead to more second and third guessing for a fragile mind?

Lastly, Form. This is as it relates to cycling. Well, I sucked this weekend at Strasburg. That is all that I will say. I was humiliated and embarrased with my performance or lack thereof. So form is a tricky thing with cyclists, some time you think you have it you suck. Sometimes you feel shitty and viola you have a nice race. Finicky.
After little rest from cross, maybe that is the issue, I have put in 2,400 miles since Christmas. All power markers from 5 sec through 10 minutes are at or better than last year's best numbers. Yeah, I thought I was on track. Well, maybe I was digging so hard, I dug too deep. After looking at my last two weeks data again, of which I was so proud of not so long ago, I realized 10 of my last 19 rides were high Tempo intensity or greater for the duration of the ride. What does that mean? Basically my fragile training mind said more is better. It was not in this case. Hopefully a week off will be what the doctor ordered.
Kudos to Geronimo, Miller & Trdina for their Strasburg efforts. Trdina is one damn good rder that does not get near the credit he deserves. That is a shame. Godd dude, funny as shit, good racer.
Sopranos time.
Later
Lastly

Haiku

Twelve quick years with Ames
Ups, downs, smiles, frowns, would not change
Anniversary

Naughty Little Minx

Yes she is.
PICK PICKLER!
Top Ten reasons to pick pickler

10) Calamari, what's calamari
9) I will have the Sal-man for dinner
8) Comet the wonder dog
7) Lives with grandpa Wilbur
6) Hooks up Gramps w/ sandwich dates
5) Hayseed
4) More naive than one person should be allowed to be
3) Not a bad singer
2) Easier to look at than Mandisa
1) Beacause she really is a naughty little minx

On another note, anyone who listened to me about movie selections I told them to see Crash. It won the Oscar last night. It is a great story of race relations, perceptions and how they impact a random event. One of the best flicks I have ever seen. I can not believe the same guy who "sharted", in Along came Polly then went on to play Truman Capote. He then wins the Oscar, amazing. Another naughty little minx won Best Actress, Reese Witherspoon for her portrayal of June Carter Cash. She was good, but if you want to see Reese in a cool, dark comedy rent "Election". Pick Flick.Wow, the segues are flying fast and furious. If Pick Pickler sang the song Pick Flick sings as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, she would crush the Island of Mandisa. I say Pick Pickler needs to channel JCC and sing, Jackson. Her voice is close to JCC, and she could rip the shit outta Jackson.
Keep up the support for that Naughty Little Minx. That little Hayseed hottie needs to last another week or three.
Vote fast and vote often.

Who hires/promotes these people?

Contrary to the tone of this post, I do like the company that I work for and I do enjoy what I do, when I actually get to see a physician and have a good discussion.
Here goes. Some knucklehead 20something on the Strattera brand team got the brilliant idea to send a framed photocopy of letter a kid wrote to Lilly, thanking "us" for making Strattera as it changed her life. Here is where the shit goes wrong:
1) It was an f'in photocopy of the letter, at least do a print for crissakes.
2) I do not care. Do you think anyone will actually hang this in their home. Gee friends, look what Mona sent me. Do you want to motivate me, send me money or find ways to challenge me.
3) It was in a nicely matted design. Three openings, beveled, and all different sizes. Not cheap
4) Nice frame w/ real glass, also not cheap. Remember this goes out to 1,000+ people.
5) It was sent UPS in a regular box, no bubblewrap, with other materials.
6) The glass was very broken when it got to my house.
The upside is with the broken glass, it came out of the frame easier when I threw the photocopy and said glass away. I now just need to find a few pics that fit the openings and print a little descriptor for the small opening.
The thing is some freakin' nipplehead thought that this is a good motivator. The brand team sent a letter saying this is a thank you for a hard year's work. Is a prudent way to spend resources? I now that I am a cynic, that is not really a bad thing, but really why not send evryone a $20 AMEX. Shit like that is what happens when a 20 something with no real world experience and 1 or 2 years of pharma sales is put in a decision making, position of responsibility. The shame is he/she will probably be blessed because they could move to Indy and do a bullshit picture frame project and then come out and be my manager in a couple of years. What the F can he/she possibly say to bring benefit to someone, anyone with 10 years in the industry and reads more disease state journals than most docs? " Well why don't you give the well respected psychiatrist this little school bus lunch box and fill it with popcorn and tell the doc that Strattera works while little Mona is at school and in the evening." That is what the popcorn is for, get it. Tee hee hee, picture hair tossing and boob jiggling as you read the previous quote.
Yes, that is what some parts of Big Pharma are coming to. I do a Neurology CME on neuropathic pain and medical comorbidities in my free time while some f'in twit thinks up ways to incorporate a short bus lunch box into a medical discussion.

Ding dong the (w)(b)itch is dead

Brenna is done! Hoo Haa. That is one person that was so ingratiating that I could not stand her. Just an absolute pompous self-centered C U Next Tuesday!
My girl Pick Pickler hung tough and was her spunky little hayseed self. What movie was the hayseed reference from. Hint, the Coen Brothers.
Speaking of Hayseeds, that Bucky is classic. I like him because, he is so unassuming and unpretentious. Someone does need to coach him to either speak less or sing all of his answers as statements from Skynard songs. It is a shame the little punk outlasted Sway. I am not a big Stevie Wonder fan, but I thought Sway was decent. I can not get over the little dude's lisp.
So the judges say it is all about song choice. I am hoping that Gene Simmons comes back as a guest judge, but in the phase where the contestants sing KISS songs. That would be sweet. Every contestant must sing Christine Sixteen, and then their fave KISS tune. Rock on!

So on to a little politics. The powers that be at CD high school seem to be trampling all over the first ammendment right of free speech. It seems a student was "placed" in an "alternative" ed program. Some other students objected to his placement so they have taken to wearing "Free Turk" homemade t-shirts and writing the slogan on book covers, backs of hands, etc... Basically a peaceful, visible protest. Well the CD Board has supended 20 students for showing their support of Turk. The ACLU is now involved and is going to file suit. If I were a CD taxpayer I would be freakin' pissed because the school is upholding the suspensions and are going to challenge the ACLU. There is precedent to show this type of action is free speech. More taxpayer money down the shitter, just like Dover. When did school districts take the stance that they are going to impose their will instead of educate their kids?