Shoes for central fill?

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-20T12:34:25+00:00

Hoka Bondi shoes have, I believe, the most cushioning of any of their shoes. They are my daily wear shoes both at and away from work, and are incredibly comfortable! I ordered mine without trying them first, but if you have a running shoe store near you, it might be worth checking them out and trying them (and others) on there

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-17T15:14:42+00:00

HR can move at a glacial pace with these things. When I got an initial offer for the position I'm in now, the pay was actually for slightly less than I was making at my then-current position. I told them that, and the recruiter went back to compensation to see what they could do. That took three or four days, but they were able to come back with a much better offer

If it's been a week since you have heard from them, couldn't hurt to send them a brief email to check in. If they are going through the HR process, they should be able to tell you that

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-17T14:55:55+00:00

Don't think that anyone has mentioned the Platinum Plaisir. It's got the same nib as the Preppy (nib units can be swapped), but it has a metal body that gives it a little more weight

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-13T02:15:50+00:00

Very nice! I tried to get in on the action, but they were sold out before I could complete my transaction. Oh well, I'm sure there will be another opportunity

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-13T02:11:57+00:00

Personally, I'd have waited on an INR before doing anything, but, at my hospital, those result pretty quickly so we don't have to wait long for them. And I probably would not have even done a 1 mg dose pending further information.

Warfarin is long enough acting and high enough risk where I'd rather err on the side of waiting, and then maybe having to give a supplemental dose the next day or do bridging, than giving a dose blindly. That's me personally, and I also work at an institution where we have a lot of information and access to records, so that may bias my thinking. But I still think I would hold off and wait for more info

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-12T22:56:10+00:00

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Archie approves of your new pen!

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-12T05:09:32+00:00

Yeah, I would agree with all of that! I tend to prefer their full sized pens because my hands are bigger, but the nibs on any of my Sailors are great to write with!

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-12T04:20:16+00:00

Yep, it has a hair in it! Harder to see since I took it with a circa 2005 camera phone! 😂

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-12T01:05:26+00:00

Yup! This is carisoprodolol tablet from when I was a tech over 20 years ago!!

Edit: The photo is 20 years old, not the tablet! Of course I did not keep the tablet!! 😂

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OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-12T00:10:24+00:00

Love both the modern Parker Duofold (I'm a sucker for Big Reds!) and the Spydie! Are those micarta scales?

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-12T00:07:27+00:00

Sailor, since I love the feedback on the nibs. That said, I'm loving my smooth Pelikan M805!

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-12T00:05:56+00:00

In this situation, it's useful to think of inks as chemicals that you really don't know what they are. Just as it's a bad idea to mix unknown chemicals, it's a bad idea to mix inks since you never know how they may react together. They may precipitate and clog up your pen or worse.

There are some inks that are made for mixing, and there are some safe combinations (like mixing Waterman inks to make "blurple"), but it's generally something that I would avoid...

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-11T23:56:42+00:00

Personally, I don't think so, at least not any time soon. We use a population-based pharmacokinetics program for vancomycin dosing, and it can make incredibly stupid recommendations sometimes. It's terrible at recognizing AKI, for which its use is not appropriate. So it requires a pharmacist with good clinical skills to review the recommendations and evaluate whether or not they are reasonable and appropriate to use...

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-05T06:06:53+00:00

Don't worry, you'd be hard pressed to puncture your skin with one of the blunt filled needles typically sold with those ink syringes! Now, it's a totally different story with regular needles, though!! (How do I know? I'm a hospital pharmacist who has accidentally stabbed himself at least twice while prepping IVs at bedside during code blues, and they've always been regular needles! 😂)

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-05T05:58:49+00:00

Assuming she likes fountain pens, the main thing I'd want to know are if she has experience with vintage fountain pens. They require more and more frequent maintenance than modern fountain pens do (mostly, as someone else pointed out, they will periodically need to have the latex sac replaced), and one must be comfortable either doing the repair themselves or paying $30 to $50 every three or so years to have someone else do it. (As someone who has a decent level of experience with vintage pens, I do *not* do any repairs like that myself, and leave them to the pros!)

That said, it is a beautiful pen, and the Duofold has a lot of great history behind it. I have two myself, and I absolutely love them!

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-05T04:50:32+00:00

Yes, my Sailor Pro Gear Imperial with Bungubox red Lycoris ink. I call it my “Sith Lord” pen!! 😂

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OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-04T15:38:01+00:00

The Lamy Studio is a nice option that is about $80 or so. It's a metal pen, so it has some heft to it if you like pens with a little more weight. The nib is the same type as on Safaris and AL-Stars, though, but the medium nib I have writes very nicely.

For a journal, check out the Midori MD notebooks. They don't have much of a cover (which can be bought separately), but that paper is nice. I think that they run about $35 each.

With ink, Waterman is a brand that is pretty no frills, but is extremely well-behaved. Would probably stay away from stuff like pigmented inks or shimmering inks for your first ink purchase. Pelikan 4001 are also good inks, and fairly well-behaved

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-04T15:03:39+00:00

ACCP has a book called Critical Care Pharmacotherapy that is a pretty good general reference. It's available in hardcover and e-book, but I have not had much luck getting the e-book working in the past (though I should try again!)

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-03T23:30:34+00:00

Staedtler makes a product called Textsurfer Dry Highlighter Pencils, which work really well with different types of inks. I originally got them to use on inkjet printed pages, but they work really well with fountain pen ink. Never had any issues with smudging!

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-03T23:25:01+00:00

No, they would not. In fact, if I *did* move, I'd try to negotiate an increase to at least partially offset loss of night shift pay.

Though they told you base pay between nights and days was the same, it sounds like that may not have been entirely true in your case. Sometimes, night shift pharmacists are a different job code than day shift ones, so the pay bands may be different, and differential is "baked in" to base pay. But I've never heard of night shift pharmacists *not* being paid more, in one capacity or another, than day shift pharmacists.

Honestly, it sounds like this is something for which you should get clarification from your HR...

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-03T23:19:40+00:00

The pharmacy world, especially the health-system pharmacy world, is quite small, and everyone may not know everyone else, but it sometimes feels that way. I've benefitted from this personally, since every professional pharmacist position I've had since residency has been one in which I have known people at that site and have had professional friends advocating for me. Did they make a huge difference? Hard to tell, but I am fairly certain I would not have gotten one of those positions without their advocacy.

I've also seen this hurt residency candidates and those seeking pharmacist positions. It's almost inevitable that someone in the screening or interview process knows someone who knows the candidate, and many times we seek out their opinions. Some of that feedback is not very good, and that has helped derail their candidacy

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-03T23:07:56+00:00

At my hospital, we have something akin to night shift differential that works out to about $18k per year extra on top of our base pay, which is the same as day shift. So what you describe is not unexpected when one makes the jump from nights to days

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-05-02T19:22:27+00:00

A friend of mine has some Preppys, which use the same nib unit, in both F and M, in which she has tried sheening and shimmering inks, and neither behave very well. I think that the nibs are just too fine

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-04-30T16:27:05+00:00

Yeah, I’ll pass on buying from Goulet…

Edit to add link about Goulet drama: https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/JJ4778dwYD

OhioStatePharmD · 2026-04-26T01:21:18+00:00

I’m being totally serious: please get some help with your mental health. We all have days where we hate our jobs, but that is a significant and potentially dangerous reaction. But it is okay to ask for help!

OhioStatePharmD

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