Today after work, I upgraded my medicine cabinet.

I bought a new thermometer.  It's digital and if I drop this on my tile floor I think it has a better chance of surviving than my old glass and not-mercury version.  The woman was really nice to me. I've seen her three times in the last week and each time I buy more than the time before.  She gave me three different choices of thermometers.  I picked the one with the big screen.  My other choice was one with a small screen--no thanks.  Or one with, well, some other attribute--which I didn't understand.  So I picked the nice one with the big screen.   It works pretty well.  And I am happy to announce: no fever!

I got some Coldrex tablets based on a collegues' advice and a blog reader's comments.  I am not sure exactly what the pills are supposed to do but based on the head and the arrows that it points to 1. forehead, 2. nose and 3. throat.  Eureka!  I think that it will cure everything that ails me.  The one thing is that the pharmacist did ask me some question that I didn't understand and thus didn't know the answer to.  She then said something about caffeine.   At home I confirmed that the medicine does contain caffeine.

I also picked up the blue Strepsils.  Amazing.  They are very minty. So much so, that they sooth my throat, temper my scratchy cough and they cause me to sneeze. That's the sign of a good mint.  I feel great and extra minty.

The one thing I wonder about after my third trip to the pharmacy is this: are the people who work behind the counter at the pharmacy actually pharmacists? What kind of knowledge, training and power do these men and women have?