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| :: Restaurant Review :: Soups - "Come home for lunch" So it has been another month since my last entry, I figured it was time to throw another one up here. I'm trying to spit this out during my lunch break, and my lunch was so good that I couldn't help but write about this amazing place I've found. Soups is a small cafe located in the town of Beaverlodge, where I've been working now for the last week and a half. It used to be right beside the old medical clinic, and a favourite place to lunch for the staff there. The clinic has since moved to the other side of town, but it still remains the most popular place to go for lunch. I guess it helps that "other side of town" is actually only about 3 blocks away. They feature two daily special homemade soups - all from scratch - and a wide variety of great sandwiches and salads. Their soups are always hearty and full of fresh ingredients, each spoonful bursting with multiple flavours, textures, and feelings of comfort. Their multigrain rolls are all homemade and at once both crusty and soft - serving only to add to the experience. Sandwiches are huge and served on generous slices of their deliciously soft homemade bread. They roast their own beef in house and serve it in a huge stack with lots of veggies and their signature secret sauce - some blend of mustard, horseradish, and home-style cookin'... yes - that's cooking but without the 'g'. I've never been one to appreciate soups, as I was raised on Chinese soups - you know, with all those weird tasting bits and pieces, the bitter or pungent aftertaste, that grainy texture, and the threat of a beating if you didn't finish what you knew was good for you... I even once pointed out to my mom that the Canada Food Guide listed soups as one of the "limit your intake" foods... she quickly pointed out that it meant those unhealthy gwai-lo soups, full of cream and salt, and yelled at me for not finishing my soup fast enough. There are those who equate soup as a comfort food - and while I can now appreciate the tranquility of a cup of hot savoury broth, it had never really been much of a comfort. After coming to Soups almost every day for the last couple of weeks, I can now see what they mean when it reminds them of home - the combined aromas of roast meat, fresh vegetables, and fresh-baked rolls; the warm and filling, sticking to your ribs feeling spoonful after spoonful; and heaving that satisfied sigh after scraping the bowl with the last bit of bread and enjoying that last morsel. If you're ever in Grande Prairie, it's definitely worth the 30 minute drive out to Beaverlodge to enjoy a meal in one of the most homey cafés I've ever visited. You also have to take one or two of their fresh baked homemade desserts (they've always got a wide varieties of squares, brownies, muffins, cinnamon rolls) to take back on the road. This is precisely what brings small towns its charms. Their tagline is "come home for lunch" and that's exactly how I felt - not so much the yelling and punishing for not finishing the soup, but more the that they created meals as if they cared about you. I've been working out of town for a few weeks now and as much as I miss home, I did get a small taste of it here... take care and God bless... hobbes  | | |
| So, for those who were too lazy to read the entire previous post, yes - I am now engaged (sorry ladies  I know that guys with cute dogs are hard to resist...) the short story basically being dinner, a movie, and a ring... she said "yes."
And now, back to our very irregularly scheduled programming:
Shafted Staff Staves off Staph
Yes, my very first few days as *Staff* - with the Capital S... no longer a lower-case resident. Now fully responsible and liable for every statement, every prescription, every stitch, and every tie. Knee-shaking fear aside, I've survived and no one has died so far. Here is a brief recap of my leap off the deep end as staff physician in small-town Alberta:
I arrive, bright eyed and bushy tailed... trusty stethoscope in one hand and trusty huge duffel bag full of reference books in the other (just in case). "Bring them on!" I boldly declare... or maybe naively declare...
Things go pretty well the first little while... I'm feeling confident... I'm healing the sick. Changing the world.... or was that Healing the World... Changing the Sick (their dirty dressings, anyways...)
If variety is the spice of life, they say... then my first day was spicier than the sand dunes of Arrakis (no, I'm not a huge Dune fan... I had to Wikipedia that). Youngest patient - 6 weeks... oldest - 78. Broken bones needed casting. Nasty Staph Aureus abscesses needed draining. Achy backs, sore knees, stuffy noses, swollen eyelids... the list goes on and on...
What do the following have in common: baseball bat, 4x4 quads, windows, dirty farm equipment? All were direct causes of gaping wounds... the one thing that tied them all together was... you guessed it... alcohol. The fun part was that I got to stitch them up while they were still drunk and uncooperative. Nothing like hitting a moving target with a tiny suture needle amidst fruity-smelling slurred curse words  .
I spent about an hour and a half trying to start an IV on a very chubby 5-month old... he was 27 lbs (for reference, that's normal weight for a 3-4 year old) and looked like a baby Michelin Man... all the while with mom and grandma and some medicine man? hovering over me, muttering native prayers and bawling their eyes out. It was at this point when I realized I couldn't turn to my staff preceptor to start the IV for me. I basically had to keep trying until I got it... and yes... I got it  ...
There were also a lot of new experiences... picture this scene: the newbie doctor (that's me), the newbie nurse, and the newbie RCMP officer standing around reading the instructions on how to properly open up and process a rape kit in front of a tearful patient. It was almost comical as none of us really knew what we were doing, yet still trying to keep everything dignified and official.
And then I almost got beat-up by a 6-foot tall schizophrenic transvestite. Yes  ... just when I thought the day couldn't get any more strange, the RCMP pull up with a scary-looking unusually muscular "female" in shackles. Even the most seasoned RCMP were creeped out by her. Believing that the RCMP and I were workers of Satan, let's just say she wasn't very pleased when I said that we were sending her to Edmonton for further evaluation. The glare of death she gave me from behind her flowing blond greasy hair, accented by the bulging veins of her well muscled neck, was pretty scary... but then again maybe she was just looking at the evil Mickey Mouses (Mickey Mice?) floating around beside my head...
So there you have it... a day in the life of a small-town doc. Bravely facing the unknown. Boldly embracing the ambiguous. Blindly issuing prescriptions just to get out before the sun comes up again... oh well, too late, the sun rises at 4:30am here. It's not quite as scary when one knows that there is someone lighting the path and making it straight....
Here's hoping my 11 years of post-secondary education will serve me and the people here well...
take care and God bless...
hobbes | | |
| Anatomy of a Tiger 
I decided to embark on a new project - both to challenge my own abilities and expand my creative horizons... I sought to create an effigy... a metaphor of self... a tangible essence of me . Armed with:
a pile of raw materials
a sewing machine, whom I've affectionately nicknamed Snaggy (courtesy of Alvin & Co.)
and an exhaustively detailed set of blueprint and instructions...
I set out on this journey... for as Confucius once said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, mine began with a single stitch. And it snagged. But soon I was well underway, having easily made several cylindrical appendages that would eventually be arms or legs (not sure yet which) and a tail. Little did I know what was in store for me as I naively pushed onward.
The
sun was shining, slowly melting the layers of packed snow and ice from the
trails. Two dogs and their owners were
carefully stepping through slush, avoiding the squishy mud and hidden ice. One of the dogs - a young and energetic
golden retriever - darted back and forth, exploring all unique and interesting
smells hidden below benches and around tree trunks. Eagerly soaking in the fresh smells of
spring, as well as a layer of mud and dirt, he was the picture of exuberance
and naïveté. The other - a world weary
cock-a-poo with an ivory afro - meandered carefully through the forest trying
not to get snagged by various sticks and branches. The two humans were conversing in low tones,
themselves unaware of the journey upon which that they are about to
embark.
They
cross over a bridge together and watch the ice floes over the side as large
chunks are being broken off by the strong river current. As they stare, one of them pulls a small red
package from his pocket - the kind that opens upward often containing small
items of jewelry like rings or such. The
girls' eyes open wide in surprise and anticipation as he opens the case.
A
bright and shiny object is revealed - but only for a split second before it
slips out of the case and tumbles, spinning and turning off the edge of the
bridge onto the ice below. Teasingly,
its brilliant gleam is still visible as it sits on a chunk of ice some 40
meters below, not quite carried away by the river's flow. The girl voices concern and worry, only to be
met by indifference and eventually laughter.
It was not yet the time. Together
they walked off, hand in hand, vaguely aware of something significant, but not
quite grasping it just yet.
The body presented various challenges and was my first roadblock. The difficulty lie in constructing a three-dimensional object from two-dimensional pieces... and doing it all backwards and inside-out (as the pieces have to be cut out and sewn together on the inside.) In addition to it being two-toned (white belly and striped flank), I also had to ensure there was enough room to fit in four limbs and a tail. I felt a great sense of accomplishment when it came together rather nicely... but the hardest was yet to come...
They arrived at the restaurant
and sat comfortably in a cozy private booth - enclosed by colourful curtains
and surrounded by soft cushions, the scene was set for the next part in our
story. The lighting was dim and the conversation muted. The food
was incredibly good - the kind that makes you eat until you are full and then
some. The plates were not quite cleaned off, though the food was not at
fault, but perhaps from a sense of anticipation or nervousness... depending on
who you asked. Somewhere among scoops of saffron rice, butter chicken,
and fresh naan, another package materialized. She opened up the small
envelope and read the card with a smile. An even smaller wrapped package
fell out - flat on one side and a raised ring-shaped ridge on the other.
Consternation clouded her eyes as she skeptically ripped open the wrapping.
A dogtag and key ring fell out - an Edmonton Oilers logo on one side, and the dog's name and
email address on the other. They laughed at the ridiculous wrapping job
and turned back toward the tandoori chicken and beef saag. The time was
still not quite right, but slowly becoming more so.
With the body and legs done, I started to design the head and face. This proved to be very difficult, as the face was made of multiple pieces with varying contours. The head was not only semi-spherical/elliptical but also had to properly attach at the neck and still be of correct proportions. It actually took me two tries, as the first one was inexplicably conical in shape. I must have forgotten to carry a two somewhere in my hand-written calculations. Looking back, I'm pretty amazed it turned out the way it did, with my hand-calculated proportions and lack of calculator/3-d modeling designs. I did use pi several times in this construction, thus doing my engineering background justice. It was also at this point when I realized that I had to piece it together in such a way as to be able to stuff it afterwards, and puzzled at how to close it off at the end. The end was in sight as my creation gradually took on a familiar form before me.
 
The room was dark, the music
swelled, and the beautifully animated environmentally conscious penguin epic
was coming to a close. The dogs were peacefully lying underfoot, serving
both as foot-rests and foot-warmers. He picks up a tube of Pringles© and
offers her a taste of the light crispy processed-potato snack. Hidden
beneath several wave-shaped potato thins covered in 'real' cheese flavouring is
a small box. Luxurious both in weight and to the touch, she pulls it out
with semi-reverence. Covered in soft velvet the ring box certainly
conveyed a sense of quality and fine craftsmanship. She opens it with a
mind conflicted with expectation and doubt.
Nestled within were C2
Tech Cobalt magnet ear-bud style earphones with a frequency response of 20-20k
Hz and an impressive 16 Ohm +/- 10% impedance. She rolls her eyes and
puts them aside, but excited to try them out on her iPod. It was still not
time yet, but the end was definitely in sight.
Stuffing the tiger was the most exciting - it was as if I was giving it life, as the dead and flat limbs began to take form. As his belly was being filled I couldn't help but wonder at the feeling a Creator has for His created. My Hobbes was not perfect by any means, as evidenced by the uneven stitching, slightly misshapen head, and eye-balled measurements - but I definitely felt the pride of creating something unique and special. The sensation of putting one's self into a project and seeing it take a tangible form was special indeed. The Bible describes our own creation in similar terms, being knit together within the womb - where I used stitches He used ligaments, where I had a cartoon image and scrawled calculations, He created us with fear and wonder.
Some of you may not have created a stuffed animal from scratch, but have witnessed an even greater miracle - whether it be a newborn son or daughter or nephew or niece - the connection between the creator and created is stronger than any stitch or ligament will ever be.
The night was drawing to a close
and still the time had not yet come. A gift-box, hidden in plain sight,
had gone unnoticed several times over the evening. Straying from his
carefully constructed plan, he points it out and brings it in front of
her. Her eyes are wide once again with anticipation as she reveals its
contents. It was something that she had always wanted:
A KitchenAid mixer,
300 watt 10 speed UltraPower stand mixer... and something else...
a flat beater and a dough hook... and something else... something orange and black...
As a final touch, I placed a chain around Hobbes' neck with a small pouch at the end. It contained a ring.
 
She starts to pull out the
mysterious furry tiger-shaped ball. He's down on one knee to help.
It is finally time... a Big Question is popped, two breaths are held, and then... "Yes!"
A journey of a thousand steps begins with a single step. My stuffed creature began with a single stitch. As for us - our life together has begun with not just a single question, but also with a single answer. Despite my own unorganized approach to creation, I know that my Creator's blueprints and plans are well thought-out. We look forward to watching His creation unfold together
take care and God bless...
hobbes 
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| New Beginnings...
Hi all... yes, I'm back. A lot has happened since my last blog (and now just realizing that it has been almost 4 months, of course a lot has happened...)
Enjoyed a 40 ounce steak (yes - that's four-zero... 2 and a half pounds... 1.13 kilograms) - perfectly cooked Alberta Prime Rib  ... (the dots are the drool...)
Braved a few unseasonal blizzards and had fun doing it .
Enjoyed a nice Christmas pot-luck with the gang... my offering: Puff pastry filled with smoked ham and old cheddar topped with salsa and nativity scene...
Watched the Senators lose to Tampa Bay  (but also watched as they turned their season completely around as they are now creeping up to catch up with first place in their division!)
Built a huge gingerbread house complete with drawbridge, guard-lions, gummy-bear gargoyles, and a snake-filled moat.
Prepped and cooked a Turducken with my brother, and enjoyed it with about 30 of his close friends .
Merry belated Christmas!
Packed my life into a million boxes and moved into danprime's basement... and am still slowly unpacking. Currently competing against him in various spontaneous Iron Chef challenges...
Attended BreakForth 2007: Challenged by Tony Campolo, worshipped with Casting Crowns (pictured above, courtesy baby_kenneth), rocked with Starfield, "jigged" with Robin Mark, learned some "basic" and "advanced" drumming (so *that's* how y ou hold those sticks!)... a much needed spiritual feast (even more filling than that 40 ounce prime rib!)
And finally - got through another few rotations and learned a few more useful factoids about putting people to sleep, waking them up, and keeping them alive in between.
In my line of work, it's not unusual to put 6-8 people through surgery in a day - even more if I'm on call. I've seen minor cyst removals and major heart surgery. Breast cancer and infected bowels have been surgically removed under my watch. It becomes almost routine - to look at one's daily slate and nonchalantly remark "right, left, right, right, left" without realizing the impact this day has on those going under the knife. It wasn't until one of my staff anesthetists remarked (somewhat callously) that "the breast patients always cry," reminding me to bring some tissues, that what is an otherwise uneventful day at work for me is for them a life-altering unimaginably-huge-impact event.
It's amazing how one's approach can so drastically change one's perception of the exact same situation. For the patient, they come into the unknown, entering an unfamiliar institution, disrobed and led into a foreign surgical department. For me, it's where I've spent countless hours working, eating, socializing, learning - I know all the secret spots to take naps, the quiet places to study, the cafeteria specials of the week, and the places where free scrubs can be obtained.
I recently met a stranger who recognized my name. He told me that his brother spoke of me often - he spent a summer in Ottawa on a research term and had treasured the time I spent befriending him, inviting him out to our fellowship group, and just hanging out. What for me was another fun summer filled with softball games, festivals, time with friends, was for him a welcome respite of being alone in a strange city.
How important it is to realize that the ordinary or mundane for you may be significant or life-changing for another. The Bible speaks about entertaining angels unawares, but I think it's also imperative to remind ourselves that we may often be greatly impacting our fellow humanity. Whether you work at a fast-food joint or at a prestigious law firm, you'll never know what a kind word or a comforting smile in the midst of a boring typical day can do to change someone's life. For me it gives them the confidence that they're being treated by a doctor who cares, and who will try their best to carry them through.
That's it for now - see you all again soon !
take care and God bless!
hobbes | | |
| Tagged...
Tagged by Onfyre4Him (nice
Hong Kong pics, by the way!)... finally responding, although I found it
hard to differentiate a "simple pleasure" from a "satisfying
experience"...
Instructions:
Name 10 of life's simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick 10
people to do the same. Try to be original and creative; try not to use
things that someone else has already used.
1. Hitting a baseball out of the park (tied with scoring the winning goal/touchdown/etc.)
2. Lying on a couch, engrossed in a book, Miles Davis in the
background, Aslan curled up beside me with his head on my belly.
3. Waking up late, eating breakfast, then going back to sleep. 
4. Trying a new food/new restaurant and liking it so much that I have to message cokoandlime as soon as I get home (which I think has only happened a couple of times)
5. Spending all night catching up with old friends
6. Watching your friend(s) fall in love 
7. OK, have to regain some manliness here - Eating a juicy steak,
cooked perfectly, hot off the grill - none of this "letting it rest"
nonsense!
8. Stargazing during a meteor shower in the Gatineau Mountains
during autumn after a sunset hike (haha, so complicated... maybe not a
"simple" pleasure after all)
9. Scuba-diving amidst tropical reefs, colourful fishes, elegant stingrays, and swooping turtles
10. Writing a good blog entry where lots of people read it and
leave witty comments (yes, you have direct influence over this
particular simple pleasure)
11. Seeing God in the everyday... yeah, I know this is eleven, but you don't have to count my #10
So now I get to tag some people... I will tag those of you on Blogger -
you know who you are and why you're ashamed to use xanga  : zetlee, allimalia, monacountry, whimsyzone, oh-mylanta and anyone else I may have forgotten... and we'll throw in RuthSauJang, summervirus, beni³, princess_of_lemons, and krissy8 ... that makes 10!
So my highly anticipated (yeah, right) entry will have to wait another
few days (or weeks) as I have not quite had the time to continue my
half-written blog from months and months ago... but it'll come soon!
Take care and God bless...
hobbes | | |
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