Cue the Crickets

(Insert Cricket Chirping)

Of course, we have no crickets in St. Anthony but if there were I bet they'd be right outside my window. I've been told that the deadline for November submissions to the CPSO Registration Committee was actually waaay back on the 5th which means my file won't be reviewed this month. So, the next opportunity is mid-December. While that could potentially mean a festive Xmas for my family and myself I can't help but wonder if they'll find something else to nit pick and ask for more info.

In any event, life goes on even if my professional life is stalled right now. Even though a rejection would really suck, it would at least let me move on and try to find a position somewhere else in the country. Unfortunately, the bad Anesthesia job market in Ontario seems to be holding true across most of the country. This is why I can afford to be patient right now.

So, I'm starting to make plans for travel this winter. I'll be back in Toronto for Xmas from the 22nd to the 28th. In February there's an Anesthesia conference in Ottawa in early February. I think that's during Winterlude which I've never attended. In addition, I've never had a beaver tail so I should get that out of the way as well. (Speaking of eating foods-that-will-eventually-kill-you, I'm planning to split a KFC Double Down with my brother -- maybe I'll have a quarter). I've got a friend in Winnipeg who I promised to visit and I'll man up and visit him in the middle of winter. So, this will likely turn into an Ottawa/Winnipeg trip.

The big news is that my father is planning on visiting China in April and he'd like me to tag along. This is momentous news because in my 34 years of life, this is only the 3rd time he has taken a vacation. The first was a summer in China when I was in Gr. 6 and the 2nd was a 1 week vacation in the Rockies/BC. He wants to go for a full month but I think I can only spare 2 weeks. Which is fine because my brother doesn't want to go for more than 2 weeks either so we can at least travel together.

Unfortunately, our travel itineraries aren't going to mesh well. My parents, naturally, want to hang around their hometowns in Guangdong province and aren't interested in touring the country. Now, I've been on a 3 week tour of China already so I'm not really interested in a cross country tour but there is one specific place I want to go see: Tibet. When I mentioned it to my Dad he immediately refused and cited health concerns (high blood pressure). Fair enough. I tried asking my brother and he's sitting on the fence about it. I'm in the early planning stages but I think I'll fly to Xining and overnight there. Then I'll hop on the recently completed Qinghai-Tibet Train. Hopefully, those 48 hours will be enough to forestall altitude sickness. So, the plan is 1 week for Tibet and 1 week to spend with my family in Guangdong and all those distant cousins I met 20 years earlier.

We had our first taste of winter in St. Anthony this past weekend with the first accumulation of snow. It was only a few centimeters and it'll all melt by tomorrow when the temp rises above zero. All in all, the meteorologists are forecasting a "normal" winter for us which hopefully means a good ski season. I've been shaving off the pounds for the last year and there's nothing like a 19.5 km cross country slog to get your metabolism going!

For the readers of this blog, I'll probably see most of you when I'm back in Toronto in December. Later!

...Or Not. (Watchful Waiting)

Yikes, no update since March. This is largely a combination of (in no particular order):

1) Laziness.
2) Life's now a routine.
3) Anticipation.

#3 in particular was causing me to hold back just in case the "big news" came in so I would have something noteworthy to write about. I am referring to my application for licensure with the CPSO in Ontario. Unfortunately, my case keeps getting deferred as they ask me to provide more information. I'm actually not surprised by this but given the infrequent (every 6 weeks) meetings of the Registration Committee and the minimum time requirement for submissions, every deferral results in a minimum 2 month delay. What should have been a 4-6 month process which was started in February has now dragged into October. They just met last week and they say it could take them up to 4 days to contact me if my application was approved. I have a sinking feeling that they're going to ask for even more information which means another 2 month delay. That or they may reject me. I'm actually not sure what my chances of getting the license are which is probably why I'm feeling like I'm in limbo right now. If it's approved then a whole bunch of things need to get done and organized. If it's rejected then that means I can move on to the next step -- apply elsewhere and contemplate a nice 2 week vacation somewhere for next year.

So my future is on hold at the moment and life goes on. Back in June I went to Montreal for the annual Anesthesia meeting and in July/August I spent 3 weeks up in Goose Bay providing locum coverage. In September I returned to Toronto for a conference and for the Mid-Autumn Festival with the family. I also managed to visit Victoria/Vancouver for 4 days to catch up with some friends on the West Coast.

This month I'll be driving down to the Burin peninsula for two short locums. My first locum was just after hurricane Igor hit. While I didn't personally visit any devastated towns I was able to see first hand the damage to the province's highways. Like the Northern peninsula where I'm currently living, the Burin peninsula has only a single road access off the Trans Canada. When Igor hit it took out two bridges on this highway and cut it off from the rest of the province. At one point they had use one of the ferry's to deliver much needed supplies to the area. One colleague tells me that when he arrived in St. John's at the start of his locum he was personally flown into Burin Hospital by helicopter. Nice!

Things in St. Anthony have been fairly slow work-wise. Even though all my Anesthesia colleagues are taking advantage of their vacation time (probably in anticipation of my likely departure), the pace has been even slower than usual given the absences of various surgeons. Believe it or not, I'm actually going to complain about not being busy enough. My boss commented that St. Anthony was a great place to retire in that you can earn a decent wage and yet not be put through the wringer of a larger center. Unfortunately, it will be at least 15 more years before I can even contemplate an early retirement. Plus, it is often said that even after you pass your exams, you've still got about 5 more years of self training ahead of you before you truly master your field. So, I do feel that I should be busier both from professional and financial standpoints which is why I'm going to leave St. Anthony despite the fact that I'm otherwise happy here. Of course, my Dad wants me back in Ontario no matter what (job or no job) and he wants me to quit as soon as my license is issued -- even if I haven't secured a new job yet!

If you're still reading this blog then I thank you for your interest. I've recently acquired a webcam and for those of you on MSN Messenger or Skype you can look me up. Email me if you want more instructions.

I'll keep you posted!