W-Interlude and Sn-O-M-G

As I write this it was +5C yesterday and +3C today - a taste of Spring! Mind you, we'll be back to -8C tomorrow but the temperatures are definitely trending upward. While winter was off to a late start this year (which caused no small amount of angst), it came roaring in during late December. True to form, my bad luck with winter driving continued. It seems like whenever I am traveling in the winter the weather is usually bad during my drive to/from Deer Lake. Coming back from the Xmas break, my plane landed just as a heavy Nor'Easter was about to pull in. The snow and wind was picking up as I was driving through Gros Morne. The snow was so heavy in spots that I couldn't use high beams because of the reflected glare off the snow. Well, it was deja vu all over again when I went off the highway as a result of a temporary whiteout. Fortunately, I wasn't going very fast but I wasn't aggressive enough on the brakes. Next thing I knew I wasn't driving on asphalt anymore. I went about 6 feet off the road onto a relatively flat field and I was just inside town limits at Sally's Cove. Thanks to the help of some locals I was able to get my car back onto the highway again. I drove for another hour or so until I pulled into the halfway point at Hawkes Bay. It was 9 pm and at the speed I was going I wasn't going to get home until well after midnight. The snow was still heavy and visibility was still poor. So, I decided to check into the motel for the night. The lady at the front desk confirmed that my decision was the right one: the gov't just pulled the snow plows off the highway north of Hawkes Bay because the conditions were too dangerous. I spent the night at the motel, waited until noon the next day for the highway to be cleared, and then headed out without any further problems


This is a shot somebody took at the airport during the storm. The visibility of my drive was 2x worse.

My next escapade through winter wonderland was during my trip for Chinese New Year. Now, actually, the drive wasn't that bad at all but there were 2 storms that were going to affect my travel - one pulling out of Toronto and arriving in Halifax and one pushing into Newfoundland. Air Canada was issuing travel warnings and was allowing people to rebook their flights. Now, usually, you rebook your flight until after the storm -- but not me! I fired up the Weather Network's website and checked out AC's flight schedules. Using the hourly forecast, I found that if I switched to an earlier flight, I could leave before the storm arrived in Nfld. and arrive in Halifax just as the other one was arriving. In addition, I was hoping Toronto would have dug itself out by the time my flight left Halifax. I was totally expecting this plan to fail and be forced to layover in Deer Lake or Halifax due to cancellations...but, it worked! To my amazement, I made it into Toronto on time with no weather delays! Unfortunately, AC lost my luggage so it wasn't a complete success....

All this heavy winter weather means that we have a good amount of snow on the cross country ski trails this year. Happily, I'm skiing much more than I was last year. I'm hoping to do 19.5 km but my ski partners are sort of reluctant. There won't be many more weeks of skiing if this warming trend continues.

The job search isn't going very well. There was one possible position at Cochrane but it was only until June 2012. In addition, it was a solo spot and only General Surgery which wouldn't be professionally satisfying for me. I sent them my CV and kept them in mind should the locum market open up a bit. However, at this point in time I'm still a little selective about the type of place I want to work. If this job shortage continues for the long term I may very well change my mind. Fortunately, there's no huge rush seeing as I 'm still enjoying my present job. For now, I'll just bide my time.

I'll be in Toronto again in April for a conference. I'm also trying to get things organized for my Tibet trip. One other thing I miss about Toronto was how much easier it was to get things like visas. I'm forced to either spend money and courier in the applications or relying on family members to handle the visa process for me. In addition, Tibet is a sensitive area and, although I did not put Tibet as a destination on my Chinese visa (all the internet forums recommend you leave Tibet off), I did put Xining down because I figured the communists would know I booked a flight there. Well, that must have set off a few alarm bells because the lady at the consulate then asked for my old passports! Ooops.

Anyhow, I Xpressposted my old passports over and hopefully they'll be satisfied this time. After the Chinese Visa I'm going to need a Nepal Visa *and* an Indian Visa. (More details later...)

Happy New Year!

Hey everybody. Once again I'm falling behind with the blog but with the holidays now over I can devote some more time to it. As a brief update, I was able to return to Toronto for a week off over Xmas. It just so happened that I flew into Toronto on the day a big storm hit (Dec. 19th). I looked at the schedule and the forecasts and I thought I was safe because I was going to arrive after the storm. Well, this winter taught me that airlines run lean, mean, operations and delays in one part of the country have a domino effect everywhere else. With Toronto being a hub city for Air Canada, it's not surprising the winter storm had a ripple effect on the entire Air Canada network.

All my flights were delayed, which is actually good because it meant I could still catch all my connections. At the last connection point I was stuck in Montreal. It took an hour to leave the gate and make it to the runway. Toronto wasn't any better and it took an hour after landing to make it to the gate. By the time I got home it was 3 AM -- better late than cancelled!

I enjoyed my week back in Toronto. As expected, lots of Chinese food, catching up with friends and family, and a little bit of shopping. Not much in the way of big news from my family. My dad says he is going to return to China for a visit in April some time which is good news. He has also resigned himself to the fact that I'm not terribly interested in going with him (see previous post) and I'll have trouble scrounging up the vacation time to go for very long anyway. He has also hinted at an impending retirement from the rental apartment business which is also good news as well. He's definitely the sort of person who would have a hard time retiring.

Unfortunately, I can still sense that my parents are both having a hard time adjusting to me being in Newfoundland and I still think they're being somewhat irrational. My mom just worries excessively about whether I'm getting the basic necessities of life (you'd think I was living at the north pole). My dad worries about the same thing but he never fails in bringing up the inevitable topic of my marital status. I would write more but I promised to tone this down so I'll leave this topic for another day.

Fortunately my trip back was somewhat smoother except I was delayed by about an hour in Halifax because the flight crew for our flight was delayed. By the time I arrived in Deer Lake, had a bite to eat, and hit the road it was 8 pm. This was when I made my next mistake while driving in Newfoundland.

Usually, a tank of gas will just get me from Deer Lake to St. Anthony during the summer. In the winter and with a load of cargo it won't be enough so I usually have to plan my fuel stops. I usually don't fill up when I leave Deer Lake to minimize weight when going through the hills of Gros Morne and that's what I did this time. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that gas stations along the Viking Trail close no later than 9 pm. This is what happens when a city boy used to 24/7 gas stations starts driving down a remote highway in Newfoundland.

It was with a slowly increasing feeling of dread as I passed through every town and saw only closed gas stations. I made it about half way before the low gas warning light came on. Fortunately, I was in Hawkes Bay which had an Inn I could stay at. It was also getting late so I didn't complain too much about the $100 fee. The next morning I got up as soon as the gas station opened and I managed to get to St. Anthony 2 hours later. Lesson learned!

The Mid-Autumn Festival and Dad Pays a Visit

Last weekend I decided to take a lieu day (a compensatory vacation day for working on a statutory holiday) to return home for the Mid-Autumn festival which is one of the most important holidays to the Chinese (the other being New Year). It's the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving where people celebrate the Autumn harvest although it is also rooted in ancient moon worship (and thus it is held during a full moon). It's also the time of year where mooncakes are distributed in mass quantities. I say "distributed" and not "consumed" because mooncakes have been nicknamed "Chinese fruitcake" -- a reference to a pastry which is also widely given during the holidays but not consumed. I can't speak for the other Chinese out there but I actually enjoy the taste of mooncakes because the traditional recipe uses lotus seed paste which is my favourite dim sum dessert. Unfortunately, the traditional recipe also calls for copious amounts of lard so a mooncake makes a chocolate bar look like a stick of celery...

So, I drove 5 hours to Deer Lake and hopped on a direct Westjet flight to Toronto. One of my top priorities was to eat out because I have been deprived of good ethnic food for the last 2 months. As soon as I arrived Dad whisked us to our regular restaurant for some good Chinese food: The Perfect Restaurant at Brimley and Sheppard. I had a Vietnamese lunch with Mom at Pho Hung and then spent the day with a friend who had just purchased a house. On Sunday we went shopping for non-perishable Chinese groceries to bring back to Newfoundland -- I packed a whole suitcase full of noodles, glutinous rice, mushrooms, dried shrimp, and mooncakes. Sunday night I had dinner with the extended family. I didn't get a chance to eat sushi or Thai food so I'll be keeping an eye out for those restaurants when I head out to St. John's in October.

On Monday Dad and I hopped on the same Westjet flight back out to Deer Lake. It was a pretty uneventful flight although I was a little worried since the remnants of hurricane Ike were going to be along the route. (What is it with me and hurricanes?). Deer Lake was gusty on arrival -- the last time I had this rocky a descent was roughly 20 years ago when I was in a 747 that was trying to land in Hong Kong during a thunderstorm. The passengers broke out in applause when the pilot landed. After loading up my car we stopped at the best Chinese restaurant on the west side of Newfoundland in Deer Lake. Dad thought his wonton soup had too much MSG while I thought my Cantonese chow mein was too salty.

Fortunately, the weather was reasonable and actually cleared up towards the latter half of the trip. Dad was able to get good views while driving through Gros Morne. He commented frequently on how barren the place looked: "You can't grow much on rock". He also noted the economically depressed nature of the area and how difficult it would be run a successful business.

With the shorter days of Autumn this was one of my first opportunities to experience driving at night in rural Newfoundland. You definitely develop an appreciation for high beams and also respecting the speed limit when in moose-infested areas. Unfortunately, I also discovered my second pet peeve of driving in Newfoundland -- the high beam etiquette and adherence to high beam regulations were atrocious! Roughly 50% of all the oncoming vehicles drove with their high beams on all the time and didn't bother to switch to low beams when close to other vehicles. I saw one truck tailgating a car with its high beams on. I've heard stories that not only will the other drivers not respond to flashing your high beams on and off but some will even drive with them on in town! The glare is pretty bad and it destroys your night vision for precious seconds (not good when you're looking for a brown moose in pitch black night).

This leads to an interesting ethical dilemma -- what should I do if I see some ignoramus coming at me with their high beams on despite my desperate attempts to signal them? The Torontonian in me tells me to high beam them right back. This is probably the best and only time to wake these drivers up. I'll just wait until the get within 50 feet and then I'll high beam them. Of course, I'll feel very guilty if I cause an accident (and there's the old adage: 2 wrongs don't make a right). I'm going to think about this one.

We arrived in St. Anthony in one piece and I went to work the next day. I deliberately made the trip short (2 nights) because I figured Dad could only handle so much time away from work and Chinese food and, yes, I could only handle living with Dad again for so much time. I was on call the second night and usually it's very quiet but that plan backfired. I had an urgent orthopedic case on an 8 year old which dragged on into the late evening. Despite that I did have time to quickly drive Dad up to L'Anse aux Meadows and around town. He also had time to wander around town by himself.

As I anticipated, this was also an opportunity for Dad to give a tete-a-tete. Although I appreciate the fact that he's worried and he wants to help, I still get a visceral reaction during these talks and particularly when he's in "lecture mode" or when I think he's way off base. A wise man once said that people will only accept advice if they think the person giving it truly understands them.

First, he said that if I was truly unhappy, then I should feel free to quit medicine and come home....and take over the family business. While I gratefully appreciate the former (better late than never) I can only wince at the latter (he still doesn't get it).

Second, he gave a variation of his "you'll learn to like it" lecture. He enjoys watching the Discovery channel and there's this one show in particular he brings up: Dirty Jobs. (For those who don't know, Dirty Jobs is a weekly show where the host signs up for, yup, dirty and generally disgusting jobs). He commended this guy for showing true grit and setting a good example for others; if he could do such utterly gutterly jobs, why, I should be able to handle being a doctor. I could only sit in stunned silence: I'm being compared to the guy on Dirty Jobs?!

Third, he advised that I shouldn't be so stressed out and I should try to chill out more. Well, this is yet another display of his total lack of comprehension of what being a physician is truly like. "Don't worry be happy" will only get a doctor in trouble. As an anesthetist, I'm paid to worry. Mind you, one of the main reasons I chose anesthesia was the "on/off" nature of the stress involved and the off switch is still working (to my everlasting relief). Although I agree with his advice in general, it is still off the mark -- if he didn't want to see his kids getting stressed out then he made a big mistake in pushing medicine as a career choice. Unfortunately, Dad has a tendency to minimize stress and can't seem to empathize whenever I complain about stress (mind you he hasn't had an easy life himself).

Lastly, he suggested I be more gregarious and extroverted. This is probably a fundamental difference of opinion: he clearly believes it's easy and possible to change one's personality whereas I think it's more intrinsic and would require an inordinate amount of effort. I've figured out during my 30-odd years that when I try to be extroverted I not only think I come across as being fake but I actually feel fake -- it feels quite unnatural and it also makes me more anxious. I don't think he realizes that I'm the type who prefers to have a few deep friendships instead of a gazillion acquaintances.

To my relief, he did not bring up the topic of marriage although I did make it clear to him that after pressuring me into medicine I was not going to let him interfere with my happiness. I also managed to get something else off my chest -- I gave him a blow-by-blow description of what he did the night I was applying to university. (Hopefully he'll stop denying that he ever pressured me into anything).

And so, I think the problem can be distilled to the following: Dad doesn't understand me and the last thing I want right now is a well-meaning but somewhat ignorant parent with a poor track record pressuring me and telling me what he thinks I should do with my future. However, Dad, being the quintessential Chinese parent, won't back off.

The next day I drove Dad out to the local airport. Fortunately, the weather was great and there were no delays. I was a little worried that he'd have trouble making the connecting flight in an unfamiliar airport and with a language barrier. But, the flights were on-time, St. John's airport is only a single terminal, I warned him in advance not to walk through any large doors or take any stairs, and he made the connection easily.

Next post: Anesthesia School and Curling (maybe)!