Two Thumbs up for...

... a few random things.

FIRST
Columbia Sportswear

After our Yosemite trip earlier this month, I noticed that the Columbia winter boots which I've had for no more than 6 years (acquired to survive the blustery MN winters) started to bust open! We didn't do by any strenuous hiking during that trip, just some gentle walks to Lower Yosemite Falls and Mirror Lake, and I'd probably worn these boots fewer than about 8-10 times over their lifetime. However, they were, literally, "busting at the seams!".



Liking the company, having good luck with returns of merchandise with legitimate reasons (L.L. Bean and Lands' End especially), and liking being a "squeaky wheel" in order to get my money's worth, I decided to contact the company to see if they would be willing to replace/refund my money for the boots.

The process was surprisingly easy! I was required to send them several pictures of the boot (tops, sides, defective area, soles to check overall "wear") within about 72 hours, and they told me that a new set of boots in my size (not the same model, though, not that I really wanted that!) are on their way to me. Yay for Columbia's customer service (that is, assuming my "replacement" boots do arrive shortly) !!!


SECOND
Firefox



Next, I would like to say that I LOVE Mozilla Firefox. Ever since I got the Mac (a good many months ago now), people have been telling me I need to download Mozilla, and that this browser (I have been fine with being an Internet Explorer girl!) is far superior to any other, including the Safari that was previously loaded and which I had been using exclusively.

I have had some internet connectivity difficulties in recent days; however, my biggest frustration has been the "spinning wheel of death" (as Katherine calls it) that appears every time you try to open a new tab in Safari. I have no idea why that happens but, as a big-time tab user, I decided to take the time to make the switch. Initially daunted by the whole downloading process, I found it quite easy and, 10 minutes later, I had an up-and-running Mozilla system on my Mac. And I will never go back.

THIRD
Michaels stores


Prior to this year, I have probably been in a Michaels Store fewer than 5 times in my lifetime. While I like putting together scrapbooks and photo books, as I have mentioned before, I am not a very artistic person by nature. However, with "accessories" and stuff to DIY (do-it-yourself or, shall I say "DIO-- do it ourselves") for the wedding, I have been a frequent flier at the Michaels on El Camino. I was blown away the first time I went there, swept away by the pretty paper, ribbons, stampers, glitter, etc.... And I literally have probably been back once a week to pick up something (which always ends up being more than one thing...). They really do encourage the "the more you buy, the more you save," by giving coupons for 40-50% off a "single, full-price" item for the next week each time you spend more than a certain amount on a given item.

A coupon lover by nature, I have definitely been milking the deal, explaining the qweek visits. Today when I went, I only needed to get a little bit more ribbon for invitations and I was gleeful after saving $2.80 (off a regularly-priced $7 roll of ribbon). After a week of some pretty hefty purchases including a wedding dress, four new tires for my Prius, and registration for family medicine boards (a mere $1300), every little bit of savings is welcomed greatly! Ah, the little [random] things.

Parenthood

The movie Parenthood arrived from Netflix this week. An excerpt (where Gil's grandmother is going on and on about rollercoasters) from the movie was (believe it or not) played at church last weekend and reminded me of what a classic, hilarious flick this is. Kelvin had never seen it and therefore I just had to put it at the top of our Queue.

It also got me thinking... about parenthood.

Most you, at this point, have read or heard about this woman, Amy Chua, and her parenting style described in her book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I recently read just a couple of articles on the subject, including this excerpt (Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior) in the Wall Street Journal online, and my jaw dropped in complete shock during my whole reading, starting with the first sentences.

Chua describes how she: never let her kids attend sleepovers or watch TV, demanded excellence in all fields (from playing a challenging piano piece, to math and school studies, to a personalized birthday card) and (somehow) raised two successful (and supposedly "well adjusted") girls.

"Nothing is fun until one is good at it," she quotes, which is one of the justifications she gives for her rigorous approach.

Not having children, this article makes me pray that I will never be a mother like this. My parents had high expectations for me and made me do things that I, at the time, did not want to (i.e. practice the piano [I remember many a tantrum on my part!], although this was for a mere 30-60 minutes a day, not like six hours a day like these Chinese girls. However, they never drove me to insanity which is what I imagine would happen with the treatment Chua gives (although, they claim it not to not be the case and that her offspring are just as well adjusted as is she, who was also raised by a "Tiger Mother"). What do my Asian friends think? Were your mothers/(parents) like Chua? Is that why you are who you are and you are as driven and successful as you are? Will I be that "western" parent that is portrayed as perpetuating laziness in their children by being accepting of differences in work ethic, productivity, and performance?

For those of you who have children... will you love and accept your children for getting less than an A? Does every child have to be the top of every class, top of every music program, and banned from "fun kid stuff" to be successful?

I am not sure I want to read the full book (do they have it for Kindle?!), as I was extremely offended by the short form(s); however, I may just have to in order to convince myself that I can succeed as a parent without being a crazy authoritarian.

Yosemite by Winter

This past weekend, a group of us residents went down to Yosemite National Park to celebrate the end of a rotation block, the new year, a three-day weekend (!), and wintertime in, arguably, the nation's most beautiful national park.

Thanks to Wai Kiu, the best housestaff president ever and trip-planner extraordinaire, we enjoyed luxury housing at Bear's Den cabin (my first time staying within the park!), delicious home-cooked food (each pair was responsible for hosting one meal), the wondrous outdoors, and great fellowship. Since moving to California in 2007, I have visited Yosemite in summertime (grueling Half-Dome hike with Erin about 3 years ago!) and spring (when Laura/Tony visited 2 years ago) but never (before this weekend) in wintertime... and someday, I'll have to go in the fall to complete the four seasons. At about a 3.5-hour drive from Sacramento, Yosemite makes for a great weekend getaway. Without cellphone service and without internet access, it really was a nice break from reality! Enjoy the photos (which are only partially stolen from WKL-- I bet you can tell the difference!)!

Kelvin and Kimie on the back deck (we saw a coyote run through the backyard one afternoon!)

Wai Kiu, Hanh, Kelvin, me, Vin, and Kim at our first breakfast (french toast... mmm...)

I think Swati took the picture..

(Serena, Brad, Michael and Roxanna joined us later in the day)

Group on deck

Drive through the valley with views of Half-Dome and Bridalveil Falls:

Half-Dome!

Me, Mason, and Swati

Mason checks out the snow

High-flying Vin and Kim (a bit reminiscent of our Taj photos!)

Love this family (and I aspire to travel as much as they do, if/when we have kids one day)

Kim, Swati, and me at [I think] the base of Lower Yosemite Falls (a bit treacherous of an icy hike to get there!)

I am appalled by my lack of fashion coordination in this photo...

We had a mini tour of Ansel Adams' Gallery and got some tips on some awesome sunset shots:

I am very proud of this picture:

.... and Vin and Kim enjoyed hugging this snowman...

On Sunday, we took a group outing cross-country skiing at Badger Pass. While Swati and I had been XC skiing before (but the last time for me was years ago in MN!), it was the first time for most of the group members. Everyone did really well and had a great time (although Serena might tell you her butt still hurts -- let's just say that the downhill parts were a bit challenging)!

We enjoyed playing in the snow a bit, too...

here is Swati making a snow-angel

... and Vin doing I'm not sure what...

We finished off Sunday eating leftovers, watching football, and playing an amusing game of Trivial Pursuit.

On Monday, we went on a photo walking tour and got some more nice pictures from Ahwahnee Meadow, had a wonderful lunch at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel dining room (not to be confused, Medina, with Wawona Hotel [!]), and enjoyed a hike around Mirror Lake before returning home to Sactown.

Mason's Ahwahnee nap (I am a bit underdressed!)

Around Mirror lake

Mason kept us entertained on the ride home (when we weren't dodging deer on the roadside or trying to see through the fog).

Can't wait for the next Yosemite adventure!

Ripped off

I drove away from Jessica's house the other night (after an applicant dinner) to have Naoya ask, "Why do you not have a license plate on the back of you car?"


"What?!" I replied. I know I am not the most observant person in the world, but surely I would have noticed not having a license plate on my car. Sure enough-- where, my CA rear license plate used to live, remained a big gaping hole (well, actually two holes as there were two screws). I am 100% certain that, the previous evening, it had been there, and it had literally been "RIPPED OFF."

Naively, I kind of checked out the areas around the car to see if the license plate had "fallen off" the car, although I knew that it wasn't too likely. I just thought to myself, HOW WRONG is it to have your license plate stolen?


It reminded me of the extremely disappointed-in-mankind feeling I had during intern year, when I left the hospital after a hard week of OB nights to ride my bike (at that time, parked in front of the main hospital) over to clinic for post-call torture Friday AM clinic. When swinging my leg over the seat, I noticed that my bike was seatless! I had a rather major meltdown and, after walking my bike to clinic, and then seeing the morning full of patients, I was lucky to be able to to get a ride home from clinic with Sarah and Matt. I then promptly bought a seat-leash (which I did not know existed), started routinely parking my bike in the bike "cage," and have not since had a problem with bike seat theft.

I had one other bizarre incident with my car last year when one of my backseat passenger windows was blasted to smithereens, requiring new glass (soooo convenient to have the glass people come out to the hospital while on work on L and D), but I never quite knew how to explain this, as nothing was taken from my car. Random vandalism? An extreme weather change?

This apparent string of events might cause one to believe that Sacramento is full of petty thieves and thugs... which I am starting to believe may be the case. I was livid at finding my license plate stolen and felt extremely violated. I had to a) file a police report and b) find extra time (which is obviously kind of a rarity lately) to frequent everyone's favorite agency-- the DMV. After learning that the soonest requestable "appointment" was 2 weeks in the future from now at the convenient time of 2 p.m. on a Wednesday, I was all ready to park it there for several hours last Friday (and demand I be seen), except that Wai Kiu (bless him!) told me that some AAA offices have (limited) DMV services including replacing license plates/tags. I have NEVER had such awesome service (and NEVER been so happy to be a triple A member), and 5 minutes and $19 after walking into AAA, I had new plates and tags. The complete resolution of the problem required another stop at an Autozone to buy the license cover plate and some screws which supposedly discourage (future) plate theft (I hope I never have to go through this again), but now I have both required plates secured to my car, with hope, to stay...

Eco 'Eleven: being green in the new year

I have had the reputation of being a bit of a fanatical environmentalist... so I found these stories to be rather interesting.

The first, The Zero-Waste Home, which I read in the travel magazine Sunset, was rather incredulous.

It is the story of an extremely minimalistic, waste- conscious San Francisco family who --- get this--

- rationalizes throwing away all mementos (i.e. grandma's fur coat) by taking photos of them, as "who needs the real thing?"

- refuses to use q-tips, cotton balls, or tissue (they use hankerchiefs instead although it is not clear to me how this can exactly substitute)

- reads exclusively library books rather than buying any (sound familiar??)

- eliminates virtually all packaging and disposable cleaning items (NO paper towels!)

- buys things like compostable toothbrushes (cool!)

- grocery shops with cloth sacks, pillow-cases, and glass jars, avoiding ALL packaged things and plastic (makes my Trader Joe's bag look kinda lame)

- minimizes clothing purchases (shopping only if there are stains on items or if clothing is outgrown)

Their house is likely about as uncluttered as my apartment was... before I moved in. Oh, I have a lot to work on. While just a bit too extreme for me, there are lessons to be learned from their lifestyle... and one of my New Year's resolutions is certainly to get rid of a lot of "stuff."

I would really be interested in seeing their home, though!

Go, Italy!

Here is a CNN story about Italy's new ban on plastic bags, effective January 1 (and confirmed by Marco, my sister's Italian beau).

While it may present to be a tad inconvenient at times (the article quotes a fish seller wondering how fish can be packaged effectively in paper bags), I think it is a fabulous idea, which really should encourage us to recycle grocery bags, or, better yet, use reusable cloth bags.

Now... vote whether or not you think it would be a bad idea for me to buy a used wedding dress or, better yet, rent one... :)

Because of Isaac

My wonderful friends Wendi and John (who, if you read the blog, you already know because Wen is my blogging idol and you probably read hers too, but those on FB only probably don't) have created a wonderful mission to help childless couples adopt. They personally struggled with more than five years of infertility (read here) but have since been blessed by the miracles of both adoption (of Isaac) and then spontaneous biologic pregnancies (Elijah + one on the way) and are hoping to help childless couples be able to afford adoption.

Please visit their site, Because of Isaac, and, if you can, please consider contributing to their currently sponsored couple, Grant and Elizabeth.

They are wonderful people with wonderful hearts, and I would love if you would consider supporting their mission.

Happy New Year (Goodbye, 2010)!

Happy New Year! I am a day late, but it took me about that long to load these pics on my mac ;)

2010 was a busy and fun year; I can't wait for the surprises in 2011!

January

Jeremy, Noelle, and I celebrated MLK weekend 2010 skiing at Northstar in Tahoe.

February

Kelvin and I went on a Medical Missions trip to the Philippines.

We then saw the wondrous temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia....

... and made our way to his birthplace (Saigon, Vietnam)

March

In March, we celebrated Amy's wedding... Indian style!

(Phi, Amy, me, Kyla, Kate, Ben)

April

I was able to travel to the midwest to see family and many medical school friends I have missed dearly while living in CA.

Rochester, MN

(Baby shower for Lesley, pictured between Rach and Kristen)

Crookston, MN (Grandma)

Wisconsin cousins (Brayden, Ryan, me, and Natalie)

Natasha/Cristiano in Cleveland

Vancouver, B.C. and the Society of Teachers in Family Medicine (STFM) conference

(Ashby, Jeremy, Kyla, and me)

May

May highlights included:

Celebrating Kacey and Rafa's first birthdays

Visiting SoCal over Memorial Day weekend for:

Debbie's wedding

... hot air balloon-riding over Santa Barbara

Hearst Castle in San Simeon

June

In June, we celebrated Kyla's graduation from the FP/OB program.

It is hard to believe that my own graduation(s) from residency will be in a short 6 months

(Joe, Suzanne, me, Kyla, Sarah, Jessica)

OB graduation (current chiefs!)

Priyal Gaea, Charmian, me, Julia, Lucy

July

Adventures included...

Independence weekend with the future in-laws...

Wine tasting and camping at Clear Lake

Biking across the Golden Gate Bridge for Kimie's bday

In August, we

Hiked in Tahoe

I saw grizzlies and moose up close in Denali National Park, Alaska!

(Me, Hanh, Mason on the bus to Eielson Visitors' Center)

September included...

Summiting Mt. Whitney

(Brian, Erin, TJ, me)

Engagement!

(with dinner at The Kitchen)

October-November consisted of

...a harrowing trip to India

followed by...

Thanksgiving weekend with the future in-laws

December included:

visiting old friends/family in VA/MD

(Kelvin, me, Laura, Tony)

sisterly love

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Best wishes for a prosperous, fun-filled 2011!