Monday, March 31, 2014

Yamaha Kodiac 450 4x4 ATV at Harrison Lake

I picked up my Yamaha Kodiac 450 4x4 ATV at Daytona Motorsports. It was loaded into the back of my Ford F350 truck.  Patrick and Warren had been extremely helpful, especially with planning and adding accessories. I loved the seat for Gilbert with a whole lot of storage space. The Worn winch is a must. I’ve got the hand warmers and thumb warmers, electricity outlet for charging gps,  iPhone and other electronics.  It has 2 wd, 4 wd and locked differential 4 wheel drive.  I love the rifle mounts and extra fuel tank mount and chain saw mount.
I loaded it at Daytona Motorsports, Surrey, BC on Saturday.  Then Sunday morning I was packed and headed to Harrison Hot Springs.  It’s only a couple of hours drive from Vancouver.  The weather report said the rain might let up for Monday.  I didn’t care. I wanted to test drive my new machine. Gilbert was game for an adventure.
I stopped at the Abbotsford Hub Sports for targets for target practice. I also bought some new waterproof cammo gear because the rain was worse than I’d thought. Already my waterproof coat was soaked.
In Harrisons I checked into the Bungalow Motel (Cascade Adventures). I’ve been staying here for over a quarter century.  I think it’s an amazing place.  Quaint and rustic with all the modern amenities.
Gilbert and I immediately headed out to the Deer Lake junction where the gravel road, East Harrison Main begins.  With some help from the guys they I got the truck aligned best and drove the steep first back up off the truck. It’s a moment of faith.  Then I loaded gear, getting the guns on the ATV, the cameras in the storage.  When I was done I figured I could go for a week.  Gilbert loved being in his high seat.
We headed out for fun and adventure.  It was terrific. The Yamaha is a real peach of a machine.  Great power and mobility.  Just loved everything about it.  East Harrison’s, even with the rain was a joy to be driving on.  Marvellous sights and waterfalls.  4x4 ing is so much better for looking around than on a 2 wheel bike.
We got out in nowhere, set up some targets, ate some snacks (Gilbert liked that part best), then I sighted in the 22 Ruger and the Mosby 30:30.  They were both firing well.  What a rush to be out in the wilderness on the side of the mountain with a dog and a rifle plunking at targets.  I love the Kodiac 4x4.
The sun came out too.  After a few hours of exploring I headed back to the truck, winched the ATV on. I must get a longer folding ramp.  What I have works. I used to find a place with there was more hill rather than loading straight from the flat.  Exciting.  I’m thankful the Kodiac is lighter for the power it has. I know I can manage it by myself.
 When I got back I left Gilbert in the room while I went for a hour soak at Harrison Hot Springs.  Luxury.  Gilbert and I had hamburgers for dinner and watch tv before turning in to a well earned fitful sleep.

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Bungalow Motel, Harrison Lake

I love the Bungalow Motels at Harrison Lake.  I’ve been coming here since the 90’s.  Amazing to think of staying year after year at the Bungalow Motel for almost a quarter of a century.
Andresis and Sue were particularly delightful this time.
Each cabin is unique. Very quaint and very rustic with all modern amenities, cable tv, wifi, etc.  I feel so much more at the lake though.  It’s more like going to “the cottage”.
Harrison’s is great for hiking, cycling, fishing, restaurants,  hunting and the famous healing hot springs.
This is the first time I came up just for 4x4 ing.  The East Harrison Main leads up to Slockum and Bear.  Lots of trails off the main.
I had the new Yamaha Kodiac 450 ATV from Daytona Motorsports. After a wet tiring exhilarating muddy day I was glad to get back to the Bungalow.  Gilbert loves the Bungalow.
I enjoyed talking with Andreisis about his hunting and guiding business, Cascade Adventures.  He’s an extremely knowledgeable outdoorsman, delightful company and highly skilled.  I’d certainly figure him good company in the woods.  So much of a hunting trip is who you are with. Andreisis, with his wealth of life experience, in addition to his knowledge of the hunting, has a great sense humour as well.   He'd shown me  the wall of pictures from what were obviously some amazing hunts in the high country.  I left him making soup from scratch in his kitchen. The aroma was certainly inviting.
http://www.bungalowmotel.com

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Saturday, March 29, 2014

Daytona Motorsports, Surrey

Thank you Warren and Patrick.  I love my Yamaha Kodiac 450.  I really appreciated all the advice and help getting it outfitted for April. Now it’s on the back of the truck, I’m looking forward to a couple of days in the country with Gilbert riding shotgun.  Love the green colour too.  Thanks again.IMG 4989IMG 4992IMG 4993

Portland Hotel Society Scandal

Portland Hotel Society Scandal reminds me of the phoney doctor who worked in a community. He gave all the criminals letters of recommendation. He flew anyone anywhere on tax payer money. He doled out narcotics and benzodiazepines.  He was everyone's friend.
No one got well.  The truly sick people were highly suspicious. Within months there was a realization that what he was doing was extremely, extremely expensive and odd.  He was caught.
Crack pipe dispensers and 3 million dollar a year drug club to shoot up street bought heroin.
Mark Townsend and Liz Evans have made a lot of friends by 'buying them stuff'.   He's given heroin addicts a place to shoot up. He's not interfered with the DTES gangs who haven't had to worry about  losing customers by their getting off heroin.  With all the 'high life' going on while the old heroin users are dying, off the young are stepping up to lead this 'life' or death. The drug dealers have always supported Mark Townsend. They're his biggest fan. All of his programs  promoted a 'culture of addiction'. 
He's even ?'bought'? politicians, though I don't know if that's politically correct to say.  Bought is such a telling word .  However the Canadian media wouldn't think twice about using such language for this sort of thing outside Canada.  In a similar Asian or US scandal , every Canadian reporter would be "asking questions' about  'extortion' and 'kickbacks' because the 'people need to know." .  This would be especially true if "mismanagement" occurred  in the evil 'energy industry'.  But aren't this self proclaimed 'do gooders' even more wrong when they're caught doing serious wrong.
The NDP Jenny Kwan appears before the camera paying back what she says her 'husband', she's 'separated' from 'misinformed' her about. "I never knew" she said.  And all the reporters go, "oh, she never knew. See she's crying. " Yet, only last year for weeks CBC hounded the Prime Minister's office claiming shrilly in every manner that PM Harper must have known what was going on with the Duffy expense 'scandal'.   Did Mulcair know Jenny Kwan was using tax payer money to go to Disneyland?  Now Jenny Kwan is going home to be with her children. Ahhhhh, ooooo.  I'm surprised there wasn't a stuffed animal or a bunny rabbit.
Was the attack on Harper 'racist' or 'gender biased' or the lack of attack on Jenny Kwann, racist or gender biased.?I never can tell anymore with the media so obviously partisan.
It struck me as the most two faced deceitful presentation for a feminist. If Duffy had 'cried' would he have got off more easily? This isn't the age of chivalry, yet there we still accept 'tearful'  presentations by women blaming their husbands  and everyone 'coos'.  Does that mean a man can blame his wife now?
Thank God, Christy Clark doesn't do that silly shit.  Already sick by what this bozo group was  doing  the Kwan pathos nearly made me spew.  I actually could have accepted 'mismanagement' and 'misappropriation' but when this drama queen act came on it really screamed 'cover up'.  With all the conspiracy theories out there, I never take notice until there is an actual cover up. You can't see the conspiracy theories but the cover ups seems to stick out like a sore thumb.
Am I the only one that asks, were any of  these persons connected to the gangs and drug pushers downtown?
Am I watching too many episodes of  Criminal Minds?
The CBC skewered Duffy and the Senate for their 'mismanagement of funds ( ?theft" - I love white collar language. If the rest of us do mismanagement or misappropriation it's called theft)   Martha Stewart and Conrad Black went to jail for that sort of thing but I sure didn't see the media getting all soft and sweet with either of them.  The comedians have however done as good a job with Mark Townsend and Liz Evans as they did with Mayor Ford.
Maybe I listen to CBC going on and on about Ottawa too much.  Then watching Law and Order and CSI and NCSI  I couldn't help but ask, if Jenny Kwann got  $35,000 from one business, were there any other business 'shook down' for money. Oh, sorry, was it possible 'her husband' was 'shaking down' others or, damn, there goes the language problem again.  "Inviting donations', is that the term?   Naturally, the NDP should be with the RCMP looking into the overall finances of Jenny Kwan as a public 'servant' like they did with the senate. Shouldn't they? Will the tax department be looking into Mark Townsend and Liz Evans like they certainly would look into me or you?
But obviously I watch too much tv.  They seem so willing to do 'financial audits' of 'individuals' when those individuals are involved in 'extortion' or "theft" or "kickbacks" or sorry, there's that language problem again.  I can't help but think of thieves thieving.  Mismanagement Mark Townsend.
I just can't figure how you can spend $800 on a hotel room running a supposed 'charity' and 'non profit' business. I asked a few of my profit based "dirty capitalist" friends and none of them had ever spent more than $150 on a hotel room. $800. Wow. That boggles the mind.
So how come we have so much 'mismanagement' in government. This 'unprofessionalism" and lack of 'morality' or even better lack of 'basic ethics' is not tolerated among doctors, accountants or believe it or not, lawyers.  So why should these 'managers' for government funded businesses get a pass on their 'books' when my lawyer and accountant must 'pass' mine.  Is the accountant for the Portland Hotel Society going to be speaking to his professional body about his 'oversight' or 'lack of oversight'.  Is the lawyer for the Portland Hotel Society going to be speaking to the Law Society about his or her 'oversight' or lack of oversight.
Mark Townsend, Liz Evens, Small and Kwan are just a small part of the 'nest' that makes up a 28 million dollar business.
There were doctors involved in the Safeless Injection Site. As a physician I couldn't help but wonder if those physicians will be at very least asked to confirm their 'innoscence' in this thoroughly repugnant scandal. 
Terry Lake, our Health Minister is to be admired for the extraordinary political risk he has taken making sure the provincial audit saw the light of day .  My question is when the RCMP will be tasked to address what really is missing.  Hundreds of thousands or  millions.  We  only got a peak at what the public purse was paying for.
I just can't help but think that the Canadian Tax Department would be all over me if I didn't even keep records as the audit shows over and over again these folks failed to do.
The darkness of the Portland Hotel Society and how far down the management chain the corruption and taint goes is appalling.
 Now that said, the front line workers are awesome. This is what is so sad about the DTES. The workers down here are truly amazing.  The homeless and addicts are also trying very hard to get help in a tough economic climate in a very expensive fast changing city.
And I know with regard to 'all the usual suspects', the Mark Townsends, Jenny Kwans, and Liz Evans, I'm supposed to think, "live and let live". That's why I'm thankful for the Terry Lake.
Thanks to Terry Lake there's more likelihood today the money will get to those who need it most.

Conquering Addictions Together Conference Coquitlam 2014


http://conqueringaddictionstogether.com/event/conference-2014-renewing-the-mind/

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The Northside Four Square Church, 1460 Lansdowne Coquitlam  northsidechurch.ca/ was a beautiful venue for this very important conference.  The organizers were lovely people, the surroundings immaculate with fine audio visual.  The food provided was delicious.
Renewing the Mind, Conquering Addictions Together  conference,  Bringing the Christian Community Together was a great success. I so enjoyed Keynote Speaker, Dr. Marv Penner.  I also had the privilege to speak again with Dr. Paul Early, Medical Director of Talbott Recovery Campus.  It was also good for me to meet the Helmut Boem, Wagner Hills Farms Treatment Centre http://www.wagnerhills.com/ministries/wagner-hills-farm/index.phpfolk.  I enjoyed hooking  up too with Winnipeg minister, Dr. Scott Miller.
I was there with Dr. Philip Ney who invited me to join him in his presentation on Abortion and Addiction.  Abortion increases addiction and addiction increases abortion.   Dr. Ney has the powerful international scientifically based Hope Alive Program for counsellors who wish to help more with those who have suffered from abortion.
In addition he has HURTS outreach sailing program for addicted teens and their parents.   Being a solo sailor with a 40 foot sailboat,  I love his impressive two masted sturdy sailboat that sleeps 22.   Both programs  have been highly successful helping Christians with recovery from all manner of trauma.  Dr. Ney is a truly amazing and accomplished psychiatrist and psychologist as well as a gifted Christian leader.

ps. I was sorry I'd missed hearing Dr. Frank Anderson on Saturday. When  I drove Dr. Ney back to the ferry that day he spoke so highly of him as a friend and speaker.  Hopefully one day I'll have the honour of meeting this doctor who has contributed so much.
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The CAT conference had many more presenters but these three alon
e speak to the international acclaim of the individuals who were presenting.  http://conqueringaddictionstogether.com/speakers/ It’s definitely a must attend conference for anyone working in addiction, not just Christians, though as a spiritual person I so appreciated the person centered focus.  I enjoyed meeting the folk from Union Gospel knowing what miracles they are part of in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Suboxone

Suboxone is a combination of opioid, Buprenophine and opioid antagonist, naloxone. It is used as an alternative to Methadone Maintenance Therapy for a person addicted to narcotics or opiates such as street heroin or prescription oxycontins. 
Suboxone is taken sub lingually because the Buprenophines is absorbed this way while the Naloxone is not. However if a person were to try to take the Suboxone and inject it recreationally the naloxone would be absorbed immediately and counteract the narcotic effect. This makes suboxone a medication that is least likely to be diverted for illegal purposes.
To start suboxone one should be in early stages of withdrawal from whatever other opioid drug being consumed. This takes usually 1 - 3 days depending on the drug and dose that was being taken. The reason for this is that Buprenorphine is a partial mu opioid receptor agonist and a kappa receptor antagonist. The mu opioid receptor accounts for analgesia, euphoria, sedation and respiratory depression. Because it is a partial receptor it has less sedation.  The kappa antagonism may be the cause of the antidepressant effect noted with buprenorphine.  Because of the strong binding effect of buprenorphine on receptors the buprenorphine will displace other weaker binding opioids potentially causing withdrawal effects if a person isn't already weaning off the opioid drug they are switching from.
With changing a person from methadone, the person is first reduced to only 30 mg a day of methadone.  A person would then likely miss a day of methadone then start suboxone the next day.
The difficulty here is with those people who are on high dose methadone, which can be as high as 250 mg.  First reducing them to where switching is possible is it's own challenge.
With heroin the 'dosage' a person is taking on the street is always uncertain because of the quality and amount of 'cutting' of the heroin.  Patient's may take as little as a 1 pt or $10 a day to as high as the normal heroin dependent person uses in the range of grams, at $200 to $400 or more a day habit (356 days a year).
To start buprenorphine a person having waited at least 4 hours after last short acting opioid or 24 hours after last long acting opioid, takes 4 mg witnessed under the tongue.  This is given by the pharmacist or at the clinic and a person waits this first day to be reassessed.  and waits to ensure they're not going into withdrawal. Buprenorphine peaks at 1 to 4 hours. It is eliminated over 2 to 3 days making a once a day dosage work fine.
The normal starting dosage of Suboxone is 4 mg.  The eyes are observed because dilated pupils are associated with withdrawal while constricted pupils are associated with opioid use.  If after 5 hours a patient has withdrawal signs including dilated pupils another 4 mg of Suboxone can be safely added. The concern is that a person will overdose as suboxone can cause respiratory failure.  One doesn't want to give too much suboxone the first day.
The normal maintenance dose is 8 mg to 24 mg and the medication can be increased over the next week or two to the maximum dosage needed. This is an advantage over methadone where a person may start 30 to 40 mg but increased dosage is only by 10 mg.  The more rapid induction with buprenorphine is an appreciated quality.
This medication is available as an alternative to methadone maintenance therapy.

Confidentiality

Sometimes, as a physician first, and a psychiatrist, now, I see some one, a friend of a friend, a family member of a friend, the patient of a colleague, and the person doesn’t return or I hear they were upset about me.
I worry and wish I could have ‘acted’ differently, ‘been better’, ‘reassessed the situation’, shown "more sensitivity’.  Other times I think why did I disrupt my schedule, work late, miss lunch, allow someone to jump the queue only to be treated like this by an ‘ingrate’.  It fluctuates depending on mood and hours of lost sleep, missed lunches.
I’m older now and still ‘worry’ as much, but accept more.
What I notice though is that there’s something ‘missing’.  More often the person who was ‘depressed’ and ‘suicidal’ and really in ‘need’ was doing something specifically they were not telling their family, friends or doctor about.  Then I realize that they were upset with me most likely ,probably, because I was doing my job and doing my job very well.
I have patients come in with a ‘rehearsed’ ’spiel’.  This ‘story’ that they tell others doesn’t ‘ring’ true to me so I ask specific questions, like doctors do, and this ‘derails’ this sort of patients ‘routine’. They’ve got their ‘poor me’ down pat and want me and everyone else to ‘see’ things their way. They don’t want to ‘learn’ what I’ve got to say or ‘hear my opinion’. They principally want me to rubber stamp their bullshit.
But their friends and family don’t know a critical detail.
One of the most common is ‘drugs or alcohol.’  One man remains furious at me a decade later. I know his friend who referred him to me. The man drinks 80 oz of vodka a day and called me a quack when I told him that alcohol was a chemical depressant.  “I am sure I could treat your depression but you’d have to stop drinking’.  "You're nothing but a quack, I don't have a drinking problem".
A man saw me recently and he was smoking pot all day long and everyone was concerned he wasn’t motivated.  No one had a clue as to just how much pot he was smoking and how much money this was costing.
My gambler wasn’t telling anyone about his losses.  If I owed those people what he owed I’d be depressed too.
There’s no ‘magic’ pill in medicine. If you are cutting your wrists and bleeding a good doctor is going to tell you to stop cutting your wrists, take away the knife, and bandage your wrist.
But today you can get a lawyer to sue me for telling you to stop cutting your wrists claiming I didn’t ‘respect your rights’. Further a human rights commission will insist that my first obligation was to refer you to a doctor who does euthanasia.  Already the millionaire abortionists insist we pimp for them so it’s only days before the euthanasia folk will have their own financial future legislated such that suicidals are given their  ‘choice’.  No one considers the conflict of interest that a State Health Insurance creates.  
Further, you can complain to the College of Physicians and Surgeons that I wouldn’t cut your wrists for you. The poor College of Physicians and Surgeons will be obliged to berate the doctor who took an oath to do no harm.
The other thing people don’t tell people about is their illicit sexual lives. Even as a gp I was seen usually only once for treatment of gonorrhoea or certain types of bugs or warts best not discussed in ‘polite’ society.  After I’d successfully treated a person they would go to another doctor so their ‘file’ was not ‘tainted’ by their nights of forgetting their marriage.  Increasingly the insurance companies and courts are destroying medical 'records' and increasing the costs of health care exponentially because patients will go to extremes including multiple doctoring to conceal their 'dirty secrets'.
The common theme is that when people   say the ‘doctor wasn’t that good’ or ‘they didn’t like the doctor’ it may not be so 'simple'.   No one tells their mother or father, husband or wife, I didn’t like the doctor because he told me stop doing crack cocaine.  They don’t even tell their family physicians often.
A week doesn’t go by that a family physician doesn’t learn something critical about their patient after they’ve been sent to a good psychiatrist, when I say good I mean thorough conscientious or maybe just plain 'curious' about their patients.   Hundreds of times I’ve been told by collieaques, “I never knew”.
Yes, I can learn to be more ‘diplomatic’. I can learn to ‘speak more softly’. I can learn to go quicker or slower or be less intrusive or wait longer.  Yet, I’m paid for by my time and addicts especially want to do their whole ‘routine’ on you. There are people these days who want to talk to the doctor for years before telling them what the real problem is.  They want to ‘work’ you like they have ‘worked’ their family and friends. They want to do their ‘sales pitch’ on a professional.  What they don't want me to do is weigh them if they're obese, ask for a release of their records from the hospital if they're a hustler, or ask them 'has anyone questioned your drinking or drugging' rather than asking them 'how much' so they can lie by saying 'only two drinks' .
The sociopaths are even better. The fact that most people don’t know that their friend or a family member is a sociopath isn’t surprising. They chameleon. These are most often the girlfriend or boyfriend who comes along on a visit. The ‘loved’ one thinks the person is there for ‘support’ and doesn’t know that they’re a ‘hostage’ and that the ‘loved’ one wants to be there to ‘control’ them more.
There is innocence.
There is purity.
There is truth.
 There is ‘good intentions’  But where there is disease there are commonly ‘secrets’.  We are as ‘sick as our secrets’.  I learned that harsh one in physical medicine when people would come in late in the course of disease of cancer and ‘share’ ‘too late’ that they’ve had this ‘lump’ in a breast or a gonad or a pelvis or an anus and it’s hurting too much. When I’d examine the lump I’d know it had been growing for months sometimes years but the person, ashamed, usually didn’t want to tell anyone. Often it was too late.  
There is so much people don’t tell their family, friends, and colleagues. They tell their doctor and often their way of returning to the safety of silence and to the illusion of lies is to simply say “I didn’t like the doctor’.  Then they go looking for another one hoping for better 'news'.
When patients tell me they didn’t “like" a doctor 90% of the time I learn by careful concerned questioning what exactly the doctor ‘said’ or ‘did’ that disturbed the person. This is true even when it’s said about a doctor I personally think is an ass.   10 % of the time the complaint is true. The doctor was an idiot but mostly it’s because they focussed the patient on something they didn’t want to address.
The search for second opinions is commonly a search by a person for a doctor who will support them cutting their wrists while accepting the duty to bandage.  Life was a lot easier and lucrative for doctor swhen they didn’t practice ‘prevention’ and we knew less about the fact that most diseases, especially any of the chronic ones, are ‘lifestyle diseases’.
Working now in addiction I most commonly face someone who wants to convince me that anything from heroin to marijuana to obsession with pornography isn’t the problem. Mostly sons want to tell me their mother is the problem, husbands that their wives are the problems and everyone that its ‘stress’ from the boss or work.  Just ‘stress, Right?  Everyone wants the problem out there, not in here.
It’s so hard to be an artist, a physician, a school teacher. “I just need a pill, doctor.”  " I really need medical marijuania to take the edge off the crack hangover.”
A lot of people don’t want to hear the truth.  As a physician I’ve enraged, thoroughly enraged, elephant women in my practice, by stating frankly ‘you’re obese’.  Mostly though these days it's the marijuana addicts who want their 4 joints a day but also want happiness and motivation to get a job. So many of the single children in their 30's and 40's who see me don't want to leave the tit and are angry that the parent won't pay for their increasing expenses.
People want to have ’symptom relief’ and yet if we ignore the ‘disease’ and just treat the symptoms we’re not good doctors. The smokers want ‘ventolin’ inhalers to breath better, the alcoholics want valium for hang overs and percocets for headaches.  The list is endless.
I am such an amazing clinician that I could be the physician to the emperor and live making the emperors life of debauchery comfortable but the insurance companies would be furious with me and the College of Physicians and Surgeons might yank my licence. Like Michael Jackon’s doctor I could get sued or lose my license. The most demanding and critical of my patients never have the millions it would take for me to do ‘celebrity’ practice medicine for them alone. Increasingly everyone is angry with me because I won't order an MRI and a complete 'battery of tests' for any truly minor concern.  Hypochondriasis is truly common and thanks to Dr. House everyone cold is now a rare disease that stupid doctors are missing. None of my patients do statistics.  But who am I to judge, the moment I get a fever, I'm calling the morgue. The only difference is I don't want to have 'unnecessary' tests done because I know that 'unnecessary' tests almost invariably lead to more 'unnecessary tests' and even more 'unnecessary procedures'.
I loved the doctor who told me that rubbing my eyes after picking my nose was causing my recurrent conjunctivitis.  I was a university student studying all night and had several episodes of conjunctivitis. I’d seen several doctors before that. Personally I lost respect for them when the real Dr. House in my personal life truly solved my real problem.  There was no more return business. I’ve not had conjunctivitis since.  I still pick my nose but I don’t rub my eyes after I do.
Now I go to work and do the best I can and tell people what my teachers taught me and say the truth as nicely as I can knowing nothing angers and upsets people more than the truth.
I didn’t like talking about my nose picking with that doctor who had the smarts to ask.  I certainly didn’t tell anyone I had red eyes from nose picking. For maximal sympathy I told everyone it was because I was studying all night.  Some things you only share with your doctor.


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Ranier Provisions, Vancouver

Ranier Provisions, 2 West Cordova, Downtown East Side Vancouver.  This is the most pleasant restaurant I’ve been in for a while.  Very down to earth and simple with great food.  Inexpensive.
There was also a delightful pianist playing upbeat music, not too loud, just right in fact.
The servers were attentive but not intrusive. Everything was clean and pleasant.  Pleasant is the word I keep coming back to.  I really enjoyed my nutritious delicious meatball sandwich lunch, really. Coffee was strong and aromatic.
And quick. I confess, I’m usually in a hurry and worry about the sit down restaurant as opposed to the fast food joint. This place was quick but had that no hurry  feel  you don't get in fast food.
They sell stuff too, which is the ‘provisions’ part of their sign.  Another time I'll check out all the good foodstuff they had for sale on the wall. Made me think of a 19th century ‘provisions’ .  Well done, Rainier!

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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Weekend work and fun

I spent Saturday completing study for Suboxone and passing the tests to allow me to prescribe this. I’d done this before but exam didn’t support mac so I took a while getting back to it. Glad to have done it.
Did most of a medical legal report too. Lots of work. Didn’t Finish Friday till after 6 and then a good 12 hours on Saturday.  That’s after a 6 day 9 hour a day work week. All for good causes.
I loved the hockey last week too.  I am working out more too, getting more exercise, thanks to Derek.
I enjoyed Church today too, actually arriving almost on time for a change.  Enjoyed the Canon’s sermon on Lent.  Gilbert was a great companion. I loved talking to AJ and Kevin at Church.  Their kids are terrific.  They gave Gilbert a Outward Hound life jacket he really likes. He’d been wearing Stuart’s old one which Stuart wore crossing the Pacific. It was too big for Gilbert whereas this is perfect fit. He looks so good.
We did some shopping at the Bay today.  I got a pair of loafers at their sale.  More light weight sweats too.  I love to change into something when I get home from work and the Bay had these really great light weight sweats which should do the trick. I’ve been meaning on fixing my bike but once I’m down to underwear I’m loathe to go out again. The daylight is making the evening a possible time for more walking and more work on outdoor things.  Hence, appropriate attire.
Gilbert and I drove over to the boat.  All day I had the top down on the Miata so didn’t mind the traffic jam getting on to the bridge because some guys car died.  At the boat I found the battery dead in the little run about so got a new one at Canadian Tire.  I spent a while looking for the other one I had till I remembered it was on the charger in Burnaby.
We took a run about Coal Harbour enjoying the sun and water.  Some guys were coming in from fishing so I figure I’ll have to get my licenses updated and maybe I ‘ll get out catching fish too.  The wind is chilly on the water but I was dressed for it in my Mustang Floater Jacket. I put some surf scoters to flight.  Gilbert liked that.
My new Kodiac 450 ATV is ready this week. That means I could get out Harrison way for some test driving before the bear hunt planned later in April.  I sure am looking forward to riding around the backwoods.
Now tonight I’ve enjoyed Matt Damon in Elysium.  I sure would like one of those heal everything re atomizing beds in our clinic.  The future is bright.  Everyone has hope for science but there’s much less faith in politics.  I hope both will progress.
It’s been a full weekend. Nothing spectacular but a privilege and a blessing .
I’m reading Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation. I like reading about God and I like reading about history.  I also enjoyed running down the Mediterranean causes for the 1200 BC coastal catastrophes.  Probably volcanoes and drought set off mass movement of people and increased warfare with failure of the chariot against the masses.  I remember reading about the demise of Crete when I was there.
I ordered pizza, meatlovers, from Canadian Pizza last night. It’s given me two days of enjoyment.
So that’s the weekend.  Busy week ahead.  Lots happening on the writing front with books in progress.  Spring is really pretty with the cherry blossoms budding.
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Friday, March 21, 2014

For Sinners Only - Quiet Time

AJ Russell writes in "For Sinners Only" the Book of the Oxford Groups,  that the members of the Oxford Groups "were guided during Quiet time and throughout the day in the following ways:
Through the Holy Spirit in attentive prayer by means of:
    The Scriptures
    The Conscience
    The Luminous Thoughts
    Cultivating the Mind of Christ
Through reading the Bible and prayer
Through circumstances
Through reason
Through the Church, Group, or Fellowship.
The conditions for effective guidance were the whole hearted giving of oneself to Jesus Christ. The tests are:
 Does it go counter to the highest standards of belief that we posses?
 Does it contradict the revelations which Christ has already made in or through the Bible?
 Is it absolutely honest, pure, unselfish, loving?
 Does it conflict with our real duties and responsibilities to others?
 If still uncertain, wait and continue in prayer, and consult a trustworthy friend who believes in guidance of the Holy Spirit."

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The Canucks beat the Predators and Hockey Night in Canada

The Canucks were awesome.  A little slow in the first period.  Like boxers dancing about each other rather than actually playing hockey.  The game picked up  in the second period, better plays and more aggressive action but still more a dance than real hockey.   The third period  was worth the wait. That's when the game exploded.
The Predators were by no means slouches. All kinds of good hockey.  Great stick play.  So good, sticks were periodically bursting.   Amazing goal tending by Lack.  Lots of dropped pucks by both teams. The first two periods Canucks seemed to be just shooting in the direction of the goal while the Predators were actually getting more real shots on goal.  Lack took one bullet right in the middle of his chest.
I’d got two tickets for the game at the Simon Frazer Robbie Burns Dinner, a fund raiser for the incredible Simon Frazer Pipe Band. It was terrific that the Canucks donated the tickets to that worthy event. I was glad to support Simon Frazer in the Silent Auction while winning a couple of hockey tickets to the greatest hockey team in the world.
Who to bring along?  My Aim Simpeng, the gorgeous Thai PHD political genius had just married Marc Beaudry, the French Canadian businessmen extraordinaire.  Aim must surely be hockey deficient whereas what French Canadian doesn’t love hockey? So I got another ticket and we made it a night.
Marc had indeed played goalie since three and only hung up his skates last year.  Thailand meanwhile is not known for their hockey league.  I told Aim that if the Jamaicans could have a bobsled team there was a possibility Thailand could sport a hockey team.  Being Buddhist wasn't sure it would catch on like soccer has.  Both Marc and I almost shouted her down when she said she wouldn’t want her children playing hockey because it’s so dangerous.  Aim, we're in Canada. Really!
Jim Byrnes was truly amazing. He has the most magnificent voice. Hearing him sing blues and rock I never fully appreciated it until tonight.  Hearing him sing the American Anthem and O Canada sent shivers up my spine.
The opening of this hockey game tonight was more like a rock concert than the old Don Cherry event we grew up on.
When the game began I was instantly nostalgically transported to the Laidlaws backyard in Fort Garry Manitoba. Each winter, Mr. Laidlaw ran water from the garden hose into the boarded areas where he raised his summer corn.   Then all winter Kirk and I , starting age 5 years old  when we became friend, along with all the other kids of our little neighbourhood would skate on that home made back yard rink.
When the his sisters and their girlfriends were skating we could only skate too. Girls didn't play hockey back then. They twirled a lot and stuff but they didn't play hockey.   When the girls weren't around the sticks and pucks came out.  We all had skates.   Sticks for kids in early days were kind of crutches we could scuff at the puck with at risk of falling. We were pretty low to the ground already with our feet splayed out and knees almost on the rink.
 We all loved NHL Hockey Night in Canada. First we  listened to it on the radio then when we got tbs we all sat around as families watching it.  So even if we didn't really look like much on the ice and fell a lot in our minds eyes as kids we were Rocket Richards.  There was even a Bill Hay on the Chicago Blackhawks so I must skate like him since we shared our name.  We had a lot of imagination as kids.  By the time I gave up hockey as a teen,   I could skate backwards and shoot the puck at the net but still  couldn’t stop too good going forward or backwards.
The games when I was 10 to 12 were the best of all. We’d graduated to the community club league and I think I had shin pads and a cup and gloves.  I explained to Aim that hockey gear was something that you collected over a lifetime back then.  My dad never tired of telling my brother and he how they'd rolled up newspapers for knee pads when they were playing hockey as kids north of Swan River. Every Christmas was special because we might get a coveted piece of sports gear along with the perennial pyjamas and socks.
My brother had a Montreal Canadian sweater and I had a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater but because the gear was mostly second hand, the socks I got were blackhawks which was okay because of Bill Hay.  All the kids has a pot pourri of teams. I don't remember anyone having a complete outfit from one hockey team. I didn’t even play hockey long enough to get shoulder pads or shorts.  As a kid I played in jeans and a parka with that Maple Leaf Sweater over it.  The hockey sweaters socks and everything were always bought so we'd grow into sometime when we were adults.
There was no indoor rink either.
Mom would walk my brother and I through the deep snow drifts and dark of night to the Fort Garry Community Club Rink.  She’d pack Wagon Wheels for the trip home. Even now I tear to think of her love and those Wagon Wheels.  In the club house there’d be a wood stove.  We’d put on our skate there in the deathly cold. All us kids got frost bite some time too.  I remember mom warming my toes by the fire one really bad winter when the game was finally called because too many of us kids were crying with a skates off trying to get our feet warm around that wood stove.
Some dad volunteered as a coach for each team of little boys.  Boris Tyzek’s Dad and my Mom were often the only parents out on the coldest nights. Dad was often away working.  Boris went onto a Rhodes Scholar and outstanding Lawyer whereas I, against all odds, became a physician.  I think his dad and my mom cheering for us kids on those  40 below zero nights, at their kids hockey games  made all the difference.
Then too my older brother, Ron, was always there.  He was a real athlete. He could skate circles around us kids and actually stop without falling down first. The stars in those Winnipeg skies were never brighter walking home through those great snow drifts eating those wagon wheels mom brought.
Hockey was everything back then.  The last I played hockey was an Oldtimers Country League a quarter century ago. I was a country doctor by then.  I’ve skated since but haven’t had a stick in my hand that I can remember since.  I don't know where the time went. If you asked us kids back then we'd have told you we'd never give up playing hockey. It was everything a Canadian boy lived for.
When we were kids,  the Red River froze some years.  Then we played hockey for miles on that river skating like the wind and passing the puck back and forth forever.  I think of that year when I hear Vancouver's Sarah MacLaughlan singing so beautifully the Saskatchewan Joni Mitchell prairie Canada song, "I wish I had a river I could skate away on."
Somethings are truly Canadian.
The Samborni Machines cleaned  the ice tonight. I love Samborni machines.   The pretty cheerleader girls and handsome boys carrying shovels rather than batons between periods added to the whole experience.  Given the cold when I was growing up outdoor hockey never had cheer leaders. As kids we sometimes cleared 4 feet of snow off the ice at the rink just to play hockey.
The Canucks are everything now. They’ve got the best of gear. Their sticks aren’t wood taped with electric tape but some sort of composite.  Their skates are some sort of Startrek greased lightening.  Humans couldn't skate that fast without some kind of extraterrestrial or supernatural help. They wear helmets and face guards, things which only the goalie wore when we were kids. Not all goalies.  Only the sissies.
The Canucks goalie Lack is from Sweden.  I like all the northerners on the Canucks team. I never forget that the greatest hockey game I saw was the Canadian Canadian Russian all star series.  After that ironically, the best hockey has been the Canadian women versus Americans.  Well, maybe not, there's nothing like a game with Goretsky on the ice. I've been blessed to see that and I thought his playing was near divine. The Canucks have come close too.  They will again.  Our old standby Luongo is gone but Lack was magnificent tonight.  Gilbert, my cockapoo, still wore his Canucks jersey even if he couldn't attend the game.
When Jensen scored the first goal, that was it. A groundswell of applause. Everyone standing and shouting. I’m hoarse. Really hoarse. The stadium roared. But it got even louder when Edler scored the second in a power play. .  How it could have got any louder than when Jensen scored is beyond me, but it did.   All of us Canucks fans were clapping our hands and stamping our feet.
I’m sure the ghosts of my mom and Boris dad were there too. There sure were a lot of kids with their parents tonight.    I liked that.  Hockey is such a special sport.  It's all about family and Canada and growing up in ice and snow.  I liked that Aim, from Thailand, liked it.
"I used to love watching Marc play goalie,"
It was a grand night.  Thank you Canucks.  Thank you Jensen. Thank you Edler.
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