holiday...

It 2^nd day of my back to back 4 night shifts…the longest of all for the past few years. K had asked me that if I could share some of his shift so that he could take a break for an escape for his family. I had known him for quite a long time ago and he is a true workaholic, he had hardly taken any long break. The longest break he had was during the 2^nd days of Chinese new years where the man of the house would bring his wife back to his in law… 3N – max…

He had asked me to covered the Tuesday night shift so that he could take a break from Sunday(post call) to Thursday night….

Lem and I was wandering where has he planned to go….. but last evening when I drove to work, I saw him crossing the road from the bus stand opposite our hospital. He has come for his ward night duty !!!! well, he did not fully utilized his holiday but yet come to work….

Lately, I had discovered that spending time with the kids is a very important event, 1 months to go before school start and I am planning for another trip with the kids…. Maybe a long march/ride this time….

RRRRRabies....

The rabies issue is currently burning like hot cake here in Taiwan.... In the past, I used to tell my dog-bitten patient that there is no local rabies case but now...
The rabies vaccine shot cost RM800 per full vaccination ( injection on D0,3,7,14,28).... In most of the cases, the patient has to pay themself. The nearest injection center is 50km from our hospital. As for the immunoglobulin, there is only 3 shots left and I think it is one of the darkest period for pets and owners...

Penghu.....3d2n ->4d3n

The trip to PengHu was a exciting one… I had a so so call (3-4 hrs) sleep and was able to hit home and reached the peer by 7:45 am. The ticket picking was smooth and I was able to get my car onto the ship in time. The sail was smooth and I managed to take a short nap which was enough to get me going later in the afternoon.

The ship arrived at the Magong port after 5 hours later and I headed straight to the Xian Chao Ice shop nearby. While waiting for the ice, I took a quick check over my tab and read the news regarding a tropical storm forming around the Bus strait... Darn, bad news, if the storm transform into a typhoon, there would be a great chance we had to stranded on the island... I withheld the news and started the tour with my family... weather was hot and we had a good tour around the island. 

In the morning, the early news had revealed that the typhoon had been formed and there is a 50/50 chance it would head toward Taiwan. I did not tell anyone as I did not want to spoil the mood. 

Later in the afternoon, while waiting for the rest of the family in the aquarium, I glanced through the tab and found that the ship tour was cancelled due to bad weather. Our tour back to the main island had to delayed for at least 24 hrs. I broke the news to the rest of the team and everyone were a little bit frustrated. 

The overstay had allowed me to complete the island without leaving out any of the attractive spots.

The returning ship was crowded with tourists and we were still lucky to squeeze onto the ship. The sail was not an uneventful one as the ship was a little bit rocky...with the poor ventilation in the cabin, everyone of us felt nausea and Yun had thrown up twice....

After the tour, the rest of the family had told me politely that it would be our last tour on boat.....

eat sugar don't know cane...

I was scrapping the skin of sugar canes in front of my house 2 weeks ago with Yun. The sugar cane in my farm had grown greatly in the past 1 weeks year and I had harvested quite a load that days. I would usually scrapped the skin off in the farm and take it to the lady nearby to pressed the juice in the past but lately, the underwater in the farm was muddy and I had taken the sugar cane back to my house to washed it before I sent it for pressed.
The kid next door and his friend was cycling during the event and they had stopped by to ask me, what was I holding. I was surprised as the kids seems that they haven't seen any in the past. I offered them a small piece and told them that it was sugar cane and the sugar we ate was made of this...
well, kids grown up in the city nowadays are confined to 3c product, metal, cement and a life in the wild seem so far away from them....
I am glad that both Yun and Xian have exposure in the wild but yet it is still not enough... well, need to work more harder...

full gear, but not used....

 

The camping trip had gone smooth but I had however did not try out all my new gear. I had used one of the Northstar plus 2 LED light strip and it had provided enough light to cover the tent. 

 The brightest light is my new Northstar 2500....

 can still see the brightness from far far away....

The new stakes and hammer had worked like a babe and I had bought another set of 30cm stakes for use in the windy situation in the near future.

The 2 4.1kw stoves had played their part and the Epigas S-1008 was kept safely in the box….until next time…

The trip was a success, as most of the new campers had expressed for a second trip just after their return.

Well…planning for the next one…..

ap without marriage

AP ≠ access point   ----> AP = antepartum, a short form to use during our work in ED....

I had told one of the church members, a school teacher that the summer would be busy for ED physician as there would be tons of young chap riding around their parent’s bike without license nor helmet….

I was right, however something more serious raise my concern recent 2 weeks… extramarital pregnancy amongst youngster.

Since the summer holiday, I had met 3 trauma female youngsters who are unmarried but pregnant. 2 were unsure with their LMP but gladly comply with the test and did not look surprise when I told them their result as if they are expecting it. The last one knew she was pregnant however withheld the info until I asked her about the late period. She is a 7 weeker but still not sure if she wanted to keep the baby. She had a favor over the use of RU486, but did not know that there is a 8 week limitation.

Well, I shivered when I came across such cases as I am more worried about Yun……

pre-camp upgrade

Lem had gone off for his holiday…the rest of the shift would be shared by me and K with boss moonlighting intermittently. It makes no different as most of the time, I would wake up at 7 and proceed with my daily routine, take a short nap in the afternoon and go to work at 5, the 14 and 24 hrs make no different to me.

Despite of the long working hours of recent 2 weeks, the camping trip should go well this weekend.

I have look up the weather forecast on a daily basis and I am sure that the next 2 days would be good for outdoor activities. The group consists of 12 cars with 8 tents and 4 rooms at the camping site. I had upgraded my gear for this camping as most of the other campers are new to the trade.

I had bought another Northstar 2500 with ventilator reflector and stand. The Northstar have been a good unplug light source and prove very reliable in the outdoor setting. Excluding the fuel lamp, it is the brightest in its class. The cons is heat, very hot and not suitable to use in the tent. Unlike the 1^st gen which is green in color, I have the option to chose a red one.

I had pre-burnt the mantle and both of the lamps are in good condition. Plus the 2 LED lamp stripe I have made and 4 LED torches, the night won't be dimmed....

As we need to cook for 40 + persons(adult + children of coz). I had added 3 more stove into our firing arsenal; two 4.1kw cassette stove and 6.7kw stand stove. I had tried out the 4.1kw and found that it could boil 2 liters of water in 6 minutes. 

copied from the net/..

the 4.1kw, which 2x power compare to other  cassette stove, the pros is the cassette gas canister is 3x cheaper than the power gas canister...

(copied from the net....)

the 6.7kw stove, which could hold up to 40kg....great heating power...

good for big pot 

We could cook dinner and breakfast at a faster rate and minus the waiting time….

This is however the ultimate stove, snow peak gs 1000 which is 10.3kw in power... the greatest heating monster available in the market which could boiled 10 liters of water in less than 15mins... it cost RM1700 [can buy 3x 6.7kw stove...]...

During the shopping I had come across the tent’s stakes and peg hammer. I had replaced all the stakes with steel stakes and bought a peg hammer with copper head. 

traditional stake which is difficult to hammer 

modified stake, head for hammering and a hole for removal.

da hammer with copperhead, which could prevent slipping during the hammering...

when I reach home last night , I spent a good 5 mins in limbo fascinating myself as Thor while holding the hammer, really nice piece of gear….

Well, everything set to go and I am still anxious about the trip…. Cross my finger and praying…

EVA air - service experience....

As a first line “service provider”, I had a deep understanding of the “customer is always right” concept, customer satisfaction is always our main concern, or a time consuming legal suit will be waiting at the corner. I am not demanding person regarding service provided by others but it should be up to the standard…. You can’t demand a small stall along the roadside to provide a customized personal service but it hygiene should meet the least standard….

I had purchased air tickets for my parents 2 weeks ago from the EVA website enabling them to visit us. The EVA is currently promoting its joining of the STAR alliance network and I expect an upgraded service as the promotion ads had flooded the TV… I did not pay attention to the ticket information during the purchase and later I had found that the to and fro flight was not in the same class. I had however decided to upgrade the return ticket to Shanghai from economy to premium economy for my parents(nothing much to shout as the difference is bigger seat and larger baggage allowance, no lounge service and the food is the same as econ class, but it should a good experience for them....). I had called up the ticketing number and the lady had patched me through another service rep. The rep had however told me that since the ticket is issued from Shanghai office, they would need to “telegraph”(yes, telegraph, in the era of email and internet) my request to Shanghai office and I would have to pay for the telegraph fee. I politely declined her offer. After years of being an emotionally guided impulse acting person, I had learnt to control it – I sat down and taken a deep thought and planning before I email to EVA office regarding my dissatisfaction.

It was Friday and I got a called on Monday which another customer service lady told me that she would attend to my request and would called me back with the upgrading cost. I got what I want 30mins later….

The overall service provided is still good as I think the telegraphy stuff is not mean for customer like me but for the travelling agency which require a printed proof.. I had a worst experience with the Malaysia Standard chartered bank but that is another story….