Welcome to the Year of the Golden Piggy! For Chinese people, the year of the pig brings good luck and prosperity. But babies born in the golden pig year, which happens once in six decades, are believed to be even more lucky. So for those of you who wants a little golden piglet before the year is out, it’s time to get busy! 🙂 Our trip back to New York last weekend brought back memories of the loud noises and crowded streets of Chinatown from last year. Some of our red envelopes were particularly fat because of the upcoming wedding, and the food was delicious as always. But to our dismay, one of the wedding bands we ordered was slightly off, and had to be reordered. Fortunately, the rest of the wedding plans have been proceeding smoothly since the new year, as we hammer out details like flowers, music selection, ceremony wording, wedding favors, and decorations. The Chinese-calendar also gave me an excuse to celebrate my birthday again (on the 2nd day of the lunar new year) with another toy for myself. Unfortunately, my radiology rotation is not looking much like the “radi-holiday” that people has made it out to be. With so many distractions at home, I just hope I can stay awake through the many hours of lectures ahead.

Finally! With the help of a small hint and standing for an hour in the chilly weather, I finally got my belated birthday present. Fortunately for me, my Ophtho rotation has been very relaxing, with no patients to round on, no pager to carry, and no real responsibilities. This will not only give me a chance to try out this ingenious new toy, but also to catch up on wedding stuff like mailing out invitations and getting fitted for my tux. Anyway, my birthday this year was pretty low key. We just went out with a few friends for lunch buffet at Kashmir. But next weekend will be Chinese New Year, so we’ll most likely head down to NYC for some fine dining again … without the norovirus, and hopefully some red envelopes as well. =)

Forever in our hearts…

Howie

8/25/2004 – 1/30/2007

It was my only golden weekend this rotation, and what better way to spend it than to pig out in NYC? Our first stop was the Peking Duck House, a chic little restaurant smack in the middle of dirty, bustling Mott St. in Chinatown. Here, even the fancy decor and stylishly-suited waitors were no match for the artery-bursting flavor of duck skin roasted to a light, almost airy, texture as we sunk our teeth into it. On Saturday, we went to Tomoe Sushi, where we savored the buttery blend of texture and flavor oozing from the eye-popping hunks of fresh sashimi. With the exception of the Bluefin toro, which I must admit was a splurge, the $19 sashimi combo was definitely a steal. Although we were still exhaling salmon when evening rolled around, we returned to the West Village for dinner at the Strip House. For half the price of Peter Luger, the plump, juicy ribeye steaks here, cooked to a true medium-rare perfection, gave our taste buds a titillating experience comparable to what establishments with a similar name may offer. The last stop of our journey took us back to Chinatown. At Super Taste Restaurant, we cramped ourselves into the corridor-like interior of the noodle bar to slurp up hand-pulled noodles in plastic and stainless-steel bowls. The dining etiquette here is not for the faint of heart as we watched old men chucking beef bones straight onto the table. But for 4 bucks a pop, what can you really ask for? Ultimately, our weekend was not without drama. While we were glad to have finally ordered our wedding bands, our return trip was fraught with pain (literally). By evening, Melody had vomited 3 times, and I was shivering under the sheets with a fever of 102. Though it’s hard trying to attribute all this to a single source, or maybe it was just too much meat for one weekend, it was definitely an experience I would not hesitate to relive.

It’s been tough getting back into the groove of things since the new year began, having spent my 2-week holiday vacation doing almost nothing. After spending several days helping out in lab pro bono and also reformatting all my hard-drives, I flew to Portland with Melody to spend Christmas with her family. Besides playing with our baby niece, the bulk of our time there was spent eating, cooking, and planning for the next meal (much like the life of a rat … save the cooking part). I also went back to Brooklyn for a few days to unwind with my folks at home and meet up with old friends. Needless to say, waking up this past Saturday morning and rounding for more than 8 hours post-call on Neurology was more than enough to kick me back into gear with the start of this new year. It also didn’t help that I just came from surgery where we would round on twice as many patients in less than an hour. Luckily, rather than wasting time with scut work, neuro is much more cerebral (pun intended), and should give my brain a good work out in preparation for upcoming rotations.

In loving memory…

Sammy

8/15/2004 – 12/27/2006

After 3 months of sleepless nights, my surgery rotation has finally come to an end. Weee!!! or better yet – Wiiii!!!! Of course, it would have been nice if I had actually gotten my hands on one of these popular toys to celebrate. But after waiting with 60 other people in line for more than an hour in the bitter cold outside the local BestBuy this morning, I was greeted by a geekling dressed in blue informing us that only 21 units were available. In retrospect, my surgery experience has been very much a blur. Maybe it was because we were always running from one patient room to the next each morning, or that our responsibilities amounted to little more than what a monkey can do. And perhaps sleeping on it over my 2-week holiday break will cast a kinder light on my experience. But for now, it was a rotation I don’t care to think about for some time.

My apologies for not having written for some time. But in addition to starting my general surgery service this month and suffering from the crazy work hours, I’ve also been working on our wedding website, which I’m happy to say, is now online! Over the past few weeks, we’ve been driving around to nearby malls to set up our gift registries, and also find accomodations in the area for our guests. Since the site will be updated as new information arises, we encourage you to check back often. Hopefully, we’ll be sending out save-the-date cards pretty soon. In the meantime, please sign our guestbook and also check out our engagement photos (use Event ID “yiu”).

My past 2 weeks in Anesthesia and SICU have been pretty laid back. Though morning rounds in the SICU were painfully long, they were a nice change of pace where I got to spend extra time actually caring for patients rather than rushing off to the OR. I even got the weekend off for the annual MD-PhD retreat. Sadly, many of my classmates were stuck at work this year. And though it’s hard to imagine, after 7 years, even the appeal of unlimited lobster has dwindled. It did, however, give us a break from our adventures in Oblivion to just enjoy reading and watching TV like regular folks. We also caught a Sunday afternoon matinee of The Departed, which is actually a Scorsese remake of the HK hit, Infernal Affairs. Unfortunately, though it was more polished, grittier, louder, and funnier, I felt that it really missed the mark on the deeper, more philosophical notion of right vs. wrong which was embodied by the original film. The film was overall enjoyable, but ultimately unsatisfying.

At the end of my neurosurgery elective week last Friday, just as we were about to close a craniotomy, the resident grabbed my hand and poked the exposed brain. “There,” he said, “you’ve just touched brain; you are now doomed to be a neurosurgeon.” I have to admit that neurosurgery is pretty cool… but considering that it’s the only residency with an exception to the 80-hour rule, I’m not sure if the lifestyle is really meant for me. Speaking of brains, I have another co-authored paper which recently came out in the Journal of Neuroscience. We made cover again, but since I had no hand in its design, I can honestly say that it is pretty ugly. Also, the NYAS has published an online briefing of the axon regeneration meeting I presented at last March (see link at the bottom of this page). They also included an audio recording of the talk. If you have never listened to yourself speak, I can tell you that it’s a very uncanny experience.