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matthewlau
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Name: Matthew
Country: United States
State: California
Gender: Male
Interests: Learning new stuff...and appreciation
Expertise: overcomplicating stuff
Occupation: Unemployed for the brief bit b
Industry: Dentistry
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  matthewjlau
Member Since:
6/14/2003
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| I think that I'll move away from Xanga, and use a different host.
The reasons why:
1. It's cumbersome to use.
It takes me several click-throughs and an annoying advertisement page before I can actually post something. Even then, it's hard to add a picture "just so." It's also really annoying to see how the formatting will be on a different sized monitor due to the weird spacing issues (or at least it was). All the extra gimicks of points and add-ons detract away from my desire to simply blog.
2. It's limitted.
Only Xanga users can comment (or at least that's my experience). There's also limitted file storage space for pictures and video. It's also really annoying to try to post things inside my blogs or edit after visitting someone elses site. Of course, this may simply be because I'm inept.
3. I've shifted away from my original objective for the blog.
Originally, my intention was to have little vignettes...ideally about the little things that make life special (whether good or bad).
I've fallen so far away from that. Instead, this blog is self-conscious, probably self-righteous, and missing the point. It's also really annoying for me (the author) to read, much less for you.
So if you chance upon this post,
Goodbye...and thanks for visitting.
If I ever get motivated (and find a host hta I like working with), I'll make another blog.
It'll hopefully be more focussed, and way more interesting than this one is.
It'll focus on life through my lens of dentistry:: craftsmanship, design, and people.
I'll post up a link on this when that happens.
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| It took a while, but we're finally here.
First impressions: safe, small, humid.
Everything is quite rigidly organized. There's bikes everywhere, and things with minimal security.
It's small and homey, but I can see why Japanese can get really obsessed with travel. There are minivans with a smaller footprint than a Toyota Corolla. The sidewalks and the main streets aren't delineated. Everything seems ideal for bicycles. For skateboards/longboard, the apvement is not ideal.
In Asakusa, even as it's dark, you'll see the occasional children or grandma playing or prattling out in the streets. There's ramen, and there's more expensive placed. Apparently chicken is less expensive. Beef is much more so. However, things are generally decently presented.
Japan is definitely smaller than America.
At first glance, Tokyo looks like a sprawling metropolis...until you realize that everything is in kilometers, and that the city block is a less than a quarter the size of the equivalent American/Canadian block. Things are orgainized in the residential areas so there is only 10 houses on each street/block area.
It's very much like downtown Hawaii, but much more cramped.
Upon entering the subway/rail terminal, you'll realize that the average Japanese is used to smaller places than the American. In one section, the ceiling is only 5 foot 10 inches in height. Even on the light days, there's tons of people.
There's tons and tons of people.
In general the Japanese are smaller than their American counterparts. Heightwise: men averaging 5 ft 7 in - 5ft 10 in; women are a bit shorter. I only saw one muscular dude. The rest were either really skinny and wimpy looking, or fat and wimpy looking.
Granted, I was looking very hard, and I've only been here for a couple of hours.
Anyways, no pics today.
Tomorrow. Maybe.
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| On the way back from Vancouver airport, I was deeply impressed with the quality of Canadian security.
Unlike America (or so it seems), Canada does not loudly claim tp tighten airport security. They don't set a national policy to hire a racially-balanced quota of minimally trained TSA grunts. They don't have laughably cursory, "random" body searches.
Instead, they get it done.
At SFO, I was searched because of some water in my bottle. It tickled; it was somewhat inconvenient; and that was that. It was mildly relaxing.
Here in Vancouver, my dad was chosen.
Usually, he'd snicker as we were searched. He'd make dumb jokes. He'd dance around with a fat smirk on his face...
Today, was retribution.
The airport security politely (but firmly) pulled him aside. He had him remove his jacket, his four wallets. He was patted down in five positions. His papers were checked against an international database.
Meanwhile, my sister had her luggage swabbed and submitted to a quick forensics test.
I later learned that Canada was readying for the upcoming Olymics.
Lesson: don't mess with Canada.
Ps. Later, I'll document the horrors of the Chinese tour. | | |
| Thanks to my Russian-spanish friend, I've been getting acquainted to enjoying a cup of wine and slowing down.
Meals are different if you've ever eaten with a native of France, Spain, Italy, or to a lesser extent anyone in Europe I daresay.
It's not that the food is necessarily better, but rather that the culture places a greater importance of appreciating the food. Thus, one will pay perhaps $10 per lb of cheese. Later on one may enjoy 2 oz. of said cheese with a piece of fresh fruit and a nice glass of red wine as a light supper. This experience may last an hour or more.
To an American (especially a Cantonese-American), this may seem absurd. We're sort of used to a quick, delicious, affordable meals: like bowls of Won-Ton Mein, a slice of pizza, a sandwich or a massive burrito. The idea of spending a full hour on lunch (not including waiting, driving, finding a parking spot, etc) is somewhat inefficient and un-American.
To a European, our way of life can seem somewhat barbaric. And in this past couple weeks of having plenty of time on my hands, I think that I can agree with them.
I mean, we have a limited amount of calories that we can consume (unless you're an Olympic athlete or professional bodybuilder). We have an absolute cap on the time we have alive. We have an even more finite time that we can enjoy sharing bread with family, friends and beautiful strangers.
It's romantic. It's silly. It's impractical. Yes, I know. Spending an hour enjoying a something as simple and sublime as fruit is (to me) an act of worship.
I mean, I've spent many years working on developing a cooking style that embraces the best of the world. The more I know, the simpler my cooking gets. This past week, I've been simplifying my recipes more and more.
I just bought a bottle of cold-pressed, extra virgin California olive oil...and I'm still marvelling over the intricacies and the subtle sweetness of the oil on a simple slice of German rye bread. And the feeling of wild honey on the tongue (goes really bad with red wine, but) is ridiculously inviting and warm on the tongue...like a hug from a very pretty longtime friend (minus the possible misunderstandings).
I think that I'll give up on my quest to make the perfect dessert, because I think that God's done it many times over.
There's something truly beautiful about a good lichee, an almost forgotten heirloom tomato, or a fresh donut peach in season. There's honestly nothing that I can do that will surpass the beauty of a fig on a tree. When I bake a pie, I try to use over-ripe fruit because I'd feel bad if I desecrate the perfection of the first crop.
If you were from Chicago, New York, London, or any number of places far from decent produce, I might understand your be ignorance of nature's bounty. But if you're in California, or any other place with decent local produce, you seriously owe yourself the hedonistic pleasure of treating yourself to good, fresh, seasonal fruit.
Anyways, excuse me. I'm slightly drunk from my 1.5 cups of Spanish red wine. I tend to be a bit wordy. I would have included a nice picture or two of the chocolate croissant that I dined on or the fresh lichee that inspired this post, but I don't have a DSLR yet and my low-light point and shoot is terrible at low light (and I'm running on my sentences, sorry).
I'll be off to drop off a chocolate croissant to a friend. Bye!
Recipe: Chocolate Croissant (the cheating way)
Store bought Croissant (they undercook these btw)
Good Dark Chocolate.
Shave the chocolate over the croissant. Bake until the chocolate melts (I suggest ~5 minutes in an oven at 350-400 F. The chocolate should be melted and the croissant should be slightly darkened at the edges.
Enjoy with a glass of red wine, a good cup of coffee, or a simple cup of water...preferably with good company.
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| Here's an example of why I love what I do.
Disclaimer: I've had express consent from my patient to post these images, thus I should not be violating any HIPAA regulations regarding patient confidentiality or privacy.
This was my last patient case at UCSF, and I'm damned proud of it (although God did most of it).
Before
 
My patient had some trauma over fifteen-twenty years ago. His front two teeth were chipped. They were root canal treated with silver points...which caused his teeth to go black. He filed them down with a nail file because they were cutting his tongue/lips. And for the last fifteen years, he's been fighting to have those teeth restored.
Please disregard the green-tea, cinnamon, spirulina banana-bread cupcake.
Since his teeth were the wrong shape for so long, he'd forgotten how they should be like.
I built up the teeth on one of many casts taken of his mouth. He endured so many mouthfuls of nasty-tasting alginate that I was damned certain that I'd make him something nice.
Unfortunately, the labs were closed during break. Also, I found out that the only non-security camera-covered door was not bypassable (don't ask). Oh, and security was nice, but doesn't have the keys either.
I made a set of custom Acrylic temporaries (plan B). I thought that they turned out merely okay.
But the patient was very happy.
Under his temporaries, his real teeth:
I hand delivered the impression, the casts, and a cast of the temporary to Nguyen Lab at Buchanen Dental Center. Nguyen Lab is probably one of the best kept secrets of UCSF: great work ethic, ridiculously good quality control, and an expectation of excellence that's as high as mine. They're also probably the slowest of the labs that UCSF works with. But I wanted my last case to be done right.
After:
It looks yellower than in reality due to poor lighting/camera.
After these crowns were cemented, we were probably two of the happiest men in the world. For me, it was my last two crowns; I was glad that my last case turned out great; and I was happy to deliver to my patient. For my patient, it was his first time in fifteen years that he could smile again.
Later that night, I got a call from him. I stiffened...because I normally get bad news when a patient bothers to call...especially at night. However, He was calling to tell me that it was painless, he was feeling great, and that he wanted to send me some of his friends when I set up a future practice.
Wow.
I want to thank God for providing me such a great patient, and a great case to end on a high note. I want to thank Nguyen Lab for doing a really great job on rush order. Lastly, but most importantly, I want to thank my patient for being a very gracious, patient guy, and for putting up with me.
Doctor's orders: Go out and get the ladies, sir!
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