I love it when I discover something new…well in this case something 10 years old, but new to me.  So I first learned about something called Para Para while surfing Youtube.  Apparently, it’s this popular Japanese dance trend where people dance in synchrony using mostly their hands.  It is actually really cool looking.  I can’t get over how neat it is and how I never knew about this before.  I really do need to climb out from under my rock and discover more cool things like this.  Here is a video of the group Shanadoo demonstrating the dance.

If you’re wondering why there are German subtitles, this is what I found out about them.  Although they are composed of Japanese members, they were originally formed in Germany and they mostly do covers of Eurobeat music.  Talk about weird…

Speaking of weird, here’s a video of a really cool Para para dance group called Hinoi Team.  The  guy in the middle needs pants badly.  To his credit, he does look light on his feet.

Here’s another

The best is that the songs are so high energy I get this super hyperactive rush just from watching the videos.

I’m not sure if I posted this before but here’s a Weird Al music video in which every nonsensical lyric is a palindrome.  Awesome!

One of the best things about working at a children’s hospital are the jokes.  Honestly, there has to be a common personality trait among doctors who work with children.  I’m not talking about just pediatricians, but pediatric anesthesiologist, surgeons, etc.  It amazes me how on/off they can be.  One moment they’re all giggles and jokes and the next is pure business.  I suppose this happens with adults as well but too a lesser degree.  I don’t remember all the jokes I heard while on rotation at Children’s Hospital but here are some of the ones I remember:

Why does Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella?       For drizzle my nizzle!

Where do bees stop to pee?       At a BP station.

What kind of bees make milk?        Boobies.

My favorite is why did the worker get fired from the orange juice factory?            He couldn’t concentrate!

There was another off color one I heard about decalfinated cows but I forget how it goes.  If you have any good ones I’d love to hear them.

I was introduced to Five Guys Burgers and Fries restaurant a few years ago.  Being from the West Coast I grew up eating In-N-Out burgers.  My sister actually worked at a In-N-Out during high school.  Frankly, I’ve never been a big fan of In-N-Out burgers.  As fresh as they claim they are, I just don’t think their burgers are all that great.  I think it has to do with the size of the hamburger patty.  I’ve always thought that they were too small.  Well I had a Five guys burger for lunch a couple of weeks ago and love them!  Their regular burgers have 2 patties and their little burgers have the regular one.  Everything is made fresh to order.  The best thing about Five Guys is that the burgers are big and sloppy.  At least when I take a bite of mine, there’s always sauce/juice oozing out the edges.

The fries are awesome.  All freshly cut and fried in peanut oils.  In fact there are sacks of potatoes all over the store.  The fries come in regular and Cajun flavors.  While you are waiting around for your food there are buckets of peanuts scattered around for your snacking pleasure.  Obviously if you have a peanut allergy this isn’t the restaurant to go to.

So today my California medical license arrived in the mail.  I thought it would never come!  I actually applied for it back in September of 2008 and since California has been in some financial trouble a lot of the state workers have been furloughed.  It was something of a bureaucratic nightmare trying to get the paperwork straightened out.  A word of advice for anyone applying for a California State medical license, start EARLY.   But after a lot of persistence and multiple calls, I can finally rest easier.

Actually, a lot of good news!  After 8 years of being away from home, it will be just 3 more months until I get to go home again.  Finally, My family will have to nag me about something other than being so far away.  LOL!  I’m sure they’ll find something.    Just kidding, I love you guys.   Anyway I got a job close to home and now all I have to do is find a nice apartment.  I even have some friends waiting for me there.  It feels like things are starting to come together.  I’m going to miss Pittsburgh a little.  I made some great friends here, but I sure do look forward to the good food in Cali.  Not that there aren’t good places to eat here.  I actually have a  list of restaurants to go to before I say farewell.

Health is something I’ve always appreciated, but not more so now that I’ve been sick with the flu.  I took all the precautions, so I thought.  I got the flu shot early.  I washed my hands before and after every patient contact.  I avoided touching my face.  When it’s your time…it’s your time I guess.  So I’ve been miserable with the flu for the last week.  At first it started off as just a respiratory thing, so I worked through that.  Lately it has turned into more of a GI thing and I just can’t stand that.  Always with that pukey feeling.  Coughing till it feels like you’d hock up a lung.  Not to mention, eating is nearly impossible.  When I do try to eat something, it just doesn’t taste like anything.  It makes me think of that curse from the movie, Pirates of the Carribean, where the crew of the Flying Dutchmen couldn’t satiate their thirst or hunger, where food turn to ash in their mouths.  Maybe hell is a little like that.

This week I noticed that I had a cabinet full of rice noodles that my mom had left the last time she was here.  The kind of rice noodle you use to make pho.  Since I was running out of food anyway and I needed to do something to “de-stress”  I decided to try my hand at Pho.  Pho is a type of Vietnamese soup that is usually made from chicken or beef stock.  It’s one of my favorite foods but I’ve always left the preparation of it to the experts until this week.

My first attempt was kind of pitiful.  I used canned beef broth and threw in an onion.  After a few hours of simmering I poured it over some cooked noodles and added hoisin and “rooster” sauce.  I was pretty disappointed.  After discussing with one of “my people” from California (Thanks by-the-way!) she gave a few good tips and sent over these satchels of Pho seasonings.  The satchels contain anise, tsao-kuo?, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and some salt.  This time I started with beef broth again, skipping boiling the beef bones out of laziness and time.  Grilled up a whole onion and threw that in.  I had some carrots in the fridge and thought to myself why not?  So in they went.  Cubed some beef flanks and threw that in along with the satchel of special seasonings.  Added some fish sauce, sugar, and salt.  It’s simmering as I write this and it smells wonderful.  It tastes a whole lot better as well.  Not the same as my moms but a good start.