Activities

We are almost ready to leave for Europe in a few days. I'm tickled with excitement, thinking about seeing those pages in my art, architecture and food books in real life. This trip marks the end of an era, for me. In the past 11 or so years, I've been going and going non-stop. Between undergrad, medical school, then residency plus multiple moves in different cities and states, I look back and realize it's slowing down finally- surreal end and a beginning of a new unknown. But let's not talk about the new job yet. I'm on vacation :)
It has been a flurry of activity, getting ready for the trip. I think I've been to REI and Target too many times in the last week. Also, I got a new lens for our DSLR camera too! Hopefully, we'll get some good pictures in Europe with it.

Since I've been off, we've had time to do some more outdoorsy activities. See the pictures below.

On top of Chinidere Mountain, Mt. Hood in the back
Wahtum Lake (where we camped) from the top

Last week, I went hiking with friends to Tom, Dick and Harry Ridge, where the view was similar to Chinidere Mountain, although the hike up was easier. Beautiful hike- the wild flowers are vibrant and beautiful.

Reflection of Mt. Hood off of Mirror Lake.
Macros on bear grass- shot with my P&S- not bad.

And last weekend, we drove to Vancouver, B.C., Canada, mostly to eat good Chinese food, but ended up seeing a lot more of the city this time. We biked the sea wall of Stanley Park, walked Granville Island, went to Richmond's night market, and crossed over Lynn Canyon suspension bridge to Twin Falls. All the while, eating good food, almost constantly :)

Totem poles
Granville Island Market- better than Pike's Place in Seattle
Music, random goods, and tons of food while rubbing elbows (literally) with hundreds of Asians in one parking lot converted into the Richmond Night Market. Chaotic, must experience in real life sorta thing. Mmm... grilled squids, fried tofu, chicken on a stick, boba, dragon beard candies... Must. go. back.
Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge (free to cross- as opposed to the Capilano one)

Phew! That was a lot of pictures to load. I don't know why I do this all the time- wait a month then blog... more work this way, I realize. Next blog- somewhere in Europe. A bientot!

May & June

Is anyone still reading this blog? :)

My fault I know.

May- we went to Cannon Beach for a weekend, celebrating our 3 years' anniversary. It was such a fun weekend. We drove to Ecola State Park and hiked down to Crescent Beach. It was a muddy hike with narrow paths, so not a lot of people ventured on it. Therefore, we had the beach almost completely by ourselves. But we didn't know and was unprepared. I wish we had a picnic basket made up since it was such a nice and private place! During dinner, and elderly woman next to us was choking on her food, and I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her. My first medical emergency outside of the hospital...

June- Quoc's family came to visit for our cousin's engagement party. It was quite an event, lots of dinners, outings and of course, eating. We went on a few hikes with them. I took some pictures this time.

D&D- The happy couple.
Le family
Lighting makes him look esp. more Asian. The bandages are for the scrapes/burns from biking accident the day before, where he broke his precious smart phone.
Scootch on over...

It is the end of June, marking a huge milestone/chapter in our lives. Residency is over as of tomorrow. I can't believe the day is here. I'll have graduation pictures up when I get them from a friend's camera.

Recap

Haiti medical mission trip came and went. Most of this blog's readers have gotten a detailed report about the trip. I had an amazing time. But returning home has been an experience as well. I paused and thought of Terre Blanche when I took a hot shower, had a salad, or slept in my warm bed. However, I didn't have much time to think about the trip, except in brief moments when people ask, "How was Haiti?". I had to get back into the swing of things right away. I came back to the OB ward with longer hours and more stress. Haiti and its images had to wait to be pondered upon when free time permits. See slideshow below for some pictures from my camera.

San Diego

It has been quite a while. Sorry for faithful blogger readers who visit daily (Jen-sorry) that I haven't been updating as often as I should. We can start with the last trip to visit the family in Phoenix and San Diego. Quite a whirlwind of events. I didn't take many pictures in Phx as SD though.

My best bud, Kim and I at a coffee shop in Phx. What happened to my hair that day?
Squinty eyes in the bright sunshine at Mission Beach, SD.
Best fish tacos in San Diego! South Beach Bar and Grill in Ocean Beach. Sorry I took a bite off of it before the picture. Highly recommended. Will come back!
(A bit cloudy) sunset at Sunset Cliff.
I like this shot.
Hanging with Rani at Lucille's BBQ in Irvine. Thanks for coming out!
We visited the Luus'. It was nice catching up!
Dinner with Quoc's college buddies (mine too) at Gordon Biersch Brewery

Coffee and dessert at Mille Feuille. I would agree with yelpers, I like Extraordinary Desserts better.

Regina and her baby boy Ethan at Carl Strauss

Baby Florence- the latest Huynh, my new niece.
I think I was squishing her.
Ahh.. much better.

There ends the long update with pictures. And that was only one trip. I'll write more tomorrow. Thanks for your patience, waiting for the pictures to load :)

More of Arctic Blast 2008

We have been snowed in for 3 days now, and I've been going to clinic off and on because it has been snowing all week. This phenomenon has not happen in Portland since 1968! I think we have to shovel snow tomorrow and venture out to the grocery store because I'm running out of food, particularly fresh veggies and milk. On Saturday and Sunday, Quoc attempted to drive out with chains on my car but got stuck right outside our driveway. So we haven't made a repeat attempt, perhaps out of fear of being stuck, and/or fear of being cold or just plain laziness. The city of Portland nearly shut down because they don't have enough snow plow to keep up. They're busy with the freeways and our side streets don't get serviced- understandable though, because this doesn't happen very often. Plus, we're appreciative of the extra time spent together. We've been cleaning a bit, doing much needed laundry, and playing lots of video games (just got Rock Band and Sing Star). And I even squeezed in some exercise today :-)
Quoc and I are planning to fly to visit both sides of the family on Saturday. I hope we can get out of the city. Flights have been canceled left and right. It's supposed to get better by the weekend, so we're praying... In the beginning, it was really fun to play in the snow, but now, I think I'm ready for it to warm up now :) Here are some shots that we took around our house and neighborhood.

Small tree in front of the house iced over
Looking down our street
Grasses

I like macros :)
Our backyard. Our bench is on the left- disappeared under the snow!

Artic Blast and New Job!

Merry Christmas! (I made the above wreath- didn't know I was crafty!)

Portland is the middle of snow storms. Once a year, this happens and it's sort of fun. I imagine being a kid here and getting to stay home from school and go outside to sled and have snow fights. What fun! I have to make it over the I-5 bridge to get to Vancouver for work. When snow freezes to ice, it can be treacherous. But as a resident, you have to try, because someone has to see those patients in the hospital! If you can't make it, they'll try to get the firemen to come get you, or you have to lose one of your vacation days. Either way, it's not as fun as the kid missing school to go sledding. But we're gonna try if we're stuck at home (I'm hoping to be stuck at home tomorrow- got my hot chocolate ready) to have fun :) Here are some fun pictures of the storm's first hit. Tomorrow will the be second, and according to the weatherman- Sunday is the third, when I'm supposed to be in the hospital for an overnight OB call. Yikes!

Our garden shoes :)
My poor watering can- looks sad and neglected, doesn't it?
We still have some roses, amazing!

In other (and awesome) news, I signed my first real job contract today! Yay!!! It's official. I, along with 3 of my "classmates" are going to be working for the same system (SWHS). It's a brand new clinic out of a primary care underserved area north of Vancouver, WA. The deal sounds really good, and after much negotiating and reviewing the contract, etc, we signed today! It's a huge sigh of relief for me to know early on where I'll be working. Plus, seems like the light of the end of the tunnel is finally here. High school, college, medical school, wedding, moving to Portland, new house, residency... seems like I haven't stopped. And now, I'm almost... "arrived". We haven't figured out what to do with the sign on bonus yet; it's going in the bank right now, but we're going to Europe before I start. I'm really excited and extremely thankful for my God who provides and is faithful in all things. Below are some pictures of the signing- I had to bring the camera to document!

Everyone signing: John, Anita, Diana and me
Dr. Alden Roberts, VP of the hospital, my new soon-to-be boss, signing his part. It's official!
Contract and sign on bonus :)
VPs and directors and us. We look (and feel) important!
Us with our current boss, residency medical director, Dr. David Ruiz.
I'm the only one in scrubs because I had procedures clinic today, otherwise, I would have tried to look a bit more dressy and professional- for the pictures :)

We did lots over Thanksgiving break- our friends Jason, Tom and Katie came to visit from San Diego, but I didn't take any pictures. And they haven't sent me any, so um.. next time.