Big Apple Blog

I think it is fairly common to have what I would call an awe complex. I would define this as a sense of awe about what someone does. The sense of awe can have an affect on the way you interact with or think about an individual. I met someone a few years ago who is a NASA engineer. He designed fabric for space. Kind of made me go, “Oooooooo” when I met him. Then we get to the subject of this entry: dentists.

Most would agree that you have to be a pretty smart cookie to be a dentist. Dental school is supposed to be extremely difficult. By the time a person graduates from dental school, you would think they would have it all figured out. All of it except for the common sense part it seems. Let me explain …

I’m 30-something and had four permanent teeth yanked out of my skull so braces could be glued to my teeth so I’ve spent a lot of time with people holding sharp metal instruments in my mouth. And each time I have my mouth worked on, the same thing happens. While I have tubes, fingers, and sharp objects jammed in my mouth, the intelligent and well-trained professional asks me to talk.

“Fine weather we are having huh?”

“Are you doing okay?”

“Are you feeling any pain?”

“Tell me to stop if it hurts.”

What results is a complicated mixture of head contortions and muffled grunting. Isn’t it ironic that you are sitting in a room of ultra high tech equipment under the care of a highly trained professional and communication is reduced to primal grunts?

I’m certainly no genius, but a few simple solutions come to mind. How about handing the patient a colored card for each hand? Raise the red card to communicate pain or an answer of no, the blue card for I’m okay or yes. Or how about a bell or buzzer? If in pain, ring away. It could be as easy as blinking with your left eye or blink with your right eye when asked a question.

Maybe next time I visit the dentist I will come with my own props; props that even out the equation – my own special instruments. I’m thinking a butcher knife or medical malpractice paperwork in one hand for a negative answer, and my credit card in the other hand for a positive answer.

It took over three decades, but I finally cooked a turkey. Thanksgiving was intimate this year, just Ariel and I. It started with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – not the one on TV though. The night before the parade many of the floats are driven up 10th avenue. So around 10:30 PM the cops block off all the cross streets and up come the pieces. We stare out our window and watch the procession. Not quite glamorous, but a whole lot less crowded than the real parade – and no danger of falling street lamps.

As far as the turkey, I dug through a large pile of frozen birds and the smallest I could find was 12 pounds. Therefore it’s been all turkey all the time since Thanksgiving night. It turned out very well. I did the whole shebang – turkey, in the bird stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, asparagus, and even gravy. Next year I’ll shoot for dessert as well. Here’s the before and after pics.

Having had a few janitorial jobs in the past to help pay my way through college, I have always made it a point to try and befriend janitors wherever I have worked. It can be a thankless job and I often felt invisible.

Over the past two years I had the pleasure of getting to know the night janitor at my school, Abraham. Abraham and I had a natural affinity since he also rode his bike to work. We would swap stories about crazy drivers, the weather, and bike modifications. He always had a smile on his face and I looked forward to our talks even though meeting him meant I was working late.

I had not seen Abraham in a few weeks and I knew that Abraham had talked about a vacation to his homeland, Puerto Rico. Yesterday I received news that Abraham was the victim of a tragic accident while on vacation in Puerto Rico. He was riding his bike and was killed when a car struck him.

Being completely unprepared for news of this sort, I felt a chill through my body. How can anyone prepare for such grim news? Rest in peace Abraham, you brought a little peace to my life. It was a pleasure getting to know you.

Ride and drive safe all you out there . . . and if you don’t know your janitor’s name, I challenge you to ask the next time you bump into him or her.

After nearly ten years of not attending a wedding, my number came up last week. Not only did I go to a wedding, I was IN the wedding. My good friend and snowboard compatriot Andrew tied the knot in Lake Quinault, Washington. Andrew is a snowboard clothing designer and had the good sense to throw a wrinkle into the wedding attire.

When my hair and me went to rent my tux Andrew said not to worry about shoes. Turns out Andrew bought all the groomsmen white skate shoes. Bonus! Nice to be able to take home a pair of wedding kicks.

Since the trip was close to Portland I saw lots of family and friends and I got to skate twice in Newberg. It rained a great deal but the clouds parted near the end of my trip and I got to roll around and fall a few times. It was cool to finally meet Asher and Truman is talking up a storm. He asked me to read him a story about dinosaurs and I came to realize how challenging it is to pronounce dinosaur names. I hope next time I am in “the berg” Truman will have a skateboard under his feet.

I can close my eyes at the wrong time like nobody’s business

Well, I’m back in the Big Apple after my trip out west. I’m one of those unfortunate people who cannot sleep unless I am horizontal and I took a redeye back. I knew I would not be able to fall asleep during the day and wanted to get back on my normal schedule so I just went to work after landing. I went 38 hours without sleep before I crashed last night.

I’m feeling pretty good, but it is morning so give me time. By afternoon, it might be zombie time. Pictures and miscellaneous rants to come . . .

I’m taking a bird west later today for a wedding in Washington this weekend. I’ll be flying Jet Blue’s new non-stop service to Portland. Non-stop rocks. What does not rock is that the flight back will be a redeye. Never flown one before and I can’t sleep unless I’m horizontal. Should be interesting.

I’ll hang in Portland for a few days to see family and friends and then I’ll drive up to Lake Quinault for the wedding.

I’m taking my skateboard to try and hit Newberg: Brendon, please have Truman and Asher do the sun dance. Back next week with photos and such.

Peace!