RLS, Mostly Harmless

It’s about time we got a spring-like day. I managed to hit the lakefront path and put 18.44 miles on the bike escorting Gilmor back to his hood after clinic. Northbound was a fast 30mph with the wind, but heading back was a horribly tiring 8mph. I ran into the weirdest thing. It would be pretty chilly for a few minutes, and then I’d run into a mini front of warm air that was quite refreshing. It would only last for a few seconds before abruptly turning cold again. Must be the wind currents coming back out from between the buildings or something. I was also happy for the exercise following my four travel vacination injections this morning. I’ve noticed in the past that working out keeps the injection sites from being too sore. Guess we’ll see tomorrow…

I love this city.

Now you’re 26, too! Have a safe trip. Hallelujah.

First day of CRDTS licensure examination down, two more to go. Today was marked by a mountain of paperwork for each patient and the rotating prosthodontic exam. The exam wasn’t too terribly hard, considering it involves things we deal with every day. It wasn’t easy, though, either. Oh, and then the fire alarm went off in the middle of the exam, forcing us to evacuate. A little cillly outside. I had it pinned to go off during the patient care session Saturday. There wasn’t much to screw up as far as paperwork today, but the mound they gave us comes into play Saturday and Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed for all of us!

CRDTS testing candidates are required to provide one tree for each patient for the necessary paperwork as shown by this image. Subsequent landfill space is also a must, since HIPPA makes it hard to recycle the paper once we’re done with it.

I just got back from skiing Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. I am completely worn out and am done skiing for the season. The drive from Calgary to Banff was absolutely breathtaking. I hope some of my central Illinois friends will get to see something like that at some point. For now, they can live through my 400+ pictures!

Amazing drive.

It’s safe to say that there is absolutely no place like Banff in the US, and as far as skiing, the same applies. It was like skiing through an Ansel Adams picture. Actually, I’ve been to the spot in Colorado where he took a few of his most famous shots, and I still think Lake Louise is more beautiful. The place is absolutely, positively huge. Just getting to the summit via gondola and secondary lifts can take an hour or more! Second place would have to go to Sunshine Village. Lots of runs over a wide variety of terrain.

Lots of trails to ski, lots of stuff to see.

I did get to experience a true white out near the summit at Lake Louise. When switching over to the high altitude summit lift, the operator tried to say something to us as we were boarding, but we couldn’t understand her accent in the high wind (most of the workers at the ski resorts are Australian students on their summer break). Apparently she tried to warn us of the blizzard conditions at the top. This was obvious once we were lifted into the clouds of snow. And getting down was really fun, then. I couldn’t see the end of my skis, let alone the Polski I was trying to follow. It was really neat, though, as we skied out of the storm as if it were a curtain. Out of the clouds, it was perfect skiing again. On the second day, I hauled the big camera to the summit for some outstanding shots. I’ll post them once they’re Photoshoped.

Like a video game.

I only took one major and one minor spill and managed to bang up my leg in the same place as last time as well as crack up my goggles. I think my pride was hurt more than anything else. Luckily, my advanced knowledge if non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs came into use—I took four Advil and was back in twenty minutes. Managed to more or less fix the goggles, too. The other spill involved a black diamond and some ice. Actually, I wasn’t going fast at all, but I did manage to slide down the 50 degree slope a hundred yards or so. Don’t know what I would have done if Lucjan wasn’t behind me to fetch my ski. I hate to admit it, but that was the Women’s Downhill. I managed to ski it a few more times without incident, so I guess I showed it.

I am so cool.

Now it’s off to P-town with the Europeans for a little downstate exposure. Watching any of them trying to comprehend any type of southern draw is quite entertaining.

Oh, yeah–special thanks to Victor for not going and allowing me to use his fast-as-hell skis!

Me showing the cook how it’s done with the spatula +1.

Post edited for content.  Original image available, well, somewhere.