need new exciting sports!

i mentioned to some friends that (GASP!!) i'm getting a bit bored with badminton (i don't train enough anymore to keep up and little kiddies and old fogies are both beating me!!), so i've tried a few new sports:

1) Air-obics! http://www.jumpskyhigh.com/about.asp
this is aerobics on HUGE trampolines! on yelp.com they said it was a great 40 min workout--i found it fun but not much of cardio. other ppl were sweating, maybe i didnt' do it quite so right. at first i couldn't bounce without flipping and crashing all over the place! no balance whatsoever! finally i got my foot on it, and could leap higher. lotsa kids doing tricks and such. i wanna learn to do a flip or handspring, but i'm a wimp! esp after i had a young adult in my clinic tear his ACL and meniscus after "trampolining"!!! no thank you! i prob won't try it again.

2) Street-surfing! http://www.ripstikusa.com/
this is basically snowboarding with wheels on asphalt! i bought the board for $80, took me 5 min to learn to balance on it (like a bike, you have to keep it rolling not to fall off since it has only 2 rotating wheels), 15 min to stay on it for at least 10 sec on flat surface, and 2 min to take it down a mini-hill and fly right off! i was going too fast and couldn't stop and ended up with my face on asphalt! ok, it wasn't that bad (thank god i wore wrist guards, i have to still protect my badminton wrists), but i scraped up my elbow and knee through sweatshirt and pants!! thank goodness i wasn't in t-shirt and shorts! i quickly got up, made sure nobody saw me, limped back to car, and vowed to return the board immediately (yes, it's still sitting in my car). don't think i'll try it again!

3) Indoor rock climbing http://www.planetgranite.com/
I've done this a few times before, but i'm tempted to take a $99 introductory course (4x/month, 2h each session) to improve my skills. it's on wed--anyone wanna join me? i'd like to make my arms stronger since i get teased about my "smallness" in surgery as i'm surrounded by strong ortho guys. then again, i don't know if i want to spend so much money on belaying equipment!

4) Street/Ice hockey!!
after playing broomball, i was quite inspired. after watching my first live Sharks game, i was even more inspired. decided to go rollerblading a few times, and really really liked it! first i was rusty but then i got better by day 3. i even have a hockey stick that katharine gave me back in high school 'cuz i wanted to try street hockey back then (when rollerbladding was "in")! too bad it's costly and i have no idea where to join! any clues?

5) Mtn bikign
radu is totally into this, i'm a bit wary. i've trailed-biked, but that's nothing compared to rocks and tree trunks and gravel and bumps and curves and bends!! seems like fun mixed with danger...perhaps i should try road biking first! weather is getting warmer!

6) golfing! wii golfing seems fun. hehe. i wanna do driving range first, see if i can even hit that thing! cheaper too! but i doubt i'd get into the sport--not fast or exciting enuf for me.

so that's about it since i began work...i still like badm, still like bikram yoga, but i'm looking for more! i want to get more seriously into tennis as well since it's getting warmer (and it's a cheap sport to play)--anybody want to play or know a league to join?

i also want to find a fun fun fun vacation spot (i.e. lotsa activity besides eating, sightseeing, and shopping) where i can hangglide, roll down a human hamster ball (like in amazing race; australia), sky dive, snorkel, etc etc. Costa Rica is a great example!! =) that's still my fav trip to date! maybe New Zealand 2007 will be like that! i'd love to participate in a small version of amazing race--i wonder if there is a Bay Area one. ok, enuf dreaming!

i'm open to any other ideas of fun in the area!

insane chinese parents!

on wed last week, i had this 30yo asian male in my clinic for a pre-op appt to fix his torn pectoralis major muscle (he tore it bench pressing). the crazy thing is BOTH his parents were at this appt, and they were SOOO overprotective it was quite amusing! his dad was wearing a full business suit, his mom was in her white coat (she's an EKG tech at Kaiser) and introduced herself as "cardiology" clinician. when they saw me, they were like, "hrm, why is this inexperienced girl seeing my precious son?" you could see it on their faces! i asked the son to move his arm, and it was ask if i asked the son to jump off a cliff!! both parents lunged forward to grab the son's arms, and panicked, "DONT MOVE!! YOU'll HURT IT!!" the son was calm and said, "dad, mom, i think she knows what she's asking." the mother kept throwing in information about the son's injury/previous medical history ("no you hurt it 1/18, not 1/19." "no you had appendectomy when you were 12, not 10!"). eons later, i finally got my paperwork done, and the mom requests me to sign a work-release form for HER to take care of her son for 2 weeks!! i was like, "hrm...your son is 30, he's getting an outpatient surgery, i think he can take care of himself..." but i didnt' want to cause family trouble, so i agreed.

anyhow, so fastforward to day of surgery this Fri. the family was sooo indecisive about who should operate (they insisted on the chief of orthopedics, but if they only knew the chief rarely operates anymore as they are so busy with admin stuff, hahahha), and what kinda of anesthesia, and how they DEMAND the son stay overnight at hospital that it took so long to talk to these parents the case was delayed til 5pm (12:30pm was scheduled time)!!! any later and we'd have to cancel the case! the case went fine, couldn't fix it as well as we'd like as he hurt it 3 weeks ago and the tendon was hard to distinguish by now, but we did a good job. (the family delayed the operation for 2 weeks as they were searching for the "best" surgeon!) We finished quickly, went out to speak the family, and the last question the father asked was, "who was your assistant?" Our chief put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Nancy!" once again, the looks on the parents face was one to remember! hahaha, such worrywarts! i am sooo glad i don't have such nutty parents! oh, and i forgot to mention the most crazy part--the son is MARRIED!!! his wife looks very young, perhaps fresh out of college! i have no idea how the allowed his son to be wed off, and how that poor daughter-in-law handles it. oh well, it's not my fam, thank god!!

las vegas trip 2-3 to 2-5

it's only been a week of work and i've already taken vacation time! i left for vegas bright and early sat morn, got there in 1h. jody/heeyup (J/H) and radu/i went to venetian for breakfast buffet--it was pretty good esp the muffin! afterward, we wandered all over the strip for awhile, shopping at the Forum, seeing Mac King Live comedy show at Harrahs (free show with purchase of a drink) which was hilarious and magically entertaining, more walking and shopping all the way to Fashion Show mall. We were EXHAUSTED by 5pm since we we only slept 4h the night before (i was at co-workers bday party and we had early flight from SFO), and waited for J/H to pick us up. We were starving for some real hearty food, so I decided on Italian for pasta. Jody wanted to get reservations for Norma's off the strip, but it was booked 'til 10pm and I was too hungry! fortunately, jody introduced us to Danielle's Snowy Popcorn for a snack, and i devoured that thing! we ended up going to this other fancy italian place at Mandalay Bay, but the menu sucked, and we actually walked out after being seated! hehe, we're bad! Instead, we went right next door to Burger Bar, where believe it or not, they have a $60 burger made with "Kobe beef, sautéed foie gras, shaved truffles, Madeira sauce, on onion bun". No kidding!! Radu and I tried a turkey burger (i know, i know, but i usually love turkey burgers!), Jody had salmon burger, and Heeyup had his usual Kobe beef burger. The only person who was satified fully was Heeyup. Oh well. Good thing was they had Chocolate Swan right next door, so we had a Kahlua cheesecake for dessert! I know we should have tried the Big Daddy Chocolate Eclair, but i wasn't quite in the mood. We saw a couple of Bellagio fountain shows, and were just too tired to stay out any longer. Home to a wonderful house (housing is sooo affordable there!! i'm jealous!), and to bed!

Sun-Superbowl Sunday!! J/H up early to prepare, R/N sleep til 11! =) Jody made us banana panckaes, YUM!! the party was great--so much great home cooking, i'm very very impressed and inspired! time to learn to cook! we had jerk chicken wings, teriyaki chicken wings (all sauces homemade), fresh salsa and guac, fig jam with prosciutto on baguette, creme puffs, cheese and chocolate fondue with fresh brownies, the list goes on forever!!! ate soo much i felt quite ill. =P didnt' really care about the game--but met lotsa J/H friends from vegas. felt we needed to burn some kcals, so borrowed jody's car and went out to the strip again. We wanted to see all the free nighttime shows since it was our last night. We started with Sirens of TI, which was slutty and sucked, then went to Mirage for the even crappier volcano which should be eliminated by now. We passed Ceaser's and Bellagio (still my fav) and got to Excalibur (4 miles walking now), played some Midway games . Then we walked all the way back to Wynn (4 more miles) to see "Lake of Dreams" which was the WORST show EVER!!! We were sooo exhuasted and walking so far to see a dumb frog sing was beyond disappointing. At least our car was only about 1/2 mile away, so we finally drove home at 1am, dead as can be.

Mon-last day! woke up at noon! took taxi to strip as J/H had to work bright and early. we started at circus circus (i love midways!) and lost money playing midway and blackjack. boohoo. we said that if we won at blackjack, we'd take a taxi all the way to bellagio (about 3-4miles) to indulge in the buffet! but unfortunately, we both lost, and with no extra money, had to walk on over. it was a good idea tho 'cuz the weather was a FABULOUS 70's, and we ended up eating SOOOO much that we were thankful we had walked earlier! i never had such tasty prime rib, roasted veggies, jumbo shrimp cocktails, etc. We shared TWELVE desserts! my fav was the tiramisu in a pure chocolate muffin cup. yum!! anyhow, we walked out promising we won't eat for days (but of course we ate again later that night!). jody picked us up, and we went to get some of that Danielle's popcorn that is only in Vegas. Got to airport at 8pm, only to find out our flight was delayed 'cuz we didnt' have pilot. (?) after we were on plane, they said maintence papers needed to be signed, and we were held up again. 30 min later, they said a part was missing on the plane and it needed to be flown in from Phoenix!! so 1.5h later at midnight, we finally re-boarded (thank goodness they let us off plane). we got to SFO at 2pm, home at 3:30am, and bed at 4am....with work starting at 8am the next day!! i was sooo pooped, but what a great trip!! thanks J/H!!! =)