Year: 2012
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Garden Harvest and Courtyard Barbeque
It’s almost the Fourth of July, and our vegetable garden has overgrown this year. Much of the produce for the menu came from the yard: field greens, broccoli, green beans, beets, onions, rosemary, lemons, and limes. With all the vegetables, we made: Roasted beet salad with goat cheese and field greens in balsamic vinaigrette Grilled…
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National Harbor and DC
Very early on Wednesday morning, I leave home for the airport and arrive with the usual lead time to find the security line going across the entire baggage claim area and almost out the door. I nearly miss my flight. After transit through Dallas-Fort Worth, I make it to Reagan National Airport without any problems.…
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2012 Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Graduation
Congratulations to the graduating orthopaedic seniors: Chad Brockardt, George Gendy, Ray Grijalva, and Mark Mikhael. Also, congratulations to the research award recipients: Ben Chen and Ray Grijalva. The senior residents awarded Eric Lim Teacher of the Year. Paul Burton gave a nice salute to the seniors, taking snippets from their personal statements and interspersed into…
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Inland Koi Society at the Nyiradys
Steve and Laura Nyirady invited me over to their home for the Inland Koi Society potluck and general meeting. The guest speaker gave a presentation on koi herpes virus and how to vaccinate against it. I didn’t know such a virus exists. As usual, the Nyiradys’ garden is beautiful, with several ponds fed by waterfalls…
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Bridge Railing Construction
It has been months since putting the gazebo together. Last year, I also started the zig-zag bridge over the pond. I finally got some lumber and began the railing construction this weekend. After that’s done, the next goal is to make seats and backrests.
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Wine Madness
While this is one of the most ancient of guqin tunes, it is also one of the most popular in today’s repertoire. Wine Madness 酒狂 dates from the third century and is attributed to the poet Ruan Ji 阮籍, who was one of the seven sages of Bamboo Grove. His father, Ruan Yu 阮瑀, studied…
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Portland, Columbia River, and Silver Falls
Arriving in Portland on Tuesday gives a slow transition to the next part of this extended time away. Activities for the Western Orthopaedic Association starts on Wednesday. I spend most of Wednesday morning touring the Portland Chinese Garden 蘭蘇園, taking time to follow the self-guided tour explained in the brochure. For the last stop, I…
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2012 Fathers’ Day
Just after getting back from the Western Orthopaedic Association, our family went to celebrate with Dad. Happy Fathers’ Day!!!!
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Canada Trip Conclusion
On this last day in Canmore, we make comfort food for breakfast, mainly out of leftovers. The rice became zhou (porridge); and the eggs, deli slices, ginger, garlic, and green onions became toppings and condiments. Also, we have the rest of the pancakes with syrup. We arrive at the airport in good time and return…
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Yoho and Icefields Parkway
The leek asparagus quiche that Andy worked on last night, served with breakfast patties on a bed of romaine and topped with fresh salsa, turns out to be amazingly good. The trip today takes us to Yoho National Park and Icefields Parkway. Enroute, we stop at an overlook to take pictures of aptly-named Castle Mountain.…
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Kootenay National Park
This morning, we have tater tots, scrambled eggs, and fruit. Again, it’s more like brunch, rather than breakfast. Most of the snow melted off during the night. At the entrance to Banff National Park, there are two snowman, looking like what witches might look like when they’re splashed with water. The Alberta, Canadian, and British…
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Around Banff
Now, it’s apparent why the resort advertised heated indoor parking. Last night, what was light rain turned into a mild snowstorm, and it’s getting heavier while we have pancakes and French toast for breakfast. Soon after breakfast, which is more like brunch, we peek outside to see that everything is covered in fresh fluffy blankets.…
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Lake Louise and Surroundings
I’m the first to get up. Daylight hours are long here, and although a cloud layer covers the dawn sky, it’s already bright outside. I make coffee and take in some early morning fresh air from our balcony. Everyone sleeps in. For breakfast this morning, we have omelettes stuffed with onions, diced tomatoes, sliced black…
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To Calgary and Canmore
It’s yet to be bright outside, but we’re all wide awake. I’m the first to have breakfast, and a few of us skip it for the time being. We all met up by the pond and load up the Expedition, ready to head to the airport. This is going to be a relaxing type of…
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Prelude to a Serene Evening
The melody to Prelude to a Serene Evening 良宵引 dates to 1614. The piece is divided into three sections. The first 起, beginning with harmonics, is introductory. The second section consists of two parts—承 embarkment and 轉 transition—characterized by unison series, one note of the pair sounding as a pure tone from the open string,…
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2012 Commencement Day Events
Commencement is, and has been, the highlight of Memorial Day weekend. This is no different, and luckily, cool weather settled in for the few days surrounding graduation to give us all relief from the unusually early heat. Joan Lunden gives the commencement address—titled Creating a Legacy of Purpose—sharing from her own experiences and of those…
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2012 Baccalaureate
Today’s Baccalaureate for the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy started outside on the lawn. Faculty members arrived at 8:15, lining up by the Good Samaritan Statue. Students congregated just to the south of the church’s front entrance. The program started with the Sanctuary Brass and Organ playing Campra’s Rigaudon for the processional. Students from both…
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2012 Hooding Ceremony
One of the more meaningful events for graduation weekend is the Hooding Ceremony. After the welcome by Dr. Thomas, Dr. and Mrs. Hadley presented the baby cups. The class showed photos from their medical school experience followed by an appeal to participate in their adoption of La Loma Luz Adventist Hospital in Belize. The hooding…
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Returning Home
In my third lesson two weeks ago, Master Lui gave me the piece Returning Home (歸去來辭). The lyrics of this guqin melody are written by Tao YuanMing 陶淵明 (365–427 AD). When an arrogant official was sent by the provincial government to his home district, Tao, who then served as magistrate, was required to meet him.…
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Solar Eclipse
A solar eclipse happened late this afternoon. The maximum was at 18:38 local time. The path of totality passed through northern California, where viewers would see an annular eclipse. Here in Loma Linda, we only observed partial occlusion.
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Dr. Patzakis’s Tribute Dinner
The Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery honored Dr. Patzakis at a tribute dinner at The Langham Huntington—for his 43 years of service to USC and 21 years as Chairman. Excerpt from his biography: Dr. Patzakis received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the Ohio State University, where…
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Andy’s Birthday at the Huntington
For Andy’s birthday, we all went out to the Huntington. First, the trip took us through the cactus garden, then desert ponds and down the Australian trails, leading us to the entrance to the Japanese section. The new area was open, and much more landscaping had been finished since the opening ceremony. Then, we found…
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Second Lesson Pieces
In my second lesson with Lui Laoshi on April 29, 2012, he gave me two more pieces. The first piece is 古琴吟, also known as 相思曲, which is supposed to allow practice of accurate finger sliding positions for the left hand. The ethereal harmonics at the beginning and end of the song calls up the…
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First Guqin Lesson
So on April 22, in my first lesson, Lui Laoshi had me start out with 仙翁操. The song describes XianWeng, or The Transcendent Venerable One, which points to the Song dynasty hermit, Chen Tuan. The main technical points, according to my teacher, is that it allows the student to learn the intervals and relationships between…
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Guqin Lessons
After constructing three instruments, I finally started taking formal guqin lessons—from Lui PuiYuen (吕培源). This all came about in an interesting way. More than ten years ago, I found the 與古齋琴譜 (Abiding with Antiquity Guqin Manual, 1855, tr. Binkley) on the internet while looking for construction details. After making my first one, I decided to…
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Jonathan and Tina’s Wedding
It was around 2:30 this afternoon when we walked into the beautiful Vibiana, located at the center of downtown Los Angeles. After the Northridge earthquake and subsequent restoration, The Cathedral of St. Vibiana became simply The Vibiana. Extended family came first, to get group pictures taken with the bride and groom. The actual ceremony started…