Now I'm Munching on an Apple

This year we returned to New Westminster on March 16th. That means we've been at home exactly one month. Until this week, we didn't have very many nice weather days, certainly not in a row! So, I was happy when going and coming from my dental work today.

   

I was in the scary chair for over an hour with my mouth open. Some people say I seldom shut my mouth but today I'd have to agree. It surely felt like a lot of drilling, filling, and smoothing. Thankfully, I felt nothing except the first two shots into my lower jaw.

Before driving home, I walked a bit uptown.  I checked out the London Drugs computer section but didn't see anything exciting there.  I'm checking out the options for a replacement travel computer.  I want absolutely minimum weight with a 14" screen.  There's no rush as the present Windows laptop has been around the world a few times but is in working order. 

Where's My Crown?

We primarily use Tuesdays and Thursdays to run errands. This morning, we went up to the mall before my 9:00 am dental appointment. Jay also had one scheduled for an hour later. We find it is better to kill two birds with one stone.

We'd not been going as frequently as when we used to have dental coverage through work.  Yet, this year we're covered under the Canadian Dental Plan for seniors.  So, we had new checkups and tooth cleaning done today.  Now that all paperwork is electronic, dental records remain forever, the hygienist said. The doctor did find a place where I should have a filling.  I scheduled that for tomorrow.  Jay also might benefit from a crown, so the paperwork is in for that too.  I hope he doesn't demonstrate additional royal tendencies after getting one.

   

The main mall in town is at a prime location in uptown BC at the corner of 6th and 6th. At present however, major underground work has the majority of uptown dug up.  Having our dentist right in the mall is convenient as we are often there a few times every week.

I Just Sat There with My Mouth Wide Open

Waiting rooms suck. A waiting room is designed for ... well ... waiting.  That is why they suck.  We each had a bit of time in this room as Jay and I shared a dental appointment time for today's general cleaning and check. 

 

The office was owned by a dentist recommended to us by our Airbnb host. We walked from the apartment and found the office in about fifteen minutes.

Dr. Rogelio Suárez Osuna was a really nice guy and chatted with us in English as he worked. He worked alone doing all the prep and procedures by himself. Jay was first in the chair and I followed after about 45 minutes for an equal amount of time. Dr. Suárez explained that he'd been a practicing dentist for 40 years but would probably be retiring this year.  He has a new trainee that works with him for evening appointments and who'll probably take over the practice.   Unfortunately I forgot to ask him if I could take his picture to include here.

It was a pleasant experience (for being a trip to a dentist) and the total bill came to just $US 78.  Oh, and I didn't have any new cavities and very little plaque, he said.  

Something to Smile About

I've been told I have a big mouth. However, it wasn't big enough for all my adult teeth. To prevent crowding, my parents had the dentist of my youth pull a few healthy ones. There's that and then the time I broke my lower jaw in a car accident in Kuwait. Needless to say, I do not have a mouth of perfectly aligned specimens.

As an adult, I've come to rely on a Waterpik® device. Mere flossing cannot extract all the food which can sometimes get caught between my teeth. Besides, having a clean mouth simply feels much better.

I finally replaced my travel Waterpik® that I've been using daily for a few years. My new one does not sport that famous, brand name though. I have been unhappy with my last purchase from that company. It was designed for travelling but only came with large, clunky 120v plug. We are overseas a lot and require alternative power. Secondly, it never held enough electrical charge to last more than one session. Perhaps, most importantly, it literally screamed during operation. That purchase always felt like a downgrade from the counter-tank versions I'd owned prior to it.

On Amazon, I ordered an ABOX FC2561 water flosser developed by a Chinese company. The package was delivered yesterday, on a Sunday no less! My new device is great. It overcomes each of the problems mentioned. The more-than-ample battery charges via a standard USB outlet. So far I've run it six times and there's no sign of any battery discharge. It is nearly silent, but powerful with a solid feel. The 'nozzle heads' seem rather cheap but it shipped with at least a half dozen different ones.

All this is almost enough to make me smile!

It Couldn't Be Better!

This is the time to be hanging around this part of British Columbia. Today must be among the best days we've had so far this summer. Isn't that the way? Now that kids are begrudgingly getting ready to go back to school, a few days of excellent weather come to taunt.



I didn't notice the sun from the dentist's chair at 8:15 this morning. I had a filling in my top, left wisdom tooth go missing. I didn't spit it out so I must have recently eaten it. Actually, chips may have started coming off weeks ago as my tongue felt that something was different back there. It didn't hurt until yesterday, so I made today's appointment.

Ugh. It seems as though it'd be easier to remove it than try to patch it up again. I made another appointment for 11:00 AM on Friday!

Every Day is a Weekend

I was thinking how sad it is that some people look forward to the weekend. We are able to look forward to every single day.

Saturday mornings generally involve grocery shopping. That happened. When we got back, there was an Amazon box in the hallway in front of our door. Cool. I don't know how the delivery guy got in the building, but this was much better than having them come back on Monday.

The box contained my second Ooma device. In New Westminster, Amazon Prime packages are generally delivered the next day, regardless of the shipping choice selected. Yesterday, my first Ooma Telo had an incorrect activation code. After speaking with technical support, I figured returning it would be easier than filling out a support ticket and waiting a day or two for them to get back to me. Yesterday afternoon, I dropped off the box for free return shipping.



So, another got here while we were shopping this morning. I opened it to find 'old' setup instructions which didn't show a simple setup for WiFi. Yet, I was familiar with the procedure by what I'd read during research. I got it running, but it opened an account for Ooma Office. That was clearly a mistake as the units differ in their appearance and mine was definitely the type designed for residential use. A call to support nearly had me ready to return the shipment but one useful customer representative said they could re-flash the box and I could set up again. Okay, that made sense. I wondered if it'd really take them 24 hours to accomplish this. The count stood at zero for two.

We got a call from our dentist. We'd made an appointment because Jay thought he'd lost a filling because of a little pain. Although we haven't been to the uptown dentist since we retired, they made an appointment easily. It was set for tomorrow, but they called at about 2:15 PM and said an appointment had been cancelled and they'd be able to fit him in then. It was a tiny new cavity that required a filling. Luckily, he had the work done right then. In fact, he was out of the office in less than a half hour!

It was a bit of an emergency and we read patients are not advised to have any dental work done for at least three months after open heart surgery. Jay is scheduled for his bypass operation on Tuesday. It would not have been nice living with a tooth ache until July!

When I was waiting for Jay, Ooma support emailed to say my Telo was ready for setup. It's three times is a charm, I guess. I will see how happy I am with the service before porting over our Telus number. Message me and I'll give you the new number.

November Showers

I had dentist appointment right at 8 o'clock this morning. My dental clinic is inside the Royal City Mall. I was inside on time and out after an hour with the hygienist. Given that my teeth have more crannies than the Grand Canyon, the cleaning was surprisingly easy and quick. I put that down to my morning routine of a straight 3% hydrogen peroxide rinse and my trusty Waterpik.

After I was free of the chair, I walked around uptown a bit. It was raining.



It was nice during October, or at least during the part of it we were in town. Even this month started off with weather which was quite good. Now we are into November, so the winter rain is expected. The surrounding mountains have already received a new coat of white. In fact, Cypress Mountain opened for skiing today. That is earlier than usual. I wonder if it really will be a snowy winter as some have forecast. Down here in town, we only see snow on the ground for a few days in an average winter. That's a situation which doesn't bother me a bit.

It Takes Time to Write

I've been writing a blog entry every day for so many years that they demonstrate a sort of ebb and flow. My recent entries seem very diary-type while I sometimes get into different routines. At times I can be very technical, quite observant, or somewhat fanciful.

Whatever the output, I'm likely to be more verbose when I'm less busy with work or outside interests. This seems rather strange because when there are lots of things going on, less ends up archived. For example, I've had a dentist appointment, bank business, a nice class, and loads of errands today. My entry here, however, will require a photo to be substantial ...


There were far fewer people in the mall this morning
when I went for my 8:30 appointment for a dental filling.

Image Archiving

How powerful blogging can be! I complained yesterday about the weather; therefore today we were gifted with a gorgeous one. This is a week between my regular, intensive courses and I had no obligations.

Well, I wasn't completely free. I mentioned in this blog that nearly a year ago I got annoyed at the service provided at my dentist's office. We hadn't been for a mouth check since then, so it was high time for the initial checkup with a new dentist today. Jay took a personal day. Between the two of us, we were in Belmont Dental in the Royal City Centre Mall between 8:30 and 11:45 this morning.



As the weather is beautiful, you'd think I'd have a great photo from this day to include here. Actually, the shot above is a previously unpublished picture from 2002. At the end of January that year, I bought my first digital camera. The reason I had access to it today is because I backed up my photo collection to a duel-layer DVD. Almost everything including some scans fit into 8.5 GB.

I threw away all my old discs that contained bits and pieces of the archived copies. My actions must be the equivalent of spring cleaning now that we have just about run out of it.

I am anxious to fill up another DVD. Look out Flickr!

Disrespect: Making Someone Wait

Okay, I will admit it; I carry around a bit of cultural baggage. Although I've lived in places with differing expectations about time, I returned to North America with those from my youth intact. There is honestly very little that bothers me more than missing an appointment. I organize my entire existence so I'm not late for anything. An appointment is an agreement between parties. I fulfill my end of the bargain by arriving a few minutes early and I expect to find someone else who's ready. I can be a bit anal about all this.

Although, I pride myself on my easy-going attitude, I don't have much patience when it comes to having to wait. In fact, I will be looking for a new dentist now. Let me tell you why.

Yesterday, I rushed home from work. I found myself with very little time but managed to jump into the shower, throw on a clean shirt and make it to my dental appointment with about two minutes to spare. I was just going in for basic hygiene. I was welcomed immediately but then ushered to an empty room. I sat in the chair staring at the ceiling TV for much too long. Still nobody came.

As soon as my cell phone showed that I'd been there 30 minutes, I got up and went to receptionist. "It's rude to keep me waiting after I rushed to make sure to be here on time and this isn't the first time it has happened." I continued by saying, "I understand how a schedule can slip but this proves to me you have a scheduling problem. I do not wish to re-schedule this appointment and will not be doing so in the future." I left.

I get dental coverage from work and this means we are worth a great deal to the practice. Still, to me, customer happiness is paramount and there is no monopoly on dental services. Consequently, I'll be moving elsewhere.

One of Those Days

It's not been a good computer day.

First, my web site was down for about twenty hours. Next, I had trouble getting the new Office 2003 upgrade to install from Windows Update. It seems as though I only needed to insert the original CD in the drive from which Office was installed. Thirdly, Flickr is acting up with a delay before I can edit the title and description. Lastly, I'm struggling to put Pinnacle Studio 9 on my notebook. It seems to frequently crash on my regular PC. I can't wait until Windows Vista is released as I'm going to buy a 250 meg hard disk and start completely fresh!

In the afternoon, I have a dental appointment in which to look forward. That's not too exciting but our local drugstore did close its former premises and moved to a grander new space uptown. I can visit there after the dentist. Wait, even that's not really good news. I used to be able to walk to London Drugs in the former location. Now it'd be quite a hike up the hill. I'll have to rely on $1.16/liter gasoline instead.

Shopping at 6th & 6th

The majority of New Westminster photos that I've placed in this blog have been from the downtown area. The apartment is here, so it is most common for me to take a walk around here.

Yet, for over twenty-five years most business development has taken place uptown. This term must be taken quite literally as it's a fairly steep incline to the top of the hill. That could be one reason why my 'walks' are along the river rather than uptown! Yet, when I want to go to the library, hit the mall, visit my dentist, or sneak in to the closest McDonalds, I drive about a mile up 6th Street.


The area near the intersection of Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue is the
city's main shopping area.