Above are our neighbors and friends Peter and Buddy. This is probably the best picture of Buddy you can get and it's nice to see them pose together because Peter is passionate about Buddy and cats in general. He spoiled Winston and Penelope so much while we were at the beach wedding that I don't know if they'll ever hear a metallic clank sound again without running in hopes of human-grade soft food (we only feed them hard food...such monsters!). The picture to the right also represents Peter well because of the small stick-out of the tongue and the cigarette at the ready. He was able to smoke several cigarettes each time we were around him without us or him or his place ever smelling like smoke which I found pretty impressive. Of course we'd prefer him to not smoke, but I'm not going to give a good guy too much grief over his favorite vice (his second favorite is Bombay Sapphire Gin which he introduced me to one night and I learned that 2 is okay but 3 or 4 is clearly not...no need for further elaboration but suffice it to say I'll stick to a max of 2 in the future). We'll really miss Peter and I hope to keep in touch with him. In some parts of the country he's known as "Jimmy the Shoe" which was confirmed when I called someone on his phone and asked "who's the shoe" to which they quickly said: "oh, are you hanging out with Pete? Let him know we all say hi up here in Alaska." Excellent.
This was, for the majority of my time in Aberdeen, Avera Aberdeen Pediatric Specialists. On the left is Dr. Ayesha Younas (pronounced just like Eunice). She is so sweet and very quiet/reserved. We worked on her and she really opened up while we were around. Turned out there is a feisty, funny young woman under her discrete exterior. She is from Pakistan by way of New York City Pediatrics Residency. Her parents came to live with her as she transitioned to Aberdeen; we never met them but her mother made us a fantastic Pakistani meal with chicken, rice, and good spices. Sadly, her father learned he had severe coronary artery blockages while in Aberdeen and had to go down to Sioux Falls for quintuple bypass surgery. His recovery was slowed by his diabetes and really caused Ayesha stress, but she held up and we tried our best to support her. No matter what was going on in her life, she would always ask me how Amanda was doing and if the migraines were improving. To the right is Dr. Erick Temoka. He is loud, jovial, and hilarious to be around. He isn't the best at listening and is probably ADD, which drove the nurses crazy, but it worked out to be fun for me! He is from Cameroon by way of France by way of New York City Pediatric Residency. His wife is Italian and they have three kids under 5 years old including a set of twins...yikes, not an advertisement for getting pregnant! A cool thing was that they only speak Italian at home so the kids are good at it and they know English will come in school and with friends. Sometimes I really hate the fact that we only speak English. I'll miss them both and hope they find happiness in Aberdeen or wherever they head to in the future.
These are basically the "bosses" of Avera St. Luke's. Lisa, in the middle is the head of the Clinic Division and over physician and nurse recruitment...very high up and yet her office was always open and she was always very helpful. She's an avid sportswoman who shoots trap in a league, hunts most weekends, plays golf when it's not too cold, plays competitive tennis, and is just always on the move. She's definitely a type-A go-getter which I loved. Kathy who is on the left is right below Lisa and helps direct the clinic nurses...she helped get Amanda hired which we really appreciated. She is equally spunky but with a little more northern, cold-weather bluntness which can throw you off guard at first but you come to love. Lastly, on the right, is Karinna who has a Russian accent and is the physician recruitment liaison and basically wines and dines doctors everyday. She is a spiky-haired hoot and we'll miss her also.
This is the office Pharmacy. It serves probably 15 clinics from Internal Medicine to us to Plastic Surgery. On the right is Melissa, the main Pharmacist, who I probably called 2-3 times a day and maybe more early on. Not having much experience with outpatient Pediatrics, I'd often call her and say something like: "let's talk about pain meds for a 10 year old, I known morphine and lortab and that's it" and she'd always have the answers and options. She was very nice and very patient which I loved. I'll miss her help and hope others of her exist in Taos, NM. By the way, as I'm sure you noticed already, she is way preggers and is awaiting her baby girl in about a month.
This is Leann. She's the very sweet, very helpful hotel manager for the Ward. She watched the kitties for us while we went out to Mt. Rushmore and was so into it that she called me panicking one night when Winston wouldn't take his medicine and she was afraid P might get it and get sick! She drives over an hour to work each day and is a single mom of 3 kids who moved here from California for some unclear reason several years ago. She was available to help almost anytime, from dropping off a plunger to one time coming in and turning on our oven so it could preheat for a big dinner we had planned (we were stuck at work)! We'll definitely miss her both for her hospitality and great personality.
Here is a funny picture. My baby has been in search of a "Camelbak" water bottle without BPA's (something bad in old plastic she tells me) and she found one. I said that we needed to keep our load down and that meant retiring her old standard Nalgene bottle. She has taken it to many countries and loved it for probably 10 years so it was a heartfelt goodbye. Complete with a smooch. Bye bye Nalgene bottle, we'll poor some drink out for you in the future!
The is the last pic...for now. It will serve as Beard Blog, entry number 4. It is about 5 weeks no shaving of the "goatee" region but didn't warrant a full entry because it's pretty much unchanged in pictures. My honey says it is softer and fuller but apparently the majority of growth halts around a month for me. Luckily it isn't too bad and my baby likes it so it will stick around for awhile longer depending on whether or not my mom allows me to have it for Jeff's wedding in 3 weeks!
Oh well, talk to you guys again soon. For those of you in Birmingham, we'll see you in a few days. We have great Halloween plans in which I'll be a Cobra Kai punk while Justin and I chase Karate Kid Mark Bahakel and my honey will be one of three kittens who lost their mittens with Kristen Lamb and the new Natalie Bahakel...should make for some fun photos for another entry soon.
Jason
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