SIN DO '10
 

UA 171 BOS SFO 0610 1000 319 2D Ch9^^

I rather dazedly found my way through security (which took
all of five minutes, even with our crew cutting in front)
and to the club, where I bestowed my annual Christmas
tribute of Sweet Sloops upon the desk people. Then to the
gate, where boarding had begun - about a dozen people in
the red line, of whom some were rather curtly turned back
during the process. The captain, whose name started with a
T, was out on the freezing jetbridge greeting and shaking
hands with all the pax. Set the scene for caring service
throughout. I'm still not sure about doing transcons
in the little 319 but coped with my misgivings by going
straight to sleep, missing the omelet or fruit plate dance.
Woke somewhere over the Great Plains, where the solicitous
crew offered me the fruit plate, all that was left (turns
out that every one of the other pax had requested the hot
breakfast). I asked for a croissant and a Courvoisier; the
former came speedily; they had to get some of the latter
from the back. Back to sleep. Woke to find us docking at
G ninety something in the international terminal, which was
nice, as it gave me extra time to enjoy the SKL, whose
vigilant gatekeeper welcomed me just as she turned away
some lesser soul, banishing him to the RCC down the way.

Catering was uninspired: peanuts, chips, granola, Special
K, assorted Danish. I had a George Dickel #12 followed by
a Remy VSOP - the booze selection is better than at the
RCC, and the price is right. Shortly before I left, some
savories came out: hummus and vegetables and a breakfast
selection of scrambled eggs, home fries, and sausage.

There were 5 guests in the club, outnumbering the staff
by 2.

I decided to catch the beginning of boarding so hoofed it
back to gate 100; on the way, I met restlessinRNO, Fredd,
and Mrs. Fredd. restless had row 16 upstairs, and the
Fredds, irroped from the day before, had been demoted from
row 15 to row 6. With the new alignments, there really
isn't that much difference any more, truth to tell.

UA 837 SFO NRT 1128 1530 744 15A Ch9:td:

We got to the gate to find boarding delayed due to some kind
of IFE issue, which prevented F from boarding; so we C
people got to board first, and I saw the curious sight of
an F pax being turned away a la gate lice. He took it
surprisingly well.

Eventually we all got aboard, but then it was announced that
a valve in the #2 engine had to be replaced, so we all had
to chill our jets, as it were. We took off an hour late.

Good service of an Asian standard.

Warm nuts (lots of pecans, no macadamias) with seconds.

to begin
smoked salmon and vegetable crudite
With a sun-dried tomato dressing

Good salmon, abundant, strewn with capers. The cruddities
were as usual dry and pathetic.

fresh seasonal greens
Lite Ranch or Roasted Garlic Red Wine Vinaigrette

OK, a little wilted.

main course
[b]mustard thyme scented chicken T[b]
With warm horseradish potato salad

grilled sirloin steak with three peppercorn sauce
Au gratin potatoes and steamed broccoli with carrots

The beef was extremely strange, a big knob of mystery meat:
usually I can tell a cut of meat by its fat if nothing else.
This was chuck (not sirloin by any stretch of the
imagination - more like what UA serves under the name "short
ribs"), identifiable only by its fat in an incredibly acrid
pepper sauce. The sides were salty spinach and salty cheesy
potatoes mit viel nutmeg. Bear in mind that since my recent
health issues I have had trouble tasting salt (mixed nuts,
for example, taste sweet to me); these things tasted, well,
salty. I shudder to think. I should have had the Japanese
meal, but I'd decided to take pity on the assorted 1Ps and
things aboard.

washoku zen selection
Appetizers of barbecued eel in layered eggs, grilled scallop,
lime-flavored beef tenderloin, shrimp with vegetable sushi
rice, poached tuna with karashi miso, steamed leeks,
buckwheat soba noodles with marinated Japanese vegetables.
A main course of salmon teriyaki, braised tofu, simmered
shiitake mushroom and daikon, green beans, fresh julienne
ginger served with steamed rice and Japanese pickled
vegetables. Served with green tea. Items in this meal may
contain traces of MSG.

dessert
international cheese selection
Sartori Bellavitano, Montchevre Sun-dried Tomato and Basil
Chevre

Eli's tiramisu

I passed on dessert.

midflight snack
honey roasted turkey with baby Swiss cheese
Sandwich may be served either hot or cold

assorted sweet and savory treats are available
throughout the flight

hot noodles are available upon request

The crew provided little cups of grapes, leftover formerly
hot nuts, and a few other things, in addition to the foil-
wrapped sandwiches (heated on request) and the noodle
bowls. Also Ghirardelli 60% chocolate squares, Kit Kats,
and raisins. Most welcome.

prior to arrival
stir-fried chicken and vegetables
With egg noodles

Quite good-tasting though dry soy-sauce chicken with
nice baby bok choy and a big tangle of extremely salty
noodles. I ate a few noodles, and my ankles swelled up
immediately. Well, they swelled up worse immediately. One
issue I am having is swelling in various public and not
public limbs owing to the heart problem.

fresh seasonal fruit plate
With creamy yogurt

The wines on offer were a tolerable fairly dry Masterpeace
Shiraz 2007 (SE Australia), with some fruit and a bit of
oak, and a most disappointing bright cherry-ful Trapiche
Oak Cask Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (Mendoza). There was also
advertised a Medoc, which didn't appear on either flight.

The guy next to me watched some amusing martial arts movies
while I kept the map on. We periodically stole glances at
each other's giant screen. How can you not like a film that
invents a kung fu move called BBQ pork hock? and that
contains the line "You said you cared for me. Now I know
you're not." (According to the subtitles.)

We landed half an hour late, but there was no line at
transit security, so that sort of cancelled out. restless
went hunting for Lori_Q off the Chicago flight at the ANA
lounge, but I, in my dubious condition, chose to stick
closer to home. There was no line at the shower, so I had
one: the water pressure kept me going from scalding to
low cool, but all in all running water after a long flight
is a good thing. Then on to the Amazing Beer Machine, yay,
and then to gate 46 - which as it turns out is right by
the ANA lounge anyway, so whoops.

Nice report.
Thanks.

Welcome! Hope you the shiny new Luggage Tags stayed intact, see you at Concord/Newtons

Having too much fun to write a report. More later.

Tease!

I may have more time to type, as I'm cooling my jets in the ER at
Mass General awaiting treatment for congestive heart failure. But
right now it's difficult.

Whoa - dude, take it easy! Get better soon! I'll see you on *A MegaDo II if not sooner!

You KNOW that you have my best wishes for things to go well, but I am almost 1000% certain that you have ALL FTers best wishes too!! ^

Get well soon, my friend!!

Dave

preliminary report:

heart: CHF, degree of decline if any to be determined tomorrow

lungs: touch o' fluid, no biggie; nodules! - probably encapsulated junk
from ancient injuries, certainly benign

pulmonary embolism: negative

DVT: negative

UA875 NRT SIN 1750 0020 777 9J Ch9:td:

It took me a while to get to the plane, as I was walking
at about 1/3 rate. I could quite possibly have been the
slowest person on the moving sidewalks. Easy red-carpet
boarding. restlessinRNO, in the row ahead of mine,
reported failure to detect any of the expected FTers in
the ANA lounge; he remarked on my being winded after the
walk from the RCC. Hello, ejection fraction under 30,
what do you expect. Juice, water, or cheap bubbly were
offered. We were enjoying our PDBs when Lori_Q and shortly
after upup&away came puffing in: their flight had been
delayed first by "positive bag matching" and then "another
aircraft occupying their gate"; whatever, they made it,
and our little party was ready to head to Singapore. The
nice gent in 8H gave up his seat to Lori, so with upup&away
in 9H we had a little FT bloc there in the cabin. A nice chat
and a nice meal and then a nice nap.

The Fredds were in the bigger C cabin, I think, and fellow
FTer Ted unfortunately was in the wayback.

A decent flight with decent food and pretty good service.

to begin
fresh seasonal greens
French vinaigrette

main course
Trader Vic's sweet and sour braised short ribs
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes and glazed carrots and peas

Trader Vic's shredded chicken in Thai green curry sauce
Jasmine rice and roasted mushroom and vegetable medley

salmon topped with chestnut paste
Hanagata rice with white sesame seeds, grilled eringi
mushroom, green beans and carrot flower

dessert
Eli's cherry frangipane tart
With creme anglaise and pistachio

Today's menu features beef from Australia

Trader Vic came through with a palatable chunk of chuck; the
sweet-sour wasn't very sour but thankfully not very sweet
either. The potatoes were substantially garlicky. I did try
the tart, which was okay if a little dry.

We landed a bit late and went our separate ways, I to
check out the broadband (Wireless@SG was misbehaving for me
so I had to find a wired connection) and then to the T3
transit hotel at 3. Nice room, though a bit spartan. In the
morning, more Internet and then the airport outlet of the
renowned Rong Chen Bak Kut Teh. I had poached pig liver and
vermicelli in a rich, peppery pork bone stock - terrific.
Then to T2 basement, whence the #36 bus gets you to Suntec
for a buck and half. It takes perhaps 15 more minutes than
a taxi.

At the Conrad I was pleased to be given a business room
overlooking the Fountain of Wealth. The view was good, the
bed very comfy, and the bathroom extra nice. I recall the
room I was given here when I was gold (I'm now lowly
silver) was not so good as this one.

Amenities: a rubber ducky, a teddy bear, a fruit bowl (good
banana and kiwi, a couple mediocre-looking apples, an okay
orange, and a pear that could just as well have been made of
wax or wood), and a little box of extremely luxurious
truffles - white chocolate mango, dark chocolate hazelnut,
milk chocolate honey, and gilded milk chocolate pineapple,
all of which I gobbled down in minutes.

Met Lori_Q for drinks at the lobby but then was informed
of the executive lounge party by restless. Old friends,
an excellent time. I was really tired, and the wine was
free, so the 10 pm Concorde meeting got knocked off the
agenda. We shared taxis to Newton for the midnight event.
I had a few skewers of satay and a beer and then it was
time to cab it back for a nightcap and bed. I blame my
dazedness on the heart failure rather than inebriation
or the jetlag.

Gack!! Sending healing thoughts your way. Tell the tale when you can.

I'm no doctor, so let me see if I have correctly read the above. The heart is a definite worry; the rest seems relatively positive?

Don't let the medics pry the computer from your hands. We need periodic updates!

I love your trip reports, they are so well done ^. Before I had even been to SIN DO (first time was last year), I read one of your reports to get a flavour of what the DO might be like (thanks to bseller pointing me in the right direction). I remember being amazed at how much eating there was :D. Now I have lived it, twice :p.

As I posted on your get well thread, I am wishing you a very quick recovery and may you be flying at the pointy end and writing again in no time at all.

Take care.

Best wishes from one of your phans in PHX. Thanks for the updates (I wasn't thinking when I wrote "updates" and it came out "upgrades" :D).

16th
 

Went to look for friends (particularly boxo, who had wanted
an early breakfast). Started off at the business class area
on 4, but they hadn't seen her. They suggested I try Oscar's
downstairs, which I did. There were other FTers there, but
no boxo. I expressed interest that the likes of opushomes,
a Diamond, had chosen to dine with the polloi, but he
gleefully told me that it was an open secret that the coach
meal was the best of the lot, having a better selection than
the business one and both better selection and less crush
than the first-class one.

I found a table with chchkiwi and SEA777GUY (I think), and we
had a substantial and fairly yummy meal, the notable features
for me being a dragon fruit (nobody else wanted any, so I ate
the whole thing myself) and VSOP Cognac ice cream (available
with or without Belgian waffle). The rest of the spread was
a good one, with Chinese (shumai, congee, fried rice) and
American (smoked salmon, bacon, eggs, sausage, an omelette
station) staples, a wide variety of fruit, and abundant
and nice-looking breads and sweet pastries. Bade various
folks good day (I had no interest in a walking tour, in the
heat, given everything) and went off again to try to find
boxo; it turns out that she had apparently overslept and
had gone downstairs about the time I was returning up; after
a certain amount of elevator tag, she was found in time to
take the biz breakfast; I joined her but ate only a couple
pieces of grapefruit. The kindly staff (who said that the
Oscar's breakfast was the same, and if we wanted to prove
this to ourselves, nothing was preventing us from taking
meals both places) didn't close up until past 11, at which
time we began our day's outing. She was hotel-hopping, so
we cabbed to the IC and got her situated in her quite nice
room (accompanied by a most obsequious concierge named
Danny I think); then I proposed to go to Boat Quay for the
beer part of the do. boxo was tired but game, saying that it
didn't make sense to sleep all afternoon, with Singapore
beckoning. We took a quick tour of the Raffles Hotel, then
walked down to City Hall, where we bussed across the river.
I hadn't counted on the stairs down to the quay, but she
negotiated these heroically. There was nobody at the Thai
place where we usually get our S18 pitchers, and we were
sitting moping among the Botero sculptures and beginning
to regret our wild goose chase, when alex0683de and
bschaff1 came around the corner with the news that
there was a place down the way with S15 Tiger pitchers.
We tried to get the Thai place to match, but the hostess
smilingly declined our offer, so off to the seafood place
up the quay and its ... well. We ordered a Tiger pitcher,
and what came was 3 mugs of something that wasn't very
good. Alex thought that it was Anchor, which was on offer
at S8 the pitcher. boxo's coffee and ice came as coffee
with a side of water; sooner or later her order was
rectified, but ours wasn't. Presently bseller came by, and
we ordered another Tiger pitcher, which was at least
different from our previous beer. The situation wasn't
conducive to continued drinking, so we returned to the
executive lounge at the Conrad (where our Diamonds and
Golds had taken over a conference room as our private
club, complete with secret handshake) until Jumbo time.

We met at Jumbo Riverside (a jumboer Jumbo than last
year's) at 8. Five tables had been reserved, of which one
went unused by us, but the restaurant had no trouble
turning it, which made us feel somewhat less guilty.

The no-fish table was segregated from us by the empty
one, which is as it should be.

I was at the middle table, which enjoyed a shellfish-heavy
menu, thanks in large part to my suggestions, which were
pretty normal but a little on the extravagant side.

Chili crab is less sweet and more tomatoey than at other
places, so it's more to my taste than at either Jumbo
East Coast or either of the No Signboards we've used; still
I prefer the adult pungency of black pepper crab, whose
blackish sauce contrasts rather than competes with the
natural sweetness of the excellent Sri Lankan crabs.

Two kinds of prawns, because some preferred shell and head
on, and some off. Salt-pepper prawns I thought substantially
yummy (we got these with); cereal prawns were different from
usual, as we'd gotten them shelled, but still pretty good.
Garlic roast chicken was as advertised, a little salty for
me, but nicely garlicked and pretty tender. Sauteed kangkong
with hot pepper and fish sauce was very savory as our
obligatory veggie. I'd ordered broad noodles with seafood
as filler for the end, but it came early in the meal. I
saved mine for later: it was fine as filler goes, but the
amount of shellfish was disappointing.

With abundant beers, we spent about S50 each; I think
we were the second most expensive table.

Need I add that we returned yet again to our haven for an
afters that lasted pretty late. Thank goodness for the
excellent and long-forbearing staff, Deakin Estate Caberet,
lili's getting the staff to offer up substantial amounts
of it, and Baxter&Bessies'Mama's discovery of the mother
lode of same. I don't recall staggering back to my lovely
room, but I must have done so.

Please keep us up to date as to how you are feeling.. best wishes....

17th
 

I got up too late for breakfast - or rather I blanked on
the time we were to meet, and everyone was gone by the time
I hit Oscar's, which was setting up for the extremely lavish
brunch that it's so proud of and that costs so much. Where
to go? I may have neglected to note that for unknown reasons
I had access to the executive lounge, despite being a mere
silver (note to self: work on those 12 more stays just in
case I'd not get so lucky next year). There was as expected
abundant and good FT company up there, and I didn't have so
much energy (photos from the Do show me off-color :( and
horribly bloated - I weighed in at an appalling 192, 15 more
than last I checked stateside), so I vegged it and missed
the much anticipated Muthu's lunch. Sorry, bseller,
especially as I'd been a booster of this event from the
beginning, and I do like masala chicken and fish curry.

Oh, I guess I misremembered - Saturday must have been Bird
Park day (I didn't feel up to that, either), and this must
have been walking tour day: anyhow, giving these things a
miss seemed like the prudent thing to do.

E-mail, FT, a glass of Cab, and a brief nap, after which I'd
promised lili a tour of Chinatown on the way to dinner.
She met me downstairs, and we walked through Marina Square
(much redeveloped since the last time I visited) to the bus
stop by the Durian. My map from last year showed a route
from there straight to Outram Park, but when we got there,
there was no such line listed. Plan B - show her around the
Durian and then take the underground mall to the MRT. As it
turns out, we'd missed the start of a Symphony concert by 10
minutes; checked out the free performance situation - there
was a folky-rocky thing that didn't seem interesting, so we
went up on the roof to look at the southward panorama - also
much changed since the last time I did this, with the new
Marina Bay Sands dominating. As she'd not seen the Merlion
before, we walked on to it, and at which we paused an
inordinate time, not owing to the beauty of the statue
itself (sorry, lili, I overestimated my stamina). Then
along the highway to Lau Pa Sat, across to my favorite
temple park (now in slightly dubious condition owing to
renovation or something) on Telok Ayer, past the Maxwell
Hawker Centre, and then to Kok Sen Coffee House, where we
were greeted by 40 or 50 of our nearest and dearest!

As anyone who's been to a SIN Do knows, this is a well known
no-frills eatery that happens to be next door to where
infoworks used to work, so it was well known to him and he
to it, so he organized a dinner there for us a few years
ago, and it's become a tradition for the dinner after the
big seafood dinner. The Do is always well enough attended so
we are banished to multiple tables in the alley behind, a
strange to us but locally pretty well accepted behavior.

I was pretty hungry after the 2-mile walk, and it's lucky I
wasn't in charge of ordering. I believe that karenkay had
that honor, and we ended up with, as I recall:

sweet-sour fried whole fish - nice, with crispy fins and
tail and tender white flesh, a tangle of delicately
vinegared and sweetened peppers, onions, and a couple other
things strewn over the top;

shrimp omelet - good in a very plain sort of way: plain eggs
and plain shrimp, perfectly fresh;

fried chicken - not marinated as before, so perhaps of more
popular appeal, crispy and tender;

black pepper beef - spicy and good, but in deference to the
nonfishies at the table, I had only one taste;

and perfectly fresh, perfectly plain greens with garlic.

Oh, there might have been the kangkong with hot pepper and
fish flavor, but if there was, it was missing the pork
cracklin' topping that gives its extra-special appeal, so
I don't remember it.

One small bowl of rice per head; with this amount of food,
there was some left over.

S$20 a head, counting beers and soft drinks.

The company was as always excellent, the food as always
good. We stood around a long time chatting in the alleyway
before repairing to the Conrad for a farewell shindig
featuring more Tigers and more of the Cabernet. I didn't
pull myself away until close to 3: pretty bad considering
I had an 0430 taxi.

I barely remember showering, packing, checking out, getting
into a cab, and checking in at the airport. I must have done
so, of course. [Oh, God, I think I stole an orange off the
fruit basket and put it in my suitcase, where it resides
several days later, far away from the hospital bed that is
my current home.]

outta there
 

Easy check-in and security and entry into the SQ lounge,
where shortly the Fredds, TheBagman, bseller, and WWBGD's
son Nick joined me to find an empty buffet table, which
was grudgingly, gradually, uninspiredly filled. After half
an hour of visiting, we moseyed to the gate. Well, for
them it was moseying, for me it felt more like a half-mile
sprint.

UA 876 SIN NRT 0720 1450 777 9A Ch9:td:

Quick gate security; no welcome beeping BP readers. We were
in the holding tank for a not excessive time before they
started boarding. bseller and Nick were in 9HJ; TheBagman
was in 8A - his seatmate was a mileage runner who wasn't
a FTer!

The Fredds got their upgrade somehow (cash and points, I
think) and happily sat in the big C cabin.

An attentve crew, though I was beyond noticing for much
of the flight. I did see 8B giving one of the FAs a GTEM
afterward.

SIN-NRT (B85-S89) 262C119-2

to begin
Your selected entree will be accompanied by
fresh fruit and breakfast breads

main course
Spanish omelette with roasted red pepper sauce
Spicy chorizo sausage and Lyonnaise potatoes

e-fu noodles with braised chicken, lotus seeds
and red dates
Kailan and sliced carrots

continental breakfast
Selection of fresh seasonal fruits, cereal, and yogurt

A dish of very salty noodles, okay chicken, sweet and salty
and with a solitary red date (no lotus seeds), and good
bok choy (not gai lan). Carrots mushy and salty. I didn't
eat most of the noodles.

prior to arrival
teriyaki chicken and bell pepper tortilla wrap
Teriyaki mayonnaise

marinated red and yellow pepper with olive tapenade
on ciabatta
Pesto mayonnaise

I missed this meal, preferring to sleep.

A big line at transit security: the red lane was clearly not
being enforced, and even if it had been, the rope separating
us from the polloi was missing partway down the lane, so
everything equalized. And even with a mild breakdown in
Japanese efficiency, we were through in a sensible amount of
time. TheBagman wanted to check on the status of his upgrade
so I guested him into the RCC, and we chatted for a while.
When he got the sad news that there was but a slim chance
for the longer upgrade, he went off to to drown his sorrows
at the NH lounge, courtesy of bseller. I checked at the
shower, where there was a 50-minute wait, so I settled for
inarizushi and an appointment with the amazing beer machine.

Did a very abbreviated parade through the lounge flapping my
FT tag. Usually I have enough time and energy to walk the
length and breadth of the place, but not today.

I was glad that the onward was leaving from one of the 30s
gates rather than one of the 40s ones.

rather than quote a bunch of stuff
 

1. Glad you are feeling better.
2. My opinion, rather poor behavior re: Jumbo in terms of the no tell, no shows. You missed the machinations to keep the table for the 11 non-appearing no shows. Appreciated were those who acknowledged that it created a problem and all is forgotten. The three who have not said a thing will be remembered without a great deal of fondness. Ask the Kuching bunch about how I eventually reacted. No more will be said.
3. You are correct that you were at the second highest cost table. Everything in terms of cost seemed to be controlled despite the horror expressed by some in respect to the approximate cost information provided based upon last years cost at my table with a 10% escalator.

In that regard, thank you for jumping in and informing certain folks that if your butt is in the seat, you will incur certain costs. I cannot express enough thanks for your stating the obvious. Again some folks for some unfathomable reason feel that there is no cost involved in occupying a seat in a restaurant. They also do not grasp the concept of "cover", "cuperto" and concepts similar in many countries around this world. Also the concept of service charges, tax and other foreign things. Or sometimes even paying for their drinks and/or meals.

Sunday night the vege was baby Kailan (Gaiilan to you) with Garlic. Guess the head guy thought we looked foreign and toned it down. Chicken indeed was not as good as previous years. The previous cook was perhaps deported back to China or he had an off night. The ordering was a three way collaborative affair with Karen Kay, Starwood Lurker II and ignorant I deciding on a basically fixed menu which kept the price down. $S8 less than last year. A good time but perhaps we are becoming too large a group for the alley. We also included items for all the alleged distastes but even that was not good enough for a couple of attendees.

Repaired back to the Conrad as described where I am again sitting before the SQ flight to LAX tomorrow and the eventual 11+ hour added journey to PDX. DL, you are a very bad airline. But still thanks for the rare First class award.

I asked one of the lounge attendants here at the Conrad whether things had calmed down since we left. They have not. She referred to us as the drinking guests who needed the conference room. Perhaps we need to do some reconsideration in respect to our behavior the future. Certainly this is a point to ponder.

We are not alone, but it gives one pause. Presently there is a large loud American group on a "Tour" monopolizing the place. Staff has not yet suggested their placement behind closed dooors, but I am considering it.

Best health improvement wishes.

Conrad: I think that your (and others') expressed heartfelt gratitude
might have made us more tolerable to the staff. We'll see next year
from the underlying tone of our reception. Outwardly, it will be
polite enough, but will they be willing to accommodate us to the
degree of this time? Perhaps preordering the conference room might
give us the best of all worlds.

Restaurants: Prepay may sound odious, but other Dos have relied
on the procedure to forestall no-show and similar issues. I'd suggest
a two-tier system (eaters vs. noneaters), but that might be too
difficult to administer and enforce. I've seen too many gatherings
where noneaters eat.

Thanks for the health wishes. I share the sentiment.

UA 838 NRT SFO 1725 0920 744 15A Ch9:td:

Old-style gate security with all bags opened and pawed.
Otherwise no big deal.

to begin
smoked salmon rose, sweet sesame pork
vegetable sushi and pickled ginger

This consisted of blandish salmon, the least good I've had
on UA in a while, but still decent; very dry pork; and
a sweet fat roll that tasted sort of like an inarizushi.

fresh seasonal greens
Blue Cheese or Sesame Vinaigrette

main course
pan-seared filet mignon with balsamic onion demi-glace
Baked stuffed potato with chives and asparagus

Key lime and honey chicken breast with mango lime sauce
Jambalaya rice and green beans with macadamia nuts

washoku zen selection
Appetizers of snapper sushi, simmered shrimp, lightly salted
flounder wrapped in seaweed, chicken in cod egg role, baby
bamboo with dried fish flakes, beef sirloin with Japanese
dressing, maitake mushroom and cha-soba noodles topped with
simmered shimeji mushroom

A main course of salmon topped with chestnut paste and
grilled eringi mushroom, chestnut, green beans and carrot
flower served with steamed rice and Japanese pickled
vegetables. Served with green tea.

I usually order the beef as first choice and the Japanese
second, and almost always I get the beef and make some 1P
happy. This ranges from total hockey puck gross to pretty
acceptable. This time, surprisingly, my filet was large,
blood-rare, and of near restaurant quality. Its sauce was
nasty though onion scented: I scraped it off and had an
excellent piece of meat. Very good baby asparagus,
artistically arranged as a picket fence next to the steak.
The potato looked suspiciously cheesy and mealy and not
worth the carbs.

My seatmate, who looked like Alton Brown, the jerky
commentator on Iron Chef America, had the chicken; he ate
most of it, which indicates to me that he probably wasn't.

dessert
international cheese selection
Colby, Jack, Camembert

Eli's cherry frangipane tart
With creme anglaise and pistachio

I passed on these, having experienced Colby, Jack, Camembert
and Eli's cherry frangipane tart before.

prior to arrival
vegetable frittata with oven-roasted tomato sauce
Pork link sausage

fresh seasonal fruit plate
With creamy yogurt

The frittata was an "unclear on the concept" mishmosh
of chopped leftover broccoli and bok choy and unidentified
other things in a loose custard; its sauce was and tasted
bright red - sort of like canned stewed tomatoes. The
sausage was a Li'l Smoky and welcome.

Today's menu features beef from Australia

For this flight I merely dozed, being mostly enthralled
by the offerings on the AVOD. Actually, no, the Classical
selection is pretty bare (you know that something is wrong
when the best things are the Andre Previn guitar concerto
and his wheezy bitonal version of Mack the Knife), and
XM Radio is an abomination. Plus I don't watch movies much.
Actually, I don't know why I didn't get more sleep on the
flight. The service was fine, by a very senior crew.

Though I was fat at the Do, I was blowing up like a
balloon even more on the plane.

I'd been victim of several schedule changes, and instead of
having a nice long visit at the NRT RCC, I had a long
layover in San Fran. There were two previous flights to
Boston, one delayed by weather, the other of which I should
have rebooked myself on after one of the schedule changes.
By the time I inquired they were both zeroed out.

Camped out in the club and read FT and similar pastimes for
an inordinately long part of the day.

UA 824 SFO BOS 1335 2216 752 2D Ch9^ Empower:td:

Red carpet boarding was about as chaotic as you'd expect for
a flight that has 24 F seats and more GS/1Ks than that - out
of curiosity I looked right and found it substantially
populated, and I was among the first 10 left-turners. It
seems that 1Ks in coach are perhaps overcautious in staking
out their overhead space and stuff like that.

Asked my seatmate how he was today, out of politeness or
custom. He said that he was "so good it's scary." I dropped
the subject.

Quite bumpy climb out. Quite bumpy flight. Ch9 was most
amusing, with numerous aircraft inquiring, requesting,
begging for smoother air. "Light to moderate all altitudes"
was the stock response pretty much across the country.

The meal was billed as "salad or ham and cheese sandwich";
I told the FA to get me an extra cup of nuts and the heck
with a meal. She thanked me, as there was not much wiggle
room in the catering.

When the 1P guy behind me heard that the sandwich was all
that was available, he went ballistic, saying that he was a
vegetarian, and this was outrageous, all that kind of stuff;
the purser explained that by the time the GSs and 1Ks were
accommodated, that was all that was left. He said that he
flew this route 3 times every week. I was tempted to poke
my head back and point out that if he flew this much he must
know by now how to order a special meal, but I didn't bother
- sitting back and eavesdropping as his seatmate was treated
to a silly diatribe about airlines and how he deserved to be
treated like some kind of royalty for being a 1P. She rather
sweetly inquired why he flew so much, and he said that he
lived on one coast and worked on the other. Whatever; I
wondered to myself whether anyone on either side of the
country would hire such a one. Then I evilly thought that
this must be an FTer of the less benign variety.

The purser, bless her soul, showed him two crew meals (both
salads), inquiring whether he might be interested in either.
He huffed a bit and sent her away. Later she spent some time
explaining the situation, and I guess that he was eventually
placated.

Turns out the salad was topped with something, chicken I
think (I caught only a glance as one went by). My happy
seatmate had the other choice, which looked like an
enormous meal. The sandwich was at least a quarter pound
of meat and a substantial amount of melted cheese on a
big ciabatta roll, sided with bean soup of some kind and
a full cup of hummus with pita triangles. Chocolate cake
rounded out the repast. It looked almost worth eating,
for someone without a sodium restriction.

I stuck with the very mediocre Bushman's Gully Shiraz.

aftermath - MGH
 

We landed almost an hour late; I called my committee chair
Lee and got him to ferry me to Mass. General, where as soon
as I complained at the ER of shortness of breath I was
promised immediate admission; turns out I was kept 17 hours
while they looked for a room for me, which made me most
apprehensive, as this seemed to mean cardiac intensive care
for sure. Meanwhile I was shunted off into a large cubicle
of my own, with a separate thermostat, so I was quite comfy
actually. And during this time I had a chest x-ray, which
showed a touch of pneumonia as well as the cardiomegaly, and
a CAT scan, which showed no evidence of thrombosis or
embolism (not a surprise as I tend to bleed far more easily
than I clot). There is a separate catering for the ER, one
that seems to err on the side of buffetlike generosity.
Shortly before noon I was served a full-size turkey
sandwich, an enormous plate of mac and cheese, broccoli, two
cups of fruit, and two cups of apple juice. I ate the
sandwich and the fruit.

Dozed most of the day, this being alternated with bouts of
answering the same questions posed by a variety of doctors,
nurses, and students, none of whom I'd ever see again.

The barstids put in a Foley cath. I inquired about this, and
they told me that they wanted to check my fluid output as
carefully as possible. If I were fully aware, I'd have told
them to use it in themselves, but instead I politely
asked if they'd expected to pee myself all the time. Judging
from their nonresponse the answer was probably yes.

It was with a certain relief that at dinnertime I was
wheeled past the cardiac unit to a regular room in the
general medicine wing.

My roommate had the TV on 24 hrs a day, American Gladiator
being one of the less obnoxious. Things he insisted on:
the room blistering hot (his nurse would turn the thermo
up, then each tech who came in would say "I can't work in
this" and turn it back down again); for every pill and
inhaler he was given to be individually identified as to
name and usage, every time; to readjust his bed to his
liking (some apparently unsafe position, as he kept being
chidden for this) after every procedure - I have to give
him credit for this, as he seemed to be a wizard at the
controls, which I had a really hard time dealing with. He
was slightly deranged from pain meds and probably the normal
psychosis one gets from being cooped up for days and days.

He sees window cleaners outside and has come up with an
intricate story about the water they use dripping in and
humidifying the room, which is good, as if it didn't we'd
all be drying up like raisins, or something.

The guy next door kept screaming "giuffrida" or "did you
feed her" or something; he has a police guard out in the
hall (surfing the Web pretty much all the time; I can see
from here). Turns out he was a professional boxer named
Fiore or Fiori and had the brains knocked out of him some
thirty or forty years ago.

It is good that there is free (?) wi-fi throughout the
hospital. Otherwise I'd be screaming "giuffrida" and
seeing window washers.

Around 8 I wistfully remarked to my nurse that I hadn't
had any food in a while. Turns out I had been moved right
around suppertime and had fallen through the cracks. She
ordered me chicken salad no salt no bread and a fruit cup.
This rather bland meal was pretty welcome.

Eventually I gave up and turned in.

Wednesday

This is the breakfast they served for a low-carb low-fluid
low-sodium patient: a scrambled egg; two slices of toast;
oatmeal; three sugar packets; two jam packets; milk; OJ;
coffee. I ate merely what my diet entitled me to.

And so to hunker down for a day of boredom punctuated with
moments of annoyance and a fair amount of discomfort.

Here is the menu offered me for lunch and dinner every day:

Roast Turkey without Gravy
A fresh roasted turkey breast roasted in our ovens and
carved for you ...

Grilled Hamburger without Roll
A juicy beef patty grilled and served
without your roll because of your diet.

Plain Spaghetti
For those patients who want a simple dish, we
offer plain and simple "just spaghetti'.

Twice they offered an additional fish choice - once salmon
and once haddock. I chose these both times; but since then,
the option has not been available.

The sides include lettuce and tomato, rice, a fancy rice or
salt free bread, usually a starchy veg., sometimes a steamed
nonstarchy veg, a tossed salad, sometimes a potato.

Desserts: diet baked custard, canned fruit (depends),
chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, lemon Italian ice,
gelatin dessert (which is denied me).

Coffee, tea, decaf coffee, decaf tea, ginger ale, diet
ginger ale, bottled water. These are denied.

As the x-ray had shown nodules in my lung, it was deemed
advisable I get a PPT tuberculosis test. The tech gave it
to me right into a smallish vein, which subsequently
became useless for any IV purpose. (I watched anxiously for
the swelling that denotes a positive test: three days later
I was deemed clean. This makes one wonder what the things
are - the word is that they are probably scarring from an
old infection.)

The resident was puzzled by the catheter and asked me if I
knew why it had been put in. I said I had been wondering
the same thing. He ordered for it to be pulled, a good
thing as it had started to leak badly. On extraction, there
was some bleeding, which I decided to report when it didn't
go away after a day. Wrong.

The absence of catheter made this day's cardiac ultrasound
easier. I was allowed to peek for most of the procedure -
looking at that poor old used-up heart struggling was
fascinating and a little horrifying.

Levaquin was prescribed to treat and/or prevent pneumonia.

Thursday

I believe this was the day that the hot water in the shower
wasn't working. It's irritating to have to take a cold
shower.

By today the routine had become established. 4 blood
sugars, 2 CBCs, 4 vitals, 2 doctor visits, 3 very scanty
meals, many little annoyances, much waiting.

The cardio came, a rather glam blonde with big credentials.
We discussed the ins and outs of my simple but dire case.
The big news was that my ejection fraction was 16. I've
admitted to being a bit out of shape, but that's ridiculous.
She recommended bypass, stents a second choice, followed by
an implanted defibrillator (bad for cooks, athletes, air
travelers, electronics users). We sort of agreed on stents
and a somewhat more aggressive drug regimen than I had
wanted (sorry, girls).

Denied diet ginger ale by the dietician! probably because
I was on fluid restriction. What's the point? I just asked
the nurse and got all the soft drinks I wanted.

As I was NPO after midnight, I ordered a late snack of
peanut butter on whole wheat and an orange. Food never
was more welcome.

Friday

Cath lab. I was hoping for stents, but they didn't place any
- just took a bunch of pictures, which were read immediately
- 2 of 3 old stents were clogged, and it remained unclear
whether to repair the old connections, restent elsewhere, or
do some variety of open-chest.

This day: one set of blood work missing (evidence: empty
tubes found later on the bureau); an EKG missing (evidence:
the doc who ordered it couldn't find it in my chart); dinner
missing (evidence: stomach rumbles). All of these were
eventually remedied.

Liver and kidneys reported normal, which might come as a
surprise to those who look askance at my alcohol intake.

Saturday

Waiting. Visitors are good.

Sunday

Denied diet ginger ale again, but I could get orange juice,
perhaps because this is listed in a different category
than "beverages," all of which seem to be forbidden.

Waiting. Visitors are good.

The WillDo people called. Calls are good.

They let me have ice cream, despite my being on "NO Milk to
Drink" and fluid restriction. Whatever.

Monday

Hoping for stents, and when lunch didn't come out, my hopes
took a rise. It turns out they'd just forgotten my lunch,
and it came out later. I'd asked for vanilla ice cream and
strawberries with my burger no bun - as before, this
appeared as a burger with bun. The ice cream and berries
were just fine.

They gave me an ultrasound of my bladder and kidneys
because I'd reported the blood, either that or because I
have health insurance. It came back clean.

Tuesday

The cardiologist finally came by again, having talked with
the interventionist the day before. She gave me the option
of having my stents placed Wednesday by her second choice
doctor or Thursday by her first choice doctor, who she said
had taken a lot of time over my films. Therefore:

Wednesday

Waiting. Visitors are good.

What's not good: Bank of America detected irregular activity
on my credit card and cancelled it. I tried to get a hotel
room for when I get out, and no such luck.

- -

Today they offered this fourth choice:

Grilled Tilapia w/ Chipotle Peach Salsa - a tasty
white fish fire-grilled, and served with a peach
and pepper chipotle sauce.

I asked for this with "no sauce please - if not
possible, then grilled hamburger without roll x2"

What came: two 5-oz servings of not bad if overcooked
fish, no sauce. Very fine, as I am NPO as of midnight.

- -

The bad news: the cardio, suspecting something, ordered my
heart monitor rehooked up. The worse news: it detected
several episodes of v-tach in among the bradycardia (my
standard current condition). It is said that v-tach is a
precursor of v-fib, which is most troublesome. I don't want
to keel over just yet. The treatments for same include:
(1) most troublesome, most effective - defibrillator, which
I don't want; (2) moderately troublesome, moderately
effective - amiodarone, which I prefer not to have; (3)
least troublesome, but hasn't proven effective for me -
metoprolol. Poop, the last was agreeing with me, but if it
doesn't work, that's not so good either.

Stubborn, stubborn
 

Become bionic like so many of us. Yes it is annoying in terms of the morons among the The Thousands Standing Around (abbreviation-TSA) but if the defibrillator works you have a simple decision to make.

We talked at length in Singapore about getting out of Dodge and attending to a critical situation. You delayed; we worried. Finally you are at Mass. General where they recommend that you do something that may save your life so you may enjoy many more years.

Come on Michael-it is time to take curtain #1, implant the defib. device, get the stents and become bionic.

None of us who know and enjoy your company want to have to take a last minute mileage run to bid goodbye to your mortal remains.

Besides that we would have to wear suits and dresses.

And yes, Bank of America sucks, but so do all of them.

Mike

Thursday
The transport guy came as I was in the midst of my walk,
at about the 1/4 mile point. I wanted to walk up to the
cath lab; this was generally frowned on by him and the
nurses. So I got wheeled up there in style.

Life has gotten better since '03. The procedure from start
to finish took less than 2 hrs with no gushing afterward
because of some kind of blood vessel clip. Only one stent
was introduced, apparently. There has been no immediate
benefit - I've been warned to wait a week to a month for
any noticeable change and for a couple months for the full
benefit to manifest. That's assuming that the dormant heart
muscle sees fit to wake up and not do anything embarrassing.

Afterward. Bounced around like a yo-yo. Ellison 11.
Back to White 8. Ellison 11. I ended up in a nice large
room with a shower on Ellison 10, my roommate a pleasant
Chinese guy even older than I who was soon released into the
kind care of the Spaulding.

A side effect: they overdid it on the fentanyl, so I got a
wave of naja as I was wheeled around town on my way to my
intermediate resting place. That's why one goes NPO before
a procedure.

Taking pity on me, the nutrition department sent up its
idea of what I should eat. About 1/4 lb of turkey breast,
2 Tb of gravy (salt-free), about 6 oz of steamed carrots,
half a pound of mashed taters, a cup of peaches in light
syrup, and REGULAR GINGER ALE. These are the guys who have
been denying me diet ginger ale. I got a diet from the
nurses' station. The turkey was kind of salty, so I ate it
with the carrots. The potatoes were puzzling, starchy and
margariney and a little salty and altogether not on my diet.

Five doctors trooped by, mostly to push the portable
defibrillator that would (as the cardiology fellow and then
his boss admitted to me) put paid to my playing a concert
again. Or rather: the new ones let you turn them off for an
hour; but if I were going to need one only for the exertion
that concerts cause, and I turned it off for concerts, what
would be the point. The boss guy also admitted that the
chance of one going off at all is about 4 percent a year.
Were they so easy to convince, or are they going to try to
put the whammy on me tomorrow?

A couple phone calls made the afternoon go by quickly, and
before I knew it, dinner was two 1/3 lb slabs of salmon,
tender and moist and somewhat appetizing despite being salt-
and herb-free. A fruit cup just like on the airplane.

The resident who came from cath for followup had to clean up
the blood from my site, which he did with good humor, treating
me rather like a wayward old uncle. One perhaps positive
effect of the large number of young east Asians in the medical
profession is that I get treated like a wayward old uncle a lot.

Here on the cardiac unit, IVs are counted against your fluid
restriction! in contrast to elsewhere. Pity the poor soul
who has a half liter of electrolyte solution pumped in after
lunch and is reduced to ice chips if that for thirst for the
rest of the day. I hadn't had breakfast so came in under the
limit when I asked for something to drink with my meds.

Friday - the end of confinement
 

Tootled around the triangularly arranged unit; at the end I
found a lounge with a plaque that said: "This room was given
in honor of Francis H. Burr by American Airlines, Inc." I
thought that notable enough to note.

I had been promised a short stay up here, assuming that the
cardiologist and the interventionist and the ID doc and the
monitoring folks cleared me, and I was itching to get out.
People trickled in all day: some biomechanical guy made what
I thought was a half-hearted effort to convince me to keep a
monitor on on a long-term basis, but he was easily put off.
But then his supervisor came up to convince me, so I got
kind of curt with him ("kind of"? he probably thought I was
going to tear his head off), and he left hastily, and soon
the paperwork releasing me came through. I wonder if I would
have run away if it had not done so. In any case I was so
excited to get out of there that I ran off trailing my IV
(disconnected) and my report (disconnected for 8 months).
I removed the IV myself a day later, when I noticed it while
disrobing to take a shower.