Imablog Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.

Feeding green tripe

Until recently, all of my experience with tripe has been through Nethack (tripe rations, "Blech, dog food!).

A few months ago, Whole Dog Journal had an article on feeding green tripe which I found quite intriguing. The article warns that green tripe pretty pungent stuff and feeding it probably isn't for everybody, but that it can provide numerous health benefits for your dog.

While I was at Dolittle's today, I saw they started carrying green beef and venison tripe from a company called Tripett. After mulling it over a bit, I decided to let the dogs try some of the beef tripe out, so I picked up a few cans.

Whew, the WDJ people weren't kidding when they said green tripe smelled. This stuff was mighty odiferous. I suppose if I had to describe it, I would say it was a green poopy smell. It's kind of like what you smell when you're in a cow barn, but greener.

Each of the dogs got 1/3 of a can along with their regular food (California Natural Lamb and Rice). When I gave it to the dogs, they just dug right in. Even Nala, who normally questions anything new in her food dish, didn't hesitate and gobbled everything down.

At 464 kcals/can for the green beef tripe, it's pretty calorie rich. A can is almost an entire meal's worth of calories for my dogs. Just something to take into account if green tripe is something you're going to add to your dog's diet.

I have two cans left, enough for two more meals for the three dogs. I doubt I'll see any of the touted health benefits with just a day and a half of feeding, but at least now I know I wouldn't have any problems feeding it to the dogs if I wanted to make it a regular component of their diet.

Great American Grill

Tucked away in the back corner of the James Island shopping center at the corner of Maybank and Folly is a little family owned and operated diner called Great American Grill.

Over the years the location has been home to at least 2 other restaurants that I know of, none of which lasted very long. Great American Grill has been around for just over 2 years now, so they're probably doing something right. It's the kind of place where unless you work or live in the area, you probably wouldn't know it's there. There's a pretty local crowd, and a lot of regulars.

It's a diner, so the food is pretty basic and uncomplicated, but tasty. They serve breakfast (which you can get all day) and lunch. Everything is cooked to order, and if you sit at the counter, you can watch all the action. Portions are generous and as it says on the menus, "You'll never leave hungry". Service is always friendly, and you can pretty much order anything and get it cooked the way you want.

If you're there on a weekend, the Country Style Breakfast is hard to beat. Two giant buttermilk pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and sausage links, patties or bacon. It'll keep you going pretty much the entire day.

Great American Grill is located at 1739 Maybank Hwy on James Island.

Barkley's river adventure

Another update from Barkley's new family. I think this was his first water adventure. I had him out by a pond at a CSCLRC event in the fall, but he didn't jump into the water at all. He looked like he wanted to join the other dogs, but just ran around the edge of the water waiting for them to come out so he could grab the bumpers from the dogs.

He was so happy! Maggie immediate ran and jumped into the river, so he followed with a big leap- he looked so startled that he didn't land on something! He had no problem paddling back to shore but then was too timid to go back in even though he really wanted to- he kept putting his toes and nose I'm and trying from every rock but just couldn't take the plunge! We're sure he will when the water is warm enough for us to get in because then he'll follow. He and Maggie ran and ran over the rocks!

Green tripe followup

I think I may have rushed the dogs' green tripe experience in a case of "too much too soon". They each got about a third of a can at each meal, which I didn't think they would have a problem with. Although they seemed to enjoy the green tripe, the dogs ended up with upset tummies starting with Simba on Sunday and Nala last night.

Simba is feeling better now and is back to normal and after a late pukey night, I think Nala's starting to feel a little better.

Even though the dogs seemed to enjoy the tripe, I don't think it's something I'll add on a regular basis. Main reason is the smell. Peeewww. Other reason is that although the dogs liked the tripe, if they're going to be hitting the eject button the next day, that's not going to be much fun for them or me.

Let the training begin

As part of my effort to make myself exercise more (and hopefully shed a few kilos in the process), I decided to join some of my fellow bloggers in the i5k run coming up next month.

Today was the first day I got out jogging in a couple of weeks. Now that it's warmer out (not equipped to run in anything cooler than about 10°C), the dogs and I went for our usual jog/shuffle (they jog, I shuffle) up and down the street. I made it further than I expected before having to stop, considering how long it's been since I was last out. This is good. It means that while I'm still an out of shape pile of goo, I'm not as much of an out of shape pile of goo as I thought I was.

Temp: 15°C
Distance: ~1 mile
Time: ?
Pace: ?

Bai bai Blend?

When Blend opened up across the street from MUSC a couple of years ago, it brought a nice refreshing change to the lunch and dinner scene around MUSC.

For being such a busy area, there is a significant lack of lunching spots in the hospital district that aren't more than a 5 minute walk away. There's Wickliffe House across the street or Hot Dog Cart guy, but the other options like Hominy Grill, Lana, Norms or the plethora of fast food joints on the Crosstown are a bit of a walk away if you're limited for lunching time. When Blend opened, it became a very tasty and quick lunch alternative to the cafeteria Their Proscuitto/Cappicola ham sandwich and a root beer was my favourite lunch combo, and I usually managed to make it there every once every few weeks to grab one.

Now there's a "Temporarily Closed" sign on their door, and their website (blendtogo.com) says the site is unavailable until further notice. Given the history of "temporary" closings for food establishments around here, I'm hoping to see Blend come back eventually, but not terribly optimistic about it.

Happy gotcha day Nala!

4 years ago today we brought Nala home!

It's Pi-day!

It's March 14. That means it's π day! One of those geeky math holidays (actually the idea to celebrate Pi-day was started by a physicist...we physicists rock) to celebrate a famous constant.

Start your π education off with the first million digits. Then tackle the Pi-day challenge.

If I was really geeky, you wouldn't be seeing this until 1:59AM/PM, but this is close enough for me.

Morning jog

A slight breeze made things a little bit cool on the way out, but once I got going the cool air felt good. The jog felt good, and didn't seem quite as hard as it was last week. I made it to my target spot before stopping, and I think I probably could have gone on a little bit farther.

Now that I don't have a foster dog (for now), taking both of the dogs out running with me is much easier. Nala isn't really much of a running companion. She likes to run, especially chasing after balls at the dog park, but I think going out for jogs, she gets bored because she can't sniff any of the interesting smells along the way. After the initial excitement of getting outside, she ends up lagging behind for most of the jog, going fast enough to keep just a little bit of tension on the leash. She'll go faster if I up the pace a little, but always maintaining that small amount of tension.

Simba on the other hand makes a great running partner. He happily trots along beside me, and could definitely go on for a lot longer than I can right now. I'm sure once summer and the 30°C mornings hit, that will change.

Temp: 11°C
Distance: ~1 mile
Time: ~20 min
Pace: ~20:00

Out and back a little farther

Another light breeze this morning kept things nice and cool, which was very welcome once I started warming up from the jog.

Living at the end of a cul-de-sac, the road makes for a nice out and back route. Conveniently, from my house to the end of the road is almost exactly 3/4 of a mile (1.2 km) so it's pretty easy for me to tell the distance I've gone.

Took the pace up just a little bit today and felt pretty good about it. Made it all the way to the end of the road and back, so I've already increased my distance 50%! Woohoo!

Temp: 14°C
Distance: 2.4 km/1.5 miles
Time: ~25 min
Pace: ~17:00

Sign QOTD

THE DIFF OF 30 YEARS
1970 ACID ROCK
2000 ACID REFLUX

THE DIFF OF 30 YEARS
1970 KEG
2000 EKG

Spotted on the sign of a storage facility

What is it #3

CBA?

This is the second one I noticed tacked up on an utility pole today. The first one is on the corner of President and Bee St. This one I saw over by the Aquarium. They look like they've been there for a little while, but not too long.

Oh hai!

The OOTS collection

The 4 Order of the Stick books I ordered came in yesterday, completing my collection. So shiny.

Penguins at the Aquarium

One of the perks of being a volunteer at the Aquarium is getting the inside scoop on new exhibits and animals. Needless to say, I thought it was pretty exciting news when I heard a few months ago that the Aquarium was going to be getting a penguin exhibit.

Now that Penguin Planet is officially open, I figure it's safe for me to show off some of the pictures I've been taking over the past couple of months.

Here's the penguin enclosure just after it was delivered to the Aquarium. The old touch tank on the first floor was removed to make room for the Penguin Planet exhibit.

A couple of weeks later, the enclosure moved into its final resting spot and the exhibit space was getting framed out.

Here's the exhibit space all framed out. Life support systems for the enclosure have been installed and the enclosure filled with water. No leaks!

The walls have been put up and covered and waiting for the final touches on the exhibit. Penguins have moved in and are getting used to their new space (you can see them hanging out in the top left of the enclosure.

The completed exhibit.

Here are three of the four penguins. None of them have names, but they each have wing bands with different colours so staff can tell them apart.

These particular penguins (Magellanic penguins) are pretty buoyant and don't dive very deep

Easy morning jog

A little on the cool side this morning. Who left the fridge open?

Went out for an easy jog this morning with the dogs. Don't want to push myself too hard. Being someone who used to run quite a bit back in high school and university, and then not doing it for a long long time makes getting back into running a little challenging. The brain remembers being able to run a lot faster and harder than the body is capable of. The brain says "hey, this feels good, let's go out a little faster" and makes the body go out harder than body is ready for. Then body ends up getting injured, which means no more running.

This has foiled some of my previous attempts at getting back into running in the past, so I try to make myself take things easy for the first few weeks. I'm not too concerned that I haven't gone out in a few days. Those days of obsessing and gnashing of teeth because I missed a day of running are long past me now (yes, I used to be one of those runners). My main goal is to be able to get back to a point where I want to go running regularly, and that means not getting myself injured.

Plus, I have a goal this time. I'm on an i5k team (go vote on a t-shirt design for our team)! It would be embarrassing to do all this training, and then get myself injured so I can't run in the race.

Temp: 11°C
Distance: 2.4 km/1.5 miles
Time: ~30 min
Pace: ~20:00

Blend is back!

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard this morning that Blend had reopened, so I decided to stop in for lunch.

Blend has changed the menu and lowered prices by taking their sandwiches and salads and turning them into wraps. Sandwich wraps are $5.95 and the salad wraps are $6.95. They also have a selection of 3 soups you can choose from for $2.75, and you can get a wrap/soup combo for $6.95. If you pay with cash, they'll also knock 5% off the bill.

I miss the proscuitto/cappicola sandwich, but the wrap versions are still just as tasty as the original sandwich versions. Hopefully the lower prices will draw more customers and help keep Blend around as a good alternative lunching spot to the cafeteria.

Blend is open from 10-4.

Moose's Famous BBQ

BBQ action this evening was at Moose's BBQ up in Moncks Corner. A bit of a drive out there from my place, but definitely well worth the 70km round trip.

This was actually my second trip out to Moose's, and I was eagerly anticipating tonight's visit out there. The buffet line is well stocked with a wide variety of items, but I think the highlight of the buffet is the brisket. Not that the rest of the buffet isn't good, but for me, it's the brisket that brings me back.

If you haven't left Moose's fat and happy, there's something wrong with you.

10 years in Charleston!

Today marks 10 years that I've been in Charleston.

10 years ago I finished my medical physics residency, packed myself up and left the Detroit area (Dearborn Heights to be specific) for the warmer climate of Charleston. Little did I know how warm it would be.

10 years ago I figured I'd work in Charleston for a while, and then find another job back home and move back.

10 years later I'm still here. That must mean I like it here, right? Honestly, I'm surprised it's been that long, and sometimes I wonder why I'm still here (especially between June-August).

I remember years ago seeing pictures of the aftermath of Hugo on the news and thinking "Boy, I'm glad I don't live there". At the time I didn't know it was Charleston that Hugo had hit. I just remembered seeing a picture of a large boat in the middle of the road. A few years ago I saw the same picture (it was a picture of a large sail boat in the middle of Lockwood Dr) and then made the connection. I realized that I was "there", in that place I saw on the news so long ago.

How's that for irony?

So now I've been here 10 years and I must admit I've enjoyed it here, despite the 4 months of nearly intolerable heat and humidity. I've had the privilege of working with and being mentored by some very well respected people in my field over the past 10 years and more recently, thanks to Lowcountry Bloggers and the Charleston Linux Users Group, have expanded my social circle quite a bit.

Coincidentally, there's the possibility that I may be starting off my second decade in Charleston with a fairly major new venture. Depending on how things work out, I may find myself finally tackling a PhD (something that's long been on my list of things to accomplish) through the Clemson/MUSC Bioengineering program. That's a story for another blog entry though.

Nala and Simba

Early bird