Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Health Travelers Eat Their Way Around The Country

With each new assignment we find a new place where we like eat. Me and my wife are breakfast people, we often like to go out to breakfast on Saturday. We don't go out too much during the week because eating out often can can deplete your disposable income faster than a banker can say overdrawn.

But breakfast is relatively inexpensive. I'm not talking about McDonald's or any of the other fast food places. Nor am I talking about chain restaurants. We like to hit the local restaurants that serve a great meal.

To that end, the following are some of the places around the country we have eaten that impressed us.

  • In Winston-Salem, a great place to go if you can get a medical travel assignment there, is at Billy Bob's Silver Diner, located near Hanes Mall on Hanes mall Blvd and across from the movie theater. The breakfast was always good, there was plenty of food and the price was around $6 each for eggs, bacon, potatoes toast and coffee. It had a nice '50s feel to the interior. Outside the diner is a throwback to an earlier time. It is covered in shiny aluminum and is a real eye-catcher.
  • Up next is B.B.King's Blues Club. To be honest, we did not eat breakfast there. I don't even think they serve Breakfast. The Traveler and I strolled over there after visiting the Peabody Hotel to watch the ducks walk through the lobby. It was about the coldest night of the year for Memphis. After not getting to see the ducks because of the huge crowd that packed the lobby, we froze looking for some entertainment on Beale Street. We wandered into B.B. King's Blues Club. There were quite a few people in there waiting for the entertainment to start. While waiting we had a barbecue spare rib dinner. The - tastiest - we - have - ever - eaten, bar none. I am sure there are plenty of other places in Memphis that serve just as delicious food, but we didn't eat there. So what I can recommend, medical travelers, are the ribs at the Blues Club on Beale Street in Memphis.
  • The next place to eat, should you find yourself in Fayetteville, N.C. is the Quality Inn Ambassador on Eastern Blvd. There is a restaurant separate from the Inn that serves a great breakfast. Lots of well-prepared food, hot coffee and fast service for a low price. A lot of locals eat there.
  • From there, should you find yourself in Beaufort, S.C., the place to east breakfast is Boundary Street Pizza on Boundary Street. We would occasionally drive by the business in the morning and see the parking lot packed with customers. I'm thinking they must put out one heck of a breakfast pizza. One day we decided to stop in a see what was going on for breakfast. It's a place the Traveler and I will never forget. It's not a big place inside but the food was well prepared with eggs to order, breakfast potatoes, bacon or sausage, toast, pancakes, and hot coffee, all for about 9 bucks! For both of us. Moreover, the owner is an extremely friendly guy who quietly boasts that many of the town's movers and shakers frequently eat there. I can understand why. Oh yeah, the pizza is really good too.
  • Beaufort gets a double nod for places to eat. The second place is Barbara Jeans on Ladys Island. Great Southern food that is to die for. We ate outdoors on the porch that wraps around the building, an old-fashioned farm style home.
  • From Beaufort we head farther south to Milton, FL. We didn't actually like living in Milton, but they did have a couple of places for great breakfasts. One was Ace's and the other was Reggies. Both serve a full breakfast line and good hot coffee. Get there early because they both get packed quickly on the weekends.
  • Next up is Pensacola, FL, home of the Blue Angels. The place for breakfast is the Scenic 90 Cafe, aka the Shiny Diny. Like Billy Bobs in Winston-Salem, Scenic 90 is a diner-style cafe serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast choices are not plentiful, but what you do get is really good and fairly cheap. The interior is a '50s style ambiance. Get there early if you want a seat.
  • Heading east from Pensacola to the blue waters of Destin is Another Broken Egg. A little pricey but the food is really scrumptious and you get a lot of choices.
  • Also in Destin is the Donut Hole, a very popular restaurant that serves a wide variety of well-prepared breakfast foods. Also a little pricey but worth it.
  • This time we head really far south to Naples, FL. The place to eat here is Joe's Diner in Naples Park, right on the Tamiami Trail. I have never seen such a large variety of breakfast foods. We eat there frequently and everything is well prepared and hot. Plus, if you buy an "Eat at Joe's" T-shirt or cap, each time you wear it in to eat, you get 10 percent off your meal, which is fairly economical already.
  • One last place that has to be mentioned is the Dockside Sports Pub in Ft. Myers Beach. We stayed there one night on our way to Naples. The Traveler and I were in the mood for pizza. But when we called a few places, they had no one to deliver the food. Couldn't find the help. Cutting the story short, I walked to the nearby Dockside, which is a sports bar and karaoke lounge that serves a variety of short order items and entrees and award winning pizza. I bought a cheese pizza. Talk about good! That doesn't begin to describe the taste. A large cheese pizza ran about $13 but well worth the price.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Pet Obedience A Top Priority For Travelers

Being a medical traveler can be a lonely life regardless if you are single or married. You come into an area where most of your co-workers are already established and may have lived in the community for many years. Breaking into that circle may be nearly impossible.

Part of the reason for this is because they know that you are only temporary. Many people, yourself included, will not expend much energy on someone who is going to leave in a few months.

That's not to say you won't make any friends, because you will. Just don't expect to get invited to a lot of after-work events.

One step many medical travelers take to combat lonliness is to have a pet to keep them company.

This next part is important: if you have a pet you will be discriminated against when trying to get housing. You will not be able to get into the better apartments or condos. In some cases there may not be any available housing that takes pets, of any kind.

Moreover, if they do take your pet, they may charge you an additional monthly fee of 25$ and a nonrefundable pet deposit ranging from $250 and up. But to be honest, there have been enough incidents of people living worse than their dogs and severely damaging the apartment that landlords have had to resort to these sorts of near extortion tactics.

If you really want a pet as a medical health traveler, the smaller the better. More living accomodations accept pets under 25 pounds than larger pets, primarly dogs.

With that word of warning out of the way I will get on to the meat of this article, obedience training for your dog.

Dogs are social animals and need proper training to fit into human socienty. Until they are trained, they wil use your home like a backyard, bark until you wonder why they aren't hoarse, fight other dogs and even try to chew on you. That's because they don't recognize you as the alpha dog, the guy in charge, and no, phycally punishing the animal is not the answer.


In researching information on controlling animal behavior, I have come to the conclusion that there are as many different methods of training an animal as there are animal trainers.

As a result, and to help those of you who have a new dog you are trying to socialize into your household, I will give you some major tips for basic dog training that have been culled from various animal training experts. This current tip is one of the most important: How to train your new canine to relieve itself outside, not in the house.

Housebreaking Your Dog
Four aspects of housebreaking to remember are, praise, reward, be consistent and observe your dog's behavior.

Soon after eating the new puppy will need to relieve itself. Take it outside frequently until it defecates or urinates. Then immediately give the pooch a small treat and praise it. Tone of voice carries a lot of weight with animals - as it does people. This lets the new joy in your life know that relieving itself outside is acceptable bahavior.

Eventually, the dog will associate praise with a treat and soon praise with only the occasional treat will be enough to reinforce the behavior.

Initially, the use of a pet keeper, i.e. cage, as Poochie's Pad, can be beneficial in training your new Wonder Dog to go potty outdoors. Though not always true, dogs seem to refrain from relieving themselves where they sleep. But this will only be true if the cage is just big enough for them to turn around inside. If it is much bigger than that, they will use a corner to dump in and the other corner to sleep.

My dog Sebastian was a Pound Puppy, meaning I rescued him from the Animal Shelter, and at the start he was kept in a pet keeper. His cage was just large enough for him to turn around in and he seemed to like it.

More importantly, he never relieved himself inside there. We would let him out to play around the house and frequently took him outside. We rewarded him with praise and sometimes treats if he used the outdoors as a bathroom.

Eventually, we left the door of the pet keeper open and he could go in or out at will. Before long he outgrew the cage and we sold it at a yard sale.
Keep the same daily feeding schedule and begin by taking the Fido out soon after eating.

Over time begin taking longer and longer to take the Wonder Dog out until you get him on a schedule you are comfortable with. If an accident occurs in the house, use a harsh tone of voice and say, "No," or "Bad" to let the dog know what it did was not acceptable. But avoid physical punishment. Again, it's not the words as much as the tone of voice.

Here's an important household tip. If Poochie has an accident in the house use a carpet cleaner or cleaning solution that will eliminate the odor. Otherwise, the joy of you life will smell it later and think the spot is a place to relieve itself again.

Keep the feeding schedule regular. Don't vary the time much. My dog Sebastian knows within a few minutes of when he is supposed to be fed and starts a vigil by his bowl. This allows you to know how much you are feeding Fido, keep his calories under control, and know how soon he will have to go out to do the same thing bears do in the woods.

Notice your new best friend's behavior, I'm talking about your canine. Is she suddenly sniffing around the house, appear anxious or is whining? The dog may be looking for a suitable place to potty and is letting you know she needs to go out. Take her out immediately and don't confuse the animal by being upset with her because you are missing you favorite TV show. Afterall, you wanted Fido to let you know when it needed to go.

Whether you have a puppy or a grown dog, they vary in their ability to learn to relieve themselves outside. Some seem to know instinctively not to go in the house and make some effort to communicate to you that they need to go out. Just be patient and consistent and don't mix your signals.
  • In summary, take the new dog or puppy outside and when it relieves itself outdoors use praise and treats as a reward.
  • If the pooch has an accident in the house, use a harsh tone of voice and say, "No," to let it know your displeasure.
  • Use an odor eliminator cleaner to remove pet mishaps
  • Observe the dog and notice its behavior, such as sniffing, anxiety and whining. Take it out immediately.