The Tsarina's Journal

2012 Day 5

2012-01-06T08:19:00.001-08:00

Fortune cookie say

2012 Day 4

2012-01-05T06:12:00.001-08:00

Lunch made from my CSA box.

2012 Day 3

2012-01-04T05:24:00.001-08:00

Took this using the B&W effect on my Atrix.

2012 Day 2

2012-01-03T07:50:00.001-08:00

Silhouette

Farm Fresh To Me

2011-10-28T09:20:00.001-07:00

I was SO excited to walk in to my office this morning and see this box on my desk:

It had arrived just moments before I did. Having it delivered to the office was definitely the right choice. When I opened the box, I pulled out the plastic bag containing the vegetables:

I received one bunch of green leaf lettuce, two small Spanish onions, a bunch of carrots (with the tops, including a ladybug hitchhiker), and two stalks of broccoli. The onions were a substitute for the radishes which I had excluded.

Beneath that lay:

5 Granny Smith apples, 5 Bartlett pears, 5 D'Anjou pears, and a bunch of red grapes (which are probably NOT seedless)

I chose this CSA because A)it delivered B)you can customize your order and not get food you don't like or are allergic to and C)I had a Groupon.

I am not disappointed and can't wait to start eating. Stay tuned to see what I make!

Countdown to Flexitarianism

2011-10-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

For reasons of health, and inpsired by the many carnivores I know who've recently gone vegan for health purposes, I have decided to officially become a flexitarian.

For those of you who don't know, this is basically an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet. However, two to three servings of meat per week are allowable, preferably fish or poultry. But even steak and bacon can be enjoyed guilt-free! (Well, not entirely guilt-free for me as I'm allergic to pork)

To help me along my path, I've joined a CSA and farm fresh produce will be delivered to my door. I've committed to one delivery/month to start. They recommended twice a month for a couple and I'm half as many people. I can always make that more frequent if necessary.

This week, I'm eating the two pounds of steak I had in the freezer and looking forward to getting those fun grains quinoa, bulgur and barley into my eating plan.

What I like best about this change is that I'm not thinking about it as a diet. I'm thinking about it as a lifestyle choice. That's a new perspective for me.

Of course, losing weight would be fantastic, but that's not the goal here. The goal is to eat healthier and be healthier.

If you have any yummy vegetarian recipes, I would love to hear about them. I will try to be good and blog about any yummy things I make as well as what's in my CSA delivery and what I make with it.

Change is exciting, and also delicious!

I Love New York - Day 1

2011-06-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to take a vacation in New York. The occasion was my High School Reunion. I planned a few extra days so that I could spend time in New York City. It turned out to be on of the best vacations of my life. Almost nothing happened in the way that I had originally planned, but it was still awesome.

Over the years, I have had lots of friends living in or near New York City so I have rarely needed to stay at a hotel, but this trip I did. I browsed many websites trying to decide on the right balance of cost, location & amenities. New York is famously expensive when it comes to hotel rooms. I finally settled on Park 79 Hotel. I booked a double bed with shared bath.

I made tentative plans with several people to meet up. I bought a ticket for a matinee on Wednesday. I checked out the exhibits at various museums, thought about which favorite restaurants I wanted to visit again. I had a nice little itinerary in my head.

Best laid plans, right?

I arrived at the hotel at 8am (after as much dawdling as I could manage knowing that check in was at 3pm). They checked my luggage and asked me to come back around 1pm.
So I set off in search of breakfast. I found a great little bagel shop and sat down with my coffee and bagel with a shmear. I decided, since it was Wednesday, I would take the subway up to the Bronx and visit the Van Cortland House which is free on Wednesdays. I thought it would be fun to do something I had never done before and that it would use up some time. If you are ever in NYC on a Wednesday, I recommend visiting Van Cortland House. I'm not sure it's worth the price of admission on other days though.

For those that don't know about Van Cortland House, it's been preserved by the Colonial Dames as a historic site from the Revolutionary War. You can learn more here: http://www.vancortlandthouse.org/index-2.html

New York was having a massive heatwave and I was definitely feeling the heat as I headed back downtown. I got off the subway with the intention of visiting Grant's Tomb but it was closed so I opted for a bus ride back to the hotel. Did I mention that I had purchased the unlimited ride MetroCard? That was one of the best decisions I had made. While riding back downtown, I got a text from a friend who I'd been wanting to see but he was only available that day. I texted him back and told him I had matinee tickets, but maybe we could work something out.

A foodie co-worker had told me about the Shake Shack and there was one near my hotel so I went there for lunch. There weren't any tables so I took my lunch to the park and sat there eating and people-watching. While I was eating, the theatre texted me that the performance had cancelled so I quickly made plans with my friend. Now I really needed to shower & change!

I went back to the hotel and my room wasn't ready, but they did have another slightly smaller room that they offered me for $50 less per night. I took it! The price difference online had only been $10!

The room was small, but adequate. I couldn't wait to find the shared bath and take a shower after traveling all night. I was less than thrilled to find a palmetto-type bug sharing the bathroom with me. Yikes. But housekeeping took care of it and I was off downtown.

My friend and I had not seen each other in 30 years! But it was like yesterday. He lives in a great Greenwich Village neighborhood. We played with his new puppy and caught up with our lives and then went shopping for his planned tapas dinner for that night. After our visit, I headed back uptown to a tweetup I had planned.

Meeting Twitter friends for the first time is always fun but a little bit strange. We were both in front of the theatre on our phones and looking at each other to see if we were the ones we were there to meet. We had planned to meet for real the next day to stand on line for Book Of Mormon tickets but decided to meet briefly first to scope things out and make our plan. We picked a place to meet the next day and then I was off to meet another friend for dinner.

The heat was getting to me and I nearly passed out in Grand Central Terminal. After a couple of cold beverages, I was feeling better. Though I got a bit disoriented after exiting the subway at 86th. I finally made it to my friend's apartment and we went to dinner at Paola's at 92nd & Madison. I highly recommend it!

After planning our trip upstate for Friday morning, I grabbed a crosstown bus back to my hotel.

So far, my trip was going very well!

What I Ate - 2/15/11

2011-02-16T05:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did my BMI calculation and I'm down 2 points! I also tried on some new clothes and I have dropped a Dress Size. yay!

So even though I strayed a bit from my healthy plan (see after dinner snack), I still think it was a pretty good day!

B: Toast w/peanut butter, OJ, Protein Shake
S: Coffee, Apple, Orange
L: Juice Box, Turkey Chili, Salad
S: Coke Zero, Brussel sprouts
D: Broccoli Beef
S: Ben & Jerry's Imagine Whirled Peace

What I Ate - 2/14/11

2011-02-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

It's been one month since I started trying to eat healthier. I've lost 14 pounds! Go Me!

B:Cereal w/nonfat milk, orange
S:Coffee, black bean brownie (I made them for the office for Valentine's Day)
L:Coffee Bean Grande Chai NSA Ice Blended, Chili Two Ways(two kinds of chili in a bowl)
S:Sliced Peaches, Access bar
D:Grilled Steak, Sauteed Cauliflower & Tomatoes
S:Black bean brownie

What I Ate - 2/13/11

2011-02-14T07:34:00.001-08:00

I've been writing down what I eat as part of my plan to try and be healthier and lose weight. I decided to post some of my food journaling here to help keep me honest.

Menu for Sunday February 13:
B: Oatmeal with peaches & brown sugar, coffee
S: Roast Beef Sandwich bite, Turkey rollup bite, Tall Light Frappucino
L: Pasta Primavera with Shrimp & Pesto, Orange
S: Bagel w/Peanut Butter
D: Turkey Veggie Chili, Sauteed Cauliflower & Tomatoes
S: Lowfat Ice Cream bar

Somewhere

2010-12-26T19:53:00.001-08:00

This film has not yet been nominated for anything, but I did go see it today and that's during "awards season". So I shall blog about it and we'll see if it get a nomination in the future.

Sofia Coppola calls this film her tone poem for Los Angeles. She was inspired by stories of the bad boy actors living at Chateau Marmont and the film Paper Moon starring real-life father & daughter Ryan & Tatum O'Neal.

I did like it better than Lost in Translation, but even less happens in this film than in that one. It's very European in its style and pacing.

I remarked to my friends that I would have enjoyed it more had it ended in a fiery car or helicopter crash. The story didn't really end so much as stop. And in a film that's not intended for sequels, that really bugs me.

So you might want to wait to see this one on DVD. Unless you are a huge Sofia Coppola fan.

The King's Speech

2010-12-26T19:47:00.000-08:00

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Motion Picture - Drama
Best Actor - Drama
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Best Original Score
BAFTA Nominations: Not yet announced
OSCARS Nominations: Not yet announced

Let me start by saying that every single one of these nominations is well-deserved and there should be some winners and more nominations to come!

From the script to the casting to the production design to the directing, all the techinal aspects are spot on. I especially love seeing a film based on a true story that I am familiar with that keeps me on the edge of my seat for how it is going to unfold. This film does exactly that.

You cannot go see this film fast enough! Do it! Now! Go! It's awesome!!!

Red

2010-12-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

Golden Globe Nomination: Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
BAFTA Nominations: Not announced yet
OSCAR Nominations: Not announced yet

The best part of this movie is the amazing cast. The story is a bit on the weak side. It's kind of a re-working of Shane and Grosse Pointe Blank.

But it was funny, and touching, and hit all the right notes. And it probably didn't hurt that I saw it at the dollar theatre so the movie and the concessions together were less than $6.

If you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it!

Burlesque

2010-12-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
Best Original Song - Bound To You
Best Original Song - You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me
BAFTA Nominations - Have not been announced
OSCAR Nominations - Have not been announced

Cher is in this film and I have seen every one of her films. But what happened to her face? Did she use too much BOTOX? Did she have bad plastic surgery? Every time she was on screen I had to shut my eyes. Her mid-film number is worth the price of admission regardless of the other faults of the film.

I liked Christina Aguilera and Julianne Hough in this film. And I liked the musical numbers. But the story holding them together was so thin and so trite. If this was one of the Best Musical or Comedy films, they must have really had to scrape the barrel (well, let's face it, they did - because The Tourist is in the same category and it is a drama).

I give this film a 3 out of 5.

Award Season Movie Rush Begins

2010-12-18T20:39:00.001-08:00

I am a movie geek. I own a lot of movies. I watch a lot of movies. I have two degrees in Film. Of the 22 years I have been working, only 2 have not been in the movie business.

I am very interested in the awards season. I like to see nominated films in all categories and I like to watch the awards shows. I pay special attention to the Big Three: Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Oscars.

Starting the Saturday before Christmas and continuing through Oscar night, I watch as many nominated movies as possible.

This year I decided to blog about each film that I see in the theatre.

Are you ready? Lets begin!

2010 – The Year of the Tweet-ups

2010-12-16T17:18:00.000-08:00

If you know me, and let’s face it you do or you wouldn’t be reading this, then you know that I love Twitter. Some might even say I am thoroughly addicted to Twitter. Thought in my defense, I have done the online quiz from @oatmeal and I am only 86% addicted to Twitter.
But Twitter has been an important part of my life in 2010 and so, as a way to re-cap my year, I am going to tell you about my Tweetups and the Tweeples I met at them.

The first, best, and most important Tweetup of the whole year was when I flew to Scotland to spend Spring Break with @GeekyMae. I had met her a couple of years ago on the Facebook wall of our mutual friend @aberforth. And even though we have had a very good friendship develop from that, we had never met in person. Not until the moment I saw her at baggage claim at Edinburgh airport. We had a great week, despite (or maybe because of) the freakish weather. I met lots of interesting people, saw all the interesting sights, and have loads of quirky stories to tell with each and every photo. To me, that’s the best kind of vacation. Mae and I found out that we are just as good IRL (that’s “in real life”) friends as we are Twitter/Facebook friends. Isn’t that the best when that happens?

My next Tweetup was much later in the year, in July, after ComicCon. I learned that @HellenaHeavenly was going to be in California for a while after Con so I invited her to stop in Burbank for lunch if she passed through. Which she did. It was my first time meeting someone I only knew through Twitter. But she was so much fun and we had lots to talk about over tacos.

Next, I had a coffee date with @katerz1. Kate lives fairly close to me, but it was the first chance that we had to meet in person. We had such a long chat that day that I was afraid that her hubby would be annoyed with me. We also had a lunch date several weeks later. And we are planning more fun things to come!

Next, I met @rebisCA at Wootstock at Largo, also accompanying me were @faffertime and her boyfriend. I didn’t get much chance to chat with Renee because the show was going on, but she will also be included in future plans with @katerz1. In fact, we already have a tweetup planned for January!

My last tweetup of the year was to #stlcttu in St. Louis. This was an awesome major tweetup!! It was there I met @beautifulmind1, @devtony, @watchout4snakes, @_amylw_ @angellio, @TheOtherEstevez, @TheKillerShrew, @DataLoreB4, @HollyHollows, @incognito117, @aura322 and @triefy. We saw the Cinematic Titanic show, did some sightseeing, stayed up all night drinking. It was great fun!! If you want to guarantee a good time, these are the people to invite!

So, if you are on Twitter, you should follow all of us, including me, @anastasiam. If you’re not on Twitter, you should think about it. I have 245 followers (today anyway). They live all over the world. We have great fun. We send each other silly presents. We watch sporting events and films together and tweet while we’re doing it. We give each other moral support through tough times. And sometimes we get to meet in person.

And that’s what it’s all about.

Primary Election Day - The Decline To State Dilemma

2010-06-08T05:42:00.000-07:00

Today is Primary Election day in California. As a Decline To State voter, I have a choice of three ballots: Democrat, Republican, or Non-Partisan.

I'm still trying to decide which one to choose. I will probably not choose Non-Partisan. I want to vote for offices like Governor, Senator, Attorney General.

Most of the candidates that I like in this election are Democrats and most of the ones that I don't like are Republican.

A friend and I were discussing this last night. We both don't want Meg Whitman as governor and all the bad things she says in her ads about Steve Poizner make him appealing to moderate independents like me.

I'm leaning towards choosing the Republican ballot so I can vote against Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina and hopefully keep them from the general election.

I'll keep you posted.

Habakkuk 2-3, Zephaniah, Mark, Ruth, 1 Kings 1

2010-03-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is my last post before I leave for Spring Break.

I will try to post while I'm away.

If not, I will catch up when I get back.

Matthew 4-28, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk 1

2010-03-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Two more days worth.

It's good to read the Gospels as Palm Sunday and Easter draw near. I especially enjoyed the translation of Matthew.

Galatians 3-6, Obadiah-Micah, Haggai-Malachi, Matthew 1-3

2010-03-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

Two more days worth. After finishing Galatians, I decided to read some of the smaller books that I had skipped over in the Old Testament. Easter is fast approaching and I am so enjoying this practice that I wanted to try and read as many books as possible before Easter.

Speaking of Easter, I will be on vacation from Palm Sunday to Easter and may not have time to blog even every other day. But I will be keeping notes and blogging when I get back.

Zechariah 10-14, Acts, 2 Corinthians, Galatians 1-2

2010-03-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

Wow that's a lot of reading for two days, isn't it?

I must say that the epistles are far easier reading than the Old Testament books. So many of the verses I know by heart.

It's nice to revisit them though.

Ezekiel 29-48, Zechariah 1-9

2010-03-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

Two days worth of reading. As soon as I finish Zechariah, I am moving on to the New Testament.

Ezekiel 18-28

2010-03-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

Today's readings.

Isaiah 63-66 & Ezekiel 1-17

2010-03-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today's readings.

Isaiah 27-62

2010-03-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Noting my readings from yesterday and today.

Isaiah 12-26

2010-03-12T15:25:00.001-08:00

Just a short post to note what I read this morning. And to get back into Lenten mode after yesterday's political rant.

Meg Whitman Does Not Care About California

2010-03-11T19:22:00.001-08:00

You may remember my post from the last Presidential campaign about Sarah Palin girl - the dear friend who intended to vote for McCain simply because Palin was his running mate.

Well, not much has changed in the intervening months.

The other night we were out and I mentioned how happy I was to start seeing ads and tweets for Steve Poizner because I just couldn't stand Meg Whitman.

After all, Meg couldn't be bothered to register to vote until she was in her 40s. She just didn't get around to it because she was busy.

My friend said that she really likes Meg Whitman and was planning on voting for her.

I"m sorry, but that is ridiculous! How can you vote for someone who never voted herself! She never registered to vote before 2002!! Once registered, she rarely voted!!

Regardless of where you stand politically, you are an idiot if you don't exercise your right to vote. Meg Whitman should move to China and leave California to those of us who care enough to exercise our constitutional rights.

Come the gubernatorial election, I sincerely hope that you vote NO for Meg Whitman. I don't really care who you choose to vote for, as long as you vote and as long as you vote for someone who cares enough about this country to exercise their right to vote.

Thank you.

Psalms 147-150, Isaiah 1-11

2010-03-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

This morning I finished off Psalms and moved on to Isaiah.

I love these passages in Isaiah and how they tell of the coming Messiah. I didn't love how The Message translated the familiar "His name shall be called..." Prince of Wholeness? This is better than Prince of Peace? I think not.

Psalms 28-146

2010-03-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

My pattern seems to be to blog every other day even though I am reading every day.

So, over the past two days I have read these Psalms.

The only one that was really striking to me in this translation was Psalm 50. This Psalm talks about how God doesn't NEED any thing from us. He created the universe so we can't give him any thing that he didn't create already. The only thing he needs from us is to turn to him for help and to offer him our praise.

You see, he gave us free will. And that means that we have to choose whether or not we worship him. When we make that choice, and choose him, it is like a feast for God with much celebrating and rejoicing.

I think that is a perfect idea to reflect upon during Lent. Lent is like the period of time between creation and decision while we are wandering in the wilderness. But Easter is coming, the feast day when God will celebrate and rejoice with us that we have turned to him.

2 Chronicles 30-36, Job, Psalms 1-27

2010-03-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

Once again, this is two days worth of reading. I enjoyed this version of Job, but I am not enjoying the Psalms in this translation.

One of the things I like about reading the Psalms is the poetry of them. They have a rhythm to them that I find helps me to remember them and to take comfort in them in times of trouble.

I will finish reading the Psalms but if you are not familiar with the Psalms, please do not read The Message translation of them. Get yourself the NIV or the King James. Enjoy the poetry of these verses.

2 Chronicles 12-29

2010-03-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't blog this yesterday, I wanted to make a note this morning of what I read yesterday. More stories of the building of the Temple by Solomon.

Off to church now!

1 Chronicles 11-2 Chronicles 11

2010-03-05T21:42:00.000-08:00

Once again, I didn't blog yesterday so these passages represent two days worth of reading.

I am really enjoying reading 2 Chronicles more than 2 Kings.

2 Kings 23 - 1 Chronicles 10

2010-03-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

Kings and Chronicles cover the same period of time and were written by different people about 100 years apart. Similarly to the Gospels, they relate the same stories from different perspectives. I skipped 1 Kings. Maybe I will skip 2 Chronicles?

Stay tuned...

1 Samuel 28- 2 Samuel 24 & 2 Kings 1-22

2010-03-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

I went to bed last night without blogging what I read yesterday. The Samuel passages were from yesterday & Kings was today.

Being history books, these contain a lot of names and battles and such. But also exciting and memorable stories of the children of Israel.

Good reading!

1 Samuel 10-27

2010-02-28T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today's passage is the story of David. Well, it's the beginning of the story. How God works was manifested in that this passage also went along with the sermon I heard in church today, even though this was not a passage read in church today.

But all the passages, and the sermon, and the conversations that I had today with church friends fit together in an illuminating puzzle.

Life is an amazing journey.

Deuteronomy 28-34 & 1 Samuel 1-9

2010-02-27T16:46:00.001-08:00

I forgot to blog yesterday's reading so I'm combining yesterday's & today's.

I found the end of Deuteronomy to be quite moving and a bit sad. It's funny because I know these stories and I've read the Bible hundreds of times but somehow The Message makes them more compelling.

And even though Sundays in Lent are mini Easters, I'm keeping up my reading on Sundays so that I can really make it a new habit.

Deuteronomy 8-27

2010-02-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Today's reading included one of my favourite passages in the whole Bible. A sign of Hesed and a foreshadowing of salvation by grace, God instructs the Israelites that every seven years all debts will be forgiven and all slaves set free.

I was reminded of the beautiful song "Jubilee" by Michael Card.

Click here to listen to it.

Numbers 23-Deuteronomy 7

2010-02-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

I was struck by the Introduction to Deuteronomy which compelled me to continue on with that as my next book. According to Peterson, Deuteronomy is the longest sermon in the Bible, if not the longest sermon ever. One last chance for Moses to instruct the Israelites before they cross into Canaan without him.

I never really looked at Deuteronomy in that light before and will try to keep that in mind as I read it.

Exodus 39-40 & Numbers 1-22

2010-02-24T06:46:00.000-08:00

I forgot to note what I read yesterday. Too busy watching the Olympics when I got home I guess.

I don't really have any comment on these chapters, but I want to keep track of what I am reading each day.

Exodus 9-38

2010-02-22T21:59:00.000-08:00

Wow I read almost the whole book of Exodus today. It was actually kind of fascinating. Almost a page-turner!

One thing really bothered me though. Several times throughout this book, there is a reference to dolphin skins. Dolphin skins are even used in the construction of the Tent Of Meeting. I thought maybe it was just the version (The Message) so when I got home tonight I checked the NIV. It says "sea cows" and in the footnotes "dugongs". Thankfully, I have an unabridged Websters.

dugong - n - Any of a genus of large tropical sirenian mammals that live on the shores of the Indian Ocean and feed mostly on seaweed.

So I'm still wondering how the Israelites wandering in the desert are going to have dolphin skins or sea animal skins of any variety. Any Bible scholars out there want to help me out here?

Anyway, tomorrow I am going to finish Exodus, but I think I am going to skip Leviticus at this time and try Numbers.

Genesis 44 - Exodus 8

2010-02-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

I finished Genesis today and decided to continue straight into Exodus.

I was reminded during today's reading of the importance of certain numbers throughout the Bible, and seven and seventy in particular.

I had quite an interesting image in my mind of the staffs turning into snakes and the one staff snake eating the others.

I'm glad I didn't have quite so vivid an image of the plague of frogs!

Genesis 37-43

2010-02-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

This section dealt mostly with Joseph & his brothers. So I have an urge to watch Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Hmmm.

Genesis 24-36

2010-02-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

Today's section was mostly the story of Jacob & his wives & children.

On a side note, I am reading the novel "The Red Tent" which covers a very small part of this same section. It's interesting to me how little of the story of The Red Tent is actually in the Bible, and yet how vivid that story is in the novel. That's the mark of a good writer.

I've been reading on my way to work on weekdays. I will have to figure out a good time to continue my practice on the weekends.

My friend Lori has given up cursing for Lent. She is finding this quite difficult but is persevering. Please keep Lori & Kirstyn in your Lenten prayers.

Genesis 14-23

2010-02-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

I didn't make it to Ash Wednesday services yesterday. I tried but, with work and errands and public transportation, it didn't quite happen.

I've also decided to finish Genesis before moving on to another book. I may not read the Bible cover to cover at this time, but I'm going to read each book fully before choosing the next one.

This morning I read Genesis 14-23. This section is mostly the adventures of Abram & Sarai and their children. I had forgotten that every time they went somewhere new, Abram told the king that Sarai was his sister and not his wife.

I like the way The Message conveys the story of Hagar and Ishmael.

Also, Gentle Readers, if you are of a mind to pray, please keep my friend Kirstyn in your Lenten Prayers. She is fasting from sunrise to sunset during Lent. That is an ambitious Lenten observance.

Genesis 1-13

2010-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

This morning I decided to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start) and I read Genesis 1-13.

I am a believer in the Gap Theory - That there is a gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. I also believe that God didn't create the world and everything in it in seven literal earth days but that "day" is a word used for lack of a better one to explain a period of time.

I found the Creation story in the Message to be supportive of this, even though it's not written in "chapter & verse". So I was pleasantly surprised.

I was also surprised at how easy and quick it is to read this version.

If you have found reading the Bible to be a daunting task, I recommend trying The Message.

Before tomorrow, I have to decide if I'm going to stick with Genesis and try reading it "cover to cover". Or sample different books.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Here it is Ash Wednesday once again. And Christians the world over will begin their Lenten observances by attending church and by giving up or adding something to their lives over the weeks until Easter.

I've already given up alcohol, coffee, and cola this year. I'm not giving up anything else.

I've decided to add instead. And I'm adding something that I hope will become more of a habit than it has been lately.

I'm going to be reading the Bible.

I'm a slacker when it comes to daily Bible reading. I read multiple books at once. I read several books a month. But my Bible spends a lot of time on the shelf.

I'm hopeful that by the time Easter rolls around, I will have made daily Bible reading more of a habit.

I've chosen The Message Bible by Eugene Peterson to read over Lent. Since I'm not reading to study but more to read, I thought this would be a good choice.

I bought myself a New Living Translation compact bible for my birthday last year and I am going to try and make better use of that once Lent is over!!

If I have any light bulb moments during this time, I will try to blog about them.

Stay tuned.

Almost Pain Free!

2010-02-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

Wow! This homeopathic stuff really works. Not an overnight cure by any means, but definitely an improvement.

When I first started this process, I had serious pain in my leg. It hurt to do just about everything except lie down on my right side.

But since I started, I have noted a steady improvement. I usually didn't have any pain until the end of the work day and only had trouble standing during bell rehearsal on Wednesday nights or if I had to wait a long time for the bus.

But last night on the way home from work, I noticed only a little ache in my leg and it didn't bother me to stand and wait for the bus.

When I woke up this morning, I was sleeping on my left side which I haven't done since October.

I am supposed to continue the homeopathic treatment until I have been pain free for two months so I'm going to target my end date right now at April 21st (which will allow for some backsliding over my vacation).

Thanks to Aunt Jo for giving me the treatment book and to my masseuse Rocio for helping work out the kinks, literally.

I'm on the road to a full recovery!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's been a while. But I'm back.

I don't really make New Year's Resolutions but I do think that the New Year is a good time to try something new. And so I have started a new regimen for my health.

I had been training for a half-marathon in Phoenix over MLK weekend. But I injured my shoulder in September and that threw my whole body out of whack with the injury settling in my leg. I developed an IT band strain and bursitis. Not fun. But, sadly, that required me to withdraw from the race.

I did everything my doctors suggested but wasn't getting over the pain. I needed to get off the drugs but the pre-Christmas cold snap made my pain worse.

Fortunately, my family loves me enough to help out in times like these. My aunt helped me find a homeopathic treatment. It required quite a few changes so I decided to start on New Year's Day.

I am no longer drinking alcohol, coffee or cola. I am eating one vegan meal every day. In addition to that, I have a whole list of herbals and vitamin supplements that I am taking. Plus two herbal treatments I can use externally.

A friend suggested that I document my improvement so I decided to do that here on my blog.

After one week - even without having all of the vitamins & herbals on hand just yet - I already notice an improvement. My pain is definitely less and goes away faster. My leg doesn't creak or click when I walk. And my co-worker asked me if I had lost weight! YAY!

The hard part is taking that many supplements every day.

But I am determined to give it a try for two months and see if I can be pain-free.

Stick around.

Health Care - My Two Cents

2009-08-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of noise going around right now about Health Care. Town Hall meetings across the country resemble mosh pits more than anything else. Friends on Facebook are arguing on each other's walls. Twitter is a buzz with people voicing opinions and tweeting URLs to back up their points. Late night comedians are having a field day with the whole thing.

I decided that I would state where I stand on this whole debate unequivocally here. On my blog. Where I have some control over the amount of space I devote to this topic.

I support Single Payer Health Care. I have been a supporter for some time now. I have three close friends whose health care stories have influenced my decision, but along the way, I have met many others. I would not deny care to any of the folks that I have met, but private insurers would and have.

Let's start at the beginning (a very good place to start):

My friend was rushed to the hospital with kidney failure. A diabetic since childhood (Type 1), her kidneys had finally given up. Her insurance company will only pay for her to have one new kidney. Her transplant team insists on a new pancreas as well since that will help ensure that the kidney lasts. She has been on dialysis three times a week for the past five years! She can't afford to pay for the pancreas. The only way she could afford to have the transplant her team wants is to become destitute and go on Medicaid.

Another friend was shopping at Home Depot with her husband when a pallet full of pavers toppled over on her crushing her leg. My friend was rushed to the nearest ER where she sat waiting for many hours. The ER was not particularly busy, but that hospital didn't want to treat her because, as a schoolteacher, her insurance wasn't good enough. Her husband began calling other hospitals til he found one that would treat her. 30 hours later, she was finally treated.

Lastly, my cousin was nearly killed (technically she was dead) when she was hit by a drunk driver and crushed in her car. Her medical bills were enormous and the driver was under insured. She lives in a state where attorneys are entitled to one-third of the settlement regardless of what the insurance had paid for without suing so even if she sued successfully for full payment of her medical bills, she would still be short the money to pay them. She ended up having to sell her house to pay her bills. She was left with life-long pain management and other now pre-existing conditions that make her uninsurable.

For myself, I have worked a corporate job for most of my life and I have always had insurance through my employer. But after losing my job, I was not able to make the COBRA payments. If not for the Obama administration's current subsidy of COBRA, I would not have health insurance right now.

Single Payer Health Care provides health care to all citizens regardless of employment, pre-existing conditions, or ability to pay. Patients have free choice of doctors and hospitals. Care is co-ordinated through a Primary Care Physician. Co-pays and premiums are established based on ability to pay. Any care that is not medically necessary according to the Primary Care Physician can be obtained by waiting a prescribed amount of time &/or paying an extra fee. Prevention & Wellness are stressed as these are real money saving ways to provide health care. Chiropractic, Acupuncture, and other alternative treatments are also covered.

I have supported the Single Payer movement here in CA, both with my time and my wallet. I supported it when I was fully insured by my employer and when I was uninsured because I couldn't afford insurance. I am happy to say that Senator Mark Leno has taken up the reins and authored SB 810. I encourage everyone to read it:

CA SB 810

There are two current bills in the US Congress. One is HR 3200. Dennis Kucinich has written an amendment which would allow states to keep or enact a Single Payer option. The other is HR 676 which is the National Health Care or Medicare for All bill. You can read that bill here:

HR 676

The important thing in the current Health Care debate is to not be swayed by the media coverage of riotous town hall meetings. The important thing is to keep your eyes on the target: Health Care Reform. I encourage everyone, including our President, to take the time to read the various bills pending before Congress and to write to your representatives to let them know how you want them to vote.

You can find your representatives here:

US Senate

US House of Representatives

Remember, your elected Representatives work for you. So be a good supervisor and tell them what you want them to do for you!

The End of Funemployment

2009-08-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

Today I accepted a Part-time job so thus marks the official end of Funemployment. I need to find a second part-time job to supplement the income. But I am excited at the possibilities that this new job has in store for me.

So I hope to write more inspiring blog posts in future!

Oeufs En Cocotte

2009-07-26T08:01:00.001-07:00

For those of you who are vegans, or otherwise don't eat eggs. You might as well stop reading right now.

This post is about eggs.

I have always loved eggs for breakfast, especially poached eggs. When I was little, my favourite breakfast was either a soft-boiled egg with toast soldiers or toad in a hole (my mother's version was an egg fried in bread). On special occasions, I would get oeuf en cocotte - an egg baked in a ramekin with butter & cheese.

When I was married, I sometimes made toad in a hole but I made oeufs en cocotte a lot. My then-husband also had his grandmother's egg poacher which we used quite a bit.

Since I've been divorced, I've made soft-boiled eggs, and toad in a hole, but I had not made oeufs en cocotte. Until today.

I began reading "Julie & Julia" which my aunt had given me for Christmas several years ago (while it was still on the NYT bestseller list) but which I had just not gotten around to reading. Since the movie is coming out, I decided that I had better get to it.

Of course, Julia Child loved eggs, butter, cream, and cheese which are exactly the ingredients of Oeufs en Cocotte. Julie Powell, the author, makes them frequently in the book, calling them the perfect dish.

And then this morning, I was inspired to make them when one of the people I follow on Twitter complained that no matter what he tried to do with eggs, they always end up scrambled. I found an easy recipe and tweeted the URL back to him. Then I proceeded to the kitchen to make them myself. Because if there's something I nearly always have in my kitchen, it's the ingredients for Oeufs en Cocotte.

Here's my recipe:

Preheat oven to 450 F

In a ramekin, place 1 tbsp of butter (if your ramekin is large enough for two eggs, use 2)
On top of the butter, crack 1 egg (or 2)
On top of the egg, put 1 tbsp of cream, creme fraiche, 1/2 & 1/2 or sour cream (or 2)
On top of the cream, put 1 tbsp of grated cheese of your choice (or 2)

Place ramekin in another baking dish, fill the outer dish 1/2 way with hot water. Place in hot oven and bake for at least 10 minutes or until the eggs are done to your taste.

Remove ramekin from baking dish and place on serving plate. Salt/pepper/parsley to taste. Serve with toast. Makes one serving per ramekin.

Easy Peasy!

It was delicous btw.

Defrosting the Minibar

2009-07-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Look to your left. No, not my left, your left. Do you see those lists in the sidebar? Have you noticed that they have new titles? Well, that is in honour of Minibar's 10 years in Los Angeles.

Minibar is my favourite band - you see them right there at or near the top of my list of bands that I have seen this year (LPs I Scratched Over Time is the heading). I first met Simon Petty and Sid Jordan who are one-half of the 'bar in Finn McCool's in Santa Monica. My friends were regulars there on Thursday nights and had been trying to get me to go for about a year, but I had another commitment. Finally, it was one friend's birthday and she was having her party there so I went. I was hooked. That was about 6 years ago and since then I have been to as many gigs as possible.

I have seen Minibar play all over the US - either alone or as Pete Yorn's backing band, and sometimes as both.

I've been thinking a lot about the time I've spent seeing Minibar lately. They had their "10 years in LA" show last night at Largo. It was phenomenal. I videotaped it so I hope we can all enjoy it for years to come. A week from this Thursday, Sid & Simon will play their last regular gig at Finn McCool's. I am hoping to make it one last time.

In the time since I have known them, they have gone from being four bachelors sharing an apartment to three out of four being married (and no longer sharing one apartment - in case you were wondering). Oddly, everyone but Malcolm seems to have more hair.

I just wanted to say "Cheers" to the four of them.

The Russians Are Coming!

2009-07-08T00:00:00.001-07:00

For some reason, I am gaga for Russian art in many forms. I love the music, the poetry, the plays, the operas, the literature. It can't be genetic since, despite the name of this blog, I'm not Russian. I do love melancholy things though so maybe that's the connection.

This musing was brought on by my trip to hear the Philharmonic perform selected works of Sergei Prokofiev. So I thought I might mention a few other Russian artists that I truly love.

Modest Mussorgsky wrote my favourite piece of classical music by a Russian composer: Pictures At An Exhibition. He also wrote Night on Bald Mountain which is featured in Walt Disney's Fantasia and the opera Boris Godunov.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is probably the most famous Russian composer, especially if you are a ballet lover. I was lucky enough to be selected for District Honours Orchestra the year that the entire Nutcracker (not just the Suite) was on the performance schedule. I also love Swan Lake & Sleeping Beauty. And who doesn't love the 1812 Overture performed with live cannons & fireworks! He also wrote operas based on stories by Alexander Pushkin - my favourite opera of all time "The Queen Of Spades" and "Evgeny Onyegin".

Anton Chekov is a favourite playwright. I especially love "The Three Sisters". And though some may scoff at Leo Tolstoy and avoid his books, I really did love "Anna Karenina". It was sort-of Jane Austenesque, except that it was Russian. Anna Akmahtova and Alexander Pushkin are favourite poets.

In school, I made a film set to Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird". Hmm. I wonder if I gave Disney the idea to use it for "Fantasia 2000". Probably not.

The strangest connection I have with Russian art, though, is with the Rimsy-Korsakov piece "Scheherazade". As if my name wasn't odd enough, my pet name at home was Scheherazade. Go figure. At least it's a nice piece of music.

So, even if Shostakovich Tone Poems aren't your thing, maybe there's a Russian artist out there that you would enjoy.

Happy Birthday America

2009-07-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

On this, the eve of America's 233rd birthday, I wanted to reflect for a bit on people that I am grateful for having served America.

My cousin Tom. He's a career military man. He served in the first Gulf War, in Bosnia, and has done two tours in Iraq. We are in a cluster of cousins 8 months apart in age. He is the oldest and I am the youngest. He is my hero.

My father. He was drafted and served in World War II. He never left California, though. I have his discharge papers that state "Foreign Service 0 years 0 months". He was stationed near Sacramento and had dinner every Sunday with his mother.

My friends Don & Elizabeth. They met in the Vietnam War. (How many people do you know who can say that?) He was a Naval Aviator. She was an Army Nurse. They met at a dance at an Air Force Officers' Club. Recently, they went back to Vietnam on vacation with some of their buddies from the war. I admire them greatly.

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!

Happy Independence Day!

Tsarina's Black Bean Stew

2009-06-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

I was going through my pantry the other day and discovered that I had some dried black beans that I hadn't used yet. I thought I would make a stew since I also had some beef in my freezer. But what else? I searched for a recipe and finally decided to just make one up.

FYI - though I used beef, any kind of meat could be used. If you are vegan or vegetarian, omit the meat and feel free to add the equivalent amount of TVP or Kale or Spinach or anything else you might like, but wait until the beans and potatoes have cooked thoroughly.

Ingredients:
1 T Olive Oil
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped peppers (green/red/yellow/orange - whatever you like)
3/4 lb. meat in chunks (for vegans - substitute an equivalent amount of vegetables or TVP)
4 cups sliced potatoes
4 cups drained & rinsed black beans (dried beans should be 4 cups AFTER soaking)
1 cup mirepoix (diced onions, celery & carrots)
1 qt vegetable stock
1 t garlic powder
3/4 t cayenne pepper
3/4 t dried thyme leaves
1 cup wine (whatever you're drinking with dinner)

In stockpot, saute onions, peppers & meat in oil (for vegans - omit meat) until onions are clear and meat browned. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover & Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (Vegans - add additional vegetables or TVP near end of cooking time) Add Salt/pepper/parsley/chives to taste. Serve w/sourdough bread & green salad.

Makes 6 meal-size servings.

The Employment Discouragement Department

2009-06-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, that's not really their name. But the EDD - the dispenser of unemployment benefits in the state of California is quite a discouraging group of people.

Here's my latest story - My last check from them only paid for one week and not two. I received no notice of any kind. I'm not sure I would have agreed with their reason, but I did expect them to have one! I emailed them and asked for an explanation stating that I was not sick and I was available to work. That was Monday of last week. I had planned to give it until Tuesday of next week before physically going to the Jobs Center to use the Magic Red Phone. (I wanted to wait five business days and I have an interview on Monday.)

Today, my roommate came home from work early and she said "You have mail from the EDD and it's from the Adjudication Center so it's probably not good." She knows whereof she speaks as she was unemployed for two years and had many letters from the EDD.

I opened it and they have scheduled a telephone interview for me for July 1st. So that means 5 weeks without any money if they hold my benefits until after the interview! On the back of the notice are the questions they plan to ask. All of my questions have to do with my ability to work. HUH?

Do you have a health condition that keeps you from working?
Have you been under a doctor's care?
What kind of work are you looking for?
Can you accept work now?

I emailed them back and, accepting full responsibility for the confusion, stated that I must have mis-marked my continued claim form for that week as I have been ready, willing, able & available to work every single day since becoming unemployed.

So I will be going to the Jobs Center on Tuesday and using the Magic Red Phone (the only way to talk to a human). Because I certainly can't afford to wait until after July 1st to get any more money.

The good news is that I had an interview yesterday and I have another one on Monday so it's entirely possible that I will be employed by July 1st.

Mea culpa

2009-06-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry, Gentle Readers, that I have been neglecting my blog. I didn't even finish telling you the stories of my trip to Ireland. The big reason is that I lost my job unexpectedly and after that didn't feel much like blogging. Then I decided to write a blog about looking for work and I have been writing there and not here.

So I am sorry.

But something happened this weekend that I definitely wanted to share with you.

I was with a friend on a long drive and we hadn't seen each other in a while and we were catching up on all of our news. I was talking about some of the jobs I have been applying for and especially about my trouble writing cover letters for some of the positions last week. I decided to recite the letter I had written for a job at one of our local museums. All of a sudden, my friend shouted "Stop! Enough! You're Hired!"

Then both of us laughed so hard. It felt so good.

And that's when I remembered that I hadn't written anything in this blog since I lost my job. I will try to do better in future.

Soccer or Rugby or Whatever

2009-03-31T09:46:00.001-07:00

After leaving Kilmainham Gaol, we hopped on the city bus to Trinity College. Then we walked over to Merrion Square and found Ken's real address. After that, we walked back to St. Stephen's Green.

March is a wonderful time to walk through St. Stephen's Green. Everything was blooming. It was Saturday so the families were there with their children. Lovely!

We walked back to the hotel following the Luas. We got back in time to have a nap before dinner. Oh how precious nap times will be on this vacation.

After a good hour, we head out to find a place for dinner. We know there is a match tonight between Ireland and Bulgaria. Two of our party are at Croke Park to see it. But we aren't sure what sport. We think it is probably Football (soccer). As we try to find a place for dinner, we run into a lot of crowded places. Finally, we come upon a lovely bar/bistro. The front part was packed, but the back (which has no few of any TV screen) was empty so we had dinner. I had probably the best salmon of my entire life!

We were there about three hours because the poor bar staff were completely overwhelmed with the crowd. It was indeed football and the final score was 1-1.

We met up with the gang in the hotel lobby for a bit and then headed up to bed.

Tomorrow we are off to see the countryside.

Grace

2009-03-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Our first full day in Ireland. We were up and breakfasted and decided to set out on an adventure before boarding the bus. We had gotten Ken’s address from Chris and thought it would be fun to find the house and snap a photo of the door. We walked down to the canal and then followed the canal.

It was a beautiful walk. We saw a heron and a cormorant. We saw the locks and even a historical marker. After a bit, we came to the Leeson Bridge which I recognized from my last trip to Dublin. We turned on to Fitzwilliam Place and continued in the direction that I had gotten from our driver. That’s when I noticed that I had lost a glove. My first indication that all was not going swimmingly. When we came to the street, we were a bit confused because the odds and evens are on the same side of the street and also because street names can change at every block. Ken had told us that his house was no longer a house. But we were surprised to see what was there.

We took a few photos and then hailed a cab back to the hotel. Back in the room, I remembered that I had put the address in my phone. We had been on the wrong street! We decided to try again later in the day if we could.

We boarded our coach for the ride out to Glasnevin Cemetery. This is where many of the patriots from the Easter Rising are buried. It was quite something to go out there and I would not have done it otherwise. On the way back in to town, our driver asked if anyone wanted to see Kilmainham Gaol. There were 13 of us that did. He pulled over near The Patriots Inn and dropped us off.

Five of us walked up to the Gaol directly. The other 8 held back a bit. As we were about to go in, I asked the desk if they could accommodate 13 on one tour and they sold us all tickets for the same tour. We went to the tearoom for a cuppa and then toured the museum until our tour time.

Our guide was very good and knowledgeable about the penal system, prison reform, etc. and not just the history of Kilmainham. I won the prize for knowing that “In The Name Of The Father” had been filmed there. I showed Chris Mrs. Plunkett’s cell and snapped his photo. Barbara & I actually stepped into a cell and closed the door. It was kind of creepy to do that.

As we were leaving, Chris & Rob hung back in the entryway. Suddenly, they began to sing “Grace”. It was amazing. People walking by on the sidewalk stopped to listen. People stepped out of the museum to watch. It was quite something and definitely a moment I will not forget.

Your Place or Mao?

2009-03-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

Our first night in Dublin, we all went to Cassidy’s Bar for a drink. I was scheduled to meet my friend Mark’s friends Kate & Collum for dinner but didn’t have a firm time and place so I went along to Cassidy’s as well. My first drink in Ireland: a glass of Guinness. I was severely teased for drinking a glass and not a pint, but I held my ground. I didn’t know what the evening had in store and wanted to pace myself. Plus I hadn’t really eaten anything at all since the Aer Lingus dinner the night before.

While at Cassidy’s, Kate texted me to meet them at the Fitzwilliam at 7:30pm. I took my leave of the group, but Suzanne decided to stay and see what the evening plans turned out to be.

It was only a short walk to the Fitzwilliam which is a very nice modern hotel on St. Stephen’s Green near the top of Grafton St. We met in the lobby (after a bit of kerfuffle) and decided to try one or another of two Asian places close by just off Grafton St. The first had a line at the door so we move on to the second.

Mao – an Asian fusion bistro – is a great place to eat in Dublin or Dun Laoghaire. I know it’s in at least those two places and maybe more. We started with cocktails and appetizers. Collum had an Erdinger (non-alcoholic beer) and Kate & I had gin & tonics. Collum & I had the Honey Sesame Prawns and Kate had the Chili Squid. Kate originally offered us to try her squid but we never got the chance as she wolfed them down declaring them DELICIOUS. The prawns were sweet and crunchy on a bed of rocket with cilantro lime dressing for a sweet/spicy mix.

For mains, Collum had water and Kate & I split a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. It was smooth and wonderful. Collum had the Tempura Sole, I had the Mango Chili Duck, and Kate had the Chili-Lime Tiger Prawns. We had a choice of noodles or rice. I chose the rice and the others the noodles. Again, we all polished off every bit of food & drink declaring everything very tasty.

The surprise was the dessert menu. They had Cheesecake, Ice cream & Sorbet. We had one of each. Not what I might expect with Asian food, but delicious.

After our dinner, they drove me back to my hotel. Some of the gang were still in the lobby, but it had been a long day and it was time for bed.

Busy day tomorrow!!

Dublinia

2009-03-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

I am in Dublin. There is free wi-fi in the room so I thought I would log on briefly to re-cap the goings on so far.

Suz and I had business class seats for the flight from LAX to Chicago. We were chatty with the ticket agent and we think she upgraded us. We got our American miles on that flight.

In Chicago, we went to the Aer Lingus counter and they confirmed that we had an aisle and a middle seat which wasn't too bad, and they gave us our United miles. Also very good! There's no food past security in that terminal so we went to the Food Court. I opted for Pizzeria Uno, Suz went to the Hot Dog place (but didn't get a dog) and the others visited the Golden Arches.

We landed 30 minutes early, met a nice woman in the line to go through Passport Control. The Immigration Officer was chatty and asked me if I was "here to do a bit o dancin' & drinkin' with the band". We met up with the guys in the arrivals hall.

We teased Rob that he was there to kiss all the girls "Hello"! But it was great to see all the old friends from the last trip and meet some new friends as well.

We are on Bus #1. Which I promptly dubbed the "Girls Gone Wild" bus. Terry liked that!

Democracy seems to be in action as we have voted on nearly everything that we have done so far. Bus #2 was doing their own thing as well. Our driver/guide is Keith (keet). He is nice, flirty, funny. Already started working for the end of trip tip!We voted to have a tour of the city and then go to the hotel. We voted to get off the bus twice. First stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral. I hadn't seen that last time so it was great to stop and walk around. Mass was going on so we didn't go in.

Our next stop was Trinity College. We walked through the college to O'Connell Street. Went to Eason stationers to use the loo and Suz & I bought Irish dictionaries. Our first souvenirs! Then to the GPO to see the site of the 1916 Easter Uprising. I mailed two letters and bought stamps for postcards. Walked back toward Grafton Street and stopped at a shop that sold postcards & other trinkets. then went to the bank, then headed up to the "Tart with the Cart" - otherwise known as Molly Malone.

Molly is at the foot of Grafton Street. We walked up a bit and saw a busker singing just like Glen Hansard in "Once", then it started to rain so we headed back to the bus, stopping briefly at the sweet shop for Cokes and Aeros.

Keith suggested that we might want to go to the cemetery where Michael Collins et al are buried tomorrow instead of going to Trim Castle. He is going to talk to the other driver and we will find out in the morning what we are doing. Maybe we will split up and do both. We had already decided not to go to Trim as the others really want to see Kilmanhaim Jail & Guinness. Keith said we would stop at Kilmanhaim on the way back from the cemetery.

Then we drove around Dublin a bit more and came to our hotel. Good news & bad news: only some of the rooms were ready. Margaret & Sally's was, but not ours. So we were sitting in the lobby and Terry was walking around passing out room keys as they came available. He came by and said he didn't have anything for us but a smile. We said that was okay. But he walked over to the desk and came right back and said "you are going to want to kiss me now" and handed us our key. Our luggage was not too buried in the pile so we claimed it and are now in the room.

We are freshening up, taking a short nap and then heading out later. I've texted Mark's friend Kate and I am planning to meet her tonight or possibly tomorrow.

This is going to be a GREAT vacation!

Caution! Rant is coming!

2009-03-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

I don't mean to disparage men in general. But what are you guys thinking? Every corner I turn these days, there's some crazy man lurking...

I feel like Helen Hunt in "As Good As It Gets" lately (If you don't know what I mean, then maybe you should rent it).

I almost want to climb up on my Feminist soapbox and scream at the top of my lungs. But instead, I am just going to blow off all my steam right here right now.

*************************************************************************************

Okay. I'm done. I feel better. I return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Luck O' The Irish

2009-03-17T23:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick recap of St. Patrick's Day. I had one rather unlucky thing happen but then I had two very lucky things happen. I think that means I came out positive in the luck department which is only right.

The positively luckiest thing was that Viv Campbell showed up at the pub tonight to jam with PJ. How cool is that?

I hope that you, Gentle Reader, had a wonderful and memorable St. Patrick's Day!

Dateline Dublin

2009-03-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have decided to take my laptop with me to Ireland. A variety of reasons contributed to this decision. First - I will have Internet in my hotel room for 6 of the 8 nights of my trip. Second - Last time I was in Ireland, I filled up my 2GB card and had to switch to a film camera the day we were in Killarney State Park which also explains why there aren't any photos of that to post on Facebook. Third - and this is probably most important - I just got my tickets yesterday and I will have a three hour layover on the way to Ireland and a six hour layover on the way home. Both in Chicago. I figured, at the very least, I could entertain myself at O'Hare.

I can't promise to blog, Facebook, or tweet every single day. But I will do my best.

Adh mor!

Everything Old is New Again!

2009-03-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

Today was my first meeting back on the 411 Team for Employee Events & Activities. I was Member of the Year in 2006, but had to leave the team when I was laid off. I just made the application deadline for 2009! WHEW!

It was great to see old friends and new faces. I am really looking forward to all of the events we will do over the year. My only sadness was seeing the people who weren't there because they have been laid off recently.

ML, JD, MD. I missed you!!!

Mother definitely doesn't know best.

2009-02-27T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today I had an email from my mother. Someone forwarded her my LinkedIn profile and she wrote to tell me how disappointed she is in me and my career.

Isn't that nice?

She actually said that she wouldn't have paid for Film School if she would have known that I would become a Financial Analyst (after working in the movie business for 17 years).

I'm just wondering. If she paid for my education, why do I still have student loan debt? Must be nice to be Bi-Polar and have selective memory.

Thankfully, my mother is not my only relative and I have pretty much cut her out of my life. I guess I am going to have to cut her all the way out. The rest of the family has, but I have been holding on to a few strands because, well, she's my mother.

OK - I'm done venting.

Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday and I have been toying with what I might do in observance of Lent (which I believe begins as soon as I go to my church's Ash Wednesday service so I still have some time).

In the past, I have given up (among other things):
TV - not too hard really
cussing - a disaster - I think I cussed more
chocolate - pretty hard
alcohol - really easy
sweets - too broad of a category.

I have also done something instead of given something up and that worked better for me. One year, our church had a calendar of activities and each cost something and I put the money in a jar and on Easter Vigil the money was donated to Lutheran World Relief. That was really fulfilling. Another year, I made a point to think one positive thought each day about my mother (you have to know me to understand this one).

This year, I am thinking of spending one hour each day in Lent going through the things I never use, books I never read, and clothes I never wear and donating them to charity. I am holding on to a lot of things. And what are they really? They're just things. I think by spending time each day physically putting aside these things, I can reflect on how much more important God is to me than all of these things.

Besides, I can't give up alcohol. I'm going to Ireland. Though I am probably going to participate in the Great American Meat Out on March 20th.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Pools & Pedicures

2009-01-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday was our laziest day of the whole vacation. We spent 5 hours at the pool and the most exciting thing we did was get poolside pedicures.

We slept and swam and that was the extent of our day.

But hey, we are on vacation!

Cabo Wabo

2009-01-18T06:10:00.000-08:00

Friday morning I had the owner's breakfast. I ended up being there for five hours because after I upgraded they offered me a bottle of champagne and K came downstairs to have a little and they latched on to her. I was done in 90 minutes and the rest of the time was her. I told them she didn't have a credit card and when I was in the restroom they got her to call home and get the number. I think that was a little underhanded, but she told me last night that she is pretty sure that she will cancel as soon as we get home (she has until Friday).

We were there so long that they paid for our taxi to/from the sunset cruise.

The cruise was nice, except we were at El Arco at the completely wrong time of day for pictures. All of the pictures on my camera of us in front of the Arch are bad. So don't ever take Sun Rider Tours if you want a picture of yourself at the Arch at sunset. They are not at the Arch at sunset but so long before that the sun is directly behind the person having their picture taken.

The best part of the cruise was that we chased a pod of humpback whales. The video that I shot didn't turn out, but they were singing and that was REALLY cool.

We stayed out on the Pacific until sunset, then they came back in to the bay and it turned into a booze cruise with tequila being poured down the throats of anyone who would volunteer for it and line dancing and the lot.

After we got off the boat, K looked like death warmed over so we made our purchases as quickly as we could. This is difficult with a brain-injured person. She told me who she needed to buy for, but every time we walked in to a store she would pick up something for someone she had already bought for or hadn't mentioned. I let her buy the thing she wanted for herself but not the people who hadn't been on her list. I also wouldn't let her buy anything for someone she had already bought for unless it was very small indeed. Two hours later, I was exhausted and told her I needed the next taxi we could find.

We found the stand right in front of Cabo Wabo. Grabbed the first one and headed back to the resort.

A very exhausting day.

Mi palapa es su palapa

2009-01-17T06:19:00.000-08:00

Our first full day in Los Cabos. I am up at dawn. I made coffee and watched the sunrise. Very beautiful & relaxing.

I was just going to run down to La Plaza (the deli) when K got up and suggested we go to the Mega since it was cool and she was awake.

We walked up there and spent two hours as she shopped for souvenirs, groceries, etc.

I finally had to tell her that I was hungry and I needed to go back to the room.

We came back. I had some lunch. She had a few bites and we headed down to the beach.

The beach wasn't crowded at all and we had our choice of palapas. We laid out on the chaises longues for 4 hours! We had bloody marys and margaritas. We watched people riding horseback and guys playing volleyball. We even shopped from the vendors who walk the high tide line.

Then we went to the hot tub for about 15 minutes (one cycle of the button) and then back to the room to change for dinner.

It's K's birthday and we decide to dine at Flor de Noche - the poolside bar. We were sitting there at sunset having mojitos and iced tea. A wedding was taking place on the beach. It was lovely. We had chips & salsa, prawns & steak brochette. The waiter took our picture. Did I say it was lovely?

We watched them turn the lights on the palm trees and light the fire rings. Then we headed back up to the room.

K went to bed pretty soon after that. I watched "In Bruges" which I had brought with me from home. I had trouble figuring out how to get the DVD player to work until I realized that it wasn't plugged in to the TV. DUH! Anyway, I didn't really care for the film. It was just too violent. If it wasn't for the witty dialogue, I would have given it 1 star, but I gave it 2.

The busiest day of our whole trip is tomorrow: Owner breakfast, Drive in to Cabo, Sunset Cruise to El Arco, & shopping.

Mucho Gusto Cabo Azul

2009-01-15T05:11:00.000-08:00

My cousin is turning 45 this year and she wanted to celebrate some place warm so I reserved my timeshare at Cabo Azul and we were off!

This is her first vacation since her accident. She flew to Ohio for her 25th reunion but that was one flight, stay with family, and only 2 days. This is 6 days, two flights, at a resort, in another country. She's very brave.

She only had one flight schedule to Cabo that worked for her. In order for me to meet her at the airport, I had to leave LA at 9:30am. For some unknown reason, the shuttle picked me up at 5am. We got to LAX and I was checked in, through security, and in line at Starbucks by 5:45am. Three hours until boarding!!!

Can I just pause for a moment here to say that I rarely have trouble with security lines? Is it because I travel frequently and am used to the system? Is it because I am always a little bit early for my flights so I don't have to panic, rush, etc.? I don't know. At least I always have a book or sudoku puzzle or my iPod to keep me company.

Most of the folks at my gate were going to Chicago. I felt sorry for them in their heavy winter coats and sensible shoes. I felt even sorrier when their flight originally scheduled to board at 6:30am was delayed for boarding until 8am and the gate agent said they would go out to the tarmac and wait for up to 90 more minutes for clearance to Chicago due to bad weather in the Midwest. They told people to use the bathroom and purchase food prior to boarding as the food and facilities would be limited on the aircraft. Some of the people complained vociferously as if the gate agent could control the weather in another part of the country. Seriously!

While I was waiting, I chatted with a very nice young man on his way to Basic Training in South Carolina who was waiting for a flight departing from the second gate. It's nice to know such polite and focused individuals still exist in our country. The military has always been a career path in my family and in this day and age, young people don't often consider it because the world is so dangerous. I wish him well and, even though I didn't get his name, I will remember him in my prayers.

The gate for my flight changed three times before we actually boarded. I didn't move the first time as the boarding area was still close by, but I moved for the second and third times. When I moved after the second gate change, the flight previously at that gate was going to Chicago and that flight was moved to another gate for our flight. So all of the people in heavy coats left, and the people in shorts and sandals showed up.

The final gate we moved to was kind of small, but there was a flight crew so I was optimistic. We boarded and took off quickly. The flight wasn't full so the aircraft was cold and so many people asked for blankets that the flight attendants asked the captain to blast the heat. I commented that since we weren't going to Chicago, some of us may not have dressed for a cold airplane. The flight attendants were amused.

We landed in Mexico about 20 minutes early which was great for me since K was already there. I got through customs "no Problem". We changed some money and then we headed off to face the onslaught.

If you have never been to Cabo San Lucas, there are many people in the airport exit area who try to get you to sign up for their timeshare presentations. Of course, they don't tell you that's what they are doing. They even impersonate the shuttle services! K was very glad that I was there with my firm "NO". We had been instructed by the hotel that our shuttle service would be wearing a certain colour shirt and would have our name on a list. So I was able to tell the most aggressive person he was wearing the wrong colour. They shouted that we needed to see them for our welcome package and I said that it was waiting for us at the hotel. Then we walked into the second arrivals hall where another man told us that we needed to have him call our driver and I said "I was told not to talk to you" and he said "That's rude". But I was starting to get that Tangier feeling so I just walked straight out the door. K was very happy that she could just follow in my wake. The best thing that our concierge told me was that our driver would be waiting right outside the door where I could see the blue sky over my head. And there was a young lady with a clipboard and a sign and the right colour shirt waiting in such a place. She had our names on the list, said we would need to wait for a few others to check in and so I fetched a couple of Cokes and we were set.

In the shuttle with us were a family from Chicago and were they glad to have left there! They are staying here so we may run into them.

We checked in with a tiny bit of drama. The resort front desk doesn't take debit cards which is what I had brought (you have to leave a security deposit). K thought she had brought a credit card but couldn't find it in her luggage (panic starting in). Fortunately, we had enough cash so we were able to do that. Of course, first thing K did after we got to the room (and paused to take in the luxuriant surroundings) was completely unpack everything and then phone home to see if she hadn't picked it up off her desk after all (she hadn't - it was lying right there - so at least it wasn't lost or stolen!)

And speaking of the room, it is GORGEOUS. Our villa is in the Tierra building. All of the buildings are named: Alta, Brisa, Arena, Mar, Sol, Tiera, Luna

The hallways are exterior and from our door, we can see the mountains and look down into a garden (we are on the 6th floor). When you walk into our suite, you enter into the kitchen which is quite large with full-size appliances. Just past that is the living/dining area and a veranda that goes across the whole unit. This great room is large enough that you could have a whole family here. The sofas sleep two adults or three children. There is a TV with a DVD player in an armoire.

Through a sliding door are the sleeping areas. There is a full bath with walk-in shower. Next to that is the "Romantic" room. It has a fake window which I think is kind of pointless. A view of the mountains from this room would have been nice. The ceiling is draped so that it feels as though you are sleeping under a canopy. There is a queen-size bed. There is no TV in this room. The master bedroom is the other side. It has a whirlpool jacuzzi tub, a walk-in closet, a full bathroom with walk-shower, a king-size bed, a sliding door to the veranda, and an armoire with TV.

K chose the romantic room because she wanted to be under the canopy, but she said she would like to switch tomorrow night for her birthday. She's the birthday girl so that's fine with me.

We popped downed to the market and deli to check things out and buy a few things to have in the room. K was excited when she found they had her Vitamin Water.

We changed and went out to the pool. K laid in the sun, but I went straight to the hot tub. After about 20 minutes, she got cold so we decided to order dinner from the bar (instead of eating there) and take it back to our room. K really wanted the veggie wrap and we hadn't seen that at the deli.

The meal was great. The guacamole was the best I have ever had in my entire life (and I've had a lot of guacamole). It was better than chocolate! The veggie wrap was delicious and K actually ate most of it and some chips and guac, which is great because she hadn't had a lot to eat.

Then we called it a night. Neither of us had had much sleep the night before. I was lying in my bed and my legs were aching and my back was aching and I thought "Jacuzzi tub" so I fill it up and turn it on and the water went EVERYWHERE! I kid you not! I think it was designed to be used by two people and if someone is not blocking one of the jets, they quirt up and out and all over the room. Not really a good plan. I mopped up the water with the two jacuzzi towels and one of the bathrobes. Thankfully, we agreed to the Owner VIP package which includes fitness center, Newspaper and daily linen refresh!

The last thing that I did before turning in was activate our Internet access so I can blog and tweet while we are here.

The best thing about this whole trip is that we only have two things that are scheduled. The first is the Welcome breakfast, which we are having on Friday since they don't offer it on Thursdays. And the sunset cruise to El Arco, which we are hoping to schedule for Friday or Saturday, but will do on Sunday if we have to. Other than those two things, we are doing nothing.

The best vacation of all.

My Magic Kingdom

2008-12-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

I take time out from my regular blogging to share this video sent to me today by upper management.

Peter Brown Called To Say

2008-11-30T09:08:00.001-08:00

Monday morning, we are up before the crack of dawn for a day trip to Gibraltar. The whole day I will be singing "The Ballad Of John & Yoko" in my head - and occasionally out loud - but that's another story...

While waiting to be picked up at our resort's entrance, we met two guys from Phoenix. Mr. Phone and Mr. Engineer. They are two friends like us using up timeshare points before they expire. We chat about the other day trips we have planned and they run in to the concierge to sign up for the day trip to Ronda that we have scheduled for tomorrow. We also learn that they will be with us on our trip to Tangier on Thursday.

We board the bus and we meet an American family from Virginia Beach. Dentist dad, travel agent mom, student daughter and snowboard daughter. We learn that they are on the trip to Tangier on Thursday also. They are staying at the Marriot down the beach as they are Marriot owners.

Our guide tells us that we don't have to change money. In Gibraltar, most every place will take Euro or US dollars and those that won't will take plastic. But we should always check before eating or purchasing anything, just in case. (The currency is the Gibraltar Pound which is equivalent to the Pound Sterling but only accepted in Gibraltar. They take Pound Sterling also.) We decide to use Euros or Visa.

At the P&T stop, I chat a little bit more with our new American friends. They are all very friendly and nice.

Crossing the border, we all have to show our passports to Spanish police and then again to British police, but nothing gets stamped.

Then we drive across the airport runway to enter Gibraltar. Our large bus drives to the Visitor Centre wher we board two smaller buses. One is German & English and the other is Spanish & English. We opt for the Spanish bus as do all our new friends. It turns out that the Spanish couple is pretty fluent in English so out guide mostly does the tour in English and only explains things in Spanish as needed.

We head off for our tour of the Rock. We head first to Point Europa which is the closest point to Africa. The coolest thing there (which I unfortunately did NOT get a photo of) was half a tanker aground on the rocks. Apparently, it broke in half when thrown on the rocks during a fierce storm. It's still there.

Then we head up to St. Michael's Cave. The whole Rock is made of limestone so there are many caves, but St. Michael's is enormous and was cleared for use as a hospital during Word War 2. It was never needed so now it is used for concerts.

After that, we went to the Apes Den for a scheduled look at the Barbary Macaques. We had seen them around the Cave as well. They are the only wild Primates in Europe.

At the Apes Den' we saw the Cable Car up to the top of the Rock, but we didn't go up there ourselves. Then we headed down past the Moorish Castle, City Hall (where John & Yoko got married) and through the town to Grand Casements Square where we left the minibus behind for lunch or shopping.

T & I headed out of the very tourist-y Square and strolled down the High Street to see what sparked our fancy. We came across The Star Bar which claims to be the oldest Pub in Gibraltar. Legend has it that Columbus stopped there on his way to discover America! We had a lovely lunch of fish & chips (with malt vinegar!), lamp chops (with brown sauce!), stout & cider.

Then we headed back to the Visitor Centre, shopping a bit along the way.

Back on our large bus, back across the airport runway. Then we had to exit the bus to go through Customs on both sides of the border (but still no stamps). We boarded the bus and headed back to our hotel.

Mr. Phone, Mr. Engineer, T & I stopped back at the concierge to check on our Ronda trip for the next day. Alas, it had been cancelled. We were the only people who signed up. We inquired about the Granada trip and that was booked full for Tuesday and Wednesday. The guys were going to Seville on Wednesday so we signed up for that trip and it was confirmed right then. Then we asked the concierge for suggestions for what to do on Tuesday. He suggested that we go to Ronda on the public bus. He provided us with the bus schedule into Marbella and we decided to think it over.

Later, at Happy Hour, we ran into the guys and they said they were thinking about Ronda for tomorrow. They asked what time we were leaving. We said we didn't know, but we would try to leave early. They headed off for dinner. We chatted with the barmen for awhile and then went back to our condo for dinner and some BBC.

Tomorrow, we will try our Amazing Ronda Bus Adventure en Espanol!

Obama!!

2008-11-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

Our first day in Marbella. We planned to take it easy. We slept in and woke up just in time to make breakfast at the resort restaurant. Now everyone knows that Spain is a pretty laid back country, but they serve breakfast 9-11 or 10-Noon. Lunch begins at Noon if you're lucky but usually 1. And 8pm is the earliest you could possibly think of eating dinner. Most shops close 2-4pm or so for siesta. It's tough to be an American used to eating breakfast at 7, lunch at Noon and dinner at 6.

But we had our breakfast and a little bird joined us at our table. After breakfast, we walked over the road to the supermercado, but it was closed. Ah, Sundays in Spain. Not ready to throw in the towel, just yet, we walk over the highway to the centro de commercial and there we find an OpenCor that is indeed open "todo los dios". We spend about 50 Euro buying breakfast stuff, fruit, veg, and stuff for a few lunches or dinners. We walk around and check out the place and see that there are quite a few pubs and restaurants and they will all be showing the same football (that's soccer for you Yanks) game at 1500. We decide to come back and watch if nothing else comes up between now and then.

After taking our purchases back to our condo, we decide to head to the beach and explore some of the neighbourhood. It's a short walk, past clay tennis courts, to Tony's cafe on the beach. We head down the steps, past the palapas and towards Marbella. After walking for a while, we decide to turn around and walk back. But when we get to Tony's, we keep walking toward Fuengirola just to see what else there is to see. We stop when we come to a jetty that will require me to climb rocks to pass and head back to Tony's.

We sit on the patio and drink dos canas while watching the waves and the people. There are quite a few people on the beach considering it's November. There is even a woman sunbathing topless! BRR. I am fascinated by the two English guys surf fishing near the restaurant. Would they really catch anything? Would it be worth eating? Or do they just want an excuse to sit on the beach and drink beer?

While we are sitting there, African guys selling bootleg DVDs, jewelry, and knockoff watches and handbags, are constantly stopping by the table to sell to us. We tell all of them "No". One asks if we are Americans. When we say yes, he says "Obama!!" We say "Yes, Obama." He says "Obama is very good man. He will be very good President of America." We say "Yes, we think so too". So he walks away smiling saying "Goodbye Obamas!!"

Before we finish, we realize that it is nearly 4:30pm and so we have missed the football game. We head back to our resort for a short siesta and then Happy Hour at the bar. Our bar has Happy Hour every night 1830-1930. Everything is half price, except bottles and some cocktails. We pretty much stick to Sangria. It's lovely and fruity and fizzy. We sit at the bar and chat up the bartenders. They give us free shots. Sometimes, they have made too much of a cocktail that another customer ordered. Sometimes, they have made the wrong cocktail. Sometimes, they are just experimenting or learning and want to see what we think. But we prater on with our very bad Spanish which makes them laugh so it's all good fun.

Tipsy but happy, we head back to our condo to make dinner, watch the BBC and sleep. It's an early start tomorrow. We are going to another country - Gibraltar!

Here comes the Costa del Sol!

2008-11-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning we slept in and then packed up. Check out time wasn't until Noon and that was when we had to leave for the airport so we took our time. We ate the breakfast goodies we purchased the day before at the Boqueteria market. [I highly recommend a trip to the Boqueteria as it is one of the largest markets in the world. If they don't sell it, you probably can't buy it. There was even a stall selling foreign products for all the ex-pats living in Barcelona.] After our breakfast, we went to the little coffee shop down the street for dos cafes de la casa (espresso with chocolate). T was like "where's the leche" but we didn't need any leche. They also served a piece of chocolate on the side. Then we went to the ATM and walked up Las Ramblas to Placa Catalunya and then back over to Carrer del Pi where we shopped our way back to our hotel. The only thing we bought were Christmas cards at El Corte Ingles.

Back to the hotel to check out and then back to Placa Catalunya to catch the Aerobus back to the airport. Grabbed a quick lunch at the Bocadillo shop near our gate. I ordered the Tortilla de patate and it actually came on a baguette. Whoever heard of a potato sandwich? Crazy! We flew on Vueling and the flight was completely uneventful. There were quite a few musicians from Israel on our flight, but we never did learn where they were performing.

I had pre-arranged a shuttle that I found through Google. The company is transfersdelsol.co.uk and I highly recommend them for airport transportation to or from Malaga airport. Our driver was an ex-pat who spoke perfect English and was very friendly. We got to the resort very easily and were checked in and to our room in time to freshen up before Happy Hour. We had dinner that night at the restaurant and then turned in. We had been go-go-go since landing in Spain and we were both looking forward to Sunday, the day off.

One if by Air, Two if by Sea

2008-11-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

Our last full day in Barcelona. We decide to take advantage of the free Harbor Cruise that came with our Barcelona Cards and head to the Harbor. Dos Cafes Con Leche para llevar and a quick trip to La Baguetina and we are ready to set off. A short walk down Las Ramblas, but we take the Metro to reduce the chances of getting lost.

This not being tourist season, the first boat doesn't leave until noon so we turn around and look behind us at El Mirador del Colom - The Christopher Columbus monument. The steel column contains an ascensor and our Barcelona Card offers a discount so up we go. It is so tiny that only four people can fit in at once, and that is if you are friendly enough to be quite close. T being slightly claustrophobic had a smidge of anxiety, but she was fine. At the top, there is less room to maneuver than in the Crown of the Statue Of Liberty and it moves a lot more!

We walked completely around and then had to wait a bit for the ascensor so we could go back down. Then we headed off to the boat.

The Harbor cruise was nice enough, but it was not narrated and it was FREEZING cold. I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have the Barcelona Card. But it was nice to see the Olympic Village.

After that we took the Metro to the Mont Juic Funicular. Emerging halfway up Mont Juic, we opted for the Teleferic up to Castell Mont Juic. We walked around the ancient fortress, had great views of the city and harbor, and had our first paella at the restaurant.

We tooke the Teleferic back down and walked a bit through the Parc. A bus came along so we hopped on it, not really know where it was going. An adventure!! As soon as I figured out where we were on the map, we got off at the next stop that was near the Metro and headed back to our hotel.

Another siesta, then we headed to the Placa del Pi for dinner at Taller Tapas. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in Barcelona. The tapas choices were excellent, they have great daily specials, great cocktails, and menus in English! We saw a lot of folks ordering things we hadn't ordered and were especially glad we opted out of the paella as it came with a whole prawn (head and legs included) smack on top. We had grilled bread with tomatoes & garlic (a sort of Catalan bruschetta), jamon croquette (just one so T could try it), grilled asparagus, sizzling prawns (no heads here), patates bravas (vlamse frites mit saus), mojito, capirinha and dos aguas sin gas. We were stuffed!

After dinner, we headed over to Santa Maria del Pi for a concert by Barcelona Duo Guitarra. A man and a woman who met as music students, they have arranged "Carmen" for two guitars and they play flamenco music while making the percussive sounds of the dancers with their hands. Really wonderful and amazing! The perfect end to our time in Barcelona.

Is it gaudy or is it Gaudi?

2008-11-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

We started off our first full day in Spain with breakfast in our hotel. Then we headed off to try to find the Museu Picasso. Theoretically within walking distance of our hotel, but through the labyrinth of the Barri Goti so not exactly easy to find.

Eventually, we made it there. Picasso was from this part of Spain so it seemed like a good way to start off the trip. Plus with our Barcelona card, it was half-price!

Leaving the museum and heading to the Metro, we made our first purchase in Spanish. Dos Aguas, por favor.

We navigated the Metro fairly easily and emerged at La Sagrada Familia, probably the most recognized landmark in all of Barcelona. The cathedral was begun in 1882. Gaudi took over the design in 1883 and worked on it until his death. He completed the Portal of the Nativity. The work on the cathedral is ongoing and they expect to finish it by 2026.

Part of how they pay for the building is by charging admission to the cathedral and also by charging to go up one of the towers in an elevator - "ascensor" en Espanol. So, we decided to give that a try. Now, Gentle Readers, most of you know that I have vertigo. I am not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of falling from them. I do not stand on chairs. I have trouble with steep stairs and escalators. But I have been to the top of some pretty tall buildings (including both World Trade Center towers btw). So I decided this couldn't be too bad.

And it was fine, until I had crossed over a little bity bridge to the other tower and had to walk down 10 meters around an opening that went 70 meters straight down. Oh yeah, that was it. I had to beg the lift operator to take me down. (He was pretty understanding in the end.)

After the dizzying depths, we descended to the basement which contains the museum of the cathedral. But our blood sugar was sinking as well so we headed off to the Michael Collins Irish Pub. Recommended by Barcelona Card, it was conveniently just across the square.

After our lunch of fish & chips (and a strange look when we asked for vinegar for same), we set off for Park Guell. We had a vague map in the Barcelona card book, but it wasn't on the city map we got from our hotel and I wasn't carrying my Lonely Planet. So we got off the metro and looked for a sign. We saw one and followed it to a very confusing intersection. And then we chose, unwisely.

We walked up the street whose name we could read on one of the maps and ended up climbing a huge flight of stairs only to end at a large mural depicting tourists being robbed. Hurriedly, we walked down the nearest street. As we approached a cross street, we saw large numbers of people walking up the hill, we followed them and then saw that we were on the right road. We referred to that journey as "The Stairs of Death" for the rest of the trip.

Park Guell is full of Gaudi's handiwork. The Sala Hipostila staircase has a very famous dragon. The house where he lived is also here and we visited that as well. That was where we encountered The Toucher. Seriously, some British woman who had to touch EVERYTHING in the museum, no matter how many signs were posted or how mortified her companions were.

After leaving the museum, we declared that we were "museumed out" for probably the rest of this trip and we found our way back to the Metro without getting lost or going down the Stairs Of Death.

Once back at our hotel, we had a short siesta and then asked the concierge to recommend a place for dinner. He sent us into the labyrinth to find Banys Nous on which was located a restaurant that he highly recommended. There seemed to be a bit too much pulpa on the menu so we decided to keep walking. We stumbled across Campostela and, though they had pulpa in the window, they had a lovely Menu del Noche so we went in.

We had ensalada mixta, gazpacho, steak (the saltiest steak I have ever eaten in my entire life), and helado. Throw in a bottle of tinto and a bottle of agua sin gas and we were very happy.

We strolled back to our hotel via Las Ramblas. Ready for a good night's sleep and our harbor adventure in the morning.

The Rain in Spain is Mainly at the Airport

2008-11-12T22:59:00.001-08:00

Hola from Barcelona! Here´s the news so far:

Got home from work about an hour before the shuttle came to pick me up which gave me time to shower and change before the flight. Always good when you are going to be traveling for a long time.

The shuttle arrived on time with a very friendly driver who asked if I had my passport & tickets. We had one more stop and then flew to LAX with zero traffic. There was no line at the Swissair counter so I had about 90 minutes to shop, eat, etc. before boarding.

After browsing the Duty Free shop (does anyone really buy that stuff?) and having a snack, I zipped through security, obtained some Euro, then went to the gate. Oddly, the same gate I left from for Ireland in 2006!

Once the flight had boarded, the captain announced there would be a slight delay. It was actually a medical emergency and delayed our leaving for about an hour. They not only had to get the passenger off but also his luggage. I was only nervous because I didn´t have a long layover in Zurich. The flight itself was fine. I didn´t have a seatmate so was able to spread out a bit. I had a personal tv and watched ¨Get Smart¨ and ¨Mamma Mia¨, plus two episodes of ¨Friends¨. I also played Sudoku and read one of MAD´s romance novels (she gives them to me to read on planes). I even managed to sleep!

We landed in Zurich at 4:10pm and my flight to Barcelona boarded at 4:45. I sped through Flughaven Zurich but it looks like a nice place to have a layover. I had to go through security again so I had to put everything back in the plastic bag and toss the water I had bought in LA. A quick passport control line and then boarding commenced.

As soon as we boarded, the captain came on to make the announcement that a passenger had not boarded so we would be delayed while his luggage was removed. It was just my day for that sort of thing.

An uneventful flight during which I slept and we landed in Barcelona in the rain. T texted me to say she would be in the arrivals hall just outside customs. I zipped through Immigration, collected my luggage and met her easily.

While she had been waiting, she had discovered that the Aerobus was a better option to our hotel than the Airport Train so we took that. It was raining as we walked to the stop, but not very hard. We boarded the bus, got our Barcelona card discount on the tickets, and were off.

The bus stopped at La Placa Catalunya and we got off. The tricky part was figuring out which direction our hotel was from there. I knew it was on a pedestrian street so we headed in the direction of the only pedestrian street we could see. Good choice! We were at our hotel in less than 10 minutes. And it wasn´t raining!!

Greeted with cava, everything was great. We had a little trouble with the lights, but it turned out to be the circuit breaker and was fixed in a jiffy. Showered and changed, we headed to dinner at a place suggested by both of our guidebooks and less than 5 minutes walking from our hotel.

El Quatre Gats, now a restaurant, was an artist´s club modeled after Le Chat Noir. Picasso held his first exhibition there. They have a traditional Cataln menu. We had olives, bread, mesclun salad with goat cheese, spinach & goat cheese ravioli, baked cod and roasted goat. A bottle of the house red topped us off.

We stopped in the hotel bar for tea and were asleep in our beds within 30 minutes of finishing dinner.

The agenda for our first day includes the Picasso museum, La Sagrada Familia, Michael Collins Irish Pub (seriously!) and who knows what else.

Stay tuned...

Thank you America

2008-11-09T20:42:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday evening, I will board a plane for my European vacation. the last time I went to Europe was exactly two years ago, but that trip was to Ireland which is very American friendly. The trip before that was to France in 2004.

In France in 2004, I was quite concerned to be singled out as an American tourist. Our President and his policies were not popular there. Fortunately, I am able to blend in quite well with the "natives" in appearance and it's only when I open my mouth that they know I am a tourist. Still, I had more people tell me how much they didn't like Bush than when I visited the Soviet Union in 1985 (OK that was Reagan, but you get the idea).

So thank you America. In the recent election, you showed to the rest of the world that the American people were also unhappy with the status quo. WE wanted something new and different and we are going to have it.

I still plan to try and not stick out as an American tourist, but now it's because I don't want to be a target for petty theft. And every tourist should worry about that.

So, if I happen upon an Internet Cafe, I promise to blog from the road. If not, I am signing off for the next two weeks.

God Bless The United States Of America.

Country First.

2008-11-05T05:51:00.000-08:00

I watched the returns last night with a group of friends from church, including the folks I went to Nevada with (see the Driving For Change post below). When Colbert & Stewart called the race for Obama, we were stunned. We looked at each other in disbelief. Was it true? How could it be true? We've been down this road before, you know.

Someone shouted "Turn on Fox"! So we did, and then we believed.

And then we cheered.

And as we toasted our new President with champagne and congratulated ourselves on our contribution to this historic moment, we were still a little bit stunned. Hours later, as we watched to see the results of our local races, we kept turning to each other and saying "I can't believe Obama is really President".

We all gave kudos to John McCain. He gave an eloquent speech and looked like the old McCain, the maverick, the one we had respect for and liked well enough to say "he wouldn't be so bad as President". The crazy, pandering, negative McCain had gone. He lived up to his campaign slogan and put his country first, offering his full support to the new President. Having met McCain, I know he meant it.

So should we all. And now, that's really what we have to do. In the words of our President-elect, "I have heard your voices and I will be your President too".

So I encourage all Obama supporters to reach out to the McCain supporters in your lives. Show respect for their passion in this marvelous process. Unity is where it's at!

Advanced Citizenship

2008-11-04T05:11:00.001-08:00

Today, America is the envy of the world. Today, after 8 years of a President who has steadily declined in popularity both at home and abroad, amidst a struggling economy, in a war, Americans from all walks of life, rich and poor, liberal and conservative, will go to the polls to vote for a new President.

We have had 18 months of increasingly negative and bitter campaigning. Both sides have slung their share of mud. Good friends and family members have argued til they were blue in the face because they are passionate about their candidate.

Beginning at midnight in Dixville Notch New Hampshire and continuing until the polls close in Alaska and Hawaii, Americans in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia will go to the polls, braving weather and lines (hopefully) to have their say. And they won't just be voting for President, but that's the one vote that will make the difference to the rest of the world.

Because no matter how cantankerous this campaign has been, we will elect our next leader peacefully. We do not need UN peacekeeping forces to protect us while we vote. We do not need international monitors to ensure that our election is carried out fairly. We respect each other's right to vote for the candidate of our own choice, even if we don't agree with who that is.

And tomorrow, if we have conclusively chosen our new President, we will simply get on with our lives. Between November 5th and January 20th, the new administration will put its Cabinet together and begin to build bridges to the other side. There will not be riots in the streets by the losing side or violence against the other side in anyway.

If the President has not been conclusively decided, there may be some protesting. But it will be done peacefully and respectfully. Because that's who we really are as Americans. We respect each other's Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly.

This marvel of the free world that we call America is only made possible by men and women who fought and died for our right to exist as a country and for our Constitution. You do them dishonour if you do not vote today.

In the end, it doesn't matter who you vote for, but if you don't vote, you don't deserve to live here. Dixville Notch had 100% turnout (15 for Obama & 6 for McCain btw), but they are likely to be one of the only places in America that does so well. And that, my friends, is sad. We should all love our country enough to take the time to vote.

There are many local officials up for election and local propositions that will directly affect your life even if you don't think the occupant of the Oval Office will do so.

If you don't know where to go to vote, please visit www.canivote.org to find your polling place. Most states require employers to give you reasonable time off work to vote. Most states will allow you to vote a provisional ballot if your name is not on the list at the polling place. Some states allow you to register and vote on the same day. There's just no excuse for not voting.

If you can't appreciate how easy it is for you to vote your conscience today, you should seriously consider moving to some other part of the world for awhile. People in other parts of the world walk for days, some in fear of their lives, to cast votes for their candidate of choice. In those places, people can be pitied for not voting. But this is America, people. Vote, or leave.

My two cents...

Driving For Change

2008-11-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

One note - This post has been held in draft at the request of the Obama campaign until after the election. All bloggers were asked to do this so that blogging about the Drive For Change events would not affect the outcome.

As mentioned in an earlier post, one of my friends from church is very passionate about electing Obama. She not only helped convince me that Obama would be my candidate of choice if I didn't live in California, but also asked me to go to Nevada with her to knock on doors and get out the vote.

So we did. Another church friend joined us. The most interesting addition was the fourth person. Our driver had posted on the DFC site that we had a space in the car and the guy we lucked into was absolutely the right fit for us. He liked the same music, was an In-n-out person, into community service, and interested in discussing religion, politics and all kinds of controversial subjects people don't usually discuss when they've just met. It was Divine Providence. (Trust me, cause we met guy #2, and he would not have fit in at all!)

Our assignment was Las Vegas. For our driver, it was her first trip to Vegas so we couldn't NOT go to the Strip. After checking in to our hotel, we took a short jaunt down the south end from New York, New York to Mandalay Bay. Then we headed back to get an early start the next day.

We had to report to a park first. This reminded me of MMM where everyone gets a disbursement clue. Each car was handed a map to a precinct. Again, we had Divine Providence because our Precinct Captain had gone to UCDC with Random Car Guy and was also a UCSD alum (as I am). He handed us two large packets of voter lists and info and asked if we could do both of those before coming back. Early voting had begun and we were going to the doors of sporadic voters and asking them to vote. Most of the people were registered Democrats but all were either undecided or Obama leaning. We did not knock on any door of someone who was strong McCain, but we did knock on a few strong "Other" doors. When we finished those packets, we headed back and were given another packet in the same area where the staging office was located so we didn't even move the car.

Exhausted, we grabbed some dinner, and then headed back to the hotel. We had entertained ideas of the hot tub, but instead we ended up sitting around and talking about everything until nearly 1am. The four of us really bonded over the whole experience and we were sharing all kinds of life experiences. It was very special.

The next morning we were back at the staging office to pick up two more packets. We did those and then headed home.

That weekend, our team of four knocked on around 350 doors. We met some really great people. Everyone was friendly, even the people who had decided on McCain. Only one person slammed the door on us. Along the way, we met really fantastic Americans: a convention delegate, a former Californian, a Republican dad who had just dropped off his Democrat son to knock on doors like we were doing, an older woman who shook her cane in the air with joy that we were reminding people to vote, an undecided woman on horseback who stopped us on the street and asked us about Obama and by the end was pretty sure she was going to vote for him.

We also saw a lot of foreclosure signs. In one neighborhood, a child told us not to knock on the house next door because "nobody lives there anymore". We saw housing developments that had been abandoned only partially completed. One woman told us that she was so disappointed in America that she would "not be participating in the election". That made me so sad I almost cried. I hate to see Americans not exercising their right to vote. In the end, it's more important that you vote than who you vote for. If you don't vote, you are letting other people decide your life for you and that is just sad.

By the time the weekend was over, our precinct had knocked on 5000 doors, and the state of Nevada had knocked on 100,000 doors. The one-day voter turnout on our first day was 23,000 statewide, a new record.

On the way home, we encountered a horrible traffic accident so the drive took about three hours longer than we had anticipated. But we just looked at it as more time to spend together.

I haven't bonded with virtually random people like that since boarding school. It was definitely a life-changing experience.

We plan to get together to watch the Election Results. We hope we will be celebrating, but at least we know that we did everything we could.

BTW - I still am technically "undecided". I will decide on Election Day whether I will actually vote for Obama or cast my vote for my preferred candidate Nader. But I hope Obama wins.

By the time I post this, we will know.

Rain!

2008-10-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

I work in a one-story building with exposed pipe and ductwork. It just began raining here and the sound was magical. The funny thing was that everyone in the building jumped out of their cubes and ran to the windows to look at the strange and miraculous liquid falling from the sky.

I can't wait to turn on the news for STORM WATCH 2008! ;-)

Beso

2008-10-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

I had dinner last night at Beso, Eva Longoria-Parker's restaurant in Hollywood. The LA Times had kind of panned it but I was meeting a former co-worker who is a real foodie and so we decided to try it.

First off, we both felt woefully under dressed. This place is frequented by Party People. All the ladies were in cocktail dresses and heels and dressed to impress.

The atmosphere is very clubby. It's dark, and red, and there are rooms with curtains and upstairs rooms.

There are two kitchens. Anything grilled comes from the front open kitchen and everything else comes from the rear kitchen.

Our server was fantastic. She asked if we had been there before and would we like some suggestions. We took her suggestions for cocktails, starters, entrees, and dessert.

Our cocktail choice was the signature Blackberry Collins. I had heard people in the bar ordering it and it was good! Lots of fresh blackberries, vodka and lemons.

Food wise, we started with a grilled pear salad and a roasted beet salad. Both were really beautifully presented and really tasty. The vinaigrettes were light enough that all the flavours in the salads came out.

Then we had grilled flat bread, compliments of the chef.

For entrees, we had paella and skirt steak tacos with a side of grilled asparagus. The paella was really good and full of chicken, chorizo, shrimp, mussels, clams, fish, and lobster. All of the meat had been grilled beforehand. The rice was almost risotto-like, creamy and tasty. The skirt steak tacos were very simple. Just grilled skirt steak and aioli in a wrapper that seemed more like lavosh bread than a tortilla with a garnish of pico de gallo. The grilled asparagus was FABULOUS.

For dessert, we had the flan and tea. The flan isn't really flan; it's more mousse. But it was hazelnutty and delicious. The teas are served in infusion pots and the black tea had a french press device in its pot.

We spent a lovely four hours lingering and chatting and were never pressured to leave.

Beso is pricey (our check was over $100 before tax & tip) but worth it! If you are ever in Hollywood, you should check it out! Reservations suggested.

Could Be? Who Knows?

2008-10-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I have mentioned this, but I have been extraordinarily happy lately. I was mentioning to a friend a few weekends ago (while canvassing for Obama - but that's another story) that I feel kind of weird about it because so many of my friends seem to be going through pretty difficult times right now.

I can't really explain it. Maybe I am anticipating my vacation, maybe it's all the new people I am meeting lately, maybe it's a sense that change is definitely coming to this great country of ours. I honestly don't know.

It all started the night I saw The Swell Season at the Greek Theatre. That was, without a doubt, the best concert experience of my life. It was spiritual. I have never felt that way at a concert before. It was like being in a Dali film because strange things were definitely going on.

But ever since that night, I have had this feeling that something really good is coming (that's the musical theatre cue folks).

Tsarina's Club Rules

2008-10-28T10:37:00.001-07:00

Just a silly little note. I went out last night with some friends from church to see another church member's band at a club. Everything was going swimmingly until the second band took the stage. They were quite loud and I reached into the small pocket of my purse and pulled out my earplugs. Apparently, I was the only one so prepared as evidenced by the comments after the show.

This came after having breakfast with my co-workers earlier the same day when we were discussing boys (as you do when you are all single women!). I mentioned my 'No Musicians' rule and they were kind of stunned. After all, they said, you have a lot of friends who are musicians. Trust me, I said, the more musicians you know, the less you will want to date one of them.

Or maybe it's just those trust issues rearing their ugly head again...

The world may never know...

But one thing's for sure, I spend enough time in clubs/pubs/bars seeing my friends' bands to never leave home without my earplugs.

I love the smell of books in the morning

2008-10-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

If you know me, and let's face it Gentle Reader, you probably do, you know that I am addicted to books. I read voraciously. I own over 1000 books, my library card is well-used, I frequent bookstores while on holiday, I subscribe to two (2!) audiobook services so I can listen to books when I can't actually be reading. I am a bookaholic.

So at any given moment, I have just read THE MOST FASCINATING book and I have to tell everyone about it.

Now if you look to your right (the blog's left), you will see a list of just some of the books I have read this year. If you scroll through the list, you will come upon 'Leap'. This is a very interesting book. I have found myself continuing to recommend it several weeks (and books!) later.

If you haven't heard of it, I suggest that you check it out. It was written by Sara Davidson, a 50-something former TV writer and producer of Dr Quinn Medicine Woman (a tv show I happened to like) who was suddenly left by her, I'm not kidding here, cowboy boyfriend.

Anyway, Sara decided to interview people to see what they did when faced with life-changing events. Although she interviewed a lot of women, it's not a chick book. It is actually fascinating. And in the end, she doesn't really tell you what to do, but I think she helps you imagine the possibilities. Really, I think that's what we all need.

So, young or old, male or female, rich or poor, you too can benefit from the wisdom Sara gathered in writing her book. It's available in hardcover, paperback, at libraries, bookstores, on audio, and even Kindle (I don't have one, but I am thinking it's the only form of book I don't have and I need it!).

[Deep Breath]

But, Imperial Highness, what are you reading RIGHT NOW? Well, I'll tell you... Three Cups Of Tea. This is THE MOST FASCINATING book (hah). I started it because my alumnae group is having a book club/tea party to discuss it. Let me just tell you that I am only a few chapters in after reading it at lunch today, and I love it already. I am bawling my eyes out and I hate to put it down. At this rate, I will have finished by dinnertime tomorrow. It's a mountaineering adventure, a war story, a tribute to a lost loved one, a chick book, and a motivational seminar all rolled into one. How did I ever put off reading it for so long?

Speaking of which, I'm going back to it now...

It's A Small World After All (sing with me...)

2008-10-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have been volunteering at a children's home for over 10 years. One of the ladies in my volunteer group has been with us for a little over a year. Recently, we became friends on Facebook.

Today she told me that she had noticed I belonged to my High School Alumni group on Facebook. I asked if she went to a rival school. She said no she went to the same school.

This is an all-girls boarding school in upstate New York. Not exactly popular with girls in So Cal. It was amazing!

Anyway, her class is 16 years after mine so we know none of the same people.

But it was very interesting and amusing.

You never know...

Friends Don't Let Friends Vote For McCain/Palin. Or Do They?

2008-10-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last night, a dear friend and I were discussing the upcoming election. Now this friend and I have much in common and have been friends for nearly 15 years, but we quite often disagree on politics, even though we are both registered Republicans.

I was explaining why I have decided to campaign for Obama: how disappointed I am in McCain's Veep choice, how sad I am that McCain has changed so much over the years that I have lost all respect for him, and the fact that, no matter how much I like Nader, he just doesn't stand a chance.

Previously, she had told me that she might consider Obama and I had been hoping to persuade her that Obama was not a bad choice. Suddenly, she blurted out how much she liked Palin. WHAT?

I honestly don't know how to respond to that. This is a well-educated woman we are talking about here (my friend - not Palin). One of my co-workers has stated that she will never again speak to a woman who votes for McCain/Palin and she's knows my friend.

I could understand voting for McCain because you agree with his politics (Or not voting for Obama because you don't), but to actually state that you are voting for him because he picked Palin?!?

I am at a complete loss...

Drive For Change

2008-10-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

Last night I was watching the Presidential debate and IMing with a friend who is a strong Obama supporter. I have challenged my Obama-supporting friends to try and convince me that I should vote for Obama instead of Nader.

We were chatting about how the debate was going, I was commenting that it was a shame Nader wasn't given a chance to debate, and all of a sudden she asked me the very pointed question "Wouldn't you be willing to do anything you could so that McCain would not be elected?" Well, I think I would.

She invited me to join her in campaigning in Nevada on behalf of Obama. She had a very compelling case. After all, as much as I like Ralph, he doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Las Vegas in July of making it to the Highest Office. How would I feel, she said, if McCain is elected and I had the opportunity to do something about that and turned it down? She said she wouldn't be able to live with herself unless she had done everything possible. I told her I felt the same.

So, my friends, I will be campaigning for Obama in Las Vegas next weekend.

God bless the United States of America!

Palin-Biden Pre-Debate Thoughts (from my Facebook notes)

2008-10-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I was annoyed by the Post poll that 52% of Americans liked Sarah Palin. This week, I am more satisfied with their recent poll.

According to the latest survey, 65% of Americans think Palin is not qualified to be President and more Americans are saying that Palin is the main reason they will not vote for McCain.

I have to say that I am one of those. Prior to the VP selections, I was completely ambivalent about Obama and McCain. I guess I still haven't gotten over my disappointment in John Edwards. Anyway, I had been checking out third party candidates and hoping Obama or McCain would pick one of their prior running mates that I really liked (Richardson? Romney?).

Biden doesn't suck, but he wasn't one of the people I was thinking would sway me to the Obama side. McCain, however, totally jumped the shark.

I cannot, will not, ever vote for the McCain-Palin ticket.

If I lived in a swing state, I would vote for Obama, but I don't. I live in California. Obama has a pretty good shot here. So I am voting for Nader. Of all of the candidates out there, he represents me the best on a lot of issues, primarily single-payer health care.

My two cents...

ACL - The Party Never Ends.

2008-09-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Day two begins with coffee and blueberry muffins made by my niece. Figuring outour schedule for the day, re-packing our bags, everything just seems to take a bit longer than we had thought. K offers to drive us to the bus stop. We had a bit of a wait so we must have just missed one. Everything going well, we get off at our stop and head over to Jack in the Box to use a real bathroom. We also got some food and then headed down to the entrance.

T still had her food when we went through and security made her stand outside to eat it! Crazy!

Our first stop was the Sweet Leaf Tea booth to show our text message coupons for a free tea. Then over to Old 97s. We sat near the back so we could make an easy retreat in time for Jose Gonzalez. That was another good show, but we keep wondering how come we sit down and then every pot smoker and cigarette smoker in Austin comes and sits near us. It's some kind of strange attraction!

After Jose Gonzalez, we stopped in the Digital Oasis for some AC, a free portable fan, and a free photo. You could also watch concerts on tvs, play Guitar Hero, charge your cell phone, or surf the Internet. We just enjoyed the Air Conditioning until Drive-by Truckers started.

After Drive-by truckers, we went back to the Sister Mister Tent and then re-filled out water bottles at the water taps. By then, we were mighty peckish. We walked down the line of food booths. T was in search of a particular item, I was just trying to figure out what I wanted. Then, I smelled it. Barbecue! We split up and obtained our sustenance.

After that, we made a beeline back to AMD to stake out our spot for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Our plan was to get there in time for Robert Earl Keen, stay put and keeping moving up if we could.

Robert Earl Keen was everything I ever expected. I had seen him last year as well and he never fails to disappoint. He's also a hometown favourite so most of the crowd knew most of the lyrics to most of the songs and we sang along at the top of our lungs.

John Fogerty was next. He played all the CCR songs you would want to hear, plus a few new ones. When it was over, the guy behind us said "I can't believe he didn't play Centerfield - that's his hit". What an idiot!

Two nice guys asked to share our blanket while we waited for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. One just moved to Austin from the same town in Ohio that my family is from. Isn't that funny? The other was a student at UT. We discussed music, concerts, festival etiquette. It was cool! I told UT guy that knowing a young person like himself was so into GOOD music gave me hope for the future. Two older ladies had the blanket in front of us. They proclaimed "Robert Plant is the sexiest man in Rock." A young guy sitting next to them said "Maybe he used to be." One of the ladies said "Honey, he still is" then she ripped off her bra so she could throw it on stage. Ohio guy asked if we had seen Robert Plant and Alison Krauss live before. When we said we had not, he was very excited for us.

I was very impressed by the set list. They did songs from their album, Led Zeppelin, Union Station, and traditional bluegrass. The highlights included Robert Plant talking about how much he was influenced by bluegrass and how that was real music, T. Bone Burnett's solo turn at the mike, Alison Krauss on fiddle for a good portion of the show, Robert Plant on maracas for "I'm In The Mood". The most memorable moment was Alison Kraus, Robert Plant and T. Bone Burnett a capella on "Down To The River To Pray" with the ENTIRE audience singing along IN HARMONY. That was an ACL moment!

After the show, we headed out to the bus with 10,000 of our closest friends. When we got to the stop, we learned that people had been waiting for 20 minutes and no bus had come by. 20 minutes later, one bus went past but did not stop. We spoke with two guys who were going to a stop near ours and were going to suggest sharing a cab when they ran across the street to catch one going the other way. I phoned K and she offered to pick us up at the Starbucks at the top of the hill, about a half-mile away. That worked out so well we plan to do it again after Foo Fighters.

Back at the house, we had dinner (farm-fresh pork roast - nothing better than eating food you grew yourself!) while we warmed up the hot tub. We washed it down with some Texas brew. AFter a good soak in the hot tub, we had some Blue Bell Ice cream and went to bed.

Sunday - Last day. Taking my niece, seeing Joe Bonamassa, sad to be going home, but really happy for such a good trip.

Swell Day at ACL

2008-09-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of ACLFest 2008. My second year at the Festival and this year only B & L are coming from the family, but I did convince T to come along (yeah, that was SO hard - come see 150 bands in 3 days!).

Got in on time. The Bell-Marrs taxi service was ready and waiting. T flew in on a different flight but met up at baggage claim. All well and good.

Got to the house, changed, noshed and heading off again. The taxi was offered so we took it! Dropped us off right where the bus would have and we headed down Barton Springs Rd to Zilker Park.

Through security and wristbanding with no problems, we made a beeline for the food court for some sustenance (fried avocado with mango slaw from Hudsons!) and then off to the AMD stage to catch Asleep At The Wheel. AMD is at the southern far end of the park. There are eight stages and it is a bit of a hike from one end to the other.

Asleep At The Wheel is a fine dance hall band. We had our blanket out near a group of young people that I could have sworn were friends of my "nephew". In fact, they were! He walked right past us, only stopping when I called out to him.

After Asleep At The Wheel, we got some iced tea (I forgot to tell T that we are in the South and it would be sweet-Sorry!) and sat down at the Blue Room stage for What Made Milwaukee Famous. They are a local band, but I know them from Bob Boilen's show on NPR. Once again, Bob has totally made my choices easier at ACL.

After a brief respite in the Sister Mister tent (four huge fans blowing water!), we nabbed front row house left for Jakob Dylan. Same stage as Bob Dylan last year. He totally rocked - well, as much as a Dylan can. Sang nearly every song from his new album.

Next stop was M. Ward at the WAMU stage. Yes - with all their financial woes, WAMU is still a major sponsor. We got some shave ice and sat down to see the previous set by The Freddy Jones Band. I had never heard them before but they were pretty good. A huge crowd left when they were done and we were able to get seats under the tent on actual seats. M. Ward was great. We noticed the paparazzi taking photos of the VIP area. There was a girl that looked like Zoey Deschanel (his bandmate in She and Him) but when we got a good look, it wasn't her.

Debated whether to stay put for Jenny Lewis or head over to Austin Ventures for Mates Of State and Eli Young. Mates of State won since Jenny Lewis is based in LA and we will have a good chance to see her at any number of venues at home, but I have never heard of Mates Of State playing nearby.

Eli Young was great, but they were having major sound issues. T still doesn't know if she likes them. They are this year's Broken West for me. I told K that I want their new cd for Christmas (it's on my Amazon Wish List) because they wrote a song for me! Well, not really, but they used my name. T is now referring to them as The Boy Band since we were the oldest women in the audience. "When It Rains" got me through some tough moments in the past year so who cares how young they are?

This year's Pete Yorn for me is The Swell Season. If you haven't heard of them, you may know them from the movie "Once" or their Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly". Marketa was having problems with the keys sticking on the grand piano (they don't like humidity) but other than that, they were fantastic. Glenn rocked out solo on a Van Morrison tune while they tweaked the piano. He is still playing the guitar with the giant hole - in case you were wondering. T said "Hasn't he made enough money to buy a new one?" Marketa played guitar for one song too so she had a chance to stand up front and sing facing the crowd.

Stopped by Alejandro Escevedo on our way to the Merch Tent and caught their last two songs. Mars Volta was on so we listened to them while we shopped. T got the organic bamboo/cotton tees for herself & J but they were sold out of my size so I went with the regular cotton.

Caught the #3 down Manchaca. Got off at the right stop, but couldn't remember how to walk home (in all fairness, I have never had to before). So I called my niece from the Chevron and she said "Mom's coming to get you".

Warmed up the hot tub, had something to eat, and headed off to bed.

Gotta go get ready for today's adventure. First up is Old 97s!

The VERY Semi-finals, mind you!

2008-09-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

Don't pass out because this is my third post today. Stay with me here:

Tonight my office softball team, The Wed Sox, was in the semi-finals, the VERY semi-finals, mind you, of the Company softball league. They were short a girl and, rumour has it, I play softball. So they asked me if I would play this one game so they wouldn't have to forfeit.

Today I got an email from the coach/captain, asking me what my experience is and what positions I can play, etc. I manage my church team, The Heat, so I was pretty honest about my ability and skill level. I didn't want them to expect me to be some kind of ringer.

I was also very nervous because this team is made up of nearly everyone in my group at work, including my boss and his boss.

Well, it was touch and go there for a while, but we won 11-9 and, yes, we are in the finals! I made an out at home on a foul ball. I had two base hits (thrown out at second the first time and scored the second time tying the game). My co-workers were very happy that I came to play. They were also somewhat disappointed that I can't make the finals tomorrow night because I will be heading to LAX to catch my flight to Austin. (They were so cute - "We can pay your change fees").

I just hope they ask me back next season!

ACL - Here we come!

2008-09-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Wow! Two posts in one day! Don't get used to it.

I am heading off to Austin City Limits at the end of the week. This year I will be joined by a friend and my "niece" who is 14.

I am interested in seeing the music festival through the eyes of someone younger. My friend is also up for the challenge of introducing an eager young person to bands both new and old. Maybe we will also learn something about a band we have never seen. (IS there a band we haven't seen?)

I am especially intrigued to take her to see Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. So look for show reports as often as I can post. Or maybe tweets would be better. I will have to think about that.

One more thing about the designation "niece". She is actually the daughter of a first cousin. But things being how they are, this particular cousin and I are more like sisters. We have no sisters of our own and are the exact same age (so were often thrown together as children). Plus my brother doesn't have any children of his own and a girl has gotta have at least one niece!

Stay tuned....

Sugar, Sugar

2008-09-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

Growing up in LA post-Summer Of Love, it's not surprising that many of my childhood friends were the children of hippies. My mother was more of a hippie-wanna-be. She was really too high-class for the clothes and drugs, but we definitely were in the earth-friendly, semi-vegetarian circle.

Anyway, my mother only bought two kinds of cereal on a regular basis: granola & shredded wheat. Once in a while, if she wanted it and we had been very good, we might get Rice Krispies or Frosted Flakes. Even Cheerios was considered a splurge.

So, imagine my distress when the 45 of The Archies singing "Sugar, Sugar" was only available on the Honeycomb box!

I had to buy that box of cereal with my meager allowance, and keep my brother from eating it all. Not easy for a little girl to do when her brother is much older and taller!

This brief trip down Memory Lane is thanks to the commissary playing "Sugar, Sugar" during lunch today.

Songworms

2008-09-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

What is it about songworms? Why can just the slightest mention of certain lyrics cause a person to have a song stuck in their head for a LONG time?

Example: This morning I logged on to Facebook and near the top of my feed an FB friend had a status update that made me think of an Elvis Costello song. This happens to be a song that I know and like and I don't need the iPod to sing in my head. WHAMMO! I got the songworm.
Two hours later, I am still singing the song in my head.

Nothing works. Practiced my Spanish. Read the paper on the bus. Listened to the news. NOTHING.

It could be worse. My cousin (who has three small children) has reported singing the theme song to "Caillou" all day long. At least I like Elvis Costello....

Nostalgia

2008-09-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Today - after about three long years - I finally uploaded some photos for a friend who lost a lot of mementos to Hurricane Katrina.

We have spent the afternoon online reminiscing about a fun summer of following bands all over SoCal.

As we each looked over the photos from our computers hundreds of miles apart, we chatted online about the memories, the people, the moments, the songs. It was really nice.

So I think this technology thing is pretty good.

I'm happy & nostalgic now.

What happened to my best thing?

2008-09-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

I have just gotten so busy that I haven't had time to sit down and blog every day. Well, I haven't made time to do it, let's be honest.

But I had to write today because I am really happy.

I am going to see my family next weekend: my aunt & cousins in Austin. When I talk about going "home", that's where I go.

I am really lucky to have them and I am so excited that I can go visit them this coming weekend. We will be at ACL again so there will be lots of music and good times (and heat and sun as well).

My travelling buddy is coming with me on a pre-Spain trip. It's not the first time one of my friends has met the clan but it will be the most time one of my friends has spent with my family.

Anyway, I am really happy today and just wanted to make sure that didn't get missed.

Ralph Nader Comments on Libertarian\'s Texas Lawsuit -- Ralph Nader for President in 2008

2008-09-18T06:33:00.001-07:00

Ralph Nader Comments on Libertarian's Texas Lawsuit -- Ralph Nader for President in 2008

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