It's March - where did February go?

Hi, everyone. I've been so busy, especially working on my site, that it seems I rarely have time for anything else any more!! I have still not finished fixing up our garage. I still need to find a few things in there, so I was trying to go through every box and unpack it, sort it, etc. but I didn't get very far so far. The termite inspector wants to spray in there on Tuesday so he is going to have to move a lot...I told him, fine, as long as they move it back!

Wow, I can't believe that I haven't posted since January. Well, February was a short month and it just flew by. I had a band, sort of, briefly....but now things are up in the air again :( We had a lead guitar player, a drummer, and a rhythm guitar player. All we needed was a bass player (and a keyboard player would be nice, too). The lead guitar player, "V", has been trying for many years to get a band together and keep one together, but he has not had much luck. I think probably his personality got in the way a little bit. He can be very pushy, and his social skills are somewhat lacking, to put it nicely. Anyway...he has a really nice house, and we rehearsed there a few times. It seemed like the four of us were all very committed and not likely to back out or be irresponsible. None of us are very young and have plenty of time and energy. We had a really hard time finding a bass player, though. We had one rehearsal with this one guy who seemed interested, and we even learned some songs off this list he had from his old band, just to show him we could change our songs if need be. After about an hour and a half, hew left and then said he was not interested...so that was very discouraging. It totally discouraged "V", who I guess couldn't take it any more, so he quit. That was really annoying because now even if I do get a replacement, that means we have to rehearse in my living room or garage, neither of which is very large...honestly while I like "V" and feel he was a good player, he didn't seem to want to do most of my songs.

Now, I'm a singer, so I can't say much about what guitar playing is like. However, I have sung with a couple of live bands on a one-time basis, and I have seen them "fake it" if they only sort of know the song or if it's one that normally has more instruments. That's all I need -- a framework over which to sing my song. I don't think it's too much to ask as long as it still sounds good, and I don't think most people in the audience would care as long as they can dance to it or sing along. I mean, I have been to places in this town where there is just ONE guy singing (badly) and playing a guitar, and yet people listen and the guy gets paid. Heck, the other day we were walking downtown, and this cafe had a woman singing as she played guitar, and a guy with an ACCORDIAN!! I kid you not. But "V" only wanted to do the songs EXACTLy like the original artists, which means if they had piano, or horns, he wasn't interested in doing it. I think that's ridiculous. I don't know why a band can't just fake it a bit and/or do their own arrangement. It doesn't have to sound exactly like the original. He also wasn't very amenable to changing keys, even though I am not a guy, and he wanted me to do some guy songs that were too low for me. So probably in the long run, it may be a good idea if he and I are not in the same band. I mean, I am flexible, and easy-going, but he was a bit irritating about these things.

I am waiting to hear from some other guys about the band, still, so we'll see. I am still in touch with the drummer and rhythm and blues player, too. I'm not giving up! Those rehearsals we had were a lot of fun. There's nothing like singing to real instruments. It's so much more fun than karaoke, especially when they are doing songs I really know and like. Not that karaoke isn't fun....

I can't remember too much about February other than, we did go out for a nice dinner for Valentine's Day...oh, we went to Houlihan's, but not the one we normally go to downtown on Friday's...there is another one that is with a hotel, I can't remember which one. They were having a great Valentine's weekend menu. We avoided the crowds and went out a different night on the weekend. You can read my comments on Facebook or Twitter regularly and that will tell you everything you missed! I don't think you have to "follow" me or be a Twitter member to read me on there, but you do for Facebook.

I've had some annoying health problems lately. I thought I had pulled a muscle in my left arm, and it was very painful. I have also had recurring pain through the years in my lower back, hips, knees, and leg (mostly on the right side), but it has been getting worse. I just figure it's at least partly from sitting so much at the computer, and I am right about that. Anyway, at first my doctor did x-rays and said I had arthritis, but then she sent me to an orthopedist at St. Vincent's, who did an MRI. He said my hip is fine, but he said my pain in my left arm is not really from my arm, it's from my upper spine, the cervical area, so he sent me to a spine specialist (also in St. Vincent's). He also thought I had some problem in my lower spine, although nothing showed up on the MRI. Oh, and he said I DON'T have arthritis!! Okay, gee, so is my primary care physician that incompetent??

The spine doctor said I have two herniated disks in my cervical area of my spine, which is a normal thing that happens to some people as they age. He is a surgeon and said I should have surgery, to put in some metal pins to fix the problem. And honestly, I was all for that idea. However, he then said that there was a 5% chance that the surgery could hurt my vocal cords (because they go in through the vocal cords when they operate in that area, and it's easy to nick them). So forget that...He referred me to the pain specialist at St. Vincent's as well as a physical therapist, although he said they would not be able to help much and that surgery was really the only option. Neither of these doctors were very personable or pleasant. Oh, and the spine surgeon said there was NOTHING wrong in my lower spine and had no clue as to what could be causing any of my pain on that side. His only suggestion was "maybe if you lose weight". Gee, thanks, doc! All of the doctors I saw also had me get up and move around while they noted my pain or how things moved, too.

Oh, the orthropedist had also had me try this thing you buy that hooks up to the door and is supposed to help with the pain, but all it did was hurt other parts of my back. And my original doctor also gave me a muscle relaxer called metaxadone and said to use it three times a day. Well, I only used it about twice a day at most because it just made me very sleepy and also I have to take it with food because it upsets my stomach a bit. It did help quite a bit, though, but I didn't like sleeping 15 hours a day! Even for me, that is too much...my PCP also gave me Celebrex but that was when she thought I had arthritis, and it didn't help me any. The orthopedist suggested taking 2 Aleve and they do help.

The pain specialist was a very nice lady, and she did give me a prescription for another pain killer that I could also take that might help with the problems in my right leg. I didn't end up taking that one because it is one that you have to take every day, 3 times a day, and you can't discontinue it, and it had massive side effects. Not really worth it for the occasional pain I have. Honestly, just taking Aleve now helps me most of the time, and then the Metaxadone is great if I have worse pain. She said they could try to figure out what is causing the pain on my right side but it would take this very painful procedure where they attach electrodes and shoot electricity through you for a half hour. No thanks!

The most helpful of all was the physical therapist, and she was also very nice. Her job is not to care about WHAT causes the pain so much as how to fix it. She did some amazing adjustments moving parts of my body around and it helped A LOT!!! I need to go back to her again, too, and also do some exercises she gave me.

I have been trying to stay off the computer more often and not sit for longer than an hour at a time, which they all suggested to me, and that has helped, too. I can tell a big difference in the pain, especially in my shoulders. My body has been telling me I work too hard, I guess. I also had some weird days in the last few weeks where, one day my eye was strained (it twitches involuntarily sometimes, which is really annoying, but just from eye strain), and another day my right hand was hurting, like I strained it, and another day I had this pain in my left chest area (like the pectoral muscle). So each of those times, I stayed mostly off the computer at all for two days, and took the muscle relaxer, and that helped. But it's just so hard now to force myself to stay off the computer because there's always so much work to do on my website. You see why I haven't been able to type in my blog, either!!

I am looking into trying the voice recognition software to maybe make it easier...I have to find one of the disks, that I have lying around here somewhere. So lately I have been making a "to do list" and trying to put in housework or other non-computer things, in-between each website project. :( Getting old sucks. I guess I should be grateful that I had 17 good years working on the computer before I had all these problems. And NO carpal tunnel!! Probably because I use a trackball instead of a mouse (and a trackpad before that).

We went to Las Vegas this past week, so that was a lot of fun. David had a conference there, and we stayed at the Riviera. My mother-in-law couldn't go (if you'll recall, she lives with us, and she usually travels with us, too) because she couldn't get the conference rate, and she couldn't afford the regular rate. So instead she went to San Diego for two weeks, starting last weekend. She is a very nice lady, but let's put it this way, it is nice to have a break from each other!! And for us to have privacy. Even though we've been married almost 30 years, it's nice to have privacy sometimes. So now we're back and we have another week before she comes back. It is very relaxing and stress-free.

So, anyway, back to our Las Vegas trip. Someone asked me if I won...no, I didn't. Actually, I didn't play all that much compared to usual. You know, I am not up in the morning, when David goes to play. He had conference stuff a lot in the afternoons, too, and I don't go out gambling without him. Then we would usually gamble in the early evening...but in the later evening, I do karaoke while he gambles. So he does most of the gambling. I keep telling him how grateful he should be that I do karaoke because otherwise I'd probably gamble and lose twice as much!! And much less for him to play with. Oh, and he kept getting tired early so we actually went to the room pretty early each night. He is an early bird, but this was extreme even for him. Well, the morning before our trip, he set the clock for 5 am but woke up at 3 am, so he was very tired the first day (we had to leave for the airport about 6:15 and didn't get to Las Vegas until around 2pm, and then checkout was very long). He usually does better if he takes a nap, but the conference kept him from doing that most days. Usually at Vegas, we stay up fairly late but take naps. Not so this trip.

We had a blast, though! It was great fun. When we got there, they check-in line was super long and he was in it for probably about 45 minutes. There was nowhere near there to sit down, so I took the luggage and went to the bar (it was the closest place with chairs, anyway). I sat there for a while. It was kind of boring at first because I had no cash to gamble with and forgot to ask him for any before I dragged all the luggage there (they don't take credit cards in slot machines, sadly). My laptop battery was dead, so... not much to do. Plus I was very tired and hungry. But then this professor we know, Carlos, came by and said hi to both of us, and he at least sat and chatted with me while David was busy, and he watched our stuff so I could bring David a drink while he was in line! He works at a college in Texas and we mostly just know him from these conferences. He's a really nice guy.

Then we had a very late lunch at 3 at the English pub in our hotel. The food there was not very good, but we were starving. I had a short nap while David gambled etc. and registered for his conference. We went to dinner with his friend A. at the Korean barbecue place we like near MGM Grand. I was not all that hungry yet but somehow I managed to eat :) That place is always wonderful. We always order the Bulgogi, which is like Korean bbq beef. They cook it right in front of you. They also bring you lots of kim chee and other little appetizers, and a delicious salad. It was mostly healthy, at least.

We stopped at the new Cosmopolitan hotel and casino to check it out, and we walked A. back to the hotel. Then we went to Bill's Gambling Hall for karaoke, but I only did one song. It was a lot of fun, though. All the places were pretty crowded due to March Madness, St. Patrick's Day, spring break etc. I just did "Call Me" by Blondie. That is the casino that used to be Barbary Coast, and they have had karaoke for many years. David was very tired, so we left there about 10.

Thursday he had conference stuff in the morning, and then we went downtown for lunch. We always like the deli in the Golden Gate. They have changed it somewhat, but it is still good and still has the corned beef sandwich I like and the shrimp cocktail and hot dog David likes. It was St. Patrick's Day, so of course we went down the street to Fitzgerald's and David got some green beer. They had a free band outside, although it was a bit chilly (windy, cool, overcast). I expected it to be warmer. Anyway, we got some free green beads, too, that said Budweiser on them. I had more luck gambling, but again I didn't do too much of it.

We didn't even get to the far end of the strip at all this trip aside from the Korean restaurant, so that is very unusual. And we didn't get to Ceasar's or Bellagio or most of that area aside from the few places I mentioned here. That is very unusual for us. We should have stayed another day because it just went by so fast and did not seem like enough. But then again it has been two years since we last went to Vegas, which is also very unusual for us. It's weird because we usually play more poker at the bars, and we did almost none of that, and I didn't play any horse races, and I also came back with lots of change. Usually I bring change, and if I don't find any machines that take it (fewer take it than used to), I use it to buy drinks etc.

We had a very early dinner--we went to the German place, Hofbrau House. It is near the Hard Rock. It was really really good. We always love the German band there, and the food is great (portions are huge, though). Again, we went with A.. She worked with David at Texas Tech and still works and lives there in Lubbock. We don't know many people any more at this particular conference, and neither does she, so we hang out together.

A. is a really early bird but wanted to go to karaoke with us, so we had planned to go to Harrah's because they have karaoke 6-9. I even checked their website to make sure, and it said March 17, 18 etc. but guess what? Because of March Madness, no karaoke. The place was packed with people watching basketball. I was so mad and I plan to email them a very angry letter. So we went across the street so I could drown my sorrows in ice cream. Outside of Ceasar's is this great place, Serendipity (the original one is in NYC, and I saw the movie "Serendipity" with John Cusack years ago). I had a delicious sundae there, but I wanted to walk off the calories and sugar, so we walked back from there to the Riviera, where we were staying. Then we dropped the leftover ice cream in our room and rested for a minute before going back out.

We went back to the same direction, this time to Ellis Island. It was great fun. I met some very nice people in their 20's there. Most of them were from not only our hometown of San Diego, Vista/Oceanside originally! That was so funny. They live in Vegas now. Anyway that made karaoke more fun, since David does the gambling outside while I sit there by myself. It was a lot of fun chatting with them, and I did do two songs. It took like 2 1/2 hours to do those two songs, but it was worth it. I tried a new song "She Works Hard for the Money" by Donna Summer, and it went well. I also did "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, which I've done a million times. One of the guys is in a band but loves going to karaoke. His brother was also there, and his girlfriend, and two other friends of theirs. None of them sing at karaoke, but they love going to Ellis Island and just watching! I think we got back about midnight, but I don't really remember....the days kind of blur together when you are in Vegas.

Friday we went to lunch at the Rio buffet. It was ok, but hard for me to say how good it was, since I was trying to eat low carb and gluten free...the salads did not seem as good as usual. It was not very crowded, so maybe that's why, it has gone downhill a bit.

By the way, there is a bar we like in Circus Circus (across from our hotel, the Riviera) that is like a carousel...it was "our bar" for years, but It is not a bar any more. They've turned it into a coffee type of place, and kids can go in it now. Boo hoo! Very disappointing. Makes sense, though, in a way...it was not a good place for a bar, since it is up in the video games and carnival section where it's mostly kids. The little ones always saw the carousel and wanted to go on it, and they always had to yell at parents to keep the kids out of the bar. In recent years, we were lucky if we found it open because they seemed to always close it down during the non-peak times of the year, and we were worried they would close it altogether. Ah, well, things always change in Vegas.

David had a reception and stuff Friday night, so we had a late dinner, around 8:30. We wanted to go to Nobu, which is at Hard Rock, but they didn't have any reservations around that time. Instead we went to Mon Ami Gabi, which is a french place I like in the Paris. It was really good, although it took like two hours. They have a gluten free menu, which is great. Not only that, but they have gluten free bread, and that is very rare for a restaurant to have. It was delicious, too, so I was in heaven. I had a really good salad and then a lemon chicken. It was all really good. A. was not with us that time.

Afterwards, we went to the Imperial Palace for karaoke. I always like it there. I tried another new one I've been working on, "I Hear a Symphony" by the Supremes. It was ok. I kind of fumbled a little but not so you could tell unless you had it memorized. I actually had worked on it a little in the hotel room while I was waiting for David. I did get some work done while we were in Vegas, and I also watched some soaps during the afternoons a bit.

I had two separate very drunk guys who came over to talk to me while we were there at the Imperial Palace karaoke, but the slot machines there are not too far from the karaoke, so David came back to rescue me both times. They were harmless, actually--just very very drunk. One of them was singing along to the singer and dancing, and he came over to start singing with me, but very close to me if you know what I mean. Then the other one, who looked a little bit like the actor Alessandro Juliani from BSG and Smallville (but not nearly as cute), he was really really drunk and sat down next to me, then said, "Are you all right?" I said, yeah, I'm fine, but you seem kinda drunk! Fortunately they called him up to the stage to sing just then. I doubt he even knew who I was, frankly, or remembered it the next day.

We probably came back later than the other nights, but still not too too late. We stopped at the English Pub most nights before going to bed, to have snacks and drinks. Some of their foods is ok...We found out THURSDAY that on WEDNESDAY nights our hotel the Riviera had karaoke!! Too late!! Argh!

We had to leave the hotel for the airpot Saturday around 10 am, so I slept in until about 9. We took the cab with A. to the airport, but she was on a different airline so we didn't see her after that. We had breakfast at the airport at a 50's-like diner called Ruby's. David's sandwich was good, but I had bacon and egg with burnt bacon, LOL!

On the flight over there, we didn't get to sit together, so that sucked. Delta switched our seats without telling us and then wouldn't fix it. But I did sit next to some very interesting people from Georgia. They were a man and woman in their 40's who had just gotten married a few weeks ago and were taking their honeymoon to Vegas. They each had an 11-year-old from a previous marriage. I didn't talk to them much at first, was trying to sleep and was listening to my ipod. But then the flight attendant brought them some free drinks and snacks because they were newlyweds, so we started chatting. Mostly we talked about Vegas, but it was fun, and they were very nice. Then when the flight attendant brought them more drinks and snacks, she brought me a free glass of wine, too! That was cool. Always nice to get free stuff! :)

Fortunately we did get to sit together on the way back. Not that it was too exciting! He mostly slept and I mostly read. The seats had these little TV's in the back and you could choose a movie or TV shows or music or some games. David played trivia with some of the other passengers. It didn't have anything I was interested in, and my book was good, so I just read the whole way.

We spent Saturday night in Atlanta since it was about 8:30 by the time we got in, and David didn't want to have to drive two hours home after that. There is this great karaoke bar I like there downtown called Metro Cafe Diner. David was tired all day and kept asking me if I really wanted to go, and by the time we got to the hotel, I was kind of beat, and I wanted to finish my book, so I said, we don't have to go...but then, he had gotten enough rest and said, let's go downtown! LOL! So we went downtown and to the Metro after all. They also have very good food there. It is great because it always has a crowd, but most of them don't sing, so I like it. I get to sing a lot and still have an audience. Even on Saturday night, it was not that crowded. They start at 8 but more people didn't start coming in until around 11. So I got to do four songs, which is great.

I started out with one I wanted to try, "Suddenly I See" by K.T. Tunstall. It is ok --I need to work on it a little more. Then I woke up the audience by doing "I Will Survive". The women in the audience always love that one anyway, and the crowd there is usually pretty enthuiastic. Then I did "Ironic" which was ok...so I said, well, better do another upbeat song, so I did "Lady Marmalade" and guess what, it KICKED ASS!! They really got into it. Also, a group of about 20 middle-aged people walked in just before that, and they loved it, too. I could tell it was going well because up front where I was singing, they were dancing and singing along and yelling, like "Yeah!" and "Woo!" etc. and some people were taking photos or movies with their cell phones! That was great. Then when I walked back to my seat, I got more high fives and nice comments than I ever have, so that was really cool. A good way to end the night, too. The KJ there is really nice, too, and he recognizes us now. He's always like, oh, haven't seen you for a while, how you been? I think it is probably my favorite karaoke bar, at least at the moment.

Anyway, so we went briefly to the Irish bar across the street...we stayed out pretty late for us, but it was great fun. A perfect end for our trip! It's good to be home, though...with my own computer and TV and bed :)

We used to travel every month, and we would go to Vegas at least once a year...but the past few years, we haven't had as much money or time off to travel, for various reasons. So this was a very nice trip and well-appreciated. I think we are going on a driving trip to another conference next month, in Virginia, and then probably have our annual trip to San Diego sometime in May. But otherwise we have not traveled much at all aside from the occasional trip to Atlanta.

Well, that's enough typing, I need to take another break...