Plastic Sushi

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T04:01:00.005-06:00

Picking up from the last blog post... we did go to Metro Cafe our last night in Atlanta. It was great fun. It's usually fun there, anyway, but this was a particularly fun night. There was a big crowd there...not too many singers, but I wasn't the only one singing, either. We were not making a long night of it because we went later than usual, after the hockey game.

First I did a warm-up song "XXX's and OOO'x" by Trisha Yearwood. It was not really a country crowd, but they were nice and applauded anything. It was more of a modern R&B crowd, but they appreciated older music as well. My second song was an 80's rock song (I was in the mood to do a variety of styles), so I did "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash. They liked it a lot, especially the women. I could see them singing along.

By the time I did my third song, which I worked on lately to really learn it, the crowd was in a fine shape. I did the disco song "Knock on Wood" by Amii Stewart. And, I'm not being immodest when I say that I really nailed it. It was awesome. I love it when there is a great combination of things, like, I'm singing well, I've just had enough to drink, and the crowd is into it, etc. They were having a great time singing along and dancing to the song, and I was moving around, pointing, all sorts of stuff, playing to the crowd. It was great. One of those once-in-a-lifetime moments. That was a great high note to leave on, too.

I may have mentioned this before, but last year I had a sort of musical epiphany where I figured out how to do what they call "singing more forward" or "pointed", which to me is singing through my nose more. It really has helped my singing a lot. Not only do I sound better, it's 100 times easier because it makes the breathing so easy, almost effortless. It's almost like magic. I don't know how else to describe it. Before, in a song like Knock on Wood, I would have had to make sure I was really warmed up, and really push it, and sing so loud and really over-do it, just in order to get the notes and the energy I needed to make that sound. Now I just don't need to do all that. I really feel now that there isn't any song in my range I couldn't sing if I put my mind to it. And, of course, my range is much wider as well. The shocking thing is that now I can sing lower, too. But what's really sad is that my voice teachers told me to "sing more forward" for years, but they didn't really tell me what that meant, and I didn't understand it. All that time wasted!

I'm not making any new year's resolutions this year, are you? I have certain goals, but I'm keeping them to myself. It's not like I'll really accomplish them, probably, anyway! They're the same ones every year, ha ha!

Anyway, we had a great time in Atlanta and on our whole trip. The next day after the karaoke, before we checked out of our hotel, we had lunch there at the food court in the CNN Building (it's a mall among other things). It's a great food court. I ate at this place that had some kind of weird combination of ethnic food - some of it looked Greek, some Indian, some Chinese...I don't know, but it was delicious. Best fast food I've ever had. No kidding! Wish we had one here. It's called Bistro #7. Delicious!

It took a few days to recover from all that...we were pleasantly surprised to find that a friend had sent us a Hickory Farms gift box. That didn't last long.

We didn't have a very exciting new year's. We just stayed home, watched TV, drank some wine and champagne. We got an Electric Rabbit for Christmas. It opens wine bottles in a snap. It worked great. It's just too hard to get a cab on new year's, and who wants to have to worry about how much you had to drink or whether a cop is going to stop you? That wouldn't be very fun!

I took all the Christmas decorations down on the 1st...and it took me a few days to take them all down inside, as well, and take down the tree. Now I am procrastinating on putting them all away in the garage. That's the harder part and will probably take me another few days, at least.

My allergies have been really bad...it just seems like I can't eat any more without something making me sick (especially eating out). I've been trying to cook at home more.

Have a good time the rest of January!

Happy New Year! Almost!

2011-12-28T19:00:00.004-06:00

Wow, I have been so busy the last few months! The holidays can really take up a lot of time.

First off, we ended up having a really nice Thanksgiving. It was sort of a last minute thing. We were chatting with our friend Cherie on the phone. She lives in Tallahassee, FL. She and Bobby used to live on the next block from us in Lubbock, and she worked with David at Texas Tech. Bobby works with computers and has been in a lot of bands, and he used to record me some, for fun, and I got them both kind of into karaoke. Usually we only see them, very rarely, at poli sci conferences. However, now that we're in Columbus, we're only 4 hours away from them, give or take. So we had been talking about getting together for a while but never really co-ordinated our busy schedules. Anyway, we ended up driving to their place for Thanksgiving.

You go through a lot of depressing, tiny little towns driving from Columbus to Tallahassee. That part of Florida is really more like Georgia than what you may expect from Florida. It's not at all like Miami or Orlando, places like that. It was a very pretty drive, though, with lots of pretty trees. We have had amazingly nice weather throughout November and December, too, so it's been great. It's usually a little cooler than what we had. We had many days in the 60's, 70's and even 80's. Last year it snowed!

Cherie and Bobby had put together some nice snack foods for us when we got there, including lots of gluten free stuff for me. Also, they were nice to enough to pick up a gluten free pumpkin pie for me at a bakery I found. We ate out at a really nice restaurant there, and it was great. Afterwards, we did karaoke at their house. Cherie has a new iPad and it has a great app for karaoke. It's pretty amazing. She connected to their sound system and it was really cool. It has lots of songs. You can even record on it.

They have a really beautiful house, too. It's huge, and they just decorate it really nice.

Unfortunately, they had a family emergency, so we could only stay one night, but it was a really great visit with them, and we all enjoyed it quite a lot. It was one of my favorite Thanksgivings!

I started my Christmas shopping that week on Amazon. They had some great "Black Friday" sales. When we got back home, I started my Christmas cards, and I was all set to do more, but both David and I came down with a terrible cold. It was not the flu, but it really knocked me out so that I just mostly slept and did not have the energy to do much more than sleep or sit on the couch occasionally. It wasn't the flu, but just a really bad cold, and I had it about a week. I felt so behind on everything. I hadn't even put up the Christmas decorations, and I felt like a slacker.

My birthday is December 3rd, so I was even sick for my birthday. That sucked. I was getting better, though, so we did go out to dinner. We tried this place I always wanted to try called The Meritage Cafe. It's a really fancy place and has great gourmet food. Definitely a special occasion place. I even got some cards this year, so that was nice.

The little pub near us, The Dawg House, has karaoke now on Mondays, so we have been going there sometimes. Unfortunately David has to get up really early for work during the week, so we usually only go there for an hour. I hope they keep having it. There aren't too many singers besides me.

Once I got better, I had to clean the house (it really really needed it!) so I could then take out all the Christmas decorations from the garage. I finally did that, and put up my tree, and my outdoor decorations, and I finished sending my Christmas cards. Seemed at the time like it took forever. Then I had to start making cookies.

I got into the habit of making lots of cookies at Christmas time for the family. We often spend the holiday with my in-laws, and I make cookies for all of us, and also I give them to others. I used to love to eat them, but first I learned I'm allergic to gluten, and then I became diabetic, so I can't really eat them (or at least, I shouldn't). But I still enjoy making them for other people.

This year, we didn't see any family for the holidays, but I still made cookies. I got into the habit years ago of making a batch for David's secretary, and a plate for his office so that visitors could have some. I also used to make some for a few friends. I sent a box of cookies to our old friend LC in Tuscaloosa, and a box to my mother-in-law. I usually give a plate-full to our neighbors on either side of the house, too. It's a lot of work but fun. I usually make about 5 or 6 different types of cookies. You can see all the recipes on my website.

We really wanted to go to San Diego for Christmas, but it was very expensive. We couldn't afford it this year. Flights are ridiculous. We looked at lots of different flights. I really wanted to go to New Orleans. We didn't want to just stay in Columbus. For one thing, most restaurants are closed on Christmas day. It's just the two of us, and I didn't want to cook. For another thing, he only gets so much time off, and we didn't want to waste it.

We finally found a great flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. First we drove to Atlanta and spent Christmas Eve there. We like to stay downtown, and there are always hotels and places open there, even during the holidays. We stayed at the Hyatt, which is really nice, but it had a cheap rate. I love their nice soft beds. I love the nearby 24 Hour Metro Cafe, which is a great place. It has a great Greek food (although it seems to be run by Russians, not sure why) and karaoke every night. It's my favorite karaoke bar. We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant next door to it, Ninfa's and then later went to Metro for karaoke. It was pretty cold and windy that night.

Karaoke was pretty dead, too. There were many people but they did not want to sing, nor did they really want to be there or hear singers, I don't think. My guess is that, being Christmas Eve, they either didn't have family or couldn't be with them, otherwise why would they be in downtown Atlanta? So I sang a lot, and so did the KJ, and there were a few other singers, but not a lot of applauding. I sang Christmas songs and some others. I was in a mood to sing them. We had a great time despite the boring crowd. They did get better as the night wore on (and they got drunker).

The next day, we went to brunch at this restaurant called the Sundial. It's at the top of the Westin Peachtree, a very tall hotel, and it revolves. Unfortunately, it was rainy and foggy, so we didn't get a very good view. We had gone there the night before, for drinks, and the view then was great. Also, it was not very good food. It was very disappointing, in fact. Being allergic to gluten, there were only a few things I could eat. I ordered the scrambled eggs, sausage and potatoes. The eggs were cold, so they redid them, but this time they were runny and underdone. It was just not very good.

After that, we went to the airport and flew to Ft. Lauderdale. By the time we got there, it was pretty late and not much was open. We took a cab over to this restaurant called Sushi Rock, a little sushi place, since it was one of the few still open at 10pm. It was pretty good.

We stayed downtown at the Hampton Inn. It is a cheap place but just fine. Their beds are kind of hard, though. It is about 30 degrees warmer in Ft. Lauderdale than Atlanta or Columbus! Still, it was Christmas, so they had carols blaring and a big beautiful tree in the lobby.

Since we knew weren't going to be at home for Christmas, we opened our presents on Friday. It was just the two of us, so nothing too exciting :) I mostly got DVD's, which I'm always happy to get!

We went to a lot of fun places our first day in Ft. Lauderdale. We are not big beach-going people, but I wanted to check it out, at least, so we took a cab over to the main beach there and walked around. I should have worn shorts and dressed just cooler in general because it was way too hot. I took photos and we stopped a few times to get cool and get sodas etc. Then we went to Skyline Chili.

Skyline Chili is a fast-food-type restaurant that is popular in Cincinnati. David had it there and loved it (I can take it or leave it). The chili is the kind with meat, and then you can choose to add other stuff to it, such as spaghetti, beans, onions, or cheese. I had a hot dog with chili, onions, and cheese. It is gluten free except for the hot dog bun and pasta, so that's how I happened to find it in Florida for the first time. There must be some people who live in Florida that are from Cincy because most of the Skyline Chili restaurants are in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, but there are a few in Florida. We then walked over to this restaurant called Alexander's and sat at the bar. I had a delicious slice of key lime pie. Then we got a cab over to an Irish Pub for a while. Finally, we went back to our hotel and had a long nap.

Later, we went to one of the casinos in the area, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. It is in the area called Holllywood. Ft. Lauderdale has many other little cities around it (plus it's nearby to Miami). so it is a huge urban sprawl. The hotel had a shuttle that took us over to the casino for a lot cheaper price than a cab would have cost. We had great fun there, and we came out ahead, let's just say :) I tried the new Lord of the Rings slot machine, so that was fun. It has a chair that moves when certain things happen, and a pair of speakers at the top, behind you, and the game is kind of interactive. It's kind of hard to explain. It's not like the normal slot machine. I had fun with it. I also played another machine called the Love Bug that was also fun and won on it. We played on the poker machines at the bar and won on those, too.

We had dinner at this fish restaurant there, and it was great. We sat outdoors, and the weather was just beautiful, perfect. There is a big lake there and they have these fountains that put on a light-and-fountain show, and sometimes music as well, kind of what you might see at the Bellagio in Vegas (but smaller). Also, there is a little stray kitten that lives there, and he came by to see us. I gave him some of my fish and he was my new best friend (meaning he let me pet him).

So, it was a lot of fun. I wanted to do karaoke but we were pretty tired after the casino. I don't think we did anything else, that I recall, anyway...I think we just took it easy in our room.

I did bring my bathing suit but never used it. Stupid, I know, but it seems like we were always either sleeping or eating or going out.

Tuesday we changed hotels; we went over to the Doubletree in Sunrise, which is near this huge mall called Sawgrass Mills, and near the hockey arena. We walked around the mall for a while. It was really crowded. Huge mall, too. We stopped for refreshments at the Rainforest Cafe, and I picked up lots of business cards and a few other things. We also had lunch at the TGIFriday's, which was right across from our hotel.

Later, we went to the hockey game. It was the Florida Panthers versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Panthers won. We thought it would be an easy walk, but we took a cab because it looked a lot farther. The game was fun. I don't really care that much about sports, but it was ok. We had nice seats. We did end up walking back, through the mall. Almost everything was closed at that point. We stopped again for snacks and drinks at TGIFriday's before going back to our room. I did a lot of work on my site after that.

Today, Wednesday, we flew back to Atlanta. I really wished we could have stayed a few more days. The weather there was so great, and I would have liked to have spent more time at the beach or pool, and gone to karaoke, and seen some other sights. Well, maybe next time...

It's cold here in Atlanta, but not too bad. We had dinner at the Irish pub Meehan's, which is always good. David is at a basketball game. I didn't feel like going, and he doesn't mind going alone. I am here messing around. I watched a movie, and I might take a quick nap. When he gets back, we're going out to karaoke again at the Metro Cafe. Then tomorrow, we'll drive back home. It will be good to be home!

I hope you all had a nice Christmas or other holidays. We don't have any plans for New Year's. I'm sure we'll be at home!

It Doesn't Feel Like November!

2011-11-11T02:49:00.001-06:00

October was a lot of fun, for the most part. I love Halloween. I put up lots of decorations - even more this year than last.

You can see the decorations I put up last year ; they are the same ones as this year, plus new ones.
You can see the new ones here Also, you can see my Halloween costume. Last year I was a cat, and this year, a devil. Both years were fun...in some ways, though, last year was better. Last year, my MIL was still living with us, and she enjoys holidays, decorations, and little kids, so she was fun to have around for all that. We had lots of tricker-or-treaters, and that was great. Then David and I went to TGIFriday's, where they had lots of costumes, and a contest. We didn't stay that long, but still....it was fun. This year, I wanted to do more. I really wanted to do karaoke in costume. Halloween was Monday, so it makes it hard for us to go out since he has to get up the next morning. I talked him into going out on Saturday to a karaoke bar, Li'l Kim's, where they were having a costume contest. We had never been there before, and it's always good to try out a new place. We had a good time, and my costume was good...however, the karaoke bar said on their website that karaoke started at 8, but it really didn't start until 9:15. I should have called, and I could kick myself because I should know better. It's all the way downtown, so we took a cab, and we had a cab coming at 10, so that meant we only had 45 minutes of karaoke. I sang one song and that was it.

However, it was not exactly a great karaoke bar. The singers I heard there were not very good, and the audience was not really paying that much attention or applauding much. So staying later probably would not have been that much fun, anyway. Before the karaoke, we had fun playing oldies songs on the jukebox and eating Korean food. Strangely enough, this play is a redneck bar but run by Koreans, and they sell pretty good bar food as well as Korean food. Weird. So at least we know now, not to go there again...And then we didn't have as many tricker-or-treaters this year, so that was disappointing.

I hope to lose more weight by next Halloween so I can get a really good costume and look good in it. I looked way too fat this year. I was very sad, though, when I had to take down all the decorations....oh, well, soon there will be Christmas decorations to put up. Honestly, though, I like Halloween a bit better.

Last week we went to Montreal. It was a great trip. David had a conference there for Deans. We stayed at this great old hotel in the downtown are called Fairmont at Queen Elizabeth. We've been to Montreal a few times before and love it. It has a lot of character. The food is great! Canadians are so nice, too. It was way too short of a trip. We would love to stay there longer, or even live there.

We flew there on Wednesday morning, very early. It was a really long day. We had to leave the house around 5:30 am and drive to Atlanta. By the time we got to our hotel room in Montreal, it was 12 hours later. UGH! We took American Airlines, and they flew us down first to Miami (uh, wrong direction!), but I guess that's how they do things. We switched planes there to fly up to Montreal. Both ways we got to upgrade to first class for, well, quite a bit, but still cheaper than it normally would be. It is so worth it because you get a lot of room, not just leg room but also elbow room. They give you free drinks and sometimes free food. On the way up, we didn't get food, just snacks.

Sometimes my legs bother me on long flights. I have Restless Leg Syndrome, and it affects me sometimes at night, or if I am sitting for a long time and not able to get up and stretch, walk around. It can be annoying and painful (They really show call it Achy Leg Syndrome, not just "restless"). It always pisses me off whenever a comedian or anyone makes fun of it like it's not a real disease. I've had it my whole life, ever since I was a kid, and it's not "new" just because they only recently started giving it a name. It has to do with a chemical deficiency in your brain. Like we didn't already know my brain is deficient! Ha ha! They do have drugs for it, but they're not worth it because you have to take them every night, and they really dope you up, and have too many side effects. I don't have the problem often enough to make taking another drug every night worth it. Usually at home I have to stretch a lot, take a hot bath, take a pain killer, Ben Gay, etc. But you can't really do all that on an airplane! I tried to stretch as best I could. It was fine once we landed and I got to walk around. It only bothers me if I have to lie or sit without getting up.

Anyhoo.....the Miami airport seemed pretty nice. We ate at a very bad Mexican restaurant there, though, called Tequileria. Worst tacos I ever had. It took a long long time to go through immigration in Montreal...just long lines...nothing like waiting in a long line when you're already exhausted!

We were pretty tired when we got to the hotel - especially me because I hadn't had much sleep. But we were hungry, so we just at the hotel restaurant. It was great, though, as it turned out. They not only knew what "gluten" was but when I ordered duck pate, they brought it with gluten free bread! Woo hoo!! That doesn't happen very often.

Our room was very nice. It wasn't huge, but it was fine. They had a nice minibar, beautiful bathroom (black marble!), and comfy bed. This is the same hotel where John Lennon and Yoko Ono had their famous "bed-in" in the 60's.

The only problem at all was that I brought my netbook, which is very slow, so it was frustrating to try to use for anything. I got a new hard drive for it, and...I don't know, but it's not very fast now. It was always slow, but I don't think it was quite this slow. So I brought a lot of work but did not do much of it.

On the plane flight, and that night, I read the book "Sweetly" by Jackson Pearce, one of my favorite new authors. It is a sequel to her book "Sisters Red". If you like fantasy/monsters, they are good books, and easy to read. I zipped through this one in the one day.

Also, while we were there, I watched the movie "Green Lantern", which I have been dying to see since it came out. I enjoyed it! I don't know why some people didn't like it...maybe they're not comic book fans.

I felt more awake after dinner, so we went to this nearby Irish pub. I had to eat some more because I had to take a pill, so we shared some fish and chips. I just took the breading off the fish, but still, it was really good!! Great fries, too. It's called Le Vieux Dublin http://dublinpub.ca/?lang=en It is weird at first to see everything in French, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

I slept in the next day, Thursday, while David had his conference. We went back to the Irish pub for lunch. I had a salad this time, which was a bad choice. It was very dry, the chicken was overcooked..it was just bad. Then I asked for more dressing, and the waiter was way over his head, too busy, and taking forever. Finally he said if I got more dressing, he'd have to charge me for it! So I just said, never mind....it was pretty bad.

Unfortunately, later on we had another bad meal, and it was way way too expensive. It is the Vargas, just down the street from our hotel. That's what we get for going to the closest one. I got duck. I love duck! This was chewy, not good at all. Meat is supposed to be tender, not chewy. Blech. It came with mashed potatoes that were lumpy. Not kidding! LOL! And like I said, way too expensive. David had sushi but he said it was so-so. We went back to our hotel and had snacks there at the bar. They have really good snacks there, for free! I also ordered some chocolate mousse, which was fantastic.

They have a restaurant there called The Beaver Club which is really ritzy. The mousse is from there. Also, in the gift shop, they have a snack shop/candy shop. They had free samples of this delicious maple fudge. Most delicious thing ever. That is also made by the Beaver Club. I bought a lot to take home :) But it's very bad for me so I froze most of it. Otherwise I'd gobble it all down.

We didn't do much besides eat and drink, besides his conference. We were only there a few days. I tried to find a good karaoke place. Most of the ones I found were karaoke rooms/boxes. That's not the same as a public karaoke bar. It's great if you have a bunch of friends or family with you, but otherwise it's kind of like, well....singing at home with my karaoke machine. I found one place that said they have 100,000 songs. More on that later. The place we visited last time had burned down!

I also searched for gluten free restaurants, so we went to one on Friday for lunch. It was great. It is called Zero 8. It is actually free of the top 8 allergens, which includes wheat, nuts, dairy, shellfish and more. Yet it is a delicious gourmet restuarant. I loved it. I had a burger, made with lamb. The bread it was on was pretty delicious, kind of like a crispy thing. There is no cheese, but it had carmelized onions on top so it was quite juicy and flavorful. I was trying to be somewhat good on the carbs, so I had a salad with it rather than fries. David's pasta was very good, too. Then for dessert I had an apple cake. It was ok...would have been better with whipped cream, but...no dairy there. All the portions were kind of small, which was good because it meant we could sample different things. Oh, and I almost forgot, they had a delicious gluten free beer! And it was not that high in carbs, either. So that was awesome. I so wish they had this restaurant in every city. The waiter didn't speak much English, but he was very nice. I noticed on the menu that they didn't seem to have any beef, which is kind of strange. It's not an allergen, but maybe they don't like it for some reason. They had mostly lamb, duck, and chicken.

The area where the restaurant is, called the Latin Quarter, is even more colorful and fun than the downtown area. I would have liked to have walked around, but I had only brought a sweater and it was quite chilly and windy. It was nice weather the first two days, but it got kind of cold on Friday, and I did not realize it so I didn't bring my jacket when we went out for lunch. We also stopped at this little candy shop next door to the restaurant. It looked interesting. They had many types of Jones soda, so I got a sugar free one. It was pomegranate - really good. We also went to this bar, a blues club, before going back to our hotel.

That night, we met our good friends Steve and Cathy for dinner. Steve worked with David at Texas Tech, and he is a professor up there now. He and Cathy are scifi fans, too, so it's always fun to talk to them. They took us to Chinatown and we had a nice meal. I had duck again, but this time it was good. Steve was kind enough to drive us to the karaoke bar I had found, even though I think it was way out of his way. We saw one in Chinatown, too, but it was very empty. I don't like going to places that are completely dead. We also passed another one on the way, so we probably should have stopped there and checked it out.

When we went to this place, Bar Zoe, it was really loud and crowded, and they wanted us to pay $5 to just go in! So forget that. I was very disappointed, though, that it was so bad. I hate getting all dressed up and putting in my contacts for nothing. We went to a little Greek bar down the street and had a couple of drinks before heading back to our hotel. It was a fun place. They played a lot of 80's music on the jukebox.

We went back to our hotel bar again and had more snacks and chocolate mousse. Way too much eating on this trip! We sure didn't want to leave on Saturday. At the airport, I ordered a local dish called a smoked meat sandwich. It was one of the most fatty things I've ever tasted, but delicious. It is some kind of brisket, on a sandwich with swiss and rye, like pastrami. But way more fatty than pastrami. More fatty than bacon and pastrami put together!

We got a really good gourmet meal on our flight, again in first class for part of it. Almost made flying bearable. We stayed the night in Atlanta. We usually stay at the Hilton. It's got a good price, usually, and it's right near the karaoke bar I like. They also have Trader Vic's, which we like. Another long tiring day of flying. We then went to Metro Cafe, which is a 24 hour greek restaurant with karaoke every night. The people that work there are very nice and I usually get to sing a lot. I sang 4 songs and we were only there a few hours...if we hadn't been so tired, I would have stayed longer. However, the crowd was really dead. There were many people there, but they were interested more in the games on the TV instead of the karaoke. I tried my best to wake them up! The KJ and I did this duet "Bring Me to Life" by Everclear, and they liked it a bit more than the other songs. I need to learn more modern songs. I finished the night with Crazy on You by Heart, and I'm not kidding when I tell it was the best I ever did it. I really nailed it. But they didn't care. Oh, well, I had fun anyway. I wasn't hungry when we were there, so I had some food after that. We stopped at Gibney's pub for a snack, and then we went to Trader Vic's for a drink before heading back to our hotel.

I watched X-Men First Class in that hotel...I enjoyed it a lot. I only wish the movies would put the real costumes on them. I especially loved the cameos by Wolverine and Mystique (the older one).

The day we just drove home and then slept quite a bit, to recover from our late nights of eating and drinking :) The drive home was beautiful because the leaves finally changed for Fall. It's been quite warm down here for November. We are finally getting some cooler weather. Today was in the 40's or 50', I think. Lately it's been in the 60's and 70's. Almost San Diego weather.

We probably won't be able to afford to go anywhere for Christmas this year, but we're still looking into the possibility...

October is here already

2011-10-01T14:55:00.003-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been two months since I wrote in my blog. Terrible, I know. August and September just really flew by.

I'm glad because it's very nice weather right now. This part of the country has a really nice Spring and Fall that lasts for a while. I've lived all over the country, but this is the only part I can say that about. In other places, it's either too cold or too hot in the spring and fall.

We enjoyed our trip to Milwaukee back at the end of July...we were happy to hear that they are in the baseball playoffs. Also Tampa Bay, another great city we've visited and like. Too bad Atlanta did so badly, though.

We usually stop for the night in Atlanta whenever we fly back from another city, and we did that in early August, too, on our way back from Milwaukee. We usually stay downtown and then go to karaoke at Metro Cafe, which has it every night. It was pretty dead that Monday night...I was practically the only singer.

We keep meaning to take another short driving trip somewhere, but so far we haven't. We are going to Montreal in early November for a conference, so that will be fun. Canada is always a lot of fun - especially the big cities. They have great restaurants in Montreal. It will be pretty cold, though.

We would like to go back to San Diego for Christmas, but we're not sure yet if we can afford it. I wish I could go somewhere for my 50th birthday this year, too, but again not sure...

A couple of weeks ago I got really sick with some stomach virus. It was horrible. I hate throwing up. Not that anyone enjoys it, I'm sure....it took about a week to get over it. Not fun. The only good thing is that it did sort of cut down my appetite and get me out of the habit of eating chocolate and some other unhealthy foods.

Since I can't eat gluten (wheat/rye/barley) and I am trying to eat low carb, this is what I've done. I have this large bowl with a lid, so I put in a package of almond flour, a package of soy flour, a package of flax seed flour, and about half a package of brown rice flour (and as it runs out, I keep refilling it). It makes a nice substitute for baking. I also try to use low fat margarine (Country Crock Shedd Spread), and Splenda, whenever possible.

It makes great cookies and cakes. A few weeks ago, I made pizza crust from scratch with it. Delicious! I use low fat mozzarella and turkey pepperoni, and I go easy on the sauce, so it's all low fat. This week I made pancakes, which were AWESOME. (I love Mrs. Butterworth's sugar free maple syrup) Yesterday I made chocolate donuts. They taste quite a bit like those little packaged kind (love those).

I just look for a good recipe online for a regular flour thing and then change the ingredients. Easy!! Biscuits next...

I haven't done much lately with the music...been really busy!! Just been working a lot. And being lazy!

I feel so bad that I never finished the garage. Maybe I'll get back to that since the weather is nice. I still want to find this one thing. Some of the garage is sorted. I can get to my holiday decorations, and all the tools, and my contest prizes, and we have the spare fridge with assorted things. But I had started sorting the collectibles and didn't ever finish that...I have more boxes to go through. I'll have to dig out the Halloween decorations soon!

We don't know if we'll be here past June or July...that's when our two year lease runs out. So it's kind of silly that it's taken me a year and a half to go through the garage.

Have a good fall1

Leaving Milwaukee

2011-08-01T01:56:00.003-05:00

We spent this past weekend in Milwaukee, WI. It was our 29-year wedding anniversary July 30. Every year, we spend it in a different state, so this year is Wisconsin. We picked it in part because there are only 4 states I haven't been to yet, and Wisconsin is one of them (also Vermont, Montana, and South Dakota). Milwaukee has baseball, so that's another reason we came here. (David has been to every state)

Milwaukee is a very nice city. It is a little bit like Chicago, but cleaner, and people are nicer. There are lots of German and Polish people here, so besides the cheese they are famous for, you will find lots and lots of sausage, as well. Very good sausage, like brats, not the crummy American breakfast sausage you find in other places. They really really like to drink here, too, and not just beer but lots of hard liquor. I almost felt like we were in Ireland again---that is the only place I've been where it is so pro-drinking! LOL!! Of course they are famous for breweries here, like Miller and Pabst and others.

A lot of the people are also very tall, especially the women (or maybe I just noticed them more because I am used to seeing tall guys). I saw some Amazon-looking women. I mean, like, they towered over me (and I'm not short) and they weren't even wearing heels!

We flew here on Friday, which was not a good day for me. For one thing, I had not slept very well the night before, so I was very tired. Secondly, I had really bad allergies, which gave me a horrible migraine with sinus pain, and other symptoms that made me feel bad...so, it was not fun to fly when I was not feeling well. When we got here, I just went to sleep for a long time. David went to a baseball game. We had a late dinner downstairs in the pub after the game.

I rarely have migraines, but I had three this past week, so that was very strange. For me they are allergy-related. I can tell they are migraines because I sometimes get the "aura", which is where you see shapes or splotches in front of your eyes (it's kind of like your glasses are dirty but then it gets worse and partially blinds you). Then my eyes are very sensitive to light, and I get a headache and also usually very bad sinus pain as well. I don't get them as bad as some people do, where they get nauseous or get them a lot. Thankfully!

Saturday was our anniversary. We went to this gourmet hamburger place Stack'd because it has gluten free hamburger buns and other stuff. It was really good. I even tried some gluten free beer called New Grist. It was not very good, but better than some I've tasted. It was not low carb, anyway, so I couldn't have drank very much of it even I did like it. There are lots of gluten free places in Milwaukee!

After that, we took the brewery tour at Miller Brewing. It's actually called MillerCoors now because they merged. Anyway, they do a nice job with the tour. They take your picture, show you a couple of films about the history, take you on a short walking tour, and then give you quite a lot of free beer. It was impressive. Since I can't drink their beer, I got free Diet Coke, so that was great. I will post our nice photo later.

We went to this Irish bar Derry Hegarty's for a quick dinner that is near the stadium. Normally we go to a fancy place for our anniversary, but that really didn't work out this time due to the game starting at 6. It's ok, because we had such a big lunch, we weren't that hungry anyway. I had a good sausage there.

They have a shuttle from there to the stadium, so we took that. It's not far, but you can't really walk to it because of the freeway. I am not a huge baseball fan, but the game was not too boring. They had some hits, and a few home runs. It was just too hot for me. I should have realized it and prepared better by putting my hair up and wearing shorts etc. Usually an evening game is not bad, but it was 88 degrees, and humid, and the sun doesn't go down here until after 8. I find that in this kind of heat, that chewing on ice (or a sno-cone if you can find one) helps the most. It wasn't so bad up in the food area because there was more of a breeze, plus they had these big fans. But in the stands, it was dead air and everyone was all sweaty, hot, and smelly. Ugh. Not my favorite thing. It did get a bit cooler about halfway through, though. We had some really loud young guys behind us, and they were fairly entertaining because they swore a lot and talked a lot, in a drunk but fun way.

On the way back from the game, we saw fireworks, so that was fun. This weekend, they had the German Fest going all three days, and they set off fireworks Friday and Saturday night. We went back to the Irish bar briefly on their shuttle, and then we walked down the street to see what else was there. We went to this Mexican restaurant called Fiesta Garibaldi's. They were a bit short-handed, but otherwise it was fine. The food was not bad...not of course as good as San Diego, but better than Columbus, at least from the Mexican restaurants we've gone to there. It was fairly spicy and tasty. We were both exhausted and hit the hay as soon as we got back to the room.

Sunday we went to the casino in the morning...it was pretty empty then. Unfortunately, we got a little annoyed because they didn't take traveler's checks. This meant we couldn't gamble as much as we had planned. Oh, well, probably just as well. David did win a little on the horse race we watched, so we didn't come out too far behind.

We then went to the German Fest. It was kind of like a state fair but without all the rides. They sold lots of great German food and beer. I just got another brat. I'm allergic to so much of German food and fair food, so...I was trying to be careful. Later, I had some kind of Icee-like thing. We sat under this big pavillion and listened to the Oompah band for a while. It was fun, but it was really hot again, so I got a bit of a sunburn. They had one little area for selling stuff, mostly German things like dolls, gnomes, cuckoo clocks, etc. David got a silly German cap, and I got a stuffed dog and a few other little things....

They had this Dacschund Race while we were there. People brought their "wiener dogs" for this. It was fun. We only watched a little bit of it, but it was cute. These were not trained dogs, so they ran every which way. Such cute little dogs, though.

They had one of these sky rides where it is a gondola-like thing that takes you across the sky of the park, very slowly. We did that. It was fun, and very cool up there, so that was nice. The German fest is on the water here, so we also sat there in the shade near the water for a while, drinking and relaxing. It was great. I took lots of photos which I will post at some point.

We spent a few hours at the German fest and then went back to the room. We had a nice long nap, and then I found a good karaoke webpage for this area, so I really lucked out. I found a place right near our hotel. We are staying at the Wyndham across from the airport, and this place with karoake, Amelia's, is only about two long blocks away (less than a mile) and easy to walk. That doesn't happen too often!

Amelia's is an Amelia-Earhardt-themed restaurant, so that was interesting. We had dinner there, and it was not bad, and cheap! Cheap drinks, too. It was kind of like a little neighborhood bar/restaurant. They were very nice there, too. The KJ had his wife or girlfriend helping him. She sang very well. He didn't sing at all, but he talked a lot (but not TOO much like some KJ's). They were doing raffles all night long for tickets to the state fair and other prizes. I won a ticket, and also a bag of cotton candy, but they let me switch them, since we won't be here for the fair. So I got a tee-shirt, and a candy necklace. David got a t-shirt, too. They were not shirts for the KJ or the place. They were shirts for various things, so you got to pick through and find the ones you liked. His was for some Wisconsin college sports team. Mine is for something called Jeremiah Weed Southern Style Sweet Tea, but I picked it because it says "Got Weed???" LOL!

They gave us more raffle entries every time we sang, so that was great. It was good karaoke, but even better to win stuff!! The singers were fine, and it was not too terribly crowded, so that was good. I got to sing three times in less than three hours. I sang two songs I have done a lot before, "Let me Be There" and "Black Horse and Cherry Tree", and then my last one was "You're So Vain", which I had never done live before. Kind of a boring song, but I wanted to try it because I knew that I sang it pretty well and this was kind of an oldies crowd. David sang "Werewolves of London" very well. I talked him into it so we could get more raffle tickets!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and everyone there was very nice. This was my 33rd state singing karaoke! Yippee! I have to say that people here in Wisconsin are mostly very nice and friendly.

Lately I have been recording again for fun and posting the songs at Singer's Showcase, so check it out.

We fly home tomorrow...it's been a great trip and I can't complain. I definitely would come back to Milwaukee. There seems to be a lot of things to do here.

I ate too much this weekend, though....back to my diet tomorrow. I gained about 10 lbs. back in the past 6 months. I have been eating healthier, with a lot more fruits and vegetables, but still too much fat, too many calories.

I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and my blood sugar was good, which was a relief. I thought it would be up, from the weight gain. My triglycerides are very high, though, so I have really been trying to watch the fat (well, until I came here to Milwaukee). Otherwise, my cholesterol and kidneys were all fine...

My mother-in-law, whom you may recall lived with us for the past 5 years, moved out. She moved back to San Diego and is in a very nice retirement home. I was the one who did all the work of finding a place out there as well as co-ordinating the move (and packing), since David and his sister work so much and don't have much free time. Moving is always stressful, and in this case I think it was for all of us. It's nice to have our privacy back, though. No matter who lives with you, it's tough when you are a married couple, I think, and especially if you have been together a long time and used to having privacy, peace and quiet, etc. Not that she was noisy or anything. If anything, we are the noisy ones. Now we can listen to music or TV any time, at any volume, and not have to worry about disturbing anyone.

My SIL Susan flew out here again and went back with her mom. I was hoping we could see another movie, but unfortunately there wasn't the time. The movers were not very good about telling us exactly when they were coming, so we did a lot of waiting around for two days. That was annoying. I would probably not use Colonial Movers again. They got the job done, and as far as I know it is all there without a scratch or anything, and they were cheap, and very nice. However, I don't think they do a very good job of communicating between the people in their company or with their customers.

They told us that they don't sub-contract out to another company, but then it was clear that they did, since it was a different name we had to make the check out to, and their trucks did not say anything on them. We went over with them twice on the phone about what was being moved, and I was told to put anything that would fit into a box (not furniture, but I did have to put the TV and stereo into boxes). When the movers got here, they packed the lamp (which is not new or expensive) into two boxes, they INSISTED, and charged us $50 for that. I should have fought harder on that one, but we just wanted them to hurry up and leave because it was late at night.

Then it took a while before they told us how much we had to pay them on the other hand, even though we had to get a cashier's check. Then a long while for them to tell us exactly when they'd be there. With a lot of calling and not getting answers. And also, they had phoned the retirement place to ask about whether their trucks would be able to get near the door, and the woman at the place told them yes, but apparently they didn't agree once they got there (hard to know who was at fault, but I haven't been there yet, so I don't know). So then they charged us a few hundred dollars extra, and took even longer to go get another truck to transport the stuff. It was very stressful.

Then there was also some confusion at first on the other end with some items that couldn't be found at first, but eventually it was all sorted out. I have to say, though, that we've moved a lot and they were not even close to the worst moving company we've dealt with. The last two were much worse. Oh, well.

Hopefully my MIL is settling in well and will adjust. It's hard at her age. At least she will have more privacy, too, and she is near her friends, as well as her daughter. Not to mention, back in San Diego, with the much nicer weather.

We are just waiting to see if the insurance she has will pay for her rent, or how much of it they will pay...it would be nice if they paid for all of it because it is not cheap. We will really have to really watch our spending if we have to keep paying a third of her rent...we may not be traveling too much for a while.

If we do end up ok financially, then we might look at buying a house sometime in the next few years, depending on whether we stay in Columbus or not. You never know! :) I am definitely going to get a new, better karaoke machine, too, because I have this cheap crummy one I bought, and I don't like it at all. A good karaoke machine for recording with disks costs at least $400. I am still looking into whether I can record directly onto the computer, too.

I was going to get together with this guitar player, but he backed out on me. Maybe one of these days I will get a band or some reasonable facsimile....I'll keep trying! I wish I had could play guitar or piano...but my fingers are too short.

Tomorrow night we are staying in Atlanta before we drive home, so I will get some more karaoke, at least, at my favorite karaoke bar Metro Cafe.

I am hoping next summer to go to the General Hospital Fan Weekend in LA if we can afford it...it was fun years ago when we went. It is always right before our anniversary, though, so it makes it tough if we still want to do the different-state thing.

Well, nothing else much going on. Just been working on my site as usual....

Stay cool!

About the rest of our trip

2011-06-13T22:52:00.002-05:00

I was going to update this more while on vacation, but our time was just jam-packed with friends and family and other fun stuff!

We did not end up seeing my brothers on Wednesday after all. The car we were driving had some problems. We went with my SIL out to dinner at Todai, which we always love. It is a buffet with Japanese food, sushi, desserts, etc. Great place. I can actually eat fairly healthy there because of the great salads and fish they have. Their desserts are really tiny, too.

Thursday they had to take the car to be fixed, so we rented one while that was going on. We briefly went to Parkway Plaza (the mall in El Cajon) to get a couple of things, and I believe we also went to the grocery store, and I got take-out for lunch... Jack-in-Box used to be my favorite fast food place, but they have changed too much. Well, actually, I think most of their stuff is probably better than it used to be, but their Jumbo Jack is not nearly as good as it was, and that was my favorite burger. Their fries are really good, and so is their bacon cheeseburger. Oh, well. That was my first job, too, working at Jack-in-the-Box in Carlsbad, in 1979. They only had burgers and tacos back then.

David went to Tijuana for lunch; I did not go. We used to like to go there and get the delicious Mexican bread and pastries. He still gets the bread, but of course I can't have either any more....it's such an annoying trek to go there. First we drive to the border, then we park. We either walk across (which is kind of a long walk), or we take a cab ride (and they drive like crazy) or we take a tour bus, crowded with people and sometimes mariachi singers. On the way back, there is usually a long line. It was really long this time, so I guess I made the right decision. It is just a lot to go through, just to do a little cheap-o shopping and get good Mexican food. He did have quite a great lunch at the Ceasar's hotel there, so I missed that.

That afternoon, we drove up to Riverside. We stopped at the little Canyon Crest shopping center there to get some gifts. It is a much nicer shopping center than it was when we used to live there. It has a lot of nice stores. I wish I'd had time to do some real shopping there. We went to our friends' Monty and Paul's house and spent the night there. Monty worked with David at Texas Tech, and later he and Paul moved to Riverside (Monty works at Cal State San Bernadino). They have a gorgeous house. It's kind of like staying at a really nice bed and breakfast, and that is not an exaggeration. Also, Paul is a gourmet chef. They are just really fun and nice people.

Right around the corner from them lives our good friends Shaun and Jadie. When we lived in Riverside years ago, we used to go to their house almost every Friday night. Shaun worked with David at UCR. So it's a funny coincidence that Monty and Paul moved just around the corner from them. I've probably said that before, but it still cracks me up. We all went over to Shaun and Jadie's for dinner and hung around there for a long time, eating and drinking. They made a delicious meal and made sure it was low carb and gluten free for me. They grilled some chicken and sausages, and there were some really good veggies, salad, and dessert, etc. It was all very yummy. I drank quite a lot, but it was fun. It's always nice to catch up with old friends.

We had breakfast with Paul the next morning at the Canyon Crest Cafe, which has a pretty good breakfast menu. Monty had to leave early for a work thing. We drove back to El Cajon and got the now-repaired car, and got rid of the rental car. We then went to San Diego and spent the night there at the Gaslamp Hotel, this little cheap place we like to stay in. It's right down in the tourist area of San Diego. We went to the Padres baseball game that night. First, though, we met with my brothers David and Stephen, and my sister-in-law Zina. We went to this Irish pub that David likes. I thought there would be something I could eat there, but there wasn't too much, so I just had a salad. It was great to see them! Then we went to the game. I don't always love going to baseball games, but this one wasn't bad. It was quick, and there were lots of hits and interesting things to see, and they won. I just hate it when the game is really slow and nothing really happens, and it takes forever. I always bring my iPod just in case I get too bored.

I used to enjoy eating a lot at the stadium, but it's not really something I can do now. No more cotton candy for me :( Stadiums today have a really wide assortment of food, including healthy stuff, so it's a lot better than it used to be. They even have a gluten free stand there. They only sell hamburgers and hot dogs, and some chips, and the bread they have is horrible...but at least they're trying. I had a hot dog, but I threw away most of the bun.

Later, we stopped at this restaurant we like a lot called Osetra, just for a late night snack. It is kind of a seafood and tapas kind of place. I just had some tiny lamb chops, and then a tiny chocolate mousse dessert that was HEAVENLY. OMG, my mouth waters just thinking about how good it was. The service was very slow, though, so it took a lot longer than we wanted. We were both pretty tired. We even sat at the bar, where usually you get fast service, but it didn't matter. The bar has this big strip of ice, so that when they put your drinks on it, they stay cool. Neat.

Saturday, David and his mom and sister went to look at retirement homes. It went pretty well. I stayed home and worked, watched TV, and did more laundry. They picked me up for lunch. We were going to go to this great Greek buffet that we like, but it was closed for a private party, so we went to this Chinese place that Susan likes instead. It was ok. It was not very spicy, even though I got a spicy dish.

I was hoping to go to a casino or a movie that night, but it didn't work out. Our friend Ira came over later, and we went out to dinner at Grossmont Center. They have an Irish pub there now called Houli's. Normally the food at Irish bars is not that great, IMHO. Or it's heavy with bread and pastry. This one had a really good menu. I had corned beef tacos (!) and they were the most delicious thing I've ever had, I think. Fries were awesome, too. I'd eat that every day if I could, although it would be really bad for me and probably kill me :) It was nice to see Ira. We had a good visit. I had hoped to spend some time in the mall, but it was already closed.

That's the problem with getting older, you slow down. We had to take so much time during the trip for napping and sleeping... it seems like we were always either doing that or visiting with people, and there wasn't much time for anything else. Not shopping, not working. I had some time late at night, but either I was the only one awake, or I was sleeping, too. It is tiring enough traveling, but it only gets worse as you get older.

Sunday was quite busy. First we had breakfast with our friends George and Beth. They have these great 3-year-old twins. It was really nice seeing them all. We met at the Hamburger Factory, which is in a park near their house. They have a little train there, and the kids love it. I took lots of photos and put them up on Facebook. I'm mad at myself, though, that I forgot to take photos the rest of the trip. I was too busy having a good time! But of course, when there are little kids, it's natural to say, oh, they are so cute, let me get my camera out! We went with them over to their house afterwards and hung out a little. It was very fun. The kids are just adorable. I got to read to them, too, and that was fun. George and Beth are great parents, and you can tell by the fact that their kids are not annoying like so many are. They behaved really well.

I was pretty tired already, but we went to see my brother Stephen and Zina again. They moved into a new, much bigger place and wanted us to see it. It was really big, so now they have room for all their stuff. We got to see their two big dogs, too. They are very sweet dogs. One of them has no teeth, so his tongue hangs out to one side...looks very goofy! But cute. We went out for a snack at this place DZ Akins. I tried to find something I could eat, but there wasn't really anything...but Zina had ordered this ice cream dessert that was much bigger than she expected, so I just had some of hers. I didn't really need any food, anyway! We had a nice visit. I was pretty exhausted, though. The restaurant turned out to have this really nice gift shop, and it had lots of lady bugs! So I had a bit of fun shopping there, too. I took a little bit of a nap, but not much of one.

That night was our big karaoke night. I wish more people would turn out, but we didn't have too bad of a crowd. We usually go to the Charcoal House because it is close by and they have karaoke almost every night. They have a room off to the side, so we usually go there with our group because you can still hear the singers, but it's not so loud that you can't talk. My old friend Mary showed up, and that was great. She was in a car accident early in March, so she still has on a back and neck brace, but it was so good to see her. She really is a good friend to show up and hang out when she's in pain! She can't drive, so two of her sons came with her, and one of their friends and his girlfriend. She has a really nice group of kids. I had fun chatting with them about singing, and about TV and scifi. Our friend Martin usually joins us, too, and he did show up as well. He's always such a nice and fun guy. He and I always do the duet "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. We should learn some more duets...but anyway, it went great, maybe our best ever.

I had posted on Facebook that anyone was welcome to show up to karaoke. This guy we knew from way back when, Jamie, was the only one to take me up on the offer. He used to be in STAR, the scifi club we all belonged to, so we had a lot of mutual friends there. He also dated my SIL and was married to a friend of David's. I didn't know him very well, but he has been nice on Facebook. We had a good time chatting with him at karaoke, and it was nice of him to show up. He's a very nice guy. We've all grown up LOL!! It was a fun night, all the way around. Martin and Jamie both took photos, so I will post them when they get around to sending them.

Remember the old days when people would say, oh, I didn't develop the photos yet? Now you have no excuse...but sometimes people still get lazy ;)

Being a Sunday, there weren't many singers, especially for the first few hours, so I got to sing a lot. It was great. I had a lot of fun. It is rare that the evening ends and I think, okay, I've sung enough. That actually happened this time. I felt like I sang so much that I could barely finish a conversation because they kept calling me back up to sing.

Mary's boys sang, too. They are so talented. She is very lucky to have such kind and talented young men. And I know she agrees with that sentiment, too :) How many guys in their 20's are happy to go hang out with their mom and her friends for the evening? Yet they really seemed to have a good time. She has some other sons and daughters, but they are either out of state or not old enough to hang out in a bar. They are all very nice, though. Mary is such a great mom! I hope next time, after she heals, that we can hang out some more, and I can meet her boyfriend, Dan, who is an actor.

Of course karaoke is always fun, but it's ten times better when we have good friends or family around to share it with! My only regret is that I did not take pictures, plus I spent the whole night sober. What was I thinking? :) Hopefully, next time we can go to this other place that Mary and her friends like (they only have it on Mondays, so we have not yet been able to fit that into our schedule).

Monday was our last day before flying. We had picked up quite a few things that we worried would not fit in the suitcase (or would make our luggage too heavy), so we mailed a box full of stuff home. We had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant that we have passed for years but never went inside. I just wanted good, authentic Mexican food, like fast food, but David and his mom wanted a sit-down meal, so I gave in. But, anyway, it was okay, not that great. We won't be going back there again. I should have asked people at karaoke what their favorite local place was. I might have gotten some good suggestions!

I wanted to go to a mall and look around. David wanted to go to another baseball game. We went to Horton Plaza in down town San Diego. It is not as good for looking around as it used to be. It has a movie theater, and a great food court, but the stores are so-so. Anyway, we looked around there for a while. The weather in San Diego was actually kind of chilly, so I bought a sweat shirt for the game. And I was still freezing! So stupid to be freezing in June, especially when back home it was in the 90's! But that's the coast for ya. Anyway, we were planning to go to a Chinese restaurant that we like in Horton Plaza, but instead we just ate Indian fast food at the food court. It was pretty good. I also had some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Awesome. It is so hard to diet while on vacation.

The game was really awful. It was slow, boring, and the Padres lost 1 to nothing. The other team, Colorado, scored a run in the first inning and that was pretty much the whole game. Blah. I did try the gluten free hamburger later on, and it was not that great, either. Oh, well. I even drank coffee at the game...that's how cold I was. I hate coffee. But I was freezing, and also the caffeine was needed. I was falling asleep half the game, and I mean I really was dozing. I'm not exaggerating. Sometimes I got up and walked around up where they sell stuff, just to get warmer and wake up.

We all flew back to Atlanta on Tuesday and stayed at the Westin airport. It was a fairly uneventful trip. We didn't go out to karaoke or anything this time because David had to get back to work the next day. We had a really good dinner at our hotel, though. It has been hard this past week getting back into a routine. The trip was so much fun. Then of course I slept a ton when we got home. I have been tired all week, actually.

Mostly I have just been catching up on working on my site, and doing stuff in the house. I need to get back into recording and singing again. I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day!

Tomorrow it's off to the dentist. It's long overdue. I have to get my teeth cleaned, and I have a tooth that needs re-filling because the filling fell out. Ugh. Is there anyone who likes going to the dentist? I think I hate it more than most. Not the pain or fear or anything so much as I gag really easily, and I have a really small mouth. It sucks when even getting x-rays hurts.

We had the house cleaned today...always nice to have a clean house. We have it done once a month, roughly. I know that so much of this blog was about eating. Well, you know, when we vacation, food is important :) I have started back dieting, though. I gained a little weight back recently and I would say I need to lose about 40 lbs. We'll see how that goes. I am mostly back to just eating salads...

I saw this doctor on TV when we were in San Diego, Dr. John LaPuma. He was on an infomercial, but it was quite interesting. Normally I am skeptical about anyone like this, but I could not find ONE person on Google that said he was a fake or anything like that. Also, his stuff is based on science, nutrition and things I've pretty much read in other places. He just does a better job of packaging it. He runs the website ChefMD. He is a doctor that got interested in nutrition and how food affects our health, so he went to culinary school. He teaches about how to use nutrients in foods to keep yourself healthy and fit. Not a really ground-breaking idea, but he focuses more on what you can eat than what you shouldn't eat.

It's all pretty easy stuff, like eating foods, fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains etc. and not eating processed or artificial foods. He has a lot of interesting things he tells you, like that eating watermelon that is not kept in the fridge has more nutrients than eating it out of the fridge. Or that if you eat a handful of almonds 20 minutes before you eat something fattening, it's healthier for your arteries. Stuff like that. Really fascinating. He has some great recipes on his website, too. I bought his book on Amazon, so I've been reading that. It's very interesting.

Speaking of reading, I have been reading the Harper Connelly books by Charlaine Harris (as well as the Sookie Stackhouse novels that "True Blood" is from). They are great. I wish there were more of them. It's about a girl who was struck by lightening, which gives her the power to find dead people. She travels around the country with her stepbrother, finding dead bodies for people. It's really good.

June 1st --Day 1 of our San Diego trip

2011-06-01T14:34:00.001-05:00

We had a great time in Atlanta. The karaoke place I always go to was dead. I was the only singer, so I got to sing a lot. There were not many people in the audience, so I tried a lot of different things. It's definitely more fun if there is more of an audience. The KJ and waitresses there are so nice, and the KJ is really funny. He always cracks me up.

I wanted to go to Trader Vic's for dinner, but it was closed for Memorial Day. We found this really good Greek/Turkish restaurant called Truva, so we will probably go back there another time.

We met some interesting people in Atlanta, including this nice young handsome Australian guy who travels a lot, all over the world. He was very interesting and reminded me of Simon on As The World Turns (well, a more honest version).

Tuesday we spent most of the day flying. It was fairly uneventful; just tiring. We got to El Cajon around 4pm, and I went to sleep. We have had a nice time chatting with my SIL and her husband.

Today we went briefly to the mall at Parkway Plaza, and then shopping at the grocery store. I am doing laundry, not too exciting! Then we are going to see my brothers Stephen and David later today, and maybe my SIL Zina. That will be nice!

Tomorrow we will do some more errand-like stuff and then drive up to Riverside to see our friends there.

It's so nice and cool here..no heat or air conditioning needed. Georgia is already really hot and humid, so this is a great change.

It might be time for a nap now!

Our annual May trip

2011-05-30T02:47:00.002-05:00

We are here in Atlanta for two days....We are spending two nights here and then flying to San Diego (Staying for a week). I am excited about seeing so many of my friends and family in San Diego, and doing karaoke, going to good restaurants.

My sleeping schedule is REALLY messed up right now :) . Not only am I awake at 4 am, but I doubt I will sleep before this afternoon. We'll see! David went to the baseball game here tonight, Braves versus Cincinnati. He decided to go since it was a night game. Originally we were going to spend the evening out at karaoke, but I was so tired and slept all evening instead, so he went to the game. You know I must be tired if I take ANYTHING over karaoke! He is going to tomorrow's game, too, against the Padres, which he had always planned for, but it is a day game, so we should have plenty of time for karaoke afterwards.

We always go to this place I love here in downtown Atlanta called Metro Cafe. They have a huge song selection, nice people work there and sing there, great food, and it's 24 hours (the food, not the karaoke). They have karaoke every single night at 8:30 to very late. I recommend the gyros plate!

We took my MIL to the airport this morning...lately I have been going to bed in the morning, around 10, but coming here messed it up worse. Well, tomorrow (later today, I should say) should be fun...Atlanta is a nice city, with lots of great restaurants and things to do.

We have most of our time in San Diego already booked up! That's the only problem with going there because we have so many friends and family members to see, and we have to cram everyone and everything in. He can't take off as much time as he used to, now that he's dean, either. We fly in Tuesday. Wednesday he is going to Tijuana for lunch and to do a little shopping, then we might see my brother Stephen that evening. He moved very close to where my SIL lives, so that's more convenient. Thursday we are driving up to Riverside to see our friends up there. Friday we come back, and he wants to go to the baseball game that night and also Saturday night. Saturday during the day, we are doing something with his family. Saturday for dinner we are meeting my brother David (and possibly others) for dinner downtown before the game. Sunday morning we are seeing our friends George and Beth in Poway. Sunday night is karaoke. Monday is free so far. Then we fly out again on Tuesday! Very little time to rest, especially fir gun, or go shopping (forget about the beach!) or recover from jet lag... Oh, we might check out one of the casinos if we find a spare hour or so. Oh well, it will be worth it. It always is!

We have had a lot of stress lately for reasons I won't go into, and I gained ten pounds back, so I'm not happy about that. Now I have to really diet and just eat salads and not much else :( Sux! But necessary because of my health. Speaking of health, my allergies have been pretty horrible lately, too. It's especially difficult when I'm singing. My back has been okay, for the most part. Some days are more painful than others, but I'll live! We may be making one major change this year, so stay tuned!

I have been working more on learning, singing, and recording songs and posting them at Singer's Showcase and Singsnap again. It's been difficult with this new karaoke machine I bought (made by Emerson, cost me about $100). It's kind of a cheap piece of junk, but I can't afford better right now. My old Vocalpro machine broke down. I tried to have it fixed, but you have to send it to another state, and the guy charged me to fix it, but it nearly really worked after that. I even sent it to him a second time, and he said it worked fine. Yet, it doesn't. The CD+G player does not work well. The CD's often skip or stick, or don't play at all, which is not good if you are trying to record. A new Vocalpro or any other good one costs at least $350.

For this new cheap machine, I have to sing really loudly right into the microphone, except on higher/louder notes, where I have to move the mic away a bit. Kind of annoying, but it is forcing me to learn some new songs. Also, sometimes it just stops in the middle of the song, or skips (not as bad as the other one), and the remote is junk. The batteries are always popping out.

I tried singing on Singsnap this week, a site where they have the video and the mic is plugged into the computer, but the results have not been that great. The opposite problem there - my voice is way too loud and I have to have the mic a foot away. I asked them for help, and they are trying to help me figure it out. I did switch from my older mic, which is a good one, but I think the mic cord got damaged. I used the new one from the karaoke machine, and that worked much better. There is still some distortion, though. They also suggested that singing with headphones on might help, so I might try that when we get back home.

One of my online karaoke friends uses this software called Cooledit. She records her voice right into the pc, and mixes it with the background music, adding effects, so it results in a more professional sound. The only problem with that it will require me to spend a lot more time on each song as well as learning the software, so I have been reluctant to try it. I may be forced to, though...I'm just very lazy when it comes to all that kind of thing. I'd rather spend time working on learning more songs or working on my voice.

I had an epiphany recently about my singing which has helped me quite a bit. You can read it here if you're interested.

Well, that's about it. Have a great Memorial Day!

And now it's April....what???

2011-04-12T23:26:00.001-05:00

Don't forget to read my Twitter feed http://twitter.com/#!/SuzanneLan

I haven't really had much chance to do anything with putting a band together since the last one fell apart. I need to get to the music stores and start posting around for band members again. Such a pain in the butt.

I finally finished reading "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" Vol. 1...I don't get too much time to read, and this book was over 500 pages, so...took me a while. I only read if I am having trouble sleeping or if we are traveling on an airplane (or sometimes at the doctor's office). Anyway, I really enjoyed it. The funny thing is, the notes int he book raved about how great "Hound of the Baskervilles" was. Frankly, I thought that was the weakest of the stories. It was the only one where I thought the plot was kind of predictable. I mean, it was still enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but there were several plot points meant to be big shocks or surprises, but they were obvious as far as I could tell. Anyway, the series is well worth reading. It's not too dated and is pretty easy to read. I am now reading "Sisters Red" by Jackson Pearce. It's kind of Young Adult fiction but very good. It is kind of a combination of Red Riding Hood and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (but with werewolves instead of vampires).

I hope you are all enjoying nice weather. It's been pretty warm here. I'm glad to see all the flowers and trees.

I have been having DVD/VCR woes....some of them go back a year or more, though. I have two combo DVD-recorder/VCR's. One I use in the living room and the other is in the bedroom. My MIL also had a VCR in the bedroom, and of course in my office I have both a DVD recorder and a VCR, separate. Anyway, the first two, the DVD recorders started giving me problems when we still lived in Tuscaloosa. I kept meaning to take them in to be repaired. The VCR's worked fine. I finally took one in to Sears to see if they could fix it. They said it would cost over $200 so it's cheaper for me to just buy a new one. I hate that, though. I still have to take the other one in, too.

In the meantime, when we moved, I took my MIL's VCR to use with my karaoke machine. Hers was not hooked up and she never used it, but I figured that if she cared, I would just get her a new one, which I did. Well, the new one only has one coaxial input, and her old TV only has one coaxial and nothing else. So I bought a converter. In the meantime, I have been using her new one in the living room. Just all so annoying. I don't know why the VCR's, which are old technology, work just fine for decades but the DVD recorders always mess up within a year or two!

We had to have the outside of the house sprayed for termites. The owners of the house have a contract with this pest control company, and it had to be renewed. All of which is fine except the company wanted to spray in our garage and insisted that we move everything away from the back wall. That was very annoying. I moved some but they had to move the heavier things, and then they didn't move them back. And they left dust everywhere. Grrrr! It is particularly annoying because I had started sorting through my collectibles in order to prepare to put them out on display, and now that's kind of all messed up.

You know, here is another annoying thing. I have been using computers since the 80's and never once have I spilled anything on a computer. Even though I usually have a soda or water nearby. I'm just very careful that way. So the other day, I had heated up a lean cuisine TV dinner, and I went over to sit down, and my Dell netbook was on the chair, so I picked it up to move it...and the lean cuisine slid right off the plate in my left hand, onto the laptop! Yuk! I dumped it off immediately and then got paper towels to get the rest, and I wiped it off really well. I turned it upside down and drained it overnight as they say to do. It would not boot up. I had to get it repaired. It didn't cost very much, and he just replaced the keyboard. The rest was fine, but it still smells like garlic. :(

I got my new smartphone in December, but I had a lot of problems with it. I finally took it in again and they did some kind of restart on it...it has worked well ever since, so...yay!! I do enjoy being able to check my email and post on Twitter and Facebook while I'm away from home. It's so convenient. I wish the screen was a bit bigger, though. I tried this program Tweetdeck that is supposed to help you keep track of Facebook, Twitter, and My Space etc. all at once, but frankly I found it confusing and it keeps freezing up on me. :( I'll just stick to my browser...

I canceled my Netflix account...I discovered that I get free streaming movies already on Amazon because I'm signed up with their Prime membership. I signed up in order to get free/cheap shipping, which is well worth it since I buy so much, especially at Xmas. So it's great that I didn't even know that I get free streaming videos as well! Normally I would not watch streaming movies. I prefer to watch TV on the big screen, not on my computer. But, hey, it's free! And honestly, I am always so far behind in watching Netflix movies that it's a complete waste of money. They charge me even if I don't get around to watching the disks for months. So....even though I like Netflix, out it goes. I watched my last movie with them, District 9. It was interesting, but kind of hard to watch with all the gross stuff, and kind of a downer. The critics raved about it...oh, well.

My MIL was out in California for two weeks. She left her phone on the plane before she disembarked in Atlanta. She went back to the Delta terminal right away, but they hadn't found it yet. Then she called David, and he then called her phone. A Delta gate agent picked up the phone, and she agreed to find my MIL at her next gate and give her the phone. She was there for hours since her plane was delayed. Yet, the agent never gave her the phone. And now Delta claims that no one has found it. Well, ok, really they are giving us automatic replies and stock answers, and the whole runaround. We filled out a form on their website about the phone, but we haven't gotten any reply. We tried phoning Delta, and the airport, and Delta's corporate offices, as well as emailing, but we have not gotten any help whatsoever. It's truly been the worst customer service I've ever seen. And it's not good for an 83 year old woman to be without her phone. She is supposed to use it to call for help if she needs help. We got her a Tracfone in the meantime, costing her an extra $50 between the phone and a couple of hours' worth of time. She hates the phone, though, because she can't hear on it very well. You know, it's a cheap phone, so it is not very good quality and doesn't have many features. She can't even change the volume on the ringer. She is paying the monthly $10 on our Verizon family plan for her old plan, so she already has a contract with Verizon. But to get a new phone to replace the lost one is going to cost a few hundred dollars. SIGH. That's probably the last time we will let her fly alone, for various reasons.

I turn 50 in December...I am hoping to go somewhere special to celebrate. I haven't figured out where yet, though. I could just go somewhere I like, such as New York, or Vegas, or New Orleans. Or we could go somewhere warm, like Puerto Rico or the Carribbean. Or I could go to one of the 4 states I have never visited before: Montana, Vermont, Wisconsin or South Dakota. Or I could have a karaoke party somewhere If only Comicon or one of the big soap opera weekend events was in December.... Well, I still have a while to think about it :) Speaking of Comicon, I see that there is a big scifi convention, Dragoncon, in Atlanta on Labor Day. Atlanta is only a couple of hours from us, and it's been many years since I went to a convention. Also, many many scifi and TV celebrities will be there, so it would be great fun. We often go to a poli sci convention that week, but we're not this year, so that would be a good time to do it. Trying to maybe get some friends to go, too, to make it more fun.

Last weekend, we took a little driving trip. David had a conference in the town of Radford, VA, in the university there. His mom and I went along for the trip. Frankly I'd rather travel almost anywhere than stay home...I like hotels. The first night was fun. We stopped over in Asheville, NC on Saturday, which is sort of on the way. It's a nice little resort town in the mountains. We did karaoke there, so that was fun. It was a really great karaoke bar, lots of very good singers. We didn't stay very long, but at least I can include North Carolina the list of states in which I've done karaoke. It was #32!

Sunday was not such a great day. We stopped for lunch in the town of Bristol, Tennesee. We always take my MIL's wheelchair with us just to make things easier and because sometimes she has fainted or fallen. We were downtown, and the parking lot was across the street from the restaurant. The wheelchair was in the trunk, underneath most of our luggage, so we just decided she could walk across the street with her cane. I have to admit that this was my stupid idea. Well, she can work with her cane if she's careful, but... So, anyway, we walked across the street, and I had to go to the bathroom, so I went on in ahead. They went in, and she tripped over a rug, fell, and hit her head. So there was some bleeding, and they called the EMTs. She was kind of incoherent, too, which we have seen happen before when she fainted. Anyway, they took her to the hospital, and they did tests, but she is fine. She just had a little cut above her eye, and bruising. We had to make sure to check in on her for the next 24 hours to make sure she didn't have a concussion. We did have to waste 5 hours in Bristol, which is certainly not what we planned. I did get to see the mall there (which wasn't too exciting). So that day was kind of rough on all of us. We drove the rest of the way to Radford. The rest of the trip was not very exciting as he had his conference, and then we drove back. We stopped for the night Monday in Anderson, SC. They did not have karaoke, unfortunately, at least not where we were. We were pretty tired, anyway.

We picked up the dog this morning from the kennel. He'd had to be put under anesthesia to have his teeth cleaned, plus he got some shots, etc. and his usual bath. Well, I guess it stressed him out. I went to sleep and woke up later only to find that he had left a horrible mess of feces and vomit on his bed; it covered half the bed. It was probably the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, and I had to clean it up. UGH!! I was able to clean it up and wash his blanket, but it ruined the mattress. The smell would not go away, so we had to throw it out. It was just a very small single or twin bed. So now I put layers of sheets and blankets on the box springs for him to use. If we ever get any visitors again, we will have to buy a new mattress. Otherwise we probably won't bother.

In May, my SIL Susan is coming out for a short visit...in late May, we are going to California like we usually do for our annual visit there. Should be fun....

It's March - where did February go?

2011-03-20T22:58:00.002-05:00

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...

Isn't it Spring yet???

2011-01-16T19:13:00.002-06:00

Hi, everyone!

Let's see, so much has happened, don't know where to begin.

We had snow a week ago, so that was fun and interesting. Not much compared to what people in the northern parts get. They closed the schools and some businesses opened late. It has been pretty cold this past week but warming up.

I am finally starting a band! You can read about it my music MySpace Page. I posted around town for musicians a few months back, so it looks like we are finally getting together. I am hoping everyone will be reliable because that's the problem I had in the past in Tuscaloosa. I have a lead guitar player, Larry, but we might find a new one and he will do rhythm guitar. We will see what happens there. We have a bass player, Bruce, and a drummer, Jason. Some of us met up on Friday just to meet. We met Larry at the VFW hall in Smiths Station, Alabama, tonight, for karaoke. Kind of an interesting place if you have not been in the south much. Very redneck, at least to me. The people were very nice and welcoming, though. Larry is a regular there and introduced me around. My dad would have been right at home there. It was pretty crowded, and we were only there a few hours, so I just sang one song. I would like to go back, though, especially since they have karaoke on most Sundays starting at 4 pm!

I am cleaning out my garage, so the band can practice there. They are coming on Saturday for the first time. It is very exciting! I am almost finished putting away the Christmas decorations, then I can finish getting the garage straightened out to make room. The "tacky room" will not be finished yet, though.

My voice is not quite up to par yet. I got a bad cold right before Christmas, then it turned into a sinus infection. There is still some gunk from that, and my allergies have been really bad for the past week. I'm going to the allergy doctor here for the first time since we moved, so hopefully he can help me out. I can tell when I sing, I get a little hoarse, so that's not good. I don't want to sound like Bonnie Tyler ;)

I pulled a muscle or something in November, reaching back to the back seat of the car, and it has hurt every since...it hurts when I move my arm or neck a certain way, like pulling on the sleeve of my coat, or reaching or picking up things with my left arm. So I went to the doctor, and she sent me to an orthopedist, and he's sending me to a spine specialist. I have a pinched nerve or something in the cervical area of my spine, and that incident just exacerbated it. Hopefully I won't need surgery. Also, my right leg has been hurting a lot, and sometimes my hip and lower back. My regular doctor thought I had arthritis, but the orthopedist says that is not the case. He thinks I have another pinched nerve or something in the lumbar area. I had two MRI's and they did not find anything particular there, but hopefully the spinal expert can figure it out. My lower back there has hurt for years. I suspect that sitting at the computer for many hours, for the last 15 years, with bad posture, has probably caused the problems, but who knows? So, we'll see on that. It's not like a lot of pain unless I happen to move a certain way. I was taking a muscle relaxer pill, and it did help a lot, but I stopped taking it because it just made me too tired, and also upset my stomach a little bit. Also, the orthopedist had me get this thing that is supposed to help, a cervical traction unit, which you put over the door, but it hurt my lower back so I stopped doing it. I go to the spine specialist on Tuesday. So many doctors!

Mostly just excited about the whole band thing, and I really hope it works out. I'm going to be so disappointed if it doesn't....please cross your fingers for me!

Hope you have a great three day weekend!!

Jobs I've had in the past

2011-01-02T20:20:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year! Time for some reflection.

A couple of months ago, I had a long post about jobs. Here is a list of all the places I worked (if I can remember)

I did a little baby-sitting when I was around 11-13.

I made a little money helping out a landscaper when I was in Hillcrest Receiving Home (where they put kids before the foster home).
I was 13 or 14.

When I lived in El Cajon summer of 76, a friend of mine and I did volunteer work. We went to the local rest home and chatted with the old folks, and sang to them.

My first real job was at Jack-in-the-box in Carlsbad, California in 1979 after I graduated from high school. By law, my foster parents could kick me out after I turned 18, but they said if I worked while I took classes, I could stay. I wasn't a very serious student, and after I lost my job, I moved out.

In 1980 I had no job, very little work history, was not taking classes and had almost no money. I went on food stamps for a while. At first I lived with my brother Pat and his wife, but I had to leave after a month (I gather his wife wanted me out, but I'm not sure - they divorce a while later). Then I shared an apartment with my friend Mary. She had a studio but was kind enough to share it with me even though I really couldn't help much with the rent.

I signed up with some temp agencies, but I had very few skills so it was hard to find anything that paid much or was full time. I got a job at this place called Misch Printing in El Cajon. I had to take a bus for an hour to get there. It was a nice place to work. The people were pleasant. I learned how to wrap packages there because we had to wrap paper with brown wrapping paper. A skill I use every Christmas and birthday! The only part of the job I didn't like was having to lie to customers when I answered the phone and the boss wasn't there because he was very bad about showing up or calling people back. I got laid off when they ran out of work.

After I left Mary's place, I lived in an apartment in San Diego that my dad was renting part time, and my brother Stephen stayed with me sometimes so I wouldn't be alone.

Then I worked at this restaurant in University Towne Center (outdoor mall) called the ATC Factory. It was a deli-like place. Their specialty was Avocado, Turkey, and Cheese sandwiches (thus the ATC). Most of my job entailed peeling and coring avocados. I had to put the avocado meat into a big vat. It was disgusting and I have never liked avocados before or after (as it turns out, I'm allergic, so go figure). We had to wear these bright yellow shirts, and half of my front would be green all across it from the avocados. Yuk. I got laid off there, I think, but I don't really remember why or how.

When one of David's roommates moved out of their little house in Del Mar in 1981, I moved in with him and his friend Mark. Messy bachelors, argh!

I started taking a few courses at the college extension. I'd had a year and a half off from the "real world" and was ready to take college seriously.

I got a job then working at Swensen's Ice Cream, also in University Towne Center. It was indoors in the ice skating rink area (food court). They sold nothing but ice cream (not even soda for the longest time). I worked there a full year, which was a long time for me, especially at a place like that. I really enjoyed it and still have good dreams about working at an ice cream place. I loved ice cream and never got tired of it. I even ate it for breakfast. I would come in around 9 to open the place and have ice cream. They let us eat however much we wanted (the fools!). It was a nice little place, although pretty cold from the ice skating rink. I really thought I would be made manager, especially when they got new owners who seemed really nice, but I was passed over, so I quit and went to work at another fast food place there called Little Gourmet. Serves them right, too, because their new manager ended up stealing from them and ruining their business. Ha! Yes, I can still gloat after almost 20 years!

Little Gourmet sold these great sandwiches. I enjoyed working there, too. The owners were very nice and the food was good, and free. I went on a good diet there and lost weight (not that I was very overweight at that point). I just avoided junk food and sweets. I worked there for six months. It was there that I first started having symptoms of what I now know are allergies to gluten (bread etc.). I didn't know what it was at the time, and the symptoms were mild at first.

We were getting married then and moving to New York in 1982, and I think we had to give up the place in Del Mar, so both David and I moved in with his mom for a month or so. Then we got married in July and moved right after that.

I couldn't take classes right away since you have establish residency to get in-state tuition by living there for a year, so I worked. There was a recession so I kept getting one part-time job, when I wanted a full-time one, then I would get a second part time job, only to lose the first when they laid me off. These places hired, thinking business would pick up, and then it didn't.

I still didn't have a lot of work experience, and it was all in another state. I got a job first working at a restaurant that just opened call Smokey Stover's, in Port Jefferson Station. At first we just trained while they got ready to open. When it did open, I didn't make much in tips. New York did not have a regular minimum wage for waitresses like California did, so whenever I was a waitress in New York I would make less than $2 or $3. The idea is that you make more in tips, but of course that's only true if you work at a successful restaurant! So I made very little there, and then they laid me off. Then they went out of business themselves shortly after.

Then I worked at a place called Jacobsen's Deli in East Setauket, in a little strip mall. They wanted to pay me off the books (like a lot of places did), but I didn't want to do that since I did have to tell the IRS I made money. Eventually they laid me off, and I think that is why because I was not the last hired, but I was the first fired, and they had no good reason. I was very good at my minimum wage job. That place was full of corrupt people. The local police chief from Oldfield used to go in there every day and get free coffee and food, and he'd just stand around in the back and chat with everyone. Let's just say it is par for the course in New York. Their health inspection standards were not nearly as stringent as they were in California, either. That one lasted about a month, I think.

I also worked at a dime store place near there called Swezey's but again got laid off. They didn't get much business, so it wasn't too surprising. I also trained at another restaurant in Port Jefferson Station. I don't remember the name of it, but it was in an old train car and across from the train station. This old man ran it, and he had one waitress, and she was leaving. He had her trained so that he could count her every step. They got huge business in the early morning hours, and he was too cheap to hire a second waitress. I spent one day shadowing her without getting paid, and I didn't make the cut. This guy was a total jerk, so I was lucky not to get that job. I was not efficient or fast enough for him. I did learn ONE thing from him, though - always put your dishes with egg into cold water, not hot, and it comes right off.

I worked at a lot of jobs and don't remember the order, sorry. I know I finally got a good waitressing job at this restaurant that was in a department store in the Smith Haven mall - Abraham & Strauss. They were only open for lunch and didn't server alcohol, so the tips were not as good as they might have been in other restaurants, but to us it was very good money. I made between $25 and $50 in tips were day. The other waitresses there were a bunch of old ladies. It was a pretty nice place to work, but the boss was kind of a jerk. He was a born again Christian and would make comments to me whenever he could. See, being from California, when asked about religion I made the mistake of telling them that I was an atheist. Oops. Most of them were Catholics, but they didn't care all that much after they got over their initial shock. But the manager decided he had to try to save me. That was pretty obnoxious.

Most years, we went back to California in the summer, so I couldn't keep most of the jobs a full year, anyway. I started school in the fall of 83, so I had to leave A&S anyway because it was a daytime job.

I did work for a brief time at Orange Julius in the mall. I can't remember why, but I was desperate for a job again, and this one required a lie detector test. So stupid. And we all lied on it, too, so it wasn't very effective. The only question I lied on was "Do you see yourself working here in a year?" and I knew I was not going to be there. They were actually surprised when they asked me if I had ever smoked pot and I said no. The others all lied on the questions about stealing, gambling, doing drugs, etc. and we all used to laugh about it at Orange Julius. It wasn't a bad place to work, for fast food, but some of the high school girls who worked there were not very nice.

I also worked briefly at a bagel place near the mall (near Waldbaum's). I loved that job. They made bagels and also had a bakery. They threw out all the bagels they didn't sell at the end of the day because in New York they have to be fresh or no one will buy them. So we got to take home a dozen free bagels every day. That was great. We really appreciated free food back then. We also got to nibble the bakery items, so that was awesome. I can't remember if I got laid off these last two jobs or had to quit them to leave, or what.

I worked as a cashier at Pathmark in 1983, a grocery store near the mall. It was a pretty good job and I had it for 9 months. I worked nights, so they worked around my school hours, for the most part. Sometimes the manager gave me a hard time because in order to take the bus there, sometimes I had to leave before the hour or arrive after it, and they were pretty strict about that sort of thing, even though we clocked in. Sometimes you get people in a management position who have a little power and they like to lord it over everyone. Actually, she was replaced by a much worse manager that everyone hated, so that was not good. Anyway, I did very well there other than that. When I first started there, we made up the prices. I'm not kidding. They didn't mark the prices on items, and they stupidly expected us to walk around the store before we clocked in and get to know the prices. Of course no one actually did that, so we all just made up the prices. That was fun but also a little irritating. I know that some of the people stole a lot from that store because they would ring up their friends and family members but not ring up half the stuff or charge very little. Hey, I wasn't going to be the rat. I didn't do that myself, of course. That is just wrong.

Anyway, it was a good union job so I got good pay and also made some good friends there. Eventually they brought in the scanners so we didn't have to make up prices. They had a contest for who was the fastest on them, and I won. I got a gift certificate for the record store. I still have the albums I bought! :) I also won a Halloween costume contest they had (not sure if I was first place or not).

I also worked on campus a lot. I had one job at a cafeteria there in the Humanities building. It was ok, nothing special. I also worked at the library in the copy room (that was pretty easy). There were a lot of easy jobs on campus, so once I got work study and started doing those, it was great. They let you study when there were no customers. I also worked for a while at the biology library. That was mostly a really boring job because when there was no one there checking out books, I had to look busy. I hate that part of any job. I had to walk around and straighten up books. Yuk. They had these old ladies working there and some of them were nice, some were not. They have "office politics" in just about every job. Human nature, I suppose.

I also worked for the FSA a lot, which was the group that ran all the cafeterias on campus. I worked some in the little store in the student union. That was relatively easy and fun, and they let us have free food, too. I also worked in there other store, somewhere on campus called The Loop. It was a tiny little shack that served donuts, coffee, sodas etc. These were not exciting jobs but you could study or talk to your friends.

I worked briefly at the campus Barnes & Noble when they were doing inventory. That was fun, but when it came to doing the real work, I got laid off. They hire a lot of people and then let go most of them after the students buy their books. I enjoyed that job for as long as it lasted.

I had a similar job to that in a clothing store in the mall (I think it was Lerner's?). They hired people for inventory. I worked a little after that but got laid off. It was a pretty boring job because again, straightening clothes up and trying to look busy is really boring.

I had a brief job in the very early morning hours at a little place called the Rainy Night House on campus. They sold sandwiches, so I went in early and sliced up meats and cheese. Too early for me.

I worked at a restaurant for a while near the campus called Moseley's. They did not get very good business, so I did not make very good tips. It was okay, nothing special. I got free food and drinks, at least, and learned to waitress. I still have nightmares about waitressing. It is truly an awful job. People are hungry and treat you badly, especially if they are drinking. Then they don't tip well. And if you're lucky, they don't grab your body parts.

The best job I had there was working at the language lab in the French and Italian department. First of all, the boss loved me because I actually showed up, and on time. Students are not very responsible, I guess. Not many people came in there, so it was a really easy job. I not only got to study, but I could listen to tapes. Sometimes I even slept on the floor. I met a very good friend there, Corrie. She and I would leave each other long notes to read. We are still very good friends.

One summer, we went back to Carlsbad, and we needed money, so I worked at at the mall there in some pizza fast food place. It was easy. That was the only time I ever worked in that mall, which is funny because it was the mall I went to while I was in high school. I knew lots of people who worked there.

Another summer, we went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for this study program that David had to do there. I worked briefly at a Little Caesar's pizza place there. I don't remember why I didn't last long. We loved that place, though, and ate a lot of pizza from it both before and after I worked there. I learned how to make pizza there, I think, or it might have been the other place...anyway, it was fun, although hot.

I also worked in this little fast food place, Olga's, that made these really good gyro sandwiches and had these yummy orange ice cream shake-like drinks that tasted like a creamsicle. It was a fairly food job for fast food, although I mostly washed dishes there, and that is no fun. The people there were very nice.

Then, in 1986, we moved to El Paso. David got his phd and got a job there, and I was finishing up my degree. They let me finish my classes at UTEP and still get a Stony Brook degree. I only worked at one place there, an Italian restaurant called Bella Napoli. I worked as a hostess one day there. It wasn't a bad place to work, it's just that I felt sick to my stomach the second day and called in sick, so of course they fired me. I really was sick, but they were not inclined to give me a break. It was and still is a very good restaurant, though. We were only there a year, and I didn't bother to get another job.

We moved to Normal, IL for two years when David got a job there at ISU. I was taking lots of classes. At first I was a graduate student in music, so they paid me for that and I had no other job. The second year, I was no longer a grad student, so I got work study jobs. I had one short job working for a marine biology professor, doing data entry. That was tedious. Then I got a good job working in a biology laboratory for Dr. Tak Cheung. He was really nice. First I washed the lab dishes. Then I did some research for him in the biology library (basically, looking up articles with certain keywords), then did data entry. It was very useful and I learned a lot from him about computers. This was long before the internet really existed. I also did some proofreading for him.

We moved to Riverside after that. My first job there was teaching at a catholic school, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Since I wasn't religious, they did not have me teach that subject. It was a K-8 school, and I taught English and Reading to 6-8 kids. It was very exciting but had a lot of stress. I had taken lots of education classes at ISU but had very little hands-on experience. It was real on-the-job training. The principal who hired me, Bob, was new there and trying to fix up things in the school. He angered some of the parents. There were about 5% of the parents who didn't want things to change, and they wanted to run the school themselves, and they didn't want their little babies to have to work hard to get A's. I had some run-in's with them, too. I made mistakes, too, since I was out of my depth a bit. Bob was fired, and the new principal sided with the parents. I could have worked there another year, but I did not feel welcome, so I left.

The second year, I got a job in San Bernardino, the next county over, at Shandin Hills Middle School. I was hired on an emergency credential because they desperately needed teachers. It was an indoor school, with carpet. Very interesting place. It was in a gang area but not as bad as most of the county or city. We had a security guard with a gun. I taught math, science, and social studies to sixth graders, and half my students were in a bilingual class. I am not bilingual, although I did brush up on my Spanish for this. They were really lacking in facilities for the kids. I could have gone back there the next year, but it was a long commute for David to take me every day, so I gave it up. As I said, it was pretty stressful, so I didn't mind too much. I just missed the pay, which was great. At the Catholic school I made about $15,000, and that seemed like a lot at the time. At the public middle school I made about $26,000. That was a lot then, especially as a second income.

I really enjoyed teaching in both places. Teaching is such a rush. It's also got a lot of stress. I learned a lot.

I was taking classes and working on getting a teaching credential. I never finished getting the credential because when it came time to place me in a school for student teaching, they kept putting me in schools that I felt were unsafe. I did some substitute teaching (elementary school) and some odd jobs.

I signed up again with a temp agency. I had computer and typing skills at this point. I got a job around Christmas one year, working in the credit department of a hospital. I was filing and doing credit checks. It was not too hard but felt like quite a comedown from teaching.

Then I got a job working for this small business, JTL. They made tubing for some kind of medical apparatus. It was a very good job, and I learned a lot, but it had some problems. I went in every day around 7 am. My main job at first was to answer phones from customers and sales people. They had some in the east, so I had to go in at 7 in case any of the eastern people called. They seldom did. They let me read, or nap with my head on the desk, so that was good. Then they had me entering orders into the computer, so after that I didn't get to nap or read :) There was too much work. I was very good at what I did, both on the phone and on the computer. There were three bosses there. One was very nice, one was a curmudgeon but liked me, and one was a total ass (but I hardly ever had to deal with him - although he did yell at me once and made cry). The nice guy, Dan, was great. The curmudgeon, Jim, lacked total social skills and was a computer nerd. We got along well because he taught me computer stuff. This was still mostly pre-internet. I was using a Mac there and enjoyed learning new stuff. Then we had a falling out over some stupid work stuff, and I quit because I felt under-appreciated. It was kind of stupid of me to quit because I was making pretty good money and they clearly did like me. I was pretty sick of the job, though, and some things made me feel bad working there. Like I know they didn't treat their workers in the back as nicely as they treated me. And once, Jim asked me to lie to a cop who came in looking for one of their past employees, and that was not part of my job. I refused and was very upset about it. They did some sleazy things I didn't like. Part of business, I guess, in today's world, but I was not okay with that.

I kept trying to get a job on campus at UCR because they paid pretty well and were near to where we lived, but I didn't get but one temporary job doing data entry (again, very boring).

Then in 1994 I got online and started making friends and learning computer stuff. My friend David started Ask Jeeves and hired me to help with that. It was great. I got to work at home and he paid for a lot of stuff. He came down from the bay area with a computer (with Windows 95!), and he bought me books and stuff and I was urged to learn HTML. I started out helping test the software and build the database by finding questions and answers. They had other people doing that during the day. They would zip up the database, and then I would ftp it over at night with my 2400 baud modem and put in my own data, then zip it up and ftp it back. That's how I got started working nights, and I loved it. I started out part time. I helped write and build some of the web pages, and eventually when we opened the site to the public, we got emails. Then my job was to answer the emails and it turned full time and I got raises. It was all very fun, and exciting to be on the ground floor of a new venture. It was the best job in the world! I worked there until 2000, when they laid off a quarter of the company after the dotcom bust. My friend David had already left the company, unfortunately, so he couldn't save my job. I got a really good severance package, and I had stock options, and I had unemployment, so I did well.

I did look for jobs after that, but most of them didn't pay much, so it wasn't worth it to me to get them.

I had started my website while working at Ask Jeeves, so I continued on with that, building it up, and getting volunteers, and eventually, advertising. Now it is mostly self-sustaining. I don't make any salary, but it's ok. I don't mind having a great full-time job, even if it doesn't pay me anything. I am glad to say I don't need the money, thanks to my husband making a good salary. I am self-employed in my own corporation, no matter how much or little it makes!

That's it...I hope I didn't leave any out! Where have you worked?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-12-27T01:04:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we had a great time in Atlanta. We drove there Friday after David got out of work, and we picked up lunch on the way. Atlanta is only two hours from here. I was very tired and slept most of the way, and then I took a nap when we got there. Later, we went to a basketball game, which was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went to karaoke at this place I like there, Metro Cafe. I was in the mood for Christmas songs, so I did "Merry Christmas Darling" and then "Feliz Navidad". We got there fairly late. It was not that crowded, but there were some very drunk people there. One guy got up and sang with me during the second song. He was a little bit too friendly with his hands, so I just moved away from him, but he did add some life to my song, which was a little bit too low for me anyway. Then for my last song, I did "O Holy Night" (Celine Dion). I had never done it before, or even really practiced it, but it came out really well. I put a lot of stuff into it, took some interesting vocal chances that ended up better than I thought. Some of the really drunk church-going ladies there loved it, and one even came up and hugged me!!

We stayed downtown at the Omni, which was very nice. Saturday we were going to go to this place Miss Pitty Pat's, but it was closed for lunch. We went to Hard Rock instead. It was a lot colder than we knew it would be, and we weren't really dressed to walk around in the cold, so we went to the first place we could find, basically. But it's ok because the food is usually pretty good there.

We did some more walking around after lunch (and after putting on some more winter clothing), did some shopping, nothing special. We met up with our friend Subha for dinner. She lives in that area now. She went to grad school with David, so she is an old friend, but she is no longer in academics so we have only seen her twice since then. It was really great to see her and catch up.

David went to a hockey game while I stayed in the hotel room and watched a movie "The Town", which was pretty good. I also called our friend Ira and chatted with him for a long time. I love hotels, especially nice one. I think I could definitely live in one if I could afford it. How can you beat daily maid service and room service, not to mention a bar downstairs? Their furniture is usually way better than mine, too.

We went back to the Metro Cafe after the game. It was more crowded than before, so I only got two songs, but that was fine. I did regular pop songs, not Christmas songs, this time. It was still a lot of fun. Great place, nice KJ, great food, huge number of songs. And best yet, it's right downtown. It's really hard to find karaoke anywhere else in the city of Atlanta, for some reason.

I had a lot of plans for the week after that (leading up to Christmas). I was going to straighten up the house, possibly clean it again, straighten up the garage a bit, and make a lot more cookies. Ha ha ha, best laid plans. I got very sick with a cold. I didn't realize I was sick, for sure, until Tuesday night, but I think I had it a few days before and that's why I was so tired. Since my allergies are so bad usually, I am used to having a runny nose and being congested, so I did not notice it right away.

Tuesday I went to the doctor, not because of the cold, but because I injured my shoulder somehow in early November. I don't know for sure what I did, maybe reached behind me in the car? Anyway, it has been bothering me off and on since then, especially when I go to put my arm in my coat or reach in a certain way. I also have had some pain in my right leg, along the side and in the calf. I didn't know if it was related to the arthritis or not. So I chatted with the doctor, and she felt my shoulder, said I am having muscle spasms there. She said that my knee thing sounds like my tendon. She gave me a muscle relaxant and is sending me to an orthopedist to look into it further. Getting old really sucks.

I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday in bed, since I was sick. Thursday afternoon I was feeling a bit better. We first did a little shopping and then went out to TGIFriday's for dinner and some drinks. It was packed with people. I guess they were getting a head start on the holiday cheer. Friday morning, I was not my best, but we really wanted to go to the mall and look at the decorations and stuff. We went at 8, since that's when they opened, but not all the stores were open yet. Still, it was fairly fun. Usually it is hard for me to walk with my MIL since she walks so slowly, but since I was sick, it was fine with me to walk slowly!! And it still wore me out. We stopped for lunch and then I went back to bed. I was still not feeling very well and had started to cough, but I got up for Christmas Eve.

We always have a little buffet on Christmas Eve with assorted cut up veggies, Hickory Farm sausages, cheeses, crackers, chips, dip, and sometimes other hors de'ouvres. Since I was sick, and there was just the three of us, I did the minimal effort. I did make Chex Mix, and that was kind of fun, but easy. Usually I make lots of cookies, but I was too sick to make more this week. I did make quite a few the week before that, so we still have some left over. Anyway, it was a nice little spread, even though I was not really up for it.

I was feeling pretty bad...the coughing started, and I was having a lot of trouble sleeping. Saturday morning we did the presents thing. That was great. I didn't expect too much because I had asked for my new phone to be my birthday and Christmas present, since it is so expensive (especially with the monthly fees). Still, I did have a few things under the tree, and a lot in my stocking. I always enjoy getting presents for other people, so that was the most fun part. This year we did not spend as much as we have on other years, but still, it was great.

We had reservations at this Indian restaurant for Christmas dinner. I know it sounds bizarre. There aren't a lot of places open around here during the holidays. It has to do partly with not being a huge city (Atlanta, for example, had plenty of places open), and also being in the bible belt. I probably could have called a few more places to see what was open, too, but I was not feeling up to it. So it was either that or Denny's. Anyway, I asked if they were open on Saturday, and two different people assured me they were, and they let me make a reservation for 11:30, when they open. So we get there, and guess what, they're closed! The sign on the door says they open at 5pm on Christmas day. WTF!!!???!!! And I plan to call them back this week and yell at them about it, too.

Anyway, Chinese restaurants tend to be open for Christmas, so we went to one I like, Lucky China. It turned out ok, but I had really been looking forward to Indian food. We went to Urgent Care so I could get some better cough medicine. Well, even though their web site said they are open on holidays, they were closed. Wow, talk about disappointed twice in one day. I did finally go today, Sunday. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in bed, too, not sleeping very well, and coughing.

It's been really cold here lately, by the way, and we even got some cold Christmas night...very late, not sure you can really call it a white Christmas :) it was just a dusting. It was flurrying today, too. Brrrr!

I am feeling a little bit better tonight after getting some sleep, thanks to the cough medicine. I just wish I didn't have to take so many medicines. I just turned 49 and I'm taking 9 prescription medicines! That really sucks.

We have no plans for new year's. I just hope I'm healthy! Let's hope 2011 is a great year for everyone!!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Letter

2010-12-16T19:02:00.004-06:00

I was typing this letter to a friend, so I thought that I'd post it on my blog, since it has so much information to share.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season!

Family news...

In-laws S & J are in Washington to visit his folks next week. Unfortunately, we won't get to fly out to San Diego this year and see any of our friends or relatives, and no one is flying here. Stupid economy!

In-laws E & J are living in Santa Barbara. They see his family a lot.

My family's basically the same....
My brother Stephen, and Zina, moved back to San Diego (renting a house in La Mesa). They were in Carlsbad for a while, but he lost his job this year and hasn't found another, and the lady they were renting with was a nutjob, and they missed San Diego, so...luckily they found a cheap, big place. She still works at a law firm (paralegal or something). My brother David still lives downtown and works as a security guard.

I hear from Pat and his family occasionally on Facebook. My niece Eliza joined the national guard and went to Afghanistan for a while. We are all very glad she's back. She met a nice man that she loves, and now she's pre-med at the University of North Dakota, so that's great!

Every year, we exchange gifts with our friend Barb in Fargo, and we open them over the phone. It is fun, and one of my favorite gifts she gave me this year is a little Yoda bobblehead that sits on the monitor! We spent hours talking on the phone...that was fun! She is doing well, it sounds like.

My friend Lynn in Lubbock had shoulder surgery this year...sounds very painful and a big annoyance to boot, but she is on the mend.

Our friend Cherie, who lives in Tallahassee and works at the university there, interview for David's old job at U of A. We are all hoping she gets it! Would be great for her, and for the department there, and also convenient for us to have her and her family living there with our other friends.

Our friend Ira bought a house up in Temecula. Sounds like it's quite big...

David talked to our friend David Warthen last night. He is still living up in the bay area, with his kids nearby, and working for the company Allvoices Inc.

Nothing too new here with us...David is enjoying his job and the people he works with. Working way too hard! His mom still lives with us. She has been making weekly trips to the senior center to take exercise classes. Hopefully she will make some friends there, too, like she did in San Diego.

My site is the same...not as profitable as it used to be, thanks to the economy, but still doing ok, paying for itself, basically. Been so busy. I get a lot of phone interviews now with TV stars. They tend to pile up all at once...week before last I had ten in one week. But it was great, got to chat with Alyssa Milano, Timothy Hutton, the stars of Warehouse 13, etc. It is very exciting! And all these DVD's they keep sending me, too, are nice, but I don't have too much time to really enjoy them as I would like.

I still have a lot of boxes in the garage to go through and sort out so that we can use it for the car. I started setting up the "Tacky room" in there, because there are lots of shelves, but didn't get finished before the cold weather. The last week or so it's been in the 20's at night (no heat in the garage!). I might have to start doing that again, though, before I put all the Christmas decorations back in there :)

Just been busy lately, between the site and the Christmas stuff. I stayed up too late last night making 8 kinds of cookies so that I could give David's secretary an assortment (also took some to the neighbors). Also, since I am allergic to gluten and diabetic, been making some gluten-free and low-carb ones for myself that are not bad! I hope you get a chance to check out all the pics of Christmas decorations etc. on my Facebook profile. They should be viewable to anyone. Album #1 and album #2 and Bugs. Check back, more to come!

We don't take as many trips as we used to, in general. We took three small trips in November, though. David's mom flew to San Diego for two weeks. It was cheaper to fly via Atlanta, which is about 2 hours from here, so both taking her to the airport and picking her up, we spent the night in Atlanta both times. We went to hockey and basketball games as well, and out to karaoke, so it was a nice little getaway. In between, he had a conference in New Orleans, so we had a great time there! But, you know, we used to travel every month so this is not much for us. No trip to Vegas this year, which is probably the first time in over 20 years. :(

This weekend we're going to Atlanta again, just for a short trip, he wants to see more sports, and it will be a little holiday getaway. His mom's going with us this time.

Got all my cards out, did all my shopping, presents all either sent or wrapped (got the last one today). I really tried to stay on top of things this year. After we get back from Atlanta, I have more cookies to make.

I may not have many presents under the tree this year. It's ok. I really wanted a new phone. My old one was a real cheap one, and it was wearing out. I wanted a smart phone so I could check email and stuff while out. We have Verizon family plan, and I was due for an upgrade. I got a Motorola Citrus. So far I like it. It's very complicated, though, so I'm still learning it! But you know, these things are not cheap. Even after rebate, the phone is $50, and then you have to pay an extra $20 a month for the net. So it's about $300 just for this year, so I said, let's just make it my Christmas and birthday present for this year. Hopefully Santa will put SOMETHING else under the tree, though, or I will be all forlorn and pathetic. ;)

Oh, I found out I have arthritis, not too shocking since my hips, knees, hand, and back are always aching...I got some good medicine, though. I've been trying to do well on my diet and it's not going too bad. I've been exercising regularly and watching the carbs. I think I gained a little back, between Halloween and New Orleans, but I'm back down to what I was before that and hopefully will keep losing. I want to lose at least another 25 lbs.

I've been chatting with a lady on Facebook, Laura, that went to my high school...she was in David's class but I never knew her back then. Anyway, we are helping each other diet by sending daily emails to each other, list what we ate, our weight, and any exercise...it's really helpful.

Sorry this is not very exciting! Let me know how you and your family is doing!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings and Happy New Year!! Much love!!

Short trips this month

2010-11-21T04:26:00.004-06:00

We have been having a good time lately...

My MIL went to visit her daughter in San Diego a few weeks ago. It was cheaper for her to fly out of Atlanta, which is about 2 hours from us, so we drove her to the airport and then spent the night downtown. We had a great time. We went to a hockey game. I don't really care about sports, but it is kind of fun once in a while. At least hockey and basketball are not too boring - they move pretty fast and there's always something going on to see.

We stayed downtown at the Hilton Garden Inn. We had a really nice big room, and it was not too expensive. We found this great karaoke bar downtown. It is a 24-hour diner called Metro Cafe. I expected one of those 50's-style diners like Johnny Rockets, but it's much cooler than that and has great food. I love their gyros platter.

When we went, there weren't too many singers, so I got to sing quite a bit. The KJ is very nice. He plays filler dance music, but it's fine. He doesn't always play the whole song if you get up to the stage quickly. The crowd was very nice and appreciated my songs. We also went to an Irish pub for a little bit. Then we went back home for a couple of days, and then we were off again on the following Wednesday, Nov. 10th. David had a conference in New Orleans, and I went with.

New Orleans is always great fun. He had his conference during the day, mostly, while I slept. We went out for meals and other partying stuff at night. You really can't beat the food there. You can either eat really fattening stuff or really healthy stuff, and it is good either way. We did a little of both! They have great fish, sauces, fried stuff, desserts...

Some of our favorite restaurants include Bourbon House, Red Fish, Antoine's, and Lüke. We also went to Harrah's casino a few times, although we did not win. I went to Pinkberry for the first time. I heard a lot about it -- popular place in L.A. Great frozen yogurt. I also found this place called Casamento's that has gluten free fried seafood, and that was awesome!! You can't even tell it's gluten free.

Karaoke at Cat's Meow is my favorite place there. If you go at night, on weekends, it can be too loud and crowded. They do have karaoke in the afternoons, so that's when we went, and we had a great time. They make it fun there. I tried some new stuff I hadn't done in public before and it went very well. You can't beat their 3-for-1 drinks, either.

We also went to a basketball game in New Orleans. It was a lot of fun, but what really surprised me is that they had a minister come out and said a prayer beforehand. Never saw that before. Very weird.

Then we had a week at home, then my MIL is flying back tomorrow to Atlanta, so we spent tonight (Saturday) again. I didn't have much sleep last night, so David went to a basketball game without me while I slept. We are staying in the Westin, which is really nice. They have a revolving bar/restaurant at the top of the hotel, I think it's about 75 stories up. Great view, of course!

After the game, we went to karaoke again at Metro Cafe. It was a little more busy than last time. I sang a song, and we didn't feel like waiting more, so we went to a few other places and had drinks. Then we wanted some more food, but our hotel gift shop and bar were both closed, so we went back to the Metro Cafe (duh, it is a 24 hour diner!) and I got to sing again before we left. It was great fun. They always have large crowds of drunk young people who are in a good mood and wanting to cheer you on :)

So now I'm back in the room, surfing and stuff, too early for me to go to bed. I wanted some soda, but there are no machines in this stupid hotel, so I got some from room service, and some cheesecake. It was the world's smallest cheesecake!! It was basically a cookie, with cheesecake on top. So, smaller than my palm. But it was very good, and actually, I didn't need it to be bigger. It had berries and whipped cream, so it was all good. Just a bit overpriced!!

So I can sleep in a bit tomorrow, since my MIL's flight is in the afternoon. We'll probably go to Whole Foods first and pick up some stuff. It's not the best Whole Foods, but it's the closest one to us. They have these great garlic-stuffed olives that I love. We do have a Fresh Foods near us, which is a similar store, but their olives suck.

What else has been going on... I kept hearing this song at karaoke that I really liked, so now I know, it's "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. You can see the video on YouTube. It's really nice song. Now I have it stuck in my head! I also like his song "The Geek in Pink"! Turns out he lives in Oceanside! Funny.

I finally got my karaoke machine fixed, and I have it set up in our dining room (that's where most of our music stuff is now). So I can start working on songs and recording again. I am still working on trying to get a band together. I took down some numbers from the music store, but I haven't gotten around yet to calling them.

It's a big race between time and energy to see what happens first, I get a band, or I get too old to sing! :)

I went to the doctor for my routine check up - when you're diabetic, you have to go like 3 or 4 times a year, at least, to have your blood sugar, etc. checked. Anyway, so I went for that and also I asked her if she could test me for arthritis, so I have to go get an x-ray for that. I get a lot of aches and pains (mainly due to sitting too much at the computer, probably), and I get really stiff when I have been sitting for a while. It's mostly in my knees and my hips, some in my hands and maybe my back. Sometimes the knee or hip locks up on me, which is not fun. So we'll see. My previous doctor thought it was bursitis, but that was just when one thing hurt and not all the rest, and she didn't do any tests or anything. I keep dreading it because my mom had really bad arthritis by the time she was my age. So far it's not too bad, if that's what it is. The doctor gave me some Celebrex, which is stronger than Aleve and works great so far. I have only taken it once, but it was awesome.

After New Orleans, I went back on my diet. It's a struggle every day, of course! Hard to force myself to exercise, but I've been going out most days when David goes out to walk the dog for 2 miles. The cheesecake was not good diet-wise but at least it was small. I've been sticking to it pretty well otherwise.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, I'm really looking forward to the Harry Potter movie!! Love those movies. Have never read the books....yet...

Well, try to get some shut-eye finally.....have a great weekend, or what's left of it!

Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do

2010-10-12T07:00:00.002-05:00

When the country first started having a recession, I was amazed because no one I knew had lost their jobs. The only people I knew that were losing money were a couple of rich people I know that had invested in the stock market. My, that was a while ago.

Now, the truth is, most people I know are either very poor anyway, or they are professors with really secure jobs. So, still, I don't know too many people in real life that have been affected by the economy. I have some relatives who are out of work, but it may have to do with other factors. I have relatives who had their pay cut, though, or who are worried about it.

I do know plenty of online friends who have been affected. I have friends there who lost their jobs, or their husbands did, or their sons did. I feel bad for them. I don't know how you live on unemployment, let alone raise a family on it. Or what you do when it's gone. Very scary.

I have been fired from jobs before, and I have been laid off from jobs. There is not a huge amount of difference in how you feel in either. You suddenly feel like a loser, like you have no purpose, or you wish you could go back and do something differently. I was fired from my first job, back in 1980. I had been working at Jack-in-the-Box. They insisted I work at the cash register, even though I preferred working at the fryer or flipping burgers. I was not very careful when it came to counting back people's change, so my drawer was frequently short or over. They gave you a lot of chances, over a certain period, and then finally fired you if you didn't improve. Who knows, maybe they thought I was stealing. I really wasn't! I was just not that competent and the bills would stick together. The funny thing is, I had just gotten my "6 months" pin on my name tag, so it was weird that they gave me that, and then fired me! I hated that job, anyway, so I was not all that unhappy about not doing it anymore; of course I did feel rejected and very bad. Even though I did not really "need" the job at that point and didn't take it very seriously.

I was a foster kid, so I already knew what it was like to feel rejected, many times over. My dad essentially rejected me, and that's why I was in foster care. My first two foster homes rejected me. So, yeah, my self esteem was pretty low for a long while...but eventually, you go back and get more jobs, and you learn, and your self esteem improves. Getting a college degree certainly helped. Ever since then, I have figured that I would probably not ever need to flip burgers or waitress again. You never know what life is going to hand you, but at least I type very fast and have developed many office skills. I don't what you do today if you don't have one because now it seems to be the minimum requirement for most jobs. Even so, I don't think I would have the stamina or memory to work in a restaurant again.

I had many many jobs after that first fast food one-- more than I can remember. I should make a list one day. In most of them, I did get laid off because there wasn't enough work, and not because I was bad at the job. I did work again as a cashier (many times) and never got fired again for being bad at it, so I guess I did learn something, at least, from that first firing.

I think another thing you learn when you're first in the work force is how terrifying it is that people have so much power over you. Think about it - in most jobs, your boss can fire you for no reason. I wonder why people let that happen, and why there aren't more unions? I guess everyone has a bit of a self esteem problem, and they don't think that they can have that much power over a boss or company. I wonder why Europe is better that way?

I remember my first - and I believe only- union job. That was working in a supermarket, Pathmark, on Long Island. It was great because from what I learned there, they pretty much couldn't fire you, after your short probationery period, unless they saw you actually stealing. They gave you a raise every few months, and it was above minimum wage, so it was a great job in that sense. Working with the public always sucks, though. It was very stressful because they really pressured us to be really fast at it, as well as accurate. Most of my jobs have been working with the public, unfortunately!

I had two teaching jobs in my life, and although I was not fired from either one, I did not really feel welcome to keep teaching at the Catholic school. There were some really awful parents there who hated me because I made their little darlings work and didn't just hand out A's. I actually expected them to do homework and study for tests! Imagine that! I always thought private schools had higher standards, but in that case, at least, I was dead wrong. That job opened my eyes about a number of things.

In 2000, I lost my job at Ask Jeeves, which was by far the best job I ever had. I was paid well, and I got to work at home. Also, they pretty much paid for any kind of computer hardware or software I wanted, as well as things like my internet connection. It was a great job with tons of perks, but I worked crazy hours. I worked every day, all day, since there was so much work, and even if I took a vacation, I still worked. But I enjoyed the job, for the most part. When I was laid off, I really did feel rejected. Even though they laid off a quarter of the company, I felt that I was chosen to be laid off because of a couple of things, but I really have no idea what the truth is. They did give me a very nice severance package, and I had good unemployment. Still, it was quite a blow to my ego since I had been the company's first employee. I try not to think about it because it still upsets me!

I haven't had a "real" job since then. For one thing, that job spoiled me for any others. Who wants to get up every morning and go in to work? Not me! I prefer to sleep in. Secondly, I don't actually need the money (thanks to my husband), so I am lucky in that way. I don't think it would be fair of me, anyway, to take a job when someone else could really need it. Thirdly, I did try looking for a job back in 2000, and some after that, but for most of the jobs I was either under- or over-qualified, and most did not pay enough to make it worth it to me. Fourthly, at the moment I have to be at home in order to help my MIL. Lastly, I have my own company now, that I work in full time. Unfortunately, I don't make that much money at it. It is more or less a hobby, yet I devote most of my time to it. Go figure. I was never very ambitious or one who cared about a career, so it is funny that I am now working for myself.

The only job I want to have besides my site is to be in a band. I am working on that still! I mean, again I want to do it for fun, just like my site, but it would be nice to make some extra money as well. Last weekend I went to one of the music stores here to leave a flyer. I got to talking to a nice man who plays the guitar and is interested. So now I just have to find a bass guitar player and a drummer! Cross your fingers for me. Singing brings me great joy. Most of us are not lucky enough to be working in a job that does bring us joy.

I don't really miss working, although it would be nice to interact with people more in an office. However, I have had enough office experiences to know that sometimes those can be awful if you have people who are head cases or on a power trip, so in that sense I guess I am lucky. I just miss things like office parties, anyway.

At least having my site counts as a job. When someone asks me what I do, I can give them an answer. I don't have to say "housewife" (which sounds pretty lame if you have no children), or "unemployed". It sounds much better to say I have my own business and get to work at home! Much better for my self esteem, too.

My site started out for fun, and then I started getting advertising for it and making a little money. Then I got enough ads, so that I don't have to pay for it myself any more. But that's it-- I don't have enough for a salary for me or anyone else. However, I had to incorporate my site, so it's officially a business and my full-time job, as far as the government is concerned.

I wish I had a little more money to spend on the site, but those days seem to be gone for now. Maybe if the economy ever picks up again, the ads on my site will pay for more, or I will get an investor. Who knows what the future will hold!

I hope that everyone who has lost their jobs, though, gets new jobs because that really sucks. I feel for you, and so does everyone else who has ever lost a job.

Here it is, October!

2010-10-03T16:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, the summer went really fast. I can't believe it's Fall already. Thank goodness, the weather is much nicer here. Today it's in the 70's. The thing I like most about the south is that we have a real spring and a real fall. I've never lived anywhere else where that is true. Either the spring was still too cold or the fall was still too hot, or vice versa, or they were just sorta there like in San Diego. Here the spring is where you go, thank goodness, it's warm again, I can turn off the heat, and the flowers and trees bloom, and the grass returns. The fall is where you start to notice that you no longer have to blast the a/c any more and you can wear longer pants without sweating, and the fall colors come in eventually.

The only bad thing about the seasons it the allergies...mine are worse in Spring and Fall.

Things have been pretty quiet here. We had a few events we had to go to for David's work - these are like cocktail parties. The food is always really good and they an open bar. We talk to people I don't know, but it's not too boring. I mostly enjoy it.

I have been watching a lot of new TV shows to review for my site. It's a lot of shows. I probably still haven't gotten to watch half of them. I also get a lot of DVD's. They send me a lot of free ones so I can review them or give them away in my monthly contest. It is pretty cool, but it means I've frequently got a big stack of DVD's to watch! Kind of hard to watch all those as well as fit in the shows that I actually do like to watch every week. I must confess that I have also been buying lots of DVD's. There are so many great sales for them now, it's hard to resist.

An online friend of mine made copies for me years ago of a show called Total Recall 2070 starring Michael Easton. I have been watching those...they are not available on DVD yet so I'm glad I got them. They are really good scifi.

We were considering whether we wanted to take a short weekend trip sometime in October, probably to either Tuscaloosa or Atlanta....still deciding on that. In November, we are going to a conference in New Orleans, so that should be fun!

I am still working on unpacking everything in the garage. One thing's for sure, I have way too many bears! You may recall that I went through all the boxes at least once to see what was in them and to get out what I might need. So now it's just a matter of putting up the collectibles for display and figuring out where everything else goes so that I can make room for the car. I have everything more or less in a spot where I know what is in the boxes in this corner or that area. Then I started unpacking the bears because there are so many of them. I still have to sort them out, then I can move on to other stuff. It's just so mentally and physically overwhelming! On some days I just can't motivate myself to do it. Just deciding where it all goes is very taxing. I need to get it done soon, though. I want to get most of it done this month for sure. I have to because otherwise I will not be able to sort out all of my Christmas decorations in time.

We have pretty much the same routine every week that we had in Tuscaloosa. I am not the person in the house that likes routine ;) I prefer doing different things according to my mood. But oh well. Anyway, we go out to eat on Wednesday nights with my MIL. Friday nights we go out downtown for dinner at a restaurant called Houlihan's. It's a chain, but we like it. Then we walk around the downtown area a little bit. Lately they have had these outdoor concerts, so there are lots of people (and dogs!). We are there from about 7:30- 10.

Saturday mornings I go to the mall with my MIL, and we usually eat lunch there, at Ruby Tuesday's or the food court (they could use some more restaurants in the mall, not to mention a book store and a Hallmark!).
Then we run other errands afterwards, like the post office or bank or grocery store. David is very busy now during the week so we try to do as much as possible on the weekend. Saturday nights we usually go somewhere fairly close by for dinner. Often Mexican or Asian of some kind.

Sundays we sometimes go to the store or do any other errands we couldn't do on Saturday, sometimes we will go out to lunch or get take-out. We watch Family Guy and Mad Men. Those and House (and sometimes South Park) are pretty much the only shows we watch together. That's our routine....not very exciting, I'm afraid. :) But sometimes we do travel or go out to karaoke or something.
I am hoping we can go to karaoke this Wednesday instead of going out with his mom. There is a place I heard of downtown called Li'l Kim's that is supposed to start at 8. I hope it is good! We have gone quite often to Sports Page but they start so late and tend to get crowded some nights...especially weekend nights. I also heard that this place has an "older crowd" so we'll see what that means! Probably means people our age.

Well, it doesn't look like I'll get to vote in the upcoming elections...I didn't get around to registering in time. Tomorrow is the last day, but my printer is not working, so I can't print out the forms in time to fill them out and take them to the county office. Bummer.

Just know that there are a lot of very stressful things that go on in my life that I can't talk about in public...but if you see me say "Argh!" on Twitter or Facebook, that's why! The stress is getting to me. :(

These gay teen suicides lately have been very sad. I feel so sorry for their parents and families. I wonder why we didn't have more teen suicides back when we were teenagers? We certainly had just as much bullying if not more.

On that note...have a good week!

Insert something really funny here

2010-09-12T22:32:00.001-05:00

I was reading a blog the other day that noted how people are not writing blogs as much any more, because they have other things like Facebook, Twitter, etc. I'm afraid that is true. I mean, first of all, there was always the fad aspect of blogs to begin with. You know that lots of people just started a blog because it was the latest thing, the same way they made a homepage on Geocities a few years before, with photos of their cat. Now the trend has moved on those other sites.

However, there's a very good reason people go to those other sites instead. For one thing, there is not as much worry about "what do I say?" because you can just write something short about your day, or some video you saw, or some short observation about life. For some people (not gabby ones like me), it is a lot less pressure. Also, you don't have to try to remember what happened to you all week, you just type NOW what happened.

The other reason, and probably the most important, is that those sites are more interactive. They are called "social networking" for a reason. Think about it. I type in my blog, and maybe a few of my friends and relatives come here sometime to check it out, and maybe they leave a comment. Unless my blog has a lot of information that thousands of people want to read (like political insights or entertainment gossip or gluten free recipes), then I am not likely to get lots of traffic. People are lazy and like to just surf a few sites that they know, like, and trust, and they just don't have the time to go looking for new blogs to read. After a while, you get information overload, not to mention worrying about popups, viruses, etc. Facebook and Twitter are right there, in one browser window, and you never have to leave. Your friends and family are all there (if you are lucky), and they can read everyone at once. They don't have to leave that page (or their phones or iPads) to go looking for a blog.

Also, with the commenting, I think a lot of people don't like commenting on blogs unless they feel they have something really important to add. Yet, on Facebook, people have no problem commenting on your post. I don't know why that is, but it is. So you get a lot of actual conversation on your Facebook page about whatever your post was. Oh, and also, blogs are a lot longer, usually, so they take more time to read.

However, I don't think blogs will ever be completely dead, just like I don't think personal websites like mine will ever be dead. There are always people who prefer that particularly type of thing. It's just that more people, I guess, prefer Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. because of the reasons above.

I do this myself, I post often on Twitter and Facebook, and I forget to come here, and before I know it, a month has passed, and I have forgotten what all has gone on in my life. It's terrible. I will try to do better, particularly for those of you FEW weird people who are not on Facebook or Twitter. You know who you are!

More later this week...I promise!

Don't forget to check out my TV Blog, too!

Have a great week...

August already!

2010-08-08T06:50:00.002-05:00

We're finishing up a short weekend vacation in Atlanta. The only bad thing is that while I remembered to bring my laptop, I forgot my power cord! Again! I need to start keeping the extra one in our suitcase, clearly...

Right now I am in the Sheraton lobby. Fortunately they have about 5 computers for guest use. It's not the same as having my own, though. For one thing, I can't work on my site. For another, I can't get into Twitter or Facebook (AGH!) because I don't remember my passwords. That's the problem with using really high security nonsense letters and numbers for your password!!

There also seems to be a problem with one of my email accounts - the one that gets all my tvmegasite.net email. My webhost set it up in some special way so that it goes to a different gmail account. I can login but there are no messages since Aug. 6 (which is highly unlikely), so I think they are stuck on the server or something.

Nothing like being forced to unplug! Well, mostly, anyway. So when we are not out doing something, I have been reading or watching TV. It's been very relaxing, but I feel very guilty and I have a ton of work waiting for me when I get home.

Friday evening we drove here after David's work. It's about an hour and a half from our house to the airport in Atlanta. We are staying at the Sheraton near the airport. It's a very nice hotel, very luxurious. Sheraton's are usually pretty nice. I love staying in nice hotels - to me that is a good vacation.

We had dinner here at the hotel, then later took a cab to this Irish pub calle Fado for some drinks and dessert. We had the world's worst cab driver! I would think the number 2 thing you need to know, in this job, after how to drive, is where things are! And if you don't know, you have someone you can call, that knows (or you have access to GPS or Google maps). This guy had none of that. He did call someone, but they couldn't help him. Bare in mind, this place has been around for years, so it's not like finding some new or unusual thing. He overcharged us, too. Oh, and worse, he didn't stop the meter when he stopped to ask for directions!! Well, we saved money on the tip, I guess. But otherwise we had a nice time there.

I didn't really sleep at all that night because my sleeping schedule has been so messed up and weird lately. I finally saw Sherlock Holmes (on our hotel room TV). I loved it, as I knew I would.

We had breakfast at the hotel, then we drove out to this historical thing that my MIL wanted to see. Well, we tried but couldn't find it. It is the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield- we found the field but not the visitor center where you get information and all that. It looked to be closed, if we saw the right sign. We did a lot of driving around. We also stopped at McDonald's later on. We went to Whole Foods, and I picked up quite a few gluten free foods. I found some good frozen gf donuts, so that was great. I also got some cheese and garlic olives, which I had later for dinner.

David went to a Braves game while I slept. I pretty much conked out. I watched a little TV after I ate my olives, cheese, and donuts. He returned and we went to the hotel restaurant for a late snack. I had a chicken cobb salad. They have pretty good in the hotel, I have to say.

I finished my book, The Girl Who Played with Fire. The first book was very good, but this second one was even better. I read the first one about a month ago. The first 35 pages is deadly dull, but it gets way better after that. My only complaint about the second book is that it ends very abruptly, after the heroine gets shot in the head! I can't wait to read the third one, though.

I bought another book in the hotel gift ship, a James Patterson novel. His are always fun to read. I finished that one last night.

I know it doesn't sound like a very exciting trip, but it was fun, and relaxing...nice to get away for a weekend. We will be driving back in a few hours. I woke up about 5 am after finally getting caught up on my sleep.

Atlanta is ok...they have some good restaurants and things to do. I wish we had time for karaoke. I could have gone Friday but I wasn't really in the mood so much. I found out they have a 24 hour diner with karaoke. That should be interesting. Maybe next time!

Last weekend was our 28 year anniversary. We went out for a nice dinner. There is this place downtown we had not been to before, called something like Getchiss House (that's not the right spelling). The restaurant only goes back to the 70's, but the upper part is an old house from the 1700's that they moved over from Norway. It has some pretty stained glass windows. The food was very good. It's the kind of place you go to for special occasions or to impress someone. We enjoyed ourselves. I think I had veal oscar.

We also went to karaoke Saturday night at the place I usually love, Sports Page. It was not as good as usual. Different KJ who was not as nice or fun, and he took forever to start, then he had technical problems. So I only got to sing twice. Also, once of the songs I did, the version was really awful, so I did not sound that great. Hopefully next time will be better. I did have fun, though, anyway, just not as much as usual.

We are still unpacking and settling in our new house. I just finished going through all the boxes in the dining room. That is where I had all our tapes and other media. I have about 70 boxes of video tapes, so that's over 5,000 tapes. I am going to try to replace them with DVD's as much as possible because they just take up so much room. We are going to get some nicer boxes (like plastic or something) to keep them in and move them to various spots around the house, out of the dining room for the most part. My next job is to go through the rest of the boxes, which are in the garage. Joy!

Gotta run!

Moving and stuff!

2010-06-22T21:03:00.002-05:00

6/17

Right now I am in our new home, waiting for DISH network to come hook up our dish and our tv's and whatnot. I am glad to finally be on the net again!

Monday night the movers came and packed up most of our remaining stuff. I had packed about 320 boxes, so they did the rest (not sure if it broke 400 or not). Tuesday we left early around 8 am, with the dog and MIL, to drive to Columbus. It is a four hour drive. We had to sign the lease that afternoon, so we stayed in a motel overnight. We had no power or plumbing anyway, and no furniture yet. We stayed at the La Quinta, since it allows dogs. The dog was pretty good about not barking. We bought a muzzle, just in case. He is not always that friendly with strangers, either. We were on the third floor, so we had to use the muzzle whenever we had to go down to take him outside. He was excited at first because he loves riding in the car, but he was not too thrilled once he got to the motel. Plus it has been really hot and humid.

So we inspected our new house and signed the lease. We had to go to the rental office to get a piece of paper saying it's okay for DISH to install a dish. They have a DirecTV dish, so it's possible they can use the mounting for that, not sure yet. Otherwise they will have to put it on a post in the backyard. I am a little nervous about it working out. I am hoping that none of my DVR programs got erased or anything.

Speaking of DISH, the way they handle moving is kind of a mess. I called up about a month ago to schedule it, and then I noticed my DVR schedule and timer was off by an hour. Seems they put your new address in right away, and since my new place is in the Eastern time zone and my old place is in the central time zone, they switched it over right away. So I called them back and they had to change it back to the old address, but they said to call a few days ahead of our moving so they could change it back. So I did. Then I get a call this morning from a local satellite dish company (the ones who would actually do the installation) and they were confused because they service Tuscaloosa, not Columbus! Their work order still said Alabama. So they called someone in Opelika for me (which is somewhat near here) and I am now waiting for that person to call me and then come and install everything. So much for waiting from 8-12 for the installation, and I got up early for nothing! :(

6/22

Okay, fast-forward, after waiting for hours, someone finally did come. But the guy knew very little, so he could not hook up any of my VCR's or DVD recorders correctly. Yes, he was an idiot. So I have to figure it out myself...very annoying. Also, we have to upgrade one of the DVR boxes and the dish itself, but fortunately it will be free. In the meantime we are not getting local stations, but they are giving us the regular networks from Birmingham at the moment. Apparently Columbus just recently got local channels via DISH so you need a more modern DISH in order to get them. No big deal at all as long as we still get the networks in some fashion. They are coming back on the 29th to fix all that. At least my programs are still there! Plus we get the L.A. channel now for The CW since they don't have that here.

Moving is very stressful, as we all know, so it's been tough, but we are managing. I thought packing and moving was hard, but in some ways unpacking is worse. You have to make all these decisions about where to put stuff, so that is mentally taxing after a while. Plus, I think physically it's harder to unpack. And it's not just taking stuff out of boxes and putting it somewhere, it's also dealing with the empty boxes and all the wrapping materials. I have to break down all the boxes and put all the wrapping paper in trash bags. What a pain.

Don't ever have your stuff packed for you because they will not do as good of a job as you will. These guys did a fine job, and I doubt anything is broken, but they did not mark the contents on the outside of the box, like I did. They were writing things like "LV" for living room, but on some of the boxes, they didn't do that. They were not marked at all. Also, they had a mixture of items from more than one room, so even if they did mark it, it was misleading. Then when we moved, they were asking me where to put boxes, which was very overwhelming for me since we have a lot of stuff and I was just figuring out which room is which. Anyway, they did not put all of the boxes where they were supposed to, so we have been having a hard time finding all our stuff. For instance, they were only supposed to put boxes marked "dining room" in the dining room. That is where I am putting all my tapes, DVD's and records for now. Well, I had to look at every box in the dining room, and I found many boxes that were not marked "dining room". It is a pain because we have almost 400 boxes, and some of them are very heavy or stacked very high. My back is still hurting from that. My arms and legs were hurting a lot the past two days. I get David to help me with the very heavy ones, but he is busy with work and other stuff plus it would mean I have to wait for him to be around if I want to do it....

They did a few questionable packing things I wasn't too happy about, either. Like for instance they just put the unclean toilet brush and plunger in with other bathroom items. When they packed the other bathroom things, like medicines etc. they didn't make sure all the caps were on tightly and they just put them all in a box, with some wrapping paper. Me, I would have put them in little baggies or something, at least, or a little box. Oh, and they didn't give us our key back yet... Ah, well, they were cheap, so you get what you pay for.

So that's what we've been doing mostly lately, is unpacking and looking for our stuff. Since I packed all the stuff that was clutter, or that we don't use as often, the movers packed all of the most important and frequently-used stuff, and that's what we need the most, of course! Anyway, I set up our bedroom and bathroom, for the most part. I still have to finish setting up our third bedroom, which I am using as an office, and it is also the guest room. The dog usually sleeps in that bed, as well, but he does not seem to like it as much in this house for some reason. Who knows with dogs! He seems to prefer sleeping on the floor in the bathroom or in my MIL's room.

I have now gone through all the boxes in our bedroom, and in the office/guest room. I have unpacked just the movers' boxes in the dining room and the kitchen, so the rest will take me a while. Next I will be going through all of the boxes in the garage to look for more stuff. It is a two-car garage, and half of it is filled with boxes, stacked high, so as you can imagine, it's a lot of stuff.

We have been trying as many of the local restaurants as possible. They have some pretty good ones. I don't think we have been to a bad one yet that I recall. we went to this Chinese place that was very good but also pretty expensive, so we may not go back there very often. Also it was noisy. Downtown has some nice places for wine etc. but not quite as good as Tuscaloosa. I like the restaurant in the Marriott. They have good food. We went to this brewpub that had good cheesecake, too. They don't sell Smithwick's anywhere here in town, which is too bad. My favorite fast food place here is Steak N Shake. We had that one in Illinois, too, I think, or maybe El Paso? Great burgers, fries and shakes. We have a Nathan's hot dogs nearby, too. It's a nice change.

One of the things I like most about living here is that our local grocery store is a Publix. If you don't live in the south, this is a really nice grocery store chain. They are like Ralphs or Vons in California. They have really good selection and quality of fruits and vegetables, lots of gourmet and high end stuff, and a great deli that sells gluten free meats. They make sandwiches there for you (which is common in California but not in other places) and you can get soda from the fountain as well. It may sound like no big deal, but I really missed that when we lived in Alabama. Actually, I missed it in Lubbock, too, although they did build a really good store near us the year before we left. We had three Publix in Tuscaloosa but none of them were anywhere near us! So this is great.

Of course I really love the house. It was hard at first figuring out where the furniture all goes because it is smaller than our previous house. It's pretty well situated now.

I don't think there is ANY house that is perfect, maybe not even one you build yourself. You will always find flaws. By and large I love the house and the neighborhood.

Our dryer's electric plug is three-prong, and the electrical outlet is four-prong, so we have to change that. So far we have not been able to use the dryer. That's kind of a pain. Anyway, I have to find someone to do that for us. We bought the stuff at Home Depot and tried to do it ourselves, but the directions are confusing and we can't unscrew the plate covering the part on the dryer. So far I only called one place and they were very expensive. I hope to find a cheap repair guy that I can use for this and other future stuff.

Last week we went to the Sports Page, which is the karaoke bar here that I really love. People there are just really nice. They cheer and clap just when you name is called, let alone after you sing. Most of the singers are good, and the KJ is great. He sings really well and is very nice. Also, there is a wide range of people of all ages and races, and all different types of music. We just went there for about two hours the other night and I got to sing three times.

Monday we had to drive back to Tuscaloosa. We were supposed to sign the closing papers for our house at 3pm, but the realtor called us on Friday and said the mortgage company had still not gotten the paperwork to the title company, so it was in doubt. Typical Alabama efficiency. But we drove there anyway just in case.

We stopped in at our old house and found that it was very messy. The movers had not picked up any of the stuff that had fallen behind the dresser, etc. We had left a mop and some other stuff, so we picked up some more supplies at the store, and we cleaned it up. I would hate for the new owners to think we left it as a pig sty for them! I guess last time we moved, we had a cleaning service come in after the furniture was gone. I will have to remember that for next time!

we stayed at the Best Western behind the O'Charley's. The internet there was not working, so that was irritating. It was ok otherwise. We had dinner at O'Charley's, and it was really good. I always like the food there, although the service is often very slow. We usually have gone on the weekends, so I get breakfast. This time I got a club sandwich and it was really good, and the fries were great. I also had a wonderful mud slide martini there!

We went out Monday night to the downtown area. First we went to Wilhagen's for a little while, then to Epiphany, where we said hi to our friends there and had snacks. They had karaoke at Brown's Corner there on Mondays, so we checked it out. Well, let's put it this way, not the best singers, and the crowd was just dead, hardly any applause for anyone. Our friend Utz joined us for conversation. We had a great evening.

Tuesday we signed the papers for the closing. There is still some paperwork to come, but we signed most of it and then will sign the rest via email/fax. Tomorrow the buyers will sign their papers and after that it should be over finally!

We had to kill time in the morning after checking out of the motel, so we ran some errands, went to the mall, and checked our email at the Barnes and Noble. I bought a shirt at the mall because I had forgotten to pack another one, and the one I had was stained. Wet Seal is having some great sales. We had lunch at China City, another buffet. It was pretty good.

Then we had a long drive back home after the paper signing. Whew! Good to be home, even though it doesn't quite feel like home yet.

OK, now to prepare for more unpacking! I use one of my old computers, which still has windows 98, to run transcripts for my site. I use this device called at ATI TV Wonder USB. It attaches to the computer and to the tv or vcr. The software does not work on Windows Xp, so that's why I still use the old pc. Anyway, I can't find that computer monitor, nor my vcr's remote. So I am anxious to find them so I can start running transcripts again for my site! I have had someone running them while we moved, but her tv and computer systems are not that reliable...

There are a few other things that I need to find, but those are the most important. Wish me luck!

The rest of our trip and this week

2010-05-27T01:08:00.000-05:00

I have had so much to say lately, it's amazing!

By the way, if you object to anything in this blog, please let me know! I may not agree with you, but I will not be offended. I don't worry too much about putting out in public everything that goes on in my life. My life is pretty much an open book. The only things I don't discuss are things that may be insulting to specific people or private family things. It's the same on Twitter and Facebook.

We had a great time visiting everyone in San Diego. Sunday we went out to breakfast with Monty and Paul at the little diner place in Canyon Crest (Riverside). Then we drove to Carlsbad and met up with my brother Stephen and his wife Zina. We hung out briefly at their house and then went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. We had never been to their place. They rent out a big room from this lady who owns it and lives in the rest of the house. It has a pool, and she has lots of dogs and cats. I really loved seeing the animals...ok, it was nice to see the humans, too :) I wish we had more time to hang out and also to drive around Carlsbad. I hope if we go back at Christmas that I can see some other people who live around there.

If you are a good friend or family member, please know that you are always welcome to visit us! We do need a little advance notice, though, in case we are going out of town or something. If you like trees, you will love the south. I would advise you to come in March, April, or late September, or October. Those are the best months, weather-wise. If you don't care about heat and humidity, summer is fine :)

David caught his mom's cold, so they have both been sick. So far I have not gotten it...it is a miracle because I get sick a lot more often than either of them do! So it was pretty miserable for us all to fly back.

It was fairly uneventful as I recall...that was three days ago, so I can't remember that far back! Oh, but when we got back, we were locked out of the house, and it was hot, and muggy, and we were all tired and cranky, and we had to first try to get in, then called a locksmith (he came quickly, thank goodness!). It was horrible. See, one of our front door locks was messed up. the key did not work in it. I didn't know that because I am not usually the one who locks or unlocks the door. David told me it had problems, so don't use it, and I just thought he meant it was a kind of a pain to open, not that it didn't work at all, or I would have gotten it fixed back when I was having everything fixed! Well, I had told the realtor not to lock it, but turns out the new buyers for our house, the mom is a realtor, so she came in and left on her own, not with our realtor, and she locked the door thoroughly! Oops. So anyway, the next day I called another locksmith to come back and replace the troublesome knob and lock, all fine now. I stayed up Sunday night, with rare energy (I slept a lot on the plane) and unpacked and did laundry.

Tuesday we had two visitors. First the FHA appraisor came by. He said there were no problems. He is the one that tells the bank the value of the house and then they decide whether the new owners can get their loan or not. Also, the new owners came by! They are really nice, and I am so glad that I got to meet them. They really want this house and came by to do some measurements. Our house is old, from the 70's, but it's in fairly good shape, and very large, so I was hoping that someone would buy it that wanted to really do work on it, renovate it and update it a bit, to make it really nice. We are not DIY people and didn't want to put much money into it. These people are! He is a professional contractor so he plans to do all sorts of things like redo the kitchen, put in another bathroom, etc. I was very pleased to hear all that. Even though we are leaving and I am kind of sick of the house, it's good to know that it will be in good hands of people who will treat it even better than we did. I guess after 9 years I got attached after all, even though I didn't think I did. I still think of it as our house even though we are gladly moving from it. I guess that's because I never lived that long in one house before. So now we just have to wait and see if their loan gets approved, but I don't see any problems with that. They sold their previous house for quite a lot more than it's worth because they put so much work into it. They are clearly both very reliable people, professionals, so unless there is some big hidden secret about their credit...I think they will be getting it.

I also learned that we got lucky because they had wanted to buy this other, even bigger house, but it had water damage in the basement, so they went for ours instead. Yay! I know so many people who have had problems with their basements flooding and whatnot.

So that has been our exciting life lately. It's good to be back sleeping in my own bed. I have been trying to work more on my site to make up for lost time.

Today I had computer problems. Because of a series of things, my profile on my main laptop got corrupted. Then I couldn't restart it. Now it is better, just trying to restore my profile. Hope it works. I hate having to set up all my preferences from scratch. I just spent hours on it, though, such a pain. I have been catching up on TV while I did it, so I guess it wasn't a complete waste, but still...

Have a good weekend!

I typed this yesterday (Thursday)

2010-05-22T03:50:00.003-05:00

Things have been CRAZY but mostly good!

Last week David and I were in Columbus, GA, mostly looking at houses to rent. We put our house up for sale on Wednesday, the day before we left. It's such a pain because we had so many things to repair and clean, then we had to keep it clean.

You can see our old house for sale, with pictures

Anyway, we found a place in Columbus and it is very nice. It's brand new, only 3-4 years old. That is great because our current house is 30+ years old, so we have had to replace so many things like the furnace, a/c and water heater, etc. We still have the original oven that came with the house, and the dishwasher is pretty darned old, too. I have never lived in a brand new place, so this will be a treat. It is very big, although not as big as our current place. It is 3 BR and 2 BA instead of 4 BR. We have a big garage, though, so that will help, and I think it has a finished attic as well.

The previous tenants, also the owners, were a military family with three little kids. He was sent to Texas, so the mom and kids are following this month after school gets out. They have allergies, so it has a built in air purification system and is not all carpets, plus they did an extra inspection for mold. They are clean people and it looks to be in great shape. It is also for sale, so we might buy it at some point if we like it enough, and the area. It seems like a nice neighborhood as well.

They painted the bedrooms for the kids, so one room is bright blue, one is bright pink, and the dining room was painted bright purple and used as a bedroom. Also, we have a big playset (swing and slide) outdoors. This might all change in the future, but for now it is left that way. We move in around June 15th.

The master bathroom has a big tub, a separate shower and also a separate room for the toilet. There are vaulted ceilings in the living room and master bedroom. The kitchen looks great! It has a very nice electric stove, the kind where everything is flat, easy to clean. A new dishwasher, too. The counters and cupboards look spacious and it has a pretty floor. I am looking forward to using it. This is all the opposite of our current place, that is so old and yukky-looking.

Of course it does have central heat and air as well. It has a nice fenced backyard for the dog. You can see the pictures of the house.

It does not have a ton of trees and grass like our last place, so hopefully my allergies will be better.

Those of you who know that we had the "tacky room"....we don't have the 4th bedroom, but we may put the collectibles in the garage. We are not allowed to put holes in the walls, but that may not include the garage. So we'll see.

The master bedroom is pretty huge, too, and there is quite a lot of closet space. My MIL will get to choose from either the blue or pink room for hers, and the other one will be the guest/dog's bedroom. I will probably also use that room for my office.

We are not planning to buy much new furniture, but we will need to get some new end tables because ours are pretty crummy...all scratched and chipped. I don't think they would cost much, anyway.

I am kind of tired of my knickknacks, so I am thinking I might need to redecorate a little to make the house look nicer. I don't know. Anyway, the new place is much lighter and airier than the current one. No dark wood paneling and lots of windows and light.

We only had three days to look at houses, and we looked at many, but we got lucky on this one. We only really liked one other house that was not already rented, and it was kind of small.

Anyhoo, we drove back to Tuscaloosa Friday and then flew to San Diego on Saturday. Just enough time to do laundry, although I also finished with some packing up I had to do.

On the drive to Columbus, we found a really good truck stop diner, I think it's called Torch 57 or something? Excellent food, southern style of course, and very cheap. I hope we go there again some time.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the new house is near a Publix so that makes me very happy! That is the best grocery store chain in the area. We have some in Tuscaloosa, but none of them are very close to our house. Publix is the only one, for instance, where you can get a deli sandwich and a fountain soda. That is normal in all grocery stores in California, but not in Tuscaloosa. Publix is more upscale and has more gourmet and organic and specialty foods, as well as good quality fruits and vegetables.

On Monday we did the final paperwork for renting our new house. We had to sign and fax some papers, get them notarized and then overnighted. They sure make you go through a lot of hoops just for renting a house! Things have changed, too, since we last rented. When we filled out the application, we had to answer the question of whether we were registered sex offenders or not. Strange. It was a bit of hassle doing all this in California for a house in Georgia...we had to borrow the money for the deposit from a relative, since our ATM would not let us take out that much at once.

Tuesday we got an offer on our house! Yep, less than a week after putting it on the market, it sold. We made a counter offer, and it was accepted. Talk about amazing timing. Of course it could still fall through. They have to do the inspection, etc. With the way the housing market is, we didn't think we would be able to sell at all, or any time soon, or get back any money on it. We have just been having incredible luck so far. You know, this same thing happened when we sold our Lubbock house. We put it on the market, flew to San Diego, and then we got an offer within a week. But that was in a very different time and place.

So now if the house does sell, we will be in a better position financially. Also, if we like this house we are renting for the next two years, we could buy it, since it is for sale. So we'll see!!

Saturday evening, David went to a Padres game. They played the Dodgers and lost. They lost Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which is a shame since they had been mostly winning so far this year. I was very tired, so I stayed in the hotel. We stayed at the San Diego Gaslamp Hotel, which is right downtown and near the ballpark. Now, usually their rooms are pretty nice, but this room was very strange. It was not only small but, kind of a rectangle so it was very narrow but long...small room with too much furniture, basically. You'd really have to see the room to know what I mean. It kind of reminded me of a cabin on a cruise ship, but slightly bigger. It was part of a suite, actually, but we only had our part of it. Across the small hall was another group, and they were very loud at night. I even had to call down to the desk because they were playing music so loud. But otherwise it was fine, and I got lots of much-needed rest there. We went out for a little while after the game, to get some food and drink.

Sunday we went to another game; this time I went and they did lose again. It was a really boring game, too, with few hits or runs. It was actually a bit chilly even though it is May and a daytime game. We went to El Cajon after that and stayed with my SIL. I think we slept more, but it's all kind of a blur. Monday we did all that paperwork for the house...then we went back to another Padres game. This time they won! Yay! He wanted to see games until either he ran out of games or they won.

My MIL was sick with a cold, so unfortunately she has been home most of the week. We took her to the urgent care, and she got medicine. She is much better than she was.

Tuesday night we went out to dinner with my SIL to a Thai place, then we went out to karaoke with friends. That was great fun. I always love karaoke, but this was a particularly fun night. The place was not very crowded, so we got to sing a lot. The KJ there is very nice, too. I got my friend Mary into karaoke, so this was the first time I had heard her sing in many years because she now does it on her own. We sang a song together, too. My friend Martin and I usually sing a duet, so we did that as well. My brother David was there, and we didn't get to sing together, but he did a song and it was fun. Our friend Ira also dropped by (he doesn't sing). I was happy; I got to sing a lot. The place closed down at 12, which we did not expect. We really had a good time.

Wednesday I mostly did laundry and worked on my site, not much else. Oh, my SIL Susan and I played Beatles Rock Band for a little while. That was great fun. We might do it again on Saturday. We're big Beatles fans from way back. This is more or less like karaoke except they give you a grade or rating on how well you do. You can play instruments, too, but we didn't. I was only interested in singing, really. I don't really care about the game aspects - I just like singing. Oh, Ira visited again, and he and David went out for a while.

Susan is having work done on her bathroom, so it is very noisy there during the day. Apparently I can sleep through anything...or rather I wake up but then go back to sleep fairly easily. But still it's annoying.

Thursday we went to our favorite Greek buffet restaurant in El Cajon. We also drove to Poway (a nearby town or suburb) to see our friends George and Beth. They made us a nice dinner. They have two cute little tykes. We stayed around a while, chatting and drinking etc. We stayed at the Ramada Inn, and that's where I'm typing this now. Unfortunately, it does not have any high speed internet, and these computers do not have a regular modem, so I can't get online. Oh, no! So hard to be unplugged. The funny thing is, it's a pretty nice room despite that. It is big, has a nice big bed, a fridge, and a microwave. The front desk area not only has a free breakfast, but they have a little store where you can buy sodas, snacks, microwave food, etc. all a dollar each! I have no idea why there is no net. This is the 21st century, right???

Tomorrow we are driving to Riverside to see our friends up there, then coming back on Saturday.

OK, that was all typed Thursday night. Friday we kept stopping at Starbucks or similar places to use their Wifi. We left Poway and drove down to Carlsbad where we used to live. The plan was to have lunch at the mall. Last time we went there, the mall was pretty nice and seemed to have some good restaurants. This time, it has seemed to go a bit downhill. It has probably been five years. Most of the stores are different, anyway. I think JC Penney's is the only store that is the same since we lived here in the 70's. Maybe Orange Julius, but I think that one has moved.

We went to Subway there for lunch since there weren't many choices and I was starving. It was pretty good, actually. I had a salad with chicken. I wish they would make some good gluten free bread. Then we drove up to Riverside.

We first went to the Canyon Crest shopping center. We used to live in Riverside, too, for 8 years. We had a few things to buy, including a gift for our hosts, so we found a nice wine store there that sold gift baskets. We went to stay at our friends Monty and Paul's house. Monty used to work with David at Texas Tech, but now he is at Cal State San Bernardino. They live a block away from our friends Shaun and Jadie. Shaun used to work with David at UC Riverside. Anyway, they have a great house, and it is so beautiful, and they make great hosts. After some chatting, I took a nap.

I have been so tired. I guess it's because we are running around so much. Last night I got very sleepy typing this up at 1 am (which is not late for me). I slept a good 8 hours and yet was still very tired in the afternoon. Now, not so much...oh, well.

Paul cooked a wonderful meal for us of spareribs, cornbread, salad, and spinach. He does a lot of gardening, so the spinach was from his garden. I don't normally like cooked spinach at all, but this was good. It was all delicious. Shaun came over, and then later Jadie. We had a great time, all catching up. We had plenty to talk about. It has been a year since we last saw them, so...
Anyway, we always have lots of fun.

Everyone finally pooped out around 1. Tomorrow we will have breakfast with Monty and Paul, then we'll drive back down to Carlsbad to see my brother Stephen and my SIL Zina. We will hang with them for a while before going back to El Cajon.

Have a great weekend!

That shocking time of year

2010-05-13T01:10:00.003-05:00

Our house is officially on the market! You can see the info and pictures

We took a short trip to Columbus, GA in April. David had some stuff to do at the university. We went out to this alumni event. It was out first test as future Dean and wife. We went around and chatted with people. His boss, I.L., and her husband, were there; as well as her boss, the president, and many many others. The food was very good, as was the wine. The next day we went to I.L.'s house. It is a gorgeous place. The whole area where she lives is filled with mansions anyway, and lots of nice lakes. Her house is not quite a mansion but, it is pretty darned big. Outside they have a pool and a nice lake with a great view. We mostly sat outside and ate, and talked. It rained a little, but it was not too bad and there was a covering. Then we all went to this big musical event they have called Kaleidoscope where the various parts of the music department perform. It was very nice. Kind of reminded me of when you see rich people in TV or movies going to the opera or something? Very high class. Not the kind of university events I used to go to or be in back when I was a student. The music department here is really prized and well supported. I met a lot of local big shots. It was quite daunting, but I enjoyed it. The music was great, too, although most of it was 20th century and I did not recognize it. Probably the most recognizable was the West Side Story medley the orchestra did. They had some choirs perform, and some other instrumental things as well, and a solo singer. Then afterwards we went around chatting with everyone in a reception. Probably the most unusual thing in the concert was a flute choir.

My MIL and I went to the mall during that visit. It is not all that different from the one in Tuscaloosa, but it is new to us, so it's not boring. Unfortunately, the book store did go out of business, it seems. The web site made it look like there were many restaurants, but many of them are not directly connected to the mall, they are just nearby in the parking lot, so I don't know if she can walk there. we did go to Ruby Tuesday, which is a change for us from Applebee's in our mall. They have a great salad bar, so I was very pleased at that. They have some nice stores there, and it is not as downscale as Tuscaloosa's mall. It also has a movie theater. I bought a new skirt and blouse for Kaleidoscope. Oh, and their food court is really good as well.

The only bad thing was that we had taken a free shuttle over from our hotel (it is kind of across the street, but not really within walking distance in any way). They took a really long time to pick us up and I had to keep nagging them on the phone. If we had known how long it would take, we could have taken a cab, but the kept telling us they were on their way. I think we wait over an hour, so that was very annoying. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which was the only one we could get, and I would say they were mostly very nice there, but it is not the best place. They have a very small restaurant that is not open at lunch time, and a small bar. We also have stayed at the Hampton Inn, which I kind of like better.

We ate at some good restaurants on our visit, including a Thai place and a Chinese place. At the Thai restaurant, the owner/waitress came over, pulled up a chair, with her guitar in hand, and sang us some songs! That was odd but kind of fun. She is a very nice lady. Actually, everyone in Columbus has been extremely nice and friendly, which I love. It's a nice change.

The last month has been extremely busy. The last few weeks, we have had someone coming into the house on a daily basis to clean or repair parts of the house. We had the maids clean (and they will be back every two weeks or so), and we had various maintenance people repair little things around the house, and do some painting; and we had someone else fix up our trees and bushes outside, and plant some flowers; and we had a new furnace installed; and we had the carpets cleaned. So it's been a lot of work and stress, on top of already having to pack and get the house ready, and keep it clean. Also, I have had to be on an early schedule, which is tough for me, as you all know. All these people come starting at 8 or 9 am, so I have to be up, and stay awake. That really has sucked. From now on, at least, I will probably stick to an early schedule as much as possible. I have to have the house all ready and be dressed in case any potential home buyers come by. They have to call our realtor first, but we have to be ready. I can usually go back to sleep fairly easily, though, so I will probably be sleeping in my clothes in case they call. It's just really hard for me to go to bed early.

I guess some people don't like to look at a house if someone is there, but that's their problem. we will probably go out in the backyard with the dog while they look around, so they can see most of it with privacy. we don't have a second car so that we can leave.

The housing market is bad everywhere, of course. We will just be happy if it sells at all. When we sold our house in Lubbock, it sold in a week! I really doubt we will be that lucky this time. Cross your fingers, though. It is a nice house, as you can see from the pics in the above link. It is not a new house and could use a little work to be really nice. It is fine "as is", though. We are not DIY types. I kind of wish we had put some more work into it a long time ago so we could benefit from having, say, a new dishwasher, before we sold it.

Let this be a lesson to you. If your home needs any repairs, remodeling, or special cleaning, do it now while you can still enjoy it (if you can afford it). It was kind of stupid of us to live here 9 years and not fix it up, and now we had to fix it up for someone else.

Also, as you know, I have been going through all of my drawers, closets and cabinets, to get rid of junk and make everything look nicer and not so cluttered. This has been a great feeling and looks so nice. Do that now with your own stuff and you will be really happy when it's done. I threw out quite a lot, and I gave quite a bit to the local thrift store as well. They had to come out three times, in fact, to haul off lots of bags of stuff. If I had known how much there would be, maybe I would have had a garage sale. I dunno. Garage sales always seem like way too much work for what you get. This way I can feel good about giving to the poor, at least.

Maybe you should pretend you are putting your house up for sale, and that will motivate you to get your house looking nice!

It's amazing how many spots I found that needed cleaning or repair. Who looks at the lower part of the closet door, or the outside of the house near the back door? I sure never did until now. This is the longest I've ever lived in one house, too, so I never had 9 years worth of decay and junk to worry about before.

Last week we went to the Dean's annual party, where he thanks the chairs of each department, and they usually single out anyone who is leaving. Since David is leaving, they did that to him. They made some jokes and comments, and said some nice things, too, and they gave him this really nice clock. I always enjoy this year-end party, and I will miss it now. The Dean -and especially his wife- are really nice people, and they always have great food at their party. I plan to be like them and have these parties, and get a caterer! :) It's funny because we used to kind of dread these events at first because we didn't feel like we were very "sociable" people and didn't know everyone, but now we do know everyone, so we don't want to leave. The people at the university are all really nice.

A few weeks ago, we were at Epiphany, complaining to our bartender there, Bryant, that we had to find someone to do landscaping at our house. I'd had one estimate, and it was ridiculous. I found a more reasonable guy, but he was too busy to do the work right away. Bryant mentioned that he did home repair and landscaping in his day job. So he and his guy came over last week and trimmed everything, put in some flowers and mulch in the front, etc. They did a very nice job.

Then when we came home from that party, the a/c had sprung a leak. It was easily and cheaped fixed, as it turned out, but we were really worried about how much it was going to cost at first. Bryant and his guy were going to come over and fix it up, and they are really cheap, so that was great. However, he had a personal emergency come up and couldn't do it. Fortunately, I found some other people to do it, and they were very cheap as well.

In case you live in Tuscaloosa, here are the people I have been using.

For home repair: Ramos Maintenance (fairly cheap) - they fixed many things and did some painting for us. No job too small.
Also, HomeSolutions (very cheap) does maintenance/repair and they do landscaping as well.
Micken Roofing and Painting - they do repairs, painting, and roofing.
Our furnace was installed by VR Heating and Cooling. They did an excellent job. However, Micken probably could have done it cheaper, oh, well.
All of these guys worked very fast and reliably, and they all are licensed and insured.
I have Maid to Perfection clean our house. They are the cheapest in town as far as I know, although you might also be able to find an individual that does it cheaper. Maid to Perfection sometimes will do the minimal amount of work, just depends on which cleaners you get. They give you a discount if you have it done regularly.
Houston Hydra-Steam were the carpet cleaners we used. They were cheap and did an excellent job.

Jack Ryan is our realtor. He sold us our current house and has been doing realty for many years. He is with Blue Creek. He came over this past week and took photos around our house, put up a "for sale" sign and put a lock box on our door. What a good feeling it was to finally be done with that part of it.

I had to meet with three moving companies this week to try to get an estimate. At the present time, it looks like we are going with Southern Moving because they are the cheapest. We also got estimates from Graebel and Park Transfer, but they wanted to charge us a lot more. The university is paying a certain amount for us to move, and we don't want to have to go over that if possible. We had hoped they would do packing for us, but that really seems to drive the cost up. I have packed a lot, but I might pack some more, to bring the cost down. Ugh. I am so sick of packing already.

Right now we are in Columbus, GA. We came here in part to start looking for a new place to live. Looks like we are renting, for now, anyway. It has to be a house since we have three adults and a dog, plus all our junk. So far we have seen some nice places. If our house sells soon, we might change our minds and buy instead.
We're not expecting that to happen, though.

We stopped for lunch on the way here at this truck stop diner called Torch 85, in Tuskeegee. You never know what kind of food you will get at these places, but this one was really good. We will definitely be going again. It has down-home cooking like fried chicken, okra, green beans, coconut cake etc. I just had a cheeseburger and green beans, which were great, and David had fried chicken livers and some okra. He agreed they were awesome. It was all under $20, too. Can't beat that.

Later, we briefly went to Steak N Shake, which is a fast food chain here. We don't have that in Tuscaloosa, but we did have one back when we lived in Illinois. They have great burgers, fries, and shakes. After looking at houses, we went to Outback for a late dinner.

Tomorrow David has some meetings at the university, and then we are going to find out where the senior centers are, to get an idea of what they are like, where they are, and what amenities they have, as well as transportation. Then when we decide where to live, that might be a factor.

Of course having three adults makes it harder to find a place, particularly since she can't use stairs too easily. However, it's much worse having a dog because it really limits where you can rent. We have to not only have a house instead of an apartment, we have to have a fenced back yard. He has to have a place where we can let him out to go to the bathroom, or put him outside when he gets annoying. It has to be in the back because he is not always so friendly with people he doesn't know, and we don't want someone walking by to think he is friendly and stick his hand through the fence. Of course, though, Bugs is part of our family so we have to find a place where he can reside with us. No question!

The realtor here, Howard Jefferson, sent me some places he found online, and I found a few more as well. He took us around to look at them. Some he had keys for, and some he didn't, so we are going back to look at more tomorrow.

The first house we looked at was really nice. It was new, in good shape, and we liked almost everything about it. However, it is a little bit on the small side so we are hoping to find something bigger or that has more storage. If it has a garage and/or a basement or shed, that would be great. Otherwise we will have to rent a storage unit. We looked at several others, some that we crossed off our list because they were too small, or in not so great neighborhoods, or did not have a fenced yard, etc.

The last place we looked at, we both really liked as well. It is really big and has 4 bedrooms (all the rest have three), plus a sun room and separate dining room and family room. Unlike the other places, the previous tenants have not moved out yet, although they were not home when we got there. I like them, they had a lot of tacky collectibles like us! I'm not kidding. They have three kids. One of them had Star Wars and Superman stuff all over. The sun room had tons of Elvis stuff all over. They had a big screen plasma TV, too. The house has a built-in china cabinet in the dining room, and they had collectibles glasses and shotglasses in it! People just like us, if we had three kids :) Anyway, it also has a nice big yard with a deck. The floors are great, tons of hard wood and a little carpeting.

There were only a couple of little drawbacks. The neighborhood is not top notch. It seems safe, though, and the realtor thinks so, too. It's not a new home, and they will have to clean the carpeting before we rent it and fix a couple of minor things. I like the kitchen - it is bigger than most we saw today, and it is very pretty. It does have a gas stove and I prefer an electric one (I know I am in the minority about that as gas is better for cooking). Also, the master bathroom has no tub, and I like to sometimes take bubble baths. We might let my MIL take that bedroom, for that and several other reasons.

It is at least very close to everything, including the university, the airport, the mall, the walmart, a karaoke bar, and the Publix. Not walking distance but pretty close.

Anyway, there are more places to look at tomorrow...some of them are new and very large, so we'll see...I will take pics of whichever place we decide to rent.

I forgot to mention that May 1, we went to Jan's karaoke party. Jan is David's administrative assistant, and she is very nice and likes karaoke, as does her husband and daughter. They have very good voices, too. Every year, Jan has a party out by her pool. This year's was even better than last year's. We had a lot of fun. It was very hot and humid, though. Here is a pic of me, David and his co-worker Terry. we were doing "Bohemian Rhapsody". I got Terry into karaoke a bit. She doesn't like to sing alone much yet, but we did several songs together. I am hoping we can get at least one more karaoke party in this year before we leave.

On Tuesday, the poli sci dept. had a nice little get-together to say goodbye to David and thank him for his work. It was nice to see everyone. we will sure miss them!

With all this moving stuff, I have barely had any time to even work on my site.

We go back home on Friday, and then Saturday we fly to San Diego for our annual trip there. It will be nice to see everyone again. My MIL went on ahead last Sunday and will fly back with us. We took her out for brunch before she left because it was mother's day.

We will probably go out to karaoke tomorrow night. Can't wait! Probably also do karaoke in San Diego next week with Mary, Martin, and everyone.

Well, that is our hectic life lately....we move in mid-June.

What's been going on lately!

2010-04-09T00:11:00.003-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted... things have been ridiculously busy!

First, during Spring Break we drove to Nashville for a quick trip. That was the week of St. Patrick's Day, too, so it was very fun. We went to a hockey game, and it was very exciting (although I am not a sports fan) because they were tied near the end and had to do sudden death and then a shoot-out. I just wanted to leave, honestly! :) OK, it was chilly and I had to go to the bathroom. Anyway, we did a lot of karaoke as usual. We went to this great bar called the Crazy Beaver (Or was it the mad beaver?). Anyway, it was fun, we got there fairly early and they were giving away necklaces sponsored by Guinness and this Irish whiskey called Feckin. We got necklaces, pins that lit up, and big green floppy hats that also lit up. I will post the pictures sometime. There was karaoke there, too, and we also went to some other places for karaoke. They have a lot of it there. Actually, the bar had lots of other fun stuff like hula hoops, bean bag toss, all sorts of things, but we didn't do any of that. The crowd was kind of young and didn't really clap much for the karaoke, anyway. I sang quite a lot, though.

We checked out this local historic site called Stones River, where they had some big civil war battle. My MIL enjoyed that since she is into history.

It was a nice little trip. The food there is just so-so but we did find one bar that had pretty good food...if they have better restaurants in Nashville, they are not in the downtown area.

Then about a week or so later, we went to Texas. My MIL flew to California while we went to Lubbock and then Houston. David gave a talk at Lubbock, and we visited friends there. It was great to see everyone and go to our favorite places there. It has really grown a lot. We stayed in a new hotel there called the Overton that was pretty nice. It is right on campus, or right off...four star hotel, I think. We ate at the restaurant there a couple of times and it wasn't bad, but it kind of depended on what you ordered. I spent some time with my friend Lynn, who I really miss! And our friend Airee as well, and we met some other dept. people there and caught up with some we knew. The food in Lubbock is not bad, but it does kind of lack a lot of really fancy restaurants. Some of the ones I liked are closed. It's great for casual food, especially if you like smoked food or barbecue (and I prefer it to the barbecue in the south). I particularly like Lite Bite, a mediterrannean place we used to go to all the time. They have great gyros and the people who work there are great. The owner even remembered me after all this time! We also like this bar called The Texas (AKA The Spoon) which has great food. They have cleaned that place up quite a bit. It used to be a little bit of a dive. Not so much now.

I was happy to visit the mall, which has also changed quite a bit. American Airlines, or security, destroyed one of our suitcases, so we had to buy a new one. As far as I know, we didn't lose anything out of it. Anyway, we went to Kohl's, which is a great store, and we got some great deals. We got a huge suitcase and a few other things, and it only cost about $50.

We were in Lubbock Sat. through Tues. and then flew to Houston. David went to the SWPSA conference there. He was very busy. We got to eat at some great restaurants and meet up with a bunch of friends, especially Dave and Francine, and Airee again, and Craig, and Wally. There were many other nice people there that I got to meet, too. We didn't get to see too much of Houston besides the downtown area. Maybe next time!

I got to meet up with Boo, who used to help me run my website. We have emailed and spoken on the phone for years, so it was great to finally meet her and her husband. They were very nice and met us at karaoke.

I found this great place that has not only regular karaoke but rooms you can rent to sing with your friends. They were having a special Latino karaoke contest in the main bar, so they opened one of their larger private rooms for regular karaoke. They start karaoke at 7, which is great. There were not many people there for the first couple of hours, so I got to sing 10 songs! It was a lot of fun. A fun birthday party came in, and they were very nice and added to the fun.

We also went to a basketball game, which was a good game, close until the very end. We didn't care who won, but it was entertaining. The trip was great and I really needed to vacation. Although I brought my computer, I didn't use it all that much for work. I did a lot of reading. We flew back to Birmingham and my MIL flew back the next day, so we spent one night there rather than drive back and forth (an hour each way). Hotels.com did not make our reservation, but luckily the hotel had room anyway.

It is always good to be back, to a certain extent, but I do like hotels, and I hate having to unpack and do laundry, so it's a mixed pleasure.

We are driving to Columbus at the end of the month to do some stuff there. I'll probably look at houses, but it's a little early to make any decisions as far as buying or renting. We're going to a musical event there at the college and some other stuff. I think the only trip after that, unless we drive some more to Columbus, is to California in May. That should be fun! I haven't been out there since last June. It will be nice to see everyone again.

There's so much to do now. As I mentioned before, I'm having to pack up all the clutter and get the house ready to sell. We have a lot of clutter. First, we have tons of knick knacks, then we have a whole room (possibly two depending on how you count it) of collectibles. We've also got messy, stuffed-to-the-brim closets and drawers. Most of that all has to be packed. You don't want potential buyers opening your drawers or closets and having stuff fall on them! Not that everyone follows these rules, as I remember from our last time house-hunting.

Then there are lots of things to be fixed, so I have tons of repair people to call for those things (we are not do-it-yourself types, and we have no time for it anyway). Mostly they are little things, like a little dent in the wall, or touching up the paint. We have this roof-like thing that hangs over the front door, and it is rotting away, so that is probably the most major thing that needs to be fixed or replaced.

We came back Monday. Wednesday a guy came out to look at the repairs (waiting on an estimate from him). Today a locksmith came out to fix the lock on this shed we have outside (we lost the key and need to get in there to get some paint that matches our house). Also today, the maids are coming. We are having them come about every 2 1/2 weeks.

I ran the self-cleaning oven. These things are amazing. I just had to flip a switch and push a button, and it runs for 3 hours and presto! This oven was pretty dirty as I hadn't cleaned it in the 9 years since we moved here. I don't do a lot of baking or broiling, but I have made a few meatloafs, baked chickens, and tons of cookies. It just works like magic. And this oven is 35 years old, yet it worked great. The more recent ones might work even more efficiently, I don't know. Too bad more things don't work as well as that!

Our realtor Jack Ryan is coming on Monday to look the place over and make suggestions. I still have to call a plumber, a gardener (to fix up the outside), and some others...so busy!!

Every night I do quite a bit of packing. I hope it will be ready to sell by the end of April. Wish me luck! David helps when he can, but, you know, he works so much and is seldom home. Especially now, he is going in a lot earlier and coming home later. So I only ask him to help when I need heavy lifting or trash taken out, things like that.

People keep asking me if I'm excited about moving. I don't really have an answer. I am looking forward to it, but excited is the wrong word. Maybe I will be more excited as I get stuff done. Right now it's just kind of stressful and busy.

I am waiting for our insurance company to make a decision...my podiatrist is utterly incompetent and is trying to squeeze extra money out of me, so I called the Alabama Board of Podiatry and spoke to the Vice President there. He said that the doctor is not supposed to do what he's been doing and suggested I call the insurance company. So far I have filled out a form and am waiting for them to get back to me on whether they can pressure him to do what he's supposed to do. He is trying to get me to pay an extra $30 to get me shoes that fit, and he won't refund the money for the shoes I have now (they don't fit and I can't wear them), so I am kind of stuck waiting to see if the insurance company can make him finish helping me. It took 8 months and 6 visits to his office to get shoes that were even close to fitting, thanks to his office staff, who kept measuring my foot wrong. Now they want to charge me extra to get another pair that might fit, like it's my fault...ooh, it gets me so angry just thinking about it. If there's one thing I really hate, it's being accused of doing something that I didn't do, and also here I feel he is trying to take advantage as well. And in the meantime I still don't have comfortable shoes! (I have a high arch, which gave me a bunion, and a narrow heel - makes it hard to find shoes that fit and don't hurt my feet)

Well, have a good one!

We're moving!

2010-03-07T19:09:00.003-06:00

I couldn't mention it before, but the reason we went to Columbus, GA is that David was offered a job there, so we went to go check it out. So we will be moving there in June. It is twice as large as Tuscaloosa, and it looks nicer, so it should be good.

David will be dean of the college of letters and sciences there...it's a promotion. Hopefully it will not be too stressful on him! He will be working much harder. I will probably have to start driving regularly.

We already found a good karaoke bar there, so that's a relief! We will definitely miss all of our friends here, plus our favorite hang-outs and restaurants. I am looking forward to house-hunting. I hope to set up our new place, wherever it may be, with my own home office again.

I saw "Avatar" last weekend with my friend Elizabeth. It was really good. Amazing special effects, good story, very good acting. My only complaint would be that the characters were rather one-dimensional. I think it would make a good section for Disneyland, though. Imagine the awesome dragon ride!

I am a little brain dead right now because I am on an early schedule for now, and also I had to get all my tax info together (for my site), and so my brain is kind of fried.

I decided today to really stuck to my diet, to exercise more, and to try to cut down on stress as much as possible. I have been really stressed a lot. I am going to try not to let the little things get to me, for one thing. Sort of a late new year's resolution!

I finally did get the Christmas decorations put away. Our friend Peter came out from Germany, which always means lots of drinking and eating out. I stupidly called off the cleaning service and decided to clean the place myself...it had not been cleaned since November, so...that was stupid. I am way too old for this crap. Never again. Not only is it too difficult physically, it kicks up too much dust for my allergies.

Our vacuum cleaner broke down that Saturday night, so I couldn't go get it fixed or rent one...so the floor was not terribly clean. I swept up as much visible dirt as I could. I hope to get the vacuum back this week, but we'll see.

Anyway, it was fun having Peter out! He and David went to grad school together at SUNY Stony Brook, and Peter is German, lives there, so we have visited him there before. We need to do that again! We were maybe planning to do that this year, but now we have to move so...can't afford it.

So next I need to start packing things up. They tell you when you try to sell your house to get rid of all the clutter, so I have to pack up all of the collectibles and other excess junk. I also have to call some people to come fix things around the house. Then we can put it on the market, whenever that is all done. However, we will have to tell people that if they want to buy it, they can't move in until June. Hopefully, we can sell the house. If not...then we'll have to rent when we get to Columbus. That will kind of suck, for several reasons.

They are paying for us to move, and the movers will probably pack up the rest of our stuff, like they did last time. Hopefully they will do a better job this time! Thinking about moving is making me even more tired...

Oh, last Friday was awful. I had 2 doctor's appointments. One was my annual checkup at the allergy doctor's office, at 2:15pm. The other one was my podiatrist's office at 3:30. They are literally across the street from each other, so I figured, plenty of time. Ha! At 3:05 I pointed out that I had been waiting for more than 45 minutes, and they assured me I was next. I still hadn't been called in at 3:25, so I canceled the allergy doctor's appt. I got to the other one about 3:50 (by the time my ride came to get me) and when did I see that doctor? After 5 pm! Jeez! So I wasted three hours of my time for next to nothing. You'd think they would just tell you when you arrived that the doctor is running late, or that there are 5 people ahead of you. But this is Tuscaloosa, where people wait for everything and don't seem to mind it. Then, my podiatrist, that's another long and irritating story, but I'll save it for next time.

I guess everyone is watching the Oscars right now...but I am recording it, so...I'll probably watch it tomorrow...maybe...LOL!

We are going to Lubbock near the end of March for a short visit, and then we're going to a conference in Houston after that. It will be great to see our friends there.

Well, time to go do my evening walk!
Ta ta!

hectic and unexpected week!

2010-02-15T21:27:00.002-06:00

Well, I didn't end up going to the movies after all, but lots of things have happened since then!

We traveled to Columbus, Georgia last weekend on a sudden weekend giveaway. It's a very nice town about 4 miles from here. I will tell you why later this week or so. It's about twice as large as Tuscaloosa, so it has a lot more shopping, restaurants, etc. It's less then 2 hours from Atlanta, too.

It started snowing Friday morning, and we got way more snow than we usually ever get, a few inches. Nobody who lives in a real place with snow would think it was much. However, when we were driving, it was pretty difficult with the visibility. The snow was blowing a lot. Everyone was worried about "all the snow", which was funny. Most of it melted by the next day. We were supposed to get some today but didn't, unless you county some flurries. It's pretty cold still.

We drove there on Friday and stayed at the Hampton Inn. We have stayed at two other Hampton Inns, so I thought they were all really nice. This one, not so much. It was more of a motel than a hotel. You drove to your own door. The rooms were small and cramped. Years ago we stayed at the one in Tuscaloosa. It was very nice, and the free breakfast was great. Not too long ago, we stayed at the one in Montgomery, and it was also really nice. The room had a fridge, microwave, and DVD player, and it was a huge room. Really nice pace. This one in Columbus did not have a DVD player. The breakfast was not outstanding in Montgomery but at least there was quite a lot, and things for me to eat, not all carbs. The one in Columbus was very disappointing. The people there were very nice, but I would not stay there again...not worth it to me.

Friday night we had dinner at a really good Japanese restaurant. We went out to a bar near our hotel, Sports Page, and it had karaoke. It was good, not too crowded, large list of songs, and it wasn't all country like it is here. Good singers, too. Same thing when we went back on Saturday. I had hoped to go to this other karaoke place but someone told us it wasn't that safe, they had a lot of fights there lately, so we didn't go.

Saturday we toured around the area. They have a lot of nice houses. We had lunch at this Chinese buffet. It was ok, nothing special, kind of greasy and tasteless. Saturday night, we went to the downtown and checked it out a bit. We ate at a Mexican place. It was allright, better than what we have here but otherwise...it was just really cold so we went to the first place we saw.

Sunday we ate our lunch at Steak and Shake. That is a fast food chain. We had one in Illinois years ago. Actually, it's really good. Good burgers, super fries (really skinny fries, yummy), and awesome shakes. We went home after that.

It was not a very exciting trip, but it was nice to get away. We'll most likely be taking some other short trips there.

Last Monday we drove down to Montgomery for a one-night trip. They had the governor's debate there, and David was selected to be on a panel that asked some questions. Normally I don't like political stuff, but it was a night away, in a hotel, and it wasn't too boring. It was a bit more Christian than I'd like. The debates are put on by various groups, and this one was put on by the Alabama Christian Coalition, and it was held in a church. The group was majority Republican and probably 99.9% Christian as well. Only two Democrats are running and something like 10 or more Republicans, and even one of the Democrats is very Christian and kept talking about faith etc. Of the two Democrats, I'll be voting for Ron Sparks. His opponent is Artur Davis, our congressman who voted against health care and for the Stupack amendment. Sparks is more liberal and wants to bring the lottery and gambling into the state to pay for stuff. My guess is, though, that Sparks has very little chance of winning the primary, and that Davis has very little chance of winning the general election. Sparks is too liberal and not a great speaker. Davis is black, in a state where that is an important issue. We'll see, who knows. I was wrong about Obama.

Still putting the Christmas decorations away! I got a good start on them and would have finished except for our unexpected little trip.
Thursday I have a checkup at the allergy doctor's office, and Friday I will hopefully finally get my new shoes from the podiatrist. The maid service is also coming on Friday, and our friend Peter arrives on Monday.

Back to work...

Waiting for Spring!

2010-02-05T16:36:00.001-06:00

What's new with you guys? Some comments here would be nice! It seems we all post on blogs, twitter, and facebook, begging other people to comment back, yet no one knows what to say or is too busy. Terrible, isn't it? We're all so needy!

I was supposed to go to the chiropractor yesterday, but I was really tired, didn't want to get out of bed, so I canceled it. Dumb of me because I really need to go. I always have lower back pain, plus problems in my arm, shoulder, neck. Bad posture and too much time sitting at the computer. I just switched my office chair out for a dining room chair to see if that helped, but don't think it is helping. Clearly the dining room chair is not meant for long periods of sitting. It might even be worse for my back in some ways. It is helping me sit up straight a bit and supports my back better if I lean back, and there are no arms so there's nowhere to lean. But my butt hurts so that's not good. Anyway, I have to reschedule that appointment. Ugh. I have about 5 different doctors I should call for appointments, and I keep putting them off.

We went out last night to another wine dinner at Epiphany. They have them about once a month or once every other month. The chef/owner Tres makes some delicious concoctions to go with the wines. I am not a huge wine drinker, but it's fun to learn more and try the different types. I like white wine more than red. Red is too acidic and bitter for me. They had a good sauvignon blanc and chardonnay last night, and a really good dessert wine, a zinfandel. The other zinfandel and the pinot noir I didn't care for. I mean, they were ok, just not my kind of thing. We had a delicious scallop and pork dish for the first course. The scallops are chopped up, tartare-style, and mixed with some spicy stuff and, I think it said watermelon...it was delicious. The sauces he makes are always delicious. It came with some avocado stuff but I am allergic so they left that off. It also came with a little slice of pork belly that was divine. Pork belly is basically bacon but cooked instead of smoked, so of course it's very fatty. The second dish was trigger fish with some corn - they called it a corn pudding but really it was not at all a pudding. It was really good, though. Tres uses as many local ingredients as he can, so the trigger fish, pork, beef, seasonings and vegetables were all from the area. Even if you don't like fish, you would like these dishes, trust me. They are delicious and nothing like what you think of when you hear the word fish. The scallops dish was awesome and the trigger fish was so moist and soft you didn't need a knife to cut it (and no bones). Anyway, the next dish I believe, was gnocchi, which is a pasta generally made with potatoes. Tres makes it with ricotta cheese, so it's soft, nothing like pasta, really, but really great. That was on some cooked napa cabbage and corn, and again, nothing like the greens you have tried before. It probably had a little flour in the gnocchi, but not much, so I ate it. The next dish was with beef, and it was ok, but it came with wonderful double-baked stuffed potato. Maybe the best baked potato I ever had. I didn't have half of it (too many carbs). And then the last dish was what he called an ice cream sandwich with bacon ice cream. No, not kidding. OK, this was my least favorite dish. To me it was not sweet enough and there was too much bacon flavor. Others seemed to love it, though. Normally I do love Tres' desserts, but sometimes he puts something sour or not sweet in it and it turns me off. That's just a personal taste thing, though.

The whole dinner was great and we really enjoyed ourselves. There are usually about 20 people and we are all seated around one big table (well, it's really several tables pushed together). You get to know some new people and it's fun. Turns out David was sitting next to someone who had him as a professor in his poli sci class 6 years ago! Tim, who works at Epiphany as manager/bartender, sat next to us, and he is always fun. Usually his wife Kathy is there, but she was sick last night. They are really nice people, for Republicans :) All of the people at Epiphany are so great. We usually go there and Wilhagen's on Friday so we'll be going back tonight.

Our friend Peter from Germany is coming out to visit at the end of the month! That is very exciting. He is always fun. He and David were office mates in grad school, and they do research together.

I started back on putting the Xmas decorations back in the boxes...hopefully I will finish in the next few days. Then I can clean the house finally. Then next I tackle the Tacky Room! It is a pure mess.

Lately I have had so much stress...partly from a certain person, and partly from just having so much to do, and partly from just not being satisfied with my life and wanting to do other things. I hope to change some of that soon. It's so easy as you get older to get sidetracked from your goal and feels unhappy about how things are turned out. I guess they call that a midlife crisis for a reason! :)

I might go to a movie this weekend, yay! Not sure what just yet.

I haven't done any singing lately and really want to get back to that. Just making the time for it is difficult.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to try to post here more often, even if it means shorter posts.

Please make sure to check out my TV blog as well!

Is it really almost February?

2010-01-21T18:22:00.002-06:00

Yikes, Late Happy New Year! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted here. I have to do better!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook or my work Twitter, then you basically know what has been going on with me.

We had a low-key new year's...just stayed home, nothing special. We haven't gone on any trips since the one to Vegas in December. Our next planned trip is at the end of March to a poli sci conference in Houston (the Western, I think?), although we could always take a short weekend trip before that.

When I got sick last month, I slept so much that it put me on this really late schedule where I was going to bed around 9 or 10 am and getting up when it was dark. That was not fun. Finally, I am back on a more normal schedule. I like going to bed around 3 am and getting up around noon. That is optimal for me. Unfortunately, real life stuff often gets in the way that throws me off that schedule. Then it's hard to get back on. The only way to do it is to set the alarm and make sure I get up after 5 or 6 hours of sleep, then try to stay up until around 9. After a few days of that, I get on an early person's schedule. Then I stay up later and later, going back to my normal schedule.

I am glad to say I did not gain any weight over the holidays. My weight has pretty much stayed the same for the last year and a half. That's good, but I still need to lose another 25-30 lbs. for my health and all that. I have been eating more salad and other vegetables, but I really need to stay away from fast food...my downfall!

Mostly what I've been doing is just working on my site. It seems to be what I do 12-16 hours a day...most of my waking life. When I'm not out walking, or cleaning the house, or eating, or sleeping, I'm usually here on the computer, working on my site. Occasionally, I will take a little break to just sit on the couch and watch TV or something...

I just finished adding three new shows to my site (Grey's Anatomy, CSI and Law and Order), so that was a lot of work. Each show section has about 15 main pages, and I don't like having a page there without any content, so that means I have to write an article, find some information, create a puzzle, something like that. So that's what takes up so much time.

Now I am adding a bunch of other current shows, but just the main pages for each one, to show that we are going to cover it more in the future. (Still, even making the one page is quite a lot of work because I have to make all the graphics, the menu etc.) Then I am going to put a new design on the whole site, which will take probably a long time and many hours...

I also need to post more help on my site. If you have a free hour or two a month, I could sure use your help! I am not picky about writing quality or anything. As long as you're dependable, we have a job for you! Volunteer job, of course :) This does not pay any of us.

Forgive me for talking so much about work, but since that's all I do lately....

I really want to go to see Avatar and the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I heard they are both good. I got tons of DVD's in the past month, and I still have some I need to watch.

I have this fairly new friend, Elizabeth, who sometimes goes with me to the movies, but she has been really busy since the holidays, so we have not seen her. Her husband Utz works with David. They are such nice people, and they are into scifi and comics and music, so it's great. We probably would have had them over had I not gotten sick. She has her own jewelry business, so between that and her kids, she is busy a lot.

I still have to get my new shoes from the podistrist! I've been back there many times, and they had trouble getting ones the right size (they've been a bit incompetent). I had an appointment in December, but then I got sick and had to go to the doctor, so I canceled. I'm hoping to get them next week. My feet are killing me. My toes really hurt today. If you don't remember, I have a high arch, and it turns out I also have a short heel. So it is hard to find shoes that fit. If I get ones with roomy toes, then there is too much room in the back and they slide up and down and give me blisters. So I tend to get really tight shoes, but then they hurt my toes. Also, they gave me a bunion. Getting old really sucks, doesn't it?

I know everyone said over the new year that the 2000's suck, but they haven't been all that bad for us. I guess it just depends on the person and what their situation is. (If you mean globally, or politically, then yes, they did suck) The early 2000's were especially good for me because I was still working at Ask Jeeves and had all that money. Where did it go? LOL! Then my site has been doing really well for the most part of the decade, and David's work has been good, and I lost weight, so I can't complain too much. On the negative side, getting laid off from Jeeves was not fun, and getting diabetes, and finding out I was allergic to wheat, and for that matter - moving to Tuscaloosa was, let's say, disappointing, and one other major thing that happened that I won't mention, but...oh, well, everything else has been great. It was better than the 80's, and maybe the 90's, too. Oh, and getting older is bad, LOL!

I still haven't put away all of my Christmas decorations. I took them all down, and moved them into the dining room, and I took out all the boxes...but I still just haven't gotten the energy yet to face putting them all away (it's a lot, believe me). I hope to do that this week. That is my goal :) Then I have to get the house cleaned, and also clean up the tacky room. So many projects!

Well, back to work!

This Christmas week

2009-12-26T18:27:00.002-06:00

I hope you had a nice Christmas! Ours was ok. It was not as good as it should have been. We couldn't go back to California this year, and none of our family could come out here. For one thing, it is very expensive. For another, one of our relatives that we usually stay with told us she would not be home this year, but then it turns out she changed her mind and didn't tell us. She says she just forgot, but I don't know...it sort of put a damper on our plans. It amazes me when people are so self-centered and don't realize how their actions affect others.

Anyway...then I got sick, and the cold turned into bronchitis, so that has not been fun. I was not able to do as much for Christmas as I usually do. It is annoying not to be able to sing Christmas songs, for instance. I did as much as I could, and that was probably too much. Today I am taking it easy because I want to get better. I am better, but not as much as I should be by now. I was coughing a lot yesterday. I have some medicine from the doctor. I am taking over the counter Mucinex D during the day, and a cough syrup when I sleep. That works pretty well. I am also taking an antibiotic. I think that is "Just in case", though, since my bronchitis is most likely viral, not bacterial. Hopefully it will all be gone soon! I have had bronchitis many times before, and sometimes it lasts for months. I hope this doesn't.

What did you get for Christmas? I got a set of Ginsu knives, and a new blender, and the first season of the TV show MI-5 on DVD, and the first season of My Favorite Martian, and a set of the three "That's Entertainment" movies, and a ladybug rollerbag, and some other stuff.

Tuesday I went to the doctor. She also tested my blood sugar, and it is doing very well, so that is great news. My cholesterol is a little high, 212, so I have to watch the fat more.

Wednesday I went to Target with my MIL so she could do some shopping. We went out to eat dinner at Kozy's, one of the nicest restaurants here.It was very good, as always. Kozy's is not very far from our house, so that's one reason we go there a lot.

For Christmas Eve, we did our usual buffet, even though it was just the three of us. I made some cookies, but I can't eat most of them since they have flour and sugar. I know people that I give them to, and the other two can eat them. We had mostly healthy stuff otherwise. It was very low-key.

Our tradition is to have that buffet at home, then we go out for dinner on Christmas, but here in the bible belt, especially in the smaller cities, not many places are open on either Thanksgiving or Christmas. That's one of the reasons we usual travel on Christmas. We were planning to go to Nashville, but since I got sick, we couldn't go. David wanted to see the Chargers play, too. Too bad, because it turned out to be a great game.

Thursday there was a lot of work to do, for the buffet, wrapping presents, all that last minute stuff. Friday morning we opened presents. It was ok, nothing that fun because not all of us were in the best of moods. It was as fun as it could be, let's put it that way :) Then we went to the buffet at the Chinese restaurant called Buffet City. It was pretty good, actually. We didn't know what to expect because sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's not. It tends to have more fried food than we like. The Chinese buffet we used to like went out of business, so...anyway, the only other place I could find that was open was the Ihop. The food was good, though, at the Buffet City, so I can't complain. I napped after that. I did a lot of sleeping the past few weeks.

Today I just rested. We might go to Kozy's for snacks briefly tonight. I will miss those post-Christmas sales, I guess.

Well, nothing new to report other than that. I imagine the next week will be pretty boring. Then we will take down all the decorations on January first. I'm not looking forward to that. Ugh. I have not done much work on my site the past few weeks because of being sick, so I'm going to have to start back on that. No new year's resolutions. I just need to get around to the stuff on my to do list!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

It's Christmas already!

2009-12-24T02:12:00.001-06:00

We went to Vegas in mid-December. It was a lot of fun. I did lots of karaoke. In some ways, Vegas is not as fun for me as it used to be (New Orleans, either, for that matter) because so much of what I enjoyed there before was the food and alcohol. Food is less enjoyable when you're on such a restricted diet. I am very proud that I stuck to my diet in both places, though. If there weren't karaoke and shopping, I'm not sure if I would have a good time at all.

We stayed at Bally's on the strip. We used to stay in a different casino every time, but we have stayed at them all now except for a few very expensive places, and the ones way off the strip like Sam's Town. Staying that far away from everything else would cost us a lot in cabs. You can't really drive easily there any more. They do have shuttles, but you spend a lot of time waiting if you take those. One of these days we will stay at Venetian, Bellagio, and Wynn. Right now they are too expensive. When we go in December, it is during the really dead time, so hotels are very cheap. However, we have to pay for my MIL now, and so it does add up.

Here's the highlights of our trip. I won't bother mentioning the gambling because it's pretty much all the same, and I didn't win very often. David did ok as he usually does. I did win my sports bets, though, so that was great. I made one ten dollar bet per day, not a big spender or anything.

Monday we had a long flight, long day. We took a direct flight both ways, so there was no stopping or changing planes. It makes for a very long day, though. I didn't have much sleep the night before, and I didn't sleep on the plane, so I napped when we got there, while they went out to dinner. David likes this sushi place in Bally's that I'm not too fond of, anyway, so they went there. Later, he and I went to this great German restaurant called Hofbrau. It is a chain; they have three of them, and we have been to the other two, in Munich and Cincinnatti! They have great food, a German band playing, and lots of beer, of course. They don't do small portions, though. We left a lot of food. It is a shame, but there was no way to preserve it until we got back to our room.

We had a really nice room. We like to get a connecting room with my MIL so we can check on her easily, so we had to pay a little extra to get one, and we got a suite. It was humongous and had a little fridge and extra sink.

Anyway, Monday night after the Hofbrau we went to Ellis Island, which is right behind Bally's and has karaoke every night. He did pretty well there playing while I listened to the singers. It was really crowded, so I only got one song, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed hearing the others. There were not a lot of great singers there. Let's put it this way, probably about one in three could carry a tune! But they sang a lot of great songs I knew, so I could sing along. They had a birthday party there and lots of fun, nice people.

David goes out and plays in the casino and checks back with me occasionally, and I mostly sit by myself except for the few minutes he sits there. Toward the end of the evening, this really drunk guy came over and tried to sit in David's chair. I told him it was taken by my husband, and he acted like he didn't believe me. I mean, this guy was really really smashed, and beligerent. He argued with me about it, went away, then came back a little later and tried to take the chair again, but I held on to it and told him to back off. He was a real jerk. I was very upset by the whole incident because although there were plenty of people around, no one was really paying attention to us, and it was really loud. I didn't feel there was anyone I could ask for help if things got worse. There was only one bartender and one waitress, and they were nowhere near me, and the KJ was on the other side of the room. I tried phoning David on the cell, but it was so loud where he was, he couldn't hear me. Finally I took my stuff and went outside the karaoke bar, to the main casino. Fortunately, he was nearby. I was very upset. I can't really explain it. You had to be there. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good look at the guy, since I was trying to ignore him, so I couldn't get much help from security. Anyway, I sang my song "When Will I See You Again", and we left soon after. I hope nothing like that ever happens again. It was kind of scary. I have had drunk guys bother me before, but not like that.

We went over to the New York New York to visit his favorite Irish pub there, Nine Fine Irishmen. I got more food later at this place called America's bar and grill, something like that. They have a giant map of the US on the ceiling. It's an interesting diner and the food is pretty good. We went home after that.

Tuesday we had breakfast, we were both up pretty early. I had a pretty good breakfast at the fast food deli type place in Bally's. Then later we all went downtown for a while. They have the older, cheaper places down there. We had lunch at the Golden Gate, they have a good deli there that has great food, mostly sandwiches, hot dogs, shrimp cocktail etc. It's actually the only place worth eating downtown, IMHO. We did a little shoping down there, too. We took a nap in the afternoon. Thursday night we went to this Korean restaurant we like, Gin Seng. It is in this alleyway area near MGM Grand; there are a few restaurants there. They have great food, we always eat too much there and we are always the only non-Asian people there.

We went again over to New York New York. It was really crowded so we didn't stay long. They often have a live band there, too, singing Irish songs. They have a nice little gift shop there as well. Later we went to Bill's Gambling Hall for karaoke. There were many great singers there. It was way better than Ellis Island. I still had to wait a long time, but I did get in two songs, "Ooh Baby Baby" and I tried the Christmas song "Holly Jolly Christmas" for the first time. It was ok, but I was a little off the rhythm at the beginning. The crowd was good and didn't seem to mind. I was surprised there weren't more Christmas songs being sung.

I think we once again went to the Irish pub after that. It was a fun evening. No drunks bothering me this time! We didn't do too much walking around this time, partly because my feet were bothering me.

Wednesday we got up later, I think? We went to the buffet at the Bellagio. I'd heard it was good, and it sure was. Delicious. It had the best salad bar I've ever seen, and the rest was great, too. They even had sugar free desserts, so that was nice. Later, for dinner, we went to the coffee shop in the Paris hotel, which is the one right next to Ballys. It was excellent. We were not that hungry after that huge lunch, but it was still really great.

I did some shopping at the mall at Planet Hollywood. My favorite chocolate store, Teuscher's, is there. It is a swiss place, not cheap, but they have the best chocolates, especially truffles. I got a few for presents and for me. They also have sugar free. I bought these nuts I really liked last time we were at PH, too.

David and I went to Harrah's for karaoke. I was supposed to meet this lady, Beth, that I know online, but she had to cancel her trip. Too bad. Anyway, the host there is really fun and makes a great night of it. It's only 6-9 which is really unusual. There is a great selection of people and songs, and I got to sing quite a lot. I did a Diana Ross song whose name escapes me, then I did a duet with the KJ, "Summer Nights, then I did another song, but I can't remember which one, LOL. Then I did "Winter Wonderland", which was fun and turned out great. It was a nice night. Vegas is very dry, and I felt a little sore in my throat, so I just assumed it was either allergies or the desert. Between those and all the smoke, it takes a toll on your voice and throat.

We were leaving pretty late on Thursday, but we checked out at 11 and had them hold our bags. We did some shopping at the mall in Paris. They have these cute little stores there. I got some beanie baby bears and some Christmas ornaments. We did some time killing as we waited to leave for our flight. We had lunch at the Irish pub, which is always really good.

Thursday after we got to the airport, my throat started hurting more. I figured out eventually that I had a cold. It was hard to tell at first. I felt pretty bad by the time we boarded the plane. My throat was killing me all day, and I didn't have enough medicine to counteract the congestion and all that. I couldn't sleep, either, again! We were all very glad when we got home, even though it was 1 am. I was not all that tired, strangly, so I did a little unpacking and laundry as I recall, and some work.

So I was sick all week. I mostly took it easy, but it's kind of hard when you can't sleep and you have all this stuff to do for the holidays. Sunday I started coughing a lot and that made it hard to sleep. The OTC medicine did not help that much, so Tuesday I went to the doctor. My cough was pretty bad by then so I kind of figured I had bronchitis, and I was right.

The doctor gave me some good stuff for my cough so I can sleep, and some antibiotics for the bronchitis. I am doing much better. I was able to finish my shopping and clean a little, at least. I haven't made any Chrismas cookies at all this year, which feels really strange. I usually make a lot and give them out. I can't even eat them myself any more.

We didn't get to our usual Friday night downtown, since I was so sick. that was very disappointing. Nor did we get to the mall on Saturday. We are doing ok now, though. Christmas should be interesting! Just the three of us. I am determined to have a festive Christmas, though. We did finish decorating the whole house, and it looks nice. I will post pics. We are having our usual Christmas Eve buffet, even though it will just be us three and we are not having anything elaborate. I bought desserts, so that sucks since I usually make tons of cookies. I have to rest a lot, though, so I can't do it all.

We had originally planned on maybe going to Nashville for Christmas, but that's out now that I am sick. Not many places are open on Christmas Day, and I don't want to cook....we are probably going to a Chinese buffet. It is that or Ihop! We went out tonight to Kozys, one of the best restaurants in town, to sort of make up for the fact that we'll have such a sucky Xmas dinner. It was very nice.

Elizabeth and I went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox before our trip to Vegas. It is rather strange but also fun, funny, and worth seeing. Very entertaining. She helped me pick up David's Christmas present, too, so that was nice. I had hoped we'd all get together, but...being sick has prevented that so far.

I hope we can go see Avatar soon!

I got a lot of nice DVD's lately. I got quite a few for my birthday, and I picked up a few today at Target, really cheap. They had many for $4. That is amazing. I wonder if it's because they think everyone wants Blu-Ray now? I have no idea.

Well, everyone have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This week!

2009-12-04T04:46:00.001-06:00

We went out Wednesday night. Thursday was my birthday, but we went out to dinner on Wednesday instead. The grad students were having a party that night downtown anyway, so it was more convenient since we like to go to Epiphany for dinner on my birthday. They are so nice there. I had this delicious appetizer with lettuce wrapped around pork and dipping sauces. Then I had scallops for dinner, and lastly the great chocolate mousse cake there. And wine! Plus they gave me a bottle of dessert wine since it was my birthday. Great stuff. The wine was called Bug Juice! LOL. And I got to taste another one I liked even better, called Rosa de Rosa. I am going to have to buy some of these.

Then we went over to this bar called Speakeasy, where they were having the party. Lots of nice people there, both grad students and faculty. A lot of them are on Facebook, so they wished me a happy birthday :) I got a lot of nice birthday wishes on Facebook and via email, too. It helps to make up for the fact that even some of my close friends and family members didn't bother to send me a card, or even an email....ahem.

Our friend Norm, who works with David, was singing there with his band. It's always fun to hear them. They play a lot of oldies from 60's and 70's. We had fun hanging out with everyone.

I'll admit that I really wanted to go next door to Rhythm and Brews for karaoke. :) However, I got to sing with the band, so that made up for it! Norm's wife, Karen, introduced me to the keyboard player. I mentioned that I was a singer and had been looking to find a band for a while. I was going to ask him to let me know if he found any other bands looking for a singer. Before I could get a chance, he asked me if I want to sing a song right now! I was so happy. We did Blue Bayou. It was really cool. Singing with a band is about 50 times better than karaoke. It's such a rush, a high, you can't even explain it. I was giddy the rest of the night. What a great birthday present. The band seemed to like it, so maybe I'll get lucky and they'll hear of someone else who needs a singer. The keyboard player did chat with me afterwards and asked if I would do weddings, so I told him I would do anything! I know 500 songs, can do rock, pop, showtunes, country, whatever! Backup singer, I don't care. It's so much fun.

So, it was a great night. I tried to go to bed early but it didn't work that well. I went into the campus Thursday but had only had about 3 hours sleep. I did some work on my site, had a nice conference call interview with Kevin Nealon and Fred Willard, and walked around the strip area, did some shopping. It was all good. I was so tired, just had some food and went to sleep when I got home. I haven't opened my presents yet! I slept about 7 hours so now I'm up.

I have to clean the house, so I can put up the Christmas decorations! Then I can start on my cards. So much to do! I just wish the allergies would go away. My nose is so sore and has been running so much. I suppose I could have a cold, but if I do, it's a pretty minor one.

I took lots of pictures from the past two weeks, have to take those in. One of these days I'll get a digital camera!

Have a great week...

Friday and Saturday

2009-11-29T00:00:00.002-06:00

I stayed up late again Thursday night, just web surfing and Facebooking, etc. David and my MIL went to the WWII museum. They had a good time. He brought me back some souvenirs for my collections. We went to lunch at this place called The Gumbo Shop. I searched on the net for the best gumbo in New Orleans, and many people like this place. Well, they were wrong. All the food was mediocre, including the gumbo. Ah, well. I had some alligator sausage for appetizer, and then crawfish etouffee for the entree. I can't eat rice, too high in carbs, and fortunately they pile it all up on one side so I could avoid it. It was allright food, just not as good, nowhere close, as all the other meals we had. Apparently it's a popular tourist trap because it got very crowded.

We dropped his mom back off at the room to rest, then we went back to Bourbon Street for a while. I had wanted to check out this bar called Mimi's, that is owned by a soap actress I like, Cady McClain, but it was not in the French Quarter and we didn't feel like walking all that way.

We went to this bar Called Razoo, and they have karaoke from noon until sometime later, when they bring in a live band. It is pretty empty during the day, so that's probably why they have karaoke, to try to bring people in. They had a pretty small song list but it skewed toward the past two decades of pop and rock music, so there were only a few songs I knew. It was really dead. I sang two songs, then we left. We were probably there about an hour; they play filler music in-between, which I'm pretty used to. A lot of the bars in town sell 3-for-1 drinks during the week, so if you order a beer, you get 3. If you order a mixed drink, or even a soda, you get a humongous glass. I wonder why people drink too much in New Orleans? :)

We went to a couple of other bars and then to a few shops on Royal Street, where they have lots of stores and art galleries. They have a store there that sells autographed items. It's too expensive to shop in, since the items go for at least hundreds of dollars, but it's always fun to browse there. I would have loved to have some of their stuff. They had a framed collage of photos from Gone With the Wind and all the autographs from the major actors. It went for around $8,000 or something like that. They had another one like that for Star Wars. They also had autographed guitars, books, albums, etc. from just about everyone. One photo collage had all the James Bond actors and all their autographs, that was cool. Wish I had that much money to waste on these things.

We had to stop in the praline store, of course. There are many there. Those are always good, even though I can't eat much of one at once.

We stopped in this other bar, where these two guys had this old bull dog. It was so cute, and a really sweet dog. We saw lots of dogs while we there, and they were all friendly and cute.

We had a nap. Later, we went to this great French restaurant called Antoine's for dinner. It is the place where Oysters Rockefeller was invented. The food is always outstanding there ( as well it should be for the price). They have been there, in the same family, since the 1800's. I had speckled trout, grilled, with a crawfish sauce, and chocolate mousse. It was all delicious.

It got busier every day we were there. Friday was by far the busiest. They had some football fans in town for two different games. Every place was very crowded with lots of drunk people. It was more fun on Wed. and Thurs. nights than on Friday. We went to Cat's Meow, but this time it was already packed with people. I did get to sing and didn't have to wait too long. Cat's Meow is a tourist place so it is more about entertaining people than singing, so not as many singers go there as drunken tourists. They play songs in between the singers and the KJ sings along with them and gets the crowd revved up. Anyway, we sat in an outdoor courtyard area while I waited to sing. I did Its Raining Men, which always a crowd pleaser, and it went over very well. I didn't sing it that well, but it was ok. They loved it. I got a lot of high fives.

I got another DVD, too. The KJ from the previous night was there, very drunk. When he saw me waiting for my DVD, he recognized me, and opened his arms for a hug, so I hugged him. Then he kissed me on the head! LOL! That was funny.

We went around to various other bars, having drinks, etc. Karaoke Saloon was less crowded but still much more so than previous nights. I had to wait a long time to sing, but it was fun. A group of three couples sitting nearby were very drunk and friendly, chatted with us. We had a good time. I didn't drink, but it was fun anyway. They have the woman that come around with little tubes of liquor and try to get you to drink, then if you buy one, they pour it into your mouth while they hold it in their mouth, very sexual of course. Odd thing...they kept trying to get me to buy one, and I kept explaining that I couldn't have them because they all had tons of sugar.

We stopped by Lüke again, had some more pâté and some other stuff. Good place. I tried to get some water out of the hotel's soda machine, but they were out, so I went to the bar. All they had was this expensive Voss water. It's $4 per bottle, huge bottles that are made out of glass. Then when I got up to the room, we couldn't open them! I finally just now opened them here at home. Nothing like paying that much for water and then having drink tap water, yuck.

I stayed up late again, working on my site and catching up on email. We had such a good time. I hated leaving. We left around 10 am. I slept in the car most of the way. We stopped at some local burger chain in Mississippi called Ward's. It was nothing special. Then more napping after we got home. Then back to our usual routine, we went out to Kozy's for dinner.

Now I am doing laundry, unpacking, etc. All that boring stuff! :) I have to start cleaning the house so I can put up all the Christmas decorations. I also have to get my cards and presents ready to mail. I have been having fun doing a lot of shopping online. I bought quite a few low carb gluten free mixes and cookies etc. for the holidays. I have to start baking cookies, too, for people we give them to.

This Thursday is my birthday...I don't know yet what we're doing. Our friend Utz's birthday is Saturday. I ordered some GF sugar free chocolate cupcakes but not sure if they will get here in time.

I think we are still going to Vegas around the 13th, not sure yet.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend!

Second day of our trip to New Orleans

2009-11-26T23:38:00.003-06:00

I stayed up way too late last night... sometimes my allergies are really bad and keep me up. They sure did last night. I went to bed around 5 am. We had our Thanksgiving reservations at 11 am, so it was very hard to get up at 10:15 and get ready. Ugh.

The thing about New Orleans is that there are more tall buildings than you expect, which block the sunlight and create wind tunnels. So even though it was nice in the sun, it was very cool otherwise. David, his mom and I went to lunch at Red Fish Grill, a restaurant here that we like a lot. They had a nice Thanksgiving buffet. It was delicious, not cheap....great quality, although I would have preferred a little more variety. They had all the usual Thanksgiving stuff, plus fish, salad, etc. I mostly had turkey, salad, and vegetables. I still somehow felt stuffed afterwards!

We went over to the Harrah's casino afterwards, and I won some money on slots, so that was fun. Nice to pay for the dinner! LOL!!

Then we had naps.... then it was dinner time, so went to the first restaurant we found open, one called Bourbon House. I was surprised we could get in without a reservation, but we did. They just had appetizers, and I had a nice fish entree. It was very good and just the right amount of food. It was not as cold as earlier, even though the sun was down.

We took my MIL back to her room, then I got ready to go out. I put my contacts in because I don't like doing karaoke with my glasses on if I can help it. We went out about 8 pm. First we went to Cat's Meow, which is the big, famous, popular tourist karaoke bar on Bourbon Street. There weren't too many people there yet. The KJ's there are always fun, they sing, dance, make jokes, really play everything up for the crowd. Tourist karaoke is very different from regular neighborhood karaoke. It's all about performing and making things entertaining for the crowd so that they stay and drink. With regular karaoke you usually have mostly singers in the audience, so it's very different. The KJ's are not always so entertaining or so professional.

Cat's Meow is fun but they have a limited song list. They mostly have fun, lively, fast songs. They always play filler songs in-between the singers, and sometimes the KJ sings with those. I find this kind of thing really annoying most of the time, but it's just something you have to put up with at Cat's Meow. I got to sing pretty quickly, though. There weren't too many singers. Everyone was pretty good, though, I have to say. There was no one I felt that was tone deaf like at the place the night before.

I did "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin, and that went over well. I asked the KJ to do "Don't go Breakin' My Heart" with me. He had an assistant who showed up, so he had him do the duet with me. That guy was good, too, but too laid back...songs need passion. Anyway, I got a DVD recording of the two songs, so we'll see. I can't watch it until we get back since my DVD player on my laptop is broken.

We went to song other bars, had more drinks etc. We went back to the place from last night, The Karaoke Saloon. It was slightly more lively. I wanted to do "Fame" but they said they didn't have it, so I did "This One's For the Girls" by Martina Mcbride. The crowd there was not as fun as at Cat's Meow. You need a good crowd who will applaud and yell, and hopefully come up and tell you that you were great :)

Later I did "Magic Man" and it was pretty good. The people that work there are nice and try really hard...it's just a little more laid back than Cat's Meow. I hope they last because it's good for the area to have more than just one karaoke bar.

They do have karaoke in the suburbs like Kenner and Metairie but we would have to drive there. There is one more place on Bourbon Street that has karaoke, Razoo. They apparently have it during the day, starting at noon, which is very weird. I will have to check it out tomorrow.

One problem with drinking, which I shouldn't have been doing anyway because I'm diabetic and take a lot of medication (ahem!), is that it makes you hungry. I was doing so well...then we stopped and got pizza. Oh, we played some other poker video games and did pretty well, too. They have them in the bars here.

We stupidly decided, hey, let's have more food and more alcohol, so we went over to the Hilton's bar near our hotel, called Lüke. It's a German and French place, really good. I just got some take out of pâté and this dessert that I thought was going to be a mousse but it was more like chocolate cake...it was black forester, my favorite. However, it was more icing than cake, so that was wonderful. You just can't beat the food here. Back on my diet tomorrow!

Anyway, we had a great day, lots of fun. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too!

PS I forgot that David's work computer has a DVD player, so I watched my DVD. It was ok. Not the best sound system! I look a lot better now that I lost weight last year...more to lose, though! I am tired of being the fat girl singers! :) Good motivation, videotape yourself so you can see what you look like!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

2009-11-26T03:10:00.002-06:00

Hi, everyone. We're in New Orleans! As you may know, we prefer to go to a larger city where we can eat out for the holidays, whenever possible. In Tuscaloosa, there aren't very many places open, and I don't like cooking for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. And with only three of us eating, it's a lot of work unless we want to deprive ourselves of traditional fare.

David, his mom and I drove here this morning (well, he drove, we rode). It's about 5 hours. We left around 7:15 am and made two stops. One was to Burger King in Mississippi and one was to the rest stop/welcome station in Louisiana.

Our hotel is cheap but fine, right near the French Quarter. Check-in took longer than it should have...that's just the south, things are slow. We had a late lunch at Mr. B's, a place we've been before and liked. I had a great duck salad. I was thinking of getting the pecan-encrusted catfish, but the waiter said it might have a little flour. David got it, and I tasted some of his, and the mashed sweet potatoes that came with it, and the gumbo he ordered. All delicious. I am still eating low-carb, so I can't have much gumbo or sweet potatoes, either.

We had a nap and then went to the basketball game, Hornets versus Milwaukee. We didn't really care who won. It was a very close game and went into double overtime, so it was very fun to watch. It's not a very comfortable stadium, no cup holders, very little leg or elbow room...

We went to a karaoke place we had seen. It was really bad. The singers were mostly very bad, the KJ played filler songs between each person, the song list was about 5 pages....and then they closed around 11, which is ridiculous. I think it is called The Saloon. I sang one song and that was it. I would avoid it. The big karaoke place here is Cat's Meow, so we will probably go there tomorrow or Friday (not sure what's open on Thanksgiving). It tends to be loud and crowded, though. I haven't found many other places, though. The suburbs usually have a lot, but it depends on the city as to whether they have lots of karaoke or not. Cat's Meow has been around 20 years and is very popular. You can see and hear it online at nola.com

We have reservations Thursday around 11:30 at Red Fish, a great place. Should be good, even though I can't have stuffing, bread, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, or pie....LOL! I'm sure there will be plenty of meat, fish, and vegetables. I made some delicious low carb, gluten free brownies that I got from a mix by Dixie Counters, so I bought a container of that with me to have when I get cravings for sweets, as well as some nuts and sugar free chocolates. I bought the Dixie Counters Caramel Overload Brownies mix at amazon.com and I look forward to trying some of their other mixes.

Last week, I don't remember if I told you, but I made some wonderful gluten free, sugar free cheesecake. It was awesome. I'll have to make that again. I found the recipe on this blog.

The only problem with being in New Orleans is that I can't drink daquiris any more, and they are everywhere. Oh, well. You would think someone would make sugar free ones...

I hope you all have a great holiday!

We were thinking of having a party for the holidays, with the people in his department, but I'm not sure if that will work out or not. To include everyone, it would have to be next week, and he's going out of town on Sunday, so that won't work. Maybe closer to Christmas and make it more casual.

The next weekend after that, we're going to Vegas as per usual. This year we are not going out to California for Christmas. We're most likely staying in Tuscaloosa, although we might travel somewhere else close by like Nashville or Atlanta. We'll miss seeing everyone in southern California!

I got most of my Christmas shopping done...just have a few more things to get. I will tell you after the holidays how I did it so quickly because I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone who may be reading. Let's just say I got a lot of people the same thing, bought them all in one place, from a friend who makes/sells something.

I knocked my laptop off the bed and now I can't get my DVD drive to pop back in...uh oh. That's all I need, more computer problems!

A few weeks ago, I decided to upgrade my AT&T internet service. We had signed up with Bellsouth 8 years ago, when we moved to Tuscaloosa, and they were taken over a few years ago by AT&T. Bellsouth only had one speed of DSL, but AT&T has four or five. I tested my speed and I would get between 300 kbps and slight over 1 mbps. I upgraded to their 6.0 service that is supposed to be around 6 mbps. But it didn't get faster. It took weeks, I talked to them on the phone, they sent lots of people out. The last guy they sent out had me switch to a new modem, and that has helped quite a bit. Now we're getting about 3.5 mbps. That may be the best we're able to get. It's confusing because they have such poor customer service. They send out guys who don't know much. The last guy concluded that our DSL speed tests were not accurate (including the AT&T one). Boy, sure makes you wonder. He and the other guy tested our lines and said it was 6 mbps - 7 mbps outside and right inside, so I don't see why the DSL speed test is only seeing 3.5 at most. I'll probably try phoning them again when I get back. It is a bit faster, but I hate getting ripped off, whether they are trying to or not.

When I got the new modem, all but one of the computers was able to re-join the network. It took a few days to figure out the problem on our old one from 2000 that still has Windows 98. All the others have XP. I need that one, though, because I use this special software for my site that will not work on XP. My friend Tony has been helping me with that. He was an old friend/boyfriend in high school, but we are friends now on Facebook (as is half of my class it seems!). Nice guy and sure knows a lot about computers.

If you are not sure what Obama or the new congress has accomplished, see this Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet.

Well, I should probably get to bed. Happy holiday!

Hi it's me again

2009-11-04T21:29:00.000-06:00

Another month, wow!! It seems like I can't find time to update the blog lately more than once a month. I will try to do better!

I updated my TV Blog today, so check it out. http://www.tvmegs.com

I hope everyone has been healthy. I was going to get a flu shot at our local Rite-Aid but they ran out. I keep meaning to call my doctor to schedule an appointment.

We really got into Halloween this year. It's my favorite holiday, but sometimes it sneaks up on me. I have been getting a few more decorations each year, and I made sure to get more. The dollar store had a lot of things. I had fake cobwebs on the mantle, fake bats hanging all over the place, lots of pumpkins and little knickknacks all over, stuff in the windows, gargoyles outside, lots of stuff. We weren't home for the actual night so we just left our light off. We don't get many kids coming by, anyway.

We went out to karaoke on Saturday, Halloween. It was fun and very festive. They had a lot of costumes. I sort of waited until the last moment to get a costume. I wanted something cool to wear because it's been so long since I felt I wasn't too fat to wear a decent costume. They had a temporary Halloween store. It was sort of picked over, so it was hard to find a costume I liked that wasn't too slutty. I finally settled on a fairy costume. It was black and had wings. It was pretty cool looking. They sure make some nice costumes nowadays, not like the cheap plastic junk they had when I was a kid. Also, everything was half off, so it was really inexpensive. I went to Spencer's in the mall for some accessories, too. It was a lot of fun. The wings were a bit annoying to wear, but the overall effect was worth it. We had fun and our friend Norm joined us as well.

The Wednesday before that, we had a late evening out to see Norm with his band. We have had a lot of things like that going on lately. Monday this week, there was another wine dinner. These are fun things, but they keep us busy, that's for sure.

It's hard to believe it's October because the weather has been so weird, warm one day, cold the next. Not really really cold, just in the 50's. It's usually colder by now, I think. Some of my plants died. I think they got too much water when we had all that rain.

On Sunday I slept weird on my neck and it really hurt. I could barely get out of bed. It was very painful. Today it was still a little stiff. It gets a little better each day. Hot showers have helped the most.

Back in August I went to a podiatrist to be fitted for special orthopedic shoes because I have a high arch and a bunion. It makes it hard to find regular shoes that fit and are comfortable, especially for walking. I am still waiting for the shoes. First they measured my foot wrong so they were off by about an inch. Then, apparently I have a very narrow heel, so it's been tough to find shoes that don't ride up and down my heel. I guess I usually get very tight shoes in order to have them fit back there, so that's why I got the bunion. They have different styles, so I am trying to find one that will fit and has a good heel that won't go up and down but still gives me support. So I keep going back in and trying them on. They make custom inserts for them. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me as to why it keeps taking 2-4 weeks each time, but whatever...

MOnths ago, my Twitter account was hacked and a post was made, some money-making phishing thing...I reported it to Twitter like a good citizen, and I changed my password. Well, in response, Twitter suspended my account! I emailed them many times, but I only got automatic replies. I even sent them a letter. Then they said it wasn't suspended and gave me a link so I could get back in, but I got an error message. Then they tried to say, no, you weren't hacked. LOL. SO finally, after three months, they fixed it. Good thing I got a new account in the meantime. That has got to be the worst customer service ever. They never did apologize, either, for suspending my account, even though I did nothing wrong, and I was the victim. I wouldn't put up with it but I got addicted to Twitter, so....

I am back to being serious about my weight loss, so we'll see what happens. I have another 25-30 lbs. to lose. I haven't gained any back, thankfully, since I lost it last year, just haven't lost any more.

We had hoped our friend Peter was coming to visit (from Germany) in November, but that's been pushed back until January. He is a lot of fun.

We don't have any real plans for traveling but hopefully we will go somewhere over Thanksgiving. It will probably be a fairly local driving trip. We're staying in town this year for Christmas and it will just be the three of us.

Seems like I've had a lot of annoying little computer problems this year. I guess the more of them you have, the more possible problems. Most of them have been software-related (mostly Windows-related). Right now my old pc, the one that still has Windows 98, is only booting in safe mode, so I'm trying to figure out how to fix it. That one I mostly use for making transcripts and screencaps for my site. The software for that will not work in anything higher than Windows 2000. Grrr.

Well, have a good November...hopefully I will post again before December!

It's October already??

2009-10-04T21:00:00.002-05:00

I know I keep saying this, but I can't believe how long its been since I last posted here! Just been so busy, and I am more likely to remember to post on Twitter and Facebook. Terrible, I know!

We had a great time in Toronto in September. We were there for the American Political Science Association conference. I love big cities, anyway, and also visiting Canada is always great because the people are so nice. We would both love to live in Canada if we could. Maybe one day!

We stayed at the Radisson, which was very nice. Our hotel had a mall attached to it, including a food court. It was a nice hotel, and the restaurant and bar were good, too. Great food at just about every place we ate at. It was still hot here at home, but we had perfect weather there.

We got to visit with some friends from various places that we've lived. We ran into our friend Cherie at the airport when we were switching planes in Atlanta, then we saw her afterwards in Toronto as well. I was very tired, hadn't slept at all, so when we got to our hotel, I went to sleep. David went out and had drinks with a bunch of people, including Cherie. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of her after that. We had planned to have a karaoke night with everyone on Saturday, but Cherie and some other friends couldn't make it. That was very disappointing, but we did have fun anyway.

Besides all his work, David went to a few baseball games. I went to some with him, as did our friend Barb. The three of us also went to the CN Tower, which was great fun. David and I walked around a bit, saw some sites. We went to the University there, too, and saw the provincial capitol building. We ran into lots of friends at the conference, too, and I know he had various meetings and panels he went to. I did some work and had fun walking around, shopping, etc.

Friday night we went out to karaoke with Barb at this little college bar. It was very nice, and we had a great time. Then Saturday night we went to karaoke room, which is where you can rent individual rooms for karaoke with just your friends or family. Our friends Val and Steve went with us, so that was great. We only see them at conferences, mostly. They were grad students when we were at UCR, and now they're professors in California.

It was a lot of fun, the whole trip. We really had a good time. The prices for everything were very high, though....still, it was worth it.

Some time after we got back, I got a cold for a few weeks. It was not too bad as colds go. At first I thought it was just allergies, but then I got a fever and felt really yukky. It just hung on for a few weeks...it's gone now, though, thankfully.

Between the traveling and cold, I felt like I was so behind on everything...

I went to a movie with a new-ish friend here, Elizabeth, so that was great. We had fun even though the movie, "All About Steve", was terrible. We also went over to her and her husband Utz's house, and some other friends, Ted and Terri, also came over, so that was a lot of fun. David works with Utz, Ted and Terri at the university. I drank way too much that night.

The house really needs a good cleaning...haven't gotten to that yet.

Even though I'm not sick, things have been bad lately with my allergies. I love the spring and fall here, but they are terrible for my allergies.

I did get all my computer problems fixed, for the most part, so that's been great! I can burn DVD's and CD's again, and the Mini9 is working...yay! I had to buy a new DVD recorder drive for one of the laptops and I also got one for the Mini9 (external drive). Should get that any day now.

One of my VCR's died, the one I use in the bedroom, so I got a new one. It is a combo recorder with DVD as well. I mostly use this one to just record from the DVR so I can watch it in the other room. I primarily watch TV on the big screen in the living room. This is my secondary DVR where I record either shows that are on at the same time as two other shows I like, or shows that are secondary and not that important to me. As you may know, every year I only watch one or two new shows, so any of the others that I may like, I record to watch later (if I even get around to it).

Still not doing a good job with dieting....still hoping to get back to it. It's been so hard to get motivated.

My flowers have still been blooming. They look great. We had tons of rain in September, so that's probably why. It is finally turning cool now, though. We might have to get our heater fixed soon. It gave out in the spring. It probably needs replacing so we have put it off.

I had a really bad day a few days ago. First I accidentally deleted all of the shows off my DVR. SO stupid and boy was I upset. Thankfully most of it I had backed up to a hard drive. The other stuff I was able to watch online. Then my website was down and I was very worried, took a while to get my webhost to fix it. More aggravation and stress. Then I had a really big fight with someone. Argh, talk about a bad day. It's all fine now, though.

Saturday we went to Epiphany (well, we went as usual on Friday but this was a special occasion). One of the people David works with, Doug, had a small poli sci conference here, so everyone went out to Epiphany for dinner - we had the whole front room. Spouses were invited, so that's why I got to go. Doug, his wife, and some other faculty and grad students were there. The associate Dean, Bev, was there, and she is very nice. Bill and Karen, whom we know from way back at UCR, were in town for the conference, too. So there were lots of nice people that we visited with, plus we had a great dinner. We went out afterwards to have a few drinks at Wilhagen's. It was a good night.

We had a nice time at the mall on Saturday. I got a new Fall shirt (sweater-like) and some kewl new sandals. They are somewhat like gladiator sandals. They are nice for going out - not so great for walking, but that's fine.

I don't recall if I mentioned this or not, but I had to order expensive new shoes from the podiatrist. Apparently I have a high arch, which makes me walk funny, and it gave me a bunion on my left foot. A bunion is when the inside part of your foot sticks out funny and the big toes turns in a little. It's kind of painful. So anyway, should get those shoes this week. They are supposed to help me walk better, with less pain, and improve the bunion or at least keep it from getting worse. These shoes look nice, not like the old type of orthopedic shoes they used to have. They are dark blue and somewhat tennis-shoe-looking.

I ordered the summer movies I missed on DVD, "Watchmen" and "Wolverine" - still have to watch them. I did see the Hulk and it was great! The one with Ed Norton. I highly recommend it. I will get the Harry Potter one day when it comes out...

I will post pictures soon!

what's new?

2009-08-27T12:51:00.000-05:00

Wow, I haven't been on here for a while... just got so busy lately. I have been pushing myself hard to get a lot of work done. So tired of being behind all the time on everything.

We are going to Toronto in about a week for the APSA...should be fun. I can't wait. It's a great city, and a lot of our friends will be there.

We did manage to get our kitchen light fixed/replaced, so that's good. The man was mortified and very apologetic (as well he should be). That is Mr. Electric, by the way. I've used him before, though, and he's been fine, so I think this was just a fluke.

My MIL had some other health problems, for those who were asking, but she's fine. We did have a little 911 trip to the ER but that worked out ok. That was two weeks ago. My, how time flies!

I cleaned the house while she was gone and it was very easy, so I might do it again this weekend. She is going to California while we're in Toronto.

I still haven't gotten the mini9 fixed; just not a big priority until now. I will probably do it this week, though, so it will be ready for Toronto. I just don't look forward to calling Dell again and spending hours on the phone.

My regular laptop, the one I use all the time, has been having this same problem that it had last year. Also, this other laptop I have is doing the same exact thing, so that's weird. My guess is that it's a software problem caused by one or two of the programs I use regularly. I had this last year and the only fix I could find was to reinstall Windows. I might know a guy who knows a guy who can come fix it...just waiting to get the guy's name and number. Anyway, my DVD/CD burners are not burning. I used 5 different programs but none of them work. They keep saying to put in a blank disk. Of course I did use multiple disks, but it doesn't matter. It is not the drive itself because a) when it happened last year, they sent me a new drive and that didn't help; and b) that would be a helluva coincidence for it to happen again, a year later, on the same machine, plus also on a different machine. So it's some weird Windows thing. It plays disks fine, just won't burn them.

I ordered an external hard drive some time ago from Amazon but didn't receive it. Finally I emailed the guy and he said that he was out of town and Amazon never told him that it was sold...still haven't heard back, though :( I may have to get another one.

We have these friends in town here and have been trying to get together with them, but it seems like one thing after another! Hopefully soon :)

I still need to clean our "tacky room" as right now you can't even walk into it.

I have had such a hard time getting back to my diet. I haven't gained any back, but I want to lose another 25 lbs. It seems the only way I can lose weight is to eat almost nothing besides salads, and walk 1 1/2 - 2 miles. Ugh. And lately all I want to do is scarf down cheeseburgers and ice cream (not that I have been but that's all I want and nothing else matches up).

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by. Wow. Here it is almost September. I have to start planning for Christmas soon. How ridiculous is that. At least our hot weather seems to be going soon. It's still pretty bad but not as bad as a month ago.

My flowers are still doing fine. I don't know if they'll be doing any more blooming before next year...we'll see. I never did get around to planting vegetables. Maybe next spring. I have to figure out where because the back yard would be best but the dog will ruin them. I have to buy some kind of fencing thing to keep him away from them. Also the area I want to plant has a lot of weeds that have to be rooted out. I'm just too lazy.

Getting old really sucks...seems like I always have some ache or pain!

Well, there's not really too much to say...life has not been all that interesting. I post a lot more on Facebook and Twitter, so I guess that's why I don't post as much here. Whenever someone frustrates or annoys me, I post "ARGH!", just so you know :) I enjoy FB and Twitter but I never have enough time to read on there and keep up with everyone and what they're doing. Too many friends. :) But it's better than email in some ways for keeping up with everyone.

This week I watched "Flesh and Bone" from the 90's starring Dennis Quaid, James Caan, Meg Ryan and Gwyneth Paltrow. Great movie, very creepy, kinda sad. I also watched "Blood Work" with Clint Eastwood...it was fine, nothing special but a good flick. Trying to do a better job of keeping up on my Netflix!

I still haven't seen the Harry Potter movie, and I can't so far find anyone to go with :( I would really rather not go alone....might have to wait until it comes out on DVD...

Have a great rest of your week!

Just one thing after another this week

2009-08-02T01:39:00.005-05:00

It's been a pretty weird week (mostly bad but with some bright spots). Earlier in the week, I was kind of in a bad mood because I was having a little tiff with a friend of mine via email. Hopefully things are better now...it was kind of depressing, though.

Then we went on our anniversary trip to Baltimore. As you may recall, we go to a different state every year for our anniversary. This year is our 27th anniversary. We picked Baltimore for a number of reasons. Our original destination was Indiana. We were going to go to Cincinnati again. We really like that city. Cincinnati is in Ohio, of course, but it's also very close to Kentucky and Indiana. We looked at what we wanted to do there and decided it would not work out this year, price-wise. We looked at other places that we wanted to go to, especially places Southwest flies to. One of us ;) likes to go to baseball games, so we looked at cities with major league teams.

I like crab cakes and other fresh seafood. That was a big factor, too. We both like cities because there are lots of things to do, great restaurants and bars, nice hotels, etc. So Baltimore is where we decided to go. My mother-in-law went with us, too.

It is a very nice city. I didn't know what to expect, but they have done a nice job with cleaning it up. The restaurants were great, and there were a lot of nice bars. We stayed at the Radisson, which was really nice. We had huge rooms. Everyone was very nice there, too, not just at the hotel but everywhere.

The plan was that we would go to the baseball game the night we arrived, then David would go to one by himself on Thursday because it was a day game and I don't like to sit in the sun. That was our anniversary, and we would go out that night. Then we would go to karaoke Thursday or Friday night. We would rent a car one of those days and drive around, see the sights. Well, nothing went as planned!

I had trouble sleeping the night before, so I was exhausted by the time we got to the hotel in the afternoon. Also, it was rainy. So he went to the game by himself. We went to the bar downstairs after he came back. The bartender there is really great. Anyway, they didn't serve any food, and they were closing soon, and I was hungry. So we found out about an Irish bar a few blocks away and went there. It was drizzly and windy, but it was worth going to. They had great food and his favorite Irish beer.

Crab cakes everywhere! Not that I should eat them because they all have bread in them, but...it's hard to resist when I love them.

The next day, we got ready to go to the game. We bring my MIL's wheelchair so she doesn't have to walk so much...anyway, short story is she got ill at the game and had to go to the hospital. She is fine, and there's nothing wrong with her that they could find. She had to spend a whole day in the hospital, which was not fun for her, or any of us, that's for sure.

We went out Thursday night for our anniversary dinner. I looked for a gluten free restaurant and found several. We went to Woodberry Kitchen, which is an organic/gourmet place. It was heavenly. They even brought gluten free bread. I found out where they got it from, so now I can order it online. The food there was delicious. A little later, we went out for karaoke. Unfortunately, the place was the type that puts peanut shells on the floor, so we couldn't stay very long. There were not a lot of singers, though, so I got to sing two new songs and it went over very well. It was a good night. The place was only a mile from where we were staying, too, so it was an easy walk. We stopped again at the irish bar and had some more food and drink later.

Friday we had lunch at a good Indian buffet near our hotel. We started to go down to the harbor, but we had to go to the hospital again. After many hours, they checked her out finally. The ball game was popular with many Boston fans in town, so although I was going to the game, I let him go alone so he could get a ticket. Apparently they don't let you buy tickets online or over the phone within 2 hours of the game, so he had to go there and hope he could find a ticket. It was a good trip for me resting and relaxing, watching a lot of TV and videos. I needed that anyway. The bed in our room was very comfortable.

In the meantime, my Twitter account was suspended! Someone hacked into my account and posted this "get rich quick" thing with a link that was probably a phishing link. I emailed Twitter about it and changed my password. I got an automatic reply from them, and then they suspended my account. I keep emailing them, but they still haven't told me if they have suspended it because they think I am the one who posted that or because they just do that while they investigate it. It is really pissing me off because I feel that they are punishing me, when I'm the victim.

Anyway, back to our trip. We went out later. A lot of the places were very crowded with Boston fans. We went to this new bar/restaurant called Maizy's and it was pretty good. Saturday morning we did get down to the harbor for a little bit, did a little shopping, took some pictures.

We all went to this Turkish restaurant for lunch, and it was wonderful. I have never tasted gyro meat like that. I was very hot most of the day because I had to dress in warmer clothes because of having to pack and go to the airport (don't like to wear shorts or tank tops when I travel because then it can get cold and also it looks too casual for flying).

Before we did all that, my computer started having terrible problems. We take my Dell Mini 9 netbook along on short trips. Usually it works fine. It kept saying I was running out of space, so I kept deleting videos etc. but it didn't help. I ran disk defragmenter to see if that would help. Something got really messed up. When I rebooted, a lot of things were missing and it wouldn't get online. Network connections folder is empty. Device Manager folder is empty. Some of the videos I had downloaded via iTunes were gone. I can't even get it to recognize anything plugged into the usb port, nor will system restore work. Nothing I have done has helped. Very annoying. I'm going to have to call Dell later today. I don't even know how to reformat windows on here because it has no CD or DVD drive.

So sick of computer problems! Fortunately this one is under warranty.

Our trip home was fine and uneventful. However, it was not so good once we got to Birmingham. There was a storm going on. Apparently, Southwest has this new thing where they won't remove the luggage from the plane while there is lightening. The other airlines were doing it just fine. So we had to wait hours for that. Talk about annoying. Here we were, tired and wanting to go home, and we had to wait even longer, as did the poor shuttle driver, and all the other people, not to mention the ones still on the plane that couldn't take off.

We were all pretty beat, but I was doing some work and stuff, trying to fix the mini9 a little before I went to bed. I heard this loud crash, tinkle, and the kitchen light went out. The damn kitchen light fixture, the whole thing, florescent bulbs and all, plus part of the ceiling, fell! Thank goodness none of us had been standing under it when it did. This is brand new, we just had it replaced a couple of months ago. I was just dumbfounded. What else can go wrong? Nothing, I hope. So then I had to spend a lot of time cleaning that mess up. What a pain in the butt.

It is nice to be home, but still....LOL! Talk about a bad week.

gardening and more

2009-07-11T23:05:00.005-05:00

Here's a picture from when we did karaoke recently in San Diego. Friends Ann and Ira are in the picture with us at the Charcoal House.

I haven't been doing my usual stuff online lately...it's just too hard with my eyes having all this trouble. I had to order new glasses, so I'm waiting for them to arrive. My contacts, as you may recall, are not as good. They are great for the distance part, but not for the bifocal part, so I have trouble seeing the computer screen. Even though I have adjusted the screen settings and fonts, they are still a bit blurry, especially with smaller print. So I have not been doing as much work as usual or online stuff. I have an old pair of glasses, but they are even worse.

Friday night we went to Birmingham. The dean invited all of the chairs to a minor league baseball game there. It was fun, although baseball can be boring. There were enough hits and runs to keep it interesting. The weather was not too hot or humid, so that was good. It was an evening game, but still, it can be pretty warm here at night in the summer. I always bring along my iPod to games now because it helps pass the time when I get bored.

We made a nice night of it, a mini-trip, so we stayed in a hotel near the game. It was a really nice hotel, the Winfrey. I love staying in hotels, especially nice ones. This one is attached to one of the good malls there. The only problem was that their internet wasn't working, except the wirless in the lobby. In a way it was nice because it made it more of a holiday. It was a long day, so we both went to sleep pretty early. We did stop at the hotel bar after the game and had some dinner and drinks. The Birmingham Barons lost by one run to the Mississippi team (don't remember their name).

We went to PF Chang's for lunch, which I always enjoy. They have good food, plus a gluten-free menu. Then we went to Whole Foods, which I love going to. We found this great gouda cheese there called UnieKaas Reserve. It is really awesome, but expensive, so we only got 1/2 a lb.

I hope you had a nice 4th of July. We didn't do anything too interesting, just sat at home.

So I planted some flowers...for me, this is a big deal. I've never done anything like that before. We went to Home Depot because I figured the sales people there might know something, since I know very little. I bought two shrub rose bushes (yellow) and 6 red verbena plants. I think I over-watered the verbena because they are not doing too well. I just read that they like hot weather. Well, I'll stop watering so much and see if that helps. If this goes well, then I might start planting vegetables.

We never did any gardening when I was a girl. We lived in rentals, and I guess my mom was not into it. I know we did sometimes have stuff growing in the yard. I remember a cherry tomato plant, and I remember blackberries. When I was in high school, one of my chores for my foster parents was weeding, and I really hated it (they did pay me, but I still hated it). I have never really liked the outdoors very much. I don't like digging (very hard work), or getting dirty or muddy, or touching gross things like worms. Yes, I know you are laughing, but I'm a city girl and can't help it.

I had a few house plants, but they died. This was a long time ago. I do love flowers, and I like how they make your house look nice. We have several bushes with flowers that bloom every year, even though we do nothing to do them. They were planted by the previous house owners. They say anything can grow here, so I figure if I can plant stuff and it doesn't die, that is really true.

When we moved from Lubbock, my friend Lynn helped me plant some flowers outside, to help sell the house. I hated that afternoon where we dug holes and planted flowers. My back hurt a lot after that. I think having a bigger shovel would have helped. It was not fun digging the holes for these flowers here, but at least it didn't hurt my back. Oh, I'm not too fond of bending over or kneeling down, either.

Anyway, I do love fresh vegetables, so it will be great if I can plant them. After talking to our friend Paul in California, he helped me figure out that it isn't all that hard to plant stuff, and that it's easier if you plant the actual plants and not just seeds.

I joined a forum on Delphiforums called Garden Partay, and those people have been very nice, and helpful. They are into it way more than I ever could be, though.

I really don't want to spend a whole lot of time gardening, so I want it to be as easy and fast as possible. I also want to mention that another reason I don't like the outdoors is that I am allergic to all grass and most trees and some other plants, plus the mosquitoes around here really love me. Oh, and it's very hot and humid this time of year. Yeah, I should have planted back in March, but I didn't. So anyway, when I go out now to plant, I have to wear long sleeves and long pants, and go early in the morning before it gets too hot. Ugh.

So cross your fingers for me that I won't kill my flowers!

David's pc is still in the shop...we are waiting to hear back about it.

Oh, I went to the doctor for a checkup. It's all fine, but I have tennis elbow. It's not from tennis. It's a repetitive stress injury, which you can get from things like gardening, typing, knitting, and other stuff. It's the elbow that hurts, but what's injured is the tendon that connects the elbow to the forearm and wrist. I probably got it typing. The doctor gave me some exercises to do, but I haven't had time yet to try them. It only hurts if I go to pick anything up. It's my left hand, but it's surprising how much we use our distaff hand for.

Nothing much else going on. Hopefully I will get my glasses back soon and be able to see more!

I can't believe the summer is almost half over...

back home, here is more

2009-07-01T05:48:00.000-05:00

Today is my friend Corrie's birthday!! Happy birthday, Corrie!!

I've been half-blind for a week! I broke my glasses the day after we came back from our trip...they broke right next to the part that goes around the lens, and they are wire frames, so they couldn't be taped together, or even saudered, or glued. I really need to get to the eye doctor place again asap and get new ones. In the meantime, I have been wearing my contacts. They are ok, but they do take a lot of getting used to. My eyes get really tired of them, especially at the end of the day. When I am first awake, I don't want to put them in. My eyes don't wake up for a few hours. I don't normally wear contacts unless I am going out to karaoke (and sometimes not even then). I'm just very glad Spring is over so my allergies are not too bad.

My glasses are bifocals. My vision has been near-sighted my whole life, meaning I can't see far away. I can see just fine close-up. The computer is somewhere in-between far and near, so that's why I have bi-focals, for the computer. My contacts are supposedly bifocals as well, but they do not work very well in that regard. They are great for distance, but not for the computer monitor. Things are a bit blurry. And I had to get reading glasses for close-up. That is just plain weird, to wear glasses for reading when you don't need them.

I have a pair of older glasses, but they are not very good. I wear them until I get around to putting my contacts in. It's just awful not being able to see right. I am so used to having glasses that work really well. Now I kind of know how someone else's vision works because he is far-sighted and uses reading glasses. You don't realize how many things you read, or little print you have to see, until you can't.

What's funny is I keep leaving the reading glasses elsewhere and forget to take it with me, like, when I go to the bathroom, so I can't read the magazines in there! Anyway, I hope to go get new glasses later today, although I'm sure I won't get them right away. If I'm lucky, they will be able to give me new frames for my lenses, or else I will need to pay for new lenses as well.

It took me 3 or 4 days to get around to unpacking....I still haven't put the suitcases completely away but hope to do that later today. I just keep forgetting because I stuck them in the hallway where I hardly ever go.

It is always good to be back home in your own bed, with your own stuff...but still we would rather be in San Diego and Vegas still, with the great restaurants and night life.

I have been spending far too much time lately on Twitter and Facebook! It's like having daily blog comments. A lot more people read my comments there, than here, I'm guessing.

I can't believe it's already July. Is anyone doing anything exciting for the 4th? Not us. We might go somewhere in a few weeks. Late July is our anniversary as always, and we will be going to Indiana (near Cincinnati). It has been very hot all week, but a little cooler the past two days. It was in the high 90's and humid. Yuk.

Wow, I can't believe it's already light outside at 5:41! You can tell it's summer.

I am thinking about starting a garden...I know, I said that before...still thinking! After talking with Paul the other night, he convinced me it's not as hard as I thought. The first step is finding time to go to Home Depot and/or Walmart to get the supplies. Let's see if I actually get to it.

Ugh, I am so tired of hearing about Michael Jackson. King of pop? You'd think the king of a small country had died.

I know I said my allergies weren't that bad, but mainly I just meant the watering-eyes part. I have been very congested, coughing a lot. It sucks.

Anyway, we had a great time in San Diego. Here is a write-up I did for my brother Pat, then I sent it to other friends and family 6/22. If you got it already, feel free to ignore it! They mostly have, too :( No one emails me, no one comments, boo hoo! There is an update to this at the end, though.

We are in San Diego...leaving tomorrow. I saw Stephen yesterday and we were wondering how you guys were doing, since neither of us have heard from you in a while.

He and David are basically the same from what I could tell...I was pretty tired when we visited Stephen and Zina. David gave Stephen his older computer, so now he has a more recent one. We have been trading songs and other stuff via this program called Mojo. It's free...cool program.

David (my husband, not my brother) and I have been having fun. We were in Vegas Sun.-Wed. We came to San Diego Wed., stayed downtown that night and went to a Padres game, watched them lose. Then we came back to his sister Susan's house, and he went back to another Padres game (too hot for me), and they won that time (both games against Seattle, if you care). Thursday night we went out to karaoke with our old friends Martin and Ira (both more or less from STAR), my old friend Mary that I went to jr. high with, her boyfriend, her oldest son Jake and his girlfriend, and a friend of mine fro high school, Ann, that I haven't seen in 30 years. She drove down from Carlsbad to meet up with us. We have been in touch a lot via email and Facebook for quite a while now. She and I were in choirs and had some other classes together.

It was too crowded, unfortunately. I only got to sing two songs. One was "I will Survive" and the other was a duet that Martin and I always do, "A Whole New World", from Aladdin. Mary's new boyfriend seems really nice.

Anyway, Friday we went up to L.A. with Susan and my MIL because Susan was being enrobed as a judge...she's been a judge a few years now, but for some reason the ceremonial part of it was late. She was enrobed with about 8 other judges. They are all administrative law judges in special
education, which means they basically arbitrate between the public schools and the parents of special ed kids.

It was a nightmare. They had an accident on the 405 near Mullholdand. We left around 10 am, made two quick stops, and we didn't get there until after 4 pm. :( We were supposed to get there and have lunch and then go to her thing at 3pm. Fortunately two other judges were also late for the
same reason, so they waited for all of us. But we were all tired, starving, and wearing hot uncomfortable clothes. They did have a small reception and let us eat before the ceremony. Then that was long and boring, with many speeches, although it was nice for Susan. We took some pics I will send later. Then we went to dinner at a really good Greek restaurant. That was the only good part of the day. By the time we got home, it was 10 pm. Ugh. Talk about a wasted day! Good thing I had my iPod and some comics David gave me to keep me company. The ceremony was nice for Susan, but mostly it was really boring as we had to listen to a lot of long, tedious speeches and pretend to look interested so as not to embarrass anyone.

Saturday we drove up to Riverside to visit our friends there (Shaun, Jadie, Monty and Paul). That was a lot of fun. We stayed up too late and drank too much :) Sunday was tough because we were very tired. David worked with Shaun up at UCR. He worked with Monty at Texas Tech, but Monty now works at Cal San Bernardino and lives right around the corner from Shaun and Jadie! Paul is his partner. They have a beautiful house. Paul is a professional designer, semi-retired, so he does their house and garden. They keep it spotless, too.

We had breakfast with Monty and Paul and then stopped to see Stephen and Zina in Encinitas. We ate at this place called The Broken Yolk, it was pretty good. It has many egg dishes plus other stuff. Then we wandered around an outdoor yuppie mall near there, but we were really tired at that
point, so we didn't stay too long.

Then we were hoping to take a nap and then see our friends George and Beth and their two babies later on that night, but due to some mixed up planning, we didn't get a nap and saw them around 4. We went to a Greek buffet in El Cajon that is pretty good - we go to it every time we are out. By that time, it was too late to nap, so I stayed up, very groggy, for a while..vegged. I went to bed really early, around 9:30.

Today (Monday) we went to lunch and got a box from a postal place so we could mail some stuff home (since the airlines are so strict now about luggage weight). Mary should be calling me sometime soon so we can meet up at Parkway Plaza for a while....then we might see George and Beth again
later, not sure. Their little babies are cute, you would like them.

We fly home tomorrow morning. I wish we had another day to rest, but I know I would have just filled it up with something :)

The only problem with staying at Susan's house is that she likes it very warm. Also she's at work and we don't know how to work the a/c. And there are no open windows, and it's 78. blah.

UPDATE: Mary had a family emergency, so she had to cancel. George and Beth never called us, so I guess they didn't want to go out or were busy with kid stuff. David and I went out to Parkway Plaza and ran a few other errands. Susan's birthday was Wednesday. I had gotten her gift but needed wrapping paper, and we got her a little cake. We didn't stay long at the mall, but I got a neat Spider-Man t-shirt at this store "Hot Topics". We saw a store called "The Magic Bug" but it was a magic store. At least I got a business card from there for my card collection (as well as my lady bug collection). We also looked at the cute puppies in the pet store (really, does anyone spend hundreds-thousands of dollars to buy puppies??) It was not nearly as much fun as going with Mary, though. I had hoped to go out to karaoke Monday night but it was just not to be, for a few reasons.

We gave Susan her presents later, and she also had one for David, since his was the next day after hers. I had gotten her some Beatles stuff at this great store in Vegas. They have a Beatles show at the Mirage casino, some sort of music-and-lights show, and they have a great Beatles gift shop. I got this Sgt. Pepper's t-shirt. It was so pretty, I wanted to keep it for myself! And a little Beatles alarm clock. Anyway, we all went out to the Panda restaurant at Horton Plaza, which is always great, and we had a good time. Then David and I stayed down there, downtown, for a few drinks, then grabbed a cab home.

Tuesday we flew home...such a long day. Uneventful, but long. Thursday was David's birthday. He doesn't like cake, so we just did the presents thing. Other than that, it's been the usual.

Oh, yeah, when we got back home, David's pc wouldn't start up. This is my old one that I bought 6 or 7 years ago. It tries to boot, but then we get the error message "NTDetect Failed" and it keeps trying to reboot. It won't let me do a Windows repair, either. I need to take it to a local computer place so they can try to get the files off it and then reformat it, or else it might be the hard drive, in which case we will have to get a new hard drive. What a pain. Also that is the main computer here and the one attached to the printer and scanner, so now I can't print or scan, unless I want to move the laptop in there and physically attach it. Pfft!

Well, time to take out the contacts and decide if I want to go to sleep, or stay up so I can go to get my glasses...very tough choice, believe me.

In Vegas this week!

2009-06-16T11:43:00.003-05:00

Things have been so busy! We usually go to Vegas and then San Diego in May after the university gets out, but we had to wait until June this year, for various reasons.

The weeks before are kind of a blur now...I did a lot of work to get ready before we left. I burned a bunch of DVD's, but of course I probably won't have much time to watch them.

We did tons and tons of errands on Friday and Saturday, too. Sunday we flew here to Vegas. My MIL flew here and then changed planes to go to San Diego. We are staying at the Planet Hollywood casino/hotel. It's a nice place, but they could run it a little better. It took a good 40 minutes standing in line when we checked in. We got a pretty good rate, the room is nice, and they give us a free bottle of liquor each night. We have been choosing champagne, but we haven't really been finishing even half the bottle.

It's always a little tiring to fly across the country, so we have been pretty tired, and not sleeping enough. We went out for lunch when we first got here, at the "Nine Fine Irishman" pub at the New York New York. It has pretty good food and entertainment. I just had a salad, but it was really good. Then I took a long nap, so needed it. We then walked over to Bally's and had dinner at the Japanese restaurant there. Well, I only had appetizers because I wasn't that hungry, then I remember I was supposed to take my pill, which I have to do with food, so I went and got a hot dog for that. It was going to take too long otherwise.

For some reason Vegas is really crowded this week. I don't remember the last time I saw it this way. We try to go when it's not the busy season. Even the Japanese place, which is never crowded, was pretty busy. And the prices are pretty high. Eating used to be pretty cheap here, but now it depends on where you eat, what time, etc. The hot dog, which came with fries, and a soda, was $15. Yikes.

I was so tired, didn't even want to go to karaoke, so that should tell you something! I can't remember where we went after that, but we just walked around, had drinks, etc.

Monday morning I woke up pretty early, been doing that every day. Too early! Went and had breakfast at this little place I love in the Paris casino. It was better when I could eat bread, that's for sure. They have great croissants there. We did some shopping after that...got a birthday present for someone, another present for someone else, and went to my favorite chocolate place, Teuscher's, which is here in the mall attached to PH.

Then we went downtown, where everything is a lot cheaper. We had lunch at the Golden Gate, which has great sandwiches and other stuff. We always like downtown because it's just so cheap in every way. We played a bit. I did okay so far this trip. I did my best ever on roulette, I turned $20 into $81, so that was awesome. I just couldn't lose.

We always take naps here because we stay up so late, drink too much, wake up too early...

Our room has a separate bathtub from the shower, and I had a nice bubble bath the first night. The shower is not real great because you can't move the head and it does not get very hot or very strong. But otherwise the room is great. Very comfy beds.

Last night we had dinner at Ginseng, which is a great Korean restaurant here. It is always fabulous. We went looking for karaoke. It was a pain because there were just too many people out on the sidewalks. Ugh. We went to this outdoors place near our hotel that has karaoke, but they took a long time to set up, and it was pretty hot. I just sang one song and then left. I had not had any alcohol. It was a little nerve-wracking singing to passers-by on the street.

We went to Bill's Gambling Hall next...it used to be Barbary Coast. Again, too crowded. So then we went to Ellis Island. I just sang one song, crowded as usual, but at least we could sit down and it was fun to listen to the other singers.

I'm hoping we can find some better karaoke tonight!

I woke up around 6:30 am this morning...I have a lot of change, and most of the casinos don't take change in the slot machines any more, only bills. I went looking for some places to take it, should have taken it downtown yesterday but forgot. So we bought some sodas and some t-shirts, and that got rid of the change, finally. I had like $20 or more in quarters, dimes and nickels.

It was not as hot as yesterday so I was kind of cold this morning. It even sprinkled a little. It was nice to get out and walk a bit. We do a lot of walking here. We had breakfast at our hotel's coffee shop. It was really good.

We're back resting at the hotel...it's around 10 am. Hopefully I can wake up a bit in a while :)

We leave tomorrow afternoon to go to San Diego, where we'll be until next Tuesday. We are staying the first night downtown and going to a ball game. We'll see my brother David before the game because he lives down there. Thursday we'll go back to El Cajon to stay with the in-laws. We will go to karaoke Thursday night at the Charcoal house in La Mesa, as usual. We're having a few friends join us there, Mary, Ira, maybe Martin etc.

Friday we're going to L.A. for this family thing...not sure yet where we're staying that night. Saturday we drive to Riverside to see all our friends there, Shaun and Jadie, and Monty and Paul! Can't wait to see them. Sunday we're going to see my brother Stephen and SIL Zina, not sure yet what we're doing....then we're seeing George and Beth Sunday night. Monday I hope to go shopping with Mary. Then we leave on Tuesday! Whew!! Busy busy busy.

Have a good week!

the latest!

2009-06-02T23:39:00.003-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted. I don't know where the time went, honestly...

I still haven't found any time to sing! Plus my allergies are so bad...lots of sneezing and snorting. Yuk.

We had our friends over last week. I had started our "spring cleaning" last month, so I wanted to have all that done before they came over. Our bedroom looks really nice now. We went through all the boxes of stuff and put almost everything away in the closet, all nice and neat and orderly. Much less dusty now, too. We had it cleaned by a maid service on Wednesday. You wouldn't believe how much dog hair was vacuumed up. It had not really been thoroughly cleaned since before Christmas, and my vacuum cleaner was broken last time I tried to use it (it's fixed now, though), so the rugs were pretty bad. Then to make things worse, the maids' vacuum cleaner was not in great shape, so they had to redo it with mine, which now works great. You have to wonder how their service can have a business with a crummy vacuum cleaner. If I hadn't gone back and seen all the dog hair still left on the rug, I would have paid for almost nothing. Clearly the owners are too cheap to spring for new ones. They did a great job, though, on the cleaning. It's not their fault their bosses are cheap! :)

We replaced an old window shade in our bedroom that has needed replacing for a long time. We just have one little window. It was a very old roller shade, and it had come off the roller, so we had it tacked up on the outer part of the window frame. I finally got a new curtain instead. I went to get a roller shade, but the carpets and blinds place only did custom-order ones, and JC Penney's didn't have any of those type. We don't have a drill, so I didn't want to put in any other kind of fancy blinds that would require drilling. I found a rod that is like a spring-tension thing, and it works great...was really cheap, only about $10. Then I had a hard time finding a curtain that was still opaque but not really heavy (was afraid it would fall down off the cheap rod if it was a heavy curtain). The woman working there had not been there long, so she did not know much, and the manager was off. Finally, after a long search, we did find one that they had in stock (they were out of a lot of the ones on display, and without the manager, I couldn't get one of the display models). It was not very expensive, but it was a big pain in the butt going through all that just to find one little curtain and rod. I did have fun looking at all the curtains, though. This new one, which is gold, looks really nice, now, though, and since it is cloth, I can just wash it to get rid of dust. That's what all this spring cleaning was mostly about - getting rid of all the dusty stuff.

I made chicken tacos for the main course, plus some refried beans that were very yummy. I put out tortilla chips with homemade salsa and guacamole. Then I made a great sugar-free raspberry fool. All of these are on my recipes page. I picked the simplest dishes I could find and did most of it ahead of time. I got these cheap but really nice-looking plastic dessert glasses that were on sale at Belk.

It was a lot of fun. They are so nice, and their kids are great. My MIL loved seeing the kids, especially the newborn. The 2-year-old has a lot of energy, but he's a very happy kid. I played with him a lot, mostly picking him up and swing him around, and chasing him around. It was fun, although exhausting! His parents were happy to have someone else entertain him, I think. Anyway, we had a great time. They are off to Europe for the summer, and they are not going to have net or TV access (they are going to a lake cabin out in the middle of nowhere), so I loaned them some DVD's to take with them. They love Scifi but haven't seen as much as I have, so it is fun to share it with them. I'm sure we will get together again when they come back.

We did put the dog out in the backyard while they were here...you never know how he will act around people, and we couldn't take chances with the children there. He would just be really annoying, with all the food around, anyway. We are thinking maybe next time we will put the muzzle on him and let him in for a while...we'll see. I don't know if it's crueler to use the muzzle or to let him watch from outside, poor thing.

In a week or so, we're going to Vegas and then San Diego. I can't wait! We talked about maybe taking a short trip before that, but we decided not to bother. We're going to Vegas on the 14th, then San Diego on the 17th-23rd. Looking forward to seeing all our friends and family there, and doing karaoke of course!

I got a new computer monitor, so I get to set that up tonight. I will be happy to have my old pc back. I couldn't run transcripts or make screencaps for my site without it, and also my DVD recorder in that room is hooked up to it, so I can't see the DVD screen without it. :) It's set up so I can see the TV and the VCR, but not the DVD recorder, which records from either of the others, then I can see it on the ATI on the computer. Anyway, it is nice to get it back. I had a hard time finding a cheap monitor. More than I should have! You wouldn't believe how many hours I spent looking. I just finally got a cheap Dell one...at least it's got a warranty and isn't used.

I had loaned my older laptop to Boo, who works for my site, but she is doing less work now, and she got another new computer, so she sent me the laptop back. I don't really have a pressing need for it, but I am finding it useful. I have it set up here on my desk and I use it to watch shows on iTunes, the net, and DVD while I work. It's great not to have to share my screen. I can type here and watch on there, and it's cool. I do still have the big TV, but it's farther away and often someone else is watching it, anyway. And this way I can use my headphones and not bother anyone if need be. Since most of the primetime shows are over for the year, I can catch up on some other stuff this way, too. It also gives me some privacy, don't have to talk much this way.

Now I have three laptops, pretty weird. 5 computers in all--and all Dells! Well, one pc is mostly David's, and the other pc (the really old one) only uses the ATI and DVD (it doesn't get online any more). Then there's this laptop that I use most of the time, which is hooked up to a full-size monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers, so it's really more like a PC. Then I have the netbook, which I hardly ever use except on trips, and now my old one back again that I am using for a TV. Go figure.

Our DISH network is not working today, so I'm glad I have the laptop as backup! They are coming Thursday to look at the dish. I am hoping it's not our dish, it's some local reception thing, and it will fix itself before then, but we'll see....at least it will be free.

I may have forgotten to mention that we also got a brand new overheard light in our kitchen. Woo hoo! That doesn't sound too exciting, but we are all very glad to have it. The old one had been flickering a while, and then when it went out, we did not get around to calling the electricians right away, and we had this fill in lamp...it was not good. So we are all glad to have a real light. They couldn't fix the old one, so they just replaced it...cost about $150, which isn't too bad, I suppose...considering we spent almost that much to have the plumbers fix the garbage disposal/sinks a couple of weeks ago. It's always something! I wonder what will break down next (knock on wood!).

Soon I have to start cleaning out closets and organizing my tapes...get rid of that "unseen" clutter, too!

Have a great week!

2009-05-20T20:39:00.003-05:00

I haven't had any time to get back to singing this week. SIGH! I really want to do more of it. It's hard because I am spending so much time working. It takes hours for me to do any recording because warming up takes a long time.

Yesterday one of my computer monitors died (it is hooked up to my old pc with Windows 98, which I use for one particular program that will not run on XP). Ugh. I spent half the day trying to figure out if there was a cheap way to avoid buying a new one. Not really, but I'm still working on it. I have two extra laptops, so I was hoping there was a way to hook one up to the pc to use as a monitor, but apparently that's not possible. Also, I can't use a program like RemotePC because that pc has no network access any more. And I found out that it won't work with Windows 98 anyway. So far I have only been able to find a new lcd monitor for $65 (including shipping). We will be looking around town on the weekend to see if we can find one cheaper. I don't mind a used one, but I would rather not get a CRT. They take up more room.

I might be able to hook it up to my old tv, so I'll have to go look at Radio Shack this weekend for an adapter...otherwise, I think we're going to look at Sam's Club to see if I can find a cheap monitor there. We have never been there. I wonder if they will let you look around without joining the club? Not sure if we want to pay the fee if they don't have what we're looking for...we have avoided Sam's Club because it's owned by Walmart, which I hate. We don't have a Costco here.

Last week we went to our friends' house for dinner. He works with David. His wife is from here and just finished her PhD. Both are very nice people. I was very glad they invited us over. We had a great time, and they cooked some great food. He is really smart, and just an easy-going, fun person. He tells great stories. Plus, he's a geek like me, likes gaming and scifi. Yet somehow he's cool, too, so I don't know how that worked out, but somehow he manages. She. and I have a lot in common. She has a background in singing/music, and also teaching, and her phd is in English. They have a great little kid, he's just all smiles and energy. They have a baby...cute, but you know, I'm not really into babies. And a really great dog. Huge thing, very friendly and licky. And they have a karaoke machine! I don't mention their names because I don't want to embarrass them...some people do not like their names mentioned on the net.

So, anyway, they are coming over next week. That should be fun! Now I have to figure out what to cook....and start cleaning. But I will have help....at least! I'm sure my MIL will love seeing the kids as she is nuts about children. Maybe we will get to do some karaoke!

We went to the Star Trek movie last weekend. It was fun. I really did enjoy it. I think the plot could have been way better, but the other stuff was all good. I'm hoping the second one will be much better because they can concentrate more on the story. I really don't think Chris Pine is as cute as Shatner was when he was young, but he does a good job playing Kirk. There are even moments he sounds a lot like him, but in a good way, in passing, not like he's trying to imitate him. Quinto is great as Spock, he looks so much like him. However, his voice is a little too high to be Spock. And I didn't like that Chekov was there because he is supposed to be about ten years younger than Kirk, so it made no sense. And also no sense that Kirk was born in space - there was no reason to change that. Parts of it were contrived, especially when Spock marooned Kirk on that planet, and he just happens to find two other people he knows there. There were a lot of little stupid things. So that's what I mean about the plot. The casting, the acting, the action, the special effects, all that was good. Overall, it was enjoyable.

If you are on Facebook, you can see more of what's going on with me on a daily basis. I try to post on there often and keep up with what's going on. It's hard, there is never enough time! I'm glad most of the people I know are on there. That's really cool.

My eyelid is still fluttering/twitching...I went to get my glaucoma test last Friday, but the doctor was not in, so I couldn't ask him about that. I need to call and make another appointment. I did cut way down on caffeine, but I don't know if it helped any. That's been very tough! I sure am addicted to diet soda :)

Well, I am getting sleepy, I think I will watch some TV and then go to bed!

Have a great weekend!

More songs!

2009-05-14T01:12:00.001-05:00

I went to Singsnap and made a new recording. I stopped using their site a year or two back because it suddenly would not work on this computer (some sort of flash problem). Even before that, though, I had trouble with recording, getting the sound levels right. And I wasn't the only one. They seem to have worked all the bugs out now. I have a free membership still. If I pay for it, I get a lot more songs to choose from, plus they have cool special effects you can add now, including key change and reverb. So I might just do that...

You can check out my new video! Be warned, it's mostly a "test song".

This one's a little better.

Crazy

There's probably a link there to my name or more songs by me, so if I do more songs, you can find them there...or the older songs I did way back when.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T13:33:00.003-05:00

Hot Mothers-Day Graphics!

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. We took my MIL out to lunch at a nice restaurant near here called Kozy's. She really didn't like what she had, but we're used to that. She is a very picky eater. We got her some nice flowers, and a little gift bag from Bath and Bodyworks, and a card, so she appreciated it all.

I wonder about some of these sites, though, that call it "Mothers Day" with no apostrophe. I'm pretty sure it does have one.

I sent out a lot of Mother's Day e-cards and emails, and posted MD pics on Facebook to all my friends that are moms.

My "real" mom died when I was 10. I barely remember her. I know we were very close; she was like my whole world and it really was awful when she died. I can't say I miss her because that was like a whole other lifetime. Mothers and daughters' relationships can be complicated. Having seen a lot of others, I kind of miss having one now, but I don't know if we would have gotten along or not. She was pretty over-protective, so I would have probably rebelled a lot. I was not a rebellious teen, but that kind of thing would have probably made it hard for us.

I probably would not have been put in a foster home if she hadn't died, so in that sense it is probably a good thing, too, not that I am glad she's gone. I still get teary-eyed when I hear about moms or their deaths. It's not really anything you get over, it just gets less painful after a time.

This is what little I remember about her. She was very thin, like under-nourished, bony. She smoked a lot, even though she had asthma. She had dark brown hair and eyes, like me. She had curly hair that I recall, but I don't think that was natural. I think her nose had gotten broken at one point. She was younger than me when she died. I can't even imagine her life. I know she was an orphan and had been adopted by a German woman. She was not a good cook. We had very plain food growing up, and most of it was the kind of food many people remember from the 60's - frozen foods, white bread. I remember we had Miracle Whip instead of mayonaisse and butter instead of margarine, and I think those were her preferences. I don't remember having any salads or many desserts, or much meat for that matter. We didn't eat out much.

She was very Catholic, and she made us go to church, but she didn't go herself. I think she was divorced and felt she could no longer go to church because of it. Her first husband, they say, hit her. She had a daughter from him but the child died, but I'm not sure how. I have three older brothers, and she kept trying until she had me (she was Catholic, after all). I'm sure it must have been very difficult for someone with her thin frame to have children. She was not educated, but she was smart. We did not discuss politics much, but she seemed to be very liberal, particularly about race and the Vietnam War as far as I can remember.

She was not a girly-girl, so I don't think she wore many dresses or much makeup, and she didn't really teach us a lot of things that moms are supposed to, probably because she did not learn them herself. She fought fiercely to make sure that we stayed in line and listened to her, and she definitely kept my brothers in check. She swore a lot but wouldn't let us swear. She and I fought about things like cleaning my room and going to bed on time.

My father was never home because he was out drinking. She was honest with us about his being an alcoholic, but she did sort of make excuses for him, like he couldn't help it (although it was clear she did not like him doing this, and they fought a lot). She called him "Steve", even though he was "Willy", because that's what his family called him. But my brother Stephen was "Stevie-Joe". I was "Suzy" to everyone back then.

She loved to read a lot, and she encouraged that in us. We went to the library or to the "Swap shop" where she would trade books she'd read for other books. I think she liked mysteries. She did not mind that we all read comic books and scifi.

She loved music and had been a singer. We all played instruments and sang a lot. She played the accordian. She loved old music from folk songs and music of the 40's but also later stuff, including the Beatles. I wish I had some recordings of her singing, or talking. I wish I had more pictures, but I don't have many.

So, that was a long time ago. I was put into foster homes a couple of years after she died. The first two were short and did not work out. Then I was put in with Phil and Marianne Kennedy. They lived in Carlsbad, which was an hour north of San Diego. It is a much more middle class town than where I lived, and the Kennedys went to college and had come from nice families. Phil's father had been DA and Marianne's parents had been in business. Both were very active in causes. That explains, I guess, why they took in foster kids, in part...liberals! :)

They were both very nice. Phil was weird, and not the friendliest guy, but he had his moments and had a good sense of humor. Marianne was always very sweet, and you could talk to her about anything. They made a good home for us. They had to put up with a lot from the foster kids. I have remained in touch with Marianne, and her new husband, David, who is also really nice. They are very good together. Marianne, like my mom, encouraged me to read, study, and go to college, so that is a good thing.

Here's a pic of Marianne and David, but it's not a recent pic. I haven't seen them in a long time. We need to get together with them again some time!

David's mom has always been pretty welcoming into their family, so she has become yet another mother figure in my life. She moved in with us, as most of you know, about 4 years ago.

I'm very glad not to be a mother. I think I should have a Thank God I'm Not a Mom Day. :) I don't think people should become parents unless it is really something they want to do. They should be completely committed to the job. Otherwise you get way too many neglected or mistreated kids. I would have been a fine mother, I'm sure, but I'm more than happy not to be one, too. I am selfish. I like to spend all my time on the computer, watching TV, napping, etc. and I don't much like babies. Kids are ok, I'm not one of those child-haters. I just think they are a huge responsibility and it's best if only people who really want them and know how to raise them are the ones doing it. It's a very important job, and like other jobs, you shouldn't have someone doing it who doesn't really want to be doing it. Would you want a doctor who doesn't really care about his job? No, so why would you want a parent who doesn't?

I'm very grateful that I live in an era where woman can make that choice. Thank you, Planned Parenthood! Thank you, Margaret Sanger, Frank Colton and
Carl Djerassi!

Well, that's enough for now...have a good one!

news this week

2009-05-08T01:18:00.004-05:00

I was sitting on the couch, had my feet up on the coffee table. I looked down at my feet, something I guess I haven't done much of. Anyway, I noticed that my left foot looks very different from my right. There is a bone that kind of sticks out on the side and the toe pushes in to the other toes. Strange, and even stranger that I never noticed it before. I sometimes have pain when walking, but not often, and it doesn't usually last long.

I looked it up, and it's a bunion. I never knew before what that is. And I don't wear narrow shoes, so I guess it's just one of those strange things. I had already been thinking about going to a podiatrist because someone had said you can get really good comfortable shoes if you go to one (custom made). Now I guess I have to go anyway!

Getting old really sucks. What's next? Geez. I have bad allergies that get worse and worse and cause me to have, besides regular nasal congestion, water eyes, and itching - chronic diahrrea (and I have to take 4-5 medicines for that plus shots!). I have diabetes. I get bursitis from the computer. I have restless leg syndrome that keeps me up nights. I have twitchy eye. Now this!! I am just falling apart as I approach 50. You just have to laugh because what else can you do?

Last night I was cleaning the bathrooms (my favorite job, ugh) and noticed that one of the toilets was not flushing very well, and I couldn't fix it with the plunger. We already had some concern about the other one because when you flushed it, the shower drain made this gurgling sound. And since we have had the plumbing get clogged up outside before so that the water backed up and damaged our carpets (twice!), we are suspicious any time something like this happens. So I had to wait until the sunrise, called the plumbers, had to wait for them...so I didn't go to bed until almost 10 am. Fortunately the plumbers were able to easily fix the problem, without evening coming indoors (it was outside again), even if it did cost almost $200. Blah! So I slept until about 4:30 pm. So much for trying to fix my schedule. Well, hopefully I can go to bed soon tonight and start on a somewhat earlier schedule...

We have just been really busy lately and considering where we want to go for vacations, if any. We still aren't sure about May.

I spend way too much time lately on Facebook! It is a good time waster, and that's probably the last thing I need. Actually, lately I post on Twitter, which goes automatically to Facebook as well, so that's easy. I mostly do Twitter on the web because I don't have unlimited texting on my phone...

This past week I spent a lot of time with this dumb thing Pieces of Flair. They are basically virtual buttons, like the kind you have with sayings and photos on them, not the sewing kind. So you collect them. No real reason, it's silly. I enjoy reading the funny ones. You can also send them to your friends as well as collect them. Then they also have all these things like "Your 5 favorite movies" etc. so those are always fun.

We always go to this bar & grill Wilhagen's, downtown, on Fridays. Then we go to Epiphany after that. We met our friend Utz at Wilhagen's and had a nice time chatting with him. He is also from California, although Northern, but it's fun to talk to someone else who is not only not from here but from the same general perspective as we have. He's a fun, nice guy. We will be going to his place for dinner next week and seeing his wife and kids, as well.

It seems like we never have enough time for these things, we talk about getting together with people but never do. It's fun when we can. I can't invite anyone over any more for karaoke, though, because I don't think I'm getting a new machine any time soon. :(

This weekend is graduation so all the places are packed at night with kids and their parents.

Tomorrow is back to the mall...Sunday we'll go out for a nice lunch with my MIL. Wednesday we have another beer party/dinner.

Nothing much new going on!

The Hunt for Gollum

2009-05-03T17:20:00.002-05:00

If you are a big Lord of the Rings fan, you must watch this!

It is awesome.

knock knock on wood

2009-05-03T00:15:00.004-05:00

This was such an eventful week! We don't normally have so much to do.

Monday we were supposed to go see our friend Utz, who works with David at U of A, give this special lecture at the university. It's what they call The Last Lecture and it's a great honor, I guess...the students choose the person whose lectures they like, and Utz is very popular. Well, my spring allergies have been really bad, so I didn't go. It sounds like the students really enjoyed his lecture, though. That is good because Utz is such a nice guy.

Tuesday we went to a party that the dean has every year to thank the chairs and honor the outgoing ones...it is always nice to see the people at that one, and the food is always good. The time always flies, which is the sign of a good gathering! The dean is nice, and his wife is super-sweet, always so nice and fun.

Wednesday we went to a wine dinner at our favorite restaurant, Epiphany. The vintner was a small one from Napa (I can't remember the name offhand). The food and wine are always excellent at these wine dinners, and we always enjoy them. There were four courses (fewer than last time), and they were great.

Thursday was our night off! LOL!!

I am still getting my allergy shots once a week. It's been slightly over a year now. I asked at the office and they said that they do the shots for at least 3 years (ugh!). I didn't realize they take that long to take any effect. I have no idea whether they are helping much or not. Spring is always bad, but comparing one year to another? Who knows?

I have been having a hard time adjusting my schedule...I don't want to stay up quite this late, but it's been hard. Once I'm asleep, it's hard to wake me up for anything!

Friday we did our usual, went to downtown to Wilhagen's and then Epiphany. Wilhagen's is a sport bar. They seem to have quite a few parties there this time of year - high school reunions and such. Our waitress was nice, but I made the mistake of asking her something casually and then I got a long story! LOL!! The weather has been very hot and humid lately, so it's got everyone bummed out, especially those of us who are not from the south. It will only get worse before the fall. This waitress was from Virginia or somewhere, where it's not so bad, but she is graduating and moving to New York (lucky girl!). Southerners do like to chat.

Epiphany of course is one of our favorite places, and the people there are all really nice. We don't go there and sit and have a private conversation between just the two of us (we could if we wanted to). Instead we chat with everyone that works there.

We met this guy Danny at the bar. He was eating, like us, at the bar. He was what some might call a very colorful character. He claims to be an interior designer, and he may well be...but let's just say that a lot of what he said was obviously made-up or exaggerated (or both). But it didn't really matter because he was just a very interesting person who wove some interesting tales. However, I guess he has had some run-ins with people there before, so they are not crazy about him, but they do treat him politely as long as he's a paying customer.

I had trouble sleeping last night, so it was tough. I went to the mall as usual, but boy was I tired. And we ate at our usual Applebee's, but it was very loud with screaming kids. We only did the mall and the bank, didn't run any other errands for a change. Then I had a nap, although I had some trouble sleeping then, too!

I bought a new shirt at the mall...I was looking for something for the afternoon party because I knew it would be hot. Something lighter than a t-shirt but not as revealing as a tank top (which makes me look fat - I wear them a lot to keep cool, but I don't want to be around a lot of other people in one). I found a pretty red striped shirt.

Then we went to Jan's karaoke party. Jan is David's secretary, a really nice lady. She and her family like karaoke just like I do (her daughter is a really good singer and can really belt out the country tunes, but they are all good). She had this party last year and meant to have another one last fall but they were sick. There were many of her friends and neighbors there as well as the people from the poli sci department. The food was excellent!! I brought some chocolate chip cookies. I have been making them lately for our family and also for this party. Even though I can't eat them.

There was lots of karaoke, and that of course was very fun. I had a blast. My own karaoke machine is still broken. I am trying to decide what I want to do. I really don't want to spend another $300 for a new machine. I have been singing with a lot of karaoke songs at http://ksolo.myspace.com/

Oh, still so much to do, have to clean the house etc. I'm still trying to get my room organized and made more dust-free. We have a pretty clean closet, but our bedroom is filled with boxes that we have to go through. Once that's all done, I can move the remaining boxes back into the closet, and vacuum and dust the bedroom.

With allergies and everything, I have been so tired and not feeling all that well all week, so I didn't get much done that I wanted to.

Tomorrow we will be going to the grocery store - we'll see what else gets done!

Looks like I'm going to the eye doctor in a few weeks anyway...they have this special machine that tests for glaucoma, and I guess the doctor only can get it every six months, so I'm getting that done. He doesn't think I do have it, but just wants to make sure since being diabetic can mess with your eyes.

OK, getting sleepy, have a good night!

What else is new?

2009-04-25T23:57:00.002-05:00

I finally updated my TV Blog. I hope you can check it out!

I am still having a twitchy eye...might have to go to the eye doctor this week to get that checked out. I am also very overdo for a visit to my regular doctor to check my blood sugar and all that stuff.

I have been catching up this week with my old friend Susan from high school. She and I were in a play together and she was best friends with one of my sisters-in-law. It's so nice to catch up with someone you haven't seen in almost 30 years!

We had a great time at the picnic today. Everyone loved my salad. There was lots of great food. I enjoyed talking to the other faculty and the spouses, and the students. The time went so fast. It was hot but nice in the shade (that won't last much longer). There is always a wind there, must be like a wind tunnel. They had a bunch of cute little kids and dogs.

Nothing else new, just wanted to add that...

Busy bees

2009-04-25T05:06:00.004-05:00

We are very busy this month for some reason.

We may take another trip sometime during May...we haven't decided yet. On the one hand, Atlanta is not too far away, we can drive there, and that makes it a lot cheaper. However, if we want to go to baseball games, it might be rained out, and Atlanta is not the most exciting city, and it is a kind of an annoying drive...on the other hand, we might want to go to Tampa/St. Pete's again, but my MIL did not have as good of a trip last time as we did, and it is more expensive because of the flying, but the baseball is indoors (a big plus for both of us), and we really like the area. Decisions, decisions!

Our stupid heater broke. It's been breaking down a lot. The pilot light goes out, and the guy said last time he fixed it that it could be that the crack in it is blowing it out, so it needs to be replaced. So we will wait until September or October for that now. These things cost about $2000 apparently, so we have to save up for that. Good thing it's warmer now...

My karaoke machine broke down in early spring 2008 - the cassette recorder broke. Nowhere here to get it fixed, so I sent it to a place in Georgia that is an "authorized dealer". The guy fixed it but in the process, he broke something on the CD/DVD player, which he admitted to me, and he sent it to a place in New York at his own expense. It took months and I finally got it back in the late fall, I believe. Well, I was very busy and not in the habit of recording at home any more, so I just used it briefly to make sure it was working. I didn't use it again until the other day, and it played two songs before it died. It is not recognizing the CD's now. So I have the choice of again paying and waiting to get it repaired, or getting a new one. Well, karaoke machines are not cheap, at least not the kind that make good recordings. You can get a cheapo one for about $100 bucks or even less, but they either don't have recording at all or they make lousy recordings. Some people have the kind that are components but then you have to have the other components like speakers etc. for it to work, which I don't. It all adds up. There are only a few companies that make the all-in-one desktop karaoke machines like I like to use...they all cost about $300-$400. Of course the professional set ups cost way mroe.

So anyway, I'm looking into buying a used one on ebay and hope that it will not stop working any time soon...I looked into recording on the computer, which a lot of people do, but I didn't see anything I liked in that. There is a plugin with Winamp which plays CDG files but that means you have to convert all of your CDG's first. Sounds like a lot of work, and I don't think it has the reverb I like. Plus honestly, I would have to use the old pc in the other room, which is very old, and slow, because this one will not record well - I did not get a good sound card or something with it. There is another program made by MTU which plays CDG's on your computer, but again I would have to record on the older, slower pc...

My original karaoke machine was a Singing Machine, and it was ok, but I liked the one I got after that, the VocoPro Duet. That one recorded really well. When I replaced it with the VocoPro DVD Duet (because Radio Shack destroyed the other one when shipping it to be repaired), even though that was a more expensive model, with more features, I didn't like it as much. So I'm going to try to get the older model.

Today we're going to a picnic in the park that his department's grad students have every year. It was pretty fun last year. I made the asparagus and goat cheese salad from my recipes page.

Then Sunday there is this reception thing he is going to in the evening. We will not have our usual mall trip today, but we might do a little shopping tomorrow at the dollar store.

Monday our friend Utz is giving this special lecture, so we are going to that. Wednesday night is another wine dinner at our favorite restaurant, Epiphany, so we will be going to that. Then next Saturday, our friend Jan is having a karaoke party...she had one last year and it was great! So I am looking forward to that.

We usually go to San Diego in May, but we will be going in June this year. And to Vegas as per usual. Wish we could go during Comicon or the big Trek convention in Vegas, but we have to do it around his work schedule and the other trips.

I am looking forward to the new Star Trek movie! It will be out soon. I hope it is good. Lots of great movies out this summer.

Wednesday I was not feeling well for "female reasons" (LOL) and I also had really bad allergies. I tried to go to bed early, but I had started laundry, so I wanted to finish that. I just laid in bed, reading magazines, until it was finished, about 2:30 am. Then I slept for about 3 hours, woke up again, couldn't sleep but lied around another few hours until I could go back to sleep. Ugh. Thursday I was just feeling sad and out of sorts. I've been lazy all week for one reason or another, not getting everything done I wanted to do. I was all gung ho on Monday but that didn't last long!

I did get all of the boxes out of the closet and vacuumed, and I moved both bookcases to the green room, and I cleaned the green room. That's about all I could manage all week. I hope this week will be more productive!

Have a great weekend!

2009-04-21T17:49:00.003-05:00

Wow, I have just been so busy since we got back from our trip...I can't believe April is almost over.

I am still trying to make my bedroom neater and less dust-prone. We have two bookcases, and books collect dust (anything that is porous or cloth-like, dust mites burrow into them). So I am moving them out to our front room, what we call "the green room", which is the big room that used to be the garage. We call it that because of the green tiled floor. Anyway, I moved the big one last night and will do the other one tonight. It's kind of a pain because you have to take all the books out first and then put them all back in. WE have all our photo albums and scrapbooks in that one. The other one is smaller and just books so it will be much easier.

Then I have to move all the boxes out of the closet...then I will be vacuuming the closet. Then we have lots of papers in those boxes to go through, sort out, throw stuff away. Then I will move the boxes back in and hopefully that means no more boxes in the bedroom. Boxes, being made out of cardboard, of course collect dust, so it's better for them to be in the closet. Then I go through the rest of our clothes to get rid of old ones, vacuum the rest of the bedroom, etc. I still need to clean the rest of the house.

Ugh, I am exhausted just thinking about it!

I am on a really late schedule right now...been going to bed about 8 am!

There are so many things in our house already falling apart, and now the wooden blinds on our back door fell off. Ugh. The house is really old, and I think the previous owners did a lot of the work themselves. Like all the electrical outlets are upside down! And many of the lights don't work because they were put in wrong or badly and ended up fizzling out. Lights are a constant problem. Right now our kitchen light is out, and we're not sure why. We have had a lot of problems with it going out. We hope we just need a new flourescent bulb, but we'll see. The green room is very dark, only one working light in there. And then our bedroom is also very dark because the one light in there had to be taken out as it was wired poorly and was dangerous. And then replacing all of this costs money so...

Since I got the new DISH DVR, I can now back up my programs to an external hard drive (just in case the box should go out again). I bought a new one that has 700 gigabytes on it, but the DVR doesn't like that one, so I switched all of the files that were backed up on another one I had, that has 500 gb, and that one does seem to work with the DISH DVR. I have to still call up and have it activated so I can transfer the programs.

I'm looking forward to the new Star Trek movie. I hope it's good and doesn't piss me off. I hope the new Kirk has more charisma in the movie because in pictures he does not look half as good as Shatner did when he was young. This will be difficult for me because Shatner was the main reason I liked Trek when I was younger. The actor who plays Spock, Zachary Quinto, is better looking than Nimoy. In fact, most of the actors are better looking than the original ones, so that is a plus. I love Quinto. He is great as Sylar on Heroes.

There are a lot of good movies coming out this month. The new X-Men movie, the new Terminator movie....later in the summer, the new Harry Potter movie.

I never did get to see Watchmen, and I'm bummed about that.

I've been spending way too much time on the computer...aching back, bursitis, and twitchy eye (from eye strain). Just so much to do!

Remember, you can see most of what I do all day (or all evening) on my site at http://tvmegasite.net/whatsnew.shtml Every time I put something up, I put a link to it there...

We might go somewhere fairly local in May, like Atlanta or Florida. In June we are probably going to Vegas and San Diego. In September, we are gonig to the APSA in Toronto.

See ya later!

Home from the trip again

2009-04-08T07:19:00.003-05:00

We're about to head off to Denver, CO on our trip. The Southwest Political Science Association annual conference is there. It should be a fun trip. My friend Anji lives there now.

I was typing this last Wednesday but never finished it!

I hope everyone had a happy Easter!

We went to Denver this week. We're home now. David had a conference there. I enjoyed myself. We stayed at the Hyatt, which is always nice. It had three phones in the rooms, including one in the bathroom. It had a nice big flat planel TV. Staying in a nicer hotel means lots of amenities that you don't get in the cheaper places. Oh, and we had a courtesy bar, so that was great. Denver is very dry, so we had to drink lots of water. The rest of the hotel was not as nice as you might think, it was not very big and there was no store. It was ok, just small. The beds are always more comfortable in Hyatts and other more expensive hotels, it seems.

We were in downtown Denver. It's not as much fun as some downtown areas we've visited. The restaurants were so-so. We did find one Irish pub that we both liked, and the food there was very good. There was a little store near our hotel that I liked that was like a mini-Whole Foods. They had some delicious wheat-free coconut macaroons and other desserts, cheeses etc.

The first night, Wednesday, we were pretty tired and didn't do too much. We went out to dinner at this place called Earl's that was pretty good. I did not get much sleep the night before, so I slept a lot that night. Thursday we went out to lunch with our friend Airee to the Irish pub. Later, we all went to karaoke, along with my friend Anji. Anji and I went to college together many years ago. She just moved to Denver last year, so it was a lucky coincidence for me that the conference was there.

I had a tough time finding a nearby karaoke bar, but the concierge helped me find Armida's, which has it every night. The KJ played too much filler/dance music, so even though there weren't that many singers, it took way too long between your songs. I only got to sing two songs, and we were there at least 4 hours. That is not good. Anything longer than one song an hour is too long. We did enjoy ourselves anyway, and everyone had a good time.

Friday we did a little walking around, and we checked out the capitol building. I did get quite a few business cards, but most of the souvenir shops were kind of disappointing in their variety or selection, including the capitol building. We didnt't do too much. I could have gone to a reception Friday night but I just stayed in and watched TV. We went out later for some drinks and eats.

Saturday we met Anji for lunch. We tried this Asian place, Ling Louie's, but it was really bad. The chicken dish I had was tasteless and overcooked. None of us liked what we had. They have a gluten free menu, too, so that's really too bad. We walked around and shopped, etc. after that. David went to a baseball game. I didn't want to go because it was too cold out. We went out again with Anji afterwards to the Irish place, and then also back to our hotel bar. We had a good time catching up.

I stayed up late last night watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the TV. It was good, but I thought the ending was kind of stupid. He just left his wife and child for no real reason? Didn't make any sense. I didn't think the makeup was so great, either. It just looked like Brad Pitt with old-age makeup on. I thought it was good at the beginning, but not once he was on the ship. He still looked too young. And Brad Pitt is really not much of an actor. He's ok, but they should have gotten someone better, who didn't look so good because I think that was part of the makeup problem. They should have had him put on weight and done the younger scenes, and then lose as much as he can to do the older scenes. People lose weight in their faces when they get old. His face looked too full and young when it should have looked more old and sunken and saggy. Aw, well. Really, what's the point in watching a movie with Brad Pitt if they're just going to cover up his pretty face throughout most of the movie, anyway?

Today we flew home...it was boring, uneventful. They played the movie Marley & Me. I didn't bother getting headphones for it, but it was cute to watch the dog. We flew to Atlanta to switch planes. Kind of silly that we had to fly from mountain time to eastern time, in order to get to central time!

Our trip back home from the airport was pretty miserable. First, it was raining, and our luggage got wet. Secondly, the "limo service" driver that picked us up had someone riding along in the front seat, so the three of us had to cram in the back, which was very uncomfortable (especially for poor David in the middle). If it really were a limo, it would be ok, but it was just a town car. What kind of idiot service brings an extra person they don't need, which just makes the paying customers uncomfortable? And it is not cheap! Cheaper than a cab, but that's about it. So I was very annoyed about that. The airport is an hour away btw.

I'm very tired of the spring allergies already...yuk.

I didn't get too much done while I was away, but I got a lot of rest, so that was good. I did a lot of sleeping and relaxing. Now back to work!

some stuff!

2009-03-24T15:43:00.005-05:00

I was very stressed out earlier this week, but I have mellowed some! Sometimes if I start thinking about all of the things I have to do, it stresses me out something fierce. When we go on a trip, especially, there is so much to do when we come back that I feel overwhelmed. And this one especially since I didn't have net access. Eek!

My friend Cher asked me if we went to any blues clubs while in Memphis. Honestly, blues is ok, it's not my favorite. We did try to go to one, but it was jam-packed, no place to sit, so we left. Mostly we did karaoke. I can never get enough of that, of course. Especially since I don't do too much of it at home. It's always better in the big cities anyway.

I forgot to mention that I also sang "How Do I Live" and it went well. I had stopped doing that one because it is a bit hard to sing. It doesn't seem like it would be, but it is surprisingly difficult. I have heard it sung badly many times - people tend to sing it very flat. And that note on "survive" is right around my break so I have to either make sure I am very warmed up so my voice doesn't crack on it, or I have to sing it in soft head voice. I did the latter in Memphis and it was fine. I have that same problem with the titanic theme, only to me it doesn't sound right if you do those notes in head voice so I just don't sing that song very often.

It was hard to recover from the trip. We had so much fun, I wanted to go back right away. Oh, well. We will be going to Denver in April, so that will be a lot of fun.

DISH Network charged us too much on our bill for the upgrade...I kind of expected it, but still it pisses me off. They promised my bill would not change. I spent a half hour or so talking to some foreign guy that could barely speak English (not being racist or exaggerating here, it is a fact), and he would only take off $14, when they charge us $26 more than last month. And honestly they were already charging us $5 too much anyway. You are supposed to plug your box into a phone line, which we do. They are not supposed to charge you the $5 fee if you do that, and yet they do...So anyway, after talking to this guy, he was supposed to transfer me to a supervisor, but instead I got cut off. I don't think it was intentional - he was pretty incompetent. I kept asking about what the various charges meant and why some were new, etc. but he didn't understand. So I was so annoyed, didn't call back yet. I have to be awake and not tired to want to deal with them...anyway, it's just annoying to always have to deal with these jerks. It's not like DISH is any different from most of the other companies I've had to deal with in these exact same type of situations...they are slightly better than Comcast, but that's about it.

Anyway, going to Memphis got me in a singing mood again. I really haven't done too much singing or recording for a long while now, so I need to get back into it. Just need to find the time! Somehow!

Thursday night we are going to this karaoke bar, Big Al's. They are having a karaoke contest every week until some time in April. The winners of each night compete for $1000, and second prize gets a trip to Orlando. We're only going because a friend invited us. We went to Big Al's once before and it was not a great place for karaoke. The sound system there is terrible and the bar is kind of a dive. Contests around here all work the same way, the winner is chosen by amount of applause. So that means you only win if you bring a large group of your friends to clap. And lastly, just judging from the one contest I saw here before, all of the area's best singers come out of the woodwork, so the rest of us have no chance. I mean, in a regular karaoke bar, I'm usually one of the best singers in the room, but not when these people go to the contests. Probably many of them are pros. But it should be fun anyway.

I have a few friends who are sick...sorry for those of you who are, and I hope you feel better soon!

Time to start cleaning...yuk! If only I could give up all cleaning, straightening up, laundry, etc., I would have a lot more free time :) Too bad I just can't be a complete slob.

I read something disturbing in a magazine - apparently global warming makes more allergies. Twice as many people now have allergies as had them 20 years ago. No wonder mine are so bad now. That really sucks.

Being March, and it's in the 70's now, it is beautiful here, and the weather is nice. There are lots of flowers. It is my favorite time of year. Of course it makes my allergies worse! Next time we move, I do not want to see any trees or much grass outside of my window, that's for sure. Clearly I was meant to live in a city. I would love to have a garden, but I'm just not willing to work on it, and that's even leaving aside the allergies. It's just so much work and you really have to like being outside and digging in the dirt. Maybe one day I can pay someone to make a garden for me, and do most of the work...I do love fresh veggies and flowers. I'm not allergie to flowers as far as I know.

I read another disturbing thing. Did you know that the Huffington Post employs 25 people whose sole purpose is to delete hateful blog comments? Sheesh. Well, I guess it's good for the economy to have more jobs, I suppose. Still, that shocked me. And why don't I have that job? LOL.

Well, nothing much else to say...talk to you all later! I should be posting later on my TV blog.

Our trip

2009-03-20T10:42:00.003-05:00

We were out of town this week, Sunday through Wednesday. We took a short driving trip to Memphis. It is spring break week. Memphis was very nice. We enjoyed ourselves.

We wanted to go somewhere fairly close so we could drive instead of fly. We considered New Orleans, but being St. Patrick's Day, we thought it might be too crowded. We considered Atlanta, but frankly I don't like it all that much. It doesn't have good karaoke, for one thing. It doesn't have a central downtown area where you can just walk around and go to different places. They have Buckhead but it's not very interesting. We were going to go to Nashville but there were no ballgames while we were there. So that's why we went to Memphis. We went there a long time ago for a conference, so it was nice to go back again. We did most of the Elvis stuff last time.

David was pretty tired, since he came back from his other trip on Friday. But it was his idea to go, so.... I guess it is 4-5 hours from here? We left around 10 am on Sunday. Then I realized I stupidly left my laptop power cord at home. So my laptop was dead when I got to Memphis. I was so annoyed at myself. I brought all these DVD's and things to watch. Oh, well. It was a nice break away from the internet, too. We did get on briefly to check mail. The hotel across the street had a Fedex place with net access. We didn't spend much time there, though.

We stayed in a cheap hotel across from the Peabody. It was ok, nothing special. The Peabody is very nice, large, and elegant - that's where we stayed last time. We were just a few blocks from Beale Street, which is where all the restaurants and nightlife are. If you've never been there, Beale Street is like New Orleans' Bourbon Street or French Quarter.

We went to some really good restaurants. I have to say that I was kind of disappointed that we weren't going to Nashville, but Memphis is better because the food is way better and the karaoke is just as good. We haven't found too many restaurants in Nashville that we liked (although to be fair we mainly stay in the downtown area). In fact, what's really sad is that the Hard Rock is usually the best. The Sheraton has a nice place, too, but still you would think a major city would have better places in its downtown. Anyway, they were all excellent in Memphis, especially if you like barbecue and fried food. Of course we can get that here in Alabama, but it was much better in Memphis. We even found superb tamales there, and not at a Mexican restaurant, which was odd. We had great thai food, too. Sorry, I'm hungry now...where was I? LOL.

Sunday after we checked in to our hotel, we went to the Thai place for dinner. Then we went out to drink and do karaoke. Sunday was kind of dead, so it was a good time to try different places. They had three places on Sunday with karaoke. One of them, Wet Willie's, had the best karaoke. There weren't that many singers at first, but a lot of people in the audience, which is the best combo to me. I sang one song and then we left to check out the other two karaoke bars. We should not have left because the other two were very dead, and by the time we came back, Wet Willie's had no place to sit. Oh, I should also mention that they had only daquiris and beer to drink. I was looking for something without sugar, so I couldn't drink anything but water. They were a very nice crowd, though, and the KJ seemed very nice. I did Linda Ronstadt's cover of "ooh Baby Baby". The crowd was mixed in age and sang a lot of great rhythm and blues songs, and they liked mine. I really wanted to stay and should have insisted, but he wanted to check out the other places as well since it was our first night. Oh well, hopefully next time!

None of the bars we went to had Smithwick's, so I guess they don't sell that particular favorite beer of his in Memphis. The other two karaoke bars have it almost every night: Alfred's and Superior Bar. oh, and karaoke never starts on time from what I can tell, which is not too surprising since it rarely does anywhere I've seen. Superior Bar was mostly young people (not that there were too many people there), so I did "Complicated" by Avril Levigne. I was having trouble thinking of songs to sing that I wasn't sick of. I haven't sung in a while, and I definitely need to learn some new songs. I have songs I've recorded and never sung in public, but I always forget what they are. I was smarter the other nights and brought along my iPod so I could look them up. Alfred's was pretty dead, too, and the KJ was not very into it, so I just did one song. I can't remember which one I did, maybe "Torn"? It was another young-ish crowd. We were pretty tired, so we didn't stay out too late.

Monday we went to the Civil Rights Museum, which is at the old motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. got shot. They have a big wreath there, and you can see the room he stayed in, etc. The museum is really nicely done, too. It was a really awesome experience. We had lunch at this great soul place called Miss Polly's. We went to a basketball game that night, which was a lot of fun. I am not a big sports fan, but as far as watching live games, basketball is probably my favorite. We went out again for karaoke that night, of course. Superior was very young, loud and crowded (lots of rap), so I just did one song and left. We went to Alfred's, but it was pretty dead. We sang a few but didn't stay long. I watched Soapnet in our hotel room that night, stayed up a bit longer. We also stopped for a snack at this one place, Blues City Cafe, and had some tamales. They were excellent, although, very spicy so it wasn't the best idea right before going to bed!

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day. We went to Tunica, Mississippi, which is about a half hour away. They have tons of casinos there. It's not like Vegas, though. They are all spread out so you can't walk from one to the other. We just went to the Fitzgerald's, since it was the right day for it. They were giving away some plastic hats, beads etc. We ate lunch at the buffet there, and it was very good. The place was very crowded, though, and we weren't winning, so we didn't stay long. We stopped at Graceland on the way back and took some pictures and shopped in the gift shops. Later, we had dinner at Blues City Cafe, since it had been so great the night before. It was still fabulous.

Tuesday night we had the best fun. Of course, since it was St. Patrick's Day, it was more fun than usual. We checked out a lot of different places, but we mostly stayed in Superior Bar for karaoke. It was a really diverse crowd of all different ages, types, races, etc. so it was great. I made myself learn "Respect" earlier that day, and it went off well there. I had fun, drinking a lot and trying new songs.

We stopped at a few other bars during the week. One was called Flying Saucers and it had souvenir plates all over the walls. It had tons and tons of foreign beers as well. We went to the Kooky Canuck, which is a Canadian-theme restaurant and bar. The drink I had there was delicious. I hope some time we can eat there. It looked good. The service was slow, but the people went way out of their way for us, so I can't complain. We also stopped at TGIFriday's St. Patrick's night to get a snack, and everyone was really drunk, but in a fun way. I had a chicken salad that was pretty good. Oh, we also had a chicken salad at Hard Rock one night that was also excellent. I know they are a chain, but their food and service is always fantastic.

Wednesday, unfortunately, we drove home. There was a Denny's attached to our hotel, and we had breakfast there Monday and Wednesday. It was fine on Monday, but they took forever on Wednesday. Too many hung over and hungry people, I guess. Tuesday we had breakfast at this little deli/bakery across the street in the Peabody. The sandwiches were so-so but they had a lot of delicious-looking pastries. I just had part of one, and it was great.

I did a lot of shopping for souvenirs while we were there, too. A bit more than usual. Since I collect Elvis stuff, it was hard not to buy everything. I was very happy to have found a Graceland glass that I had been looking for. We bought one years ago and it broke, so I found another one that was very similar.

Before we left Memphis, we walked and drove around a little, taking pictures. It is a nice city. People are really friendly and nice there. They have Southern Hospitality, the way I expected people to be all over the south. 'Nuff said on that.

On the drive back home, we went through Tupelo, MS so we could stop at Elvis' birthplace. We had not been there before. They did a good job there with the tourist stuff. They have his house, but we did not take the tour (it was a very small house, so I'm sure the tour is pretty short). I took a lot of pictures and bought more souvenirs.

On the drive out to Memphis, we had stopped for lunch in this terrible little diner type place in Mississippi. It was not very good, let's put it that way. On the way back, we stopped at Buffet City in Columbus, Mississippi. I think they are related to the one here in Tuscaloosa. They are good Chinese buffets.

I haven't unpacked or done laundry yet...been too tired or too busy...catching up with work. But anyway, it was a good trip.

Our new DVR works fine, although I still have to figure out how the guy hooked up the VCR wrong and fix that. They sent us our bill and did charge us for a few things they said they would waive, so I have to phone them about that. I kinda figured they would mess that up. That's par for the course nowadays with these companies.

Hope you have a great weekend!