Jammie J's Quest

August 11, 2009 · 11:31 pm

Love & Loathe – 08/11/09

Love:

* Blaring funky dance music.

* My friend, Grace, who lets me come over to her house on my lunch hour and hang out with her. A home away from home is a welcome midday respite.

* My mom — she is genuinely interested in me as a person. From halfway around the world, she listens and provides needed wisdom. Even though I know she has her own stresses and struggles, she is always, always there for me.

* My husband is one of the most responsible, reliable, loving, compassionate people on this planet. Even though I know he is stressed to the max right now, he never falters at being the best husband, the perfect husband, for me. I am so blessed.

* Gardenias… my gardenia tree just keeps blooming like crazy.

* Plumeria blossoms… my plumeria tree burst out in flowers last week.

Loathe:

* Struggling so very hard to paste a smile on my face when it’s the very last thing I feel like doing.

* Feeling depressed, overwhelmed and in over my head.

* Hormones that are all over the place and based on the knife sharp physical abdominal pain I’ve been having this week, as well as the emotional fluctuations I’m battling, I’ve been pondering just how much longer I have before endometriosis takes over my life again. Oh, Aleve, how I love thee… it helps me take things one sharp pain at a time!

* Having terrible dreams that I actually remember. I never remember my dreams, but I remember the one I had this morning and wish I didn’t.

* One of the cats had diarrhea with blood in it… we have no idea which one, and they all seem overwhelmingly normal in their lethargy, no observable abnormal weirdness or behavior or temperatures. (sigh) (shrug) What to do?

* My husband lost two of his little fish this past week. You know how losing fish makes me so sad.

One Last Thing:

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my Aunt Marj was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a mastectomy last week and came through the surgery great, is in no pain, she said, and seems to have a really great attitude — kicking ass and taking names, don’t you know. The doctors believe they successfully removed all the cancer, but they’re testing the surrounding muscle to be sure. She goes in for her follow-up appointment this Friday where she’ll learn the results of the test.

Please be praying that they got it all and that the test on the surrounding muscle and tissue is normal — which would mean she doesn’t need chemotherapy.

9 Comments

Filed under I feel Sad, Love/Loathe, Money Hump Building

August 9, 2009 · 11:57 pm

Highlights.

So, I finally plunged ahead and decided to face the cranky service adviser at the dealership I’ve been going to for over seven years and schedule an appointment for my overdue oil change. You remember me telling you about him? The one who, when I asked when my car would be done after 75 minutes had passed, argued with me that it always takes this long and I pointed out that I’ve always done the oil changes on my lunch hour and haven’t had a problem before and then he said “whatever” and walked out on me? Yeah. I don’t hold grudges.

So there I am, Wednesday, being brave and calling there, and wouldn’t you know, The Ass who was an ass three months ago answered the phone with an annoyed, loud, obnoxious “SERVICE!” Apparently, he’s still an ass. So I hung up on his ass without saying one word.

I was gonna go there only because I really like the Mazda mechanic they have, but to deal with The Ass? I think not.

So I called a dealer who is closer to my work, all scared I was gonna get yelled at again, but the lady who answered the phone sounded like she’d been waiting for my call all day and for a second I was scared I’d accidentally called a phone sex line. She was THAT nice. Not that I would know, understand, but I’ve heard things about things. Anyway, so I asked if they could service my car for the same “family” price the other dealer had been giving me for seven years, without any hesitation, she said “Sure, when do you want to come in?” And I almost asked, don’t I get more foreplay??

I ended up going in that day and, wow, even though they have construction going on and they’re set up in trailers, I felt like I was an honored guest. I was offered water by no less than three people, one of the employees came over and handed me the remote to the TV (even though I was reading a Glamour magazine). I was fairly certain that if I’d decided to take a nap, a pillow and blanket might have appeared from somewhere. You know how I love to nap while waiting for my car! Well, turns out, they CAN do an oil change in less than an hour. 35 minutes to be exact, and i require at least 40 minutes for a decent nap.

There was a minor hiccup somewhere in the communication, because I told them to check and top off all fluids that were low. When I popped the hood after the appointment just outside of their garage to double-check their work, I noted that they had not topped off the antifreeze container, which was well below the “low” line. What was funny about that was, everyone in line of sight came running and wanted to know what was wrong. Let’s just say it got taken care of in quick order.

The other highlight of the week was that I finally got up the nerve to go to the dentist and get my teeth cleaned. Overdue for that, too. The last cleaning I had was a deep scaling on all four quadrants and if that doesn’t sound scary, I don’t know what does. Basically the hygienist goes below the gumline and removes all build-up that is keeping the gums from getting all cozy with the teeth. It was scary, bloody and I had four half moon crescents dented into both of my palms afterward from my fingernails. So I was scared to go again because I really didn’t want to do another deep scaling.

Of course, not going is just the opposite of what a person should do. As with anything in life, the longer you wait, the worse it gets… best to just face the thing and get it over with. Fortunately, the news wasn’t too bad.

I’m facing some more scary stuff at work. Office politics reared its ugly head while my boss was out on vacation last week over things that I would normally brush off and be over already. But given the tenuous and fragile relationship we barely re-established just before she left, and the manner in which these things were handled while she was out, I’ve been a nervous, fretting mess with a gnawing worry monster in my gut all weekend, hoping that she sees and understands my side of things.

AND just to top it all off, I got my hair trimmed on Saturday. Always a big deal to me, even though the same woman has been cutting my hair since August of 2005, I always fret just a bit that she’ll cut it crooked or cut too much. But, as usual, she cut it straight and snipped just the right amount off. I’d show you a picture, but if you’re anything like Tony, you wouldn’t even notice that any hair is gone. Interestingly, she noticed right away at how much healthier my hair felt to her and asked me what I was doing to it. When I explained my baking soda/water and apple cider vinegar/aloe vera/rosemary regiment, she stood there with her mouth hanging open and then called the other hairstylists over to check it out. I think my hair was stroked by at least three people on Saturday.

Yes, I know how that sounds. And, yes, it was exactly like that.

7 Comments

Filed under Hair Can Be a Topic of Conversation, I ♥ My Miata, Money Hump Building

August 4, 2009 · 11:55 pm

Love & Loathe — 08/04/09

Love:

* Snug’s summer antics. I had forgotten about this thing Snug does when we run our box fans. He positions himself either in front or behind it and then YOWLS into it at the top of his lungs. He likes the sound of fan distortion, apparently, because he’s been doing this every summer for awhile now.

* It’s August! Tony’s birthday month! Our anniversary month! Four months until Christmas! This is exciting stuff, folks!! I keep telling him that his third job is playing the lottery, so maybe for his birthday he’ll finally win — the lottery from a broke state. HA HA!

* Finally, finally, finding a GYN and his office staff that I like — the whole package (see previous post). I can’t believe it. Best experience of having my bottoms off and on the table, ever (except for my RE, that is).

* Someone at my work did something right with their tomato plants. The person brings in a large bag every Monday morning and leaves it in the kitchen for everyone to share. I wish I knew who it was, because I’d love to tell them thank you!

* While my fancy-pants watch is in the shop getting a new battery, I bought a cheap thing on clearance at Big Lots! The flowers on this thing appear and disappear and I could stare at it all day. Never has time going by been so fun to watch before!

* Summer swims in the outdoor pool. These wonderful swims are what I think and dream about while swimming inside at the gym during the winter.

Loathe:

* Searching for stuff only to learn that it’s been discontinued. For example, I have a Kensington Pilotboard Multimedia Keyboard at home that I bought three years ago. I love everything about it and would love to have one at work, too. But guess what? Kensington no longer makes it. Grrr. Cosmetic companies discontinue stuff ALL THE TIME and it makes me crazy. I feel like I have to stockpile stuff when I like it because next time I go to the store, it might not be there. I think I may have a glimmer of understanding for hoarders, because I think it probably all started with the “discontinued” error.

* People who talk on their cell phone in a public restroom while using the toilet. When I encounter that, I intentionally become a multiple flusher, but it matters not to them. The one I encountered this past week at work was sitting on the toilet grunting and plunking and talking mid-plunk. So gross.

* Traffic. I now have to take one of the horrific California freeways to get to work. My other option is a surface street with traffic lights. So I take the freeway. I thought I had figured out the traffic patterns and it worked great for three days last week, leaving my house 5 or 10 minutes earlier than usual I missed all the traffic. Apparently I was tricked, because my strategy isn’t working this week.

One Last Thing:

This past Sunday, I was walking back to my car after swimming and a butterfly caught my eye. It was fluttering up and down, in giant circles, at the will of the breeze that was following the bank of the road up the hill. I increased my walking speed, got back to my car and grabbed my camera. I looked for the butterfly and caught a glimpse of it, but then it was out of range. I saw it again, then lost it, saw it, lost it, and finally just decided to take a wild shot, not even hoping that I captured it photographically. When I downloaded my pictures, I was stoked to discover that I actually did get it in the picture I took. What a lucky shot!

Cropped to the butterfly:

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Filed under Love/Loathe

August 2, 2009 · 12:00 pm

Catch Up & July’s Searches

The GYN Appointment — I had my annual GYN appointment this past week. With a different GYN from last year. I liked the GYN I saw last year, but there were a couple things that irritated me. The most insulting part was the nurse who came in to prep the room for the next patient before I was finished dressing after the exam. That just stuck in my craw. Second was, I had to pay for parking. As the year wore on and I tried to get prescriptions for the vitamins I was taking, it was a big hoopla because it took the doctor a week to approve the prescription (for a vitamin!!), then their office wouldn’t fax or call the prescription into the pharmacy, they wanted me to come pick it up… drive 40 minutes round trip AND PAY PARKING? I think not. I was pretty sure I was going to move on. Then it took them a month and a half to fax an authorization to my insurance company so I could be referred to a reproductive endocrinologist. My insurance company (!!) was even badgering them for it.

Then I worked with my RE’s office and I saw how gynecological care should be and I realized there really is no excuse for the shoddy treatment that so many women endure to get such an important annual exam. I asked so many of my female co-workers if they had a GYN they liked and would recommend, most of them just waved their hand and said, “Well, I guess he/she is OK, but I should probably search for a new one…” I think it’s kind of like if you’ve had blurry vision your whole life, you just deal with it. You know that corrective lenses could probably make things better, because you’ve heard about it, but you have no idea what crystal clear vision is like until you experience the difference for yourself.

Anyway, as someone who’s received stirrup-care of one sort or another 21 times (at best count) since June of last year (more times than some couples have sex in a year — giddy up!!), with a full-spectrum of paraphernalia & caregivers — some of the absolute worst and thee absolute best — I can honestly say that I am optimistic about the “new” GYN and his staff. His bedside manner is awesome. The exam part of it was quick (fastest I’ve ever had — a good thing in this instance) and second only to my RE for gentleness. The exam part of it was so fast, that I have no idea how he had time to note the things he told me afterward. In fact, I intentionally didn’t tell him a couple of things and he figured them out. He was good and he knew his shit. I was impressed. He also knew all the caregivers I’ve worked with over the years, and his opinions of them validated mine. I told Grace that it was as if I’d stopped by see an old friend that I’d forgotten I knew, which is really weird considering what I was there for. Oh, and parking was free. We’ll see how it goes over the next year.

The Wedding — On Friday night, we attended the wedding of some long-time friends. Well, one of them is a long-time friend, Tony’s known the guy since junior high (if not longer) and Tony was instrumental in getting his friend and the lady he married together. It was in 2006 that Tony and his buddy flew to Arizona. While at the airport, they met this lovely lady in line at security. They got to talking and his buddy flustered her so much that once she was through the line, she grabbed her shoes and left her purse and laptop on the conveyor belt. Tony urged him to go after her and get her phone number, he argued against it, not thinking she was interested, but at Tony’s insistence, he ultimately followed her, got her information… and the rest is history.

There’s this magnetic connection that I love to see in couples, the best way I can describe it is to say that it’s an unconscious body language thing. When one person in the relationship talks, the other leans in to hear. Or there’s always some sort of contact, whether it’s holding hands or knees resting against each other. Or there’s the eyes, when one is across the room the other is always seeking them. It’s a second-by-second intrinsic magnetic balancing act and the couples don’t even realize it’s taking place. It’s a mutual giving, adding to each other, rather than taking away. Tony’s parents have it with each other, Tony’s brothers have it with their wives, Tony and I have it, several of our friends have it in their relationships — and these two have it.

We’re so happy for them, and excited that they took this step together.

July’s Searches (listed in bold):

“my poor toe” — nooooo, MY poor toe. Funny thing you should mention that, yesterday I went to Walmart and pulled a deodorant off the rack to purchase. The spring loaded distributor shot the next deodorant in line off the shelf and torpedoed it with great force directly onto the toe I injured about a month ago. Man, that hurt so bad I stood there for a minute while my ears felt like they were going to explode and my eyes watered. Interesting about pain, huh, no matter where it is on the body, it always goes straight to the head. Then I ever so gently put the torpedo back on the shelf, along with the one I was going to buy and limped away.

club soda good for oily scalp?, shampoos for imflammed scalp, club soda or water after swimming? after swimming club soda hair treatment, no poo asian hair, is it okay to do an apple cider vinegar rinse after swimming? — OK, look. Here’s the deal, people, chlorine is probably one of the worst things you can do to your hair and scalp, aside from burning or frying it chemically, that is. So, yes, club soda, apple cider vinegar or just plain water is FINE. Shampoo is the second worst thing. I use a baking soda/water concoction. But if you must use shampoo, go with baby shampoo. Expect an adjustment period while your scalp figures out what the hell you just did (stopped irritating it) and expect any inflammation (or imflammation) to clear up within a couple weeks.

i got a hard black mole on my scalp — Are you sure you don’t got a tumor?

life’s oddities — well, thanks for that one, Google.

bad show mariah — her show wasn’t just bad, it was horrible. Save the cost of a concert ticket and just buy her CDs. You’ll actually get to listen to complete songs (instead of medleys) and she’ll likely even do some vocal acrobatics (instead of making your eyes water because her voice is so weak).

metrostyle model with the gap in her teeth — Look, if you’re trying to hire her, let me just tell you, Metrostyle lost sales from me because I got so distracted by her teeth. I’m not saying gapped teeth are bad, I know some very lovely people who have gapped teeth. What I’m saying is that if one chooses modeling as a profession and said model is displaying clothes, it might be a fine idea for the model to keep her gapped teeth concealed behind her lovely, closed lips.

“someday i’ll laugh” — Why wait?

9 Comments

Filed under Health/Endo, I did something Special, Kid Quest, We're all searching for something

July 28, 2009 · 9:04 pm

Love & Loathe — 07/28/09

Love:

* A faster booting computer. I followed some dude’s guidelines and it shaved 3-4 minutes off the booting time of my downstairs computer. Of course, I practiced on my work computer just before we moved so that if I screwed anything up, I could just go tell my IT crew that it must’ve been messed up in the move. It’s important to think ahead on these types of things, you know.

* My IT crew. They are seriously so quirky and funny. There are some days when their funniness helps get me through the day.

* Jewel’s new CD, Lullaby.

* Succulent summer deliciousness in the form of fruit — pineapple, watermelon, plums, figs, nectarines, peaches, strawberries *blissful sigh*

* Sunsets that look like pastel paintings done with watercolors.

Loathe:

* Weird sleep. It didn’t really cool off here on Sunday night and the both of us woke in pools of icky sweat. Monday night I came home from work and went upstairs to do a couple things. I woke up 2 hours later thinking I was late for work! I guess I needed sleep more than I needed to swim…

* Missing my mom. However, as Tony pointed out, I now have “Phone Mommy” back.

One Last Thing:
When we went to San Francisco earlier this month, I believe I mentioned we did a whole lotta walking. Uphill, downhill, uneven surfaces, upstairs, downstairs, so forth and so on. My shins hurt by the time I got home.

What I didn’t mention was that the luggage handlers at SFO shattered the plastic piece inside the base of my suitcase, so the wheels kept turning inward. Which essentially meant that I had pigeon-toed luggage the entire time I was in San Francisco. Pulling that thing kind of felt like I was dragging a 25 pound box of sand and, in fact, I spent much of my time carrying it instead of pulling it for that reason.

My last and biggest love of today is directed toward my husband who went and bought a board and is presently out in the garage using that to fix my broken suitcase… and I figure having a board in the bottom of my suitcase should increase my “INSPECTED” tag collection when sending it through airport security!

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Filed under Love/Loathe

July 24, 2009 · 9:03 pm

Hosed.

It all started with the hose. The pretty boingy curly purple hose that I use to water the plants in the back yard that aren’t hooked up to the spot spitter irrigation. I discovered two holes in the purple hose. I finally got around to buying a replacement hose yesterday at lunch and brought it home last night.

It had been a couple weeks since I’d watered the stray plants, so I happily watered them and then turned it off at the 5-way bib splitter. Except the plastic switch busted off and I got a face full of water. Wiping my eyes, I shoved my thumb on it and realized that the way it had busted, the bib splitter now needed replacing.

Except, neither of the stores I visited last night had the kind of splitter I needed for my irrigation timer. I figured I’d make do and bought an upscale bronze 4-splitter. Actually, since I needed more than a coupler, it was my only option. Of course I get home and learn that I need a new gasket or grommet or whateverthehell that rubber thing inside is called. So back to a different home improvement store today at lunch to look for it, except I can’t find it and none of the employees who worked there knew where they were. In the seasonal department? Nope. In the plumbing department? Nope. I gave up and went to Target and there I found a whole bag of them for $.67. What was so tough about that, I wonder?

I also bought a “kink reliever”, since the irrigation line out of my irrigation timer was kinked. Just now I put it all together and would like to tell you that the kink is gone, as in it’s no longer kinky, and it’s all unkinked and working unkinkedly. Just like it should.

Except now I have to solve the problem that is my non-existent radio antenna on my car. I have an auto-antenna that goes up and down when the radio gets turned on or off. The radio’s on button got pushed, I didn’t know it because the sound was down and it snapped on my garage door as I backed out of my garage. I’m thinking I’ll go with a rubber nubbin antenna instead of shelling out the boo-koo dollars for the OEM antenna assembly…

I suppose I should give an honorary mention to the exploding fish tank filter that floated pieces of carbon through the big tank, which required an extra tank change this week. One day after I’d done their weekly tank change, of course.

There were a couple of other things, too, but at this point I’m just amused at the craziness and plus, we’re off to see the new Harry Potter movie….

12 Comments

Filed under I ♥ My Miata, I feel Amused, I own a Home

July 21, 2009 · 9:05 pm

Love & Loathe – 072109

Love:
* Working in an air conditioned office. It’s crazy how hot it’s been, I feel like a sissy complaining about it since I know you Texans and Okies have it much hotter.
* Visiting my friend at lunch because she’s so close.
* S’mores.
* Playing in the surf at the beach.
* Time with family.
* Having a husband to whom I can tell anything, laugh with and who accepts me, imperfections and all.

Loathe:
* The battery in my watch needs to be replaced. This is going to be an expensive project since I can’t do it myself.
* California’s deficit. Hoping we won’t get reamed, but knowing we will. We got notices in the mail that our homes have, again, gone down in value. Now they want to raise the taxes on our lower valued homes. Nice.
* Everyone in the office has been infected with something. They’re all full of phlegm — feverish, coughing, snorting and clearing their throats. The hell? I leave for a week and the plague hits? I wanna go back on vacation!
* While I was on vacation Someone in Authority moved the plant that’s been my joy at work for over three years out of my area. (sigh) It’s their plant, but still… Tony’s response to that was, “That’s just stupid.” I agree.

One Last Thing:
I love both of my dad’s sisters dearly. It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, there was a period of about 15 years that I didn’t see my Aunt Marjorie and about 25 years that I didn’t see my Aunt Donis. Now, I try to get back to see them when I can and when airfare isn’t prohibitively expensive. They’re getting on in years and I treasure every moment I have with them, in person, or even on the phone, e-mail or letters.

Aunt Donis had surgery a couple years ago to remove lung cancer and she appears to be doing well, but it’s always something the doctors monitor and are concerned about. I’ve been a little more distracted than usual because, I learned last week that my Aunt Marjorie has breast cancer. I don’t even know that I should be sharing that on here, I hope I’m not crossing a boundary by doing so, but … I don’t know, I just think that any prayers or positive thoughts you could send would be helpful and appreciated.

There’s a lot going on in my Real Life these days, so please be understanding if I’m not as present in my Virtual Life.

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Filed under I own a Home, Love/Loathe, Money Hump Building, Women Before Me

July 18, 2009 · 12:50 am

Weekend Already? Really?

It’s been a good week. Idyllic, even. I took some vacation time this week to hang out with my mom and make sure that her needs were met. We’ve been going swimming every morning, it’s been hot during the days but at that time of the morning, the temperature is just perfect for a swim outdoors.

My mom and I hung out at home today, she worked on paperwork and I got through the stack of paperwork that I’ve been ignoring for who knows how long. I’m pleased with myself for that. Between that and the hour long nap I took, the other thing I managed to do was upload pictures from our jaunt in San Francisco, which can be found here: LINK

I made some more of my ACV rinse (apple cider vinegar, aloe vera & a stalk of rosemary) this afternoon and left the bottles sitting on the kitchen counter — they’re really kind of pretty. Tony saw them tonight and commented that there’s a plant growing in my bottles. For some reason that made me laugh.

We had dinner tonight with Grace and her family. When Tony and I got married nearly four years ago, Grace and her husband were a special part of our wedding. Her husband photographed the event and Grace was, for all intents and purposes, informally my Maid of Honor. Or technically Matron of Honor, I suppose. My mom wasn’t able to attend our wedding in person, so she attended via telephone and Grace was the one who held the phone during the ceremony. Tonight was the first time my mom and my friend were finally able to meet each other.

I took my mom over to the train station yesterday so she could go visit my brother. Watching that train leave with her on it made me terribly sad, even though I knew she’d be back in just a few hours. So I went to the grocery store and bought her some fig newtons — I know she loves those things. It made me feel better and they made her happy later that night.

On Wednesday, Tony’s mom took my mom shopping — I think it’s very cool that our mommies get along so well that they can spend a day shopping together. I’m guessing they could probably spend a lot of time together and not even notice that it was passing so quickly. During that time, since I wasn’t needed at home, I went into work for four hours. That night, we met some longtime family friends in Downtown Disney for dinner. It made for a long day for us, an even longer day for them (they drove up from San Diego county to meet up with us), but it was so worth it and we all enjoyed it.

My mom even got to meet my Fish Whisperer — in a surprise visit, he stopped by to drop off some spirulina (fish food) and pick up some tank dividers that I’m no longer using. She’s heard so much about him and he saved her grandfish, it seemed pretty cool that she got to meet him.

Our little birdy loves having someone here all day. She chirps and chatters away to express her happiness. Snug has been creeping out and actually let my mom pet him today, I think, which is really sweet. We had a hummingbird sitting on our string of lights in the back yard for six or seven hours today. At one point, I even opened the slider door to get a better picture and the hummingbird just looked at me and didn’t even care. My mom worried that maybe the hummingbird is sick, do hummingbirds normally perch somewhere for that long? I hope so, because I don’t want to find a dead hummer in one of my plants back there.

We have family time tomorrow, Sunday I take my mom to the airport and then more family time Sunday afternoon. For once, I wish this week could be replayed, or at the very least I wish I could just press the pause button on time for a few more days.

I wish you all a Happy Weekend!

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Filed under Brother rates his own category, I did something Special, I have Family, I have Friends, Kid Substitutes

July 15, 2009 · 9:52 am

San Francisco – Overview.

This time when we went to San Francisco, we did a couple things differently than we usually do when we travel.

The first and biggest thing we did differently was, we met my mom in San Francisco and she joined us on our adventures. Meeting her there was a special blessing and really made it feel like a real summer vacation for me. I think that feeling had to do with relating her presence to childhood summer vacations of which she was usually a part.

Anyway, the second thing we did differently was, we chose to use public transportation instead of renting a car. Let me just say this about that… after the first bus ride, my nickname for the bus routes became “the 28 butt” or “the 30 butt” instead of “bus”, because it was often standing room only, and all we could see were a bunch of butts, instead of the Golden Gate Bridge or the park. The other thing about that was, public transportation adds a lot of waiting time to the commute. 5 minutes here, 7 minutes there and “bus arriving” but it’s still another minute or two before the bus gets there and pretty soon a 10 minute drive is a 30-40 minute adventure. On the upside, if you have the time to waste, public transportation is fairly cheap.

That being said, here’s what we managed to do while up there. On Friday we met my mom and then bused over to and walked the Golden Gate Bridge (3.4 mile walk, roundtrip), walked through Fort Mason, visited Ghiradelli Square, and had dinner at a restaurant named Scoma’s — a pretty special restaurant and we enjoy it on the rare occasions we go there.

Saturday we went to Coit Tower, walked up the crooked part of Lombard Street, visited the outside of the Spreckel’s mansion, which is owned by author Danielle Steel, had an hour and half of free time (which I used to check us in online for our flights the following day and reserve a hostel for my mom when she goes back next week) and then went to Pier 39, followed by a walk to Pier 33 to depart to Alcatraz for their night tour — we’ve been wanting to do that for a couple years now.

Sunday found us heading back to Alcatraz for their early morning garden tour, which is only offered Friday and Sunday mornings. I’ve long loved the restoration that they’ve been doing in the gardens of Alcatraz and was excited to be able to walk in areas that normally are corded off from the public. In addition to that, the volunteer docents offered a lot of information about the island that isn’t offered elsewhere. It was fascinating and absolutely beautiful.

And then we took public transportation back to the airport. Which meant we still haven’t ridden on the cable car!

Here’s a couple funny experiences we had:

Friday — An elderly lady boarded the bus, paid and turned to look for a seat. The bus lurched forward and she toppled, thankfully landing on the homeless guy’s lap a seat over from me (instead of landing on the floor). I reached for her arm, somehow wrapped my arm around her shoulders and guided her to the seat next to mine. As her bottom settled into the seat, the pre-recorded message broadcasted over the speakers of the bus, an impersonal lady’s voice said, “Please hold on!” The elderly lady muttered, “Yeah, I got that… now.”

Friday — just after we’d finished walking the Golden Gate Bridge, we were waiting with a group of people for the bus to arrive. A guy dressed in jogging paraphernalia pulled out his cell phone and called someone while jogging in place. According to his conversation, he had recently moved to San Francisco. He told his friend how much he loved it in San Francisco, that he was so glad he’d moved here, he can jog the bridge whenever he wants and then finished with, “I love this bridge so much, I think I love it more than I love you!” A bicyclist pedaled by just in time to hear that last line and said, in perfect sync, “That’s cold, dude.” Everyone waiting for the bus totally cracked up, even the guy on the phone.

I have pictures… of course I do. Some very lovely. But they’re on the hard drive upstairs and I’m on the computer downstairs.

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Filed under Entertainment can be Expensive, I did something Special, I have Family

July 9, 2009 · 10:46 pm

June’s Searches.

Last month there were some search terms that truly made me laugh out loud. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to see what people actually search for or how impressed I am with Google’s search engine — a search engine that will correct spelling by asking you, “Did you mean to search for…” Love it, an endless source of amusement.

Here we have the search requests for the month of June, by category:

boy rarely see father || the little boy space travel sad story || story about a little boy who can’t hear
Those do seem sad to me. I guess if you send a little boy into space, he would rarely see his father and might become deaf? Just trying to link ’em all together in my head, that’s all.

where can i get dermaswim || dermaswim at longs || is it safe to use dermaswim pro lotion?
I bought mine off their website. As far as I know, it’s safe, safer than all those steroidal creams the dermatologists are so fond of prescribing. Have to say, though, I didn’t see it at Longs.

where is pomona || where is pamona?
You had it right the first time, it’s spelled POMONA and it’s a bit of a drive to there from here, especially if you throw in the unpredictability of traffic. Friday night traffic in particular. Why IS Friday night traffic worse than the rest of the week, anyway? Anyone?

cornhusker city
Driving there from here would be an even longer drive than to Pomona.

dentman 09@gmail/com || dentman ga
The dentless ding removal company who took care of my car came to me. I don’t think he came from Georgia, though.

chinese needle torture || needle torture || needletorture
Acupuncture is a Chinese thing, while it may look like torture, if you have a good acupuncturist, it’s very relaxing. .

put an end to endo — Yes, I would like to.

faith goes up the stairs love has built, is this a love quote? I don’t know, it was in my book of quotes that I use for my Weekly Quote section over there —–>

buscar py love chat — there is no love chatting going on here. No love chatting.

gross crystal gayle hair — do you really think her hair is gross? I think it’s marvelous. Although the question has crossed my mind of how does she keep it out of her butt crack when she goes to the bathroom. That thought is a little gross, I guess.
movie scenes unpinning hair — would you like me to dim the lights and turn on some Barry White music?
sea salt and conditioner — I wouldn’t do that to my hair.
acv rinse black people’s hair — This is not something I’ve had to research, but you might find your answer somewhere in this website: KISS
scalpicin dried my scalp — not mine. It kept my scalp from having allergic reactions to products.
why club soda to rinse after swimming — because it removes chlorine
i wash my hair with club soda — I did, too, for awhile.
baking soda and acv for strength of hair — you have to play with the mixture for your particular needs.
suspicious moles on my scalp — get thee to your dermatologist!
suspicious mole scalp — again, get thee to your dermatologist!
hair caught in power drill — did you take a picture? You are not a dedicated blogger unless you took a picture.
lemon juice snopes hair — I thought snopes was a website, I didn’t know it had hair!
jammi tree stopping hair growth — what the hell is a jammi tree? Because I’m Jammie J. and my hair is growing just fine.
no poo asian hair — I’m sure there’s a way.
letting my hair go gray — let me know how that works out for you.
tea tree oil made my hair fall out! — Thanks for the warning!
missing chunk of hair— I’m sorry. I hope you find it!