Expecting the unexpected

I love spur of the moment days. Yesterday was one of those days.

First, I spent some time at work, trying to catch up on the mountain of paperwork that is my life. Then, I spent a few hours attending a workshop on the HSI project. Unfortunately, I then spent way too much time taking my sick little Mini to the mechanic in Pleasanton. That's when the fun started.

Thinking we were going to make it to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in plenty of time (they close at 6:00), we arrived at 5:00 and realized there was no way we would be able to do it justice in just one hour. Of course, we had worked up a powerful thirst just getting there, so we wandered over to the pier and found a place that was offering margaritas for just $3.00 each. THREE DOLLARS? Really? Really. But just until 6:00 p.m. (Happy Hour on the weekend, an unheard of phenomenon). So, we plopped ourselves down at the bar with our out of town guest and proceeded to have MANY margaritas (they were really, really itty bitty; hence the $3.00 price tag. When will I ever learn that you really do get what you pay for?).

After the many, many margaritas, consumed at record breaking speed to get the fabulous Happy Hour deal, we then sloshed over to look at the boats and were approached by a middle aged man looking to take a few friends for a quick sail. Well, we were his friends, and son of a gun, if we didn't pile into his sailboat and go for a beautiful, albeit slightly rocky sail out about a mile and then back. Wonderful. A very short jaunt complete with an ocean breeze,an ever so slight spray of ocean water on my face, a sea creature of some sort (I think it was a seal), and back we were on the pier, sober, happy, and very hungry.

We proceeded back to the restaurant where we had polished off all those margaritas, and decided it was just the place for dinner. I had a warm, tasty cup of clam chowder, and a lovely salad. John had salmon and our guest had halibut. All quite tasty, and a perfect ending to an absolutely perfect day. (Well, almost, except for the sick Mini part.)

Grace in Small Things: 30/365

1. Friends
2. The ocean, at all times, anytime
3. Sailing
4. No matter how many I drink, I still love margaritas (although, I must say, I almost never find a margarita I like as well as those I make myself!)
5. All the theories of evolution discussed over so many margaritas and dinner

EDIT 024 assignment - Tweeting on Twitter

My tutorial is how to sign up for Twitter and begin tweeting! (And, yes I know the images are difficult to read.....I'm working on that. This is a work in progress! At least you will be familiar with what the pages are supposed to look like!)

1. First, go directly to twitter


2. Sign up!

3. Complete your profile. Note: if you have difficulty uploading your profile photo, you are not alone! There are problems with this application, and the twitter people are working on it (found this out by going to "Help" and further searching the blog for "problems with photos")



4. Begin tweeting! You can tweet from your twitter account, or you can set up your cell phone to tweet (you will need access on your cell phone to the Internet to do this) as often as you like.

5. Follow other twitter friends by signing up as a follower.

6. Have a very exciting life (or at least make it sound like you are living an exciting life), or your tweeting may be boring (mine is....I don't live a particularly exciting life!)

7. Enjoy yourself!

"Take me out to the ballgame"...and other joys of spring

It's uncomfortably warm here. Birds are chirping, grass is browning, pollen is blowing, barbeques are fired up, my sunburn is itching. All the signs of spring are present, and the eminent summer looms ahead, like a sleepless, restless "I can't get to sleep because it's so darn hot in here, and oh, by the way, I think I have that restless leg syndrome because I can't keep my legs still and what do I do about that" night. I have decided to try to adjust my attitude about hot weather. Not enjoying it doesn't make it go away. Plus, there are some really nifty things about spring and summer. Baseball, for example. I now am the proud owner of two, count 'em, two pairs of Giants tickets. Not really tickets, but those cards you buy at Costco that will turn into tickets once we pick the game we can all agree to go to (me, Little Johnny baseball, Taylor, and Rick). I love baseball, and I'm excited about the prospect of going to a stadium that I've never been to before. We made it to one A's game last year and froze our buns off. We even looked at the merchandise, thinking we could buy a sweatshirt, but at some ungodly amount (I think it was about $45), we chose to freeze our buns off. We didn't have a car (I always keep sweatshirt(s) in my car for just such an occasion), as we took BART, being the energy-conscious group), so we were screwed.

Okay, so baseball is one of the more pleasurable aspects of spring and summer. Root beer floats is another fabulous way to celebrate a very hot evening. Just had one last night. No dinner, just a root beer float. Yum. Cools you all the way down. You can feel the pipes inside your chest dropping several degrees as you happily slurp up the refreshing concoction. Golf. There's another happy thought about spring and summer. Love the golf.

The beach! My most favorite thing about summer is the beach. Maybe someday I will even remember to put on sunscreen. I wear it every single day on my face. Wouldn't dream of starting my day without it. I completely forget, however, that the rest of my body might appreciate it, too. As I am watching the surfers at FOUR MILE, chatting with them, playing Chalupa, or just enjoying (not) all the technical stuff I brought to read last weekend (and actually plowed through almost all of the 200+ pages, thank you very much), the hours click by and I forget that I am IN THE SUN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. Fortunately, I am blessed (or cursed) with an extremely high pain tolerance, so a sunburn almost never hurts. At all. Not one little, teensy, weensy bit. Except when it's on the back of my legs, which it isn't. I read sitting up, so the tops of my feet and the front of my legs are sunburned, but nothing else.

So many other things about spring and summer to appreciate. Salads. Lots and lots of salads. Lemonade. Fruit. Veggies. Picnics. Popsicles of any kind. Remember Big Sticks? How about those orange and white Creamsicles? All good, any old time. See how this works? Yes, I am working on my attitude about warm weather. Hot weather. Sticky, oppressive, sweating all over weather. Ooops, looks like I've got some work to do still. Think ice. Think nice ice.

Grace in Small Things: 29/365

1. One of our very own is going to the White House
2. Two days of learning, instead of teaching
3. Breezes in the afternoon
4. My friends, who are holding my current familial dilemma with me as I consider all options, but really deep down, know what I need to do, in order to live with myself
5. Little Johnny, whose words of wisdom include "Pack your bags, Sis. You are going on a guilt trip".

Never say never again!

I've decided I should ban the word never from my vocabulary. It seems as though most of the time, when I say NEVER, it usually ends up to be the thing I end up doing, inexplicably drawn to it, like a moth to light. I could give lots of examples, but they are not really that interesting. Well, okay, I'll give one example, like "I'll never live with a man again". Oops, there we go, first one on the list to go. I live with a man. Granted, he's my little brother, so I am not sure that really counts, and he's the neatest and tidiest man I've ever met, plus there's obviously no romance, so I am not sure that really even counts. No, I don't think so. I think I meant "I'll never live with a romantic partner again". Yes, that's absolutely what I meant. There are so many more. But again, not really interesting. Suffice it to say, I will work on that never thing.

Grace in Small Things: 28/365

1. The day off work, a day to play and relax
2. The train ride through the redwoods
3. My new water shoes, that were ON SALE
4. The fact that I live so close to the beach, it doesn't take all day to get there!
5. The inclusiveness of the current residents at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

The Busyness of Busy

Wow. If I ever complain about not having enough to do, slap me, shake me, turn me upside down. Remind me about these days of arriving at work before 7:00 a.m., and finally having time to pee in the late afternoon, only to round out the day by leaving at 7:00 p.m.

Did I really say in my job interview that I love being really busy? I did? Why, yes, I remember now. I DID say that! That wasn't really me speaking. That was that hyped up 50 year old, who drank too much coffee that day, to stay awake for the 6 hour drive to the interviews (first and second interview, as well as the writing sample all completed on the same day), only to turn around and drive the 6 hours home. Now I am remembering. Ah, yes. It's all coming back to me now. But, that was three long years ago. Now I'm 53 (I think....right now I am having a hard time remembering anything...my brain is absolutely fried), with much less caffeine in my system, and a much older, fatter, aching body.

So, for today, I take it all back. Let's re-do that interview, shall we? What's that you ask? Do I handle being really busy very well? Ya know, work well under pressure? Oh, no, I don't really like to be super busy. I like to be the normal, human-like busy, thank you very much.

Grace in Small Things: 27/365

1. I do have a job, after all
2. My presentation yesterday went smooth as silk
3. There are only 5 weeks left in the semester
4. Additional camping trips at different beaches (4 total this summer!)
5. Rick, for giving me advice that I didn't know I needed, but so appreciated and actually needed very much!

Spring break is really all about the FRIENDS and food

I've decided that this week is really a LOT about friends, a little about the food and wine, and also about the never ending journey of parenthood. It certainly does not stop when children grow up and move out and move on. Remembering the lessons I learned as a parent when they were younger, and translating that into allowing them to make life-altering decisions on their own, means I have done my job; sometimes well, sometimes not so well. While I am often very pleased with their decisions, right now, at this exact moment, I am crossing my fingers that they have what it takes to make good decisions and good choices, regardless of what I think and feel about those very important decisions and choices. Please cross your fingers with me and hope that everything works out as it should. Details and particulars will follow soon.

Spring break is really all about the food

Grace in Small Things: 26/365

1. Hobee's Blueberry Coffee Cake
2. The trip to the gym that will help me take off Hobee's coffee cake
3. The very expensive and yummy wine we drank last night
4. The trip to the gym yesterday as a preemptive strike for the wine and delicious food at Frankie, Johnnie and Luigi's
5. Steve's pre-trial hearing results

Viewing videos on blogs for EDIT 024

Being the dutiful student that I am, I viewed a couple of videos on classmates' blogs. Specifically, I viewed Robin's video on reproductive technology within the Jewish community, and was fascinated to learn that it is the female that determines whether the baby is Jewish or not. In other words, when a woman is considering implantation of an egg, the egg should be from a female who is Jewish, because that determines whether the baby will be born Jewish or not. The baby can convert to the Jewish faith, but technically speaking, according to the video, the ideal situation is where both the donor and recipient are Jewish. Furthermore, getting these eggs from donors who are Jewish is sometimes difficult, because it narrows the possibilities down from all egg donors to just those who are Jewish.

The other video I watched was on Cat's blog and it was a very cute video of sea turtles! One of Cat's top wishes when she was in Hawaii was to swim with sea turtles and she not only got the chance, she videotaped it! Very cute!

There. Assignment done.

Good things really do happen to good people (sometimes)

Grace in Small Things: 25/365

1. My So Cal friend got a new job (just in the knick of time, now that she is sans husband)
2. My very best guy friend in Florida, Steve (he's a psychologist, so I call him Dr. Feel Good), who called me last night just to catch up after a very lengthy intermission in our communication (not for bad reasons, just busy raising his son and growing his successful business, and also going through a divorce)
3. My friend and workout buddy, who is a very good listener and goes to the gym almost every single day, and has a birthday tomorrow!
4. My friend and yoga partner, who managed to call me during a layover in Chicago (his birthday is today!)
5. My parents are celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary today (whew! Is that some sort of record, or what?)

p.s. golf, women, beer, and margaritas

I just got back from my annual trek to Palm Springs to attend a golf tournament. Lots and lots of really great golf (the LPGA), sunshine, walking, women (after all, it IS the LGPA), and we managed to cool our jets by whipping up some cocktails out on the verandah, to wash down the chips and very hot salsa I bought at Trader Joe's. My So Cal friend (the one whose husband just left) and I had a nice time. Some moaning and groaning about her husband, naturally, but also some conversation NOT about her husband. I felt obligated to keep her hydrated (we both are certified Mixologists, having completed bar tending school some time ago), and I felt it only proper and caring to provide a steady stream of cooling, soothing, yummy drinks with lots of alcohol, to ease the pain a wee bit, of her recent and oh so painful separation from her husband of 34 years. Apparently, it did the trick, at least a little bit. She was able to talk about lots of stuff, and some of it actually involved thinking ahead instead of dwelling on the past. At least for now.