Funny things

So as many of you know, I have a black cat (who seems to have the evil reputation). Where I live there is a "property stray cat". He is black and his name is bear. He is so sweet!!! You look at him and he gets excited and starts purring and drooling. When we moved in, we were asked to keep and eye on him and feed him and such. As it turns out, so was the gal in the other cottage. I never knew this. Greedy little guy, comes here and looks through the window at us waiting to be fed, morning and night and then runs to the neighbors and eats there. Well right now he has a gash on his head. I hope it was another cat that got him and not a mean raccoon. Either way, its sad, as it is swollen and yucky so I probably need to take him in to the vet. These cats are funny, they don't look at all alike but they trick me. Obviously not on purpose. I can go out the door to empty garbage and turn around and get startled that my cat go out when it is just Bear. OK so that's enough about the cats.
I have put in volunteer time with the playground. It was supposed to be finished Sunday but it didn't happen. So I guess I will go put some of my spare time into it some more.
My in laws are coming around May 20th so my goal is to tackle a few projects here at home and get them taken care of and clean up before they come.
My brother seems to be doing ok. Bruised and hurting but surviving and recuperating.
Jodie have put up info on her blog on the baby so he is doing well. I have yet to actually see him in real life, only pictures.
The diabetes bike ride is this weekend and I am going to do it! 10 miles. I hope I survive. Sponsor me on the link on the right of the screen.
I am doing well on the insulin pump so that is good. Doing some tests to pinpoint it. I have to do one that is over night tonight. I test my sugar 4 hours after dinner, then every 3 hours until morning, so 6:20 and then figure some things out. Let me tell you, I AM STARVING since I ate a light dinner.
What else is up? Maleah is 6 today.
Shannon has gotten some flying time in and is really happy.
My seeds I have planted are sprouting so that's exciting.
Other than that, I have not seen many friends or anything much. Tami has been the one I see the most. Everyone is busy with their lives. The other half of everyone has moved and stuff. Oh well.
So, for those of you that read this, whats up with everyone?

Today and lately

Well nothing much of interest or at least too much interest has been going on.
My brother is out of the hospital and without surgery so that is good. Apparently the spleen can heal itself. I googled it and found this out.
I am not sure how Jodie is doing, you have to contact her or click on her blog to find out. Guess Cooper is ok and Jodie also.
I have been working on the weddings and events. I am getting booked better through October. I have 2 weddings a month except in June when I only have one. September has 1 booked and a contract due in and then 2 others possible. Walnut Festival is in September also and I have a corporate event looking for a planner also. Yay me!
I have been getting ready for the diabetes bike ride. If you want to sponsor me, there is a link on the right hand side of the screen. It is May 6th and I will ride 10 miles. I am excited that I will be able to do it and if I can keep riding on a regular basis, maybe I can drop a few pounds.
I have been working on this volunteer project and it is pretty neat. www.childrensplayground4all.com and it is to be completed by Sunday April 29th at 5pm. It has been a great experience in several ways. It gets me out of the house, in the sun and around people. I went the first day it was beginning, Friday April 20th. I spent an afternoon soaping screws. Yes, taking a bar of ivory soap and twisting the screws on it to get them coated in a soap. Not too exciting but interesting and I was able to talk to a variety of people that came and went through the afternoon. Yesterday afternoon I went back (I had been busy Saturday and Sunday and they took off MOnday and Tuesday) and spent the afternoon priming a bunch of wood. (I need to take the camera tomorrow and post some pictures) Today was kind of cool. I went and they put power tools in my hands. I was drilling and stuff. That was fun. At first I thought they might be crazy letting me do this but it worked out fine. I will go tomorrow afternoon and Saturday to help.
I guess I am also doing other Walnut Festival volunteer stuff. I am going to help Sunday with the www.wellnesscitychallenge.com in walnut creek. I dont know much else right now. I know that we are working with them for the walnut festival.
The nice weather is here for a day or 2 so I like that.
What else?
Oh I know. Its almost time to open the cabin. Road is clear and everything. Here is a neighbors cabin/webcam www.livingstoncabin.com so that will be exciting.

A Saturday Adventure

Saturday we took a Drive and our destination was to the Moaning Cavern in Vallecito Ca. Back in December, I picked up little touristy fliers on this, while up at PAWS with Tami.
Basically we drove East on Highway 4 and it was out there. http://www.caverntours.com/ Wow, how cool was this??? Fortunately we were smart enough to just do the walking tour.

Here is a picture down, I think, from the top or maybe up. Not sure as I think Shannon took this one.
The tour is 248 steps down.

This metal thing in the picture is the stairwell, its a spiral stairwell going down. First it is a narrow wood stairs and then it stops at this landing and then you do down the spiral enclosed stairwell. I did ok considering I don't like heights. The landing has a ledge under it so that helped. However going down the spiral part, I didn't look down. (only down at my feet)

This is looking up from the bottom. You actually go 165 feet underground.

So then there is the rappelling option/tour. Descend by rope 165 feet into the huge main chamber of Moaning Cavern! No experience is necessary, and gloves, hard-hat, and the highest quality rappelling equipment are provided. Adventurous people from all walks of life are thrilled by this unique and exciting opportunity to try something new! Total trip time is approximately 45 minutes.

Holy Crap, I don't think so. There is a picture of the rappelling guy 1/2 way down but cant tell that's what it is. Ok, its in the picture of the stairwell looking up and just next to it you can see the guys legs. This is just after he came off the rope, obviously.

The cave tour is really cool. Due to lack of natural light and all, you really can not tell how big some of the formations are and stuff. (Pictures don't come out that great either)

The rappelling thing also goes like this. After you get off the rope, you crawl through the enclosed tunnels in the cave. (better not be claustrophobic) The guide (teenager) says that at one point it is a tight squeeze, the size of a 5 gallon bucket. So not sure I could do that either. Read some of the descriptions of the tours and caverns. It was worth doing.

Then there is the sample gold mining thing. (Touristy thing) if you look behind me being a ham.

Somewhere on the drive to the cavern was a sign saying Road Closed at Lake Alpine. So.... Shannon wanted to drive to where the road closed. As we headed that way, we drove through Angels Camp and then the next place we drove through, with any sign of a town, was Murphy. Super cute little town and we stopped and had lunch at the Main street grill or something like that. Very yuppy little town, lots of tiny shops called "wineries". Still had cute charm to the town.

So off we went driving further. Most the towns had a population of around 125. One town had a town sign with an elevation but no population to it. Then there is Arnold with 4000 plus people, but I have no idea where. So this is a picture as we went further up. Apparently we were still on 4 and drove by Bear Valley resort. I have never been out here at all.

Finally we hit what must be and is Lake Alpine. Way cool, a frozen lake. (Shannon thought it was cool to see in California) I just have never seen a frozen lake so that was beautiful to me.

We had a great drive, drove in snow and played in snow. I think Shannon was worried I might try to walk on the frozen lake. Wrong, not going that close. So that was an adventure, a little one, but had a great time.

People and such....

So sometimes I think I am the only one that communicates by email. I know I am not, because I get replies from several people. Some are short replies and some are super long and some in between. I don't really think it takes that long to reply to a message personally sent to someone. I personally think it takes less time than calling someone. For some people maybe it does take longer. Someone that is not computer literate or that is not familiar with using email or something. I dont think I know but maybe 2 people like that. I guess I dont get it. Oh well. At least I know I try to keep in touch with some people.

Hey, I know there are bunches of you that read this and there are maybe 2 or 3 people that ever actually put in a response, comment or anything. Someone else respond sometime, shock me or something.
Ok I vented a little and hope that the wrong people dont get offended by it.

My Brother

&&&4/19 update- Bobby is doing better, and they are sending him home Thursday morning- I think- Here is what Jade just sent

Long day! Just gettin back home from the hospital. From what your dad
said the nurses and doctors told him - Bobby should be coming home
tomorrow some time. He's starting to feel the "soreness" in his whole
body from the accident now and looks like a little old man hobbling
around.


***4/17 update- No Surgery, so far, this is from Jade
Hey yall!
Just checkin' in for a minute. Bobby is still in Special Care at St.
Thomas and has been sleeping most of the day. I went by earlier this
afternoon and the nurse says he'll probably be in special care through
tomorrow and maybe get a regular hospital room tomorrow night or Thursday
morning. They still have him hooked up to an IV and are checking his
blood every 8 hours. He hasn't been able to hold down liquids yet - he
ate some jello this morning and threw that back up. He says he's hungry
and it hurts his tummy when his stomach growls.
I haven't seen one of the doctors today to get his opinion again of what's
going on - but I'll make sure to find one when I go back this evening.
Other than that, we're just waiting for him to heal up and get better! He
is definately feeling a little better cause he was joking around this
morning with one of the nurses about his ass hurting from laying on it too
long!
**********************************************************************************
4/16
Here is the very latest, My brother lives in Tennessee. He went dirt bike riding today and had an accident. Apparently he is in the hospital with a ruptured spleen. So far they are not doing surgery, yet. UGH, go figure. So he is in ICU

Shannon went flying

SHannon went flying and came home so happy. He was up in the air for over 5 hours and this is just above San Ramon. What you can see is Bishop Ranch and the bottom is more of the new Windemere places being built way out Bollinger. If you know the area, you can figure out where our street is and where we live. It may not be too exciting to some but I thought it was neat.

The latest-

Not too much to report in my boring life. I started the insulin pump as I said and it is going great and so much easier and less stressful then injections. Yay!!
Jodie left me a message Friday and she sounded so happy I can not even explain it. Cooper was going home yesterday and I am assuming he did. I left Jodie and Mark alone as I know the families would be there and take up her time and such. You can see her updates on her blog but she is about a week behind. She will catch up soon.
We went out Friday the 13th. It was the 20 year anniversary for Pete's in Danville (www.petesbrassrail.com) however it was also Smokin J's playing at Meenars (they played at Pete's also) and it was Vicki's birthday, which ment the Danville crowd would be out. Shannon, Jim and I went and joined the festivities. Kind of funny that we ate at Norm's since Pete's was packed as I expected. Food was pretty good, a little different menu but it was good. We wandered down to Pete's and found the gang. Some people I had not seen in years and didn't know they even lived in the area again. We Went to Meenar's and eventually Vince and the gang made it. I had a good time. Now Eric (Nyman) was around and I haven't seen much of him over the last year. How does he get away with things. He had on those shoes kids where with wheels!!! I didn't know they made them in adult sizes. He was wheeling around in Pete's, he is so funny. He said he likes the mall because it has a smooth surface!!! So that was entertaining.

I have been job searching, putting in resumes and been on 3 interviews. I am also putting my name out there for corporate and other events and of course do the weddings. I booked 2 new weddings this week so that is exciting. Please feel free to pass my name on for whatever it may be.
Jasper has been his normal blob self, he is so big. He has a new thing with sleeping in the middle of the floor. Nearly fell and went head first into the table the other day trying not to step on him. It is sort of weird behavior for him. Starting to wonder if he is ok.
Shannon is flying today (hopefully) so he is happy. Either way he is happy as he is at the airport playing with planes.
I have stuff planted out in the yard, it helps pass my time. I also have a tennis lesson I am taking so I like that and may start doing that more.

I have been riding the bike to get ready for my ride. So far I know I will make the 10 miles. (sponsor me on my diabetes link)

Walnut festival people have some interesting things coming up, one is regarding building a park for children of all abilities. Its the first of its kind in the country. Here is the info- so going to help with that.

we are
now ready to start the build of this playground...
we are in the need of 300 volunteers a day for ten
days to complete the project...20 april until 29 april...

please, go to the website: childrensplayground4all.com

to get more information, volunteer time, tools, money,
food, etc...if you have more questions, contact me or
walter...you can sign up on line for a time slot...if you have
four (4) hours and want to be part of this fantastic
project...sign up...

this project started as the dream of one lion...it is now
grown to include the city of concord, other service organizations,
local citizens of the area...

i am attaching a flier requesting monetary donations
for tools...walter is the tool coordinator and this
opportunity just became available...if you can help
or know someone...give them the flier...

again, if you have any questions, please call me...
thank you for taking the time to care...

So as I said, not much going on, just little things here and there. I am sure I missed something. The thing about Eric and his shoes was a highlight, it was pretty funny. I did watch Tami's cat. That cat tries to kill me and won't let me walk.
So support me for the Diabetes ride and make a donation or come help us build a park.

Remember Kitt?

You too can be the next owner of Kitt- up for sale here in the east bay!!

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_092142014.html

Its Janene's Fault

Ok so I am bored and what did I do..... Well it is all Janene's fault. I started playing on the myspace thing and sent a hello to sona and to chris, who are people I know from my live band days in the late 80's early 90's days.
I am not into the myspace thing really so I was searching people and checking things out. Those of you that know Janene, know the story, those that don't, here it is. Janene and I know eachother from high school. We actually met during drill team try outs or something. Yep I tried out. Janene made it and I didn't. Probably would have put me in a totally different direction in life if I had. (I am sure you are amused to know this if you didn't already.) Anyway Janene and I were in photo together and who knows what else but we were really good friends, bad me.....we still are really good friends even though we live a state away from eachother. (Don't kill me Janene for the picture)

Certain friends will just be there forever and she is one of them, 23 years later holy crap!!! After high school, I got into the live rock bands, doing photography and actually was part owner of a magazine also. So I had a lot of friends I hung out with. I went out with this guy Chris when I was probably 20 I guess and at some point Janene met him also. She will know more of this story obviously than I do. Sometime in I dont know what year, Janene met Scott, through Chris. Scott is her husband and they have been together about 14 years I think. Back to the main point of the story. I was on Janene's my space page and saw some other blasts from the pasts, Chris and Sona. Sona was one of the gals that hung around the same bands I did. So anyway, then I went further and checked out Sona's profile or whatever the my space thing is called. Holy Crap, I saw the cry wolf reunion and well decided I have to go. http://myspace.com/crywolfthebandSo i bought 2 tickets. . Anyway it would be interesting to see some people from the past. Its all your fault Janene.

Now I am stuck and have to see who else I find on the myspace thing.

This Week- Jodie, J's, and whatever

So I have all the time in the world but I have not found the time to update this. Guess I have to be in the mood to do it.

Where to start.... Looking for a job and also working on the events and wedding business. Any referrals to anyone is greatly appreciated, weddings, corporate or whatever. For that matter job leads are good also. I have been using www.linkedIn.com and it is a pretty cool networking website and also helps with the job serch since there are jobs posted there. I have been trying to get people I know to link into mine profile. Have had some leads here and there for jobs and events/weddings so hopefully something works out. In the mean time, filed for unemployment and I have a wedding a month through October. Hoping I end up with more than that.

Here is the picture as requested by Tami. Doesn't have the same affect at all, I held it wrong. Oh well.......

Saturday night, I went with Jim to Dan's to see the smoking J's, yes they actually played together. I found out Jay is no longer with Notorious so that explains all the show booked coming up. We had a good time, well at least I did.

Ok, next would be Jodie. While went to visit her in the hospital I thought it was funny that she complained a little about the bruise on her arm for the blood work or IV. So I thought I would show this bruise. It was actually bigger and darker since this is at about a week old. This is from the injectease I keep using since I have this needle phobia. So there, I win. Ok so what else? Besides the fact that I am sure yu are thrilled to see my belly and bruises. The latest with the insulin pump is that I have it and it is attached as you see here this is how it gets attached. I am using with saline right now until I get used to it and how to use it. Monday I will start the insulin. It doesn't hurt and it is pretty simple to use. I just have to figure out what amount of insulin will work. The diabetes educator works with me on that thankfully. This is a good time to do it also since I am not working and stuff.

Now as for Jodie and cooper. Things are going ok. She posted pictures and stuff in her blog. I dont know how to attach the blog address becaus I tried earlier and it didn't work.

Here is a tiny picture. I can email you a link with other pictures, just ask.

Here is the latest on all

So here is the latest bit of info.
First is on Jodie. Jodie is doing as well as can be expected. She was released Wednesday from the hospital. She did have a c-section but is doing ok considering all that is going on. Child birth, baby needing surgery at 5 days old and so on. As for Cooper, he is doing "about middle of the road" as Jodie said. So this is good, not worse than expected and a little better than expected. Apparently Cooper had his surgery on Thursday. This was to move his internal organs to their rightful places and then to also close up the hernia I guess. Now I don't know any of this as well as Jodie and Mark since they are living it so don't give me a hard time for wrong information or terminology. Anyway, from what Jodie told me, Coopers "numbers" were the same before the surgery and after, so that is good. His left lung is at 50% which is better than expected, so that's also good, he has 150% of his lungs. It's nice to hear things are looking somewhat good. It's really not known how long he will be in UCSF or Kaiser once he is transferred, if transferred. Nothing is for sure right now but it is looking positive. Keep the positive thoughts going and that's all we can all ask for.

Now, here is the latest of wildlife at our house. Yes we had 6 wild turkeys in the backyard. Crazy!!! They were not there long, long enough to get a picture. Whats next, should I ask??

So the next thing I can tell you is regarding my job. I am now unemployed. Due to lack of work in the office I was in, I was going to be transferred to a Sunnyvale office. Then due to changes unknown to me, it was decided to eliminate my position and I am now unemployed. I figure everything happens for a reason so I will eventually find out what that reason is. Right now I will look for a new job and I will work on increasing the wedding and event business. Any leads for weddings or events or jobs in my area are greatly appreciated.

What else? mmmm, oh yes, I got the insulin pump approved and received in the mail. I will be given a training on that and then in about a week or so it goes "live" on me. Lets hope I don't freak out.

Spring is coming and great weather yipppeeee!!

New update on Jodie & Cooper

So Jodie seemed to or Cooper maybe, one of them decided on St. Patricks day to be Coopers birthday. Cooper was born at 12:36 Am on March 17. He is 19 1/2 inches long and unknown weight right now. They had to stabilize him and hook him to machines and such so they didn't have a weight yet. Apparently he is doing ok right now and they will be monitoring him. His body will have to adjust to his new environment and then the doctors can see how he is doing. Jodie was sent home Thursday after being in labor 2 days. Friday she was to come back and start again. I don't have the full story yet. All I know is her water did break Friday and she started having contractions on her own. So maybe Cooper was starting to think he was getting ready. Anyway, they did do a c-section. I will go tomorrow and see her and have more information and a picture then.
** Update on 3/18****
I talked to Jodie today. She was not up for visitors. She seemed to be doing ok and I think she has family there with her. I got some more information. So she was sent home on Thursday to rest and gain some strength back so she could be induced again Friday. Thursday she did however have contractions naturally. So Friday when she went in she was having contractions but they did give her something to help the process along, so some sort of inducing pill. Her water did break also on Friday. Later in the evening she was still only dilated to 6 or 7, she wasn't sure. Apparently Coopers heart rate started to drop so as they watched that, they did decide to do an "emergency c-section". She seems to be doing ok, but also on painkillers. As for Cooper, she said "all thing considered with things wrong, he is doing ok". He did not need to be on the big ventilator machine after all. (This is why she delivered at UCSF was because they had this large machine that her Kaiser did not) So that is a good sign for him. I guess now its just watching each day to see how the progress is with him.
I asked if there are any pictures she can get Mark to send out or something. I will contact her tomorrow and maybe go see her tomorrow or Tuesday. I asked about coming out and she was not up for that. I even asked if she needs something to eat and she said the hospital food is not all that bad. (She is drugged up so maybe that is influencing her hehehe)
I will send out a picture when I can. Oh and we was around 6 1/2 lbs. They didn't weight him due to that is another thing that will agitate him and doctors were avoiding that.

**Update** 3/15 Jodie and the new baby

Here is the update*** I got a call that Jodie was in labor 2 days and Cooper had other plans so he didn't come out. (Looks like maybe a ST Pattys day baby) So Jodie was sent away to rest and get some strength back. She goes back Friday 3/16 to be induced again. Poor girl

Well as you all know, the new baby has a name and he is Cooper Alexander Gerhardt. Jodie went in to be induced Tuesday and since it is Wednesday at 8:51 pm that mean she was induced 37 hours ago. So now baby yet and she has been in labor 37 hours. Lets all have good thoughts for Jodie to pop the little guy out real soon. Let's have even better thoughts for little Cooper, hah, mini Cooper, and hope he comes out and does well. As you probably know he has a diapramatic hernia http://fetus.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/cdh/ so he is probably having surgery when he is a week old or so. Sending you all positive thoughts Jodie and Mark and Cooper. Waiting to hear when he is born so I can tell people more.

Ice cream, cat teeth, people teeth and whatever

Not a lot to report, just little stuff here and there.
I have found out that the Safeway near my house carries much better ice cream then the Albertson's I usually go to. Now don't start giving me a hard time on eating ice cream. I can eat anything, in moderation. So here is the deal.... Dove makes the little miniatures they sell in a box (i don't know how many make a serving, i guess probably 2) but I haven't bought these, because I had not seen them in years, until last week. Then I found out our Safeway has them. Now, better than that, our Safeway carries these little individual size servings of Ben & Jerry's. Yep, that's right, individual size, even comes with a plastic spoon. (about the size of the taster spoon at Baskin Robbins) Not all the flavors, just like 4 (cherry Garcia and Chocolate fudge Brownie and 2 others) Better yet they on sale 10 for $10 dollars so we bought 4. Its perfect size!!!! Ok the big problem is this. At Albertson's they have self check out, so I don't have to stand in line and can just scan my stuff and its simple. At Safeway there is always a line, no matter what time of day I go. I hate that. So there is that and now the ones that read this are going to kill me for that info. Sorry but maybe you will luck out and your store wont carry it that way and you won't go buy it.
So, I think I posted something about the visit to the vet last week and Jasper on tranquilizers. Anyway, Shannon keeps saying the cat has "kitty breath" so I asked he vet for a quote on teeth cleaning. Hah, $425 to clean the freakin cats itty bitty teeth??? I don't think so. So I am trying to find a way to do it cheaper. Apparently its the sedating or putting them out that cost so much.
So... i found a non sedating way that it is done. Apparently the pets stores and grooming places do it for $45-100 and the reason is they don't put them out to do this. Now that would be great but........ I had to tranquilize the beast to take him to the vet, so I only wonder what would happen if I tried to take him for a teeth cleaning with out tranquilizers or putting him out first. Kinda makes me laugh to think about it. I guess I will need to call and ask the opinion of the places that do it. Can't wait to hear about it now can you?? Pancho would love my cat all tranquilized.
Ok so I went to the dentist myself. No big deal to me. However due to the change in jobs, I decided I didn't need to continue to drive to Walnut Creek to go to the dentist. So I looked up a San Ramon dentist on my coverage and called it and made an appointment. Then I had to find the letter they sent and call them and change the appointment. Now I found the letter and called and didn't really think anything about it. Then I thought I saw something on the letter and had to find it again. I noticed the name on the letter was Kristyn Woodson. Now Tami and Kristyn or Krystin her co-worker (i forget which way to spell it) and I are always commenting on the ways to spell Kristin (the correct way). Then I saw this and told Tami and thought it was funny to see it that way. I didn't even look at the last name. Now anyone reading this that has known me since high school or soon after is already knowing where this is going. I looked a second time and thought, this couldn't be Chris Woodson's wife could it? I hung out with Chris and a group of Monte Vista students in high school and after. So when I called the dentist office back, I asked if this was the same person, and sure enough given Danville is such a small (or was) a small area, it is the same person. So off to the dentist I go, yesterday. I had not seen Kristy (she goes by Kristy) in a few years, maybe 5. She looks great, the same and I would have totally recognized her in a second. She also had her daughter in the office with her. I think she is about 14-18 months and I forgot the name sorry. Wow I can not believe how much she looks like Chris, totally has his eyes and just looks like him. Pretty baby girl. So that was interesting and now I know Chris also works down the street so I will check in with him also. It doesn't surprise me too much to run into people I know, it used to happen way too often hardly at all anymore.
Ok what else? Well I know I am liking my job. I seem to check my email for it from home to make sure I have not missed anything (or screwed it up)
I just finally got the diabetes educator to order an insulin pump so that is progress towards my goal. (www.minimed.com) if you want to see what it is and how it works or whatever.
Then last part is that Pearl and Jim are moving, so we are getting some people together with them to go to dinner tomorrow night. After that, we are going to good old Dan's. Apparently one of my co-workers is in a band and he plays his first show with this band at Dan's tomorrow night. Hope it goes well. I will give a report on it if I can.

So.......who is reading this and did you all get the link to Jodie's blog?

Down South

So its off to hurricane country I go. This is the first time I have been to my Mom's since Hurricane Katrina hit.

I started with a flight from Oakland to Houston Hobby. The gal in line with me to board the Southwest Flight is picking something out of her zip up sweatshirt. Nope..... She is afraid of flying, lucky me! She is picking out her fingernails. She peeled them all off while waiting for this flight. The rest of the flying to Houston is uneventful. Then I go from Houston to New Orleans. Sat next to a normal gal from Mendocino. I gave her a ride to the hotel she was staying at. That worked out because it was a few blocks away from where Shannon was and she was able to read the directions while I drove.

I met Shannon at his hotel and we went out for a nice dinner. The day before was actually our 6 month wedding anniversary so we made it a nice dinner. We went to G.W. Fins and had a nice dinner. He had told them it was our 6 month anniversary and they made us a personalized menu and brought us an anniversary "plate" and decorated the table with glitter. We went and gambled at Harrah's for a while and after traveling all day, that was all I was up for. This is what they give you now instead of coins when you win. (since hurricane hit)

Thursday we went and ventured in to the French Quarter and checked out Cafe du Monde for some Beignets and coffee. Shannon had never been to New Orleans and I had not been in a long time so it was a fun day to just wander and check out some things. Next time we will go on the tours. I want to go on a swamp tour! Alligators, yay. We checked out the touristy things like Jackson square, Bourbon street (of course) and actually had to pick up something for a co-worker so it gave us a mission. We had a great lunch at the Gumbo Shop and had Gumbo and Jambalaya. Yummmm. Later we headed to my moms house. We have to drive across that I-10 bridge and it got torn apart from the hurricane. It had just opened in January of this year. While driving we saw the HUGE cemetary. (Sorry Tami, I didn't go check it out. I will wait until you go with me and we can go on the Haunted tours and stuff) On the drive we saw a huge amount of hurricane damage before crossing the bridge. The pictures did not come out very good of this. (i was in the car) The houses were structures still standing, looked like houses, no doors or windows and just a mess. The water had just been pushed through. There were FEMA trailers through some of the neighborhoods. Some places are starting to rebuild, others have nothing to really come back to. It looks like a war zone.

My mom's house is coming together. There are only a few things that are left and noticable that there were any problems. (no pictures) Friday we spent the day with my Mom. She came up with a great idea that Shannon loved. We went to the Stennis Space Center. This is where NASA tests all the rocket engines. Its about 15 minutes from my mom's house. We saw pieces of the moon, huge rocket engines, rocket testing platforms and all sorts of stuff. If Shannon tells you, it would be more technical so that is the best I can do.

We also went to Silver Slipper Casino. We had lunch and gambled a little. Lunch was great and the gambling was.... not so good. This is a new casino that went up in the fall of 2006. It is labeled as Lakeshore MS. It is right on the Bay Saint Louis. This is an area that is basically wiped out from the hurricane. I was looking out in the bay after driving in the area and wondering how many washers and dryers and refridgerators were out in the water, amongst everything else. All that remains of these homes is the cement foundation. Its that way by my mom's also. Last time I was there she showed me the houses with the little airplanes in the yards and boats and such, over by the bay. This time there is a cement foundation and actually there are still clothes in the trees, flipped over boats in the trees and furniture. There is nothing to go back to and the Mississippi side is not getting covered by Insurance. Don't get me started on that, its another story. I didn't take pictures here as my mom was with me and we didn't stop. It is hard on her and actually really overwhelming to see.

Saturday we went back to New Orleans, just Shannon and I. We went to the Sculpture garden and then attempted to get into the Museum of modern art. On the way there, I noticed we were right by where one of the levee breaks were in New Orleans. (its marked on a map) So we went over to check it out. So here is the levee and the wall that has been rebuilt and the neighborhood.

Most the homes are just ruins and then right in the middle of all this would be someone rebuilding. It just blows me away to see it. I don't know how someone must feel mentally to come back and rebuild right in the middle of this.

The sculpture garden was kind of neat to see. The weather was just beautiful that day.

We tried to go the the Modern Art museum but it was a members only viewing and we didn't want to pay that fee to get in.

We did a driving tour through New Orleans next. Its marked on the map and takes you through the college/university areas (Tulane and Loyola (or something)) then through the Garden district and back to the French Quarter. We went back for more beignets and had more beignets and spicy cajun foods for lunch.

After that we went back to Diamondhead (where mom lives) took her and Randy for a nice dinner and that was it. Up early Sunday (5 am) to get to the airport. We had to go home since the kitties were missing us.

Work, Jasper and Jodie

So the latest things going on here. Not too much exciting or even interesting things to report.

At work, we had the company we are working in take our recruiting team, the i-Hire people and Cognizant recruiting people out to dinner. The treated us well and took us to Vik Stewarts. So here is the group of people I work with. It was fun. Its a good group of people to work with. Hmmm what else happened this week....... Oh that's right

We won a coffee break at the office with KKIQ. They brought in all the pastries, yougurt parfaits, fruit and coffee. Hey, it was free and people I work with showed up before 10 to take part in the festivities. (They usually wander in around 10, but were in about 9) So now that I have sort of figured out how to attach pictures, here is another picture of us. (Fed ex guy happened to come in to deliver something, so we just had him join in. )

Saturday was exciting, at least Shannon found it exciting. I had to take the sweet cat I have to the vet. My cat is so sweet........... I can not even begin to tell you how sweet he is. He actually is very sweet with Shannon. He is like a lap cat with him. Anyway, the vet asked us to tranquilize the sweet cat before we bring him. Ok truth be told, he tends to think he is a mountain lion at the vet and attacks. So I shoved a pill down his throat and 10 minutes later......viola- drunk drugged kitty. It was actually kinda sad to watch him walking around. The drugs really hit him. Took him to the vet and that was pretty fast. Took maybe an hour. The rest of the day we did this and that. Poor cat (probably one of few times I feel sorry for him) he seemed to be paranoid all day. He could sleep for maybe 2 minutes and then had to get up and walk well.... stumble around. I don't know if he couldn't get comfortable or it just messed with his head. Kitty walking backwards and stuff. He never ever does that. Plus he normally sleeps about 18 hours a day. Nope not today, he slept about 2. That was the extent of our excitement on Saturday.

Sunday I took Shannon to the airport. He went to a conference in New Orleans. I fly in and join him Wednesday and we go to my moms Thursday. Then I came home and did a few things. Jodie's baby shower was that day. So I went to pick her up and take her. Since I will be out of town the weekend she is having her "friends" shower, I went to her shower with co-workers. (She has 4 showers total or is it 5? co-worker/friends, work, friends, family I think thats it) So that was fun. The baby is a boy as you know and the name has been a secret, but I know it now. Yep I know it and I am not going to tell.... Sorry. (Tami, either Jodie will post it in the comments or you have to wait until the shower) A clue, well it doesn't start with G. Hah, how is that??

Wow this was a pretty boring update. I thought of things twice to put in here over the last few days. Things I though might be entertaining or interesting, but of course I can not remember what they were.

So maybe if you are lucky, Jodie (who is now on maternity leave) might post a comment and share the name.

Oh I know what I forgot. We finally got a bike for me. So now I actually can ride the diabetes bike ride. Care to join us? It is in Napa. If not, I will take a dollar or more if you want to sponsor me. :)

Is this necessary?

So Pancho asked about a description of the bathrooms at work. He said I didn't describe it. There are 2 restrooms on each floor on opposites sides of the building. The one I usually use is of course the one that seems closer to our office. I walk in the door labeled restroom and I always seem to see a paper towel or 2 or 3 or 4 crumpled just inside the main door. (I kept wondering where this was coming from and why? Every day I would see one or more on the floor as the day progressed.) Then there is an enterance to the women's and a few steps further is the men's.
So, the other day, as I approached the main door labeled restrooms, it was sort of just being opened from the other side. This guy props the door open holding it just barely open with his knee. A second or two pass and it opens and he throws down a paper towel in the corner and then exits. Hah, he has been caught. I just was amazed someone has to use a paper towel to get out of the bathroom doors, yet apparently it is not necessary to use to get back in his office door. I guess by that time peoples germs are gone and he isn't worried about it.
My question is why can't these people just carry a stupid paper towel with them back to the office and throw it away, or throw it away somewhere???? Throw it on the floor? How rude and what a freaking litter bug.
So today I go in there and I guess someone said something or the janitor people just caught on because there was a little garbage can there now. (and it was 1/2 full!!!!!) Either way, why do people have to just throw a little paper towel down like that??? Just carry it to your office and throw it away. GGGGGEEEEEEZZZZZZ

Been tagged

Okay - everyone (myself included) can blame Tami for this one. She tagged me. (Don't worry, it didn't hurt.) So, get ready for some interesting reading...Rules: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things/habits about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird habits/things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

This is hard for me to come up with anythig about myself, darn you Tami. So I need to find 6 weird things/habits about myself huh??!!
1) Ok one thing that seems to happen is I get a feeling about someone or something and then it tends to happen. Sometimes this is good. However if I meet someone or get a feeling about someone I tend to speak up about it. If it is just something bad that I am afraid will happen I may not say anything and just hope it doesn't happen. (Examples may be knowing when my friend Amy was pregnant before she realized that was what it was- I had a dream about it) I bet you guys can come up with other examples.

2) I am upfront and outspoken (to a point..... well maybe) and I will usually tell it like it is. This can be about just about anything. You guys know me so you know what I am talking about.

3) I am friendly, social and outgoing, however if I am around new people, believe it or not, I will clam up and get shy.

4) I am afraid of heights. I can not stand too close to the edge of things. This will be an example and a few of you know this. Say I am at the top of the Stratosphere in Vegas. I can go outside and stand there no problem. Its not a straight drop because there is a ledge below that goes out a ways. However, inside just below there are windows and nothing below that, I can not get too close to that, it gives me the hibbie gibbies. Make sense?

5) I have never gone to a movie or retaurant and eaten by myself. ( I consider a restaurant a place with a server, not fast food) I don't count watching a few minutes of a movie in the theater at my break time when I worked there, going to a movie alone. Can you tell I don't like to do things alone?

6) I like to go fishing and I have no problem cleaning the fish. I enjoyed getting Janene to clean the fish when we were in high school up at the cabin.

7) I like shoes and keep wanting to buy more. I tend to look at the same ones I have or very similar.

8) Until recently, I would not eat hardly any green veggies. Yuck

Ooops thats more than 6.

So there, I came up with some things. Want to add some more weird things about me??? I am sure there are more.

Okay, now I am supposed to tag people. Well I dont know anyone else to have a blog except Tami. So.... what I will do is tag these people and they have to either create a blog or respond in mine. Pancho, Janene, Jodie, Kanika, Angel and Pousumi (since you may read this and have a blog) and someone that is reading this that I don't know is reading this- surprise me whoever it is. (apparently there are others reading and you people dont comment)

Have fun, I am looking forward to comments or new blogs or something

Work, cheese, people and whatever

Ok I am going to work on this post. I came into work this morning and found the refrigerator stocked, with cheese and well not sure what else, didn't pay attention. Yay!!! I have more to update but no time right now. Stay tuned for more.......
Ok so I am back here to update this. Now you guys comment on stuff the less I put in. Anyway nothing interesting or exciting I can really put in here. I probably had more to update when I started this but dont know what it was now.
Its beautiful outside and supposed to be about 76 so I am going outside to enjoy the weather and plant stuff and be in the sun. Sorry its not updated. I will think of something more exciting.

Ok 2/19. For those of you that noticed, I left out something in the work description. Here it is.....We are in an office building with 2 bathrooms on each floor. The bathroom is just as plain as can be and very very clean. However, the freaking bathroom smells like a fruity christmas tree due to the weird scented air stuff in there. Its it both bathrooms on the floor. Ugh!!!

So I have a new job!!

After 6 years and 10 months I finally left Firemans Fund. I have taken a new job with www.i-Hire.com as a staffing coordinator. This is a great opportunity for me and I am very excited about it. I am supporting 4 recruiters in an office. I don't know a lot yet about the job since its only my 3rd day and as with any new job, I don't have a computer yet or employee ID or other stuff, whatever that stuff may be. Here is my experience so far.
Monday I went in and the vice-president of i-Hire was there to meet me and to get me set up with the i-hire sign on and email and review the job I will be doing with me. I didn't get much else or progress much further than that really. We had a conference call meeting with the i-Hire staff and the owner of I-Hire. Then eventually lunch came around. Well it was a late lunch. On Mondays the Sr. Recruiter, Darren takes the entire team out to lunch. That is the i-Hire people and the Cognizant people. The company I am working in is Cognizant. There were 13 of us and we went to Pasta Primevara. This was a great introduction to people and a nice social non work time. (team building)
We are in an office in Bishop Ranch. I am pretty sure I used to work across the courtyard from there. I am trying to find that out from Pancho, but I sort of think Provident Funding was in the building across the way. Anyway.... its a nice building with 2 others near it and a water fountain in the center of the courtyard. There are Canadian geese which is sort of ok as long as they leave me alone. (I have been chased by them near the building my cousin Amy works at, they are crazy and mean) There is also a beautiful fountain inside out building. Its a nice clean building with lots of plants and trees inside and lots of grass, flowers and trees outside. OH and there is a Cactus Cafe in the building next to us. (My co-workers from FFIC will laugh at that if they read this) You see, we had a Cactus Cafe in out building where FFIC is. I had a habit of getting a breakfast sandwich over there a little too often. It was all that was decent prices and they didnt screw it up. The seemed to screw a lot of things up in there. Anyway, I seemed to have this thought in my head about starting this new job. I figured I would be able to save money since I wouldn't have to pay parking, or much gas since it is 1.3 miles from home. I also figured maybe being closer to home I would be able to eat at home for lunch and breakfast and save money there and eat healthier. Well I guess we will have to see what happens on that. So far I have not gone in there and the co-workers in the office have not said anything good about Cactus Cafe. Maybe that will keep me away. I never really started going there while at FFIC until I moved further away and was eating out more rather than taking lunch. Ok so what else? The people are great. There are about 13 of us that will be working together. They are all really friendly and outgoing and helpful. The 2 guys that sit close to me are well uh.... loud. They are on the phone all the time since they are recruiters. The one on the other side of the cubicle from me is a big guy. He is like my friend at FFIC, Rosanne. He is always shaking, like a habit and I can feel it. Ok now the little office info: Well there are about 13 people there all the time and another 6 that come and go. (They work remote and do sales or something) This office has a little break room. The breakroom has no vending machines and is my worst nightmare. The office manager chick keeps this refridgerator stocked with Pepsi and diet, Coke and diet, diet ginger ale, Lipton brisk tea in a can, Arizona teas (those huge cans), snapples, regulars and diets, V-8 and v-8 fruit juice (or something) orange juice and bottled water. I might have missed something. Then there is a water cooler with hot and cold water. Ok now if i turn around in the little break room there are cupboards and it is like a kitchen with a microwave, sink and dishwasher and cupboards. IN the cupboard is: utensils, excederin and tylenol, lipton cup of soup packets (3 flavors) top ramen and cup of noodles and the typical coffee supplies for the coffee machine and stuff. Probably more and I forgot. ON the counter is tea varieties, splenda, equal, sugar, hot cocoa and all that stuff. Then the other end of the counter the evil woman has 3 jars, one with the bags of dried fruits you get at costco, one with pistachios (I can eat that) and one with mini snickers, and little hershey bars. Then there is also this freaking m&m dispenser. OK then there is 2 tables, one has little bags of Doritos and Sunchips and Cheetos and all these chips. The other has mini reeses peanut butter cups and packets of famous amos cookies and snackwell cookies and Grandmas brand cookies and something else (I forget what) Now, this is all just kept stocked and she tells me, just let her know what I need and she will get it. She is planning on starting to stock fresh fruit, thankfully. Good lord and I thought I wont eat?? So far I have done good and not really touched anything, just the pistachios and a few m&m's and I do mean a few. But HOly Crap! So the office is well stocked. The people are great and it is pretty relaxed in terms of hours and anything. I think it may be good in terms of all that. Now I just need to get more introduced into the job.
I am sure there is more I can tell you but not sure what would make sense. I guess I will report more as it happens. I am looking forward to seeing what the job is like and get started. I will keep you updated.