Monday, September 22, 2008

Not a bad way to spend a birthday if I do say so myself.

There was no cake, no presents to unwrap or silly party games to play, but I have to admit I had a pretty dang good birthday today. I got a whole lot of love today via phone calls, texts, emails, cyber birthday cards, postings to my facebook wall even a call from my sister!!!

Here's how the day unfolded...just FYI I took the day off from work

I got up at 7:30AM and was at the gym for 8:30AM Yoga and 9:30AM Group Power (a weight lifting class) Remember I said I would start getting fitter, well today was the first day of the rest of my life.

Then 11AM I had splurged on a full body massage which left me a big old jellyfish mess.

By 12:30PM I was home eating a big salad and watching the movie "Closer"

Messed around on the computer and started painting the guest bedroom then it was on to:
7 PM Tap Class
8 PM Modern Dance

So now it's 10:20pm and in an hour or so my very special day will be over. It was a very full productive day of my choosing and although it might not sound like it was great without all the normal birthday hoopla it was........

.......and then the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae was THIS.

My birthday is now complete.

Oh Snap! It's my birthday!



It's MY birthday
We gon' party like it's MY birthday
We gon' sip Bacardi like it's MY birthday
And you know I don't give a #$%@&

cause it's not your birthday!


40 years later and I'm still just a big kid

and lest we forget that fabulous couple on which today is their 46th wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
I'm sure, over the years, you might have wondered if perhaps the hospital had pulled the old switcharoonie and mixed up the baby bracelets and contrary to my sister trying to convince me that I was adopted, I'm pretty sure I'm the fruit of your loins and for that I am eternally grateful.
I love you both very much

9/22/1967

Sunday, September 21, 2008

1 Day till "D" Day!

ONE day till my birthday and I always feel kinda weird when my birthday arrives. I don't know whether to shout it from the mountain top or just sit back and hope folks remember because secretly, I want people to acknowledge my birthday. To me......IT'S. THE. BEST. DAY. EVAH! There is no other day on the Julian/Roman/Gregorian/Farmer's Almanac calendar better than September 22. Not to mention that it's also my parent's wedding anniversary (46 years this year!) which always made it feel even more special. I'm sure my Dad, being an engineer, planned it that way. What better anniversary gift is there than to give your wife a bundle of joy. ME! I think it's even listed that way under traditional wedding anniversary gifts.
Year 1: Paper
Year 2: Cotton
Year 3: Leather
Year 4:Fruit and Flowers
Year 5: Baby?!?!?!?

So as I am about to embark upon my 41st year on this earth, I start to think about all those things I've accomplished and hope to accomplish. My birthday is like New Years. I start thinking about resolutions. I remember when I hit 30 and decided I better start getting into better shape so that when I hit 40 I'd be fit and fabulous. Well that lasted all of maybe a week (oh I'm fabulous alright, but not quite as fit as I'd like) and then all of a sudden 40 was approaching and I decided that life was getting too short and I would now throw caution to the wind. I won't go into detail about what that entailed but I also decided to travel more and go to Africa. Well, that didn't happen...yet. Oh sure I travel alot, but not to all those "Wonderful Fabulous places I'm longing to see." Now my work schedule severely impacts my travel time frames. I can't just say to my boss, "I'm taking 3 weeks off in October to climb Mount Everest" because I'd get "um, that's the middle of football season, we cannot afford to have you gone during that time" What Ev.

So this year, because I feel I need to take charge of my life and be master of my destiny, I'm going to:
1. Plan that trip to Africa and other far flung places, and if I am met with resistance, well than, so be it. They will need to work around it or fire me. Work-Life balance blah blah blah
2. Get fit...or fitter....I have the gym membership, it's just fallen by the wayside because I always seem to talk myself out of going.....NO MORE I tell you!
3. I already started taking tap classes which was something I always wanted to do ever since I was a wee girl watching all those Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly flix. This ties in with getting "fitter" because my legs sure do ache the day after...
4. Start taking photography classes. I'm always taking pics and trying to be arty, so it's about time I actually started understanding concept and composition, plus my dad gave me his old Kodak Retina IIIc which he bought in Okinawa back in 1958. I don't know if it even works anymore but I have this romantic notion that I'll figure out how to work this camera and it'll produce some amazing Ansel Adams/Cecil Beaton photos.
Side story: Dad says he really wanted this camera because it was top of the line in 1957, BUT it was like $190 in the US and since he heard things were cheaper in Japan he waited till he got over there and found it for about $90! Of course as an Army private he was only making $70/month! I always loved this camera, probably because it looked so complicated and I thought my Dad so smart that he knew how to use all those dials and filters etc. He always had slides made of his shots and I loved getting the slides out and the little viewer thing, sitting and looking at his pics of his tour of duty in Japan. I really need to get those slides and a slide scanner and burn them all to a CD because right now they are sitting gathering dust at my parents house. So let's make that
5. Convert dad's slides and get him to describe what's in said slides. Dad, looks like we have a Christmas vacation project this year!!! ;-)
6. BIG GOAL. Keep my big mouth shut...I've said it before that I'm a bit too blunt and honest and I think the older I get, the worse it gets. I just need to learn when to shut the heck up sometimes! So if you're around me and see me getting over zealous, I empower you all to tell me to shut up!

Ok I think that's a good amount to work with this year. If you read this blog and know me and see me on a regular basis, please feel free to keep after me about these as I have the amazing ability to veer off track alot ;-)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Facing Up 2 Facebook

Like I really need another addiction. Is this blog not enough? Plus I have a MySpace page too. But noooooooooooooo.....now I'm all about Facebook. I blame my pal, Dejie, for making me sign up. She was all about playing Scrabulous and I thought, what the heck I'll give it the old college try...but I didn't give it my 100% and with only 1 friend what was the point? So I ignored it. Then because I'm also on Plaxo and Linked In (2 so-called business networking sites) my other pal, Stacia said "oh no, Facebook is soooooo much better than those 2"

Really???

Well she was so right. Once I gave it my full attention I totally GET what people are talking about. It's another way to be totally selfish and create something that's all about ME! Like this blog. ;-)

I've re-connected with old friends and many of my favorite relatives. I even found my nephew on it and while I wasn't sure if it was him because he has a very "normal" last name, one call to my sister confirmed it. He has a picture of some horror movie creature as his profile pic and when I saw it I sent a message saying "Is this my nephew? because if it is, you look just like your mom!" LOL Can't you feel the sisterly love?

I have 14+ relatives (mostly cousins) that I am linked to in the "We're Related" application. This is a pretty cool app if only because hopefully those far flung relatives will look at it and maybe start talking to ones they never knew existed. Plus I can see pics that they post of their kiddos and such that I wouldn't normally get to see.

Of course, once again, one must be careful on Facebook because it seems like some folks are addicted to collecting as many friends as possible and personally I'm only adding people I "really" know and/or whom I want to know better. I know there's alot of my current co-workers on it but never in a million years would I add them because all I need is for them to take offense at something I post (they already take offense by my brutal honesty and off beat humor) plus, I'm not really friends with them. Just because I work with you doesn't mean you are part of my inner social circle. Know what I mean? This doesn't mean I don't like you as a person, I just don't want you knowing my personal biz-ness.

Here's a great example. Someone that I went to high school with found me and asked to be my friend. Well, this chick was a year in front of me in HS and we were never friends. I think we might have been in band together (yes, I was in the flag corps) but considering she was never part of my inner circle/clique, not to mention I haven't had any contact with her since 1984... I hit IGNORE. Thankfully IGNORE doesn't send them an email telling them I ignored them. It's almost like the "fade away", that thing you do when someone likes you more than you like them so you just stop talking to them and taking their calls in the hope that they'll get the message and "fade away" instead of course, just telling them, "dude, seriously, there is no, nor will there ever be "us", so please quit trying" Personally I think most people just send out those "add as friends" willy nilly and since you can't really track whom you sent a friend request to (at least I'm pretty sure you can't) I don't think I'm offending anyone...........yet. ;-)

So now I find myself checking Facebook daily, updating my status at least twice a day, Super Pokin' people, sending Flair and taking asinine quizzes to see if my friends have the same movie/music/IQ/Broadway musical/Sex and the City character attributes as I.

And it doesn't stop there.

Irving and Hannah have their own Cat Book pages and their own set of kitty friends they are linked too. If that's not cute I don't know what is!!!

So, have I convinced you to sign up? What's the worst thing that could happen?

oh yeah, I could IGNORE you ;-)

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Big Birds. We ain't talkin Sesame Street

I am a week late getting this post out...no excuse, just lacking the quality time to sit down and actually write something intelligent. LAST Sunday 9/8, Carrie and I took advantage of the Cultural Free For All and went and visited the Carolina Raptor Center. Now I must admit, the Raptor Center is one of those places that you see a sign for on the highway and you tell yourself "Someday I'm gonna go check that place out." Regretfully I said that about alot of things during my 10 years in the ATL but I still never made it to the Martin Luther King Center or the Jimmy Carter Library among other places. Not any more!!!! I vow to explore my new city (2+ years and counting) and see all the wonderful things it has to offer.

Basically, the Raptor Center is where they take wounded raptors (eagles, vultures, hawks etc) and they rehabilitate them. Some birds are able to go back in the wild, others not so lucky, except for the fact that they get to live in a safe haven for the rest of their lives.

Here's some pics I took on our visit


Mr Turkey Buzzard
God Bless America - they had 3 bald eagles on site
Mr. Sleepy Barn Owl
(some of the pics I had to to take through a screen so that's why they might look a bit funky as my camera couldn't decide whether to focus on the bird or the screen sometimes)
a high speed collision with a window? OUCH!

This is one of my favorite pics. I forget what kind of bird this is but the fact that the background got all shadowy and how the yellow of his beak stands out..WOW!...I add birds to my list of things one can take pics of and really never have a bad picture. Of course it helps when they are chained to a post too.
Mr. Hoot Owl. How cute is he? Look at that punim!!
Amazingly alot of these birds came to the center after being shot at. Stupid rednecks!.

I love this gory mess and wish I could have gotten a better pic. Someone has himself some good eatin today!

So as Carrie and I are walking around, this man shows up holding an Great Horned Owl. He made us guess its weight and dummy me said 40 pounds when actually it weighs closer to 6 ounces!!! But this owl was massive!

look at those talonsAnother fav pic. I took this at the highest resoultion so that when you zoom in you can see the small hairs around his eyes. I love that his little beak is open and I'm sure he would just love to peck my eyes out for taking his pic. Thank goodness for 12x zooms.

Monday, September 8, 2008

"God I'm a Dancer, A Dancer Dances"

OMG. I have found my new passion.....tap dancing. Went to my first class tonight. LOVE. IT. CAN'T. GET. ENUF. OF. IT. Just bought me-self a pair of tap shoes online. So I'm investing in it. That should prove that I'm in whole hog. The classes are given by the North Carolina Dance Theatre so it's legit. No cheesy Fred Astaire Dance Studios.

There were only 2 of us in the class, so there's more personal attention and I struggled alot because tap dancing is hard. You have to shift your weight around while flicking your foot/leg. I can't wait to try it with real shoes. Tapping in your socks sux!! Not to mention it hurts your toes after awhile from flicking your foot on the floor.

I tried the modern dance class too that came after tap but I don't really think I was meant to be an interpretive dancer. I liked all the stretching that we did at the beginning of the class but then we were prancing across the floor and trying to do these spin things that I just could not get my feet to accept....I'm sure the other folks in the class found me very amusing.

I may even try beginning ballet tomorrow...just to see. I'm not graceful at all but I'm no clutz either. The classes are a mere $12. So it's not going to break the bank plus in a couple of weeks they are offering all the classes free for a week, as part of the Cultural Free For All during the month of September so I might just try more..Maybe the hip hop class (that should be REALLY amusing with me attempting hip hop) or the Jazz class. Lots to choose from and we love FREE.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

3AM comes too early

Why do I do this to myself? 6AM flights out?
Pros:
1. Get to my destination earlier
2. Guaranteed that the plane will leave on time because chances are, it's been sitting at the airport over night
3. Pretty much guaranteed an upgrade to first because who else is stupid enuf to take a 6AM? Certainly not Joe Businessman...he's much too important for that
4. No traffic getting to the airport (a bonus today since I'm in Los Angeles
5.Shorter security lines

The only cons are
1. Starbucks ain't open this early
2. I'm stinkin tired!

So I'm headed back home and have the weekend free woo hoo..

Sent via my tilt..so don't expect shakespeare

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Disney 2 Disney...2 parks...2 coasts..one weekend

Labor day weekend was a weekend of not only football but I was actually able to hit Disney World AND Disneyland. Thank you Orville and Wilbur Wright.
I flew to Cali on Monday and met up with my pals from Mira Mobile...Todd, whom I had just spent time with in Portland, and Josh.....and we headed to the Magic Kingdom. As many of you know, I absolutely refuse to do rides that drop so Todd and Josh did California Screamin


and Tower of Terror


Now I believe I mentioned before (for those of you that have been reading since I started this blog) that I'm a bit competitive and I like to talk alot of smack when I'm in the heat of the moment..especially when I'm wuppin some arse. So of course we had to go on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster ride, where you have a laser gun and you shoot targets for points.

My Todd, aren't you looking rather confident!


Gangsta Josh ready to pop a cap in some alien arse
We ended up going on it 3 TIMES because I .................

well................

underperformed.....................

miserably.

I won't bore you with ALL the pics...but both Todd AND Josh delivered the smackdown on me!!

Josh


Todd

Me :(

Now, if we had been able to get into the new Midway Mania ride (the line was too long) where I had a super high score back in July...I am SURE I would have been able to outscore those mean old boys!

Monday, September 1, 2008

My sincerest apologies

I seem to always send a rant blog when I'm traveling. It's getting old I know...welcome to my world. Thus is the life of a business traveler. It's the minutiae that drives us crazy. I really am a nice person and usually extremely tolerant of my fellow man....

So apologies aside...let's catch you up on the last 2 days. I just had my first football game in Orlando and it was fraught with challenges. I won't go into detail but I'm glad it's over. Sunday night we got done around 7:30PM and my Assistant/friend, Erin, and I decided, in a radically spontaneous move, that we needed to try and go to Epcot which closed at 9PM! Now Erin has never been to Epcot so, we drove like banshees to Epcot and literally ran from the parking lot into the park so that she could have but one small sliver of Disney fun before we left. (yes, I get in the parks for free because I technically work for the mouse so just going to the park for an hour is no problemo). So we ran (literally and I'm 40 and not a runner by trade) through the park and were able to go on one ride..Maelstrom, the silly little viking/troll ride in Norway.

This is where the series of VERY bad pictures come in as we were tired, sweaty and extremely loopy when these were taken...but we were bound and determined to have some fun.

In an effort to expand our horizons and knowledge of the world.......
A Norwegian Doh! Sorry Erin...accidental discharge of the camera here.
Oh there she is!!

TROLLS! taken during the ride for which a voice came over the PA telling us "PLEASE no flash photography"...busted!!!
Beerage from the land of Italy as the German beer stand ran out of lager when we got to the front...what the?

The proof we were at EpcotWe even got to see the fireworksWe look tired but happy, don't we? So that catches us up to Monday where I had that rant about security........

almost caught up

Wake Up America!

If you are in the security line at the airport and you lay your crap on the line to send it thru the xray machine PLEASE I implore u...give it a shove to start it on it's merry radioactive way instead of going thru the metal detector thinking the guy behind you just might be smarter than your average bear...because he's NOT..he's gonna stand there wondering what the hold up is and then some super intelligent hot chick (who hasn't had her coffee and a mere 2 hours of sleep) behind knucklehead will have to yell...um suggest strongly..."dude! Could you maybe give your crap a shove so we can get this show on the road?"

AND while we're waxing poetically this morning...what's with this dude in the seat in front of me who sits down and first thing he does is lean his seat back..making it difficult for me to get in my seat!?!?

Oh stewardess....umm...flight attendant extraordinaire...fix me a highball I want to get good and tight.

Sent via my tilt..so don't expect shakespeare