10 Things To Take

And...10 things you can't live without when traveling the world:
1. Head lamp -- great for reading, playing cards or finding the bathroom in the dark. A must!

2. That tiny sleeping bag I mentioned earlier....OR a sleep sac. Puts a layer between you and god knows what in hostels and you can use it to keep warm on over air-condidtioned busses. And MAN they over-aircondidtion them, especially when its hot outside.

3. Malaria Pills - I went to the "infectious diseases" Dr today and got an Rx.

4. Sarong -- can be used as a head scarf, blanket, pillow, towel or coverup. In Muslum countries or the Vatican, can be tranformed into a beautiful skirt which you can promptly remove as soon as you leave.

5. Speaking of towels, a travel towel (drys in seconds, wicks moisture like no other) is another great thing to have. Unless you are my friend S, and you accidentally buy the wash cloth size which barely covers your XX and definitely does not dry more than your baby finger.

6. Books. Here is the connundrum. I read. A lot! But books are HEAVY. See, all of a sudden things are put in order of importance by weight. And book are important to me, but whewwwie! So, after doing the inverse relationship calculation, I usually decide to take 2 or sometimes 3 books, and trade them any time I get the chance. But --- sometimes you carry around already read books but never find a place to swap them. They are like gold, like currency, so you CAN'T just dump them somewhere or you won't be able to "pay" for another one.

7. Power bars. You never know when you are going to be stuck on a bus, on a plane, in the desert or in a place where the food looks like innards mixed with blood. OR the food IS innards mixed with blood.

8. Those straps I mentioned below in #6.  You can lash all kinds of things to the outside of your pack.

9. My pack. If you look at this and think WHY would you spend that much money on a BACKPACK, rest assured. You wouldn't. I got the 4 years ago version of this pack for about $150. And it's worth it. REI has a lifetime garantee.

10. A travel partner. I often travel alone, but this time I have a buddy. Yay! I wonder how long it will take before we kill each other and leave the bloody carcass in the Sahara. I give it...24 days. (wink, wink -- he doesn't read this blog, but I will make fun of him anyway and send links for it to his family so they can join in the fun).

More later. Excitement reigns supreme.

Oh and PS: I am NOT taking the big camera....too heavy, too precious!! My "little camera" ( the P&S) will be my travel buddy!

Things to Do: 10 at a Time

Okay, so I am NOT complaining, but I have so much to do! I am very excited to announce that I am quitting my job and traveling the world...The "Travel Spot" blog WILL talk about it's intended subject once again.

Here are 10 of the items on my neverending, alwasys getting longer, "to do list".

1. Get visas -- countries requiring visas BEFORE leaving the US: India, China, Vietnam (this one can actually be acquired abroad, but it takes a few days. Better to do it now) -- countries requiring visas upon entry: Indonesia, Egypt

2. Buy a new sleeping bag. Seems silly, but my existing one weight about 8 pounds, which is a lot when you are carrying it on your back. Did I mention I was going to carry around a 40-50 lb pack. Well I am. And the old sleeping bag is bulky, so I don't know if anyone has seen the new ones...but they are tiny. And light. Sweet. Something like this would be great. But CRAP, they are EXPENSIVE. Maybe I will carry the 8 lbs afterall.

3. Make packing list. (check)

4. Revise packing list (check)

5. Take everything out of camping/hiking box. Try to fit it into backpack. Take it all out again. Put half of the stuff back. Try to fit it again. Decide to strap 8 lb sleeping bag and half of clothes to outside of bag.

6. Go to REI. Buy more straps for outside of bag.

7. Buy flights within Europe

8. Make budget (ouch)

9. Quit my job (check! last day May 12)

10. Study Lonely Planet like there is no tomorrow.

Felicitaciones!

My best friend got married this weekend! She looked beautiful and I am very excited to have a new best friend in her new husband. Oh, did I mention they are pregnant and have not lived together yet??!!! They are crazy!

The wedding was pretty funny. I know, that doesn't seem like a very nice thing to say. First, K forgot her bouquet. Her mom ran up to her to tell her and everyone was laughing...So then they started the whole thing over again (it was only about 1 minute in, but funny all the same). Then, she had her bearded dragon as the ring bearer. Next, when she went to take the rings off the ring bearer, she dropped them. There were many laughs and lots of funny times.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of one of my favorite girls and her special day! I will add more later to my flickr with bloopers included. You can see a couple more on my other site -- here and here.

A being silly before the wedding.

 K's Candy Bar

Putting on the rings.

The Happy Couple.

I just want to say Congratulations to both of them! It was a great day and a beautiful wedding!

Follow the Leader

So, it's kind of funny because on one of the blogs I follow, Jess mentioned that her sister just became a follower of hers (I will explain more later). In her post, she asks if her sister knew about "following" and didn't do it on purpose, or if she had just found out about it. I had been thinking about doing a post about following a few days ago, so it was funny that she has some of the same questions as I do.

I always wonder if people are reading what I am writing. I assume not, and am okay with that. I mean, I just like to write, to get my memories and thoughts down before I forget them and to keep kind of a journal/log of my travels. Sometimes I have an opinion and rather than make everyone at work listen to me, I put it on here and you can read it if you are so inclined. But I still wonder -- are you inclined?

I really have no way of knowing who is reading...like I said, I assume not a lot are. Until I go to visit my best friend and her mom says, "So, how was San Diego?" and I think, "how in holy hell does SHE know I went to San Diego?" Well, I did post it and apparently she DID read it! And that makes me feel good. Even if I am not completely sure she or other people are reading, I sometimes get a little boost from time to time.

In case you are like Jess' scenario A and you just don't know what the possibilities are, I am going to tell you a few. You can go to http://www.reader.google.com/ and then enter in the sites you like. The reader will keep them all for you and tell you when a new post has been posted on your favorite sites. You can also link to your reader by just clicking "follow" -- on my site its on the left. See those 4 people there...oh and one of them is me; I don't know how that happened! Oops. I guess I felt sorry for myself.

Another option is if you look at the top of this page it says "follow" "share" "report abuse". You can click any of those. If you click follow, again, that too will take you to your Reader (no Mom, not "take me to your leader"). You don't have to use Reader, but I am hooked on google -- this blog is owned by them and it all just links together so well. All you have to do now is check your Reader from time to time and it will tell you who has posted new posts since your last visit.

You don't have to follow; you can also subscribe. This also uses Reader (for me -- you can use any other feed reader). Just click the link at the very bottom of this page. It says "subscribe to: posts (atom)".

You can also forgo all that and just leave nasty comments on the posts. At the bottom of each post is a link that says "0 Comments". If you click on that, you can tell me to shut up or leave me a note if I need to pick up bread from the store tonight.

So, you still don't have to read anything, follow anything or comment on anything, but now you if for some reason you wanted to, you know how.

PS This is my 200th post. Stats: Started in April (ish) 2006, 4 years, approx 50 a year, approx 1 a week. If you haven't read any of them, you have saved approximately 5 minutes a week of your time, or 1000 minutes in the last 4 years.

Image taken from: Boldt (found using google images -- see, it's like a cult)

Awesome Dude!

This guy is an awesome photographer. His name is Clark Little and he shoots in Hawaii. You can see more of his stuff here. This is one of my favorites. I love turtles.

Randoms

I was driving to work today and every lane was going the same speed. Three lanes, all going 58 MPH. I hate that. And there were miles of empty highway in front of them. I just couldn't get to it. I think getting over to the proper lane so people wanting to go faster than you CAN is not only a rule but a simple courtesy. I finally  passed the guy who had been camping in the left lane (I had to pass him on the right) and I tried to give him a really dirty look but he wouldn't look my way.

Yesterday I went into the lunch room to get a cup of coffee. There are three pots. All of them had about a millimeter of coffee in them. All three pots were on. The lunchroom smelled like burnt tar. I eeeked out about 2 inches of coffee into my cup and made three new pots of coffee. I went back a half an hour later. All pots were back to the millimeter point. I think there are about 4 people who make coffee and 400 people who drink it. I am going to sit in the lunch room and give people dirty looks if they don't make coffee when it's getting low.

My best friend is having a baby. Its a girl!! (yay!) That doesn't seem weird to you, but I still see her at 17, wearing converse and sneaking off to the river at night after her mom told us not to. She's going to be a great mom. I am totally going to go see her and spoil her daughter. I mean, isn't that what Aunties are for?

I think the IT department at work is reading everything I am writing...Hi guys!!! I wonder if they purposefully look at certain people's computers becuase they are more entertaining. If that's the case, I should be safe. I saw a guy looking at porn at work once. I mean, he couldn't wait until he got home? A little creepy if you ask me. Okay, a lot creepy.

When I sent out my Christmas cards last year, I sent them to people in 24 states and five countries. I think that is cool. Not cool like "look at me, I am cool" but just fun! I hope to someday sent one to someone in every state. I better get a move on. I need to meet some people from Alaska. Here are the states I have. AL, AR, AZ, CA, FL, IA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, MN, MT, NC, NJ, NV, NY, RI, SD, TX, VA, WA, WV. Where are you from? Is your state missing? Do you want a Christmas card?

So, do you have any driving pet peeves? Work pet peeves? Do you write Christmas cards to more that 24 states? Lets hear it.

Coffee-Pot Cookin'

I thought I was the only one that did this until I was talking with a co-worker about nifty ways to have coffee while you hike and camp. He mentioned an article he read about “100 things you can make with a coffee maker” (I googled it, but didn’t find anything). Then I told him (a bit hesitantly, I mean, how old am I?) that sometimes I make top ramen in my hotel coffee maker. He counter-responded with this website about “How to Cook Food in a Hotel Room”. Then I told him about this article I had just read about a guy who got laid off a year ago and has been living on his hotel points.

I guess what I am trying to say is….maybe all this traveling for work isn’t so bad after all. First, you cook eggs on your iron in your hotel, therefore gaining valuable hotel points. If you get laid off, you can use them to live. And you can always take these tips and use them at home once you get back on your feet.

All kidding aside, it is hard to try and save money when you are on the road. It’s hard to save money, it’s hard to eat right, and it’s hard to make time to exercise. I have eaten more Top Ramen, carrots with hummus (substitute for salad) and Lean Cuisines in the last few years than I did in the entire quarter century before that. These are not exactly the healthiest foods. However, you do what you can with a microwave and a mini-fridge, IF you are lucky enough to even have those. Otherwise, you eat coffee-pot Top Ramen.

Having said that, I am totally a point whore (excuse my mouth, Mom). If there is a promotion for extra points at a certain chain, I will go there. If it means checking in and out every couple of days, I will do that. If becoming a “frequent flyer” (Platinum, in hotel speak) means getting a free breakfast and/or happy hour, I will stay at a hotel for 75 nights so I can get a 4 dollar “free” breakfast. It may seem silly, but it pays off. I used my hotel points to fly first class to the Philippines four years ago. When I was in South America, it was a treat to stay in a nice hotel (for free) after staying in dingy hostels the rest of the time. The benefits are great, even if the getting there is hard sometimes.

I guess the bottom line is: coffee pot ramen is really not that bad.

photo: taken with my iPhone: Mama P and the Coffee Pot Ramen (May 2009)

Photos -- On the Map!

Hey, I got a couple of my flickr photos on a website with attractions in San Francisco! Deeee-lighted!

Subject: Schmap San Francisco Tenth Edition: Photo Inclusion

Date: 5th March, 2010

Hi Kyria,

I am delighted to let you know that your two submitted photos have been selected for inclusion in the newly released tenth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide:

Baker Beach

Fort Miley Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Adventures In Miniature

I have taken a couple of weekend trips over the last few months and I finally got some of the photos online. Here are the links below:

San Diego for a nice bike ride and some beach walking.
Massachusetts here and here. Boats and Farms oh my!
Montreal (Oh, Canada!)
Maine for some more coast, boats and lighthouses.
Home for some gardening with Mom and Dad.
Pacific Coast, CA for some gorgeous views, cliffs and the Mighty Pacific!

And I posted this below already...but I took a drive around the 9th ward and here are a few more photos of that.

Reading Is Cool

I am always looking for new books to read and I stumbled over this site - The Busy Bookworm. I am going to attempt to read her suggestions this year. (I have already read Her Fearful Symmetry, but I think the rest are new for me). I also have a book club in New Olreans that I have been to a couple of times, and usually keep up with the reading. The next few months worth of books for that are:

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (March -- I am already late)

Nine Lives: Death and Life In New Orleans (see review in post below)

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown


The Busy Bookworm reading list:

To Be Read:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The Leaf by Jo-Ann M. Rodriguez

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on any of these books? Or do you have any other suggestions of what to read? I am always looking out for a good book!
 
Currently Reading:

Honestly, I swear.

The idea behind this honesty scrap is that you say 10 things that your readers may not know about you. Then you tag 10 of them (the ones you like and want to know more about!) and they do the same. Jess awarded me with this one.


To be honest (ha.ha. get it?), you could probably learn MOST of these things if you read all of the below blog posts, but since there are hundreds of them, and you are all very busy people, who has time for that? I will summarize so as not to bore everyone TOO much. Also, for those of you just visiting this blog for the first time (WELCOME!), I have to apologize in advance – I used to keep it up pretty regularly. I was passionate about things; I had adventures to share. However, with the picture-taking, work, travel, working out, sleeping and most importantly, eating, I have been totally slacking! I am ashamed. Whatever. On to the honesty part.

1. I grew up in a small town in Northern California. 5000 people total. My graduating class was about 90 people. Everyone knows everyone and don’t you dare do a Chinese Fire Drill on Main Street because your mom will know in about 3.4 seconds and you will be in trouble before you even get home.

2. In High School, I was on the ski team. A) Yes, I said a ski team B) Yes, we DO get snow in California. My favorite was the GS (the long fast course). I hated doing the slalom. Before every race, I would get butterflies and the whole time going down I just wanted it to be over with. I don’t really like moguls either.

3. I am homeless. Not in the hippy-panhandling-on-the-streets-of-Berkeley kind of way. In fact, for a homeless person, I really can’t complain too much. I travel for work anywhere from 300-342 days a year and when I am not traveling for work, I don’t have a job. This means I live out of a hotel when I am traveling and I sleep in my Mom and Dad’s guestroom when I am not. I did the math and there is no use paying a mortgage when I am only home a few days a year. Thanks to Mom and Dad’s Guesthouse, I am saving money to buy my dream home. I am doing it very slowly though. That brings me to number 4.

4. I spend pretty much all my money on travel. Not the 342 days a year of work travel, but fun travel. I work to travel. Will work for vacation. And all that jazz. When I am not working and sleeping at M&D’s Guesthouse, I am staying in hostels and seeing the world. I love it. I may never buy a dream house because I am living my dream right now.

5. Right now I am working in New Orleans, and have been on and off for about four and a half years. I still don’t consider it home. My “home” is San Francisco.

6. I have one brother; he works at a winery in Sonoma County, CA. All I can say about that is: free booze. I want to say for the record that I love him very much. Just saying.

7. I am in my 30s and I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. If I could be Samantha Brown or Anthony Bordain, I think I would be pretty happy. Anything that combines eating, traveling, taking pictures and writing would be nice. Dream on, right? Until I find a job like that, I will sit in an office, gaining weight and pushing papers. Hey, it allows me to travel. I am not knocking it.

8. Random Fact: EXACTLY two years ago, I was in the EXACT place in Chile where the earthquake hit. If it happened on this day in 2008, I may have been in trouble. Interestingly enough, I was also in Thailand EXACTLY a year before the Tsunami hit the place where I had been.

9. I am hoping to go to South Africa for the World Cup. Not to actually go to any games (they are thousands of dollars a ticket) but just to be there, in the hype. And of course I want to see some lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

10. I have hiked the tallest mountain in the continental US. I was 16 and I hated it until I got to the top and realized what a cool thing I was doing. If I ever have kids, I will probably make them do it too.

Now, lets hear what are your 10 things we don’t know about you?

Lucy
Becky
KOS
M. Hassan

There are many more people I would love to know more about (and some that already got this award...so I will leave them out, but love their blogs) but it is getting late and I am tired and I have not even posted my picture of the day yet! Keep up the good work people!

Come Back

I took a photo drive around the 9th ward the other day. I know most people think that New Orleans is "back to normal", but it is not. Sometimes it is things such as the fact that many schools are not up and running, nor will they ever be, at least not in the same way they were before. Sometimes you still see trailers, sometimes roads are closed. And...the fate of the 9th ward is still up in the air. Brad Pitt is there with his green architects, building houses that look like they belong in a different city. But that is not what I am talking about.

Some people have renovated, if their house was still standing. Some houses have been torn down and only the slabs remain. And many are still standing, empty and sad. Here is a photo collage of some of them.

Here is one of the Pitt Green Houses.

Do you think New Orleans will come back? Will it be better than before or will it have lost something along the way? Do you think the 9th ward will come back?

February Book Club

Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans. This book is actually for the April book club meeting, but it was available in the library first, so, I got into it early. Dan Baum writes about life in New Orleans, from the 60s on to today, from the perspective of nine different people. I really enjoyed it. You get a glimpse into what it was like living in the 9th ward, the Garden District and New Orleans in general. This city has a lot of history and Dan Baum tells it in a fun and interesting way. Also, since I am here because of Katrina and each character tells their story of that day, of that time, I get a little more insight into how it would have been to have to live through that disaster.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars. A good read.

King Cake

It's Mardi Gras time again and the king cake is flowing! If you don't
know, there is a plastic baby inside and whover gets the baby has to
buy the next king cake! Fun times had by all!

365 Day Project

As I mentioned before, Lucy posted a blog regarding the Shutter Sisters and their One Word Project. They also do another project, which is to post a photo a day for 365 days. I went searching, and many people are doing this. And I like it! So...even though there may be weeks where I am away from the computer and may have to do a few in a bunch, I think most of the time I can keep up with this. And I like to take pictures and always need more experience doing so. So, Lucy, sorry to copy you with this one, but it's such a fun thing!

Please check it out: My Eye on Things - A 365 day view on things, one day at a time.

I Need a Distraction

Word Play - First Word: Bored (donated by Ruth)

Bored: (wikipedia definition: Boredom is an emotional state experienced during periods lacking activity or when individuals are uninterested in the opportunities surrounding them. The first record of the word boredom is in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens, written in 1852,[1] in which it appears six times, although the expression to be a bore had been used in the sense of "to be tiresome or dull" since 1768.[2] )

I decided to make bored my first word, since part of the reason I am doing this project at all probably has something to do with boredom. Not that I am experiencing a “period lacking activity” nor am I “uninterested in the opportunities surrounding” me, but more that I am looking for something new to try. So, does that mean I AM “uninterested in the opportunities surrounding” me? Or am I just unaware of them? It could be that I am interested in ALL the activities surrounding me. It seems like the opportunities surrounding each of us are infinite; we only have to find them and attempt them. This project is an “opportunity surrounding me”. I just didn’t know it until I went looking for it.

The antonyms of boredom are “excitement, diversion and amusement” (from Dictionary.com). We each seek out these things. However, my idea of excitement, diversion and amusement are different from many people’s ideas of the same. I am diverted by reading a book. Many people may say THAT is “boring”. I am excited by The Discovery Channel’s “Planet Earth”. Many would find that “tiresome or dull”. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and one woman’s boredom is another’s amusement.

I think these days, people become bored more easily than before. We have surrounded ourselves with so called “excitement, diversion and amusement”, namely through the internet, computer and television, that when we have an absence of these things, we are “bored”. Since when is riding a bike, playing a game, talking with your grandmother, eating, cooking or reading boring?

I am at a place where I am not sure where I am going or where I am trying to go with my life. I want to eventually find something to do that I love, but I am not sure what it is so I am on a continuous search for something “exciting” and lasting. I don’t consider myself bored. Confused maybe. Unsure. Hopeful. And distracted. We just moved to a new office where instead of a cubicle with high walls, we have an open room with low tables and even lower partitions. You can sit at your desk and see each and every person that walks by. Every time someone goes by, I catch a movement in the corner (or middle) of my eye and I have to look up to see what it is. Then I look back down to my work and I can’t remember what I was doing before. So I move onto something else.

The same thing happens with the internet. We are getting used to distracting ourselves with endless information, each thing segueing into the next (cooler) thing, that we never really finish doing any one thing completely. And this is why, when we take ourselves away from the internet, we get “bored”. Our synapses have stopped rapidly firing. Our eyes have to focus on one thing only. We have to wait for satisfaction. Boooooring, right?

Maybe I have been watching too much Julie and Julia (both of them are looking for something to do to combat boredom in their lives and turn to cooking, blogging and writing a cookbook). Is it in our natures to be unsatisfied (or as wiki says, “uninterested”)? We are always looking for more money, a better job, a cuter hairstyle or something more “exciting”. Will we ever stop and say, “That’s enough; I am satisfied now”? Or is our thirst for amusement what keeps everything in the world moving forward, what keeps us striving for knowledge, for love, for happiness and for life?

Maybe we will never cease to be bored. And now that you mention it, I wonder, is that really such a bad thing after all?

Note to readers: The words “bored, boring and boredom” were used 16 times in this document.

January Self Imposed Read

If you haven’t already read it, read The Time Travelers Wife, also by Audrey Niffenegger. I read it and loved it, which is the reason I decided to read her most recent book, Her Fearful Symmetry. This book is set in London and is about a ghost in a flat near Highgate Cemetery. It is a pretty fast read, interesting enough, but without the pizzazz that The Time Travelers Wife had. When I read The Time Travelers Wife, I couldn’t put it down. I was at my parent’s house for Christmas and I was sleeping in an unheated room in the winter time and I still would lie in bed with my arms and head exposed and freezing cold, reading it until the wee hours of the night. This book is good, but not that good!

I also read Julie and Julia which if you haven’t already heard, is about a young girl just about to turn 30 who decides to cook every single recipe from Julia Child’s famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In one year. Five hundred and some odd recipes, each with pounds and pounds of butter all cooked within 365 days. And she writes a blog about it.  But the book is about more than just her adventure. It is a story about a girl who has hopes and dreams but is not sure what they are or if she will ever accomplish them. She is bored of her job, her life and her apartment. She takes on a task, a meaning of life, something to look forward to. Its not an easy one; she has some trials and tribulations, but you like her more for them. She is human. She is all of us. I liked her. She makes me want to cook every recipe from MtAoFC. I give it 4.5 stars.

Word Play

It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about, but I wanted to branch out, to write about something other than travel, food or weather. Yup, most of my blogs are about one of those three topics, either directly or indirectly. So, I thought, why not get some suggestions from someone else, to see if I can write about something else, or if the things that interest me, namely eating, traveling and commenting on the weather, really are the only thing I can elaborate on. Also, researching/finding out about new things is one of my favorite things to do and this will give me knowledge about things that I may not have known about before.

My inspiration comes from Aunt Lucy, who tipped me off about the  Shutter Sisters, who are photographers who are doing a project called The One Word Project. They give you a word every month and you send in photos associated with that word and they post a photo a day from someone who has sent one in. If you get a chance to check out their site, do so, it is very fun. Lucy is also doing a project where she takes photos of things with words on them and posts one every day, which is also really interesting (check it out here). So I guess 2010 is the year of the word.

I will take their idea and add a twist – I am asking people to send ME “one word”, whatever comes to their mind. Once a month I will write about one of the words that have been sent to me. Obviously, I am not going to steal the Shutter Sister’s name or project, so this will be the Word Play project. (Version 2k10). –

Central Park in The Snow

 

I took this as the sun was going down and the snow was starting to fall. It reminds me of Christmas and so much more! You can see more NYC photos here.

January Book Club Read

So, the January book club read. One by Jodi Picoult, who, if you haven't yet read, is DE-PRESS-ING! However, I am always looking to learn something new, and this book taught me a little bit about osteogenisis imperfecta, otherwise known as "brittle bone syndrom". However, one can only handle so much strife, even though it does provide insite into what it may be like having to be a parent in such a difficult situation. I give it an "okay" but not a "great".

As a side note, I finished the Hemingway and am not in a hurry to read another.

Next up: its a toss up --  Skinny Legs and All, Her Fearful Symmetry or Julie and Julia. What do you guys suggest?

December Book Club Read

I am almost done. I should finish tonight. However, I am not quite sure that I like the way he writes. I feel like I should becuase he is "one of the greatest writers of all time". However, although I like what he writes about, I dont like the WAY he writes. Pamplona just isn't as exciting to me when Hemingway is the one telling me about it. We will see if I change my mind in the next 20 pages.

You can find out what else I have read and suggest books for me on goodreads.

Magic in The Air

As Kermit says, there is magic in the air. The magic in New Olreans is a little different than the magic at home, maybe becuase of the lack of cold and snow. However, decorations have been put up and people at work are going out for last minute Christmas dinners before we all fly away to our respective homes. I, for one, can't wait to go home and sit in a warm room with a view of the snow outside, drink coffee, chat with the Mom and Dad and watch...Christmas movies! I have been getting in the holiday spirit by watching clips on youtube. I have included one below for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Viewing Pleasure

I was reading Lucy's blog the other day and I really liked Lucy's idea of checking to see the "most viewed" on Flickr. It seems sort of fun to see what the "invisible people" out there are interested in (or just need to see more clearly, I guess). So here is what I found.

This was the most viewed, with 244 hits:

Tarshier - World's Smallest Primate

This one, which is probably one of MY favorites, was second "most viewed", with 177 hits (maybe because it has the word "naked" in the title?):

Tan Naked Man

The next category is "favorites". People can add your photos as one of their favorites. I personally am not very highly followed, but whoever is following me must be a tad perverted, becuase the most favorite is.... "two asses".

Praia de Barra: Two Asses

 

So....of all the landscapes, foreign cities and beautiful vistas.... you see what people really like? I think, judging from Lucy's site, that tagging the photos makes all the difference in the world. I guess I need to get on the ball....or the tan naked man.

Pink Glove Take Two

pink glove dance

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi-370lniaw&feature=youtube_gdata

Thanks for Your Support!!!

To everyone who donated for the Race For the Cure, I want to Thank You! I started off trying to raise 200 dollars and as more and more generous folks added, I upped my goal. My final goal was 800 dollars. 770 was raised.

The event was a success; approximately 10,000 people came out to run or walk. It was very satisfying to be a part of something so generous and righteous. Thanks to all of you for contributing to that. 

Oh The Memories

My October Book Club Read

Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


View all my reviews >>

Race For The Cure

Hey guys...I am going to run a 5k in "support" of breast cancer. It is on October 25, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. in City Park in New Orleans.

The website for more information is here.

If you can, please donate by going here. I am trying to raise $200.00, which is a small drop in the bucket of what they need.

Thanks!

Master Cleanse Day Five

DAY 5: The Results

I have a headache from the glass of wine I drank last night. I guess my body isn't quite ready for that yet. I also decided to lay off coffee for a little while to see what happens. I woke up with a headache but other than that, I feel great! I am happy to be at work; I am awake and lively and not even very hungry. Maybe there is something to this thing after all. I will not miss the Salt Water Flush but the rest of it was….Not too bad!

A couple blogs about it that I found when researching...in case you want to know more:

http://mickipedia.vox.com/library/posts/tags/diet/
http://themastercleanseblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/final-thoughts.html
http://bethbrianmastercleanse.wordpress.com/

Master Cleanse Day Four

DAY 4:

7:42 am: I have my watered down OJ all ready to go. I am nervous about eating, since too much too soon can cause digestion problems. I think though that with only 3 days of detox, I shouldn’t have too many problems hopefully.

9:57 am: Have had some spicy lemonade and some watered down OJ. I still do not feel hungry but I want to have some real food tomorrow so I have to get my body ready for it. I actually think I could do this for a few more days, but I really don’t feel like going through the weekend without being able to cook something.

2:46 pm: I am so bored. I realize that when I am bored, I eat. So now when I am bored I drink liter after liter of water and watered down OJ and then I run to the bathroom a lot. However, it is not really keeping me from being bored. My stomach is gurgling. I think it has tasted freedom. Or was that just watered down OJ?

7:42 pm: I was going to wait until tomorrow to eat real food, but I am hungry. The OJ jumpstarted my…something. So I have a salad and some hummous and…a glass of wine. Satisfaction attained.

Master Cleanse Day Three

DAY 3:

11:03 am: I am doing well today. I am not hungry at all and have no ill effects (except that I am freezing – everyone else is in shirtsleeves and I am wearing 2 sweaters). I almost ate something this morning because I was a little stressed out. Normally when I am stressed, I exercise, eat or drink…and I can’t do any of those…so I almost caved. But then I had a few sips of the spicy lemonade and got to work and all was well.

11:14 am: I just walked by the smell of turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes. It smells good, but oddly enough, doesn’t really tempt me to want to eat it. My tummy didn’t rumble and my mouth didn’t water. It just smelled pleasant.

1:31 pm: I am still not hungry. And I don’t have a headache. It’s great! I do have some rumblings in my stomach. I have decided to start incorporating stuff back into diet tomorrow. You are supposed to wean your way back on to food with broth and watered down juice and stuff. I really can’t wait to chew something.

7:15 pm: Went grocery shopping for tomorrow’s food. I am tempted to eat some of it now. I am starving. I want Mexican food.

9:15 pm: I feel great. I am not hungry anymore and don’t have a headache. However, I am very, very tired. I go to sleep around 9:30.

Master Cleanse Day Two

DAY 2:

6:14 am: I wake up before my alarm. I am not sure why. I am not hungry at all. Last night I had to do the salt water flush (SWF) in order to cleanse myself of any impurities. It was horrible! It tastes like drinking the sea. And who likes that? What follows is not much better, but I will not get into that. I had a hard time going to sleep due to a horrible headache. I had read a couple of other blogs and many people report sore muscles, but I have not experienced that. I had a marvelous breakfast consisting of spicy lemonade and…nothing.

7:05 am: The elevator at work is broken. I take the stairs. 15 floors later, I am soooo tired… I have NO energy at all. I am starting to get a small headache again. It could be due to not having coffee; I do drink at least a cup every day. Or it could just be because I have not eaten.

8:23 am: I am cold, which is weird because usually I get cold after lunch. Maybe I drank too much spicy lemonade.

11:10 am: I am waiting for lunch time so I can…stop watching the clock. It is such a habit to be able to look forward to 11:30 or so. I think I will go home and take a half hour nap. That is almost as satisfying as food. I am not hungry at all but still want to eat just because. Maybe it is just boredom? Also, I must have jinxed myself when I talked about the sore muscles because now my back and neck muscles are really sore. Does that mean all the toxins are rising to the surface? Or am I just falling apart due to lack of food?

2:08 pm: Went home and took a nap. While asleep, I dreamed about a rap song. When I got back in my car, that song was playing on the radio. I am confused. Did that really happen?

4:57 pm: My back hurts. I think I am going to go home and have a Top Chef Marathon and eat until I burst. Minus the eating part. One good thing is after today, I will be halfway done. I cannot imagine doing this for 10 days.

7:00 pm: Watched Top Chef and it doesn’t even make me hungry. Weird.

10:00 pm: Went to bed with a splitting headache.

Cayanne, I Can

After eating way too much over the last few weeks with the excuse of "being on vacation" and always saying I will "exercise more when I get back", I have decided to try to purge my system for a few days. To do this, I am using the Master Cleanse method. This method uses a combination of water, lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. You make up this mix and drink it and lots of water for as many days as you want to cleanse. It is supposed to get rid of any toxins in your body and make you feel great. Most people do it for 10 days; some do it for as little as one; I am doing it for 4. The reason for this is that I have a concert to go to on Saturday and there is no way I am not eating/drinking that day! I am a little worried, as the hardest part supposedly is getting back INTO food (oh and the toilet issues, but for that you can read the Master Cleanse website)

So, today is day one. Here we go.

1 o’clock pm: So far, so good. I have not eaten all day, although I have had about 6 bottles of water and peed about 300 times. I am not too hungry, although I do miss putting food into my mouth. I went home for “lunch” (ie to watch Jeopardy) and walked by the Whole Hog BBQ place thinking, “Wow, I could eat a WHOLE hog!” Then while watching Jeopardy, there were two categories relating to food! Then as I was driving back, I couldn’t help but noticing billboards for McDonalds, people in the park eating sandwiches and the smell of tacos in the office as I walked back in. So, like I said, I am not very hungry, but I WANT FOOD! I have already started to try to think of things to do when I get off, in place of shopping, cooking and eating (it takes a lot of time!)

4 o’clock, normal snack time: NOW I am getting hungry. I have drunk another liter of water and a half a liter of spicy lemonade (which I actually like the taste of). I have gone pee about 5 times since 1 o’clock. I keep thinking about opening my desk drawer and eating a handful of nuts. Who would know? I kind of have a headache. My teeth feel fuzzy. I had planned on starting back up at the gym this week, but am going to postpone it because I wont have any food to give me energy. When I get off work I am going to do laundry, download pictures, take a bath, read, remake the beds and clean the bathroom and I will probably STILL have spare time.

4:12: Argh. The lady in the cubicle next to me just heated up rice and chicken and it smells delicious! I am starting to plan my meal for Saturday.

I (Still) Love New York

New York City: I never tire of it; it never gets old. There is something new around every bend, a new sight to see, a new neighborhood to explore, a new thing to do. Each time I go there, I do less cheesy touristy things and more everyday things -- my favorite thing to do is to just wander around aimlessly, finding something new and cool with each step forward. As a treat, we stayed at the Parker Le Meridien, which I can highly recommend to anyone who has 300 dollars a night to spend (or a butt load of points -- thanks to the four letter F word, that I will not mention here). It was awesome! And it is right in the middle of midtown, about 3 blocks from Central Park, which is one of my favorite places in Manhattan.
The view in the picture to the left is from out of the hallway window. I love the old rusty bay windows. Something about them just made me want to take a photo. This photo was taken with my phone AND through a dirty window, so its not the best photo ever, but I liked the idea of it.

The picture in the right is a Jewish deli that we went to (had seen it on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show:the Disappearing New York episode). It is called Russ and Daughters and its on Houston St and it's great! Note the "homemade pickled herring" sign. We had bagels with lox and cream cheese. We also had an egg cream, which Jim Dedes, who grew up in NYC, always raved about. It was so-so. It tasted like a melted fudgesicle with soda water mixed into it. It didn't have any ice. It was weird. I still prefer a nice iced mocha myself.

We also went to Chinatown, Wall St, The NYSE, Ground Zero, Brooklyn Bridge, The Museum of National History and more general wandering..... Like I said, there is never a shortage of things to do! We tend to eat a lot and WHILE eating, decide where we are going to go next to eat. It is fun, but bad for the bulge! And I dont know if walking around the museum counts as "exercise"!!!

Family Talent

My cousin Jon is a writer and was on NPR's Morning Edition regarding his new book. Listen to the story here. What talent!!! Good job Jon!

Red Dress Run

A few pics...I lost my camera yesterday BEFORE I got a chance to download...so all of these are from my, or my friend's phones....Sad but true... Enjoy!

Five Star Stay!

The Waldorf Astoria opened a new hotel in New Orleans this month. The Roosevelt Hotel, "Originally one of the South’s first grand hotels” underwent a $145 million restoration, which “has returned The Roosevelt to its place as the premier luxury hotel in New Orleans".

I didn’t really know the history of this hotel, so I decided to do a little research. Apparently, the hotel was built by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant, and it opened as The Grunewald in 1893. In 1908, 400 rooms were added, and in 1923 it changed to the Roosevelt in honor of former president Theodore Roosevelt. It was the Roosevelt for 40 years before it was acquired by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in 1965. It remained The Fairmont until 2005, when it was damaged by the storm. And today, the Roosevelt returns. It just re-opened July 1st and as it is (re)new, they are having marvelous summer deals. And, thankfully for me, it is a Hilton partner, which means not only do I get to enjoy a beautiful hotel, but I get points for staying there! Double score. So I decided to go and check it out.

It’s very nice, all done up in gilt and brocade with wide hallways and high ceilings. The staff is nice but not snooty; the rooms are tastefully done and the towels are the softest I have ever used. There are a few kinks that they need to work out as a new hotel – there were still tags on some of the furnishings; the refrigerator still had it’s EnergyStar sticker on it; There is only one trash can and it was not in the bathroom. But the soap leaves you smelling like lemon all day long and the sheets make you want to skip work and sleep all day.

A few more interesting facts: A suite on the 12th floor of The Roosevelt was (corrupt?) Governor Huey P. Long’s residence when he was in Louisiana. When the hotel was The Grunewald, it was home to The Cave, which is considered by some to be the first nightclub in the United States. The Fairmont was known for the Sazerac Bar and the Sazerac Room for the finest dining. So yesterday, we went to find out if it lived up to its fame.

Firstly, Sazerac is a cocktail made from whisky, bitters and absinthe. It is purported to be the first cocktail in the United States (a lot of firsts here today!) We had to have one, since we were in the Sazerac Room. It tasted to me like slightly licorice-tasting whisky. Not too bad though. See below (taken from Wikipedia)

TypeCocktail
ServedStraight up; without ice
Standard garnishLemon peel
Standard drinkware
Old fashioned glass
Commonly used ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Sazerac Rye whiskey
Three dashes Peychaud's Bitters
One sugar cube or simple syrup
1/4 ounce Absinthe
Preparation
One old fashioned glass is packed with ice. In a second old fashioned glass, a sugar cube and 3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters are muddled. The Rye Whiskey is then added to the sugar/Bitters mixture. The ice is emptied from the first old fashioned glass and the Absinthe is poured into the glass and swirled to coat the sides of the glass. Any excess Absinthe is discarded. The Rye-Sugar-Bitters mixture is then poured into the Absinthe coated glass and the glass is garnished with a lemon peel.
Notes
Originally, the Sazerac was made and served in an egg cup called a coquetier.

Next was dinner – we came for the Foie Gras and it did not disappoint. My second favorite was the surf and turf, which was cooked to perfection and flavored just enough. Dessert was bread pudding, which had fresh fruit and a little bit of vanilla ice cream. All in all, it was a wonderful dinner. The waiter was nice, not in your face, but there when you needed him. There was a live “band” (one man) which was pleasant and not too loud.

So, overall, the Roosevelt has it all – class, charm, history, nice sheets and great dessert to boot! Five stars really does mean five stars!

Kill The Wabbit

I went on an unofficial rabbit hunt, in order to stop the beasts from eating all the vegetables in the garden. With a 22, I shot a poor little rabbit. Then I skinned him from head to tail (it was easier than I thought it would be to take off the fur) and then....we ate him! Delicious! However, skinned rabbit smells like death; I don't really like it that much. But once cooked, all smells of death abate. Anyway, this is a photo of me and the poor headless, skinless bunny.

Go Car Go

Last weekend we had an Ice Cream Social for about 60 pre-war vehicles. Among them were many Packards, Cadillacs and Lincolns as well as one each of Nash, Franklin, Stutz, Bentley, Rolls and maybe one Chrysler. The oldest car there was from the early 20s and the youngest in the 40s. The folks in these cars, The Classic Car Club of America, did a tour around California and Nevada called the “Far Out West CARavan”, starting in Sacramento, going on back roads through places such as Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Mountain and Reno, and ending back in Sacramento 8 days later. You can read about it in the Feather River Bulletin. You can find more photos HERE.

Too High To Get Over

Climbing Mt Shasta is something that not everyone wants to do. Sometimes I wonder why people, myself included, subject themselves to such pain and misery. I usually wonder this as I am trudging up an almost 90 degree hill, wheezing from the lack of oxygen, and tired from climbing since before dawn. 
 

We started the first day in good spirits. At 6,900 ft, it is easy to be in good spirits! We hiked until Horse Camp, which is about 2 or 2.5 miles and is the last source of water (fresh from Shasta Mountain springs…delicious!). After Horse Camp, all you can do is melt snow for water. So, we filled up on water, said goodbye to Buffy, Sierra and Levi, who had hiked up with us to that point, and headed up the hill. 

From this point on, it was snow the whole way. No trail, just straight up the mountain in the snow.

After hiking about 6 hours, we reached Lake Helen, which was where we were going to stay the night. Lake Helen sits at about 10,400 ft and is pretty much the only flat spot on the mountain, which is probably why it is a good place to stop. We set up camp and started making dinner. Shortly after eating, we went to bed. 

We got up at 3 am to start the climb to the summit. Randy and Matt surged ahead, while Dad and I kept up the rear. I thought the day before was hard, but this climb REALLY WAS straight up! Wearing crampons and using our ice axes, we crept up the mountain, rest step by rest step, finally reaching the top about 6 hours later. Once we reached the summit (14,179 ft), we knew why we did this. From the top you can see Mt. Lassen, Oregon and much of the Cascade Range. The 360 view is amazing. The day was sunny and mostly clear and the mountains around us were beautiful. We also saw some sort of fighter plane that whooshed RIGHT past us as we were standing atop the mountain. It can’t get much better than this!

We were tired, hungry and burnt (sooooo burnt!) but now we still had to climb down. Luckily, you can climb part of the way down and the other half you can glissade, which is like riding a big slide down the mountain. You just sit in the snow and cruise down on your butt. It is cold and wet, but we got down to Lake Helen in about 2 hours. You cant beat that!! 

At Lake Helen, we packed up the tent, took half hour naps and tried to stay out of the sun, which was burning us up from the top and the bottom. From Lake Helen back to Horse Camp took a couple of hours; we didn’t get to glissade as much as we wanted, but we did hit a couple of slides, and so it made going down a little quicker. We got back to Bunny Flats (6,900 ft) and the car around 5, starved, burned, tired and sore, but glad we made it.

See Photos HERE.

There's a Cornshop On The Corner

(Written June 9) I am leaving Iowa, and in my wake, I am leaving miles and miles of 6 inch stalks of corn. It is nice to finally see some greenery in Iowa; the landscape has been mostly brown and white for the last 6 months. The tiny little shoots are finally dotting the landscape and creating a feeling of Spring in the air.

I learned a few things about corn while in Iowa, some of it, ironically from a book that I just happened to read while I was here, called Omnivore’s Dilemma, and much of it from the farmers and locals themselves. For instance, did you know that pretty much all of Iowa’s corn is not eaten in it’s natural form by humans? By this I mean that most of the corn grown in Iowa is considered “type-2” corn, and is used for animal feed and processed foods, such as corn meal and corn syrup. Oh and of course don’t forget about Ethanol.

There is very little “sweet corn” (edible corn) that is grown in the state. Also, I don’t know if I was the only one that thought this, but I was under the impression that when the corn was harvested, the combine took it off as a whole cob. However, that is not the case. The combine strips the cobs off the stalk and then the kernels off the cob and distributes this into a trailer that drives along side it. The cobs, stalks and leaves get put on the ground and later get rolled into bales or put in a corn crib where they dry out and are either fed to cattle or put back on the fields later for fertilizer of sorts.

Speaking of fertilizer, the farmers in Iowa used to keep a few animals around in order to fertilize their crops (which were also a lot smaller back in the day). Until after World War II, when scientists were trying to figure out what to do with some of the left over agents of chemical warfare. Enter the man made fertilizer that we know today. After that was figured out, the farmers nearly stopped using animal manure all together. Until recently, when huge pig farms cropped up in the Iowa landscape. These farms each hold about 2,500 pigs each and are quite plentiful. I don’t know the exact facts, but there something like 2 or 3 times the amount of pigs to people in Iowa. There are about 3 million people in Iowa, so do the math. Anyway, some farmers get the pig manure and use it on their fields.

Anyway, I digress. While I was in Iowa, my main job was doing damage assessments for Drainage Districts. A drainage district is a district made up of 2 or more farmers who share drainage pipe or ditches. The farmers in Iowa used to use clay pipe which has holes in it in order to get water into it; they would run it a couple feet underneath their fields so that when there was excessive water, it would drain down through the ground, into the pipe and then get carried to a ditch and eventually into the river. At least two farmers have to share the pipe for it to become a “district”, otherwise it is considered privately owned. So I spent a lot of time while in Iowa looking at fields, ditches and pipes. Actually I learned a lot while I was there and the people of the mid-west were quite friendly and usually eager to answer all my annoying questions about corn and drainage.

Shasta hike

We went to the top! Avalanche gulch and Misery Hill were the worst!!!
But we made it! PS they just changed the elevation to 14,179.

NYC

Here is a pic of our recent trip to NYC. We had a great time... Went to see In The Heights, (Mr L hated it, I LOVED it!), went to a Yankees Game (the Yankees won, unfortunately... but it was very fun! The new stadium is COOL!) and went to Central Park for a nice walk. This picture is us and our friends, the Berreaux, whose wedding we went to in October. We met with them for some Vietnamese food and good conversation...They are expeciting a baby in September!! (Seth doesnt waste any time!) We had a great trip; it was too short as always... I "heart" NYC!!

Central Park

From our recent trip to NYC.

Still Life of my Desk

Courtesy of Kathy, Lea, Sara, Grant, Dad and Mr L. See if you can
find yours!!!