Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

20091229

Year In Review - Part II

As always, I made sure to have some escapade in my year.

This year was New York, NY; Kansas City, MO; Austin, TX; Santa Claus, IN; Dublin, Ireland; London, UK; Glasgow, Scotland; Berkeley, CA.

Here are a few pics...








Lessons Learned...
  • Sometimes you have to get away be it for entertainment, avoidance, therapy, or your birthday. You just need to do it!

  • Traveling alone has its rewards. You get to go where you want, do what you want, and all on your schedule.

  • Traveling alone can be scary. When something goes wrong, you have only your brain to figure out what to do

  • Traveling alone means it's hard to get good pictures. Yea, you can ask the random stranger to take a picture for you; but with my trust issues, no one was touching my camera!

  • Sometimes the places you least expect to enjoy are the best and vice versa. I had high hopes for London though it proved much less enjoyable than anticipated. I had low hopes for Berkley and it proved to be a top on my list of places to return.

20091109

NaBloPoMo Day Nine Post Seven - Oops!

Okay, so by the title I would hope you could infer that I missed two posts. I would hope more so that you are one of my two readers that pay attention often enough to simply know that I missed two posts.

Anyway, I'm way off the course of topic which is "how and why I would miss blogging"! I would like to blame work, since it is after all overwhelming me these days! I cannot though. As you may know, I was off to Berkley, California for a couple of days for a volunteer meeting for SEI (Structural Engineering Institute) that I am involved in since I am the local St. Louis Chair. It's not grand. You could even go so far to say I am Chair only because I lost the election. To be true though, I enjoy it some times as I altruistically love structural engineering. Sorry, off track, I won't dwell there but will get back to my point. I returned on Saturday, my first missed blog day/post. I would have sent a short blog from my phone, but was traveling non-stop in such a manner that my phone was on airplane mode most of the day. When I did get back to St. Louis, it was late, and so I only got a chance to do anything besides move at around 10pm; at which time I crashed into bed holding on snugly to my dogs that I missed dearly. It didn't occur to me until later in the day Sunday that I'd missed a day. I had sort of made a silent vow to blog Sunday with an extra to make up for my mistake. Well, you see how that went!

None the less, the bloggity guilt has overwhelmed me...and as such I will spend an enormous amount of time today catching up! Now is the time to either really try to focus with me, or to simply scroll to the bottom for your words!

-Thursday mom had surgery. She is doing well, but in a lot of pain. Thanks for all the well wishes!

-Thursday I flew out to Oakland, took the BART to the North Berkley station where I waited for a hotel shuttle to pick me up. Turns out two of the other meeting attendees were also waiting, so I got a head start meeting people!

-Friday I went to my meeting that went well. We then took off for a boat ride around the bay to look at the old, new, and still under construction Bay Bridge. I encourage you to go check out baybridgeinfo.org. We had a great guide and an all around great trip on the bay (despite my innate fear of water, I enjoyed myself). See pictures below.


-Upon returning to the hotel (that sits in a marina) I discovered that I didn't need to go to any meetings that evening, but only to a dinner that was several hours away. I decided to take that time to go for a jog in a nearby park, Cesar Chavez Park (see below for location and pictures). While jogging I literally had to stop to catch my breath from the over powering view. At the North end of the park as one turns the corner from the East, you can see out over the bay to the mountains, to Yogi Bear Island (see a map for real Island name), to the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, and even to San Fransisco. Breath.Taking!


- I flew home on Saturday leaving some meetings early. Saturday was the 7th, my anniversary. Considering how this year has gone, it's a small miracle we've even made it to three years. I choose not to air laundry on my blog, not the place nor the time. But, it should be noted that we did have a third anniversary and I did make it home for part of it!

- Sunday was a gorgeous day that started by taking the dogs to meet Amanda and Lou in a dog park in Edwardsville. They were worn out pretty quick, thankfully! From there we took the pooches home to then headed over to Kitchen Conservatory where I bought a knife as a gift, but the best part was that it was made in Germany (not China). I also bought some Vanilla Extract Paste.

-I made a small donation here...

Donate Here!



Words...
disco nap: Sleeping when you have something going later on that you need to get ready for.
Kraft singles: Dollar bills. Derived from another slang term that refers to money as "cheese".
audible: To make an unexpected, last-minute decision. This definition is derived from its meaning in football.

20091106

NaBloPoMo Day Six Post Six - East Bay

San Fransisco..and East Bay may be one of the most beautiful things my eyes have ever seen! Truly breath taking!

20091105

NaBloPoMo Day Five Post Five - All About Amanda

Short blog for a short girl! :)

No real story today as I have tons to do and I leave for California at noon. I'm excited to get away from reality for a bit; not so excited that it's for a meeting, and even less excited that I have to go while my mom is having surgery. She says it's okay. I have to trust her instinct on this one. Drew [aka Baby Brother] is supposed to be taking care of her, but I worry that she'll try to do too much. She always does too much!

Anyway, scmanyway; I don't have a real story but an amusing quote...

I was discussing with Amanda my method of choosing to go or not go to Cali., which was basically asking everyone I knew and even everyone I didn't know what I should do...and majority vote was to go. Amanda had also suggested that I go and so her response was, "at least I'm not alone in the majortiy". She caught herself right away. Majority, no one is alone!

Word...
lactard: A lactose-intolerant person.
[Speaking of Amanda....*snickering*, she's a lactard!]

20091104

NaBloPoMo Day Four Post Four - Mom's Birthday

Again, little time...synopsis:

-Today, mom's birthday! Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Mutti!
-Tomorrow is her surgery.
-Tomorrow I leave for California, I return Saturday night.
-Got in a little bit of a quarrel yesterday at work, which ended up with the phrase, "I need to speak to you in a conference room"...great!
-I just got lectured...yea I know, some thug is going to beat me up and rob me of everything I have...the thought passes through my head all the time...if I could have a body guard with me at the snap of my fingers, everything would be lovely, but I don't and I can't!

I can't think of a short story for now...but I've got a small list: Reading Time Vomit; Drew and the Broken Nose; Irish Dude and the Camping Tool....etc....so stay tuned!

At least a word...phlog: Fake blog; a Web site pretending to be a blog but actually the creation of the mainstream media or professional; political operatives.

20091028

Scary Things

First let me say hello to a new follower, Eric Ketzer. Steph speaks highly of you and your music; nice to informally meet you. I see by way of Facebook that Steph has been busy uploading YouTube videos of your performance recently! I have yet to see them, but I will!

Next I want to mention that I watched a National Geographic Explorer episode last night about feet that were washing up on British Columbia's shores. I would recommend looking it up and watching it if possible, very intriguing!! If you can't find the show, maybe try looking it up online and reading about it.

A few quick updates...
Mom is having surgery on the 5th, nothing major.
On the 5th I am flying to Oakland, CA for a meeting in Berkeley, CA. I will return on the 7th.
Two coworkers and I were leaving downtown yesterday night at about 9:00 pm; one of us was assaulted in an attempted mugging in the Kiener East garage. Please be careful. Call for an escort if needed!
Yesterday a coworker thought he might be having a stroke; today a coworker fainted...I've become acutely aware of who to contact in case of an emergency!

Now..onto what I want to write about today...

Three Things That Scare Me [inspired by @Eammon, read here]

Painted Faces and Masks
If you read my blog regularly you may already know of this fear from the blog Painted-Face-A-Phobia. I believe it stems from the movie Fortress. Having not seen the film in some time I can only tell you that it is a movie about a small school in the Australian outback that is taken hostage by a group of masked men. Creepy. Perhaps it's not simply the masking of one's face, but I also feel as though I can't trust someone without their non-verbal language to accompany what they say...facial expressions say a lot!

The Monsters Under My Bed
Go on and laugh. But let's be realistic, name a person that has never awaken in the middle of the night with a racing heart...wanting, no NEEDING, to run to safety but knowing that as soon as you put your foot on the ground someone or thing will reach out from under the bed and grab you! The difference between me and you is that I never grew out of that fear. I still wake up terrified from some nightmare, needing to perhaps get some water or use the toilet, but too afraid to put my feet on the ground. It's so irrational that it annoys me, and yet still I am afraid!

The Dark
Perhaps it's my fear of not knowing, or not seeing, or not being able to prepare...but the dark frightens me. I have a night light next to my bed. I try not to be caught alone in the dark. When I know I'll be home alone I make sure to prepare everything ahead of time so that I can avoid the dark basement, the dark yard, or a dark house. Too much Scooby Doo as a child? Probably!