Wow, 3 days and no blogging

Sorry I just haven't been blogging. Nothing really exciting happened during the day Friday to blog.
But we did have a fun-filled weekend.
Friday night we headed to the Greek Theatre to see Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits). Our tickets wouldn't scan when we got there. The reason: Our tickets were for Saturday, not Friday. I told Curt at least the concert we wanted to go to wasn't Thursday night. That woulda sucked.
Saturday I went to Spinning Nation. And I survived the whole spin class. I paid 50 bucks to take spin. Bleh. But the money went to a good cause. And I was able to do the class, which I was quite proud of. (I am actually contemplating going to a spin class tomorrow morning before work.) After spin I took my usual abs/core class.
Saturday afternoon Curt and I headed to Jacob and Aileen's for a birthday barbecue for Jacob. It was a lot of fun. And we met some great people. Jacob and Aileen have some great friends.
Saturday night we headed back to the Greek Theatre. It was a really cool venue with great acoustics. It is outdoors, so you have to be prepared. And I was, jacket, gloves, scarf and blanket. It was a good show.
Sunday morning I got up early so I could hit the gym. Then I came home and made my salsa and got ready for our soccer party. Soon before people started showing up. Dad and Hilda stopped by. They were in town to find an apartment and they did.
About 11:30 people started trickling in for soccer. We had chips and salsa, cookies, mini quiches, hummus and bread, beer and cheese sticks. All bad for you but oh so yummy.
It was a good time. Then we just pretty much lounged for the rest of the day. I did go through a huge pile of mail. Mostly junk!
I am only working two days this week. My cousin Jackie is coming to town Wednesday. I can't wait.

What??!! No ketchup??!!

Last night Curt and I attended an A's game with some friends. I have never had to stand in a real line before just to get into the ballpark. I find the gang, sit for a bit and then decide to go get some food. I stood in line FOREVER for my beer, 2 $1 hot dogs and peanuts. Then I go for condiments. There is a super long line there, too. Good Lord! Then I hear there is no ketchup. Screw that! So I head to a different area thinking the lines will be shorter and condiments flowing. Well, I found a shorter condiment line. But it still took forever. The two guys in front of me had like 8 dogs each. And they slowly unwrapped each one and daintily put the toppings on. At that point Curt came looking for me. (I had been gone about an hour. And didn't take my phone with me.) Eventually one of the guys is just standing there in the way. (I and the 2 women behind me were laughing at them slowly putting their condiments on their dogs.) So I ask the guy, Are you done? Yes. So he moves and I slap on relish and onions. No ketchup left and I hate regular mustard.

I still had a fun night at the game. I was prepared with my cozy and warm A's blanket. The A's played horribly and got whooped on their home field as I heard one little kid say.

Ringless

Yesterday on a lunch break I went to the jewelry store to get my 6-month warranty inspection on my engagement ring. He asked if I wanted the scratches buffed out. Sure. Only problem is white gold eventually turns back into yellow gold. So it looks cheap. I didn't know that white gold was actually yellow gold with some sort of chemical reaction. I found somewhat of an explanation online about this process. Then we looked at my wedding band and realized it need to be zapped back to white gold, too. All of this is covered under my warranty so it is all free. I am just ringless for about 10 days. It feels weird.

I took a pic of my hand at the BART station waiting for a train to take me to the A's game.

35? Seriously?

On my lunch break yesterday I went to good ol Target for some needed shopping. I always go through the dollar section and scope out any good finds. I grabbed some bang pops (?) or as I refer to them as pop pops and some poppers, which apparently are called champagne poppers.
As my stuff was being rung up, the cashier realized that at some point nothing was scanning. She realized it was when she rang up the pops pops that it stopped and asked for an age, like when you buy booze. She told me the age to buy those things is 35. I said, really? Then it occurred to me that I am not 35. She smiled and said it really isn't enforced. I could see 18 or whatever. But 35? That is just weird.
So luckily I didn't get carded for my pop pops or poppers and I was out the door with my Target purchases and back to work.

UGG! COLD!

I left work a little early yesterday for my eye appt. Yup, gotta keep checking on those contacts. I got home and changed into jeans and I was gonna wear sandals. But it was cold outside--60s. Yes, that is cold. So I actually wore my UGGs. Who would think you need those in the summer? Only in the Bay Area.

Remember that my doc changed my contacts to a little bit bigger size? Which has been great for my peripheral vision. But he noticed that my right contact is sticking to my eye, and that isn't good. So he ordered a slightly different shaped contact to see if that one will work. So whenever that one comes in I will go in and try that one out. Keep your fingers crossed. Worse comes to worse and I go back to the smaller contact in my right eye. I would rather not. But we'll see.

I also had my eyes dilated. Haven't had that done in many years. My plan was when I got home I would work from home for a couple of hours--since I had to leave work at 2:20. Well, I got to the computer and I could barely see. I realized that working was out of the question. So I vegged on the couch with my sunglasses on and a movie to watch. When Curt came home I was still sporting my shades.

This is me at home wearing my shades inside the house for like 4 1/2 hours.

So hard to get up this morning

Today I could not get out of bed. So I skipped yoga. Curt didn't want to get up either. I did an informal poll at work and it sounds like others had problems getting up, too.

And we decided it was the weather. It was (and still is) so cold this morning. Last week it was so nice and warm. Sometimes a little too warm (like on Saturday). When you don't have A/C and no ceiling fans it can get uncomfortable in the 90s.

We had a pretty lazy weekend. But I needed it after my whirlwind weekend before. :)

Last night we had dinner at Mia, Todd, Lexie and Coop's house. Fajitas were super yummy. Here is a pic of Coopie and me:

Don't you just love his smile? And he is so cute. He really likes Curt. He was kinda hanging on him and hugging his arm last night.

SATC weekend pics!!!

OK, finally have pictures up and captions written from my weekend in Phx last weekend. It was a great time. I am so glad we planned it.
Click right here for pics.
Hmph, some of the captions cut off. Shutterfly has a new look and it never told me there was a cut off. Jerks! Oh well.

Spinning for a good cause

I take an abs/core class on Saturdays at my gym. The teacher also teaches a spin class right before the abs/core class.
Next Saturday is Spinning Nation, four 1-hour classes of spin to benefit the charities Prostate Cancer Foundation Athletes for a Cure; AIDS Research Alliance; Cancer Schmancer Movement.
I have taken beginner's spin and it was tough. Jennifer, my teacher, is encouraging me to take her spin class next week. She told me donations are great, too. And I think I may just do it. I have already made a donation to her.
If you are interested in Spinning Nation, click here.

Heat wave

We are having a heat wave right now. 91 degrees in Oakland. For all of you in Arizona I know you think that is nothing. But remember it was 61 degrees at 4:30 on Monday when I left Phx. Big difference.
The house wasn't too warm when I got home. Curt left a lot of windows open for Joey. When I got home I opened the front door and put the one fan we have on.

Shortly my friends Alicia and Sue will be showing up. Sue and I are taking Alicia out to dinner to celebrate her June birthday. Should be fun.

On my soap box for a moment

Please take a moment to sign this petition, giving marriage equality to all.
If you don't agree with marriage equality for all I would personally rather not hear about it. Yes, I know all about First Amendment rights. And yes, I am exercising my rights right now. But I am tired of the hatred, stupidity and just plain ignorance on this subject.
No one has the right to tell two consenting adults they can't marry. Why is it OK for two people who barely know each other to marry without considering what they are really doing just because they are straight and they can? Why is it wrong for two people who are gay and love each other and have been partners for many years to marry?
OK, getting off my soap box. I just wanted to pass on this online petition. If you want to sign, great. It not, that is fine, too.

Check this out from The Daily Show.

Patience=$10

Yesterday I was at the grocery store. One of my least favorite chores. The cashier was ringing up my order when a guy walked over wanting to cash a check. Maurice, cashier, explained that Safeway no longer cashed those sorts of checks. (Whatever it was.) Maurice asked the guy if he wanted the number of the bookkeeper to chat with her. He did. So Maurice had to get a pen from another cashier and write it down. He gave it to the man. Maurice thanks me for being patient and continues to ring up. The guy comes back and asks for the corporate number. Maurice has to step away to get that number. He comes back and rings up the rest of my order. When my order is all rung up he tells me that for being so patient he is going to knock 10 bucks off my order and he does. Wow. Never had anything like that happen before.

Equality!!!!

I find it very exciting that gay couples can get married in California. If two people love each other and want to spend their life together who is anyone to say they can't? And seriously gay couples getting married is not going to harm the sanctity of marriage. Heteros have already screwed that up all on their own.
Read the Chronicle story here.

Joey update

Joey went back in today to get his teeth cleaned. I am happy to report that all went well. His doc called me about 11:30 to say everything went well and he was starting to wake up. No extractions necessary. So I will pick him up in a few hours.
While I was dropping Joey off this morning there was a woman there with her cat and the cat didn't look well. She was crying and the vet tech was telling her that they would do everything they could for her. I felt so bad and sad for her that I started crying, too. I almost went up to her to hug her. But I saw the vet tech hug her. So she got some love.

Check out what Joey has to say about his day at the vet.

50 degrees

I left Phoenix yesterday about 4:30. It was 112 in Phoenix and 61 in Oakland. Can you believe that? To quote Leah's text message, That's just wrong.

Update on the rest of my trip

Sunday morning Erica, Casey, Kate and I had breakfast at Wildflower. Yummy. That place has good food. We hung out for a bit and chatted. And us girls had to talk about the SATC movie some more. Afterward we dropped Kate off. Casey and Erica needed to pick up some groceries so we did. After that just some lounging around the house. I was tired--I coulda taken a nap. They left to meet Erica's dad and mom for dinner. And soon after that Jen & Dave picked me up and then we picked Kate up. We headed to George & Dragon for dinner and drinks. Jean Clare also met up with us. We had a fun time chatting and laughing. Dave always cracks me up. We stayed until about 10. I was tired and hadn't heard if anyone else was going to meet up so we took off. (I found out later that Abe and Casey [from Republic] showed up around 10:30. Dang!)

Monday morning Leah and Ollie came to pick me up. Leah needed to change Ollie's diaper so they came in. (I have to say I was very impressed that Leah could change his diaper while he was standing up.) Casey was still home so we all chatted a bit. Harley and Scooter (Erica and Casey's chows) were very good with Oliver and just smelled and licked him. Oliver liked them very much. Oliver also liked the remote very much. He picked it up and pointed it to the TV. At one point Leah said something about TV and Oliver pointed to the TV.
After that we headed to pick Kate up and then to breakfast at The Good Egg (Ed, I finally ate there!). We had a nice breakfast while Ollie ran around. He sat at about 4 different tables. After breakfast we dropped Kate off and headed back to the Beckidad house. Ollie went down for a nap and Leah and I knitted, chatted and watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It was a really good movie. (Later at the BART station I saw someone with the book. Weird!) Oliver got up from his nap and we got ready to go. We dropped Ollie off with Robert at work. (That is how Leah and Robert do it. Robert gets off work at 3. Leah meets him and drops off Ollie and then she heads to work.) So I got to see Robert for about two minutes. Then Leah took me to the airport.

I had a really great visit. Even though it was blistering hot it was a great weekend. I am so happy I did it. It was so worth it. Saturday was a super fun day with the girls. I always have a good time when I go back to see my friends in Phx.

OK, so now when are you all coming out to see me? Don't forget a possible Napa weekend next summer.

Liberal is not a dirty word

I left a comment on the story about my dad retiring the newspaper business. (He just wrote a column about how we need to get out of the habit of calling it that, but I can't help it.)
Anyway, I more or less said I thought my dad did a great job running his hometown paper and how cool it was to see people who work for him make some nice comments. Through my years in the business many people would tell me what a good and fair boss he was. Many have even said he really helped them with their career. That means a lot to me.
So people can comment to your comments. One person asked if I was a liberal, too? Though he or she left out the comma after liberal. The thing is I was making no personal attacks on anyone. I just commented about my dad.
It annoys me but also entertains me. And so many of the negative comments on the story had typos and other such errors.
Whatever, right?
Leah and Ollie will be here shortly to pick me up. Then we will go get Kate. And off to eat and hang out and have fun!!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our dads, my grandpa, Fred, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. Curt and I were lucky enough to spend Father's Day 2007 with BOTH of our dads. Ed was in town for the weekend to visit and my dad also happened to be in town. We had a nice lunch and snapped some pics. So for Father's Day gifts this year I printed out and framed the photos and mailed them on. Our last visit to Tucson I got a really great pic of my grandpa and me. So I framed that and sent to him.

Sex and the City day

Oh my! Yesterday was a good and long and fun day!

Erica and I left the house a little before 11 to hit the party store to pick up a few cute things for our lunch. We all met for lunch and had a mini shower for Kate. Erica and I bought the cutest balloon shaped like a baby. We also bought some tissues and cute rattle charms. We got to Maizie's about noon. They were so great. (When Erica made the reservation they asked if it was a special occasion. Erica told them a baby brunch.) They had horn blowers and balloons already set up at the table. We added our stuff. Our service was super great. They were so nice and accommodating. And everyone loved their food. They even gave us all the cutest magnets: wine corks and a pretty piece of paper attached with their Web site. So for lunch the gang was Kate, Erica, Deb, Jen, Leah, Penny and myself.

After lunch 6 of us headed for mani/pedis. (Penny opted out.) We had wonderful mani/pedis at VK Elle Nails. (I think that is what they were called.) They buffed my fingernails so well I don't even need clear polish. Awesome! Erica ended up with a polish named Chick Flick Cherry. So she had to get it! Too funny. I had a pretty dark blue (I know, surprise, surprise) with sparkles.

After pampering we had some time to kill before the movie started. So we headed to Sonora Brewhouse for drinks and something to eat. No cosmos--so I had the next closest thing--hard cider. :)

About an hour before the movie started we headed to the theater. Penny met us there. We all got our tickets and got situated. OK, LOVED the movie. We heard it was a tearjerker and it was. It was funny and sad and good. All emotions were in that movie. I had heard the movie was too long. And I don't do well with long movies unless they are engaging. I thought the movie was perfect length. I won't make too many comments as to not spoil for some who haven't seen it yet. But if you liked the series I think you will like the movie. There are some super hilarious scenes. And there are some very emotional, you need your tissues scenes.

After the movie most of the gang went home. (It was almost 10 and we had been together since noon.) Leah, Penny and I headed to Jodie's for a party. It was nice to see some of my old co-workers from the Republic. Leah and I left a little after midnight.

This morning Erica, Casey and I picked Kate up and we headed to Wildflower for breakfast. Yummy stuff. We had a good visit. Now Erica, Casey and I are just hanging out. They are taking her dad out to dinner tonight and I am meeting friends at George & Dragon for dinner and drinks.

It has been a great visit.

And tomorrow I get to spend the day with Leah and Oliver!!!! Can't wait.

We will miss you Cypress

Some sad news. Yesterday John had to put Cypress down. Cypress was almost 17 years old. She was a good and loyal dog. After John moved out Cypress stayed at my Mom's. Cypress wasn't an apartment kind of dog. She loved the big back yard to run and play in. We had dogs before her that would run away. But you could leave the gate wide open and she would never leave.

I was trying to find a better pic of the ol girl. This is the last time I saw Cypress--when we were in Tucson a couple of weeks ago. Cypress was a beautiful Chow/Shepard mix. She had beautiful hair and a wonderful personality. Maybe I can get John to send me some other pics.

Goodbye Cypie Girl!

Tucson Citizen breaking news

So my dad is leaving the Citizen and Tucson for the lovely Bay Area. I have had to keep this secret for a long time. But today it was announced and is posted on the Citizen Web site.
If you really want to crack up, read some of the ignorant and idiotic comments to the story. There are some nice comments, too, which I also plan to add to when I have a moment.
So yes, Curt and I will now have family near us. How weird and cool is that?

Beautiful, sunny, hot Phoenix

So I am heading to Phoenix tonight. The high on Monday is supposed to be 110. I think today the high is 107. Either way it is freakin hot! Why couldn't the Sex and the City movie come out in November??? Well, it will be a fun weekend. Kate will be in town, too. Tomorrow the gang is heading to lunch first, then mani/pedis, then we have a break before our movie starts. I am sure we can find something to do--maybe some cosmos and Shirley Temple's (for those who can't drink).
And Kate has decided to take the roll as Samantha since she broke her foot the other day. Woo!!!

I've got nothing to say

I know this is unbelievable. But nothing noteworthy happened last night or all day today that I feel like writing about.

A little bit cheaper

So I almost always do my priority mailing online. There is a scale here at work and I can weigh my packages and then input the info online and print out a shipping label and it just gets charged to my credit card.
I worked on my Father's Day packages today. And I noticed that by doing it online I saved 5 cents a package. I realize that is only 15 cents. But I thought it was kinda cool.
And who wants to stand in those annoying and long lines at the post office? And around here trying to find parking is equally as annoying.
That's my 15 cents for today.

$4.54

Yup, that's what I paid for gas this morning. Bleh!

Today has been a crazy running around, lots of meetings, feeling like I am getting NOTHING done kind of day.

I did manage to get to my yoga class. The teacher, Suraya, it was her last class. I couldn't miss it. I loved having her as an instructor. I will miss her. She is moving. So not much can be done to try to lure her to stay. Oh well. We will see how the new instructor is.

Now I have time for blogging

I was so busy at work today that I didn't have time to blog. I was working with one of our patent consultants. And we accomplished a lot. But it seems like after Gary and I meet I have a ton more stuff to add to my already towering to do list. I feel like I am never caught up and my desk is always unorganized.
I noticed on the way home that gas has now jumped from $4.33 to $4.44 for a gallon of gas. Talk about insanity. And I need to fill up ... soon.

We had a great weekend. Saturday morning I had a great workout at the gym, then came home, cleaned up and headed to my eye appt. My doc ordered me a little bit bigger contacts. These are working out much better for me. Then around 3 p.m. we headed to Monica's house for a barbecue. Good food and good company, as always. Then that night Curt and I headed to the city for dinner. Now during the day the weather was gorgeous and sunny and warm. Then that night I was freezing my ass off. I really hate the weather here and its extremeness. (Is that even a word?) We had a delicious dinner at Roy's.
Sunday another great workout at the gym. Then around 1 p.m. headed to Phil and Lisa's for barbecue and soccer. I brought knitting and trashy celebrity news to share. Jason and Lauren also came with their kids, Jamie and Julian. Super cute kids. Lazy Sunday evening at home. I watched 27 Dresses--cute and predictable--and Lars and the Real Girl. Man, what a great movie! I felt a lot of sympathy and compassion for Lars. He was such a sweet and caring guy who just didn't know how to show it. His Real Girl really opened him up to that.

One of the unbenefits of wearing contacts

I can see how um, unclean our shower really is. Ugh.

One of the many benefits of wearing contacts

So since I started wearing contacts it is so much more pleasant going to the gym. When I am in downward dog and looking at myself in the mirror upside down I can actually see how my body looks and if I am doing it correctly, as opposed to guessing or squinting. Or last week when I did downward dog against the mirror--a semi-inversion (legs against half-way up the wall). I could see what I was doing while upside down. (My yoga teacher told me she thought I was ready for a head stand. I am not quite ready and I said that. She said, Oh I think you are ready.) Back to my point: I just hate that my glasses fling around on my face.
Also, glasses tend to get in the way when you are jumping around sweating up a storm in kickboxing. (OK, so I don't look as good as in the video when I am in my kickboxing class. Actually, I look more like a monkey spaz.)
Anyway, the contacts have gotten a lot better for me. They still have their moments. But for the most part I am happy with them.

Good news for Joey

The vet just called to give me the results from the cardiologist. The cardiologist says that Joey has mild hyperprophic cardiomyopothy. Cardiologist recommends no medication at this time. Also Joey should be fine going under for his teeth cleaning. Dr. Wright said the anesthesia the cardioloigst recommended is what they usually use on cats and it was also recommended to monitor Joey's heart rate, which they also do.
So after all that he can go ahead and have his teeth cleaned. Hmph! I won't mention how much this has cost. All I have to say is Joey may need to get a job.

Dang!

I have to say I really wanted Hillary Rodham Clinton to be the Democratic presidential candidate.
Hillary sent me an e-mail saying: On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy.
I know she did some sneaky and weird stuff. But the idea of having a woman run the White House was so very exciting to me.
Not that it won't be exciting to have our first Black president. I am onboard with Obama.

Joey update

So talked to Joey's vet a little while ago. Joey has a mild thickening of the heart walls. His heart is functioning well. He has no dilation of the atrium--I don't know what that means, but it is good. I did ask if this had to do with his age. Dr. Wright said yes, age and genetics. (Joey is 14.) We are waiting for the cardiologist to look over the findings and give her/his findings. Sounds like Joey will likely have to go on medication. Argh! Thank gawd for pill pockets.
Will update when I have any new info.

Joey & his cadiologist

Took Joey back into the vet this morning. He will have his ultrasound sometime between noon and 2 p.m. And I can likely pick him up between 3 and 4 p.m.
The vet told me to pick up his food in the morning (not as big of a fast as for his teeth cleaning). So I set my alarm for 5 a.m. Got up, removed his bowl and went back to bed. About 6:30 I woke up and Joey is sitting next to me staring at me. (I know he was thinking, HEY! bleep, gimme some food!)
Hopefully his ultrasound will be all clear and then we can reschedule his teeth cleaning.

Getting back on track

Yesterday we had our first meeting for the new WW series at work. We worked hard to get enough people in our building to join to start up the meetings again. WW at Work requires at least 15 paid members to come to your work to hold the meetings. If you are Lifetime (like me) you don't count because you don't pay.
If you are Lifetime you have a 2-lb limit you can go over your goal weight. I think that is a little lame. I mean, 2 pounds! Some women can gain 5 pounds in one day--bloating, water retention, etc. Anyway, when I weighed in yesterday I was EXACTLY ON THE NOSE 2 lbs. over my goal weight. (If you are more than 2 pounds over your goal weight you pay a weekly fee until you are back to your goal weight.) So today I am back to tracking my food. I have noticed lately that I haven't really been paying attention to portions. That is my biggest issue right now. For the most part I am making decent food choices. But I want to get even better. Definitely having the meetings again will keep me accountable. Glad we have them back. And we have a new leader who I really like.

$4.33

Yesterday evening I noticed that gas prices have jumped yet again from $4.22 to $4.33 (and when I talk about gas prices I am referring to the regular gas. I noticed the super duper premium was $4.57 a gallon.)

The Big 3-0

Today my little baby brother turns 30. OK, now that makes me feel old. If John is 30 ... John, are you having a jumping castle today in honor of your sister? (I had a jumping castle for my 30th birthday. It was so much fun.)

Reading

Our friend, Becky, along with other recent graduates of St. Mary's gave a reading of some of her poety at McNally's on Saturday night. I didn't even realize McNally's did that--the last Saturday of the month. I loved Becky's work and enjoyed all of the other readings. Afterward a group of us had dinner at Sushiya. It was a good night.

Our garden

Our roma tomatoes have started growing. YEA! And our broccoli is growing again. Pics below.

Our baby tomatoes are growing!!! And look how big our tomato plants have gotten. And the broccoli is sprouting like crazy.