Andi's Adventures

Diamond Status Challenge Fail And Why I Won't Stay at Hyatt Properties Any More

2011-11-02T14:45:00.025-06:00

So, I'm relatively new to the travel / points / status game. I'd heard of hotels matching elite status via various challenges so I thought I'd take a shot at one with Hyatt. I should have done my homework first because my journey was fraught with a series of unfortunate events. If one person can learn from my mistakes, the time writing this post will have been well spent.

Back Story: Hyatt will match your elite status with another hotel chain if you ask nicely. You can keep that status for an extra year if you stay at their properties x amount of times in x months. Since I was a Marriott Gold Member and had at least one Hyatt stay coming up, I thought I'd give it a shot. I heard that you get this opportunity once per lifetime but since I have a lot of international travel on my plate in 2012 it seemed like perfect timing.

The Initial Call: I called Hyatt for details on this program and was told they would upgrade my status to Diamond and that in order to maintain that status until February 2013 I needed to stay 6 nights in the next 60 days. Easy Peasy. Then he told me that it took 2-3 business days to process that request. Here is my first mistake: I was scheduled to travel the next day! After much pleading, several phone calls, faxes, and emails I was able to get Hyatt to expedite my request.

Off to San Francisco I went. When I checked in to the Grand Hyatt it was confirmed that I was a Diamond member. Did I get upgraded? Nope. Did I get free breakfast? Nope. Actually they didn't mention anything about any diamond benefits and as new member I was unaware of what I was entitled to. I don't even know if they have a Club Lounge there. Mistake #2.

I stayed my three nights in my standard room, and my account was updated pretty quickly after checkout. I got a lot of bonus points too so I was pleased with that. Three nights down, three to go!

A Few weeks later I was scheduled to attend a trade show at the Orlando Marriott World Center. My plan was to go a couple of days early and play at Universal Studios with my daughter, so I figured I'd stay at a Hyatt then transfer hotels on Sunday. Note a couple of days is two, not three, which would leave me one night short of my challenge. I went ahead and reserved three nights at the Hyatt Place Universal and paid both hotels for that overlap. At $100 a night, one extra night's stay seemed like a good investment for the Diamond status perks Hyatt supposedly has.

We checked into the Hyatt, unpacked, and headed to bed so we would be rested the next day. When we turned the sheets down guess what we found. Socks. Dirty socks. In our bed. Can you say gross?! We called the front desk and asked that they come change the linens. In both beds. We figured if housekeeping didn't change one set of sheets between guests they probably didn't change any of them. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. The employee standing there wasn't holding sheets though. She wanted to see the sock. Seriously. So we showed her the sock and she left.

A few minutes later our phone rang. Apparently housekeeping was gone for the night and they asked if we'd like to change rooms. Since we'd already unpacked and had spent the last 9 hours traveling, we told her no, and repeated that we would like for them to come change the sheets. Silence. Finally when I said nothing more she agreed to come change the sheets. Two employees came with sheets in hand and we were finally able to go to sleep. There's an hour I'll never get back.

I know you probably think I'm just venting but there is a reason I'm including these details and not just reviewing on Tripadvisor.

The next morning we went to breakfast. (Since I'm venting, it was awful. The sausage gravy was cold and the fruit was over-ripe). On our way to toss our plates (yes, paper plates) the manager greeted me, apologized for the night before, and said last night was on him. Very nice gesture and it did make me feel better so I thanked him and went on with my day. The rest of our stay was uneventful. I left the next day but kept the room for another two. Diamond Status until Feb 2013 achieved!

Mistake #4.

A few days after we returned I logged into my Gold Passport account to check my status and was dismayed to see that Hyatt only credited me 2 out of 3 nights for my Orlando stay. Back on the phone with Hyatt. They told me that since the hotel manager comped one of my nights it doesn't count towards a qualified stay. I thought that was total BS and after jumping through a few hoops the points department to give me full credit for my stay.

Ok, catastrophe avoided.

Or so I thought. About a month later I received an email from Hyatt that said, stay only 6 more nights to maintain your Diamond status. WHAT??!! I stayed my six nights, I should be done. So I called Hyatt. Again. Apparently you need 12, not 6 nights, to maintain Diamond status. Now I'm getting angry. That is not what they told me in the beginning, and had I known I wouldn't have bothered with this challenge to begin with. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do about it. I got bad information but there was no way to prove it. I didn't read the fine print; I took someone's word for it instead. Mistake #5!

By now several weeks had passed. I had traveled elsewhere. I could have stayed at Hyatt properties and hit my goal, but didn't think I needed to so I used my SPG points instead. (Mistake # 5½) Time is running out to complete my challenge now so do I hang it up, or do I keep going and try to reach 12?

I'm competitive. I want those suite upgrades. I want my free breakfast, and I want the snob factor that comes along with saying I'm Diamond Elite. And I'm half way there!

So I looked at my calendar. I only have five possible days to stay six nights. What's a girl to do?!

I had a Delta Companion Pass expiring soon, and I love New York. So I booked three nights at the Hyatt 48 Lex. But that wasn't enough. So I also booked three nights at the Washington DC Hyatt for my brother, who I call my husband for the purposes of traveling since we share the same name. I was able to use a suite upgrade for both stays, which I thought was great even though the DC suite was pretty meh. $1200 for New York, $600 for DC, $600 for airfare, and now Broadway shows, shopping at Barneys, and fine dining are also coming into the equation. Now I'm all in. $4000+ for this stupid Diamond Elite status (with the added bonus of a great mini vacation).

So the weekend is over. My wallet considerably lighter but I did it. I - am - Diamond - Elite until February 2013.

Right?

WRONG!

Mistake #6. You can only earn one "qualified night" per calendar day. The overlapping nights in DC and NY do not count. The points rep that I spoke with this time at Hyatt said "you can't be in two places at once." It doesn't matter that I paid for them or that my name and account number was on the reservation. (Which makes me sad because when my business pays for our Hyatt rooms they get the points, not us!) So I asked to speak with a Gold Passport Manager who might be able to work some magic. She put me on hold. Checked on me a few minutes later and put me on hold again. Finally she came back and said they were all busy but she would pass on my information and someone would get back to me. I said great, gave her my email, phone numbers etc. and never heard from the Hyatt again.

So here I sit, passed my deadline and I only have 10 nights credited. Elite Challenge Fail. I only take solice in knowing I will never spend another penny with Hyatt for the rest of my life.

The takeaway for anyone reading this post is make sure you know the rules before you play the game.

Energy Drinks and Their Negative Effects on Teenagers

2011-05-24T15:45:00.004-06:00

I sent this letter to my daughter's church after discovering that she was buying energy drinks at her Friday night youth group. While I fully expect that the fear of lost profits will outweigh the importance of our children's health (this is America after all), I wanted to post this publicly for other concerned parents to use in their own endeavors.

Energy Drinks and Their Negative Effects on Teenagers

Health researchers and nutritionists are warning parents, educators, and teens about the surprising dangers of energy drinks. The wide range of drinks, which include such popular brands as Amp, Full Throttle, Monster, and Red Bull, have been steadily gaining popularity over the past ten years. In fact, some studies show that nearly one-third of all teenagers regularly use energy drinks.

Unfortunately, in addition to several critical health risks, these drinks may also cause behavioral changes in the teens that drink them. This has forced some parents to lobby for their removal from schools, recreation centers, and churches. The problems related to these drinks are growing and we can expect to see them worsen as manufacturers continue to market directly to our kids.

According to Steven E. Lipshultz, MD, senior author of "Health Effects of Energy Drinks on Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults" published in Pediatrics, not only do energy drinks provide no nutritional value, many of the primary ingredients utilized in the drinks are unstudied. Unlike colas and soda brands which are considered a "food" by the FDA (Federal Drug Administration), energy drinks are considered a dietary aid. As such, they are not subjected to regulatory actions by the government and are not required to provide packaging information, such as the amount of caffeine or included supplements.

So what are the health concerns associated with energy drinks?

Beating Hearts, Racing Minds

While there are some underlying nutritional issues with energy drinks, the health risks for teens that consume them are much more concerning. Kids who abuse these drinks by imbibing several each day are prone to abnormal heart rhythms, nausea, jitters, and other more severe health problems.

Children like the caffeine buzz and few, if any, recognize the potential health hazards. In several schools across the country, administrators have banned the drinks after students were hospitalized following consumption. However, most schools and other places teens are likely to visit still offer these drinks for sale or in vending machines, leaving many students at risk.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), excessive ingestion of caffeine causes more than an energy rush. Research shows that caffeine can increase the effects of fibrocystic breast disease, blood vessel disease and heart disease. It can increase the rate of birth defects, impact reproductive health, and negatively impact behavior.

Caffeine Rage

While many parents and educators understand the signs and symptoms of alcohol or drug abuse, most are not even aware that regularly ingesting energy drinks can actually cause behavioral changes. A study in The Journal of American College Health, authored by Kathleen E. Miller, PhD, a leading researcher in the field of energy drinks, has drawn a direct correlation between high caffeine drinks and risky behaviors such as violence, unprotected sex, and drug or alcohol abuse.

Making The Change

Taking a step back, it becomes apparent that energy drinks are harmful to teenagers. Like any drug -- and caffeine is a drug -- the answer often lies in removing the temptation. Energy drinks, designed by marketers to attract teenagers, simply have no place in schools, recreation centers, or churches. In addition to the bright colors and other marketing tactics used, many teenagers assume the drinks must be safe simply because they can purchase them from trusted resources like schools and churches.

Too much caffeine is never a good thing and, for teenagers who have easy access to energy drinks, the risks are even greater. Removing energy drinks from our schools and churches is an effective way to protect our children from the potential health hazards and the phenomenon of caffeine rage.

Vending machines have their purpose. In our churches that purpose should not be selling high caffeine energy drinks to our children. Instead of waiting until more kids are harmed, please make a change now. I respectfully ask that you to remove these drinks from the places teenagers are likely to congregate within your congregation.

Energy drinks, should teens worry? (Video)

My Wordle

2009-02-11T15:47:00.002-07:00

Wordle.net

I love my kid

2009-02-09T09:13:00.002-07:00

So last night I was helping Casey with a project (she had to turn a report into a web page), and while I was hard at working coding, she emailed me this poem:

If I could catch a rainbow
I would do it just for you
and share with you its beauty
On the days your feeling blue.

If I could build a mountian
You could call your very own;
A place to find serenity,
A place to be alone.

If I could take your troubles
I would toss them in the sea,
But all these things I'm finding are impossible for me.

I cannot build a mountian
Or catch a rainbow fair,
But let me be what I know best,
a kid who's always there.

My heart totally melted. I love my kid.

The Couch-to-5K Running Plan

2009-01-06T11:07:00.001-07:00

I recall my friend DocJelly mentioning something about a couch to 5k program he was working on ... I'm guessing this is where he got the idea!

Cool Running :: The Couch-to-5K Running Plan

This sounds like a good idea. I'm getting bored with the Precor anyway. I'm going to start this. Today.

Who's with me?

My Aloha Umbrella

2008-12-18T15:28:00.005-07:00

There were some helluva storms in Honolulu earlier this month. I found myself out and about in one of them, with a full cart of groceries. Not wanting to melt, I asked the cashier where their non-Barbie umbrellas were and he told me they had sold out. I was weighing my options when the woman in the next line gave me hers. "Take it," she said, "I have plenty."

I was speechless.

So I hugged her.

And then left, with my new aloha umbrella in hand.

You may not find this particularly touching, but it's not often that I stumble across a genuine act of kindness - especially directed toward me! I find myself reflecting upon this often when I help a friend, or a stranger, and think about giving in an entirely new light.

So Mahalo, my umbrella-giving friend, whoever you are.

No mid-life crisis is complete without a tattoo ...

2008-12-16T17:46:00.004-07:00

This past year has been one for the recordbooks. I went from being 38 and content to never leave my house, to 39 and a little effin crazy. What better way to top off my bout of insanity than a tattoo!?

This photo was made just seconds after Doug @ Hawaiian Tattoo Company finished torturing me. Does it look painful? Because it freaking was! I don't think I'll be rushing out any time soon to do another (although I am kicking around re-piercing my belly button when I go back).

I've finally been inked, in true farewell to youth style.

My Waikiki Apartment

2008-12-11T10:52:00.006-07:00

It sounds funny saying that ... I haven't been an apartment dweller in well over a decade. But 10 years of maintaining a house, houseS if you include the rental property, has me very appreciative of the simple living an apartment provides.

Plus the apartment is in Waikiki - so there's that extra added bonus.

For those of you familiar with the area, I'm off of Kuhio, very close to Lewers St and the Wyland Hotel. For those of you not familiar, I'm in freaking Hawaii, in the heart of all the hustle and bustle of Waikiki.

Wanna see wanna see? I made a little video tour, with some very lame narrations. Just mute your machine and check it out:

I know it's a bit excessive, but I wanted a place to call my own on-island so I can leave my stuff and just bring my fabulous self when I travel back and forth. Since I don't pay mortgages any more (yay me!) I thought that paying rent somewhere wouldn't be the end of the world. Hopefully it will get me back here sooner rather than later too :)

This visit has been considerably kinder and gentler to my body. No crazy parties or hanging out with young boys (well, not a LOT of hanging with young boys) ... mostly I've been getting settled in, revisiting friends, and diving. Oh yeah, DIVING!

I've been working on my Advanced Open Water Scuba Certification since I got here. As of right now I'm about 4/6 of the way there - I need to log two more adventure dives to get my new card. So far we've completed: Night Dive, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Navigation, and Drift Diving. We were supposed to do the deep dive and something else (hopefully scooter!) today, but that charter got canceled. There's a hellofastorm on the island right now - I hope it passes soon!

So that's about all the news I've got. I go back to NM on Monday and need to get back to work and holiday stuff.

Mele Kalikimaka!

Welcome Home, Your Cat Is Dead

2008-11-16T18:11:00.008-07:00

After 19 days in Oahu, and five in Las Vegas (which appropriately ended with a jerk cabbie berating me for tipping him $3 on $27 to the airport - I hate Vegas), I finally got home from my mid-life crisis rendezvous yesterday. My dogs were happy to see me for 5 seconds, my kid mustered the energy to give me a hug for another 5, and within the hour I was doing laundry, working around the house, and twittering until way past when I should have been twittering. Life as usual kicking in way to early for my liking.

This morning I slept till noon (much needed), and headed to my neighbors when we discovered a pile of hair, most definitely my cat's, in my front yard. A big pile. I'm not very hopeful at this point and can only assume that I won't be seeing my beautiful, wonderful, Mozart ever again.

So welcome back to the place you can't wait to leave. Your cat is likely dead. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Ooooooooooaaaaaaaahuuuuuuuuuu

2008-10-21T20:57:00.004-06:00

So, through Twitter I met @Roxannedarling and @Shane - I'm not sure how. They are very active in social networking and run some very popular podcasts. Turns out they used to live in Santa Fe but now reside on the island of Oahu. I love Hawaii. No, I LOVE HAWAII. Only been there a couple of times, but to me, it's paradise. I always said if there was a work event on any of the islands that I'd go.

Well, not long ago Rox and Shane announced Podcamp Hawaii 2008 - I thought about going, but for whatever reason, let it slip away. Till yesterday. I woke up thinking, I should be in Hawaii this week. It didn't take me long to stumble over to Orbitz.com where I amazingly found cheap last minute airfare! Within the hour I had booked my flight to Honolulu, registered for PodcampHI, and reserved my hotel room at the Waikiki Prince Hotel for tomorrow. Yes, TOMORROW.

Since then I've been wrapping up loose ends, shopping, getting a spray tan (I didn't sit down afterwards this time), and now I'm putting off packing by blogging. I'm going to give Travelpod another shot, so if you want to follow me around Waikiki Beach, hop on over to my Oahu Blog (oh, and you can follow my antics 140 characters at a time on twitter too).

I'm so excited to go to Hawaii again. It's been about a year and a half since my last visit. Rox mentioned many condos for sale, so I may have to do a little real estate shopping while I"m there. We'll see. But for now I should pack and try to get some sleep before the 6am alarm. Sweet dreams are waiting I'm sure.

Aloha!

Shannon's Travel Blogs

2008-09-11T08:14:00.003-06:00

Ok, I broke down and made a Travelpod blog and will be posting my antics there.

Check it out here

And let me know what you think :)

On the way to Italy!

2008-09-10T12:58:00.002-06:00

Woo Hoo! I'm am on my way to Italy!

Despite the cab being slightly late, I'm here at the gate with a good 45 minutes to spare for the first leg of my journey. From here I go to Cincinnati, then Paris, then Florence, Italy where I get to kick around and do whatever I want for the day. I'll meet up with the travel group on the 12th in a little town called Monticitini Terme, which will be my home base for the rest of the week.

I'm thinking I may start a travel blog on Travelpod since I'm hoping more adventure lays in my immediate future :)

Anyway, I'm off! I hope to be able to log in while I'm there, otherwise, I'll see you in a week.

Ciao!

Sunny SoCal

2008-09-06T16:38:00.002-06:00

2008 is going to go down as my most traveled year so far I do believe.

It's been just two weeks since I got back from Silicone Valley & the biggest geek expo of my life, and here I am unpacking from a three day visit with Josh in Los Angeles. (You don't know Josh ... he was a friend and one of the brothers from way back when, turning into a better friend now.)

But I digress.

Southern California was much more fun than I remembered from my last visit in ... probably 1993. We drove up and down the coast (in a bad ass car), went to some lovely restaurants, watched ET (the movie) on the beach, met some very nice people, had a couple of great business meetings, and generally hung out. And don't you know I didn't take one - single - picture?

Oh well, now I have a great excuse to solicit another invite - photo ops!

Labor Day Family Camp

2008-09-01T17:24:00.005-06:00

Camp Shaver has family camp twice a year, Memorial Day & Labor Day. We had so much fun in the spring that we had to come back and check it out again!

As we expected, we had a great time. Well, mostly a great time. Our only full day at camp rained and rained and rained and, you guessed it, rained. I have never seen such a steady stream of rain in NM in all my life. But we made the best of it. We were still able to do archery during a brief dry spell and rifelry (thanks to the shelter), but we spent the best part of our day in the East Lodge.

The East Lodge is a rec room with ping pong, air hockey, foosball, and just all kinds of fun stuff. Casey and I played ping pong for a while, until kids her age started rolling in. That's when I turned into chopped liver (which frankly I didn't mind ... that gave me an opportunity to play on my Blackberry for a while). Our "camp fire" that night was moved into the Mess Hall where we all performed our skits (Casey and I sang in front of the whole camp!) and played a game of ... I don't even know what it was, but it was fun!

Monday, fortunately, was gorgeous, and we got to do almost everything that we weren't able to do the day before: high ropes, rock wall, a hike through the Jemez Mountains (to a beautiful waterfall), and a game of Rocks, which is reminiscent of capture the flag.

All in all it was a great weekend! Casey made a couple of nice new friends, I got to do a little backyard traveling, and mother daughter bonding is always good.

I posted my fave pics on Flickr, so click here to check them out!

See, I was at SESSJ!

2008-08-29T20:06:00.001-06:00

SES San Jose Photo, originally uploaded by storyspinn.

I stumbled across this photo in Li Evan's photo stream ... Pic was taken at Gordon Biersch with all the SEO big wigs. We were invited because Li rocks like that :)

Thanks!

Jealousy

2008-07-21T13:13:00.004-06:00

100_1827, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I am rather obsessed with Jason Castro. So when I heard that American Idol was touring 100 miles away from my dad's house in Ohio, of course I bought tickets.

Our seats were, meh ... on the floor, but about 50 rows back. I couldn't see the whites of any of the performer's eyes, which is my litmus test of a "good concert"

But I did manage to score two backstage passes. And what did I do with them? Gave them to my dd and niece.

Did I try to hitch-hike in with them? No.

Did I try to buy a third pass? No.

I sat in the bleachers like a good mom, waiting for them to come back and regale me with stories of how cute and cool everyone was.

To further rub salt in the wound, they had this picture taken. Just for me.

I am thoroughly jealous and slightly depressed today, but am thrilled that I was able to have a hand in this experience for them.

You can check out the rest of their pics in our American Idol 08 Flickr set if you want to live vicariously through them too.

Lost: My Waverunner?

2008-06-29T13:07:00.000-06:00

I woke up this morning to find out that 45mph winds and 5 foot waves took out the break wall at the marina, and subsequently, the marina was hit. Several boats floated away and some sank even. It occurs to me that I didn't tie up the Waverunner when I was there last (I thought I was going to go back out on the water Sunday but was vetod).

No one has called to tell me my pwc is gone yet, so I guess that's good news. I'm not too hopeful, though. This Video shows some pretty good damage :(

Dan & Fam

2008-06-17T20:19:00.004-06:00

2008 was the year that my little brother and his family visited NM. Since it will probably be another ten years before they come back, I figured I should post a few pictures for posterity.

I think the thing we did most while they were here was eat. Green chili cheeseburgers, green chili breakfast burritos, Garduno's, grillables... from the time they got off the plane, and for the next six days, I blew my diet so far out of the water it's not even funny - and I didn't even go out with them every time!

Thursday, their first full day in town, we got up very slowly and headed to Old Town, where we walked around for about 10 minutes, did a little shopping, got all gussied up for our Old Time Photo, and ate mom's favorite cheeseburgers in the Plaza. Pretty mellow day, and I even got Teri to pose in this sombrero while we were out an about.

A couple hours later we were home, where half us got ready for dinner at the Rancher's Club, and the other half (my half) continued to digest lunch.

Friday we were off to Elephant Butte Lake.

I know, most people don't think to go boating in the New Mexican desert, but if you can stand the 100 degree shade-free weather, you can do it!

Most of the day was spent driving, settling in, and you guessed it, eating. More Mexican food at the top of the hill in TorC. It wasn't very good, nor was it particularly spicy. But it was filling and we all slept like rocks afterwards.

Saturday was to be our day-O-fun.

We got up, again slowly, and eventually found our way to water. Danny took to the wave-runner (until his wittle ahms stahted huwrting) and the gals stayed in the boat. We found a little cove, went swimming to beat the heat, and goofed around.

Next thing we new Danny's friend from Texas got to town so we got to hang out with them for the day and evening. Brit and his family were wonderful guests, and even played guitar and sang by the campfire (after we grilled out and ate dinner of course).

Come Sunday we had all had our fill of the lake so we headed back to Albuquerque, showered, and while Paige and I got make-overs at the mall, everyone else rested.

But then (drum roll please) ...

We went to Garduno's for dinner.

I was actually hungry this time, and drank probably the best margarita I've ever had (their Premium Marg - Yum!)

The next day we just hung out, played cards, played with Shaggy, packed, and ate left-overs.

Tuesday Danny & Teri headed home to enjoy their last day of vacation together, and left Paige to hang out with us for a couple of weeks.

Poor kid has no idea what she's gotten herself into.

Hasta la vista, Brother (and Sista)! If you miss us too much, you can always relive your visit via Youtube ...

And Justice Is Served

2008-06-12T22:09:00.002-06:00

I don't know if you read my post about the blogger who took the money and ran, but I *finally* got a response from American Express:

We are pleased to inform you that a credit in the amount of $2500 has been posted to your account which can be seen on an upcoming statement.

So thank God that the cost of tuition for this lesson was only a few books on prenatal development.

Drinks are on me!

You should see the other guy ...

2008-06-02T21:14:00.009-06:00

Today started out like any other crappy Monday. I woke to 2500 emails, and before my first cup of coffee had so much as a dent in it, my gtalk was blinking and beeping like there was no tomorrow.

Then I had the pleasure of dragging my daughter out of bed so she could make tennis lessons at 10. I got her there, miraculously on time, and afterwards headed to Target to buy furnishings for the rental home hall bath. $200 later I realized I had lost my shopping list, which was written on the backside of a business proposal. Yes, I know, not my smartest move. So I set out, with two tweens in tow, and retraced our steps to find my missing paperwork. After I walked the entire store, I found myself back at customer service without not only my list, but also two tweens.

Five minutes after the announcement for Casey and Mercedes to please meet their party at the front of the store, we were headed to Lowes to buy yet more parts for the rental house we are now affectionately calling the Money Pit. Of course Lowes didn't have the parts we needed, and the contractor was charging me to sit and wait, so we raced off to Ace Hardware for bits and pieces of plumbing parts.

$100 later I proudly handed my contractor the items he'd been waiting for all morning, just to find that most of them were not going to work.

FRICK

Samons must have them, so this time we headed to the warehouse store, when my foot slipped off the brake and I found myself ass-deep in a Nissan Sentra. We pulled into the Jiffy Lube on the corner and I inspected my car ...

Not bad. A couple of scratches that I may or may not have repaired.

But you should see the other guy ...

If I ever wondered if it was worth it to drive an SUV, I have my answer now!

I wanted to be mad at the idiot two cars up who made an illegal U-turn instead of going left with the arrow and caused the car in front of me to suddenly stop two seconds after we all started to go. I also want to be mad at the Birkenstock company who made the shoes that slipped off the brake pedal when I tried to avoid colliding with the car in front of me. Thankfully, I have a medicine cabinet full of anti-madness, and a fridge that's been calling me out for my nervous eating all day. (In other words, there won't be a weigh-in this week :-)

At the end of the day I'm just glad we were only going 5mph, that no one was hurt, and that the other driver's boyfriend had a fake gun for a belt-buckle instead of the real thing.

Gosh I hope Tuesday ends up better.

Happy Campers

2008-05-26T17:10:00.008-06:00

Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peeeeeeeeanut just now ...

It's been over 25 years since I sang that song. That is, until this past Memorial weekend at Camp Shaver. Twice a year they have Family Camp, and this year we decided to check it out.

We had so much fun! The accommodations were a bit, shall we say, rustic? No electricity (i.e. no lights after dark or heat), no doors or windows (a tarp over cut-outs in the log cabin), and the bunk beds were made out of two by fours... but that's ok, we weren't there to enjoy the room.

The first thing we did was check out Soda Dam so I could take a couple of pictures. Jill, bless her heart, decided she was going to climb to the top of it. Me, with my fear of heights, not so much. That is until Casey popped her head over the side and yelled "Jill's hurt!" At first I thought she was playing a joke on me, but I scooched my way to the top, and found Jill, writhing in pain, telling me her ankle was broken. Thank God it wasn't - I don't know how she would have gotten down from there if it was! We waited for her to regain her composure, and made our way back to camp.

The rest of the weekend was spent hiking to the warm springs, watching skits by the campfire, playing capture the flag and participating in their structured activities like archery, riflery and rock climbing. Casey was a natural at the climbing, I of course stayed firmly planted on the ground. Turns out I was a pretty good shot with the rifle though, so you better watch out :)

All in all Casey and I had a great time and have already sent in our registration for the Family Camp in the Fall. Jill ... I don't think she'll be returning :)

Youtube Video Stream

You can check out a few more camp pictures on our Flickr stream, too, if you like :)

Pretty Kitty

2008-05-19T18:58:00.002-06:00

Pretty Kitty, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

Well I haven't blogged or taken many pictures lately, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone.

This is Mozart, hanging in our pansies. With the 90 degree weather, they won't last much longer, so I had to take some photos for posterity purposes.

Other than that, I went to Denver for an SES Training Day and met Jason from Checkerboard, am making plans for a couple more seminars, and Casey and I are putting an itinerary together for Clearwater. I'm thinking of buying a vacation condo there (since it's one of the few ocean front locations we can fly to nonstop), so between getting out of dodge and working my arse off, I've had little time for much else.

But rest assured, I am alive (and so is my kitty cat :) )

The lost postcards

2008-04-28T10:03:00.007-06:00

So I got a txt message from Sue this morning that said: I finally cleaned out my car.

My response was: um, yay?

Turns out she told me this because she found Casey's postcards from October in between the seats.

To Chris, Dave, and Cassidy - expect a hello from Alcatraz soon!

On a different note, my scale read 143.6 this morning the first time I hopped on. The second, third, fourth and fifth times it read 142.6 - which means I lost a pound since last week! So I'm having lasagna for breakfast to celebrate and will go to the gym later to work it off :)

Fool me twice, shame on me

2008-04-26T11:49:00.006-06:00

I'm sad today.

I'm mad today.

I am embarrassed today because it seems that I never learn from my mistakes and now I need to vent.

One of the bloggers I hired at Babies Online turned out to be very helpful, nice, and experienced in her field ... immediately I accepted her into our inner circle and considered her our go to girl. When she ran into financial problems I offered to help without thinking first. If I would have thought before I spoke I would have realized that irresponsibility is likely what got her into that situation to begin with. But as I said, I didn't think first.

You know, that phrase without thinking first seems to have gotten me into more problems than I care to admit. But I digress.

I offered to advance some money to her, thinking a few hundred dollars. She came back and asked for $2500, in return I would get 6 months of work, including one rather large project. I wanted to say no to that amount. I really did. But I've been tremendously blessed, and if that's what she needed to get out of her dire straights, then I should help. I sent the money, and don't you know, have had nothing but headache ever since.

I have to beg for examples of her work, and when she finally does send something, it's inadequate. My repeated requests for status reports and conference calls are ignored. She doesn't respond to email, her phone service was suspended, and she either doesn't get on IM or has blocked us from seeing her when she's online.

All is not lost. American Express will give my money back if and when I request a charge back. I have a date in mind when that will happen, but am still hoping she will come through and have some valid excuse for the disappearing act. I'm prepared to accept the fact that I was simply scammed, though, which makes me sad, mad, and embarrassed.

I thought I was smarter than that.

Ok, therapy for today is over. I feel much better now.

Adventures in redecorating

2008-04-23T11:51:00.010-06:00

I have company visiting this summer, and since I don't have fancy guest digs like my Uncle Kent, I thought it was time to buy a sleeper sofa. I found one that I like (it has a built in air mattress even) and will likely buy it today. It will go in the Rock Band Room (formerly my unused formal living room) and will be utilized mostly by tweens rockin to the oldies.

This room also houses our piano and has a large picture window on the right side. To complicate things further, I am not adept at interior design, as you can tell from the room design below.

This is how the room is currently laid out:

And this is how I'm thinking of moving things around ...

If I do this, the TV will need to go above the piano, and I will likely put a little DVD/Playstation/Wii table in the corner.
Here's what it will look like with the bed pulled out...

It's a little tight and busy, but it has more of a BHG feel to it this way,
don't you?

Timing is everything

2008-04-22T21:32:00.005-06:00

Breaking News! The American Idols Live Tour 2008 dates have been posted. The second I heard I rushed to the tour web site and frantically searched for an Albuquerque date. Of course, nada.

Second, I search for Cincinnati - YAY! The Idol tour is going through my former home town ... scan left for the date ... oh lucky day ... they'll be performing the night that I leave Ohio to fly back to NM.

Please excuse me while I go throw up now.

143.6

2008-04-21T10:13:00.003-06:00

So here I am, back to the same weight I was before the cruise.

I remember when I was in my 20s and a size two ... I would look at women my age (now) and just not understand how they could just let themselves go. I thought a little effort is all they'd need to be thin. Stupid me. I guess you need to be in your late thirties to understand how hard it is to lose weight when you're in your late 30s.

But I am resolved to do this. So stay tuned!

The end of Casey's soccer career

2008-04-19T16:39:00.006-06:00

Soccer season is over! Oh how I live for this day each spring & fall. This year it is especially bittersweet, though, since Casey has decided not to play soccer any more. I certainly won't miss the practices and Saturday commitments, but she turned out to be quite the little player. I'm going to miss watching her kick &%$ on the fields!

My obsession with Jason Castro

2008-04-14T09:07:00.006-06:00

I don't know if you watch American Idol - my dad got me hooked on this show a few years back and I've been watching it ever since. Never before have I completely fallen in love with a contestant though.

Season 7 has blessed me with the purest voice and most beautiful soul I think I have ever experienced: Jason Castro

This boy just turned 21 ... he is silly and sexy and talented and I just want to rub him and his dreadlocks all over my body (yes, you may call me cougar - mrrrreoooow!)

If you haven't had the fortune of listening to him yet, you should check him out on Youtube

VOTE FOR CASTRO!

Brie is the debil

2008-04-07T10:54:00.005-06:00

I am starting to dread Mondays. Not because it's the beginning of the week, but because it's the day that I disrobe and walk myself onto the bathroom scale. I was hoping that somehow I would defy physics and find that I had lost weight despite my lack of exercise and over indulgence of brie and chocolate mudslides over the weekend.

No luck. 144.4

I guess it's time to break out the cron-o-meter and start hitting the gym again.

Dammit.

Greg made a bet

2008-03-31T19:24:00.007-06:00

So I was looking at my calendar and found a long forgotten note that read:
Bet w/ Greg Randall: 2 years ago he said I'd be in a diff house than (mine) by today

At first it made me laugh. Then it made me think, you know, I have been in this house a long time. I should move. I should get a place that Casey will enjoy as a teenager; a place that can accommodate guests ...

So now I have a goal. New house in 2010. That gives me two years to save save save. We'll see!

Weigh Day

2008-03-31T08:26:00.002-06:00

I don't believe it. All I've done for the past week is eat. Worked out only once, yet managed to not gain any weight! I would have never thought I'd be happy to see the numbers 143.6 appear on my scale, but I was this morning when I saw those numbers pop up. I even checked it twice. Using the stairs instead of the elevators paid off I guess!

Unfortunately my cold has settled into my lungs so I won't be working out again for I don't know how long :( But at least I won't have so much catch up to do.

w00t w00t!

Home Sweet Home

2008-03-30T15:59:00.003-06:00

Aaaaaaah home. My bed, my pets, my food ... I've enjoyed returning from this vacation more than any other. Still, I've spent the day uploading pictures & videos, and blogging (in between naps). Feel free to check out

our 161 vacation pictures on Shutterfly
our cruise videos on Youtube

Enjoy!

Our last day at sea

2008-03-28T22:34:00.007-06:00

Our last day on board was spent entirely at sea as we headed back to Fort Lauderdale. We got out of bed without the aid of a wake up call, ate fruit and breads ala room service, and didn't even leave our cabin until noon. Wilneau found us and spent about 15 minutes teaching the girls how to make the towel animals he'd been leaving for us each night.

Then it was off to eat yet again. I so am not looking forwarded to seeing my scale when I get home. After lunch the kids settled in with their Nintendos and I headed spa for my final service. The creme de la creme ... the hot stone massage. It wasn't as good as the massage I got in Kauai last year, but it was great nonetheless. And the massuere was adorable. I think his name was Pedro. He is from Lisbon and he can rub me down with rocks any day of the week.

$200 later I set out to find the girls who were still playing with their stupid video games. They didn't want to go the pool because it was too windy. Sailing at 15 knots tends to do that. So we settled for checking out our pictures that she ships photographers had been taking all week. $42 after that and we hear the intercom yell BINGO BINGO BINGO! $44 later we were recycling our losing bingo cards as we left the Metropolis.

We had enough time for a quick shower before dinner where we watched the wait staff parade and said goodbye to our table friends. Even though the food wasn't that great, dinner may have been the best part of the cruise. Especially this last night. It was reminiscant of the last night of summer camp when everyone is hugging and taking pictures and happy and sad all at the same time. The staff was especially happy since it was tip night for them :)

After dinner we hesitantly went back to our room to pack (and snapped this last photo on the way).

If you've never cruised before here's a little tid bit of information for ya. Your bags need to be packed and set outside your stateroom by midnight the night before you debark. It may not sound like a pain in the arse, but it is. It seriously is. How well we thought this through will be discovered tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Belize

2008-03-27T23:18:00.006-06:00

I don't know about you, but when I think of Belize I think of Central America ... hot, steamy, tropical. For this reason we decided that we would spend the day on the beach when we got there. Our concierge, Carlos, booked us on a Sun Beach excursion for the every day low cost of $100. We boarded the tender at 9:00 am (7:00 am Belize time) and headed to an island 6 miles east of the ship. That's right. Island ... East. The opposite direction of the main land.

When our island came into view it was very quaint. Lots of beach chairs, a couple of water trampolines, volleyball net... it seemed like a great little oasis away from the hustle and bustle. But with clouds and wind following us like the black plague, it was too cold to do too much but lay in those lovely beach chairs and cover up with anything that didn't blow away. There were no stores to visit, no locals to chat with (save the pregnant bartender & Frank, who appeared to be a manager of sorts)... basically, NOTHING to do except to play in the sun that wasn't there. Unfortunately we didn't realize this until *after* the boat informed us they'd be back at 1:00 to pick us up and left.

The kids didn't seem to bothered by it. They combed the beach for shells and waded in the water up to about their ankles. I tried to zen out and relax. Then a wonderful thing happened. I glanced at the dock and saw our boat dropping off another round of ~~poor saps~~ people. I ran over to ask if he'd take us back, but three other families had already beaten me to it. Next thing I knew I was handing him a $20 bill and heading back to the ship.

We immediately took another tender to the touring area of Belize, which pretty much consisted of a lot of peddlers and a lot of stores. It really felt like in Central America here, and had even warmed up a bit! So we bought souvenirs, $4 ice cream bars, and great dreadlock hats for Crazy Hat Day. The lady selling them called me Sugarplum and posed for this picture with the girls. Oh, and here's a little tid-bit I wasn't aware of ... they sell prescriptions like aspirin there - right OTC. Check out the menu at this "pharmacy!"

That's it. That was our day in Belize. No more than a few hours, and really, that was probably a few hours too many. We had more fun at the pool and at dinner with our Wisconsin friends I do believe. Casey and Mercedes, of course, deserted me for sports night in the kids club and I realized that I had a cold that needed to be slept off. So that's what I did.

Dolphins Rule (in Cozumel)

2008-03-26T20:26:00.009-06:00

The wake up call came at 7:00 ship time. I say that because the ship stays on Eastern Time despite the actual time zone we visit.

Cozumel, for example, is in the Mountain Time zone, but the ship still sails at 5:00 eastern. They made this point over and over again since apparently the ship won't wait for us if we're late.

Our excursion for today is ... Swimming With Dolphins at Chakanaab Park at 8:00 am, Cozumel time. I had no idea what to expect as far as travel time to get there, lines, etc. so we ended up getting there before 7am local time. With an hour to kill we walked up and down the shore line and grabbed some primo beach chairs. Finally it was time to check in for our Royal Dolphin Swim!

The weather was cloudy and windy, so the waves were rockin pretty good. No sooner than we stepped into the water, Casey decided she wanted nothing to do with swimming in the deep water. So she stayed on the platform while Mercedes, me, and the rest of the group swam out to play with Tatiche and pregnant Ichelle.

Even though Casey didn't do the swimming part, she did get to kiss the dolphins, be kissed by them, and tickled them on the belly button (which she thought was very cool).

The dolphin adventure lasted for about 30 minutes, then we were escorted to a little room where they showed us the DVD and photos that they took. $200 later we left the gift store and headed to the pool & beach where the kids played.

Mercedes and I decided to go for a quick snorkel and were happily surprised by all of the fish we saw!

Good thing I glanced at my watch ... before we knew it it was almost 2:00! With the whole time change and needing to be back on the ship by 2:30, so we rushed to the taxis. At the port we had to walk past all the stores selling their seriously inexpensive wares, and got back to the boat with time to spare.

Plenty of time to spare, actually.

We were stunned when the clock in the Royal Promenade read 2:15. Yes, I am a time miscalculating genius. I wanted to head back out and do a little shopping, but Casey and Mercedes didn't care to do that (big surprise there), so we spent the rest of our day at the pool and napping in the room. We skipped dinner in the Nutcracker - the food there is mediocre at best - and I headed back to the spa for a lime & ginger body scrub & massage while the kids went to a pajama party at the kids club.

Formal Night

2008-03-25T20:23:00.000-06:00

Our first day at sea was pretty much a lazy day. The kids swam, despite the cold and cloudy weather, then went to the Adventure Ocean kids club while I hung out and tried to locate the ships hotspots. Since tonight is our formal dinner, I went to the spa for a little cut and style in the afternoon so I wasn't sporting spiked hair with my cocktail dress.

Turns out we clean up pretty good!

We had a nice dinner and were not surprised when the monster children were back in the window again. We were surprised that the parents ignored our glares, but at least they were gone by desert. The only thing worse than monster children is monster children hyped up on sugar.

We got back to our room to find that our state room attendant, Wilneau, left us a bunny towel! We love Wilneau. He rocks.

Tomorrow we have an early day in Cozumel so we crashed out shortly after dinner. We are party animals!

Royal Caribbean Cruise Day 1 - Liar Liar Pants On Fire

2008-03-24T22:28:00.009-06:00

Embarkation day went smoothly. We scored a late checkout from the hotel, got to the port (thanks Melissa!) around 1pm and figured out the process for boarding.

First thing we did was register the kids. The second thing on my to do list was to pick up the "cyber cabin kit" that allows me to connect to the internet from my room (so I can blog of course).

Problem. They don't do in-room internet anymore. They discontinued the program 4 1/2 months ago because it was messing up their network. So instead of having unlimited access in my room, I have to go to a net cafe and pay by the minute (upwards of $.57 depending on the package you buy). At least I won't spend my entire vacation online that way.

After the net fiasco we headed up to our room - 1282 - the Grand Suite on the 10th deck. It's a beautiful room. Big bathroom, huge balcony, a dressing table, bar, two large closets ... we're traveling in style on this ship.

We didn't spend a lot of time in the room since our luggage hadn't arrived yet, so we headed our to explore and swim until the 4:30 muster drill. Oooooh doggy that was fun. We looked so stylish in our purty orange life jackets ... the teenager down the hall even called me a rock star. Little punk :)

Shortly after we set sail. It was pina coladas for everyone on the pool deck where there was a party goin on! The kids swam while I watched Fort Lauderdale slowly drift away.

Next on the agenda was dinner. Our restaurant is the Nutcracker on the third floor and our assigned seats are right next to the window. Awesome! We met our tablemates for the first time too: a banker from Wisconsin, his wife, and nine year old dd. All very nice and chatty. Unfortunately the table next to us has a table full of children who can't seem to stay in their seats. My view was obstructed by children using the windows as slides. I broke out my camera for evidence of the monster children (they name they quickly adopted) and don't you know they even smiled for the camera.

I wonder if it's illegal to beat OPKs on international waters?

After dinner the kids grabbed their nintendos and I headed to the spa for a facial.

The vacationing is on.

He Is Risen!

2008-03-24T07:37:00.006-06:00

Our Easter Sunday was not spent searching for colored eggs, or celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, it was spent traveling to Fort Lauderdale. I didn't think much about traveling on this day when I made our Spring Break plans, but I felt a little guilty not doing anything traditional. Good thing Jesus loves me anyway! :)

The airports were surprisingly busy, and we were very happy when we finally made it to our hotel room. A few phone calls to let everyone know we arrived safely, a little room service dinner, and minimal unpacking later, we were settled in and trying to sleep off the excitement of boarding our first cruise the next day.

So here we are, now Monday, waking up at what feels to us like 7am on our first day of vacation. Let me rephrase that. I woke up at what feels like 7am to us, opened the blinds, made coffee, turned on my computer, got lectured by Kelli for working while on vacation via IM, and am now blogging about our trip so far while Casey and Mercedes are still snoozing away.

At 10:00 I am getting their little butts out of bed so they can enjoy a few minutes of Florida before we take off for the ship place. Pretty soon I'll have the lingo down, but until then, enjoy our view!

This is what dining out will do to ya

2008-03-17T17:50:00.003-06:00

So I've worked out quite a bit this past week - took a couple of yoga classes, a pilates class, and tried to get some cardio in before or after. I was excited to hop on the scale only to find that I put on almost a pound!

The scale taunted me with the numbers 144.4

BLIMEY!

Then I realized, I ate out almost every day last week, and when you eat out, you must get dessert.

So I am banning sweets, as soon as I finish these six boxes of Girl Scout Cookies :)

143.6

2008-03-10T10:16:00.003-06:00

That's how much I weighed this morning, naked. My highest weight was with clothes on, but I have probably put on at least a pound of muscle weight so I'm telling myself it's a wash.

Oh, and my scale also says that I'm 35.1% body fat.

I'm no where near my goal for vacation, but I have a couple of weeks to at least get into the 130s, and I'm on track to be one hot 39 year old for summertime :)

10,000 steps a day

2008-01-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

That's what they say you should be walking.

It'd be a miracle if I see 10% of that, so I bought a pedometer to find out.

This combined with my 1200-1500 calorie a day diet should get me close to bikini weight by Easter, I'm hoping at least.

Update: At bedtime I checked the pedometer and it read roughly 5,000 steps. This was after purposefully walking more than I normally would (like parking in the farthest spot, etc.)

No wonder I've not dropped weight like I thought I would. I gotta get movin!

Update 2: I just did a little math with my pedometer, and 10,000 of my steps is equal to about 4.5 miles. I went for a walk this morning, and my pedometer now reads 4102 (3671 of which was aerobic). I need to find a 4 mile walking path!

The Extreme Team is in town!

2008-01-16T14:18:00.001-07:00

They're letting spectators come watch starting Thursday ... Casey will be so excited. She LOVES Ty Pennington!

Check it out

Happy Anniversary Danny & Teri!

2008-01-11T20:45:00.001-07:00

4 years married today
17 years together
CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!

!

My Dad's big day

2008-01-11T13:53:00.001-07:00

My daddy, The Cincinnati Kid, was inducted into the Billiards Hall of Fame tonight, in Louisville, KY. My brother Danny drove him down for the ceremony and to chat with the guys playing in the Derby City Classic.

Here is a video of his speach ...

And he was also interviewed by Inside Pool ... check out the video here!

Congratulations, Daddy-O!

149.6

2008-01-06T18:34:00.001-07:00

So here I am again ... weighing myself two months before my vacation only to discover that I've put on ten pounds in the past year!

I tell you what, I thank God every day that I was finally able to quit smoking two years ago, but this pound a month I've been putting on since then is starting to get on my last nerve.

So I must drop 20 pounds, preferably 30, before I can be seen in a bathing suit again. That Chicago pizza that Melissa dropped off sure isn't going to help my plight!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-04T11:16:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's been a couple of months since I posted here. Not too much has happened outside of the normal holiday stuff. Casey and I visited Cincinnati in early December but didn't take any pictures of that trip. We're actually staying in Albuquerque all of January! I'll be heading to Dallas at some point in February, then we go on our cruise in March. The countdown to drop at least 20 pounds has already begun (although I've already skipped a yoga class this year).

I'm also back into my photography hobby so I started a new blog to host my Picture A Day Project, a photo diary of sorts. The thought is that if you use your camera every day you'll get better at making pictures ... we'll see!

We'll also post more pictures as our travels come and go.

Happy 2008!

Windy City Kids

2007-11-05T15:30:00.001-07:00

City Kids, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

There is no place in the world like Chicago, and we were lucky enough to visit it again this weekend. Casey and I flew in Thursday night, met up with Melissa and the kiddos, and got to hang until Sunday night. We shopped, we swam, we ate (a lot!), we walked (a lot!), and spent a small fortune ... but hey, that's what Chicago's all about!

The highlight of our trip was probably Blue Man Group for Melissa and shopping for me. I bought myself a new fancy watch on the Magnificent Mile. The kids had their most fun playing video games and swimming I do believe.

The worst part of our trip? It had to be Ed Debevics. Their claim to fame is to treat their customers as rudely as possible. That part they did well. The food was inedible, though, and the service was ... nonexistent. But hey, I got to tell a waiter he was the worst server I'd ever encountered AND flipped him off without getting beaten up, so I guess there was an upside after all! Not to mention that V-E-R-N will have a special place in our hearts forever now.

Melissa's mom recommended we eat at Maggianos and that place was ab fab. Thanks for treating us to some yum-O Italian food!

We have a few more pictures on Flickr (including the amazing view from our room at the Sheraton) so be sure to check them out!

GOAL!

2007-10-28T20:09:00.001-06:00

Hackey, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

Casey scored three goals at her last soccer game! Not bad for a defender?!

The crazy pot lady

2007-10-05T18:04:00.001-06:00

So the whole reason we came to San Fransisco was to meet Sue - the owner of HerAgency - now affectionately known as the crazy pot lady.

We had a great time with Sue. She and Casey painted clay pots for a good part of the day. That's her thing ... painting clay pots. These little pieces of art spot not only her yard and her home, but her friend's yards and her friend's homes as well. They're a lot of fun to look at, and sometimes disturbing (the homage to her dead cat comes to mind) ... anyway, they had a lot of fun doing that while I forced myself to work a while ...

Then we had lunch at Oakland's new Whole Foods (yum-o!) and headed to the dog park for a day o' fun. The backstory is that Sue got her first dog, a greyhound puppy named Stella (STE-LLAAAAAA), and she takes her to the dog park daily. We searched for a dog park like this for-EVER when we were in Florida last year - it was right on the beach ... had a great sunset view ... people everywhere, and of course, dogs!

We hung out there for a couple of hours and watched a beautiful sunset (note Stella in the bottom left corner :)

Once the sun goes down in northern California it gets COLD! So what did we do? We went for ice cream! I forget the name of this place, but man did they have good sundaes. Sue and I lost a bet on whether or not this woman would finish her colossal bowl of ice cream (she did, for the record), and we went home fat and happy (well, I was fat and happy anyway).

That pretty much wraps up our trip to San Francisco! We're already keeping an eye out for cheap airfares so that we can go back.

Alcatraz

2007-10-04T19:50:00.000-06:00

Alcatraz, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

Casey wanted absolutely nothing to do with Alcatraz. She'd heard stories of ghosts and sharks circling the island ... finally she decided that she'd give it a shot and we're both SO very glad we did.

Alcatraz was really amazing. It was sobering, and interesting, and a little bit spooky all rolled into one. We did a group tour and an individual audio tour, which consisted of a prerecorded guide with background noise that was reminiscant of the "good old days" when Alcatraz was open. You could hear the inmates whistling at you as you walked down the hallways, the doors slamming in the distance, forks clanging in the dining hall, everything. All while being guided around the entire prison and informed about what everything was.

We took a ton of pictures, of course, so be sure to check them out on our Flickr account!

San Francisco

2007-10-04T16:30:00.000-06:00

After ten years of working with the wonderful women of Heragency, I decided it was time for a face to face. So Casey and I headed to the beautiful Bay area for Fall Break this year.
The last time I was in northern California was 1995 when I met Geardaddy there (swoon) for some kind of symposium he was participating in. I loved it then and I love it now. I'm definitely going visit before another twelve years pass this time.

We flew into Oakland Wednesday night and met Sue at The Rose Suite, her little one bedroom apartment set aside for out of town guests. This was the cutest little place. It was perfect for Casey and me! There was a small bedroom, bath, and kitchen area that opened to an urban courtyard and our very own lemon tree.

By the time we settled in it was almost midnight, so we spent our first night simply sleeping.

Thursday morning we woke up, and I tried using this coffee maker contraption with disastrous results. So we threw on our clothes and off to Starbucks we went for a hot chocolate and venti latte. I think I'm going to have to donate a small coffee maker for future occupants of the Rose Suite.

After I had my caffeine fix, we cleaned up and headed off to Fisherman's Wharf to meet Kathleen for lunch.

I didn't visit this place when I was here the first time, but I so wish I had. Unfortunately we only had a couple of hours before we needed to check in for our Alcatraz tour, but Kathleen helped us to make the most of it.

First she took us to see the Sea Lions. There were dozens upon dozens of them, barking and knocking each other off their platforms. It really was something to see:

So we hung out there and took a few pictures (you can check them out on our Flickr Account), then we headed to Neptune's for lunch. It was a great restaurant with an amazing view of the Bay and Alcatraz. They even had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, which of course I devoured. Diets are out the window when you're on vacation :)

We decided to walk off lunch on the pier and hit a few stores to pick up souvenirs and what have you. There was a great hat store with the craziest stuff. Casey picked up the perfect accessory for crazy hat day, which is an annual event at her school :)

We also got to see the Blue Angels! It just so happens to be Fleet Week there now, so we got so see them practicing for the big show. Unfortunately we'll be gone for the actual event, but just watching them fly around us for a couple of hours was amazing (and loud loud loud!)

After we shopped and walked and talked and laughed, it was time to head to Pier 33 for our evening tour of Alcatraz...

Cincinnati

2007-07-21T15:17:00.000-06:00

Our Family, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

No summer is complete without a trip home to Cincinnati.

We usually do the same old things ... Casey goes to her cousin's house and I roam the city for a few weeks each year.

This year Casey got to go to residential summer camp for the very first time and had a blast. Paige got to go too, and fun was had by all.

We also got to attend the yearly Peter's party, which is always fun. This year it was more of a reunion of close friends and family and we had a great time.

We also got to see Aunt Joy, who moved from California to be with Grampa, and we started remodeling his house. You wouldn't believe it if you saw it.

Be sure to check the rest of our Cincinnati photos on Flickr!

Virginia & Washington D.C.

2007-07-19T15:03:00.000-06:00

So believe it or not, I have relatives on my mom's side of the family too! After years of saying we're going to get together, a few of us actually did.

Kent & Joanne (my mom's brother) have a timeshare in Massanutten, VA so I flew into D.C. to visit them, his son Chris (who I met for the first time this year), Chris' fiancé Kristin (not pictured), and my cousin Rob, who lives in Wisconsin.

We spent a couple of days there eating wonderful food, playing Putt-Putt, and tubing down a lazy river. Then we went back to Kent's house in Virginia and spent an evening sight-seeing in Washington D.C.

I got to see The White House too!

It was a short trip, but great to be able to see everyone again (and for the first time). Hopefully we'll be able to do something like this again, with an even bigger turnout!

We're going on a cru-uise

2007-07-07T13:45:00.000-06:00

Ok, so we have to wait until 2008, but we're going on a cruise!

For our first time at sea, I figured a 5 night cruise would suffice, so we're taking the Royal Caribbean Navigator to Cozumel and Belize, with a couple of days at sea. According to Cruise Critic, it's one of the best family friendly ships there are, so I figured Casey would dig that.

We'll start out in Fort Lauderdale and spend the night at the Sheraton again (this is where we stayed in 2006 when we visited Danny and Teri after they disembarked). Then we hit the boat and do, well, I don't even know what yet! Good thing that I have a whole lotta months to plan this!

In the meantime we'll be going to Cincinnati, Virginia, San Francisco, and most likely Chicago again. It's gonna be a busy year!

Chicago for Memorial Day

2007-06-01T11:29:00.000-06:00

Anchor at Navy Pier, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

After school let out for the year (yay!) Casey and I packed up and headed to Chicago to visit Cassidy, Melissa, and Katie. Full blog to follow, but until then, check out our pics on Flickr!

Genius Children

2007-05-31T16:46:00.000-06:00

The Travel Trailer

2007-04-06T16:40:00.000-06:00

My accountant called with good news yesterday: I don't owe nearly what I thought I was going to in taxes. After a short w00t! one would think that I'd be calling my stock broker. Did I? Nope! I called Aloha RV and bought myself a travel trailer. We'll be going to the lake a lot more this summer. Here are a few pics of it that I pilfered from the Aloha RV web site ...

My room

Bunk Beds for Casey

One big slide-out

You can't tell from this, but it's 31' long

This is the way I like to rough it :)

All good things must come to an end

2007-04-01T22:11:00.000-06:00

How time flies when you're in paradise. It's been a week since we got here, and now it's time to go home. Jennie's flight left at 1:30 (although she tried real hard to miss it), and Casey and my flight at 10:30pm. Both of our flights were red eyes and suck beyond imagination. Still it's a small price to pay for the week we just had.

We had to check out of our ocean front room at 10:00 am, and borrowed a "linger longer" room until 6. From 6-10 we were officially homeless, so we wandered around, ate, drank, and took pictures as we waited for the dreaded time when we had to leave for the airport. For your viewing pleasure, here are some miscellaneous pictures of our last day and the resort ...

There are 700 more pictures on our Walgreens Photo Gallery if you're really bored.

Otherwise, th-th-that's all folks!

Our Greatest Adventure Yet

2007-03-31T18:41:00.000-06:00

Saturday was our last full day on the island, so we decided to get out there and really explore all that Kauai has to offer.

We somehow managed to secure three spots on the Kipu Falls Ziplining Safari thanks to whoever canceled at the last minute. So at 8:15 we checked in at their office in the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor, loaded our stuff into dry bags, and off we went to enjoy nature.

Our first excursion of the day was a 2 mile kayak trip up a jungle stream. It was remarkably fun and easy, and our nervousness was squelched as soon as we found our left, right, left, right groove.

Jennie got paired up with a solo traveler. Casey and I were a team, and even though we worked well together, we were the last boat in the group. One of the tour guides, Spot, hung back with us the whole hour and fed us compliments and encouraging sentiments along the way.

Next we tied our kayaks and met up with Gary - a rather dry Howlie local who narrated our hike through the jungle. He pointed out a lot of the plants and flowers and explained how the native Hawaiians used them in their daily lives.

He led us to a small waterfall with a natural pool and rope swing. We all had an opportunity to take a dip, but only a few of us did. Jennie, Casey, and myself chose to stay dry and loaded up on the bug spray instead.

After our hike ended we hopped on a covered wagon, pulled by a tractor, and got a tour of the Kipu Ranch. They took us to a porta-potty, too, which I was ever so grateful for. We snacked on macadamia nut cookies and chatted with the rest of the people in our group. Surprisingly half of them live in Hawaii. They're not taking their home for granted, that's for sure.

Our ride dropped us off at another trail, and we hiked some more. This time we ended at Kamapua'a Falls where we had a picnic lunch and the opportunity to zipline across the stream.

Being the wuss that I am, I passed. But Jennie and Casey buckled up like it was nothing and off they went. Unfortunately as soon as Devon opened the gates for them it started to pour down rain. It didn't matter to them, though. Check it out ...

We left the ziplining to go on yet another hike. Spot stayed there to help the other groups, so we snapped this picture of him on our way out. He was a lot of fun, and is planning to open his own snorkel tour company, so if you're ever in Kauai, look him up.

Hang Loose Spot!

So where was I? Oh yeah, back to hiking. This time our trail led us to Kipu Falls, a mother of a waterfall. People were swimming, cliffdiving, and jumping off the rope swing.

Casey had fallen at the picnic area and scratched her knee up pretty good, so we couldn't get in the water here, which made us very sad. But it finally stopped raining, so we got to hang out by the waterfall and watch all of the fools try to break their necks before heading back to the tractor for another Kipu Ranch tour.

We saw wild boar

And cows

And of course ...

CHICKENS!

Our tractor, after almost tipping over a hillside, dropped us off at our last hike of the day, then a motorized canoe carried our tired bodies back to Nawiliwili Harbor and the Outfitter's office.

We were gone for 7.5 hours when it was all over and were dirtier than we have ever been in our adult lives. OH what a day!

Poipu and Poi

2007-03-30T21:41:00.000-06:00

Friday was supposed to be another resort day, but this time, our resort was in Poipu.

The Marriott has a time share resort on Poipu Beach and offered me 20,000 points to sit through a presentation. I figured I had nothing to lose, so we headed south for the day. First, though, we stopped at the post office to mail Cassidy's coconut :)

The Waiohai Marriott was no where near as nice as the Beach Club at which we were staying, so turning down their $40,000 2 bedroom condo (for 1 week a year!) was an easy task for me. But we got to spend a little time on Poipu Beach, and Casey and Jennie got to hang at the pool while I sat through all the reasons why the Marriott has the best timeshare program in the world.

When it started to rain we headed back to the resort to get ready for dinner - a Luau at Smith's Garden. We got all dressed up in the Hawaiin garb we bought at Hilo Hatties and were excited about our upcoming taste of Hawaii. It stopped raining the very minute we pulled into the parking lot, so we got to take a tour of their gardens while comfortably seated in their tram.

After that we watched the Imu Ceremony, where they unearthed the pig, and the owner (Mr. Smith) gave us a little tutorial on the Hawaiian cooking method called Kalua.

Next we enjoyed the open bar, and then the feast. They had a great spread and we sampled a little bit of everything - including the poi. I don't think Jennie liked it very much. What do you think?

Cheers!
After dinner we moved over to the Pele Amphitheater for the Rhythm of Aloha Show. It was FABULOUS. Unfortunately none of my pictures do it justice so you'll just have to take our word for it. But they celebrated every culture that has contributed to Kauai people, including, of course, the traditional Hawaiin Hula.

Oh, and lest we forget ... we also saw ...

CHICKENS!

The Hat That Wouldn't Die

2007-03-29T21:14:00.000-06:00

Today we had reservations on the Blue Dolphin Sunset Tour of the Napali Coast. It was another beautiful day on the island, so we headed south a few hours before our scheduled checkin time of 2:00.

Our first stop of the day was a roadside lunch truck that served garlic shrimp & rice plates. We were a little leery, but ordered anyway. We were glad we did. For $20 we left full and satisfied. Our cheapest meal on the island yet!

Our next stop was the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. We thought this would be a relaxing way to kill a couple of hours. We were wrong. The gardens themselves were only accessible by tram on a guided 2.5 hour tour. We did see lots and lots (and lots) of spiders around the Visitor's Center, though. When we found out that they could jump six feet we decided to head on out.

So we decided to visit the Spouting Horn. There were some cute little shops all around the park, so we picked up a few souvenirs for those of you that we like (if you don't get a gift, you'll know you're not one of them :) ... then walked over to the viewing area to see what all the fuss is about. The waves were pretty calm so it wasn't as big as much as it usually was, but still we saw some neat sprays ...

Oh, and we also saw ...

CHICKENS!

Our day was starting to get away from us, so we thought we should start making our way to Port Allen. We passed Koloa Landing and the Shrimp Truck and realized eating there might not have been the best idea. Both Casey and Jennie were having gastrointestinal difficulties by now. I must have a rock gut. I was fine (whew!)

The boat tour was great. We secured a spot on the right side of the boat and enjoyed the calm waters up the coast of Napali. The captain was playing relaxing music and the crew was serving pretzels and soda. When we heard the theme song from Titanic, Jennie just couldn't help herself.

We were kicking back looking at the awesome coastline when the captain informed us that there were spinner dolphins at the bow of the boat. And he wasn't kidding! There were a half a dozen at least, playing as we went in reverse and watched them in awe.

Then a catastrophe occurred.

We couldn't believe it.

No matter how hard we tried.

Jennie's hat flew overboard.

The crew must have really wanted tips that day because the rang the bells, stopped the boat, then went back to retrieve it!

It took a few passes before the crew chick, Meredith, was able to hook it and reel it in, but our hat eventually came back to us, from the deep blue pacific ocean. It may be bent and stink of fish now, but it will always have a special place in our hearts.

Now that every hat was accounted for, we continued north, almost to Ke'e beach, where the road ended to the north. We saw waterfalls, and hikers, caves, goats, and deserted villages. This is something we will remember forever.

On the way back we saw whales spouting, and a baby jumping out of the water and breaching over and over again. It's the end of whale season here so we didn't expect to see any left, so we were pleased to experience that. The moments were too fleeting to get pictures of the whales, but we did get a snapshot of us with the sunset (the $40 sweatshirt I bought at the charter office sure came in handy, let me tell you!)

After we docked we drove home and collapsed into bed at 8:00. We only have two days left, so we're off to enjoy the rest of our holiday.

Aloha!

A Room With A View

2007-03-28T22:52:00.000-06:00

Wednesday we decided to do nothing again. As much fun that exploring can be, lazy days by the beach and pool seem to be our favorite. We don't generally take pictures on days like this, so here's a little video taken from our lanai to tide you over ...

Exploring The North Shore

2007-03-27T18:48:00.000-06:00

Today we decided to head north for the day to see if we could find Puff The Magic Dragon, so we put the top down on the car and off we went.

Our first stop: The Kilauea Lighthouse

We pulled off at a scenic lookout to snap this picture, then we drove down the little driveway, paid our $3, and got to tour our first lighthouse!

To your right you can see the view from the lighthouse.

You can understand why they needed this here, right?

That was fun, but no Puff here, so we got in the car and continued north.

We drove through Princeville, then Hanalei, looking for the Hanalei Mix Plate Lunch place but couldn't find it. Finally we saw a little food truck by a beach so we pulled over there and ate pork sandwiches and hot dogs. Across the beach was this cool cave that we explored. It looks small in this picture, I know. But it was probably 20 feet high in some places! Casey made it pretty much all the way to the back. I was the second most courageous ... I went almost half way, and Jennie stayed about 20 feet closer to the entrance than that :)

So back in the car we went and continued on our search for that rascally dragon. Next thing we know, we came to the end of the road. Literally.

If you've ever seen a map of Kauai there is no road that goes all the way around the island. About 25% is inaccessible by car because of the Napali coastline. So we drove as far as we could heading north.

What a beautiful dead end this turned out to be!

We found ourselves on Ke'e Beach and it was spectacular! This is the beginning of the Napali Coast (which we'll see more of on Thursday). We spent a few hours here swimming, sunbathing, and general chilling out. Well Casey swam, Jennie sunbathed, and I chilled in the shade :)

If you listen carefully you'll hear Jennie's flip-flops :)

We thought we should start heading back around 5 or so since it takes about 1.5 hours to get back to the hotel from where the road ends, but we stopped a couple more times on the way

First stop, another cave that we thought was pretty cool.

Second stop, a Farmer's Market where we chatted with locals
& bought pineapple, papaya, and flowers that were bigger than your head!

We never did find Puff, but we very much enjoyed our day exploring the north side of the island.

Chickens Chickens Everywhere!

2007-03-27T18:00:00.000-06:00

The most interesting thing I've discovered on Kauai is the chicken situation. Apparently hurricane Iniki destroyed all the chicken cages in 1992, releasing I don't know how many birds into the wild. Since they have no predators on the island (except for the occasional local) they are now all over the place.

I've developed the habit of yelling CHICKEN every time we seen one. I think Casey and Jennie will be hearing CHICKEN in their dreams long after the sound of the surf has left their memories on the mainland :)

Don't believe me? These guys came up to visit me on Ke'e beach today. Aren't they cute?!

There's life outside the resort?

2007-03-26T18:25:00.000-06:00

Monday morning we woke up before dawn. 5 am is sleeping in when it feels like 9 (or 11 for Jennie!) We made our coffee and headed for the lanai to watch our first Kauai sunrise. It was a beautiful way to start our day. We discussed what we wanted to do for the day and decided on nothing. We didn't leave the resort at all. We did walk the grounds & the beach, ate an enormous breakfast buffet, and drank exotic concoctions by the pool (Jennie is a fan of Mai Tais now)

We took a break in the middle of the day to play Hawaiin Bingo. Casey and Jennie won Marriotters and I won a coffee table book about Kauai. For dinner we went to Duke's for fish tacos & thai pizza, then were off to bed by 8pm. I can't think of a better way to have spent our first day in paradise. Tomorrow, though, we're going to explore the island a little bit!

We made it!

2007-03-25T17:00:00.000-06:00

Wow - I'd forgotten how long it takes to get to the islands. We all managed to get to the Kauai airport at about the same time, so that worked for us. All of our luggage made it too, which was an especially nice perk!

Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy when we landed. But out spirits were lifted when we got to our hotel and saw how beautiful everything was at the resort.

In case you want to check out our digs, here are a few pictures ...

Casey and my room

Jennie's room

The view from our rooms ...

The Kauai Marriott is on the east side of the island, in the middle of Kalapaki Beach. It's a great little beach in Nawiliwili Bay. It's a perfect area for us. The water is calm enough to swim, with sometimes enough waves to boogie board. We've seen lots of surfers in the bay too! I think we found the perfect place to hang our hats.

This time next month

2007-02-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'll be drinking mai tais in Kauai. Nothing new to report, I just wanted to say, Aloha!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

2007-02-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

It only took two months, but our Wii came in today. Casey is all kinds of jazzed!

I'm jazzed too - for a while at least this will be a great carrot to dangle in front of her to get her chores done.

Mii is off to play with the Wii now.

ta ta!

139.8

2007-01-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

That's how much my digital scale said I weighed this morning, barefoot, wearing light clothes, and having eaten like an angel yesterday and this morning.

So I have a task in front of me ... to drop 20 pounds before we go to Hawaii.

When do we go to Hawaii?

TWO MONTHS!

I just can't let Jennie look better than me in a bathing suit :)

Casey's 4th Grade Class Picture

2007-01-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

We *finally* got Casey's school pictures - in January! The finished result is lovely, but it took two retakes and a couple of lost orders to get here. We'll be sending them out next week with our thank you cards from Christmas, which are now terribly late.

I'm sure you're used to that by now though :)

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

2006-12-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

Snow in Albuquerque!, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

Believe it or not, we're snowed in! We woke to a remarkable 15" of snow covering the fair city of Albuquerque. This is on top of the snow we got last week. I haven't seen anything like this since I moved to New Mexico in 1992 without having to drive to the peak. Thank goodness we made it to the grocery yesterday - everything is closed today!

Casey, Cassidy, and the dogs had a blast playing in the backyard - they even attempted to build snow forts until the cold got to be a little too much to bare ... then it was hot chocolate, chicken soup, and video games for the rest of the day. This is the way winter was meant to be!

Root Canals

2006-12-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

My sinus infection bothered my one tooth enough that I had to get an emergency root canal this morning. Merry Freaking Christmas to me!

I tell you what, this past year has been wrought with aches, pains, and general misery. If you haven't turned 37 yet, take my advice: DON'T DO IT!

I'm off to take more pain medication.

Merry Merry!

2006-12-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Ahhh Christmas night. The presents have been opened, the sweets devoured, and the credit card bill is through the roof! I love Christmas. We had a very nice day. Mom came over around 10:00, woke Casey up to open presents (that's right - she sleeps in even on Christmas day) and we spent two hours opening gifts at a leisurely pace. We took a few pictures of the goodies Casey got; you can check them out on my Flickr page.

Thank you to everyone who thought about us today. We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Toothaches SUCK

2006-12-24T03:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen 3am in many many years. Unfortunately, the only reason I'm awake right now is because the ibuprofin, pain medication, and antibiotics haven't taken away this damned toothache! My head hurts, I'm tired, and I can't take any more pain medication for a couple more hours. That makes me grumpy so I thought I'd share my misery with you :)

Christmas Day Update: Turns out I have a sinus infection ... I didn't sleep at all the night I wrote this. My wonderful dentist phoned in some pain meds on Christmas eve and gave me his home number to call him if I need him. Unfortunately the pain meds didn't work, but the antibiotics kicked in around 3am last night, so I actually got to sleep for almost six hours, albeit sitting up on the couch. Hopefully tonight I can lay down like a normal person without my head exploding.

My Christmas Elf

2006-12-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

I am so digging Christmas this year.

Check out my little elfette!

Cayman Island Rum Cake

2006-12-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

I received a chocolate rum cake in the mail last week. I assume this was a gift, however there was no note or any indication of who sent it. If you're the mystery Santa, please let me know so I can say ...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I love-love-love-LOVE Tortuga's rum cakes!

Christmas Update: Turns out that my brother was the culprit! Thanks little bro! :)

Woof! (I mean Merry Christmas!)

2006-12-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

Chum Chum Charlie

2006-12-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

Casey and I are foster parents! This is our little dachsund, Chum Chum. We call him Chum Chum Charlie. Isn't he adorable?

Here are a couple short video clips even :)

Chum Chum LOVES to play with Olivia!

I heart these pictures

2006-10-27T16:33:00.000-06:00

They are adoringly looking at a pile of dog poo in the back yard ...

Obsession

2006-10-07T15:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, it's never a good idea for me to plan vacations this far in advance. I get all obsessed over it, then I have to wait forever to get outta dodge.

I have spent endless hours looking at accomodations in Kauai. After making half a dozen different reservations, I believe I have made a decision!

We're cancelling the Marriott and the Sheraton and are going to stay in a condo-type room in Poipu instead.

Aloha!

2006-10-06T09:42:00.000-06:00

(singing) We're going to Hawaii .... We're going to Hawaii ....

Reservations are made, airline tickets bought, and excitement is high ... we are going to Kauai in the spring! We have an ocean view room at the Sheraton in Poipu, and our friend Jennie from Ohio is going to meet us there!

I know it's still six months away, but I'm jazzed! I have missed Hawaii since we went to Maui in 2005 and now we finally get to go back.

Wooooooo Hooooooooooooooooo!

The Tooth Fairy is going to have a field day

2006-10-05T22:00:00.000-06:00

Casey had her oral surgery today. She had eight (that's right ... EIGHT) teeth surgically removed: 4 permanent teeth and 4 baby teeth. She apparently inherited my jaw ... believe it or not our mouths are too small to hold all of our teeth. She already had a few teeth removed a couple of years ago, so hopefully this will be the last of the surgeries.

She came through it like a champ! She didn't wince when they put the IV in, and she woke up great. The first words out of her mouth when she got in the car were: can we go to Starbucks? (She loves loves LOVES their Strawberries & Cream Frappacino). So we got that, went home, and laid around all day eating gelato and yogurt. Melissa brought her flowers and balloons from Cassidy, too, which was very nice.

So thank you to everyone who said a prayer for Casey today. She's doing great!

Homework Week 2

2006-09-29T20:25:00.000-06:00

Well, I had hoped to spend a bit more time on homework this week. That didn't happen, but I did get most of the shots I was supposed to. I wouldn't classify them as frameable, though.

Here are two photos that show different aperatures

These next two demonstrate different shutter speeds

This is the photo I submitted for "Perspective" - even though I took it in Indianapolis over the summer. I may try a do-over if the opportunity presents itself.

I was also supposed to take a photo during the "golden hour" and take a reflection photo, but those didn't happen either. I'll try to tack them onto this week's assignment: A series of 4-6, an open space photo, a backlit and/or silhouette photo, two photos of a person, outside, with and without flash, a night photo showing lights, and a photo of a subject illuminated by natural light. Jeesh! This is going to be a busy week!

Happy Birthday Casey!

2006-09-28T20:25:00.000-06:00

Casey turned 10 today!!

We had a school party for Casey's class. We brought it Dion's pizza and ate in the park across from school. Everyone seemed to have a great time and Casey enjoyed her special day.

After school we opened presents from the family (thank you cards will go out next week ;) ), then we rounded up a few close friends and went to Itz. It was our first time there and we had a great time! Mariah, Charlene, Alex, Christine, and their parents all came with us. So we ate, played, and basically exhausted ourselves... and these is the only picture we have :(

Her actual birthday party is Saturday. We've invited the entire fourth grade, girl scout troop, and soccer team and are heading to the pool. Woo hoo! I'll be sure to grab lots of pictures since my friends will be there to help me out with everything.

I can't believe we've been hanging out for a decade already. Boy does time fly!

Shadows

2006-09-27T15:20:00.000-06:00

So I found a shadow for last week's assignment at the Coronado State Monument today ... better late than never!

Before and After "Feeling Lucky"

Adventures in Photography

2006-09-22T19:41:00.000-06:00

I've taken up a new hobby: photography. I had the equipment; now it's time to learn how to use it. So back to school I went... this time it's continuing ed.

My first homework assignment was textures and lines. Whaddyathink?

The picture above is of my neighbor's wall.

The picture on the right is my patio ceiling ... looks rugged doesn't it? I actually received compliments on both of these, so maybe I'm learning how to use this camera after all!

This last picture was taken to demonstrate the rule of thirds.

It ain't the purtiest picture in the world, but what I lack in talent I tried to make up for with humor.

We were also supposed to take pictures of interesting shadows , but I waited too long to take it and it was an overcast day. Oh well. One of these days I'll learn that procrastination does not pay off.

We're still alive

2006-07-07T15:38:00.000-06:00

We've been in Cincinnati a week and two days now and things have been pretty quiet. Casey is staying at Uncle Danny's house with Paige (go figure) and I'm unpacked at my dad's house which gets smaller and smaller each year as more stuff is accumulated.

The fourth of July has come and gone ... Jimmy marched in the Greenhills Parade, we all went to separate parties, and the girls and I watched fireworks from the parking lot of Northgate Mall. We never did make it to the Greenhills festival since I was too sick to brave it.

What else has happened this week ... OH! We have a new addition to the Anderson Family ... Mr. McPuggles (aka Pugsley). Teri wanted a dog she could snuggle with, so they found an adult Pug to bring home with them.

Unfortunately for her this dog is 100% fixated on Danny and wants to be by him at all times. He's a good dog, though, and he gets along with the other animals fabulously ... Henry has a particular fondness for him, Leah thinks he's another boxer, and Olivia and he tears it up with the best of them too.

Other than that, not much else has been going on. I've visited with friends and have been catching up on work while Casey has been consumed with Sims at her cousin's house. I think we're going to start getting off our arses a bit more next week, so we'll post more then.

Hope you had a wonderful fourth!

Sneezy in Cincinnati

2006-06-29T20:19:00.000-06:00

We made it to Ohio! Nothing of note to write about, except that I have a cold. Casey is at Uncle Danny's house with Paige, and Grampa went to bed at 9:00. I'm off to find some chicken soup and will post again when something exciting happens here. Don't hold your breath! :)

Fort Desoto Beach

2006-06-26T15:14:00.000-06:00

Monday was the last day we were to see the ocean, so we chose Fort Desoto Beach. It is a #1 ranked beach and it also had a Paw Park. We drove an hour to get there (again over the bridge from hell), spent about an hour at the paw park/dog beach, then drove an hour to get back home. It was kind of overcast, and neither of us were really in the mood to swim, so it was ok that we headed back early. I think we've had our fill of sight-seeing for a while.

Good bye Florida. We're going to miss you!

Almost time to go :(

2006-06-25T11:01:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been over a week since I've posted. That's due to a combination of exhaustion, depression, work and play.

We got back to Sarasota last Sunday and did nothing for three days. I don't think we left the house, or even got out of our pajamas for that matter. We were worn out from all of the running we'd done this month and were very happy to veg out.

Then Wednesday rolled around and it dawned on me ... we leave in a week! So rest time is over.

It'd been a while since we'd been to a beach, so we packed lightly and headed for Longboat Key. We drove the entire island and didn't find a public beach anywhere. But right across the northern bridge was a great place to play: Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island. There were facilities there, parking, picnic benches, lifeguards, tons of shells and great surf. Casey tried to skim board, but apparently Hollie's family broke it in Tampa. Oh well, what's $50 between friends? (grrrr) Still we had a nice afternoon playing in the water (which is insanely warm here). We stopped in Armand's Circle on the way home and bought Mango Wine and Tortuga Rum Cakes (woo hoo!!!!!) from St. Armand's Winery, then had lunch at Lido Grille (which was out of Mojitos, Sangria, and Key Lime Pie, but that's another story).

On Thursday we finally visited The Mote Aquarium and had a wonderful time - AND they had a similar cruise to the one we missed in Clearwater! (where they drag a net and show the kids all of the wildlife they pick up) We got to see blue crabs, seahorses, lots of different fish and sand-dollars... it was the best excursion we've done in Florida I think. I took like 200 pictures, but don't you know, my flash card is somehow corrupt and I can't get a single image off of it. But at least we have the memories. (Word of advice, that seemingly useless feature that allows you to "stop" an external device really does have a purpose - USE IT!)

Friday we went to the G Wiz Science Museum (after buying a new camera). It was an ok way to spend the afternoon, but the Children's Museum in ABQ is better. There were a few exhibits that kept our interest, though, and Casey spent a good hour building this contraption with a little boy. I sat and talked with his very nice mother who filled me in on schools, etc. in the area. She also told me the horror stories of hurricanes, tornados, red tide, etc. Florida is a sort of scary place to live :)

But my new philosophy (thanks to a video I saw on You Tube) is:
Don't be afraid of death, be afraid of a life half-lived.

So Saturday we drove around Lakewood Ranch for several hours, checking out all of the for sale / for rent signs and what was available. We liked the Summerfield subdivisions the best. Every once in a while I would pull over and ask a passerby some questions about the area. That's how I met Mark and his wife Happy (yes, Happy).

Mark was walking down the road so I stopped to ask him where the kids were. Next thing I know we're following him to his house around the corner. There were like five houses for sale on the cul-de-sac street, one rental, and kids EVERYWHERE! This is the kind of street I wish I had in ABQ. Family after family after family and incredibly nice neighbors (who aren't retired!). For the first time, Casey softened to the idea of staying in Florida longer (despite the alligators, sharks, hurricanes and jellyfish). She was in awe of all of the children riding their bikes and playing in their front yards without fear of abduction!

There was a house for rent directly across the street from the "Happy Family" (boy I'll bet that's the first time they've been called that). It is 2000 square feet, has 4 bedrooms, a screened lanai with a small in-ground pool, and a lake in the back yard. It would be perfect if I wanted to move everything I owned and commit to Sarasota, but the $2,000 a month rental agreement is a bit more than we need (although that includes furnishings and lawn/pool maintenance). I'm going to look at the inside on Monday to see if it's worth the high price tag. Who knows... if God wants us to be here maybe a miracle will happen and it will include utilities too :)

In the meantime, it is Sunday again. We were going to be ambitious and get up early enough for church but as usual, our laziness prevailed. It's looking pretty ugly outside, so I think we're going to spend today packing, cleaning, and getting ready for Ohio so we can hang on the beaches Monday and Tuesday, weather permitting.

Oh, and Casey lost another tooth this week! She was being a good little flosser when it popped right out. So Florida has been rather lucrative for her (as far as the tooth fairy is concerned anyway).

Next stop, Cincinnati.

Out of underwear in Naples

2006-06-17T11:00:00.000-06:00

Every day I look around and I can not believe I am in such a beautiful place. Each city we've visited has been more wonderful than the last. Well, except Fort Lauderdale, which I may go back to next week for a meeting of the minds.

Now we're in Naples, probably the most beautiful city we've seen yet. I thought Sarasota was nicely manicured ... this place looks like one big post card for the rich and famous! If I could afford to live here I probably would.

We reserved one night simply because I didn't want to drive five hours straight from Miami to Sarasota (did I mention that I hate driving?) We ended up staying two because we were having a good time. We checked in on Thursday, unpacked, and ate BBQ sandwiches at the hotel's happy hour. The plan was to watch the sun set on the beach, but we had a couple of hours to kill so we went to the pool. There was an 11 year old girl there! It took about 30 minutes to get those two to speak to each other, but once they did they were inseparable. Since Casey hasn't been around kids very much since we came to Florida, I didn't want to pull her away to watch a boring old sunset with her mom. She and Kylie hung out until dark and we went on to bed.

I've been told that when you're in Naples you should get up early and go shelling. When the tide goes out I guess you can find incredible shells here. So we got up early (8:00 ... early for us) and were out the door by 8:45. By the time we stopped at the store (three times) and left two beaches that we didn't like at all, it was noon. So much for shelling, but at least we'll get some beach time in.

The "Naples" you see on all of the postcards is in Old Naples at Naples Pier. If Naples has some of the best beaches in the world it must be there, so there is where we headed. The sand was white and wide, but the water was full of sea weed like Wiggin's Pass and Clam's Pass were. What is it with this place and sea weed?

We decided to stay anyway and Casey jumped right into digging in the sand. Every so often we'd brave the sea weed and go swimming in the 85º water, but it was just too gross. We made the most of it by tossing ball, playing a tennis-like game, and walking the Pier. We even picked up a few shells.

This place is a fisherman's heaven. The Pier has some umbrella license that covers everyone who wants to fish there. People were catching mackerel like there's no tomorrow (have you ever seen the teeth on one of them? OUCH!) We watched them and we watched a tv crew record them. One lady was particularly chatty and she told us about the red tide.

We saw pelicans diving for their supper. WE SAW DOLPHINS PLAYING IN THE WATER! We saw sting rays hovering the sand bar, and we ate hot dogs. All in all it was a pretty great afternoon.

On the way back to the hotel we passed another Skyline Chili! So I don't have to tell you where we ate dinner (my poor arteries). Now that Casey had a full belly I figured it'd be easier to drag her 20 miles north to the biggest outlet mall I have ever seen: The Miromar Mall (I was wrong).

Now *I* was in heaven! We bought a bunch of clothes in the Ralph Lauren Factory Store, a little bit at Harry and David (cherries, yum!), and stopped in a few other places before it was closing time. I may have to revisit Naples at Christmastime just so I can shop here again!

That pretty much wraps up our time in Naples. We'll be checking out of our hotel and heading back to Sarasota within the next couple of hours. We'd stay longer, but we're out of underwear.

I love Florida

2006-06-14T23:56:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was our last full day in Miami, and we spent it with Bob again. (In case you can't tell, we love him and have adopted him and his family.) We met him at the Stork Avenue office and took off for South Beach, baby! First we had lunch at Gloria Estefan's restaurant, Bongo's. We had a pu pu platter (yes, Paige, a PU PU platter!), mojitos (OMG sooooooo good) and Cuban sandwiches . After eating ourselves into a gastrointestinal stupor, we decided to walk it off on famous South Beach. Word of advice, next time you eat yourself sick, don't go walking amidst the most beautiful bikini-clad people in the world unless you want to feel like Roseanne... So anyway, Bob and I sat on the beach people watching while Casey played in the ocean. You can walk out forever and only be standing in two feet of water. It was stunning ... just stunning.

Because of the aforementioned protruding stomachs, combined with heat that surprisingly did not melt us, we didn't say but maybe a half an hour. After a quick stop into Sephora we found our car, and headed to the offices of Shutterbug, Sue Hunter's baby. We got a tour of her warehouse and she showed us all of her lovely designs. We even custom made Casey's build a bear birthday cards!

Next stop, Biscayne Bay and ... drum roll please ... the opening scene from CSI Miami. That's right folks, I stood where... where ... where someone stood before me and said, hey, that's the same shot from the opening scene of CSI Miami! Yeah, I know, I'm a dork. Still, I was thrilled to have taken this picture.

After that we went to the Hunter house to meet up with the rest of the family. We probably over stayed our welcome but we were having too good of a time to care. Casey swam, played pool, and we all sat on the patio and chatted. We watched a totally cheesy Kung Fu Fighting movie and tried to figure out why the neighbor's back yard was emitting a smell very similar to horse manure (funny how many times the subject of horse manure came up this week). All in all just a nice evening with good people. heheh, I hope they feel the same way!

And that wrapped up Miami for us. I don't think we'd want to live here, although we had an absolutely fabulous time. We have one question in closing: can anyone please tell me what the hell this sign means?

We're headed back to the sandy white Gulf beaches tomorrow. Will keep you posted on our whereabouts!

Miami

2006-06-13T16:58:00.000-06:00

So Tropical Storm Alberto put a damper on our east coast Florida trip. We were scheduled to leave Miami on Tuesday for Cocoa Beach and the Kennedy Space Center before going further north to Jacksonville, then Orlando, and back home to Sarasota. We canceled that portion of our tour due to weather and decided to spend a few extra days in Miami.

So Miami, for us, started on Monday, when we finally met Bob Hunter of Stork Avenue fame! He has a great office on the top floor of the Bank of America building in Coral Gables. Bob is so interesting! His office wall is filled with pictures of people he's met and places he's been ... what a golden life he's lead. It is good to be Bob Hunter :) And he truly loves south Florida, so it's great to see this part of the state through his eyes.

He took us to lunch at the diner next to his office where I was served the largest cobb salad on earth. After that Casey and I walked around Grand Avenue and did a little shoppin'. Later that night Bob, his wife and two kids took us to dinner at Cafe Tu Tu Tango (an artsy tapas restaurant) in our new duds. It seems like we've done nothing but eat since we got here. Really we've done lots of other stuff too, but we did eat fried alligator on this night! And more surprisingly, it was good! For the first time since we got to Florida Casey actually felt like she was in control of the gator situation :)

Tuesday rolled around and Casey and I went to the Miami Sea Aquarium on Biscayne Bay per Bob's advice. We had a spectacular time. They don't have many dolphins and Killer Whales in Albuquerque you know. So we looked at a few exhibits (including the Manatee pool - these are amazingly graceful creatures) and saw all of the afternoon shows that we could squeeze in ... my favorite was the Dolphin Show. They played a little Ozzy Ozbourne during the "let's get wet" portion of the show and took me back to my roots :) Oh Oh Oh, and we also saw the original flipper, from the 1964 tv show. A real live celebrity sighting!

After that we went home, ate dinner at the hotel's happy hour (they have free breakfast and light dinners here ... nice) and spent our evening writing post cards and relaxing on the couches (and of course updating you on our blog). We were thinking about going to the Keys tomorrow, but I think we're going to skip that. It's supposed to rain :(

So we've got two more nights in Miami, then we need to figure out where we're going to go next!

Half Over

2006-06-12T08:58:00.000-06:00

Today is the midway point for the Florida portion of our summer vacation. It is officially half over :(

Tropical Storm Alberto

2006-06-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

We dropped Paige off to Danny & Teri this morning and headed south to Miami. The last time I was here I was 12 years old, so needlesstosay, I don't remember much about it. Thank God it's a Sunday! The freeway here is six lanes, with route this and state route that branching off in any direction every mile or so. I can not imagine what this place is like during rush hour! Today the traffic wasn't bad. It was the weather that almost took us out.

We drove right into a big black cloud and horrendous rain storm, I assume because of Tropical Storm Alberto, while on I95. The visibility was about 10 feet it was raining so hard. I was afraid I was going to go deeper and deeper into the storm, but as it turns out we got out of it after about 10 minutes.

About ten minutes after that I95 dumped us onto Dixie Highway, and on to the Residence Inn in Coconut Grove (which is SE of Miami). Our efficiency wasn't ready when we got here, so they upgraded us to a 2 bdrm suite for $30 more. We've got a lot of room here. Good thing, too, since we'll probably be spending the majority of our two days here. Forecast: Tonight, Rain. Tomorrow, Rain. Tuesday, Rain.

So we got settled in and ordered carry-out from a local Cuban resaurant, Las Culebrinas. Casey and I split Bistec Empanizado Con Moros y Maduros (breaded steak with mixed rice/beans and fried plantains). My first Cuban food! I felt like I was back in ABQ when we went to pick it up, though - no one at the restaraunt spoke English. It was a little scary, actually, but we got our food and it was fabulous (at least I thought so, Casey might tell you differently). We topped dinner off with a slice of Rum Cake that Danny brought us from Grand Cayman. Yum!

We told Bob from Stork Avenue that we'd get together with him tomorrow (boating today was out of the question), and goofed around all night. I caught up on this blog, Casey watched tv, we walked down to the Marina, went swimming ... a whole lotta nothing. Tomorrow we'll finally meet Bob, and I don't know what else. It's supposed to rain all of this week, so I think we may cancel Jacksonville & Orlando and just go to Cocoa Beach for a couple of days (spending a day at the Kennedy Space Center) before we head "home" to Sarasota. I figure we'll have ten days after that to go to Orlando or back to Tampa if we want to. I won't die if I don't see Jacksonville this time around.

Oh and we heard from Casey's new soccer coach ... we are now The Wildcats, playing for Rush (assuming we go back to ABQ in time for soccer season). So Go Wildcats!

Fort Lauderdale with the Fam

2006-06-10T22:23:00.000-06:00

I am so not slim, cute, or cool enough to be here. Fort Lauderdale is bustling with young people barely covered by their swim suits. You can tell this is another party town. Not like Clearwater - there were still plenty of families there. Lauderdale is like fly boy central ... I'm sure they party a LOT more here.

We left Sarasota around 9am, passing Ft. Meyers, Marco Island, the Everglades, and the Ralph Lauren outlet on the way. Too bad we're not going back the same route, I would have liked to spend a little time in all of those places. But we had a mission, and it was going to take us four hours to complete it.

We were just getting to Fort Lauderdale when my GPS started going crazy. I forgot to install the Miami maps!!! I discovered how dependant upon electronics I really am when this little fact dawned on me. Without the maps all the GPS knows is major roads. So while I saw the hotel waypoint 2 miles to my right, the GPS was telling me to go up I95 about 20 miles, then to make a uturn and come back down A1A to get there. Um, not. So we had to wing it. We got held up waiting on a draw bridge for a little while, which was actually fun. Casey had never seen one before.

The Geocaching we've done eventually paid off. We found the hotel! It just took a little longer than we had hoped. Unfortunately Danny was sitting in the parking lot expecting us to pull in at any second while we were finding our way. Ooops!

We would have liked to stay at the same hotel as the rest of the family, but the Ramada doesn't allow pets. So we hung out at their hotel for only an hour (there was a big party at the pool/beach), then we drove 4 miles down the street and checked into our room at the Sheraton.

[Danny, Teri, and Paige were returning from the Caribbean on Princess Cruise Lines (blog link to follow). They had just visited Princess Island, Grand Cayman, Jamaica (mon), and Cozumel. They're all very red and very sore, but still glowing from a great vacation. They brought me a rum cake from Cayman, and the exact same coffee mug that I had broken on our trip home from the islands last spring! Thanks, brotherman!]

When we got here it was windy, cloudy, and threatening rain, so we popped open a beer and plopped onto the beds in our room. All of us wanted to veg (nice change from the week before!) so we bought the movie Failure to Launch for $15 on PPV and stared at the boob tube for a couple of hours. (Cute chick flick, btw.)

After our movie ended we changed into our swim suits and headed down and across the road to the beach. Casey and Paige played for quite a while in the turbulent waves, while off in the distance Danny's cruise ship left for sea again ... I thought Teri was going to swim after it for a while there.

Once she realized the ship was gone forever, we headed back across "The Strip" (A1A) and let the girls swim in the pool for an hour or so. The grown ups sat at the abandoned pool bar, watched re-runs of Friends, and discussed our achievement of having quit smoking (three years for brother and wife, almost one for me!) Amazing how we all still love the smell of second-hand smoke ...

Our evening wound down with enough Chinese food to feed an army, another PPV movie (She's The Man) and an empty 12-pack of beer bottles. It's a full moon up there somewhere but we couldn't see it through the clouds.

I don't much like Ft. Lauderdale. The beaches are coarse and brown (not like the powdery Gulf side), and I'm over the whole party mentality. But I had a great day chilling out with the family. They vacation like I do ... so I think next year there's going to be an Anderson Family vacation.

I wonder if Danny agrees ... I guess we'll find out when he posts his blog about today! :)

Welcome to Florida

2006-06-09T07:40:00.000-06:00

My Aunt Karen sent this to me the other day ago. I thought it was pretty funny, so here you go!

To: ex-Floridians, present Floridians, and future Floridians or those who know a Floridian.

We're about to enter the peak of the hurricane season. Any day now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weather person pointing to some radar blob out in the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic and making two basic meteorological points:

(1) There is no need to panic.
(2) We could all be killed.

Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in Florida. If you're new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one.'' Based on our experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan:

STEP 1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.
STEP 2. Put these supplies into your car.
STEP 3. Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will not follow this sensible plan. Most people will foolishly stay here in Florida. We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:

HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE: If you own a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements:

(1) It is reasonably well-built, and
(2) It is located in Nebraska.

Unfortunately, if your home is located in Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss.

Since Hurricane Andrew, I have had an estimated 27 different home-insurance companies. This week, I'm covered by the Bob and Big Stan Insurance Company, under a policy which states that, in addition to my premium, Bob and Big Stan are entitled, on demand, to my kidneys.

SHUTTERS: Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the doors, and -- if it's a major hurricane -- all the toilets.

There are several types of shutters, with advantages and disadvantages:

Plywood shutters: The advantage is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap. The disadvantage is that, because you make them yourself, they will fall off.

Sheet-metal shutters: The advantage is that these work well, once you get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your hands will be useless bleeding stumps, and it will be December.

Roll-down shutters: The advantages are that they're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you will have to sell your house to pay for them.

"Hurricane-proof'' windows: These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane protection: They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the salesman says so.

He lives in Nebraska.

"Hurricane Proofing Your Property: As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc.; you should, as a precaution, throw these items into your swimming pool (if you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built immediately). Otherwise, the hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly missiles.

EVACUATION ROUTE: If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at your driver's license; if it says "Florida" you live in a low-lying area.) The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being trapped in your home when a major storm hits. Instead, you will be trapped in a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two hundred thousand other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not be lonely.

HURRICANE SUPPLIES: If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy them now! Florida tradition requires that you wait until the last possible minute, then go to the supermarket and get into vicious fights with strangers over who gets the last can of SPAM. In addition to food and water, you will need the following supplies:

23 flashlights. At least $167 worth of batteries that turn out, when the power goes out, to be the wrong size for the flashlights.

Bleach. (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what The bleach is for. But it's traditional, so GET some!)

A 55-gallon drum of underarm deodorant.

A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a
hurricane, but it looks cool.)

A large quantity of raw chicken, to placate the alligators. (Ask anybody who went through Andrew; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate alligators.)

$35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you can buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth.

Of course these are just basic precautions.

As the hurricane draws near, it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by turning on your television and watching TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay away from the ocean. Good luck and remember: it's great living in paradise! Those of you who aren't here yet you should come. Really!

And besides the alligators we also have sharks!

Another one bites the dust...

2006-06-08T14:35:00.000-06:00

My mother once told me that all being married is, is having to do something you don't want to do 50% of the time. This past week I feel like I was married to a family of six.

I was supposed to spend one more day in Indian Rocks. The plan was that we were going to go on a cruise with the kids that was put on by the Marine Aquarium (back at Clearwater, again). It takes you on a dolphin watch, and it drags a net through the intercoastal to catch wildlife to show the kids. It also tours the little aquarium/animal rescue they have there, then finally you get to go shelling and snorkeling (if you so desire). Casey hadn't been able to do kidstuff with Alex and Christine since the first day, so we were very excited to go on this kid-friendly tour that didn't go 1,000 mph. . So we packed our things and moved them to Hollie's room (they don't check out until tomorrow) and got ready to go. It was a fairly slow morning, until out of the blue Hollie decided that we must go NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW so we started heading for the cars like good little tourists. As I reached for my keys I was informed that we are not doing the boat thing, but we are going to go to a bird sanctuary instead. Um, I don't remember discussing this...

Now, if you know me at all you know that I am hot headed, bossy, and want to do what I want to do. I spent my last four days trying to keep nine other people happy, and I was trying desperately to do it with a smile. But this was too much. I really thought my head was going to explode while I tried to process this latest development.

You should be proud of me. I didn't throw anything. I didn't hit anyone.

I didn't even go off on the people who just pissed me off. I just packed my stuff into the car, vented to Stacy for a minute or two, then drove back to Sarasota. (I admit to a little more venting by phone, but by the half way mark I was far enough away from Indian Rocks to start feeling calm again).

So there goes one of the last (unmarried) friend I had in Albuquerque. The last three have been picked off over the past couple of years ... The first one to go got written off for stealing from me. The second one dissed me for a relationship, and the third ... well, you read my rant :) ... my reasons for staying in Albuquerque are becoming fewer as I write this blog.

It is so good to be home now. I mean it's good to be home away from home again. I started this vacation to lower my level of stress ... the past few days were pretty intense, rushed, and even painful at times. I'm really looking forward to getting back to the slower-paced lifestyle I had been enjoying. Besides, I'm sure you're tired of listening to me complain by now :)

We spent the rest of our evening unpacking, swimming at the community pool, and relaxing.

Next stop, Fort Lauderdale.

Clearwater, again

2006-06-07T21:00:00.000-06:00

Hollie wanted to spend another day at Busch Gardens. Since Casey and I had no desire to be dragged from attraction to attraction again, we decided to do our own thing. We'll still have Thursday to spend with Alex and Christine. So we enjoyed a lazy morning, listening to the sound of the backhoes pushing sand in the distance.

Around 2:00 we took Olivia back to the groomer and headed north to Clearwater Beach. (I told you we'd go back!) We bought our tickets on the Thriller (Yes, the Sea Thriller. They convinced me to give it a shot), then walked around for an hour waiting for our departure time. 4:00 rolled around, we took our seats on this boat, and we were off. The first thing our driver said was: This is not a dolphin tour - this is a speed tour. LOVELY. As we cruised through the no-wake zone we listened to a prerecorded safety precautions tape about how we should keep our hands inside the boat and remain seated if we want to survive the next hour. Then came Michael Jackson singing Thriller and we were off, driving 50mph on the Gulf of Mexico. It felt like our chairs were going to rip out from under us and send us hurling to our fate as fish food. An hour later he slowed down. I actually saw one dolphin for about 1/2 a second. When the driver noticed that it was playing in our wake he stopped the boat. (huh? Is he related to the Ericksons or something?) So the dolphin went away and we got to see homes owned by Derek Jeeters, Hulk Hogan, and a bunch of Scientologists. $50 later we were happy to back on land.

We stopped at Crabby Bill's for dinner and split a steamer bucket (had our pictures taken too). Then it was off to Clearwater Beach to walk off the excessive amount of calories we had just consumed. As we were walking toward the beach we found one of those pedal taxis, and hopped on for a "free" tour of the area (the pedalers work for tips only). Our pedaler's name was Andy. He is an aspiring chef from Littleton, CO and he reminded us of Robert, Cassidy's dad, a whole lot. He drove us past Captain Bligh's Landing (Miniature Golf) so we jumped off there for a quick 19 holes.

We took a cab back to Pier 60 and walked through the sand, watched the sunset, chatted with street vendors, listened to music, and Casey did the bungee jump trampoline thing since the rock climbing wall was closed. All in all it was a very relaxing evening and a nice time for Casey and me.

Kathie's house was on the way to our motel (she lives in an apartment on the intercoastal), so we stopped by to pick up Olivia. We got home around 10:30 and the construction was going full blast. We contemplated getting a room at the Holiday Inn for the night, but I couldn't bring myself to pay for 2 hotel rooms, so we roughed it out. The AC served as white noise for us, so that combined with the fact that we were very tired allowed us to sleep right through the night.