Here, there and everywhere

This weekend was pretty entertaining! Saturday morning Jay, my two nieces and I headed to LA to La Brea Tarpits Museum. It’s the world’s largest excavation site of dinosaur fossils and still to this day they are digging them up. Amazing! While driving up there, my navigation system loudly starts giving me directions and my lil niece (in 1st grade) was very curious on what that was talking and asked. I told her it was my navigation system and she just said “oh.” Jay looked at me puzzled and then asked her if she knew what that “navigation system” was. Naturally she didn’t! He’s good at picking stuff up like that! She asked what it was doing and I explained that it was giving me directions to the museum. She asked to see it, so I held it up and she yells “how do we get to the museum???” We all started laughing and I had to explain to her that you don't ask the navigation system for directions verbally, instead you type in it. Then she did it a another type to entertain us.

See the dinosaur at the very top, well, this is his foot print. My niece's hands aren't a fraction of the massive foot print.

They have metal poles in tar that you can pull up and push down to feel how it would feel if you were stuck in tar. That stuff is no joke!

There is an area that you can see people looking for micro fossils and reconstructing or cleaning bones.

All these skulls are Dire Wolves!

Later on that evening we met up with Dennis and Santa at the Brea Improv to see Anjelah Johnson. It was a packed house! I hadn’t had a drink in some time and saw a Lemon Drop Martini on the menu and couldn’t resist. Man, I must be a light weight because I felt my face get all flushed and I felt the beginning phases of a buzz off of ONE drink.

Anjelah was crazy funny! I laughed SO much. Even the guy that opened for her was funny.
Here’s a clip of her stand up routine. I used to feel really good when I would go in for my meni/pedi and the “all about you” service, until I saw this and realize they say that stuff to EVERYONE.

Sunday I met up with Santa to head off to LA, again. This time it was to see the Bodywork Exhibit at the California Science Center. I had wanted to see it when it was in LA last time, but tickets were sold out! Then I missed the opportunity to see it in Las Vegas and New York, so when she asked if I wanted to go with her I was thrilled to say the least. I didn’t know part of the exhibit was back in LA. For those that don’t know what the Body Work Exhibit it all about, well… it’s real cadavers that have been donated and the bodies are on display, so you can see all our insides. The neatest things to see were the body vessel configurations and the baby fetus from a few weeks old to 31 weeks. Sorry no pictures cuz cameras weren't allowed! :(

Afterwards her honey wanted some sushi and remembered a place he used to go to only 3 miles away from the center, so off we went for a wild goose chase for some sushi. Our only obstacle was that a radio station had all the streets blocked off for a concert. We parked, made it through this group of people just to see that the sushi place was closed. We burned some massive calories doing all that walking tho.

Bored? Speak with a robot!

I'm taking a Philosophy class and it's the coolest class I have taken, thus far! We are asked all these weird questions and it's hilarious to see people's responses. It's an online class, so our discussion are all written verse having to see these people in class and hear their sometimes retarded answers. I doubled over laughing when a classmate compared the first Matrix movie to how humans are dependent on cattle and poultry.


One of this week's assignments was to Chat with A.L.I.C.E. It's a computer chatting with you. Click here Alicebot to go to the link and then click on "Chat with A.L.I.C.E" to see what my assignment was all about. At first I was wow'd at how fast she responded, then I started to throw her curve balls for fun.

Bugged

Yup, there's another bug going around and I have a sign of it. Good thing I am just mildly congested, where as people are coughing, having fevers and are calling in sick. I was thinking of hitting the gym at lunch, but didn't want to compromise my immune system, so got a pedicure instead. This has to be the BEST pedicure I have ever received. No only did she do a good job with painting my toe nails, but the leg and foot massage was GREAT! I felt like passing out the entire time and she gave me cute sandals that I could wear. They were not the folding type, they are ones I could wear around the house or lightly use outside for FREE. I am definitely going back and asking for Lynn! If only all lunch breaks could be this good!!!

Did they REALLY remember?

So today is the official "Administrative Day!" I walked in and there is a card and necklace on my desk from a manager that I help out a lot. This is totally unexpected and she is not even one of my bosses, so it felt great to have a genuine appreciation for the little things that I do around here.

Then... a few hours later I get a call from the receptionist desk saying I had a flower delivery. As I walked down I felt a little bad about thinking my bosses would forget and was shocked to see this beautiful bouquet. I walked up and read the card and it's signed "The Sales Team." Hmmm... did they really remember?? The flowers were from the flower shop that is on our company's approved vendor list and I KNOW that my bosses don't know that. So who could of sent them and know to use them? Maybe someone sent an email to my bosses reminding them and in turn they really did in fact send them? Or maybe the bosses that were in this week saw the flowers that I received on Monday and called the flower company on the card? I didn't know the protocol on who to thank. Do I send a mass email to the entire Sales Team?

Then... a lil birdie told me that the manager that gave me the gift in the morning asked around on how to order flowers on our corporate account to ensure I got flowers from the team. Aw! That is too sweet of her! And I knew they weren't from my bosses!!!

Then, one boss comes in and hands me a card. It's sign on behalf of him and my main boss with a $50.00 gift certificate. Again, I started to feel bad for misjudging them. Once I opened the card, I went into his office to say thanks and he tells me "say thanks to Missy for sponsoring the card and gift certificate! I'm a guy, you can't expect me to remember these things!" Missy is the manager who got me the gift, ordered flowers on behalf of the entire team AND now I am learning also went out and bought a card for my bosses to sign and a gift! WOW! I'm happy Missy is on the team and realize I totally know my bosses!

It's sad how many bosses pass by and ask if it's my birthday and when I tell them it's Admin's Day their eyes get super big and they have a panic attack as a million thoughts start running through their head. And I find it funny that I don't celebrate stuff like Valentine's or even expect anything on that day, but kinnda expected/wanted something for this silly day! Ah! I am conforming to Hallmark's big $ plan.

Test results

I got a call from my doc's office and you know all those thyroid test, well... I need one more -- a biopsy. I have two nodules that he wants to drain fluid from and see if it's cancerous.

So I don't want to end on that note, so some good news... I got a letter from my school, I am graduating this May with my AA. Yay!

Oh, and I got a B in my English class. It was a short term class, so that's how I know my grade already.

Is it Admin Week? I didn't know...

It's Administrative Week and being an Admin you just know if your boss is the type to get you something or not. Well, in all honesty, mine (yup, all 3 of them) are not the type. Plus two are traveling during the week and are sure to forget, so I did what any reasonable admin would do, I made a deal with another admin that was in the same predicament as me to order flowers for each other. I know we are silly (or some might call it pathetic), but for all the BS we go through we want recognition baby! We decided to pick out what we wanted and charge it to our department (naturally). I picked my favorites, tulips and star gaze lilies!!!!

Awww... so HAPPY ADMIN WEEK TO ME!

Baby Shower Madness

Ok, I have been dying to show part of my gift to Santa, but since I know she reads this blog I couldn't post until now...


When Santa first told me she was pregnant I bought her baby shower gifts right away (I know I was a little excited) and while ordering them I noticed different diaper cakes. They are made of diapers and have baby stuff throughout them. I saved the picture and decided to make one when her party came up. Now almost eight months later I was able to make my creation. I bought some little stuff she registered for and 48 diapers later was this 3-tiered "diaper cake!" I was so happy that it came out good!

There were people at the baby shower that I hadn't seen forever. One was Carmen from earlier posts and she nudges me and says "Hey, I heard about you and Jay!!!!" I was thinking of recent events, but didn't know what she was talking about. Well, she was referring to us getting together. Has it been THAT long that I had seen her?? That the "new" news is that Jay and I are together? Haha! It's been like 9 months since we hooked up!

My oldest sis was sick, but my niece and sister made it out. My Mom arrived later on, but she is sick too, so didn't stay that long.
Here's the mommy to be! We were at the food table and boy was it filled with yummy stuff. There was a chocolate fondue and all these fruits and pastries cut up really tiny, so you could dip into the chocolate and not feel so guilty. I must have had 10 pieces of pineapple and angle food cake with that chocolate. Oh and I had my first Hard Lemonade. It had like 5% alcohol,but strangely enough after 4 of them, I was a little buzzed.

During one of the games, I was taking pictures and notice something. The cutest thing ever!!! Santa had put a name tag with for her baby in her tummy, "Madison."

It's not like I have been to a lot of these types of parties, but this game is always a crack up. The person has to pick up cotton balls and since they are so light, the person can't tell whether they have a lot of none at all. It's a riot to see people try to delicately put a spatula of nothing inside the bowl on their head.

And Santa made out like a bandit with gifts! Talk about the true being of a shower, she was showered with so much love, visits from friends and family and baby Madison was showered with a lot of stuff to come into the world with!

Random Updates

I visited the Marine Center where I want to volunteer at. There is a wait list to volunteer on the weekends and I need to have a negative TB test before being considered, so I had to find one near my work, since the test is given in two parts. The first day is an injection and two days later you have to come back to have it read and make sure there's no reaction. I plan to do it sometime next week. Tons of clinics had the test for over $60. Gesh! But there was one that only cost $30, so I am going there!

The place was a lot smaller then I thought it was going to be, but seemed like a neat place to be and I would learn a lot from all the different cases that come in. There was one seal lion that came in and I saw them administering an IV. It made me think that I need to freshen up on my intravenous injection techniques. When I was doing my vet tech training we practiced with chicken meat, but were can I get syringes now to practice? Maybe I will visit my old school to fresh up.

I'm also signing up to be a part of a rescue team. You might have seen them on TV when Karina struck and they had specials on TV of all the animal rescues. I will have at least three trainings per year and in case of an emergency I can be called out. That one I am super excited about! I have to wait for my TB testing for that one, too. *sigh*

The third place I am submitting an application, is the Santa Ana Zoo. It's near by and I will get to interact with the animal. Oh, and do some dirty work like picking up poo. Ew! But it's all part of the job.

Saturday we went to the Phantom of the Opera and I haven't worn a dress in forever. I felt so pretty and girlie. I really need to learn how to set the timer on my camera and take a picture, cuz there are so many in this pose. They call it the "MySpace pose"

Sunday, I went to work for some OT and decided to treat myself to a massage afterwards. I did my regular steam room visit and mini workout before, as massage therapists have recommended doing so to loosen up the muscles. During the massage, I kept having to tell the guy that his touch was too strong, that certain strokes were painful and kept remaining him the areas where I was sensitive. When it came to my legs he lessen the intensity and it was more comfortable. When I got home I notice my back super sore and even tender to lay on. We I went to take my nightly shower, I noticed I had broken blood vessel all along my back. Three days later and it was still sore, hard to sleep on and the picture above was taken that shows I STILL had those marks! They look like hickeys. I called the manager at Massage Envy and he was a total dick and defended the masseuse, but kept saying "I am not discrediting what you are saying." Then WTF are you doing? Sounds like you are to me! I told him I was willing to come in and show him my back and he said it was not necessary and he apologized for the bad experience. And that was it. This guy had to be joking! I told him that I did not get the benefits of a massage and instead am in more pain then when I went in and would like a refund. His response was "(long pause) oh, that is what you would like?" I felt like saying "yes, dumb ass!", but knew that was not the route to take if I wanted my $$ back, so told him yes and picked a time to collect it.

Yesterday, I had the day off. It felt soooooo good, too! I was able to do some spring cleaning and got rid of a bag of clothes, deep cleaned the bathroom, cleared more space for when Jay moves in, and have 3 doctor appointments. I had a thyroid ultrasound and an uptake of it. I didn't know they give you a pill that is radioactive! Of course the guy told me after I took it. That freaked me out, but he said it was a small dose so they could take clearer pictures of my thyroid. SO I will let you all know how that goes when I get my results.

Update on Matthew

Not too long ago I spoke to Rita and things were looking like her son had a fighting chance with his rare blood disease. There was light at the end of the tunnel and the possibility that in a few weeks he might come home. That all changed yesterday. Matthews lungs collapsed and the doctors said they have done all they could do. Rita and her ex husband had a hard decision to make – pull the plug or just wait it out and hope for a miracle. They decide to relieve their son of all his pain and pull the plug. They laid in bed with him until he passed away.

What a hard choice to make as a parent! I am not sure what I would have done, but I am glad that there son is no longer in pain.

Night at the Opera

I bought tickets a long time ago and it feels like I have been saying that we are going to see Phantom of the Opera forever. The night finally came this past Saturday. Jay and I were running around and met up around 5PM, soon it was time to go as we had tickets for the 7:30PM show. It was being held at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and I had never been to the center. The place was packed! Even thought I have been dying to see Phantom of the Opera since high school, I had no idea what the story line was. It was hard to follow at times because everyone on stage was singing and I couldn't make out what they were saying or there would be 2-3 conversations going on at one time and mind you the conversations are being sung. The part I enjoyed most was when the Phantom takes the Christine (the Opera singer that he has fallen in love with) to his home. The stage fills with fog to imitate water and below the fog were lights as the couple rode what looked like a gondola. It was such a neat scene! Oh, and all the songs were cool too. I never knew how many songs came from the play that I hear so often in movies.

Intermission was short and there was one usher who took her job VERY seriously! She was marching back and forth, giving orders to the other ushers, telling people they needed to go in or else they were going to miss the mascaraed ball and have to wait 10 minutes before the next act. There are four bells that ring to let you know to go back in. At the third bell you should be in or close to being in your seat. A lady in line asked this proud usher after the third ring how much time she had before it started, and the usher practically yelled "DONE!" There was no way Jay and I were going to make it back to our seats in time. I was starving and was in line to buy something to eat and Jay had to make a pit stop. I passes the door into the theater to go wait for Jay to get out and the usher was so shocked that I was not herding myself into the theater as she was demanding. I sat on a plush couch eating my snack and waiting for Jay. We watched the rest of the act from a flat screen until the act was over and made our way back to our seats. It was a good show, but I think Jay enjoyed it more then I did. The entire night and the next day he kept singing notes like an Opera singer. Maybe he just found his new passion! We joked that he should answer a 9-1-1 call singing "What's your emergency" but I think he would get in trouble for that.

Bizzarness

It's funny that my credit card company does not have an archive system for information you just deleted. I was checking my checking account online and making sure all my transactions had cleared and noticed that my Visa payment hasn't since last Friday. I checked online and the payment history shows a payment, but not from my checking account. WTH? The checking account it came from ended in 5885. I know that is definitely not mind. I'm in the middle of changing banks and though it is possible (while unlikely) that I might have made a payment from that account. I logged on to my new checking account and nope, not that account number. I checked back on Visa's website and I had another checking account information on there. WEIRD! Could a hacker really hacked into my system, but instead of stealing my information he/she wanted to help pay my bill? I deleted the bank info and called Visa. Well, that was a dumb move on my part, because Visa's customer service couldn't retrieve the information or see where the payment went to and could see less information than I could for security reasons. The customer service representative joked that my online payment for February and April were sent to that account and some lucky person has been paying my bill. I thought it wasn't funny at all and felt bad that some misc person made two payments on my account and I can't reimburse them. Plus, it creeps me out! How did someone get into my account? The customer service representative just called it a mystery and couldn't help me!

Loved through thick and THIN

I'm a hormonal mess right now! It's kindda weird what our bodies do to us female and boys, let me tell you -- you are SO lucky to be a guy!!!

Yesterday, I couldn't stop crying for no apparent reason. Tears would rush down my cheeks and I felt like an emotional basket case. I can't recall the last time my period had this dramatic effect on me. Poor Jay can't relate at all and was totally worried about me. I felt so silly cuz I couldn't point out why I was such a mess.

I got home while Jay was at the gym and what do you know... I had a sweet card waiting for me and the house was immaculate. DAMN... not only does he cook better then I do, but cleans better, too!The house was so neat and tidy, that I couldn't believe that I was the one that used to clean houses when I was younger. To relax, I lit a candle and took a hot shower waiting for my love to come home.

Afterwards, I got another great surprise from my Mom. She had mailed me a card (what timing, huh?) Awwww! It was filled with sweet words of encouragement and had two movie tickets in it, too. We decided to unwind and go to the theater and watched Vantage Point. It's a good movie but the only thing that got a little annoying is they replay the same scene like 10 times, just giving you more clues on the ending and from different people perspective. Towards the end I was at the edge of my seat and biting my nails.

I must say I felt A LOT better this morning!

Morning blah-ness

This morning I have been working on paying bills, consolidating some bills, cancelling credit cards, opening an IRA, opting out of mailers, and a bunch of other little stuff that needed attention. It feels good to get a lot of stuff off my to-do-list.

I'm thinking I might need to do a little OT for a little while. I have a new dental bill, my car needs service and new semester is coming up and books are not cheap!

I'm glad I have the option at my work, cuz even though it's just a few hours of OT here and there, the $ will add up quickly!

I know what you are thinking... BUDGET! Yup, I need to put myself one of those! But I am not sure I know how to. Maybe I will give myself an allowance and keep the cash on me, and once I have run out I can't get more until my next allowance! Do you have any good ideas?

A Strong Women

Last night I finally got the courage to call an acquaintance of mine, Rita. She is my oldest sister's buddy and I see her at family parties & outings, at boot camp and at the gym. Easter day she took her son to the hospital and they had originally diagnosed him with Leukemia and with little time to live.

I recall after my Dad passed away a person had apologized that they didn't call me because they just didn't know what to say. I didn't take it personal at all and totally understood. And now, I can relate because I am in that same boat.

Her son is only in the second grade, which would make him 7-8 years old. After some test, they change the diagnosis to Aplastic Anemia, a very rare blood disease and said the odds were still not in his favor. I couldn't imagine being in her shoes. Having a child and knowing that he would pass before I would. And not only that, but that he had to suffer so much before he left this earth.

Since Easter, he hasn't moved much, is on dialysis, only 45% of his heart works, has had and continues to have blood transfusions all the time and all of his toes have been amputated.

Even though I email my sister requesting updates, I know that is not the same as a call, so on the way home yesterday I gave her a ring. Still not sure what to say. We spoke briefly and she said she would call me back, which she did later on that evening. She says that all her son can do is blink. He is on a machine that helps him breath and another that feeds him. The doctors do not know if he is blind from all of this, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. There is a probability that he might leave the hospital in 3 weeks or so. I was afraid to ask if that meant he had like three weeks to live, but she reassured me that he would be leaving alive!

I told her she was a strong women! She rarely leaves the hospital and he ex husband is staying at her place to take care of their other children.

I hope all will work out for the best! Keep the lil guy in your thoughts for me!

Bad Girls and warm apple pie

Last night was taxing on me. I had a Chemistry lecture exam, followed by a chem lecture, then a lab quiz and a lab. I was so exhausted by the time class ended that I felt like I was dragging. Little did I know that Jay was up to a great surprise for the evening! I walked in and he was cooking pasta, chicken cutlets (like chicken Parmesan without the cheese) compliments with a sauce that he created. Dinner was so YUMMY! He is such a great cook and it kills me that I didn't pay attention to how my mom made things when I was younger.

Then after dinner we watched BadGirls Club, had some drinks and some warm apple pie! Yup, he made dessert, too! Since I had fallen asleep in the living room the night before from cramming for my chem test, I had this kink in my neck. After watching our new show, I got a neck rub! Talk about being SPOILED!

All this is just what I needed to wind down! Today I feel recharged!!!