Auschwitz and other thoughts...

I'm so irritated about the sign at Auschwitz being stolen. Some may find that odd. But I have always been fascinated by what happened during the Holocaust. Why? I don't know, but I am. I am hugely sympathetic to those murdered and their survivors. Truly awful what happened back then. Part of me thinks, that maybe I was in a camp in a past life. The same way I am so fascinated with ancient Egypt. Maybe I lived in the days of the Pharaohs. Not sure if I do or do not believe in that stuff. But the thought crosses my mind sometimes as to why I (or anyone) has a deep affinity to a person, culture, location or place in time. But I digress. As far as that sign being stolen, I compare it to any significant artifact being stolen from a country during wartime, or peace. And also the fact that there are certain things I want to see before I am no longer able to. One in the past, was the Berlin Wall. I would have found it so impactful to have seen the Wall, prior to it coming down. And every once in a while it comes up that "they" are worried that Mt Vesuvius will erupt again, and once again cover the city of Pompeii. I would regret not having seen it. So the same thing with this sign. I did just read that they immediately replaced it with a replica. But it's not the same thing.

Holiday in San Francisco

Today my Mom, Aunt and I went to San Francisco to have lunch, shop and look at all the pretty decorations. We had 11:45am lunch reservations at Kuleto's right near Union Square. It's a very pretty Italian restaurant adjacent/inside the Villa Florence Hotel. I said screw it to my diet and had the saffron risotto with scallops and shrimp, and an affogato for dessert. So I splurged. My Mom treated my Aunt and I as part of out Bday presents.

Then we headed to Holiday Lane in Macy's, which wasn't as big as normal, but still nice. Then my Aunt decided we needed to go take a picture with Santa, so we did. I'm waiting on my Mom to scan the picture.
We had to head to Neiman Marcus after that to look at their beautiful tree, all 4 stories of it. So took some pics from the bottom floor, then headed up to the 3rd floor balcony to see it from up there.
I saw some beautiful Christian Louboutin pumps there that would go perfectly with the dress my Aunt got for my cousin's wedding. But At $725, she decided to pass ;-) It was these, only in a royal blue.

After that we went and looked at the kittens in the Macy's window and then headed to Gumps to see their beautiful ornaments. I spotted this blood orange syrup there that looked so good. Guess you can use it in drinks, on waffles, over ice cream, etc. So I bought a bottle for my Step-Dad for Xmas. Maybe he'll let me try some :-)

I treated myself at this jewelry store to a leather rhinestone bracelet.
I liked it, so I got it. We ended the evening just sitting and watching the ice skaters on Union Square and taking some pictures. It was a really nice day.

The cold... and my diet...

The weather has changed quite a bit. I started using the heater in my house about a month ago. The weather started cooling down and I thought it was time. But not needed more than in the last few days. Snow all over the Bay Area and lows around 30 degrees. Brrrrr!!! We have these spells every year, and I actually enjoy them. It’s nice to have a change in climate every once in a while. Reminds me of when I lived in Mammoth Lakes, having moved there New Years Eve, having never lived in the snow before. My biggest “cold” memory of that time, was the feeling of first waking up all warm in your bed, and having to walk to the bathroom to take a shower in the morning and shivering like crazy. When I walked into my bathroom earlier I had that thought. I keep the window in there cracked almost year round, and just keep the door closed. But boy if it isn’t 20 degrees colder in there than the rest of my house right now. Seriously. BRRRR!!!

Anyway… my other thought was my dinner tonight. I was craving Taco Bell, sick I know, but true. So I decided to screw my diet for the night and get 3 crunchy taco supremes for dinner. They tasted good at the time, but funny how your system changes after not eating fast food for a while. I wasn’t feeling so hot afterwards and wondered why I did that to myself. Not that I haven’t cheated on my diet here and there, but almost every time, my body know it’s something I shouldn’t be eating. It’s kind of interesting. But regardless of the cheating on my diet a little, I lost 5 lbs last week. And that was the week after Thanksgiving. I was amazed. That was week 8. My weight loss in lbs has been like this over the 8 weeks… 7, 5, 0, 1, 4, 2, 1 and 5. 25lbs in total. I still haven’t really been exercising like I should, so that is just a diet change only. I’m happy about that. This is going to be another tough week however. I am going to dinner with a friend on my Birthday (Wed). Then my Great Aunt is taking me to a Birthday lunch on Thursday. Then I have a friend’s Holiday party on Saturday. In a restaurant, I do my best to order the most sensible option. But at the party this weekend, the food cannot be resisted, so I will indulge.

Anyway, those were just my random thought for the evening.

Thanksgiving

So, tonight was a very enjoyable family gathering. Just 10 of us. We have a pretty small family, but this is the group that gathers for all the major holidays. The food was yummy as usual. This was my first holiday since staring the diet, so I cheated just a little, but ate in moderation. I've lost 19 pounds in the first 6 weeks, so I don't want to blow it too bad. Tomorrow ends week 7, which means I weight myself again. With cheating tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if I lost nothing, but we shall see. Anyway... so dinner was nice tonight. The guys at one end of the table, the girls on the other. Their end had much chatter about cars and sports. While we chatted more about tv shows, movies, everyday life, etc. Always a fun time.

My cousin and his fiancee are going to Maui on their honeymoon. And they are staying at a resort I stayed at 20 years ago (geez... 20 years... blah). So I wanted to hunt down the photo album from when we went so they could see pictures. Then it turned into a walk down memory lane. I found the pictures from our family trip to Cancun and Chichen Itza, several of our Maui trips, a cruise we went on back in middle school that a friend tagged a long on, slumber parties, etc. I now gave my Mom the task of scanning a bunch of them for me so I have them, and to post on Facebook for all to see. It was fun reminiscing. Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice turkey day :-)

Busy week

I kind of realize that I don't blog too much anymore. And think it's mainly because of just commenting on FB and the like. Anyway... this is the latest...

"So... I have to take my Great Aunt to chemo tomorrow. Then Thursday is the typical Thanksgiving at my Moms. Then Friday heading to my Aunt's to help her decorate for Xmas. Her surgery if going to be on the 1st, so she wants to get some of it done while she is still able to help. Plus my Uncle just had unplanned hernia surgery last Friday... during which I went and dog sat for one of Danny and Savannah's dogs (Tanner) who was recovering from getting fixed the day before. Too much surgery stuff... ahhhhh!! :-) Then Sunday, my Mom, Savannah, Danielle (David's gf) and I will be going to my Aunts to make Xmas ornaments like these... http://www.ehow.com/how_5013336_decorate-glass-ornaments-paint.html"

Whew... that's this week.

Just help people out, and pay it forward...

So, I was just watching the video for Lady Antebellum's "I Run To You". Love the song, but never watched the video before. But it reminded me of a situation I witnessed maybe a month or 2 ago...

So, every week or so I have (don't mean that as a chore) to take my Great Aunt for the day to do something. It may be sitting with her through a 2-3 hour Chemo Appt, or just running errands with her like grocery shopping. Anyway... one day she and I had to go pick up one of her prescriptions from the medical office she normally visits. This was a prescription she couldn't fill before hand, so we had to come in, fill it and wait. They are often slow.

That being beside the point, there was an older woman who came in to ask about her prescription. I could hear this whole thing... The pharmacist said they checked with her insurance company and they were not able to cover her pain medication. She had her ankle wrapped up in ace bandages, but not sure if that was why she was there. The pharmacist asked if she wanted the meds anyway and said yes, as she rummaged through her wallet. He said it was going to be $17 for 10 pills. Seemed like they had a quiet exchange because they then discussed if she maybe wanted to buy 5 pills instead or something.

At the time, there was this other lady at the counter waiting for her prescription to be ready. Soon after she heard that last woman's exchange with the pharmacist, I heard her ask, "How much was that? $17?" and the pharmacist said "Yes". The woman pulled out a $20 and paid for the other woman's full prescription of 10 pills. The woman was very grateful and discreetly cried on her shoulder. It was a very moving experience, and I only regret that the idea hadn't come to me first.

Secret Santa

So this is the third year in a row that we are doing a Secret Santa on The NHL Arena. In 2007 I got a guy who lives in Calgary. I got him one of these green street signs that said Calgary Flames at the top and customized it with his name (I'd post a picture, but can't seem to find them online anymore). And I got the Hockey Night in Canada DVD game from... that's bad, I can't remember. In 2008 I got a Ducks fan a Ducks Mr Potato Head.

And I got a Saskatchewan Fire Fighter calendar (Yummy!), the same DVD game as the year before (Ooops) and a Team Canada jersey magnet.

I am a big fan of giving gifts, and even a bigger fan of finding something unique and personal, if possible. So this year what I came up with for my person was too cool, and very unique. So much so, that I hope someone didn't have the same mindset in the past and they already have it. I thought it was so cool that I got the same thing for myself. So I just hope all goes well with shipping and it goes off without a hitch. Of course I'll have to keep you all in suspense until after Xmas, since there is a decent chance that my person could read this :-)

Dream... about being in Iraq...

"I was in Iraq for some reason. And it was more forest like rather than desert. While I was there, there was some sort of uprising and a group of American's sided with the Iraqis and were against us. Myself and the people I was with were basically running for our lives. We had to sneak through forests, down strange paths, through marshes, etc, to try to avoid these people. All the while hearing gunfire and seeing people shot around us. We even ended up in some abandoned house with two abandoned dogs, until we were found out and had to run.

Then cut to me getting to some sort of refugee camp where they were evacuating people. The people were put in groups of people for each flight. One bus was leaving as I got there... and I kind of had an aerial view of their travel. The bus was going like a bat out of hell through the streets, avoiding cars and people, to get to the airport. Then two men with guns were running from a building taking about talking hostages. But, when they got to the airport, there was some sort of UN or Embassy escort and they were safe from there.

Back in my reality, I was sitting in the second group (to fill a plane and leave) at the airport. I saw someone get up and leave from the first group so went up to the front to see if I could get bumped up. And they checked my paperwork and said yes. At this point my Grandma was with me and she said she was feeling like she had low blood sugar, so went to a medic and thought she would miss the flight. I went up to the front to chat with the people about it in case she missed the flight, and Christian Slater (must be from watching 'The Forgotten' lately) was one of the guys working up front there now. But she was ok and back in time. Then my Mom and Aunt were there, and a couple of groups behind us, so chatted with them for a few.

My group ended up getting shuffled to the terminal and though security. I had to give up my 3 water bottles. I thought I was going to be able to buy one by the terminal but the shops were closed, and I only had US dollars too. When we got there, we received our boarding passes, and saw for the first time that we were flying from Iraq to Brazil to the States. And found out my Mom and Aunt were flying through Germany, and then home."

That's all I remember. I knew when I woke up for the first time I should have gotten up to write it down. By the time I got up, that's what I remember. And no, I didn't watch a war movie before bed. Strange how the mind works.

Time flies... and music is reborn...

Someone made me aware tonight that my MySpace headline was about 2 months old. You can see how much I update that page these days now that FB has come along, LOL. But I updated it anyway... layout, profile pic, playlist, etc. Especially playlist.

But that person reminded me of a genre of music I haven't listened to in a while... yet love. So it was fun to listen to some stuff I haven't heard in a while... Project Pitchfork, Wumpscut, Rammstein, Assemblage 23, VNV Nation, etc. Great stuff!!

LOVE!!!
Project Pitchfork - The longing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_tgNIJ0ymU

And these too...

Wumpscut - The Beast Sleeps Within You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Hf55TWGi8

Rammstein - Du Hast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doTBT46wMvA

VNV Nation - Illusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu-8wGbWMro
(I love this video someone did to the music)

And in honor of Halloween...

Marilyn Manson - This Is Halloween
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8focjiIDDrY

Fox Sports NHL Widget... and why I picked the teams I did...

So, this widget is Pretty cool!!

It asked me for my 6 teams to show up in the widget, and I'd never thought beyond my #1 and #2 before. They didn’t force me to choose a 1-6... but I at least have reasons for choosing a 1-6...

1 - Sharks... DUH!! They are my home team. The team name that entered my breath the same day as the word 'hockey'.

2 - Coyotes... I have a friend in Phoenix, so when I visited her early in my hockey days, I made her go to games with me when I visited. We even got tickets just 3-4 rows behinds the Sharks bench one game. And I have been there about another 4 times seeing the Yotes play teams other than the Sharks. I kind of adopted them as #2. And they have a great Arena.

3 - Senators - Well this one is different. I had no interest in the Sens a while back... there was no reason. Then my favorite player (Milan Michalek) got traded to them. Even then I didn't have it in my head to immediately follow them. But gradually I began curious of his progress and how he had been doing. So I started rooting for the Sens. He did well a couple of games, but regardless, I was at least keeping tabs on the team anyway.

4 - Flyers - Another random team. I don't really "follow" them per say, but am happy when they do well against none of my favorite teams. I became friends and/or acquaintances with a handful of Flyers fans over the last few years and they are so devoted that it was hard not to cheer them on... when there wasn't a conflict of interest.

5 – Capitals – I flew to D.C. (office in Maryland) for work in Oct ’06, and had my nights free. I had maybe seen a handful of games at that time. But I had the bug. My friend who was travelling with me and I, met up with a childhood friend of mine and her boyfriend for a game. It was really random since I was new to the sport and really the only one who gave a crap about the game ;-) But it was fun to see Verizon Center all the same.

6 – Kings – Another division rival… but I seem to think of things on a more personal level that just hockey rivalries. I have met (online and in person) a lot of Kings fans over the last couple of years and they are great. And I call them friends. In the effort of hanging with them and seeing hockey at the same time, I have seen a handful of games in L.A., which is great.

So as is the theme, familiarity comes into play. There is something personal and/or hockey related that draws me to each of these teams. That’s just the way it is ;-)