Common Cold Conclusion

I fell, fell into the gooey vat of too much snot armed only with an almost never ending supply of tissues (now with aloe!), sugar free throat drops, maximum strength, fast-max dextromethrophan HBr - cough suppressant and packets of that fizzy medicine potion that would surely give Professor Snape a case of cauldron envy. My body is under severe medication and thinking about the next round of dosing makes my innards churn and protest. So much so, that I dare not feed it anything too solid, a piece of bread here, a strawberry and raspberry smoothie there, maybe some of that decadent ginger cake the husband made. Mmmmm...cake...yeah, still say that. The first symptoms manifested as feelings of dizziness and chills, it was around 3am so I didn't get out of bed to counter attack, I know, total blow it! I went to work and made it through the entire day not feeling too badly and consumed about 4 packets of wondrous Emergen-C. Unfortunatley, the virus, bug, common cold, evil green slimy microbe had already taken hold and 10 pm called for something stronger than pumped up kool-aid, so I popped some nighttime nyquil and went to bed. Next day I felt as if I had the mumps or fought a pretty decent round in my sleep! My jaw was sore and my head felt full of everything except what it's supposed to be filled with (wildly creative ideas, the solution to global warming, the soft kitty song), the chills weren't letting go and my body thought that sweating simultaneously would make me feel really pretty so it went with that. Boy, work was going to be fun! I lasted 5 hours, after that I carefully drove home, took a shower, put on my PJs and got into bed. The next 4 days were spent either asleep under many blankets or wrapped up in my snuggie on the couch. The moments of consciousness were filled with alternating between the cough syrup and the hot fizzy flu potion both which were only used to facilitate sleep as I've concluded this time (and many times before) that the ONLY cure for the common cold is sleep. Get it however you can and as often as you can, otherwise you're doomed to stay in that gooey vat of too much snot much longer than you and your poor body has to. Bottom line: call in sick and get some sleep!

Head in a fog

Yes, quite literally! Yesterday the fog bank did a nose dive into my neighborhood and this is the P.O.V from my steering wheel. It cleared up once I passed Presidio so that was fine. I didn't want to have to drive to work next people who would probably be losing their minds over the nearly zero visibility. Today? Sunny, baby, sunny.

Whole lot of Crazy Going on!

Got an email out of the blue from someone who is absolutely bonkers. I had put some distance between us about a month ago because everything was pointing towards a friendship that was very toxic and unfulfilling. The red flags went up so I stepped back. Let me say this, however, I did offer to help this person move into a new place but was ignored, so at that point I assumed we had said our last good-byes without really saying anything and I was o.k. with that. I knew I was going to have to remove myself from this friendship and better it go quietly into the ether than have a dragged out, finger pointing, name calling confrontation...or so I thought. Today, after about 30 days of silence, the crazy came crashing down in an email and wow, did it solidify my decision to step back. Step back? I'm locking the doors and shutting the curtains, lights are out and nobody is home!
Background to the present, abridged because otherwise we'd be here for days!
Ok - Ahi te va en inglés: I have known this woman for a very long time but we were never close until this year. She was having problems at home (with her boyfriend of 17 years) so I tried to help her. At the same time she was flirting with a guy from Los Angeles (E) that she met on Facebook and she told me she wanted to sleep with him. She is 38 years old and she began acting like a crazy 16 year old! One day she would tell me that she spent all day, in bed, crying over E (whom she had NEVER met in person or spoken to) and that she felt like she was losing her mind. The next day she would tell me that she was only kidding and that I shouldn't take it too seriously!! WHAT?? When one of my friends is hurting I try to help, I try to give them good advice, I fight for them. When she would tell me that E would insult her and put her down I would respond with "unfriend him", "you don't need a man that puts you down, you need a man that flatters you and is kind to you". Pero NO, aparentemente le encanta ser abusada! En fin, I got tired of trying to make her see how toxic E is so I told her NOT to talk to me about him anymore. Bueno. She was in the middle of moving from her house that she had bought with her ex-boyfriend (D) to an apartment and I told her to let me know if she needed help moving, she never answered me. A few days later I asked her when I could come and see her new place and she said that she hadn't moved in yet. Nothing followed for weeks and weeks. Then yesterday I get her crazy email that said: "You really think this was all worth never speaking with a friend again? Seriously? I never did anything wrong to you, don't even answer this because you walked out on me when I most needed a friend."
Claro que le contesté, pero su recoleccion sobre los hechos esta muy equivocada. There were about 5 emails that went back and forth, finally she said that she was having sex with E now and that was what she needed, that he is the best therapy for her! LOCA!! I just answered with "Whatever makes you happy." I thought that was the end of it but she sent me another accusatory text last night and there are 2 emails in my yahoo account that I haven't opened. I think she really has some mental issues, I know she's not eating well, she doesn't have a job, she's super paranoid…so she has all this time to focus on this and disrupt my life. He tomado precauciones en contra suya, ya he consultado con mis brujitas y tenemos un plan. I just want her to leave me alone!

Space Flowers at Trader Joe's

Apparently a seedling found it's way from the farthest reaches of the universe and took root on Masonic Avenue. Beautiful spacy looking flower, enjoy!

Bloomin' Haight

During one of the breaks from the San Francisco Ghost Hunter Society's lecture, I took a walk up to Haight Street, and on the way to a very cool store called Reincarnation I ran into a beautiful container garden on the sidewalk. This is a shot of one of the vibrant flowers adorning the neighborhood. Flower Power indeed!

What I Want from my IT Department

I want you to stop with your double talk tech bullshit like "Did you make sure you're using the DHCP server and that the subnet mask is 345.456.678.90? Because if it isn't then the IPv9 can't be configured." What? What? What? Look, I don't expect YOU to know how to run a PubMed search, find the PMCID number (or if it's not there, request it from the NIH) and create an EndNote library from the information gathered. So don't expect me to shout "EUREKA! You were so fucking helpful, why didn't I think of that?" (Helpful Hint: Please visualize Lewis Black, finger pointing in frustration, head almost exploding due to the mind numbing tech head games.)

I want you to take responsibility for my problem and the subsequent resolution and not pass me from one IT person to the next while trying desperately to remain anonymous. It wasn't cute when I asked (via email because heaven forbid I have the honor of talking to anyone of you live) "Who am I emailing with?" and the response was "The (no) HelpDesk - smiley face." Oh no, you didn't just end your smartass email with an effin-smiley-effin-face!

I want you to say “You know? I don’t know how to solve that but let me do some research and I’ll get back to you.” Not say “Turn off your computer for 30 seconds and restart it, if that doesn’t work get back to me.” Only I can’t because I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, YOU DICK!

I want you to be able to support the software that the company has approved for use and not send me outside Internet links that you’ve come across only seconds earlier as a direct result of my question. Sending me outside Internet links to fix a problem you have no idea how to is not a valid or helpful solution because I can easily Google “How do I fix this shit?”

I want you to understand why I lose my mind on hold after being shuffled from person to person, I want some empathy when I start foaming at the mouth because multiple tech people refuse to take on a sense of urgency when it comes to my asking for help. I want you to have a thicker skin when I crumble and call one of you on the carpet instead of becoming effin offended at my indignant email finger pointing. But NOOOOO, I have to apologize for being angry at your lack of support, for your anonymous abuse, for your heavy breathing over the phone (on the rare occasion I get one of you on the damn phone) and for expecting decent service from the department that works for the same goddamn company I do. I mean it’s not like these are faceless people, I do see them huddled in their dark offices, monitors emitting an incessant blue glow, Red Bull ivs hooked up to cringingly pale arms, bizarre mobiles dancing overhead, geek conversion chart tacked to the wall…and a name tag that reads “HelpDesk, smiley face.”

Acta de Naciemiento

One of my long-lost-now-found cousins sent me our grandfather's birth certificate. Learned today that he, Jacinto Revuelta Otegui, was born in Burgos (that I knew), Quintanilla del Rebollar, municipal de Sotoscueva (that, I didn't), Spain. The date: October 16, 1903. He left Spain 16 years later.

too much time because not enough time

Costa Rica was delicious but not as delicious as Hawaii, so we are going back to Hawaii in Feb. 2012. First trip to the big island, so that will be a trip.
Bullet point catch up and it may seem a bit insensitive...

• trip back to l.a. in april - went well
• went to oakland to see mexico vs. paraguay. mexico wins

• paola and daniel break up
  
• mother's day at the giant's game
• louis suffers a cardiac arrest and passes away may 17
• i see miriam, kat and sharon, brian and tessa
  
• hang out with s and her kids
• wine tasting with kc and charli, meet lars ulrich, r is ecstatic
• t has aiden and they are both living with her parents
• i'm into image transfers and string medium
  
• no gym today
• tai chi at 7pm
• yoga on the ropes is pretty cool
• it's been raining too much
• sun is out right now
• been dizzy, contact dr's office for appointment
• paola is looking at potential apt

More Art

Organized, disorganized, planed, unplanned, prepared, unprepared general chaos in a controlled setting abounds.
Did activate new atm, did lower credit although they didn't go as low as I wanted them to go - who is in control here? I'm just trying to prevent the crooks from getting their hands on my cash, you know? Like the last time. This is probably what's blocking the excitement I should be feeling about the forthcoming trip. The attempted fraud, the burglarizing of my account and identity. It all had a nice ending to it but the stress involved was not welcomed. You know what else? I didn't get much sympathy either, that bothered me. I need to get a painting to my Uncle T, he was the only one that asked me about my art, THE ONLY ONE - amazing, innit? My Aunt did comment about my painting I gave her a few years ago - that was sweet!
I have 3 weekends before the trip, this weekend I would like to find some sunglasses to take and leave there; already planning to leave old hiking boots there and maybe my flip flops - I definitely need to practice pack. (I hate leaf blowers) I wonder if I'll be a happy traveler with that rick steves bag I have, R has already tried it and likes it, I haven't - we'll we're taking the roller too so if I hate it perhaps I can trade, right?
My list of things: 1 board short, 1 bathing suit, 1 dress, 3 tanks, 1 convertible pant, 1 poncho, 1 white windbreaker, 1 kick back short, emily strange shirt (pj), 1 baseball cap, 3 bandanas, 1 flip flops, 1 amphibians, 1 hiking shoes (check in bag), chonis (10), brrrs (3), socks (4), 1 yoga shirt (plane), 1 yoga pant (plane), 1 Giants shirt (plane), another tank (plane), 1 spf shirt (plane), deep blue jacket (plane), keens w/socks (plane).
I like that list, will practice pack this Sunday mayhaps.

More art

Get the Balance Right.
5x7 acrylics on canvas.
My cousin Jaime threw me a curve when he asked me how to say canvas in Spanish, the closest thing we could come up with is "tela" (cloth). Babel Fish wants to use "lona" and I suppose that's close too. Webster's New World Spanish / English Dictionary has it at "lona" too, so I guess we have a winner!
Yesterday was my D's birthday, and the yang in that yin is that it also marked the 5th anniversary of my Uncle G's death.
J's daughter is heading to France for a year as an exchange student, that so rocks. Family members are already planning a visit. Some family members come into money a lot easier than others. I'd love to head to France but I think I'd want to hit Spain and Italy first, so don't try to look for me in Europe until 2020 or something. I still have to do my skydive next year, remember? Nuts!
So I'm listening to this 70s radio station on iTunes and they are playing songs from every decade, who do they think they're fooling? KUSF has died, bought out by KDFC, well, KUSF is going to continue online so that's a bit of good news. A San Jose classic rock station is moving to SF and Big Rick from KFOG is heading over there, Greg Kihn in already there.
I think my career as a 80s dancer is over, I saw a bit of the show and I hated it, really did. It's true you know: "don't look back, you can never look back." All traces of evidence have been erase from the dvr so don't ask for copies.
Need to check the travel inventory to see what else is left to buy for the trip to CR. I suspect more insect repellent is needed. I received the diversion safe and it's hilariously too big!! It's NOT going on the trip with us - too funny! I also have the waterproof casing for the FLIP hopefully that works well, it's kinda bulky!!
Need to practice pack and then cut my clothing in half!!
See ya, creature!
Always follow your sueños, k?

sand dollar

Classic Without Edge 5x7 folded card

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Janaury - a Thursday

Approximately 40 days until CR - working on this to be 100% prepared. Looked at the travel vouchers and found out that the transports are already paid for, well, actually I knew this already but wanted to confirm; felt tons better afterward. I need to stop the unnecessary mini freak outs, truly. The only things we need to pay for at the cruise, the rain forest hikes and the trip back to Liberia. All of the companies we are going with have high ratings and the folx at Pura Vida, eh?, have been delightful. Which is a breath of fresh air after the horrid experience with Xplore and their lot of crooks - the credit card fraud chapter that took place soon following their "help". Still going to post that only after we come back...no need to stir up the ant hill before we go.
Also planning an LA trip and hopefully attend a taping to the cheeky monkey's show, thing is the tapings aren't planned too far in advance so who knows if they show will be taping while we're there. CJ said he'll go, need to ask MSR if he's in.
Going to my second DP taping on Saturday, should be fun then the museum on Sunday, we were shut out last Monday because they were closed, matter of fact they're closed on every Monday. Yeah, I should know this stuff...bah! Going to dinner with Mark and Victoria on the 29, and I just received an email from Sabrina stating that she and her husband may be in SF late, late January. Ha! That'll be a kick, a nice Argentinean kick, bárbaro.
The Churchies are hitting the GAMH this year, and I'm so happy it's before the CR trip. I hope Pao has RM's phone number so that if we get there late she can call him and come get us, c'mon man I have a Trader Joe's bag of goodies, sheesh!
TH has Aiden Bear and he likes to scream!! He arrived on December 9th and is taking his time gaining weight because he's too busy driving his sweet mum bonkers! I'm sure he will find his groove and become a cooing, lovely little baby - he just needs time to adjust to this world. He's super cute and has many of TH's features!
Have some books on order from the library, some cd's too: Juan Luis Guerra for example, JLG is a recommendation from my Pappy. Will definitely burn the cd for him and Mum.
That painting above is called: Greens on Blue, 5x7 acrylic on canvas.