Yep I am still here

Hello,

Yes I am still here. As usual I have had quite a bit going on. When you last heard from me I was fairly recently single and taking a vacation from my good sense. Well that isn't really true I didn't do anything super crazy. (It's going to be a long one)

 Lets see here:

I moved, obviously. Living with the ex was not an option. So I moved in with a friend and things have been going pretty well. We have a total of 4 dogs and that makes life a little hectic sometimes. But over all things are good.

Lets start with Skinny. Skinny is a friend I met while working at JCP. (I was there for about 2months for extra cash) He decided he wanted to move to Washington to be closer to family. He was planning on driving up alone mid-December. One day he 1/2 jokingly asked me if I would like to go along for the ride, because I am one of the few people he knows who can drive stick. Well since I was in my vacation from good sense mode I said "Meh maybe I will let you know when it gets closer."  A few days later Doc decided he wanted to cut the office hours from 33 to less then 20 =( So I started looking for a job. I found one pretty quickly but they didn't want me to start full time right away, just on my days off from Doc. I would be permanently replacing the owners daughter when she left on maternity leave mid-February. Periodically Skinny's move would be brought up and planning was in full swing. One day a patient came in to Doc's office and told me that she was a retired airline employee and because of that she got vouchers for flights. However she wasn't able to use all of them this year because of family issues, would I like some.... Of course I said yes and then immediately called Skinny and told him I could go with. I put in my 2weeks notice at the Docs and left. =)

The trip to Spokane was amazing!! We left on a Monday night about 9PM and he drove straight through till about 7am Tuesday morning. That night the fog was pea soup thick! It was so bad i had to go to sleep before it gave me a panic attack.

We stopped in a little town called Weed,CA for breakfast and Skinny let me get a geocache. =) My goal was to get a geocache in the two states we were going to pass through that I haven't visited before, which he was very accommodating with. Then it was my turn to drive. He HATES driving though Oregon which is why I was given this stretch. I thought it was beautiful. HUGE trees and people who know how to drive in the right hand lane. It was glorious. Skinny slept most of the way.  Near the boarder of Oregon and Washington is a little town named Umatilla. Umatilla, FL is where I happen to be from so I HAD to stop there. This is where I grabbed the geocache for Oregon. It was a neat little historical cemetery right on the bank of the Umatilla River. Pretty cool if you ask me. I am fairly sure I am the only person I know who has been to both Umatilla's.
Once we got in to Washington time flew by. We arrived at the familys place in no time. Grabbed dinner and we were both passed out asleep by I would say 8pm. Next morning we went exploring a little. They are about an hour outside Spokane in a little tiny town. It was super cute, very goonie-esq. We walked from the house to the center of town, grabbing 2 geocaches along the way and stopping in at the dual quilting shop/ liquor store.

I actually got to go to Spokane 2x, once to check out where Skinny will be working and the 2nd time I was trying to fly back to SD. The day we were there to check out his new store we went on to a town called Pullman to visit his brother who was still taking finals at University. Since Pullman is about 10mins from Idaho Skinny offered to swing me by a geocache there too. (Such a nice guy)

A few days after that it was time for me to head home....Because of the type of ticket I was given I had to fly standby. Hey free is free. We arrived at the Spokane airport at about 6am I checked in and went through Security, and checked in again at the gate. The lady at the gate was SUPER nice and told me there was no chance I would fly out of Spokane today and my best bet was to get to Seattle somehow and fly out of there. =( Skinny being such an amazing guy drove me the 4hours in the snow to Seattle. By the end of the day I had 5 (didn't retake the picture) check in vouchers.  I finally got on the last flight out of Seattle and in to SD about midnight. I had a great time and Skinny told me that the day after I left they got 3inches of snow and have had snow almost every day since. He may not realize it but I will be back for a visit.....someday. 

    

I will let you go for now, but next time I hope it is not 3 months from now when I finally get around to writing about my awesome Christmas.

And so it goes

Last month when mom was here I got dumped because I didn't dust enough. Yea...and apparently I'm a pretty pretty princess that thinks everything should be handed to me. Anyway, I should have known something wasn't quite right. However being a girl and totally sucked in I wanted to try and work things out.
That is now over, and I am ok with it. So prepare yourselves dear readers for some of my classic randomness! I will try to post as much as I can.
Green light mental roller coaster!

Open to what is possible

I have been working for a chiropractor for about 3 months now. A lot of people call them witch doctors and other things. When I started doc gave me an adjustment my 2nd day. I had never had an adjustment because of my heath condition and I was a little frightened at first. However there is a huge difference between doc and "normal" chiros, he only adjusts the very first vertebrae. After my very first adjustment I felt drastically better. I know I have told you all this before.
I do have a point. The other night Doc took me to a CORE meeting. It is a group of SD chiros that get together and talk chiro stuff. They had a special guest speaker Dr. Fab Mancini, he is kind of a big deal in the chiro community. Anyway he talked to the group for over an hour and what stood out to me the most was when he said "you have to be OPEN to the possible." Now that can mean lots of things to lots of people.
In docs office we play videos for background noise. After a while they get burned into your brain. One part of this one video has testimonials from extraordinary patients. I experienced this with my own eyes: A 70 yr old man came in with his driver, his (much younger) wife and was walking with his cane. We did all the new patient stuff and Doc did an adjustment same day. (That doesn't usually happen, it is usually done on the 2nd visit) After the adjustment Mr. Man came out to rest in our Lazy Boys and he left his cane in the adjustment room. His wife was astounded! Their whole relationship he has used a cane for everything and after just one adjustment he is walking like he was 30 years ago. We have seen him since and he is still walking mostly with out the cane, it is more habit now and not functional.
I had never seen anything like it. I talk to patients every day and they say "Oh I feel 40,50,60,80% better" but this was the first time I have personally seen such an immediate drastic change in a patient right before my eyes. This is where I see the "Be open to what is possible" comes in. For my first few months I said the words, trained in the proper chiro answers, but now I can actually say I whole heatedly believe in it. You never know what is possible but you should be open to anything.

 

I hate Mount Woodson

This is a hiking post!

 Last week my hiking partner and I went out with the intent of finding the last 22 caches hidden in the Mount Woodson/Lake Poway area. This would complete my very first Hall of Fame and also bring my finds up above 300. We decided that since it is JULY in SoCal it would be smart to break the day up so we started at about 7am (I wanted to sleep in) break at 12ish, then go back out about 330-dark 8ish.

One car was parked in a private community and the other was parked on Hwy 67 in designated parking for hikers. All went well for that first leg. I was moving a little slower then I would have liked but I was moving none the less. Over all this first part was nice. Met another hiker/runner on the trail and sat with him while talking under a tree. I only mention the tree because it is about the only tree on the whole trail. This part of cali isn't known for trees.

 We had it planned out so that a puzzle cache at the top of Mount Woodson would be my 300th find. We had been working on the clue for weeks and neither of us or anyone I had asked for help could crack it. So D had been emailing every cacher who has found it and one finally responded with the helpful coords. With out that helping hand I would have not been able to make STATIC! my #300.  Then from there it was the pavement path alllll the way back down woodson and to my car parked on the 67. First leg was a success!

One of the ways that I keep myself entertained while hiking is I play the cloud game. You know where you look at the sky and see what images pop in your head from the shapes. Well since SoCal has such boringly clear skys there are very little clouds to look at. However there are TONS of rocks in the area. A few of the sights I have seen recently are: Foot standing on the toes, whale with a mustache, cycolps with a bad comb over, and a Cylon. D saw a rock that even I agree looked exactly like a boob. Sorry no picture of that one.

This has all happened before and will all happen again.

After lunch and rearranging cars and whatnot we headed out again. Its about 4pm when we get back on the trail. This time we parked one car in front of a house (we have permission) and the other out on the 67 in a different location. Because of the afternoon sun I was melting. It was soooo hot. My whining and bitching increased significantly on this leg of the hike. Then I saw the girl and two boys who were walking around just the Lake Poway area, and I didn't feel so bad. They were not prepared and the poor girl was struggling hard core. I don't think any of them had a drop of water to drink on them. 

We start to do the cross over from the Lake Poway area to the Mt. Woodson area and there is this ONE DAMN CACHE that is off to the left. So the discussion starts...."Should we go straight and see if we can loop around and get it of should we go left and bushwack down a little to it?" Of course we opt for #2 and start hacking through off the trail to reach it. Now California is hilly, they call it Mount Woodson for a reason. They also tell you to stay on trails for a good reason too. Once we got off the trail it got treacherous. I put my poles away and used brush and shrubs for stability.  Even got a nice sized thorn in the palm of my hand too (still there 7days later.) Finally we get to the bottom of this ravine and there are boulders all over the place. D just hops up and then off of them but I'm little and scared so on this one I decide to go over in a different place. Bad idea! I jump up on rock to get over it and there are no hand holds for me but I'm totally on it for the moment. Then I slip....falling on the rock below. My right foot twisted in a way I am used to but is NOT NORMAL by any means. This is where I can tell D is getting concerned. (Later he told me that he thought I was gonna have to be helo'd out of there.) I take off my gear, get a drink to calm myself a little and then twist and yank my foot out of there. Thank god for my EDS at that moment. It didn't hurt then and it still hasn't hurt at all. My butt on the other hand, I have a nasty purple bruise from that fall. Off we go again. Find the trail about 100ft down the way and pop back on it. We even found a cache right there. To bad it wasn't the one we were looking for.

Some of my battle wounds. That's the hazard of hiking in shorts.

Since it is my goal to get every cache in this damn place and it is only about 6pm and we still have a lot of light left I say we try again for this damn thing. So we back track again and try staying on the trail this time, for a little while. Get the cache but now we have to get back and since it is getting later we don't want to back track anymore we decided to bushwack it again. OH NO we really should learn not to do that. Have you ever heard of "soft granite"? I hadn't. We are going along fighting bushes and so forth when we get to a slope. It isn't just a slope its PURE ROCK and its slippery. D goes first and I just slid the whole way down. He said its soft granite, it was rock and smooth like a clean counter top. Very weird stuff. Only mishap was me sliding and getting poked in the butt by a tiny cacti. It didn't leave any quills behind but it wasn't pleasant. Now its getting dark....

We start hoofing it moving as quick as we can but I'm guessing we are still about 4miles from the 67. Trail marker says 2 but I am sure that is as the crow flys and not as people walk.  Here is where I am going to cheat on this blog, I am going to take D's description of what happened and paste it here for you all to read. He just wrote it so well and he says nice things about me.

We got to this cache at ~2045 hours. The sun was way gone and there was no moonlight to help us. Our headlights and flashlights did not allow us to make the find. Although we searched every possibility according to the hint, we simply weren't able to come up with the smiley . I think I was mostly looking out for P(oison)O(ak) more than I was the cache. I did see some and I'm sure I brushed up against a little. I, we actually, busted out the Technu a little later near Warren Canyon Jr. Trail.

With the time being what it was, and knowing that we're going to have to return to avenge this DNF, we decided to forgo the remaining 5 caches for the HOF and just head for the car.

With this being my last log for the day, I might as well tell our story here . . .

As stated, we forgoed "Alien" and made a left at "Fork you." Seeing on the GPS only two caches and about 1100-1200 feet to the car on what appeared to be a clear trail, I was feeling pretty good and confident about getting back to the car in just minutes. After Warren Canyon Jr., we soon found ourselves apparently off-trial and in a small valley of large boulders and, as we would discover, PO!!! This is when we basically bathed in Technu. Ask us this weekend if it worked . . . (It did for the most part, D got some on his elbow and forearm and I got it on my left ear only. I think that is a success)

So after totally losing the trail (I don't think I've ever gotten lost, so I was getting really irritated with myself) and being all up in the PO (leaves on ground and vines in the air - R got smacked with one vine and that's when I really got pi$$ed at myself!!!), we headed back to where the fence ends, I decided to call RS. I told him we're kinda lost and needed a way out. He suggested that we go back to "Fork you" and then make a left. He said the trail will take us more south, but would be much easier to find the 67 from there. Following his advice, we got to the 67 at ~2145 and walked .25 miles to the car. I took R to her car and gave her the advice to shower, SCRUB actually, with Dawn and hope for the best ...

So that is the whole story of Geocaching on July 19th 2012. After that I needed a break which is why I am home today writing (and pasting) this blog instead of out hiking. I also finally tackled doing the laundry from last week and took serious precautions. You never know if those clothes are still covered in PO oils. I don't want to take a chance of getting it.

Hopefully next week I will be back on the trail with more adventures. 

Wedding Season

Last month started the annual wedding season. Since I am starting to reach that age where everyone thinks that I should be married it is a stressful time this year. Since Christmas I have congratulated at least 10 couples I know on their engagement. I am honestly happy for them. If you and your significant other have decided that it is time to make that step good for you. I wish you the best and all the happyness in the world, plus a house full of little feet if you so wish.

Now when it comes to me and my life it is exactly that MY LIFE. I understand that people think it is a common and happy topic to ask about "Oh you are almost 28? You have been with the same guy for almost 2yrs? Why don't you have a ring?" *Disapproving look at my left hand*  "Well Ms. Nosey Ass Bitch, BF and I are happy with the way things are and aren't ready to make that change just yet." Now times this conversation by 2 each day and add varying degrees of poking and prodding and pressure as to why I should (Me not bf) change my mind on the matter and you get what I go though on almost a daily basis. DID I INVITE YOU IN TO MY RELATIONSHIP? No I was not aware that I did. Did I whine or complain to you about my lack of marital status? No I haven't done that either.

Another thing that bothers me about the subject is it is always portrayed as MY fault like I'm the one who solely has give some secret signal that he isn't good enough and that is why I am unwed. Please refer to my previous statement with Ms. NAB. BF and I are happy with the way things are and aren't ready to make that change just yet. That means it is a joint choice. Yes we have talked about it and NO, WE as a team are not ready. It has nothing to do with my prior marital status. That relationship has nothing to do with this one.

ARG thanks for reading my rant today I hope no one takes it personally it isn't about one instance. I will leave you with this little video which sums everything up (kinda)

  

Soooooo I have a new job...again.

I know last post I told you that I had an awesome new job yada yada. Well I only lasted 4 days and 4 hours. BF called me a job slut. Not gonna lie it might be true. Awesome job was not as advertised. (Insert to good to be true statements here) Basicly they expected me to stand in front of a copy machine for about 8 hours a day, my joints hated that. Also they had some wacky office policies: No talking, if you have a question you have to email your supervisor and wait for them to respond. You had to take your 15min breaks at your exact scheduled time, no personal trashcans, you have to use the community trash in the middle of the office. It was just a super weird place and I couldn't take it.

Here is the timeline...Left crazy office on Monday at 11, had an interview with a chiropractor on Tuesday at 1, got a call back on Thursday at 2, went uniform shopping with the Dr. at 3, started training at 4 and showed up for real work Friday at 7:45.It has been two weeks and I like it still. Upside there is only one other employee (The Dr.) and he and I get along nicely, I make the same amount of money for less hours, and I get free chiropractic care. Downside I have to work Saturdays and I only work about 30 hours a week. All in all it is awesome.

 I have been totally taking advantage of my free chiro visits. Got my first visit on that very first day and man it is amazing. Dr. isn't a normal chiro he does a special style of chiro called NUCCA. BF calls it "crazy hokey voodoo" but it is working for me. I feel amazing. I don't think I have had this many good days in a two week time span ever. So check it out if you are in to that kind of thing.

So that is the big thing that has been going on lately. Other little things have happened of course. I joined a gym. I talked to the trainer and to Dr. and they both say just pay attention to my body and take things slow and I should be fine. I'm excited about that. I have been trying to meet people again.  So far I think I have a gm buddy, she is a little more hard core then me but I think it will be ok. I have a girl date with one of BF's childhood friends current GF. Weird I know but hey I'm down for making friends. We are going to see Snow White and the Huntsman on Sunday. When looking at movie times I realized that a shit ton of good stuff is coming out. I know its a kid thing but I want to see BRAVE the new Pixar movie coming out. Hooray for female heroes and all that woman's power bullshit. No really I'm glad they are showing more strong female role models for girls.

We are still on the hunt for some one to cut that giant tourmaline. At the San Diego Fair the other day we got a nudge in the correct direction. *Crosses fingers* Hopefully we can get in contact with someone who will be willing to cut it.

Lastly, I have been trying to train Argos' a little bit and get him socialized. After the bad showing out at Latitude 33 I was terrified that he would be aggressive toward all dogs. It was recommended that we get him a muzzle. I couldn't do that. We got it and tried it but it wasn't right. So I took him to the dog park on a slow afternoon. There was one lady there with her 2 small dogs. I told her what happened and what was going on. She suggested going to the other end of the park, taking his leash off and letting her rescue dog slowly introduce himself. It worked like a charm. What I have learned is that he gets overwhelmed and needs slow introductions. He is part Norwich terrier and part chihuahua. He loves to run!! Not run away, just run in circles and burn off energy.  
  
So that is my update for now. When more interesting stuff happens you will hear from me again.

Big goings on!

I know, I know, I have fallen behind again. Things have changed in my life recently. BF sat me down and had a serious talk about the impact my shitty job was having on our relationship. It wasn't a fun discussion. I have known for a while that he wasn't happy with the me that work had created. During our chat BF made it very clear he was ok with shouldering the financial burden while I looked for another job if I left this one.
 Imagine sitting at a desk in a windowless room all day and getting berated and yelled at by customers and co-workers. On a daily basis I had to lie for my coworkers to lots of people. All this for a measly $10 and no holidays or anything, yea they offered benny's but it was at a ridiculous price (over $100 a month for just me and only basic medical) So I started seriously looking for a job. Then boss man placed an add, I had to do all the interviews, because I was the only natural english speaker. We got one guy to actually agree to do my shitty job, but they didn't like him after two days. This is where the final straw fell. They made me, the lowest paid and lowest ranked person, fire him. I had, had enough! After closing that night I went to boss man and told him that he has been promising me a raise and a new position since Sept 2011. I know that we need to hire a replacement but I need a finite date when I can expect to see my raise and expect to at least start training for my promised position. I had off the next day and asked him to call me with this information. I didn't get a call from him, I did get a call letting me know that they changed the locks on me.

That was a friday. Monday I had an interview at another office. Tuesday I got a call asking me to start at this new job in 2 weeks. Mostly because I needed to get access stuff and Memorial Day fell in there too. So I start my official new job tomorrow. Hooray! Between quitting and starting new job I have been doing temp work and that has helped with the bills. Its kinda cool to work a few days then have days off and never be doing the same job or even at the same company. I will be happy to have steady income again though.
I have to admit I'm a little scared. Starting a new job is like starting a new school. The whole social dynamic is new and unknown. Plus I have to be at work at 7am =( I'm not a big fan of mornings but that means I get home early and can still attend yoga and make dinner for everyone.

Pup is doing good. His cone of shame came off and everyone was SUPER happy about that.
REI had a super awesome sale the past 2 weeks too. I got an awesome new hiking pack and a camelbak style water system for it. I was going to go geocaching since it was a long weekend but my body decided that 28 days had passed and I wouldn't be doing anything this weekend.
Mom is talking about making a trip out here. I miss her, and she wants to meet BF and his colorful family.
Another one of our friends got engaged. HOORAY! Also found out that the ex is now engaged also. Seems like everyone is in such a rush. SIGH!

Guess that is all for now...

Cute with a side of Fluffy

April 10th BF and I went and got a puppy!! I had seen him online and it said he was at an animal shelter "San Diego Animal Rescue" I called and made arrangements to go see him. The place is about 30-45mins from us but meh I'm not scared of a drive. We pull up to a house...if you can call it that. It was more of a shack that should have been condemned. The pup was sitting on the driveway in a small pen with an igloo shelter for coverage. There were about 6 cats just wandering around, and another inside the pen with him. I could hear at least 5 different barks coming from behind the big wooden fence and the SMELL oh my the smell. It was awful! Checked over the pup and he was in decent condition, didn't look like he had anything really wrong with him except a few extra teeth. Good personality, very alert and sweet around BF and I. He would cower to the point of being on the ground to the caretakers though. I met 3 human adults while we were there and it looked like they had one whole set of teeth between them. Once we brought him home I did a little research on this "Shelter" and found out that the founder and owner has a police record. In 1998 she was convicted of animal hoarding and cruelty via starvation. The next day I contacted the proper people and let them know where and what I had seen. Who knows what will happen now, but at least I feel like I did something.

It took us 3 whole days to pick out a name for him. I wanted something strong or ironic. Rommel (since he looks like a little fox) or something Irish to match his red hair. BF was rooting for Mars or something Greek. We finally agreed on Argos, as in Jason and the Argonauts.

I took him to the MY vet asap and got his rabies shot and set up an appointment to get him fixed, teeth pulled and microchipped. Doc said that over all pup looked good but still gave him a strong dewormer. Which was good because I knew he couldn't have come out of that place scot-free. Now he is all good though.

 That sunday I was sitting in the backyard reading while Argos explored and all of a sudden he had a sneezing fit. Not just 3 or 4 sneezes it went on for about 20 mins straight. When I could finally get a look at him I could see his little nose was bleeding. So off the the emergency vet we went.

You can hear BF in the background making fun of me for recording this but it really is super cute. Even the nurse asked if I had gotten one of his fits on video.
They were super nice and not too too expensive THANK GOD BF helped me with the bill though. They say it is pretty common out in this area for dogs to get a grass called Foxtail in sensitive areas. This one just happened to be up his nose. So they put him under and went up there to fish it out. About 30mins later we got a very groggy Argos back. Next day he was good as new.

Since his first vet visit though his belly has been upset. After a few days of solid dog food going in and nothing but liquid going out I called the vet again to get advice. Now I get to be Argos' gourmet chef 4 times a day. Little punk is spoiled!! Pumpkin, cottage cheese and white rice. Guess I need to hunt for a good dog food for the little guy. But we have defiantly seen a HUGE improvement since I swiched his food. When we first got him the "shelter" had him on purena puppy which he wouldn't eat at all. I gave him some beneiful and he would eat a little but not much. Now he sits at his bowl and whines if his meal is 10mins late, then licks everything including the smell off. I would say he is doing much better.
Next week is his big appointment at the vet May 7th. Wonder if he will still love me the same after that. LOL

I am already making him in to a GeoPup too. We went out on friday to hike Mission Trails down in central SD. I made it about 4miles according to gps and found 7 caches. Argos kept up mostly. Since he is little I did carry him through some of the heavy brush and by the end he was exhausted. We both took a nap once we got home but no worse for wear. I think he liked getting out and sniffing all the nature.

That is all my excitement, at least all I want to bore you with for now.

OHHHH shiny stuff!

This weekend we went to the Oceanview Mine in Pala Ca. It was a blast!! Back in the early 1900's or so a gem called Pink Tourmaline was found in the area. The then Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi of China loved pink tourmaline and bought large quantities for gemstones and carvings. And that is how San Diego county became the hub for pink tourmaline. 

Fast forward to now and 95% of the mines in this area have shut down, if not totally then to the public. However the Oceanview Mine still lets the public come and sift through the trash pile. This is how it works....During the week they blast in the actual mine and do the money making thing. Then they take all the trash and rubble push it into a pile for the tourists to sift through on the weekend. You pay $60 a person and drive WAYYYY out to BFE, follow these tiny signs on to private property, turn off the paved road and then a lady in a ATV meets you to take your $ and release forms (It is No-Fun-Afornia so there HAS to be legal stuff) Then you drive up the mountain to the circle of stations and the pile. 

We had a great time and will be going again. I would highly recommend adding this to your list of adventures in the SD area if you are out here. Reservations are a little shady but take my word for it TOTALLY LEGIT. SUPER FUN!!

They actually have a really nice set up not to mention the view. One of the miner guys says they can handle about 71 tourists at a time. 71 x $60 = A pretty decent profit for cleaning out the trash and baby sitting tourists. Anyway all the stations come with 2 screens a larger grated one and a smaller one, toothbrush, trowel, bucket, and water bin. All this is propped up on a table with the top cut out so all the dirt and junk can be thrown right underneath.

Right at 11am the heard all the people around and give us a little tutorial on how to do this the most efficient way and the rules of the pile. Lead guy says "You only need 15 secs at most at the pile. I don't want to become the pile nazi but I will if I have to. DO NOT pick at the pile, take your bucket scoop and go." Since I can't lift a full bucket roomie and BF we nice enough to bring me my allotments. In return I would clean out the water bin. This is something else they were VERY clear on. Because if you don't clean your water after every 2-3 screens it will turn to cement-ish gunk and break the watertub. 

Away we went! Bucket dumped in to screen one,which is stacked on screen two. Pull all the giant pieces and wash them toss underneath if they are junk place on ledge if they are keepers. Shake all dirt and small pieces so they fall on to screen two, dunk in water and wash everything off. Once you pick through screen one repeat process with screen two. We did this for two hours and then took lunch.

You have to bring everything with you, food water, hat sunscreen ect. (Remember to bring dish gloves, our hands are TORN up!)  We stopped at the store and got sandwiches. I think they were planning on sharing with EVERYONE on the mountain. Some people brought beer we will plan better next time.

We didn't leave till they kicked us out at 4pm. Other people started straggling out at about 2 but we were in it  till the end. This is a HUNK of Green Tourmaline that BF found. They say that 1/5 of it can be cut into a setting. He might just keep it as a pretty paper weight though. 

This is what made these mines famous. Pink Tourmaline!! This is a gem quality piece that Roomie found. They were all oohing over it at the mine. Very very nice find.

Other random semi-important finds: Watermelon Tourmaline (Green rind with pink inner) Kunzinte (glass looking stuff lower left) Aqua Marine (Upper left)

Till next time..... 

Health and Wellness (not for the squeamish)

I couldn't really think of a better title then that since it really sums up the gist of this post. On Tuesday dad had surgery on his hand. Just the right one, it was the worse of the two. He didn't want to be put under and they did a Beir Block. Which is where they just numb the hand using simple anesthesia and tourniquets. They were in and out in a matter of hours. 

This is my fathers hand before surgery. That is fully open. He had put off correcting it for a long time and since he was being stubborn they determined it was to far along to be treated with just injections (they are going this route with the left hand) and needed to be surgically corrected.

Surgery went wonderfully and this is a pic of his hand 3 days after surgery.

 

 Dad is now doing wonderfully. From what I hear he is tormenting mom daily LOL, At least they have 5 acres to run around. 

On another note I found a new yoga lady to go to. Its called Dang Good Yoga and wow! I was a little apprehensive at first because I found her on Meetup.com (which is one of my new favorite sites) Last Sunday she had a Ultimate Beginners class that I went to. I was the only person who showed up =( But that just proved to me how awesome this lady is. She held the class just for me =) And actually listened to me and tailored everything around my issues and taught me how everyone else would do a position then would go back and help me find a way that would work just as well for my body. That REALLY meant a lot. I will be going on Wednesdays after work from now on. =) 

VEGAS!!!

Man oh MAN. Last weekend BF and I went to Las Vegas for a long-ish weekend. We left Friday morning and got home Sunday afternoon. About 5hours each way since I drove (even got a little geocaching in). I had wanted to go for my birthday back in August but it was decided that August is just to hot to venture out to the desert. So we changed it to February for BF's birthday. Then Sister informed me that one of her friends had decided to get married in Vegas the 2nd week in March. Since BF hadn't met any of my family we pushed our trip back a few weeks so he could meet Sister and her hubby. 

We arrived on Friday afternoon. Checking in to the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino was a little crazy. Even after asking directions from an attendant it took us a good 20 min to find the correct check in desk. Once we got to our room it was neat. Fittingly they assigned us the "Lost in Space" room. At PH each guest room is decorated with movie or at least some type of Hollywood memorabilia. 

We were again lucky to get a GREAT view from our room. We were directly across from the Bellagio and had an awesome view of their famous fountain. Also Sister and all her friends were staying there.  

For BF's b-day I gave him 2 tickets to The Amazing Johnathan who was supposed to be playing in Vegas. It happens that he got in a car accident the week before and ended up canceling his show. This is the 2nd time this has happened to BF. Since we didn't have a show to attend later BF decided to take me all over the strip.  It was a nice laid back day. Walking all over seeing all the nifty stuff that Vegas has to offer and not being rushed. Got to check out all the major casinos, since it was early it wasn't super crowded and I could wander like the little tourist I was. 

Later that night we got dinner at The Strip House which is inside PH. I loved the decor. It has red velvet-ish walls with womens naked silhouettes raised and all the art was 20's and 30's era porn photographs. Very well done for a porn themed steak house. 

The next day we met up with Sister and hubby at about 830 for morning cocktails. Yep BF fits in with my family JUST RIGHT. Had a little breakfast and chatted then met up with more Rhode Islanders that had attended the wedding and headed down to the Fremont Street Experience. We all took the bus from PH to Fremont street, its about 4miles. I love bus tours and even though it wasn't an official bus tour I got to see LOTS of things.....about 100 wedding chapels of every style Elvis, drive thru, little, medium, large even one with a hotel attached for easy access honeymooning. A naughty warehouse store (it was seriously the size of a super wal-mart) can't forget the 1/2 off lawyers, the Clark County Detention Center (home of the show Jailhouse on Spike) and thats just a little of what was in those four miles. 

Once we got to Fremont Street more booze was purchase and of course the required bottle opener souvenir. Sister, D and I decided we wanted to do the Zipline down Fremont Street. Unfortunately D left her ID back in her room so only Sister and I could do it. All the mens were busy drinking or scared of heights. The lady in front of us was TERRIFIED but her reasoning was "I already paid so I'm gonna do it." Once we got the 6stories (roof of the building plus up a flight of scaffolding) she just kept talking non-stop. They strap you in to these harnesses and then teather you to the scaffolding before they attach you to the zipline and then on the count of 3 they FLING you out over the street. The woman in front of us finally calmed down and was ready to go, the man flings her out over the street and about 10 feet away she swivels around and screams "YOU SON OF A BITCH" Every one laughed so hard. Then it was our turn. It was super fun and over in no time. BF got pics but all you can see in it is butts. 

After that we all milled around Fremont a while longer. D won some money and I lost about $5. Got some pics in the casino to prove we actually gambled and only losing $5 I was happy. When we came out of the casino there was a man stuck on the zipline. Some how he lost momentum and two employees had to ratchet out to the spot in the line where he was stuck and drag him down. At least he was a good sport about it and laughing the whole time. 

Finally we headed back and I got to grab a geocache =) Hooray!! So I can fill in that state on my map. I have decided that my goal is to get at least one find a month this year and eventually one find in every state. (Low goals are better then no goals right) 

Once we got back the 3hour feeding needed to take place so we headed over to Pink's Famous Hot Dogs to feed me before the Hangry struck. I don't think Pink's was the best idea since everyone but me had an upset digestive track the rest of the night. 

Quick nap and change then off to LOVE the Cirque de Sole set to the music of The Beatles. Sister was nice enough to get BF and I tickets so we could attend with her and the rest of the RI crew. It was very cool. Very acid trippy. I didn't really expect a story and there might have been one but it also could have just been random I don't know. Very cool is my official stance. BF wasn't very impressed but he doesn't care for acid or the Beatles very much anyway, but he did admit it was enjoyable. 

Over all we had a great time. I even had an excuse to get "hookered up", thanks to co-worker, I had the proper attire to do so.  Sister and Hubby seemed to like BF and submitted a favorable report to Mom and Dad, followed by a very nice invite to visit P's Palace in RI. (Aka Sisters house since we all stay there when we visit) Hopefully that will be on the agenda for our next long distance excursion.   

Until next time....  

Adventures OH MY!

Yesterday was leap day. Hooray we added one more day to the year. BLEAH! As you all know I am a geocacher. Last night the local cachers had an event out in Mission Trails Regional Park. Now I don't want to point fingers but who ever made the parking arrangements was kind of a douche. Once I found the actual parking lot I started treking in to the park. Problem is it was already almost sunset. So I go in and follow the trail left. BAD IDEA! I finally get to the top of a hill and take a look around. GPS says that I am .3 miles away. I finally spot a pavillion at about the right distance. To bad I have to cross 3 valleys and 2 decent hills. (see crappy map below) It is now mostly dark so I take a chance and que up geocaching.com on my phone and post a note on the event page that I'm lost in the park and need someone to call me. I decide that since I can see where I'm going I might as well just bushwack it straight across. Flashlight in hand down I go. I get down and across one little creek bed. Then I get a text..."The event is near a tall blue tower - Geobuddy" HOORY my cry for help worked. Now that I had contact I shot off a quick text to mom to take down that msg. Don't want my phone number out all alone in interwebbie land. I call the guy who sent me the text and tell him what I can see. I know I am going in the correct direction and mostly just ask that the group not totally leave before I get there. Lord knows I would NEVER get out if no one was left. Geobuddy gathered a few others and started strobing their flashlights for me. Making sure I keep going the right way. A few wandering down the hill a little ways towards me.  Finally I climb the last hill to the pavilion. I arrive to nice hugs and offers of pizza. Over an hour after the even started, guess its better late then never. 

They say that about 60 people showed up to the start of the event. When I arrived there were about 20 counting kids. I got to chill with some old salty cachers. (Which I have missed since leaving BBW and his crew in RI) I made friends with an old Swede "Bear" and a new guy too. They agreed to escort me back to the car via the long way around so we could get a few of the caches along the route. I had a GREAT TIME!! Took us about an hour to get back to the parking lot. Got 5 caches and swapped great stories. 

See getting lost has its advantages. I can't wait till next time. 

Purple Line is my Route

I love gifts

This week started out great. I came home from work the other day and there was a happy little package at my door. =) 

I was so excited when I opened it and saw a brandy new Kindle Touch. I had an original kindle from about 2008-09 that my ex gave me, but vanished on my flight out to San Diego last February. I was very upset but I have now been appeased.  This super gift comes courtesy of a friend I met while I was  in Spain as a late/early Christmas/birthday gift. So far I have downloaded a bunch of the trash I love to read but I also DL Cameo the Assassin. It was on my PBS list for a long time and never popped so I bought it and LOVED it. Vamps, zombies, murder, love, its awesome. Waiting till I have $ again to get books 2 & 3.  

Tuesday I went in for my yearly check up. Looks like I'm still doing good. HOORAY!! Nothing random or abnormal. I have a new doc again but at least the great state of cali is picking up the bill on this one. They have determined I am to poor to pay for my own health care. Totally not complaining on that one. But they are denying me birth control because I am fixed. Wondering why I asked for it? It helps control a lot of the pain and discomfort. Balance the hormones and balance the body. Oh well guess I get to live with feeling like squashed jello once a month for another 30 or so years now.

Today (Saturday) I took co-workers daughter out driving. She is 18, has her permit but has never driven. We drove for about 3hours. She did great. Went all the way to the coast via back roads grabbed some food and then she drove all the way back. 

After that I met up with BF and Roomie we were going to go geocaching out near Del Mar. However a few miles down the freeway it felt like I had hit something in the road and it had attached itself to the underside of my car before totally flying off. NOPE. My rear drivers side tire shredded. I exited the freeway and parked in a shopping center which just happened to have a tire shop in it. HOORAY!!
I go inside and over hear this AWESOME conversation between a female customer and the service guy: "But I have tire pressure sensors, doesn't it...like...sense when my air is low and automatically fix it? Cause it goes off sometimes." The tech went on to explain how sensors work and air pressure and why it does that. To which she responds "Well can't I just pay extra and and get ones that do, do that?" I was super proud of the tech he didn't laugh in her face. 

After that he checked out my car and told me that my front tires were ok and the specific tires on the rear had been discontinued about 5 years ago.....Which was NEWS to me since the man I got my car from led me to believe that they had been changed just this past year. As in the year 2011 sometime. Guess I was wrong. So AMAZING BF came to the rescue and got me two new rear tires. Sigh, I would be lost with out him some times. 

Anyway...now the plan is to watch some BSG tonight and maybe go caching tomorrow. *Fingers Crossed* 

Movie Night and Other Stuffs

Totally skipping all the valentines day bullshit. Just sayin' BF and I didn't do anything because we didn't want to. 

Yesterday Tall Girl and I got dinner and a movie as a girls night out deal. We met at Island Burger pre show to eat and talk a little since we are still new to hanging out together. I told her about how BF and I met, and realized that the last year or so of my life was pretty drama filled. (Glad that has changed a little.) She told me about life north of here. Which is cool. Her home state is pretty much like RI. Rainy and crappy 90% of the time then gorgeous July and August. We had a good time. Then we walked over the theater to see 

"The Vow"  

It was ok. Yea I said it, JUST OK. Nothing wonderful. I teared up a little of course and the story had potential but I felt like it was just, I don't know, not put together well? I know it's based on a true story which I find really, really cool. (The real life couple got married in 1993 and then again in 1996 and now has 2 kids. They tell you that at the end and show a photo of all of them.) I think I was most bothered by the ending. It was a non-ending and I hate those. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?? Just tell us already. Sigh. 

Moving on. Work has been good. I'm waiting for it to pick up and everyone to start running around screaming again. I really like the company that I work for and that is worth more to me then having a high paying job. Since it has been slow though I have to catch up on scanning and filing. UGH I hate both of them. Filing less I just wish the back warehouse wasn't so dang cold. Burrrr. 

WTF has been up with Cali weather lately too? Seriously? 50 degrees as the high? This is southern California where the temp is supposed to be in the 70's all the time. I don't have enough sweaters for this kind of weather long term. 

I found out that my dad is going in for surgery on his hands. I don't know if I have mentioned it but my dad suffers from Dupuytren's Contracture. If you don't feel like clicking the wiki link think hook hand, where he can't open his hand all the way. It affects the middle, ring and pinkie on his right hand, and ring/pinkie on his left. The VA is going to correct it for him FINALLY. He is one of those guys who hates to go to the Doctor till he HAS to. Him dragging his feet has kinda bit him in the bum though because he needs to have a Z-plasty on the right hand. The left will be treated with an injection. These treatments should totally cure his condition though which is nice. I just hate that mom is going to take 2weeks off work to care for him as he recovers and I can't be there. Sucks when your parents start to get older. 

I am feeling the itch for adventure! Hopefully I can get motivated to go out and do something this weekend besides watch Battle Star Galactica. Must know who the last cylon is......  

Guess that is all for now.  

Week one: I fail

Last week I said I was going to try and blog every Wednesday. So far I fail. UGH. I guess getting it in one day late isn't too too bad. Still going to try for next Wednesday though.

 Work: Remember the little douchy I mentioned last week. Well sidekick and I got him banned from the office. =) Not totally banned but he isn't allowed to come in to the room we inhabit. What happened was....I had my handy dandy exercise ball chilling next to my desk ( I only use it half the day) Douchy decides since Sidekick and I are both occupying our respective desks and he can't mess with anything on them that he will play with my ball. (tee hee hee) BAD IDEA! I flipped shit. If I had gotten up out of my chair I would have seriously laid hands on him. So I did the little kid thing and hollard for boss man. BINGO there was lots of cranky russian exchanged and douchy now sits in the car when his teacher comes to the office. =D

Birthday: BF's Bday was last Thursday. Nothing super special happened. I had mentioned to my co-workers that he wanted a hookah and they all showed up at his gathering at our local watering hole and presented him with 2! Our night was pretty laid back. Dinner at the pub, lots of his friends showed up, breakfast at 2am at Denny's and then bed. I do have to say that our waitress at Denny's was entertaining. She spoke in movie quotes. If it wasn't 2am I would have been annoyed but I guess as an over night waitress you have to have something to entertain yourself.

Friends: Recently I have noticed my STARK lack of female friends. I decided that since good ol' CL has worked semi well in the past to try it again. So far I have met one girl (tall girl) and I am talking to a few others. Tall Girl lives like 30mins away which I'm not to worried about but it does make it hard since I crash out after work so early. Hopefully the other two pan out. One is really close to me like 10mins I am guessing. The other is about 30mins north, so we shall see what happens there. I am really just tired of wanting to go see a chick flick or company when I get my ritual pedi and having no one to go with.

Other bullshit: Seems like BF and I have been going out a lot lately. Really its just that since the holidays no one has had time or inclination to hang out. So this past Monday we went to Stone Brewery with some friends we last saw about 4months ago. It was ok. I mean its a brewery. What can be expected?! Beers which BF enjoyed. The food was only so so. But I'm sure it complimented the beer wonderfully.
 Then tuesday we went to a place called Sublime Ale House. It has so so reviews on yelp but we were going with 4 other people which made it ok. There I had the bowl of meatballs and was very happy. I will happily go there again. =)

Right now I am fighting the beginnings of a cold =( hopefully it either goes full blown soon or goes away. I hate this sitting on the fence crap. Maybe more sleep will help.
ONE MONTH TO VEGAS!!

Guess thats all for now.

I am tired of being a slacker!

I have decided that I have had enough!! My goal is now to blog every Wednesday night. It is my "free" night since they have guy time on Wednesdays and I close myself away upstairs.

Lets see here....J and I had our "one year anniversary"  at the end of January. Since there is so much that goes on in February and March we decided to use the day we met as our marker. Nothing special just congradualted each other on not getting sick of the other and wanting to continue dating. He got me some pretty flowers. I'm such a girl LOL. He is one of only 2 boys to EVER get me flowers so I was all giddy all day.

Oh Pretty!!

I know that I am jumping around a little but hey its how I write, sorry. Earlier in January we hiked up Twin Peaks Mountain. More of a hill but it was tough for me. I was proud when we got to the top and made roomie take gahy pics for us. =)

+

 It was a gorgeous view of the surrounding area. I can totally see why the rich build houses up here. (Sean Merriman's monstrosity is just to the right out of the shot)

 I think my timeline is just going backwards....

 My company put together a little outing for the everyone. We went Go Karting at a local establishment. Not everyone could show up but we had most the company and a few tag-alongs too. It was great fun! Near the end it turned into a bumper car round more then racing but still fun was had by all. The plastic seat left me with a nasty "rug burn" on my crack though =( But all in all I would totally do it again. Who knew hanging out with co-workers could be so much fun?!?!

 I have decided that I actually need to start working on my fitness, at least a little bit. However I have severe limitations due to my EDS. So I grabbed J's fitness ball, that has been stuffed in the closet since I moved in, and took it to work. Now I sit on it about half the day. They say that your spine is more fragile in the morning from being at rest all night and to not use it as a chair first thing. So I use my normal chair till lunch then switch it out. I have actually noticed a little change. The main reason I am doing it is because I don't want to get soft in the middle and I can already see it helping.
I snapped this pic one day when one of the tech's needed to use my computer. LOL

 Another point of note at work is we have a new apprentice. I think he is slo (like the gin) in the head. I don't think there is anything medically wrong but he says he is 22 and acts worse then the bosses 6yr old. He touches EVERYTHING. We have taken to locking out the computers when we go to lunch just so he won't mess with them. When I got back yesterday all of my paperclips were hooked together and put back in the box. RAWRRR!

Well that is all my bitching for now. Things to expect in the next post.....J's b-day (its today) and recovery from those shenningans. Plus my building excitement for VEGAS!!