Friday, January 27, 2006

That's Just Wrong, Page 2

Here's another page from the book I should write, titled "That's Just Wrong".

Parking is at a real premium here where we are. On street parking near anywhere you wanna be is almost unheard of. Besides, most street parking requires a certain parking pass. No pass, and you will be towed. Anyway, so we do a lot of walking. We drive to a nearby parking lot, and then it's not uncommon to walk two or three blocks back where we want to be.

That said, today for lunch we headed to a nice little area we recently found. There are a handful of restaurants in a couple block radius, so we have choices. We were walking up and down the street, trying to decide on where to have lunch while I was also window shopping in some quaint shops along the way.

What did I come across? A dad on his day with the kids. That should be a nice sight. But here's the quality of dad I was looking at. Dad had his two kids in a double stroller. It's like really wide and the two kids are sitting side by side. The stroller is parked by a door to a shop with both kids in the stroller. Go ahead. Guess where dad is. IN the store. IN THE STORE. Kids outside. Alone. In a stroller. They had to both be under three years of age. I was so angry with this guy. He came strolling out of the shop like he didn't have a care in the world.

That's just wrong.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

I Am Stuffed Like a Pizza


The best part about traveling for work is the food. Dang, we do eat well on the road.

And, being someplace new is all about discovering new places to eat. The heck with the Applebee's or Papa John's you can get anywhere. I want something new and exciting. It is our mission to boldly go where few Clevelanders have gone before! We live for our dinner!

This week alone has been a winner every night. Monday started with Wolfgang Puck's. I had a pretty good chicken and pasta dish. Tuesday we found a great Irish pub by accident, the Celtic Knot. It was awesome! We each picked one of the specialties of the place. I went with fish and chips while my boss went for the Sheppard's pie. Hard to know which one of us did better they were both fantastic.

Tonight though, we went for authentic deep dish stuffed Chicago-style pizza. Holy Cow! We ordered a medium pizza and between two of us, we couldn't finish it. It wasn't for the lack of trying though. I can't tell you how full I am! If anyone has the opportunity to try some real Chicago-style pizza, I strongly recommend it. It's not like anything you'll ever get at Pizza Hut or Donatos or whatever your favorite joint happens to be.

I have about one and a half pieces leftover. I don't know why I brought them back to the hotel with me, but I did! Who knows, maybe I'll wake in the middle of the night and want to abuse my tummy. It's happened before.

So much for my diet!

Update to yesterday's blog . . . I am feeling much better today!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Deja Vu

I am having a really, really bad day today.

I know we all joke about deja vu, but I don't know what else to call it. It's happened four times today, the last being a few minutes ago as we were pulling into the parking garage.

I just suddenly get a "feeling". I'm seeing something in my mind's eye which feels like a memory. Like I know what's going to happen in this other reality, or memory, or vision or whatever. It is so hard to put into words. All I can say is when I start thinking about what I'm "remembering" I start to feel like a wave of panic is washing over me and I suddenly feel very nauseous. Ugh. One of them today felt like I was afraid of the snow that was falling in my "memory". Just a little bit ago, it had to do with finding a parking spot while holding a book on my lap. It doesn't make sense.

I'm telling you, it's the absolute weirdest feeling. What's happening? There are no drugs in my system, not even alcohol. Right now my heart is pounding and I'm still shaking. I remember feeling this way once before when I lived in Houston. I can remember quite clearly that I was working at cost accounting, and when this feeling hit me before. The panicking is the worst. Here's hoping it will be another five or six years before it happens again.

Maybe I'll just turn on all the lights, pull the covers over my head and wait for tomorrow to come.

I need a hug.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Where's There's Fire, There's Firemen!

It's one of those good news/bad news things.

The good news is that I saw firemen! In full gear! Carrying armloads of cool stuff. Like axes and picks and long pokey things. Dang, that's a great sight.

The bad news is they came out of the fire truck and the hook and ladder truck that was parked in front of my hotel as I was checking in tonight! Yeah, that's bad.

The good news is that they said it was a false alarm in a stairwell, but they had to check it out anyway.

The bad news is that they left after they decided the stair well wasn't on fire. Rats.

This is how my week is starting. As much as I love telling stories, here's hoping that the rest of the week will be a little more quiet.

Monday Sucks

I had an entire weekend of goofing off and do you think I could update my blog? Oh heck no. I was too busy holding the couch down.

We made it home ok on Friday in spite of the storm that was blowing rapidly into Chicago. We were happy just to make it out of Chicago Friday night, as they were expecting things were not going to go well for all scheduled flights. We were delayed an hour, and it was like riding a bucking bronco, but our flight made it home safe and sound.

Now we're back to Monday already. Gee, where did the weekend go? Today was a much smoother flight, even if we did come back to the snow country. I wish I would have packed my boots!

I've been up since 4:00 a.m. and believe me, I'm ready for a nap. If I can just make it through the rest of today, the rest of the week should go by smoothly. Maybe I'll even get an adventure or two in before the week is up. Here's hoping!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Location, Location, Location

I need to write a book. This book will be titled "That's Just Wrong". A page from this book would be on what I saw last night.

We took a ride around looking for somewhere new to go for dinner. We headed over to Skokie. Don't ask why, that's just where we went. Anyway, we passed a Chinese restaurant. In the same building as this restaurant was an animal hospital.

Think about it.

That's just wrong.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Welcome to the Windy City

Yes, dear friends, I am in Chicago. So much going on and no internet access! Aargh!

As most of you know, I am extremely challenged in many areas, technology just being one of them. Our hotel has wireless, but my laptop isn't set up for wireless. So, I get a bridge, most hotels offer them for free. Some are easy to use, some are beyond me.

This hotel's is beyond me. I tried on the one bridge, and the disk they included with the driver I just couldn't get to work. So, I walked it down to the front desk last night and asked for another one. Found out my problem is all OE. (operator error) Yes, the second bridge didn't work any better than the first. Crap. Now all I have to do in the hotel in the evenings is actually work. How wrong is that. This is seriously cutting down on my goofing off time. How does my boss expect me to keep up my blog let alone get any quality Pogo playing done? My life is so sad, huh?

One story for now about my trip out here. We had the ditzyest (if that's even a word) flight attendant I've ever seen. I swear I'd bet a paycheck that she would not have passed a sobriety test. And, this was the 7:30 a.m. flight. You have to work hard to be that looped still at 7:30 in the morning.

A few bloopers could be forgiven. Like she kept insisting that this flight was the non stop flight from Houston to Chicago. Even after a plane load of people kept correcting her that we were the non stop Cleveland to Chicago flight. In her world, she was leaving from Houston. Then we got a 10 minute lecture on "if you left your bags at the jetway, you need to pick your bags up back at the jetway when we reach Chicago. If you go to baggage claim you will be waiting there for a long time. By the time you make it back to this gate, the plane will no longer be here. Also, any luggage left on the jetway will be returned to the plane. Then where will you be? You packed your bags for a reason, didn't you? I don't suppose you would have packed if you didn't need what was in your bags. Maybe you have medicine in there, or your glasses or something else important. Now how would you feel if your bags ended up back in Houston without you while you are in Chicago?" I swear, she went on and on like that for 10 minutes! Some people were really laughing. Others like me where a bit frightened. She is supposed to be there for our safety after all. Yeah, right. I could go on and on about that one hour flight, but I guess I should get back to work.

I'll update when I can. This trip should be good for some stories if nothing else.

Stay tuned!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

"Now Just Relax . . . "

I swear these are the worst words in the world to hear. Well, in the right circumstance, they are the worst words to hear. Imagine my scenario - laying flat on my back, feet up in stirrups, doc is bringing the stool in close while adjusting the spot light in what is not my most flattering side. "Now Just Relax . . . " Are you freakin' kidding me???

Yes, today was THE day. The day of the year that most women hate. As a side note, when picking out someone who is going to climb up into your hoo haw up to their elbows, pick a man doctor. I never thought I was a sexist but trust me. Men doctors are much more gentle in this area. Women have been there, done that. They want to you suck it up and get it over with. The only thing a man has to liken the experience to is a prostate exam. With that in mind, they tend to be a LOT more gentle in the nether regions. But, that's not what this blog is about today. That is just a small public service announcement.

That done, let me tell you about my day.

As stated, today was my yearly exam. Not only am I poked, prodded, humiliated and humbled, we have now reached a new level.

Part of the appointment is spent talking about where I am and where I need to be. As a woman over 40 (yikes!) I am told to watch my weight, watch my salt intake, exercise, eat right. That's all the normal stuff. Also in the normal column is the yearly blood work prescription and well as my appointment to get my boobs slammed between two glass tables. Now in the "you gotta be freakin' kidding me" column we now have:

Testing For Colon Cancer.

No joke.

She's serious.

She's crazy, but she's serious.

I received a packet of my very own to take home with me. This packet will enable me to test myself. Get this. I have a card and some poop sticks. Read that again, I am not lying here.

Upon experiencing a bowel movement, I am supposed to turn around and admire it. After that, I take one of the poop sticks and take a little piece of poop and wipe it on the card. Then, pick another piece of poop, take another little piece of it and wipe that on another place on the card. I am supposed to do this for three consecutive bowel movements. Oh the horrors.

First of all, does anyone take three consecutive dumps at home? Am I supposed to take my poop card to work with me? How does one sneak a poop card and poop stick into the ladies' room? And then....what if....could it happen? Can you imagine??

Me: "um, excuse me! I dropped my poop stick and it rolled into your stall! Would you please roll it back?"

Oh, I think not.

To make it worse, once my poop card is filled up with the six samples, I am supposed to send it via US Mail to the doctor's office! For what? So they can admire it?

Mail it. In the mail. Ew. Isn't this against the law? If not, it should be. Where is homeland security when I need it?

I need to take another hot bath.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Office Party

Last night was our office Christmas party. Yes, I know it was January 6, but that was really the first opportunity we had to get together since the holidays.

Ron, me, my boss, his wife and our regional sales manager met last night at 6:00 p.m. at Buca di Beppo's. Surprisingly, we had a great time. For a dinner that started at 6:00 p.m., we never walked out of the restaurant last night until 9:30 p.m. Holy cow!

We had a great waiter, who was willing to let us take our time and just ordered one course at a time. And boy, did we order courses.

Everyone has had good Italian food, so I'm not going to give a run down of everything we had. But I do want to mention a few things I had that really surprised me that I liked them as much as I did.

One of the salads we ordered was called the Warm Tomato and Spinach Salad with balsamic dressing, goat cheese and roasted pecans. I highly recommend this if anyone goes to Buca Di Beppo's. I could have done without the goat cheese but the rest of it was the bomb. I didn't know before last night how much I liked raw spinach.

One other dish I want to mention was one of our entrees. Veal Saltimbocca. Wow! This is something I've never even heard of before. Words just can't describe how good this was. It was thin slices of veal and it had a little lemony flavor, there were capers and artichoke hearts on here as well. Who'd have thought it would be something I'd eat. But I seriously scarfed it down.

This restaurant is all family style. That means they bring out all the food on platters for the table to share, from the salads to the desserts. There are no "individual" servings. As they take courses off of the table, the pack up whatever is left into to go containers. Somehow, when you're all done, this bag full of food appears on the table. There was a little bit of almost everything. No one wanted to take the leftovers home. My boss said since I don't cook, we should take the leftovers home with us. Hey, who am I to argue with this man?

We have a ton of leftovers in our fridge. I know we don't have any of the spinach salad left, but I think we have some of every other food we had last night. We could easily feed about four more people! Anyone in the neighborhood and hungry, c'mon over! We'll share!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

My Verdict Is In . . . I Don't Like Him

I hate admitting this in public, but it's true. I am a fan of Howard Stern.

I'm not going to say I agree with everything that he does or says. When even I find him offensive, I have no problem changing the channel. But when I was able to listen to his show, usually the first hour of it, I think he's a gas. He makes me laugh.

The guy is intelligent, he argues well, and really mixes it up with those around him. He cast and crew are a whole other story. Anyway, I wasn't intending for this to be a Howard Stern tribute, I'm just saying that my drive to work has always been made better by him.

Now that he's made his move to satellite radio, I am left to find another way to help me get to work in the morning. I have nothing against people paying for satellite radio. Heaven knows I pay enough for cable TV. But, I watch a lot of cable TV. The only time I listen to the radio is in the car. That's not enough for me to pay more for the satellite radio. Big bummer.

Anyway, Howard's replacement in our market is David Lee Roth, former front man for Van Halen. I didn't want to be one of those people that just automatically decided not to like him without giving him a chance. Well, I gave him a chance. Three chances. There aren't words strong enough to express just how much he sucks.

I listened on three separate days, at most for three minutes each day. Here is what happened in the random times I tuned in.

Tuesday: David Lee Roth was just picking up a phone call. The caller said how much she loved David Lee Roth as a performer, and she was very excited that he made this career move. She had many questions for David Lee, that she felt had never been answered before and that a lot of his fans might want the answers as well. David Lee assured her that she could ask anything she wanted and he would answer. This was like the "David Lee Roth Reality Show" and he would hold nothing back. So, the caller asked her question. She stated that she had heard that David Lee had recently married. She wanted to know if it was true, and if he had any little David Lee Jr's running around. I thought that sounded like an easy question. He immediately bristled at the question. Hey! That was personal! He wasn't answering any personal questions, don't ya know! He didn't want to mix his personal life with his public life! No, he would NOT be answering that question! HA!

Wednesday: When I tuned in on Wednesday, David Lee was going on and on about Americans losing valuable jobs to people coming across our borders and taking our jobs! For example, he said how about the Mexicans coming over the border taking our jobs. And, what about them Canadians coming over the border taking our jobs. He said it must stop! Oh where do I begin to comment on this 30 second blurb I heard come out of his mouth. I guess the only thing I'm going to say is I musta missed reading the paper the day it was announced that it was a problem all them Canadians coming south to take our high paying jobs. Yeah, that's it.

Thursday: Today I again tuned in, I thought he's just having opening jitters. It HAS to get better. Well, I think I was wrong. He was talking about a girlfriend of sorts that he had for awhile a few years back. I guess she wasn't too personal to talk about. Turns out, she was one of Heidi Fleiss' girls even. Well, he'd start telling his story and then he'd tell one of his side kicks to turn up the music, because he had to tell them something. So, up came the music, which drowned out his story, a few seconds later the music went down and everyone was laughing. I guess it musta been funny. Then it happened again! He said to turn up the music because he had one more thing to add! Music up, no David Lee, music down, laughter all around.

Ok, maybe I have it all wrong. You're a radio talk show host, I guess you should be talking to the radio audience. If he wants to sit around talking only to his homeys, perhaps he should stay home.

Yeah, that's it. Do us all a favor. Quit your day job.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Happy New Year

Here's hoping everyone has had a safe and happy new year so far. Hard to believe we're actually in 2006 already. What happened to 2005? Heck, for that matter, what happened to 2004, 2003, and 2002?

Anyway, here in our household, we are not off to the greatest start.

New Year's Eve found Ron and I enjoying a nice early dinner at one of our favorite places, Carrabba's. http://carrabbas.com This absolutely is one of my favorite Italian restaurants. The dinner bill will not be on the cheap side, but truly worth it.

That was the good part of night.

Well, I have been dealing with a headache since Tuesday night. It came on me suddenly Tuesday and I haven't been able to get rid of it since. It feels like it's coming from the right side of my neck, and it has been getting worse every day. We've tried a lot of home remedies, from the numerous Aleve tablets to a muscle rub, to Ron even going out and buying some new stuff he's seen on commercials. It's called "Head On" and you rub it on your forehead. Well, I've done it all with no relief.

By the time we were done with dinner Saturday night, I was having trouble holding my head up, my neck hurt so much. I figured the longer we waited, the worse it would be in the ER, and I didn't think I could wait until my doctor's office opened on Tuesday. At 7:30 p.m. New Year's Eve, we headed for our local emergency room.

Joke was on us. The closest hospital to us is about five or six blocks away. We walked in and the emergency room was closed. Hmmm, this is not looking good for me. There was a sign though, that directed us to the next nearest hospital a few miles to the west. At least they were open!

The service at this hospital was really awesome. They took us right in. A doctor came in and did an exam. I explained how it seemed to come from my neck. He traced a muscle that came out of my neck, showing where one part of it went on top of my shoulder while the other part of this muscle went down to the right of my spine and under my shoulder blade. When he traced this muscle, I was like YES! YES! That's exactly where the pain starts! He immediately said he thought it was a muscular problem causing my headache. He asked me if I was under any new stress or having any problems. I couldn't think of anything that has changed recently, so I'm at a loss of why I'm this tensed up.

To be on the safe side, he did send me for a CAT scan which came back normal. They set me up with an IV and pumped me full of some happy juice. They let me lay there awhile with a great buzz. When he came back to check on me, unfortunately I still had my headache. I had a great buzz, but still a headache. Next they gave me a little orange pill. And we waited again. Well, Ron waited, I napped. When Dr. Paul came to check once again, I still had my headache. I said it was a little less intense, but still there. And a great buzz!

Again, he said he felt it was a muscular problem. He sent me home with a prescription for some purple capsules that are made specifically for tension headaches. Who knew they made such a thing! We got the prescription filled and headed home.

Once we got home, I took one of these pills on top of everything else I had in the ER and I was finally feeling no pain. We were home before 10:30, Ron made us some sandwiches, and I was trying to stay awake until midnight. I think I made it until about 11:30 when I was about ready to collapse. I headed to bed and didn't even make it to my side of the bed! I took over poor Ron's side of the bed and forced him to my side. (thanks, honey!) I know he did wake me up long enough to watch the ball drop and to get my New Year's kiss, but then I was back out into oblivion. As a matter of fact, I was out for about 14 hours.

Now, it's two days later. I still have a headache. You'd think a trip to the ER would at least fix the problem, wouldn't ya?