Bad news...

About the same time Blondie got sick at Thanksgiving, the father of a good friend of mine from TX got sick with the exact same thing, but it wasn't able to get back under control. Her father is in critical condition, on life support, and they are all praying right now for a miracle. For religious peeps, please keep them in your prayers. For non-religious peeps, please keep them in your thoughts.

So-so news...

My work Xmas party is today. At 3 pm. That's right. Thursday, 3 pm. Hmmm...

Good news...

Bootcamp, in 3 weeks, has completely changed my body. All of the pants I've been wearing are loose, and my muffin-top is gone. Blondie has decided to join up with me for the January session, and I'm looking forward to having him suffer every morning with me. ;)

--K

HAPPY REALLY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!! I totally suck.

Happy 5 days late Birthday Shugs! Hope you had a great day!

You can kick my ass for the late wishes at Xmas time.

--K

Supa Star!

Pic taken by Brother R - an awesome photographer!

Feeling much better...

My body has adjusted to bootcamp somewhat, so the muscle pain has settled down to a dull roar. Of course, it was at a "F you Fattie McFattButt", so *anything* less is welcome.

For those who wonder exactly what happens at bootcamp, here is a description:
1) Run until you want to puke/pass out/kill yourself so that you don't have to run anymore.
2) Stop running and immediately jump into resistance band exercises or situps or pushups or lunges or crunches or a million other things that hurt.
3) As soon as you finish step #2, start running again. Run until you achieve how you felt in #1.
4) Repeat #2.
5) Repeat 1-4 x 1 hour.

All said and done though, OMG, bootcamp is the best. It's 1 hell of a workout, and I love my group and my instructor. The group and instructor are able to push me without pissing me off (this is HARD to accomplish), and I come home really really feeling like I've accomplished something.

Between bootcamp and Bikram, I have a feeling it's time to say goodbye to the gym.

Bye gym.

--K

Current pose...

I'm at work, slunk down in my chair with the keyboard pulled almost to my chin. I have a coworker's chair (he hasn't been sitting in our new space) pulled up to me, with my legs on it.

This is how I'm rolling today.

So, Bootcamp started on Monday, and I've never been in so much pain in my life.

Okay, that's not entirely true. I broke my left arm when I was a kid - that hurt worse. But not by much.

--K

Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww....

Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....

That's me today in case you were wondering.


Hahahahahahahahhahaha....

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha.....

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....

That's my boot camp instructor today.

--K

Catching you up...

So, what has happened since I last blogged... hmmm.... In order (I hope).
1) Yours Truly received the employee of the quarter award for her company. It's a total turn-about from the despised old job (but then again, my attitude is way better here than it was there).
2a) TEXAS! Yours Truly, Blondie and Slick hit FtW for one last weekend in our old stomping ground. We had a blast. It was so good seeing everyone, all my friends from the despised old job and all my friends from the job previous to that one. We hit our favorite bars, ate a lot of bad food, and in general, just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
2b) Blondie's last day at his job. Go Blondie!
3) Blondie got a little sick after our Texas trip, and ended up enjoying a few days respite in a hospital. He's fine now, but was not feeling so great last week.
4a) BIRTHDAY - Happy 4-day-late birthday bald pa!
4b) THANKSGIVING! We cancelled our Spokane trip b/c Blondie's health is way more important. We gave thanks on Thursday that Blondie got to come home, that the PACKERS WON, and that we have such good friends who checked in so frequently on how things were going.
5) MORE BIRTHDAYS - Happy 1-day-late birthday mom and TT! My best friend in the entire world and my mom share the same birthday - how funny is that?
6) BOOT CAMP! (I'm in a capital-words mood today). My boot camp class started today. It was thoroughly embarrassing (4 push ups, 30 sit ups, and 19:36 1.5 mile run), but I am very excited about it and thought everyone was so friendly and encouraging. When I was the last person to finish my 1.5 mile timed run, nobody ever was like "go faster", it was just "you go girl!" Woo hoo! Boot camp!

--K

Project Runway!

If you don't love Heidi Klum, I can never be friends with you.

If I am already friends with you *and* I don't realize you don't love Heidi Klum, don't tell me.

--K

Yai yai yai!

I'm on a mission this week. An important one. One that involves, well, not doing much.

You might be asking yourself right now - isn't that an oxymoron? A mission of not doing anything. That's not possible, you might be saying.

You might be right. I'm too lazy to look up the definition of the word "mission", and besides, looking up the definition would be doing something, and that's against my mission. Regardless of what mission means.

I'm pretty psyched about my Texas trip on Friday. I can't wait to see everyone again. I'm doing a countdown in my head - it sounds like this "51 hours from now, my plane will be taking off". I annoy myself sometimes. Okay, a lot of the times.

Also, Friday for lunch, I'm meeting up with my old work group for lunch. So it's kind of fitting - seeing everyone I used to work with in SF around noon-time, and seeing everyone I used to work with in TX around dinner-time.

I'm also psyched about my big plans for Thursday night. I need to explain - I like to watch really really truly bad TV. I like it a LOT. Blondie does not. Blondie is out of town. So, I'm DVR'ing my shows this week, and plan to watch them with a pitcher of lemonade and gin (and maybe cookies) tomorrow night. The line-up includes: Nip/Tuck, America's Next Top Model, and OMG - PROJECT RUNWAY!!!!!

So basically I have to survive today. It's smooth sailing after that.

--K

P.S. HI BLONDIE!

Texas. Revisited.

So, Blondie flew out to TX yesterday morning to start his final week of work at his company. He has many plans for the week, which involve BBQ, fried chicken, poker, and beer. And saying goodbye to the job he has had for awhile.

My Blondie has always been a hard worker, and has in fact had a job since he was a kid in the Land o' Cheese (what a cute little newspaper-boy!) He is more than due some time to relax, kick back, and enjoy this incredible city we live in. I'm excited for him, but than that, I'm proud of him. This is his time now, and I can't wait to share in these upcoming months with him.

Yours Truly is flying in on Friday along with Slick from Chi-town to help Blondie, along with all his work-friends and old friends from TX, celebrate the end of this era.

Here's hoping Blondie is having a good week!!! And Blondie - your cat misses you!

--K

All About "Chomp"...

Blondie and I have a code-word. We use it A LOT. If you've hung out with us for more than 30 minutes, we've probably said it at some point. That word is "Chomp".

I'm not sure how we came up with this word as our word, but we used to pretend take bites out of each other. I'm sure it came up as some form of that.

To me it means a lot of different things. I say it to Blondie instead of "I love you". If he makes me laugh, I tell him "Chomp". If I think he just looks really cute, I bust out with "Chomp your blonde head". He's about the same way. I admit. It's kind of sickening.

The whole point was that Blondie made my birthday weekend special and unique. He made it full of "Chomp".

Blondie met me on Friday night so that he could finally meet a good friend of mine from work. We all went for some drinks, before Blondie and I headed back to the hood to meet up with The Gang for more drinks.

Saturday, Blondie and I got up late, lazed around, and then finally headed into GG Park to see (how appropriate) "Chomp", a carnivorous plant show at the Conservatory of Flowers. We got to see Venus Fly Traps in addition to about 200 other plants that eat bugs for nutrients. It was such a nice day, and we did something we wouldn't normally do, which made it even better. After the park, Blondie and I caught the bus to outer Richmond district to get some sit-down Mexican food and margaritas. I had been complaining for about 2 months that all I wanted was this, so he finally took me to get me to shut up. ;)

Sunday, we met up with a friend of ours in Sunset and watched football ALL DAY LONG. We hit our favorite bar, where our favorite bartender was working, and literally drank and watched football for about 8 hours solid. GO PACK!

So thanks to Blondie and all my friends who gave me a great weekend.

And CHOMP!

--K

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERRI!!
CHOMP!

-S

What a fun-filled Halloween weekend! It all started on Thursday night at a friends apartment with some pumpkin carving with lots and lots of punch. Mmmmm... Punch... Toward the end of the night when the punch ran low, it turned to orange juice and vodka. Mostly vodka. OK, pretty much all vodka with a splash of what was left of the orange juice. We divied up into carving teams of two by picking names out of a hat. So we had 7 pumpkins slaughtered by the end of the night by the teams and needed a way to judge them. Hmmm, what better way to judge a bunch of pumpkins at 10pm on a Thursday night than to line them all up outside and go through them one by one and scream the loudest for the ones that you liked? Pretty brilliant, I must say. Of course the neighborhood probably thought it was the most obnoxious and irritating thing ever (which in a sober state I might have to agree with them). However, need I remind you about the punch... errr... pretty much straight vodka... that hindered all logical thought at that point. So here are some pics of the whole punchy filled night :)

Our hostest with the mostest!


PC carving it up:


Drinkin' Da Punch!


The new pumpkin patch.



Saturday night was the start of the next punch-filled party. The food was excellent and the alcohol was plentiful. A success! This was a costume party, so we did our best to dress up. K's costume suffered a setback right from the start. Her wand broke and her fake eyelashes didn't stay on. However, her boa was fantastic! I played the part of Gene Frenkle of the Blue Oyster Cult playing "Don't Fear The Reaper". If you're saying to yourself, you must still be drinking that punch cuz there is no Gene Frenkle in the Blue Oyster Cult, I beg to differ. Here's a quick refresher: Here So yes, I played the cowbell guy (Will Ferrell). Complete with gut hanging out and everything ;)

Here's the gut along with PC as "Little Red Riding Hood that didn't get away from the wolf", and The Duker as the great mountain climber.


Our hosts:


Party pics!





Sunday was also a blast. We went to April and Brad's place for the final Halloween party of the weekend. Plenty of booze and lots of friends make for a great day.

Did you catch that awsome Packers game last night? Whoohoo! Go Pack Go!

--S

BOOTCAMP!

Yours Truly signed up for a 4 week bootcamp session. They are going to whip me into shape (a shape other than "pear")!

Blondie had enough bootcamp with his time in the army, so it will be just me suffering 4 days a week. But I'll complain about it so much that Blondie will feel worse than if he actually just took the class with me. I'm good that way.

11/26/2007 - watch out - it's the start of a new Yours Truly!

--K

Celebrity Sighting!!!

I forgot my most excellent news. Last Friday, after picking up our race packets from the Nike Expo, Blondie and I were headed to a bar for a quick drink before going to Sweetie J's for some tasty din din.

On our way to said bar, we were following a guy down the street, who was stopped by 2 people coming towards us for a picture.

It was Tyler Florence from Food Network (Food 911!). He's also the Applebee's Chef in the Applebee's commercial.

It was my second celebrity sighting (the first being Blue from Old School), but my first sighting in SF!

--K

PICTURES!

The Pooh Family at Mr Pooh's Graduation!

Mr Pooh and The Cutest Kid In the World!

We ran like girls!

Like girls who kick ass!

Last year's theme for the Nike Half-Marathon was "Run like a girl", and the t-shirts at the end said "I ran like a girl" on them. That's a farking cool theme. Or at least I think so.

This year's theme was much lamer: "Run together". YAWN.

Blondie and I definitely did NOT run together, b/c Blondie KICKED SOME MAJOR ASS and RAN LIKE A GIRL ON STEROIDS, and finished the course in 2:22:41. That's 13.1 miles, over SF hills, in 2 hours, 22 minutes, 41 seconds. Which is AMAZING.

Yours truly also finished, but nothing rock-star like (although considering my lack of training, just finishing the thing was amazing in itself). I did in 3 hours, 10 minutes, and I can't remember the seconds. I'm a slow runner, and did have to walk a good portion of the course, but I was out there, sweating, panting, running, walking, for 13.1 miles.

We are now both in possession of pink t-shirts cut for a woman (sorry Blondie!) that say "Half-Marathon Finisher" on them, and silver Tiffany pendants (sorry again Blondie!).

Blondie is also in possession of distance-running bug, so I will try to catch that also. I honestly would like to be able to run a half-marathon in under 3 hours (2:45 sounds good to me), so I am going to start training seriously (none of this "I did 3 miles today, that's enough" which I have been doing) for another half in spring '08.

This is all thanks to Bikram - my lung capacity has improved so much due to yoga, that if I hadn't been doing it, I would've been looking at a 4+ hour half-marathon.

Funny coincidences from yesterday - I had read somewhere (I think my Runner's World magazine) that a lot of people focus on people in their lives for each mile they run - like mom for mile 1, dad for mile2, etc, and it makes the time go by faster. So for the first 9 miles, I focused on the people in my immediate family for each mile, before letting the pain take over for the last 4 miles.
1) My sis-in-law Mrs Pooh - when it was time for her mile, I ran past a gospel chorus (the only one on the entire course). Mrs Pooh is a church-goer, and this seemed pretty cool that this happened on her mile.
2) My mom - when it was time for her mile, I was running along Embarcadero/Crissy Field - which is right on the water-front. My mom loves the water, and being on the bay/ocean seemed pretty appropriate.
3) Funniest of all though was when it was Shug's mile - and I saw a GUY WITH A COWBELL! He was just standing there clanging away. It was so freaking random - when Shugs graduated from graduate school, her entire family brought cowbells and rang them like crazy when her name was called. It was sooooo funny, and seemed totally appropriate for Shugs' mile!

So give Blondie a HUGE hand and congratulations for how great he did! You can just give me a hand and a small congratulations.

-- Half-marathon Finisher.

A visit...

The KY visit was this past weekend. WE HAD A BLAST!!! I seriously did NOT want to come back to SF. I'm on serious sleep deprivation right now BTW - so if this blog makes no sense, that's why.

Flew all night on Thurs night, landed in KY on Friday. We were met by Mr Pooh, and mom and sis. Specifically, we were met by Mr Pooh doing jumping jacks, and mom and sis laughing their asses off.

Blondie rode with Mr Pooh to pick up Sliders (White Castle hamburgers to the lay person), and mom, sis and I hit The Pooh's home to visit with Mrs Pooh and The Cutest Kid in the World. We all went for lunch, before I collapsed from lack of sleep on Mr Pooh's carpet.

Brother R woke me up with a phone call, and then we were off and running. The beer drinking started. The revelry started. The card playing started. And then it was 11 pm, and Blondie and I were dead.

We got up the next morning at 5:30 am (this is all ET, and it makes me cry a bit) to go see Mr Pooh get his MBA degreee! And his President's Cup Award! We ended up sleeping again that afternoon on Mr Pooh's carpet (once again), before the UK game started.

Then it was time to drink beer, and watch the Wildcats beat up on LSU! We ended up at Brother R's house, enjoying his new deck and his beer fridge, and listening to the fireworks they exploded after UK won the game.

On Sunday, we had a layover in our old stomping ground. We spent the 2.5 hours watching the Packers play at the airport bar, getting drunk, and striking up random conversations with the people around us.

I am so tired today I can hardly see straight. And it's only 2 pm. And it's only Monday.

Thank you L-Clan for everything this weekend. We had so much fun and it was killer to leave on Sunday! Congrats Mr Pooh!!!!

--K

Dear Giant Zit On My Chin -

I know we've had some good times together these past 48 hours, but it's time for you to go back to where you came from. I don't know how else to say this. It's not you, it's me. I'm not ready for this kind of commitment.

Sincerely,
Yours Truly

Funniest thing I've heard in a long time...

The Cutest Kid in the World (my niece) calls her grandfather (my dad) "Bald 'Pa".

Bald 'Pa. HAHA HA HAHAHAH! I love it!

Keep in mind my niece is only a little over 2 years old.

--K

Happy Happy Happy Happy Legal Anniversary!!!!

It's our govt-recognized 4-year anniversary!

Go Blondie! Go Yours Truly!

--K

One more date!!!

10/21/2007 - Blondie and Yours Truly will be running the Nike Women's Half-Marathon. Can you say free Tiffany necklace to those that cross the finish line? I can.

The good news is that I've started to fall back in love with running (I seriously think this is thanks to Bikram). The bad news is it was too late to really do some serious training.

I'm hoping for a 3 hour finish time (13.1 miles), but will honestly just be happy to finish it at all.

--K

Happy happy happy happy happy SF-versary!

A year ago yesterday, Yours Truly moved to SF, and started the slow painful process (painful for them - I had a blast though ;) of inflicting herself on Shelbs and Mr Bbbb for 6 weeks.

A year ago yesterday, I was a wreck. I didn't know if the move was a good thing, I didn't know if the TX house would sell, I didn't know where we were going to live, I didn't know anyone in SF but Shelbs and Mr Bbbb, I had a new office and new people to look forward to that I didn't know, I was missing my cats, and Blondie was only staying a week before heading back to TX.

Looking back though, this was the best thing we could've done. We needed to be jerked out of the rut we were in, and what a way to do it!

From meeting some of the best people in the world (Sweetie J, Party C, and everyone else I've been priviledged to cross paths with!) to leaving the despised old job... it's been a whirlwind.

So - THANK YOU:
1) Shelbs and Bbbb. Of course. If it hadn't been for you all, well, I don't know if we would've stayed out here.
2) Sweetie J - for taking me under her wing and introducing me to her FABULOUS friends and for her insane cooking skills!
3) Party C - I need someone like C to remind me that fun time starts the minute I walk out of the office at the end of the day.
4) Blondie - for trusting me enough to know that I meant I needed out of TX. And for paying for this move. And for moving with me.
5) Blue Angels - if you keep flying over the city on my 1 year SF-versary, I'm going to get pretty dang spoiled!

Other important dates coming up:
1) 10/10/2007 - Blondie's and Your's Truly official 4 year anniversary.
2) 10/17/2007 - Sweetie J! (yes, I realize it's lame I remember these dates, but I just do)
3) 10/28/2007 - Party C! (yes, STILL lame)
4) 11/17/2007 - the cats became SF residents
5) 12/16/2007 - Blondie's SF-versary

Other important things coming up:
1) Going back to KY for the first time in 16 mos on Thurs evening. Will get to see the fam (including the Cutest Kid In the World) and see Mr Pooh get his 4.0 MBA degree. Will get to take Blondie to White Castle (ugh) for the first time. Will get to see Brother R's new deck for the first time. Will get to see Sis' new cats for the first time.
2) Going back to TX on 11/16. Will help Blondie say goodbye to his work and will spend one last weekend in downtown FtW (yes, beer will be heavily involved in this trip)
3) Going to Spokane for Thanksgiving. Will be spending the holiday with family for the first time in a LONG time. Brother R and Shugs, Crazy Crazy Uncle and Aunt, and me and Blondie.

So much to look forward to!
--K

Needing a pick-me-up.

No, this blog post won't be about beer (whoa!). Or about drinking (double whoa!). Or about the bar (whoa whoa whoa!)

I'm not having a good day. In the spirit of what they teach us in yoga, I'm trying to distract my mind from what is going on. I'm going to do that by saying my 1 favorite memory about each person in my family.

The Cutest Kid In the World: When your grandma took the fake powder-puff and puffed your face and you would get all whiney and look like you were about to cry. I laughed myself sick over that.

Mr. Pooh: I wasn't there for this, but you sent me email afterwards, which made me laugh myself sick (anyone see the pattern about these memories?). The email involved a Vanilla Ice song, a dance off in front of a bar, and a bucket o' booze (I can talk booze here b/c it didn't involve me).

Mrs. Pooh: Driving back from UK in your car (Mr Pooh was driving) and you stuck your finger up his nose. Before I started laughing myself sick, I remember something along the lines of "I'll get your boogies."

Brother R: Of course - Havasu. Specifically, trying to get you to jump off the cliff. I laughed myself sick, especially when those guys started asking if you wanted your mom sent up to help you. (Another favorite memory of mine involves Maui - but that also involved booze, which I promised not to talk about).

Shugs: 2 words: apple martinis. ;) I won't say anything else.

Sis: For some reason, I'm stuck on 1 time in college when we went through the drive-thru at McD's, order a shit-ton of food, had it super-sized, and then asked for Diet Coke's. You and I laughed ourselves sick, and could barely pull the car around to get our stuff.

Mom: Honestly, the time when we were playing cards and you asked "You know when you fart and it comes out the front? What's that called?". I laughed myself sick (literally I think). Oh god. I honestly thought I would have a heart attack that night b/c I couldn't catch my breath.

Dad: "Andrew, this is the Lord. Buy your kids pizza." And you always did. It's amazing how easy it was to get pizza out of you.

Blondie: All of them. But in particular, the night we went to see a movie in Texas, and then decided to stay out, just you and me. We ended up talking all night long about "Things that don't suck", and came up with a brilliant business plan, before heading over to BellBottoms to listen to Le Freak (and watch that crazy old lady dancer). Perfection!

--K

Pop quiz time. Get your pencils ready.

1) If MSU and University of Wisconsin play each other in football, who wins?
a) MSU
b) University of Wisconsin
c) Was there a game on? I was too busy running back and forth for more beer.

2) You are at the bar on Sunday. You start drinking early. The bartender buys you many many drinks (you meaning yourself, Blondie and random new friend we met there). Then said bartender buys you a shot of Jameson's. Do you:
a) drink it!
b) politely decline b/c you can't stand whiskey!
c) excuse yourself, go to the bathroom, relieve yourself of excess booze (i.e. vom), go back to the bar, and do the shot of Jameson's!

3) After the bar, you are on your way home. You both are super intoxicated. You need food! What do you eat?
a) Burger Meister! A hearty meal is just the thing to sop up all the extra booze.
b) Pizza! A heart meal is just the thing to stop up all the extra booze.
c) Hummus/pita bread, chips and salsa! Because you are too out of it to realize you need a hearty meal to sop up all the extra booze.

Answers: 1) Trick question: both b and c; 2) c obviously; 3) c obviously.


Obviously, it was a good weekend. There was more than drinking done. On Saturday, Blondie and I both went for a run. I did a half-half-marathon (6.55 miles) to time myself to double that so that I could have an estimate of what I will do for my real half marathon (13.1 miles). It was okay. Definitely not good, but not as bad as I thought either. We also made it to a friend's house on Saturday night to hang out for awhile.

And we managed to celebrate our anniversary in the midst of it all! Blondie took me to a sushi restaurant (my favorite sushi restaurant) for dinner on Thurs night. Unfortunately, I went vegetarian a couple of weeks ago so fish is out. Fortunately, their vegetable rolls and veggie Udon rock the house! Love you Blondie!

--K

Yay for Yours Truly and Blondie!!!

It's our 4 year anniverary today (the non-official one of course).

CHOMP!

--K

Go {various football teams} go!

Seriously, these last 2 weeks have been just brilliant for football. UK is now ranked #14, Wisconsin ranked #9, Packers are 3-0. It's been a fun last few weeks, watching the games! GO PACK GO! Ramble girl ramble!

After our booze-fest at Sweetie J's on Thurs, Blondie and I took it eassssssssssy on Friday. We met up at the gym for a workout, which actually succeeded in getting rid of the headache that I had ALL DAY LONG. Saturday, we went for our Bikram, and then the weather was all yucky and rainy, so we decided it was football watching weather and nothing else!!! We were joined by Party C, and ended up drinking a ton of wine and beer, while partaking in the football games (oh yes, go Spartans!)

Sunday, Blondie and I were too queasy to run, so we just headed to the Fest in our hood for a bit, and then caught the train to Inner Sunset to watch our beloved Brett whip up on some Chargers. We ended up watching the game surrounded by Chargers fans, but the guys were fantastic, and never once were mean, and we ended up all laughing throughout most of the game. I will be supporting the Chargers after this week (unless they play the Pack again), just because of how nice their fans are.

Today it is GORGEOUS outside. I went for a run this morning, and just enjoyed the fresh air. Too bad it's Monday though - that tends to ruin everything.

--K

Oh yes. I forgot.

Today's emergency is that I need a Snickers bar and a real Coke. So, yeah, if you have that, please send to me.

Thanks in advance.
--K

I hate rain.

I just do. Unless it's Saturday. And I have no place to be. And the kitchen is stocked with food. Then I like rain. It can rain all day. And I can just sit on my couch, watching TV, fat and content.

I don't like rain on Thursdays as an FYI. Especially on Thursdays when I have to go to work. Weather Gods - I hope you are reading this blog. Please fix this issue.

Din din with Party C and Blondie at Sweetie J's tonight! Can NOT wait to see everyone! They will definitely make it okay that it rained today.

--K

You got gummy bears???

To quote Mr Pooh: "What you got?"

Seriously. If you have gummy bears, or swedish fish, or even better, Swedish Fish Aqua Life, please let me know. It's an emergency.

By emergency, I mean, I want them.

--K

Wondering about something...

How come the 2 days of the weekend take about 3 hours and they are done, but the 5 days of the work week take 20 years to complete? Anyone who can answer this (or anyone who can possibly reverse this trend - 20 years for the weekend, 3 hours for the work week) - please let me know.

Maybe it would feel like the work week went faster if I did what I do on the weekends.

For instance:

FRIDAY: Pedicures with Party C! GORGEOUS! Blondie meeting us for pitchers at Kezar! BUENO! Blondie and Yours Truly eating dinner at the Burger to da Meister! TASTY! More beer at Finny's! EVEN MORE BUENO! Collapsing with pints of ice cream afterwards - PRICELESS!

SATURDAY: Phone call from Party C that started the drinking train off at 11 am (Go UK! Go Badgers!), and then drinking all day until time to go back to coworker's BBQ/booze fest, where we kept drinking. Which meant a 12 hour day of drinking.

SUNDAY: Back on the drinking train at 10 am (GO PACK GO! GO PACK GO!). Staying on the drinking train until late afternoon. Power napping for a bit. Ordering way too much Chinese food for dinner.

As opposed to MONDAY: work; TUES: work; WED: work; THURS: work; FRI: work.

Hmmm - I think I just solved the question I posed above. That's why 5 days of work takes 20 years to complete.

--K

Ready for a weekend.

So. Dang. Ready.

What have we been up to, you ask, that makes us so ready for 2 days off? Well, let me share. Because it's so fascinating I know. :)

Wednesday night, we inflicted ourselves on Mr. Bbbb for an evening of frosty malted beverages and a doughy bread covered in a sauce of tomatos and cheese. That's right, Blondie and I traveled out to the NV (the 'burbs ;) for a "non-rager" night (which while it wasn't a rager night, was definitely not a non-rager night either). The establishment we chose to spend our time in was quite enjoyable, from the guy who offered me sips of his shot of Jamesons (uh no, but thanks, but really, no thanks) to the delightful woman who dropped off slices of birthday cake (ICE CREAM birthday cake) b/c they had too much cake for their group to eat. And of course, getting to spend time with Bbbb is a blast!

Thursday night, Blondie took me on a date night. He hopped my train after I got off work and we headed over to Inner Sunset to my favorite sushi place for way too much food. After dinner, we hit our favorite bar in the area for some tasty beverages, before heading back to our apartment. It seemed really like a good idea to put a DVD in the laptop and watch that in bed (we decided to not have a TV in our bedroom after we looked around our house when we sold it and realized we had 4 TV's), and it was a really good idea, until yours truly fell asleep 20 minutes into it.

Tonight, I have PEDI PLANS with Party C!!! Which will be followed by drinking plans.

Saturday, Blondie and I are going to a co-workers for a BBQ/booze fest.

And Sunday, we are slated to run a 5K race (but both of us are already thinking that sleeping in might be a better option).

--K

The Visit!!!!

What a FANTASTIC weekend! Our out-of-towners were so much fun, and Blondie and I had a blast! (I hope they did too :)

Brother R came in on Wed night, and Blondie surprised me by riding to the airport with me to pick him up. We drug BR back to downtown, and got him checked into his hotel, and then proceeded immediately to the hotel bar to partake. Unfortunately, Eastern Time and Pacific Time aren't the same, so the night ended around midnight.

Thursday, Brother R met me for some tasty lunch (his work was about 3 blocks from my work) and then we met up after work for some tasty drinks atop the Marriott (the name of the bar there is appropriately titled "The View" b/c it's 36 stories up and all glass). While Brother R and I were imbibing, Blondie had picked up the entire B-Clan from the airport in our rented shortbus. Unfortunately, they got to the apt and had an emergency. That being that THEY RAN OUT OF BEER! Brother R and I jumped on it - and raced to the grocery and then on home, only to find they didn't wait for us and had gone ahead and bought beer in the meantime. We sat around getting toasty before hopping a train to the Inner Sunset for pizza and more beer.

Friday, Blondie and I had the day off, so we squired the B-Clan around to Twin Peaks (in 20 years... hahah, still makes me laugh), and GG Park/the ocean. Then we made a swing by to get Brother R for the ride out to the GG Bridge and Lombard Street, before eating lunch/dinner (dunch?) at Ghiradelli Square. Then it was a trip back to the hood, to wander up and down Haight Street (and watch 2 "special" girls try to parallel park a PT Cruiser - I can't really make fun though, b/c that's what I would look like if I tried to parallel park). That night we all ended up crashing in front of the TV, watching movies, and eating takeout indian and pizza.

Saturday was our mass transportation day. We caught the F-Train to the Alcatraz Wharf and met up with Brother R and Shugs for our tour. After that it was onto the "real" Wharf for lunch and meeting up with L-Dawg's sis. We did some shopping at the Wharf, and then caught the cable car to Chinatown. Blondie then took his sis/bro-in-law, and 1 other brother for dinner, while I took the rest of the B-Clan home, where again we watched movies and ordered takeout (does anyone see a pattern here?)

Then it was Sunday and our weekend was almost over. I got Blondie's sis/bro-in-law to their train, while Blondie took the rest of the B-Clan to the other airport. Then it was a trip to the Wharf to get Brother R and Shugs to come back to our hood to stay. While waiting for Blondie to get home (and the Packers to WIN!), we wandered down to the 'stro, but it was determined that was way too much porn for a Sunday morning. Blondie then came and picked us up and we took Shugs down Lombard and to the GG Bridge for her tour. We ended up back on Haight, getting trashed in our bar - joined randomly by several friends (Party C and Crazy Larry, Porn King and Cousin S), before hitting up our indian joint for dinner.

Then it was Monday, and the weekend was over. Really and truly over. And I don't feel like I had a weekend, and I'm guessing nobody else does either. :)

IT WAS SO GOOD SEEING EVERYONE! Thank you all for making the trip out to see our new city/apt/life! Brother R and Shugs - see you at Thanksgiving; B-Clan - see you at Christmas!

3 days to the weekend, counting them down.

--K

The invasion....

IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!!! The Blondie-Clan and Brother R and Shugs are all descending on SF this weekend to have some fun, do some touristy things, and hang out with Yours Truly and Blondie! Brother R starts it off (arriving tonight), followed tomorrow by the entire B-Clan, followed Friday night by Shugs! Can't wait to see you guys!

The weekend was a much needed break from the office.

Friday, we started things off by blowing off our plans to see a movie (Spider-pig, spider-pig, doing whatever a spider-pig does), instead hitting Zeitgeist with my coworkers. We drank our butts off. But it was a blast! Blondie always fits in well with everyone, and he was making new friends all over the place!

Saturday, we went running and then had a picnic in our beloved dog park again. We got some snacky-type foods and spent the rest of the day holed up in front of our TV. We did get to watch "Zodiac" - which was actually an incredible movie. Very hard to tear yourself away from, and contrary to what Blondie called it, it's not a "scary movie".

Sunday we did some Bikram in the morning, and then went to our friends apartment for some homemade Pakistani grub (Porn King and Girlfriend J). They had a couple of other friends over too. In what is rapidly becoming a typical SF thing for me, I had a major coincidence happen with one of Porn King's friends. She mentioned that she happens to work for the "Despised Old Job" company (DOJC). I was like "whoa!". BUT, it gets better. Not only does she still work for the DOJC, she also transferred from the DFW office. BUT, even better than that, she was in the original building I was in when I worked there!!! We started about a month apart, worked in the same building for 7 months, both transferred to the new building, and both ended up telling DOJC that we were moving to SF. BUT BUT BUT, she also used to live in Dallas, and where she lived was 1 block from where I used to live in Dallas. And where she lives in SF, is about 4 blocks from where we currently live. HOW DOES THIS KIND OF THING HAPPEN?

Monday, we took an easy day. We didn't do anything but grocery shop. But it was such a nice end to the weekend.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day! See the B-Clan, Brother R, and Shugs shortly!

--K

All about presents, coffee, train trips, Nyquil intervention, and vom'ing a little into your mouth (yum yum)...

My present to myself got to SF yesterday! It's all charged up and ready to go. I can't wait to bust it out! I wanted so bad to run today, so I could use my new watch, but forced myself to go to Bikram. I'm on a nice schedule of Bikram on Tues, Wed, Fri, and Sun; running on Mon, Thurs, Sat; and the gym in the afternoon on Fri after Bikram. As much as I wanted to test my watch out, I consider the anticipation worth it and am probably going to haul some ass around the panhandle tomorrow morning!

I went with my friend from the office for a coffee break yesterday afternoon. Whenever we go on coffee breaks, we end up gone for at least 1.5 hours. I don't know how it happens. We will be sitting in Coffee Bean (yay! Coffee Bean!) and all of a sudden, one of use will be like "OMG! Look how late it is!". I haven't been drinking caffeine (the coffee yesterday was my 3rd caffeinated drink in 6 weeks), and it hit me HARD.

I ran into Bbbb waiting for his train yesterday evening, and was so wound up I could hardly stop moving. I think my feet were constantly in motion or my hands, or to be honest, my mouth. I don't think I shut up the entire time we waited on the train, and rode the train. I like to ride Bbbb's MUNI line, b/c it dumps me off right at my bus stop - no walking up from the station and across streets to get to it.

Anyhoo, I got off the train, to see my bus at the stop sign one block up from where I pick it up. I knew that it would be 20 mins or so before the next train came through, and I was too wired to sit still for long, so I hiked the hellllll hilllllll home. Ugh. But, it was so much easier than 6 weeks ago - I felt like I basically ran up that hill (although I didn't).

Blondie is starting to feel better, but is now going to have to wean himself off the Nyquil. I think I'll stage an intervention tonight, and dump his Nyquil down the toilet. That way, I can drag him on my run tomorrow morning. Poor Blondie!

And finally - I went to Bikram today, and I didn't feel too good - I was just REALLY hungry. My stomach started doing slow rolls about 20 minutes into class today, and I ended up vom'ing up some of my water back into my mouth. At least my stomach was completely empty so there were no food particles involved in this. But still, hot water that had been in your stomach, coming back up into your mouth - disgusting.

And hey guess what? After that disgusting story, it's almost LUNCHTIME!

--K

Misc things coming your way...

First things first: Good news! Brother R and Shugs are finally coming out to SF for a visit! Brother R's company needs him out here for a few days in early Sept, and Shugs is coming along for a visit too! They will be here the same weekend as the Blondie-Clan. It is going to be a BLAST!

It's been a fun few days y'all! (Hitting the TX roots again there). Here's what has been going on.

FRIDAY:
It started out great! I hit my Bikram again, and got home to the message from Brother R letting me know he was coming out for a visit! I went into work in a great mood, only to have it slapped away - the day blew. I won't go into details, but when I got off work, I went to meet Blondie at the gym. In a bad mood already, I go in, hand my gym card to the front desk girl, only to have her tell me my membership was terminated.

After I went OFF on this poor kid (maybe 18?), she got the manager - I repeated my rants: been a member for 7 years, it's on auto-pay so I KNOW I'm paid up, just want to work out, wah wah way. The manager did a little research, and oops (shamed face). Yours Truly lost her debit card in March and had to cancel it and get a new one. The same debit card that had been paying my gym for 7 years. The gym that Yours Truly never once thought to call and update info. The gym that Yours Truly has (obviously) not been to since March. Tee hee!

After that fiasco, they got me re-setup, and I was on my way to an awesome work out!!!

That night, Blondie and Yours Truly met up with the gang at the bar. All of us were out - Porn King, Girlfriend J, Party C, WonderButt, and the Sisters C. We had a blast. Yours truly crashed around 11 pm, but Blondie strolled (stumbled, crawled) in around 2:30 am.

SATURDAY:
I went for an awesome run on Saturday morning with Blondie (Bikram has not only improved my mood, it has improved everything about my body - including cardio strength). Then we had a date day, which involved a beer and some lunch downtown, followed by the movie "SuperBad" and book shopping. We ended our night with a giant salad and small pizza, and just enjoyed each other's company.

SUNDAY:
I went to Bikram without Blondie. He has come down with a nasty summer cold/allergies and is feeling horrible. Afterwards, we met up with Shelby Shelbs and Bbbb for the Giants vs. Brewers game! Blondie was rooting for his beloved Brewers, but par for the course with us and the Giants, the Giants won.

MONDAY: I went for another awesome run on Monday and made the command decision that I will indeed be attempting my half-marathon in October. I had contemplated selling my bib, but I'm now confident that I will at least be able to finish this thing. I might be *extremely* slow, but I don't care - I just want to say I did it.

Also on Monday, the president of my company invited a few of us out for drinks/dinner on him next week to thank us for a job well done on an earlier release. It makes me feel good - I had a hard time when I started my job, but I feel like I'm finally settling in.

And that's the news. Here's hoping Blondie feels better soon!!!!

--K

A present for Yours Truly...

Blondie owns a Garmin watch - it's a watch, with builtin GPS, that tracks mileage and time. When we went running on Monday, Blondie wore it. I was able to guesstimate my time based on when he finished (he did 4.5 miles in about 30 seconds more than it took me to do 3 miles :), but normally I don't wear one, and haven't cared that much about it.

The reason why is this: http://www.usatf.org/routes/map

You can punch in your zip code, narrow down the map, and put in your own running routes that tell you how far you are going (complete with mile markers!)

Today, Blondie is sick. He has a bad sore throat, so he doped himself up this morning and wasn't able to run with me. He let me borrow his watch. I LOVED IT! It was really motivating to look at the watch, and instead of stopping, pushing myself for that next .1 miles or .05 miles or heck, 5 seconds. I still do love my site above, and think it's a better invention than the Double Decker Taco (my fav thing evah!), but the watch rocked.

So of course, I had to have one. Yay! Watch is on it's way!

In other news, my HH last night was a lot of fun! I feel like I really got to talk to people I don't normally get to see, and even ended up riding my train home with the new manager over development!

In other other news, Shugs (aka Carmy Carms - she needed a shorter nickname) has done an amazing color on her hair and is now a reddish brunette! I LOVE IT! It's making me seriously think about chopping off this mop and getting a color other than "blah" put on it!

--K

Trying to be grateful...

I'm having a slow day (and I'm probably just about to jinx myself). And by slow day, I don't mean it as "Boy, Yours Truly is sure moving slow. I sent her email 3 hours ago and she hasn't responded". I mean it as "Boy, can someone send me email so I can do something?" (But not really).

We had a massive upgrade to one our systems at work happen last week, and then it was someone's 2 week vacation this week and next, which left me to handle all questions that arose after the upgrade (this is something I've worked on previously, but never in the capacity or manner needed for these types of questions). I spent Monday and Tuesday with my stomach in knots, but have managed to answer most questions thus far. I did have to call the person on vacation for clarification on something, but other than that, I've handled okay.

My stomach feels much better today thankfully.

So, tonight, if everything stays quiet, I'm going to actually go out with my coworkers for a happy hour! I'm a little nervous because I've not spent time with this group socially (i.e. outside the office), but am looking forward to fitting in a little better here.

Not much else is going on. Blondie and I continued with Bikram yesterday and today, but will be taking tomorrow off to sleep in an extra hour (going to be needed after a few drinks tonight) and run. I'm excited about Labor Day weekend coming up, although it ends Friday hours here (half day Fridays every week which you don't have to make up time on).

In exciting news, I have some travel plans finally! I have tickets in my possession to take me and Blondie back to the Land o' Tobbaco, Whiskey, and Horse Farms to see my baby Bro, Mr Pooh, get his 4.0 MBA degree! He graduated in June, but his graduation ceremony isn't until October (who thought this up???)

And Blondie and I will be making the trek north (hopefully) for Thanksgiving to Spokane to see my aunt and uncle - they will be moving out over Labor Day weekend. It will be good to spend Thanksgiving with family again. Blondie is also thinking about a trek back to the Land o' Cheese for the weekend before Thanksgiving to get in some fam-time also.

And I've swallowed (no jokes please) about 4 liters of water already today (Bikram, you kill me. In a good way), so the bladder is at the breaking point. Which makes it time to end this insanely boring, rambling post.

--K

P.S. A shout out (AGAIN) to the Mississippi Queen - who not only rehabbed her knee in about 2 weeks time, but also started physical activity in her first week of PT! GO WC!

IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S BIRTHDAY!!!! AND IT'S BIG!!!


Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
You like like a monkey...
and you smell like one too!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY MR POOH!!!! I hope you, Mrs. Pooh and the Cutest Kid in the World have a great time celebrating your day!

I will be there in October to celebrate!

WOOOOO HOOOOOO

--K and S

Still being boring...

Blondie and I had a really nice weekend. It was semi-low key, semi-not low key which is exactly what we needed.

I got stuck working until almost midnight on Friday night. It really really sucked. But, we managed to convince the fabulous Shelby Shelbs and Mr Bbbb to join us for some sitting in front of the TV, playing Wii, while periodically checking in on what I was working on. Friday night also introduced us to the best video ever: "These shoes suck!" Go to YouTube, and search for "Kelly loves shoes". You won't regret it.

Saturday morning, Blondie and I hit some Bikram and then had a picnic in the dog park afterwards. We split a Say Cheese sandwich (super yummy goodness) and a Say Cheese 7-layer bar (super super yummy goodness). Afterwards, we did a few errands, and then headed home to konk out for a bit. Saturday night saw our first Texas visitors!!!! A friend of Shaun's drove across country with his wife, his sister and his sister's boyfriend. They stayed with us on Saturday night, and we hit the bar. Or rather, they hit the bar (including Blondie). Yours truly had 1 beer, and declared herself DONE.

On Sunday, I hit my goal - 30 Bikram classes in 30 days. It felt SO GOOD!!!! I honestly feel like I accomplished something big. I met up with Shaun and his Texas friends for some brunch, and then they went to do the "touristy thing" (as we like to call it). Blondie showed back up around 7:30 pm, and we kind of lazed in front of the couch watching bad TV, until 8:45 pm, and then we went to bed.

I reached my Bikram goal, so I'm going to cut back down to 4 classes a week. Today, being my first day off, I slept in until 7 am, and then went for a 3 mile run (run/walk but mostly walking to be honest) around the panhandle. Blondie came and did 4.5 miles with me! It felt really good not exercising inside - and my body (while still bad at running) did not revolt like it used to do. It just kind of ran when it could, walked when it couldn't run anymore, and didn't get pissed at itself like previous.

My last thoughts on Bikram, and what has changed for me since starting.
30 classes - 30 days; 4 days of watching what I ate before I started Bikram (34 days total):
1) 19 lbs gone (not a joke).
2) The dry skin that I had around my nose is completely gone.
3) My scalp has NO trace of dry skin anymore.
4) The tiny bumps I had on the back of my arms and legs are gone.
5) My fingernails have sprouted and NOT split (I can't tell you the last time this has happened). As a matter of fact, it's hard to take out my contacts b/c of how long and strong they are right now.
6) My twitchy back is gone. Not a sign of pain in the last 2 weeks.
7) My neck problems are gone. Not a sign of pain in the last 3 weeks.
8) I regularly sleep through the night, all the way through.
9) My "despised old job" buddies will get a kick out of this - someone stopped me at work last Thurs and told me I was a "peaceful soul" and it was refreshing to have that at work.
10) And on a silly note - I fell down the steps in the apartment complex on Friday morning and landed flat on my back. I have a giant bruise - but, I was able to go about my business, without serious pain. I know if this had happened prior to Bikram, I would've been flat out for several days.

Loving life today.

--K

Contentment...

I've been feeling it a lot lately (I think yoga has become my spiritual replacement to church - how cheesy does that sound?). It's been hitting me more and more in the last few weeks - I'll be sitting somewhere and I'll suddenly realize I've got no place in the world I'd rather be. It happened when I was home by myself last Friday night, it happened Sunday at the bar with Party C, it happened at dinner with Blondie on Monday...

It was made even more so by my free day yesterday - my facial and pedi with Party C were awesome, I went book shopping on Haight Street, met Blondie for a healthy and tasty dinner (followed by a not so healthy and really tasty dessert)...

I rolled into work today feeling pretty darn good. I'm only 4 days away from hitting my 30 times in 30 day goal for Bikram that I set for myself. It's already Wednesday.

Then my sister sent email. About last year's trip to Maui. And her and me and Brother R were off and remembering fun things that happened there. And then the pics started rolling in. And suddenly.... contentment be GONE! I WANT TO BE IN MAUI!

Picture - Brother R and Carmy Carms in Harley helmets (they had rented a bike for the day); mom, sis, Blondie and yours truly en route to Maui aquarium to hang with the sea turtles; Pacific Ocean in the background:

Blondie's Back!!!!

Yay! Blondie returned home from the land o' cheese yesterday morning!!! Yours Truly had missed him and was sooo glad to see him yesterday! Not only did Blondie get up ridiculously early in the land o' cheese timeframe to make his flight, he still decided to meet up with me for lunch so we could see each other! I had gotten permission from my boss also to work from home after, so we took a relaxing lunch for sandwiches and salads, and then made our way home.

Our lunch was extremely small (small, small, small), so we got hungry early. Both of us wanted seafood last night. Majorly. So we decided to walk down to our fav seafood place in the Castro district - Anchor Oyster House. All the way down the hill we talked about what we were going to eat (remember last time - the dungenes crab? how good it was? Oh, how about the clam chowder??? The cedar plank salmon???), only to get to the restaurant to find it closed until the end of the month. I guess they shut down for vacation every year.

We were standing there bummed out, thinking maybe we'd walk down a few blocks to another seafood restaurant, and then a woman passing by gave us a tip. We ended up right on Market Street at a place called The Catch, right in the front (open-air patio), eating incredible lobster risotto and scallops.

After our dinner, we hit my favorite shoe store in the 'stro for SHOE SHOPPING!!!! De la Sole - we LOVE you! $400 lighter, 2 pairs of shoes each heavier, we headed home.

This morning, Blondie rejoined the Bikram class (first time in almost 2 weeks). He did incredible! He's looking a little sleepy right now, but it's so cute.

I have the day off because my work had an offsite fun day which I chose to skip. I have big plans in my future today - a facial this afternoon, pedis with Party C this evening, and dinner with Blondie to cap off my night!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Hope Sis and Brother R managed to celebrate their birthdays in style! Mr Pooh's big birthday is coming up in 6 days (the big 3-0), so that's something to look forward to. And I understand Dan in Fondy just celebrated a birthday yesterday too (so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!)

--K

It's someone else's birthday...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS! Hope you have a fantastic day playing with the Cutest Kid In The World and then working!!! Hopefully you'll have some cheeps tonight!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

--K

Embarrassing myself...

It's Friday night. It's 8:30 pm. I'm in a FANTASTIC city with a ton of shit to do. And here I sit, watching crap TV, and blogging. And honestly, thinking about how soon I can go to bed.

So, I had some good news for myself earlier today, but didn't have time to type it out (give it up for work). The good news is that the Queen of the Yoga Instructors told me today after class "great class today!"

The thing about the Queen of the Yoga Instructors is that she is evil. In a good way. She just pushes me harder than I've ever pushed myself in my life. I normally have to sit down about 4 times in her class because I'm so out of breath I feel like I'm going to pass out. But today, something just clicked. I stood the entire time, attempted every single posture (even those that I loathe - Standing Head to Knee Pose - I'm looking at you), and got into positions I didn't think I could bend into. All because she was there heckling me.

She loves me. I love her. In a weird "I'm sweaty, you're sweaty, get your ass going" sort of way.

And then after the torture, there was "great class today!" It made every minute, all 90 of them, worth it.

21 days down. Loving life. At peace for once. Calm. Content.

I should've done this in Texas.

--K

P.S. Still missing Blondie.

It's someone's birthday....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER R!!!! We wish we could be there (or rather, you could be here) to celebrate!!!! Hope you have a fantastic day!

Remember, last year at this time, we were counting down days to Hawaii. This year, at this time, we're working.

--K

Poor Mississippi Queen...

WC blew out her knee this past weekend, but she did it while competing in her 2nd triathalon in a month (!!!! - for the triathalon, not the knee). Luckily it's not a tear, but she is off physical activity for 2 weeks, and then has to start back slowly.

Our thoughts are with you WC! Here's hoping that knee heals QUICKLY!

And CONGRATULATIONS on your 2nd triathalon!

--K

Missing Blondie...

Who is going listen to me bawl my head off tonight about how bad work sucks? :) The cats are horrid at giving advice (apparently licking your own genitalia is their answer to everything), so they are out.

Come home soon.

--K

Mom's Spanish Rice rocks the hizzow! I'm spending a week-and-a-half up north with my family and it's great! The homemade food is excellent and it's definitely warmer than being in SF right now. I've also had my favorite dessert: poppy seed tort. YUM! I got in last Thursday and stayed at Nate's place (it's too confusing just using initials all the time so I'm using real names from now on). He's one of the bro's that will soon produce a new nephew or niece. We stayed up and had a few beers on the night I got in. I flew Midwest Express and if you haven't flown them lately they are not as good as they used to be. For one thing they got rid of the huge comfy seats that they used to have. They are delayed just as much as everyone else now as well. I overheard one of the flight attendants talking about how the whole company is just in "get bought out mode" so they are cutting everything back and pretty much just coasting by. Oh well, it seams all airlines are like that now. Anyway, it was a good Thursday night when I finally got in. Lots of beer makes a delay ok!

Friday night was a blast! A bunch of the family came over to Nate's place and we played cards: sheepshead. If any of you haven't played that card game before, it's kind of like Yuker, but on severe steroids. I personally think when this card game was made up by some really drunk German and it went something like this:

(half-way through hand)
"Didn't I mention that aside from all diamonds being trump, all Jacks are trump too, and are higher than those Diamonds? (drink) Well, here is my Jack of clubs and it's a higher trump than that ace of diamonds. (drink) Oh you have a Jack of hearts? No that's a lower Jack, my Jack is higher. I still win this hand. (drink)"

(next hand)
"It looks like I have the 10 of spades which beats your 9 of spades. What do you got? (drink) Oh, you have the Ace of Spades, damn, you're leading this one. Oh you have the Jack of Diamonds? (drink) You're on my team. A Jack of Diamonds means you're my partner. Yeah, we're winning this hand, those guys are losing. (drink).

(next hand)
"You have a King of spades, huh? My 10 of Spades beats that King. (drink) Oh, I forgot to mention that too, huh? Well, the 10 beats the King and the King beats the 9 which then beats the 8 and that beats the 7. (drink) Oh, yeah, the Ace still beats the 10 though. Yeah, that other hand we played, my Ace still beat your 10, so it's still following the rules on that last one there. (drink)"

(end of round)
" (drink) Ok, lets total all these cards up. No, it's not who won the most tricks, it's who has the most points from the tricks they won at the end of the round. (drink) So let's see, I have some ace's and 10's here. Yeah, those are worth 11 and 10 points respectively. What's all those Queen's worth that you have? (drink) Those are all 3 points each. And those Jacks are only worth 2 points each. Yeah, that's right, tough luck. (drink) And all those 7's, 8's, and 9's aren't worth anything. Nope, those are zero points each. And these Kings I have are worth 4 points. (drink) So it looks like I win this one. (drink) No, I haven't changed the rules on every game of this that we played so far! (drink) Oh, you're going to write all this down this time? Well, I suppose, if you can't remember all this that is. (drink)"

And that is how Sheepshead was invented.

The rest of the weekend was pretty fun as well. We hit an Indian Casino in Green Bay and I promptly lost some money. It was a fun time though. I found a quarter holdem machine that I could sit for about an hour playing without losing more than $2. Sunday night we went over to my other brother's house (Dan) who's expecting and had a great dinner. Well, that's the scoop on the Great Northern Trip so far. More to come...

--S

When did I get so lame???

In case you were wondering, that answer is NOT "you were always lame". I literally have been up to nothing. I have no good stories. Gosh, not even any drunk stories. I've been basically bikraming in the morning, working during the day, and sleeping at night.

Today I hit my class again - which made it 17 straight days for me. So that was good.

Friday I was in bed at 8:45 pm.

Saturday, I went to class, came home and worked, had Party C up around 5 pm to watch crap TV, and then Wonderbutt up around 9 pm to watch a movie.

Sunday, I went to class, came home and worked/did laundry, met Shelby Shelbs for some din din in the Inner Sunset, and then hit Party C's for my weekly Vince/Ari fix. And was in bed at 8:30 pm.

The sad thing is, I feel better than I have in my life. I just don't want to go out of my apartment. Yep, lame.

Hope people are having a better non-lame time than me.

--K

New blog!

The Poohs now have their own blog! To check out what's going on in their lives, and to see a pic of the Cutest Kid In The World, click the link on the side of the page under "Blogs".

This weekend - so much fun! Friday night found both me and Blondie being incredibly lame. We ended up renting a movie through our cable, but I only watched about 15 minutes of it before I was asleep, at yes, 8:15 pm (give it up for Bikram! SLEEPING rocks!).

Saturday, we met Party C at Bikram and got ourselves sweaty off the bat. Then, we met my partner-in-crime at Jazz Fest in the North Beach area. The beers I had there were my first beers in 13, count them 13, days!!!! They tasted so sinfully good I could hardly stand it. Then it was off to a friend's for wine night. Unfortunately, however, the beers earlier in the day hit me HARD, and by 10 pm on Saturday night, I was out cold.

Blondie, however, decided to party more than me. Which leads to Sunday morning, and a hungover Blondie saying "No to Bikram". I went sans Blondie, and then in the afternoon, him and I shopped ourselves silly. But only for necessities - we bought boring stuff like groceries, a drying rack, new sandals, new workout gear. Snooze.

Sunday night turned out to be an event. We were attempting to make BLT's, and ended up somehow blowing out ALL the fuses in the apartment. ALL of them. Nothing works. Our overhead lights are fine, and our stove since it's a 3 prong (??? - I'm not the electrical engineer in our family), but nothing else. No alarm clocks, no laptops, no TV, no charger for the cell phone, no charger for the toothbrushes. We ended up plugging our fridge into an extension cord and plugging that into the hall socket. Sigh. We thought it would be hysterical to take our microwave and our toaster into the hall and make our BLT's out there, but alas, we were too tired to go through with our plan.

And now here it is. Monday. Ugh. 5 days left of work, Bikram knocked me on my butt so I'm tired, blah blah blah. And I have a head cold.

But seriously now, take a gander at the Cutest Kid in the World! She's enough to brighten anyone's day!

--K

A Whole Lotta Nada...

I had my mini-Tvly reunion yesterday and it was SO MUCH FUN! 8 of us came out for lunch, and to wish one of our former colleagues well as he travels home to India for awhile. Of the 8 of us, 6 of us walked out together on the last day, 1 of us stayed with the company for a bit longer, and the other had actually quit awhile ago, but came just to hang out. I miss those guys. I miss cussing my way through the office with those guys. I miss the "Hey, what's for lunch today?" callout around 11:30 am. I miss them giving me a hard time about how much I drank the night before. I miss discussing cats with them. But mostly I just miss them. Okay, I'll admit it - the despised old job did have good parts to it.

On a cheerier note, Blondie and I hit Bikram for the 6th day in a row today. I tell you what, yesterday and today the instructors were out to kill us. And I don't mean that figuratively. A couple interesting things happened today though:
1) On our way to class at 6:40 am, we hear this voice behind us saying "I'm stealing your spots today!" We turn around and it's one of our classmates (the class is in the hood so most people who go to it walk from somewhere in the hood), and she was wanting our normal spots by the door (because when you are by the door, everytime it opens, you get the fresh air hitting your body, and by the way, could this sentence be any longer?) We ended up walking with her, and she lays on us that the first time she saw us in class she recognized us from the hood. :) First thing going through my head is "uh oh, she saw us drunk and stupid at the bar in the hood". But it was nice - I like meeting new people and this seems to be the place to do it!
2) My fat pants fit again. I have a size in my head I won't go above. Last week I admitted defeat and went out to buy a new pair of dress pants, and I bought them in this size (they didn't fit). Yesterday, they went right up. WOO HOO! And today, Blondie told me that you can already see the change in my body. WOO HOO WOO HOO (that's a double woo hoo).

On Tuesday, we even managed to convince Shelbs to come join us for the torture. And then she came downtown and met up with me, Bbbb, and Miss LM for some lunch. We said goodbye to the last time she could possibly meet us downtown for this kind of activity, b/c she starts her new job on Monday! Boo for work! But at least, her job has a much better cafeteria than 99% of other companies.

And that's it. My whole lotta nada.

--K

More good news from my family... my brother N and his wife are expecting about the same time as my other brother D. So I'll be an uncle twice in about a month span! Pretty cool!

So today was the 4th day in a row thate experienced the hotness of Bikram. HOT. It's getting a little easier though, but not by much!

Here are some pics from the past couple weeks adventures. We went camping with a bunch of friends a few weeks back and did some hiking and a couple weeks ago we went to Healdsburg to the Firefly Lodge with a group (http://www.winecountrylodges.com/firefly.htm).

Camping:



Healdsburg trip (our house and the river right outside the back door):



--S

That's hot.

That's right. It is hot. And by hot, I mean Hot. And by Hot, I mean HOT.

I got this idea in my head when I lived in Texas that I would love Bikram Yoga (Yoga done in a room heated to 105 degrees with 40% humidity, and the class lasts for 90 minutes). I'm not sure why I thought I would love this, but I had this idea in my head that Bikram Yoga people were my type of people.

It's Texas though. We had 1 Bikram studio that we could've driven to, except it was on the west side of downtown Fort Worth which depending on the traffic took awhile. So we never took Bikram in Texas.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I still had this (stupid) idea in my head, so me, Blondie, and Party C drug our butts to class on Saturday morning. I walked into the room, promptly said "there is no way I can stay in here for 90 minutes" and hit the floor (did I mention how HOT it was?). However, we made it. All 3 of us. We fought the dizziness (yes, oh yes, you get dizzy), the nauesousness (glad you are warned not to eat beforehand), and the incredible amount of sweat that pours from your body (every piece of clothing on my body was soaked all the way through).

Class ends. Yours truly and Party C are relieved - this sucked! Blondie however, decided that my Texas opinion about Bikram was dead-on. He LOVED the class.

I hated Bikram until I woke up on Sunday morning, and realized that the sleep disorder I've had since I can remember, didn't kick in on Saturday night. I slept for 8 solid hours, straight through - no tossing, turning, getting up to pee. I can't tell you the last time that has happened.

So then of course, we went back Sunday (I'm craving the sleep), and this morning. And guess what? I kind of like it too now. I like it a lot more when I'm done, but still, it's something I can do for awhile. (It does completely knock me on my ass though - we hit Party C's for our usual Sunday night fare last night, and I couldn't even make my mouth move to talk - everyone knows that NEVER happens so that shows you how tired I was!)

So I was right (as always): Bikram people are my type of people. I just wish they weren't so sweaty. :)

--K

P.S. Blondie rocks the Bikram. He can do all the poses and never has to take a "sit down" break! Go Blondie!

Go Mississippi Queen! Go Wine Bag!

A HUGE GIANT SHOUT OUT TO MY MISSISSIPPI QUEEN! WC, a longtime friend and all around wonderful person, completed her first triathalon this weekend (and she smoked it)! Go WC! We are sooooo proud of you!

A not so huge giant shout to yours truly (aka Wine Bag). Blondie and I spent all weekend living it up in Healdsburg in a completely fabulous lodge on the Russian River. From lounging on the 2 level porch, to drinking wine with friends in wineries up and down Dry Creek Road, to chowing down on a fabulous grilled dinner, it was just a truly wonderful time. HOWEVER, the excess liquor I drank all weekend long, is starting to slowly ooze out my pores and probably if I was sweating, I could lick it and get drunk. Can you say potent?

po·tent –adjective
1. powerful; mighty: a potent fighting force.
Wine bag, that's a potent stench coming out your pores. What did you do this weekend? Bathe in booze?

--K

Blah blah blah...

Boredddddddddddddddd.

What's this from: "I'd vote for you. You have a sweet bike and you're really good at hooking up with chicks. Plus, you're like the only guy at school who has a mustache."

Plans for the weekend:
Hot date with Sweetie J and Party C tomorrow afternoon at the $2 bar, followed by pedi's with Party C after. That's right. I'm going to attempt to gross out the pedicure person with my nasty-assed-burned-up-blistered-scabby-peeling leg (from the spaghetti incident). Woot! (and sorry pedicure person!)

Then it's off to Healdsburg on Saturday for some wine drinking and hot-tub sitting. Give it up for my type of camping!

Future Plans:
1) The partner-in-crime is landing in SF in a few weeks! I'm sure we are going to spend all weekend in a state of inebriation. At least he's not crashing at my place this time, so there will be no more "You are a donkey monkey" written in the steam on my bathroom mirror that I don't catch until 4 weeks after he leaves.

2) The entire Blondie-clan is coming to visit in Sept! Well, minus Momma J. But the rest of them (all 8 of them!) will be here... for the same weekend! Let the fighting over floor space begin...

3) I'm having a mini-Tvly reunion the last week of July! Several of us are going to meet up for lunch, and I'm really excited. I miss those guys like crazy (they were insane, but in a good way, unlike Company B, where people are just flat-out ARGH).

And that's about it.

Hi mom!

--K

Big news! I'm going to be an uncle! My brother D and his wife M are going to have a little one next March! I'm so excited! It will the first one on my side! Whoohoo!

--S

The home front...

So, first off, happy 1 day late anniversary WC! It seems like just yesterday, we had made it into Ohio to see you get married! Just yesterday, or a year ago. :)

Secondly, happy 1 day late 4th of July!

Thirdly, news....
So, thanks to Party C, Blondie and I *finally* made it legitimately out of the city. We finally went somewhere besides Oakland Airport, or Target in Daly City. Last weekend, we drove up through Napa (oops) and Sonoma (ah yes, the *right* way), and hit Sugarloaf Ridge State Park to do some camping. Party C set it up, and tagging along for the ride were me, Blondie, Wonderbutt, Porn King, and Girlfriend J.

We had a pretty good time! It involved a bunch of sleeping in a lawn chair for me while the rest of the crew hiked. Then it involved a TON of food (sigh, my favorite thing!) and beer (sigh, my second favorite thing!) and just plenty of good company (sigh, my alltime favorite thing!). We came back on Sunday refreshed and ready to hit the week.

It also made me and Blondie realize we've got to explore this state before we leave it, so we are planning a trip to Carmel-By-The-Sea (watch out Clint Eastwood - I'm coming to make your day, punk) and Monterrey this weekend, and next weekend it's off with some friends to Healdsburg for my type of camping (i.e. a cabin, a hottub, WIFI, etc).

To celebrate our independence from work on the 4th, me, Party C, WB, and Blondie hit up the bar in the hood on the 3rd. Ugh. Insert your usual "They got trashed" stories here, but my main point is that after we got home that night, I decided I needed spaghetti. I ended up dumping that spaghetti down my left leg, and now it's covered in burn welts/bruises shaped like spaghetti noodles, and blisters. That's what I get for trying to make food when I'm under the influence of beer and jaeger! P.S. it looks FUNKY.

On the 4th, I got myself a much needed Sweetie J fix! She made the trek to my hood from her hood to join us for a greasy brunch! (See you tomorrow Sweetie J!). Blondie and I ended up hanging in GG Park for a bit, and then on our way back to the apartment, ran into our good friend "Kezar Pub" and "Kezar Pub" ended up bringing us way too much chicken wings and pitchers o' frothy goodness. Then it was home to poke at my blisters and watch the bestest Tv show ever: "I'll still love you when I'm 70, and you're 65 with the face of a 40 year old and the boobs of a 29 year old". You can't get enough Scrubs!

And now here I am. Back at work. Blogging. Wishing it was 6:30 pm already (who am I kidding, 6 pm already).

Hope everyone is doing well! Cheers.

--K

Last week was the family trip to Vegas in celebration of Grandma's 80th Birthday. There were 11 of us total and it was a blast! We took in a couple shows (Jubilee and Legends) which were both great and did the customary tour of the Casinos on the strip and of Freemont street. Lots of gambling/eating/drinking was done which is always makes a vacation fun! K and I both ended up for the trip ($400 and $100) and got in plenty of gambling to quench our Vegas thirst for quite a while. K is the Black Jack queen and the craps tables were treating me well.

We all put $5 into the pot and played some slots hoping for the big score. After the first day we had a last pull win to put us back up to even and decided to save it for the next day. However, we didn't do as well the second day and by the end Vegas had our money. Here's Grandma having a go at it...


We had lots of cocktail parties in the suite:


And made our way over to Excalibur to play the family tradition of "Pitch-a-Witch" ;-)





As for the home front, Kerri surprised me on Monday with a trip to the Giants game. We had unbelievable seats 3 rows back from home plate. We are 2-0 on Giants games so far, which is pretty good considering their record. So if the Giants want to pay us to go to their games and watch to make sure they win then we're up for it!






And for those of you that haven't visited yet, the summer sunsets are spectacular from the apartment window...

--S

Whoohoo! Party-C passed all her stock person tests! Whoohoo! Here's her and K partying it up a while back. If you see her in a bar, buy her a drink!

--S

So finally here's a bunch of pics from the past 6 months...

My little bro's graduation weekend:
Him faking like he went to school there and got a diploma:

The fam:

The parents of two smart Mosee grads ;)

A visit with my Grandma:


Here's some from my Grandma's 80th birthday party.
We couldn't make it back, but we'll see her soon in Vegas, Whoohooo!

Our ever growing family (sorry we couldn't make it):



Mr. and Mrs. Poohs visit:
Lombard Street:

Japanese Tea Gardens:





And a very foggy day at Goldent Gate bridge:




Here's some from K's Mom and Sister visiting:
A much nicer day at the bridge:

A walk on the beach:

A stop by the Dutch windmill and tulip garden in GG Park:

And the Alcatraz visit:




Here are some from the Vegas trip K and I took with my bro N-dawg and his wife L:




Here's me and K at a Giants game for my birthday:



Here's a pic of us hanging out at Hippie Hill in Golden Gate park on a beautiful May day:


And some pics of an earlier day at the same place in February:
Lots of hippies with their hippy toys:





And finally some from our apartment:
Entrance way:

Entrance room looking into the living room:

Living room:

Living room again:

Looking in from study:

Study (aka where S is stuck all day):

Of course the massage chair is only feet away:)

Looking in from kitchen:


Very small kitchen:



That's it. Now stop bugging me to put pics up!!! :)
--S