Houston, we have a new blogger.

A very good friend of mine has fallen into the trap of blogging, she blames me.
So if you want to know about life in Houston and trying to bring the dream of going to space to fruition, check out:

Space-Monkey's Musings

Thanks for reading.

Sunday Scribblings: Passion

Everyone knows my true passion - cycling, wait no, traveling, but what about France, no, no, my nieces and nephews. I guess I don't even know my true passion, I just know that these four facets have become the ruling points around which my life revolves. I have a new life due to two of the above, my passion for traveling and France "forced" me to make that life decision to quit a steady, good job and put my neck out there. I just couldn't see myself sitting in an office without windows when I could possibly be using the world as my office. Now that I am traveling for work, the next huge goal will be to live in France for some amount of time. (Don't worry you will be hearing more about my new list of goals as the days go on) The cycling seems to be a weird thing for me to list in this post, I am not a die-hard, everyday, all weather rider. I am pretty fair weather, no rain or strong winds please, that is unless it is unavoidable while working. Now we get to one of the two reasons it is a passion; I love cycling so much that I managed to ride for a job and it is my favorite "work." The other reason is that on a good day, (today wasn't one) I feel free and so does my mind. I usually come back more settled then I left with any large questions much closer to being answered. Last but certainly not least on this list are the kids in my life. Not to say that I don't love the rest of my family and friends but the children make me truly happy, watching them grow, learn and change. They are the family that I won't have on my own and though I miss them when I am gone they are a great welcome once I return. I consider myself very lucky to not be able to name my true passion.

Thanks for reading.

Something New

I have been wondering what to do to make my blog a little more interesting for all my faithful readers out there and for myself. I can't seem to do it on my own. When I write I seem to just want to relate the details in a chronological order, believe me I have tried to get away from that. In an effort to grow I want to try to do something more creative. Creative is always a scary word for me, one that I shy away from. Though many try to tell me that I am artistic, I tend to disagree and the few "creative" things that I have done are very geometric. Which is so odd, considering that I am so bad at anything to do with numbers. After reading through many other wonderful blogs out in cyberspace, I came across something that will give me the starting point that I need. So stay tuned for something a bit more interesting, I hope.

Thanks for reading.

Don't Blink

I love watching bike races with people who don't understand them. Tuesday afternoon the Tour of California came to, I mean through, Davis. The route that day started in Santa Rosa, then through Napa Valley, past Lake Berryessa, into the valley, through Davis and onto Sacramento. The eta in Davis was between 12:30 - 2:30pm, yes, a two hour window. I ended up watching the race at F & Covell, about a block from my house, a great corner since after they made the turn they climbed the highest point in Davis, the railroad over-crossing. I found a spot amongst other spectators and we wiled away our time chatting. Most didn't have a clue about the race or bike racing in general, so I got to play expert from time to time. Down the street we could see that the elementary school kids were let out to watch, they were very enthusiastic whenever the cops or race vehicles went through but their energy began to wane. Fortunately at about this time the final group of cops and Highway Patrol came through confirming everything was ready and right behind them was the solo rider. He only had about a 7 minute lean on the rest of the peleton, so as he made the turn onto Covell we returned to socializing. A few around me started making jokes about how fast it was and some mumbles were heard about the length of time waiting versus time spent watching. Soon another wave of cop motorcycles went through, more cheering erupted down the street and then they came into view. It is a rush, a quick one but a definite rush watching 130 riders bunched so tightly together that one wrong move can send the whole peleton to the ground. They spin by within seconds but the sound comes first and lasts until they are out of sight. Then they are gone. The crowd around me looks around a bit, but I no longer hear comments about the wait. It was worth the wait.

Work and Diet Update

Last weekend, I did my first work for the DMC in San Francisco and it was terrible. Let me explain. I showed up Saturday morning at 7:30 to meet my boss for the job, the other TG and our contact with the company running the show for Chrysler. My boss was very nice and the other TG had quite a bit of experience in the tour industry, so is a great contact to have. Our contact with Chrysler was running late and he arrive just before the convention opened. He gave us our credentials and took us down to the exhibit floor and showed us our stations. Our job was to man the information booths on the two main corners of the Chrysler area, answering questions for the convention goers and making sure the water coolers were filled. Now we come to the issues with the job. They didn't give us any information, we knew less then the convention goers, a lot less. The people were asking questions about who was in attendance and where they could find out about X but we didn't know how X connected to Y, the titles of each area. So we sat there for almost 8 hours acting like we knew what we were talking about, those few times we were asked. As for the water, our contact never explained anything about it. At 4:30, after a very long day we left, dreading our return in the morning. The next morning we were taken away from our exciting posts over to the franchise meeting so we could help seat the attendees. We arrived 1 1/2 hours before the meeting started, so we got our assignments and then waited for people to show up. We seated everyone, then escorted late comers to open seats after the meeting started, a half hour later I was relieved and went off to lunch. When I returned, I got ready for my exciting afternoon but then my phone rang. It was my boss, she said that we were done for the day and didn't need to come back. Yep, everyone realized that it was a ridiculous assignment and did the right thing. The best news was the we were going to get paid for all of the days that we had been hired for. Nothing like getting paid to not work. Unfortunately, assignments like this are not uncommon, though my co-TG said that this was probably the worst job she had been on. As I get more experience with this company I can get choosier about what jobs I accept. The upside other then getting paid for not working was getting the chance to use my new found time in the Bay Area to explore San Francisco more in preparation for the much more exciting jobs to come.

As for the extreme diet, I am just now seeing some results. I didn't have a hard time giving up the carbs and the sugar the hard part is trying to find something to eat at a restaurant or trying to not be a nuisance when eating at someone else's house. My new best food friends are hummus and tzatziki, they really make all the raw veggies much more interesting. As for the health results, I think the itching is starting to abate, my sister thinks the dark circles under my eyes have lessened and my acne is starting to clear up. I have also lost a few pounds, not as much as I thought I would at this point but I still have 2 1/2 months left.

Thanks for reading.

90 Days

Funny thing happens to a person when they don't have insurance, they start looking around to alternatives to conventional medical practices. After not having any medical issues to speak of for a very long time, letting all that wonderful insurance that I had paid for go to waste, I find myself with a couple of problems that need to be looked at. Sometime after I got back from Alaska my legs started itching, incessantly, and my shoulder started to ache. I tried everything I could think of to get the leg thing to stop, it didn't. I already had the problem of being allergic to a key ingredient in most lotions, so the itching was not easily cured. As for the shoulder, was worried that it might be a rotator cuff problem, since my dear friend had recently had surgery, I was aware of the symptoms. The pain usually flared up after I spend time with my nieces, lifting, carrying and playing with them. So, time to do something about it. My sister has a Chiropractor/Homeopath that she goes to and since the shoulder was worrying me the most, she was the one to see. She asked a few questions about the shoulder and then we moved on to the other ailments. She immediately put it all together and diagnosed a system wide yeast infection. It all falls into place, everything is connected. Over the years this has been building in my system over the years and the best way to get rid of it is to starve it out. That means no sugar, nothing that turns to sugar and nothing with yeast in it. I know what you are thinking...that doesn't leave much. You are absolutely right. Oh yeah, did I mention that also includes no alcohol. Therefore for the next 3 months I am on this restricted diet, hoping that I will stop itching and aching at the end of it but if nothing else I will lose those 10-15 pounds I have been trying to get rid of. Wish me luck and unless you are up to a challenge, don't invite me to dinner.

Thanks for reading.

Good News, Bad News

First the good, I have some paid work coming up and hopefully it will lead to more. Before Christmas, I applied to a couple of DMC's (Destination Management Company's) in San Francisco. DMC's specialize in putting on or supporting anything from conventions to airport pick ups to Christmas parties for companies, particularly ones from out of the area. As a guide my job can range from guiding a tour to the wine country, conducting a walking tour in SF to getting water for convention attendees. Finally, last week I was contacted by one to work a 4 day convention at Moscone Center. You got it, I am going to be a gopher for 4 days. I don't mind for two very good reasons: this is may first paid work since Oct 31 and it got my foot in the door to bigger and better things in SF. I am very lucky to have such wonderful friends allowing to stay with them so that I may take this job. San Francisco is in the top 5 of cities to visit in the world, what better place to lead tours.

Now the bad, I got my first big "rejection" following an interview at Symposium in San Diego. I say first big one because another company had contacted me saying roughly the same thing, "sorry we can't use you right now but we will file your resume," however, it was not one of my dream jobs. This one was. I put rejection in quotes because they didn't tell me that I wasn't qualified, quite the contrary, though that could be a form letter, but I still won't be working for them this year. I thought things had gone very well but I know there are many more qualified people and now I must just focus on strengthening my weaknesses and pestering them until they throw up the white flag and hire me.

For now though, it looks like my work year will resemble last years and I look forward to all of it.

Alaska, here I come.

Thanks for reading.