Back on the Bike

...of course it may not last long since the rain is due to arrive any day but it had to be done. For some reason I have avoided my beautiful two wheeled living room decoration since early spring. It has sat under the stair collecting dust and mocking me while I sit on the couch and watch reruns. To avoid the guilt, I have done many things: drove tourist around the U.S., gone to Foresthill to be with the nieces, spent time in the Bay Area adventuring with friends and taken up running. So after spending the last few days thinking about what a waste of time my last month and half has been, at least while at my house, I decided I needed to start with more physical activity. I have been running but that is only 3 days a week and the beaches of Thailand are looming. So today I pumped up the tires, put on the spandex and headed out into the California sunshine. The sun wasn't as warm as it appeared but I was ready to go. It was a good ride even though technology let me down. First, I realized that my speedometer wasn't working, which I would have remembered if it hadn't been 9 months since my last ride. Second, my new toy, a heart rate monitor that I bought for running, is impossible to use while riding a bike. I should have listened to the reviews that MW read to me but I was so excited to find a heart rate monitor at Costco right when I decided I wanted one. I will be testing Costco's return policy soon. What did work for me was the one thing that is always consistent when I ride...the unbounded thinking that usually results in clarity on a topic that I wasn't concerned about. Today was no different. I also remembered how much I love to ride so watch out my lovely black and silver companion, I am back in the game. If the rain doesn't ruin my new found motivation.

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P.S. I do not have memory loss, I realize that I have casually ignored the last nine months. I will do my best to update the blog before I head out on my next adventure.

Walking to and fro

When I arrived at the new apartment I learned that my roommate had a bicycle for us to use. Now it isn't the greatest bike but it will keep me in shape for work in the fall. However, while working I walk back and forth to the hotel and downtown as much as possible, only giving in to cab usage if I am hauling a suitcase. The walk is about 20 minutes and in recent days I have made at least 2 trips downtown per day. Downtown Anchorage is laid out in a grid pattern so I change the route every time I make the trip. One of the routes takes me past the cemetery that dates back to 1915, when the city was first founded. The vista across the cemetery opens up onto the Chugach Mountains which sit right outside of Anchorage.
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One of the Reasons I Love Davis...

It is Wednesday night, a freaking hot Wednesday night, and a giant fireworks display just occurred right outside my back door. It is Celebrate Davis day, therefore among other events we have fireworks that make it look like the fourth of July. I love Davis.

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My Spring in Pictures

I spent much of my spring outside so here are a few of the shots I took along with one of an awfully cute little one.

1. Poppies on the UCD campus while walking through the Arboretum.
2. The famous water towers.
3. Blue Heron posing at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
4. Palace of Fine Arts columns left over from the 1915 exposition.
5. Taking 4th graders to Alcatraz Island on the ferry.
6. Golden Gate Bridge on a beautiful day.
7. Leaving Pier 33 for Alcatraz.
8. Angel Island from Alcatraz Island.
9. Perfect angel during my birthday lunch.































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The Countdown has Begun.

17 days from today I will be back in Alaska. Yes I am returning to the land of salmon, bears, long days, hours on the train and days on buses. Many of my co-workers are already there preparing for their first tours of the year and I find myself getting jealous, which is a great sign. Don't get me wrong, I love leading tours in Napa, escorting kids through California history and spending as much time with friends & family as possible but the next adventure awaits. However, I feel like I have been in one place for far too long and it is time to get away. These last 2.5 weeks will be spent seeing as many people as possible and working a lot. Yesterday, I worked in Napa and then drove to Pacifica to have dinner and spend the night with the DP's. TD made fantastic fish tacos, WW friendly, and black beans with diced chilis and the three of us had a fair amount of wine. This morning after getting a few things done for tours in the next few days, I drove to Belmont to spend time with MW. I will see her one more time while camping Memorial Day weekend however, this was our last chance to just hang out together since she will be moving to Zurich for the year while I am still in Alaska. I know I will see them in November and again in January or so when I visit them but I needed some good face time. We got an early start and ran errands, then we went to the Red Lantern in Redwood City for a terrific lunch. Afterward we went next door to Pamplemousse to buy macarons, the French kind. They are almost as tasty as the ones we purchased from Laduree in Paris, the lavender vanilla was incredible. For the rest of the afternoon we sat around talking about what the W's need to do before leaving for Zurich and making limoncello. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. More bittersweet goodbyes to come.

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Another Milestone (+ one week)

So I had myself convinced that my last day at my old job was on March 27, 2007, however, looking back at one of my first posts I realize I was a week off. This should have been posted a week ago.

A year ago today I was recovering from a pretty good hangover. The night before was the big party to celebrate my leap into my new life and away from all of the wonderful people drinking with me that night. I am sad to say that I haven't seen many of my friends from my old job, I even stopped by the old hang out tonight to see if some of them were around but alas they were not. I thought for sure that I would stay close with a few of them and except for my roommate, I rarely see them, the last time was for said roommate's going away party. Now I think about the old gang from time to time and wonder how they are surviving the world that I escaped. I love my new life and can't believe how well I have adapted to it but I realize that I haven't been the great friend that I wanted to be to those I left behind. I should promise to correct my failing but I know myself and that probably won't happen. Right now it is hard enough to keep in contact with both of my families.

So now that I have corrected my assumption about the date, I send out a Happy Anniversary to those that March 27th really belongs to, CF and MW.

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Movie Night

I am exhausted tonight. After not working for 4 months, I just finished leading tours in Napa the last 7 of 8 days. Not only was it an adjustment for my body to be on the go all day but I also spend two hours in the car everyday. I still love that job, especially when the weather performs like it today. I am happy to have a break for a few days, though I will be using that time to refresh my California history details.

The reward for all that hard work was getting to hang out with my MIA roommate. We were going to go to the movies but decided to stay in and rent, then we debated picking up Thai food but decided it was actually less effort to cook at home. Strange, I know. So I picked up a couple of movies, the one we made it through tonight is called V is for Vendetta. At the rental store, there was a note saying it was one of the best movies of the year it was released and starred Natalie Portman. Though I knew very little about it, it sounded promising. It was not all what I expected. I am not saying it was bad, quite the contrary I really enjoyed it but it was odd. It had me wondering right from the credits where is mention Marvel Comics. I don't want to give anything away but let me just say that I never could have imagined a superhero based on Guy Fawkes trying to save London from a Hitler-esque leader. Oh yeah, don't ask KB about it, she slept through it. Now we are both in bed by 10:00 pm on a Saturday, and I don't regret it for an instant.

Happy Day Light Savings.

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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.

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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.