Monday, April 30, 2007

A blessing in disguise

When Keds was misdiagnosed a week ago Friday and not prescribed anti-biotics, we were pissed. She only got more sick, and finally on Wednesday decided not to go to California for the weekend. We really want to get her Mom's house cleaned out quickly and don't want to drag this out. But it seems like our own house is falling into disarray because we have no where to put stuff. We have two bedrooms full of stuff that isn't ours. Blech. The closets are full and our garage is uber-disorganized.

Well, by Friday night/Saturday morning Keds was feeling MUCH better. We finally got an opportunity to breathe. We ran errands that were WAY over due, bought a spa for the backyard, had friends and family over for dinner and were able to spend substantial amounts of time in the pool. And officially, I was able to drop 5 pounds.

We aren't going to LA for another few weeks. That gives us at least one more weekend to get our closets and garage organized, spend some downtime and make sure our life is in order before we enter the home stretch in LA. I really think we need one-two more trips to clean out the house and then we can do the rehab.

In other words, this is a good chance for us to take a breath, get our lives back in order and get ready to receive more things but also avoid the mistakes that others have made.

Did I mention we bought a hot tub?

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Um. OK.

Well that was probably the most interest I've generated in a blog posting at one time. I didn't do it to strike a nerve with anyone, but more to rant something I thought was getting randomly out of control.

Anyhow, I had by trimesterly doctors appointment on Friday. He brings me in because two of the meds I'm on are metabolized in my liver and he wants to check liver function. No big deal. I love my doctor. He's a great guy, takes an active approach to health care and genuinely gives a crap about his patients. He's been my best friend's doctor since he was in high school, so that says something to me. He's a little prescription happy, and I think he gets good kickbacks from his pharmaceutical sales reps, but I'll take that for quality medical care.

However, I've put on quite a bit of weight in the last year. I promised him in December that I would lose weight. I haven't done squat to help that along. So I was primed for the worst. Took the keys and wallet out of my pockets. Took my shoes off. Anything to get an advantage. And then the moment of truth - I got on the scale. When the needle stopped bouncing I thought I was going to vomit. I was a good 10 pounds heavier than the first time I walked into his office 5 years ago. I had gotten myself as low as 165 in 2003 and would be happy with 185.

That's it. Action must be taken. So I took the first step - signed up for Weight Watchers Online. It's free for one week, so I figured I would give it a shot to see if it is any better than SparkPeople (so far, it's not, their database is just bigger). I am going to start walking on days I don't make it to the gym. I can't afford to wait until we are done with trips to LA to start focusing on this. I need to start dropping weight and it needs to happen now. Since we aren't going to LA this weekend I will most likely go to the gym. I need to get exercise back into my routine. Without it, I'm just going to starve and not see any results for it.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes on WW online and let you know.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Not to be disrespectful, but...

I'm getting a little annoyed with all these people showing their "support" for Virginia Tech. In watching Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox games, Red Sox First Baseman Kevin Youkilis sported a Virginia Tech baseball cap. He has no connection to Virginia Tech - he played his college ball at the University of Cincinatti and never played close to there in the minors. This is a lot like the surge in false patriotism and trendy support for the NYPD and NYFD after 9/11. It's just a bit much.

What happened at Virginia Tech is truly horrible and we need to keep the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers. What they don't need is this fake outpouring of support. Time will help heal the wounds inflicted last Monday morning. The only reason you see this is because Virginia Tech is a top-tier sports school with it's teams competing in the ultra-sexy Atlantic Coast Conference. Had this happened at a smaller school would we have seen this outpouring of "support?" I don't think so. The tragedy would have been just as great, but with only half the recognition.

OK. Rant over.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks Keds' and my six-month wedding anniversary. Can you believe it's been six months already? I can't. Anyway, for the day we are tooling around the house so the she can try and get over this chest cold/upper respiratory infection she's got going on before out out for dinner.

Sweetheart - I love you very much and thank god everyday that you agreed to marry me...

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

I'm tired

I am freaking exhausted. Not nearly as exhausted as my wife, but exhausted nonetheless. Last week just sucked. These LA trips are really beginning to tax both of us. We bascially lose our weekends because even if we are in town, we have to get stuff done here.

I find myself wishing we were back in Jamaica. I almost went so far as to book us a trip in October for our first anniversary. However, given the rate at which we are burning through time off and we want to go back east to visit my family this year, I'm not so sure it's going to happen. Besides, it would be nice to have some vacation time just sitting there.

Anyway, progress on the house in LA is going much slower than anticipated, which sucks. Plus, the air quality isn't conducive to being productive. The whole thing is getting expensive and tiring.

Here's where we want to go in Jamaica - Grand Lido - Braco. It's the same brand as where we went on our honeymoon, just on the other side of the island so we can go exploring.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

What a week

Talk about a three-for-all...

First, we have all the flak over Imus' comments about the Rutgers Women's Basketball team. While his choice of words were poor, and I can certainly see him getting dropped from the TV simulcast (which didn't bring in that much revenue), but did his radio show really need to be cancelled? There is a really good Time article that asks where is the line these days? Is this true racism or simply a poor word choice?

Second, we have the charges being dropped against the former Duke Lacrosse players. Now, I've been to some parties in my day and various college team houses (at my school, it was the rugby team), and yes hormones and alcohol don't make a good mix. Were they the victim of an overzealous DA? Yep. This is part of the problem with elected officials anymore (judges and DAs specifically). In an effort to stay in office they sometimes get a little excited - especially near election time. Was this all version of "town vs. gown" gone overboard? I think there is a certain tension. I certainly saw it when I was in school just not to the extent that I'm sure is the case with Duke and Durham. Tuition alone at Duke was closing in on $20K when I looked at colleges. I don't even want to know what their tuition plus room and board is these days. Now I hear that they guys are talking about suing. Well, to a certain extent they've lost more than a year of their lives. They are angry and looking for retribution. Plus, this has done a lot of damage to the legitmate cases of rape where maybe now these cases will be looked at with more scrutiny - and not necessarily in a good way.

On a lighter note, Haley got voted off American Idol last night. I thought she was cute, but I think it really was her time to go. Don't get me wrong - Sanjaya should totally have been gone during the semi-final rounds, but Haley was living on borrowed time too. Have you seen pictures of Sanjaya's sister? She looks much more normal to me (in other words - not a Michael Jackson-style stalker). So do you think he's going to make the top 5?

Monday, April 09, 2007

Easter Weekend 2007

Another set of major holidays are nearly in the books (I say this because Passover doesn't technically end until sundown tomorrow). It was quite the action-packed weekend.

We'll start with Thursday night. I don't really remember what happened immediately after work, so it must have been pretty uneventful. All I do remember was getting ready to settle in for the night around 10:15 and my work phone rings. Now, usually it's one of two things - someone in India expecting to leave me a voicemail or a complete emergency. Well, this time it was neither. My boss had left earlier in the day to visit family over Easter. He calls me stating he needed a huge favor.

Turns out he was pretty positive he left a candle burning in his home office. He now wanted me to go to his house and either 1. blow it out or 2. let him know he burnt his house down. One small issue, though - I didn't have a key. The only other person with a key was his mother-in-law and she was working at the Golden Nugget.

So Keds and I pile into the car and head out for Downtown. Little did we know that streets were closed off for the upcoming Grand Prix race. So what should have been a 20-30 minute drive to the Golden Nugget took us nearly an hour. Then it was off to Summerlin to check on his house. For the record - the candle had clearly been blown out hours previous to this. So I called him and let him know all was well.

Good Friday was slooowww. It was a holiday in India and a number of clients were out that day. However, since it was Passover and a Lenten Friday, our options were very severly limited. So off to Red Robin for dinner. Amy had Fish and Chips and I had Salmon Fish and Chips.

The highlight of Saturday was spending most of the day with my best friend Mike. He lives in Colorado now, and I don't get to see him much. I saw him over Christmas and we are talking more regularly now, but I miss him very, very much. We got some good one-on-one time and he kicked my butt in GoldenTee, but not quite as badly this time. They are coming down again around Memorial Day, and I'm planning a trip out there in June or July. Even though I spent a lot of time with him on Saturday, as we parted ways Saturday night I couldn't help but to be sad. I wish he lived closer, but he made the right move for him and his family. I can't begrudge him that. I just miss him. That's all.

Easter was pleasant enough. Went to church in the morning. Last year, Easter Mass wasn't nearly as packed, so Mom, Dad and I planned to meet at church at 9:45 a.m. for 10 a.m. Mass. Big mistake. The parking lot was packed and people were parking on the street and off the lot in the dirt. I got in to the sanctuary, and there wasn't a seat to be had and Mom and Dad were sharing a seat and a half. So I stood.

Folks showed up for dinner starting around 3, and dinner was finally served about 4:30. It was pleasant and after dinner we watched Happy Feet. Very cute movie. Everyone was gone by about 8:30. After Amy had a quick call with her attorney, we watched Desparate Housewives and then off to bed.

No matter if you are celebrating Easter or Passover, hope you all had a pleasant weekend.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Late week updates

It's been a little while since I posted, so I figured I better do a "catch up" post first.

First, work has been absolutely nuts. It seems that all of my clients have some sort of activity going on. Either they are doing something or we are screwing something up. I'm working a lot harder lately. I'm not saying I averse to hard work, but when you get used to your little breaks during the day, it's hard to switch gears.

Second, another weekend in LA. Keds and I both figured we were going to cancel due to her medical issues. However, the orthopod gave her clearance to travel, so off we went! This trip was longer by a day, but we had a couple of social events thrown in - namely our friend Samantha's Baby Shower and Keds' family Passover Seder. Since we didn't think we were going, we forgot to order a dumpster for the weekend. By the time we called on Saturday, it was too late to get one. We got some work done, but not as much as we usually do. However, we still think we are on track.

Third, we decided to get solar heat for our pool. Signed and faxed the contract yesterday. Should be installed next week some time. I can't wait. Our pool was still a little too cold to swim in. This should get us up to a good temperature and extend our pool season. I kno w Keds will use it for exercise. I think I am going to as well. I have been horrible with going to the gym lately. With the trips to California and the desire to do other things on the weekend, I just am not going at all, and if I do go it isn't consistent.

I'm debating joining either WeightWatchers, Jenny Craig or NutriSystem. I have a hard time paying someone to tell me to do things I already know how to do, but I really need the motivation. If I am paying, I'll be motivated (I hope).

Finally, I'm very sad. Teri delivered the bad news that the Coffee Bean in the Aliante Information Gallery has closed! That sucks! I guess with the neighborhoods getting closed out and Starbucks opening across the street it was probably a little too much for them. I heard they are going into Aliante Station. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!