Whenever we go to Taco Bell, we get the Grande Meal with half bean burritos no onions, and half soft tacos. We also get two combination burritos with no onions, a Mexi-melt, two crunchy tacos, and a chicken quesadilla. And a large Pepsi, because for some reason the Taco Bell near us has the best fountain Pepsi EVER. Sometimes Calvin gets frisky and asks for a tostada. The total always comes to $18.08. You can get an ass-load of food for less than twenty bucks at Taco Bell.

Whenever we order pizza (usually Domino's), we get a large thin crust with pepperoni, bacon, and beef, one large regular crust with just pepperoni, and one medium vegetarian thin crust. We order the same thing so often that I can call them (I've memorized their number) and ask for "the usual". The total always comes to $38.00. Domino's is somewhat more expensive than Taco Bell, and yet is still cheap in its resident food category. Plus, they deliver. I refuse to go to Peter Piper Pizza.

Marie has been getting on the scale, and then yelling, "God! I can't gain weight!" Every time she does this, I want to kill her just a little.

Marie spends most nights at her boyfriend's house, but we usually see her at some point during the day. During that time, she does a high-speed download of everything she's thought about, done, or has happened to her. I have a feeling that even when she moves out, we'll talk every day and get this download. If there is one thing that this family doesn't have a problem with, it's communicating.

When the Suns game is on an HD channel, we stay at home and watch it because our TV is like being there. When the Suns game is not on an HD channel, we go to some sports bar and yell at them from there.

Oz is less of a cat, and more of a child, in this household. He has this thing for shredded cheese. Every time... and I mean EVERY time... we get into the fridge he runs over, "speaks" to us, practically climbs into the fridge, paws the drawer that we keep the cheese in as if to say, "It's in here," then walks over to this certain spot on the kitchen floor that we have been putting his little cheese piles, and waits patiently until we oblige him.

Oh! Did I tell you guys about this? I forget. Anyway, you know how Oz "kills" his stuffed toy Kanga, and carries it through the house from wherever it was into our bedroom, mrowring and carrying on at the top of his lungs, EVERY night just as we get into bed? Yes, well, one night about a month ago Calvin and I went into the bedroom and got ready for bed. Calvin shut and locked the door that leads into the hallway, so that Oz wouldn't try to open it during the night (you remember that he can open doors, right? AND turn on lights) and wake us up. He left the door leading into the bathroom cracked, and the pocket door on the opposite side of the bathroom leading into the entry room cracked as well. Got that?So, lights out, we're all comfy, and we hear Oz from the bowels of the house, his mrowring coming at us louder and louder as he came downstairs (he'd delivered Kanga to Marie's room during the day), came through the dining room and living room, and padded down the hall toward our bedroom door. He stopped outside the door, tried to lever the door handle down with his paw (a trick he does so many times a day and so well that there's no more of a pause in the opening of the door than there would be with those of us with opposable thumbs), dropped Kanga (we could tell by the un-muffled quality of his voice), and meaowed a question at us when he found it locked. As if to say, "What the fuck, people. Let me in." Calvin yelled, "Go around, Oz! The door's locked!" I teased Calvin for talking to the cat like he could understand us. And then... you know what's coming next, right? I'll be damned if that cat didn't pick Kanga up, go back down the hall, through the dining room and entry room, through the cracked pocket door and through the bathroom into our bedroom, and deposit Kanga triumphantly at the foot of our bed. Calvin and I started cracking up. "He went around!" we gasped at each other. I swear to God, that cat is more of a person than a lot of people I've met.

We love our new dishwasher - it actually gets the dishes clean, even when Michael loads it. It is very loud, though.

I have been listening to Fall Out Boys "Infinity on High" a lot this past week. It's one of the random CD's of which I enjoy pretty much all of the songs. Plus, how can you go wrong with lyrics like, "I could write it better than you ever felt it."

A dove has built a nest in the palm tree along our front walk. She's right at head-height and not really tucked away or hidden at all. So each day we walk by on our way to/from work, getting the mail, what have you, and we say hello. And she looks at us with those liquid eyes and wishes that we would just go away and let her hatch her damn eggs, already. It's all very Discovery Channel.

Speaking of which, we have been enjoying the hell out of the Planet Earth series on Discovery HD. We've also been watching Dresden Files and Raines (which I don't think is long for this world, as it just got moved from Wednesday night to Friday night). When it begins, we'll be watching Drive. At some point soon I shall rent the first season of Battlestar Galactica and start watching that, too.

Despite all the TV we watch, we still seem to do a startling amount of other stuff as well. Like, two weekends ago Calvin and I cleared all of the garbage out of the garage.

Calvin is selling Michael his 929 (sport bike), at which point there will be three asses and three motorcycles in the household (Marie's ass doesn't count). I think Michael has visions of the three of us going riding around together, but I know I'll just get left behind because I'll be obeying the speed limit.

I was supposed to go to Pudong (a district of Shanghai) on a business trip, but the plan got nixed due to budgetary limitations. I was disappointed, I really wanted to get a shot glass to add to my collection. So far I have shot glasses from Maine (natch), Arizona (ditto), Chicago, Hawaii, Ireland, Holland, Canada (Whistler), California, and the Bahamas. I would happily accept any shot glasses that any reader would care to ship from me, from any location on the planet. That was only a little weeny hint.

We go through more Ranch dressing in this household than all families on the planet combined. Salsa holds a close second, followed by Worcestershire, and green Tabasco. Ketchup, usually holding the role of most-consumed condiment in most households, is lucky to make the top five in ours.

I made a bet with Calvin that I wouldn't read any books between now and when we leave for Maine (at which point it will be mandatory to be able to read, to keep sane during the long-ass flight). I made this bet on March 22nd, and thus far I haven't picked up one physical book, nor have I opened one e-book. This bet was pretty much spurred by his observance of the loooong list on the sidebar listing the forty books I've read since January 1st, and his (subtle!) insinuation that I might actually get a lot of useful things done should I spend my free time elsewhere. I have a lot of books waiting on my dresser and in the LL Bean bag I keep next to my side of the couch, plus a TON awaiting my pleasure on my hard drive. I will never be to the end of the list of books I want to read. And yet, I have survived for over a week, which I think is a record for me. One thing to note: it strikes me that I didn't designate any terms of my recompense from Calvin should I win this bet. I am taking suggestions.

Every morning at exactly 8:17 a.m., I have a sneezing fit at work. The admin, who sits across the isle, always yells her blessing. It is as if my spirit cannot move forward into the tasks of the day until this little ritual has been performed. We've been laughing about it for weeks, now. Today, I got stuck in traffic behind the clean-up of a large accident. I got out my cell phone and dialed the admin to let her know I was running late. As I left the message on her voicemail, I had to pause, mid-sentence, for a sneezing fit. I laughed, told her the blessing was complete for the day, and hung up. I looked at the time on the cover of my cell - 8:17 a.m. Insert Twilight Zone theme music here.

Calvin is working this week on the south campus of AcronymCo (in other words, the "other campus" that I don't work at). He keeps running into people he'd worked with at AcronymCo and the company he worked for previous to the one he works for now. He commented today on how small a world his particular industry in, and how AcronymCo hasn't changed in the nearly nine years its been since he worked there. I have nothing profound to say, here. I just think it's a little sad. And also, I wish he were working on my campus so we could have lunch in the cafeteria and make fun of the people we know, like we used to. Oh, and make out in the stairwell. Like we used to.

Labels: home, journal

Posted by Laura at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

This goes around the office every once in a while, but I read it and laugh over it every time it appears in my in-box.

--------------

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet,"which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft.

The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, Quantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.... Enjoy!

P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last...

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Labels: humor

Posted by Laura at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

What a fucking day.

I'm covering for Jen, who is on vacation. It is all her fault that I'm having a fucked day.

Heh. Not really, but it makes me feel better to blame her.

Really, the stuff I'm covering is not hers yet, it belongs to another person who is leaving soon and for whom Jen will be taking over - who is also on vacation, as it happens. So really? It's all her fault.

There, now I made Jen feel better, too. Speaking ill of a person makes their ears burn... does typing ill of them make their fingers burn? Or no, to follow that analogy to its logical conclusion, it would have to be their eyes that burn. Thus I ponder.

I wonder what it is about covering for someone that makes everything go wrong at once the moment their Out Of Plant notice is up? I swear, at one point I was e-mailing, talking on the phone, and conducting two separate IM conversations, all about different things that were going wrong at the same time. I'm not even kidding.

I would speak more about what makes work so fucked, but I'm trying to avoid getting dooced. (And yes, I searched Wikipedia to see if someone had written a definition of my website. Alas, nothing. I am, I admit, not as interesting as Heather and do not deserve to impact cultural slang.)

But, the salad I'm eating for lunch is making me happy. Spinach and lettuce and candied pecans and dried cranberries and diced chicken and diced melon and poppyseed dressing and cubed swiss cheese. Gastronomical goodness. Though something this calorie-laden should not be termed a salad. It's misleading.

And yet, I eat.

Labels: journal, misc, work

Posted by Laura at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

According to my iPod, these are the top 25 most played songs that I have loaded into my iTunes. Ranked according to number of plays:

1. "All These Things That I've Done" - The Killers


2. "Number One in Heaven" - Nemesis


3. "Somebody Told Me" - The Killers


4. "Sussudio" - Phil Collins


5. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" - Cake


6. "Where the River Flows" - Collective Soul


7. "How to Save a Life" - The Fray


8. "Gold Digger" - Kanye West


9. "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" - The Police


10. "Every Breath You Take" - The Police


11. "I Love You" - Under the Influence of Giants


12. "Dancing Queen" - ABBA


13. "Run to You" - Bryan Adams


14. "Let's Go" - The Cars


15. "You Might Think" - The Cars


16. "My Hero" - Foo Fighters


17. "Ride My Pony (remix)" - Genuwine & Timberland


18. "Easy Lover" - Phil Collins


19. "U Got the Look" - Prince


20. "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker..." - Sandi Thom


21. "Lay Me Down" - Under the Influence of Giants


22. "Shake It Up" - The Cars


23. "A View to a Kill" - Duran Duran


24. "Call Me When You're Sober" - Evanescense


25. "So Alive" - Love and Rockets

A couple of favorites that I was very surprised weren't on the list, given how often I search them out to play them:

• "This Ain't A Scene..." - Fallout Boy


• "Shipping Up to Boston" - Dropkick Murphys


• "Strict Machine" - Goldfrapp


• "Jump" - Madonna


• "On the Dark Side" - Eddie & the Cruisers


• "Wish I" - Jem


• "Return of the Mack" - Mark Morrison


• "The Anthem" - Good Charlotte


• "Say It Right" - Nelly Furtado


• "Black Sweat" - Prince


• A bunch more I could list, but I have to get onto a teleconference now.

Labels: music

Posted by Laura at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

Soy un perdedor. And also, schprechen sie deutsches?

Heh.

You can't write if you can't relate. Truer words were never... um... chanted? Beck didn't exactly sing that song, now did he? Good lyric, though. Actually, I love that whole song ("Loser" by Beck, in case you didn't spot it). And this reference to this lyric will make much more sense further on in the entry, I promise.

Coming off of a really great weekend. Pictures are to follow as soon as I can bogart them from Heather, who has been in town for the past week. Friday night Calvin and I met Heather and a few other folks up at Rula Bula for some reunion-esque happy-houring. I was rather giddy, giggly, and (I'm told) annoying, without the excuse benefit of being inebriated. That's what I get for being cute, I guess. It was just so NICE to get some quality Heather time. Eventually, someday, I will go to Chicago and hang out with her there.

Then Saturday Calvin and I went to Luke Days at the Luke Air Force Base. So, when was it alright for me to get all emotional about airplanes??? I swear I did. Twice. Once when the F-18 Hornet (or some letter-number-insect combination thingy... I am a girl and can't be expected to know these things) did a high speed pass over the demonstration grounds and a vapor cone appeared. Like (searching the internet for an image...) this:



(photo courtesy of McMahan Photo)

Okay, so maybe what got me crying was that it was that cool in real life (photos, while a close thing, don't really do it justice over it happening right in front of you), and also that the crowd was utterly silent for a split second after the jet passed, and then absolutely erupted into applause and whistling and, well, awe. It was wicked cool.

The second teary occasion was when they did "Tora Tora Tora", the recreation of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. There were all of these Japanese planes "bombing" the hell out of everything (there were a lot of pyrotechnics incorporated into the demonstration), and one lonely American plane chasing after the Japanese. I kept yelling, "Git 'em!" to that one lone plane (much to Calvin's amusement), and I can really imagine how awful it was trying to rally against such an attacking force.



(photo courtesy of Commemorative Air Force website)

If you have the ability to go to a "Days" event at a nearby Air Force base, I highly recommend it. Wear comfy shoes and sunblock, though. Beer's cheap, that'll help.

Sunday, Heather and I went to the Ren Fair for a couple of hours (I had my first turkey leg, awwww...). We got sunburned and stuffed full and spent a lot of time trying to avoid "The Queen", whose entourage was somehow always right on top of us. It was nice to have her all to myself (insert evil laugh here) and get caught up on the stuff she doesn't post about in her journal. The content of which could fill a book rivaling the length of War and Peace.

Has anybody ever read that book, I wonder?

Then we went to the store to load up on fun drink ingredients, got into our comfy clothes, ordered some pizza, and watched a bunch of movies. She hadn't seen the latest Harry Potter movie, so we watched that, even Calvin. You begin to see the effect that a Heather visit has on the household, don't you? We also watched the most recent "Pirates of the Caribbean", which she also hadn't seen yet (and I have no issue sitting through a repeat of a Johnny Depp movie). Last up was "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, which was adorable and saccharine and probably grossed Heather right out but she was too polite to say so. Or maybe she was asleep - she and I were the last hold-outs of the evening amid the pile of pillows and blankets on the couch, and I couldn't quite see her face.

She spent the night and left early the next morning (yesterday, for those of you following along chronologically), and she goes back to Chicago today. Leaving me bereft with no idea when the next Heather fix will be coming.

::sob::

Labels: journal

Posted by Laura at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Long time readers are familiar with the fact that I am very honest about my health, the issues I have experienced, and my opinions of topics related to wellness, nutrition, fitness, and exercise. I am comfortable with sharing - probably to the point of oversharing, sometimes. I do this with the hope that relating of some of my experiences will help educate other people regarding their own health concerns, offer resources they may not have known were out there, or at least let them know they are not alone in the world. I have gotten feedback from lots of folks on a myriad of topics, both from this site (and the main journal) and from Operation::Goddess, which gives me encouragement that my sharing is a good thing.

So, here I go again. I just posted an abbreviated version at Operation::Goddess about this, but I felt the need to expound in greater detail here.

I have suspected for a while that I suffer from hormone imbalance, specifically symptoms of perimenopause, which is really not uncommon for women in their 30's. Of these symptoms listed (courtesy of this site), I suffer from a startling number (though, thankfully, not all) of them:

Fatigue
Cravings for sweets or carbohydrates
Weight gain
Hot flashes or night sweats
PMS
Feeling depressed or overwhelmed
Mood swings or irritability
Insomnia or restless sleep
Headaches
Loss of desire
Fuzzy thinking
Digestive issues
Stiffness or joint pain
Anxiety
Heart palpitations
Breast pain
Urinary dysfunction
Hair loss/dry skin
Vaginal dryness
Irregular periods
Fibroids

Now, like most people, I figured a lot of these symptoms were from depression, stress, poor diet, or just plain "getting old". All of you will recall that I saw a therapist for depression and anxiety, I had digestive issues that resulted in my gallbladder being removed, and I've been battling for some time to find the right "secret" that would result in weight loss for me. I've tried MYRIADS of things to help fix all of the things I've mentioned here, plus some other things that (you'll thank me) I didn't post about. The links I provided don't even scratch the surface of all of the entries I've written about my, erm, adventures.

I've seen doctor after doctor - specialists, therapists, nutritionists, general practitioners, OB-GYN's. I've mentioned, repeatedly, my concerns over my various symptoms. Their reactions have ranged from looking at me like I'm crazy, to prescribing things that will individually treat one or two symptoms (until at one point I was taking 8 prescriptions simultaneously), to telling me this is all normal "for me" because "everyone is different", to blaming it all on stress and telling me to "destress" my life (yeah, right), to flat-out stating that it's all "in my head". I've been tested for food allergies. I've had my blood drawn more than all the victims combined in all seven seasons of Buffy. I've done stuff covered by my insurance, and stuff not covered by my insurance.

After all of that, nobody seemed to come up with an answer that satisfied me. And, my symptoms started worsening. So, I said, "Fuck that noise," and decided to do some research on my own. Which is what lead me to my self-diagnosis of hormone imbalance. I mentioned this thought to my general practitioner (oh-so-helpful as she always is), who figured it was as good of a reason as any for my complaints.

So! This week, I am starting a personalized program with Women to Women, which happens to be the OB-GYN that I saw when I lived in Maine. I was very pleased to find them at the top of the Google search when I entered in "hormone imbalance". I think on a regular basis, when doing the girly necessary annual crap, that I wish I could still go to the W2W clinic in Yarmouth, Maine. They were fantastic - very understanding, knowledgeable, and most importantly they took their time with each patient and actually conversed. It always made me feel like they actually cared about what was going on with me, and weren't trying to brush me off in order to get to their next patient (a complaint I hold VERY dear regarding my current doctor). Plus, their facility is in a very nicely converted Victorian home, which made me feel like I was visiting a friend rather than a doctor's office. Next best thing to being able to physically go to their clinic is getting their support long-distance, via e-mail and phone support, which thus far has been excellent.

This program involves nutritional changes (based on the Schwarzbein Principle, of which I am already familiar), a supplement regime, and a bioidentical progesterone cream. All of it targets the rebalancing of hormones and the relief of perimenopause symptoms.

This is NOT another one of those "fix it fast" fad regimes. It's actually developed by doctors, whose clinic I actually utilized. There's information on a bunch of evidentiary studies for those people (like me) who need the stats and figures and formulas and expert mumbo-jumbo in order to make a decision. The fact that I have met the doctors (in fact, the W2W co-founder and director was my OB-GYN), experienced their care, and have actually physically been to their clinic, was the combination that convinced me that this program is worth a try.

Here is information on their personal program, information on their supplements, and information on their recommended free profile.

I will post updates on my progress and experiences over at Operation::Goddess, just so journal readers can choose how much TMI they want to indulge in. I hope at best that some of this helps someone out there, or at worst that I don't scare off any readers!

Labels: health, journal, Op:Goddess

Posted by Laura at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

Courtesy of my iPod:

"In the Meantime" - Spacehog
"Through the Wire" - Kanye West
"You Get What You Give" - New Radicals
"Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond
"Epic" - Faith No More
"Mmm mmm mmm" - Crash Test Dummies
"I'm a Loser Baby" - Beck
"Walking on Sunshine" - Katrina and the Waves
"Glory Days" - Bruce Springstein
"Santa Monica" - Everclear
"Rockafeller Skank" - Fatboy Slim
"These are the Days" - 10,000 Maniacs
"Steal My Sunshine" - Len
"There She Goes" - Sixpence None The Richer
"All Night Long" - Lionel Richie
"On the Dark Side" - Eddie and the Cruisers
"Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison
"Ain't Too Proud to Beg" - The Temptations
"Never" - Heart
"What I got" - Sublime
"Hanging by a Moment" - Lifehouse
"Interstate Love Song" - Stone Temple Pilots
"Smooth" - Santana

Labels: boredom, misc, music

Posted by Laura at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

Calvin and I were pretty down (dooby doo) over the weekend. Nothing specific was bad, it's just that nothing specific was good either. Other than the old standby of being in (relatively) good health (Calvin's got some throat thing going on), having a nice home and food to eat and clothes to wear, and having each other. All very good things to be happy about.

But, not enough to keep us out of the doldrums. Perfectly normal, to have a nice life and yet feel down sometimes. And apparently I should NOT put the pressure on myself of expecting myself to be in a good mood all the time, just because I've gotten my depression and anxiety under control.

It seemed that all we wanted to do was sleep. We both took a long nap late Friday afternoon, slept in on Saturday, took a nap Saturday afternoon, slept in Sunday, AND took a nap Sunday afternoon.

Today? I am awake.

It concerns me when our down moods coincide like that. Neither of us can lift the other out of the blues, and so we sink and wallow and sleeeeeep. We need a positive life change in a BIG way. The more we think about it, the more we want to move away from AZ, and change careers, and do something that involves the both of us together. I think we're one of those lucky couples that would not kill each other if we had to work together.

Maine in May. And probably Oregon around September-ish. Anyone live there? Anyone been there? Anyone want to recommend some sights? We're taking a long weekend to check out the area and see if it's where we want to relocate.

In the meantime, we keep on with the keeping on. No more weekends like last weekend, though. I hope.

Labels: Calvin, headspace, journal

Posted by Laura at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

The only thing that is getting me through this day is knowing that, after my 2:00 doctor's appointment, I am going HOME and I am taking a NAP.

Labels: misc

Posted by Laura at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments

Occasionally Calvin has a romantical fit and suggests activites (not those activities... well, yes, those activities, but other activities as well...) for us to do together which aid in the whole relationship-foundation-cementy thing (and the get-away-from-home-and-have-hotel-sex thing). Such as his suggestion to go to Sedona on Friday afternoon. Long time readers will recall that this was the location of our wedding, so Sedona holds a place near to and dear to and slightly to the left of our hearts.

Anyway, we made the decision to leave at 1:00, and by 2:30 had made hotel reservations, packed, loaded up the truck, and was pulling out of the driveway. Calvin wanted to ride the motorcycle up, so I followed behind him in the truck. My iPod got a lot of use on the way up and on the way back, since I had no one to converse with and nothing to do but drive and stare at Calvin's backside for two and a half hours (not a bad passtime, that). I have an iPod transmitter that would allow me to listen to my iPod through the stereo speakers... if it worked well. But it doesn't. It's all crackly and the sound is distorted. It's a curiously isolated feeling to drive with noise-cancelling headphones on. For the first twenty minutes I was paranoid that I wouldn't hear a cop or a fire truck screaming up behind me, and I checked my rear-view mirror obsessively. I got over that in short order, though, and broke the speed limit with nary a twinge of guilt.

The drive up to Sedona (well, and back from, too) is lovely, if one can ignore the FUCKING TRAFFIC that you have to deal with until you get out of Phoenix. I-17 from the I-10 interchange until the city limits is one bastard of a drive. It astonishes me how many people prefer to drive with their thumbs up their asses. You'd think that would get uncomfortable, but it seems to be popular among Arizona drivers. I've never had the urge to try, myself.

We stopped at a rest stop about halfway there to pee and hydrate and wash the bugs off of Calvin's helmet. Continuing on, we arrived at about 5:30 and was greeted by lovely 75-degree weather. Since the Valley is already up into the 90's (hello, harbinger of summer), it was heaven to roll down all the windows and actually enjoy the 30-MPH traffic crawl from the freeway exit into Sedona proper. After a bit of confusion and wrong turns, we found our hotel. Calvin and I got separated looking for the place - I found it first, then lurked around out front watching for Calvin to direct him into the place. People in traffic kept stopping for me, thinking I wanted to cross the street. Funny how manners come back when you're away from the city.

Our room was a cute little thing, with a fireplace and mini fridge and wet bar and microwave. Our first order of business was to get cleaned up and then search out the restaurant that was generating the incredible steak smell we experienced as we checked in. We figured we'd go to the Cowboy Club - another favorite of ours - and grab a street-side patio table. None were available, but the hostess took us on a trek through the restaurant, out the back alley (quoth the hostess, "Don't worry, there's really a restaurant back here!"), and across an empty lot to their sister restaurant, Redstone Cabin.

I immediately kicked myself for not bringing my camera, because the outdoor seating was lovely. We were seated right next to a little waterfall, under the open sky, with a fire pot nearby. We were served complimentary appetizers, and chose a beer and a whiskey to go with our meal. Calvin had the fillet, and I had the roasted duck. They did something to their vegetables (summer squash and zucchini and baby carrots) that even had Calvin raving about them. I mean, Calvin. Vegetables. Seriously. We lingered over dinner, the warm-fuzzy lovey-dovey feelings mounting by the minute, for a solid two hours.

We staggered (and moo-ed) over to a nearby convenience store for a laying-in of beer, back to our room briefly to stash our loot, and then back out to find some trouble to get into. Sedona doesn't believe in Trouble, though. The entire town closes down at night - Uptown Sedona was nearly deserted (at 8:00!), but we managed to find a place that wasn't closed. We sat at the bar at The Orchards Bar & Grill, yet another favorite of ours. Vernon the bartender regaled us with stories of life in Sedona, and discourteous neighbors, and corporate outsiders who buy out local institutions and then are thwarted by the proximety of a new church. We toasted the triumph of the little guy, chatted a bit with a couple up from Vegas, and then were run out when the place closed at nine. Calvin and I, a bit giggly by this point, plopped down on a bench along the main street to watch what little of the world was going by. I couldn't begin to tell you what we talked about or why it was so damn funny, but by the time we got back to our room our sides were aching. I guess you had to be there.

Back at the hotel, we did a little sumthin' sumthin' that's none of your heighty-doo, and a good time was had by all.

The next morning we rolled out of bed at a respectable 7:45, got showered and dressed and checked out (we tried for another night, but they were booked - much to our disappointment and desire to delay our return to reality by another day). We hit a little cafe across the street with the World's Most Annoying Waitress and the winner of the Scariest Penciled-In Eyebrows Award, and indulged in corned beef hash and eggs.

We left the truck parked at the hotel and took the motorcycle to gas up. Then we headed down through Sedona and along Highway 89-A, the scenic route between Sedona and Flagstaff, and easily the prettiest drive in the state. We've gone along this way more than a dozen times, but never together on the back of a motorcycle. It's really lovely to be able to see all around without being enclosed in a vehicle. We made a quick stop at a convenience store along the way for some fortification in the form of Jack, and I did the tourist thing with the camera.







Our turn-around point was Oak Creek Canyon Viewpoint, where we stopped for a potty break, some pictures, and conversation with other visitors. As Calvin paused to take my picture, a gent from Tennessee came up and asked if we wanted our picture taken together. He and his family were in Arizona on vacation, and headed toward the Grand Canyon, and then Scottsdale later in the week. We chatted for a few minutes about the best places to go and what to do and see, and then we continued on our way along the walk.

Calvin lined me up for another picture, and this time a little old man from Kansas asked him if we wanted our picture taken together. So once more we surrendered our camera and grinned into the lens. We ended up chatting with him for a good fifteen or twenty minutes. I love talking to older folks - this guy in particular has been everywhere and seen everything. He'd driven the exact route we were on back in 1935 when it was just a dirt road. We talked for a long while about all the changes the world has seen since then - some good, some bad - then his wife came to claim him. Calvin and I shot a few more pictures, then hopped back on the motorcycle for the ride back down the mountains and into Sedona.




Back in Sedona, we stopped at Canyon Breeze for some lunch (and beer and tequila, heh), and a conversation with a bartender who hailed from Boston. I recognized his accent immediately and asked where he was from. Once he realized how much of a kick I was getting out of listening to him talk (and MAN was it making me homesick, weirdly enough), he kept coming back around to chat. Calvin and I had a good long conversation about changes we want to make in our lives that will result in more quality time together such as we had been enjoying in Sedona. It made it that much harder to think about coming home, so after lunch we wandered around Sedona a bit, then took the trail down from Upper Sedona to L'Auberge resort where we got married. It was absolutely lovely to stroll around hand in hand, think about the last five years together and all that has happened, and just enjoy the greenery and the sights and sounds of the creek.







After our stroll around L'Auberge, we climbed back up to the village (sadly, the hillavator was out of order), made a last brief visit with Vernon at The Orchard for a quick beer, then got ourselves together to head back down the mountain and home again. If anything, the drive seemed longer heading back, but that impression was probably aided by the 20-minute detour we took in Anthem, trying to find a way around a dead-stop traffic jam. Reality returned with a vengance as soon as we stepped in the door at home, and more than once Calvin and I turned to each other and said, "Why was it we didn't stay in Sedona, again?" But it's short trips like this that make us appreciate our lives and our relationship, so we're grateful that we have even this small opportunity for escape from time to time.

And also? I am totally in love with my husband.

There are tons more pictures of our weekend on my Flickr site. Phew! It's been a mighty long time since I've done a picture-heavy entry. Hope you enjoy.

Labels: Calvin, journal, vacation

Posted by Laura at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

After conversing extensively with Calvin this morning...

1. Continue to make progress paying off credit debt/auto loans.


2. Complete the mass undertaking of cleaning up our credit reports.


3. Participate in Innkeeper seminar in May.


4. Schedule a trip to Oregon (September?.)


5. Laura obtain a job in Oregon (transfer with AcronymCo? Early 2008?).


6. Sell the house in AZ (Summer 2008?).


7. Acquire an apartment in OR (Summer 2008?).


8. Calvin look for business ownership opportunities or employment... what do we want to be when we grow up?? (Fall 2008?)


9. Live in OR for a year, decide if roots should be established or if we want to move elsewhere... maybe Maine? Back to AZ? Timbuktu? Where on this Earth will we be happy??? (Utilize Sabbatical #2 to figure all this stuff out?). Stay financially, employally, and shelterally flexible until we KNOW where we want to be.


10. Live out the rest of our lives in peace, happiness, and prosperity. Travel extensively. Be happy where we're living and where we're working. Eat a lot of peaches.

Labels: headspace

Posted by Laura at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments

In adding yet MORE stuff to my sidebar (see new "Advocate" section), I realized just how entertained a person could be, for hours, just following all the links on my sidebar.

Not that the site content itself isn't entertaining enough, but damn, that sidebar is just all juicy and well rounded.

Labels: misc

Posted by Laura at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments

Bringing you the world of miscellany, one entry at a time.

Ladies and gentlemen, my new favorite song (from whence the title came): "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" by Fallout Boy.

This right here is just all fucked up.

I'm stuck at work. Calvin is home right now, and he gosh darn well better be installing our new dishwasher. Maytag. Purchase inspired by the aforementioned washer and dryer lurve.

Here ye, here ye, Dawn says she's going to be writing again, once she comes back from a vacation to N'awlins. We'll just see about that, the damn tease. That's right, missy! You're a T-to tha-E-to tha-ASE. Word.

I am about to seriously RIP MY NOSE OFF. I moved to Arizona expecting my allergies to improve. Because, you know, that's just the sort of false advertising the AZ Chamber of Commerce likes to indulge in, to lure in us transplants. Check this out, just to be able to, you know, breathe while trying to go to sleep last night, I had to blow my nose seventy bazillion times, take two different kinds of nasal spray, take my inhaler, AND apply a Breathe Right strip. And I was still jacked up. That's just all kinds of messed up, right there.

Okay, that was weird. I just got off the phone with one of my suppliers - someone I speak with infrequently and only briefly, all about business matters. The conversation went a little something like this:

me: "Hey, what can I do for you?"
him: "I gave up sex for Lent!"
me: "Uhhh, good for you?"

Hmm. I'm sure professional courtesy is not high up on that person's list of amenable qualities. That was just really strange.

Yeah, I got nuthin' else. Calvin and I are supposed to go to Sedona this weekend. I'll probably take pictures. I posted some pics of our trip to the Ren Fair to Flickr if anybody wants to stare at corseted boobies.

Laura OUT.

Labels: boredom, journal, misc

Posted by Laura at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments

Best things for March 5th '07 (see previous installment).

1. The Maytag Epic Washer and Dryer. We replaced the washer and dryer my Grandmother bought X(m) and me back in '94 when we first moved into this house. That was thirteen years ago (!?!), and that old washer and dryer lasted that long. Lately, though, the washer has been becoming unbalanced with every load, no matter how many times the clothes are shifted around. And the dryer started taking two and even three cycles to get the clothes dry. So, Calvin and I bought a Maytag Epic washer and dryer as replacements, and Calvin installed them last weekend. Well, first Calvin installed a new cupboard to go over the washer and dryer. In the process he drilled a hole in a pipe, mistaking it for a stud because the stud finder said so, and had to fix that first. But that was only a 45-minute detour (and how many husbands to you guys know that can fix a pipe leak behind a wall in 45 minutes??? He used a little baby blowtorch and everything. I was totally turned on.) In celebration of the new appliances, I washed the mountain of blankets that had been piling up in the garage. I was totally geeked for the entire afternoon. You can have a whispered conversation standing right next to them while they are both running, they're that quiet. A load is washed in 34 minutes flat, and dried (in ONE CYCLE) in 38 minutes. The front-loading washer has a tub that is gambolled so that it never gets off balance. And a detergent dispenser that mixes the soap with the water, instead of having to pour the soap into the tub itself. After struggling with the wash for the past several months, Marie and I were both geeked while Calvin shook his head and the weirdness.



2. Randy Couture, winner of UFC 68. Now, I'm not a huge fan of ultimate fighting, but Calvin and the kids are, so we bought the PPV event for Saturday night. It was a match between Couture (6'1", 205 lbs, 43 years old) and Tim Sylvia (6'8", 263 lbs, 31 years old). Sylvia, on top of being nearly 60 pounds heavier, 7 inches taller, and 12 years younger, also had a reach that was over a FOOT longer than Couture. And yet, the older, shorter, lighter man prevailed. They went all five rounds and Couture really dominated them all. I was impressed and yelling just as loud as everyone else during the match. Ahh, testosterony goodness.



3. Jameson Irish Whiskey. Okay, this is our hands-down favorite of all of the whiskeys we've tried. It's smooth and mellow, doesn't climb up your nose and burn your sinuses when you drink it, and is warm going down without making you feel like you have heartburn. We got a 12-year-old bottle for a decent price last weekend, having had it recommended to us by several bar tenders. If you ever want to know for sure what the good stuff is, ask a pro (or, us). When we go to Ireland (hopefully during my next Sabbatical), we are totally visiting their distillery.

Labels: best things

Posted by Laura at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments