Had dinner with my bro' last night at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond. We ate at the buffet restaurant. It sure was busy. The resort is huge now as the hotel, shops and more restaurants have opened. The ceiling is so high there.

Curtis filled up his plate the first round. I didn't have too much meat in my first round - a few raw carrots and cauliflower, rice pilaf, potato pancakes, cooked vegies, chicken strips, breaded cod balls - was saving room for desert!!! Ahhh, yes let's move on to the desert. I always get ripped off at buffets as I don't eat much meat but with the 2 for 1 coupon it was worth it. The desert buffet was grrrreat! It was deeelicious, made the buffet worth it. I had peanut butter pie, trifle, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate ?mousse? chocolate ?mouse? chocolate ?moose?, anyways, chocolate chip cookie and creme caramel. Didn't like the creme caramel at all, was sort of like a slimy hard boiled egg white. The cheesecake was good, best savoured and eaten very slowly - i.e. leave in your mouth for a bit to enjoy each and every bite. The chocolate chip cookie was reaallly good too. Mmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm. Yummy peanut butter pie - never had that before. Trifle was very good too.

Anyways, while on the waiting list waiting to be paged for dinner we went to the casino and I played the poker slot machine. Put in my usual $5 bill - i.e. 20 quarters/credits. Got up to about 41 quarters and then back down to $5 before cashing out. Lasted a while before getting back down to my $5 again. Good way to kill time while waiting. How come coffee, tea and soft drinks are free at the casino but juice which is better for you costs $2.25?

Was great to spend time with my bro' - glad we're able to hang out together. Maybe we'd see more of each other if we ever became neighbours :)

Had dinner with Ariena on Friday night at the Riverboat Casino restaurant in New West www.royalcitystar.bc.ca - the food was good and the restaurant was quite big. You don't have to go into the casino to get to the restaurant and you can't tell you're on a boat (i.e. no rocking motion) so it would've been okay for Kirk and Elaine's baby Kali. I won $5 at the poker slots - started with $5, got up to $17.50 and then cashed out at $10. Ariena accidently pushed a button that betted 10 quarters. I called over an employee to see if I could lower the bet but that wasn't possible. Ariena brought me good luck as I got a good hand from that bet! Thanks!

Going to the Riverrock Casino on Tuesday with Curtis for dinner at the buffet restaurant: www.greatcanadiancasinos.com/riverrock - I have a 2 for 1 coupon. Looking forward to it as I've only eaten in the food court there.

Here there are only 25 cent poker slot machines. Can't wait until we go to Vegas for New Year's as there are 5 cent ones there.

Well, another week gone by and another week without playing badminton. At least I've been doing a bit of walking. Had both massage and physio on Monday and Friday. Got dizzy on Monday so my massage therapist had to stop stretching my neck. Didn't have neck traction at physio that day either. Saw my doctor Tuesday and found out I have benign positional vertigo which is what has been causing my dizziness. Just an inner ear thing when particles in there are moving around. It's better now. Saw my doctor on Wednesday as well to go over the ICBC report for the MVA.

Wasn't feeling that great Thursday so ended up cancelling my Chocolate Festival volunteer orientation - didnt' feel like going to Coquitlam. But will hopefully go the festival in a few weeks.

One of my coworkers donated a container of coins for my Arthritis Society Joints in Motion Team fundraising. I was shocked as she had already donated a container of coins a few months ago that turned out to be close to $50. This time it was just under $20 so another great donation and a nice surprise. This week has been good for fundraising as I've been selling Famous Players tickets, chocolate covered almonds, Kernels popcorn and Arthritis Society bracelets. Even sold a bracelet to the teller at the bank yesterday!!! :)

Just the usual during the week. Didn't do much this weekend. Slept a lot :) Ray and I went to the Keg for dinner last night. Curtis and Eliza came by to pick up our brand new BBQ and gas tank which had been collecting dust on our balcony since it was given to us as a wedding present 3 years ago. Had brand new Pampered Chef and Regal utensils too so was a whole set they got.

Was hoping to go to the Nike warehouse sale at the PNE since it's the last day today, but my back and neck have been bothering me this weekend. Been having pain and dizzy spells. Took 2 Advils 1/2 hour ago so am starting to feel it kick in.

Hmm, been a few weeks since my last update. Let's see, been fundraising - selling Arthritis Society bracelets, popcorn, chocolate almonds (sold 13 boxes to the staff at Mr. Ho's Chinese restaurant!).

Last weekend I was in Nanaimo for my Dad's birthday dinner on Friday. Curtis and Ray were also over. Yoda, my parents' Rottie pup was only 8 1/2 weeks old, so cute and fluffy with soft puppy fur :) My Mom and I were at Woodgrove Mall on Saturday at a table where we were selling blue bracelets (which say Arthritis Society Hope for the Long Run and has the Arthritis blue bird on it), stickers by donation and donations. Since my Mom was there the whole day and didn't mind sitting at the table I got to stretch a lot walking around the mall shopping! Thanks MOM!!!

My Dad was at a golf tournament Saturday. My mom and I went to pick up Yoda at Lisa's house after the mall as she was dog-sitting during the day. It was so cute seeing Dark Vader and Luke - Yoda's remaining siblings. They're so adorable! Can't believe Lisa copied Dad and named her pups after Star Wars too!

Then my Mom and I had dinner at the casino and then stayed there for a bit playing the slots.

On Sunday, my Dad picked up Cassie, Yoda's mom. Mom, Dad, Cassie, Yoda and I went to Swy-A-Lana Lagoon for the SPCA Pause for a Cause walk. No free give-aways like in Vancouver and not very many booths but still lots of dogs. Good thing Cassie was there as Yoda would follow her and it wasn't difficult walking him. Yoda got a lot of attention as he looked like a little fluffy, stubby bear cub which is what a lot of people said as they saw us. Then when they saw Cassie was his mom got even more attention.

Was quite an interesting weekend. Was hoping to play badminton Sunday night but was too tired from lack of sleep (i.e. no chance to crash yet on the weekend) and had a lot of back pain from sitting at the mall and the ferry rides. So went to bed at 9pm!!!

Sunday afternoon I volunteered for the Arthritis Society with registration for the athletes for the Triathalon. Part of the registration fee went to the Arthritis Society. I was at the Fila store on Robson for 3 hours writing #'s on swim caps, finding t-shirt sizes and race bibs, and handing out race bags. Triathaletes don't look as drawn out and haggard as some marathoners. I guess there's more bulk from the muscles they use from swimming and cycling.

Picked up the Arthritis Society blue "Hope For the Long Run" silicone rubber bracelets with the Arthritis Society's blue bird on it. I'm selling them for $2 each.

Played badminton Sunday night.

On Monday went cycling for the first time this year across the Queensborough Bridge. Ahem, let me rephrase that. Ray cycled across the bridge. I got about 1/3 of the way and was getting too much anxiety from the traffic whooshing by and the narrow width of the sidewalk so I got off my bike and walked it the rest of the way. When someone came in the opposite direction there wasn't enough room unless one of the parties stopped their bike. The first thing Ray asked when I got to the other side was "did you fall?". We cycled around all the new stores and restaurants by Walmart. Went to the viewpoint with benches at the Fraser River. Ray thought there was a fence under the water but it was a shopping cart. Had a pleasant walk back over the bridge and noticed that the sign at the end said that cyclists are supposed to dismount when going over the bridge - HRRRUMMPH!!! I took time to look at the view from the middle of the Queensborough Bridge. First time while stationary. There's an ICBC salvage yard there with mangled cars in every form of ?manglement? Man, I was cringing looking at some of the wreckage as there was no one any could survive the cars that were totally smooshed on the driver's side. We cycled to New West Quay along the boardwalk. Couldn't sleep later on that night as every bone and joint in my body was screaming in pain. Had to take Advil before I could sleep :(

Did the usual massage and physio and played badminton last week. Had my eye exam at my optometrist. Been over 2 years since my last one. They do retinal scans now so got to see my retina on his computer. Ewwww, yuck, lots of veins and the black macular whatever-it-was. Was interesting to see it but when Ray asked if I got a copy of it - it's not something I would really want to look at again. Told my optometrist about my mom's vitreous detachment and cataract.

Hmm, let's see. Last week. Went out for dinner for my cousin's birthday. Heh heh heh. Two years older than me again eh? My other cousin, his wife and their baby were there too. Went to the Arthritis Society office to sign up to volunteer for the triathalon registration.

This past weekend, saw the movie the 40 Year Old Virgin. Was pretty good but thought a few scenes were unnecessary like when the guy who went to Tijiuana recounted what happened there with a woman and a horse. I thought that was disturbing, i.e. not even funny. Ray and the audience laughed at some scenes I didn't really find funny. Went to Krispy Kreme after the movie. By then my back was killing me from too much sitting :( Ate my custard-filled chocolate doughnut. Was going to walk around the parking lot to stretch but when I saw a couple of guys fighting, punching each other and dropping their box of doughnuts and coffee in the parking lot I decided to stretch in the car.