I like the colours of my blog now. With the template I picked I can't change the 2 side colours or the colour behind "Steph's World". Well, maybe I could if I knew anything about HTML. May still play around with other templates but like the lilac theme of the middle sections.

I've been stuck at home with my cold and taking lots of naps. I've been playing around with the customization features of blogger. Haven't found the template and colour combination I like yet but will continue playing around with it another day.

Did the usual Christmas Eve present-opening at the inlaws at midnight. Then woke up on Christmas day with a cold. Felt lousy but was still functional so still made it to Nanaimo. Went shopping at Mark's Work Wearhouse with the folks on Boxing Day and then went over to N's place for a visit - thanks for the appies! Came back to the mainland on the 27th with C&E. We got to Duke Point early. It was pissing rain and windy so we stayed in the car but when we found out we had been left behind along with 9 other cars and missed the 1:05pm sailing we hunkered down in the cafeteria and waited for the 3:15 boat. The boat going home was rocky but since it was the bigger Queen of Coquitlam it wasn't too bad - I only felt the quease once or twice when I walked around (the Queen of Esquimalt was really bobbing on the trip over). A woman beside us in the caf kept asking a ferry worker if we were hitting whales when there was loud banging. She didn't believe the worker that it was just the boat hitting the waves even when the worker went and confirmed with the Chief Steward.

Met the Olympic Mascots

I met the Olympic mascots when they were touring the various Zellers and Bays in mid-December. I saw them at the Zellers at Metropolis just before they left for the day.

The Bay downtown has jumbo-sized mascots in their window display by the Olympic stuff. It would be cool to have all 3 (if I had the space and wanted to blow $1500!). When I asked the cashier how much they were she said that she could take my name and phone #. She said they have to be special ordered and that the price wasn't set yet - it depends on the demand for them. But the price would be somewhere between $400 and $600. I said, thanks but even though I would like to have a jumbo Miga I can't afford it!

Gingerbread Lane at the Hyatt

I popped into the Hyatt downtown a few weeks ago to see their Gingerbread Lane. Their were various gingerbread creations with the most unique being a hockey rink and a replica of the bus depot. The gingerbread creations were done by different schools and there was a contest where you could vote on which one you liked best. The photos I took were with my cell phone but someone else has posted photos which are really good: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Hyatt+Regency+Vancouver+&m=text

Sleep Country delivered our new king size bed last Sunday. Ahhhhh, it is soooooo comfy. It's a pillowtop with lumbar support so it's great for my back. No more tossing and turning before I fall asleep and no more taking Advil because my back hurts and I can't sleep. I can spread out and not be cramped. Will have the old queen size bed brought back to Nanaimo - I believe it was originally bought at Fletchers there back in 1998 or 1999. One of the Sleep Country delivery guys said that the bed looked brand new. Probably because there was a mattress protector and bed skirt on it.

Replaced the old bedside tables with a pair of narrower ones with drawers from Ikea.

Shopping Spree at Mark's Work Wearhouse

Last weekend on Saturday night I went to Mark's Work Wearhouse customer appreciation event which had an additional 20% off regular or saled priced items. I also had one of their $10 -off-a-minimum-$50-purchase coupon that come periodically in the mail with their flyers. The store was open until 11pm although their website said 9pm for Dec. 8. Great for me as I didn't get there until 8 and there was a huge line-up then. By the time I left after 10 there were only a few people left in the store. Anyways, their clothes fit me so well. I got a fleecy for just under $14, a cardigan hoodie sweater for $10.50, jeans and other pants for $10.50 each, slacks for $7.50 and pants for $3.00.

There's a sample sale going on for other clothes that I may check out next week.

Even thought Big Willie's new movie is getting poor reviews I still want to see it - perhaps next weekend. Too bad I don't have time to read the book before seeing it. There's a German Shepherd in the movie too - bonus!

Will Smith to tour next summer!

In the 24 hrs today I was reading about Big Willie's latest movie I am Legend which is coming out next week and learned that he and DJ Jazzy Jeff will be hitting the road and touring next year! Possibly to coincide with the release of his summer movie John Hancock. I can't believe it! I'm soooo excited!!! He and Madonna were the last 2 concerts I wanted to see. I didn't think Will Smith would ever tour. I've wanted to see him for years. Since I saw Madonna last year I never thought I'd see my last concert wish! I wonder how close he's going to be!?!

New West Casinos

The Riverboat Casino in New West will be closing soon so we'd better go there and use the ET coupon before it's closed. I wonder who will buy it? I'm looking forward to checking out the new casino that's opening in New West, the Starlight Casino. It's opening on Dec. 11 and has more of an Asian theme than other casinos.

Olympic Mascot Buzz

There sure was a lot of build-up to the release of the mascot designs. When I first saw what they looked like I didn't like them at all. But after being inundated with the media they have grown on me and I am starting to think they are cute. I doubt I'll buy any of the stuffed animals but if there was a stuffed Inukshuk I would consider getting one.

November has gone by fast. There have been some beautiful crisp clear sunny days recently. That disappeared this weekend with it snowing all weekend. At least it is melting now and lots of rain is in the forecast so it won't have a chance to freeze (I hope). Hopefully there won't be any flooding. I've been hibernating all weekend. With the change in the weather comes the usual arthritic woes and fatigue so have been sleeping a lot more than usual this weekend. Oh well, thinking back a year ago I was going to Honolulu for the marathon. Ahhh, the memories.

Dog Show

Went to the dog show in Abbotsford a few weekends ago. Hadn't been to a competition show for quite a few years. It's sad to see how sloped the German Shepherds hind quarters are and how bent their back legs are now. Too bad the standards haven't changed.

It was great to get in my doggie fix. There was a Pacific Assistance Dogs booth with a few dogs and an adorable fluffy puppy. I looked into volunteering to be a puppy-cuddler for them a while ago but there was a waiting list for the evenings so I haven't been to an orientation yet.

A lot of the vendors were giving away free dog food so I got quite a few bags for Y.

This past week went by like a blur. Played badminton on Tuesday. Glad the rain subsided and the sun was out even though it's nippy out there meaning the yucky aches and pains.

West Coast Chocolate Festival

Played badminton on Saturday and Tuesday last week. Was recovering from the overdose of free maple-leafed shaped sample chocolates from the West Coast Chocolate Festival chocolate factory tour at Chocolate Works and wasn't able to play last night. Then today I had arthritic angst and fatigue so couldn't play. I checked and sure enough the aches and pain index is up which coincides with my arthritis pains.

I enjoyed volunteering at one of the Chocolate Festival events - Chicks & Chocolate on Friday night at the Executive Hotel in Coquitlam. There were lots of vendors giving away free samples and interesting booths and presentations. I ended up volunteering to be a baresuit model. I found out that a baresuit is a bathrobe with legs. Coincidentally I modelled a purple one which is one of their new colours. There were Cancan dancers and then myself, S another Chocolate Festival volunteer and 2 of the people from the pole dancing table modelled the baresuit on the stage. Myself and S wandered around the event modelling the baresuits and also stood beside the the baresuit vendor table where the founders Gordon Lloyd and Suzanne Armstrong were. Gordon wouldn't go up with me to try the pole dancing (he was one of the very few males there) but Suzanne did! It was quite warm swinging around on a pole in a baresuit.

I missed seeing the rest of the dance demos: belly dancing, salsa, line dancing; and the beer and chocolate pairing and the desert demo and sampling as I was helping sell chocolates from Chocolate Works as well as dipping fruit, marshmallows and cookies in the yummy chocolate fountain for the guests. Unfortunately it was quite tempting to help myself to dipping fruit and eating the other chocolate samples we had on the table. There were also other yummy appetitzers: the chicken was great. Dismantling the chocolate fountain was interesting. After it was turned off the chocolate was allowed to drip into the bottom then we had to scrape the excess chocolate with gloves and paper towels.

I feel good!

I went to physio last night and I have felt soooooooooooooooooo good ever since. I was able to sleep without the usual tossing and turning to avoid the back and neck pain. I feel so mellow and relaxed! I don't remember the last time I felt so good after physio! Thanks L! You are the best!

2010 Olympics Ticket Prices Revealed!

How exciting! The 2010 Olympics ticket prices were posted yesterday! Wow! I can't believe the prices for the opening and closing ceremonies! As exciting as they may be I don't know how much I'll want to shell out for the opening ceremonies. It's quite a jump from the "cheap" tickets ($175) to the next cheapest ($550). I'd like to see women's hockey.

With this wet, damp weather comes arthritic angst, pain and fatigue. I was supposed to go to a wedding last Saturday but was unable to go. I made it to 2 family Thanksgiving dinners on Sunday and Monday as I was feeling better but have been a hermit since as I have had too much pain and fatigue. Ahhh, the warmth and pain-free days in California and Vegas seem like such a long time ago now!

I just posted photos from my Anaheim and Vegas trip.

Thursday, Oct. 4/07. Shopping in Las Vegas, flight to Seattle and drive home.

We spent our last day in Vegas shopping at the Outlet Center south of the airport. Ray went shopping for some Dewalt stuff first elsewhere so didn't end up going to the driving range. I hit all my favourite sports stores as I wanted some more of the moisture wicking tops. I went to Adidas, Nike, and Reebok but only ended up buying some more Nike quarter socks. I was disappointed they didn't come in the bulk 6-pack anymore as those are cheaper. They are now in 3-packs but come in a light blue, pink and LILAC swoosh. So the lilac swoosh is cool to have! Plus the quarter socks now have more reinforcement.

The flight back to Seattle was uneventful. We actually made up time and arrived over 10 minutes early even though we took off about 10 minutes late. We were the only car crossing the border around 3am Friday morning.

Wednesday, Oct. 3/07. Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino. China Star Buffet. Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino.

We went to the Calloway golf course south of Mandalay Bay as D had mentioned yesterday that he went to the driving range there. Ray wanted to check out the driving range and find out if they rented out lefty clubs. He was going to hit some balls at the range and I was going to go to the outlet mall. We were too late as the guy who did the demos was only there from 9 to 4.

Ray was going to drop me off at the north outlet mall instead and then go to the Hilton but since there was gridlock due to an accident on Charleston we just both went to the Hilton.

We went to the Las Vegas Hilton as Ray wanted to get a Star Trek cap and mug. I wandered around the souvenir store there and then we went to the arcade. It wasn't very big but I played Dance Revolution. It was a newer version so I didn't like most of the songs on it but found a few I recognized.

We went to the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino (formerly Aladdin). There is still construction being done there and the self-park entrance still had the Aladdin sign. There was a mall surround the casino called the Miracle Mile with a lot of stores and restaurants. It seemed newish. There was a free rainstorm show that was on the hour but we missed it as we parked at ph so that we could meet D for dinner at China Star Buffet. The parking spots that used to be closer to the restaurant had disappeared. D was already there when we got there. He had text-messaged me earlier as he had been on time. My first round I had brocolli, string beans and beef and onions. The 2nd round I had salmon and lean sweet and sour pork (without the fattening batter part). The 3rd round I had soft chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake. Everything was deeeelicious! D paid for both of us as he had made quite a profit from gambling at craps. Thanks D! After dinner we just wandered around the ph casino and then through the mall. D left to go to New York New York to ESPN and I paid $10 for a 5 minute neck and shoulder massage in the middle of the mall. Ahhhhh, it felt so good. Will tide me over until I go to physio next week.

Tuesday, Oct. 2/07 Titanic Exhibit - Tropicana Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas

We went to Circuit City as Ray wanted to check out the electronics and computer stuff. Then we ate at IHOP. I only had a bowl of vegetable soup as I had eaten a peanut butter and banana sandwich earlier.

We went to the Tropicana Hotel and Casino to see the Titanic Exhibit. Ray went there kicking and screaming :) It was there the last time we were there for New Year's 2006 but we never got around to seeing it. There's also an exhibit currently in Victoria but it's ending Thanksgiving weekend. We got to the exhibit around 9:30 and had until 11pm to finish. The exhibit was excellent. It was so cool to see all the items that were recovered from the wreck after being under water for at least 75 years. The first recovery of artificacts was done in 1987 and the sinking was in 1912. It was heartwrenching to see a lot of the items as they were named and a lot belonged to those who perished. There was a replica of the grand staircase, as well as an outside deck. There was a mock iceberg to touch to feel how cold it was. After the Titanic sank it became mandatory to have enough lifeboats for all passengers aboard boats. The Titanic only had half the # of lifeboats. It was also heartwrenching to know that a lot of the passengers aboard were only on board due to being transferred from other ships that weren't sailing due to a coal strike. At the beginning of the exhibit we were each given a card with the name and description of someone who was aboard that fateful trip. At the end of the exhibit all the names were listed by passenger class as to who survied and who died. Both of the people Ray and I were survived. I read every single thing during the exhibit. Ray was bored silly and just walked through most of it without reading anything. He was probably as bored silly as I was when I went to the Star Trek exhibit with him a few years ago :) We went the the 24 hour Garden Fresh Cafe to eat afterwards in the hotel and I had a Denver omelette.

Coincidentally a coworker was also in Vegas so he popped by to visit us afterwards at the resort. He is staying at a friend's place. While I was waiting for him I rode around with one of the security guards on his golf cart. He saw me on my walkie talkie to Ray so wanted to look at it.

For some reason I'm not able to post any photos in any of my blogs. Oh well, I'll just do a mass upload onto Flickr.

Monday, Oct. 1/07 Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, Arcade and Lion Habitat at the MGM Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas

I was having a great birthday week so far and had an excellent birthday dinner at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. I had the beet and arugula salad. It was deeeelicious. Besides the typical red beets there were candystriped beets and golden beets, both of which I'd never had before. Ray asked if they did anything for b'days and the waitress said that they could do a cheesecake. I asked if they had anything chocolate and she said she would bring out the chocolate mouse tart. Yee ha! It was the best chocolate desert I've had - it was sooooooooooo good. I savoured every taste and flavour of it.

After dinner as I was trying to find the Lion Habitat Ray got a Superman cap at the CBS store of all places. Still trying to find the Lion Habitat we ended up at the arcade there and I played 3 of my favourite games. 2 oldies: Area 51, Centipede and Dance Revolution. I only play Dance Revolution when there isn't anyone around to watch as I'm not very good at it. But it's a good workout and I haven't been brave enough to try anything past the beginner or easy level.

I finally asked someone where the Lion Habitat was and it turned out we were on the wrong side of the building. We had seen the lions before so I just looked at them for a bit and then played a 5 cent poker slot machine with Ray. Shortly after a large crowd had gathered around the habitat so I went back to see what was going on. The lions in the habitat were brother and sister. Two guys inside were throwing some sort of ground meat on the inside of the windows and the lions would go up to the window and eat it off. Very good Kodak moments for all concerned. I watched for quite a while and then the guys started playing catch with the lions. That was interesting as the male one was on a high ledge and when the guy threw the ball the lion would try and catch the ball with it's paw and then let it go to roll back down to the guy.

Studio 54 is on the same side of MGM as the Lion Habitat. Perhaps I will check it out some time if I go to Vegas with N in the future.

Sunday, Sept. 30/07 Cirque du Soleil "O", Las Vegas

We arrived around 9:50 pm to see the 10:30 show. We got into the lobby of the theatre but the doors into the seating area weren't opened yet. It was strange to be so early for an event. We had so much time to kill. Our seats were really good as they were in the bottom of the 2nd level of the orchestra. I'm glad S told me about her experience at the show in the balcony. She said that it was difficult to follow everything from the height of the balcony level. It was cool as the clowns did a bunch of skits in the area right below us as did other cast members throughout the show.

The show was excellent! So spectacular, different, graceful, and amazing. There were so many different kinds of performances in and out of the water stages, acrobatic and non. There were high dives and so many different stages in the water that were moved around. These were awesome athletes! The singing was good too, it was so powerful. What a difference from the other Cirque show Mystiere that we saw a few years ago. This one was so much better. No comparison.

Sunday, Sept. 30/07 Wynn Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas

We ate in our room. I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich and Ray had leftovers from Chinatown. We went to the Bellagio and picked up our "O" tickets then went to the Wynn hotel/casino as it's the newest hotel and we haven't seen that one before. The halls and ceilings were beautiful with all sort of different ornate items lining the display cases and sitting on various display counters. Everything was expensive there. We had snacks in the Sugar and Ice cafe where there was a high waterfall outside but the patio was closed for maintenance. I had a Chinese chicken salad which had cabbage, won ton crisps, snow peas and some other veggies in it. There was no chicken to be found in it though, or at least not that I could tell. The spicy peanut sauce was good but by the time I finished the salad I realized that it was too rich so got some green tea. $4 for tea! And Ray's milkshake was $7! Egad! We wandered around the hotel admiring all the inticately-designed hallways and ceilings. We went to the highlight of the hotel which was a restaurant beside a huge waterfall that changed colour and a mechanical 2-flower show. I heard someone say it was supposed to be Adam and Eve as there were male and female statues at the bottom of the falls. The mechanical flower show was cool as they flew around and bloomed like umbrellas. The theme just inside the viewing area were umbrellas.

Saturday, Sept. 29/07 Anaheim to Vegas

Checked out at noon and drove back to Vegas. I think it took about 4 1/2 hours including bathroom breaks. Checked in to the timeshare in Vegas and then went to Sam Wu in Chinatown to eat and then went to Food 4 Less to get some groceries. Our place in Vegas is big with one bedroom, a full-size living room, kitchen (with a stove, microwave, all dishes, pots and pans, cutlery, kitchen utensils, bakeware, blender etc, dishwasher) and breakfast nook. The walk-in closet is huge with lots of shelving and space enough for a bed in there! There is a separate room for the toilet and one for the sink/bathtub. We also have a washer and dryer so it was nice to do some laundry in the suite. Since I always spot bugs when no one else does I spotted a small spider on the pantry door, a huge beetle scurrying around one one of the closet floors and a silverfish on the wall. These spottings were not all at the same time - whew. Luckily, Ray, my hero nabbed all of these and flushed them down the toilet. There are sooo many doors in here! The closet door by the main door entrance. We also have a sliding glass door onto the balcony. There is a pantry door in the kitchen, another closet door between the living room and bedroom. A door to the washer and dryer room which connects to the toilet room via another door. The toilet room has 2 doors - the one going through to the washer and dryer room and then one to the sink/bathtub room. The sink/bathtub room also has 2 doors as the other door goes into the bedroom. The bedroom has a regular door plus one that goes to the walk-in closet. 9 separate inside doors is a lot for a 1 bedroom place!

Ray and I played foosball in the activity room. I was spinning the handles so fast and working up quite a sweat while playing. It was quite a workout as I get quite excited at trying to beat Ray (which I never do) . There was one game where I only lost by a few points :)

Friday, Sept. 28. The Marketplace Tustin and Irvine, California.

Went to the Marketplace in Tustin and Irvine and spent time wandering around Best Buy and Circuit City. We at the Macaroni Grill. The simple salmon I had was deeeeeelicious with little chunks of tomatoes on top. One of the best salmon dishes I've had. Mmmm, mmm, mmm.

Thursday, Sept. 27/07 - Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier, California

Ray wanted to check out Best Buy so we found one closeby. We spent some time in there. The Grey’s Anatomy 3rd season DVD was $49.99 there but had some sort of insert in the back that the ones we got from Ellen didn’t. After a while I was so bored I ended up sitting on the shopping cart and Ray pushed me in it while he looked around.

We went to Venice Beach as I’d read online that:

“It does have canals and gondoliers just like in Italy! Home to sun and surf, Venice also has a vibrant, off-beat beach community teeming with street musicians, skaters, t-shirt vendors, and cafes. This is a great place to shop for inexpensive souvenirs. See and be seen at the Sidewalk Café at 1401 Ocean Front Walk (at Horizon) for inexpensive American fare.”

We never saw the canals but did go by Marina Del Rey and found the Sidewalk Café. We ate at this café as they had a wide and varied menu. I had a Monet salad which had had spinach, goat cheese, glazed walnuts, apples and raspberry vinaigrette in it. It was really good. It was a neat atmosphere as no cars were allowed on Ocean Front Walk and there were various vendors on the beach side under their own umbrellas or out in the open (like the guy playing the piano, the guy painting names and the typical silver man). Little shops with oddball wares, hotels and cafes, lined the other side of the Ocean Front Walk. It was bustling with tourists, skateboarders, rollerbladers and pedestrians and behind the vendors were beautiful beaches left and right as far as the eye could see. The lifeguard towers could be seen too and I think Baywatch has been filmed here.

After we wandered around the beach and watched the surfers we drove a bit north and went to the Santa Monica Pier. There were people playing beach volleyball there. The pier had an amusement park on it which had a large ferris wheel that was 9 stories above the sea, a roller coaster and other rides. There were fishing poles for rent at the end of the pier. There was also a restaurant there too. The view of the sunset from the pier was beautiful and beaches could be seen as far as the eye could see to the left and right. We didn’t get around to looking for Muscle Beach which was supposed to be just south of the pier on the beach. It’s a surfside gym with gymnastic rings, swings and chin-up bars. It was too dark. We ended up spending some time in the arcade as they had not one, but two Centipede games!!!!! Centipede (and Battlezone) was my favourite arcade game back in the 80’s. There was also my favourite shooting game Area 51. I couldn’t leave until I got a high score on Centipede which took a few tries. Ray played Raiden while I became soaked in sweat, stiff and sore from the excitement and cursing while playing my old favourites. I was # 7 on the Area 51 game.

After leaving the pier we drove past the 3rd Street Promenade which was 3 blocks from the ocean and had a pedestrian walkway with outdoor cafes, restaurants, coffeehouses, bookstores, movie theatres and shops lining the walk. It was quite busy and reminded us of Robson Street but without any cars.

After leaving Santa Monica we went to Chinatown in L.A. for dinner. I think we got there about 9pm and ate at the Golden Dragon restaurant. I had cod and choy sum. Ugh- I forgot to ask them not to put in MSG so suffered with bloating and fatigue on the drive back to Anaheim.

We weren’t allowed to park our own car (Chrysler Sebring) at the resort so we had to leave it with the valet every night.

Monday, Sept. 24/07 Seattle to Vegas to Anaheim

Went to bed about 4am Sunday night so didn’t get much sleep. We left for Seattle at about 9:50 am and had a 45 minute wait at the border. As soon as we got to Extra Car in Seattle (park and fly) the guy asked us what time our flight was (2:55pm). I think at that time our flight was less than 90 minutes away. We were quickly shuffled out of our car, checked in and were being bused to the airport. They moved so fast that the guy had our suitcases on the bus before we had even left the car.

There was only 1 couple in front of us when we checked in at US Airways. There was a short line-up for the x-ray. When they got to mine the guy yelled: “Supervisor please”. The supervisor came and then looked at the screen. The supervisor put on gloves and got a wand with some sort of pad on the end. After checking with the wand he checked my bag – ugh! I had forgotten to empty out my 2 water bottles! They took my bottles and emptied them somewhere and brought them back to me. Ray had forgotten to discard his bottle of Coke but luckily his was loose in the bin, not in his bag so someone spotted it before it went through x-ray.

Before we left I was careful to take out my hand lotion and After Bite so that there wouldn’t be anything liquidy in my pack sack. But after the whirlwind at the park and fly I totally forgot to empty my water bottles. Oh well, the people behind me were only delayed for a few minutes J

The flight was uneventful – we were in row 6 quite close to the front. I slept and Ray watched a DVD after a brief nap. I fought the quease during the descent which seemed to last forever. If it wasn’t for the eye patch I think I would’ve tossed my cookies.

In Vegas ray wanted to eat in Chinatown before the drive to Anaheim so we went to Sam Wu BBQ where we’d been before. I knew it was somewhere around the intersection of the Spring Mountain/Valley View area.

I drove the first few hours from about 8pm to 10pm and then Ray drove the rest of the way to the timeshare – Shell Vacations Club at Peacock Suites Resort. It’s only a few blocks away from Disneyland. I think it took us about 4 ½ hours or so.

Tuesday, Sept. 25/07 Sunset Beach and Long Beach, California

We slept in and caught up on sleep. By the time we hit the road it was 4pm. We drove to Sunset Beach and ate at the Westbay Café. The waitress there was an older blonde women with a pony tail who looked like she had too much sun in her youth as she looked like a piece of leather! Actually I’ve seen a few older blonde women who have looked like that. At Sunset Beach I quickly stepped out and took a few photos of the beach and of the huge kites people were flying. There were a lot of homes along the long stretches of beach.

We went to Long Beach Pier H and went to the 4th floor of the Queen Mary boat and looked around. It’s a big Atlantic ocean liner that sailed in the 1930’s and then in the 1940’s started carrying military personnel. It was retired from regular passenger service in 1967 and is now a hotel with restaurants and other attractions. The view was beautiful across the water of the pier along Shoreline drive where the ferris wheel was lit up.

We then drove back over the water to Shoreline Drive and checked out Gameworks at the Pike but didn’t see anything we wanted to play.

We went to Albertson’s on the way back to buy groceries as we had a fridge and microwave in the 1-bedroom suite. We dropped off the groceries and then went to eat at the Panda Express – a Chinese fast food place.

It’s $9.95 for 24 hour internet here (4pm to 4pm) so checked email etc.

Wednesday, Sept. 26/07 The Ellen Degeneres Show, Burbank California

We ate in the room – Ray had Cheerios and I had soy milk. The temperature has been nice and warm but not too hot. It was in the late 70’s yesterday and supposed to be in the early 80’s today. We left for Burbank about 10:30 am and got there shortly after 11:30 am. There was a section for standby and a section for guaranteed ticket holders. We were # 39 and # 40 in line for the Ellen show! We got there way earlier than last time where we were #188 and #189. I think the standby #’s started at about #180 or so. We waited in the holding area watching the previous day’s show on the tv’s. There was a small concession. There was someone escorting groups to the washroom inside the studio.

We had to line up according to # out in the sun which was scorching hot! Since we were one of the first ones we had to stand out there the longest as they called 1 to 30, then 1 to 60 etc. until they got to the 200’s. Luckily we only had to stand there for a few minutes. It was so refreshing to go inside the studio which was air-conditioned. I think it was around 2:30. We practiced cheering and clapping and screaming etc and did a lot of dancing before Ellen came out. We had good seats in the section on the side where Ellen sits. So when she did her dancing she ended up near our section before going back to her chair. During breaks they had audience members dance and gave them shirts while Ellen had her makeup touched up and practiced lines.

The first guest was a guy who could jump over the width of a car which he did as they brought a car on stage – very impressive. Later on in the show he went outside and jumped over 5 cars – not all at a time but one at a time. He’s currently a busboy so Ellen is going to try to contact Nike to see if he can work for them as she was so impressed by what he could do. He said he’s never been injured. His poor knees! T.R. Knight from Grey’s Anatomy was the next guest and talked about his new puppy as well as “coming out.” Babyface sang a few songs. All the guests got a DVD of Grey’s Anatomy 3rd season. After the show I was so tired and sweaty from all the dancing, screaming and excitement of the show. The show had ended by 4:00.

We went to the Warner Bros. studio store but Ray didn’t like the Superman caps or shirts there. The shirts were a faded colour and not very nice looking.

We went to (Arnie) Morton’s Steakhouse as it was one of the places listed to eat nearby the Ellen show (NBC studio). Woo hoo – we didn’t realize how expensive it was. After we were inside I vaguely recalled S talking about this restaurant back home. The host who sat us was in a tux and he pulled the whole table out so we could sit in the U-shaped booth. The waitress verbally told us the menu and showed platters of the various steak cutgs and veggies etc. Ray and I each had a filet mignon. The veggies and potatoes were meant for sharing so we only ordered one order of steamed broccoli and one order of sautéed onions. The broccoli was huge! It was 2 small heads of broccoli not cut up. The onions were a huge portion too. We only ate 1 half of the round onion loaf as it was quite big. The bread was difficult to cut on the bottom as it was sort of hard so we had lots of crumbs on the table! The host said that if we go to the Morton’s in Vancouver that we should try the bread as he said the bread in Burbank was better.

Traffic was heavy leaving Burbank around 6:30. We stopped at the Citadel Outlet stores. I just went to a few stores and was in Reebok when the centre closed at 8:00 pm.

I was so tired from all the excitement of the day and I think from heat exhaustion standing out in the sun. We went to bed early at 11:00 pm. Every day we’ve gotten up too late to go for the free continental breakfast. Oh well, what else is new!

It's been nice without any arthritic pain!!! Just the usual stiff neck and back but that is tolerable.

I got my doggy fix a few weeks ago at the BC SPCA Paws for a Cause...Walk for the Animals event. Randene Neil from Global TV was the MC. The musical chairs and bowl-licking contests were hilarious to watch. I volunteered at the drink tent with one other volunteer selling pop. The other half of our tent was used to sell Happy Planet juice by 2 women who go to different events promoting the juice. Usually they give away the juice for free but were taking donations for it. After the Happy Planet staff left there were still some bottles of Happy Planet juice so we sold those too. All proceeds went to the SPCA. After the BC Lions cheerleaders helped start the walk off they moved aside and that's where our drink tent happened to be.

Speaking of volunteering, with my newfound free time I was able to volunteer for the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) Semi-Annual Conference in administration.

Went to Nanaimo last weekend.

Been having back and neck pain along with arthritic joint pain with this cooler damper weather. I'm really looking forward to going to Anaheim and Vegas and being in a warmer climate for the next 2 weeks. I guess I'd better go finish packing.

I posted photos from when we went to the PNE 2 weeks ago. It was a nice sunny day but quite chilly at night. It was great to go on a Monday when it wasn't as busy.

It's been a while since I blogged. Now with Facebook I find that I spend more time on that. The summer has gone by quickly this year. I can't believe September is here already! Some of the highlights from the past few months are:

• BC Cancer Foundation's Underwear Affair for cancers below the waist. I was able to raise $300 and did the 5k walk with A and H. I've posted some photos from the event. It was a lot of fun and for a good cause dear to me. The fact that it started late in the afternoon was a definite incentive and bonus for me!
• I hosted a Pampered Chef bridal shower for E and was glad that she was able to get so many awesome items as I love Pampered Chef stuff. The quality is great and they have so many cool products that help you out so much.
• I went to Nanaimo to visit the folks and also went to N's brother's wedding shower bbq there and met his fiancee. I'd already seen photos of her on Facebook so recognized her right away.
• Went to the Sunshine Coast for the first time with C and E. I tagged along with them as they finalized some of their wedding planning details. It's amazing how many people who were born and raised on the lower mainland have never been to the Sunshine Coast even though it is so close.
• Put together a slide show for C and E's wedding. R played a few old home videos on the original projector screen then videotaped them. The wedding location had a plasma tv so it turned out great! Luckily they had a plasma tv there as the white projector screen they had didn't show the old home video clearly.
• I took the Foodsafe level 1 course in case I need it for future volunteer positions. It was quite informative and interesting. Now I'm reading the Serving it Right manual and will eventually get that certificate for future volunteer positions.
• Have been to a few bbq's at relatives' places

testing only again

testing only

We saw Fantastic Four # 2 Rise of the Silver Surfer a few weekends ago. It was pretty good. I didn't see the first one but recall the cartoon when I was a kid. You didn't need to know anything about the Fantastic Four to see this movie so that was good. Ray was disappointed as the show didn't follow the comic book and he kept saying things like - so and so wasn't like that or so and so didn't do that etc. Oh well, too bad for him. I had never heard of the Silver Surfer or the planet stealing monster before so I obliviously enjoyed the movie.

Aberdeen Mall has sure changed since the last time I was there years ago. It looks totally different and is a lot bigger than I recall. I just looked up it's history and the original mall was demolished in 2001 and one 3 times its size was built. There was a dinosaur exhibit (on from July 1 to September 15) that had just started and there was one with moving arms and head. Quite impressive. I didn't see the store or ride but we were there on June 30 and the exhibit and adventure didn't start officially until July 1.

A few weekends ago Ray and I went to Aberdeen Mall in Richmond as I wanted to check out Daiso. "A" told me it's a store where everything is $2 but it's more upscale than the typical dollar store. Apparently the one in Richmond was the first one to open in North America as it originated in Japan and is quite big over there and in Asia. I was so overwhelmed in the store as it's 2 floors and has sooooooooo much stuff. It was too hard to focus and look at everything in under an hour as we got there shortly after 8:00 and the store closed at 9:00. Also I couldn't tell what everything was as the packaging was all in Japanese. All I ended up getting was lilac scissors.

Hmm, let's see what the highlights have been over the past few weeks. My co-worker and I went to the Esprit Warehouse sale on it's first day at the PNE. That was the Thursday before Canada Day. We both got good deals. A few of my other co-workers went on other days and got some stuff too. On the last day of the sale on July 2 everything was half price so my co-worker and her teen-age daughter were quite happy.

I just posted some dog sledding photos taken in Whistler in January.

Ray and I went to the recycling depot yesterday to recycle stuff that doesn't get picked up from home. We got rid of a few months of our soft plastics. It's hard to believe how much 2 people can accumulate. It's great to know how much stuff we've saved from not going to a landfill. We also dropped off used batteries and rechargeable batteries that don't keep their charge anymore. I was proud to drop off a huge garbage bag and a half of clothes to the Salvation Army bins they have there. I'm sure I could give away more clothes that I haven't worn for a while but that's it for now :)

Ray and I went out for dinner at Sui Sha Ya at Metrotown yesterday. He wanted a cream roll afterwards so went to Maxim's to pick one up. Maxim's is right across from T&T. I hadn't been to T&T since the food mall moved upstairs. Wow! It sure is different now. It's so much more spacious and has it's own food court with dim sum and other types of food. I was quite impressed.

Didn't do much today. Slept in until the early afternoon and then went to IHOP for lunch. I was craving their Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes. Was soooo good with the blueberry syrup. Came home and took a 2 hour nap.

Father's Day weekend went by fast. Went to Ray's parents' for potluck dinner. His dad had prostate cancer surgery at the end of May so is recovering from that. Went to Nanaimo on Sunday. Since I was still sick I basically just crashed on Monday and didn't do anything but rest and sleep. Luckily I had a day off.

Most of my cold symptoms have disappeared except for having to clear my throat every now and then. I don't have my strength back yet and my allergies are really bothering me this week. I.E. itchy eyes and nose, blowing my nose, sneezing etc. Oh well. I'm glad I don't have the stomach flu that has hit a few co-workers and their kids. I hope the only vomitting I ever do is from motion sickness.

I registered last week for the BC SPCA's Paws for a Cause...Walk for the Animals 2007. This event happens in September in 37 communities across BC.

I joined Facebook last weekend. I had heard different people talking about it and then there was a big blurb about it in the 24hrs warning that Facebook could translate your info any way they want and to read the fine print. Since I have been stuck at home a lot this week I had time to finally read the terms and conditions in its entirety...zzz....

I am quite amazed at how many different people I know are on it. I figured it would mostly be the younger generation on it but was shocked that there were people I went to high school with, people my brother went to high school with, co-workers, relatives, friends and acquaintances from all different aspects of my life. I was really shocked that so many people list their company where they work and that anyone on Facebook can view it. It's cool that you can search different schools, companies and businesses and see who is in their network.

I posted some photos from the Richmond Night Market.

Hmm, it's been 2 weeks since I last blogged when it was summer weather. That came and went and with it came a bad cold that I got. Then I got a second cold when I still had the first cold so it hasn't been a very good time as I'm still sick.

Anyways, the 3 days before I got sick - i.e. 2 weekends ago we saw Pirates # 3, went to the Richmond Night Market and played badminton so it was a good weekend. Both Ray and I didn't know what was happening most of the time in Pirates. The action, special effects etc were amazing but the storyline was difficult to understand. We stuck around until the end of the never-ending credits along with about a third of the theatre who knew to wait to watch the last scene. Needless to say there will be a # 4 and we're not going to bother watching that one.

Then on the Saturday night 2 weeks ago we went to the Richmond Night Market about 10:30 or so. Ray had been there once years ago and I had never been there. I couldn't believe how busy it was. Just the surrounding area and roads were jammed packed with sooooo many cars. It had been a nice warm day so there were soooo many people there. There were quite a few traffic controllers there. What a shock to see! We paid $4 for parking and parked in front of the Home Depot. We trekked for quite a while to the market, not realizing there was a closer parking lot. It was quite a sight to see - so many people and vendors in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. As soon as we got there Ray had to use the facilities so I suggested that there is usually a washroom by the food. We went down the food aisle which had sooooo many vendors. It was soooo jammed in there it must've taken us close to 15 minutes just to squeeze our way through the mass of people crammed in the aisle. It wasn't a small aisle either, but if we weren't holding onto each other we would've been separated and lost in the abyss.

The other aisles selling stuff weren't as busy as the food aisle. What a relief. Ray bought some blank disks. I got a new fanny pack, 2 Tetris' for my Gameboy, and a little aquarium with a lilac base that has a fake turtle on a rock and a Nemo, white fish, and lilac fish swimming around when you turn it on. I have thought about getting a pet such as more mice but since it's too hot in here for them an aquarium would be the next best thing to get with a turtle or fish. But then that's expensive and still have to clean it. At least with my new toy there is no maintenance and I get a turtle and a lilac fish and a lilac base!!! Bonus. It's actually quite relaxing watching the fish swim around. Plus you can drag them around with a magnet so Ray and I have fun with that!

Wow! I can't believe how hot it was today!!! It was the hottest day of the year and my first day of wearing my convertibles to work. Can't believe it was so hot that I had to take the legs off after work. Bought a new dress and shawl today. Perhaps I will wear it to the little bro's wedding. Told Ray I bought a dress for C's wedding and Ray's response was: "But you already have so many dresses." Actually I don't have that many dresses. I have way more things lilac than I do dresses. This is the first dress I've bought this year. Can't say the same about lilac things :) And no, the dress is not lilac!

Am debating whether to join Curves or do a half-marathon walking clinic. Curves is a 1-year commitment and it isn't cheap. With all my ailments I think the walking clinic is the better idea and will be more worth it as there will be quite a few weeks throughout the year when my back, neck or arthritis bothers me and I wouldn't be able to work out. I like walking in the warmer weather so it will work out.

Went to my weekly L.A. Weight Loss visit today. After all the cookies and desserts I ate this week I amazed myself and weighed exactly the same as I did a week ago - to the ounce! Only 3 more months to go for my year of maintenance then I don't have to go anymore!!! Yee ha! Got my 6-month maintenance refund cheque a few weeks ago so that was great. Can't wait to get the 1-year one soon.

Wow, it sure was muggy today. It's been nice weather the past few days. I went out for birthday lunches today and yesterday. Of course at Milestones I got to share the free chocolate ganache cake - mmm mmm mmm. Coincidentally there were a lot of leftover lemon meringue tarts and chocolate ganache tarts in the morning so I had my share of chocolate ganache today!!!Too bad the polaroid camera wasn't working at Milestones. Oh well, the cell camera had to do. Since it was 2 co-workers' b'days today there was a b'day cake in the afternoon. I wish I didn't eat that as it put me over the edge with the sugar and wasn't sitting too well. Oh well, too late.

Went to C and L's today. They are expecting their 2nd kid this year and have moved into a new place so S picked me up and we both went over for a good visit. Thanks S for driving me and for the 2 types of yummy cookies you just baked this morning. What a great big twin sister you are! You sure have spent a lot of time in the kitchen the past few days. I had so many of the chocolate chip cookies after I got home that I didn't eat dinner. I lost count of how many I ate. I had a slight chocolate buzz but wasn't hyper and speaking fast so that was good.

Had lots of sleep this weekend :) Was around a lot of screeching and screaming kids this past week at various functions. I wonder if any parents go deaf at some point. I appreciate the peace and quiet when I get home.

Wow, time flies. It's been a month since I last blogged. Hmm, let's see. I'll summarize what has happened in the past month. I had a successful bowling fundraiser for the BC Cancer Foundation's Underwear Affair - thanks everyone for your support! A and I have formed a team for the Underwear Affair so it'll be cool to walk with her and then go to the afterparty.

I've done a lot of eating in the past month: birthday dinners, Mother's Day dinner and brunch, lunches. Ate so much this week that I weighed the most ever since I've been on maintenance (since August last year) when I checked into LA Weight Loss today. Gained over a pound since last week - Yikes! Well, I guess they don't call it the Year of the Pig for nothing - I sure have been pigging out!!! I ate a lot of deserts and sweets this week so need to watch it now. Thanks S for the Tim Horton's triple chocolate donut earlier this week. For some reason I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first time. Possibly because I had an LA Weight Loss chocolate bar first so mixed 2 different types of chocolatey items together. S bought it solely based on me raving about it! I already gave my 5 pairs of fat pants to my co-worker and do not ever want to feel the need to have to wear that size again!!! My co-worker has lost over 70 pounds in the past 6 months or so and coincidentally I gave her my fat pants at the time she needed that size!

Let's see - I've been doing some volunteering with the Underwear Affair and the SPCA, also played badminton a few times. Have been planning a Pampered Chef bridal shower for E. It should be fun. Simone is an awesome Pampered Chef consultant. She has done a show for me at home as well as a fundraiser at work. I've also been to shows she's done for co-workers. The products are of good quality and I'm glad I have them.

My annual hayfever started 2 weeks ago with the usual itchy eyes and nose. I wonder how many months it'll last this year.

Ray and I saw Spiderman 3 today. It sure was busy at the theatre. Between Shrek 3 and Spidey 3 there were only 2 other shows playing - how unusual.

I played badminton twice last week. Other than last week I played once at the end of December (which didn't really count as I didn't get much of a workout as the opponents were beginners) so I was very sore last week. Played a couple of games on Sunday this week but didn't feel well so had to sit off for the rest of the night :( My arthritis and back and neck have been bothering me. I can't wait to go to physio on Friday!!! Managed to get in a few 1/2 hour walks in this week so at least got some exercise.

I had my "figure analysis" done at Curves last week. I like their machines and their concept. I will join in May or June. Coincidentally Curves' colour is lilac - COOL!!!

Mmm, mmm, mmm, what a YUMMY Chocolate day it was today!!!

I was lucky today at work as I got to try the new Tim Horton's triple chocolate doughnut. I had heard about this new doughnut recently and just mentioned it to Ray the other day. It was soooooooooo good!!! It made my day!!! Not only is there chocolate on the outside but there is chocolate on the inside!!! Krispy Kreme's chocolate with creme inside was my fave but now Timmy's is for chocolate ones!!! Krispy Kreme is still my fave for the original glazed.

So it was a good chocolate morning. I had my usual LA Weight Loss bar which happens to be double chocolate this week and then in the afternoon we were treated to brownies so I couldn't resist that!!! What an awesome chocolate day!!! What more could one want?

Awwww, sooooo cute and fluffy!!!

Happy Easter! Hope the Easter Bunny was good to you! The Easter Bunny was good to me this weekend as I got a few yummy Easter Creme Eggs!!!

Ray and I saw the movie Wild Hogs last night. I saw the 4 actors from the movie on Oprah a while ago and thought it looked good. It was pretty funny. I laughed quite a bit sometimes even when no one else made any noise!!! I thought it was a bit hoakey but at least it was entertaining. Macy's character Dudley was just a little too far fetched. John Travolta sure has gotten heavier.

It's been quite hectic for me the past week as I was in Nanaimo from March 29 to April 5. I was supposed to go to Las Vegas with N from March 30 to April 6. I didn’t make it to Vegas as I got a call from my mom Thursday night that my dad had a heart attack. So instead of going to Vegas Friday I went to Nanaimo late Thursday night (March 29). My dad is fine now. He had a balloon inserted into one of his arteries to open it and then had a small stainless steel thing called a stent inserted in that stays in there permanently. The procedure was called an angioplasty. Coincidentally I came down with a cold Thursday (March 29) so haven’t been feeling that great. I'm still feeling under the weather.

Luckily, I was able to cancel my Cirque de Soleil “O” tickets as there is no penalty for canceling 24 hours before the show. I cancelled my flight and now have a credit with Air Canada to use by Jan. 27/08. If I fly to Vegas then I need to pay a $155 fee. If I fly somewhere else the fee might be more. My friend who was supposed to go with me cancelled her flight and is surprising her mom in Nanaimo by using the credit to fly home.

My dad was golfing by himself on Thursday. He started at the 10th hole. When he got to the 16th hole he experienced chest pain as he was walking down a hill. I later found out that this hole was aptly called “Cardiac Hill”!!! He sat down and rested for a few minutes and continued golfing at # 17 and #18. He then went and got something to eat and then went home. My mom got home a few hours after he did as she had golfed a full 18 holes with some ladies. Usually my dad comes out to help my mom bring in her golf clubs etc but that day he didn’t. Anyways eventually after my mom had been inside for a bit my dad mumbled and grumbled about chest pain. My mom asked him if he ate anything out of the ordinary as she thought it might be heartburn. She went to get some heartburn/indigestion stuff but then decided that they should go to the doctor instead to check it out.

The doctor gave my dad aspirin and a “pink lady” drink to coat the esophagus and told him to chew the aspirin. Within a short time my dad’s chest pain disappeared. The doctor also did an ECG on him. Then the doctor called an ambulance to have my dad taken to the hospital. My mom was a wreck and quite frantic as she has never been alone before. Both of us were quite stressed out Thursday night and didn’t get much sleep. On Friday morning my dad called and said that he was being transferred to Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria so my mom and I followed the ambulance down to Victoria.

The Coronary Care Unit is quite new and modern-looking. My dad had a huge state of the art room. The room seemed so big as it was equipped for 2 beds but my dad’s bed was the only one in there.

Shortly after he was admitted the doctor came to let us know what was going on. They were going to do an angiogram which puts dye in through his wrist and then checks to see where the blockage is. There were 3 possible outcomes: 1.
It could be cured by medicine, 2. Angiogram. A balloon is inserted into the artery and a stent (stainless steel coil thing) is inserted to keep the artery open, or 3. Bypass which means cutting the ribs open and using a vein from another part of the body to bypass all the clogs. When my dad heard a bypass was a possible outcome of the test he was really scared as he has a friend who had a quadruple bypass and knows what he went through..

My mom and I went and got something to eat and then when we came back to my dad’s room to wait for him. Coincidentally it was after 3pm and we watched the Young and the Restless in his room. My dad was wheeled back in his bed before 4pm and luckily he didn’t have to have a bypass. We were all so relieved. We found out that his right coronary artery was 95% blocked and there was very minimal damage to his heart. He does have a few areas partially blocked on the left side but they were not blocked enough to be of any concern. After the angioplasty they were going to try and get his blood pressure down. His left hand was all swollen as the nurse in Nanaimo had tried to put the IV into the back of his hand but couldn’t get the vein so put the IV in his wrist instead. But because there was bruising on the back of his hand and he was on heavy bloodthinners the bruise disappated into the rest of his hand so it was all purple and swollen. It looked really gross. He has to raise his hand now so that blood can flow out. Even a few old scratch scabs that he had before the heart attack were leaking out as his blood was so thin.

So, he was released from the hospital on Sunday and has just been doing short walks each day and some stretches. On Tuesday he washed both of their cars and was pooped. Said he should've only washed one. He can’t play golf or do any heavy lifting for 2 weeks and can’t drive or go back to work for a month.

I'm glad there is a reprieve in the rain, even if it's only for a few hours or part of a day. There sure has been a lot of flooding and slides in various areas around the lower mainland. And so many tornadoes in Northern Texas and New Mexico. I wanted to go there on vacation some time but now am having second thoughts.

Ahhhh, I went to physio yesterday. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my head and shoulders. I didn't realize how bad my neck was (as usual). I never realize how bad my neck is until I leave the clinic and notice that my head can move more freely than before. My physiotherapist is always amazed how much tolerance I have for neck pain. She's glad that I do have a high tolerance otherwise I wouldn't be able to go that long without getting treatment. It is quite painful though when she is mobilizing the joints. I always think it's my SI joint and back that's hurting not realizing that I'm so used to neck pain that I don't notice it anymore.

I always call Ray when I'm getting interferential treatment and tell him I'm being "abducted by aliens"!!! Yep, I was a big X-Files fan :) I sometimes fall asleep when getting neck traction done but didn't yesterday.

I was so relaxed afterwards that I was able to sleep right away without the usual tossing and turning to get a comfy back position. I do have some "bruising" pains along my spine from all the deep mobs (mobilization of the joints) but it's not restrictive in any way. Can just feel it when I touch my spine or am lying down flat on my back. I can also feel it when I move but it's not an achy or stiffness type of pain.

Man, this weather sucks!!! Besides all my finger joints aching, my elbow has been having a dull throbbing ache today. I wanted to walk today but my eyes kept watering from the air and even with my thermal Nike fleece pants, my warm down jacket, fleece toque and acrylic scarf it still too damn cold and everything hurts so didn't end up walking!!! Woe is me!!! Cry me a river!!! Play me a violin!

On a brighter note I was able to get a 3 mile walk in yesterday.

Went to the dentist today to get some sealants redone. Apparently this is done to fill in grooves to prevent cavities from forming. My dentist always says I have BEAUTIFUL TEETH! I always think to myself when he says that: My teeth are crooked and square shaped...what's so great about them? He said that for an adult there are very few who have teeth as good as mine. What he meant was that everyone has so many cavities including himself. He asked where I grew up and when I told him it was Nanaimo he said he didn't think there was fluoride in the water there. Then I told him my mom used to put fluoride drops in our ?milk? every day. I remember her counting the drops. Not sure how you base the # of drops, maybe on your age? Anyways, he said I should be grateful to my mom for that! My dentist also said that sealants are usually done in kids to prevent cavities. I didn't know that!!! Cool.

Speaking of childhood rituals I remember taking a colourful Flintstone vitamin every day.

I had a bad chocolate craving the other day and stopped at Daniel's and got a milk chocolate hedgehog and a peanut butter milk chocolate. Too bad the Purdy's across the street is gone :( So now there are only 3 chocolate stores on Robson. Oh well, at least there's a Purdy's in Pacific Centre. Speaking of Purdy's, their Open House is this Sunday!!! I haven't found any other hedgehog that even comes close in comparison with Purdy's. So far with the milk chocolate hedgehogs I've had here are my favourites:

1. Purdy's
2. Charlie's
3. Daniel's
4. Brussels
5. Rocky Mountain

The best is right out of the fridge so then I can eat the outside layer first :)

What a crappy, wet day. At least it's not cold. I'm so glad I don't have to train anymore so don't have to walk and get soaked out there. I got up before noon today, around 11 to 11:30. Got about 10 hours sleep. Felt great to sleep in. Was at L.A. Weight Loss shortly after 1:00 and then picked up an order of California Rolls for Ray. Saw a little produce/convenience store and bakery/cafe that I pass all the time but never been in. So I popped in and took a look and picked up a few things.

I watched the rest of Friday's Y&R while eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Then got sleepy so took a nap for about 3 hours. Ray's been a vampire lately so he got up when I did from my nap.

We went to U-Grill to eat about 7:00. One of the cooks said it was so busy up to then since this morning and just started to quiet down when we got there. Ray commented that it must be because of spring break. I asked the guy how many hours a day he works as he as well as the other 2 cooks are always there alternating with a few others. He said that the 3 of them work 12 to 13 hour days, 7 days a week and have been for the past 8 years!!! Holeeey! The other cook said the older cook has 2 wives and 7 children to support. He said it jokingly a few times. Since he repeated that comment 2 or 3 times within the conversation- things that make you go hmmm....Anyways my first question was - do you get paid for overtime? He said yes. But still, I can't believe some Asian people work the type of hours and days they do. They don't have a life. The joking chef said that it's noisy and smelly working there and he has a beer as soon as he gets home. I guess it's similar hours to those Mom and Pop convenience stores or restaurants but at least there they are the owners.

Mom and Dad were over last weekend. We went out for dinner for C's b'day to the Old Bavaria Haus. Never knew what a schnitzel was before. They sure had a lot of different type of schnitzels. Had a lot of "regular" food on the menu too. I tried the vegetarian ziegeuner schnitzel which had red peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and melted cheese on top. The schnitzel itself was made of grain and had grated brocolli, cauliflower and other vegies in it.

Last Saturday night I chaperoned the parents at the Rod Stewart concert at GM Place. I didn't think I had to go but then Dad told me I had to be their concert tour guide. Actually the concert was quite good and I enjoyed it as I knew the majority of the songs. Didn't think I would. He had so much energy and is in good shape for his age. He was in the round and had an impressive round stage with 2 half circles around it. There was a floor to ceiling kilt-like curtain that covered the stage and then got lifted. There was quite a Celtic and soccer theme going on. Lots of old footage of Rod Stewart playing soccer, old concerts etc were shown.

Considering we were in the 3rd level our seats were decent since the stage was in the round. We were in row 1 of the 3rd level so no one was in front of us and we could rest our feet on the railing in front of us. I could look down and see my co-worker in the section directly below us (I knew she was going to be there ahead of time). I brought my binoculars as we wouldn't have been able to see his face too clearly from where we were sitting except on the big screen. Plus could look at the details of what he was wearing. Cool gold Adidas runners. He sure dresses quite flamboyantly. Well, not as "flamboyant" as Elton John though.

Didn't feel too great Sunday and Monday as my back and neck were sore. The concert was a good length and since Mom and I only danced for one song (Do You Think I'm Sexy) I guess I was in the same position too long without stretching. Combined with the crappy wet damp weather I hibernated inside with the aching body and joints.

Managed to get in some 1 mile walks this week as well as one 3 miler so am glad about that. Went a new route which was cool. I haven't walked 3 miles for a couple of months. It felt good afterwards but then I had to stretch a lot throughout the night as my muscles weren't used to that much walking anymore.

Now that my parents have a computer and email I find that I don't blog as often as before. This is because I usually update them weekly or so to what I've been up to and forget about blogging. Also, I've been working on my bowling fundraiser for the BC Cancer Foundation's Underwear Affair as well as volunteering for various things.

I'm still recovering from a cold I got a week ago. It's at the tail end now so the worst of it is over. I got run down the week following Chinese New Year starting with the day after. I went to the City of Vancouver Heritage awards presentation as my cousin was recognized for some work he did. There was a new pop opera group called Destino who performed. They weren't bad but since I've seen Il Divo in concert Destino was just a scrawnier version of them. Of course there's no comparison but they are okay in their own right. We went out to eat afterwards and had a great visit but I ended going to bed really late that night. Instead of going to bed early on Tuesday I had already committed to being an Event Outreach Volunteer for the BC Cancer Foundation to distribute display stands for the Underwear Affair. This took a few hours. Thanks A for helping me distribute these in the brrrr cold weather that night. A lot of businesses were closed by the time we got to them but we managed to give out 17 display stands. I brought 2 to work on Wednesday and distributed the remaining 6 Wednesday night. Brrrr, it was cold and being the night owl I am, I didn't go to bed early that night either. Nor the night after on Thursday night. So I guess I paid for the late nights Friday morning when I woke up with a sore throat and runny nose. The weekend was a write-off as I was feverish, congested and totally fatigued. Good thing I already had Monday off. Since I wasn't able to do anything I read half of my Hannibal Rising book so will be able to see the movie after I'm done. It will be interesting to see how closely the movie follows the book and how the gruesome details will be portrayed. I can't wait!

Another thing that happened last week was that I ate 2 boxes of chocolate-covered Macadamia Nuts that my sister-in-laws brought back from Honolulu. One box had "premium" chocolate and was coated in honey. Unfortunately I couldn't just put the boxes in the cupboard and forget about them, being the chocoholic that I am. Strangely enough, when I went to LA Weight Loss on Saturday I actually had lost a pound since the week before. Ha! Who said you gain weight from OD'ing on nuts and chocolate! I told them what I ate and they were shocked too. Yes, chocolate is a food group! Speaking of chocolate, I've discovered a new type of chocolate that I really like. It's Ritter Sport. I get the little square ones. I love the Corn Crisp one the best followed by the milk chocolate one. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!

I can't wait until I'm feeling better so I can start exercising again and playing badminton. I don't usually eat as much chocolate when I'm exercising regularly.

I've posted more of my photos from my marathon experience in Honolulu.

Happy New Year!!! The past few months have flown by. The Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 10 was an amazing experience as I was part of Team Canada on the Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion Team. I will post some more photos from my trip at a later date.

I'm on a chocolate overdose right now as I ate the whole chocolate bowl that was under the other chocolates K and E gave me from Chocolate Arts. I didn't realize there was a chocolate bowl under the chocolates until I ate a few. Mmm, mmm, mmm it was soooo good. All the other chocolates in the bowl were gone (only took 2 days to eat them - yum yum) and I was only going to eat half of the bowl but woe is me I ended up eating the whole bowl. Dag nab it! Now I'm paying the price as I'm feeling some brain fog and dizziness. Sugar and caffeine high. Will have to drink lots of water and some hot water with lemon to dilute it. I've never been to Chocolate Arts before - will have to check it out one day.

I got so excited seeing sunlight today so I went for a walk to Metrotown. Less than halfway there I realized that the sun was only near my place and dark dreary clouds were closing in. I was only a few blocks away from the mall when it started to rain. I did a few errands and luckily it had stopped raining by the time I left.