Updates

I ate cookies today. Guilt free!
I took my cat to the vet today - check up.
I chipped a tooth.
I'm going to the dentist tomorrow.
My co-worker is on vacation allllll next week.
We're suppose to have no rain this weekend.
I'm touring the San Francisco Mint this saturday.
I'm going on a hike sunday.

That's it for now.

Weather Changes

I know, we need the rain around here, and I'm happy to let it rain...during the week but, it sure does feel great to have a sunny afternoon, and MAN-O-MAN are the clouds fabulous during the winter!

Today

Yesterday

A week, or so, ago! Snow on the hills in Fremont!

First Walk of 2009

I didn't intend to take a walk today, or take any pictures for that matter, but as I was washing dishes in front of my kitchen window, I looked up and it was so clear and bright, after a raining first half of the day, I decided, "what the hell". Dried my hands, got my camera, all my layers for the cold, and off I went. I drove out to south side of the Dumbarton Bridge, and here are the results:

First Walk of 2008 (1-2-08)

PUPPIES!!!!

A toddler lost in the Virginia woods was back home safe Sunday thanks to two puppies who kept him warm through a harrowing night of freezing temperatures.

Jaylynn Thorpe, 3, wandered away from his baby-sitter at 4 p.m. Friday and was missing for 21 hours as hundreds of friends, family and law enforcement officials searched for him in the thick woods of Halifax County, fearing the worst.

"The only thing we wanted to do was just keep searching until we found him," Halifax County Sheriff Stanley Noblin told reporters.

Jaylynn's frantic family knew time was not on its side.

"We didn't forget the issue that 17 degrees was almost unbearable," said his father, James Thorpe.

"People all over the State of Virginia was down there looking for that child. For a while there, one time, I didn't know whether they would find him or not," said the child's grandmother and guardian, Katherine Elliot.

Officials said the lost little boy and the two family puppies wandered up to a mile in the dark, even across a highway, but it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that members of the search team found him sitting by a tree, the two puppies nestled against him.

The little boy didn't say anything, according to rescue team member Jerry Gentry, but instead "just opened his arms up like, 'I'm ready to go.'"

"When I first saw him, he was like, 'Momma, I got cold. I slept in the woods last night. The puppies kept me warm.' He told me that ... the dogs slept up against him. And I'm sure the body heat kept him warm," said his mother, Sarah Ingram.

Billie Jo Roach, another member of the search party that found the boy, said the puppies refused to leave his side.

As the child was placed in an ambulance to be taken to a local hospital for examination, "The puppies were watching where he went.

"Where he went, they went," Roach said.

As word went out that the child was alive and well, family members cheered and cried for joy.

"Praise the Lord! Welcome home, Jaylynn!" yelled his aunt, Amy Zimmerman.

Close to 300 people from North Carolina and Virginia joined in the search to find Jaylynn.

"I love you! God bless you," Ingram told the rescue teams.

"I think I just said, 'Thank you Lord' ... for us to have another chance!" said the child's father.

The boy spent Saturday night under observation at Halifax Regional Hospital and chowed down on a double cheeseburger, a hot dog, strawberry ice cream and French fries.

Meanwhile, the furry heroes, their tails wagging, were rewarded with food.

"I definitely call this a miracle," said Noblin.

Honesty & Integrity on the Streets of New York City

At the end of November New York saw a bank robbery. One that went wrong the good way.

Walking up to a teller a man demanded money. She gave him a little over $1000. As he was leaving the bank the teller yelled “Stop him! He just robbed the bank!”

Technicians repairing the bank’s ATM chased the guy and caught him on 38th street.

As they shoved him on the hood of a car the money scattered all about.

When police officers arrived at the scene, pedestrians walked up to them and bank employees present, handing over bills they had picked up.

“Even in the bad economy, all $1,082 that had been scattered before the police arrived was recovered in full.”
– Paul J. Browne, chief police spokesman

Secret Santas in 3 states spread cheer, $100 bills

I'm tired of bad news, so I'm only going to post good news for the next.....until I can once again handle "reality" :-). So, here's some good news from the world, and may you all have plenty of good news in your lives as well...

ST. LOUIS – At a suburban Goodwill store on Friday, Theresa Settles selected a large, black comforter to warm her family until she can raise the money to turn the gas heat back on. A petite woman approached, her face obscured by dark sunglasses and a wrapped winter scarf, and handed Settles two $100 bills stamped with the words "secret Santa." "The only condition," she said, "is that you do something nice for someone. Pass it on."

"I will," Settles said, the only words she could get out of her mouth.

The secret Santa was a protege of Kansas City's undercover gift giver, Larry Stewart, who died of cancer nearly two years ago. Stewart roamed city streets each December doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they might need a lift.

Before his death in January 2007, Stewart told a friend how much he would miss his 26 years of anonymous streetside giving, during which he gave away about $1.3 million. Stewart, from the city suburb of Lee's Summit, made millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

The friend promised Stewart he would be a secret Santa the next year. "He squeezed my hand and that was it," said the Kansas City Santa, who would say only that he was an area businessman and investor. "I honored a promise."

Two secret Santas, one from the Kansas City area and the other from the St. Louis area, descended on thrift stores, a health clinic, convenience store and small auto repair shop to dole out $20,000 in $100 bills, hugs and words of encouragement to unsuspecting souls in need.

In this economy, they weren't hard to find.

Cynthia Brown, 40, was laid off three weeks ago from her food service job. Santa found her at the St. Louis County health clinic and gave her $100, exactly what she had asked to borrow from her mother a night ago to buy food.

"I have three daughters, and I can't get unemployment yet. I was down in food," she said.

Leotta Burbank, 50, of West Frankfurt, Ill., was at a thrift store Friday to buy decorations for her sister-in-law's room at a St. Louis hospice, where she is dying of pancreatic cancer.

When Santa gave her money, Burbank collapsed into his arms and wouldn't stop hugging him.

"God provides," she said. "This is real emotional for me."

For the secret Santas, it's not about keeping Stewart's memory alive as much as the meaning behind his legacy.

"It's not about the man, it's not about the money, it's about the message," the Kansas City Santa said. "Anyone can be a secret Santa with a kind word, gesture, a helping hand."

He said the money is given without judgment, but on the condition that the receiver pass along a kindness to someone else. Stewart began his holiday tradition at a restaurant in December 1979, after he had just been fired. He gave a waitress $20 and told her to keep the change and was struck by her gratitude.

Stewart also gave money to community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss.

The secret Santas want to expand their operation to every state, but so far only nine givers operate in Charlotte, N.C., Phoenix, St. Louis and Kansas City. They plan to start giving in Detroit this holiday season.

With A Little Help From My Friends:

Yesterday, my friends helped me spend some money.

I mentioned, via email, I was looking into getting some trekking/walking poles to my friend Anit and he went crazy. He'd purchased a great pair from a discount website and LOVED them. He gave me the website and advised I keep checking to see if they were selling them again. An hour later I get a call from Anit, in New York, saying "Laura! Laura! Go onto the site! They're selling them right now, and they're going fast"! Oh my god, Me, spent money quickly!? Can you say, "outside the box"? So I put my faith in Anit and bought them. And get this, they were mailed out the same day! Wow, that was fast. Anit also advised I take a trip to REI and get "trained" on the poles. Trained on poles? Ok, again, I'm going to trust the guy. I'll keep you posted.

Then, last night, my friends, Satarupa and Regina met me over at Costco, in Redwood City, where we went through almost every pair of glasses they sell...ok, so I'm exaggerating... a little, to find me a pair of new eye glasses, to replace my broken pair (thank goodness for super glue) :-) It took us a while, but we finally settled on a pair. I swear, I could NOT have done it without them!!!! I tried making up my mind all by my little lonesome the day before, but it was not happening. I called my two friends and they came to my rescue! Yeaaaaaaa Satarupa, and Regina!!!!!!

"Thank you"! "Thank you"! "Thank you"! Regina, Satarupa and Anit!

8 Miles!

That's how far I walked yesterday! 8 Miles!!! Good Night Irene! I didn't think I had it in me. I went on a walk through one of my meetup groups: Walking in SF for Health & History. http://www.meetup.com/walking-in-SF/calendar/8804826/ Check out the description of the walk and some pictures.

I really had a good time. I was unusually warm in The City yesterday, 77 degrees at 4:30 pm!!!!! Seen as I was taking BART up to The City, and my "condo cats" are near the BART station, I swung by to feed them. On the way, I saw a Yes on Prop 8 sign in the meridian on Alvarado Blvd. Now, I've seen a lot of Yes on Prop 8 signs in people's yards and I have to respect them because I believe in freedom of speech and the signs are on personal property, even if I am 100% opposed to Yes on 8, but this was on public land and no one puts political signs in meridians. So I hung a U-turn and removed it! I felt great to remove that sign! With a smile on my face, I hopped on BART, deleted all 946 pictures from my camera on the ride and arrived in SF in time to meet at Starbucks. Big group of people, I think close to 30. They seemed pretty friendly and as the day went on, they did nothing to change my original opinion of them.

To start the walk off right, our first stop was at the Hyatt hotel's bathrooms. Unfortunately, they were having a conference of some sort, lots of people all over the place and we lost about 12-14 people from our group! I don't know what the hell happened, but they were gone. Maybe there's some type of black hole thing going on at the Hyatt :-)

After a lovely bathroom break, we walked down to Embarcadero. Our leader, Howard didn't just walk up along the street, he took us out and around 3 docks....just to add distance, to an already loooooong walk :-) That's were we came across the largest yacht in the world! It's called the Maltese Falcon and it's the oddest looking sailing vessel I've ever seen! I got a pictures, of course, but check out this site, they show the interior as well. Scroll down to the end of the article for the interior pictures: http://www.luxist.com/2008/03/27/maltese-falcon-yacht-for-sale/

Walking further up Embarcadero and our next bathroom stop was at the Aquarium of the Bay or by the Bay or whatever it's called. It's the one at Pier 39. Most of us bought more water there, as well :-) Did I mention we had record breaking hear in The City this day? Well they weren't kidding! If it was 77 at 4:30, it must have been 82 at the peak of the day. Now that may not sound hot for most areas, but San Francisco!? No way, that's HOT!

I thought we were walking all the way to Fort Mason....right under the Golden Gate bridge, but luckily, I was wrong. We walked to a part of Fort Mason, called Black Point: http://www.militarymuseum.org/BlackPointBty.html , which was thankfully, nowhere near as far as the Fort Mason located under the bridge. I'd have never made it all they way if we'd have walked that far :-) We had lunch at Black Point and then started the really tuff part of the day....walking to and up to Coit Tower. Good Night Irene! I saw how far it was, and how big the hill to Coit Tower was and I was scared. That was a fricken LONG way. And the hills! I'm glad I did it, but it didn't come w/out a lot of knee pain....BOTH knees :-( Needless to say, I was the caboose for the remainder of the walk, well, until we got down to the flat land, where I could keep up with the others.

Then our fearless leader, Howard, invited us to go for a drink at the beautiful Palace Hotel's Pied Piper bar: http://www.sfpalace.com/Pied-Piper-Bar This place is gorgeous! and in walks in this sweaty, exhausted group of 9 people...us. I was feeling fairly self conscience as we walked in; through all the men dressed in their suits and women in their best.... But after we sat down and ordered our drinks, I forgot about everyone else and had fun talking w/everyone. We all ordered water ASAP and most had ice tea or lemonade. I had orange juice and guess what Satarupa? This time is was really good orange juice :-) We hung around talking and drinking for probably about an hour. Then, on the way out, we of course hit the bathrooms, and stepped outside into unusually balmy air. We were all shocked at how warm it was at 5:30 pm in SF! Three of us headed to BART, while the rest went on their separate ways home.

I was glad not to have to drive home. I was feeling sooooo tired. It did seem as if it took longer to get home, than it did to get to SF, I think mostly because I was getting hungrier by the minute.

I was so tired! I was in bed by 9:15 pm. I thought I'd sleep like the dead, but I didn't. It's not as if my legs were hurting, but....I could "feel" them. You know how when you have cold, and you're now "aware" of your breathing? Well, it's kinda the same, I was "aware" of my legs. I think a nap may be in my near future. I'm going to make sure I do a lot of stretching in the coming days. This next weekend I'll be in San Diego visiting Chuck and Tony, so no SF walk that weekend, but the saturday after, there is another long, hilly walk, and I'm going to see how I feel and maybe go on it as well.

Minus the pain in my knees during the last of the down hills of the walk, I had a really good time. I chatted w/a bunch of great people and had a grand 'ole time. Took some pictures, but not an obscene amount, and I even went to a bar for drinks and chit chat. All in all, a great day. We'll see how my legs feel tomorrow. I think they're going to be damn stiff and I'm going to be"feeling" the walk.

It's a long day, and a fairly early one, for a saturday, but I would recommend these walks to whomever is interested. Oh, and people came from near and far. There were a hand full of us from the East bay, some local SF'ers, Anita came from Petaluma, and I think I heard someone came in from.....the Central Valley somewhere. Oh yeah, and a guy named Randy came down for San Rafael.

Ok, now it's time for me to upload some pictures and see if I can add them to this post. If not, I'll just post the link. I'm still not all that adept at loading pictures to this blog. I read other peoples blogs and they're so complicate and sophisticated and I feel my is too simplistic....and it is what it is, until I can figure all the tricks of the blogging trade.

Ciao

Cold!

First cold day in I don't know how long. When someone leaves the building door open, you can feel it today :-) And my hands have been cold all morning. Fall is here, and with it, my friend, Sylvia's birthday! 10-10. And I called her at 10:10 am. Aren't I tricky?

I'm going on one of my cemetery walks tomorrow. Thank goodness it's not one in Colma, but in the Oakland/Piedmont hills. It's going to be cold in the morning. The walk begins at 10 am, and I'm going to try and get there early and see what kind of light there is, and take some pictures. The best, softest light is early and late in the day so...... Then I'm going to hop over the hill, to Lafayette and get my hair trimmed, and see if I can get any suggestions from my SF living hair stylest and colorist as to where I might be able to have a good view of the Blue Angels sunday...w/out being in the huge crowd down at Pier 39 and the marina. We shall see. You'll know if I find a good spot, because you can be sure I'll be posting pictures here. :-)

Ok, it's time to sit on my hands and try and warm them up. Have a great weekend everyone!

Comments, Comments, Comments

I learned today that you have to be register with Google to leave comments on my blog, and I LOVE comments. It's really easy to register, my co-worker did it. All they as you for is your email address and to create a password. That's it. It's fast. It's easy. So pleeeease, register and leave me some comments. Without comments, I feel as if no one is reading, or you don't love me. :-)

Jury Duty Update

I'm released! Well, excused is the official terminology. The important thing is, I don't have to sit around for a day or two at the Fremont Court House. I will say this, if I'm ever chosen, I'd like it to be Fremont's, and NOT Oakland or San Francisco.

So thank you for all the great jury duty karma everyone! Now let's work on finding me someone to go to Fleet week with :-) Thanks!

Chihuly Show

Ok, so I'm a little late in getting these pictures up...:-) I had a great time at the museum and show. My friend, Regina, and I were suppose to go, but unfortunately Miss Regina broke her leg recently and really wasn't up for the crowds and the walking on crutches or even rolling around in a wheelchair. After having gone through the show, I think she made the right choice, given her circumstances....and....it's all her fault I took so many damn pictures that day. If she would have been there w/me, I would never have taken the time to take so many damn pictures. Not only did I go through the Chihuly show, I went through the entire museum, up to the observation deck (for the first time and I LOVED IT), but I walked around the museum, drove over to The Legion of Honor to see their one, outdoor Chihuly installation and then drove back along the ocean and took some pictures of a couple guys surfing! GOOD NIGHT IRENE! How could Regina leave me to control my own addiction? It is all her fault.....:-)

Here are links to more Chihuly pictures, as well as pictures of the exterior of the de Young, views from the observation tower, Chihuly installation at the Legion of Honor and a quiet trip to the beach....

Chihuly, de Young Museum, Sept. 2008

de Young Museum exterior

Other Interesting Stuff @ the de Young

Chihuly at the Legion of Honor

Chihuly Drive Home

Help with Jury Duty Karma

Once again, I've been called to jury duty. I swear, this is the 3rd damn time this year! The first was for Oakland, then I got a notice for San Francisco. That one scared me! I don't want to commute to SF!!!!! Now, I've gotten a notice for Fremont. I just checked in and they don't need me tomorrow at 8am! 8am! I don't get to work until 9 am. Thank god I don't have to be anywhere at 8 am :-). I need to call back tomorrow, between 11 am and noon so, during that time, please send "we don't want Laura to serve on a jury" karma my way. :-)

Thanks all!

Tuesday: Sept 30, 2008

Well, I'm back to work. It hasn't been that bad. I did have a long conversation this morning that strained my throat, but other than that, it's been a nice, light day....so far : -)

My nephew created a blog to update all of us about his new life in college, down in San Diego, and maybe more importantly to keep us off his myspace/facebook page, but he hasn't updated the damn thing in a month! I just sent him an email threatening to send all adults to his other sites, if he doesn't damn well update the thing. He's found a place to live....finally. Rumor has it, it's a 4 bedroom house. He and his friend, Austin are living there, and they say they want female roommates. Noooooooo, not for that reason, because they say girls are neater and more responsible than guys. They probably have a point there. No roommates yet.

Having him go away to college is bringing back a lot of fun college memories. Damn I loved college! Can I go back? Do you think my parents will still pay my tuition? Yeah, right!

TV: ok, I want to talk.....bitch about Heroes. For me, it's getting too fractured. Too many story lines all going on at once, but not enough overlap. I don't really like the new characters. Ok, remember the Level 5 bad guys? Why did they even keep them alive if they're so bad? Kill them! You have complete power. Kill them! Now, they're all out, and Sylar is going to get all their powers. Dip-wads! And what about Sylar? Do they really think they can "work" with him? Peter's mother is CRAZY! Speaking of Peter, I want more Peter. I like two Peters! Claire is bugging the crap out of me. Whine, whine, whine. Ok, so she got her skull lazered open, and she is only 17, but shut the f-up! We've got big issues going on here. I will say this, Peter could have told her a little bit, given her a hug, asked her to trust him and given her a few hints as to what was going on with the whole, time travel, the future has changed thing.

I think they could...should take these people off the show: Niki (yeah, she's one hot woman, but boring story line), also her son. Off the show! And the cop character. The one on his spirit walk in Africa. Gone! The woman who, when she gets mad, her eyes turn black and people start dropping like flies...look in the mirror babe, and kill yourself. Off the show! i like the cute scientist, but not the fact that he took the formula to give himself special powers! Especially the way it happened. Wouldn't a scientist want to take the formula in a controlled environment, with a video camera rolling? I still want him on the show....because he's cute, but even last season I thought they were making his character too stupid, for a the smart guy he's suppose to be.

Love Hiro and his friend! More Hiro and friend, Peter, Peter's brother, and mom, and I guess we have to keep Sylar, because he's so great to hate. I like Claire's dad.....who else? I know it sounds as if I only have complaints about the show, and maybe at best it's 50/50, but I still like the show. I like the changing the future story line. I guess my main negative critique is that there are too many characters now, w/too many story lines. Not that it's confusing, but I'd like to see them cut the characters down by 1/3 and then develop the remaining story lines to a greater extent, and I liked it in the old days, when the characters overlapped w/each other. I liked the interaction between the original heroes. Ok, enough bitching from me...for today. :-) I must be getting back to normal if I've got enough energy to rant and rave about a make believe tv program :-)

Mystery Photo: 9-29-08

The mystery photo is back, and I'm starting off with an easier one, but we warned....I'm going to get tuff later on.

Monday, Sept. 29, 2008

I love my problems! I watched Oprah today (home w/a cold) and it was all about people from middle America were are heroin addicts. I love my problems!

I'm glad I'm feeling better, but I don't want to go back to work. Now that I'm actually able to do more than lay on the couch and blow my fricken nose all day, I can't stay home and enjoy myself :-(

Stock market closed waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down today. I lost money today, but seen as I'm not cashing out anytime soon, I guess I'm ok. Am I being naive, or uneducated, cuz, I'm not panicked about the current financial situation. Don't get me wrong, it is VERY BAD, but I don't feel it's the end of the world. I tell you what I do feel, anger. Anger that people who "worked" the market and housing industry to make fast money, people who just want, want, want, want "I want those shoes", "I want that purse", I want that car". Of course they can't afford them, but who cares, "I want it" They charge, charge, charge, charge. Ok, it's hard to pay cash for a car but....do we need the biggest, newest car, with every known bell and whistle? NO! Get a fricken clue people, if you do not have the cash.....DON'T BUY IT! Hum, typical Laura rant.

I feel sorry for the hard working Americans, who have been living w/in their means, and are retired and thanks to all the ya-whose (don't know if I spelt that one right, but...hey, everyone knows I'm the worlds worst speller) who are out there "working the system" to make a fast buck, they're now unable to afford their, fill in the blank: gas, food, housing, whatever.

Hum, I guess that rant wasn't over yet. I think it is now.

How about a much lighter topic? TV! One of my favorite light topics. Lots of new and re-turning shows on this week, and I can't wait. Although it does present a bit of a problem as to which ones to watch and which to tape. And then after taping, when can I find the time to watch them. Like I said at the beginning of this post. I love my problems! They don't involve heroin, foreclosure and things of that nature. Tonight I've got: Heroes, Chuck!, Gossip Girl, Prison Break (almost always a taper and I'm 2 weeks behind already) and Life. My life is so full :-)

I would really love to have a glass of milk w/dinner but....I'm thinking it's a little too close to the 5-day nose blowing festival to be drinking milk :-) Maybe in a couple of days.

Dave Matthews Band Concert: Part 2

I forgot to add a link to more, yes, more Dave Matthews Band concert photos....and I couldn't figure out how to add it to my previous post. So, if you want to see pictures of more people we met, and more Dave and the boys, click here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ljlilly10/DaveMatthewsBandConcertBerkSept2008#

Dave Matthews Band Concert

Granted, thes are a little late, but better late than never:

















I met Shasta while waiting in line on friday and we met up again on sunday. This is her partner, Stacey. Great people!










Kevin, Satarupa, & Anit. Veronica was there as well.











































































Carter!!

At Home

This is my last day at home w/a cold....hopefully. I'm feeling better. How can I tell I'm feeling better? Here are the signs: I don't need the blinds closed all day, I'm bored w/daytime TV, I can breath, I can taste, I'm feeling bored, bored, bored (it's much more fun to not be at work & do something fun) and....I want to clean my house :-)

Rescued Dog

Got some pictures of the dog I rescued earlier this week. Poor thing was sooooo scared. I saw him walking down the sidewalk, really wanting to see a person walking behind him, but alas, there was none. With the help of some neighbors (didn't know them until now), we got him out from under a car and I took him to our local animal shelter. No tags or name on him/her/it. Cute and friendly dog, and probably even more so after a good bath :-) So here he is, anyone interested in adopting him can all Tri-City Animal Shelter at: 510-790-6644. Once he/she/it got over being scared, he/she/it would lean into my leg and look up at me, as I petted he/she/it.

So, here he/she/it is:

Tri-City Animal Shelter: 510-790-6644