My Current Thoughts

Plans Are Over-rated - My Saturday Off

I had 2 "plans" yesterday. Plan #1 was to go have breakfast with a few friends. Plan #2 was to take said friends to look at a few apartments for opinions on our upcoming relocation. Anything else was playing it by ear. So here is what actually happened.

6:38am I wake up, shower brush teeth
7:02am Check email, take pills, Facebook update
7:05am Text Phil. He is usually up early. We can start planning breakfast locations
7:07am Still no response from Phil
7:59am Text Phil again. Getting hungry, figure time to call Cat. She should be up.
8:03am Call Phil. Conference with Cat to decide on place for breakfast.
8:44am Leave house to meet at Galaxy Cafe on West Lynn.
8:57am Arrive at Galaxy Cafe.8:58am Phil arrives
9:01am Cat arrives
9:06am I place my order for the Big Breakfast (it has the home fried potatoes with it...yumm!) and my coffee.
9:08am Preparing my coffee while a bitch in a pink polo with a very bad haircut pushes her way in to fill her coffee cup up. "What, really? Can you just wait a minute while I stir my shit?" I think. Her bitchy look makes me think of other names for her other than bitch. Later find out the drives a Subaru and is not as special as she thinks she is. Oh, and the people she was with, well, none of them went with her...bitter old single bitch, now wonder.
10:06am Finish chatting, drinking our coffees. Time to drop Phil's car at Cat's house and off the the apartments.
10:21am Arrive at Oak Run Apartments. Leasing office in a really cute old house. The complex is HUGE and offers apartments, duplexes, and townhomes. Crazy. Older, a bit old and not so great for the price. The size of the one checked out was great, but not super impressed, even at the discounted rate.
11 am Arrive to next apartment complex. Cute, but can see the model because the agent cannot seem to find the key to it. Oh well. Not really worth the time spent.
11:24am Arrive to Sundance Apartments. These are the ones we like and are a great price to save money so we can play more and save for a house too. I want to show Cat to get her opinion and to also do a little space planning. Julie in the office I work with at Whole Foods too. All roads keep pointing back to this place. I decide I want to paint, regardless of it having to be painted back.
12:03am Leave Sundance and just go to check out some woody looking apartments on S 1st St. Show up to find that the office is closed on weekends. Look around at the places and notice I would prefer the others anyhow. No need to return.
12:09am Driving across to S Congress and checking out neighborhoods along the way.
12:15am Arrive at Ruta Maya coffee shop. Inside a yoga class is going on while we order coffee. To not seem weird, we go out to the front patio to enjoy our beverages. Located on the patio are two very loud men speaking politics, a sort of crazy looking girl sitting alone but joining in with the political conversation, a sort of cute guy in a very bright orange shirt on his laptop, Phil, Cat, and I. Enter a guy in the worst outfit I have ever seen. So bad I have the picture to prove it. Cut-off brown slacks, a shirt that is too short for a tall guy with massive rips in it AND paint all over it, and black tennis shoes. You could not even claim to have rolled out of bed and just threw this on....really. Then after about 15 min the badly dressed guy and the political banter guys leave, but not before one of the political banterers give the crazy girl a peacock feather from his car. "Odd" I think to myself, but it was entertaining. Que the cute coffee bar working starting to carry in supplies from his car. Yay for eye candy! Then as we all are talking to look around only to see scary girl staring at me. She smiled queerly and went back to reading her book. Walter should be done around 1pm, and I want to hit Home Depot for some bug killer. Time to take our finished drink cups to the wash tub and head off.
1:04pm Arrive at Home Depot. Locate bug killer. Walter still not called so we start browsing. We really need a new rug for the living room. Some cool rugs. Then I find some carpet remnants. There are some cool ones that will work as a rug until we move. Cheap too. Less than $20! I pick one out just as Walter calls. "Do you think?" I ask him after telling him of my find. So I buy it. It is burber and showing in the pic here. Not bad. Off to Guerro's for lunch.
1:22pm Looking at Guerro's, there is a huge wait. "Shit, it is a big UT game today. Of course it is busy." We find Walter in the parking structure and head off to another place, one not so busy. We are all hungry by now. We find El Mercado on S. 1st St and there are not many cars. "Perfect". We are immediately sat. Lunch at last. I had to try the shrimp and cheese stuffed bacon wrapped peppers appetizer, and so glad I did! Yumm! I also got a brisket taco and cheese enchilada. It was all good.
2:54pm Time to take Walter back to his car, Phil back to his and Cat and I would meet Walter back at home. Phil had a work meeting to go to.
3:45pm Arrive home. Time to relax a bit and decide what to do next. We watch a little TV. Cat makes some coffee. I look at potential movies to go see (with no success). Walter is upstairs making Cat some CDs.
4:37pm Mom calls. Needs ideas what to do about her carpet dilemma.
5:02pm We sit and talk about what to do next. I assure that we will figure something out.
5:28pm Renee calls. Something to do is happening. Jon's car broke down, ironically, outside of Sears Auto. They need a ride. I say "Of course" and quickly vacuum the dog hair from the back seat.
5:57pm We all arrive at Sears/Barton Creek Mall. Jon looks pissed. Renee is smiling. We are the rescue team. We wait a few minutes for the tow truck to come. Dinner ideas are figured. The rest of the day is happening. Yay! I knew something would come up!
6:08pm Tow truck arrives.
6:21pm We leave to go to Cover 3 for some dinner.
6:32pm Arrive at Cover 3. 2 1/2 HOUR WAIT? Oh, yeah, the UT game again! Call Phil to alert of new plan. The Domain...Daily Grill.
6:55pm Find Phil and head to finally eat. To our surprise, it is Restaurant Week in Austin. Our option...$25 three course meal and a $10 3 glasses of wine sampler. FABULOUS! I thank Jon for his car breaking down. He was not drinking enough yet to find it too funny. Course 1, Blackened Shrimp Cocktail. I did a white Spanish Albarino with my starter. It was great. Course 2, Parmesan Crusted Halibut with grilled vegetables drizzled with a balsamic glaze. I did a Pinot Grigio, Maso Canali, from Italy with it. Again, fantastic. We all sampled each others dishes as well and they are all fantastic. Course 3, “Daily Grill” Fudge Brownie Pie their signature brownie, topped with vanilla ice cream, warm caramel and chocolate sauce and candied pecans. I paired this with a Washington Riesling. Talking, eating, enjoying. It was a night. We left the restaurant at around 10:30pm then walked around the Domain looking into shops and still chatting it up.
11:21pm Got into the cars to head home. Stop #1, Jon and Renee's place. Stop #2, Cat's house. Stop #3, home. We were however diverted from Riverside up to Oltorf because, well, who knows. The cops had it blocked off at the student apartments. Who knows what the crazy kids did on a game day. But it took about 20 minutes longer to get home.
12:21pm Walk in the door grateful for such a wonderful day off. Food, friends and fun. Gotta love living life!

Are you sure I am not European?

So I am noticing that I have very little problem carrying a conversation with people from other countries. We chat in my line at work and have a grand ol' time. I talk with foreign friends and can carry a delightful dialog with them, but with my American counterparts, I often find nothing to talk about with them.

What is it that gives me so much in common with our foreign friends that allows me these wonderful experiences? Why is it I have a hard time talking with people of my own national background? I am confused...

I sort of figure that I have very different world views and more open minded about things, but that should not hinder my socializing with them. I don't know sports, and not really up on politics that much, I don't really care about pop culture, and don't need to know who Brittany Spears is dating. Maybe that is the difference. I like to experience life through food, music, social interactions, not from watching it on TV or reading about it in a tabloid.

I am glad however that I have friends that I do enjoy. Often I wonder what makes us friends since sometimes we have very little in common, but then I get together with them and have such a great time and experience I don't question the luck of our relationship. I do swear however that I must be European! Maybe not in this life, but in one previously!

Theory On Angry People

So I was thinking today, because I had some extra time while bored at work, and I was wondering about people and their anger and the causes they chose to be angry about. I was reflecting on times when you see the ugly girl being rude and mean to the pretty waitress, the doltish student beating up the honors student, the outcast joining a terrorist group. There is something in common with all of them. They each have some insecurity that causes them to be angry and unleash their anger in a variety of ways.

Is it because they cannot find peace in themselves to stop the anger, or find that balance that says, "it is OK that they don't look like the models in the magazines", or "it is OK they their talents lye in fixing an engine rather than in physics". Is it shame and lack of self acceptance that causes the anger level to rise in the most unimportant situations?

Being a bit on the hefty side a lot of my life, then being athletic, then large, then thin, then fat, now heading back to the athletic side again, I understand how it feels to not be the right size, accepted all the time, to be different, to have my mom buy "HUSKY" jeans when I was a kid. I know what it is like to feel like an outsider (Try moving to St. George, UT in High School from So. California and most people thinking you are stuck up and a "rebel"). I understand, but maybe it is just my personality to go through it, learn a little something and move on. I can't ever say I have been truly angry to the point I had to hurt others by: protesting against their rights (think Civil Rights movement, Gay Marriage, the Fallwell cult), picketing places of business because of their stance on issues, boycott churches, businesses, institutions, TV stations or anything else because I don't believe in what they believe in.

I do however believe in forming your own opinions, but NEVER telling someone their "opinion" is wrong. If there is fact that can be proven and someone states it wrong, well then that is something else, but opinion and beliefs are totally different than fact.

I think that there would be a lot less angry people if they just were more self accepting and in turn be accepting of others and just let silly things roll off their backs. Live and let live, I believe is the saying, and how simple it is, but how hard is it to do for most.

That's just what I think about it though.

My Fat Pants Fit

Ok, so I have not been eating the best in the past week before the trip, but, I did not gain or lose weight. I did however gain weight while on my 4 day whirlwind tour of Jacksonville, Florida. 6.8 pounds to be exact.

I freaked out! I understand that I was sitting for about 32 hours in a car during this 4 day period. I also know that I was sleeping in a bed for 16 hours, traveling while there sitting for about 2.5 hours, dining (and sitting) for about 7 hours, watching TV and playing games (sitting more) for about 10 hours. In a 92 hour period, that leaves about 24.5 hours of activity. That is only about 6 hours a day that I was actually moving. Not necessarily walking, jogging, etc, just not sitting or being stagnant. That is scary. I do more on a normal day at work! Well, I was freaked out enough and decided to list everything that I ate and that was not being burnt off. I have to say, we did pretty well in our choices. There were some bad decisions of food, and I did have one morning while on the road with fast food (just a breakfast sandwich though). Here is my journal of what all I ate on the trip and the morning the preceded it, and the afternoon/evening that followed it. I typed in red the really bad choices...

Florida Trip August 28- September 1^st.

@Work Fri

2 piece chicken thigh, German potatoes, 1 potato dumpling, red cabbage, water.

Before drive 2 piece chicken thigh, German potatoes, 2 potato dumpling, and water.

Drive to FL

150 oz cold brew coffee w/ agave nectar & hazelnut milk, 1 Rockstar energy drink, 1 pear, 3 Larabars, cheese puffs, peanuts, water.

w/Sherry

Omelet with cheese, sausage, onion peppers, wheat toast, water.

FL Day 1

2 piece fried gator tail, ¾ crab cake w/ ranch, 16oz rib eye steak, garlic mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, water.

Slice banana cream pie.

FL Day 2

scrambled eggs, fried potatoes w/ yellow peppers and onion and turkey sausage, coffee.

Fried pork chunks (Cuban), Cuban rice & black beans, Cuban bread (5 slices), fried plantain, water.

1 scoop coffee bean ice cream + 3 bites of other flavors.

Veggie platter – carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, AND BAD FOR ME CHEMICALLY FILLED VEGGIE DIP (i.e. “Ranch”).

Grilled steak with sweet potato.

¼ banana cream pie.

3 glasses sangria. (but oh it was good)

FL Day 3

Omelet w/potatoes and sausage, hash browns, coffee w/sugar.

Chicken leg and thigh, roast beef hash, cauliflower au gratin, mushroom penne alfredo, Cuban coffee latte.

Buca anti pasto salad, bread (7-8 sm slices), pasta Romano (penne w/ artichoke, chicken, broccoli and a white wine sauce), chicken alfredo pasta, water.

Drive Home

2 Larabars, 2 blue sky energy drinks, sausage croissant from BK, peanuts, OJ fresh squeezed, sausage kolachi, 1 fruit kolachi, 1 cheese kolachi

@Home

spicy lentils with corn chips, 4 rice crackers, tater tots (way too many) & fry sauce, water

KFC bbq wings (5), KFC 2 wings, 2 thighs (half grilled half extra crispy), mashed potatoes and gravy, 2 biscuits, potato wedges, water

Eating like this made my stomach measurement go up 1 ½ inchs and my weight go up 6.8lbs! IN 4 DAYS!

Anyhow, back on the detox. I will be doing it in line with my friend Phil who is starting it in a few days. I am sure I will feel much better doing it again and will seriously to to stick tighter to it following. I will keep you updated!

Life as an Adventure

Today while at work I had two fairly random yet similar things happen. While talking to a co-worker she looked a little down. I asked if she was ok and she said she was having a bum day. I told her we all have those from time to time. She asked if I ever did because I am always happy. I told her I sure as hell did, but she just was never around to see them, but in general I am happy. Later on I was talking to a woman while bagging her groceries. I asked how she was. She said good. She in turn asked how I was and I said I was "fantastic". She stopped and looked at me and said she was stunned by my response; it was the best she had heard in a long time. I told her you have gotta make life fantastic everyday!

It got me to thinking. Do I make life fantastic every day? The answer is no. Why not!? I guess sometimes I am too lazy. Today was mostly great even though a few thing went wrong. I still got errands done, sat for a bit in a coffee shop, went to work, grocery shopped and made a great dinner and spent a few hours with Walter before he went to bed. Why do I not do this every day? Days like these make me happy. I enjoy them. I do not enjoy doing nothing all day and being couped up in the house.

The real question is am I going to change it. I took the first step in living a better life...moving. Now we live in a fabulous city that has more options I am interested in and it is a great start. The next step is simple yet hard sometimes....leaving the house to take advantage of those options. Just because I work does not mean I cannot get out earlier and go to the coffee shop, or on days I close go to the springs to enjoy the outdoors and water. I can go running or walking by the lake after work in the evenings. I don't have to watch TV, or do laundry if I don't want to. I can do that another time when I am bound to being home (you know like when I want to cook or something). This life is an adventure, the only problem is, you have to take the initiative to make it one. I don't want to be the person that is given the opportunity and I just stay in the car and look. Get me out and let me run around! Stop the car and lets explore!

I have to admit I am getting better and often trying, but some days I am not fantastic and it is harder to want to be out and about. I am lucky that I have a good life and awesome people who sometimes push me to take the adventure although I often think I am more the one pushing them into it!

Let's make the most of it. We only live once!
So eat monk fish.
Run a marathon (although you will never see me want to do that I don't think, but I will never say never).
Skinny dip at the lake/beach.
Fall in love.
Make each day AWESOME and unforgettable!
Stop judging others by their outside appearances but understand them for who they are, regardless of if you agree or not.
Listen to a different genre of music outside your comfort zone, not to enjoy it, but to understand it.
Take a walk in the rain WITHOUT an umbrella or raincoat.
Smile at people. You'll be surprised at how many people will genuinely smile back.
Fail at things. It is the only way to find out how to succeed and to be humble when you do have success.
Do what you are good at. Stop focusing on being better at things you are not naturally good at. Excel at those things that come to you naturally and let others excel in their areas of strength. Those are the strongest teams.
Eat cake. Who cares about the carbs or calories. Just eat it in moderation to enjoy and experience the flavors.
Walk around outside and open your senses. Hear the sounds. Smell the scents. See the beauty. If you lack one of those senses, then compensate and imagine it. If you have all those senses, be grateful.
Say "Thank you" and be sincere about it. Do it to the waiter who fills your water glass, the shop girl as you leave the shop, your sweetheart when they bring you an evening snack.

Nothing was a better read when I was a kid than the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series. Life IS a choose your own adventure. Make it the most exciting. Help others have the best they can too. It becomes a Win Win.

Exchange of Intelligence

Nothing excites me more than a nice evening of dinner and conversation. I love being around people who can kick around feelings and ideas. I find myself more edified when I hear how others think and believe and find it often enforces my own beliefs and also causes me to think more and form new views and opinions which will turn into new beliefs.

Tonight was such a night and we had a glorious debate over things such as religion, marriage, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, science, evolution and seasonings. It was stimulating and enjoyable and such a great exchange amongst friends. I love to surround myself with people who not only share their ideas, but are open to new ones. I personally am not overly passionate about any one subject, but find myself open to new ideas and perspectives in many areas. I love to remain open to not judge or nay-say anything, but to question, post new ideas, and cause others to think differently. I am not one to force my ideas but to exchange them so that all are enlightened and can improve on each others views.

I think if we all stopped trying to prove who is right and who is wrong and just listen to each other and take out thinks we can add to our own beliefs that the world would be a better place. We would fight less and improve our minds more. I hope we can all have a delightful exchange of intelligence and accept that others have different views and love that as human beings we have the right to think and believe differently.