Final post of 2009

The countdown begins....

Wow. It's almost 2010. That sounds insane. Like super futuristic and crap. Like way older than the Jetsons. Like.... I'm going to turn 25 this upcoming year...... (pause several months for quarter-life crisis, kids. I'm getting that two year itch again, like usual, telling me to up and leave out of the country again. Will it happen? Stay tuned to find out)

Anyways, 2010. It's been TEN YEARS since the whole Y2K debacle. Yeah, seriously. I get a French channel here in Stockton, TV5 Monde Etats-Unis, and I was watching the journal télévisé (again, snooty way of me saying French newscast) and they were looking at the past decade in review. BTW, happy new year for those of you on the other side of the planet! Anyways, they were showing a side-by-side video comparison of cell phones from now and 2000, computers, Internet user stats (users have increased 6x since 2000 - I blame it on all the 10 year olds who were born in 2000 and came out of the womb texting and myspacing.) Even the picture quality from the video of last decade is unbelievable.

So with that, here's what I've been thinking about lately. I've never been one for resolutions, so let's just call these my goals for 2010, shall we?

a.) write more often ... not blogging, per se, but creative writing. Short stories, long stories, poems, crap, it doesn't matter. I want to write more. I always have.

b.) exercise more ... if not daily, then every other day. I used to be super good about this over the summer, but the lack of sunlight when I get home really puts a damper on my willingness to run. So that's where Wii Fit and my new EA Sports Active Wii video games come into play. I hate to sound lame, but those games really give you a frickin workout. And hey, whatever gets you moving, right?

c.) read more ... starting up that book club means I have to finish at least one book a month. That's usually never been a problem for me, but I'll get back into it.

d.) travel ... It's been over two years since I left the country. I want out again! I'm currently planning a D.C. (I realize that's still in the U.S., just bear with my random tangents) trip to visit my college roommate in June. Free Delta miles and a place to crash? What the heck would be stopping me???

And those are four things I'd love to see myself accomplish over the next 365 days. Wish me luck.

For now, I have a lot of shit to do before the year's even over. I've been slaving away at my basketball notes because we leave for our first conference road trip tomorrow. Flying down to Los Angeles so we can play Cal State Northridge on Saturday and Cal State Fullerton Monday.

That means Monique has a lot of laundry/cleaning/Christmas deconstructing/book shelf assembling/NYE dinner cooking to do. (I'm making a shrimp, bacon and spinach quiche for dinner tonight and splitting a bottle of champagne with J.D. for the end of the year meal. He works tonight and I have to leave at 10 a.m. for work tomorrow. What a pair we are).

Which reminds me.... another goal I've set for myself is NOT TO DRINK TOO MUCH (hmmm, can you imagine what over the past few days has brought this on?)!!! Unless I'm going wine tasting, which doesn't happen too often these days, I'm trying to stick to about a drink a month or less. I don't need alcohol. It messes me up all the time :)

Happy New Year, everone. If you're going out, please drive safe. If not, have a little extra for me ;)

New hair

You know how when you have a hairstyle in mind, and the stylist pulls it off, you can't EVER recreate it at home??

Yeah, that's where I'm at right now.

Yesterday I went into my local Aveda Salon (love that place) and brought in this picture of Carrie Underwood (disregard the deodorant gooeyness) for my stylist:


I had hair a little bit longer than that and my layers were way mangled from going over five months without a cut/trim.

As soon as my stylist saw this picture she told me, "Yeah, we aren't going to be able to do that to you. And I think she has a lot of fake hair involved in that style."

Ugggh!

Basically, in order to achieve layers that dramatic, my hair would look as thin as a midlife balding male. And yes, I do concede that a lot of what I like about this look is done by styling and not the cut itself.

For me to get that look, she said she could cut off some of the length and maybe it could grow into that look. But instead, it ended up turning out like this (which I can't really recreate on my own, it's just kind of blah):


I wish I had more chunky layers and less feathery blending going on. Gosh, being a girl's frustrating! ...At least the style only cost me $25, including a scalp/neck/hand massage and a sweet herbal wrap after they washed my hair.

I told you I love Aveda.

(P.S. Get ready for January. It's the NaBloPoMo's continuation month. November is National Blog Posting Month, so January is like a challenge for the new year: blog every day. Since I failed so miserably at that last time, I'm up for the challenge in 2010. Especially with a "book club" [and I say that in the very loosest sense of the word] coming up on Jan. 1! Bring it on, year!)

What I made off with yesterday

After breaking it this summer.... a new Chi flat iron for my hair!!!

Gift cards! (Origins, Barnes & Noble, Target, Jamba Juice, Walmart)

Williams-Sonoma pizza stick pan and cutter

Berry desserts cookbook

Fruit and vegetable mandolin

Stem-less martini glasses

Cocktail and bar food cookbooks



...And last, but not least - Wii Fit!

There were some more items not listed, but you get the idea. Thanks everyone for the awesome gifts :)

I hope you got what you wanted this holiday season!

....Now about that puppy......

FMD. (Where D=Door)

I had a terrible day yesterday.

Since it's the holiday break, I left a few hours early from work, excited to clean the house some more, bake, do laundry, scrapbook, etc. But instead, both doors to my house gave me the middle finger.

Let me back up a bit here. Our back door lock sticks. Instead of clicking once you put the key in, it just spins in circles and never catches to unlock. So our landlord said that was the original lock and needed to be replaced. And we've known that for several weeks now, but has anyone taken care of it.....? Well to make matters worse, as soon as I couldn't get in last night, I opted to try the front door. But apparently when it's raining the screen door sticks in the door frame and won't open. Fruitlessly trying to open either door, and then going back and forth between the two for 20 minutes, I kicked the front door and crumpled to the floor so upset and frustrated with myself that I began to cry like a small child. It was the most frustrating moment I've had in a long time.

So finally I realized to call my friend, and he came and popped the screen door open for me with the help of tools from the garage. Immediately after I got in, I ran to Home Depot and purchased a new door knob.

And so I present you a 10-step re-enactment of my horrendous evening yesterday:

Taking out all the pieces was terrible, especially because I didn't assume it'd be messy, so I got grease all over the place from inside the door knob.

TAKE THAT, DOOR!

"Easy installation," Yeah these three tiny, ambiguous drawings are so simple. I totally can master fixing a door now.

Ok, I screwed the middle latch in. Only to find out 15 hours later that it was on backwards. FML.

Fixing the inside part of the door frame.

And, this is actually a lie. It's not screwed in all the way. I think I got a faulty one, because the screws won't go in. I need some power tools. Anyone???

As I write this, I believe J.D.'s fixing the door right now. Awesome. I've stopped caring, because it has caused me literally five hours of stress and ridiculous frustration.

And to make matters worse, I tore my sweater when I was putting it back on, because there were splinters in the door that my sleeve caught on. Oh yeah, and I JUST bought that sweater at GAP in Vegas last week.

And then when I came home, I was plugging in the Christmas lights and the reindeer/sleigh on the mantle toppled off the mantle and fell into the tree. So I jumped over to try and stop them from falling and breaking and hit the tree, almost knocking it and all the ornaments on the ground.

So Ben took me out to get some drinks and dinner so as to forget my horrible night. And when I walked into the restroom at the end of the night, I slipped in someone's piss.

Can I take a nap from life right now?!?!?!

(Also, thanks Ben for saving some of my sanity last night!!!)

Love me some baseball

It's a busy Sunday full of cleaning. We're talking not only sweeping and mopping, but on hands and knees scrubbing baseboards, cleaning out heating/cooling vents, etc.

My hands, back and neck are super sore so I'm taking my well-deserved break. I could be sitting here writing about my trips to the East Coast, Portland, or even Las Vegas for God's sake, but those are for another time I suppose.

Right now, I'm going to share with you all how excited I am about a summer opportunity I've applied for. For the first time ever, USA Baseball is opening up all of its Press Officer positions to collegiate baseball sports information directors, or SIDs (i.e., 1/3 of my current job position at Pacific).

That means, the traveling US National Baseball teams (levels: college, 18U, 16U and 14U) will all be in need of someone to travel with them over the summer and perform more or less the same duties I do every single day (scroll down past all this if you don't care about the job description):

• Log box scores and statistics for each game and work closely with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) and USA Baseball to post all information to USABaseball.com.

• Create and email post-game recaps for USABaseball.com, www.usocpressbox.org and to designated USA Baseball email distribution lists and social media outlets.

• File any photographs, video, blogs, video journals, etc. with USA Baseball and MLBAM.

• Compile pre- and post-game stats for team manager and coaches as needed.

• Provide necessary roster and statistics information in pressboxes at each game.

• Generate new story ideas and/or write feature stories for local, national and international press, players' hometown media outlets, and for USABaseball.com, www.teamusa.org and other USA Baseball publications.

• Facilitate all media requests -- print, web, radio, broadcast, press conferences.

• Review and compile daily clips featuring your respective team.

• Communicate with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) on behalf of USA Baseball to meet all in-hand deadlines for Athlete/Team of the Month votes, stat/roster information, www.usocpressbox.org postings, and other USOC needs.

• Assist in USA Baseball media and marketing efforts including local day-of-game responsibilities at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., and help build relationships with local media contacts in the Raleigh-Durham ("Triangle") area.

• Provide assistance when needed to your respective team's general manager in regards to miscellaneous team operational needs.

• Help facilitate on- and off-field, and baseball card-related photo shoots and autograph signings.

• Write an end-of-season wrap-up article and compile a book/annual featuring clips, final stats, pictures, etc. both for post to USABaseball.com and for USA Baseball's records.

• Update your respective team's history at the end of the season -- roster, stats, schedule/results and record book.

• Report back to and coordinate daily with Director, Media & Public Relations from the road as needed

• Position requires a positive, friendly and helpful attitude and exceptional writing and communication skills. Candidate must be self-motivated and able to generate creative, new and fresh story ideas. Individual MUST be available during the entirety of the required dates of the position for which you apply. Must also be prepared to work nights, weekends and holidays.

• Candidate must provide own laptop loaded with StatCrew's The Automated Scorebook Software and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel). Ownership of PDF creation and photo editing software preferred. If candidate does not own TAS or other preferred software, USA Baseball will work with candidate to explore alternatives. USA Baseball will also not provide candidate with a dedicated, portable printer. Printing options will be made available at each stadium to you through the home team or through your respective team's general manager.

Ok, I know that's a lot of crap as assigned. But like I said, it's essentially the same exact thing I'll be doing from February to May, once baseball season is in. I can't believe that it starts one month after we the students get back from Christmas break.

However, the aspect about this summer position that most appeals to me is the international travel entailed. The collegiate national team will travel within the Midwest, North Carolina and to Taiwan and Japan from July to early August. The 18U team travels through the North (think Minnesota, etc.) and "internationally" to Thunder Bay, Canada. On the upside, the Minnesota Twins will be playing at their new stadium this summer, so perhaps the national teams will play at the Metrodome this summer???

As for the 16U team, they trapeze through North Carolina and then "North and South America (outside the US)," which I'm guessing means Latin American locales. Finally, the 14U squad will spend its summer in North Carolina and Nicaragua; however, I did not apply for that position because it runs until September, so that would cut into my current job's time frame.

So, this sounds like a really sweet deal, something that I could have a lot of fun with. But the problem is that there are over 300 Division I universities. Then consider how many Division II and III schools there are, and I'm willing to bet that at least 70 percent of those programs have baseball. So I'm potentially competing against all other baseball (current and former) SIDs for one of three-to-four positions.

Which is why the day I received the e-mail notification about the position, I refined my resume, drafted a cover letter and sent off five different baseball writing samples to accompany my application. I'd guess it opened up on Monday, and the deadline is March 1, 2010.

Am I in over my head, here?? Well, at least if I don't get the job, I'm showing a great deal of motivation by applying within the first week, out of 12 possible weeks to apply.

Wish me luck!

All B-ball, All The Time.

Tonight's Stockton Showcase downtown at the Stockton Arena kicks off four-straight games for me before my Vegas trip.

After working professional sporting games in the past, going to a mid-major Division I collegiate team has been a nice change of pace. While the pressure still is great, it's not as terribly demanding as the professional realm.

But when we host Pac-10 opponent Cal downtown tonight, in front of nearly 8,000 fans and 25 media members to perform for, I think it's finally going to feel like what college hoops is all about on the grand scale. Tonight just might be a glimpse into working for a big-time BCS school. And I'm fairly excited about that prospect!

So we have tonight's game, women's basketball tomorrow night, men's basketball again on Saturday night and women's basketball Sunday afternoon. Then I head out to my parents' house in the East Bay Sunday night, so as to catch an early flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas on Monday morning.

Gosh I can't wait!

And I really am trying to practice my story writing. I made a promise to myself that it's going to get me somewhere. But you can't run a marathon before stretching... so consider this my pre-warm-up lap stretch.

Anyone good at building your own template??

On my other blog, I used a pre-existing template. For this one, I'm trying to build my own.

I made this one from the Wix editor page. But it's not exactly what I'm looking for. And I kind of gave up in the middle. So I guess I'll just keep playing around and trying to figure out how it works.


Unless anyone has any good recommendations for moi?! :) Until then, I'm just going to keep playing around and having fun being a nerd!

Woo, I know how to use technology.

I changed the formatting and layout of my writing blog.

Maybe that means I'll keep writing more?? I have a billion stories in my head, but am too lazy/don't have enough time to actually sit down and write.

Make me more motivated to keep practicing and hopefully end up getting published some day!!!

Voodoo

While in Portland this weekend, I certainly wanted to sample a quirky place I'd seen featured on the Food Network: Voodoo Doughnuts, whose menu includes things like a maple bacon bar and at one point used to sell a NyQuil doughnut that's since been banned by the FDA.

So Kyle and I went there and purchased two treats a piece, which we certainly did not consume at the same time. Those things were sooooo sweet that I could only eat half before throwing the rest of it out.

The menu


Miami Vice Berry (Berry powdered drink and sprinkles)


Voodoo Doll (Complete with pretzel "pin" and red jelly filling)


Old Dirty Bastard (Rice Krispies, chocolate & peanut butter drizzle)

Gosh they were good though. And even though it was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall place, the line was out the door at all hours of operation. Which is crazy, since it's open from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. Yeah, it's only closed for three hours.

Oh yeah, and I kept walking past/seeing this sign from my hotel room:


Think that about sums it up!

#@!%

This morning at breakfast, I received a nice awakening. Still somewhat slumbering, I made my way down to the hotel dining area.

As I was bringing my tray down the line, a man fumbled to close the top of his flimsy paper coffee cup. And then clumsily knocked it over.

Scalding hot coffee laid to rest all over my right hand, searing my poor, unknowing skin.

And now here I sit on the bus, four hours later. Hand still burning as if it's currently on fire. I can't type anymore because the skin on my right hand is so taught and pink, it feels like it's ripping apart. And burning still.

I had a nice morning, what about you???

Wow I've changed

It's winter like in Portland. And I could totally see myself living here.

Visions of Sugar Plums Dance In My Head

With this whole Vegas trip coming up and my basketball trips sprinkled in, J.D. and I decided to plan out our Christmas plans.

And that got me thinking that I wanted to make/bring a dessert when we go to his family's shindig!

So with that, may I present you all the fabulous ideas I'm considering making for Christmas dessert. Anyone want to help me pare this down and figure out what to bring?? I'm taking votes! Each of the following dessert names are also links to their recipes.... that's my Christmas gift to you :)

Sunset's Peppermint-Topped Brownies


Hot Chocolate Meringue Cake


Gingerbread Pear Cake


Upside-Down Pear Tartlettes


Chocolate Caramel Cream Pie

And for the French girl in me:

French Chocolate Macarons

Chocolate Yule Log (Bûche de Noël)

Double Chocolate Bombe Cake

I'm like a nomad

As I prepare to hit the road again with my basketball team this weekend, I can't help but think back to all the places I've been this year.

Where I've been in 2009:

CALIFORNIA
Alamo
Auburn
Costa Mesa
Davis
Elk Grove
Fullerton
Goleta
Granite Bay
Huntington Beach
Manhattan Beach
Montecito
Napa
Newport Beach
Northridge
Lake Tahoe
Lodi
Long Beach
Los Angeles
Palo Alto
Pismo Beach
Roseville
Sacramento
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Santa Monica

HAWAII
Aiea
Honolulu
Waikiki
Waipahu

NEVADA
Lake Tahoe
Reno

NEW JERSEY
West Long Branch

NEW YORK
Manhattan
New Rochelle
New York City
White Plains

OREGON
Eugene
Pleasant Hill

WASHINGTON
Seattle
Spokane

Where I'm going to close out 2009:
Portland, Oregon this weekend
Las Vegas, Nevada in less than two weeks!

Although I've been to over half of the states, traveling to Gonzaga with the baseball team was my first actual journey to Washington!

I'm noticing a trend in my chosen profession. At my last job, I lived in France and traveled all over Europe for a year. And prior to that, just after graduating from UC Santa Barbara in 2007, I traveled all over the United States to 17 different cities with the AVP.

I don't know what I'd do if I was stuck in a job that kept me in the same place all the time!! As I've said before, my promise to myself is to keep traveling and living in different states/countries every couple of years. You know, change things up before I have to settle down and be a real person :)

Tant pis.

I chewed about two pieces of gum over the weekend.

Big mistake. I think the jaw issues are flaring up all over again. If you ever see me, DO NOT let me have gum, ever. So I'm trying to take it easy, maybe revert back to non-chewy foods and stick to the old massage/stretching regimen I used to be on.

On the bright side, today was the first time I took any painkillers since my terrible allergic reaction to Excedrine that left me vomiting for nearly 12 hours.

And also on the bright side, ice cream is a non-chewy food.... :) Too bad Safeway was out of my favorite flavor ever :(

How do you have eggnog and gingerbread, but NO PEPPERMINT?! So we settled on rocky road. It's a good second choice.

P.S. It only has to be the Dreyer's brand.... the Safeway knock-off kind has green mint chunks and it is way less good. If you haven't, buy Dreyer's/Edy's peppermint ice cream. It's like Christmas in your mouth.

Viva Las Vegas

I haven't been to Las Vegas as a simple traveler before.

In fact, I haven't been there in over two years. But I did spend a long weekend in Sin City when I was writing for the AVP. We hosted the annual Gods & Goddesses of the Beach tournament, sponsored by none other than Caesar's Palace.

It wasn't really the typical Vegas trip. Mostly because it was all on my employer's dime. We camped out in suites at Caesar's Palace, ate in the employee's lunch room, earned per diem for meals down in the forum or in the main dining area of the hotel. But most of all, our three other main sponsors (Cuervo, Barefoot Wine and Bud) footed the bill for all the athletes and employees to rub elbows with the rich and famous. Meaning, all access into the Pussy Cat Dolls' private club party. Bottle service on the roof. I was used to that during the entire summer of 2007, traveling with celebrities and getting into promotional parties. At the Dallas stop of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, we rallied at Ghost Bar downtown, at the Dallas Cowboys' private party where Carrie Underwood sang happy birthday to Tony Romo in early April. I even got to meet.... wait for it..... T.O.

So yeah, that wasn't a real trip to Vegas. I only gambled about $10ish, but got three free drinks during the process, so I consider that as coming out even. I'm not much of a gambler.

This time, J.D. booked a trip for us to stay at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. We're off from Dec. 14-17, and found a nice little package that includes the 4.5-star hotel and airfare.

Now I'm off to do some research as to what there is to do in Vegas that week.... since I'm not much of a gambling fan. Hopefully J.D. gets it all out of his system during his basketball trip to Reno this week ;)

...Oh yeah, did I mention I have that ENTIRE week off of basketball?!?! So awesome to have time off and feel like a normal 9-to-5 working person.

One more for the day, then I'm out.

I've got a half day going at work today.... and this is what I've been up to:

2010 Baseball Media Guide Covers!!

Thanks to my good friend, Meghan for the photos! The season starts in less than three months, which means I've got about two months to tackle this project. All the player/coach biographies have been done for about a month now and I've made my design for the interior. At the end of last season I also updated all the records, etc.

So it shouldn't take me too much longer :) Just have to wait and see how big the final roster is going to be and then lay it all out.

Is it spring yet?! (P.S. Obviously it's not, because I found CHRISTMAS RADIO STATIONS AT WORK ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

This is my FAVORITE time of year!

Preparing to head home for the Thanksgiving break tonight, I had nearly an hour-long conversation with one of my good friends from home last night, as she and I were looking to plan an evening out before the holiday.

But in talking with her, I found out she's planning to move to Sydney, Australia in July 2010!!!!!

Kat visited me when I was living in France, so whatever's in store for me career-wise in July, I WILL be taking a two week vacation to go see her.... at the VERY least!

I'm super excited and am going to try with all I've got to make sure this happens.

Ah.

Running over 6.5 miles is a good solution for feelings of uselessness.

Note: Pangs of feeling useless generally arise from accompanying athletic teams on long weekend roadtrips, while they practice/compete over two hours per day. And since they're so active, food options are generally limited to large portions and high in carbs/calories.

I feel better now. A little sore, but overall better.

Waiting for the water to come back!

As I sit here in my hotel, waiting the water to be turned back on I almost regret working out for the past hour.

But then again, I wouldn't have been able to experience this:

The Life Fitness 95T Inspire treadmill.

I totally want to own one of these badboys one day! It's a treadmill with an iPod attachment that syncs to your workout, or gives you the option of watching TV right on the treadmill's touch screen console.

But the best part was the interactive console. You can choose what kind of run you prefer based on scenery (i.e. a rigorous mountain run shows you ascending Mount Kilimanjaro, where as a low-incline scenic run is a 5K map of running in the foothills, much like my old cross country days). Or you always have the standard high school track option, which shows marks at every 100 meters to aid in interval training, etc.

There is also an option of a cartoon personal trainer, male or female, which I imagine is very similar to the "trainer" in WiiFit.

Anyways, it was awesome. Whatever gets me motivated to get back into running.... I'll take it!

P.S. I've recently discovered through online browsing, that it's nearly $6,500..... yikes. Maybe I'll settle for a car, or an international vacation along with a trip to Hawai'i instead...

Nostalgia, cont.

Then again, maybe that's why I love Paris so much. Perhaps it's just my displaced nostalgia for travel and international living.

Also, blogging via iPhone app is quite difficult. My apologies for the double post. Anyone know of a decent free app whith which one can post blog entries?

Nostalgia

I forgot how much I liked the East Coast since my two-year absence on this side of the county.

There's a sort of serenity sitting in a bus, overlooking traffic, soft and heavy raindrops dripping down the sides of the windows as the city's bright lights glisten across the horizon refracting in the water pouring from the sky. Traffic hums noisily outside and blaring horns are just as common as birds chirping outside the window in this urban jungle.

I forgot about the road rage all New Yorkers have in common, along with their borderline-obsession with the Yankees.

As I sit here we're halfway to Times Square. Halfway to white might possibly be the most multiculturally rich city in the country. The landing spot for thousands of immigrants hoping to delve into their fair share of the American dream.

What I look forward to most is tasting their various cuisines brought back from "home," another corner of the world.

I can't wait to bask in Times Squares' abundant light, glitter and overall insanity.

I really do love New York. Being the city girl that I am, I could certainly live here. I recognized that the moment I felt a tinge of jealousy for the students at Iona College, dressed in their heavy pea coats, trendy coffees in hand, As the autum leaves danced down from the treetops and onto the sidewalk.

Now I remember why I wanted to move out here when I was in high school.

2,833 Miles Later....

I made it to New York, in case you were curious.

And boy what a trip it's already been. Have I mentioned that we've only been here for just under four hours?

As I mentioned earlier (or Tweeted, I can't remember anymore) our women's basketball team hosted Southern Utah last night. I did my radio broadcast of the event and then stayed after the game's conclusion to write up my story and update stats on the website. At about 10:45, I was ready to leave my office, until a number I didn't recognize called my work phone. Normally, I would have ignored it since I don't like taking calls from numbers I don't recognize on my cell phone, or after 5 p.m. at the office. If it's important enough, someone will leave me a message.

Well that person did. And I decided to check it instead of going home to pack. Lucky for him, it was the media contact at Southern Utah with desperation in his voice, asking if I'd go into our gym and get his computer charged and bring it to their hotel since he'd forgotten to pack it.

Oh yeah, they also left at 7 a.m. this morning. Apprehensively, I called him back and said I'd go search for it, but as I made my way down to the arena at 11 p.m., the lights were all off and it was locked. So I had a coworker come let me in, who generously agreed to take the charger himself. I owe ya, Ben.... :)

Then I get home just after 11 p.m. and frantically try to finish my packing for our East Coast road trip. I take a shower at 11:20ish and realize I'm starving. So J.D. made me some food while he was watching TV downstairs. After eating, we finish watching Chopped and for the life of me, I can't fall asleep. Every hour it felt like I was fruitlessly rolling around in bed, only to find another one of my four precious hours of sleep has disappeared.

When my alarm finally sounded at 3:35 THIS MORNING, I was already laying in bed, dreading its noise. Having no other choice, I gathered my belongings and made it to the athletics department.

We had about an hour and a half drive to the Oakland Airport, but I couldn't sleep and felt ill from my less than two hours of sleep and lack of food. But we finally made it. And I had to pay for my second checked bag, but I'm hoping for reimburstment.

With less than 30 minutes to go, I scurry through security and conveniently find a Chili's right in front of my gate serving breakfast. I order a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and wheat toast to go as to make our 7 a.m. departure. However, I become a nervous wreck as the preparation takes nearly 10 minutes. And cost me $12!!! But as soon as I grabbed my meal, my seating group was called to board. Lucky me.

Once we take off, I open up my breakfast box and quickly consume it all, only to feel slightly ill from the poor quality of ingredients. As is my usual reaction, I tried to sleep it off. But my head kept falling down the aisle pillow waking me up. And my foot fell asleep.

So I finished my notes on during the three hours my battery lasted me. For the final hour and a half, I tried a combination of reading and watching DirecTV (I <3 Jet Blue!) before I started feeling motion sickness. I really have the world's worst stomach.

When we land, we board our charter bus to take us to the hotel (aptly named Luck of the Irish Lines), before one of the freshmen players finds $20 on the seat near her, shrieking "It's the Luck 'o' the Irish!" Well, turns out it wasn't, our trainer had lost $20 from his pocket. Or so he claims. Our associate head coach caught on and said the staff would be sharing that money for an evening out. $20 in New York for seven people.... good luck :)

All is well and fine to set forth, except our driver had awesome road rage. And I became enraged because he kept giving us spiel after spiel about why the "New York Yankees are the greatest team in the world, from the greatest city in the world." Whatever, dude. If they're so great, where have they been the past nine years?? I guess money can't buy you everything, afterall.

However, it was a pleasant trip, because this crotchety driver was a riot. And I was quite impressed how in tune he is with current events, sports, politics, history and local tourism. Needless to say, we got a mini tour on our way up to White Plains, N.Y., where our hotel is located. Apparently he'll be taking us on a bus tour of New York City on Monday, so I'm certainly looking forward to that.

Close to 5 p.m. EST, we arrived at the hotel and within seconds of spotting the name, I shouted out, "I've stayed here before! They give you free cookies!"

Turns out, this is exactly where we camped when I worked with the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour and had a weekend tournament on Coney Island. Kind of an inconvenient commute, but fun nonetheless. I got to spend two days in the City with my mom two years ago.

But back to the present stay.... I seemed to impress some of the other coaches, because as we made our grand entrance (how do 13 college girls in matching Pacific Tiger sweats, along with five similarly-clad coaches not make a grand entrance?), what should appear other than a large, inviting plate of warm chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies.

And a free "social hour" complete with booze, salad bar, hot wings, fries and my personal favorite, hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Awesome! I think it's going to be a good trip. Now about getting some sleep....

Life keeps getting in the way

Despite my efforts, for the life of me I can't commit to blogging/writing each day. At least the intention's there....

In the upcoming weeks, I've got a lot on my plate. Tonight marks our athletic department's fourth game in a row. Friday and Saturday night we had women's volleyball, yesterday I did a (sub-par) radio broadcast for our women's basketball game, tonight is men's basketball and we close out the "weekend" with women's basketball on Tuesday night. Generally I'm needed to be at as many home games as possible since I'm one of only three or four people who know how to run the stats program on our official computer. If I'm not running stats, then I'm calling for someone else who is or, better yet - on air.

But that's just the start. After the rush of this five-straight, I get to hit the road with women's basketball (WBB from here on out) for the first time this season. We're headed towards Oakland to board a non-stop JetBlue flight to NYC at.... get this.... 4:30 a.m. Need I remind you that we have a WBB game the night before that probably will wrap up entirely around 10 p.m.?

I get the feeling that I'm going to attempt to stay up all night and sleep on the plane. Otherwise, I might not wake up from a three/four-hour "nap" at 3:30 a.m.

But after our New York/New Jersey trip this weekend, we arrive back in California Monday night-Tuesday morning. Wednesday night I'm headed back home for the ENTIRE Thanksgiving weekend off - free - no work. It's amazing.

However, once I return to Stockton, I get to turn right back around and trek out to Portland, Ore., with WBB.

Then maybe I can take a breather! ...Or write on all my plane trips. At the very least, I hope to catch up on some reading/sleep.

Well, with all said and done, I realized I won't have much time to start decorating for Christmas.

So, J.D. and I put up our tree last night. It's still fairly bare, just has three strands of lights. The ornaments can be hung later, but for now, at least we got the labor-intensive part out of the way.

Does that mean I'm allowed to start listening to Christmas music now?!? :)

Close Encounters of the Fuzzy Kind

My boss is gone on a road trip to Pepperdine with our men's basketball team. Usually this time of year when he's on the road doing radio, he asks me to watch his two dogs. Since I'm a dog person, I don't mind. His dogs have somewhat grown on me.

The bus took off yesterday, so my boss drove to work and his car remained in the parking lot all afternoon. As soon as J.D. got off work, I promised him we'd come by and take his car back the half mile to his house, so it didn't look like he was gone for a few days.

Driving back from Sacramento adds on another hour and a half to J.D.'s commute than mine, so we decided to feed the dogs and return his car after dinner. I drove him back to my school lot where he picked up my boss' car, but I arrived at his house first.

Let me set the scene, it's dark and sort of misty on his block and the only light in front of me was the security light coming off the roof of his neighbor's house. As I pulled up to an empty spot on the sidewalk, I see a cat running across the grass and towards my car. Upon turning off my headlights, I realized that it wasn't a cat, but instead what appeared to be a domestic bunny.

Poor little guy, I thought to myself. It's escaped from some miserable kid and is wandering through the street!

Determined to get it and knock on a few of the neighbors' doors, I squatted down low and made clicking noises in efforts to usher the bunny towards me. Hearing my calls, it crouched low and began to hop towards me. Within arm's length, I felt confident that if I moved slowly enough, I could grab the little fur ball and keep it safely while looking for an owner. Even if I had to put up posters or post on craigslist.

It was at this point that J.D. drove my boss' car into his driveway. Making the sharp turn, his headlights shone into the hedges between my boss and his neighbor's yard. The light scared out at least three other rabbits from the bushes. These rabbits, I convinced myself, looked wild. They were dingy little gray rabbits, while the white one seemed to be big and had well-maintained fur.

With the white rabbit still inching closer to me, doubts began to fill my head.

Maybe this isn't a tame rabbit? What if it's a really friendly wild bunny with rabies who's hoping to be fed? Oh my gosh, what if it bites me and I get rabies?

Frozen in my tracks, J.D. tries to call me into the house to go feed the dogs, but all I can do is stare at these cute, evil little bunnies who are curiously staring at me.

At this point, the white one speeds up his pace and starts feverishly hopping after me. He must have said something to his fuzzy little friends, because the other three then joined him and all four bunnies hopped towards me.

Freaking out, I had convinced myself that they were wild and rabid.

Shrieking, "I don't want to get rabies!" like a crazy person, I ran through the grass and towards the front door. But slipped in several piles of rabbit turd.

After the door safely shut behind me, I texted my boss, "WTF?!?! You have rabbits living in your yard?!"

To which he replies, "Yeah, they are to get Rocky (his dog) in shape. ... They are my neighbors'."

Once I was done recounting the tale via text, he called me laughing. Explaining that the parents bought bunnies as pets for their kids, but one day the bunnies doubled. And then there were more, so they decided to rid of the males and keep all the females loose in the backyard.

Lately the bunnies have been burrowing and have dug holes under the fence and into my boss' backyard. He has since blocked off his yard from the curious rabbits and so their next move has been to run loose in the streets. And it's been this way for quite a few weeks.

Crazy, tame wild bunnies roaming the streets.

I think my boss summed it up best when he said, "The visual of you being chased by rabid bunnies is quite funny."

FML.

Back at it

Lately, I've fallen back into my former aspirations of becoming a published author. Short stories, fiction, travel writing, pick your poison.

So instead of only dreaming about writing professionally, I've started doing something about it. I'm going to be compiling short stories in my free time now.

While I still aim to blog daily, these entries will be posted to my other account which I've created solely for the purpose of (this is figuratively speaking since I haven't done such deed) putting pen to paper.

Here's my most recent story. Amazingly enough, it's the first time I've actually completed a thought. Most of my last works were expected snippets of a much larger piece. This time, I'm opting for short stories and am thoroughly enjoying the process.

Just Kidding

Just kidding about the whole blogging each day thing. I guess my life got in the way of that.

Well, partially. Work is getting busy, especially with basketball season starting up and me getting to travel every other weekend!

But because of that, in addition to crappy daylight savings time making it dark by the time I get to my car at night, I've decided to flip-flop my schedule. I've been trying to run for at least 30 minutes every day, but with it being so dark by 5 p.m., this morning I decided to do it in the morning.

So I woke up at 7:20 this morning, did a bit of yoga stretching before I left then made my way out to the Delta levy for a good 2.75-mile run. Some of it was street running, under the freeway, past schools, but half of it was on the Delta levy that comes in from the ocean!

So I got back at 8ish this morning and had breakfast at home for the first time in a very long while. Usually, I'll grab something quickly and bring it to work with me once I stumble in the door around 9:30 a.m. But this whole waking up early thing is wonderful! I feel so refreshed and busy this morning and the day seems to be flying.

Maybe it's because I bought this new peppermint syrup and have been making peppermint mochas or peppermint soy lattes each morning :)


I ♥ fall/winter!

(Oh and I already want to put up my tree this weekend!! Is that wrong? I mean, I'll be in New York/New Jersey next weekend and home for Thanksgiving the weekend after. Then the first week of December, I'll be in Portland, so really, the only time to decorate before December is this weekend. It's not worth it to put a tree up a couple of days before Christmas. So now or never!)

Second Post of the Day.... Wow.

I just can't get over this women's soccer play off game between BYU and New Mexico..... the best part is we had a redshirt transfer from this school on our women's soccer team this year.

Even though this Big West Conference is extremely dirty, I saw NOTHING like this while I was working with our women's soccer team. Brings the game to a whole new level.

But with soccer season under my belt, it's now time for women's basketball. First home game is this weekend, and I travel to New Jersey and New York to do some radio broadcasts on Nov. 20th!

Bring it on!

More wishes!

Here are some amendments to my holiday wish list! (Even if no one's getting me this stuff, it's so fun to make wishlists and look up fun big kid toys online).

Oh it's also National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) so I'm trying to be proactive and post every day this month. Whether or not that happens is a different story, but it's worth a shot!

So things I'm really liking/wanting right now:

-New flat iron, since mine broke, RIP buddy. Preferably of the brands Solia, Hana or CHI.

-Learn language tapes/books/aids! I'm still trying to listen to French podcasts and watch the news online on a regular basis, but now I'm ready to dive into another language. I'm really interested in both Spanish and German right now. Though, I still have my study book and exercise book from my one quarter of Spanish at UC Santa Barbara my senior year.

Though I've not yet used them, I like the initial look of the Teach Yourself and Living Languages programs, from what I saw at Barnes & Noble earlier this week.


-And finally, Mitch Albom's (author of Tuesdays With Morrie) new book, Have A Little Faith. He's such a talented writer. I may actually purchase this book on my Sony eReader later this week.... We'll see :)

-I would also be open to money to insert into my savings account, for future travel plans! :)

"You must be so excited"

Nervously sitting in the waiting room at Kaiser, I desperately tried not to make eye contact with anyone else sitting in the small, stuffy room with me. The problem about living in the Central Valley is the hospitals are so overrun with poor, sick immigrant families. I feel so terrible about that entire situation, because I have always had accessible medical coverage to me, and the money to take care of whatever arises. Twice, I've been stuck in line behind a woman or young mother who doesn't have coverage and is extremely sick and needs to be seen ASAP. The red tape surrounding that entire process is thicker than anything I've ever dealt with in my entire life.

But this time, it was a young expecting mother in front of me who needed an H1N1 vaccination. I believe they're free to Kaiser members, but clearly, she wasn't one. When she sat down coughing up a storm, I was finally called up to the front window.

After handing the receptionist my card, we did the usual back-and-forth. Do you still live at this address? How old are you?....

But her last question threw me off guard.

"And the reason for your visit today is a prenatal appointment? Oh wow, congratulations! You must be so excited!" she proclaimed, excitedly looking at my stomach (which, by the way, would not mislead one to think I am pregnant!)

Embarrassed, I could feel the stares of all the other, older women, and the younger pregnant girl with two rings on a certain finger on her left hand. As my cheeks continued to flush, I heard a woman make a disapproving clicking sound with her tongue.

It only was a couple of seconds, but it felt like eternity before the receptionist said, "Ma'am...?"

Snapping out of it, I shook my head in disbelief, "No, I'm just here for my annual check up. I'm, I'm not pregnant," I stammered.

"Oh, well it doesn't say the reason for your appointment online, so we checked prenatal," she said looking back at her computer screen, unfriendly as she was before she thought I was expecting.

Knowing that I clearly checked the correct button when I made my appointment online, I still felt a little nervous at all the women in the room staring at me. I guess they're just used to pregnant women under 25 in this area...... I can't tell you how many pregnant girls I've seen walking the streets without rings on their hands.

When the nurse finally admitted me into my examination room, I once again sat on the bench, uncomfortable in my thin paper robe. Browsing the travel magazine that sat underneath the heaps of health magazines for new mothers and pregnant women, my doctor finally entered.

"Well, we have something to look forward to in a few months, don't we!" she said all bubbly and excited for me. "I didn't even know you were trying to have a baby?"

"I wasn't," I said, short of temper. They must not have notified her that this was not a prenatal exam.

"Oh," her voice trailed off. "Then do we need to discuss your options?"

"No, no," I replied in disgust. "I'm not pregnant. I'm just here for my annual check up."

And with that, she put back on her professional face and continued her job. And I no longer had people tormenting me with how excited they are/were for my new little bundle of joy.

God, I'm not ready for that. Not for a long time.

Self promise

Maybe I should stop reading friends'/acquaintances' travel blogs... Maybe I should stop buying travel literature... Maybe I should stop watching the Travel Chanel and traveling culinary shows on the Food Network.

There are a lot of things I should stop doing to indulge my fantasy to continue traveling in the next phase of my life. But I can't.

I made a promise to myself that I'm going to live abroad again within the next five years. And I fully intend on following through.

Women's Basketball Media Guide!

My work for the past three months is finally done! And I CANNOT believe that college basketball season is here this week already.....

So here's my women's basketball media guide!

GOO-lay.

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday this weekend, I've begun my decorating project.

Cobb webs now adorn the entry way by my ceiling, my cut-out window from the kitchen to the dining room and the mantle over my fireplace. (Maybe I'll post pictures soon??) For the front entry hall, I've cut up black garbage bags and made streamers and light blockers to make the entrance all spooky :)

Then I've added plastic spiders/rats and test tube vials of candy goo filled with gummy eyes, brains and fingers. I think tonight's finally the time for pumpkin carving!

As for the costumes (for the party I'm hosting this weekend)... it's not quite the same thing, but here's a video hint of what J.D. and I are planning ("A little inside, I know"):

G'day

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that sending mail to Australia cost me less than $2.

Sweet! I was expecting to fork out over $5... sending a package to New York almost cost me $6. What the heck??

I like this international mail deal.

Six-Word Memoir

Have you heard about the Six Word Memoir project?!

Here is mine: This Restless Soul Longs To Travel.



What's yours Photo Geek, Una Notta delle Stelle and Jennie en France?
**After you write yours, pick three random blogs from your list!

If I didn't tag you, leave your six-word memoir in the comments section, or better yet, make your own post about it! I'm also in love with vintage travel posters. At some point in my life, I'd like to decorate my house with these!!

Home sick for a second day

I think I tried to get back into the eating game too quickly last night. My stomach was feeling much better, so I resumed my eating habits as if I'd never been sick before and as if I wasn't on an empty stomach.

Waking up this morning was a nightmare, I felt like I'd be throwing up all over again. So I slept it off. And then I slept it off. And then I slept it off again, and I'm feeling sluggishly better now. I'm easing my way into soups and snacks. I'm not going to go overboard this time.

But being in bed for the past two days has given way to a lot of television and a lot of Internet searching.

Without further ado, I present to you my holiday wish list! (Too soon?)

A real, digital camera. With an actual lens. I'm over my little point-and-shoot cameras. These are much higher quality. Doesn't even have to be a Cannon!


New running shoes (and also shoes I can wear to outdoor events like soccer and baseball, since heels aren't so good on muddy and gravel surfaces). I really want some Nike Shox, in black :) These are the Navina +4 series.


Diesel Fuel for Life (Her). I bought this when I was in France and trying to blow through all my leftover Euros on hand. I bought this at a cute little fragrance boutique in Vieux Antibes. But now I've run out. I'm ready for a restock!


Wii Fit. Duh. I have a Wii. All I need is the Fit board and software :)


The HP dv3t series. I've spec-ed one out already for my cousin who works there. It's about $700... a bit pricey for a Christmas present. Maybe Christmas and birthday?! :) Or maybe I'll charge it to my credit card at the end of the year and make a purchase like this all on my own.


Maybe Baby fragrance. Aimee got this for Christmas one year and I love it! It smells like roses. If I get one, you can use a bunch of it Aims, to take back what I've used from yours :)

That's about it for my holiday wishlist. Maybe when I'm bored at home all day again, I'll think of some amendments to the list!