We don't do much talking in the 209 + Post No. 500!

You knew I was going to write about it. How could I be an A's fan in Stockton and not comment on this??!?!

First of all, I think Dallas Braden is kind of an idiot. That's just my personal opinion, I'm entitled to it. He's a pugnacious kid from Stockton (and if you don't know what my city's all about, it's kind of ghetto and parts are also rural agricultural areas with lots of immigrants. It's an interesting mix of folks), and went to high school the same year as one of the girls I work with. So he's only two years older than I am. And at 25, I still feel like I have the mentality of a kid sometimes.

Apparently, so does Dallas Braden. A few weeks ago, A-Rod stormed the mound when the A's played the Yankees (ew) and it was just handled so poorly. Braden was spouting about it and venting live on tv for hours that night. Now fast forward to a few days before his start this weekend and what does he say, "We don't do much talking in the 209 [Stockton's area code]." Seriously, he's an idiot.

But that set the scene for this weekend. When Braden tossed MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL'S 19th PERFECT GAME dating back to the 1800s. As in, no hits, no runs, no errors. Nothing. That is impressive.

We get DirecTV on the bus during road trips and this weekend drove back and forth an hour north to UC Davis. Our Division I collegiate baseball team completed a three-game sweep of UC Davis, and down in Santa Barbara our women's softball team also swept UC Santa Barbara. To the point where the Gauchos never even once scored... which kills me a little inside to write, since I graduated from there and all.

So on the bus back, all the guys could not stop talking about Braden's perfect game, saying how this was a great weekend for the 209. As we drove away from the baseball field, still on the campus of UC Davis, the trees lining the road kept interfering with the DirecTV signal. So on SportsCenter when Braden's teaser aired, we essentially missed the entire thing before it cut to commercial break. And all the guys on the bus kept screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOO, NOOOOOO," with every interference from the trees. It was almost akin to a record skipping. Classic.

It's always a very entertaining ride back when we win.

In other news, my new "boyfriend" as he's been dubbed - don't worry, still dating J.D. this is only a joke - and I didn't have any interaction whatsoever this weekend! I don't know why, this is silly actually, but I'd been super nervous about making the trip to UC Davis and having him remember me. I wished he'd forgotten and I guess this weekend he did just that! So crisis averted, I live to tell about another day. Too bad though, that could have made for some more comical blog posts.

If you're curious about the incident I'm referencing which led to this "new boyfriend," so delicately labeled by my female coworkers you're going to have to read about it here, on my sports-writing blog.

And I made it to 500 posts in under three years! Thanks to everyone who's been reading my blog and encouraging me to keep writing along the way. This was only meant to serve as means of updating my friends and family across the pond when I lived in France for a year. I'm glad I kept it going!

Now, I think it's time for me to pass out...... after running SEVEN MILES in about 66 minutes. I know, impressive right?!?! I couldn't even believe it.

"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.

Scary news....

We keep hearing all this b.s. about California's gaping budgetary deficits. But here it is, folks. In three weeks, by February 1, California will have to declare bankruptcy. Our hypothetical situation if our state government can't fix its shit will be to send out I.O.U.s like they're going out of style, alongside massive state employee lay-offs. Well, doesn't this sound like a fabulous plan?

I'm not really that excited to see where this takes us, or what kind of deals the California legislators are going to scheme up. Heaven only knows.

Arnold has another kind of termination he'll need to ward off again.... (da-da, chhhhhhh). Sorry.


I'll be doing my part to keep California's economy rolling. After picking up some groceries at Trader Joe's tonight, I cooked myself a crab cake on a bed of lettuce greens and veggies, with some sweet potato fries. Trying to eat light so I can go out on my dessert date pretty soon tonight ;)

Kind of excited for that.

BRITISH HUMOR SUCKS

Ok seriously, this is the WORST headline ever written. Leave it to the Brits...

World trade talks end in collapse

Not funny BBC, not funny.

And I take the BLONDE award for the day....

I swear, I've been to Sacramento a MILLION times before. My extended family lives up in that area as well as some friends who I've already visited before!

So that doesn't really excuse my actions today.

Well, there was a good deal of traffic from Vacaville on down towards my home stretch of freeway, and I kind of got caught up in a daze by the monotony of having to stay seated in my car without actually going anywhere. (Loud music and a sunroof also don't bode well for my attention span). But I guess somehow I missed the offramp from 80 to 680 -- something I've taken a million times.

Anyways, I kind of figured it out when I crossed the Crockett Bridge instead of the Benicia Bridge -- it looked a little older and different than what I thought it looked like yesterday. Then I realized landmarks weren't making any sense to me at all, and when I saw the sign that said "Richmond," that really clinched my assumption that I was, in fact, lost.

But then my mind conjured up a conversation I had quite a few years past with another friend from the Bay Area. Although I've noticed it before, her verbalizing this fact made me really clear of its accuracy: "There are a whole bunch of intertwining freeways in the Bay Area." So then I started looking for upcoming freeway signs and realized that I was getting closer to Berkeley and Oakland! Score, being an avid A's fan, I can certainly tell you that I know at least three different ways to Oakland from my house. Long story short, I finally found my way out of there -- I took 80 to 580 to 24 then finally met up with 680 -- and it took me 16 miles longer than necessary had I originally turned off 680 from 80 in Fairfield. (See below for those of you who need a visual, the red circle indicates my missed turnoff, while the arrow denotes the freeway I eventually caught up with.)


Well, at least I got to experience the scenic Bay route....

That's what friends are for

Wow, I definitely didn't see this coming:

Last week, when I was in Santa Barbara, a few friends invited my sister and I out to a restaurant/bar down town to grab some food during happy hour and watch the Lakers game.

One margarita into the night, I made a quick comment in passing that our waiter was kind of attractive. And -- come on he's a waiter and clearly makes a living off tips -- he started getting friendlier as the night went on. Which could have very easily been confused with flirtier.

Anyways, my smart little sis decided to mess with me when the tab came to us. On the receipt, she wrote:

"You're hot. Call me. -Monique (phone number)."

At this point, I'm extremely embarrassed and tore off the top section that said "you're hot." So now he only has a mini half-ripped paper that says "Call me," with my number attached.

As he goes to pick up his tips, the waiter starts reading over "my" little note closely, at this point everyone but myself goes inside and starts yelling in his general direction, "Come here Monique. Monique!" to make it relatively obvious that the only other girl in our party wasn't Monique.

Now I'm beet read and standing at the street corner, waiting to cross and close this chapter of my life. Because I don't do very well in flirting situations like this. I'm never the one to give out my number or make a first advance! ...Which explains why I've only dated two people here.

Anyways, fast forward one week. I still haven't heard anything and wasn't ever expecting to, really.

But today....... that all changed.

I received this "mysterious" text from an 805 area code (Santa Barbara area) that read: "Hey, it's Bobby from (restaurant name). Wanna grab a drink sometime?"

Goodness, NO! I deleted the text in complete horror. He actually had the balls to call me, well sort of call me. And anyways, SB is over 4 hours by car from here, so that drink's gonna have to wait. And I don't even want to go through with this, because I'm too embarrassed any of it ever happened!!!

:-\