Teary Tuesday - Happy Birthday G

This is how it should have been today, the three of us celebrating your 33rd birthday.

We miss you so much and it still hurts that you can't be with us today.  Love always, MOM

Supercilious Sunday - Every class has one

Remember those days when you would be either in a class or a meeting or a seminar, there is always one person that seems to be superior or behaving like they know it all.  Maybe sometime you could be that person, right.  Since I've retired, I have not been in one of those gathering until last week during one of my volunteer work.  As a last minute cancellation, I was decided to help out in a role play exercise for some students who will be enforcement officers after they complete their training. Each group were given different scenarios, etc.  One or two volunteers were assigned with a trainer/evaluator.  Unfortunately, I was assigned the one that was the Miss Smarty pants.  Being a volunteer, our job was to play the role of whatever the scenario was.  After each student, the evaluator would give their comments and or suggestion.  I was a bit surprised when Miss Smarty pants started giving her own comments and would provide suggestions.  There was also a time where she would interrupt my scenario when it was not her turn.  I believe she was trying to show that she knew a lot but actually she was trying to get as much info because she was interested in applying for that particular job.  On one occasion, the evaluator told her to stop interrupting.  She spoke so much that we were so far behind with our scenarios and was told to speed it up.  Like what I said at the beginning, when you have a group of people in a room for whatever it might be, there's always one who will be the Miss or Mr. Know it all.  

Tennis Thursday - US Open is next week

With the US Open 2014 starting next week, I can't help but beg Jeff to come out and play tennis.  Ooops, I am not participating in that event, I just need to get out there for exercise.  But truly when there is a tennis event, I always get that urge to be out there doing the same.  Jeff and I started playing again last Saturday and since he is working from you, we are able to play a little early as there is no time wasted on his commute from work to home.

In fact we have invited two other couples to try it again.  I say again because they all use to play tennis when they were younger but of course, kids come along and it's put aside.  One couple even have one of those really old wooden tennis.  Since we have some extra racquets for them to try it out, we brought them along.  For now only three of the six are retired.  It would be nice when the other three retires because we can play doubles and have extras.

Let's get back to the more popular and the last major final tennis even for 2014.  They have shown some of the projected seeded players.  Unfortunately the one person who I dislike will be there again.  I can't hardly wait for her to retire so that watching the tennis events will be a more enjoyable one.  But then, Jeff had to ruin it by saying "once she retires, she will most likely be an announcer covering the major tennis events" which is probably going to be more irritating because I will see her face and hear her voice".  I'm not sure but I think that will be worst.  If she is eliminated early in the round, then I won't have to watch her for the rest of the event.  If she is the announcer, she will be there for the whole two weeks of the event. OMG, I am not sure if I can handle that,  I might have to pick up another sport, like diving??

This will be the first time that I can say that I know someone who will be watching it LIVE next week.

Testing Tuesday - Switching to Quikpen

Did you know that it cost a lot of money to keep me alive?  Please don't get me wrong, I am not complaining but it is amazing when you look at the cost of medications.  The good part of this is how I am actually feeling which is pretty awesome considering.  This week I am trying a different style of insulin.  What I mean is that I am now using the pre-filled pen instead of the vials that I place of the pen.  This cost a bit more and our current health coverage does not pay for it. Although my doctor has provided me with the prescription because I refuse to go back to using syringe (I started using it in 2003 when I switch to insulin), I just have to suck it up and swallow the cost.  In the meantime, I am hoping that my other coverage will pay at least part of the total bill.  Jeff is looking into some other better health coverage/benefits so that my cost will at least be lower and I get to use the same insulin pen for my diabetes.  This is when I really miss my Canadian health plan.  But it means I have to leave Jeff here and live in a place where there's winter.  I guess sometimes you just have to pick your own battle.  So far the Humulog Quikpen has made a significant change or side effects on my blood sugar which is a good sign.  Sometimes in life you really need to try it out and hope for the best.  Honestly it's all about quality of life.  It might be costly but it definitely makes injecting four times a day much easier and painless.  Diabetes can be controlled and you can lead a normal life.  Please get checked and do not ignore the signs.

Similar Saturday - Happy birthday to J and G

Today two friends celebrate their birthday.  Not only that they have the same birthdays, they definitely have a lot of similarities for having born the same day.  Here's a few of them.

• Same occupation
• Same employer
• Wears the same brand of jeans
• Wears hawaiian shirts
• Wear tennis/runners shoes to work
• Owns eco friendly car
• Owned convertible car prior to eco car
• Lives in the same city
• Has one child
• Likes their steak medium rare
• Likes their eggs over easy
• Uses a lot of ground black pepper
• Places their left hand inside their jean pocket while grilling
• Print writing instead of cursive writing

 

 
 
 

Fairways Friday - Two words only

Sometime last summer my friend Janis and I were paired up with two other golfers.  They seemed to have more experienced that us, in other words they were better golfers.  The good part is that they were nice guys and gave us compliments when we get good shots.  They also would give us tips on how to do a particular shot specially if we were in trouble.  But there was something that I learned from these guys that I would never forget.  They said, there are only two words that you want to use or hear when you are golfing. FAIRWAYS and GREENS.  I am not sure if they just made it up or maybe they've heard it before, but it was really worth keeping in mind.  Most of the time it works when I am standing on the tee box,  I would think of fairways and my ball actually is in the middle of the fairways.  When I get closer to the greens, of course I would think of getting my ball on the green or just before the green.  It is amazing all the thoughts that comes in your mind when you are golfing.  Even after all these years, I am still struggling on the longer course, but I enjoy being out in the golf course that I don't care about the scores nor handicap.  I am out there doing something that I like and enjoying the company of my friends or meeting new people.  Since living in San Jose, I have played in some of the nicest courses and if ever you are in the area, please check it out.

• Cinnibar Hills Golf Club
• Coyote Creek Golf Club
• The Ranch Golf Club
• Spring Valley Golf Course
• The Course @ Wente Vineyards
• Spring Hills Golf Course
• Table Mountain Golf Course
• Boulder Creek Golf Course
• Los Lagos Golf Course
• San Jose Municipal Course
• Sunnyvale Municipal Course
• Santa Teresa Golf Course

The best part about living in our area is that you can really golf 365 days and only need to adjust a little with your golf attire during the winter months. 

Whatever Wednesday - Just a bunch of nonsense

Whatever means anything and everything that comes to my mind while I am getting this post ready for my readers.  I feel like I need to apologize because I have been missing doing my daily posts but I guess it's good to take a break from things otherwise it get's boring.

Instead of just rambling on a bunch of nonsense, I thought of just sharing some photos that I have taken lately.  

Garlic noodles - my first try - not too exciting but edible.

My MIL's new lady bug chimes - they are so pretty.

My friend Jean made this ginger snap cookies with ice cream and caramel parfait.

My sister sent me this photo she took of me while we were at the Ukranian Village.

My sister made this squash and long beans with coconut milk (a little spicy but yummy)

Murky Monday - Flip Flops cleaning

It only took one look at the sole of my feet after wearing my flip flop that I decided it was time to clean and scrub all of my washable flip flops.  I figured I would fill up the tub with soap water and Mr. Clean liquid and soak all of them for at least overnight.  They were all floating at the top and I had to keep flipping them over so the bottom would get soaked.  The next day I took a brush and started scrubbing the bottom until all the dirt and whatever spot it accumulated.  I rinsed them again in hot water and line them up in our backyard.  Today's post is not exciting at all but I thought it might give you an idea to do the same with your flip flops.  Am I the only one that owns a number of flip flops ( 25 total)? Since moving to SJC, I can say that I wear them at least 300 times in a year.  Check out my tub of flip flops.

 

Truthful Thursday - Pedestrians have the right, right?

Today's topic has been in my mind for a while but it has been a very busy couple of weeks after returning from my trip out west.  The idea came back to me because while in Edmonton I truly realized how polite and courteous the citizens of Edmonton.  When crossing the streets, even the busiest streets, the cars stop as soon as the pedestrians feet have left the curb.  They are watching out for you and let you cross safely and sometimes even gives you a nod or a smile.  I don't want sound not fair and criticize the drivers in the area where I live but you will probably agree with me after I tell you my story.  There is a particular crosswalk that I use at least twice a week.  What I don't understand is that it has this big thick lines on the pavement that means it's a crosswalk.  There is a big yellow sign posted on the each side of the road (see the photo) that means pedestrians crossing.  But each and everytime I am about to use this to get to the other side, most cars do not stop, even if I am halfway already and I ended up backing up my steps because I do not want to get killed.  You want to know what else I cannot understand, this crosswalk is in front of a police station.  Do the drivers just ignore or do they think those signs are just a SUGGESTION?  Once a counted at least five cars who did not stop for me even though I was so visible.  Jeff suggested that I get one of those STOP sign (you know the one used by school crossing guards).  It would look really silly, but at least I know I can cross safely, after all, aren't pedestrians have the right of way, especially when there's a crosswalk?

It is very hard to miss this very thick white lines.

Does anybody know what this sign is for?  Apparently some people don't.  Is it just a suggestion?

Sweet Sunday - Only in Canada

Do you have a favorite candy bar that is only available in the USA?  Do you know that there are other candy bars that are only available in Canada?  Sometimes my daughter would crave for a particular candy and I would find it here because it is not available where she lives.  There are also other cookies that I will find that is so different and she loves trying new cookies or other snacks.  After being in Canada for a couple of weeks, I search for candy bars that we don't have here in the USA.  Some of them are similar candy bars with different names.  I took a photo of my three favorite and brought it back for Jeff to taste.

Here's some of other candy bars that are only available in the USA that I like, not love.