Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Cold & Flu Season

Well, I've been sick on and off for the last 2 weeks. Being too arrogant about it, if you can use that term, I continued not to dress warmly as I should have and in the last two days, I had to stay home from work to suffer in silence. Yesterday, I spent all day & night in bed and taken more than my fair share of cold medication.

After all this time, I can't believe medical science has not found a cure for the common cold. I usually don't get sick more than once or twice a year and I have already gotten 2 colds in the last 2 months. Perhaps I should blame my work for keeping the place freezing or should I just blame it on bad luck?

I always feel guilty for not being at work, but all the health articles usually states one should stay home when one is sick as to not spread the germs around. The fun part is going back to work and trying to catch up on all the lost time and stacks of work waiting for me.

- AV

Friday, January 26, 2007

How did he feel?

My husband went to a memorial service for one of his friends last night. I didn't accompany him. Dave was 52 years old and knew he had brain cancer over a year ago. I've only met him a few times during our big annual dinner banquets and we've only exchanged "hi's" and "hello's".

Yesterday, there was a big article about his life in our local newspaper. It mentioned he recently married his long-time girlfriend and has been traveling the world in hopes of seeing all the 7 wonders of the world.

What goes through a person's mind when they know they only have a limited time to live? Does traveling to all the corners of the world have the same meaning as those who don't have a terminal disease?

- AV

Friday, January 12, 2007

Phone Blogging

If this works, it means I can blog with my cell phone. Scary, huh?
I'll only do this during emergencies, but since when is blogging
urgent? :)

- AV

Ramblings for the Week

I didn't mention this before, but my 75 year-old uncle-in-law had another stroke on New Year's Eve. After spending a few weeks in the hospital, he's now in rehab to re-learn how to walk and move one side of his arm again. Our family feels sorry for him because he is always angry at something or somebody. He has all this money, but refused to spend it when he could and now he has to spend it on his hospital bills.

When he was well, he would drive all around town everyday just to save a few cents on specific grocery items. He would yell at his son and daughter-in-law for trivial things like parking their car a little crooked in the garage or not stacking items neatly in the refrigerator. Go figure.

My dad just had aortic stent surgery earlier this week to increase the blood flow to his legs. He had major surgery last year, but still had problems walking by having to rest every half a block. Hopefully, this will relieve the problem so he can go about his business.

Well, I'm updating my resume again. According to the grapevine, I'll be getting a new manager soon. I think it's time to move on to a satisfying job, but I just hate going through the rig'em & roll of sending resumes, filling out applications, writing cover letters, and interviewing. The positives about my job now is location and the hours. I'm torn between these 2 things versus a satisfying job and working longer hours for more pay. Time is more important to me than money at this point in my life.

I was given a new Cingular BlackJack cell phone for Christmas. For the geek in me, it's the perfect phone. It's slim, makes calls, connects to the internet, productivity tool, plays videos, mp3 player, ...etc. Now I just have to wait to see what the monthly bill looks like. Yikes!

As part of my new year's resolution, I am trying to eat less sweets. Before the holidays, I weighed 6 lbs. more than my normal weight. Believe me, I started to panic since eating sweets is one of my weaknesses and I didn't want all my workouts to go to waste. After trying to eat less in the last few days, it appears I am back to my normal weight. Either that or my scale has a weird sense of humor.

- AV

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Happy Belated New Year's



Well, I'm back if anyone cares. I spent the holidays participating in the 118th Tournament of Roses Parade. It was an experience I'll never forget meeting friends from all over the world and spending 6 grueling days in training. Oh yeah, we got to meet George Lucas too and take a few group pictures with him.

You see, we were all part of the LucasFilm's Star Wars Spectacular which included 2 floats, 200 Stormtroopers from over 22 countries & 36 states, 180 members of the Grambling State University Marching Band, and other miscellaneous Rebel troops. You might have heard about this in the media or seen the videos on YouTube.

I was honored to hold the famous Grambling State Marching Band banner throughout the parade even though I am not affiliated with the school. I have been in other parades before, but this will undoubtedly be the biggest one in my lifetime with over 1 million spectators along the 5.5 mile parade route. Every nook and cranny were filled with people and sometimes what seems like over 12 rows high in stadium seatings.

Definitely, all of us who participated will remember this experience for the rest of our lives.

- AV