Vacation in AZ

Over the long Memorial Day weekend Dave and I traveled to Tucson, AZ where we vacationed for 6 days with his Dad and Barbara. They live in Green Valley, which is about a half hour drive south from Tucson and only about 20 miles north of the Mexico border. I had no idea what the town was like and had printed off some information on area shopping off the internet. I was a bit disappointed to see how dinky the town was and in fact the advertised "mall" was just a shopping strip. It's a retirement community town and VERY quiet. We relaxed, read a lot, ate, sat in the sun and did some site-seeing. We arrived on Thursday morning and Barbara took us to Trader Joe's which I absolutely love, especially since we don't have any in Idaho. We filled up on groceries and then headed to a wonderful bakery where we had delicious sandwiches for lunch.

Dave and his Dad played golf twice and even took me out to the driving range (which is in their back yard!) for a lesson. I was also able to get 2 massages while I was there and attend 1 yoga class. Dave even read 2 books and I read 3. It was great. We visited Rex Ranch for a wonderful dinner where we had to drive the car through a river. It was a very cool place with great scenery. Barbara and I drove into Tubac one day and did some shopping. Mike is a recent member to the Elk's club so on our last night there we attended a buffet dinner with a "spanish" theme with some of the ladies from the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun. Mike and Barbara's house is a really nice dual master suite home perfect for vacationing. They even rent it during the summer. I helped Barbara update the webpage, so I was able to get a tiny "online" fix during the week.

We learned during our trip to OR that Dave's Dad makes a great latte. As soon as you get up in the morning, he makes it to order. Ahhhh. Another favorite thing of mine when visiting them is their dog Jazz and cat Gigi. Jazz has a lot of character and I always enjoy taking him for walks. With their great location on the golf course, we walked along the greens every night and saw lots of bunnies, birds and other animals. We even had a scare where Jazz got into some rat "cakes" that had been left out and then moved by the creatures in the night. Luckily we were able to get most of it out of his both before too much was ingested to make him sick. The vet said those things are really powerful and can easily kill even large dogs like Jazz.

I did manage to eat pretty well while on vacation and after many days of being in skimpy summer clothes and sunbathing I came home and decided to get back to good eating and trying to exercise. This week I've walked the dogs 4 times and have ate really well. I still need to start getting up early and doing some Yoga or something but I've just been really tired this week. Maybe this weekend I can get started. I am taking golf lessons for the next 3 weeks, so I hope to get out a practice and I think that counts towards exercise also ;)

The dogs stayed with Heather and Randy and of course had a wonderful time there. They always come home obedient and well groomed, which of course, neither lasts long at our house.

Matt is home from school for the summer and is working full time which is great. Jeff is working but apparently doesn't like the job and will either be soon quitting for the summer or looking for something else. Last weekend we attended Kim's graduation party and it's hard to imagine in 2 years Jeff will be graduating and only 3 years after that it will be Aaron's turn. Aaron finished school yesterday and we are still in talks about where he will live for next year. He makes a good point that the schools are better here. For now, he will spend the next 2 months at his Dad's and then the month of August with us. After that, who knows. Hopefully, we will be able to take a nice long vacation visiting family and friends in CA in August.

Work is crazy busy. We are gearing up for everyone to be reimaged during a 2 week changeover to new document management system. It's going to be crazy. PC's and laptops everywhere and users complaining about every icon in a different place. I'm trying to stay calm and realize there is only so much I can do and it will be what it is regardless of my stress level.

The day before we left on vacation I went to my laptop in the morning to sync my ipod as I always do (to get a refill of podcasts for the day) only to find my Itunes library was wiped out. Gone. Nothing there. I had a backup from a few months ago, but what a mess putting all that back together. While I was on vacation the podcasts really built up and I made a decision to really wack down what I was subscribed to so I'm just now getting caught up on my "favs" and am now on the long list of 2nd priority podcasts I listen to and I imagine I will need to do some pruning there also.

Packing in the Snow Part Deaux

So, I have learned a very valuable lesson when blogging. Apparently you can't "recover post" unless you've at some point done a "save as draft" at least with Blogger.com. I spent over 2 hours working on a long post Wednesday and when the power went off at the office, I lost everything. It's funny since I do user support for a living and always tell users to "save, save and then save again" and I hadn't saved myself. Ooops.

Last weekend we continued moving stuff out of my rental house over to Dave's as I am moving back in and need to be out of the rental by the end of March. Sunday we went furniture shopping again and actually found a sofa and snuggle chair that we ordered. It will takes 10 weeks for them to come, but now that frees me up to sell my loveseat. I've had my loveseat and entertainment center since 1989 when I lived in the Bay Area, renting a small room at my Aunt & Uncle's house in Redwood City. I've sure moved them around a lot and am happy that I won't have to move them again. I still need to get them listed on craigs list.

Sunday after Dave and I went furniture shopping we stopped by Cobby's on the way home and had some delicious sandwiches, soup and a pitcher of beer. It started snowing out and it was a nice afternoon. When we got home, Dave re-proposed, so I've got my ring back! Yeah!

Thursday (yesterday, seems to long ago) I headed to Sun Valley to come to the Ketchum branch of HTEH to do RAM upgrades, personality captures and swap out some PC's and bring back a bunch of old equipment. The Subaru I rented is now loaded up with pc's and monitor's to go back to Boise later today.

I recorded episode 10 of the Mind and Body Cast last night and announced the show will be going on a temporary hiatus until June when school gets out and Aaron comes to visit for the summer. I was listening to Tee Morris on Podcasting for Dummies and had read another blog post that Adam shared and agree that if you're going to take a break, just let your listeners know. So that's what I decided to do. We may do a Bonus Episode over Spring Break when I see him. Also, I'll be taking him his computer and his Dad said he would get him internet, so maybe when he has a PC, we can do recordings together remotely. It's just too weird for me to do the show by myself.

After I get Aaron from his Dad's in Sparks, NV, we will head to Dad's and stay over for the weekend. My step-sister Rayleen is coming up from the Bay Area and then we're going to see her sister Alecia in Sacramento on Sunday. I haven't seen her in probably almost 10 years, since Rayleen's wedding. She has a little girl and I believe is expecting again so it will be fun to catch up with her.

This week I broke down and bought another Ipod. I have a 5G video and love it, but since I've been working out, it's too big for that so I've been using Dave's shuffle. Well, since I listen to podcasts and not music, it doesn't work very well for that, so I went ahead and ordered a 4gig pink Nano. I love it!!! So now I sync the Nano with my laptop which has podcasts and then the video will sync with my PC at work here I have music and now the video podcasts that I watch. For those interested, since I had to make a list and re-subscribe to them all, here are the shows I watch (all searchable in Itunes):

Rumor girls
ABC News 20/20
ABC News Medical
Amanda on ABC
Cesar Milan
Command N
Cranky Geeks
D & D TV
DL.TV
DogBlog
Geek Brief
Hound TV
Joel Osteen
Joyce Meyer
Labrats
Mobuzz
Pet Trends
Rabbit Bites
Starring Amanda
Daily 10's Hollywood Rap Up
Masthead
VideoVoom
YaZooMa


For this week's new technical sites and things, I've just been updating Twitter and started listening to Tom Merrit's Real Deal podcast. It's really good. I've listened to Tom for a while with Molly and Veronica on Buzz Out Loud, but I'm really enjoying Tom on his own. His podcasts are brief, concise and very helpful, even for a nerd like me :)

Fun Places

This past Saturday, we drove up to McCall for the annual Winter Carnival. We took the girls and stopped in Cascade for breakfast. Our order got behind a large parties, and it ended up taking over an hour to get our meal so when we arrived in McCall we were stopped on Highway 55 near a church, for quite some time. We parked and were waiting and then noticed emergency vehicles just ahead of us. Then people in front of us started turning around. We waited until we were at the front of what was the line, only to find a major accident. We saw them put someone (I found out later it was a little boy) in an ambulance. As we turned around to take the detour past the Activity Barn, we saw the St. Al's life flight heading to Boise. As we drove past the tubing place, we remembered going sledding there years before with Aaron and Matt. I rode the little dish down a hill and got the wind knocked out me so hard I couldn't breathe. Both Matt and Dave came running and we've all laughed about my daredevil stunt since.

We read in the paper Sunday on that there were no casualties in what looked to be a very bad multi-car accident. We ended up getting to the carnival much later than we had hoped, but grateful we were not involved in the accident as we were only a few seconds behind it and that would have really messed up our day, and possibly our lives.

We had a nice day walking around with the girls in their stroller, with most passerby's oohing and aahing and wondering why a big guy like Dave would be pushing a pink stroller. They only had to look a little closer to see our beautiful doggies and realize why he was so proud.

We walked out onto the lake and I ran the girls in the snow. It took a lot of energy and by the time we walked back to the truck, they both slept soundly the entire way home and even all night Saturday without their usual waking to go outside several times in the night.

Tomorrow we leave for the Oregon coast and can hardly wait. Strangely, there is no cell service which means I won't have internet, email or phone. That's not necessarily a bad thing for me, just different. I am typically glued to the internet and blackberry 24/7.

This past week, I've been catching up on podcasts which is fun, but always leads me to more time consuming things. I've discovered Twitter, Geni, Normal Room and Joost (still waiting for in invite!). I've been keeping up with all these as well as my usual visits to MySpace, FaceBook, Google Reader and recording the latest episode of the Mind and Body Cast on Tea.

I'll be unplugged the rest of this week, but back online, absorbing info like crazy next week! I leave you with the thoughts of being grateful for getting delayed, because you may be glad you missed something else.

CES

I knew I'd forget something when I posted the other day and it was the BIGGEST thing going on this week. CES is the annual Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas. It's geek heaven. So, I've been glued to the RSS Feeds and Podcasts even more than usual, if that's possible. All the latest gadgets and toys are being released. It makes you want to get rid of everything you have and buy all new. Too bad a working girls salary can't afford that :(

So a big thanks to the following Podcasters for doing such great coverage for those of us who can't be there:

Cali from Geekbrief.tv
Molly, Veronica and Tom from Buzz Out Loud
Andy & Sean from Labrats.tv
Patrick & Robert from DL.TV
Engadget

To always keep track of what I'm reading and interested in, check out my "Google Reader Starred Items" web page. Each day I read through hundreds of articles on the Google Reader from RSS feeds that I've subscribed to. The ones I "star" are extra cool :)

I also wanted to explain more about the Youngevity products and why I'm taking them. I realized I listed what I was taking, but didn't share what I was trying to fix. So here goes. For as long as I can remember, I've had heavy painful periods. So, I've always been on the pill, even though I don't need to be for birth control reasons. So here I am last year at 35 and realizing I should get off the pill. I tried and it was unbearable. I went to see my OB/GYN and she just recommended a different form of chemicals in my body to help ease my discomfort. So, I sought out a more natural doctor that my friend Bobbi recommended. I really liked her and she got me on some supplements and after my 2nd visit to her I decided to stop taking the anti-depressants that I'd been on for 5+ years also. She explained to me, I was most likely suffering from Adrenal Fatigue / Estrogen Dominance from years of running at full blast and being stressed out. The fact that I'd taken bc pills for 20 years wasn't helping my liver be able to make the right mixture of hormones either. The fact that I'd been drinking almost daily for the past 4 years certainly didn't help my liver either.

So, in the Fall of 2006, I went off the pill, started taking Rosemary and Raspberry oil, some new vitamins and Progesterone cream. By October, I went off the Zoloft. It was a bad month. I was tired, irritable, having night sweats, headaches and was gaining weight like crazy. She had also tested my thyroid and it was borderline which I had always suspected and my regular doctor hadn't listened to. So I also started taking Iodide to help that. November was a much better month and I continue to feel better.

One of the major down sides of being on the Zoloft is that it killed my libido. I've been taking Maca Root for almost 3 months now and just started the Nuo cream from Youngevity in an effort to return things to normal.

So, the Youngevity products are just adding to what I'm already doing but I'm hoping having all the right vitamins and minerals will allow me to finally drop all this extra weight I've put on over the past few years and help control the carb cravings that I typically have when I diet. I really like the Weight Watchers program and lost 20 pounds in late 2005 when I followed it.

I'm up to 3.5 lbs lost the first week and need to weigh in again today. The yoga class Monday night kicked my butt and the circuit training Tuesday that I did with the instructor was equally as vigorous and left me sore. So I took Wednesday off and am going back today all charged and rested up to work again. Hopefully, the worst of the having sore muscles is over.

I finally heard from Aaron late Tuesday night. He had been in school for 2 days and said it was "so-so". Not much news, but at least he did call. I called him yesterday after school but he didn't have much to say. I sure do miss him and want to see him face to face and really catch up. Hopefully, over spring break.

I also, FINALLY had my last cigarette this morning. I've been down to 3 a day (not at work) since New Year's and vowed to quit when I finished my last pack which was this morning. The hardest habit was smoking at work and I've already beaten that, so the rest should come easier. I've quit several times and it seems that I got about 6 months and start again. If I really am committed to being healthy (and not stinky) I need to quit for good.

New Year's Commitments

This year, I've decided to do some New Year's Commitments instead of resolutions. What's the difference? I have no idea. I just feel like all the things I want to do, I know I need to do and they're nothing new. I just need to commit to them and DO them.

So here goes:

Health & Body
* take all vitamins and supplements DAILY
* limit caffeine
* limit alcohol
* limit carbs/grains/sugars
* stay away from soda
* eat fresh fruits and vegetables EVERY day
* quit smoking for GOOD
* workout at least 3x a week
* follow the WW plan and count points every day
* weigh myself regularly
* ensure my dogs are fit and well trained (walks & regular training sessions)

Personally
* take time to spend with God and in His word each day
* read more
* use electronics less (laptop, blackberry, PC) - relax!
* watch less TV (cable goes off in Feb)
* podcast more
* blog regularly
* spend more time with friends
* keep in better touch with family
* be financially secure and investing wisely while giving generously
* continue to refine my parenting skills and be a terrific Mom

Professionally
* spend more time at the office so I don't feel guilty about not working when I'm away
* be more committed to projects and taking responsibility for things maybe out of my "ownership"
* learn things that are challenging and perceived as "difficult" (cross-training)

Why am I Here?

Well, the post Christmas depression set in last night. I'm not sure if it's just a sugar low but I sure felt bad. Aaron leaves in 4 days and I can't believe it. He's been with me emotionally for years before I got pregnant and from the moment I conceived with me physically. He'll be 12 in March, so that's a good long time. A lot of those years it was just him and I. His Dad hasn't spent more than a few days with him in over 10 years and I can't imagine how different his life is going to be after Saturday.

So last night I took a bath and tried to cheer myself up by doing some retail therapy and buying some stuff with Christmas checks. Then I talked with my girlfriend Wendy on the phone for quite some time. All the while, Aaron was at friends house playing a new video game that was received for Christmas. I guess I don't blame him for wanting to have fun and not be bothered by stupid things like chores around our house, I just thought he might want to spend some time with me before he left. I also usually forget he's a child and doesn't have adult emotions. Darn.

After I got off the phone and Aaron got home, I read and listened to a podcast for a bit. One of the things I heard was we are all here for a purpose. God has plans for each and every one of us. Well, what's my purpose? I always thought it was to be a mother. I suck at relationships and haven't been a very good daughter and I'm too closed off to be anyone's good friend, so what else is there? When I started podcasting, I thought, ah, this is it. This is my "purpose". But the newness wore off and it became frustrating as I tried to do more complicated things. I still enjoy it, but with Aaron moving away, it takes away a lot of the enjoyment out of it as it was something we did together. I'm still hoping to have him call in and us record using TalkShoe, but that involves a whole other level of technicality. Our most recent episode, I used a single headphone and the volume was so quiet, I had to enlist the help of one of my favorite podcasters Trucker Tom to help me figure out how to get the volume up. I've got all kinds of content, but the technical stuff stumps me. And that's what I do for a living! So what the heck am I here for? What good to I provide the world? I recycle and try to be friendly to the environment but that's about it. I attend church sporadically and don't have enough backbone to speak my mind about my religious beliefs to other people who believe differently or not at all.

So, I don't know. What's your purpose?

Posting Shayna.Minti.com in my blog so this can be feed to their site.

Can't Get Past the Header Image

So here I am, trying to setup a blog on my favorite site - Podshow. I have a MySpace and Facebook and a personal website, but I love how Podshow makes everything simple. Except for how to make the header image look right. They give dimensions and I've gotten close to it and my image still looks scrunched. So instead of obsessing on that the rest of the afternoon, I thought I'd go ahead and post and get on with what I set out to do.

Growing up on 10 acres, when we finally got electricity I ask for a Commodore 64 for a gift. Who knows what started my geekiness, but even back then, I wanted a computer. For each holiday after I got the computer, I asked for different components. I was so excited when I got the 5.25" floppy drive so I could save my work. By 10 years old, I was keeping an electronic diary. I always hated writing because my mind goes so fast, that only my fingers on the keyboard come close to keeping up. I wish I still had that old media so I could read what I was thinking, but at some point over the moves in early adulthood, they are gone.
Today, I have a podcast with my 11 year old son Aaron. We started it this summer and though we only have 9 episodes out to date, it's been a lot of fun. I started listening to podcasts in the summer of 2005 and for Christmas that year, I got a video Ipod which I don't think has ever left my side since. I don't do much on the forums, I occasionally email a few podcasters and I've gotten on TalkShoe a few times but I really would like some way to communicate with others who are interested in knowing what's going on with me besides the mass emails that I do when I have big news.

For those who know me, know I hate to use the phone. I've had heavy phone usage jobs for the past 20 years and I think I've just burned out. I love email for communication, so I figure this blog is just the next step. There is a lot going on right now in my life so this is a perfect time to start sharing :) Happy Holidays everyone.