American Recession

What has happened to my favorite airline? For some reason, I have not flown American Airlines in a while. For this trip to Miami I decided to fly with AA since the rates were one of the cheapest.

After I arrived at SFO, I found out why. Because they are not charging you upfront for your bags. I forgot they charge $25 per carry-on. So that adds an extra $50 to the price of the ticket. That's what I get for falling into their cheap price scam. Remember, you always pay in the end people.

I am not sure what is happening with their bottom line, but they are obviously squeezing every penny. Now I am on a budget but when I am on vacation I like amenities and convenience. Vacation is all about arriving and getting away from it all. When I am home I pinch pennies and and save resources. When I am on vacation, I want the little luxuries. I was so pissed when I checked my bags and the little flashing $25 due- insert credit card message came up. I never had this issue with South West.

So of course I paid the fee and entered the plane after I got my wonderful dose of radiation from the new body scanners. (That's a entire blog right there...) As I entered the plane, I felt like I had gone back in time to when I took my first flight... The plane was just that old. My seat smelled like someones toddler had peed all over it, however I was lucky that there was no one assigned to the middle seat and I moved.

My flight was 5 hours and not one snack to be found, unless you paid. They did provide plenty of drinks but not even a peanut or a pretzel... Again SW and JetBlue wins.

I hope AA is treating their employees good because I am not seeing a bright future for my former favorite airline... Employees might want to get resumes out to the other airlines asap.

I am sure I am late on this observation, but I was too busy trying to survive myself. But what happened? Is it the gas prices? Is it globalization? I don't know. But it does not take Stevie Wonder see that they are in trouble. Hopefully, they can turn things around.

I'm in Miami, Glitch

Up at a wonderful 4:30 am to make a 6:30 flight. Heading to Weston FL.

Goal - increase travel

Thanking the Tooth Fairy

Thank you tooth fairy! Without you, I would not have lost 5lbs!!! From 142 to 137. I have not seen the 130's in some time. No matter what I did the scale would report back 140.

Now I can fit into some of my old pants and I no longer have to add the special A cinch or stretch the pants to wear them. Yeah!!! Now that my face is fully healed, I need to get myself to the gym and keep the momentum going. The muffin top is on the decline!

Goal: loose 5lbs - completed! And it feels good!

I just returned from Texas. I attended my brother's 8 week basic training ceremony. It was so good to see him. I really miss him so much at times. Having more time for friends and family was another area I needed to work on. I don't think that I'd seen my family for over a year. Man, where did the time go? We are all so busy.

My brother has the sweetest temperament. He makes me smile. Man I miss him so much. I just cry sometimes when I think about him. I remember when we were younger, I refused to make pancakes for him, mostly because I thought my mom babied him too much. I regret it. But guess what, he now makes the best pancakes in town.

I wish I could turn back time and hug him and kiss him more when he was very little. He was a chubby baby and very cute. He looked like a tiny Barry White. But I can not turn back time. I have to move forward and promise myself that I will connect with him more. Until I slowed down, I never knew how much I really loved and missed my baby brother.

I wish him the best.

Slow Recovery

Well looks like my recovery has been as slow as California's economic recovery. I have not been able to really go out since I still have swelling. So I have been keeping myself busy with administrative work.

With a nice cup of LOVE tea (my personal blend of violet, chrysanthemum, and jasmine pearl). I have been getting down to work.

* Shredding 1 year of paperwork - why do I always get paper cuts?

* Planning and booking tickets/hotel etc for my brother's graduation from boot camp

* Setting up COBRA

* Completing ballot for California general election

* Finally, researching, installing, and enabling new anti-virus. I was never happy with the old one.

* Balancing check book

* Cleaned guest closet

* Recycled old medicine from cabinet. Walgreens has this cool envelope you can purchase and they will recycle for you.

* Practice and learn new selling techniques. One of the techniques actually helped me to sell a 6 pack of facials to a client the other day. Can't wait to use more of my arsenal.

Yawn, pretty boring stuff (sans the election) but it needed to be done.

OOOps I did it again

I don't know who the guy is in the picture, but that was me a few hours ago in the endodontic's chair. I had worked my self into a root canal. My face was so swollen, I look like the elephant man plus his chia pet. Right when you think you have taken a few steps forward, something comes and takes you a step back.

This week I was suppose to start working out for the first time. The only thing I worked was sucking soup through a straw. Friday I was to attend a Pink Berry grand opening. But instead I will attending to my poor tooth. Dr. Jepersen did and excellent quick job on my root canal. I just hope the swelling goes down fast.

However, I did do one of my tech goals, I install Sykpe on my computer for the first time!!!


Well I guess if was going to happen, it was best to get it over this week, because I got a call from casting. I will get a Skype interview later next week. How sweet is that. Just proves you have to take sweet times with the sour and make sweet and sour soup.

Improve Tech - Installed and used Sykpe to talk to my husband who was in Vancouver. - completed

Dreaming of Being On the Red Carpet

I did something totally outside of my comfort zone. I actually applied to be on a makeover show! I received an email from InStyle Magazine that one of their marketing partners was casting for a brand new makeover show. I applied. As I hit the send button, I instantly wanted to retrieve it from the nebulous Internet cloud. I figured nothing would come of it, but I found out today I made it to the next round. Now I have to fill out more paper work. Wish me well. I would love to participate in this show. I think it would help me grow and open up, as I am usually a very private person.

I got this from the wikipedia:

The comfort zone is a behavioural state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviours to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk (White 2009).

[1] A person's personality can be described by his or her comfort zones. Highly successful persons may routinely step outside their comfort zones, to accomplish what they wish. A comfort zone is a type of mental conditioning that causes a person to create and operate mental boundaries. Such boundaries create an unfounded sense of security. Like inertia, a person who has established a comfort zone in a particular axis of his or her life, will tend to stay within that zone without stepping outside of it. To step outside a person's comfort zone, they must experiment with new and different behaviours, and then experience the new and different responses that then occur within their environment.

Get out of your comfort zone - applied to be on a TV show

Johnnie Walker Whiskey Tasting at Fort Mason

Johnnie Walker hosted a series of tasting across the country and it was the Bay Area's turn.

I have never had whiskey so I thought this event might be fun and informative. This event was 'free' but you had to give a $5 donation to RADD.

They offered a mixed drink and appetizers pre-event. I tried and old fashion. It was very strong. I'm not much of a drinker. I will have the occasional glass of Merlot with my steak, but beyond a Cosmo and I am lost. The food was yummy, hummus, brie, olives. Man the drink must have been very strong, as I drop food like three times on myself. Ugh.

The master of whiskey took us through the five labels, black, red, gold, green, and blue:

Black - This is the original blend. A blend of 40 whiskeys. It is aged for about 12 years and cost about $25 per bottle. The host had us smell, swirl and sip. We added a half dropper of water to see how it released some of the natural flavors.

Red - This one is for mixed drinks. We mixed this on with ginger-ale. Not too bad. This runs about $20 per bottle.

Gold - This arrived via the hot hands of hot Johnnie Girls. I am sure the guys loved this. I was like where are the hot Johnnie Boys. lol. It was in chilled glasses. It runs about $70 per bottle. Ok, by this time people were getting buzzed and folks with me were talking so I could not hear all of what the host was saying. But I do remember the host saying to put a drop in the palm of your hands and rub them together. Now smell the aroma. I also remember my friend tellin me, it's not lotion after I did it the 3rd time.

Green - By this point I was so behind on the tasting. I was getting confused as to what was in what glass. My friend was showing me her vacation pics from Hawaii on her phone. People were talking. I just remember hearing the host say -green. I don't even think I tried it. $50

Blue - Their premium brand. Johnnie girls came out again to bring this in tiny brandy snifters. By this time, it was pretty much over for me. I took a whiff and it burned my nose hairs I took a sip and it burned my throat. I let out a loud whoop and knew it was over for me. $150

I had accomplished my mission to try something new and there was no need to be on the wrong side of RADD.

All-in-all it was a great night. Will this marketing ploy turn me into a whiskey drinker? More than likely, not. It was fun but I am still not a fan. It was to strong for my taste and frankly, but the end of the night, although the prices ranged from $20 to $150, it all tasted the same to me.

Try something new - whiskey tasting - completed.

Meet a Mentor - Kate Somerville

One of my goals it to meet mentors and inspirational positive people. Besides being an engineer, I am also a licensed esthetician who has been practicing for over four years.

Today I met Kate Somerville. She is an esthetician to the Stars. She had a book signing at Stanford in Palo Alto today. Her assistance were also giving complementary mini-treatments to the participants.

She was very gracious, kind and down to earth. She spent time to really talk with each person as she signed their book 'Complexion Perfection'. I brought her a small boquet of flowers to brighten her day and spirits. I know book signing tours must be arduous.

Once I got home I read her book, cover to cover. Her story was amazing. She had a rough childhood. She was born in central California so I consider her a local cali girl. She lost her mother at a young age to drugs and alcohol. She just could not be a mom to Kate and she left the family to live in Santa Barbara. How does a child reconcile these feeling of an absence parent? It's hard and Kate got through it to become the great woman she is today. Kate's book was an easy read and she exhibited several before and after transformation case studies of her clients. She helped diminish worry lines, soften crow's feet, eradicate melasma and reduce acne.

The one important take away she told me was to keep educating myself. Attend every conference or siminar offered. Never stop learning.

Filled a cavity

Well the tooth fairy would be proud of me. I got this to-do item crossed off the list fairly early. It was nice to not feel stressed regarding how long the appointment took. In the pass I would stress that I would be late leaving from work or stressed that the appointment would take too long and I would be late for a meeting. Now I can take the time needed and not feel like I need to get back asap.

Health(Dental) - cavity filled. - Completed. Yeah!

I also had breakfast this morning. This is something that I never had time for when I was working. They say it is the most important meal of the day. We will see. Hopefully, I will also be able to eat dinner earlier. My goal is to eat dinner by 6 p.m. Previously, I was eating at 8 p.m. or later, due to work. I recently spoke to my father and he claimed he lost 20lb just by cutting out soda and not eating late. If it can work for him, maybe it can work for me. One of my other time off goals is to loose 10lbs.

Last Day At Work

Due to health problems and TTC I decided to take a year off of work. The first thing that I want to work on is getting healthy and feeling vibrant and alive. I was an engineer and worked in the industry for many years. Many years I held two jobs at the same time. I think my body finally said enough. I have been struggling with anemia for about 5 years. I truely believe that if you ignore your health the body will start to manifest problems that will make you wake up an pay attention to it.

I decided to start this blog so that I will be accountable. As an employee I am awesome. I will do what it takes to get the job done. However, when it comes to my life, I am so lazy. So I need a virtual boss. I guess this blog will be it until the random person stops by to encourage me.

At the end of my year off, I would like to look back and say that I made some personal accomplishments. Well, time to get off my duff and work my life like a full-time job.