Just a thought

Why is that every time I am at one of these conferences I sit next to or in back of the smartest person in the room? You know the ones I mean. The ones that obviously don't need to be there because they are so fucking smart they don't need to pay any attention to what is going on.

The guy next to me in two sessions today with his new IPad that he spent the entire time fiddling with. Or the woman in front of me that had her laptop open and on the wireless checking her email and instant chatting with I don't know who.

Now, maybe these people are so smart they don't need to pay attention or perhaps they are so important at work that they can't be away from their email for 90 minutes at at shot. I don't really know, but what I do know is that if you are so fucking smart perhaps you are wasting your firms money going to these things and if you are so important perhaps you need to stay home?

Just a thought.

Spell it - Say it

Albuquerque - who thought that spelling up?

Sitting at the Tamaya Resort right outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. From the room is a beautiful view of the mountains. The wind has kicked up and it has turned cold.

I am at a conference and tonight was the worst part of it for me. The networking, meet new people part.

I hate that.

Tomorrow will be better I am sure.

But is sure is beautiful here, I could stay for a while.

Beloved come down and meet me?

Eating in Sante Fe

OK, so I am going to let all of my tens of thousands of readers in on a little secret. If you are ever in Sante Fe go to the Chocolate Maven for breakfast. It is a bakery that also serves breakfast/brunch on the weekends, not sure about during the week. They open at 9:00 get there early, there will be a line. Don't let the location scare you off and ask for a table downstairs where you can watch the bakers in action. We sat right next to the window and watched the baker make almond croissants and pain au chocolate.

I had the tofu scramble with veggie sausage and my travelling companion had the breakfast burrito. It was fantastic!

In fact it was so good that we went back the next morning for a follow up visit. Just as yummy!!

Saturday in Santa Fe

I am in Santa Fe, New Mexico this weekend. I have to be at a conference for work in Albuquerque next week and decided to come here for the weekend. I am travelling with a friend from work and this morning we went on a hike. We spent a while looking for the Dale Bass trails, but could not find them, so we pulled over and hiked the Chamisa Trail, about 5 miles round trip and about 7500 feet. First few minutes were hard, the altitude really does a number on me.

We were passed by a young couple on our way up, didn't think too much of it except they were young and in much better shape than me. When we got to the intersection to come back down the canyon, this couple was there. He was taking her picture and she was standing with her left hand displayed. I immediately thought engagement? And of course asked. Yes, he had just proposed to her and she was beyond happy. So I took a picture of them together and then said oh let me take one for my blog. I asked when they were going to get married and she said soon!!! I told her I better not see her on Bridezilla. I will post a picture if I can get my camera to cooperate.

After our hike, we went to the historical section of Santa Fe, the little town square. So cute and so full of turquoise jewelery. Walked around for a couple of hours and then came back to the hotel for a while.

THEN we went to dinner at a place called Body!!! Had basil hummus with sweet potato chips, tomato tortilla soup and a tempheh taco. All vegan and all glutton free. It was delicious!

580 Ride

On my ride home tonight I felt like I was stuck in a loop of some kind.

It seemed that every time I looked into my rear view mirror I saw the uni-bomber.

He seemed to be in every car.

It was weird.

580 Ride

On 580 they are building new sound walls thru Oakland and San Leandro. Big giant walls of concrete block and in some places big walls of glass. During the building process they have covered everything they build with black plastic - kind of like a Christo installation, but not even pretty.

It is to protect it all from graffiti, that's right. As soon as they get a bit built it gets tagged, so they cover it up.

Which leads me to the question. Will they just leave the plastic up forever or once they get finished they don't really care if it gets tagged?

I will admit that the building of these walls does make me feel a bit like a hamster in a habitrail.

Today's bumper sticker: Remember who you always wanted to be

Red, White and BLUE

This weekend is Fleet Week here in the Bay Area. I spent yesterday in the city and had high hopes of catching the air show which features my favorite tax expenditure - The Blue Angels.

With my beloved out of town on business, I ended up at Annesky and Suzettsky's house in the backyard while the Angels flew overhead and I mean OVERHEAD!!!! I was standing on a bench on their back deck when one flew right over me! I really think if I had had my arms up in the air I could have touched it or if I was a couple of inches taller I would have been sucked up into the jet engine. I screamed with joy.

When I came home and got on facebook I came across this posting by my Rhode Island sister about Marines. While I wish with all my heart that a military is not necessary, I realize that it is and I agree with RI sister that proud does not describe how I feel about my brother, the Colonel, and his service to our country. Now our nephew is going to college on a MROTC scholarship and will come out the other end as a Marine in a few years, the pride will continue for many more years to come.

This posting from my sister sings about the "Devil Dogs" a Marine nickname. This past summer my nephew and I took a trip to France and the one place he wanted to visit was Belleau Wood, about an hour outside of Paris. This area was the location of the battles during WWI where the Marines earned this nickname from the Germans because they just would not give up. To see a field covered in barley that during these battles was covered in bodies brought tears to my eyes. Seeing my nephew so interested in this history brought joy to me for his interest in this history. Knowing that in a few years he may be putting his life on the line in a field somewhere brought tears and fear to my very soul.

580 Ride

Bumper Sticker:

Using your blinker is NOT giving information to the enemy!

580 always full of profound information.

Memories

On the way home the other day I was behind a van and I thought I was seeing things. It looked like the rear window wiper had been taken off, but the part that holds the wiper was still there. The little part that holds the wiper blade moved back and forth, like the wiper was still there cleaning the window. Then it happened again and again.

It made me smile. It reminded me of a trip to Glendale for New Years with Annesky and Suzettesky. We were going to visit friends and see the Rose Parade - which everyone should do once.

Anyway, we borrowed a van for the drive and about an hour into the drive somehow the rear windshield wiper got turned on and we could not figure out how to turn it off. We drove all the way to Glendale with that damn wiper going.

To travel or not?

Would a travel alert stop me from travelling?

The government has released a travel alert about terror risks at major historic sites around Europe. I am looking at a report from in front of the Eiffel Tower right now, she has be shut down twice in the last couple of weeks because of threats.

If terrorist are going to strike, they are going to strike and not travelling is not going to stop them. I believe that if we all stop doing things due to fear of terrorist, they win.

I won't buy into that. I will continue to travel as often as I can and the Eiffel Tower will always be on my list of favorite places to visit.