Uncle George

I got the news this morning that yet another one of my relatives has passed away. My Uncle George is the second of my relatives to pass away in the last 4 1/2 months. It wasn't completely unexpected as he has been on oxygen for some time now and had a hard time getting around his house lately. We will say a final goodbye to him later this week.

My mom had been going up to visit him almost every other weekend for the last 6-9 months to help him out. Uncle George was the oldest of my mom's siblings and was in his mid-80s. Unfortunately, I didn't get to know him much over the years. I only saw him a few times growing up. I'm not sure exactly why...there wasn't any animosity between him and my mom. I think the fact that he was grown and out of the house when my mom was born and the age difference played a huge part in that.

Over the last couple of months, I had the opportunity to go up to his house with my mom to visit him. He lived in a small, rundown house on a huge lot in Garden Valley, which is about 3 hours north of my house. He and his wife, Jenny, made their home there many, many years ago and were very well known in their town. The park across the street from their house is even dedicated to them and there is a plaque there with their names on it. They were very involved in their community. Jenny passed away several years ago from cancer.

I'm so glad that I was able to see him a few more times before he passed. He was unlike anyone else I had ever met. He was bossy, stubborn and LOVED to give my mom and my aunt a hard time, even though he meant well and loved them a lot. The hankerchiefs had to be folded just right, you had to sit in just the right spot on his couch and you had to follow his directions exactly when dealing with the fireplace. He was pretty hard on the outside and a bit softer on the inside. He loved his milkshakes and sandwiches from the deli down the street from his house. He was a really interesting fellow. I know he'll be missed a lot by his community and his family.

My Weekend

I have to start off by saying how proud I am of my hubby. Lance came home on Friday and told me that he is going to be getting an award at his school on the evening of March 4. He is being honored at the 2008 PTSA Founders Day Celebration in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to children and youth." Of course, in typical Lance style, he told me in the "it's no big deal" kind of way. In my opinion, anytime someone recognizes you and the work you are doing is fantastic and in his case, highly deserved. I'm really happy for him and I'm definitely proud of him.

Yesterday, Lance and I made our way out to San Francisco for WonderCon 2008. I was a little disappointed that a few more actors weren't there, but I did get to see a few people that I was looking forward to seeing. Jon Favreau was there promoting Iron Man. I LOVE his movies and from the looks of Iron Man, I don't think this one will disappoint. John Cho was there to help promote his new Harold and Kumar movie. He is one of the stars of that movie, although I know him best from American Pie. Also, Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell were there to promote Get Smart. I LOVE Steve Carell. I was telling Lance that I laugh every single time that guy screams. He was probably the person that I was most excited about seeing. I'm a big fan of his.

I'm not sure that I'll go to WonderCon next year. I'll consider it if someone is going to be there that I absolutely cannot miss. It has become insanely crowded over the years. It was to the point yesterday where I probably only spent a total of 20-25 minutes walking around on the floor. It was wall-to-wall people everywhere and in some spots I absolutely couldn't move. What makes it a bit more overwhelming for me is the fact that I don't read comic books, so usually I don't even know what I'm looking at. I have a lot of respect for the writers and artists who make them and I think they have a lot of talent, but it's just not my thing. I've always gone for Lance so I can show support and be a part of when he loves so much. Out of the 10 years that we've been together, I've been to 8 conventions with him. I know I'll still go with him. I'm just not sure that I'm going to go EVERY year from here on out.

So, I've come down with another cold...or allergies...I'm not quite sure what this one is. It's definitely not as bad as what I was dealing with last month. I'm pretty stuffed up and I have a slight headache that seems to constantly linger. Lance said that I was snoring so badly on Friday night that he slept on the couch for half the night. I felt horrible! I guess when I fell asleep, I was sleeping pretty hard! As long as I have one nostril to breathe out of, I'm good. Hopefully it will be gone in the next couple of days.

My dad is coming back over next weekend to continue on the bathroom. As long as the weather cooperates, he will begin cutting tile for our bathroom floor. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see the finished product. It's going to look awesome.

Enjoy the pics from WonderCon!

Jon Favreau

John Cho (MILF!)

Steve Carell

Anne Hathaway

Sciatica

Since last night, I've been dealing with this pain that runs from my lower back, through my butt and all the way down my leg to my ankle. I haven't had sciatica this bad in probably 12 years! I've had it off and on over the years, but this one really hurts. It was so bad last night that I could barely walk. This morning it is a little better. The pain in my leg is still there but it's not hurting in my back anymore. According to WebMD.com, a bulged disk in your back is the most common reason why people get sciatica, which may explain why I've had it off and on over the years and why I have it now. WedMD was right about another thing...it hurts A LOT more when I sit, so you can imagine how comfortable I am writing this. Luckily for me today, I will be spending a lot of my day walking around the community college campus with my students.

My mother-in-law has had to deal with this pain for a long time and seems to get it on a somewhat regular basis (correct me if I'm wrong on this!). My husband had it pretty bad not too long ago. Now it's my turn!

So, I probably won't be doing my bike today. I'm pretty bummed about this. I was on a good roll there. It will just have to continue when my pain goes away.

Nerds Rule!!!

Last night was one of the best nights in my recent memory! Lance, JT, Bre, Jon, Leah, Justin and I went out to Betty's Rockbar in Walnut Creek to dance the night away to the sounds of The Spazmatics. For those of you who don't know, THIS BAND ROCKS!!!!! I absolutely love going out to see them and I'm SO happy that Lance likes them, too. It felt amazing to be able to go out on that dance floor with my friends and tear it up. It was such a release! The Spazmatics sounded awesome (as usual) and everyone was having a blast. What an incredibly cool night!!!

As a late Valentine's Day present to Lance, I am taking him to a brewery in Berkeley for lunch today. We've never been there before. It looks pretty amazing, though. He took me out to a fantastic Italian restaurant near our house on Thursday night and bought me some beautiful yellow roses. I love them! And I love him. My husband is the bestest guy in the entire world.

Ok...time to come off of my high from last night and get ready for today. Ah, what a night!

Oh, How It Burns!

Over the holidays I got a recumbant (stationary) bike. Since walking long distances with Lance and the dog kills my back, I thought that getting some kind of exercise machine would be good for me. (For those of you that don't know, last summer I found out that I have a bulged disk in my lower back). I'm not a huge fan of treadmills (we don't have enough room for one of them anyway) and the eliptical machines have never excited me, so I thought that the bike would be the best way to go.

I haven't really, truly exercised in a few years, so I didn't think that I'd be able to do much at first with the bike. To my surprise, I was finding myself doing 3 miles a day from the very first day...with resistance! It was such a good workout and I was really loving the bike. How awesome it is to be able to exercise while catching up on my TV shows that I miss during the week.

Starting this week, I decided that I'm going to step up my routine. I'm doing the same program with the same resistance but I'm doing it twice a day, meaning that I'm now up to 6 miles per day. I'm now getting up at 5:15am to do 3 miles and then I'm doing another 3 miles at night.

It burns, but it feels SOOOOO good! I'm pretty proud of myself, too. I didn't think that I would have worked up to this as early as I have. In roughly two months, I've doubled my distance.

Now my goal is to work up to 12 miles per day by summer. Wish me luck!

A Little Change

So, I've decided to make this blog more "me" oriented. I really meant for this blog to be for both Lance and I to contribute to, but he seems to have started his own blog that he is posting to. I'm not quite done adding to the site. I'll probably end up adding more pictures and who knows what else.

I'm not even totally sure how many people read this blog, but I've found it to be therapeutic for me. There is something freeing about writing down your thoughts for other people to see. I'm trying to be more open and less worried about what other people think. I don't think I ever write anything too controversial. It just feels good to let it go.

Anyway...for anyone who is still reading this...please feel free to comment on my posts. I'm really going to try and post more often.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I actually really like the rain, but I feel like we haven't had a break from it in forever. Luckily, it looks like we're going to be getting quite a bit of sunshine next week. I'm very much looking forward to that.

Everything here has been going well. The teacher that I'm working with will be going out on paternity leave any day now. His wife was actually due yesterday and as of last Thursday was dialated 1.5cm. He'll be taking about 3 weeks off. I'm so happy for them! What a fantastic addition to their family. I've been picking up extra hours at work as a job coach after school. This means that I accompany students to their job sites and make sure that they are getting the job training that they need to hopefully become independently employed someday. This year I am doing two days a week (and every other Tuesday) and working with a total of 6 students. Usually I am paired up with students that I already know and are in my class, but this year I am working with quite a few students that I had never met. I have some very high-functioning students who I can see become fully employed after some training. They actually make my job pretty easy because of how capable they are. This has been a nice way of making some extra money this school year.

Lance is doing well. He is looking forward to the comic book convention that is coming up in a couple more weeks. It is held every year up here in the Bay Area. Lance and I have been together for over 10 years and I've been to all but two of them. We may try and work it out so that we can go to the convention in San Diego this summer, but we're not sure yet. I've never been to that one but I think it would be a lot of fun.

I ended up getting the stationary bike that I had been wanting. It is so great! I love it. We have it in the living room so we can watch TV while riding it. I've been doing 3-6 miles a day on it, which is more than I thought I would do.

My Dad is still working on our bathroom but our bedroom is now complete. The new paint looks sooooo amazing! It's fantastic what just paint can do to a room. He won't be able to come back and work on the bathroom again until the end of February/first part of March because of other obligations and a weeklong vacation with my Mom. It is really coming together, though. I can't wait until it's all finished!

That's all for now! Happy weekend!