Halo Kitty!

My Mom and Dad bought me this great t-shirt at Comic-Con!

Hilarious!

Thanks, Mom & Dad :)

Hiny Hiders!

Hiny Hiders!!

I've been meaning to write this blog post for a long time. Years, even.

Several years ago, my sister and I were shopping at a Mervyn's store, and I went to use the restroom. I came out, cracking up, and had to explain to my sister what I had just noticed in the bathroom stall.

It may be the funniest (yet clever) logo I've ever seen!

Apparently, this company makes door locks for bathroom stalls.

Naturally then, their logo is an image of a bathroom stall, with the two walls and the door forming the "H" which is used for "Hiny" and "Hiders" The best part is that behind the bathroom stall door, is the head, shoulders, legs and feet of a person inside the stall.

It's hard to visualize, which is why I never did get around to writing this post....

...until I came across a Hiny Hiders stall lock while we were in Hawaii earlier this month! (The Mervyn's stores have all closed, and I didn't know where else to find Hiny Hiders)

So, yes, of course, I took a photo (discreetly, with my iPhone) of the stall lock.

...and immediately sent it to my sister. :)

I found a copy of their logo online, which is much easier to see than my photo of the engraved logo on the door lock.


funniest. logo. ever.

And, now I know (unfortunately) that taking a photo with my phone inside a bathroom stall is apparently, not beneath me. ;)

Today's Training Walk

I drove down to Saratoga today for another training walk with Carol and Melissa. They both live down in the South Bay, and teach at West Valley College, so it was my turn to drive a little to meet them.

We met at West Valley College and we off at 10:50am. I used to teach color guard at Saratoga High, as well as the local Middle School, but I hadn't been in this area in a very, very long time (to the tune of 20 years or so). I had forgotten how beautiful the hills in Saratoga are, and the spectacular houses that are tucked away out there. It made for a very scenic walk.

Melissa and Carol do this walk, or portions of it fairly regularly, but this was my first time with them. The first part of our walk brought us up to Villa Montalvo. I saw a concert up here years and years ago, but it was at night, and in the indoor venue. I don't think I had ever seen the grounds before. Really beautiful!


Villa Montalvo


Our 3-Day for the Cure Team!
Melissa, Carol & Trina

As we made our way through the Saratoga hills, we saw plenty of gorgeous houses and grounds. This was one one of my favorites - it was right out of a fairy tale!



I recently put a new app on my iPhone called RunKeeper - which uses the GPS in my phone to calculate time, distance, calories burned and minutes/mile. It also maps out the route of your walk/run.

I was also wearing a regular pedometer, which said we had walked 8.5 miles total.

My iPhone app put us at 9.43 miles, though. I'm not sure which one to believe. I think I'll choose the higher one, just cause it makes me feel good. :)


Today's total milage, time, calories burned, and average mile/minute.


Today's Training-Walk Route

It was really nice doing a nice, long training walk again with Carol and Melissa.

We've got 9-1/2 more weeks until the big event! Hopefully, we'll be all set to go by then.

The Case of the Mysterious Bug Bite

My big, fat, swollen, hot hand

So, I picked up a souvenir last week in North Carolina that I wasn't expecting....

I've always been allergic to insect bites - especially mosquitoes. Typically, they swell up pretty severely and are warm/hot around the swollen area. This usually lasts for a few days - maybe 3-5, by which time the swelling usually goes down, but it continues to itch for several more days.

I woke up in the middle of the night last Monday morning/Sunday night because the fingers on my left hand were really itchy. When I woke up that morning, I realized that something had bit me - my three middle fingers and the top of my palm were a bit swollen and were really itchy.

I put some cortisone cream on it, and took an antihistamine at night, which helped with the itchiness a bit, but not much.

By the weekend, my fingers and palm were still swollen (and yes, itchy). I mentioned it to my sister last night (Sunday) over the phone, and she suggested that I should see my doctor about it. Dick agreed.

I guess I hadn't thought too much about it, since I usually have such strong reactions to insect bites, but now that I think about it, an entire week has gone by, and it's still swollen - that can't be good.

My middle three fingers and top of my palm are still swollen so much that I can feel a lot of pressure when I bend any or all of my fingers. It's also slightly numb when I bend them.

Luckily, my Doctor as able to squeeze me in today. I told her I thought I was being silly coming in today, but she was immediately concerned when I told her what had happened, and especially when I showed her my big, swollen hand. She was additionally concerned when she felt the heat radiating off my hand.

She checked out my hand and up through my arm, asking lots of questions. Clearly, she was more concerned about this than I had initially been.

She gave me a prescription for 10 days of antibiotics, which should knock whatever this is out of my system. She also told me to pick up some Zyrtec - and over the counter allergy medication.

Just to be thorough, she sent me to an Infectious Disease Services lab to run some tests - including Lyme disease!

Best case scenario: this is just a severe reaction of swelling, or a mild infection that the antibiotics will surely take care of.

I suppose worst case scenario is that it could be a staph infection or even (gulp) Lyme disease.

I need to take my antibiotics with food, so I'll be taking my first dose with dinner tonight.

I'm hoping and kind of assuming that the antibiotics will kick whatever this is. If anything worse shows up in my lab results, I'm sure I'll hear about about it very soon.

It's funny - I'm usually super-proactive when it comes to anything medical-related. I have no fears of doctors or tests. For some reason, I had a mental block on this one, just assuming that it was my normal reaction to an insect bite.

Thanks to my Sis and Hubby for persuading me to visit my doctor today!

Facetime!

David & Miguel on Facetime!

David is the proud new owner of an iPhone 4.

I called him using Facetime (video calling) this morning. It was his first Facetime call. Fun!!

He brought Miguel in on the call, and I walked the conversation downstairs to where Dick was playing piano.

Update

David just posted this picture up on Facebook. Here's the same conversation from his point of view. :)


Trina & Dick on Facetime!

It's cool how it automatically flips the image for the receiver. David's photo shows our room as it actually is, whereas the thumbnail of me and Dick in our photo (above) shows the mirror-image (as we see it on the camera).

David's photo also shows that I'm still in my jammies and robe at 11:00am on a Saturday. :)

Pool Time!

I spent a couple of hours at my sister's place this afternoon. She had invited our nieces (our Cousin's daughters) and their Mom, Robin, over to swim in the pool at their new complex.

It was a fun-filled afternoon of pizza, swimming and ice-cream!

Bumper

Green Bumper (my phone is black, instead of the white phone pictured here)

I've had my iPhone 4 for four weeks now. When I bought it at the Apple Store, I asked to see if they had any cases available. They only had one at the time, an off-brand that I didn't recognize, in a style that I didn't much care for.

I knew I'd want a case ASAP, as I remember that I always thought my old phone was a little too slip-prone without one.

Dick was up in Seattle at the time, and told me that several of his friends up there had bought the Bumper case by Apple. He said it was a fine case, and thought I would like it.

That weekend, I called around to all of the local Apple Stores in my area, and none of them had any bumpers in stock. I figured it would be just as easy at this point to just order one online through Apple.

I ordered the lime green bumper. At the time that I ordered it (June 27th) it wasn't expected to be shipped until July 16th. That was too bad, as I had two trips planned before then, but I figured I'd just wait it out, and try my best not to drop my phone.

Well, of course the phone was delivered while I was out of town. I just picked it up from Fed Ex today.

The bumper is actually more substantial than I had expected, which is a good thing. It certainly helps with the general grippiness - I don't feel like it's going to slip out of my hand now.

It also makes a difference with the reception. Now I don't have to worry about holding my phone "the wrong way". (thanks, Steve)

While I was away last week, it was announced that Apple will reimburse any customer who buys a bumper for their phone - their solution to the antenna problem.

I'm really glad that I placed my order when I did. When I went to the Apple site today, I noticed (not surprisingly) that all colors/models of the iPhone 4 bumpers are currently unavailable. I imagine they are going to be quite popular items for a while.


Currently Unavailable

UPDATE

Just received this email



How convenient. :)

Up in the Air

On our flight from CLT to SFO, I bought WiFi and Dick bought Cup 'o Noodles. Modern-Day flying amuses me.

Hot.

Dick and I are trying to think of things we can do indoors today. We are weather wimps.

The Blueridge Parkway

We left Cullowhee this morning, and drove through the Blueridge Parkway on our way to Chapel Hill.



The Blueridge Parkway is so beautiful! The last time we drove through was in October, 2004, when we came with my parents. It was during that trip, on the Waterrock Knob hiking trail, that Dick proposed to me! This morning, we hiked back up that same trail (not a terribly easy hike!) back to the exact spot where Dick proposed. It was really cool to come back to the exact spot more than 5 years later and take another picture. :)



We drove for a few hours across the state and encountered several lightening and thunder storms. Pretty intense rain, lightening and thunder!! Eventually, we saw an enormous rainbow, which made it all worth while. :)

More fun in Cullowhee

We started the day at the second half of Dick's High School's Reunion. It was an all-school reunion for all students who attended Cullowhee High School while it was open between 1891-1988. The turnout was quite impressive - easily over 200. the largest class turnouts seemed to be by classes who graduated in the 1950s and 1960s. Dick's class (1980) only had 5 people show. The oldest person to come was a 94 year old woman who graduated in 1934!



We spent the rest of the day driving around the area. We went to Dry Water Falls, which I think is my favorite waterfall in the area.


Dry Water Falls

We also came across a little store that made boiled peanuts - a treat that Dick loves but can't get at home.


We drove up towards the airport which has a great view of Western Carolina, where Dick's father used to teach, and where Dick got his undergrad degree.


On our way back to our B&B, we noticed that our GPS showed us that "Yonder Way" was ahead. That made me laugh. :)

Over Yonder

Greetings from Cullowhee, NC

Greetings from Dick's hometown! We're in Cullowhee for a few days to attend Dick's 30th HS Reunion! The festivities start this evening, and will continue tomorrow.

We're staying at a lovely B&B in Cullowhee. The first photo that I'm posting here is the view from our balcony. It's beautiful here.

Unfortunately, our B&B does not have WiFi, and AT&T's service here is spotty at best, so I'm unable to connect to the net or make a call from our room.

Lucky for us, the Bojangles in town has free WiFi, so we're stopping here for a quick bit to plug-in, check email, and blog. :)

Today, we drove through the mountains to see some of the gorgeous waterfalls. They were awe-inspiring!

We also passed by the Transylvania Turnpike, which made us laugh. I looked for Edward, but didn't see him. ;)

We encountered some pretty strong thunderstorms today during our drive, but luckily it only lasted about an hour or so. It also cooled down the humidity level, so the temperature was quite nice.

Time to get ready for the reunion this evening. More later!

WiFi on the Plane

We're about an hour into our flight from SFO to CLT. We're flying direct on US Air. This appears to be a new plane, which is quite nice. Plus, it has WiFi!! ($8 charge, but I'm splurging.) :)

Questionable Choices...

Tomorrow morning, I'll be leaving this...


to go to this...


and later to this...


hmmmm.....

(have I mentioned that I don't do well in heat and humidity?)

Thanks again to my parents for staying at our place while we're away and for taking care of Noe. :)

Sisters

I took this photo of my sister and me last week while we were visiting our Grandma in Stockton. I was showing her the front-facing camera feature on my new iPhone.

I generally don't think that my sister and I look very much alike, but I think we look more alike than than we usually do in this photo.

I love my Sis! :)

Fentons Ice Cream

My sister and I treated ourselves to ice cream sundaes at Fentons in Oakland this afternoon. It was the largest sundae I've had in a very long time - I actually had to take some home in a to-go container!

Yum!!

Big Head Trina and the Monsters

Big Head Trina and the Husband

Dick is always teasing me because I have such a large head.

It's true. My head is unusually large.
In fact, my calves are unusually large, too (given my size and height).
I suppose one must balance out the other, otherwise, I'd either be really bottom heavy, or I'd be toppling over due to my enormous head.

No, really... my head is huge.

My sister used to think that she had the largest head, but then one night, a few years back, we had a family-head-measuring night (no kidding).

The result:

My sister did not have the largest head (in our family).

It turns out that my Dad and I tied for that title.


The family with the enormous heads
(and the tall white guy with the noticeably smaller cranium)

I don't particularly mind having an enormous head. My rebuttal whenever Dick teases me is that I need a large head to hold my enormous brain!

...which brings me to the point of this blog post.

I just found this article this morning:

The bigger your head, the better your memory?

Here's a short excerpt:

As a general rule, the larger your head circumference measures, the more room there is for brain cells. That means that you’ve got all those extra neurons waiting like the cavalry in reserve when a brain disease like Alzheimer’s strikes, says the study’s lead author Dr. Robert Perneczky, a researcher at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

Ah-ha!
I knew there was a good reason to have a large head!

Actually, it's funny because I do have a freakishly good memory (for all things trivial - not for things that actually matter...)

My sister is always saying that she relies on me and my good memory to remember things for her.

Clearly, it's because her head is not as gloriously-ginormous as mine.

;)

Silly Facebook

Facebook likes to recommend people, groups or pages that you might be interested in. They usually post the name of said person/group/page, and will also say something like "20 of your friends like...", etc.,

Here's what just popped up on the side of my Facebook page:



Apparently, Facebook seems to think that I would like Megan Fox.... because many people who like Barack Obama like Megan Fox.

Um....

;)

All in the Golden Afternoon

Dick, enjoying the beautiful afternoon in our backyard.

Free Slurpee Day!!

Today is 7-11, also known as Free Slurpee Day!! Dick and I took our usual Sunday walk around the neighborhood, planning a stop at our local 7-11 along the way. I love Slurpees!! My favorite part: the free Slurpee size was 7.11 ounces. Nice attention to detail! :)



Along our way home, we passed by a Found sign for a formerly missing White Rabbit sign. I love a happy ending. :)


Maddie is alive and well.

New Patio Furniture

Yay! After months and months of searching and deliberating, we finally decided on a patio furniture set!

We ordered it a couple of weeks ago, and it was delivered this morning.

Happy Backyard. :)

Backyard Art

We have one side of our fence which is very tall - probably 10-12 feet or so. The reason is that we're on a hill, sloping down, and our next door neighbor had poured a level concrete patio years ago. That means that in order for her side of the fence to be the standard 6' tall, the fence on our side has to compensate by having a lower fence (built with pressure treated lumber) built below the point at which her concrete patio starts.

Since our side of the fence is really tall, it's also pretty bare. I don't like vines, so that's not an option for me. I've been thinking about getting some sort of interesting sculpture or art to put up on the fence.

We finally found the solution last week while we were at Crate and Barrel (go figure). They are made out of iron, and can be hung indoors or outdoors. Perfect! They have a pretty cut out of long, grass blades.

We ordered them last week (on sale even). They weren't in stock, so we had to wait until today to pick them up.

Dick hung them up this afternoon. I think they look really pretty, and complete the space. :)

How many people does it take to clean a MINI Cooper?

... at last count, 10-12.

My little car is getting the special treatment at a Chevron station in Marin.

Happy MINI!! :)