Only For a President...

Only for a President, my parents, husband, and my sister would I drag my bum out of bed whilst I felt like my ribs were tighter than a corset and my poor tummy felt like a boxing glove was pounding all of my insides.

I could not miss this possible once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet a President. I figured: I can stay home and feel like crap and wish I would have gone or I can go see the President and feel like crap, but have no regrets.

This bubbly lady was giving away Hillary t-shirts. I got one!

Kyle and I pulled up to Mac High at the time indicated on the invitation. When we got there, the line of people waiting to get in was around the block. However, I marched up to the front of the line and asked the volunteers if we could get in right away so Kyle would not have to stand for long. They let us in right away.

Inside, a volunteer brought Kyle a chair to sit in right in the front row.





After waiting for what seems like forever, Clinton showed up. Everyone was so excited.
















Not all of the digital pictures I took came out so great. The really nice ones I took were with my 35 mm camera.










I have to admit that I really don't remember much of what Clinton said at the beginning of his talk.









But I do remember he kept saying, "One more thing...one last thing...one last point I want to bring up...And one more story..." As you can imagine, I was standing in the front row laughing whenever he said this after the fourth time.








Now...remember that not all my pics came out that great.


This one looks like he's saying: "Who, me?"






















Here is where I added my own text. Clinton did not really say this, nor did he have lipstick on his cheek. There also wasn't a hawk in the school.


This picture was totally taken on accident.



















"And one last thing..."









Secret Service guys. Kyle kept waving at them, trying to make them smile. The ones that had red pins on their lapel had served in Iraq.











More security.












My feet were tired. I kicked my shoes under Kyle's chair.










Clinton had some posh boots on. They looked like alligator skin, but I really don't know what they were made of.











The campaign banner.











Ooh...I got my autograph! It says: "Great job/Bill Clinton".






It kind of looks like it says, though, "Guest job/Blue lint".




Kyle and I both got to shake Bill Clinton's hand. It was a good hand shake, not a dead, limp fish kind. Clinton grabbed my hand really tight and looked me in the eye and thanked me for coming. Right after Clinton shook Kyle's hand, a Secret Service agent saw that people were pushing up against Kyle. The agent moved them out of the way and asked Kyle if he was okay. Kyle said that he was in a lot of pain. Clinton, after having noticed Kyle's crutched earlier, grabbed Kyle's arm in a friendly way and said to him in a reassuring voice, "You're going to be okay." This was very special to Kyle (and to me).

When we left the event, I still felt sick and in a lot of pain...but I have no regrets.

A Presidential Weekend

My coworker told me that Bill Clinton is going to be in our little town this weekend, campaigning for Hillary. How could I have not know about this earlier?!?

Well, I had to sign right up (my coworker helped me with this too--I am really out of the loop). I have never met a President before and who knows when I will be able to again.

Hopefully I'll be able to snap a photo with him, Kyle, and me in it. Oooooh...maybe I can even get an autograph. That would be SWEET! What should I have him sign? I don't have an autograph book. Maybe if they have a pamphlet there, I'll try to get that signed. Hummm...I'll figure something out. I have to remember to take a permanent marker with me in any case--always be prepared.

I've only had 4 US Presidents in my lifespan: Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. If either Bush comes to town, I'll go try to meet them, too. I'll have to see Reagan behind the Pearly Gates, though.

Once Clinton came to Costa Rica while I was in high school; he stayed at the Marriott. Several days prior to his arrival, a lot of big huge helicopters that are black and noisy flew over my school. I could not believe how loud they were...and their size. My dad got to go see Madeline Albright at the Marriott and he told me that people were all lined up along the streets outside of the hotel so they could greet the President. He told me that when he drove by, everyone got excited and started waiving to him. They thought he was Clinton because they have the same color of hair. But duh: why would Clinton be driving himself around?


This is a picture of Hillary I photoshop-ed for my friend, Zoey.

You May Relate...

It is no secret I have a cat. When I saw this picture I immediately thought of her. My cat's favorite place to be is anywhere that is in your way (for example, on top of the laptop).

Well, this company figured out a solution...for this cat anyway. This is a pretty good idea, but I am not sure if my cat will even use the little perch just because that would be way too convenient for me.

It cracks me up...every time I have papers, pictures, a book or anything crump-able within her reach, she will always go and stomp on it and then lay down on it. So if you ever get a present from me that is wrapped, it is not my fault the wrapping paper is all crinkled. It is my cat's fault because she decided it would be a good time to run across the paper, attack it, and then lay down on it (seriously....ask my relatives about it).

My Tummy Hurts

Yeah...I really have nothing better to blog about. My week has been kind of boring, aside from the fascinating conversation I had with some teens about giant lemurs.

Really, the only thing going on is that my tummy hurts and it feels like I got punched in the belly button. I called the doctor (because Kyle thinks it might be more serious than I think it is) and the receptionist kind of freaked out after I told her about the pain. Then the doctor's assistant, who is very lovely, told me that I needed to see the doctor, but all the doctors in the clinics are super busy. She managed to squeeze me in on Friday.

Well, all I can say is that I am way too busy to have anything serious, like appendicitis. I have groups to teach and paperwork to fill out and a youth group who is starting their own clothing line and ... You get the idea. I guess time will tell if I should have worried about this. But in the meantime, I am annoyed by this tummy nonsense.

I think this comic strip is funny because I am a mix of both characters...but I am more like Poncho.

My Friend was on the News!

Tara and I have known each other since were six-years-old. Well, now she has made it BIG! Ha-ha...she appeared on a local morning news show doing what she does best: pet care. Tara has loved animals and taking care of them ever since I can remember.

Random Pics of Me

I had some extra time this morning and played with my makeup. And, YES, those eyelashes are all my own.

Dumb Business Part 2: Forget Engrish

Ever since the day I got my Geely, I have been laughing. The owner's manual it came with takes talent to understand. But...the website is even better!

My point is to not make fun of people who cannot speak English. That would be stupid because there are a lot of language I cannot speak. My point is: How can a big company not hire a person to translate their site correctly? Geely is growing in the US, especially since this summer is predicted to be a scooter-summer. If a company (any company) is serious about business, shouldn't they be serious about having the copy on their site be correct?


...Just a thought.

My Geely and Me

First off, I need a little trunk of sorts for my Geely. I bought this crate for $4. I can zip-tie it perfectly on to the back.











However, it does rain a lot where I live, so I need to weather-proof the cubby. I bought a shower curtain at the same place I bought the crate. The curtain cost $8.

I have rivets and tools to fix them on to whatever material I want, so I put them onto the shower curtain.







The nylon string was buy one get one free, so it was about $2 for a whole roll of it. I used the string to fix the "panels" on to the crate. Ingenious! I still need to make a lid this. I have also made a liner for the inside of the box.









This weekend I zoomed around my neighborhood. The days were nice and sunny, but I had to practice at night, too.

Here I am after my night ride. It was raining so I wore my rain gear that is made for fishermen (I think). I also have on my rain boots. I, of course, wore my Power Ranger helmet with the visor down and my spiffy riding gloves.

I kind of look like a police officer in this picture. I don't know why I think this.












I have that weird thing in my eyes like animals have at night when you see their eyes glow in your headlights. Cool huh? That's what gives me my special powers.













These are my posh riding gloves, which match my helmet.














Here is what Geely looks like in the driver's seat.

Home Remedies

"The View" on ABC last week featured some natural remedies for everyday ailments and why they work. I stole the following from their "recap" section, but the comments in colored text are made by me.

Common Cold: Hot chicken soup
• Helps unclog your nasal passages, increases the flow of nasal mucus. Nasal secretions serve as a first lien of defense in removing germs from your system.
• Also, garlic and onions have an antiviral property, so adding some spice in the form of cayenne or chili peppers can help.
• Why it works: At least one scientific study suggests that a steaming bowl of chicken soup affords more than comfort—although it's important not to sell comfort short. Hot liquids in general can be soothing, if only because they require you to slow down, sit still and sip patiently in order to consume them without scalding yourself. The best scientific evidence we have for chicken soup's cold-fighting capacity, however, comes from a study at the University of Nebraska where researchers exposed neutrophils, the white blood cells that fight infections but also cause inflammation, to diluted chicken broth. The liquid actually slowed the movement of the cells, suggesting that in the body, chicken soup can do the same thing. The result, if you have a cold, would be relief of some of the symptoms.
• The steamy bowl under your nose helps with the mucus and the ingredients like garlic, onions, etc. can help support immunity—it's helping with the symptoms and giving your immune system a little boost.

Nasal Congestion: Contact lens saline solution
• Irrigate the nose with contact lens saline solution, using a netipot or try putting a few drops of eucalyptus oil on the floor of a hot, running shower and inhaling the steam that accumulates.

Chest Congestion: Onions in towels (This sounds disgusting!)
• Cook onions until they are translucent and put in towels to make a hot pack and put it on your chest and back.

Headache: Headband (I'll try anything for this)
• This old business of grandma tying a tight cloth around her head has some merit to it.
• Why it works: It decreases blood flow to the scalp and lessens the throbbing and pounding of a migraine.

Hemmoroids: Olive oil (uh... I don't know a thing about this)
• Dab a little on a wad of cotton or tissue and wipe affected area.
• Why it works: It has anti-inflammatory properties.

Constipation: Sugarless gum (Which is why I am always regular...yeah TMI)
• Chew sugarless gum. The sugar alcohols used to sweeten sugarless gum—malitol, sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol are not absorbed from the digestive system. They act as "osmotic laxatives", attracting water into the digestive tract. Experiment to find the right dose.
• Downside: Many sugarless gums contain aspartame, which some people prefer to avoid.

Nosebleeds: Keys
• Drop a keyring down bleeder's back.
• Believed to be a folk remedy from colonial America/British Isles.
• Why it work: Probably because the keys are cold and it makes your blood vessels constrict. (I bet ice would work, too.)

Hiccups: Spoonful of granulated sugar (I need to try this!)
• Swallow a spoonful of granulated sugar. Why it works: Theory is that the effort required to swallow the dry sugar disrupts the spasms in the diaphragm (doctor recommended).

Warts: Duct tape
• Clean the area. Then cut a piece of duct tape to a size slightly bigger than the wart. Apply the duct tape to the site and rub into place. Every three days, remove the tape and file down the dead skin with a pumice stone or nail file. Repeat until it disappears.
• Why it works: The tape causes some local inflammatory reaction that induces the immune system to kill the wart virus. A dermatologist study on school children proved this. Investigators speculated that the duct tape had somehow stimulated the children's immune system, because some untreated warts also disappeared. Another doctor reported that a teenager used athletic tape around his finger and fingernail which is very difficult to treat and warts disappeared within a month.

Foot Odor: Tea, Listerine
• Soak feet in a strong tea and three capsules of Listerine for about 20 minutes. The tannins in tea are a drying agent and will help eliminate the smell. The Listerine will keep the smell from coming back

Are You for Real?

Alicia Keys has nice music and has talent I envied.

However, the AP reported about some of the interesting theories Keys believes to be true. For example,

"`Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. `Gangsta rap' didn't exist."

What?!?! What government? Who in the government? I think the government has more important things to worry about...like Janet Jackson performing on live TV.

She also believes Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., rappers who were killed, to have been great leaders that the government and the media killed.

I guess those guys really didn't hang out with gang members, pimps, drug dealers, and had rival rappers. The media and government were probably mad at these "great leaders" for opening hospitals, dog parks, feeding the poor, etc. Maybe each piece of "bling" they wore represented a charitable organization they lifted up.

Cheesecake Souffle

I made a cheesecake souffle a couple weekends ago.

This is a pic of the graham cracker crust being made in the food processor.









This is the spring-form pan I used.
















...but one must wrap spring-form pan because it is going to go into a water bath and we don't water seeping in through a crack.










This is the water bath preheating in the oven.












I smooshed the crust in to the bottom of the pan












Here is the cream cheese goodness ready to bake for 1.5 hours!













It's done and has risen nicely! Now I have to let it cool like this for 2 hours and then put it in the fridge for 4 hours.

















Finally! Ready to eat. Did you notice I do not have any nasty cracks in my souffle?










Tip: if you cut two slices at once, it is easier to serve the first slice.










Yum! Perfect and worth the wait!

College-Level Spanish

How many of you have ever taken Spanish in college or even high school? It cracks me up when people think they are fluent in the language after having taken it 10 years ago in college for a few months, but they only remember a few words ("Hot plate, Amigo.").

Check out this video. It is REALLY FUNNY!

7 Extra Hours of Housework

The University of Michigan did a study that concluded that husbands create 7 extra hours of housework per week that their wife have to deal with! Who did these people study? This really cracks me up. Oh, and it gets worse after kids are in the picture. 

These people need to come study my house before and during my strike. Yup, I did strike...for a little bit anyways. I'm not saying "Woe is me...my husband is so messy!" I just didn't feel like obsessing about cleaning for a while.

Before another study like this is done, I need to be included. I might throw the whole thing off.

What Do You Do In Times Like This?

I was sad to learn today that a friend of mine has stage 4 cancer. I don't know what type it is or where it started...all that is to be determined soon.

I didn't 100% understand what "stage 4" meant, so I looked it up on Wikipedia:

Stage IV cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body.

A lot of times cancers at this stage are inoperable. What is the prognosis for this stage? I have no idea.

So, Readers of this Blog, how do you help someone and their family who has this? There are the obvious visits, helping with meals, helping with chores, etc. But what can really help the person feel cared about and happy? I was thinking of taking funny videos to watch or taking the XBox over to play games. Give funny cards instead of sad, dopey ones. Take sweets and not casseroles. Give a CD with happy, uplifting music. Take craft projects over. Make her a hat with bear ears. Do any of these sound good? I am just trying to think of things I might like in this situation.

My friend and her spousal-equivalent are people with a good sense of humor, love to laugh, tease, and are very nice people. They were very kind to my husband and me before, during, and after Kyle's surgery. Now it is time for us to be good friends to them.

Let me know if you have any suggestions

My New Toy!

Yup...happy birthday to me! I saved up and got me this little thing to putt around town. It is a Geely Fashion 50 and gets about 90 miles per gallon! The fastest it will go is about 30 mph, but that is all I need.

I got a really cool white helmet that makes me look like the white Power Ranger, gloves, reflective gear, insurance, and a lock. Now all I need is to get it home. A friend of ours was nice enough let us keep the scooter in his garage (which was close to the bike shop we bought the scooter from) and we're going to rent a trailer hitch thing really soon to bring it home with the truck. I also have reflective stickers I am going to put on different things. Heck, I'll wear a koala on my head if it makes more visible to others.

Now all I need to do is learn how to ride it.

R.I.P. Ben Hawkins

I found out yesterday that a friend of mine, Ben Hawkins, was killed in the community where we live in a freak accident. You can read about it here.

Ben and I were in a lot of music classes together as we were both music majors. We could relate well in the classes because we both sucked at playing the piano compared to everyone else. Ben had a good sense of humor and was an all-around nice guy. Everyone liked him and he was a good role model to everyone.

We would chit-chat after we graduated every once in a while because we both worked downtown (actually, we worked on the same block) and would run into each other while out and about or in the supermarket. He was always friendly and took an interest in what I was up to and the program I work for.

Please keep Rachel, Ben's wife, in your thoughts and prayers. She witnessed the tragedy.
I cannot even imagine what she is going through.

Thanks for being a person I am happy to say I knew, Ben!

UPDATE: 8 APRIL 2008
Ben's memorial was last Thursday at George Fox University. I had an awesome turnout, which proves Ben made an impact on many people's lives. Read more about it here.