Nursing a cold

Yesterday did not start out well for me. Driving to work, the old white "potato" that I drive had a blowout. After changing the tire and getting my hands filthy, I drove the rest of the way to work on the little doughnut tire that served as a spare. Thankfully, I was able to get a new one put on later on in the day.You know when you have a cold when your voice makes you sound like a progressive jazz d.j. from West Oakland on a late night radio show. I was telling the women at work that I was going through puberty again.I hadn't realized how much I use my voice at work until I found it difficult to talk. Throughout the day my chest was aching from coughing up crap.My supervisor let me go sometime around three.I stopped by Safeway to buy some cheap expectorant to move the nasty glop on out. This morning, it was easy to tell that my body needed the rest it got. stretching and yawning felt especially gratifying... kind of like a cat on a warm window sill that arches it's back and opens it's mouth wide enough for flies to go in and out. After a big bowl of cereal and posting to this blog, I'm heading back to my feathered respite.

Holy Saturday, Batman !

Today is Holy Saturday and I went to work today.I am still pretty tired today from not having a good night's sleep. My new friend Chet came by for the cooking demo, and she has become quite a regular to these cooking demonstrations. She and her friend are Filipino, and cute as buttons. I think she likes me, but I might just be dreaming.Today's demo was some God-awful Potato Gratin dish with Portabello mushrooms.I wanted to like the demo, but it just seemed like an inordinate amount of time spent on bland ingredients and boring utensils.I don't plan on preparing this dish for myself or anyone else anytime soon.The last demo that made any impact on me was the Quinoa Salad demo. I went right to Cal Mart to buy myself a package so that I could prepare this dish that has proven itself to be quite versatile and delicious.You can make Quinoa with peppers, onion, garlic, lemons, avocado and other savory ingredients.The other nice thing is that it is a complete protein with loads of nutrients and other health benefits... like, it's great for your heart and cholesterol reduction.Anyway, I don't know what I am going to do for the next couple of days without my scooter, but suffice to say that I left a message with Moto Mechanica requesting an update on the status of my joy ride.Come tuesday I should know something (keep your fingers crossed ) Just for giggles I made this silly movie below for your enjoyment. Also, the picture at the top of today's blog is my neice, Erin. We were having fun making goofy faces with the Photo booth application last Christmas.I just hadn't gotten around to posting it.

Live and Let Live

This past week I attended Pat Freeland's memorial. It was a very nice affair that took place at her husband ( and my friend ) Don's house over in Oakmont. Don is my running buddy who will push me to run to the top of Coyote peak at Bothe State Park on my days off.We had a pot luck dinner and I brought the fixin's for garlic mashed potatoes. There were only six of us there, mostly close friends of Pat over the years. After dinner we had a great cake made by Laura. We sat around and shared stories about Pat and the things we remembered best about her. She was a very spiritual person. It's only a few days left before Spring and already the weeds around my apartment are up to my knees. So, in a flash of inspiration I put on my work gloves and went outside to pull them up. Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and I wore my Sullivan's Tavern sweatshirt to remind myself that I have Irish Ancestry ( Do I need to remind myself of this ? Sometimes I wonder ).Recently, a second cousin by the name of Clancy Mullen sent an email with an attached file which turned out to be a very accurate family tree. He wanted to cross check the data that was included in this account. Now I pretty certain that my big ears came from the Sullivan side of our family, rather than the Ryan side.Also, my brother John has insisted that we are in no way related to former president Zachary Taylor, contrary to a rumor that was started by my niece, Elizabeth.

The Scooter Saga Continues...

Here it is Tuesday, March 4th, and it is my day off. I crossed my fingers as I went out to start the scooter this morning, as I know the starts have been rough... if at all. This month would be no different, as my scooter problems have been going on since last October.After numerous tries, I finally got the damn thing started. When I drove it to Moto Mechanica, Eli was waiting for me as I drove up. I explained the problem and he immediately got it into the shop and on the rack. He turned the fans on it to cool it down so that he could recreate the problem as I had explained it to him. He said that when it cooled down, he would try to start it and hopefully know how to proceed.Then I went for a hike into town. After a couple of hours he called me to tell me that it would start and that the problem could not be diagnosed unless I left it overnight. OY ! I called my friend Don and my friend Reid already this morning, and begged them for a ride over there, then to call back and cancel after that would be an annoyance I thought. They got the scooter started (not a good sign). I walked back to the shop from downtown Santa Rosa. I prayed the Serenity Prayer so that I would be prepared mentally for the worst case scenario. Eli was still on break when i arrived, so I talked to his assistant. She told me about a battery charger that I could hook up so that I would not have to take the battery out of the case every time I wanted to charge it.I suspected that I had one of these already so I ended up driving my scooter back to Calistoga to install it. I still will have to bring this monster back next week to get some fuel filter chamber valve replaced.If it ain't one thing it's another ... to be continued.