October 23th, 2007

Argh, I hate when that happens.  I'd saved my work, went to add pictures, but put the laptop aside for a while.   It locked up and I had to reboot, and of course my new pages (the long blog I wrote) vanished.  So this is take two.

It's just that yesterday when I wrote my blog I was in an incredibly good mood and things were really wonderful and I had a great blog for you to read.  So this one may or may not have the same tone.

Ok, Saturday after I settled into the hotel, I met my friend (who recently moved out here that I met at TransFamily) and went to eat.  We were in the CIvic Center area, and walked around a bit, and she showed me how to deal with the busses there.  We ate at a really good burger place, and saw places like the capitol building and then stopped at a coffee place, where I had a 'mocha javalance' -mmmmmm.

I tried to follow both the Indians games over the weekend, but enough said there, right?

I checked into Cocoon house on Sunday, and unpacked my stuff and claimed a couple shelves in the bathroom, and set up my laptop.  Then I explored the neighborhood to see what I'll be able to do.  It's quite different out here than in Cleveland.  There are many tall buildings, and people live in apartments above shops.  No malls really.    Small grocery stores & restaurants that aren't part of a chain & whatever else one needs.  For some reason, there are more Nail & Waxing joints than I can count withing walking distance of me.  I stopped counting at 7.  But the architechture is really fascinating to see.  So anywhere I'm in town I just love looking at everything!  Anyway, I got tired of waiting for my room mate, so I went out to have dinner with my friend and we ate at some Mediteranean restaurant and had 'shawarma' or something like that.  It was spicey & very tasty.  We stopped for ice cream, and I had rocky road & mexican chocolate.  yum!  I headed back and got 'home' about 9:30 and my room mate arrived and was asleep already.  But I'm still on eastern time, and was tired as well.

On Monday morning I finally met my roomie and we talked for a bit before I left to have scans taken (I had my head examined, lol), and after that I took the rail line up to the Embarcadero, which is where the  port is, and I headed over to pier 39, where I walked all the way through Fisherman's Wharf to Ghiardelli Square. (ok, bad sentence, but don't feel like fixing it)  There are tons of shops & tours available, but I just enjoyed walking along the Bay and taking it all in.  Pier 39 is home to a bunch of Sea Lions, and it was fun to see them all sunning themselves out there.  I took a few pictures of them (which I'll have to retake), but about that time the smell they exude got to me.  I kept going up to some park by Ghiardelli's where there is a sandy beach with people swimming  (nutty people who swim in freezing cold water).  I couldn't resist taking my shoes off and wading in the Pacific Ocean :)  It was about that time my son called me, and asked me how things were.  I told him I'm wading in the Pacific as we speak, and I can see Alcatraz & the Golden Gate bridge and Ghiardelli Square and it's about 74 degrees.  (priceless)  Then I went up to Ghiardelli's where I had a hot chocolate & biscotti.  MMMMmmmm, it was very rich & creamy goodness.  I trekked back to Pier 39, where I ate with a beautiful view of the Bay.  I was pretty tired by then, and the bus ride back seemed to take forever.

So when I arrived back at Cocoon house, I took the laptop back to the garden to update my blogs.  It's beautiful back there with a lemon tree (my favorite part - lemons ready for us to pick), and a pinapple sage bush, and culture not lost on these people, have Parsly, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme growing as well.  A couple of small trees and hydrangea completes the layout.  At this point, I'm completely relaxed, having a great vacation, and thinking about the upcoming FFS just isn't happening.  Not a reality yet.  Anyway, my roomie was back from her consultation so I saved my work (so I thought) and chatted with her.  When I got back to my blog it was gone /sad.

I wanted to stay with my room mate and give her some company before she went for surgery in the morning.  We ordered pizza and ate as much as we could (half of my small for me, half of a medium for her).  I really did eat a lot today, really.

So I'm up to today.  I'll be heading out soon for my consultation with Dr. O. and then I'll meet up with my friend for dinner.  I'll be turning in early so I get up Ok by 4:30am, so I can make it to the hospital in plenty of time.  Since I'm having a really good time so far, I'm just not thinking about what it will be like.  There's plenty of time to deal with it when it happens.  I think my good mood will keep my nerves in check until I arrive at the hospital.

Ok, I'd better save before I loose this one too!