Hiking with a Purpose, Part II

So today was the second time Ray and I did Bay Area Orienteering. If you don't know what that is check out their site at www.baoc.org This time we took along Hercules, Shirley, Mary, and Tiffany. It was at Bayfront Park in Menlo Park. We decided to do the advanced beginner's run. The park had very little trees and a lot of dried grass so it hurt a little running through the grass since it would get caught in my shoes and prick my skin and w/o trees around me like at GG Park it was a lot hotter. It was fun though watching the others get excited over this as much as Ray and I were on our first time. I was the one with Herc so I went a slower pace and I gave him frequent water breaks so there were times when I can see Mary and Shirley way across the other way running like mad. It was so funny! We did the course in under an hour. The first checkpoint took us forever because we were totally off, but it was still a lot of fun!

Grand Prix

Since the Grand Prix track wrapped around the Tech we were given tickets into the race in order to bring the campers in. It was a very interesting day. A lot of walking and stair-climbing and A LOT of noise! Since the cars race right in front of the Tech you can hear it inside. Ray even said he could hear it from home! It was very exciting though. We had the best view at the Tech balcony. Ray and his co-workers came by in the afternoon and Ray got to hang out. The SOS campers got to walk around the race and check out the booths and learn about momentum, etc. It was quite interesting watching the excitment over all the freebies. I felt bad for the booth ppl they didn't know what hit 'em! At the end of the day I got to hang out w/Ray and his co-workers and we watched the drifters race. It was very interesting watching cars drift. Afterwards we went to Paragon for drinks and appetizers.

SOS with water

This past week was Science of Sports (SOS). At first I wasn't looking forward to it only because we just went through a heat wave the weekend before and I'm not very athletic so the thought of walking around and playing sports in the heat was not very appealing. Thank God for the heat wave and the preparation for the Grand Prix because that lessened our time outside until the weather got better. Wednesday was water play day. Let's just say there were a lot of water balloons (as in 200!), water fountains, and feeling completely soaked for the whole day!

Another highlight of waterplay day was being a star. As we were playing in the fountain some ppl from the new network CW were there to film local commercials and they asked if they could film us. Then they had Ben and I say a few words. So, if they actually air us it'll start next Wed.!!!! Superstar!

So You Think You Can Dance hookups

I soooooo want Allison and Ivan to hook up. They are the cutest!

A new day in a new world......

I love it how one of the best dancers on "So you think you can dance" is a slightly overweight black woman! Woo-hoo! I love you Donyelle! You're da bomb!

Does anyone care?

Why is that even though I emailed ppl earlier this year about my birthday trip to encourage them to start saving up $$ and setting the time aside and yet I still get these lame-ass excuses that they don't have the $$ or they're already making plans to do something else. Is my birthday that insignificant to a majority of my friends where they can't even manage to save $$ or decide all of sudden they want to go somewhere else? It makes me feel like I should consider everyone else's birthday as insignificant as well and just something to celebrate with them IF I have nothing better to do.

I think I need to once again re-evaluate how I handle my friendships. I definitely feel like I try to put a lot of effort into my relationships particularly the ones I'm closest to and yet sometimes I feel like the same efforts aren't reciprocated. It especially makes me sad to think that the ones that are closest to me won't even be there to celebrate this milestone. Some ppl may like to celebrate their 30th quietly or just with a dinner and those close to me or even vaguely close know that I don't do it that way so why do they think that this trip is NOT important to me?

Just like with the housewarming party where ppl were too lame to let us know they were flaking out or just didn't even respond it's very frustrating that I try to be there for these other ppl when they invite me to their celebrations (no matter how big or small) and yet they can't extend the same courtesy. Does that mean I stop celebrating my birthday with people? I don't know. But like I've said before, if I stopped would anyone notice? Would anyone care?

Parenting 101 needed, please implement!

To all parents out there.........while pregnant with your child have you had conversations with friends about what your child will be like all grown up? Have you talked about how they may become a doctor, a teacher, or maybe even an actor? Have you wondered whether or not they will get married or maybe be gay? Have you ever said to a person, "Boy, I hope my child grows up to be an asshole who treats everyone with disrespect?" No? I didn't think so. So why do your kids still grow up to be assholes and you make US deal with it?!?!?! What have I done in my life or any other lives I may have possibly had to deserve getting stuck with kids who are hateful, rude, condescending, spoiled, and selfish? I am here to educate and inspire not to sit and let a CHILD talk to me as though I'm lesser than them!

So You Think You Can Dance.....

Anyone watch that show? If you watched last season's as well as this season's please tell me if you think Dimitry is another version of open-shirted Artem? (ya know what I'm talkin' about!) And who thinks Mary has a "special" relationship with Artem? hehehhehehe....

Readjustment

I need to stop getting quickly agitated by ppl who have a differing view on teaching/education. I'm in no way saying I shouldn't defend myself but my immediate reaction is a bit biting so I think I need to readjust that.

The never-ending home improvements

Spending money is the thing to do......

1. Bookshelf to house our DVD's in one location
2. Prints for decoration and ideally to buffer the echo in the living room.
3. Plastic vase with a fountain contraption
4. Pond plants to go into our plastic vase with the fountain contraption
5. 2 bedside tables
6. 2nd lamp for living room

A rare lazy day

For the first time in who knows how long we don't have a family or friend-related event to go to. Do you know how rare that is???? So my glorious lazy day was spent taking my cat to the vet (he had a flea allergy, poor baby....), getting our carpet shampooed, finishing DaVinci Code, surfing the net, and buying a pet carrier off of Ebay. *sigh* Sometimes doing very little can be fulfilling.....

BBQ-ing

Friday, June 30th:
We still had leftover meat from the luau so we had a last minute BBQ (and last minute to me means 1-2 weeks in advance planning!) We had a mix of Tech camp staff and Ray's friends as well as some of my fav friends Shirley and Johnny. It was fun hanging out with ppl outside of work as well as catching up with Shirley whom I haven't seen in weeks.