New week, new Curves

After a week of not going to the gym following the closing of the Trabuco Curves, I was really feeling lethargic. It didn't help that I spent a lot of the weekend watching football too. So tonight I went to the next closest Curves, the one in Rancho Santa Margarita, in the hopes that I'm not some sort of curse that causes gyms to go bankrupt and close down. After all, this will be my 3rd gym in 11 months.

Upon pulling into the parking lot, Shelly, who I've known since last October when we joined the Ladera club, came running out to my car to give me a hug. She's already joined here and was wondering what happened to me. When I got inside, another Ladera member, Penny, was there and I was very happy to see her too. It was just nice to see familiar faces! One good thing is that this club actually a few minutes closer to my apartment since there's a bit of a short cut to take. The other plus side is that they are using the Smart Curves equipment that have a little machine attached to each piece of equipment to measure your workout. The display has a meter that is red if you're not working hard enough, yellow if you're doing average, and green if you're meeting your target goals. It also counts down the reps for you. At the end of your session, you can log into the computer and it will show you which muscles you worked and how many calories you burned. It seems pretty high-tech. In any case, I'm feeling that this will be (another) good start to reaching my fitness goals. And, on nights I'm feeling like a happy hour, there's Daily's Sports Grill right next door!

Lauren Graham

I sometimes TiVo the Ellen Show and watch it when I get home from work to see if there was anyone on who I like as a guest. Today I was totally surprised to see that my favorite actress (and total girl-crush), Lauren Graham, was on. Turns out that she has a new movie coming out on Friday called "Flash of Genius" with Greg Kinnear, which is a true story about the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper and how the automotive industry stole it. What's funny is that I just went to see the movie "Eagle Eye" with Andrew and Tammy on Friday night and while we were there I was commenting on how I just never go see movies in theatres because I'm just not that into movies. Of course now I can't go back on my word and say I want to see another movie only one week later!

In case you aren't familiar with Lauren Graham, she's mostly known for her role on Gilmore Girls. GG was one of my most favorite shows. The show is about a single mom, Lorelai Gilmore, who had a daughter at 16 and now her daughter is a teenager and they've become best friends. It just ended last year after 7 seasons and I have to admit that I have the final two episodes TiVo'd but I can't bring myself to watch them! It's been 17 months!! For some reason, I feel that by not watching them, the show won't be over and somehow it will miraculously come back on the air. Yeah, I know it's weird.

So, while some girls are all about Angelina, I say they can have her. I'll stick with Lauren.

This is the opening theme


This is a clip from Ellen's show

Do you espeaka da english?

I left work early today to go see my doctor. A couple weeks ago I got a throat infection in my left tonsil--not sure why just that one...must be the weakest link--and I was taking antibiotics. I was all better, or so I thought. I started feeling it making a comeback, so I went to get checked out. When I was getting my prescription filled at Walgreens, I let the pharmacist know that I was waiting for it. He said sure no prob 15 minutes. So I waited and waited and asked and waited some more. Finally 35 minutes had passed and still nothing. I was getting annoyed because there were four pharmacists back there and one was just sitting at a computer texting on her phone. What? It was more than 45 minutes before it was finally ready. The woman who checked me out was Asian and had a very thick accent. (No disrespect to Asians, it could've been just as bad if she was German or Miss Cleo.) She asked if I wanted a consultation and I said yes (I had already waited so long, this couldn't add much more time) because I hadn't taken this drug before. She went through the standard stuff and then said "You do tocking meth patrol?" I was like "Excuse me?" So she repeated it louder as if that would make it better "YOU DO TOCKING METH PATROL?" I looked at her and shook my head in a way that meant "ARE YOU ESPEAKA DA ENGLISH?" The girl who had been texting on her phone stopped her important top secret communications and came over to say in a voice loud enough to be heard in the dental aisle "ARE YOU TAKING BIRTH CONTROL?" Oooooohhh... so that's what she meant. I said "Yes" and she said that this drug makes it less effective so to take extra precautions. Well, there go MY plans for the weekend.

This will be the basis for many jokes

The Oregon State Beavers are playing the USC Trojans? Seriously?

A friend's advice...have some JAM

I have been coaching a friend of mine through some rough relationship times. It's a friend whose friendship I value, but it's interesting that she comes to me because we don't know each other personally since we found each other online. She's having issues where the person she is with is not giving her the attention and respect she deserves. Of course I only know my friend's side of the story, but she seems sincere and always goes out of her way to do special things for her significant other and he returns the favor by cheating and siphoning money from her checking account.

What gets me, is how people can have someone who obviously really cares for them and is a great person, but obviously they either don't see that or they don't want to make a commitment, so they repeatedly hurt the other person and force them away. They need to have chaos in their lives, so when things are good, they do things to sabotage themselves. (I learned that from Dr. Drew.)

But, I digress. I guess I'm just wondering why most crazy people seem to be able to find people to have a relationship with and I can't just a normal person who would be willing to share their free time with me. It would be nice to have a committed relationship and some security. I know I'm not old yet, but man! I don't want to get into a relationship and immediately have kids! There are a lot of horizontal surfaces that I want to break in first!

Which reminds me, TV's best couple, JAM, returns tomorrow! (Jim + Pam = Jam) Where is MY Jim??

Yearbook Yourself!

So a friend of mine hooked me up to this site where you can transpose your photo onto yearbook pictures from the 50s to the 00s. So simple, yet so amusing. Having waaay too much fun here for a Tuesday night. I personally like 1984... you can almost hear the Madonna blaring in the background. You should give it a try or else you might be dismembered taunted.

1950 Kristi :: Ward, have you seen the Beaver?



1958 Kristi :: Is this the way to the sock hop?


1960 Kristi :: Fashionable before Lisa Loeb!


1964 Kristi :: Librarian by day, liberated pole dancer by night.


1966 Kristi :: Big fan of Babs!


1972 Kristi :: Does my neck look broken?


1974 Kristi :: Marcia Marcia Marcia!!


1982 Kristi :: Now this takes talent. And a whole can of Aquanet. What is this Ozone layer you speak of?


1984 Kristi :: Too bad you can't see the neon legwarmers!


1990 Kristi :: This looks like my 8th grade Algebra teacher, Mrs. Laird.


1994 Kristi :: Even bigger bangs! Is that my hand or a right hook to the jaw?


1996 Kristi :: This was the "Becky" from Roseanne before there was the "Rachel" from Friends.

2000 Kristi :: I don't even know what to say here, except that someone was missing a Guinea Pig on this day.

Attack of the Cougars

As I mentioned, I went out to dinner with the Curves staff and friends on Saturday night. In general, the membership of Curves tends to be comprised of 58% post-menopausal women, 27% stay at home moms, 12% professional working women, and 3% college age and younger. Even though I fit into the 12% category, I really felt like I had made good mix of friends from all stages of their lives. Case in point, DiDi. I'll call her DiDi because I don't want to reveal her real name. I had met DiDi a few times while working out. She is very tall and thin and extremely toned. Her goal was to be in tip top shape for some helicopter skiing this winter in BC. She joined us at dinner Saturday night and I got to know her a little better. In fact, a little MORE than I would have wanted to. First of all, I was shocked to learn that she is 60 years old. I would have said 40 tops. Seriously. Secondly, she is part owner in the O'Neill/Lost brand of clothes and gear, so she definitely gets the young vibe. Thirdly, she likes to hump things. Mainly people. Yes, this is true. After a few seven margaritas people tell you a lot of stuff. DiDi's menopausal stage also makes her hot. So does red wine. So hot that in fact that she starts to take off her blouse and pull up her pantlegs when she gets to drinking. Of course she had to give us a demonstration because we couldn't visualize ourselves. This of course got the attention of the men at the table. DiDi said that she loves going to the jazz festival in New Orleans every April and that there are no shortages of bars to party at or partners to hump. Mind you that her husband pays for her trip each year. Then the conversation turned to me when DiDi invited me to come with her to New Orleans next year because we would have such a great time at the hump-fest. Now, I'm the last person to walk away from a naughty conversation, but I started feeling a bit creepy in the midst of the attack of the cougars...

New saddle woot woot

I had been complaining for ages about my road bike saddle and how it was definitely designed for a masochist. Turns out it was just designed for a man. Tammy took me around to a couple bike stores yesterday until I purchased her recommendation for a WTB Speed-she women's saddle. We went for a 12-mile spin today and it was like butter! Okay, maybe more like margarine. It was definitely an improvement though. Without that pain to focus on, I realized that my feet went numb while riding... guess I gotta get new shoes now!

RIP Trabuco Curves

You may remember how I lamented that my local Curves here in Ladera was closing back in May. I was sad, not only for the owner Lori who was closing her business, but because there were many members who were not going to transfer to Lori's other club in RSM (10-15 mins away). I went ahead and transferred for all the reasons I mentioned previously and really enjoyed seeing some of the old faces from Ladera as well as meeting new faces from RSM. I had been going there since June. Unfortunately there was to be more bad news! Lori and her partner-in-business, Kathie, could no longer support the RSM club through this recession and they were forced to close too. With the downturn in the economy, luxuries like eating out and gym memberships are often the first places people cut back. I feel so bad for them since this was their baby for over 5 years. Yesterday morning was the last day the club was open and the staff threw a little farewell party with champagne, scones, biscuits, and other treats. Many members brought flowers for Lori and Kathie.

Last night, there was a staff party at this local restaurant called Rose Canyon Cantina. Lori was kind enough to invite me along as well and we had a great time! It's hard to say when I will see them again, so it's kind of a sad day for me.

Doesn't this look like fun?

I love Segways. I'm not sure why. I've never been on one, but ever since I saw GOB Bluth riding one on Arrested Development, I've always been intrigued. It's just such a funny mode of transportation! Check out GOB on his Segway in this Arrested Development montage:


The reason why Segways are fresh on my mind is because I saw this article in the newspaper this morning about how you can rent Segways to ride around the Newport Back Bay. How fun does this sound???

Almost as fun as the people riding Segways around the riverfront in St. Louis! I took this pic when I was visiting:

Niagara Part III

I wanted to post a video I took of the Falls... it's amazing to hear the thunder of the water in person.

Niagara Part II

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, so we arrived in Canada and found our hotel situated on the brink of the Canadian falls. What I didn't realize was that there are actually three falls at Niagara Falls and none of them are actually named Niagara. Two of the three falls are on the American side and are called the American Falls (creative, eh?) and the Bridal Veil, because, well, it looks like one. The Canadian Falls are called the Horseshoe Falls, which is interesting to me because apparently when they were first documented, they actually weren't very much in a horseshoe shape. The falls have eroded a little bit each year until they reached the location they are in today. In fact, they erode about 8-10" per year. The erosion used to be a couple feet per year, but the power station upstream from the falls is able to regulate the flow enough to reduce the amount of erosion. Approximately 90% of the water in the Niagara River goes over the Horsehoe Falls and 10% goes over the American and Bridal Veil Falls. Other interesting facts I learned:

• The daily flows over the falls between April and October is 100,000 cubic feet per second, however, at night, the Ontario Hydro and New York State Power Company divert about half of the water into gigantic storage reservoirs for hydro generation.
  


• Niagara Falls drains all the water from 4 of the 5 Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie. The Niagara River then flows north, which is uncommon, to Lake Ontario.
  


• Only once in history have the falls ever stopped flowing. On March 29, 1848, massive ice flows created a dam at the mouth of Lake Erie where the Niagara River begins and the river became dry for about 2-3 days. During this time, people scavenged on the river bed for artifacts from many wars including the War of 1812.
  


• Niagara Falls got their name from the local Indian Tribes. The Neutral Indians were the leaders of a group of ten tribes of the Iroquois Nation. Other tribes included the Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Huron, Petun, Erie and the Susquehannock. The name Niagara originates from the Neutral Indian name "Ongniaahra" meaning "Thunder of Waters".

This was the view of the Horseshoe Falls from our hotel room:

Here is another view from our hotel. You are looking across the Niagara River from Canada to New York. The American Falls and Bridal Veil are to the left and the Horseshoe Falls are on the right.


We went on the "Journey Behind the Falls" where you take an elevator 170 feet below the rock and then walk in a tunnel 800 feet behind the falls. The tunnel is 7 feet tall by 4 feet wide, so a bit clausterphobic. There are two tunnels that branch off from the main tunnel that lead right out to the falls. From there, you can see the water plunging into the pool. There was also an observation deck where you just get soaked! You get to wear these sweet yellow ponchos that make you look like the Yellow Pages.





Some other pics that I like:

I did not go over the Falls in a barrel

Last week I went on a whirlwind adventure to the midwest and Canada. It was a trip my family had been planning for awhile. Since my brother lives in Ohio, which seems relatively close to Canada, as opposed to say, Puerto Rico, we thought it would be neat to go to Niagara Falls. As noted in my previous posts, my trip started out in St. Louis where I got to hang out with friends and family. On Wednesday, we headed out to Columbus, Ohio. I don't know why I sign up for that drive each year... it takes FOREVER! First you drive over the river to Illinois. Crossing the southern part of the state is relatively short and before you know it, you're in Indiana. Indiana is boring and starts to become tiresome after about, oh, 11 miles. The only interesting scenery is when I-70 crosses through Indianapolis and the sights change from farms to buildings. That's over rather fast and you're only halfway through the state! But wait, it gets better. You still have to drive through half of Ohio! On top of all that, you lose one hour crossing into the Eastern Time Zone.

At least Ohio seems excited to have you visit:


In Ohio, I got to see my favorite dog, Lucy. We got Lucy as a puppy when I lived with my brother here in CA. Lucy and I always had this special bond and it was awful when they all moved away. Lucy was sooooo excited to see me that she wouldn't leave my side. She even slept at the foot of my bed to make sure I wasn't out of sight.

Shh...she's sleeping...



We packed everyone up in the car and set off for Canada. It was going to be about 6-7 hours and we were going to drive through eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. Once again, Ohio went on and on and on and on! It was unbelievable! How wide can one state be? It's not like it's Texas! After about 5 hours, we were finally into Pennsylvania, but if you didn't pay attention, you missed it. It was so fast. I did note that the interstate was close to Lake Erie at one point and it could be seen on the horizon. Right after PA came New York and it snuck up so fast, I missed the welcome sign! Here's a photo of the side of the welcome sign. Doh.



Buffalo was the only city we passed through in New York. It was totally run down. Well, at least the part we went through. There were seriously burned out buildings that looked like they had been bombed. It was not a friendly-looking place. They are probably just pissed because of all the snow they get each winter. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it still looked uninviting.



Finally we crossed into Canada! The border guard at the Customs station on the Peace Bridge could've been less friendly. We were all excited that we had passports and he didn't even ask for them! He asked my brother several questions since he was driving. The questions consisted of "Where do you live? Where are you going? Why are you going? Who is in the car? What is everyone's citizenship?" That's it. He didn't even get up off his chair. Deflated, we pressed on into Canada, which looked surprisingly like the US. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I was picturing Canadian Mounties riding around, people frolicking in maple leaves, and children playing ice hockey on frozen ponds. But, we were on vacation!

To be continued...

Good times!

Last Sunday while I was in St. Louis, I got together with my friends, Tricia, Julie, and Sara. We met at Tricia's house in O'Fallon, MO, and then headed over to one of my favorite pizza chains growing up (remember this?). We weren't sure what to expect since Tricia's hadn't tried this place before. It was lacking in a little atmosphere, but the pizza was as good as I remember! Plus, Sundays are free soda day when you buy a medium or large pizza! Score!!

Me making a commercial:

It was fun to catch up with the girls even if I didn't win a toy out of the Bear Claw machine. Sara bought me a t-shirt so now I can get a job there. I love my friends!!

Sara, Kristi, and Tricia:

Tricia, Kristi, Julie:

Yay vacation!!

Right now I'm on the first leg of my Midwest-Canadian adventure and it's fantabulous. I am having the best time so far! I left California on Saturday morning and got into St. Louis around 3:30. After flying over the desert, it was so refreshing to see green land! Here's a photo from the plane as we were getting ready to land. You can see the "Muddy" Missouri River. The Missouri River borders St. Louis to the north and west, while the Mississippi borders the City to the east. The western side of the Missouri River is predominantly known as St. Charles and St. Peters and the eastern side is St. Louis County.

Saturday night was the big 'Arch Rival' football game between Mizzou and Illinois. This year the game was held in downtown St. Louis at the Edward-Jones Dome where the Rams play. I watched the game with my family and congrats to Mizzou!! My mom and I were going to head down to the new Riverfront Casino, Lumiere, after the game, but decided it would probably be packed with people. We headed down there instead on Sunday morning. It was a good thing too, because I hit deuces for $250 and practically paid for my plane ticket! Nice! Here are some shots of downtown:

The Courthouse:


Driving up Broadway (parallel to the Mississippi):


My Mom outside of Peet's Coffee:


Approaching the Arch from the Riverfront:


My artistic view of the Arch: