Polls are closed

Okay I am officially closing the polls on the voting for Hubs' blog name. Mr. X wins by a landslide. Thanks to everybody that voted, I appreciate your input. Now I just have to remember to refer to Hubs as Mr. X...

Thirsty?

You know how when you are really thirsty nothing quenches quite as perfectly as a nice tall glass of cold water? You never finish a workout and think, "Wow, I'm really thirsty, I think I'll have a big cup of tea." Soda and juice don't make the cut either.

That being said, the first time I ever went to Europe I was sorely disappointed in the water. It was the first day there and after walking around Rome all day I was beyond parched when i sat down to have some water. Needless to say I was caught off guard when I began guzzling it and discovered that it was carbonated. Ewww. But I was thirsty so I finished it.

12 years later I find myself buying seltzer water in the store whenever it's on sale. I guess I've developed a taste for it. Maybe it's because it reminds me of vacations and fun times and relaxing but exciting places. Or maybe I just think it tastes good.

I still think plain water is the best when you are really thirsty, but I'll definitely down a seltzer water as a next best. In fact last spring after snowboarding all day in Austria I sat down to a big meal and started downing the tall glass of seltzer water in front of my plate. I quickly discovered that my 'seltzer water' was actually some sort of clear and very strong alcoholic beverage. Let me just say that alcohol is an awful thirst quencher.

There's no place like home

I have lived in New Mexico for almost a year and a half now. And I have probably thought about San Diego nearly every single one of those days. I miss it. I lived there for 6 years and most of that time I lived close enough to the beach to walk to it. That's probably what made it so great to live there. I imagine that if I lived in some other part of San Diego, like Mira Mesa or El Cajon, it wouldn't have been quite so hard to leave. But I was lucky enough to spend my time in San Diego in Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, La Jolla, Encinitas, and Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Encinitas and Cardiff were my favorites (the north part of San Diego county).

We lived a couple blocks from here in Ocean Beach: And later, a few blocks from Swami's in Encinitas:(This was during the winter months when it was probably a mere 65 degrees and I was so cold that a beanie was a must. What a wimp, huh?)

This is one of Hubs' favorite surf spots (Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach). My favorite was up by Swami's at a surf spot called Bone Yard. (It isn't as scary as it sounds)

This is Hubs with one of his favorite surfboards and me with mine:

We surfed together pretty much weekly most of the year (not during winter for me ... I'm not a die-hard). Hubs surfed at least a couple times a week all year long, if not more.

Oh, and I miss the MLB games as well. This was at the new Petco Park for a Padres game:
(once again, I apparently thought it was kind of cold out)

I would like to think that we took advantage of where we lived while we were in SD. We played a lot and had an incredibly great time together there. Needless to say, moving to New Mexico was quite a change in lifestyle but it was a good choice. We sacrificed some things to gain access to some other things. We were able to buy a house here in NM (NEVER would have happened in Southern California) and Hubs has a wonderful job that he actually likes now. Plus we get to travel quite a bit more, which we love to do. So the trade-off was good...but I will probably always miss San Diego.

Bittersweet

So finally, after quite a bit of back and forth based on weak information from Hub's mother ship, we have a solid date of his departure to Germany. (first they said the 7th of Sept, just kidding - the 14th, no wait we mean the 28th, and finally and resolutely the 7th again) That means that I have a solid date finally. I will be leaving to join Hubs for our next European Adventure on October 4th. Woo Hoo!

First up on the agenda for us is Brussels, Belgium. That's where my flight will end and Hubs will meet me there for a long weekend (it's a holiday weekend for him - I forget which one). This will be my first time out and about in Belgium and I'm excited about it. If any of you have been there before and know of some things that I definitely should check out, please let me know. As for the rest of my time oversees, that all has yet to be determined.

I have to say that although I am ecstatic about the impending trip, I am completely dreading Hub's departure next Friday. It's so soon and I hate to be away from him for longer than a couple days, let alone 4 weeks. *sigh*

**I am sure you've notice that I haven't selected a name yet for Hubs because I am keeping the polls open for a bit longer**

Friday

Friday is finally here. Thank goodness! It is always obvious that people at work are eagerly anticipating the weekend ahead (including me) and that's where things get interesting. Friday afternoon conversations at work are always a bit wacky and much more often than not they are completely unrelated to work.

Some of the topics of conversations today:

Toilet papering camping sites
Sweat gland disorders
The joys of tapioca pudding
Women's roles in the 50's (cooking, cleaning, staying at home, etc)

Some of the best comments I overheard:

How can I get a plane ticket back to the 50's? (re: the above topic)
Be sure to wash the peaches first because there's chicken blood on them.
I'd try a rat burger.
You can tell that Celine Dion is really passionate about her music.
Just make sure the toilet paper isn't used already.

Name poll

Okay so Hubs says he doesn't want to be referred to as Hubs anymore. His reason? Because Hubs spelled backward is "sbuh." ???? I don't know why that matters. He has selected some choice names for himself but he can't decide which to go with. I decided I'd let the readers vote for their favorite name for him. So please vote by submitting your choice in the comments. Here are the (his) choices:

a) Sea Bass
b) Chode Lovens
c) Mr. X
d) T-Bone
e) OBJ

Gluten free for you and me!

Okay so my Dr. has very recently put me on a gluten free diet in an attempt to rule out gluten as the source of my frequent bouts of hives and sore-like things. (yes I'm hideous - don't look at me) At the end of a successful month of being gluten-free I am to reintroduce gluten to my diet and we'll see if my problems come back. If they do then I'm supposed to be gluten-free for life. So let me just say that I love all the delicious foods in the various places in Europe that I've been...especially all the ones that contain some form of wheat. Since I've been there before I know exactly what I'll be missing come October when I head back to Europe again.

Absolutely incredible pastries (France)...

Lots of these mouth-watering chocolate confections (Switzerland)...

The best pizzas in the world (Italy)...

Yummy Strudels (Germany)...which I obviously love to eat.

Baguettes from France...

The best pretzels I've ever tasted (Austria)... Hubs obviously agrees on this one.

BUT, I absolutely CAN eat these things:

Probably not the sausages, but definitely those slabs of meat you see here (Germany)...

and here.... mmmmm looks appetizing, right?

How about this pork knuckle/knee? (Czech Rep.) Is your mouth watering?

(In all honesty, it WAS actually pretty good...)

Anyway, I guess my point is that I can't help but hope that gluten isn't my problem....though I don't want it to be anything worse. I just wish my allergic reactions to *who knows* will just simply go away. Wouldn't that be nice and lucky? I'll keep you posted of course.

A random memory

When I was a kid we had dogs. I don't know much about dogs but i do know that none of the dogs had long wagging tails. They had those short stubby things so when they wagged their "tails" it pretty much looked like their entire rump was going crazy. It was somehow endearing. The first one was named Rusty, the second was Patches and the last one was Dog.

Anyway, my dad told me that the reason our dogs didn't have tails was because he didn't like them so he got rid of them. He showed me these little rubber bands (I now know that the rubber band things he showed me were actually special ones used to castrate bulls.) and told me that he would put them around the base of the tail and eventually it would just fall off. I, of course, believed every word of it. Never mind that I was actually there when Patches gave birth to a very obviously bob-tailed Dog. My dad was telling the truth. I believed that any dog that had no tail was like that because the owner had the tail removed with one of those strange looking rubber bands.

When I innocently informed Hubs about this one day several years ago he burst into laughter and looked at me like I was crazy. I was so adamant that my knowledge of dog tails was absolutely true, however, that Hubs convinced me to call my dad and ask him why our dog didn't have a tail and how he got rid of it. I think my dad laughed so hard he cried.

I occasionally wonder what other truths I still believe to this day that are merely imaginative creations from my dad's mind.

Some of my favorite sites

These are some of the sites I frequent when I am planning a trip.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
http://www.twizgo.com
http://www.tripso.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/languages/
http://www.venere.com
http://www.kayak.com
http://www.mappy.com

Lonely Planet is an fabulous site for travelers on so many levels. From world maps to in-depth information on the country of your choice to forums where people can tell you about scams or tips and tricks. Even if you aren't planning a trip, it's just an interesting site to visit.

Twizgo has some good information about places in Europe and I love the way they deliver the information. It is direct, clear, amusing and helpful.

Tripso has a lot of interesting articles, written by people in the know, regarding a lot of travel issues we deal with on a daily basis.

The language section of the BBC website can be extremely helpful when you are trying to learn a bit of the native language for whatever region to which you are traveling. It even has audio to go along with the tutorials so that you can actually HEAR how things are supposed to be pronounced. For example, in Paris I ordered French Onion Soup and ended up with a Super Hot Dog. I obviously discovered this site after that trip.

Venere is a great site for seeking lodging of any kind - cheap, expensive, etc. They have an interactive map that shows you exactly where the hotel/B&B/motel/etc is and extensive reviews from other users that have stayed there in the past. I think the reviews are the most helpful part of this site because even though the pictures look good for a particular place, you may find out in the reviews that there are blaring street lamps at night or it's incredibly noisy or it smells funny or it's in a really bad area.

Kayak is a fantastic search engine when you are looking for great deals on airfare or car rentals. I use it constantly for airfare searches. It breaks things down in prices by airline and it can even show you airfare trends for the particular flight for which you are searching.

Last but not least: Mappy. I love this site because it is so thorough. It's like MapQuest for the world. Not only can you see how long it will take you to drive from Paris to Frankfurt (and how to get there), but it will tell you how much you'll spend in gas (you specify what type of car you will be driving for more accuracy) and on tolls. You can even go further than that, though: You can see how long it will take you to get from Trevi Fountain to the Colosseum on foot. This can be very useful for planning out your days.

Hopefully you will find these sites useful and interesting whether you are planning a trip or just playing around online. Let me know if you have any sites along these lines that you love.

Guilty Pleasures

I used to subscribe to US Magazine. I had a subscription for a few years. Before that I bought the mag regularly. I can proudly say that now it has been a few years since that magazine has appeared in my mailbox every friday. HOWEVER, I do still purchase it from time to time. Specifically to kill time when traveling or when I'm stuck at home and sickly.

Although I find it disturbing how our society is obsessed with celebrities, I appear to be part of the problem. If Nicole Richie is getting skinnier I find myself compelled to find out exactly how far her collarbones protruding. If Britany Spears is involved in yet another cringe-worthy mishap I need to have some details about it or at least a glimpse of the pitiful pictures. Are Brad and Angelina really having troubles? I'd better do some research, hadn't I? The thing about it all is that when I'm done skimming the gossip mags I find that A) I don't believe most of the garbage that is printed anyway and B) I don't really care what any of these celebs are doing. So why do I always waste my time and money? Curiosity I suppose. I have a problem and I need to stop. What a waste of money. I swear (for the hundredth time) that I'm going to kick this habit...

First a bit about me...

I'm new to blogging so pardon my randomness. Also, feel free to ask any questions if you feel I've left something out. I grew up in southern Idaho and went to college in Oregon. Though the area is beautiful I detested the climate of the northwest and as a result of all the clouds and rain I ended up depressed. So after graduating with a degree in Computer Science, I packed up and moved to San Diego. I lived and worked there for 6 years. During that time I managed to meet and marry a wonderful man. Due to insane housing prices in southern California and a perfect job opportunity for Hubs, we moved to Albuquerque NM, sight unseen. (Good thing too because if I'd seen this place first Hubs wouldn't have been able to drag me there if my life depended on it. Sorry to any New Mexico readers out there - it's just tough to beat San Diego) BUT, Hubs has a job that he loves and we were able to buy a house finally. Lucky for me Hubs' job allows us to travel a lot and that's probably one of my favorite things to do in life so we are happy with how things turned out.

On that note, Hubs just found out that he will be headed to Germany again for work this September. He'll be there until Christmas. We don't know the exact day yet, just the place (around Munich) for now. Since I work and don't have oodles of time to take, I will join him a month later, in October and we will play for a while.

As I get more details I'll fill you in...