Thank goodness for Cheryl

Most women will agree with me that the "annual female appointment" is a not so pleasing one, if downright uncomfortable. And sometimes strange doctors can make that worse...if not extremely embarrassing as you are dressed in paper clothes waiting to be poked and prodded.

So on that note, I have to say I LOVE my doctor. Forget what they say about HMO's because the system has not tainted my doctor. Actually everyone at the Camino Medical Group have always been super fabulous. In case you're looking for a new primary care physician...Chery Ridder, Family Practice at Camino Medical Group.

To Road or Mountain..that is the question

Excerpt from an IM conversation with Craig..

Craig: If Fo gets a mountain bike, you should get one too
Betty: Maybe
Craig: I know some people who can hook you up if you want to go real high end, like $4,000
Betty: I think I can go a little lower end than that.

Chester and Forrest agree that Craig is just trying to build up his mountain bike gang since all of us have opted for lycra and skinny tires

My Brother Sam might be...

bored at work...
BTW - the above link is definately not suitable for young viewers..

Fluffly White Goodness

That's this weekend's snow report. Now THAT's what I'm talking about. Was in "negotiation" talks with Forrest over the weekend about whether we go to Tahoe, etc etc.... Just got an email from Craig about going to Tahoe, complete with link to snowreport. Hoping this season is a late one, would like to make it up again with my brother (for a full day, not 2 hours) to get some Kang Snow Team activity on the slopes.

As in the words of Linh...."this is my breakout year" Where I may be able to board down the entire length of an intermediate run without falling on my ass :) I may not be going to the olympics anytime soon...but still improving...baby steps

My love of Jello

It goes without saying...I love all things gelatinous. That includes jello, custard, flan, pudding, panna cotta, dim sum egg custard...what else. I don't know what it is about the semi-soft foodstuffs that I find wonderful, but I do. Maybe I am prematurely geritatric and preparing myself for the day I must eat without the aid of my teeth.

I always knew that I loved the gelatinous goodness...but didn't know how deep seeded that love was. Tonight my mom told me a story about how I used to go into my uncle's deli and when asked what I wanted to eat, I would just point to all the different flavors of jello. As if mixing green, red and purple jello would constitute a balanced meal. Also at buffets I apparently used to just return with a heaping plate of jello. Only when not allowed to eat the jello would I actually eat solid food.

I was being told this story while appropriately eating a cup of jello.

Bambi-Dog

What have we here? Is it a new breed of dog?? a possible bambi-dog? heeheehee

The shops of my people

Inside joke between me and Molly about my affinity for all things preppy...and how my ideal outfit would make it seem as though I walked out of the country club after a round of golf or tennis. Friday night I went shopping with Molly and instead of shopping at Tommy Hilfiger (not Bahama) I ended up buying an outfit at Brooks Brothers, where the models in the pictures are all over the age of 40.

Triathlon Kickoff

So here's a recap of what the triathlon training looks like for me, Forrest and Hiroko..

• Sunday: Run then Swim (or vice versa) right now it's run 20 minutes and swim 10 minutes*
• Monday: Optional Strength Workout (meaning you should do it if you're not being a huge vagina)
• Tuesday: Run then Swim (it says optional run or something like that but once again, unless you're a douche you would probably do both)
• Wednesday: Cycle for 1 hour in rolling hill terrain (like around my office)
• Thursday: Strength Workout (lift weights in some organized manner)
• Friday: Run then Swim (one of them is optional)
• Saturday: Cycle 2 hours

*I'm sure the time period gets longer as the training progresses, but I haven't read that far yet on the calendar.

I switch the Thurs and Fri workouts around because, well, I may have shit to do Friday night and jumping into a cold pool isn't really one of them. I was talking to Julie today about how much cycling is part of the triathlon training routine and my teammate Dave asks the question "So when do you eat?" Good times - there will be lots of eating :)

Snow Bunny

Tahoe Tahoe...where for art thou?
By no means is my snowboarding at "mind-boggling levels" (insert laugh here) but it is improving. And the relative improvement in my ability to snowboard is quite a bit since I started up a few years ago. This last trip up with Forrest, Craig and Brad, I was able to go down a variety of blue runs...even accidentally down a very short black diamond (hmmm). My super favorite moment (and to later be my "fish" story) is going down the half pipe. Really, it was nothing spectacular...not even noticeable - but the important thing is that I actually did it.

Holy crap, I may be less of a chicken shit than I thought.

BTW - - storm is coming soon...supposed to snow next Wed and weekend. I am contemplating taking friday off to snowboard. I'm so lame...I think I just like to think about taking days off to do this, or that...

View from the front seat

Lunchtime cycling. Wednesday was my first day riding outside on my lovely bicycle after a long winter hibernation. Seeing as how I work in Palo Alto near Stanford University, there's really no reason why I'm not outside every day riding around in the Los Altos Hills.

The pic above isn't the greatest as it just shows Foothill Expressway. But still lots of green edging the roads. I'll take more pics when I'm west of the 280...although I think I'll be too busy climbing to take any pictures.

Pretty soon I'm going to try commuting to work on by bicycle.

I'm a librarian

I just love my dorky new shoes. Went shopping with everyone after watching the cycling time trials and picked up a pair of black loafery things at DSW. Really, they couldn't be more matronly and nerdy but I friggin love them. And the big belt buckle thing does add a little something. As it's been often noticed - I am preppy.

Tour of California Begins

Tour of California's Prologue time trials. Lots of extremely fit men in way to tight spandex. Really, I'm ALMOST jealous of how lean and hairless their legs are. Not because I find it particularly attractive on a man...but because they would make nice women's legs.

Forrest and I got a late start in heading out to the time trials. We were supposed to meet up with Craig, Susan and Chester in Forrest's hood then walk over to Telgraph Hill together. Uh, yeah, No. After snowboarding all day on Saturday and staying up until about midnight watching movies and Lost...we were tards all day Sunday.

Since I was in the car, I couldn't get a non-blurry picture but this is a picture of an orange bug with a license plate that says "Clock Work." You know as in Clock Work Orange. I thought it was very clever. 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ethan sleeping while standing er, I mean hanging in baby back pack thingy while we were waiting for a table at Cafe la Presse. This is really what I wish I was doing at that moment, instead I thought it unfair to fight him for a seat on the backpack carrier. Too bad Craig and Susan didn't bring the stroller, because then I would have really called Ethan out to fight for a seat.

Friday Snow Report

There you see it people, low altitude snow. I think those are the east bay hills or Mount Hamilton or whatever. Regardless, it's snow man. I overheard some dude at SportsBasement saying that there was snow doen to 1500 feet. Where 1500 feet is, I have no idea but it sounded pretty low.

Saving Joints

I was fully prepared this time around to protect my knees from my horrendous spills on the slopes. But alas, they were not needed as Tahoe was dumped with about a foot of fresh powder and well to be honest - I bought the wrong size and the stupid pads didn't fit anyways.

Betty Popsicle

Went swimming with Hiroko Thursday night as part of our triathlon training... M-Fer it was so cold that there was steam-like things coming up off the pool. Keep in mind we were swimming in an outdoor heated pool, but the pool wasn't that warm either.

Dinner in..

We stayed in on V-day and I planned out a dinner with some new recipes to try out. All in all it went alright. I would definately make those dishes again...although the dessert was a little too sweet. The problem with making meals for two from printed recipes is that sometimes I forget to halve all of the ingredients - case in point the panna cotta was a little too heavy on the honey.

• Mixed Green Salad with crumbled Gorgonzola, Sliced Pears and Dried Cranberries
• Grilled Rib Eye Steaks
• Lobster Thermidor over Mashed Potatoes
• Asparagus Spears
• Panna Cotta with Mixed Berries
• Billecart Salmon Champagne

Definately didn't need to double fruit it on the salad. I like both the pear and cranberries with blue cheese but must make sure to only have one on a salad. Must remember it's a salad not a cheese plate. Steaks were steaks, I took a single rib eye and cut it in half since I decided to make too much other food....ha. The lobster thermidor was super yum yum. It's an old school recipe that is basically like a gratin of chopped lobster tails, onions, sherry and cheese. I decided to up the ante by baking it on a bed of mashed potatoes instead of baking it in the shell. Had to add asparagus spears because there should be somethign green on every dinner plate.

Panna Cotta...how much I LOVE panna cotta..i love all thing pudding, custard, flan, etc. The recipe was SUPER easy...just milk, cream, honey and gelatin. I forgot to half the amount of honey so it was a little too sweet in that wierd honey way... The mixed berries were frozen berries microwaved with some lemon juice and mashed together.

Billecart - I think I may have found some new yummy champagne. At $35 per split, I dunno how often I will be partaking though.

Movie Review: Lord of War

I don't remember seeing any commercials about this movie but do remember the billboard in SOMA that always peaked my interest. After watching the movie, I can understand why there wasn't a huge publicity blitz for this movie...touchy subject - one with no clear rights and wrongs.

Definately worth the rental fees to watch this movie about guns, drugs and women... It's quite the allegory (new SAT word I learned) where Nicholas Cage plays a gunrunner who becomes the "best" in his field by selling guns for both sides of a war and even to countries that want to kill his own countrymen. His brother represents innocence and basically breaks down when he assists on a few missions. Nicholas Cage instead thrives in selling artillery to country leaders and instead of hating his character, as the viewer you see what he does as just a transaction - a transaction that will always occur.

Didn't know it was going to be as much of a political statement as it ended up being. I was pleasantly surprised. Few quotes that are repeated often:

• Remember, it's not our fight
• Brothers in Arms

Funny - it may not be your fight...but you'll supply the tools of war and profit from it, without ever taking sides..

Snow Report...president's day

who's with me???

Sunny Mountain Skies

My first 100 grand

Celebrity passed 100,000 miles the week before last...I'm already up another 200 miles. It's pretty crazy because I got her new with only 15 miles when I drove her off the lot.

Should be sterilized

Are you fucking joking me? Maybe she's thinking..."um, that's fine the steering wheel will protect him if we get into an accident" Or maybe she thinks the baby will make a good buffer between her and the steering wheel. Or maybe she thinks he just looks "cute" on her lap...

Maybe he'll squirm and cry causing her to get into an accident with someone...and the other party will get out, walk over to her car and throw her kid into oncoming traffic*...

* from the incident a few years back near San Jose airport. A woman drove with a dog in her lap and caused an accident due to the obvious distraction of an animal in her lap. The enraged man in the other car ran over and threw her dog out the window.

Can I get a, DG?

dg...uh, package... only gammon could find something so hilarious...

Naturally Yum Yum

Basically dried fruit, packed into a rectangular shape. Anyone who's feeling like they're missing out on some fruity fiber, here you go...these are from Sportsbasement. They are either pear or apple based and have 3 ingredients...pear/apple puree, pear/apple juice, other fruit. It's like those kiddie fruit snacks only better for you and without ingredients that have more than 4 syllables.