Los Vegas

Did you ever hear the expression: "What happends in Vegas stays in Vegas!" I do not like the casinos or gambling but Las Vegas does have some great areas of interest including the beautiful Bellargio Botanical Gardens. Apparently the casinos and the site seeing isn't all that persons visiting the area may have been exposed to. Headlines today: Thousands exposed to illness in Las Vegas clinic found to be using the same syringe on numerous patients in a local clinic. If there is any chance that you are one of the persons exposed please seek medial care and be tested for Hepatitis C.

Health Care Hits a Boiling Point

I have been listening to (via talk radio KABC 790) the results of the debates but have never sat through a full debate. I was cruising the web this morning (another source of information)and came across a portion of last night debate posted on the Washington Post web site. I am interested in the solution to the health care insurance crisis. My daugher has an individual policy through Blue Cross of California for the healthy young person. She received an option to buy group insurance through her work but is was about $350 dollars more than she is currently paying for her individual policy. My husband and I encouraged her to keep her individual policy while she was young and healthy. Our one fear is if she ever really needs the policy will they find a reason to cancel it. It is why I wanted to listen to the segment of last nights debate called: Health Care Hits a Boiling Point.

My Dad is Better than Your Dad #2

I was cheering for the Navy Seal dad and son to win tonight. I like to cheer on the men that are leaving family and friends to serve our country. But, I did like the Li Team. I just read a review on Yahoo and they thought the show was "cheap and dull". The show is a great family viewing together type of show. Although my kids are grown I would rather see young families watching something wholesome together and good sportsman ship. If you want "dull" what about the Oscars last night!

MacBook Pro.

Today at the very busy Apple Store in Pasadena I played with the iPhone. I actually viewed a part of a TV show while waiting for my daughter to finish her purchase of the new MacBook Pro. I am amazed at the capabilities of her new purchase. I work on an portable computer issued by my University. The best part of my computer is that it is free. It does get the job done for my purposes. But, I did love the iPhone. I am locked into a two year contract with Verizon but when it expires I think I will be ready to make the transition.

American Idol

Ok, I said I do not watch reality TV and here I sit watching the American Idol. I watched the womens competiton tonight and I do believe that there are some pretty lively young ladies in the running for the next American Idol. They were fun to watch. I have my votes for the first two I would vote "off the Island." Amy and Kady. I guess I will have to tune in next week to see the results.

Gaining Weight in the Workplace

I find when I am working the tendency to gain weight it greater. Add in cold wet weather and the temptation is even greater to eat! eat! eat! Comfort foods such as meat loaf and mash potatoes, stews with french bread on the side are the foods of choice. At work it seems someone is always leaving goodies in the break room. I work out almost daily but as my trainer reminds me you need to decrease calories intake to lose weight. Thus the struggle. I have tried all the suggestions in the Gaining Weight in the workplace article and still I struggle with passing up the goodies. When I am stressed I just love a buttermild donut with my tea to perk me up.

Core Body Work-Out

Work out with the big blue ball or the New Years Resolution. I have been doing a spin class for over 6 months and decided after the first of the year I would go out of my comfort zone and try some of the classes offered by the Equinox health club I belong to. The first weeks I was quite sore and struggled to maintain balance during the basic exercises. Just when I have learned a new routine a new movement is introduced. I must admit despite being quite sore for the first few weeks I feel my balance has become a lot better and my strengh is increasing.

My Dad is Better Than Your Dad

I have not been a big fan of reality TV although I did watch American Idol and the Film Maker Show (forgot the name already) but with my daughter being part of the production team I tuned in tonight for the premier. It has been fun to watch. I guess if you need a bonding experience with your child this would be fun. My daughter fell in love with the kids.

100 Years Within Reach

Live to be 100! According to the Archives of Internal Medicine with aggressive treatment of the elderly even those with long term health problems is a real posibility. Although I would love to live another 40 plus years I hope that I would still be able to live independently and have a functioning brain. Today I feel old. It has been an exhausing day (no the photo is not of me) and I wonder if 40 years from now I will have any energy left. I teach college age students and somedays it is just plain hard to keep up with their high energy level both physically and mentally.

Cost of the land-line telephone

Reduce your land-line monthy bills. My husband and one of my sons have the Iphone, my other son some blue tooth phone device and my daughter and I cell phones. The land line in the house rings occasionally and we have a couple of messages per week left on the answer machine. I looked at my AT&T bill last month and it was over $50 per month. When it came in this month I looked at it to see why the high price tag for such limited us. Our basic plan was about $29 but all the little extras such as a second line, call waiting and call ID added up to the additional costs. Part of me wanted to discontinue the line all together but we do use the line to send fax messages. I called the helpful representative at AT&T and we got the bill down $25 dollars per month. So keep an eye on the monthy bills and critically look at how you might save a few bucks.

My husband and I so enjoyed going to the movies last week that we decided to look at the current movies showing. My daughter-in law suggested No Country for Old Men. They had viewed the film and rated it as one of the best movies of the year. Tommy Lee Jones is a great actor and there is not much that he has done that I have not liked. The movie was not showing locally so we will have to wait until it comes to DVD and view it on our big screen with surround sound.

The Bucket List

My husband and I do not go to the moview very often but we were out with friends in Palm Desert last weekend for lunch and and a movie. After viewing a variety of choices on their IPhones the guys suggested The Bucket List. We went to the late afternoon viewing in a theater filled with boomer plus age group. The film was very entertaining. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman played two crusty old men diagnosed with cancer who use their remaining time to complete a list of things they wanted to do before they died. Although the film was given only two stars out of four the four of us enjoyed it. Maybe it was because as boomers we realize we will not live forever and we need to enjoy ourselves a bit.

Super Bowel

Todays Super Bowel Game was the first game in years that I would classify as an exciting game to watch. I was grading papers during the game (especially the first three quarters). The last quarter was especially exciting. Of course the commercials are always a big draw. I was up and down during the commercials and was delighted to be able to view them on-line. My favorites Jackie Moon and the E-trade baby.

China Ice Storm

What do the people in china have in common with the people in LA. Neither group of people can drive in rain and snow. According to the news Bejing China had a $10,000 car pile up. Trust me the last couple of weeks with all our rain and pile-ups on the freeways. I often envisioned something like tanks comming in and clearing the roadways. Life use to be so much simpler when there were a couple million less cars on the LA freeways.