Cold Feet

When the temperatures are low and the wind blows, my feet suffer. For many years now, I have not been able to handle cold weather like a champ. I double up on everything and still can't keep warm. Swimming outdoors, especially in the evening is not always the easiest thing to do. The air can be cold and pool warm yet the moment I slip my sandals on, my feet freeze, for hours. As of late, I have felt warm and well enough to sleep however my feet, especially the right, take three hours to warm up. I put on socks, use fleece sheets, turn on the heat, fold my leg under my butt and grab them with my hands to try to transfer heat. Nothing works. Today is a cold and windy day but not enough for me to put on a thick winter parka. I swam this morning and felt fine. I returned home shortly after 9a and now, nearly eight hours later, my feet are still cold. It feels as if I have been standing on ice. Burr! In talking to my father about this problem, he has informed me that he too, suffers from the same, even with the right foot. Genetics. I am amazed how much he and I suffer in similar ways but at times, I wish my mothers genetics would take over so that my feet would not be as cold as they have been.

Revolution in the Arab world

Some weeks ago Tunisians revolted against the government then the Egyptians followed with great force. So much force that after three weeks, Hosni Mubarak relinquished his power to the Vice President who will also step down once his term is over. The military will have to figure something out to create a new Egypt so that the people are all equal and possibly have jobs. Hours after Egypt was "liberated," Bahrain and Yemen went up in smoke too. Many have been killed yet not enough to stop the revolution. These people want an immediate change. Since the power of the people is growing stronger day by day, Libya is now on fire. Libyans are tired of Ghaddafi and so is the rest of the world. After 42 years in power, the man should give up even if power be handed to his stupid sons.
Ghaddafi is another crazy leader who thinks he is sane and everyone, insane. He gave a speech today telling the people to be happy and dance in the streets. What a buster. these are the very people who hate him with a passion. They want a change, jobs and a better life, not a leader who is mentally ill and has billions of Euros hidden in European bank accounts. Forget about all of means he has to kill his own, send foreigners out of the country or whatever else his followers wish to do but this man is going down, fast. If he does not pass of old age or mental illness, he will be executed by one who will be considered a martyr, not him. Give up Muammar!

Dumpster Diving

I have seen and read about the small American population who dumpster dive because they are disgusted with corporate America and the overall waste created. I completely agree with these groups of people because I am not a fan of waste of any sort, especially that of food. There are major supermarket chains that simply dispose of day old or soon to be baked goods, produced or damaged items they cannot or chose not to sale in the stores or donate to the local food banks. Once this food is tossed in the dumpsters, it is fair game for people to take at their own risk. A lot of the supermarkets will donate such items to some food banks or missions to make use of.  Being that I volunteer weekly at the local mission, I see more waste than imaginable.
I always thought that any soup kitchen would make use of all foods donated because of the large populations served. This is not the case. I am a witness to shear waste. Whenever I am volunteering, I see large amounts of good foods being tossed and/or destroyed. Most of it being baked goods such as cakes, loaves of breads, bagels and pastries. I have checked the expiration dates and noticed some still have a week left. It is all in the trash bin waiting to be tossed. Shucks! No one bothers to make croutons or crisps, they simply toss it.
On occasion, I, along with another volunteer take some of these items home and share them with others. Because of this, I am able to save a little money and have food to eat. I am not a bottom feeder but one who wants to save money and hates waste.
There is nothing wrong with dumpster diving, as long as others are able to benefit from the waste of others.

Big time rebate

The other day I purchased a set of bike pedals and a taillight from Nashbar.com because shipping was free on $50 or more. I had a few items in my shopping cart for some time waiting for the prices to drop. Some of the items I could not justify so I just purchased the two. Before finalizing my purchase, I logged into my account at Shopathome.com to see if Nashbar.com was an affiliate so that I could get some money back. I saw that a 4% rebate is offered so I was happy and made my purchased. I then checked my account and noticed I have $123.60 for the bike I recently purchased from Departmentofgoods.com.
The bike purchasing price was $799 because it was on sale at deep discount for some weeks. With a listed rebate of 4%, I was expecting $32 in return. The listed price prior to deep discount is $1199. There was something going on that I did not know about or an extra rebate given when not listed. Yeehaw!
Many times have I come up on a great deal but never did I expect to be able to save nearly $1000 on a bicycle. I will never stop scrounging around for another good deal.

Age discrimination

The other evening I was watching CNN about unemployment and the 99 weekers. One man said that he will make a trip to congress in order to ask for another 14 week unemployment benefits pay out because he is, like many others, flat broke. This man was bringing in a six figure salary now cannot find work because he has been out of work for so long and not getting any younger. My father wore the same shoes many years ago. He could not find a job because of his age and the rapid growth of the technology we use today. Just because a person is older doesn't mean they can't make things work.
Fast forward to this morning. I went fishing with Blue in mind because I received a few e-mails from some fish that seemed to find interest in my profile. I explained to them my intentions about how I am being selfless and trying to help out a friend. I came across a good looking man with a nice profile. I sent him a message to see if he was real. He seemed to be. I sent his link to Blue and replied stating she thinks he, in his 50s is too old. Too old for what? The man is well educated, employed, divorced and has adult children. This is the kind of man who would treat Blue a nice dinner on the pier, vintage bottle of wine and a rose over just a six pack of beer. Heck, he is the kind of man that I would eat up in a heartbeat.
Blue should not discriminate based on age because she could be missing out on the world. I know that in her quest to find the perfect job, she would not want a potential employer to pass her up because she is no longer in her 30s.

Donald Trumps twin daughters

Steven Cojocaru                                                          Ivanka Trump

Rambro

I met Rambro last summer through a classified listing website. At that time, I had a room for rent in my house and he needed to find a place to live for a while as he claimed to be going through a divorce. A place that was not far from the fitness center and close to public transportation in case he could not travel using the motor scooter he had. After doing a criminal check on Rambro, I agreed to allow him to move into my house. I explained to him that I do not want him in my business and wanted community space to be kept clean. He agreed as well as informing me that he is out of the house a lot so the chances of us seeing one another regularly are slim. This is what I wanted.
For a few months, Rambro was on a motor scooter as a main form of transportation however, it was a piece of junk. Rambro paid $1300 for a honking piece of trash that had a crack in the frame and puttered like one could not believe. Rambro did not have a license to drive this bike, no insurance or registration yet he had enough riding gear short of a machine gun to help him fight a war against the Taliban, hence the name RAMBRO. I ride a scooter too but never does it take me a good 10 minutes to get out of the door to head to the swimming pool.
 Rambro keeps to himself as do I however, after many times of me telling him, he continues to throw all of his trash in the recycle bin, including food and chicken bones. This is irritating because he knows better and I am not interested in inviting creatures in my house or on the porch. This guy has his mind on Pluto at all times.
Some time ago, Rambro sent an e-mail regarding the rent. Rent is due on the 1st with a three day grace period. He told me that he would be late and may have to give notice. I don't care what one does as long as I am paid. Rent arrived on the 8th and no notice to vacate was given. Rambro told me that he had to borrow money from his sister and was without transportation due to a scooter wreck that was not his fault, as he said. A two days after rent was received, Rambro mentioned something to me about a car because he wanted me to tell the neighbors that he has one. He did not want to come out and tell me to inform them of this, he tried to do it subliminally. Oh please, spit it out like an adult! I looked out of the window and spotted a brand new car. "Was not the rent late a few days ago?"I thought. MESS! Is the first world that I wanted to spit out.
Rambro has received a few unemployment checks and ten letters from California Child Support Services over the last few weeks. I wonder what is going on with this man.
Since the car has been in his life, Rambro has not been around, which is nice but I do not mind him, as long as he doesn't say anything stupid.
My father, who lives in the house out in the backyard does not like Rambro. He thinks he is a pain in the neck and is always saying something stupid, for no reason. For this, he does what he can to avoid him at all costs.

UPDATE:
 This evening, after a few hours of blogging about Rambro, I received this e-mail from him:

Bionic;

Was not able to come up with the balance of my deposit for the car in time; only owed $600 more and they would not wait another week till my next pay day so I turned it in.

I will be getting another car by tomorrow or Wednesday; will let you know once I get it what it is.

Going to a different dealership.

What is this? I do not understand why he would pull a rabbit from his hat when he is not a magician. Buy only what you can afford is the only way to go furthermore, buying a used vehicle of using a Zipcar makes more sense than having to return a new car. This is Rambro for you.

ITBS

IlioTibial Band Syndrome is, in my opinion, the worse sport related injury any athlete can face. To many, it is knows as having Runners Knee because it is the tightening of the the IT Band (from hip to knee) at its finest which can occur at any time one is active. For many years I have suffered from it and with every attempt short of surgery, tried to remedy the situation, which is not easy.
I haven't done any running for a few months due to the cold weather and not wanting slight flare ups to worsen. I have been swimming and riding much less than before and ready to pick up the pieces very soon. Yesterday in the pool, Coach JQ gave a great workout which had us doing drills, kicks and swimming of all drills. I managed through an IM order set fine and kept pressing on. We had to do a 200 kick of all of the strokes. We got to the breast stroke kick and I was good until 150 yards when I started to feel the knee act up. I pressed on and finished the set. Coach JQ had us doing some more drills and swimming which seemed doable until I got half way through. Not only was my knee screaming but the bottom of my foot was too. It hurt like crazy so I had to leave the pool ten minutes early.
 When I got home, I was really hoping the pain would subside after an hour or so because I wanted to go for a bike ride. That did not happen. I had to take two aspirin just to get comfortable enough to go to sleep. I was knocked out by 8:30. Yikes, I am old.
When I awoke this morning, I still felt pain. It was bad enough for me to carry around aspirin in my rucksack. Though I know it wasn't a good idea, I decided to go back to the pool shortly afterward. It was not the smartest idea but the swim is important to me and I wanted to do some sort of water movements to loosen it up. I made it through most of the practice but could not bob up and down like Coach KR asked us to. My knee and leg were in pain and tight all day that when I returned home, I had to use my TENS machine on the hurt areas. I turned it on high and my leg was convulsing like crazy because it is so tight. I will leave this machine on for as long as I possibly can to loosen it up so that I can use the foam roller and The Stick with ease. I hope to be able to go for a bike ride tomorrow.

Retaliation

 As I watching the currents events taking place in Egypt, I received an instant message from Blue. In this message was a link to an online dating site with a new profile she created. I thought Blue is ready to take a look at what kind of men are available in her area and possibly ready to make a new friend or two. I was completely wrong. The link was a profile of ME with my name and photo. Blue is trying to set ME up with someone in my area. What a smack in the face. After a few minutes of creating the profile, a few e-mails were received from men I would not pass on to a complete stranger. The profile was pathetic. What Blue does not understand is that I am a very picky woman who knows what I want and will refuse to settle. My standards are high because I think with time, adults should enjoy and improve their lives and not remain stagnant. I am not desperate which is why I have chosen to remain childless and single for so long. I am sure my day will come but Blue will not play a role in this happening.

Blue can do what she wants to me because I am resilient. I can take a lot, even a punch below the belt but never will I be beat at my own game. I am not going to give up on Blue because I think she deserves a man who will treat her to a full bottle of beer rather than sharing it or asking her to go 50/50 on a 6-pack. Blue has a lot to offer, especially her worldly experiences as she lived abroad and traveled a great deal as a child. She remembers a lot and is a good listener. Mostly importantly, she is a great mother and teacher. I think she will make the ideal mate to a man who is fair and has a zest for life.

Chaos in Egypt

The wonderful land of the Pharoahs. pyramids, Nile River and the Suez Canal, Egypt is entering week two of chaos. Never in my life did I think I would experience such a political revolt as what is currently taking place but it is an eye opener for the world. For 30 years, President Hosni Mubarak has been in command, and for what is being said, many years too long. Egypt is an overly populated African nation with a population of close to 85 million who are, mostly illiterate, under the age of 25 and living in absolute poverty. Since Mubarak has been in command, the population has increase by 35 million with the economic divide widening for the worse. It is not only a mess, but a shame. Being that Egypt is the largest country in the Afro-Arab world, it should be thriving like many other Arab nations are and have been in recent years. With such corrupt authority, it is impossible because the money is not going to the people. Egyptians are tired of this nonsense and after so many years of it, caved in and stormed through the streets of Cairo to overthrow the government. Hallelujah! Egyptians want DEMOCRACY and not the democracy imposed by the western world. They want democracy now and will not stop until Mubarak is out of office, and the country for as much as many are concerned.
Today I was watching the news and it was said that Mubarak is a BILLIONAIRE with money invested in many companies worldwide. The fool has more money than he can count yet he is able to sleep at night knowing that his people have no food to eat, homes to sleep in or jobs to go to. This is very typical of the wealthy leaders of the world. It is disgusting and I am waiting for the special day to be dawned upon the people of Egypt.

Yuck Mouth

There is a woman who I call Vulva (I do not know her name). Vulva lives in the condo directly across from mine. Vulva is a hot mess and comes off as a person with a second grade education. She is very dim in the intelligence department as is her brood.

I have received various of complaints from owners and renters about her and her brood. Recently, I have left notes on the cars and have spoken to them about being loud. They just ignore me as if they are in command. Well, the other day I was at the condo complex to drop something off for my tenants and to help the neighbor. I was alone and quietly knocking on the door. No one answered because no one was there. Vulva comes out and hollers "are they there?" 'Uhmm, do you see me talking to anyone?' is what I thought to myself. Right away I saw that she had a busted grill. I quickly had a childhood flashback to the Yuck Mouth ("cause I don't brush, how's about a kiss?") commercials that would air on ABC during Saturday morning cartoon time. Vulva either has the worlds biggest overbite or is missing about 6 teeth from the front of her mouth. Whatever is going on, immediate help is needed. Her mouth is foul and UGLY, to say the least.
I asked Vulva about her cars and trash and she quickly went on the defense so I fought back telling her that I would have her cars towed away if she doesn't clean up her act. She wised up and shut her half toothed mouth and went inside.
For about 18 years, there is an icky woman who has lived across the street from me. She too looks like Vulva in the mouth. My sister coined her as Yuck Mouth because her mouth is yucky as is she. Oddly enough, the two look as though they could be related, drive beater cars, wear wigs are are just flat out unattractive females. I would like to think they were both nice looking at one time to have found a mate to impregnated them, but as we all know, a man will poke anything. ANYTHING. They have money to buy wigs, cosmetics and clothing yet their teeth are not a priority. What a shame! When I see a Yuck Mouth, I always thank my father for giving me the gift of orthodontia!

Blue and her new men

My friend Blue is currently going through a divorce and in her attempt to get out on her own, she has found a few men who fancy her. There is Panhandler, a guy whom she came across at an intersection who asked if she was busy later. If he is working an intersection, he must be making a lot of money given he has, at least, three-way pay. Holla! There is The Host who is her neighbor. She said he is a bit on the down side, probably a veteran but very nice. He gave her Frosted Pop Tarts.

 Given her two choices, I decided to do some research in order to see what is available in her area. I logged onto my accounts on two matchmaking websites, changed my zip code and started to check out profiles. One website offered very little in regards to available men within her age group who were somewhat attractive and active. I told her the pickings were slim and may have to move. Ha! On to the next site I went. I found the choices were much better. According to their profiles true or not, the pickings are better. There are a lot of educated men who have never married or have children, well traveled, career oriented and all the rest. They are within her age group and some slightly older. I started to feel like I hit a jackpot for Blue. I wanted to set her up on a date immediately. Unfortunately, I received messages from men whom I would never date. They were all friendly but a bit desperate to me according to their messages and profiles. I informed them I was not there for myself but for Blue. That got rid of them quickly.
 I don't date women so I don't know how they come off on these sites but men are a mess. They tend to be desperate, 1000% sexually driven, cheesy and rather boring. Many have awful photos of themselves standing in front of a mirror with a camera phone or in front of of a luxury car. Bleh! Do these men not have any friends who can take a decent photo of them?
 I do not know if Blue will muster the nerve to go out and "start anew," but if she does, hopefully she will not resort to men like Panhandler or The Host.