Here and There Blog

The first few fields are in and the tourists are here. I recommend waiting two more weeks to visit them as they look the best when all the fields are in full color. Get there at 9:00 am to avoid crowds and the hot sun beating down on you.

The La Habra earthquakes did not extend too much to northern San Diego. A couple of them made themselves known in Carlsbad and that was enough to get my attention. I've got plenty of water in the house but food is limited so I bought enough chips and popcorn snacks to get me through a day of disaster if needed. I leave for Canada on Monday so a day is all that is really needed to cover Sunday. It was a gorgeous morning so I headed over to the beach for a good workout and now I'm back home and messing about with house stuff. It's been a relaxing Saturday so far!

How on earth did it get to be Friday already? Not that I'm glad, I'm super happy about it! But I was so busy Monday-Thursday at work that the week has passed me by. Plans this weekend - exercise, eat, clean the house, and pack for Canada. Edmonton, Canada. Where it is still snowing and 18 degrees! A warm spell is forecast while I'm there with a high of 38. If I'm lucky. Well work is in and sightseeing is out. Although, the Mall of Edmonton was the original largest mall in the world. Good place to stay warm. That's all. I need to go back to work and finish up this work day!

Saturday morning - 5:00 am wake-up and out the door to power walk the hills at 5:45. Back in at 6:30, clean up and out the door at 8:00 am to meet up with friends. Drive to LA and go to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising for the annual movie costume display. This year's batch includes Star Trek Into Darkness, Catching Fire, GI Joe, Thor 2, Oblivion, Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters, and a few other Sci-Fi movies which made the visit more fun than usual. Follow that up with a quick stop at the garment district so friends could buy fabric for Comic-Con costumes, lunch, and then it was down to San Diego for a BBQ with friends.  All too short of a time later I was back on the road headed to the Orange County airport to pick up work visitors arriving on a 10:30 pm flight. 11:30 pm in an Irvine hotel since I had to meet with the visitors in the morning. Today - back down to San Diego for fun with friends, afternoon (now in Carlsbad) for more exercise and at 5:00...

The San Francisco airport does a great job with rotating exhibits. It's one of the few airports where people want to pause and look at what is on display. This month it is a tribute to Japanese manga and animation. I don't know who or what the big cat is but it was taller than most people. Below, an early Speed Racer.  

Part of Osteoporosis is learning how to exercise your body with movements that build muscle without damaging the spine. The extreme bends or even toe-touching are now off-limits but resistance weights and side stretches are in. To figure out how to do this, I went and met with a physical therapist who can work directly with my needs. It turns out that all my bad habits are showing up and they have nothing to do with low bone mass. That backpack that I sling over my shoulder with a laptop, power cables, work notes, camera that weighs too much? My shoulder naturally moves back in that position now even with no backpack. Working at a desk with two computers side by side and no swivel chair? My spine bends to the right since I'm always moving over to the other computer as I type on the main one. So I signed up for Pilates Therapy and got the sneak preview of the stretches, isometrics, breathing, and what ever other moves are in store for me to stand up straight and put weight on...

Here to enjoy a good meal with friends! Hot, sunny day in the city with a St. Patricks parade and Flogging Molly music everywhere.

The warm weather continues and the time change messes with all of our body clocks. It is easier to travel with jet lag than to deal with this one hour change every year. Yes, it's great having the sun out after work but it's so hard to get up when your body tells you (and the dark sky) that it's still the middle of the night! I am looking forward to getting more sleep soon!

It was a good thing I didn't have any early morning appointments. I forgot all about the time change and woke up to a missing hour. I also woke up to a heatwave and winds which other than not being normal, brings up the fire danger. For today though, a good walk in the water followed up by getting caught up on all the programs on my Tivo from last week. I hope everyone had a great 47 hour weekend!

Santa Barbara - 6:10 am. The sun is coming up and it's going to be a great day! 

Even with not good news, work goes on. I'm with people all this week, checking in and out of hotels. My goal is to eat healthier. But you know what? I don't think that anything will make me find Organic Kale Krunch to be a craveable food. The first crunch was okay, the following crunches had to be quickly washed down with water. But the raw vegan raspberry cheesecake? Now that was tasty!

The hard thing about the Osteoporosis diagnosis is that I have to learn a whole new way to move and exercise. All the pilates and yoga that I did a week ago now have to be modified for no more forward bending. The back can't be rounded since that puts stress on the vertebrae. My back is more sore now from forcing myself to sit straight than I can remember. New muscles have to be adapted. The medicine? Not fun. It's a sodium bubbly keg that sits on an empty stomach for 60 minutes and you have to take it first thing in the morning and no lying down. If you do, it creates acid reflux and burns the esophagus.  Blech. It's once a week. We'll see how the next one goes down on Saturday. Three days later and food does not taste good and I need to eat. Blech again. I scheduled a pilates osteoporosis specialist consultation for later this month.

First, I have to learn to spell the word and second, I have to wrap my head around the concept that I have Osteoporosis in my hips. It seems that Vitamin D deficiency was going on a pretty long time. So bulk up people! Yesterday I had the early morning speed service - Mammogram, Bone Density Scan, and what seems so long ago, the happiness in being free to travel with my Yellow Fever Vaccine. I was done with all three by 8:50 am and at 3:00 pm the doctor called. Now I know enough that when the doctor calls so soon it isn't good news. Of course my mind went to the worst - breast cancer. Even though there was absolutely no reason to jump to that conclusion. And I don't have cancer. I do have Osteoporosis in both hips and lumbar. I get the numbers mailed to me this week. The prescription - Take more Vitamin D, exercise more, especially stairs and weights, and take Fosamax once a week. I knew I was going to get this at some point but I was thinking 68. My mom had it and ...