Universal Experience

Lisa arrived early and we headed off to a sound stage at Universal Studios, about 10 miles from the house. When you live in one of the tourist capitals of the world you tend to forget that people come thousands of miles to visit the attractions. The promised crowds did not materialize, but we spent a pleasant day chatting, enjoying the snacks, and provided lunch. It was part of their diversity program--this month's theme was women. The woman who invited me was super nice asking when we left if I'd be up for another event in the future. Did I mention the compensation was two, one day passes to both parks for each of us. I've not been to the park for too many years tocount. Lisa is having fun being my assistant. A turkey wrap, apple, veggies with dip, and a brownie the size of two decks of cards made up the box lunch. My only complaint was that my camera takes terrible pictures indoors, thus, this is the best I could do.

Turns out we could roam the park at will today. Lisa walked out the side door onto the street that leads to the Blues Brothers show, one of her favorites; she caught the 2:15 performance! All in all it was well worth the time. As you are well aware from following my exploits, one thing definitely leads to another.

I forgot to mention something from my recent doctor's visit that may prove interesting. As he was scanning through my ridiculously huge chart he said he noticed my B-12 was low on a blood test--news to me. He suggested it could explain my neurological symptoms which I was skeptical about. Turns out he may be on to something because when I got home I researched it, finding it can cause peripheral neuropathy. My, oh my. We agreed that I'd start on B-12 vitamins looking for improvement. I can't report any changes just yet as I took my first one last night. Maybe my previous doctor moved on so I would have some fresh eyes poring over my medical records?

Wouldn't you know it--there's not been a drop of rain since the downpours over the weekend.

Tomorrow the MINI gets fixed and the federal taxes get paid. Our CPA called last night to tell me the damage--not too bad.

Before I forget my few minutes of fame, turns out I was on TV on Saturday. One of Bruce's coworkers mentioned she saw me, as did my MINI salesman when I was there yesterday. I knew they filmed me at the show, but that's all I knew.



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Listening to: Ozomatli - (Who Discovered) America?
via FoxyTunes

I've Been Nailed

Driving to the set up on Friday night a warning light came on in the MINI, never a good feeling. Turns out I found out today that I had a nail in my tire, fortunately the run-flat tire was not ruined because they are seriously expensive.

During the inspection the mechanic noticed a coolant leak, a much more serious problem underscoring my belief that nothing happens coincidentally. He was willing to fix it right then and there, but my appointment time was nearing and I had to take off. Additionally I saw the new MINI Clubman and boy is it cute. It's about 9 inches longer than mine with a fancy two door opening in the back; they even have a new color, milk chocolate! I'll be returning on Thursday afternoon to fix the other problem.

I always go out to my old hospital for tests because I know I'll be treated well--today was no exception. Arriving at lunch time is not the best time to see old friends, however you can't have everything! Lying on my back for 2 1/2 hours was the hardest part aside from the IV. The technologist said I'd probably be bored, honestly I wasn't. It is pretty cool watching the radioactive material go from your arm to your heart, down the aorta, and taken up by the liver then excreted to the gallbladder. I'm not sure if it was normal or not because a few things looked weird to the tech, but they are possibly normal anatomical variations--we should know something in a few days. I brought my Shuffle along to keep me company, chatted with the tech--the time went by pretty quickly. While doing my radiology training in 1971 I rotated through Nuclear Medicine which students today no longer do. Memories of those challenging days came back as I watched the scanning. Of course today's camera is more sophisticated, but really not by as much as you'd imagine. When I trained there were only two imaging modalities, x-rays and nuclear medicine. Today the revenue sources have expanded greatly with the invention of medical sonography (you think of it as ultrasound), CT scans, and MRI. When MRI was first around it was called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, as you are well aware, they dropped the nuclear part from the name.

Tomorrow the show goes on the road once again. Nearly done with the packing up in the rain, a woman from Universal Studios came by, apologizing for the late notice, but asked if I'd be willing to come out to one of their sound stages for a one day event for the 13,000 employees. Hmmmm....free lunch, free tickets to Universal, possible sales...really a no brainer. Lisa will be my sidekick. I'll set up similar to the little market with browse baskets, a table easel, and my upright easel for the larger prints. What can it hurt?

Driving home from Mr. Rogers this evening I saw a new sign where the Urban Target is being built--a TJMaxx is going in one mile from the house!!! I'm not a big cell phone user but this news required an immediate call to Maureen...darn it, she didn't pick up!

I took Bruce out for pizza and wine last night with company funds to thank him for all he does to ensure our success. My sweet boy got up to catch an early flight to Pennsylvania where he'll be till Thursday night. boohoo!
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Listening to: Nina Simone - Feelin' Good (Joe Claussell Remix)
via FoxyTunes

Daylight Savings Time

I promised this yesterday--here it is today! I have an amazing husband. He only printed about twenty five, and we can change the picture as we like. I suppose I should say, he can change the picture--he is the project manager!

The night out last night extended much later than we anticipated. It turns out the impetus for going to Universal was a performance by The Doobie Brothers. They were better than we expected, and it was a fun show. We were able to progressively move closer to the stage as the concert went on. My pics from that are at www.flickr.com/photos/gailpeck
We never really had any dinner, so we stopped at a bar after the show around 11. I abhor eating so late, but I'm too puny to go without meals. We waited forever, and I mean forever, for the food. We arrived home at 1:30, and of course with the time change it was 2:30--way to late for us!

Baxter is back to his charming self and his mother, is, well....