Living in Long Beach

This pic goes out to my homey in Cerritos, JW... Fun times in Modesto!! Tru dat.

A cute email "postcard" from my mom...

In a birthday card to me, Ruth included a post card that I sent to Grandma from Savannah in 1975. It appears that Ruth wrote the address for me. Ah, a trip to Savannah with no seating charts to write out! Pure bliss. Even though I was only 5 (almost 6 - as back then it was great to be OLDER!!), I can still remember it as one of my favorite vacations ever. It took me a while to decipher my handwriting on the back of the post card. It says: Dear Grandma I caught many sand dollars Jim got a sunburn on his legs Celine The drawing appears to be me looking through a window in a brick house. It is a little disturbing as it appears that I am trapped in the house with a steel door (no knob or handle to get in) and only one window. But I appear happy. Maybe it is an artistic interpretation of the house/museum on the front of the post card. Thanks Ruth for sending this to me!

Here is the last postcard from my parents' trip from Dildo Newfoundland. My Mother writes that the name of the town may have come from the Basques from Bilbao Spain & was somehow changed by the native Indians. I tired to do some online research and found that the name may have come from: Spain or Portugal, or an algonquin tree, or the shape of the headland that forms the harbour. So, there you go. I have no idea. Nice postcard though and supposedly, Dildo is a great place for whale watching. Here's some more info on Wikipedia:

Okay. I'll admit that before my parents told me about their trip I had no idea where this was. Of course, I do now! View Larger Map Here is the postcard that they sent me from there. It says "ARCHIPEL DE SAINT PIERRE ET MIQUELON - Plongeon sur la rue Abbe Pierre Gervain" My parents wrote on the postcard that it is the Long Beach of the far North! That it is the same in many way except for the people, language, architecture, money & weather. Guess I'll have to check it out soon! Lastly, even though I stopped stamp collecting when I was around nine years old, I couldn't help but notice the great stamp on the postcard so I scanned it too...

As usual I am behind in posts and have a few that I will work on over the next few days. Why am I behind? I have been immersed in all the media coverage of this presidential campaign. Between being unemployed and worrying about my condo going into foreclosure, I am pretty much a national statistic. I have friends who feel strongly on all sides of the issues so I will not use this blog to try and sway anyone to my thoughts about the candidates. (However, I will be happy to let you know my thoughts if you email me!!) What I do want to stress is that no matter which way you end up voting, please take the time to get the true FACTS of the candidates' past records and current platforms. There is a lot of misinformation swirling around out there and some of it is even being propagated by the parties and mainstream media. One site that I recommend is factcheck.org . They are nonpartisan and nonprofit. They list inaccuracies with both campaigns so no matter which side you are on, here you ...

I just got this postcard today from my parents. Looks like they sent it on the 26 of August. They said they didn't see any icebergs this trip but may go back next year in April when there may be some. Although icebergs appear gigantic from shore, 7/8 of them remain below the water. Formed of pure ice, their white appearance is due to many tiny air bubbles reflecting white light.

I just got back from the 59th Greek Festival at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church behind my condo. Some of my friends came over and we all walked there together. It was fun and cheap so I'll definitely go again next year. Heck, I may go for a few hours tomorrow! Click here for a slide show that I put together if you are interested. If you hit the little arrows in the bottom right hand corner of the slide, this will open full screen and you can read my witty comments (info on). Hit the arrows again and it returns to this view. Very easy, eh? Sorry about some of the comments about the dancers while video taping...

A friend of mine has had a tough week or two (I luv ya T!!) and I wanted to do something that would show her that I was thinking about her. So I decided to make cookies for her and her family. From. Scratch. I think the last time I turned on my stove was Christmas 2006. I snapped a few pictures of the process and outcome. No animals were harmed or baked. And if anyone is reading this who ate the cookies, I did thoroughly clean out the stove after my cat sniffed around in it. Seriously, these were the best cookies I've ever made AND the best oatmeal cookies I've ever tasted. I found the recipe online here if anyone else wants to try them. If you make them, let me know if your prep time is really 10 minutes!! Want more? Slide show here.

Update to previous post here .

Isn't funny how something seemingly innocuous can bring back a flood of memories? My friend Carolyn sells real estate in her spare time. Tonight a few of us helped her do some cleaning in a house that she is selling. When I cleaned the bathroom, I saw these "Dixie" cups hanging in the bathroom. I immediately thought of my Grandma's house on Merchant Avenue. When I was a little kid staying with her, I loved brushing my teeth because it meant that I got my own Dixie cup, each time!! I haven't seen these since. One of my other friends said that her Grandma had them in her bathroom too.

Ah, the joys of being a home owner. Yesterday, I happened to look up at my air conditioning unit in the ceiling (the main piece is on the roof) and noticed that it looked like this: Click on the picture for an up-close view, if you think you can stomach it!! So, I promptly went to the hardware store (betcha can't guess which one!!) and bought new filters. Did you know they are supposed to be changed every 3 months at a minimum? I remember that the last time the filter was changed, it was because my father did it for me. During that visit, he also helped me paint my bedroom. So I looked at the date on the paint can label: Aug 16, 2006. A little more that 3 months between changes, huh? If my father had been here to help me (read: do it for me) with my filter this time, it probably would have been the correct size and not jammed up in the ceiling right now...did any of you notice the difference in the sizes before now?? Maybe a better question would be, do any of you even care?? : )

when gas was under $4 a gallon in LA! I'm going to fill up while the getting's good!

In case any of you were planning to visit me and bring your surf board along, read this on The Consumerist about airlines hiking up the fees to carry surf boards. Okay, okay, you got me. I just wanted to have a reason to post this picture that they have. Did you know that there is going to be a Point Break sequel...written by the same guy who wrote the original? Yes, it is true!! Lastly, a bit of sad news...the actor who spoke the immortal line "Surfing's the source...", Christopher Pettiet , died of an accidental drug overdose in 2000. He was 24.

Long Beach's Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh win Olympic Gold Medal in Beach Volleyball. Read all about it here in the Long Beach Press Telegram... Congrats ladies!! UPDATE: Looks like Misty is going to be on this season's Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Now, this isn't a show that I normally watch but...I think I may check it out this season. Unfortunately, I can't vote for my home girl Misty...any of you who have known me a long time will know who I (and Susie Q too!!) am rooting for...

Hi, I'm testing the new Jott to see how the functionality works, and how it ends up posting to my blog. So listen to this, if you like it go to www.Jott.com and it's pretty cool. Later, over and out dudes. listen Powered by Jott I have been a subscriber to Jott for a while now but forgot about it over the last few months. (I used it frequently when I was driving a lot at CSD.) I was totally playing around with the message above (disclaimer: it is a really lame message off the top of my head.) If you are interested, you can listen to the message and then see how Jott transcribed it and then Jott posted it to my blog! (It was posted in under 2 minutes from the initial phone call!!) As you can see, the transcription was a little too perfect!

Remember I said that I would be creating some old posts? The Sunday before Independence Day, I went to The Beach House restaurant in Laguna Beach to have brunch with some friends. Unless I am pressed for time, I always take the scenic route to Laguna ( PCH all the way ). On the way home, I snapped some pictures of these cute dolphin topiaries dressed up for the 4th. I think they were in Newport Beach. Fast forward to August in Ohio...when I was walking to the Clintonville market in Columbus. I snapped a few pictures of this house, where they are still celebrating the 4th!

My second nephew is no longer called TBD!! He has been officially named Desmond Mathew Kegham Thomas . Here's a picture of him when he was at the hospital and using the pseudonyms "Z", "TBD Baby" and "Wiggle Worm."

While I was in Ohio, Tinu convinced me to join Facebook. From what I've read, it's becoming more popular than MySpace (Gene!!). It is definitely addictive once you are on it but the majority of my friends are NOT on it. I searched every name and email address I have to make sure I didn't miss anyone. I did connect with some people who were old friends (Star, Andrew) and a few high school buds (Melissa, Bill). Evey time I connect with a "friend" it is so exciting until I realize that Tinu has 92!! You can click on the my new Facebook module on the left (under the weather) to go to my Facebook page.