Spitting Mad

For most of the late 1990s, I lived in a small, Dominican village working with together with local people to create sustainable development practices in the community. I took bucket baths with stored rain water that I kept in large containers behind my little cinderblock home. I went to christenings, weddings, and funerals with my neighbors. I suffered from Dengue Fever and giardia, neither of which I recommend.

Presently, I work with extremely poor people, many of whom are homeless and have serious illnesses. I help them navigate the struggles in their daily lives and, for the most part, I enjoy my work.

I do not consider myself to be culturally insensitive or closed-minded about personal differences.

That said, I never want to be showering at the gym and hear someone hawking up a loogie and spitting it out in the shower stall next to mine. Ever.

The gym I frequent is full of people who are very culturally different than me. And, while I can appreciate that their customs are diverse and not always going to match mine, I do not want to step in someone else's phlegm in the shower.

Ew.

That's really all I have to say about it. No witty tie-together at the end. Just... stop spitting in the showers at the gym, please. Yuck.

Isn't It A Little Early to Come Full Circle?

A HISTORY OF FAVORITES
by Bert

Childhood
Food: fresh fruit
Beverage: lemonade
Activity: playing outside

Teenhood
Food: Cheetos
Beverage: Coca-Cola
Activity: writing morose poetry

Young Adulthood
Food: macaroni and cheese
Beverage: wine - all of it
Activity: dancing until 1:00am

Present
Food: fresh fruit
Beverage: lemonade
Activity: playing outside

Aloha

We went to Kaua'i for a wedding! It was fabulous. Here is a photo journal of some of the events. I took over 700 photos, but managed to whittle them down a bit. You can see the rest of the ones that made the cut by clicking here.

We were thrilled to arrive in Hawaii.


Puka Dog - as seen on No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain.


I injured my back and went to the ER. Just because I'm old, so don't ask.


The Hyatt salt water lagoon is lovely.


Luau Mai Tais (Bryan had five).


Bryan snorkeled.


Then, he joined a boy band.


Wailua Falls is taller than Niagara Falls.


Hiking in the rainforest takes muscles.


Waimea Canyon. Bryan said those boats were Magnum PI chasing a drug runner.


We took a catamaran to the Na Pali Coast.


Neither of us got sea sick.


Then, we went to the wedding in our fabulous wedding get-ups.


Woo! Happily ever after.


And I got my dance on at the reception with Elan.

Birthday Weekend

Bryan took me out of town for my birthday last weekend! We went to the Tallman Hotel in Lake County, an 1890s building restored to its previous glory, but with fun new amenities.


We stayed in a cute casita behind the main building. Bryan booked it because it had a Japanese soaking tub on the back patio. (We don't have a usable bathtub at our apartment, and he knew I missed submerging myself.)


We went wine tasting in a limo at four lovely vineyards near Clear Lake.


One of them even had pirates!


Later, a giant cake was delivered to us after dinner! We're not sure why they thought we needed to feed 30 people since it was clearly just the two of us!


Then, we came back to go to my old roommate's wedding. It was cold in Berkeley, but still a lovely end to a wonderful weekend.

Here's the happy couple.


And here's to love!


Click here for more photos of the birthday weekend and ex-roommate wedding fun.

It's About Time

This morning, this article was called to my attention.

I'm giddy like a schoolgirl because someone has finally taken notice of what I've sensed all along... Dr. Phil is a hack. I feel vindicated because I've always thought that:

1) Verbal abuse is not therapeutic.
2) Though a Texas accent makes him charming in a homegrown way, it does not necessarily make him an expert.
3) He has already broken several ethical codes and has moved into legal territory, of late, including practicing without a license (which was revoked nearly two decades ago).
4) But most importantly, lasting change is only made when a person recognizes, on his or her own over a period of self-discovery and learning, that there is a problem... not when he or she is assaulted by a crazy man on national television.

My Coveted Parts

This morning, I was at the gym. My iPod blasting and my brow sweating, I stretched my hamstrings and brought the funk to 24 Hour Fitness.

Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder. I looked around. Nobody. I continued stretching. Another tap. I looked again, and this time spotted a very small woman speaking silently up at me.

I held up my finger in the "one moment please" gesture as I wrestled to shut off my my iPod.

Me: Yes?
Small woman: (English was not her first language) How you get that butt?
Me: Pardon me?
Small woman: How you get that butt? (she gestures to her butt, then mine) I like and want to make that butt.

A-hem. I'm sorry; I don't do that in the gym. Then, it dawned on me that she was asking me how to make her butt as large and round as my own. A-ha!

I showed her some exercises I do that work those muscles. She, in turn, showed me, once again, her flat butt. I smiled and nodded. So did she. I smiled again. She stood there, staring and smiling, until eventually, I went back to stretching, and she wandered away.

It's a weird little moment in itself, but this is all on top of the fact that a woman at work, also small and foreign in the same way as the above-mentioned woman, keeps patting me on the butt and saying, "Oh, I like your butt! I want to have butt like that!"

I'm not quite sure what to make of this phenomenon. I'm scared to go to Chinatown alone.

Where Have I Been?

Turns out that David Beckham is a Dreamy McDreamerson.


Another hottie that flew under my radar until I saw Leatherheads. He's so great that even Bryan has a man crush on him.


I have got to pay more attention.

That said, I'll keep my own dreamboat, thanks.