October 21 , 2006 8:29 AM Saturday, Jacksonville, Florida         

Riding Takes My Breath Away

Last weekend was a glorious day for a motorcycle ride. Clear sky, cool winds, chirping birds, and beautiful fall sceneries in the hinterland, a mist in the fields that shows up at sunrise. We really had a time in our lives until later at night when we were on the way back to Jacksonville. We left Daytona Beach around 9:00PM that Saturday and when we finally hit St Augustine at 11:30 at night; I was all stiff and iced up. I didn’t anticipate how much cold it is to be on the bike especially when the temp dipped down in the low 50’s plus that was the first time ever I was on the bike for 16 hours not counting the 6 hours ride that Friday from Jacksonville to Clearwater Beach! Nonetheless, we arrived home safe and sound past 12 midnight...

Sunday, we just laze around and relax. We even skipped Church that day as we both were too exhausted to do anything else besides DH has been having some back pains due to pulled muscles or pinched nerves… don’t know how it happened but he thought with Bengay and Advil, the pain is going to get better in the next few days.

Monday, we both went to work despite how DH feels. I was feeling blaah too... some kind of sympathy pains I suppose.  He gets up sore and stiff every morning but it somehow loosens up during the day.

Tuesday morning, DH was even more taut and stinging but he pays no heed to it. He still went to work anyway. He got home late afternoon feeling more worn-out and sore. After dinner, he decided to soak himself in the bathtub; a hot bubble bath seemed to relax him and alleviate the soreness/ tiredness a bit. However, at 1:30 AM, I woke up and found him in such an excruciating pain. I mean he could hardly move! I was in a big panic when he seriously asked me to take him to the emergency room. That was very unlikely of him to be asking me to take him to the hospital knowing, he never likes to go to the hospital unless he’s on its last legs. We got to the ER at 2:15AM. He was given 2 shots and prescriptions to relax the muscles and relieve the pain. After we got discharged at the ER, we had to drive around to find the 24 hour open Pharmacy.

Imagine I was driving woozily past midnight in big panic and nervous. I didn’t even realize at one point, I was in the wrong side of the road until DH become aware of it. He had to jog me every now and then as I kept clocking in 10 mph above the speed limit; and that I was following too close to the car in front of me. He also pointed out the difference between the STOP sign and the YIELD sign because I seemed to put one meaning to these two different words in context. Thank goodness, we got back home safe at 6:15AM! We called out work and just cling to each other other all day long.   I get to drive DH around later that day and he says he enjoyed being a passenger  this time as he gets to sightsee the scenery around.

DH has been off work since Wednesday. He’s getting better now as I strongly ban him from doing any strenuous work at home but he insists on mowing our lawn later this week.  He’ll be back to work on Monday but on light duty. 

Well, we missed the Biketoberfest this year but that’s ok. After that 16 hours ride last weekend,  I wasn't really that fired up to go to this event although DH and I had earlier plan to ride down to Daytona Beach this weekend.

DH goes ONLINE!

I finally convinced DH to chronicle his bike ride adventures.  He actually composed his first blog last Sunday but I was too tired to work on the pictures and videos hence the delay of his post... but anyway, here's the link Tony's Riding Chronicles!

 

October 13, 2006 8:12 AM Friday, Jacksonville, Florida         

Journey on Two Wheels

I took off work today, Friday as we are heading down south of Florida on a motorcycle ride together with my brother-in-law, Kuya Allen and his biker chic, Mary ;-) 

We'll be staying in Clearwater Beach tonight; that's about 5-6 hours ride from Jacksonville and then ride to Tarpon Springs tomorrow to meet up with the rest of the riders for the Florida Coast to Coast Motorcycle Ride. 

This ride is the MTF's first charity event--ride from Florida's west coast (Tarpon Springs) to Florida's east coast (Daytona Beach). All proceeds from this ride benefit the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society.

This will be a spectacular all weekend ride for us because the weather is so nice and cool.   The Average high temperature is only 76^oF and low of 55^oF. Who wouldn't love this type of climate? I am lovin it!!!!

 

October 12, 2006 6:48 AM Thursday, Jacksonville, Florida         

Emergency contact for Florida Residents Only

This is a very important message so I am posting it here for all Floridians' information.  If you are not from Florida, you might want to find that out yourself from your own respective state government website. 

You can now go online and enter two (2) emergency contacts on your Florida Drivers License (electronically) which can only be retrieved by a police officer. This came about as a result of one woman's teenage daughter being killed in a car accident and taking over 5 hours to locate the mother to inform her. This way, if you are in an accident, the police can run the drivers license and have the emergency info ASAP!!!

Florida Department of Safety and Motor Vehicles Emergency Contact Information

ALSO... as of October 1st, any child over 5 yrs can be issued a Florida Identification card. This will allow your child to be placed into the D.A.V.I.D. system which can provide vital information, with photo, for law enforcement having an immediate way of information available in case of abduction, missing or runaway situation.

Lori Senea
Senior District Executive Secretary
Representative Bill Proctor, District 20
The Florida House of Representatives
904.823.2550 District phone
904.823.2552 District fax
850.488.2977 Capitol phone
www.myfloridahouse.gov

 

Emergency contact for Florida Residents Only

This is a very important message so I am posting it here for all Floridians' information.  If you are not from Florida, you might want to find that out yourself from your own respective state government website. 

You can now go online and enter two (2) emergency contacts on your Florida Drivers License (electronically) which can only be retrieved by a police officer. This came about as a result of one woman's teenage daughter being killed in a car accident and taking over 5 hours to locate the mother to inform her. This way, if you are in an accident, the police can run the drivers license and have the emergency info ASAP!!!

Florida Department of Safety and Motor Vehicles Emergency Contact Information

ALSO... as of October 1st, any child over 5 yrs can be issued a Florida Identification card. This will allow your child to be placed into the D.A.V.I.D. system which can provide vital information, with photo, for law enforcement having an immediate way of information available in case of abduction, missing or runaway situation.

Lori Senea
Senior District Executive Secretary
Representative Bill Proctor, District 20
The Florida House of Representatives
904.823.2550 District phone
904.823.2552 District fax
850.488.2977 Capitol phone
www.myfloridahouse.gov

 

October 7, 2006 9:48 PM Saturday, Jacksonville, Florida         

Must Haves in the Kitchen

DH tugged me along to the Fall Home and Patio Show at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville downtown this morning. The show offers a unique blend of home decorating, landscaping, lifestyle tips and ideas on home improvement trends.

Actually, DH was just interested to look around and get some ideas on how to tackle his projects: building a pergola and grotto in our back yard. However, I can't resist spending money for some neat stuff I found there that reasonably make my cooking and cleaning stint a lot less tedious.
 

Swissmar Borner V-Slicer Plus for $40.00.

Great little mandolin! This piece of kitchen tool is one of those "must haves" for wives out there who spend too much time in food preparation like slicing, chopping, dicing and cutting everything up before cooking.

To be honest, DH is always on guard and is a little panicky about me using his very sharp set of Henckels knives every time I slice, chop and cut veges and other stuff because I tend to cut things up including my fingers! This little mandolin slicer however, is the answer to my kitchen woes. Slicing cucumber, celery, cabbage and carrot for salads; potatoes to make chips or french fries; dicing tomatoes and onions is no sweat. It really does take the tedium out of slicing, dicing and chopping stuff so that you can get on with the cooking quickly. Cleanup and storage is a snap as well. Watch this video I took while the lady is doing the demo.

 

Indoor Smokeless Stove Top Grill 2 for $43.00.

This 13" iron grill works on standard electric, gas or propane stoves. I thought this is good for grilling one meal food instead of using the oven so as to save electricity. The water-filled outer ring catches fat and juices during cooking, eliminating smoke and splattering.  The non-stick surface insures easy clean up as well. Watch this video I took during the demo.

 

Dutch Rubber Broom  2 for $21.00.  

This broom does it all. It sweeps all types of surfaces and washes and dries kitchen floors instantly without using a mop. It also scrubs and squeegees away slush from glass windows and door or car windshields. Watch this demo from rcrcleaning.com.  Hay,  I finally got rid of the "walis paypay"  I bought from Pinoy store seven years ago.

 

October 1, 2006 8:36 AM Sunday, Jacksonville, Florida         

Weight-Gain

As I was leafing through the magazine at the doctor's office last week, I read an article that says something like by the time women hit 40, their metabolism slows down and they often pack on pounds when their hormones get out of balance.  That's because they’ve got too much free estrogen in their body and chances are, they now have a trigger-happy pancreas that pumps insulin into their blood stream at the slightest provocation.

Well? That's true. Instead of losing weight, I am putting on more weight!!! At my age now, for some reason I seemed to pick up a stubborn, hard-to-lose weight. I can’t believe a week after DH and I came back from our short gateway in Alabama feasting on different resto for breakfast, lunch and dinner, followed by two weekends binge, I could hardly zip-up with my size 6 office suits!!! The scale proved that I packed on 6 lbs more in two weeks time which triggered my weight up to 126.9 lbs!!! OMG this is very distressing!!!

Last week, I made a big serious resolution: To squelch my appetite and rev up my metabolism so that I shed the next 5 pounds—and the 5 pounds after that—all in one month. How would I do this? I will work out 5 times a week; eat in portion and NO MORE binges, party, sweets, and white rice until Thanksgiving Day!

DH had started on the NutriSystem Nourish diet a little over a week ago. Within 10 days of making the switch, he already shed off 8 lbs. (Well, he also put on 5 lbs during the month but lost 8 lbs last week).   Hurray for him!!!!! The food is not something he particularly likes but hey it is edible plus it works for him! The initial outcome to DH has actually convinced me to get on the same diet with him so that we don't have to cook anymore besides if I do cook I tend to sabotage his diet by overfeeding him.

Thank goodness, as of this morning, I shed off all the 6 lbs I have put on earlier so now it's even.  I am back to 122 lbs again.
17 more pounds to go, Rhebs!!!

Now, to do the math, 28 days worth of food for two persons: breakfast, lunches, dinner and snacks/desserts costs us $578.96 (that’s $286.46 per person which boils down to 10 bucks per day for three meals).  The foods are delivered to your door every month free shipping and handling and they don't need to be refrigerated.  It's still expensive considering we still have to do grocery shopping to supplement every meal with fruits, vegetables, dairy or protein, salad and low glycemic carbohydrates. Anyhow, we'll see what happens after the end of the month if we can lasts that long. We are now actually thinking of returning the rest of the food that we don't like for refund.

Real Treats

Yes we are on diet BUT we actually have to be very careful not to lose too much, too rapidly hence I order this real treat from Omaha Steaks. Yeah right! LOL  Well, yeah that's not necessarily the reason. The real deal is that, I received a gourmet gift certificate of $145.01 from Omaha Steaks for the The American Celebration Combo offer. Regular price is $205 minus $145.01 gift certificate = $59.99 + $14.99 shipping and handling. Who can pass that deal?  I can't because I am big bargain hunter ;-)

The total amount I paid was only $74.98 and I get the following:
  4    (5 oz.)     Filet Mignons
  4    (5 oz.)     Top Sirloins
  4    (4 oz.)     Boneless Pork Chops
  2    (4.5 oz.)  Stuffed Sole with Scallops and Crab
  8    (3 oz.)     Gourmet Franks
  4    (4 oz.)     Omaha Steaks Burgers
  10   portions  Potatoes au Gratin
 

We haven't had any Omaha steaks yet but I hope their filet mignon tastes like the ones at Bobo’s Steak House or Boboquivari’se in San Francisco, CA. Man, it  melts-in-our-mouth so juicy and tenderly. Yum!

 

Part-time job is over

Yes, I finally tender my resignation to my part-time job at CompUSA yesterday. Although the manager wasn't happy about it but he told me if ever I change my mind to come back, he'll take me in anytime. 

Now I have the whole weekend off; two days in a row to play/fool around with DH ;-)