12.30.2009

Winter wonderland!

After a quick trip to my folks place to grab a sleeping bag and
whatever goods Jeannie Mae decided we needed to take, we're at In-N-
Out to settle our tum tums before we really hit the road!!! It's about
10pm, so we should get to the pretty stuff right around sunrise!

Before we even hit Baxter a we were putting chains on and continued
with 'em until almost the Nevada state line. It was slow going, but
crazy white and super beautiful. We don't mind the slow going since
neither of us has agenda.

It's about 4am and we're almost in Winnemucca and I think we straddled
a turtle who was sitting on the white line! Yikes!!!!!! We're both
still awake and going strong! We're gonna be tiiiiiiired dudes when we
finally sleep!!!

12.28.2009

The phone rings early this morning

It's Jeannie Mae and I'm groggy as shit.  Our convo:

"Hey Rij, I'm just calling to let you know your cousin got out of the hospital okay and her surgery went well."

"Okay...good.  Thanks mom."

"So, did you answer the phone to give me Katie's address?"

"Ummm...what?"

I proceeded to give her Katie's address.  Apparently I know it by heart.  I hung up the phone completely confused.

Roadtripping and re-gifting


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This is the plan for Wednesday - Sunday. It's approximately 2,800 miles and 2 complete days of driving under regular conditions. I'm completely stoked! It looks like it'll be snowing in Yellowstone most of the time we'll be going through it, but I've got chains and we're packing very, VERY warm. I'll also be crossing off 4 more states and finally having the West completed!

RE-GIFTING IS GRANDMA'S FAVORITE

A few years back Gma had come and done Christmas with us. We were all opening our gifts and when my turn came up I chose the gift from Gma. For whatever reason, the item I was opening up seemed familiar. Jeannie Mae looked over at what I'd unwrapped.

"Hey!!! Mom?!?! Isn't that the gift Den & I got you last year?!" Jeannie Mae exclaimed.

"Oohh...I don't know. Maybe. I give her now." Grandma says and points to me.

"You can't just do that."

"Oh. Why not? I no use it. I don't really like it anyway."

(Gma rules)

12.27.2009

Xmas Eve roommate ride

Brandon brought his new ironhead home the other day, which makes 3 bikes at our house.  What goes perfect with 3 bikes?  3 riders.

Once I woke up on Christmas Eve we all opened our gifts and peeped our stockings.  Brandon was checking the headlight on the sporty and we all decided we should go to breakfast.  Then we all decided we should RIDE to breakfast.  This was our first time riding together, each of us on our own bikes.

After taking 9823475028752849275 hours to get Brandon's bike kicked over, we all headed over to Fox & Goose.  It was pretty sweet riding in a lone wolf pack of three.  Brandon's bike was shitty in first and I got stuck at a red light.  For once Suzi was running pretty well, she must've liked the weather.  We took the long way too.  On purpose of course.  How would we get lost on a grid?  Yeah.  We wouldn't.

On the way home we took the busier streets and hit the heavier traffic (so like 10 cars on the road instead of 4).  We were on one of our main one way streets, 3 lanes wide with a red light and a few cars stopped in front of us.  When we would come to a stop, we'd be 2 - 3 cars back.  Brandon's a bit up ahead and I see him turn to look at me and I can see him smiling through his helmet.  I smirked and knew what he was doing.  He went to the right of the middle lane and I went to the left and we split the lanes to meet at the crosswalk.  In true Alissa style, she was right behind B.

Alissa was welcomed to a little bit of my favorite game: Shoot the Gap.

12.26.2009

The pitter patter of little feet

I slept at my folk's place Christmas Eve so I could re-live my childhood (and by childhood I mean until I was 18) and wake my parents up at 5am on Christmas morning so I could open my gifts.  My dad and I even joke about it for a while and he said he couldn't wait until morning to hear the pitter patter of my feet coming down the hall to wake him up.

As usual, I didn't get back to their house until about 4am and didn't fall asleep until about 4:30 so around 8am I was the one who was woken up by the pitter patter of feet coming in to wake me up so we could open presents! 

I made out like a bandit this year and to top things off, I'm pretty sure I've got a solid plan for a 5 day roadtrip this coming week.  STOKED.

Also...my dad's "no beer for a year" plan ends January 4th.  He's under the assumption he'll be trashed in 2 beers.  January 4th, who wants to come with me to find out?!

12.23.2009

My first robot arrived!!!!!!

And it's amazing!  I'm looking at him as I type this and he's WONDERFUL!!!!  It was a nice surprise to see a package from Adam D sitting in my mailbox!!!!!  I'd post a picture...but he's a present and I'd hate to spoil it!

Today was spent in San Francisco with shopping with Katie and Brandon.  We arrived at the Bay Bridge at 4:40pm.  We soon realized if we pulled off for a few, we could make carpool and save $4!!!  Since traffic was so heavy, we decided to play a fun game where we let EVERYONE who wanted, merge and zipper in front of us so we'd be further back and waste time.  We got a little too close for comfort and we just pulled over to the side where Brandon pretended to be on his phone making a call (since he was driving and technically it's illegal to drive with a handheld phone).

We finally saw the carpool lane open up.  And it opened up 6 lanes to the left of where we were, in completely stopped traffic.  Oops!!!!  So we made Brandon maneuver us all the way over and we got to the lane JUST before the lane separators started!!!  Phwew!

We hit up a few stores and got a couple gifts.  Thanks to me being all handicapped and what not, parking was free and it wasn't as crazy as I expected it to be.  We picked up our friend Vince and went to some delicious place that had friend plantains with bean sauce.  I fell in love.

On the way home we stopped by Candy Cane Lane in Vacaville to take in all the beautiful Christmas lights.  It was a good day.

12.21.2009

Roadtrip

I think it's time again.  I have December 29th through January 3rd off and don't want to be in the state.  I don't know where I really I want to go, I just know it's not in California!!!  Perhaps it'll be a destination that'll be unknown until December 29th.  I HOPE that's how it turns out...those are my favorite.
6 days off...what to do with 6 days off.  Something spectacular, hopefully.

I want to go and find places with things like these:


And this:



I also want to take more pictures of people taking pictures.

12.18.2009

Long johns are needed

The nights sure are getting colder.  

I went on a ride along with a friend tonight.  We got to drive really fast in fog and even look for someone jumping fences.  Then the car over heated and we needed to call a tow truck.  The tow truck driver gets there and he brought his wife.  Awesome.  How are all 4 of us going to fit in his crew cab?  We can all fit, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to be that close to his plumber's crack and sweatpants (ugh. sweatpants.).  

While we were waiting for him to hitch the car his crazy cracked out wife BLASTS the stereo and starts singing along.  We then got lucky enough for her to come out of the truck and show us her best dance moves.  When we let them know we were going to wait for someone to come pick us up, the wife tried to coerce us into the truck to wait where it wasn't so cold.  We politely declined.  



12.17.2009

Surgery number 6

I figured I'd be more upset or bummed out when I actually heard my doctor speak of a 6th surgery as part of my definite future.  I kind of laughed a little, made a few calls, joked a bit more and sort of forgot about it for a few hours.

I guess the worst thing is not knowing exactly what's wrong with my knee.  Haha...I lied.  Having to get another surgery is probably the worst thing, but not knowing is definitely a close second!!!  My doctor and I explored all the options and it all comes back to getting back inside the knee to see what's actually causing my problems.  As with my last surgery, there are 3 possibilities of what my problem could be.  2 of them are a pretty easy fix, the 3rd is shit and with my track record and my knee's hatred for having a life without pain...the 3rd is probably what I'll be dealing with.

My doctor/surgeon is pretty rad.  He and I joked about what would have happened if I was a 65 year old.  He laughed and said that if I were 65, have had this many surgeries in the same timespan and were having the exact same symptoms, he'd just lop the damn thing off at the thigh!  Lucky for me, I'm quite young and spry with a good chance of healing!!!  He makes things a little more light hearted and easier to handle.  He hates cutting me open as much as I hate recovering from it.

In good news...Alissa, Grant and I watched Fighting tonight.  It definitely wasn't good and wasn't quite bad enough to be a bad good, it was just bad.  But Channing Tatum is a total babe.

12.16.2009

Crafting

I have a new idea that I want to try for an air cleaner cover.  I think I can make it work and am pretty excited about it.  The problem is finding an appropriate air cleaner I can use.

I stuffed my face full of deliciousness at my work holiday party on Monday night.  There were fantastic mashed potatoes, chicken, pie, tri tip and pork.  I had seconds in the dessert section.  And by dessert, I mean chicken.

We had a gift exchange and Alissa miraculously got me this year and I got the most wonderful gifts!!!!  I requested: a giraffe, an owl and socks.  She got me an owl necklace and buttons, a giraffe belt buckle and cashmere socks!!!  I got the best person for secret santa!!!!!

I'm stoked to figure out what I'm getting my folks for the holiday as well as a couple other people I need to shop for.  Brandon said my gift is not in his room and I'm bummed because I'd totally be rifling through all his shit to find it.  Yeah...I'm THAT bad.

Today was Todd's birthday and we went and had some wonderful company and wonderful food at the taco spot across the street.  I got to talk motos.  Then when I got home I got to talk MORE motos.  I'm a lucky girl.  Seriously.

12.12.2009

I've been thinking

And I've decided it'd be pretty sweet to have custom made knitting needles and crochet hooks.  It'd be like having a custom made pool cue...only more useful for me.  Besides, the last thing I'll do is shell out $350 for some aluminum needles that don't even have cool designs or sayings or my name on 'em.  Maybe I'll just invest in some sweet metal and hang out around the nearest friend with a lathe?

How rad would that be?  Showing up at the local knit meet or craft get together and excusing myself to go out to my trunk to procure my custom knitting needles?  There will be songs written about such an event and I'll be the local bad ass with the killer goods.

12.11.2009

Dreams are coming to life

And not just mine.  It seems other peoples dreams are moving right along as well.

For example.  Our entire household became ordained ministers today.  We are now able to marry people.  Perhaps all 3 of us will do weddings where each of us participates.  I think that would probably be most ideal.

Also today was topped off with another story and me remembering that Brother sent me the entire Booya video.  He's a wonderful person who I am proud to be related to more and more each and every day.

I spent some time up in Auburn today and there was SNOW!!!!!!!  I also spent the past 2 nights convincing my roommates to go to the bar so I could get Shirley T's.

12.09.2009

Jeannie Mae

My mom always amazes me.  Besides all the gifts that she's MAKING for everyone she knows, she also makes hats, scarves, headbands and blankets for the homeless.  This year, apparently she's also making things to give to the students at her school.

Between her and another lady at the school, they've pitched in and every morning before school starts, they put 20-40 items under the school's Christmas tree and the kids who get there early enough can have 1 item each.  I guess the idea is to get the kids to school on time, or even early.


Jeannie Mae is a saint.


12.08.2009

Funny dad

Dad and I were sent out to do errands for Jeannie Mae. He tried to
get out of driving by saying his headlight is out. He said it was
just one, so I told him we could risk it.

As soon as we're in and he turns on the car, "Oh shit!" he exclaims.
He seemed frustrated and sincerely upset.

"You caught me listening to Celine Dion!"

Tons

of ridiculousness has happened within this past week.

I only hope the stories get more interesting.

And end with me living a life of luxury through a third party.

Or with a unicorn.

12.04.2009

Quality time with the Hirata family

After a day of hornswoggling and running errands...the day ended as most days should: at the bar.

Brandon's cousin is in town and his sister brought her downtown to hang out and get some real "family time" in.  Alissa and I got the pleasure of meeting their cousin and hitting up a few bars with them.  His cousin scored a free lighter, we played shuffle board (and I'm pretty sure his sister and cousin are hustlers), and got chicken softs.

It's sad when I think that tomorrow (technically today) while everyone's getting the weekend started, I'll be heading to work for my Monday.  Oh well, only one more month and then it's to sweet days off.

Christmas gifts are moving along pretty slowly; I really need to pick up the pace.  Gotta stop doubting any talent I think I might be in possession of and get the ish going.

Time for sleep.  I'm going to take advantage of being tired before 4am.

12.02.2009

Moto night rides

Today was sweet.  I woke up on my own accord, I made a pretty rad breakfast for Brandon and myself, I had dinner at Crepeville, I rode out to Julio & Rachel's to watch the season finale of Sons of Anarchy with good friends, I got to ride with B on the way home, I lurked some peeps, I watched Brandon lurk some peeps, I waited until Alissa got home and then the two of us went for a freezing ride around 3am and came back with our bodies numb.

I meant to snap a photo, but I forgot entirely.  I did, however, remember to bring my camera.  For the mean time, just picture this, but with motos:



2010 is going to be a good year.  I can feel it in my bones.

12.01.2009

New boots!!

Boots are by far the only type of footwear I can really rationalize spending over $100 for.  Everything else you can find on sale.  Don't get me wrong, I know shoes, such as good running shoes are quite pricey, but at least with boots they'll last for a loooooooong time.

But this is of course, coming from the same girl who sees buying ANY motorcycle as an investment.

It's finally my weekend and I just spent the past hour watching 2 minute movies...AKA movie trailers.  I found quite a few I'd like to see when they come out.  One, in particular, featuring Matthew Goode who's a crazy fine babe.

Let the weekend begin!!!