Business Trip?

How many people in corporate America take a day off to play golf and then claim that they get good work done on the golf course, forge contacts, build teamword, etc. right? That is the excuse that thousands across the US use for their corporate expensed golf games, country club memborships etc. I just got back from using similar logic on the ski slope although I actually did attend a conference and even had to present some of my data and had two former mentors show some of my slides. I had lunch and skied Tuesday afternoon for awhile iwth my former boss and mentor and discussed plans for some future papers. So, really I was working, I swear.

That being said the Rockies are beautiful. I spent the weekend in Denver, truly working then 4 of us rented a car and drove up to Keystone in the midst of a major snow storm that dropped at least a foot of fresh powder on the hill. On Tuesday morning the sun was out, fresh powder was all around and as soon as I could escape the meeting, I suited up and hit the slopes. I demo'd an amazing pair of skis. Volkl's made for women. They were so great to ski on, too bad I could never afford to buy them. The conditions rocked and Wednesday was even better. On wednesday, I skied by myself and kicked my tail as I spent about 6 hours with nary a break charging down the slopes. Lefty held up although she was seriously sore after Wednesday. The mountains awesome. Sometimes I love my job.

A little of the Colorado Rockies

Inspirational?

One of my friends has currently gone back to school to get a masters in medical ethics. Her most recent assignment was to write a paper on someone who had gone through a significant illness and how their background impacted their coping and adjustment to that illness. She chose to interview me. In preparing to for the interview, she sent me a list of questions and answered many of them with links to posts I have written over the last two years. I reread parts of this narrative that I haven't looked at in a long time, and I laughed and cried with myself again. I just read her paper. I know it's about me, but sometimes I forget.

This was her summary:

"In summation, Lisa’s illness narrative is an amazing one, and one that I wish I could tell more of. Her illness experience spans the range of human emotions, triumphs and defeats. Lisa shared her humanity, her strength and her fortitude to take on a frightening, painful and long illness and turn it into a life learning experience. She used her illness to emerge a stronger, more compassionate, more health conscious individual. She used her illness experience to emerge a more understanding physician of the demands that illness places on effected patients and their families. She has used her illness experience to grow in cherishing her family and friendships. She seems to have genuinely learned the value of herself, her self-worth and really used the experience to better herself and enrich her life. Her story is compelling and one that serves to only inspire anyone who has the fortune of hearing it. "

Aw, shucks, who knew I was inspiring- thanks BB

Collections

I quick look around my house will reveal several collections, things that I have collected or kept over long periods of time. These collections tell little stories about my life, who I am, who I used to be, and what my hobbies are. They are a little like an archeological expedition into my life. There is the fact that I have 5 bookshelves all full to the brim with books I've read, want to read or am reading. The styles and genre vary, but there is no way you could spend more than 5 minutes in my house and not know that I read, a lot. There is my Lladro those beautiful porcelain figurines that are sweet reminders of my time in Spain. My shot glass collection that reflects my college years and life in my 20s. My Zaworski (sp) crystal collection, my collection of puzzles, etc. You get the idea.

Then there is my other collection that is not so visible, but apparent to most people who know me and was brought to my attention when I sent a simple email today. I was explaining to a friend that I had to change my plans for Friday because I had to go pick up my friend Lisa's car. I got back a two work email "Which Lisa." Valid question, you see, I collect friends who share my first name. How this started I'll never know, but by now it is rediculous. In college, I lived with two other girls named Lisa, they are still two of my closest friends. When I went to school in Boston, I immediately became friends with a Lisa. In residency, one of my closest friends- you guessed it Lisa (but then I had two other really good friends both named Kathy). Then I moved to Chicago and my lab had 5 women in it and 3 of us were name Lisa. Those two Lisa's are still friends, and one of them is another of my dearest friends and the person in question whose car I have to drive to Long Beach in the rain tomorrow to get. Does it say something about me that I have so many friends with my same name? Or does it just mean that Lisa was a seriously popular name round about the late 60s early 70s? and it wasn't a local phenomenon. No two of these assorted women were born in the same state as another (except two who are from Phili), and one was born abroad. Nope just random that I count upwards of 10 Lisas as friends. No idea if this says something about me, but it is curious.

Nonetheless I love my Lisa's. They rock

A Day at the Races

I grew up a few short miles from Santa Anita Race Track. I learned how to drive in the race track parking lot. i have been to mulitple random events at the Race Track, but I had never seen the horses race there until Saturday when some friends from work invited me to join them. I immediately accepted, because I had been wanting to go for awhile. We got comped tickets to a box on the clubhouse level. We were a little too high up to fully get to see the view, but the day was beautiful. A perfect setting for a fun Southern California day. We studied the program and in the first race was a horse who caught my attention "Devil Cat MD." That so was going to be my horse. My friend, Sandy explained the details of horse betting to us and I placed an expecta box bet on Devil Cat MD and horse #3(whose name currently escapes me). Essentially I was betting that these two horses would come in 1,2. We watched the race and Devil Cat MD won and horse #3 came in 2nd. My first bet on a horse race ever and I won an expect box. I was thrilled. Not so much success would follow, but alas it was still a great day at the Race Track.

I forgot my camera, so these were taken with my phone. They at least give an idea.


Leslie and Sandy in our box

The horses racing to a photo finish on the turf


Horses being lead out to race

Oh and if you go to the races, and are hungry- my advice, skip the regular concessions and go for the hand carved sandwiches. I had turkey on sourdough. I couldn't quite eat the bread, but the turkey was awesome. My friend got roast beef on rye which looked super good too.

Out with the OldIn with the new

In honor of the peaceful and historic change of the presidency yesterday, I have begun a purging of my own. I walked into my office yesterday and started searching for a random but very important piece of paper and threw up my hands at the chaos of my desk. So, project declutter began. I have completely cleaned off my desk (Of course, my office floor is now littered with papers and folders, but they are slowly getting filed away). It feels good to restore order. So good, that I carried the project home with me, where I commenced in a similar clean out phase in my home office and next in line my closet. My closet is full of clothes that are too big for me. I have given some away, I am getting some altered, but then the perenial question remains. Do i stick to optimism and say that I will never ever be a size 12-16 again and get rid of those clothes, or alter them all. Or do I store some in case I back slide. I want to go for optimism, but buying and paying for altering for a whole new wardrobe is causing me financial pain right now. But then, I am vowing to never go back, right? But the little devil in my head says yeah but look at Oprah (although, all who know me, know i hate Oprah) So, I write, non-eloquently at that, about my internal debate so that I don't feel like I belong in the United States of Tara.

Alas, for now- project out with the old, in with new- will be organization and moving to a different closet I think.

Can California Really Do That??

So, as pretty much everyone knows California is broke. I mean really broke. I argued this point when the elections came around and the stupid people of California voted for more spending, but alas people aren't always so smart. So, now not only is the state broke with bond issues that are barely above junk bond status, but the yahoos the are running the state seem to be incapable of coming up with a budget. So according to various news agencies the state will apparently be out of money Feb 1. Therefore, they are now reporting that their current money saving strategy is going to issue IOUs for income tax refunds. Did you hear that IOUs, from a state with no money. Seriously, folks they are threatening to not honor the tax refunds owed to the people. Can they do that? Apparently, they can.

Now I know that overpaying taxes and then getting refunds is giving the government an interest free loan, and I know it isn't smart. However, the couple of years i had to pay taxes were really rough and every year I have a couple of really big bills that always come in around the time that I get my tax refund and the beginning of the year is always a little tighter financially for me, so getting a nice check from the government has been working for me. But... If they are going to start not honoring what they owe then this policy needs some serious rethinking. I had a long chat with my dad, my ever present financial advisor and he gave me some good advice. I'm going to do some homework and see what I can make work. In the meantime I curse those elected state officials for throwing my money away and not honoring their debt. Curse you

LAs bad rap

The city of LA has a bad rap- too many people, too much traffic, no public transit, too much smog etc. I generally try to encourage such thoughts because it will keep people from moving here because yes there really are too many people. Although, I often have had a contemptuous relationship with LA, I have come around. I just hosted a large national meeting in LA and everyone was shocked that I found them a hotel where they could take the subway to the hospital for the meeting every day. We walked to a fabulous dinner, several people even took the subway to the airport. I could see a few minds changing- UhOh. Too late

Then, this morning when I turned on my computer, the yahoo headline was the bitter cold and severe snow storms blanketing the majority of the country highlighted by the cold in the northern midwest- -40 in MInnesota. Ouch... But today in LA, the sky is clear, and it is in the 70s. I sit out on my porch as I type in shorts and a tee shirt thinking I need more sunscreen on my face. Not so bad- really not so bad.