Dilated eyes

I had my eyes dilated today as I wanted to know if I was eligible for Lasik. Dilated eyes on a person looks funny and unnerving at the same time. I have been to TLC for an eye exam and they said I was a good candidate, but then I moved. I am now near the Moran Eye Center, which is apparently well known for great results. So I decided to give them a try. I didn't realize that when they said it would take 4 hours, they meant it. I was there for quite some time getting poked at and looking at bright lights. I knew going in that my left eye has a bad astigmatism and my right has bad long distance sight. Today I came out having learned that my right eye has some astigmatism too. They recommend going for custom Lasik but I have to figure out if I would like to go the PRK route or the Lasik route. This is something I feel I will have done. I hate wearing my glasses and I want the freedom to get away from them.

I have to go back to get a few more test rerun to confirm and get a better picture. Thankfully they will not be dilating my eyes again. I tentatively have the surgery scheduled and hopefully all will be well. Too bad I can't have it done before my kayaking trip. It would be nice to have good vision for that so I can wear nicer sunglasses. But at least it should be done and mostly healed before I leave for out big hiking trip. Hopefully even before the wedding, now that would be really nice.

More winning stuff

Last year I was at the Outdoor Retailer show and I won a drawing to kayak for 6 days with the Whales in Baja. I was more then a little surprise and totally thrilled. The only reason I was even entered was because I had an appointment with the company to sign them up to test gear with us. I feel the only reason I won was because about three of the names they called hadn't bothered to show up and so I was the last name called. I liked that the person doing the drawing started off with the first looser. The first item given away was for a wet/dry pack. The next 6 where for posters of prints from a Canadian wildlife artist who is doing the Wild Image Project. Several of the names called hadn't shown up so that left me the final winner. It was amazing how quickly the crowd dispersed after that. I got my photo taken and traded cards with people before my boyfriend showed up. I had to call him over to inform him that we were the lucky recipients of a kayaking trip. There is a picture of the two of us somewhere out there hugging and laughing.

So this winter show, I was again entered into a bunch of drawings. I didn't get most of the stuff I entered to win (too bad), but I did win the Woolrich drawing for a custom printed Thule car-top carrier. It was rather amusing as I hadn't tossed my card in, someone else did and it was after they already drew out a name for something else. Boy were they upset that I won and they didn't, they tossed their card in at the same time. So I am now the proud owner of a Woolrich imprinted car-top carrier. With that on my car I am guaranteed to never lose it in a parking lot again. It has the Woolrich plaid logo imprinted all over the top. I think it is pretty cool and amusing. I can't wait to actually use it. We tossed it into the back of the truck to get it home (it didn't fit it was that long) and it is sitting in the living room waiting for its first use. Although sadly we managed to scratch it up already.

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to 2010 everyone. Hopefully the new year will be great. We have big plans this year. Not only do we have a trip to Baja planned (which I won), but we have a wedding to plan (so much for eloping), and money to set aside for a backpacking trip. Big goals but I have faith that we can do these. Where there's a will there's a way.

Moved in

We are all moved in with just a couple of items left at the old place. There is still the final paperwork to do Monday afternoon, but we are out. We will unfortunately not have internet at the new place for about a week. We are also trying to figure out how the programmable thermostat works. There are boxes everywhere and the place is a mess, at least we managed to get the bed set up and will have a place to sleep tonight in comfort. This has been a crazy move, we picked up the truck Sunday morning and did the move in one day. Good thing we had a ton of people show up to help or we would not have finished in the one day. We even managed to get the truck back before they closed at 5:00. So begins the unpacking. Fun stuff. Seems a waste that we just packed all this stuff up and now we have to unpack it again. We also need to sell off duplicate items and unused hiking and backpacking gear, of which we have a ton.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Hope everyone who reads this is having a great Christmas. We did have a nice Christmas and are looking forward to better things in the new year. We move this weekend so fingers crossed that all goes well and nothing gets broken. Happy holidays.

Moving again

Found out an offer had been made on the condo so we jumped on it. The hope was that we would have some time to move, and that this would give us the freedom to pick up and eventually go hiking. Well the anticipated move date was less than ideal with the guy asking us to be out in less then a week right during the Christmas break. In order to delay the inevitable we had to move the signing to the last possible day and the last possible hour. This gave us about a week and a couple of days. We managed to pack everything up, get a van and move all the stuff out. Needless to say, we didn't clean the place and didn't leave anything behind. We were planning on being a little nice and leaving behind a couple of things but we were so pissed with his rude treatment of us, that I didn't even leave toilet paper for him. Who thinks it is okay to require people to move out over Christmas when they are out of town enjoying the break?

To add to our new misery, the house we were looking at renting was rented out from under us. The woman who owned the house wanted to rent to us and was okay with giving us a short term lease. Her husband apparently was not okay with the short term lease and had a coworker sign for the place for one year. She was upset but obviously not enough to do anything about it. So I had to find another place, on Christmas eve no less. The new place is actually a bit bigger but not as nice. At least the rent is cheaper so we should be able to save up more money this way. Fingers crossed on that.

A week of kayaking

I just spend about a week doing kayaking everyday. I had a white water peer paddle on the wednesday after I got back. Then I was out thursday doing flat water with another group to hone my skills and prepare for the flat water certification. Back out friday for the white water social paddle, then on the weekend I was an instructor each day with a class. Very busy kayaking weekend. I really had fun and while I didn't have much time for other things like laundry I was able to keep up with the kayaking site and get emails out and tweak more stuff. I still really need a viewership and am starting to visit forums to try to bring people over my way.

I just barely had time to do some food shopping on saturday and I made some salsa on Sunday. I still didn't find time to do laundry but I did find a little bit of time to finally pin up the last lace project I was working on. Not sure I like pinning up square lace, but it turned out very nicely. I really do need to find a better way to pin out my lace to dry. At this point though I am not really willing to invest in anything as I am trying to clean out the apartment of junk before I add more stuff in. So until I can get rid of the old backpacking equipment that I don't need, I will have to wait on the lace pinning thing.

Back in DC

I am sadly back in DC. I really enjoyed my stay out in Utah. The trip was not nearly long enough and I am not sure when we will be able to get together again for the next few months. I really did not want to go back to work today, but at least I have kayaking tomorrow night to look forward to. I also have so much stuff to take care of from the gear show I just got back from. I have to email a bunch of people and get more viewers to the site.

I have never really noticed the humidity before here in DC as I mostly grew up with humidity. But after spending more then a week at relatively low humidity, I am finding it is quite humid here. As my flight was delayed in Houston, I got back later then I expected. My duffle weighed in at 50 lbs and my pack that I used as a carry on was also quite heavy. I must have had about 80 lbs worth of stuff to pug back to my apartment. Good thing the bus stops right in front of my place. Because I got back so late, I haven't had a chance to get any food yet. I have some stuff in the apartment so I might have to hold out on fried rice and noodle stir fry until this weekend when I will have time.

A week of Kayaking

I just spent the last week doing almost nothing but kayaking and learning about kayaking skills. Although I was the oldest student in the class I had a great time and learned a lot. The week started off with learning some classroom stuff before heading out on the lake (really a glorified pond) and learning water skills. Tuesday was more classroom stuff followed by more pond time which also included filming us as we demonstrated the skills we learned on Monday. Wednesday was more classroom time, followed by pool and pond time both with more filming, followed by a creeking run. I think this is part of the GW loop I have heard about and it was a lot of fun. Thursday we managed to get in more water time before we watched the films. I have to work on keeping my head down when rolling and I don't turn my wrist back enough. Friday was a really big day as we had to paddle up the canal, we jumped off canal falls, which is an eight foot drop. We ran the river down through the gorge and it was quite high and a bit gnarly. I managed to remain upright until Center Chutes when we started surfing the waves. Then we did more on the water skills. I did very well, which made me happy. I could have done a bit better if I had more confidence in the class III water conditions we experienced. I was just happy that I managed to ferry across and back without flipping. Saturday I took out a class for the Meetup group and another class on Sunday morning which was a river run. I surfed a little at Offut, missed my first roll, then was back up. Seven days of kayaking. Today really sucks. I think I officially hate my job. Time to plan another river run.

Slowing down?

I don't have a lot of stuff to do at work lately. I know there is a pile of stuff coming up, mostly in the form of paper work, but after that I really don't have any projects I am actively working on. My one project will be sending me out of town shortly on a business trip which is never fun. So I feel like I am slowing down. I get home and have no desire to do anything at home. I sit down and watch episodes of stuff I download for viewing and knit. I am working on a large lace project. I have a few things on back burners that I hope will come through soon. I don't have the motivation to work on them from home, plus my internet connection disappeared so I work on them a little at work. Hopefully they will bear fruit soon. I also have a new white water meetup group I started and I am waiting for that ball to start rolling on that one. I am already up to 100 members in about 2 weeks, which is great, but we have to wait for the water levels to drop before it is safe to get out on the river in any large numbers. Right now there was so much rain that the river was at flood levels. I am still planning on going out Friday night with some people, on a flat water, protected section. Then again on Saturday morning as I need the exercise. I really do need to get out of this funk I seem to have slipped into but it is hard. Work is no longer challenging, nor interesting. The economy sucks so I can't just find another job and move on.

I have started a new writing project. I have already fleshed out most of my outline, at least enough to give me a good start. I have started writing each point as a section and have about three sections finished now. This is almost 6,000 words. I haven't actually done much work at the writing group gatherings as I keep forgetting my iPod cable. At first the iPod was the storage location for my outline. I finally moved the outline to my google docs and then I couldn't get a connection the last time I was at the cafe. This week, there was no writing gathering as no one was able to make it. I went home and watched more stuff while knitting. Oh well. At least I have some kayaking friday and saturday, plus a beer meeting saturday afternoon. The I leave on a business trip which are always boring. At least I will have plenty of time to get some writing done.

La cabane à sucre

We were up in Montreal over the Easter break. In fact I took off quite a big stretch of time so I could do something else after I got back from Easter. The weather was rather cold, but the trip was worth it. I wanted to get a bunch of things done, but in the end I didn't really do much more then relax and try to have a pleasant visit with family. We arrived early Friday morning after a long drive and tried to get some rest. I didn't have much success so I just got up and went down to chat. Later that day I finally bought some blue jeans. I haven't had a proper fitting pair in at least 2 years and felt it was finally time to get a pair. I ended up with 4 pairs that I found at the second hand store. Nothing like a pair or pre-broken in jeans. Saturday morning is traditionally when we get together with my grandparents and have breakfast at a local restaurant together. This was fun as I got to show off my book to everyone. After that I rested and did almost nothing. Sunday we went to downtown Montreal to go to the bookstore and browse as well as tour a little bit of Montreal as my guest had never been there before. I had hoped to hit the leather store as my parents were telling me about this really nice coat they had on sale, but alas they were closed. It was Easter after all. Monday was another relaxing day as we went over to a friend's house to chat, show off my book some more, and get my knees tortured by her. I was happy to hear that my knees are doing much better. I also helped her with some knitting help and showed off a piece of lace I was knitting the last time I visited with her.

My guest is back

I am happy that my guest arrived back in town late last night. It was rather quiet here but I did manage to get some things done like work on the editing to my novel as well as move my beer from primary to secondary and get another batch going. I really didn't manage to get much more then that done as the editing has been using up a lot of my time, in a good way. I do have more and more of my calendar filling in with stuff as things start to swing into gear again with the warming weather. Although I hardly consider that the weather is that warm yet.

Quiet here

Things are quiet here, I just sent my house guest home on Sunday. I was busy on the Monday with a very long work day, which included a dinner event at a small local French bistro. I managed to get some sleep that night but not much. After that I have been at a little bit of a loss as to what to do. I didn't realize how much I came to enjoy having someone around that the apartment is now almost too quiet. It has only been a few days and I already miss him. I have been trying to catch up on a few things but when I get home, I really don't feel like doing anything. I am sorry to say that I haven't really accomplished much from my list of things to do.

Not feeling well

I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days and this has severely restricted my food intake. I am not sure if it is something in particular I am eating that is doing this, or just my diet. I am going to the doctor's office next week so they can check it out but in the meantime I am barely eating anything. While it does seem to be working, I am a bit concerned about how much energy I will have over the weekend for a backpacking trip with at least 5 miles each day. The last day is 2 miles back to the car. I am trying to plan what meals and things I can eat and I have decided to go with plain things like mashed potatoes and homemade granola bars which I have been eating during the last week with few issues. I have decided to do a radical change in my diet after the doctor's visit. I kind of hope they find something so I have something to work with, but I fear they won't.

Guest in town

A fellow gear tester is coming to town today to stay with me. Just in time to enjoy a trip with a group of us that we have planned this weekend. This should be fun although I fear he will find the east coast quite flat. At least he should be able to keep up. The group is meeting up at a hotel for the night just to make things easy then we will be hitting the trail in the morning once we set up shuttles. It is cool to meet other gear testers and talk about the gear they are testing or have tested. It is also nice to hear about the areas they hike in. I really like the areas described in the gear reports from people out west and hope one day that I can move out there and experience real mountains. So last night was busy and so it today. I had to pack everything up for the weekend trip and load it in the car. Today I have been trying to sort out car pooling and we decided to just go with a third car to make things easier. I am working all day today then I have to run home, get the car then dodge rush hour traffic to get my guest from the airport. Then off to the hotel near the trail head. Should be a fun 3 plus hours of driving. Good time to get to know each other.

What to do

Got a new guy in my life and I am not quite sure what to make of it. Happened as I was leaving Utah after the gear show. I went hiking with one of the gear testers who is local and we got some supper afterwards. The day and evening flew by really fast. I could tell he liked me but I wasn't really interested. Just don't think I am interested in getting hurt again after the last one. So I was friendly but nothing more. He actually was really nice and gave me a lift to the airport the next morning and just before leaving for the security line, I gave him a hug. This is a huge break in protocol for me as I am not normally a hugger with people I barely know. The hug stretched into a kiss before I knew it. I don't think I am ready for this but I can't really turn my back on it either. He seems to be a really nice guy who has many common interests with me, a much better match then the other guys I have dated. We even have the same sense of humour, it is a little scary. I will have to see what happens. Guess time will tell once the first blush is gone.

Posting update

Its funny what you let get in the way of stuff you like to do. I like posting and was actually posting pretty regularly for quite a while until kayaking and a boyfriend seemed to put that on hold. Now that the kayaking season is effectively over and I no longer have a boyfriend, I find that gear testing and running a backpacking group now eat up most of my time. Although not having stable internet at home also doesn't help. And November is National Novel Writing Month.

Once again I have to decide if I want to participate in the wrist killing endeavor of writing a novel in 30 days, oh actually less then 30 now. Last year I decided about half way through the month to participate and I took a three day kayaking trip near the end as well. I will be able to get a demo print of the novel I wrote last year so at the least, it is worth trying to fix up the novel and send it off to be printed. Another brag item on the book shelf. This year I started trying to write something and the words just were not coming to me. I think instead I might dust off my Appalachian Trail adventure and try to finish that. It is worth while and hopefully I can find a way to incorporate the many pictures I took along the way. I do regret that my camera wasn't very good and the pictures are pixelated when blown up, but I think I can keep the pictures small.

Dumped

I've just been dumped and right before the Christmas and New Year break. How to make a girl feel special. Feeling really bummed right now. I am going hiking later today so I am hoping some fresh air, exercise and the group of people I managed to pull together will help make me feel a little better. I was planning on coming back to DC for New Year's eve parties but somehow I get the feeling it won't be the same. The next few weekends are going to be rough. There isn't much to do and it is a little too cold for me to be going kayaking without a dry suit.

Dietary Issues

I have been having a very hard time with food over the past few months. The doctor claims I have lactose intolerance but after going for several weeks without any milk products and still not feeling well, I have gone back for further testing. After a blood antibody work up, as suggested by my boss, the bad news is that I have to go in for an intestinal biopsy to confirm the positive blood work up. If the biopsy comes back positive, which is normally a given as the blood tests are 90% accurate, then I will have confirmation for what ails me. Which will be good as it is highly treatable but I will have to avoid that food for life. I will have further news when I get the biospy but I am not sure when I will be able to get the biopsy done. I have to wait for a referral to arrive in the mail then make an appointment. In the meantime, in order to not throw off the results, I have to continue eating what is making me sick. I still have to keep avoiding milk for now as that is a bad trigger. Another spot of good news is that once my intestinal tract heals from the major intolerace, I will be able to go back and slowly introduce milk into my diet.

Long awaited update

A lot has happened in the last two months since my last post. I really should have kept writing but so much stuff conspired against me. For one, my cat got very sick and after trying to nurse him back to health over the weekend, I had to have him put to sleep. The vet didn't really know what was wrong and they tried treating the symptoms but he just didn't get better. I keep expecting him to walk into the bathroom or jump up onto my bed. It is hard being back at my place with no cat. It didn't help that the vet sent me the euthanasia bill a month later with a vaccination notice. At least they gave me a credit for the special food and medicine they charged me for when I brought them back.

I ended up visiting the doctor recently and she decided I must be lactose intolerant. I asked her to check for giardia, they ran every test but for giardia. So I have to go back to get another test run. Apparently giardia can cause lactose intolerance in some people. I am hoping it is a bug and not a food intolerance. I have had to avoid all dairy products for 2 weeks and am having a very hard time. But even the avoiding of dairy has not solved the problem. At least I don't have salmonella or cryptosporidium.

I have also been spending a lot more time with my boyfriend as he just recently went into the hospital for 5 days with a massive headache and extremely high blood pressure. The doctors are not sure what came first, the headache or the high blood pressure. So I ended up spending 5 days with him in the hospital worrying about him then another two weeks worrying about him at home. His contract in DC just ended giving him some time to relax and recup, but it also means he is going up to work another contract somewhere else before coming back down to DC in October. He only just left yesterday and I already miss him dearly.

So with no cat to care for and no boyfriend around, I should have plenty of time to get back to posting blog entries and to also get out and do more camping and kayaking. It is also time to put the mead on that has been patiently waiting on the back burner and time to get more beer going as the kegs are getting low. I have a pile of books that I bought for beer and mead making that I want to read and it might be time to clean out the wish list on Amazon again as I devoured the last few reading books I got. I didn't realize how much I missed reading until I picked up a few good books.