FACEBOOK AND FRIENDS

Years ago when Facebook was opened up to non-college kids, I signed up (with the "permission" of my kids) so we could exchange photos and greetings.  After a while they stopped using it much and I never did use it for much so I closed the account.  Then last year my high school reunion committee started a page for our year and used it to track people down and communicate about the reunion - so I signed up again.

I have been a little bit more active on FB this time around.  I read it every day or so and post occasionally.  It is a big source of info for my Rodan & Fields consulting and I run across stuff posted by my kids now and again.  There are also things posted by some of the high school contingent which I don't enjoy and have "unfriended" some of the right wing political posters and I'm a bit tired of the posts of grandchildren, random nostalgia from the 60's and 70's and religious stuff.  I think I need to do another "friend" purge.

Do other people do this, too?  Or do you just accept all the friend requests and go along with whatever is posted?  Does it make me intolerant that I am not interested in wading through religious tracts while scrolling through FB?

And what about the girlfriend who broke up with my darling son, broke his heart and is now posting photos of herself with other guys (while still living in his apartment)?  Yeah.  She got unfriended today.  I managed to stay sweet to her for 3 months and now I am done with knowing what she is up to.

On the other hand, this month I learned about 2 of my old friends who are retiring, saw my daughter all dolled up wearing a hat at the race track and got to congratulate another friend for getting her long worked for license to practice as a psychologist. So there is still a lot of value in hanging around on FB. 

AMGEN TOUR IN OUR AREA!

Saturday Tom and I rode to Livermore to see the start of the 7th leg of the Amgen Tour of California.  There were a lot of people with the same idea.  It was fun out on the road with so may people on their bikes.

I got to ride with my new inspirational art on my bike bag - Maggie sent it to me for Mother's Day!  So now I start every ride by saying "WaHoo!"

People were lining up to see the start of the race. We wandered around the booths and through the team areas.  There were hordes of fans waiting outside the team buses for the riders to appear - I admit I wouldn't recognise one if he sat in my lap!

There is a womens group on the tour but we didn't see any of the women around.

We walked back to the main street which the riders would come down after the start.  I got a quick photo of them coming and going.  The number of security and support vehicles was huge - way more of them than there were riders!

Off they went to climb Mt. Diablo - and off we went to ride home.

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  I am still adjusting to the new job, still really like it but come home tired every night.  I am hitting the gym 2

times a week on my way home but thinking maybe going more often might up my stamina?  The housing market in the Bay Area is going gangbusters and the staging business is hopping - so that means we are on the run all day, every day to keep up!

I did turn in my vacation schedule today - off to Idaho for a family thing at the end of July.

2.)  I am happy that I am able to collapse in the evenings in front of one of my favorite shows - So You Think You Can Dance!  It is such a positive and uplifting show and Tom and I have been laughing and cheering through the current audition shows.

I am not a big basketball fan - but Tom has been watching our Golden State Warriors win many more games than anyone thought possible!

3.)  This Saturday we are going to ride our bikes into Livermore and watch the Amgen Tour stage 7 start in the downtown area before they head up Mt Diablo for a day of hill climbing!  The riders arrive and mingle with the crowds for an hour before the start, there will be a parade and booths, etc. They are also going to have big screen TV's so they can televise the riders on the route.  No sure we will hang out all day but it should be fun to be a part of the Tour de California!

4.)  I am hoping to take down the tarps and get my mosaic area up and running for the season.  I have missed my hobby time.

5.)  I hope Spring smells good where you are!  I am loving the gardenias outside our office and the jasmine in my yard makes my whole house smell wonderful each evening.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I was thrilled that my 2 "local" kids came home for the weekend and we all went to breakfast at a favorite joint in Livermore called The Riata.  The guys rode their bikes and Ally and I met them and then went to see The Great Gatsby (which we really liked!)

Hope you had a great Mother's Day, too!

OZ ENDORSEMENTS

I love my new job!  I am, however, really tired after each day.  I suppose it is all the effort put into learning the new tasks and making such an effort to put all the pieces together to make the procedures fall in line in my mind.  When that happens, I am sure I will not be falling into bed at 9:30 each night!

In the meantime I know the world is turning and things are going on which I have not tuned into.  I am getting my usual dozens of political action e-mails each week and just deleting them unread.  I did want to comment on something I saw on the morning news this week.



Not actually endorsed by Dr. Oz.



Dr. Oz was being interviewed.  He explained that all those products out there which claim to be endorsed using his name and likeness without permission to sell all kinds of stuff.  All this time I have made the assumption that he had really sold out - when in fact, he has not endorsed a single product.

It is pretty sad that we have come to this point as a capitalistic society that a doctor, albeit a celebrity doctor, can have his name and likeness stolen by a company to sell their products.  And as he said in the interview - if they will go to such lengths to make their products appear legitimate - just how safe might they be??  When his legal team has gone after these companies, they just fold up their tent and then re-surface with a new name and "product."  But because Dr. Oz has such a huge following, people are caught up in the schemes and are put in danger by using these products.



These gals make 3.2 million a year from their endorsments



He has launched a campaign called "It's Not Me"  and reports that he has teamed up with Google, Facebook and other large “internet vendors” to address this issue.

I did a brief search and found some commentors pointing out that Dr. Oz does talk about some supplements, herbs and products on his show.  He always makes the disclaimer that these should be used under a doctor's supervision but we all know if he talks about it in a positive manner, people are going to feel safe taking it.  To some degree, he is contributing to the "Oz Boost" of product sales based on his coverage, just as Oprah and other celebrities have been known to create.

AND THEN THE WIND



Yolo County Court House

We signed up for a bike event- "Fast Flat Fun Bike Ride"  a few months back and have been out every weekend to get ready for it.  We have been looking forward to it as a get away, too.  It was in Colusa which is in the primarily agricultural area along the Sacramento River.

The record breaking temperatures we have been sweating through for the last couple of weeks made us a little nervous, but we loaded up the truck Friday afternoon and headed out to stay the night in Woodland, a town about 40 miles from the location of the ride.



Tom's new office?



Originally we chose Woodland because if the proximity to Sacramento and planned to have dinner there.  Then Tom looked at the options in Woodland and found a nice bar and restaurant in an historic building right downtown, so we decided to stay local.

We had a wonderful night wandering around the historic downtown, had a great dinner and found such a lot of charming places including a darling little office space for rent that we began to plot how we could relocate to Woodland!



Historic Building housing Mojo's and Kitchen 428.



The restaurant and bar is called Mojo's and Kitchen 428.  The server told us all about it's history and give us some good tips on things to see in town.  It was the First Friday celebration and there was an art walk (mostly school kids stuff), there were some roller derby girls having a bake sale, live music in several locations and it was all very festive.

We went back to our hotel before we had too much fun to get up early in the morning for our ride! 

Hanging from the ceiling in Mojo's

We were considering staying over another night and going downtown for an event on Sunday - but when we woke in the morning the hot temperatures had dropped and the WIND had come up - gale force wind, trees swaying  this way and that and dust blowing up everywhere. 

Wind is an enemy of a nice bike ride.  We hopped in the car hoping that 40 miles away the wind would not be so severe - no such luck.  We agreed to cut the ride short if it was just too miserable.  What we didn't know was that the wind was not the only problem with the ride...



On the levy tail.



We registered, got our maps and set off.  It was quite casually run, this event, no SAG wagons, no staff running interference on the busy streets but eventually we got to the river road which was to be the longest part of the ride - photos we had seen did not accurately depict it.  It was not so much along the river as it was the main road people used to get TO the river.  There was no bike lane and no shoulder.  Trucks and SUV's with fishing boats and  other sundry cars were zooming up and down the road kicking up gravel.



Mojo's



Tom thought it was just too dangerous, so we turned back.  We did find a short but pleasant trail up on the levy along the river and we rode around the town of Colusa, saw some pretty neighborhoods and parks. 

Eventually we loaded the bikes back on the truck and went back to Woodland and Mojos where we had a very nice brunch ( Eggs Benedict with Salmon Cakes - yum.) Then turned for home. 

DOING MY DUTY AS A WOMAN

I had my visit with the Gynecologist today.  I am now on a three year rotation for Pap Exams, so it has been a while. When the doctor asked me why I made the appointment I said I was doing my duty - she liked that.

I found it interesting that there is now a whole speech that the doctor gives about cervical cancer and the  Human  Papillomavirus Virus (HPV). 

Just last week I heard that a young woman I worked with years ago (who had been infected with HPV by a

wandering former fiancee and has been fighting cervical cancer since she was 26 years old) just found out for certain that she would not be able to get pregnant.  Such a shame and so sad. 

When Kaiser first started offering the HPV vaccine for girls I jumped on board and had both my daughters vaccinated and tried really hard to get them to vaccinate my son, too.  They wouldn't then and by the time they offered it for boys they said he was "too old" at 22.

I know I have written about this before.  I just want to keep putting it out there that the vaccine is safe and it is the only vaccine against cancer that exists.  Our sons can be infected and they can spread that virus to their sexual partners without knowing it. Healthy men who contact HPV usually don't have side effects and the virus passes through their system without creating health problems.  However, they can get genital warts and in about 17% of the cases, they can get cancer of the penis or anus (this is most likely for gay men engaging in unprotected sex but can occur in straight males, too.)

So I am continuing to do my duty by passing on this important message to vaccinate our kids and grand kids and try to eradicate this cancer which is causing so much pain and misery.

SATURDAY ON THE BIKE

We were out on the bikes early today because it is supposed to get very hot - we are having record setting temperatures this month. I had Tom take a photo in front of the mustard plants because they shot up over my head in the past 2 weeks since we rode this trail!  Last weekend we went a different route so I could get some hill climbing practice!

I am loving my new helmet, it's so cool and light.  I can see from the photo that I need to hem the sleeves of my shirt.  (I got it on sale at REI and just lopped off the long sleeves.) Another thing I see in the photo is my need for a better sport bra!  Very uni-boob and low here. Photos are so enlightening...

Anyway - I am amazed at how much stronger I am getting on the bike.  I am using the higher numbered gears a lot more and Tom measured our average pace at 12 mph this trip.  Next weekend is our bike "event" along the Sacramento River. I am confident of the distance, just a little worried about how crowded it might be as I get nervous with other people riding close to me! 

In other news - I am loving my new job!  It is  amazing how fast the day goes by and I am having fun helping put the design orders together for the stagers. The new employers are happy with me and how quickly I am catching on to everything which is very validating.

NEW JOB

I've been pretty dissatisfied with my current job for some time so I have kept an eye on Craigslist and other job sites.  I have also been working at an alternative to a regular job by signing on with Rodan and Fields Dermatologists as a consultant.  I really enjoy representing the skin care line and I know I could build it up into a more lucrative business and will continue to work on that.

In the meantime, I have done a couple of interviews and this weekend I was offered a new job!  I am really excited about it - more money, better benefits and I will be working with a bunch of creative woman again.  It is for a home staging company which also does furniture and accessory rentals for stagers.

They are crazy busy and I look forward to being in a busy job again.  Time just drags when there is nothing going on and that has been the case with my current position for months now.  Between that and the "boss with no boundaries" I am glad to be moving on.

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)   All of these gun people and all their excuses proclaimed as "protecting their rights" at the peril of

everyone around them are just making me sick to my stomach.  It is clear that they want to go back to the Wild West and have everyone armed and brandishing their weaponry and shooting it out in the streets.  They are thugs.  And don't  even go there about the "hunters." An excuse for archaic, bad behavior.

2.)  I understand from Time magazine that the gourmet cupcake industry is collapsing.  I have never managed to have a gourmet cupcake.  I have missed the trend completely. We don't seem to have cupcake shops out where I live - the closest we have is Nothing Bundt Cake.  They have tiny bundt cakes which are frequently served at my book club meetings. Maybe the news is premature and I will still get my chance.

3.)  I admit that I use my status as a cranky old bag to honk, wag my finger and otherwise attempt to discourage people I see driving and using their cell phones. And I don't even care about getting flipped off - which happens.

The reason I do this is because my son and my husband spend a lot of time on their bikes on the road - they have close calls pretty much every time they go out because of distracted drivers.  And statistically it isn't teens who are the worst culprits  - it's adults.  In fact, 78 percent of mothers with children under age two acknowledge talking on the phone while driving with their babies; 26 percent say they text or check their e-mail.


There have been previous studies that show that texting while driving is six times as dangerous as driving drunk. The fact that 39 states have recently banned texting while driving does not seem to be helping the problem at all.

If we're living in a world where 50 percent of the drivers around you might be texting as they drive, that puts everyone around them at risk.  People interviewed who admit to driving while texting and using the phone seem only to focus on their own safety. I am much more concerned with the lives they seem to have forgotten about - the lives of the people they will mow down.