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April 30, 2007
Which Star Wars Character Are You?
Ha! I guessed that I'd turn out to be Princess Leia and I WAS! Cool!! Which Star Wars character are you? And no, I don't really want to kill any Star Trek fans because I AM one--we're better than Star Wars fans anyway. I mean really...how many real-life technological advancements have been inspired by Star Wars that you can name? NONE!! Star Trek-inspired innovations? Cell phones, PDA's, transporters (right now, they've only transported one atom, but they'll be real one day for human use), laptop computers, touch-pad consoles, etc. Oh, and not to mention, Star Wars has only had 6 movies--AND it took about 20 years just to get the fourth one. Star Trek has had 10 movies, plus 6 (count 'em, SIX) television series. Star Wars TV series? None. Man, I could go on and on and on!!!
Posted by Amy at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2007
Beautiful Days
I can't believe how many beautiful, sunny, and warm days we've had over the past few weekends. Unfortunately, I'd been sick for a couple of them and trying to get over my illness, so I wasn't really able to enjoy them until this weekend. Saturday was near perfect. Sunny and around 70. Our advanced class was taught by Dr. Herbert Wong, my sensei's sensei. Then Don taught his regular Saturday noon class. It was the first time I'd been back at AMAS for a long while since Don's been out because of his hernia surgery and since I got sick. After class, we walked to the post office to get Don's office mail and just as I'd been hoping, the hot dog vendor was out! Yay! We got a yummy dog for lunch and sat on the steps of the post office under the sun. Saturdays don't get much better than that. After that, I just enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather by driving around, running errands.
Sunday was awesome too. It was clear, sunny and even warmer than Saturday. I'd been wanting to get a couple of projects out of the way for a while, but I had to wait till it got warm to do them. I spent the entire afternoon making a third sword rack for the dojo. I was able to cut the wood and stain it right on the driveway, listening to the radio from my car. While I was doing that, our friend Chris from JMAC drove by with his wife...they're looking for a new home and his wife likes the houses in our neighborhood. They stopped to say hello and I told them it would be really nice to have them in our hood.
After that, I worked on organizing the work bench and all my tools. It seems that of Don and me, I seem to always have the most useful tools handy. But we've been using my tools and got too lazy to put them away properly. Plus, the tool box I have is really getting too small. I'd bought a new larger one, but as I said, I wanted to wait till it got warmer to transfer all my tools to it. Sunday was finally the day. I was getting really sick of the mess on that bench! Now, they're all within easy reach, all organized--hopefully, they'll stay that way. I hate for my tools to get unorganized because I hate not being able to find them when I need them.
Anyway, after all that work, Don and I boiled up some King Crab legs that were on sale at Meijer's for $6 a pound (normally $14). We ate on the deck, drank some wine and enjoyed the hot tub for a while. It was a perfect day, by my standards!
And this week is my last week at Quicken Loans. I'm looking forward to having a bit of time off, but not too much! (OMG, it's May already??)
Posted by Amy at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2007
Never Been Sicker
Wow, I'm just now getting over one of the worst sick periods of my life. I caught some sort of superbug from someone at work on Wednesday. I started feeling it Thursday and by end of classes Thursday night, I was sure I had something. I had a fever and a sore throat and pretty much felt crummy all around.
I decided to take Friday off, but Friday night was poker night. Now, I love having people over as often as possible. But I sort of wish the sickness and poker night hadn't coincided because just spending time with guests took more out of me than I expected. And I started feeling worse.
By Saturday, it had hit me like a freight train going 200 miles an hour. I was exhausted and barely able to sit up without getting dizzy. My fever had spiked to 101.7 and my glands felt like they were ticking time bombs in my throat. By the afternoon, I turned into a wallowing mess--Don, the healthy, logical-thinking one of us, thought to call John, my brother-in-law, to see if he could prescribe some antibiotics for me. He said I had an upper respiratory infection and possibly the beginnings of walking pneumonia. My sister (another doctor) seems to think I have bronchitis. I have no idea which it is. Anyway, Don picked up my meds. I took the first dose that evening and literally slept the rest of the day away.
Sunday I think is when the throat pain pretty much cleared up, but I was still feeling really crappy. I still had to sleep a lot, but I couldn't seem to buck the fever. Pam suggested to Don that I take Aspirin for it, then jump in the hot tub, then into a warm shower. But the way my body is, I know heat's not the best thing for breaking my fever. So I just took the Aspirin, but it gave me a ringing in my ears and I had to stop taking it.
Monday, I tried doing some work at home. I slept in till about 11:30am, but then logged onto my computer. I probably worked about 4 hours, mostly catching up on email. But by the end of the day, I was wiped out again. So I called my boss and told him I'd need another couple of days off. I called my sister to ask her advice again--I was worried that I might have to go to the hospital if this thing didn't turn around. But she told me that all they could do was admit me, and give me antibiotics intravenously. So basically, the end result is the same as what I was already doing, just that I wouldn't be at home. Boy, I can't TELL you how comforting it can be to have at least one doctor in the family! I was really getting worried at that point.
Tuesday, I just took it easy. I wasn't able to sleep as much which I think was a good sign. When your body needs something, it tells you. Plus, I was coughing up more material from my chest which I think was also a good sign that things were loosening up finally. But even though I felt like my body had finally turned the corner on this illness, I still was debating on whether to go back to work.
Wednesday morning, I got up and took a shower, leaving myself plenty of time since I knew I was going to be slow-going. I was still very tired from being sick, but I managed to get myself dressed and ready for work. Besides, much as I love my new house, I was getting tired of staring at my bedroom walls and lying in bed. I needed to get back out into society. When I got to work, I was barely ok to work, so I took my lunch hour to relax in my car after eating. That seemed to do the trick enough to get me through the rest of the day.
And today (Thursday), I'm even stronger and feeling less tired. The only thing I'm fighting now is really a tight chest and an annoying, lingering cough. I took my last dose of antibiotics yesterday, but the effects will last about 2 weeks. I just hope all of you are taking VERY good care of yourselves out there! Take your vitamins, take your zinc, and stay away from us sickies!
Posted by Amy at 06:00 PM | Comments (2)
April 10, 2007
James Oliphant: Teacher, Friend, Mentor
It's true...I'm an orchestra dork. I played violin in my high school orchestra. And this past weekend, Mr. Holland's Opus came on TV. This is probably the third time I've seen it and each time, I can't help but think very fondly of my high school music teacher, James Oliphant. He was truly my greatest mentor.
Mr. Oliphant taught orchestra, band, jazz and also led our high school musicals. Both my brother and sister were students of his, which is why I think when I came along, he was already fond of me because of them. "Mr. O," as I sometimes called him, saw in me so much more than I saw in myself--a talent only truly great, kind and caring teachers have. He made such a positive impact on my life that it's difficult to put in words--it's why every time I see Mr. Holland's Opus, I get very teary-eyed.
Every year, we went through "try-outs" to figure out our seating assignments. When I started as a freshman, I was somewhere in the second violin section. When I was a junior (and to my surprise), he made me first chair of that section. Again, to my surprise, he also strongly encouraged me to be one of the few violinists (there were only 3) to play in the musical Bye Bye Birdie. Scared as I was, it was a truly fun and rewarding experience! When I got to my senior year, he put me in the first violins--something I never got to be before.
I was never all that talented; I was ok, but I was never going to be a concert violinist or even major in music. In fact, I don't even own a violin anymore. But he saw this young, scared, and very unconfident girl and pushed her harder (without pushing too hard) than I would have pushed myself. He knew how much I loved music and that I just needed some encouragement from a very caring teacher. And I loved him for it. Even in my junior year when I felt burned out by so much violin (I was playing in the Metro Youth Symphony and taking private lessons while playing in the school orchestra), I wanted to quit altogether, but couldn't bring myself to quit the school orchestra--obviously because of Mr. Oliphant.
And when I needed a couple more credits to graduate, I enrolled in his Music History class. When I think back on it, it's very possible he opened up that class for my sake (there were only 3 or 4 other students in the class). Though I can think of two other teachers to whom owe so much (Mrs. Jaqueline Coleman, my middle school orchestra teacher and Ms. Mary Gwizdala, my English teacher to whom I owe being a writer), I'll always remember Mr. Oliphant as my most favorite teacher. It's probably no coincidence that even though I hated high school, most of my good memories come from being a part of his orchestra. I always loved music--the day I was born, my sister was already a good classical pianist, but I'm so grateful to have been able to share and expand my love of music with and because him.
I tried looking him up on the Detroit Country Day School Web site, but he's not listed, so I'm assuming he's now retired. I've never been to a high school reunion, but I would definitely be very interested in seeing Mr. Oliphant again and be able to tell him how much he meant to me.
Posted by Amy at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2007
Rubber Duckie!
The hot tub store sent us a little box in the mail, presumably as a token to thank us for doing business with them, but also to entice us to spend more on little accessories (like scents for the water and other things like that). Along with all that stuff came the CUTEST little rubber duckie. You can see he's got a little towel around his neck that has the Hot Spring Spas name on it.
Don showed it to me the minute I got home and as soon as I saw it, (this is so stupid) I exclaimed, "RUBBER DUCKIE!!!!" I always wanted one to play with in the bath and now we have one for the hot tub. So now we bring him with us every time we have a soak. It's really funny how entertaining it is to play with him in the tub. It's fun to watch him cruise around in the water, bobbling and dancing. When he dances, he's Disco Duck. When Don holds him underwater, he's Drowning Duck. When he gets too close to the filter box, he's Danger Duck. When we spin him in circles, he's Dizzy Duck. It's just too bad he doesn't shoot water out of his mouth. Heh.
I just love him!!! Hee hee!!
Posted by Amy at 10:52 PM | Comments (1)
April 03, 2007
Slow Drivers
If there's one thing I really hate about driving--well, there are a few--it's people who drive SLOWER than the speed limit. Now, I used to be quite a lead foot and occasionally, I still am. But nowadays, I'm happy going at or just 5 above the speed limit. I try not to go more than that because I've been ticket-free for over 2 years and proud of it. And obviously, I'd like to keep it that way. (The ultimate would be to have all my tickets drop off completely and have a clean, clear record for the first time in my life.)
So like I said, I don't mind not speeding anymore, but it DOES get annoying when people don't even do the posted speed limit. I've been in many places where people are going 35 in a 45 zone or even 60 in a 70 zone (in the fast lane). That's incredibly aggravating to me. If you're in the fast lane and only going 60 or even just barely 70, you don't belong there. It's the fast lane for a reason. If you're not going to go faster than 70, then get the hell out of the way!
And it's even more maddening when there's a cop waiting in a speed trap and everyone slows down to 60 in a 70 zone. I understand you don't want to get a ticket. Neither do I, but it's not like the cop's going to pull you over for doing exactly the speed limit! So why bother slowing down to LESS than the speed limit? And in fact, he may not even pull you over for doing 5 over!
Just one of my peeves...had to get that off my chest since it happened to me this morning. GO PEOPLE!!!
Posted by Amy at 08:10 PM | Comments (1)