Conversation with Aiden 5/11/13

6:00 a.m. while I’m sipping coffee, he wakes up this ensues:

Aiden: Grammy, my class is dancing to a lobster song.
Me: Rock Lobster?
Aiden: YES!
Me: Wanna see a video? That’s the B-52′s.
Aiden: Ok
Me:
Aiden: Wow, are those people on drugs?
Me: Probably.
Aiden: Well, do they sing anything else?
Me:
Aiden: Yep, drugs. Drugs are bad.
Me: Well there is this…
Aiden: Definitely drugs. So I need a lobster costume and can you show me how to dance a conga line?
Me:
Conga line into the kitchen to make pancakes.

SHARE

My New Blackberry Z10

I very recently got my electronic-grasping hands on the new Blackberry Z10 and was immediately impressed by how light weight it was. My old phone is much smaller, yet seems to weigh a ton in comparison. After first being a little disconcerted by the weightlessness of the phone, I fell in love. The momentary lapse was because it almost felt unreal, it was that light. The love came from the fact that I’m a commuter who travels from Eastern Los Angeles to the Westside via Metro. My daily commute involves two trains and a bus and takes about an hour. I carry a bag full of necessities: smartphone, tablet, paperback in case e-reading isn’t on the agenda that day, lunch, my office shoes, cosmetics, notebooks and pens (yes I still take handwritten notes) and a camera. I know, I know, both smartphone and tablet have cameras…but still, just in case. Needless to say, this stuff weighs on me so a super light phone is a true pleasure.

Once I got past the weightlessness of the phone, I set it up and was truly impressed by the ease of everything. Verizon and Blackberry made it incredibly simple to add my social media accounts and pull in contacts from email accounts. Everything was there. I’m no stranger to new phone setups and this was by far the easiest. Simple is good, especially when you’re a busy and rushed person who hates reading instructions and prefers to figure things out on the fly by doing.

I am loving the Blackberry Hub, wherein all my notifications reside. It pulls together all notifications from email, Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, etc. and I am loving have all that in one place. AND I found the overall speed of the phone and browser to be very fast, almost instant. Videos load quickly and the resolution is great. Audio is very clear. In a future post I will share with you all the other features I love but for now, I need to tell you that YOU CAN WIN big WITH this campaign:

Tweet to Win Two 4GLTE BlackBerry Z10 Smartphones

All you have to do is tell us why you must have it using #DameELBBZ10 and you will be automatically entered to win the grand prize WITH FREE SERVICE that includes Share Everything Plan con Mexico!!

http://www.verizoninsider.com/bbz10

So go ahead and enter and Join us THIS WEEK on Wednesday May 1st for a special Twitter Party on #DameELBBZ10 to win a great prize! Party starts at 6pm PST – don’t miss it!

Be sure to check out more info on this fabulous phone check out the device website here and Verizon for more about the promotion here. Also, to get an in-depth, insiders view of this feature-packed phone, don’t miss this link with tons of pics and screenshots.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Verizon Wireless Lifestyle Program which gives me free access to mobile technology and other benefits. I was compensated for this post. The opinions expressed here are my own.

SHARE

Mexican (?) Barbie

I have to weigh in.  Really Mattel?  We you thinking of a 1940′s travel ad for “Visit Exotic Mexico” the land of your culturally superior, racist dreams where the women all wear folklorico dresses, flowers in their hair and carry chihuahuas?

Mexican Barbie also comes with documentation as in a passport/papers.  Um.  What’s next?  I.C.E. Officer Ken who drags poor Barbie off to be deported when he finds her pink suitcase full of papers is fake?

Mexican women are women.  We wear regular clothes, most of us don’t lug around a pink suitcase (unless it’s a briefcase cabrones), and we sure don’t wear our hair like that.  Most of us are second or third or even fourth generation Americans and we don’t need “documentation” (well except in Arizona, but they ban books there so what do they know?).  We put away our folklorico dresses in middle school after we did our ballet folklorico classes.  Maybe, if we work in some inane restaurant purporting to be Mexican, but selling really crappy food – we MIGHT have to wear something like that as a uniform, but we’d fight it and tell our bosses that it’s politically incorrect to dress us up like no Mexican ever.

I personally, don’t even like yappy little chihuahuas, so what the hell Mattel?  Are you trying to really piss off one of the largest spending communities there is?  Really?  Because I wouldn’t let my granddaughter near that racist excuse for a doll.  I’m going to steer her to strong female role models – not some ditzy throwback to feminism and culture.  If someone has a Delores Huerta doll that pickets, stands up for her rights and is still going strong at 83, then that’s the doll this Mexican is buying.  As for Mattel – I’m thinking huelga.  In English that means boycott.  Boycott Mattel if you are Mexican and proud.  Hell, boycott Mattel if you aren’t racist and don’t live in the Dark Ages.

SHARE

The Bee in the Ballroom

It’s not often you find me up and out early on a Saturday morning, but I was heading for the CAAA (California Applicant Attorney Association) Staff Seminar near LAX at the Four Points Sheraton.   I was going to learn all kinds of new stuff about Workers’ Comp.   Seriously, I was excited.  See, I started my career in Comp, then somehow ended up in Entertainment (Finance, but still) and now, full circle, back in Comp.

I made it to the Sheraton, picked up my badge and a thick notebook of information and headed into the ballroom.  My co-worker (and soon to be lifesaver) Charlotte, hailed me over and had even been so sweet as to save muffins for me.  I grabbed some coffee and settled down next to Charlotte to listen to the speakers.  Riveted (honest!) and absently picking at my blueberry muffin when a bee, an evil, muffin sucking bee stung me.  OMG!  I’m allergic and kind of freaked out.  I froze.  Charlotte, however is not one to panic.  She told me to calm down, then promptly removed the stinger.  Needless to say I was in a world of pain.

I got up as gracefully as I could (really, I just wanted to run screaming from the ballroom like a Banshee), and got into the hallway where I found my boss who got me some help from the hotel staff and found me a cup of ice to shove my throbbing finger into.  Meanwhile, I’m biting down on my thickening tongue trying not to freak the hell out and make an ass out of myself in front of oh, everyone.  Paramedics were called.  Firemen came too.  I wasn’t so in pain that I couldn’t notice how cute they were.  I was maybe dying, not dead.  First aid administered, epipen applied, vitals taken, hell they even took my blood sugar which by the way, is perfect.  Surprisingly, my blood pressure was low.  I don’t have high blood pressure, but you’d think with a scare like that, it would have skyrocketed.

Crisis averted, I went back into the ballroom after filing an incident report (how official) to try and get back to my seminar.  Nope, the pain was driving me bonkers so home I went.  I lived on the prescribed Benadryl and sleep (that stuff really knocks you out!) all of Sunday and Monday too.  The finger is still, as of this writing three times the size it should be.

Today, I went to work and tried to type.  Um, no.  Every movement made me want to cry, but somehow I got through a half day’s worth of work before the pain drove me to call my doctor.  That, and the unsightly and pretty darned scary purple color it was turning.  She ordered me to visit Urgent Care so that scared the crap out of me, and off I went from Beverly Hills to Pasadena because Pasadena has all my medical files.  Turns out that little bugger stabbed me good and deep, wreaking all kinds of havoc with his histamine (poison).  I got prescriptions for lots of meds – Zicam, Benadryl, Prednezone, antibiotics and told to also use ice packs (I’ve been using them) and Ibuprofin for pain.  Uh huh.  I get to put this junk into my system for the next five days!  All because of one little bee in a ballroom.

I feel like buying up all the honey in town to somehow wreak vengeance.  I’m typing this one-handed, groggy from Benadryl with my other hand wrapped in an icepack.

Damned bee.

SHARE

No Blogging, but Preparing for Writing

I haven’t been blogging because I’ve been knee-deep in researching as I prepare for writing a novel – one the story of which I’ve been dreaming about for years.

Lot’s has happened since I last posted.  New job, new apartment, re-connecting with family that I haven’t seen in ages, etc.  In general, life is good and I’m feeling blessed with everything that is wonderful and that matters – family, friends, home, comida, happiness and health.  Essentially, lots of twirling.

Now…back to researching battles of the Mexican Revolution.

SHARE