Synch or Swim

Because sometimes you just need to vent...

synchrogirl — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:37:57 GMT

So, Friday was my birthday...

I had to work because as a contractor I have no paid days off. Ok...

But I had to pay for my own birthday dinner, even if the fiance cooked it and somewhat cleaned up after it. (Sure, he is currently under employed, but...)

My family, true to form, I was pretty much an afterthought for all by two of my five siblings.

Gifts? what are those?

I do not need much, but to be remembered and not have to pay my way (for everything) for one day would be nice.

/crankiness

Wedding planning "fun"

synchrogirl — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 05:56:06 GMT

That moment when you tell your childhood neighbor/one of your oldest friends (K) that you will not be inviting her sister (C) your oldest friend to your wedding.

Does she (C) really expect to be invited...after she royally fucked my brother, her first husband, over?

Yeah, no, my family comes first. Sorry, though not really, cheating whore, who is on her third husband now since the one with whom she cheated on my brother with has passed away. And hubby #3 is shocking, and from what public info I have on the family I think his mother and brother would likely not approve. Star fucker much, C?

Hey LJ, what's shakin'?

synchrogirl — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 03:42:10 GMT

Since the last I posted I have new job, with an old company - which this go 'round though as a contractor w/o benefits is paying me really good money. They have paid for my expedited passport and sent me to Ireland which was cool (nay, cold!) too bad it was all work and little play save for a few pubs afterhours.

But that is not the craziest thing that has happened the last few weeks...

My longtime boyfriend proposed last week. What!? It was on the way home from the airport after the aforementioned Ireland trip. We chilled that evening and went to tell my mom the next day (Last Saturday, Jan 31).

She seemed, as I told one of my brothers, nonchalant about the news - and if you new my mom, you would not be entirely surprised. She has some, how do you say, cognitive issues? We think there may have been a mild stroke a few years ago but without subjecting her to a myriad of tests, it is speculation.

Fast forward to today, I,well we, went to my mom's house for my weekly check in and to see what bills needed paying and such. For some weird reason she is upset that Geoff is there with me.

I tell her, well, we ARE getting married to which she replies...What??? WHY!!! Um because we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together. As to why now, well, because he asked now...

I think she imagined me a "spinster" for the rest of my days and is concerned who is going to take care of her. Well, nothing in that regard will change. And WHY is it OK for my 5 siblings to marry and not me? The mind boggles...

What was that about being greedy?

synchrogirl — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 07:45:17 GMT

Seriously, three World Series Championships in five years? If you told me, at any time in the last three or so years that it would happen, I would have asked to see, and maybe even for a sip of, what you were drinking.

I have been an SF Giants fan for 40+ years (yes, I am that old - I recall Bobby Bonds playing and GMan graduated high school with Barry Lamar [over 30 years ago]) Anyway I remember when they s-u-c-k-e-d and I was still a fan. Will Clark was probably my first baseball boyfriend, and then there was Shawn Estes... Not sure who of the current roster would qualify as "boyfriend" material, it seems a little pervy, now. ;o)

That said, you have to give it up to a team that played like a team all year, and even moreso in the post season. There was a different hero almost every game, well, every game that Madison Bumgarner was not playing. That kid (at 25 with three World Series rings!!!) is a stud, a beast, and whatever other superlative you can send his way. Wow, baring injury, what is in store for him?

Before I sign off for the night, one must tip their hat to the Kansas City Royals - they had a stellar season and were the equal of the Giants - until the bottom of the 9th in game 7. So close, and yet for the ball falling the right way for my guys not to be this year. They will be a force to be reckoned with in the AL in 2015.

At the risk of sounding greedy...

synchrogirl — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 06:04:36 GMT

HOLY CRAP!!!! the Giants won the NL pennant! And in typical Giants fashion, not exactly by the script. Unless of course you have followed the Giants the last five years and you know they pretty much toss the script and win it in their own way.

So happy for Tim Hudson to not only make his first LCS, but now his first World Series.

Then there is Michael Morse, injured for the last few months but who hits the game tying home run. (Doesn't hurt that he is hunk-a-licious and BFFs with Hunter Pence)

But ultimately, the night belongs to Travis Ishikawa - drafted by the Giants in 2002, made the team in 2006, was part of the 2010 World Series team but has bounced around the league since then. Was let go by the Pirates in Apri this year (the same Pirates team the Giants had to beat in the Wild Card game), and was in the Giants AAA league untlil late fall. Joined the team in September call ups as a back up first baseman (his normal position) was put in left field for the playoffs and acquited himself quite well until an error tonight...and in an "only in the movies" ending hit a walk off three run homerun to win the clinching game for the GMen.

Honestly, could not happen to a nicer, more deserving guy. I think Travis may find himself as a left fielder for the GMen going forward.

Diploma-lunacy

synchrogirl — Fri, 30 May 2014 20:29:14 GMT

Posting here because I have too many friends on Facebook who have kids that fall into this and I'm not looking for an argument, just looking to vent a little.

Seriously, when did it become a thing for pre-K aka pre-school and Kindergarten kids to wear a cap and gown (complete with stole in some cases) and get a diploma when they "graduate"? I use graduate verry loosely.

I believe, back in the day, we may have gotten a cookie, a pat on the head, and to play on the big playground. Same when we moved from 3rd to 4th grade - maybe an end of the year ice cream bar or something and to play on the bigger playground. And because I went to school before there was middle school (6-8 grade) hello Jr. High, we went from 6th grade to 7th (and a new school/Jr High)...we got a pool party and the neighborhood swim club. We did graduate from 8th grade and there was a ceremony where the girls wore long dresses (hey, it was the 70's) and the guys wore ties - no cap and gown.

The cap and gown was reserved for high school and college. Same with the diploma. (Though there may have been one for Jr. High, again, it was the 70's/almost 40 years ago, ack!)

I guess this is all part of the everyone gets a trophy culture (another rant for another day) that has taken over - nothing is special, nothing is earned, nothing to work for or look forward to...

/rant

ETA: apparently I only post on the 30th day of odd numbered months in 2014. See you in July? ;o)

Christmas 2013

synchrogirl — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 07:52:54 GMT

My gift came early for Christmas (a week late for the birthday) but more on that in the New Year.

I swear, or at least my feet feel like I have been standing since Tuesday -- and I don't even work retail! (been there, done that)

No, it was Christmas Eve with one of Geoff's best buddies who has recently divorced and the ex had the kids so we had him over for some delicious dungeness crab, wine and relaxation. Well except for the hostess who spent the better part of the evening in the kitchen supervising empanadas and sundry things.

Christmas morning brought mimosas and lemon ricotta pancakes - again, much time spent on one's feet. There was a brief respite in the early afternoon before going to my mom's for dinner and working with my sister on the side dishes for the roast beast - the brothers took charge of that - for better or worse. Better being that the roast was perfect, the worst, there was almost some fisticuffs betwixt them. Seriously, you guys are on the high side of 50 and you still haven't figured out how to play nice/work together?

Today, Boxing Day, we had some friends over for a combo birthday (one person from each of the four couples has a b'day in December) and a mid-holiday get together. Again, I spent the better part of the afternoon and evening on my feet and the dogs are a'barkin'! But the company was great and the feijoida* (Geoff's request) was supper yummy!

Tomorrow's re-entry into the running game (gots me some new kicks!) may just have to wait a day...

*feijoida is a Brazilian/Portuguese black bean stew with linguica and other good goodies

Still in shock...

synchrogirl — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:46:45 GMT

What a crazy game - and so very, very happy that SJSU won the damn thing and spoiled Fresno's chances at a BCS bowl game. Just, WOW!

Perfection!

synchrogirl — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 04:57:30 GMT

Way to go Matt Cain, awesome performance and some excellent defense. Oh, and the offense wasn't too shaby, either!

Meatless Dinner Week 3

synchrogirl — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:07:38 GMT

While not locked into the Meatless Monday movement, I have been trying to cook at least one vegetarian dinner a week.

Week 1: Leftover cheese fondue. It has become our tradition to have fondue on New Year's Eve with assorted veggies and good sourdough bread. We had the leftovers the first week of January.

Week 2: Tofu Fajitas were a marginal success. They tasted pretty good but it was my first time using tofu and now I know why they say press the moisture out of it before cooking. Also learned that non-stick pan would become my tofu friend.

Week 3: Asparagus and goat cheese pasta. Used whole wheat pasta for bonus fiber! OMG, it was f'ing delish.

Week 4: General Tso-fu. Was thinking I would do a riff on the local vegan chinese restaraunt's broccoli beef but discovered a bottle of Trader Joe's General Tso's sauce in the fridge. After learning the squeeze the hell out of the tofu lesson a couple of weeks ago, this turned out great. I also did some stir fry veggies with cashews that were awesome and would have been vegan had I used veggie stock instead of chicken stock -- but the chicken stock was already opened in the fridge.

I want to ride my bicycle...

synchrogirl — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:31:26 GMT

Showed GMan the RadioShack Nissan Trek Facebook page (and the team web page) and he was impressed by the team lineup* and was saying this would be the year he gets back on the bike....I can only hope!

*Honestly, this novice cycling fan is too, they may rule the Grand tour events this year. We also wish the Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team, and local boy Levi Leipheimer well, too!

There's always next year!

synchrogirl — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 05:44:52 GMT

Dear SF Giants -

Thank you for 2010, it means/meant more than you could ever know. While 2011 might have been the year of agony rather than 2010's torture, you were always entertaining...and finished ahead of the Dodgers, always a plus in my book!

I look forward to 2012 and the healthy return of Buster, Freddy, Wilson, and even Zito.

PS. I still hate Kirk Gibson

Open Letter to ESPN

synchrogirl — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:41:35 GMT

Dear ESPN and your Bottom Tracker programmers,

Please stop refefring to San Jose State University as "S Jose St" on your score tracker and updates. We prefer SJSU. Based on your other abbreviations "S Jose" kind of implies South Jose, not San Jose.

Hail Spartans!

Claudia
Proud SJSU Alumna

Oh, Ingo!

synchrogirl — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:34:24 GMT

I have a huge soap rant/post brewing since the cancellation of AMC and OLTL but in the mean time I leave you with this...

I hate Bob Guza and the writers of GH for totally destroying Jax. Not since James E. Reilly ruined Days of Our Lives and several of my favorite Days characters have I so detested a head writer. I hope the new GH writers can salvage Guza's mob glorification mess.

Oh, and the whole Jackal, PI thing - stop it, NOW! Spinelli was a quasi-interesting character, but this is crap.

I am...

synchrogirl — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:25:37 GMT

Wondering why my friends pages are all displaying like a crappy dot matrix-y screen?

Drank more wine than she planned to tonight because...

synchrogirl — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:13:02 GMT

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series!!!!!!!

And it has been the best end to a difficult weekend. I can only hope that my Dad is having a beer in heaven and celebrating the Giants finally winning the World Series. I know my brothers are both happy that they won and sad that he did not live to see the day.

He passed away on Friday after a long bout with cancer and I know he is finally at peace and I'm sure floating on cloud and chillin' with GMan's dad toasting the Gigantes with an Oly. (the beer of choice of the Korean War vets.)

Cheers, Dad!

It's Delicious!

synchrogirl — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 06:21:58 GMT

"It's kind of like when you were a kid and eating orange slices and drinking kool-aid after a game except now we're pounding champagne." ~ Brian Wilson after the Giants win the National League Pennant

Second best Wilson post game moment of the night....being interviewed by a bay area reporter about the 9th inning and talking about the pitches until someone hands him the NL Championship trophy and he says something along the line of "yeah, whatever, it's not important now" while hugging on the trophy

Orange October continues!

synchrogirl — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 03:53:04 GMT

So happy the Giants clinched a spot in the NLCS! The Phils will be tough, I expect more days and nights of Giants torture...and then on to the World Series!

As the hometown band sang once upon a time...Don't Stop Believing!

Dear Giants...

synchrogirl — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 06:00:30 GMT

Enough with the torture, m'kay?

Feeling bitchy

synchrogirl — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:59:07 GMT

Bitch 1: Katie Holmes as Jacqueline Kennedy?!?!? It is to laugh.

Bitch 2: Who appointed Bobbie Thomas an arbiter of taste? The last two style bits of hers on the Today show were laughable.
Bitch 2a: And who can I slap for introducing her to the mass media...I'm looking at you Chasez!

ETA

Open letter bitchin'

Bitch 3:

Dear driver of the Pepsi truck on Campbell Ave today,

Dude, hang up your f'ing cell phone it is AGAINST THE LAW!!! Believe me, I know...and I wasn't driving a flippin' semi-truck filled with crappy cola product.

Bitch 4:

Dear gum chewing cow on the eliptical,

I do not want to see, hear or smell your gum. Please kindly refrain from chomping, snapping and popping it when in public, it not only annoys those around you but makes you look, how shall I say this...less than intelligent.

Books

synchrogirl — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:12:37 GMT

Bold the ones you've read COMPLETELY, italicize the ones you've read part of. Watching the movie or the cartoon doesn't count. Abridged versions don't count either. BTW, according to the BBC if you've read 7 of these, you are above the average.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Ubervilles-Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams – the whole series
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madam Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute (more than once)
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

OMG!

synchrogirl — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 06:23:40 GMT

4-0 Baby!

Who'da thunk? The team with pitching but no offense would come out of the gate so well!

Can they keep it up for the rest of the weekend? Sunday may be a rain out. Too bad since it is supposed to be a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T park and the home debut of The Freak - back-to-back Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum!

Tums for the tummy?

synchrogirl — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:38:51 GMT

The Thai food I had for dinner is not sitting well. Which is odd since I actually didn't eat that much of it because it was too frickin' hot! I love the Thai flavors but why must they be soooo spicy that after two or three bites you can't taste anything because your toungue and lips are on fire?

Beeezball

synchrogirl — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:46:20 GMT

The Giants are on my TV (albeit losing to the A's - thank you very little Barry Zito) and this makes me happy.

ETA - 9-0, seriously Gigantes? Hope you're getting it out of your system before oepning day!

synchrogirl — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:43:48 GMT

I am not a hockey fan but must admit I was on the edge of my seat today watching the Gold Medal game...and unlike many, I am not happy with the result. I don't hate Canada but I was USA all the way. And no, I am not happy that a bunch of SJ Sharks have gold medals...they were not on my team. However, should they find their way out of the first round of the NHL playoffs I may like them again. ;o)

I gotta say I was not impressed with the coverage this year and actually missed a lot of the marquee events because they came on after 11:00 pm PST....even though we are in the same time zone as Vancouver many events were so delayed - whatevah, NBC. Plus I'm a Summer Games girl so I look forward to London 2012...I have hopes that we will actually make it over there to see them. Hopefully the job situation will allow that to happen.