Who knew....

On friday I ventured out to Rochester NY to visit Alana. Of course, one mention of Rochester and my step-dad was begging to come along. I, being the nice one I am, said yes...and he took the day off from work to drive out with me. While he was out walking the locks of the old Erie Canal, Alana and I saw the new Batman movie....which should be called "That movie with Heath Ledger". After the movie, Alana, Fur and myself headed over to TGIFs for dinner. It was almost 8pm and Fur and I were planning on leaving when he asked if we could see the old railroad tracks in the city. Always up for an adventure, I said yes. I lived in Rochester for almost 2 years, yet I had never really appreciated the history or architecture within the city itself. It was really beautiful and I am happy I went. Of course I had to listen to Furry's stories (he thinks he is a huge history buff regarding the Erie Canal :) :) Here are some pics:







Aren't I cute??



Furry never smiles...only smirks....

Everyone have a great night!!

:) :)

So, what does one do on a tuesday night in good ole Utica, NY. Why, attend the roller derby event at the Auditorium!!! Mit was gracious enough to call me up and invite me to this most amazing event. I remember seeing roller derby on TV as a kid, but I vaguely remembered...plus, I had never seen it up close and so personal. It was like being in a foreign country. Who knew there were soooo many die hard followers and fans. It took Di a few times to explain to me what the hell was going on....but I finally understood. So, I will try to explain....in my own words....

So you have 2 teams who roll around on this oval track. When I say roll, I mean on roller skates. Remember those?? I remember being around 10 and my mom dropping me off at Midstate to skate on a friday/saturday evening. I also vaguely remember getting my own pair of skates as a present, but whether or not I had a big poofy ball on the skate boot I can't remember (or maybe I blocked it out). Anyway, back to the derby....so you have 2 teams on this oval track. Each team sends out 5 players. There are blockers, and a pacer....and the jammer. The jammer is the person who scores points. Each round lasts about 2 minutes, and the jammers for both teams try to circle the other players scoring points as they pass. Its up to the blockers to prevent the other teams jammer from scoring by knocking her down. They aren't supposed to use their hands but there was plenty of that last night (which apparently the refs were not paying attention to). If a player does do something illegal, they are sent to the penalty box and must sit there until they can rejoin the action. Overall, the game was fairly interesting. No injuries to report, which totally saddened the Doctor in me.....especially when Dy told me about the girl who broke her ankle weeks back, and bones were sticking out....I want to see BONES!!!

After the derby, we stayed to see some of the National Roller Hockey Championships. Very interesting sport as well. Its like field hockey on roller skates. Very fast paced. Honestly, I don't think I could do it....not having spent most of my time on ice hockey skates/roller blades!! :)

My last exciting news is that I ate at Panera Bread last night for dinner. I think I only ate there once before, when I used to work at the Pharmacy and my weekend warrior companions wanted to order out for dinner. I was surprised on how good it was...and how packed it was. I had the grilled chicken asian sesame salad. Very, very good. I was tempted to try a latte, but I really didn't need the caffeine at 6pm....maybe some morning I will try it. I also had a bit of Mit's chocolate chip cookie....and as she said, it was very good!!

Alright, I have some work to do today. Car is getting new tires, I need to go for a run, and do some studying. Everyone have a great day!!

:)

Well, I have officially been home for a week and so far everything is going well. I spent the weekend in Saratoga with the family. I really love that town...very busy...and beautiful....lots of things to do. I just wish it was racing season because I love horse racing. I haven't been in years :(

This week I am slightly busy. Have to take the car in to get its 60,000 mile check-up....also needs 2 new tires and a front end alignment. I have some pharm work to do (need to get a head start so i have more time to study for step 1).

Other than that, I am working out....trying to maintain my new figure, and just enjoying home. 5 more weeks and then its back to the grenada grind. Everyone have a great day!!

Rain, rain, rain

So I leave rainy Grenada to come home to rainy Upstate NY....AHHHH!! Actually, I don't mind because one of my favorite things to do is run in the rain, and this morning it poured!!!

So, my flight home was not very fun. Here is the story: I decided to get to the airport around 2pm, check my bags in, and then hang out at home until my 6:10pm flight. I found out the flight was postponed until 9:30pm. So, I went back home, took a nap, played on the computer and then around 6:30pm, I decided to walk to the airport because a large, dark cloud was rolling in. Then, I waited, and waited, and waited some more until 11:15pm when we finally boarded the flight. Funny short story....I got to my seat to find a Grenadian sitting in my seat. I said "Excuse me sir, you are in my seat" and he responded by saying "It took you long enough to get on the damn flight so you gave your seat up". I looked around....hardly anyone was on the flight yet because they were still back in the terminal (I was one of the first 25 to make it to the plane). Anyway, I decided not to be nice....I told him to get up out of my seat or I would make a huge scene.....he moved.....of course, he grumbled the entire time and was not very pleasant, but I slept most of the way to NYC anyway.

Landing in New York at 5:30am was great!!! Then I made my way to the Jet Blue terminal, checked into my flight, had some coffee and breakfast, and waited for my flight....which was also delayed, but for which I could care less because I was stuck in an American airport with Dunkin!!

Home has been really nice so far. I have gone to all my favorite places....Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Marshall's.....and, I had really good sushi Monday night!! Spicy tuna and an avocado vegee roll....:)

Today I'm heading out with the family to Saratoga for a nice relaxing vacation. I'll be sure to take some pics and post them next week. Everyone have a great day!!!