Teddles.com

Thursdays are always busy with Steve working with me. We get to work harder and smarter together. But the days are always longer than they should be. My bad.

But after work tonight we got to play with some out of town friends. We met Mitch and Dave from Des Moines and Palm Springs, and Gus and Bob from Carson City and Palm Springs for dinner.

We had suggested meeting up at Urban Mo's (formerly Hamburger Mary's) in Hillcrest. We are used to the noise level, but I think it was a bit off putting to the other guys at first. We talked about other places to dine, but the decibels toned down a bit and we decided to stay for dinner after all. It's a fun, gay atmosphere with decent food and good drinks.

It was great to spend a bit of time with Gus and Bob. We really don't know them very well, but have enjoyed our time with them in Quartzsite and once at our house in Palm Springs for dinner. (That was the near disasterous dinner where the Lasagne didn't get hot enough because the oven isn't calibrated right.) Even with the noise level at Mo's we got to visit and get to know them a bit better.

It's always a joy to spend time with Dave and Mitch. We like them very much.

Dinner was good and the cocktails helped us to relax after a hard day. It was nice to end it with friends.

I emailed web host Ipower's tech support and have not heard back from them. I suspect that they are extremely busy. If this happened to me it had to happen to many more, and probably some commercial clients, who by nature have to take precedence. Oh well. They will get to me.

In the meantime, the sun is shining and I feel good again after that flu bug, and what could be so very bad?

I got a notice from my website hosting company that they had moved the website to a new platform and that everything should be the same yadda yadda yadda.

Guess what! None of the pictures work and the gallery is disabled. I don't know what else doesn't work but I'm going to try it all out and see what I can find.

I emailed my website/computer Guru Scott, and he said it was fixable, but for now it will remain broken. He is on a gay scuba trip with some really hot men. I saw the pics of most of them and WOW. I told him to wait till he gets back to work on it. Keep your focus on scuba and cute men!

Man, I hope he can't walk straight when he gets back from that trip.

Steve had to go to work for me today. Usually he does all my prep work and all of my colors on Thursday, but I needed him to take over today. I'm just too sick to make it.

I was surprised that Steve was a bit nervous about actually doing the whole job on my clients. They love him and understand that he won't do it exactly like me. But they will be fresh and clean and he is a talented hairdresser so I know they will look wonderful.

At least he wasn't overbooked like I usually get. Several of my clients just put off haircuts until next week and a couple went to their usual substitute Craig.

Hopefully Steve is having a good time and figuring out that what I do is so often smoke and mirrors.

I sure hope I can go back tomorrow though. I just don't want to spread this around.

Sick as a dog today. The flu hit me like a brick in less than an hour last night. Chills, fever, cough - everything. Thank goodness today is a day off. I just don't know if I will be able to work tomorrow.

Let's hope this is gone in the AM. Fat Chance.

Steve is finally at the hand doctor finding out what's going on with his hand. Lots of pain and weakness. It took forever to get him to do anything about it. What with all his other surgeries and stuff I kind of understand, but it only gets worse by waiting..

Gads. We sound like old people.
Shit.

Work was really crazy this week. Actually I was really crazy this week. I had forgotten to write down people's appointments and booked over them so the days were way busier than they are supposed to be, therefore longer than I like too. Like 12 hours on Thursday. Thank goodness Steve is there on Thursdays to help. I could never have done it without him.

Thursday night we went to the Gathering to see Jack and Wendy (Our bartender and waitress friends). They finally set a wedding date in Las Vegas.

Also there was Mike and Heather, Rick Ferris and Jack from Liberty Tax. We had a fun Valentine's evening and a good steak dinner before dragging back home to bed.

Friday was another day where I was double booked due to my own mistakes. It all worked out but I really had to work fast and efficiently. But I knew all day we had an event to look forward to in the evening.

Ari and Alex were doing another HouseBoi event. Ari is such a promoter and thinks up the most wonderful events for their furniture and men's clothing store. This evening was Manicures and Martinis!

Manicurists were set up at belly up tables in the main part of the store doing simple file, buff and massage manicures, while giving information on electric massage units and cream to smooth out the wrinkles. My manicure was actually really good.

Alex was in the back part of the showroom making Appletini's and Cosmopolitans. And they were delicious too.

The crowd started to gather just after we arived and as usual, HouseBoi events draw a wonderful and eclectic group. I estimate that at the height of the party there were 80-90 people snacking on pastries and having martinis while shopping for shirts, hip jeans and home accessories.

We met some new folks like Chris Holcombe and saw kids we met at previous events, like Mike. Unfortunately Ari's folks, George and Karen got in too late from Scottsdale to make the event. (We really hoped to see them, but that is a tiring drive.)

All in all it was a good week. Profitable and entertaining. I'l get rested up this weekend laying my the pool in Palm Springs. Poor me.

What a fun weekend we had this week. Well, they are all fun, but I feel like I got a lot accomplished. Actually I know I spent a lot of money.

When we got to Palm Springs Chuck had prepared a wonderful meatloaf dinner for us. It hade been so long since I had eaten meatloaf and it was just delicious. The cocktails he had ready for us were certainly welcome after the long workweek.

The pool heater got finished on Saturday. It was now too warm to ice skate on so we took a dip. It was so special to have the use of our pool again. It has been since October that it has just been too cold to use. Hurray!

Sunday we got up and had some rolls and coffee and waited for Chuck's coworker Oscar to arrive to move the tile. 1800 square feet of 24 X 24 inch tile was stacked in the driveway. We needed to get it at least inside the fence so it was protected from theft. Oscar got a day laborer and got the job done in about 40 minutes.

After they left we headed off for Costco. I had seen the set of three theater chairs (actually three connected electric recliners ). They originally sold for $1599 Costco price, but then they added a $340 Manufacturers instant rebate which I just couldn't pass up. We had talked and talked and decided that the media room really needed theater seating and this was $1400 less that the other similar stuff we saw at stores in Palm Springs. We arranged delivery with a delivery service named Callen Delivery (Great) and headed out.

Then it was off to the Pool Store for a thermal blanket to keep the heat in and hopefully the dirt out of the pool. I found out today that Ricardo, our pool guy doesn't like them much and says the dirt goes back in the pool when you pull the cover closed again. Well, if it works fine, and if it doesn't we won't use it unless we are gone and want keep the water from evaporatiing. We shall see.

I got the furnace pilot light lit again. This was the first time I did it by myself so I was pleased. I also called the Gas Company and set up a consultation for a gas meter upgrade since we have so many gas appliances now. You know, the pool heater, three water heaters and two furnaces.

Sunday night we had called Hildy and invited her to meet us for dinner at the Rainbow. she came to the house for a drink. I had also called Mitch and Dave and they were going there too so we decided to dine together. It was a fun evening and good to see Hildy and the boys. By the end I was falling asleep during converstion. One of my lesser attractive habits. I slept through the Grammy Awards. Damn.

Steve arranged for 2 quotes on laying the tile for this morning and both are acceptable, which is a miracle, but I think I know who I want to use. One was more professional and spoke perfect English. It may not matter sometimes, but I want to be able to communicate the fact that I want this job done as perfect as possible. It will drive me nuts if it isn't.

We are going to wait for Fidel to bring in a bid from his tile guy and then make our decision. I really think it is already made. We'll wait and see.

We got home in time to go and get Steve's car. The trans is fixed to the tune of $2300 dollars. That hurts a budget, but it had to be done. Now we have to get Mom's car back to her and that episode will be closed.

But look what we got done this weekend. Yeah, expensive but all necessary and at good prices.
Nice.

I called the Pulmonologist this morning, and the news really is good. He did have a copy of the new cat scan report after all and nothing has changed with the nodule in my lung. Hurray!!!

Now maybe I can relax.

We worked hard today. Steve was with me and we are a good team on Thursdays. I can book heavier and he does all my color work and finishes my perms while I get on with other clients. We really get a lot done on Thursday.

Steve found out that his transmission will cost him $2100 dollars to fix. Yikes. But we will manage. More hard work Thursdays!

We had made arrangements to go out with Ari and Alex from HouseBoi, our favorite shop here in North Park. They are great guys and we always have fun with them. They are talented and interesting and it's great to get to spend time with them. They are really busy, popular guys.

We went to a new restaurant called BITE. Man was it good. It's tapas style dining with a great - and yes - imaginative menu. I can't even tell you how many thing we chose and all of them better than the next. Ari ordered as they had been several times and were friendly with the owners.

Turns out that the chef/owner was the owner of one of our all time favorite restaurants, Cafe W. It burned down a few years ago and we always wondered where he went. We got to say hi briefly and establish contact again. We're so glad to find him. No wonder the food was so good.

A great day for me! Expensive for Steve.

We took Steve's car to Santee to Co-Op Transmission for the work to be done. They sounded sure that it wouldn't need to be replaced. Let's hope for the best.

The rest of the day, well - I will start with some background.

In October I had a routine cat scan on my lungs to make sure that the minor pulmonary fibrosis that the rheumatoid arthritis had caused last year had not progressed. Indeed it had not.

However a nodule in my lung has appeared. It's only 5 milimeters but the doctor said we would check again in 3 months with a high contrast cat scan to see what was happening.

I had that cat scan last week, with an appointment today for the results. After getting good news that it had not changed, I discovered that a copy of the report for the new cat scan was not in my file.

Now I'm wondering if the doctor was reading the old report. If he was looking at the discovery report then of course it would show the same size. The med assisant told me she would make sure the doctor saw the new report she just ordered and someone would call.

No call the rest of the day. With good/bad news just hours away I'm a bit crazy. I've been under control and putting it in the back of my mind for 3 months and now this.Man....

We had dinner scheduled with Mother tonight so we went ahead and took her to a new restaurant called Avenue Five in the Banker's Hill area. Not impressed.

The restaurant was nice enough in the decor and the service was really wonderful, attentive but not overbearing. The menu, however, was limited and unimaginative. When the food came it was like that commercial on TV right now - Elf food. It was tiny.

Steve and Mother had the New York steak. Well, part if one anyway. There were three slices of steak with broccolini and potatoes. I mean, come on. If you order a steak, you don't expect them to make one steak serve three people. Oh well.

My rack of lamb was prepared well, and arranged over some potatoes au gratin (mediocre) and some chopped vegetables that were swimming in olive oil. Not nice.

The good thing was they had a full bar and the prices were not too bad. The steak slices were $26 and the rack of lamb was only $27.

We had a nice evening with Mother and it took my mind off the medical stuff.
Let's hope I get that call tomorrow. I'm getting a bit stressed.

First thing this morning Fidel came over and showed me how to light the heater pilot. Thanks Fidel. Now I won't have to call for every little thing.

The next visitor was Ricardo from Crystal Pools to talk to us about a pool heater. He has a good price and a generous rebate he is passing on to us so we gave him the go ahead to install the heater. It should be done by this weekend. That means we can swim instead of ice skate. Yay!!!!

We packed up and got home so we could take Steve's car to the mechanic for the transmission. Mike at John Woods Automotive told Steve to replace it would be around $3,000. We both thought that sounded high compared to the guys in Santee who rebuilt out motorhome transmission on the 72 Executive. We know Mike and he wouldn't ever take advantage, but he doesn't work on transmissions. He replaces them.

We called Mark in Santee and he said it was not high for replacing the transmission but that it didn't need replacing if it was still shifting. Probably a governor burnout. He said that mechanics who don't work on transmissions naturally replace them. He can rebuild it for a lot less.

We went and picked up the car from Mike and told him what we were going to do and he understood, so Wednesday we will take it out to Mark.

Wish us luck.

Wow. Today was one interesting day.

We started the day with breakfast at Ricks in North Palm Springs. The Jamaican seasoned shredded pork and eggs with black beans was incredible!

Then we went down Ramon to the old swapmeet grounds for an RV show. Sure enough the same Monaco Knight we looked at in Quartzsite was there. It was smaller than I remembered but still a nice rig. Interesting though, the price went up 30K. Not OK.

We saw several coaches that fit the bill but it just sn't time for us to make that move. There was a 36' coach by Thor that was sweet, but I don't want to buy new. Will have to check the internet for previously loved coaches.

Afterwards we went home. That is when the windstorm struck.

Man! First the amazingly strong wind blew dust so thick you couldn't see through it down the street to the south. In seconds it was blowing back to the north. This wasn't just breezes. From what we heard they had 95 MPH winds in one of the valleys nearby and 65 MPH winds, not gusts, at Whitewater. I have never seen winds like these. It went on for almost 2 hours. It even pulled a green palm frond off a tree in our front yard.

Many big trees were down throughout Palm Springs and the power was off on Arenas. We were looking for a place to eat after the Super Bowl and drove around amazed at the debris and destruction. Fences were down and cars were crushed by falling trees. Our neighbor said he had never seen winds like these before. Hope we don't see them anytime soon again.

Luckily we had no damage and no trees fell on our cars or anything. I removed an entire trash back of floating debris from the pool, but there was more and dirt on the bottom. Made me sad but at least we had no damage.

Everything quieted down before bedtime thank goodness. Still no heat in our side. Tomorrow!

We hadn't been to PS in three weeks, what with Steve being sick and then the trip to Quartzsite. Man was it good to walk into the house.

First thing that hit us was that our bedroom half of the house had no heat. I guessed that Fidel had turned it off when he installed a water heater and it never got relit. Chuck has tried 4 times and so we have to wait. I won't bug Fidel on a Sunday and we can hang out in the media room where the heat is plentiful. We have extra blankets so we won't freeze.

We had dinner at Rainbow and ran into Dave and Mitch and some friends of theirs from Canada. They were having a lot of fun. We had met the boys with them last year at Quartzsite when they came to visit their uncle at the TOW campsite.

The day had gotten long for me so we headed right home after dinner.