Las Vegas...

This weekend is the Lady GaGa concert in Las Vegas. I am very excited to travel to Vegas for numerous reasons.

#1 It's been far too long since I have had a Vegas trip. The last time I was in Vegas ,I believe, was a stop on our way to our Mexican cruise.

#2 Leslie will be traveling with us to Vegas. Leslie moved to Pittsburgh a few months ago, so it will be fun to have her on this trip.

#3 We are staying at the Mandalay Bay Casino. I LOVE Mandalay Bay, but have never stayed there. I am thrilled to be staying in such a nice hotel.

#4 The Gypsy. This is one of my favorite places to visit in Vegas. A dive gay bar where craziness always ensues.

#5 The amazingly talented Lady GaGa who I know will not disappoint.

#6 Shopping. Vegas has some of the greatest shopping ever! Even just window shopping in Vegas keeps me content.

#7 A nice break before school begins. I start working full-time again on Monday. Vegas will be the perfect little re-energizer before I have to fully commit to the 3rd grade.

#8 Nora's. One of the finest Italian restaurants I have ever dined.

#9 Road Trip! I think the length of time it takes to get to Vegas is just right for a road trip.

#10 Getting the hell away from my old job and out of Utah! This is my last week of work at my "summer job" and I am thrilled to be saying "goodbye" by taking off two days and heading to LAS VEGAS! What a perfect way to end the summer!

Do You Believe in the Power of the Cookie?

Yesterday I lunched at a little Chinese diner that I frequent. At the end of the meal our standard fortune cookie was delivered with the bill. I cracked my cookie open and read… “An Unexpected Payment Is Waiting For You.” Later that day, when I got home and checked our mail, I found a check from my school that was completely unexpected. Coincidence?

Turns out the check is my food stipend for my trip to Seattle…but still…how crazy is that? I should have bought a lotto ticket right then and there!

Update

Apparently I do not have a faulty gallbladder. I spoke to my doctor and that does not seem to be the issue. SORT OF. My doctor said my gallbladder looked normal, but then proceeded to tell me I have something called "fatty liver disease." Usually this is caused two ways. #1 too much fat in your diet and #2 too much alcohol in your diet. Now, when I looked up fatty liver disease on the Internet I read that usually when the cause of this is pertaining to option #1 it means the person is Obese. I would say that I have a few pounds to lose, but I am no where close to being an Obese person. So...most likely #2 applies to me more. When we spoke my doctor told me to go easy on the fatty food and alcohol and we will follow up in 6 months and see if anything changes. I have noticed that when I don't drink, and I eat healthier and exercise that I do feel better. However, she said that the stomach pain I have been feeling for the last six months really shouldn't be attributed to this new finding, as fatty liver doesn't have any general symptoms, and most people don't know they even have it. So...now I have two options. Option 1...wait and see if it gets better. Option 2...go see a gastroenterologist. My dad has his gallbladder out a few months ago and nothing EVER showed up on his Ultrasound, so there is a slight chance it could still be gallbladder related. I think I'm going to try to live a healthier lifestyle and see if it gets any better. If not, it's off to the tummy doctor.

Ultra-Hell!

I had the extremely unpleasant experience of having an ultrasound taken this morning. My ribs are still throbbing. The reason for this ultrasound is that there is a slight possibility I have a bad Gallbladder, and the ultrasound was our test to find out. Gallbladder. Ugh. Bane of my existence. Even the word Gallbladder is ugly. But I digress.

Now, when I hear the word "ultrasound," I think of delicate pregnant women, with their massive bellies, having cool jelly squirted onto their tummies, and then receiving a gentle massage by a plastic camera. The procedure seems calm, and soothing in the movies, and at the end of it all you usually find out something wonderful that goes along with your participation in the miracle of life. It's joyous, exciting, and pleasant.

My ultrasound however hurt like a MOTHER! First off, the jelly they squirt on you is hot. I didn't know this, nor did I prepare for it. I'm not sure if the jelly is always served warm, or if this particular tube had been recently heated in the microwave for that days usage, but when it shot across my stomach the fear of being scalded to death caused a scream to leap from my lips. "Oh, is that too warm?" The technician inquired.

Next, they had me lie on my side to begin the ultrasound. The camera they use moves smoothly enough across the skin, but when the technician finds an area she needs to photograph she digs the camera into your body, then asks you to take a deep breath and hold it. When this is being done against a fleshly part of your stomach, it is mildly uncomfortable. When it is being done to your rib cage, it makes you want to die. The worst part of it IS the fact that the technician asks you to take a deep breath and hold it. Easy enough under normal circumstances, but when you are already in pain, you are sort of holding your breath as a result of the shallow breathing you are naturally doing. Having to inhale deeply and then focus on holding it, while your ribs are being separated by a camera, makes it a tad bit difficult. Also, when the technician forgets to tell you to start breathing again (which happened on several occasions) it is rather unbearable. In fact, at one point, after finally picking up on my discomfort level, the technician asked if I was doing OK.

"Is this supposed to hurt?" I winced.

"Yeah, when I'm by your ribs it will be a bit uncomfortable."

"Oh good, because I thought maybe I was dying. Do you press that hard on pregnant women?"

"Well, we don't really need to see their ribs, so they generally don't complain." The technician responded with a smirk on her face that led me to wonder if she thought I was being a baby about it.

Finally, the most agonizing part of the whole ordeal is the fact that ultrasound technicians can't tell you whether they found anything or not. My own technician had to call in an older, more experienced technician, who then talked about how difficult it was to see anything in my body, which leads me to believe they didn't find what they were searching for. Unfortunately I have no idea because they can't read me my results, my doctor has to. So...until I hear from my doctor I have no idea what is going on. The Gallbladder saga continues.

At least the ultra-hell is done with. My bruised ribs will eventually feel back to normal. I hope.

Look What I Can Do!

3 hours later and the new book case looks like this...

Yeah, I'm pretty handy. I did it all by myself!

1 1/2 hours after that and the book case looks like this...

Mad book shelf decorating skills right?

A day and a 1/2 later and the office looks like this...

AND THIS...

These are horrible pictures, especially this one, but at least you can the Robin's Egg Blue wall.

Home Office is coming along nicely.

Like a fish.

Swimming is hard. Especially when you have never had a lesson a day in your life. My parents believed in the "toss him in and let him figure it out" method. I hung onto the wall until I was 13 years old and taught myself how to swim. Lately though, I am on a bit of a health kick and part of that healthy lifestyle change means I am trying to take up swimming. I joined a local Recreational Center where there is a small gym (perfect for weight training), basketball court with indoor track (perfect for winter), classes like yoga and jazzercise (perfect for homos), and of course a pool with Olympic size lanes. Well, at least I think they are Olympic size. They seem rather large to me. I bought me a pair of nice goggles and a nose plug, which looks completely ridiculous on me, and I have been swimming twice. The first time I was completely comfortable as I had a lane to myself. I tried all sorts of different lap styles. The butterfly/frogger one, the going backwards type, the breast stroke (that's a real one right?), the go under water and just kick your feet while keeping your arms out straight, the swim as hard as you can and see how long it takes you to get to the end, 27 seconds btw. As you can tell, I have NO idea what I am doing. Last night when I went to swim the lanes were completely full. I debated leaving, but decided this might be a common occurrence at the pool and I needed to get over my fears if I want to become a person with a swimmers body, the ultimate goal. I sought out the kindest looking person, someone who would not yell at me, too much, if I happened to splash their face while flopping around next to them. It was a woman around my age with a nice smile.

I asked, "Mind if I share your lane?"

She responded sweetly, "Of course. No problem."

So far, so good.

When I entered the lane I said, "So, I'm not a swimmer, what is the etiquette for sharing a lane?"

"Well, you really just share sides if there are only two of us. I'll take the left if you want to swim right. If there are more than two then most people circle swim. There is plenty of room though for us."

"Great! Thanks." I replied.

I peeled the goggles over my noggin and onto my eyes, applied my ridiculous nose plug, and began my best attempt at looking like someone who can actually swim. When I got to the end of the pool my lane partner offered up a tip...

"You should try to focus on shoulder roll and keeping your body horizontal, not pulling with your arms or kicking with your legs. It will help with your resistance."

"Ok." I respond energetically. AND, even though I have no idea what she means, I take her advice as if I do, and on the next lap I try to focus on rolling my shoulders and not kicking my feet so much. This leads me to sinking directly to the bottom on the pool and then flopping heavily on the surface to get back into a stride. I pull myself together and attempt another lap.

More advice...

"It's more of a slapping technique. You cup your hands like reaching into a pickle jar, and then penetrate the water with your fingers angled down and fully extend your arm well beneath your head."

Fist off, a stranger said "penetrate" to me, which makes me giggle inside. But after listening to her advice I decide to try this pickle-slap method. More flailing ensued.

I am unrelenting, and give it another go. Even more advice.

"Try to keep yourself horizontal by keeping your head in line with your spine — you should be looking straight down."

This one seems doable. Keep your head down. Got it. I give it a whirl and end up swimming into the side of the wall.

"Watch out for that wall. It's tough when you are on the sides."

Look. I know this lady was probably a swim coach, or swam on a high school team. It was very kind of her to try to help me out. I'm sure by jumping in the pool and announcing, "I'm not a swimmer," I opened the flood gates for advice. However, this is a leisurely activity I am trying out. I wasn't prepared to take an official swim lesson. Even though I'm sure what she was saying would help my technique, without a proper hands on lesson I am completely lost. Thank God at that moment swim lessons began and they asked all adults to exit the pool. An energetic 5 year old jumped into our lane and began swimming the entire length at a rapid pace. As I was toweling off my swim partner nudged me and said, "See. Look how he slaps the water!"

I smiled, picked up my tee shirt, and walked away.

I saw an advertisement for adult swim lessons at the center. I may need to sign up for them if I am going to take this new goal seriously. I really want to continue swimming, but after last night's adventure I am beginning to wonder if people are watching me in the pool and thinking, "What is this dude doing? Why isn't he penetrating the water with his pickle-slap?"

Yes, yes...lessons may be beneficial.

Get It Together...

Current Goals:

1. Become a swimmer-I got the goggles and nose plug and I actually swam for 20 minutes today. Go me!

2. Save money-I can't spend any money on myself until my trip to Las Vegas in August.

3. Floss and brush-I do this already, don't think I'm disgusting. I just need to work on the proper technique so my dentist will stop yelling at me.

4. Branch out musically-Thanks to a "mellow" night in St. George I realized that I need some new stuff on my ipod. Anyone with fantastic artists/songs send them my way.

5. Meditate-I had decided a long time ago I was going to try to meditate for one week solid. At the time I never made it come to fruition. Perhaps it is time to give it another shot?

6. Read more-With the start of book club this goal is well on its way to getting accomplished.

7. Drink 64 ounces of water at least 5 days a week: I definitely don’t drink enough water on a regular basis, and given there are so many health benefits, this will help me get back on the healthy rehydration train.

8. Get out more-What's happening out there that is cool and different?

9. Stop caring what people think-I don't want to be so paranoid anymore. I feel like it causes lots of anxiety and unneeded worry. STOP ALREADY.

10. Attain more tranquility in my life-With the accomplishment of said goals above this one will happen.

Out of curiosity I was reading about ways to obtain personal goals and I came across an interesting article. It is a list of "The World's Most Popular Goals." Check it out here.

Goals or a "Bucket List?" I'm not really sure.