The Trees are Confused

Fornleap day all of the Bradford pear trees in town decided to bloom. This is at least two to four weeks early. I saw a couple of redbud trees thinking about it too.

Yes it was 70 degrees today and warmer even tomorrow. Oh my.

My New Haircut

Friday I used my groupon for a haircut/color. It was probably in the top five of worst salon experiences I've ever had. The color and cut are fine; it was the overall experience that was the problem.

First my appointment was at 4 and was going to take about 3 hours (which seemed way too long). Right before I left work I got a call saying she was going to be late because the person ahead was taking longer and it would be 4:30-5 for my appointment. I thought she said 4:35 so I left work at 4:15 to get there. I waited until about 5:15 to even get to her station. (STRIKE ONE) 

I had told her on the phone I wanted a reddish brown color. When I got there she thought I wanted highlights and then she was just going to try and match the color on my head. Not what I wanted. I finally convinced her I wanted RED BROWN. Then she had to do something to "deactivate" all of the box color from my head. She had told me on the phone she needed to do that but didn't tell me she was going to charge me $10 because that was a "separate" application than the offer. (STRIKE TWO).

So I got "deactivated" then had to get that all dry before she could color. Then she mixed up the color. By this time everyone else in the salon was leaving. My hair took more than one bowl of color so she had to mix up 1/2 a bowl (another $5). She wasn't even coloring it to the end because I had decided to get three inches cut off. Finally got that all in and then sat there for 30 minutes under the dryer. It is now 7:30 and I'm starving. Dan is texting me wondering where I am since I had told him I would be home around 7. I had to tell him that she hadn't even starting cutting yet.

Finally got to the haircut. I don't know what kind of haircut doesn't need to have the part right to start the cut but she wouldn't part it where I wanted it until after she did the cut. By this time I was fed up. This was not the relaxing fun experience I wanted. She dried my hair and was going to do my bangs after that. She cut them once and I said they were fine but they weren't. I just wanted out of there. I cut them at home myself to the length I wanted. I also had to trim the length in places because it was so off. I got home at 9pm. That means I was there for over 4 hours. There is no way that a haircut and color should take that long. (STRIKE THREE)

I have written groupon about the problems I had. If the extra charges had been stated in the ad I would never have bought it. I think I won't complain about coloring my hair at home anymore.

My self portrait

Friday Fragments - Two Months Down?

Yes! It's time for Friday Fragments. I had to collect my thoughts to put this one together so it is actually lunchtime as I write this. Normally I'm more organized.

**Yesterday I went to a conference for research administrators across our state. You know the keynote speaker is good when he pops this video into his presentation and we all know the feeling.

**The speaker also used a new presentation software that I had never seen and it looked so cool. It's called Prezi and it makes Powerpoint look like it was from the 1950's.

**Torture Physical Therapy is going well. I have figured out I am not supposed to wear my elbow brace all the time because it is actually making other muscles get worse. So I have to find a balance.

**Today is the day for the big haircut/color. I am definitely getting a change but still be age appropriate. Pictures will be posted.

**I've been playing Words with Friends on my ipad and I really suck at it. I was never good at scrabble and it shows. I finally had to give up one game when I was down 300 points. If anyone wants to play, I'm treinke65.

**I'm excited about a post that I've already written but can't post for another 2 weeks. Let's just say it involved bacon.

**Can you believe that it is almost March? That means 1/6 of 2012 is gone.

**How many people do you think will remember that we have an extra day this February? I know I'll notice because it means one more day to wait to get paid.

Cow Creek

Yes, that's the name of a creek I drove over today while going to a meeting in another town. I just had to laugh. When I drove over it on the way out of town I saw cows. Not just any cows, but Belted Galloways. I had never seen these before. They are black with a huge white stripe in the middle.

I thought I had seen every cow before.

National Parks

This week's hodgepodge had a few questions that I didn't have any answers to so I just picked one to write about.

Do you make it a point to visit State/National Parks when you travel or even in your own hometown? What's your favorite?


National parks...that's what we do. I think I've been to almost all of the major ones (Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Tetons, Glacier, Great Smokey Mountian, Acadia, Olympic, Redwoods. Grand Canyon). The two biggies left are Yosemite and Denali. We'll get Denali done this summer and Yosemite will probably be in the next five years.

So what's my favorite? They are all so different. The first one is probably my favorite for various reasons: Rocky Mountain. I was pregnant and it was the first real vacation Dan and I took where we weren't seeing family. We've been back a couple of times and it still is beautiful.

Olympic was cool because it looked like a scary movie set with all the moss hanging everywhere and it rained which always we laugh at because of course it rained...its a rain forest.


Grand Canyon we were at in the winter and there was snow all around. Glacier was foggy so we didn't see much...may have to go back there.

Yellowstone/Tetons were very nice. We've been there a couple of times and Dan has fallen in love with Tetons. The wildlife is great in late May/early June. The buffalo were so funny; they were jumping (I had never seen anything like that before and we have buffalo everywhere here).


My least favorite was Great Smokey Mountain. We found it covered in graffiti, trash and just a general sense of lack of respect from the people visiting. Perhaps it was because we had been in the big mountains and these seemed small. Perhaps it was just an East Coast bias that we have and the touristic nature of surrounding cities. I know many people who love it but it isn't for us.

What I'm looking forward to: DENALI!!!!! I so hope that we have clear weather so we can see Mount McKinley and we see lots of wildlife. I can say that I've seen most of what they have there in national parks already except for the grizzly. The bears at Yellowstone were much smaller. We plan on doing a flight over Denali and hopefully the mountain too. I will have so many pictures it will be hard to narrow them down. But oh what fun that will be.


None of these pictures are mine but aren't they beautiful! 

What would you pay?

My drawer handle fell off at work Friday. I wrote the furniture place and they told me they could put a work order in for it. $20/hour minimum 2 hours. Or I could wait until they have someone in the area and they will stop by. I said I would wait. I can still get into it.

Would you pay $40 to fix this? I would do it myself but its got some funky screw system on the inside that you can't reach unless you have a special tool.

Rainbows

I love that seeing a rainbow brings a smile to my face. This was the view out my window at work this afternoon. That's a great way to end the work day!

Amazing race

Tonight season 20 of Amazing Race started. I've always wanted to be on this show. Every season I always guess as to what I would do with each challenge. Tonight when they asked who had a sense of direction the answer was Dan and then the other person was going to have to tandem sky dive. That would have worked out for us.

Dan and I discussed everything and we've decided that to be on the show you have to sky dive, bungee jump and have to conquer Ny fear of heights. Knowing now to drive a stick shift is a must. Lucky for us we can do that so its just the other stuff to accomplish.

I doubt we will ever be on the show but we can dream cant we?

My new vacuum

So who knew I would be so excited about my new vacuum. I got it all out of the box and put together. Then I tried it out and I love it! I can't believe how much dog hair was on the floor. It ended up filling up and I had to empty it after once around the house. And we are clean people.

Dan says it is the little things that amuse me and he is right. Guess that's what comes with age.

Friday Fragments

Time for Mrs.4444 to host Friday Fragments for all of us to empty our minds of random stuff.

**I ordered a new vacuum cleaner this week and it has been sitting in its box for three days in my entry way. The old Hoover was 25 years old and we've replaced belts, bags, cords and who knows what else and it just kept going. I think it bit the dust last weekend though although it could just be a belt. But I'm tired of it so got a bagless one from Penneys with free shipping. I hope it works well.

**Dan is going to take me shopping at "his" store to look for a rain coat and rain pants for our Alaska trip. You may wonder what "his" store is. Goodwill and Salvation Army. I swear he finds so many things there for a fraction of the cost of stores. And some of it is brand new. When he lost so much weight it was the only way we could afford to clothe him and he just keeps going back. I think the only way he gets anything from a store is if I buy it for him.

**At a wine tasting this week they had a really nice wine. Unfortunately it isn't available for purchase in Oklahoma until next week. Why were you giving it to us this week then? I'll never remember the name to buy it next week.

**This week's weather: snow, freezing fog, fog, cloudy, sunny.

**The torture physical therapy is going well. I think my shoulder is starting to feel better. Not sure about my elbow. But I actually sort of enjoy the pain when I get scraped by the devices because I know I'm not imaging not feeling good.

**Whitney kept asking for a pillow pet. Dan decided to get her one for Valentine's Day. So she not only got it (a purple unicorn) but it was shipped to her. It is amazing what getting a package at college does to you.

**Had to pay our home owner insurance and I can't believe how much it went up without us making a claim. Guess all the tornado damage around raised the rates. Luckily the car insurance went down thanks to Whitney turning 19 last fall.

**This weekend I have to finish our taxes so I can fill out FAFSA. I got most of it done except for some business stuff for Dan so I know we are getting a refund from the feds. The state though will be getting more money from us. I swear it doesn't matter how much we send them in estimated tax, we always owe. This is one crazy state I tell you.

The World News that We Never Hear

I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable about what is happening in the world. I go to all the news sites and scan the headlines and if something is intriguing I read the story. I also watch two different versions of the nightly news (well Dan does and I'm in the room so that means I watch too). So you would think I would know where things are happening. But alas the news media seems to all get fixated on the same story and then move on to something else.

For example, we all know about the unrest in Syria. But did you know that the Republic of Maldives just had a coup? Most of us haven't even heard of Maldives. It is a string of islands in the Indian Ocean. The only reason I know any of this is because we have a very expensive piece of equipment there for an experiment by another university. And we need it back so we can do an experiment this summer. And now there is a coup and the equipment is in the middle of it. Its not something you can just put on a plane, it is a big truck that has to go on a boat. And it has lots of shiny objects that people might want to take.

The good news is that everyone was safe. We think they are going to be able to get the truck back.

The moral of this story is just because we think we know about the world, we really don't. We only know what the media decides is important. And that is a sad commentary on all of us.

Hodgepodge - Presidential Visits

1. George Washington-Abraham Lincoln-Thomas Jefferson...who would you most like to meet and why?
Thomas Jefferson. He was quite the inventor and I like the fact that on his grave he doesn't even mention being President.

2. What's your favorite chain restaurant?
We really don't eat at chain restaurants especially on trips. If I had to choose something I would say Domino's Pizza only because that seems to be the pizza we get if we order something.

3. I spied this question on the Bears at Home blog last week and she gave me permission to 
steal 
borrow it-

When you look back on your life, do you imagine you'll think about the goals you failed to meet with regret? Or will you look at what you accomplished and say: it was good?

You can't look back at life with regrets. If you do that all you feel is sorrow. You have to say I did the best I could and move on.

4. Grapefruit-take 'em or leave 'em? Given the choice between an orange and a grapefruit which would you choose? Would you prefer it served as is or squeezed into juice?

I have an allergy to citrus so I would say neither. Back when I could eat that stuff, I would go grapefruit. I would section it off an put a spoon of sugar on it. Sort of negates the healthiness of it.

5. When was the last time you cleaned out a closet? Is there a closet in your home that currently needs cleaning? What are you waiting for?
I sort of cleaned my closet this weekend by picking up stuff off the floor and throwing away shoes. But the last deep clean of a closet was Whitney's after she went to college.

6. You get to have lunch with three famous people...who would you like to see round your table?

Tom Hanks, David Letterman and Sandra Bullock. I think I'd be entertained.

 

7. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your ability to parallel park?

I would say 8-9. I had to do it last month after not doing it for a few years and boom boom I was in with one shot.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I bought a groupon for a haircut and color because I desperately need it. I've never had my hair professionally colored, strictly a box girl here. But I just am getting so tired of pulling out all the stuff and doing it. Plus I'm tired of my haircut and the person I've been going to doesn't seem to be helpful in finding a new look. So I've made my appointment. I have to wait until next Friday and my bangs are going crazy. She said three hours because she has to make sure that none of the box color will react with the color she puts on. I've never spent that long at a salon so this will be a new experience. The best part, the cost was about what a regular haircut and a box of color cost.

Freezing Fog

Yesterday's snow melted pretty quickly. The roads seemed to have dried out mostly because they were warm from our unusual winter. This morning we woke up to fog. Not just fog but freezing fog. There were more accidents this morning during rush hour than yesterday. People just didn't drive with their lights on (come on people you learned that in drivers ed) or they were going too fast and couldn't stop on the black ice. 

You can see from the picture how thick the fog was. And this was after it had started to clear. It really was one of the worst fogs we've had here in a long time.

My work building in the fog

Snow photo

This is a test for posting a photo from my iPad that I took frommy camera. This is not an easy way to do it.

Baby it's cold out there

Winter has arrived. I think we all forgot what to do when it is cold. I pulled out my super warm coat to wear to church this morning and I never got too hot on the 15 minute drive. You know it's cold for that to happen.

Tonight's warm dish is chicken and rice casserole. It smells good cooking and will feed us twice.

We may get the dreaded icy mix tonight. It always seems that is what we get here. Black ice and inexperienced drivers do not mix well.

I did a little shopping after church but haven't left my house since 12:30 today. Been researching more Alaska lodging options (we finally have days/places figured out) and I ordered a new vacuum cleaner. I love free shipping.

Hope all of you stay warm and toasty as the temperatures dip.

GUMBO!

I'm so happy. It was cold enough to make gumbo today! Because our gumbo is the best I've ever had, I figured I would be nice and share it.

Gumbo (adapted from an Emeril Lagasse recipe)

6 pieces of chicken - we use thighs
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup plus 2T vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 bay leaves
1lb smoked sausage, sliced
5 cans chicken stock

Heat 2T oil in cast irondutch oven over med heat. Season chicken with salt/pepper and dust with 1/4 cup flour. Sear chicken until golden brown on each side about 2-3 mins. Remove and set aside. WARNING - this next part is called Cajun napalm! Heat the remaining oil in pot until smoking hot. Add flour and whisk smooth. Continue stirring until it gets as dark as you want. We like milk chocolate clor. Turn off heat and add vegetables. Stir off heat for 2 mins then turn to medium and stir 2 more mins. Add salt and cayenne, sausage and bay leaves. Keep stirring for 3-4 mins. Add stock. Stir until roux mixture and stock ad well combined. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to med-low. Cook uncovered for one hour, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken and simmer for two hours. Skim off any fat that rises to the surface. Remove from heat and remove bay leaves. Serve over rice.

We debone our chicken at the end and put back in the pot so it makes it easier to eat.

This is definitely something you need a lot of time for. We got a new non-stick stock pot and used that for all the steps after cooking the vegetables. Things fit better and it was less messy. You need to cook the roux in cast iron - do not try it anything else.

This turns out really thick and I know most gumbos are thinner. I like it this way. You don't need a lot to fill you up and you get lots of leftovers.

I took photos from my iPad but it isn't letting me load them here. So guess photos will have to wait until leftovers.

WOOHOO. Got the photo added.

Friday Fragments

Lots of randomness in my head today.

**Did anybody do the Papa John's coin toss game and win a free pizza? I did! Can you say two nights dinner?

**My stupid laptop this morning lost all its bluetooth connections. After looking at it for 30 minutes I had to call our IT department. It took them an hour to get here and another hour to fix it. Let's just say I'm not happy with said laptop. Although it is working now.

**While laptop was being worked on I dusted my office. I hate doing that and only use those opportunities because otherwise I'm just sitting around. I also pulled old personnel files to shred.

**Two treatments of physical therapy with those torture devices and I am hopeful for success. My arm is not as sore in certain places so that has to be the therapy.

**I have two work email addresses. One was forwarded to the other. Unfortunately the one that was forwarding switched and I haven't gotten any email from that address for two months. Today it got fixed. Good thing most people use my "good" email because I only had 200 email messages there. Mostly announcement types. But there were a few that people probably wondered what the heck I was doing in not responding.

**I have successfully emptied out the freezer more this week (although I did put some chicken in it) so we can cook this weekend. And it will be cool so we can cook warm food! Hoping for gumbo.

**I'm going to keep the ipad. I think I'm getting used to it enough to make it work. I still need to pull out the glasses though for some of it, darn it.

**Why can't they invent something for far-sightedness like they have for near-sightedness? I did Lasik so I could get rid of contacts and now I have to wear glasses to read. I'll pay to have it done and I'm not afraid of it like I was last time.

**My wine buddy is turning 40 next week. Needless to say I think you all know what I'll buy for a gift.

Hope everyone's Friday starts the weekend off right. If not, I hope Saturday is better than Friday!

Hodgepodge - Love Edition

1. What is something you are loving right now?

I'm loving that we haven't had any bad weather this winter. Of course this is the first year that if there were school snow days it wouldn't affect us, but still, I don't enjoy the ice that we usually get.

2. Paris, Venice, New York, and Rome are considered four of the most romantic cities in the world. Which one would you most like to visit?

I've been to Paris so that is out. I would like to go to New York but I don't consider it a romantic city. I've heard Venice is dirty so that sort of takes the romance out of it. Plus I've been to the Venetian hotel in Vegas so doesn't that count? (LOL) So I would say Rome. There is so much to do and see and Whitney seems to think that Italian is a romantic language.

3. Are you a romantic?

No I'm too practical for that. Never been a touchy-feely person.

4. What's your favorite love story made for the Big Screen?

When Harry Met Sally. All time quote movie for Dan and I. And who doesn't love a story where it took a couple 10+ years to figure out that they could be friends and then fall in love.

5. Everyone loves Pooh bear and friends...which character are you most like and why? Click here for help in answering this question.
Oh the choices are endless. If you asked me who Dan was, the whole family would say Eyeore. But for me, I think it would have to be Kanga or Owl. Rabbit is too neurotic, Tigger too energetic, Piglet too timid.

6. What's the best chocolate something you've ever eaten?

French dark chocolate from La Maison de Chocolat in Paris. Just a little piece and you were in heaven. It really has spoiled me for any American chocolate.

7. Share a favorite quote about love.

God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

8. Insert your own random thought here.
New physical therapy started Monday. It is the Graston Technique. These are the lovely torture devices that are used to go over tissue. They warn that you will feel pain and may bruise. Two bruises showed up within hours exactly where I knew they would. I'm not sure if it feels better but will give it a few more tries. It isn't hurting any worse than before.

Super Bowl Musings

The DVR was made for the Super Bowl. Usually it is to skip the commercials but this day it is used to skip through the game.

Best commercials
Anything with a dog. OK, I'm a sucker for cute dogs. I did watch the entire 2 hours of the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet after all. So the best dog commercials were the Skechers ad where the bulldog beats the greyhounds and then moonwalks across the finish line and also the Doritos ad where the dog bribes the guy with chips to say he doesn't know where the cat is even though the dog "disposed" of him earlier. That Doritos ad was made for $20 and won the creator $1 million. Take that big ad agencies.

I liked the etrade baby commercial this time. The kid in the baby room speed dating was pretty funny.

I also noticed that the majority of commercials seemed to be aimed at people in their 40-50's. I think its because we have money.

None of the budweiser commercials were good. Bring back the frogs and clydesdales please.

And how many car/movie commercials can we have? Who really buys a car based on those? And I'm so sick of the go daddy commercials. Does anyone really like them?

You can check out any of the ads and vote for your favorites today at USA Today.

I also enjoyed the halftime show. Dan couldn't get passed the lip sync but I enjoyed the production. Because I think that's what it is supposed to be...a production. I don't think she embarrassed herself. Although if you watch the video for her new song, it is embarrassing. Plus the song is pretty silly.

Saturday happenings

Today has been spent narrowing down Alaska stuff. We picked a dog sled tour that hopefully will have a spot open. Dan called to find out info but since it's Saturday no one answered so we will just have to wait until Monday. Then we have picked a place to stay the first two nights in Seward. Of course we picked the one place that doesn't do online reservations so we have to wait until they call us back.

Next will be rooms at Denali and probably one other place, the train in Skagway and figure out what we w I'll do in Ketchikan. There are four other cruise ships there with us and I'm not sure how that town absorbs all of them.

Friday Fragments

Time to empty my brain again with all the tidbits that clog it up. Maybe that means today will be productive if I get this out of my system.



One of the crazy parts of my job is that I have about 30 electric company accounts all over the state. One of the research projects needs electricity on site so my name is on all of them. So I get all of the different coop magazines. I always laugh when I see the lists of what people are looking for. You know - a photo of the 1946 kindergarten class of some podunk school in the middle of nowhere. I wonder how many of these people actually find it.

This week was successful in eating things out of the freezer. The only thing we bought for dinner this week was a head of lettuce. Not that I can tell if the freezer is getting emptier because Dan put a big bag of ice in it which has taken up the room of all the food we just ate.

I swear my office has a draft that there is nowhere else in the building. The thermostat says 73 degrees but I'm freezing. I put my sweater on and turn on the space heater and still cold. What's up with that?

I probably should book my flights for DC for a meeting next month but I'm torn as to which airport to fly to. I usually go to Reagan and take the metro but I can get direct flights to Dulles and then take a taxi for 45 minutes to get to my hotel. It probably is a wash on how much both would cost. I hate this indecision. At least I have a hotel reservation.

Reality tv shows I watch are slowly ending. Only a couple more weeks of Top Chef and then I'll be down to just Project Runway. Phew. Good thing since I added Alcatraz to my watch list.

We had a small power outage at home on Tuesday afternoon. Didn't think anything of it. However it screwed up the dvr and all of our shows that we have set to tape as a series didn't want to record. So that meant I missed the first 25 minutes of Glee. A very bad week for that to happen. Lucky my child could tell me what happened and then the next day I watched it On Demand. Got the DVR to fixed to tape the series shows too. Pain in the butt.

I'm figuring out the Ipad a little more. Got Sudoku loaded so now I'm playing that all the time. I may even try Words with Friends.

This weekend is taxes and hotel reservation weekend. And of course watching Superbowl commercials.

My Reflections on Groundhog Day

Once again we have a made up day. Don't you love that. Maybe I can get in the business of making up holidays.

But back to Groundhog Day. Who ever thought a groundhog would be a weather predictor? I know all those old farmer's almanac stuff but really a groundhog? Its an animal that lives in the ground? I don't think it knows much. And what makes this one groundhog in some small Pennsylvania town know more than any other groundhog?

Today it saw its shadow so we are supposed to have six more weeks of winter. Winter has felt like early spring here so does that mean we have six more weeks of this weather? If so I'll take it. But does that mean that spring will get extended or that summer will start early. I don't want an early summer. After last summer's brutal heat I don't want to start any earlier than we have to.

So in conclusion I don't think any rodent is predicting the weather. Go back in your hole little groundhog and bite the hand that pulls you out. Nobody should be disturbing your slumber.

Taxes the Hodgepodge Way

Time for this week's questions. 

1. It's that most wonderful time of the year...tax season! Do you complete your own returns or farm that job out to the professionals?

I do them myself. I've used TurboTax for years but last year switched to TaxACT because it was half the price. I don't know why people go to places like H&R Block when they charge a fortune for even a simple return. Whitney's taxes are free online and I can submit them electronically. There are a lot of places that if you qualify you can do it for free.
With Dan's business it gets more complicated but the programs walk you through everything. Plus it never fails that I've forgotten to find something so as it asks questions I can find my documents. If I took it to someone to do I'd be going back and forth so much I'd wear tread off the tires.

2. This next question comes from Kansas Bob...he posed it in his response to something I asked in an earlier Wednesday post and I asked him if I could add it to the Hodgepodge some day. Today's the day....

Which do you think has changed you more-love or pain?

Love. Love helps you get through pain.

3. Tangerine Tango has been named color of the year for 2012. Your thoughts? Would I find this color anywhere in your house? How about in your closet? If not, will you be adding this color to your life in some way in 2012? If you're not sure what tangerine tango looks like click here.

I don't like orange in any form. I don't look good in it. I survived four years of Whitney going to a school which had orange as one of their colors. No more orange of any shade for me.

4. Are you a collector? What do you collect and does it get admired, used, and/or dusted regularly?

The only collections I have are at work on top of my file cabinet. I wrote about some of them here.

5. February is National Heart Month...besides a green salad what is one tasty heart healthy dish you like to prepare?

What do they classify as heart healthy? I would love to say fish or vegetables but that just isn't happening. So maybe a marinated grilled chicken breast cooked on the George Foreman grill.

6. When was the last time you had car trouble?

Earlier this month I got to take my car in for the third time because the electronic key wouldn't lock or unlock intermittingly. I believe they think I'm crazy since it never happens there. They changed all the electronics in the key but it still happens, just not as frequently. I think I need to keep a log of when it happens so I can show them next time I bring it in.

7. Have you been more demanding on yourself lately or less? Is that a good trend?

I have no idea. I don't think I'm demanding. But aren't those the people who really are demanding but think they aren't?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I got referred to a new physical therapist for my chronic tennis elbow. She is supposed to be trained in the Graston Technique which is supposed to help chronic tendonitis. The tools look torturous and it says you may bruise and hurt while you going through treatment. Which means I WILL bruise and hurt like heck. But it will be worth it if I can get rid of this pain.