Christmas lives on

Is it weird that it's Jan. 26 and I still have my Christmas tree in my living room? Hey, I'm just trying to hold onto the holiday cheer.

Okay, so I'm taking it down now. It's taken me about three days. I'm kind of sad. It's almost like having a plant or goldfish die. I need to get it out of here before all the pine needles fall off onto my living room floor.

Lesson learned: Even though it's probably dead, it look pretty good.

Hitting the slopes

The ski season is on, so I am working again as a snowboard instructor. The weather has been good for teaching, but not so much for snowboarding. We are hurting for snow. My friend, Steven, and I did take a few good runs in the morning before lessons started.

My first lesson was a bunch of boys from school in the Valley. In every group, there is a kid with ADD, one who gets it first try, and one who can't even get up.

It's fun though, to see it when someone does learn something I taught them.

Lesson learned: Wear lots of sunscreen. Lots.

Relearning old tricks

Today I did a double-handed pony tail.

While this may not seem like much of a feat to those of you with normal elbows, it was a major accomplishment considering what I did to myself. (See my last post.)

I'm actually surprised to see how fast I am recovering. By Wednesday morning, most of the pain was gone. It's still difficult to bend my elbows all the way, but I'm gaining a little ground each day. Maybe it's the glucosamine chondroitin. (Don't ask me what that is, but my doctor recommended it for faster healing). For some reason, my left arm is healing quicker than my right, meaning I'm getting adept at doing things like eating and brushing my teeth left handed.

Either way, I was well enough Wednesday to work a ten-hour shift.

We'll see what happens tomorrow though. I say this because I went grocery shopping today, and carrying the bags up to my apartment was harder than I thought. I had to take one at a time. My step-mom (a.k.a. my long-distance physical therapist) is going to yell at me for that one. (Mom, I swear I tried to call a friend for help, and they weren't there).

Lessons learned: Save any more grocery shopping for when I can do a cross-armed shirt removal.

Please pass the vicodin

I've come to have a whole new appreciation for my elbows. It's amazing what you can't do without their use: wash your hair, put in contacts, put on chapstick, brush hair out of your mouth ... eat.

This newfound esteem for this particular body part came after I inured my elbows and triceps and have been unable to bend my arms for the past two days. Last Friday night, I decided to try a new weight routine that a friend showed me. Apparently it was a little too much for my wimpy arms. I was fine all day Saturday, but I woke up that night in pain, and it has gotten progressively worse ever since.

Believe me, the humor of this is not lost on me. I have, more than once, been attempting some common, every day task only to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, my arms half bent, trying in vein to reach my face, which is still about a foot away.

That's in between tears of pain, which I've been trying to minimize, since blowing my nose is out of the question. Apparently I must have strained or caused little tears in my ligaments and muscles. Though small, they are surprisingly painful.

A shot my doctor gave me yesterday, an over the counter medicine, ice, heat and a supplement he recommended made no difference. Finally today, he prescribed me a mild narcotic.

Today was my second day I was unable to go to work. I'm managing to type this only by having my laptop pushed far away from my body, and with lots of breaks.

Jenn S. came over to help me today. She cleaned my kitchen, helped me take pills, made me lunch and, I'm not joking, fed me. This experience has definitely brought our friendship to a whole new level.

My favorite moment was while we were on the way to the pharmacy to pick up my medicine. At a stoplight, I asked her to brush away my bangs from my face, which were stuck under my sunglasses. She complied, and as she was doing it, a girl walked around the truck parked beside us. "You're so beautiful," Jenn said with feigned adoration, tucking my hair behind my ears.

Lesson learned: Maybe I should leave intensive weight training to the body builders.

Tripped up

The coolest thing happened Saturday night. My friend Jenn from work wanted to go see a DJ at a local brewery, and I agreed to go. At one point, we were walking by the bar, when one of three guys sitting there motioned to me. He asked me what my name is and what I do. I replied, and told him I was a reporter for a newspaper.

He made a face and said snottily, "Oh, I see."

Just then, one of the legs of his stool spontaneously broke, and he fell to the floor. Jenn and I just about died laughing. Tip for all you men out there: When you are hitting on a girl, don't dis her profession.

Lesson learned: Don't mess with journalists. We have super powers that we don't even know about.

Back to work

After two weeks vacation, returning to work is never easy. My desk had a stack of papers about a foot high, my e-mail inbox had 400 new messages and my voicemail was packed as well.

It is actually good to be back though.

Lesson learned: Nothing like a vaction to make you love your job again.

Setting sail

So I went on my first cruise last weekend. It was a surprise for my friend Jenn's husband. There was, of course, lots of food, fruity drinks and shows.

We landed in Ensenada, Mexico the first day, where we took a bus up to a little town called La Bufadora. The tour we took wasn't through the cruise company, so it did cross my mind, as we got further and further out of town and the road got narrower and narrower, this was all a scheme to take us hostage and hold us for ransom.

We made it without being held up to the little town, were you can visit a flea market and an ocean blow hole. The water sprays about 50 feet in the air.

The second day we spent at sea. It was warm, so we spent the day by the pool, where there was a water slid.

The only thing that surprised me was how much the boat rocked. It's a little unnerving. That and how much drinks cost.

Lesson learned: People are just as bad at karaoke on a boat as on land.

Cross country

As if to say goodbye, the sun came out on our last day in Florida. We spent the day on the beach, strawberry daiquiris in hand.

Then began the marathon trip home. Amanda and I got up at 2:30 a.m. Florida time to drive the two hours to Tampa. From there, I flew across the country to Reno, where my mom had arranged to leave my car.

My arrival was just in time for a blizzard to hit over Donner Pass. It was a harry trip, and I was a little delirious when it was over.

The next morning, my friends Justin and Gabe picked me up so that we could make the six hour drive to Long Beach, where our cruise was leaving from. The cruise was a surprise for my friend Jenn S.'s husband Paul.

All told, I was traveling for about two days straight.

Lesson learned: Reno airport is not the optimal place to fly into during the winter.

Batter up

Today is the last day before some of my family members start tricking back home after spending a week in Boca Grande, so we had to have our traditional soft ball game. For the first time, we actually got to have it on a real baseball diamond.

Since we were all nursing hang overs, we decided to have it late in the afternoon. It was perfect weather for it — a gray sky and cool breeze.

We had our share of exciting moments. Terry and mom impressed me with some of the catches they made. And of course, there was plenty of trash talk.

The game ended when a thick, black cloud rolled in within about five minutes. It was a little reminiscent of the movie Armageddon, when the aliens arrived. It's pouring rain still, but we're inside having dinner that Amanda, my cousin Melissa and I prepared.

Lesson learned: I can bat, but I can't throw.

Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year! I'm writing this is a sleep-deprived stupor. Our family rang in the new year at an inn where my uncle had gotten us tickets to see a local band called "The Boca Boys." One of the highlights was dancing with my Grandfather, who has an elegant style of twirling all his granddaughters around.

All the girls, including my aunts, mom, sister and cousin, had our own dance off. It was fun to have a few drinks with them. After the band quit, we headed to another bar on the south end of the island, where another band was blaring out old rock tunes. By closing time, we all still had a enough liquor in our bloodstreams that going to bed was out of the question. So we headed to the north end of the island, where a few of the family are staying, to go in the hot tub.

We descended on a couple who was enjoying a romantic evening alone. My uncle John tried to warn them since he was the first to arrive. At some point, he embellished to us that the couple were newlyweds. We were all toasting to their happiness, as they protested, "We're not married."

We topped off the evening with a couple of pieces of key lime pie, which has been the staple dessert here in Boca. We all got to bed at almost 5 a.m.

Lesson learned: I think I might break my ten-day alcohol consumption streak tonight.