What's in the bag? Volume 1

Welcome to What's in the Bag - volume 1! AKA The adventures of the traveling asthmatic!

Today's topic is functional clothing and the featured manufacturer is ExOfficio! It's not just about their Give and Go underwear...

...although I knew right off, it was a MUST! I never thought I'd be talking about travel underwear on my blog, but this is important. Since we'll be in almost constant motion for three weeks through 4 countries, stopping at a laundramat seems unlikely. With Give and Go, I know I can wash them out at night and they'll be dry in the morning! I already own a few pairs, but took this opportunity to add to my collection!

I know it looks like a jumble, but these articles of clothing were carefully chosen for their breathability (still sweating from the prednisone) as well as being wrinkle resistant, thin, light weight and easy to pack. My Amphi pants will shed stains and wrinkles, have a multilude of pockets and will easily roll up to size of a lemon in my luggage! I am bringing one funnel neck thermal for the Scottish Highlands, my "Excential Zippy" shirt for layering on the coast of Ireland, and one of my favorites...

My Aza burnout shirt with dry release® and this super nifty zippered pocket built into the sleeve which is perfect for.... ta duh! An inhaler! This shirt also has a sweetheart neckline, looks great with a jaunty scarf at dinner and can be washed at night since it dries 4x faster than cotton. Hello practicality!

So here's my salute to ExOfficio! Well done!

AG out!

For the rookies...

1. Prep work is everything.

2. Take the pills, not the liquid

3. Know that the pills will disable your usual "indicators". Assume that you have to go.

4. Read number three again.

5. Get a cool doctor who lets you choose the music for your procedure.

6. You can't go wrong with the theme from Star Trek (where no man has gone before)

7. You won't remember much after the first few bars except your doctor asking "isn't it weird to hear the song without the "whoosh" of the Enterprise flying by....

8. ... until he wakes you up saying "your innards are really twisty. We have to flip you again."

9. Afterwards they give you apple juice that tastes like nectar of the gods!

10. IHOP!

That is all!

Fear and Loathing in Boise

This shot was about an hour before we hit Boise. It was here that I began to notice something was not quite right in a gurgly sort of way. I blamed it on the late heavy breakfast and vowed to eat light for dinner... although frankly, I didn't think I could face another salad after the one in Jackson Hole.

We had considered driving beyond Boise, but when we looked at what was available in Northeast Oregon in terms of food and lodging we decided to err on the side of caution knowing that we would still have one heck of a drive the next day.

Following dinner... the gurgling manifested itself into something.... unspeakable. In the swimming pool. If I were talking to my Blisters, I would used the code "I needed a cornfield... desperately". Except the cornfield would ideally be situated no more than 5 feet away. But there was no public cornfield at the pool and my personal cornfield was back in the hotel room where TOG was watching football. So... I ran... soaking wet... towel flapping. And there I stayed... for hours. And as I sat in solitude, I chanted over and over in my head "that flippin' salad in Jackson Hole..."

Actually, I said some far worse things than that. Especially during my early morning encore performances at 2am, 3 am, etc... By 6am, when TOG wanted to leave I felt like I might not die after all. Barely.

I left Boise with mixed feelings... a sore behind and a sincere gratitude that we had stopped when we did... but my memories of Boise are not happy ones, although I place the blame firmly and appropriately in Jackson Hole.

Once I had my camera in hand, I slipped into a familiar mode of documenting the scenery. We were heading NW out of Idaho and would cut diagonally across NE Oregon which my dudes at Google Maps indicated was pretty desolate. The shot above is still Idaho.

This was shortly after we crossed into Oregon. You can just see the Blue Mountains in the background.

Towns were few and far between. There was a lot of high desert and then you'd drop down into a little town/oasis like this...

...where oddly enough we saw pelicans on the river.

We also drove next to the Blue Mountains for a while and it's easy to see why they're called that!

At last we began dropping down from the high desert toward the Columbia River and Washington State. This car in front of us was probably one of about 3 that we saw going through Oregon.

We did stop for a couple shots, because the views were amazing...

Really amazing...

Once we crossed into Washington, I pretty much put the camera away. Something about being worn out after 5 days on the road!

Thanks for sticking with me on this road trip. It took me a lot longer than I thought to get it documented!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming!

AG out!

PS~ I wrote to the owners of the hotel we stayed in Jackson Hole and they refunded a portion of our room fee since we got locked out of breakfast the next morning. All's well that ends well... etc.

The rumor is true...

(K3 and TOG somewhere in Idaho!)

That old saw about how you go on vacation and then when you come back you still have all the work you missed sitting on your desk?

True!

And at home, the box of peaches TOG and I bought in Yakima that must be processed.

End result?

No photo editing. No sorting. No writing.

So I'll do some of that this weekend. Promise!

In the meantime...

(K1 and I on Mother's Day, lamenting our dental issues)

Please wish my beloved K1 a happy birthday. September 11th used to be a normal birthday for her. Sadly, 2001 turned it into a not so great day to have a birthday.

I realize that K1 doesn't get a lot of face time on the blog, a side effect of not living with us and thus out of range of my sick humor camera lens! Aside from being Ben's terrific Mommy, K1 is hysterically funny, opinionated, caring and stubborn. The poor girl is exactly like her father and I!

Happy Birthday K1! Mom loves you! (Dad does too, but it's not his blog!)

AG out!

Readiness?

I snapped this the other day on the way down to main street in my little town. It may have been when K3 and I were on our way to see Eclipse. I had the camera set up totally wrong, but I loved the image of the island across the sound and the Olympic Mountains in the background. Although the weather was spectacularly crappy this June, we have had the occasional nice day... followed by a couple days of cloudy and 65!

All of that is coming to an end this week as temps climb into the mid to upper 80's. We'll see if I can keep from whining about the warm weather I wished for!

In other news, I think I leave for Virginia (and Blogfest!) in 9 days! Which means I've entered the mental preparation phase. This consists of:

• wishing I wasn't so "jiggly"
• wishing I were mildly thinner (I know they'll love me anyway)
• wishing the self tanner I've been smearing on my legs religously would kick in
• wishing my hair wouldn't frizz in the humidity
• wishing I were better with my camera in stead of (still) struggling along
• wishing my leg hair would grow so I could wax before I leave
• wishing this blotch on my forehead would develop into something I could treat instead of sitting there teasing me

Stay tuned for the next phase which consists of panic attacks about packing and wondering if my summer clothes still fit.

With the warm weather on the way, drop by the Asthmatic Kitchen to see what I'm scarfing down huge bowls of!

What are you eating?

AG out!  

Update on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 6:59AM by Asthmagirl

Good grief! I just checked the forecast... they're predicting 93 by Friday. All bets are off, let the whining commence!

Survival!

The event is over and we survived!

My event was to construct and run a golf cart obstacle course. It was very entertaining and the teams had a great time "conquering" it!

Now, I would like to collapse.

Instead I'm going to get dressed and go to work, and finish putting away games and dis-assembling signs and cleaning up my office.

Before I sign off, I would like to thank yesterday's sponsors...

The butt crack of dawn

Sweat

Sunscreen

Water pistols

Darts that bounced off Balloons instead of popping them

Foam dice with round edges that kept rolling and rolling and....

Illegally driving the golf cart down city streets without a ticket

Asthma attacks (mild) that sneak up on you

Camera batteries that die in the middle of the scavenger hunt

Granitas!

Air conditioning on the drive home

Daughters that did the dishes while you were at work

And the last minute sponsor, the 85 degree day instead of the cool 65 and showers that was predicted

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

AG out!

The Alley

While in Victoria, we took K3 to see Fan Tan Alley, promoted as the narrowest "street" in Canada. Given that you can't get a car down it, I don't see how it qualifies as a street, but who am I to quibble?

I'm a non-quibbler... it's part of my endless charm.

That and ability to be functional on very little sleep!

Back to the alley... which is filled with adorable little shops. I saw this cutie guy. I thought he was calling my name...

Yes, he's blurry. As it turns out, he was surrounded by incense, thus the lungs seized up and I took this picture as I was hurrying out of the shop, without adjusting any of my settings. Bother!

So we loitered in the alley, my inhaler and I, waiting for my husband and child.

Yet another one of my charms... the ability to loiter inconspicuously while I wait for the inhaler to kick in!

I am also able to multi task by snapping even more pictures while I loiter in the alley. I loved this door! I thought it said Hogwarts for a moment, but no... Still a very appealing door!

The view of the alley looking the other way. I love the light seeping in!

And then this shot....

Best name for a store EVAH!

No, I didn't go in, I was still wheezy and TOG had to walk me down by the harbor to re-inflate my lungs! But next time, I'm skipping the incense shop and going in here. Because that bare bulb, just inside the shop...? It's calling to me!

Happy Thursday!

CatchCon 2010 - Deadlist Catch ala Seattle!

What a busy weekend! Here's my CatchCon experience... I'll start off with two words:

Amazing!

Lines!

On one hand it was the dream experience... the captains are here, the boats are here, there's fun and games and this air of excitement that everyone feels...

And then there's the lines... a good 45 minutes to get in the door and register, an hour and a half wait to get on the Wizard and Northwestern. Lines for food, not enough seating for the panel discussions. I think because they had so few people last year, they didn't anticipate the crowd this year. There folks from all over the US and overseas there.

There was also a bit of chaos (thankfully). The rules for captain's autographs at the end of the day were: you could choose one captain and get one item autographed. So much for my hope of getting an item autographed by each of them to auction off at my agency's auction this year... And the thought of standing in those lines made my think I would just take off early and go home to K3. Then, after the captain's panel, all the captains were out on the pier and frankly... they were mobbed, politely mobbed. People were getting pictures, autographs, hugs... And I participated. I desperately wanted to be there, and I desperately wanted to get home and be with K3. So I took advantage of the opportunity...! here's my photo odyssey!

The captain's panel was awesome! Thank goodness for my 24-300 lens because I assure you, I was all the way in the back! The captains were unedited, salty and hilarious...

Just like I hoped they would be... They had fantastic stories about Cap'n Phil and each other and the pranks that never make the show. Totally entertaining!

Afterwards, I went outside and waited for my shot at a boat tour...

This is out on the pier... the space needle looks to be the same height as the mast from the Wizard (left), but it's much taller!

And this is where I was able to get two ladies from Oregon to save my place in line while I photo stalked captains and crew...!

Captain Keith... who was taller than I thought!

Jake from the Northwestern, who was thinner than I thought, and really nice!

Captain Sig!!!!!

And then... you get to the front of the line and onto the boats. It's surreal because you see these boats on the show with waves coming over the deck and ice all over them... did you know it takes like $80,000 in fuel to bring them down to Seattle?

Anyway... suddenly, there you are standing on the deck! And they have deckhands there waiting to have their picture taken with you! And you feel like you know them because you've been watching them forever! They also had helpers on the boats that you just hand your camera to and then you walk up and get your picture taken...

So here I am on the Wizard!

I did not know Paul, on the left... but I remember when Lynn, on the right was a greenhorn, maybe two seasons ago. And now I'm standing there getting my picture taken with him....!

On to the Northwestern, where I totally geeked out. Do not scroll down unless you're okay with that!

You've been warned!

I felt like I was gonna pop! Here I am ON THE NORTHWESTERN!!!! Standing between Nick and Matt!

When I saw Nick (on the right) I just blurted out "Oh my gosh, it's really you!" and hugged him! Poor guy. And Matt must have thought I was a loser because I couldn't even look at him!

Thankfully, when the lady taking the shot said I looked like an idiot (paraphrasing), Nick said it was cool to take one where I was actually able to compose myself...

Thusly!

So there you have it! A pretty cool experience all in all! I'm really glad I went! The Discovery channel crew and the captains and the deck hands were awesome! And in case you're interested, they had the best iced tea ever there. The cookies were pretty good too!

AG out!

The Meteor

Not so long ago, following K3's being run over, TOG's bout with swine flu and the loss of TOG's step dad, Asthmagirl's boss took her out to lunch.

Asthmagirl must preface this further by saying that her boss inherited her from the CEO who retired last year. Thus althought they have worked together for 6 years, they have not worked TOGETHER. Their working relationship is still developing. So when he said lets go to lunch, she was not sure what to expect.]

After discussing the minor upheaval which was (is?) her life and how it might be handled at work, he looked at her and said "I swear I don't know what will happen to you next. I expect to recieve a call some morning saying that you can't come in because a meteor has struck your house."

Yet another digression here... Asthmagirl cannot seem to tell a story in sequence to save her life.

You know those people that have an occurrence in their life and then say things like "I knew it would happen to me!"? Asthmagirl is not that person. She is always utterly surprised because her glass is half full, is it not? This is why she never recognizes the Asthma Lungs barreling toward her until it is too late to dodge them.

So there the comment hung and Asthmagirl found herself rather amused by it. So much so that she shared it with a comrade at work, KT. Oh how they laughed... A meteor... [insert lilting laughter]. Then they joked about it. Was this the meteor? Was that the meteor? [insert more laughter except this time a scoffing guffaw, cuz REALLY...!]

And the reason Asthmagirl could joke about it so readily was that she never expected the meteor. Glass half full and all that... Thus, no one could be more surprised than our wheezy heroine to have the meteor knock on the door (metaphorically) and announce "It is I!"

As it turns out... Asthmagirl had a boo boo in her arm pit which TOG assured her was from over shaving. Except she hadn't. (what with caring for K3 and all, Asthmagirl has neglected certain procedures and is regretfylly rockin' 'a 5 o' clock shadow') So she went to the rookie Dr. because she didn't have time to drive all those miles to see Dr. M because K3 was having surgery the next day. The rookie Dr. said "this too shall pass" and Asthmagirl heaved a great sigh (as much as the lungs will allow) and thought 'crisis averted'! There was much rejoicing!

And then it came back except it was like it was Barry Bonds on a steroid bender and it was all going medevil on her arm. So finally TOG drove the feisty and reluctant AG to Dr M's yesterday. AG was fully prepared for "this too shall pass" and instead got "we better swab you for MRSA".

Asthmagirl is now taking 3 different antibiotics and drinking a barrel gallon (3.78 liters for my Canadian readers) of water with each dose. Her glass is more than half full, it runneth over! And even through the the thick frames of her rose colored glasses, Asthmagirl is pretty sure she recognizes the meteor.

It was laughing at her...

AG out!

[Asthmagirl sincerely hopes that you will laugh with her. It really is funny!]

Retard

Retard

What a dreadful, ugly, soul stealing, hope shattering, gut wrenching word. If this word makes you uncomfortable, I recommend you read no further.

Retard was in the news last week and after much thought, I decided I wanted to respond in my own forum:

The news coverage started when the press reported that back in August, in a closed white house meeting, Rahm Emmanuel called some members of congress “effing retards”.

Predictably, there was much negative coverage, but it didn’t seem like much of an outcry until Sarah Palin called on Obama to fire Emmanuel stating “his comments were offensive to children with developmental disabilities.”

But it does not end there. A Palin aide criticized an aide of Texas Gov. Rick Perry for using the word “retarded” in a conference call regarding political logistics during his campaign.

Finally, in an effort to call attention to how ultra sensitive we’ve become, Rush Limbaugh stood forth with his assertions that “Our politically correct society is acting like some giant insult’s taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards”.

Asked for a comment, Sarah Palin’s aide responded by saying “Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name calling at the expense of others is disrespectful.”

I’m stopping there because this piece isn’t purposed for political observations. It’s personal.

When K3 was labeled retarded early in her kindergarten career, I took it personally. Having the label Retarded applied to your child meant the end of possibilities. The hope and vision I had for my child came to a screeching halt. Moving from “delayed” to retarded implied not just a different life, but a partial life, a life with limited opportunities… Further, it gave me many sleepless nights thinking of how she would be perceived by her peers… devalued, mocked, ignored….

I became hyper sensitive and hyper vigilant about short bus jokes, retard references and name calling. I coached… I educated…I got in blazing arguments with family members… I might have continued down that path, but I came to realize that it wasn’t a healthy focus. Changing the words people spoke was a far cry from changing their thoughts of K3 or anyone else with a disability.

And I needed to concentrate on my daughter and her needs. Policing everyone in my vicinity wasn’t a productive use of my energy. And as a strategy, it lacked realism. The odds that I could change the world to conform to my daughter’s needs were nil. I was far more likely to succeed in keeping my daughter’s corner of the world K3-friendly. And long term, I needed to focus on getting K3 “world ready”.

And that I suppose may be the difference between someone still coming to terms with a child with a disability… or it may just be me. Either way, I’m happy to be at peace with K3’s differences.

In closing, my opinion is that people like Rush Limbaugh harbor a special kind of evil in his heart, one that goes beyond ignorance or naiveté or even showmanship. If our purpose on this planet is to help each other and accept our differences and live in harmony, I think Mr. Limbaugh shows his limitations through both his thoughts and his words.

My little K3 is worlds ahead of him. 

AG out!