SUPER BOWL, HERE WE COME!

Many years ago, soon after Lou & I met, I gave him some gift giving advice if he wanted to steal my heart. I told him, “Don’t buy me jewelry. It doesn’t really interest me. AND if you were going to spend that much money, take me somewhere instead! Preferably a sporting event!” He has followed that advice wonderfully over the years with lots of fantastic trips & getaways.

We have been to the Daytona 500 (my favorite driver, Jeff Gordon, won) & Talladega 500 NASCAR races & the Indianapolis 500 open wheel auto race. The Giants beat the Phillies at the Major League Baseball playoff game he surprised me with in 2010 (the Giants went on to win their first World Series). There have been several NBA playoff games that we attended back when the Sacramento Kings were contenders. A couple years ago we watched the U.S. Open Golf Tournament & a professional tennis tournament in Palm Springs where all the big name players competed. And just this year we saw the America’s Cup yacht racing finals on San Francisco Bay.

BUT this year’s Christmas gift just may top the list! For several years, Lou has entered a lottery to be chosen to purchase Super Bowl tickets. Only 500 to 1000 pairs of tickets are given out for sale to the general public each year. They aren’t cheap, but going on Stub Hub or other resale sites jacks the price up three or four times or more of the face value.

There is only one entry per address allowed & it must be sent via registered mail. For many years Lou has entered using his dad’s, his sister’s, my sister’s, my son’s & my dad’s addresses in addition to ours. Each year we have all received postcards telling us we weren’t chosen & thanking us for participating – UNTIL THIS YEAR!

My sister, Karen, received an envelope advising her that she had the opportunity to purchase two tickets to the 2014 Super Bowl at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey!! But, there was a stipulation that this year (they had changed the rules without informing the entrants) ONLY the person whose name was on the letter could purchase the tickets & MUST pick them up with a photo ID & the credit card used for purchase, in person, at the stadium. Damn it!

Well, Karen & I figured out how to do it within minutes. We each have a credit card on my dad’s account in our names. She purchases the tickets using that credit card. Then she goes to the DMV, says she lost her driver’s license & gets a new one. Now, she gives me the old license & the credit card in her name. We are similar height & weight, both have long blonde hair & I just pull a ski cap over my head & pick up the tickets. Voila!

But Lou wasn’t too keen on our deceptive scheme & vetoed it. Hey, I know we could have totally pulled it off. However, Lou emailed & phoned the NFL office in charge of the lottery tickets. At first he was told they wouldn’t allow the transfer. The whole purpose of this new system is to prevent people from obtaining tickets & scalping them. Between Lou & Karen making several phone calls & sending emails back & forth (& an NFL guy who happened to go to bat for us with his supervisor), they made it happen! Lou was allowed to purchase the tickets for his use!

We have put together a week long trip to New Jersey & New York in the dead of winter so please, everyone, cross your fingers that the weather doesn’t turn nasty with a huge blizzard in early February! But if it does, what the hell, we’ll figure it out. It’s all part of the adventure!

Sure, I already know that my Christmas present is a trip to the Super Bowl, BUT half the fun of any gift is the anticipation – & I have a little over two months to let the excitement build. How cool is that? This is way better than a surprise. And WAY, WAY better than any pearl necklace or diamond earrings.

Does my sweetie know how to give a gift or what???? THANK YOU! Imagine – a trip to the SUPER BOWL! Be still my heart. How much better does it get for a true sports fan? What events could be left? Hmmm . . . . maybe the NBA All Star Game or the Olympics sometime – hint, hint. J

IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME

Tell me, have any of you ever looked at something in the grocery store & thought, “Yum, that looks good”, only to find out later that it was not even close to a good choice? Well, that happened to me today at Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s (for those of you who don’t have them nearby) is a great store with lots of good food, reasonable prices, easy to prepare & fairly nutritious.

Of course, the VERY best thing about Trader Joe’s is “Two Buck Chuck” or now, “Two & a Half Buck Chuck” since they raised the price. It’s a great, everyday wine that used to cost $1.99 a bottle & is now $2.49 a bottle. It really pissed off the wine snobs several years ago when their Chardonnay beat some of the $20+ bottles in a blind taste test.

But, I digress. Today I was shopping at Trader Joe’s. While looking for something interesting for dinner, I spotted some frozen salmon burgers. I’m not a huge fan of fish but do try to eat it once in awhile for the health benefits. I’m always searching for an interesting, tasty way to consume fish. These salmon burgers sounded pretty good – along with the sweet potato tots that were nearby.

I was picturing these delicious ground up salmon burgers that are seared on the grill with just a bit of crispiness to them. It sounded like a great choice for dinner & I was getting just a little bit hungry. I grabbed the salmon, the sweet potato tots & a couple of artichokes – along with a few bottles of Chuck. Woo hoo, dinner tonight was in the bag!

Fast forward a few hours to the time to get dinner started. I pulled the salmon burgers from the freezer along with the tater tots. When you think back to your childhood, I mean, who didn’t love tater tots? They were so good! Of course, my guess is that my mom fried them in oil to make them so crispy & tasty…..& loaded with fat & other non-nutritious things. Now days, they are baked & most of the bad stuff has been removed, leaving them relatively tasteless.

There were several ways to prepare the salmon burgers – in the oven, in a frying pan or on the grill. Well, it’s November & raining here, the grill was out. I started in the oven but after a few minutes they were not looking the least bit appetizing. So, I pulled out a frying pan, added some olive oil & plopped them in there. By now, I was getting the old “this seemed like a good idea at the time, but . . . ” feelings.

Again, not being a fan of fish in general & not having any real clue how to cook it or make it appetizing, the salmon burgers began to ooze this white, goopy stuff as they cooked. As Charley would say, “Ooooh, that’s gross!” And she would have been one hundred percent right. It was pretty gross. But dinner was too far along to make any drastic changes by now.

To his credit, Lou never complains about my culinary skills, or lack there of, for that matter. I put the salmon burgers (with most of the icky white goop cooked out), sweet potato tots & artichokes on the table. He ate it all & said it was good. Ya gotta love that man. As for me, not so much. It was okay at best.

So, please, tell me honestly, how many of you have had the experience of thinking what a great idea this was at the time only to have it dawn on you half way through the preparation that this kind of sucks & you screwed up?

My guess is that this is not the last time one of my cooking adventures will go awry but I need to remember a few things when it comes to dinner preparation. 1) Don’t shop when you are kind of hungry & anything looks good, 2) Don’t believe that the pictures on the boxes will look anything like the actual product, & 3) If it seems like a good idea at the time, it probably isn’t, so don’t do it!

THE JOYS OF AIR TRAVEL

Disclaimer: If anyone is offended by colorful language then maybe you had better skip this post because their just aren't enough non-curse words to adequately describe the current experience of flying halfway around the world. I wrote this on our recent cruise a couple days after arriving.

I'll start by asking a question. When exactly did flying become a fucking nightmare? I am old enough to recall when air travel was half the adventure of a far away vacation. It used to be such a civilized endeavor – room to actually stretch out a little, fellow passengers eager to ask about your plans, friendly flight attendants & service that included edible meals.

When I graduated from high school, a friend & I actually drove to San Francisco airport to simply wander around watching the passengers arrive & depart. This was when anyone could walk to the gates, not just ticketed passengers who had been frisked, searched, scanned, questioned & radiated with xrays. Anyway, we gazed at the airplanes jetting off to faraway places & fantasized about traveling the world since we were out of school!

Now, 45 years later I am literally halfway around the world on a cruise ship that departed Istanbul, Turkey. Currently, all is well, smooth seas, full stomach & a semi-decent night's sleep behind me. My high school fantasy of jetting off to foreign lands is far from the reality of present day air travel.

Here is my experience of flying from SFO to Istanbul. Our itinerary began with a drive to San Francisco (about two hours from home) on Saturday afternoon where we spent the night in a park 'n fly hotel before our 7 AM flight on Sunday morning. We awoke, not so bright-eyed & bushy tailed, at 3:45 AM on Sunday morning to begin our adventure.

The five hour flight from SFO to Newark, New Jersey was on time & glitch-free. Our initial itinerary had included a 1 hour 40 minute connection to our international flight to Istanbul. Experience is a wonderful teacher. After missing our flight in New York on our trip to Egypt several years ago, we both agreed, nope, that is not enough time. No way! We changed the initial flight to an earlier one that allowed us 3 hours & 35 minutes before the international flight.

After a leisurely lunch & sitting in the Newark airport for close to 3 hours we thought we were home free. Oh, what silly travelers! Just as I went to the bathroom for the last time before boarding, they made an announcement. That is never a good thing. Our plane had mechanical issues. Shit, shit, shit! They were getting a different plane & our gate would now be changed.

The mass exodus began as we all trekked to gate C102 from C128, not nearly as short a walk as it sounds. Our new plane would be landing from London shortly, then needed to be cleaned, fueled & restocked for us. Now our time was getting too close for comfort. It is something that is totally out of our control but a few well placed swear words really do seem to ease the stress – son of a fucking bitch! Here we go again. We finally left Newark 2-1/2 hours late.

You are so crammed into airplanes nowdays that even short people like me struggle to get comfortable. If you are 6'3” like Lou forget about any semblance of comfort. It makes for a miserable 9-1/2 hours when the seat reclines maybe 3 inches & you only have room to cross your legs if you pull your foot up around thigh level & force it over your knee.

The trip to the tiny bathroom down the narrow aisle has you bouncing off of arms & shoulders or tripping over errant feet of soundly sleeping people. How do they sleep like that? It also involves standing in a line with passengers & flight attendants squeezing by initiating body contact that is normally reserved for sexual partners! And, by the way, what do people do in airline bathrooms that takes so damn long???

None of this eases the somewhat unnerving experience of knowing you are hurtling your way at 500+ miles per hour across the night sky, over the ocean, with 200 other people, in a long skinny tube that can crash & kill you at anytime. When you also consider that this huge heavy aircraft has somehow propelled itself off the ground into the air & is bouncing all over said sky, it is best not to even think about it. Yes, it amazes me how quickly we can travel the world by air now but I sure as hell don't understand how it all works.

Fortunately, the procedures at Istanbul airport moved quickly & we arrived at the gangway of our cruise ship a full 11 minutes prior to the deadline for boarding. Nothing to it! The reason it was such a tight schedule is that a week prior to sailing the cruise line informed us that they had changed the departure time from 8 PM to 6 PM. That coupled with a two hour plus delay in Newark used up our cushion of time, but we made it! Ah, the joys of air travel.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

For the past week I've been thinking about how in the world I am going to describe the feelings of finally visiting the two places I've most wanted to see in the whole world – The Acropolis in Athens, Greece & the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus near Kusadasi, Turkey. The only word that comes to mind is “WOW!” I know, I know - pretty trite, but true.

I saw them on consecutive days & it rained both days, of course. It was the only rain on the whole trip. We were quite rushed on the Acropolis & a little rushed in Ephesus since we were on guided tours. BUT you know what? I didn’t care because I was there, I saw them both & they were spectacular!

Seeing a picture of something is great. I've seen countless photos of the Parthenon on the Acropolis. But when you actually see the real thing, there is something magical about it. Athens is a huge city but you can see the Parthenon perched atop the hill from all over the city where it dominates the landscape.

The weather report for Athens showed partly cloudy & highs in the 70s, but while we were in the New Acropolis Museum the skies opened up. Our guide assured us the rain would pass soon, but she was wrong. It kept raining. We had brought our umbrellas but left them in the bus while in the museum. Our jackets were in the bus, too. The bus was now about 3 blocks away so I put my camera under my shirt & took off running. The stone walkway was slippery & I immediately decided that I needed to slow down & not fall or I’d never climb the Acropolis. I resembled a drowned rat by the time I made it to the bus.

Armed with our umbrellas & cameras, about half the people on the tour trekked up the Acropolis with the guide, the others remained in the bus. As I climbed over the rubble from the ruins & entered the area of the Parthenon, it kind of took my breath away. There has been so much destruction to the temple over the years yet it is still a regal fortress presiding over the city.

We only had about 20 minutes of free time after the guide's talk. I circled the entire Parthenon taking photos from every angle. The wind was whipping, my umbrella was hard to control, & my hair was dripping. I was holding the umbrella, keeping my camera dry & doing my best to get some good shots between the crowds. But I didn't mind at all – because I was right there, gazing at the Parthenon, the crowning glory of the Acropolis, just like I said I would be back when I was a teenager. Whoa!

I would have liked some more time to just sit & contemplate it all – preferably not in the rain – but that wasn't to be. I chose to make the most of it. The rain, the puddles, the slick footing didn't matter. For about five minutes I just stood & stared at it, not really thinking anything, just taking it all in. I made it! I was standing next to the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece! Oddly, it was far less emotional that I had anticipated but far more awe-inspiring.

Me, in front of the Parthenon, looking like something the cat dragged in.

The next day we journeyed to Ephesus where Paul preached & wrote his letter to the Ephesians. Where Antony & Cleopatra traveled down Harbour Way to the Great Theatre & sat among the 24,000 spectators. I literally walked where they walked. The ruins of Ephesus blew me away! It was incredible & actually EXCEEDED my expectations.

Beginning at the top of the hill, your guide describes things as you descend through the city. It gets better & better as you pass through the marketplace, down the Curetes Way, past temple after temple, even the ancient bathroom was amazing. Using the toilet was a social event in the outhouse that could seat about 30 people side by side.

The Library of Celsius has been partially reconstructed around ruins that were uncovered & it is an imposing site. The Great Theatre is near the bottom of the city & it, too, was breathtaking. The first of the ruins of Ephesus were discovered in the late 1800s. The library was unearthed in 1958 & the ancient city opened as a tourist attraction about 30 years ago. Now, upwards of 20 million people a year visit.

I tried to imagine the city in it's hey day, full of people in togas, laughing & drinking. The structures must have been magnificent. It would be incredible to be a fly on the wall & travel back in time to quietly observe their everyday life. But, alas, I had to do my daydreaming with masses of other tourists.

Me, on the Curetes Way in Ephesus, about to visit the Library of Celsius in the distance.

I'm pretty sure I've done a lousy job of trying to convey my thoughts & feelings after visiting these places. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so you might want to check out my “Travels Near & Far” blog: http://www.kat-silver.blogspot.com/ to see a few more photos of what I'm attempting to describe. 

TRIP OF A LIFETIME

As a semi-retired travel agent, I often heard clients refer to “the trip of a lifetime” when discussing big vacation plans. I never cared for that term since I love to travel all the time & have gone on many trips all over the world which I plan to continue doing for a long time to come. I never wanted to differentiate between trips by labeling them, BUT that being said, this trip we are leaving on tomorrow just might be “the trip of a lifetime” for me.

Way back in the dark ages, in the mid 1960s, when I was a high school student, we studied Greek mythology. In the 1990s I recall my son taking a history class in his high school titled “America in the Sixties”. “Oh, good Lord,” I remember thinking, “I lived them, that’s not history!”

But I digress, back to my point. In my high school history class (or maybe it was English, I don’t remember) I was captivated by the stories of the Greek gods & goddesses of Mt. Olympus in ancient Athens. My fascination with Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, Poseidon & Ares, among others, made mythology my favorite subject in school.

Although I have long since forgotten most of them, the stories of the gods & goddesses whose legendary temples were built on the Acropolis intrigued me like none other. The most famous is the Parthenon, erected almost 2500 years ago & dedicated to Athena, the goddess of Wisdom & War. I vividly remember telling my 15 year old self that someday I would travel to Athens, climb the Acropolis & see the Parthenon with my very own eyes.

Well, that “someday” is less than two weeks away! Almost 50 years after first thinking I would love to visit the Acropolis with its ancient temples & rich history, it will become a reality for me. One of the last stops on our cruise of the Black & Aegean Seas is Athens, Greece, where I will finally realize my high school dream. How frickin’ cool is that?

The term “bucket list” is a fairly new one. It was popularized in the 2007 film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman. The story follows two terminally ill men who are exact opposites but set out to do as many things as possible on their respective “bucket lists” before their demise.

A “bucket list” is defined by the Urban Dictionary simply as a list of things to do before you die. It comes from the term "kicked the bucket" which is used to say someone died. If I had a “bucket list” (which I don’t) visiting the Acropolis & the Parthenon would be at the top.

Second on that list would be visiting the ruins of Ephesus (the city where the Ephesians of Biblical times lived) in what is now the country of Turkey. Well, as luck would have it, this cruise also stops in Kusadasi, Turkey, which is the closest port city to Ephesus. For the past 30 years, I’ve wanted to explore the ancient temples of Ephesus. And I will get to do that, too!

It sort of takes my breath away to realize that I will be seeing the TWO absolute top of my list travel destinations! I can’t even imagine what it is going to be like to actually stand there, gaze at the sites & take it all in. BUT now at 63 years old I’m going to find out. I kind of want to jump up & down, wave my arms & scream really loud.

I love to travel & have devoted a lot of the second half of my life to seeing as much of the world as I can. Fortunately, I found Lou who had a pretty big head start on me with all the places he’s already visited. Together we keep finding more & more places to explore. This cruise will also visit Odessa, Ukraine, where Lou’s grandmother was born, which is high on Lou’s travel bucket list. The cruise makes three stops in Ukraine & also visits Bulgaria & Mykonos, one of the Greek Isles.

In the weeks to come, I will do my best to describe the thoughts, feelings & emotions I experience when I finally see the Parthenon, in all its ancient glory, right in front of me. 

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

It never fails. It can be 10 or 11 PM at night & I can’t keep my eyes open. Even if there is a good show on TV, I’ll be sitting on the couch realizing I just dozed off & missed 30 seconds. So, I get up & go upstairs to bed only to find that I am wide awake. There is something in my brain that seems to switch on the second my head hits the pillow. This doesn’t just happen occasionally but almost every damn night.

My entire adult life I have rarely fallen asleep quickly or slept all night. Normally, it will take me a minimum of half an hour to fall asleep, most nights longer. Over the years I have learned to relax to the extent that even though my mind is whirling away, my body is totally relaxed & virtually sleeping. I’m sure it isn’t nearly as good as actual sleep but it seems to work for me.

I have an unwritten rule I’ve made up that if I’m still awake two hours after going to bed (which happens more than I would like) I get up for awhile & either read or write. But there is a silver lining to this sleep pattern. I have found that I do my best thinking in the middle of the night. It is not unusual that ideas for blog posts will pop into my head & once that happens, I might as well get up & write it down. It will surely be long gone by the morning.

Now that I have “retired” & don’t have to get up early most of the time, I really enjoy my late night alone time in front of the computer when it’s quiet & peaceful. I have always appreciated my quiet time with no TV or music or conversation, just me & my thoughts. Usually, after an hour or more I’m ready to give it another go & see if I can drift off to sleep.

Back when Darrin was a small child, I would stay up by myself a couple times a week just to get that “me time”. All I would do is watch some late night TV or read a bit but I have always craved the quiet time by myself, although I never minded sharing my respite with my son once in awhile.

One time when Darrin was four years old, he woke up & was unable to get back to sleep. It was a weekend & Saturday Night Live was on so I brought him in on the couch with me. We laid down & snuggled with the afghan over us. The Mr. Bill skit came on where a little clay figure gets flattened by something & always goes, “Oh, no!” in a high pitched voice. Darrin started giggling so hard & couldn’t stop which got me giggling at the poor little guy getting squashed. Well, that was a fun trip down memory lane – geez, it was 33 years ago! Where does the time go?

Currently, there are a couple scenarios that unfortunately alter my peaceful, relaxing awake time in bed. I have eliminated most caffeine from my diet so when I do have some I feel it more. Sometimes I forget to use good judgment (or just say, what the hell) & have some caffeine in the evening. A diet Pepsi or two at dinner out or a little chocolate for dessert can sometimes wire me up like someone who’s had four espressos right before bed.

After about five minutes in bed I can tell that this ain’t gonna work. The deep relaxation is replaced by a jittery, teeth clenching feeling that pretty much signals me to just get up right now because I’m not going to sleep anytime soon. In those rare cases, I just get up, resign myself to a late night, turn on Letterman or Leno & start typing.

My other sleep shattering experience feels similar to a “caffeine high” BUT I haven’t had any caffeine. I’m pretty sure that it is something in food & I’m still trying to figure out what it might be. I have a feeling that it is an ingredient on the long list of things included in processed meals. I wrote this on one of those nights at 2:00 AM. 

I made a frozen broccoli & beef with rice meal for dinner. I went in & dug the package out of the trash to see if I could pinpoint something causing my sleeplessness. The ingredients seemed pretty basic until I got to the sauce – there must have been 20 different things on the list, many of which I couldn’t pronounce. My guess is that the culprit was one of those, maybe soy sauce whatever or mono something or glutamate something.

I guess it’s true what they say – if it has more than a few ingredients & most don’t sound like real food, spit it out! Or at least have lots of good books on your Kindle for the late nights. J

SOMETIMES THE SYSTEM WORKS

We've all been there – sitting on hold for endless hours, pushing button after button with ridiculously simple topics that have nothing to do with your problem. Or worse yet, having to talk to a recording. Is there anyone who sounds natural saying “Yes” or “More information” or “Billing question” to this detached voice?

Then “Jason”, who is clearly answering your call from somewhere on the other side of the world, comes on the line. By the sound of his accent & his programmed willingness to help, you are pretty sure that “Jason” is not the name his mama gave him at birth. “Jason” apologizes constantly & reassures you that he will fix your problem over & over. On some occasions “Jason” is indeed able to solve your problem but more often than not it will take many more calls with many more explanations on your part before your issue is resolved.

But once in awhile the system works to perfection. Here is some background on our need to solve a particular problem. On our trip to upstate New York a few months ago, Lou & I stopped in Syracuse for half an hour to take a quick look & some photos of downtown. Syracuse has machines that issue a receipt showing you paid through a certain time which is placed on your dashboard.

We followed the directions, put in enough money to give us 30 minutes & placed the receipt on the dashboard. Grabbing our cameras we shut the door, synchronized our watches & headed to Clinton Square half a block away. We returned 25 minutes later to find a parking ticket on the windshield! WTF????

It was a windy day & apparently a gust had blown the receipt when I shut the door turning it upside down. Damn it! The parking ticket was printed out from a hand held automated machine that clearly showed the time it was issued – 9:52 AM. Our receipt was good through 10:06 AM but it wasn't visible.

After a few choice words, I used some of my son's valuable words of advice – spend 20% of the time on the problem & 80% of the time on the solution. The back of the ticket showed a procedure to contest the citation by mail so I tucked them both in my purse & told Lou that will be easy to do when we get home in a few days. We forgot about it temporarily & headed to Cooperstown.

Upon our return home I filled out the back of the ticket then sent it with copies of the parking receipt & ticket plus a letter of explanation to the address provided. I was confident that we would not have to pay the $25 fine.

About three weeks later Alamo Rental Car decided to take matters into their own hands & entered the mix. Apparently, they received a copy of the parking ticket. Alamo sent us a letter indicating that they had paid the ticket & we owed them $25 for the ticket, plus an $18 fee for a total of $43. I don't think so!

And here is where the system worked like a charm to fix this problem in record time. I called the 800 number on Alamo's letter. On the third ring Angelica answered – she was a real, English speaking American woman. I explained the situation in detail & gave her the invoice number from the letter. She asked if I had copies showing we had paid for parking. I replied yes. She asked me to email her that information & gave me her email address.

I scanned the copies into my computer & emailed them to her. This was about 4 PM – a few hours later there was an email reply from Angelica saying that the invoice has been closed & we don't owe Alamo anything. I couldn't believe how easily that was resolved. Why can't more companies, specifically cell phone & cable TV companies, hire competent people who can actually solve problems?

The next day we received a letter from the City of Syracuse saying that they accepted our explanation & the ticket was dismissed. So, we now have a clean driving record in Syracuse, New York & as far as we know Alamo will still rent cars to us. When the system works it is a beautiful thing.