Belated Birthdayness Commences

Yesterday, my birthday celebration continued when my brother-in-law and his fiancee brought over a really yummy cake from Bella Bru. The cake was so pretty! I mean, it doesn't compare to the cartoon character creations my mom made when I was under 10, but it came pretty close. Especially with the paisley design on the chocolate pieces.

Here I am with the candles lit:
Now soon after this was taken, NASA called and said they saw a strange beacon of light emitting from our coordinates into space. But it was only a check up to make sure nothing was wrong. C mentioned that I should be happy that I didn't need to use ALL the candles in the box. Thanks...

As for the cake: very good! Very rich chocolate and it sent my insulin pump into overdrive as I enjoyed a very healthy slice. Final score: cake slice - 30; insulin pump - 0.

LOLz! SYTYCD style...

I have to share this "thread" with everyone outside of message board land. We're all familiar with ICanHasCheezburger correct? (Speaking of which, I need to make some for Lucy...) Anyway, I was introduced to this thread on IdolForums. com and it's full of Macros from SYTYCD Season 4. I snagged some samples for here, but you can see all the contributors and artists in action at the link above. Enjoy!

What's Up with The Del?

I had the opportunity to stay at the historic Hotel Del Coronado last week for work. The hotel was built in 1888 and is probably one of the most famous hotels on the California Coast Line. Photos and souvenirs boast photos of Marilyn Monroe, past presidents, and other dignitaries. Needless to say, it's an important place... and the hotel staff knows it.

Some images:

And of course, the hotel is haunted. But no ghost sightings were reported during our trip.

Now for my review: the property is huge. There is the original Victorian tower and then the newer "Ocean towers." The Victorian is where we stayed. The rooms were a variety of sizes. Some colleagues had rooms with large bathrooms and small closets; others had vice-versa. Some had views of the garden; others (Me!) had views of the sewage truck cleaning out the parking lot drains in the mornings. And did we mention that this hotel is very close to the San Diego Naval Base, so planes turn their afterburners on right as they pass over the hotel. Ugh! At least it stopped at 10:15 so we could sleep.

Food wasn't bad. The breakfast buffet is swarming with kiddos. (*Eh hem*... SPOILED kiddos.) Drinks, other than non-alcoholic beer, tends to range anywhere from $7.50 to $15 a DRINK. And apparently the cabanas are for members only. It's $80/day. There is a resort charge, but it doesn't cover parking. (That's another $23.)

But it's so charming! Gah! Give me a break. I'll admit the beds were comfy and the shower supplies were awesome, but way to nickle and dime me for everything I do. I can't complain too much. I mean, I did get paid to do this for 3 hours. Sweet!

I really need to start a YouTube Account...

Lucy is always a source of entertainment. Since she's still kind of a kitten, she's still got a lot of spunk, and not a lot of sense. For instance, take her run in with one of the neighborhood pigeons this weekend:

Natomas has a load of ugly pigeons roaming around. One decided it'd be cool to hang out on our backyard patio. Since I'm evil, I decided to drag Lucy from her perch in the front room and put her in front of the glass patio door to "watch the birdie." Lucy gets anxious, as expected. But the bird wasn't moving. So rather than listen to Lucy howl at the window, I decided to scare the pigeon away.

I exit to the backyard through the garage and find the pigeon staring into space. I start clapping my hands to make it fly away. Instead of taking off instantly, it hobbles over to the glass door where Lucy is lickin' her chops, spots the cat, takes off and flies directly into the glass door. I now have pigeon snot on my glass door!

Pigeon flies away to another roof, but in the house, Lucy is standing on all fours, arched back, tail straight up in the air, eyes focused. Girl was ready to go into attack cat mode.

Unfortunately, the bird was probably bigger than she was.

"Late Twenties"

I officially become part of the "late twenties" crowd in less than a week. And what am I doing? Going to Disneyland of course! And, working... sadly. My birthday conveniently falls in the middle of a very long, very draining, event where about 50% of the attendees have probably never flown anywhere before. *sigh*

Hopefully, the trip with M to the Magic Kingdom makes up for craziness that will ensue. I just hope I'm not too tired to enjoy it.