Cable Car Confessions: Dental Work

Ding ding all aboard. "Next stop Powell Street Chinatown. Tickets please show me your tickets please." These sounds are very familiar to San Francisco tourists and locals. What is the one thing that you have to do when you come and visit San Francisco? Ride the cable car. What we don't hear about are the stories from the cable car conductors. I can't imagine what they see and hear everyday. Their job is to ride in the fog, sun, rain, and in traffic jams. Here is one of their stories.

At around 6:00pm, I was riding the cable car back from work. The sun was starting to set and there was a new chill in the air. The chill makes me want to fold my arms across my chest for warmth. Whenever I feel this chill, I want to button up my jacket and put a scarf around my neck. And because of the chill in the air, I sat inside the cable car with the doors closed.

Sam, the cable car driver, came inside to get tickets from the new riders. He saw me and told me he liked my scarf. I smiled. (This was one of about 30 scarves I own. My motto: Continue to be stylish even when freezing. Don’t you agree?) On this night, the cable car wasn’t very crowded probably due to the weather. So, Sam sat down next to me and told me about a woman who had been riding on his cable car last week.

Sam’s story went like this. A woman, in her early twenties, got onto the cable car on her way back from an appointment. Sam tried chatting with her, but she wouldn’t smile back or talk to him.

“Listen, it can’t be that bad?” stated Sam.

The woman looked at him and tried to smile with her eyes, but still didn’t say a word.

Sam tried again,” OK I bet you my life is worse then yours. My wife just left me, I work until 2:00 am today, my feet are killing me and my paycheck is missing.”

All of sudden the woman starting laughing out loud, but held the left side of her mouth and drooled a little.

“You win," said the young woman. "Your life is worse then mine, but the only reason why I'm not talking is because I just had some dental work done and the left side of my face is numb.”

Our Love Story: Before Knee Surgery

Our work friendship was turning into a deep friendship and developing into more. Well, at least it was for me. The way future honey remembers it as, is this: "I had to try for a year and a half for you to realize that we should be together."

For weeks, I met many doctors and had x-rays taken on my left knee. I knew in my gut that my knee was messed up and it needed a lot of work. I had hoped that by doing my physical therapy that I wouldn't need surgery. One day the doctors broke the news to me that I would have to have surgery.

"Knee surgery, that could take me awhile to recover. Are you sure?" I asked the doctors.

The doctors were completely sure.

At the time I was living in San Francisco on top of a hill with no car, and my flat was up two flights of stairs with no elevator. I needed help. The kind of help/support that a significant other or family member would give you. I had neither in the city. My knee cap had dislocated and my leg looked like an S shape. With every step, I could feel a sharp pain to the right of my knee cap and my knee swelled up with fluid. I knew, and my future honey knew, that my knee was pretty serious, but we couldn't find a doctor in San Francisco that would do the surgery.

Honey was beside me for weeks of x-rays and physical therapy appointments and health insurance fights. He was there for me, cheered me up and came over one night when I couldn't sleep. I decided that I needed to go down to L.A. to see my family and get their help, and he supported me. I packed a suitcase for a week and he drove me to the airport so that I could fly down and be with my family. What was supposed to be a one week trip turned into 5 months. We found a young, but very accomplished doctor, who would perform the surgery on me. I was unable to put any weight on my leg for months and we all decided that living in L.A., where it was flat and where I could have family care was the best thing.

After the surgery I woke up in the hospital and heard that my surgery turned out to be even more serious than the doctor's originally anticipated. I would have to be in the hospital for several days and that large screws had been put in my knee. I was in a lot of pain - the kind of pain that morphine doesn't take away. I couldn't dial out long distance from the hospital phone and asked my hospital suite mate if I could borrow her cell phone so I could call honey in San Francisco. I'm sure the stranger that I was sharing the room with was glad to help as I was in a lot of pain.

I knew that our friendship was now developing into more, when, out of everyone I knew I called him first. I wanted to let him know I was OK. What I actually did was convince him not to drive down to L.A. because I didn't want him to see me in so much pain. He didn't think this was such a good idea, but I convinced him it was.

What was wrong with telling him not to come down I ask you? Well in my mind I thought, we were just friends and he didn't need to come and use his hard-earned PTO time to see just a friend in the hospital? I didn't want him to get the wrong idea about my intentions. (I think I protest too much!)

However, I realized pretty quickly, that I felt better when he was around me or on the phone. He seemed to be the one person who knew me, knew what I was going through and gave me the pep talks that kept me going when it got really tough.

We talked almost every day on the phone. After a couple of weeks, I let future honey, come visit me. He drove 8 hours to see me and stayed at my family's house. This was the first time that my family got to see him take care of me and they fell in love with him. I got to see someone care so much about me that nothing got in his way.

I remember watching him fixing my wheelchair so they could take me out to the park for some fresh air. My father let him take the lead, let him take care of me and let him show me his care and concern. Did my father know something that I didn't? Even though we have so much against us like culture and different religions, is all that really matters is that we found each other?...

Stay tuned for the next chapter. Interracial Dating: Chapter 3 Part 2 More Then Friends? Recovery

Cable Car Confessions: The Suspended Conductor

Ding ding all aboard. "Next stop Powell Street Chinatown. Tickets please show me your tickets please." These sounds are very familiar to San Francisco tourists and locals. Here is one of my favorite conductor stories.

During the weekday mornings, the cable cars on the California line are usually filled with locals that are commuting to work to San Francisco's financial district. When I ride in the morning, I see suitcases, people on their cell phones, fancy shoes and laptop bags. If you ride the same California cable car line at 1:00 pm, the cable car is filled with tourists. Tourists holding San Francisco maps, taking sight pictures and smiling from ear to ear. If you ride the cable car at 6:00pm the car is filled with both local commuters and tourists.

My home is located on the California cable car line and I have lived there for five years. At night I can faintly hear the ding of the cable car. When I leave in the mornings to go to work, I can tell if a cable car is coming or not, as I can feel the vibrations of the line in my apartment. Taking the cable car to work every morning is a great way to start off my day. It makes me smile. I can stand on the platforms and stare at the scenery or when its a foggy morning, I stand inside the car. I have ridden the cable car so many times, that the drivers have started to know me.

Last week one of my usual drivers sat down next to me and confided this cable car confession.

Bill confessed to me that he had recently been suspended from driving the cable car for 10 days and fined $5000.00. How you may ask? What did he do to get suspended. Forget to ask for tickets? Be rude to a rider? Well.......

Bill was driving the back of the cable car one weekday morning, when a group of tourists got on. They sat on the seats in the outside platform and stood hanging onto the side of the cable car to take pictures. One of the ladies, who was apart of the group, didn't listen to Bill's instructions when he suggested that she not block the entry way to the door or keep her feet inside the car. So they already had tension. The group that this lady was with, 'Sally', asked Bill to get off at the Chinatown stop. Sally didn't hear this.

When it came time for Sally's group Chinatown stop, Bill shouted at the top of his lungs, "Next stop Chinatown." As the cable car came up to the stop, Bill slowed the  cable car down and instructed the group that this is their stop by saying loudly "Chinatown Stop." Sally didn't seem to hear this or see her group get off the cable car. Sally was still standing on the platform of the cable car as Bill started moving the gears again and the cable car starting moving to it's next stop.

"Oh no!" Sally exclaimed "My stop." Sally jumped off the '15,000 pound cable car' to try and catch her group.

This is where Bill was suspended and fined. He didn't stop the cable car. He just kept going. Riders on the bus called the cable car company to complain. They wondered if Sally was hurt. When Bill was questioned by the higher ups at the cable car company about this incident. They asked him why didn't he stop to check on Sally?

"Oh sure. I should have stopped the cable car during morning traffic, put out yellow emergency cones, messed up the entire California line even though I could see Sally walking, fine and meeting her friends."

They suspended Bill. The next time you are in San Francisco look around and listen to the riders. Ding ding next stop suspension. Cable Car condcutors - you gotta love them.

http://www.sfcablecar.com/

Our Love Story: Work Friends First

How did this casual work relationship become one of the most meaningful relationships of my life? Casual glances across the cubicles, coffee runs, quick touch base meetings to vent about work and bosses and happy hours all contributed to us talking. We sat behind each other in cubicles at the office. We would say hello to each other everyday, which turned into hugs which then turned into a confidant I could talk to in the office. We felt like Jim and Pam. Now that I think about it we probably acted like Jim and Pam.

I remember after we had started to hang out at work, a coworker in another group asked if we were dating. "Oh no!" I replied "We're just friends." I couldn't even imagine us dating. We were such good friends, came from different cultures, had a nice relationship and I didn't want to ruin that. Future honey, on the other hand, knew differently. Poor guy.

When I think about our time together at work I smile. We seemed to support one another in a professional, caring way. I looked forward to seeing him everyday and was concerned if he was working too hard. When we had group lunches, it didn't seem the same to me if he couldn't make it. We also had a lot of inside jokes and I felt a little pang of jealousy every time he asked me for advice about a girl he was dating. (I know now that I was putting him through the same torment.)

I fondly remember our weekly Coit Tower conference room discussions. We would start off talking about work, our bosses, interview techniques but then our discussions would turn to personal topics. How's the family, friends, people we were seeing, dating advice and life advice. I felt very connected to him and appreciated all of our touch base talks.

I can remember that it was a dark and rainy day when our casual work relationship first changed. I was coming back from a meeting when I noticed that he wasn't sitting at his desk. I looked, casually, around the office for him. I found him all alone in an abandoned office, staring into at a window at the rain. He wasn't moving. He let me know that he had found out that a really good friend of his had been killed by a drunk driver. His friend was only 22.

I asked my future honey, if I could sit with him. He said yes. We both sat there, quiet and staring at the rain. Some of the time he would talk to me, in shock and some of the time nothing. I hugged him and encouraged him to go downstairs with me to the coffee place for some orange juice for his shock.

That was the moment that we turned into good friends.

I also remember another time that hinted there was more between us. I was in charge of throwing get togethers, birthday parties and happy hours at our office. His birthday was coming up and I wanted to throw him an amazing surprise party. I booked the largest conference room, invited a lot of people, decorated the room and got a cake. All I wanted to see was him smiling and surprised. He was shocked and amazed. Can you say giving a guy mixed messages? Sorry honey.

A couple of months later, I got injured. I had an old knee injury that I aggravated and I starting limping at work. Future honey was so concerned about me. He seemed to be the only one in the entire world that cared. I returned from lunch to find, on my desk, supplies from the pharmacy for my knee that I hadn't asked for. Ice packs, Alieve, ace bandages and candy to cheer me up. There was no note. Like the person did a gesture out of the kindness of their heart and there was no need to thank them. I looked up and around at the people in my office and was met my his smile from ear to ear.

Although I was very reluctant at first to let him help me, he started to go with me to my doctors appointments and drove me to my physical therapy appointments. He was there for me to lean on in a way that I had never leaned on anyone before. When I had problems with my health insurance covering my bills he was the one that helped fight for me. When I found out that my knee injury was a lot more serious then we had thought and I needed surgery he was there. When I took leave from my my job, moved home for a couple of months and had to walk away from my life he was still there for me every day.

Our work friendship which had turned into a deep friendship was developing into more. Well at least it was for me.

The way future honey remembers it as is this:

"He had to try for a year and a half for me to realize that we should be together."

If interracial friends are accepted, why can't society accept interracial dating as a norm? Interracial dating: Chapter 3 More then Friends?

Travel: Chapter 1 Buzios, Brazil

Our recent trip to Brazil opened my eyes to a beautiful country filled with the warmest people.
I believe that the Brazilians seem to know the secret to life and to youth. Well, at least a secret that I wish I was apart of. On our trip, we visited three cities: Buzios, Rio de Janerio and Pararty. All aboard, first stop, Buzios, Brazil.

We arrived safely in Brazil after 19 hours of flying and then took a 3 hour car to Buzios which reminded me of a mixture of several places. Sausalito, Ca, Santa Barbara, Ca, Seattle and San Francisco all in one.

Buzios is a beach side/Fisherman town famous for it's 20 plus beaches. The town is quaint, safe, full of boutiques, filled with amazing food, lively music, fishing boats and cobble stone streets. How did we hear about Buzios? A city that is 3 hours away from Rio de Janeiro? We found it through reading the tour guide the Lonely Planet. I had ear marked all of the places that looked interesting to me and Buzios was one of them. The tour guide explained that Buzios was made famous when Bridget Bardot vacationed there in the 1960's with her Brazilian boyfriend. The paparazzi followed her, took pictures and put Buzios on the map.

We knew we had chosen a great place to visit, when we told some of our Brazilian friends of our plans. "Oh Buzios," they would say,
"It's so beautiful."

My expectations were exceeded after we had arrived. This town was a hidden gem. Filled with so much beauty, hidden turns, fishing boats, perfect sunsets and popcorn stands on the sides of the cobble stone streets.

My highlights from Buzios...

1) Our driver, who picked us up from the Rio de Janeiro airport, asked us in the middle of the Brazilian country-side, in broken English if we were voting for McClain (yes like the guy in Die Hard not McCain) or Obama while we were driving. Thank g-d we said Obama as he seemed very angry at Bush and McClain.

2) The Centro in Buzios is very beautiful. We found and ate at a little Italian place that had the most amazing calzone and at a crepe place, where we watched how they made the crepes while watching soccer.

3) Our hotel/pousada was built into the side of a hill about 50 yards away from the beach. There were only 12 chalets and we had breakfast on the balcony with a view of the beach; we heard the birds and ate exotic fruits like the Acai berry and starfruit.

About the Acai berry. What an amazing berry - it tastes like a blueberry with a chocolate flavoring. Acai berries are extremely rich in organic vegetable protein and seem to be very beneficial to cancer patients. I can tell you it made me feel amazing and refreshed.
http://www.acai.vg/acai_history.html

4) On one rainy day, we found shelter at the Casas Brancas pousada. The panoramic views from the balcony on top of the hotel were so beautiful. You could see all of the fishing boats. We sat in the lobby and waited for the rain to stop.
http://www.casasbrancas.com.br/

5) The Ruas das Pedras, the main strip in the center of Buzios, is filled with all kinds of people, beautiful-well dressed women, children and couples. Most of the clubs and bars were open late into the morning. The people, again, were so friendly and very curious about us. This was not the tourist travel season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YziqmtZ7PCs

I hope you enjoyed some of these stories of our trip to Buzios, Brazil. The next chapter, Chapter 2 will be: The Differences Between Brazil and America.

http://www.buziosonline.com.br/indexe.htm

Tips on a Budget: Beauty, Life and Style

Beauty, life and Style. Is there such a thing as looking great, but still being able to stick to a beauty budget? I think so! Here are some of my budget, beauty tips for you.

Anyone who knows me best, knows, that Walgreens is like Disneyland to me. I can actually hear the angels singing in my head, when I walk through the Walgreens doors. Before me, lay rows and rows of badly lit aisles, all full of affordable beauty products.

You may wonder why is Walgreens so special to me? It changes with the city that I live in. When I lived in Los Angeles it was Rite Aid and when I lived in Toronto it was Shoppers Drug Mart. In San Francisco, Walgreens seems to be everywhere. If there’s a Starbucks, there’s a Walgreens nearby.

I love walking down the aisles, looking at the new and old products and figuring out the good deals. I feel that Walgreens is pricier, but you can find some great deals. Rite Aid has great prices and so does Shoppers Drug Mart.

Some great finds that I would recommend you buy from Walgreens are:

Hair
Aussie Deeeeep 3 Minute Miracle Moisture Treatment for $3.99
A great conditioner, for an amazing price that smells great. I like to leave this conditioner for longer then the 3 minutes so I can get shiny and soft results. A good tip: Look for coupons and sales from Walgreens. I have bought 2 for $5.00.
Conair Velvet Touch Round Brush $5.29

For the price, it does the job. This brush, doesn’t get too hot when using it with a blow dryer and the bristles didn't break my hair.

Nails
Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat for $4.49
This is one of my favorite finds. Double Duty is a clear polish that I put on as a base coat and then again as a top coat after nail polish. I reapply every other day. Double Duty strengthens my nails so they don’t break. My nail polish also lasts longer.
Nutra Nail Green Tea Growth Treatment for Problem Nails for $5.99

When I went natural again with my nails, I used this product for about 3 months. The Green Tea seemed to help grow my nails and along with taking vitamins and the above Double Duty product, my nails were healthy again.

Face
Revlon ColorStay Mineral Foundation $13.99
A great budget beauty find! I was using Bare Essentials for a long time, until I found Revlon Mineral Foundation for half the price. I really like how light weight the mineral make up is and has SPF 10 in it. Hey, if Halle Berry can wear it, then it must be Ok for me. (Revlon commercials)
Maybelline Great Lash Washable Mascara, Blackest Black for $4.79

The mascara that make up artists use on the stars of movies and TV. I love the darkest black and it lengthens and curls if I have the time. Try it and let me know what you think?

So, the next time you are in need of a beauty, budget product fix, but are sticking to a budget, maybe try some of these great finds. I'm glad I did.

http://www.walgreens.com/beauty/default.jsp?headerSel=yes&tab=beauty

http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/beauty/index.html

Travel Picture: The Big Apple New York, NY

I decided to buy a ticket at last minute, a couple of years ago, to see New York during Christmas and New Year's. My red eye flight on Jetblue only cost $399 from Los Angeles to JFK. Wow, times have changed! I remember arriving Christmas morning in New York, completely unprepared for the cold that hit me, as I left the warm airport and went to hail a cab. I was also wearing a purple scarf which told New Yorkers, well everybody, that I was a HUGE tourist. (Come on I was living in L.A. at the time. At least I brought a warm coat which my friend forgot!) I learned fast, that in a New York winter, wearing a color seems not be to be an option. Not to worry, I caught onto this quick and told the cabbies that I lived in Queens. I call this one, The Spider Man Times Square shot. I loved how the picture was taken from under a building. (Taken 12/2006)

If you look closely, Spider Man is about to swing through. After driving in from the airport, we went and visited Times Square. The sun was just peaking through the clouds and the snow was about to fall. Most people seemed to be at home, as it was Christmas day. So it was a great, but slower, not as touristy visit to Times Square.

Snowy playground near Little Italy New York, NY (Taken 1/1/2007)

The first day of 2007, was a very cold and peaceful start to the year. We were walking towards Little Italy, when we walked past this playground. I loved the contrast between the white snow and the colorful graffiti. I also loved how no one had walked on the snow yet. Virgin snow, that still looked like a warm blanket.


This is my Greenwich Village, Spain Restaurant Mood Shot (Taken 12/2006)

My friends that were living in New York at the time, were all out of town and migrated to the warmer weather. So the only people I knew, where my friends parent's and some dance friends still in town. I went to my friends father's restaurant in Greenwich Village for lunch. Go there if you have a chance and ask for Mr. Marques.
http://newyork.metromix.com/restaurants/spanish/spain-restaurant-greenwich-village/55368/content

Next time you are going to visit New York, be sure to bring your colorful scarves, visit when no one you know is in town and remember to bring your camera, so you can see some of these shots.