For the last few months I’ve been dabbling with the idea of getting a bike, I think I might have even mentioned that I bought a crapass used bike at the thrift store (that didn’t work out unfortunately, the frame was bent, the back wheel was too bent to true up and well to fix both of those would cost more than a brand new crapass bike at Wal*Mart.) And my wonderful family gave me some dough for my birthday to put towards a bike so the dream of actually getting a decent bike can actually come true. (I have been struggling with my mom’s too big, single speed coaster bike from hell for the last month or so, trying to ride, but damn that thing is big and heavy and damn those coaster brakes make me want to scream and where the hell are some GEARS, I’m not exactly a spring chicken anymore.)

Anyway, as a result I have been a bit OCD in the bike research department for awhile now, trying to find the best but cheap bike that exists. I’ve narrowed it down to about four that I like, are available locally and are not too crappy for the price:

• GT Nomad 2.0
• GT Laguna
• Trek FX 7.1
• Trek Skye (or Skye S)

The GT Nomad Sport is like this only it’s the 2010 model. It’s currently on sale for $299 through Sunday at a local shop. I just gotta see if they have my size in stock, but if not, I could possibly order it from the same store’s online site (it’s one of those bike store chains) but then I’d have to pay shipping and assemble it. It’s also available from another source online too, but with free shipping and slightly cheaper. It’s a “comfort” bike which means not as uncomfortable as a mountain bike, but not as cool as a road bike. In other words, perfect for me and my anticipated use of the bike (bike paths, some streets, maybe commuting to work if I actually get a job someday.) It is my first choice if I can find it because it looks decent (a month ago, I saw the 2011 version at the shop,) and has the best component set of all the ones I’ve found in this price range (Alivio, which is better than Acera, which is better than Atlus, which is better than Tourney.) As long as it fits me and rides OK and I can find it, this one will probably win. There are also lower-end crappier versions of this bike which aren’t so hot, but still look OK (just the components are not as good.)

The GT Laguna is also the 2010 model on sale at a local shop for $299, if they have it in stock (same store, but the website is sold out of my size.) Comes in a pretty pink color, or green. It’s a mountain bike though, and the 2011 model is white, which is OK too if they don’t have the 2010 (and it’s not that much more expensive.) The specs on this one are crappier than the Nomad though, and it’s a mountain bike and I sorta hate mountain bikes because they tend to be heavy and clunky with fat 26″ tires. Mostly I just like the pink 2010 color.

The Trek FX 7.1 is a compromise for the one I really want, the Trek FX 7.3 (or higher haha) but it’s out of my price range even at its base level, unless it goes on sale. It’s currently $409 at the local shop, but I do know they have sales now and then so I might just wait. I’m also not crazy about the color, I like the GT colors better, but this is a very nice looking bike otherwise. And the shop is the closest one, which means easy to ride to tuneups (and they offer free tuneups for the life of the bike, I’ve heard.) It comes in a “stagger” frame, but it is not a “women’s specific” frame like the higher end FX comes in. But it has a really low standover on the smallest size and fits me just right (haven’t ridden it yet, but I sat on it in the shop and it seemed to fit nicely.)

Trek Skye is the last resort. Not crazy about this bike (especially the dopey “Mermaid Blue” color scheme.) It has pretty low-end components and it has a really big clunky looking frame. Haven’t ridden it though, but it doesn’t look too promising. The only bright spot is the local shop had the “S” version of this bike on sale for $299 recently, which isn’t too bad a price since the retail of that level is $469. I probably wouldn’t buy the standard Skye, but might consider the “S” if I could get it for the $299 price and couldn’t find any of the others I’m considering.

Now for the bikes I lust after but are either out of my price range or too far away to be practical to buy:

Raleigh Alysa FT1 is one I haven’t seen in person but I LOVE the way this bike looks, the light blue color, the little matching seat and handlebar accents. Yes I’m a dork. Retail is a bit too high ($569) AND it’s not sold locally, would be at least a 20 mile drive to buy and so “free tune ups” wouldn’t really be worth driving that far. And I’m not even sure if REI, the store that sells it locally, even offers tune ups.

The Marin Kentfield Stepthru is a little out of my price range ($429) and the shop that supposedly carries it locally doesn’t have it in stock, and I wouldn’t want to order a bike to just look at it. Love the color, don’t like the style as much as the Raleigh though.

The Kona Dew FS is only $800 (LOL) and the closest shop that sells it is in Santa Monica. Oh and it doesn’t seem to come in a shrimp size. But it’s one nice lookin’ bike and well it’s called a DEW for cryin’ out loud, that alone makes it awesome. And it has Deore components too. Kickass.

Another Kona I really like but is out of my range is the Lisa RD, which is a road bike but it’s nice. And it has full 105 components. Sweet. And it’s pretty, too. Pretty damn expensive LOL. ($1699.)

A bit cheaper on the “dream road bike” is this one I saw when shopping for hybrids at “big chain bike store” … they wanted MORE than retail for it though WTF? Not that I could afford the $1300 they were asking anyway. But sheesh. But I got to see it up close and drool a little. The components aren’t that great for the price but it sure is perty! Notice how it also has that color-coordinated thing goin’ on.

Anyway, I’m gonna go check out and test ride some stuff in the next week or so, and see how the chips land so to speak. With luck, I’ll have a new bikey to ride around all summer. Or I’ll be waiting another month or two until the 2012 models come out and the lust-fest starts all over again. Oh, speaking of lust, I really want to see this bike even though it’s too pricey for me right now. But it looks PERFECT, a hybrid that’s “dirt worthy” and it’s named after a cat. Or a famous mountain biker. But the components are a bit weak for the price. Meh.

It’s a new month, and that means garden update time! I know you’re so excited!

First off, we have my little peppers. The ancho pepper is coming along nicely, and my green peppers are almost ready to pick:

I didn’t take pix of my jalapeno because it’s camera shy. I had to move it again due to not getting enough light and I think it’s getting better now, but it’s still kind of homely looking, poor thing. My other bell peppers are coming along nicely, the yellow one has a couple tiny fruits on it and the red one has buds.

And we have our little veggies and tomatoes. The first “crop” of lettuce (only one sprouted) is almost ready to eat and has managed to avoid bugs so far, amazing! No insecticide either, but I’ve heard planting things next to tomatoes helps with that, and maybe it works. I also have one tiny little lettuce sprout coming up too which will be ready in a few weeks. My carrots are almost ready (they were “teeny” sized a few days ago.) And my second crop of radishes is part ready. My tomato plants have fruit on ‘em, just gotta wait for the weather to warm up a bit and they should start turning red … usually my tomatoes start poppin’ around July 4th, these should be right on target.

And we’ve got some color in the flower garden too! My “shady” flower garden with herbs has alyssum and forget-me-nots already, and I think the echinacea is about to bloom. My cat likes to sniff the alyssum, it smells like honey, yum!

That’s not much of an update, but things are almost ready to harvest so there will be more pictures soon.

OK, normally I wouldn’t whine about this, but the same damn thing has happened several times in the last month and I’m trying to figure out why so many people seem to be so stupid all of a sudden because up until maybe a year or so ago, I rarely saw this (and no, the law hasn’t changed, I looked it up.)

There’s an intersection near me where there is a lot of traffic that turns left, and a lot of opposing traffic that turns right, and almost every freakin’ time I come to this intersection, at least one moron insists on making a left turn despite oncoming traffic (and yes, oncoming traffic includes people turning right.) I’m guessing that they assume that since the road they’re turning onto has two lanes (it’s actually three, but one ends about 50 feet from the intersection so for all practical purposes it’s two lanes) that they think they can turn left into the left lane and the right turners will turn right into the right lane and everyone will be happy. Only problem, is that is 1) illegal 2) dangerous and 3) stupid. Because a lot of times what happens is the left turner doesn’t stay in the left lane, or the right turner doesn’t stay in the right lane. And to further bugger it all up, many people turning right STOP on the freakin’ green light! WTF?!!! I assume it’s because at some time prior, some idiot has turned left illegally and almost run into said right turner, so now they’re super cautious. Only one major problem, when you stop on a green when making a right turn, the morons turning left from the opposite direction ASSUME YOU HAVE A RED LIGHT so they come barreling through their turn because they think they have the right of way. Now, you do of course, have to look where you’re going, whether you’re turning left or right, but you should NOT completely stop on a green light unless there is a real reason to do so. If you do, you increase the chance of an accident (not only from an idiot turning left now thinking he has the right of way, but also by someone behind you slamming into you because you stupidly stopped on a green light.) So please, people, follow the damn law (this is for California, other states may differ) and remember, if you are turning left you DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY on a green light. Green arrow? Yes. Green light? No. (The only exception is when you have pulled into the intersection and opposing traffic has a red or your light has turned red, then and only then are you allowed to finish your turn but ONLY IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO! If a car is turning right, even on a red, you MUST YIELD. If an opposing traffic car runs a red light, you MUST YIELD.) A super easy to remember rule of thumb is this: When you are driving, if at any time you cross another traffic lane that has a green light or right of way (opposing or perpendicular) you MUST YIELD. Since someone turning left must cross over the oncoming lane in order to make their turn, they must yield to ALL traffic (cars, pedestrians, dogs, superballs, bikes, garbage blowing in the wind … all of it. And yes, even stupid drivers who stop on green lights. Especially stupid drivers who stop on green lights. And “oncoming” means people turning right because they are in the same oncoming lanes of traffic as people who are driving straight, and I sure as hell hope you don’t turn left when someone is coming toward you driving straight.)

And one other thing, if you do not have a valid license AND insurance, get off the damn road! And if you do have a license and insurance, please obey the law and that means no yapping on your cell phone or texting while driving either, OK? Because next time I see you doing something illegal, I’m filming it and reporting license plate numbers.

I was poking around in some of my old blog posts, and I realized it’s been about 4 years since I first started having symptoms of what later turned out to be, I’m almost certain, Ménière’s Disease.

All in all the nightmarish vertigo and nausea have subsided for the most part, I think my brain has learned to ignore the signals, because sometimes now I’ll still get that “I’m falling” sensation, as if someone suddenly pushed me over, but almost immediately my brain kicks in and stops it. It’s kind of weird, but a hell of a lot better than a full blown vertigo attack let me tell you. I do still spend a rather large part of my life wobbling about though. Sorta off balance, like the ground is moving and I’m trying to keep up. Some days it’s worse than others. Some days my ear is all “stuffed up” really bad it makes me wanna dig around in there to get whatever is in there, outta there. And some days it’s just kinda plugged, like how your ears get plugged when you fly, then they’ll “pop” only mine never pop. Well, almost never, once in a blue moon (like during the Santa Ana winds) I will get about two seconds of “normal” but then it’ll plug up again. I think I have only had maybe 2 or 3 minor episodes of actual vertigo in the last year though, and it was almost always when I was in bed, so it’s not a danger. And I haven’t barfed once in about three years from it, so that’s good.

I do notice though that there are some things that seem to make it worse:

• too much salt
• caffeine (even one soda knocks me off-kilter)
• allergies (seasonal allergies seem to aggravate the problem)
• any kind of cold/flu makes my ears plug up which exacerbates the “fullness” and sometimes leads to downright pain
• not taking my HCTZ (which I was originally Rxed for high blood pressure, but which my doctor kept me on after I complained about the vertigo coming back when he took me off of it)
• stress (thankfully I don’t have a lot of this right now)

Oh and I found out that one of my favorite Broadway performers, Kristin Chenoweth has Ménière’s too. I first found out from her tweets where she complains about it quite a bit, and she also seems to see a connection between caffeine and salt and symptoms. I’m not sure if in her case it’s only one ear (I hope so) or if she’s suffering any hearing loss because of it (I hope not, she’s a classically trained singer with perfect pitch, how ironic would that be if she went deaf?) She does talk about having tinnitus, something I have had off and on since I was a kid, and thought everyone had. I’ve gotten so used to mine though, that I hardly notice it unless I get dissonant tones in each ear at the same time.

I also found it interesting that the character she plays on Glee is a drunk, and I can kinda see why, because having Ménière’s makes you stagger around like a freakin’ drunk sometimes (I remember when I was still working in an office, I’d hear people whispering behind my back making comments that made me think they thought I was drunk at work, which of course, I wasn’t.) I do have to say though I have a whole lot more respect for her being able to do what she does with Ménière’s because let me tell you, I don’t think I could do the singing/dancing/working so hard thing. I have enough trouble sometimes with just simple things like housework and shopping. I won’t, for instance, drive, if I feel even the teeniest bit dizzy. So that limits greatly my ability to work. Thankfully right now my parents are helping me out while I try to figure out a way to make a living from home or something, because I think my days of being a “normal” working schlub are over, unless I can find a boss who understands Ménière’s. And I’ve had to give up, at least for the most part, things I used to do like yoga, swimming (I can dog paddle, but “doing laps” is almost always too risky to consider) and I’m wary of doing things like going hiking in the woods and stuff (not that I’ve done it recently anyway, but it is something I’ve enjoyed doing in the past when I was in better shape.) It also makes exercising a bitch. You don’t really realize how much you wiggle your head around exercising, whether it’s just walking/jogging or just about any “cardio” thing, and like I said, yoga just don’t cut it anymore. I can do Tai Chi though, and I can walk, as long as I don’t over exert myself (I have other health issues besides the Ménière’s that limits exercise.) So, needless to say, life ain’t always what ya want, but we muddle though the best we can, and I’ll take Ménière’s over something like cancer or losing my home in a flood or a tornado or an earthquake any old day.

First harvest:

My tomatoes also have baby green tomatoes on them, my carrots are coming along (they’re about 3-4″ tall now) and my peppers have blossoms and will hopefully be forming little fruits soon. All my herbs are growing (even my parsley, finally, yay!) The catnip is doing particularly well, despite being nibbled on by strays and plucked at by me. My jalapeno was looking a bit wilty though, I think it wasn’t getting enough light, so I moved it a bit and it now seems to be doing better.

The only thing that has not done too well is the lettuce, which I only got ONE little sprout from a 10′ long row of seed tape, and my zucchini and eggplant seeds, neither of which has shown any sign of life whatsoever. I think they’re really a late summer/early fall crop though, so maybe nature will kick in in a couple months, if not, I’ll replant. They are planted a bit too close to the fence to get much light, so that might be the problem.

I planted a third crop of radishes today after harvesting most of the first. In a couple weeks, I’ll plant another one. And I also replanted most of the row of lettuce one more time, maybe they’ll take this time. If not, I’ll wait. Lettuce doesn’t generally like hot weather though, so if this crop doesn’t take, that’ll it be until at least fall, or maybe early next “spring” (like January hehe.)

… the musical is freaking awesome. I was perusing the Outer Darkness boards the other day and someone posted a link to the cast recording over on NPR (thank you NPR!) And I have been listening to it over and over again since then (three days ago.) It’s the most delightfully wicked Broadway show recording I’ve heard since, well, Wicked. I especially love all the inside jokes like one of the missionary’s brother’s name is Jack. And there’s Kolob and Orlando and so much more it’s just a constant giggle-fest. Now, this recording is a bit uhm … “not safe for work” but it’s done in such a snarky yet sweet way that I think non-Mormons, ex-Mormons and yes, even Mormons will get a kick out of it. It just might be the very best thing to happen to the Mormon church since, well, “God changed his mind about black people.” And it’s perfect timing, what with Mittens getting geared up to run for president next year. And if he wins, my oh my, it must be fulfillment of prophecy! (I’m sure they’ll make one up if there isn’t one already.)

I do have a couple minor complaints, though. I didn’t catch anything about cureloms or handshakes or green aprons from the recording, though. I can hold out hope maybe the visuals in some of the songs allude to at least some of the juiciest bits of “doctrine.” And that song “I Believe”, while pretty, I think should have been called “I Know (Without a Doubt”) because, well, Mormons don’t just BELIEVE they KNOW. “I know the Church is true, I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, seer and revelator, I know, I know, I know ….” Even three year olds know. Even if they don’t know what a revelator is, they still know. Because they have the “spirit” … even though they haven’t been baptized yet.

Anyway, I do hope this show does well at the Tonys next month (it was nominated 14 times woohoo!) And if it wins, it must be because God loves Mormons. Or South Park. Or something like that. And if this show ever makes it to the gritty streets of the City of Angels, I’ll be there with bells on, a Quad and green Jell-O for everyone, just for old times sake.

It’s been four weeks since I planted my little veggie garden, and it’s time for an update!

Here’s my tomatoes on April 2:

And here they are today:

Here are my carrots (back) and radishes (front) 28 days after I planted them from seed (the lettuce either hasn’t sprouted yet or doesn’t like me, not sure.)

Here are some pictures of the herbs, I didn’t post pictures of them before, because most of them were either so small and pathetic or I planted them from seed.

Cilantro:

Marjoram:

Dill:

Catnip:

I didn’t bother to take pictures of my peppers, the bell peppers don’t seem to have grown much, and the other peppers are kind of boring. Once they fruit I’ll take pictures. My zucchini and eggplant haven’t sprouted yet, hopefully it’s still too cold for them. If they don’t sprout then I’ll try again in fall.

Things seem to be growing a bit slowly, which has happened before due to cold weather. Normally California is warm and sunny by this time of year, so far we’ve had pretty dreadful winter-like weather. Same thing happened last year, and the year before that, my carrots took TWO MONTHS to sprout, but when they did they grew like crazy. So, all hope is not lost yet. My second batch of radishes is almost the same size as the first one planted two weeks earlier. But they’re just starting to get “red bits” and the first batch will hopefully be ripe soon (they’re already a week late.)

My cat’s most favorite feline friend in the whole, wide, world, is back in town! And still filching my ‘nip:

My cat is still somewhat ambivalent, she didn’t growl or fluff her tail when she saw him but she wasn’t super affectionate either. Time will tell, but BUTCH remembered me AND my ‘nip! I do think he remembers her too because he was outside the window singing her a “love song” earlier. He’s still a falsetto heheee.

I did see a moving van in front of BUTCH’s old house a week or so ago, and I thought they were moving out but I guess it was someone moving IN (I’d heard that BUTCH belonged to the daughter, and she’d taken him with her when she went off to college a few years ago, but I guess she’s back now and brought sweet little BUTCH with her.)

We’ll see if BUTCH walks my kitty home like he used to, and protects her from the big bad bully cats that have been harassing her lately. He’s so chivalrous it’s adorable.

I got the first part of my plants in the ground today:

• Tomatoes
• Bell Peppers
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Radishes

I only planted about a foot long row of carrots, lettuce and radishes, partly because I don’t know how well they’ll grow this time of year, and partly so I can stagger the harvest if they do take. If all goes well, I’ll plant another “crop” in about three weeks.

Tomorrow, I’m planning to transplant my herbs from the windowsill and plant my hot pepper plants in pots. If I’m not too tired, I’ll pot up some additional herbs in pots, as well as replenish the catnip farm.

Then it’s just water and wait until the baby seedlings come up! I put down some weed cloth stuff to keep cats, birds and other critters from messing with my my newly planted seeds. It also helps keep the soil moist so the little seeds don’t dry out. Once the seedlings come up, I’ll thin if necessary, I’m planning to do 2-3 eggplants and 1-2 zucchini, and 2-3 lettuce. I will probably keep however many carrots and radishes come up, but we’ll see.  Then in a few weeks I’ll plant more. I think I have enough room to do 3-4 “crops” so it’s about one per month more or less (or until the weather gets too hot, I’ll see how it goes and adjust as needed.)

I also planted some of the wildflower seed so I’ll have a nice flower garden to look out through the kitchen window.  The wildflower mix I bought has echinacea and evening primrose in it too! Both are medicinal herbs.

Below are some pictures:

I went out and got my veggie plants today. I will be planting:

• Tomatoes – Roma and Heirloom Homestead
• Peppers – Red, Green and Yellow Bell
• Chili Peppers – Jalapeño and Pablano (Ancho)
• Carrots – Nantes Coreless (seed)
• Lettuce – Salad Bowl (seed)
• Radish – Cherry Belle (seed)
• Eggplant – Black Beauty (seed)
• Zucchini – Burpee’s Fordhook (seed)
• Oregano (seed)
• Cilantro (seed)
• Parsley – Italian and Curled (seed)
• Dill (seed)
• Chives (seed)
• Sweet Marjoram (seed)
• Basil – Genovese (seed)
• CATNIP! (seed)

Most of the herbs I’ve already started on my windowsill, so I’ll just be transplanting those to bigger pots outside.  The other seeds are mostly late summer/early fall stuff that I won’t be planting yet but figured I might as well go ahead and buy ‘em.  I’ll have a go with some of the lettuce seeds, if it’s too hot and they bolt, oh well, but I’d love to have fresh lettuce all Spring & Summer if it’ll grow because I eat a LOT of lettuce in the warm months and it’s so freaking expensive at the store.

It will be nice to have the ingredients for homemade salsa again, did it once before and the junk you buy in the store doesn’t compare to fresh, homemade salsa, and you can spike it to whatever hotness you want. I can grow onions and garlic too if I really want but they’re both cheap at the store so I probably won’t bother. The radishes and parsley are for my mom. The catnip is for the Garden Supervisor (the cat.)

I also bought a couple bags of organic planting mix to buff up the dirt, and I got a bag of shade-friendly wildflowers for the back yard since the Governor of California announced that our drought is officially OVER (for now haha.) Figured I better plant flowers while I can water them.

I will post pictures of the little plants once they’re all set up in their new home.