Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Well, I had Mexican food on Friday in honor of Cinco de Mayo...'cause it'll probably be next to impossible to get into a Mexican restaurant tonight! :) Ok, and I also went to try out my new non-allergy to shellfish. I had a crab dish, and stole some shrimp off a friend's plate...and no problems! :) Hooray!!!!! I'm so excited. The dog allergy is still stumping me though. That's the only test spot that is STILL all red. All the rest have faded. It's just weird.

Saturday I lead a Bella mtb ride. It was so nice to get out, but showed me again just how out of shape I am. Hopefully I get out for another one after work today. Then Sunday I went for a little bike ride with Izzy...she loves to bike, but she's getting old so you have to go really slooooow. Then in the afternoon I biked to the Old Mill and say Iron Man with a friend. It was fun. Pure fluff...but sometimes that's what we're looking for!

This coming weekend is the Cascade Chainbreaker. If you're not racing and bored...come out and volunteer! We can always use more volunteers. It's going to be great. This is the 11th annual race, and it's tons of fun. If you want to register, you can do so online or in person at Webcyclery on Saturday 12-4 or on race day at the race from 8:30-9:30.

Hope to see you there!

Shellfish!

I went and had allergy tests done today. I wanted to know for sure what I'm allergic to or not. And it turns out I'm NOT allergic to shellfish!!!! :) I'm soooooo happy! I have absolutely no idea why I'e reacted to shellfish in the past, but it's a negative. I'm also not allergic to juniper, or if I am it's really mild.

What I AM allergic to is dust mites, which is very common...and DOGS! No fraking way! I've had dogs all my life, except for the past couple years. But even since I've moved here I've been around dogs a lot, spent a lot of time sleeping in beds that dogs have been in...and I've never noticed any problems. I think they must have made a mistake and put something else on my skin! :)

Well, doesn't matter, I'm not going to avoid dogs. I've never noticed a reaction, so that's jut too bad. So, I have to take this nasal spray twice a day for two weeks, then a different kind once a day for two weeks then it's back to the doc to see what he says. He thinks my asthma is also related to all this.

So...good news about the shellfish. I'm gorging myself on shrimp and crab for the next six months!

First real mountain bike ride of the season

This Saturday I went for my first real mountain bike ride of the season. It did pretty good for having been "off" for about 6 months or more. the previous weekend the Bella ride went out to the Maston trails, which are on Cline Butte Hwy between Tumalo and Redmond. I had to work, so I couldn't go. Instead we went this last Saturday. All in all we had a group of seven ladies: myself and Barrie, Ana, Julie, Lisa, Tracy and "lipstick" Laura.

It's a great first ride of the season. It's already super dry and dusty...I can't even imagine how it is in July or August! I think I'd only ride it in the winter or early spring. Anyway, it was fun. pretty much flat with some rolling hills, but not much. Very little technical, and what is there is easy to ride around instead of through or over.

My big problem...other than being SOOOOO out of shape was the juniper. As I've said, I'm developing a juniper allergy (I think). It made breathing difficult. Or, even more difficult I should say. But I had a great time. It was lovely sunshine, hot and a great group. I didn't get any pictures of the ride, only two from getting ready. I need to learn how to take pictures, or remember to take pictures ON the ride! :)
Sunday was just gorgeous too. It wasn't just warm, it was HOT. Went for a cruiser ride, swung by McKay park where we saw that Alder Creek was having canoe and kayak demos. So Barrie and I took out two different canoes to "test-drive" them. Yea...going straight was very difficult for us! :) And then I had to head to work in Sunriver. So that was the weekend....

Loki's getting a swelled head

Finally, one of my cats made it on to stuffonmycat.com! :) Loki's feeling pretty proud of herself.

http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=8967

Allergies

It looks like I might be finally developing an allergy to Juniper, like a lot of other people. I've been here just over 7 years and this is the first time...I think. First time I've really noticed and thought maybe that's what they are. So I'm going to go see an allergist/immunologist to get tested. Not only for that, but I developed a shell-fish allergy about 6 years ago. It'd be nice to know for SURE what I'm allergic to and what I'm no longer sensitive to.

In the mean time, over-the-counter stuff is helping. Man, allergies really wipe you out though!!!

The rest of PLA and Minneapolis

Do you know who that is? Between Sheila and I? If you guessed Mary Richards from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, you're right! :) The show was set in Minneapolis, and there is a statue of her just blocks from our hotel. We HAD to get our picture taken with her. Sheila's covering it, but she's wearing super kicky boots! So one morning we took a walk, saw the above statue, visited the Minneapolis Public Library (which is SOOOO cool!) and walked down to the river. I have LOTS of pictures of that morning, and only a couple here. So if you want to see more check out my PLA gallery.

The outside of the library has a pattern painted onto all the windows. You can see them from the outside, but from the inside it doesn't impair your view. Each side is different. The below side is Birch trees (can you see them?),one side is water (for the river), one is grain and grasses and the last is snow. It's very cool.
Overall I was very impressed with the library. It had a lot of really great stuff. One thing I particularly loved were there "compact stacks". They're on rails and they sit close together. When you want to get a book within that aisle, you push that button you can see on the side, and they slide apart. There is, of course, a safety mechanism that senses if anything passes between the stacks (like an arm, leg or whatever), and it immediately stops. This is a great way to shelve more books when you don't have much space. It' s so cool!
The kids area was really great, with fabulous colors and all sorts of great things for them to play with and on. The teen area was amazing! One of my favourite things was this one room. The walls were painted with this silver white-board material and the kids could write anyting they wanted on it...as long as they stayed within the guidelines (like no profanity etc).

Then Saturday we were off to the Mall of America. My favourite thing was the aquarium. It was quite cool, and I'm really glad we went. There was this one giant turtle that weighed about 600 lbs and took five men to move him onto the scale. The best past was the tunnel. The tunnel went through all the pools, sharks, Amazon, shallow water reefs etc. Very cool. On my Flickr site are a couple pictures from there.

Ok, so last year Jesse, the largest shark at the aquarium, decided to try and eat one of the other sharks. She grabbed this little reef shark and swam around with it in her mouth! Luckily, the little shark was not hurt. In 2003 Jesse did eat another shark. They named the little shark Fish Stick, and she's back in the tank, fully recovered.

Mall of America, baby!

Yesterday we left the conference after it was over and went to the Mall of America. Lynne went to the mall with us a bit, then headed off to visit family for a day or two. You can't really wee it, but Lynne and I are standing under the sign.

This is the amusement park in the center. I think it's so cool. And it's sooooo quiet! Nowhere near as loud as outside amusement park rides. I have to say though, I'm a bit disappointed in the mall itself. I thought it would be bigger.
There is this cool Lego Land area where kids can make their own Lego creations, but there are also "professionally" done ones. Here's a plane hanging from the ceiling.

This morning Sheila and I are off to do a bit more shopping, visit the Underwater Adventures Aquarium there and then tomorrow we're on our way home.

PLA, day 2...but first day of programs

Wow, I went to two amazing sessions this morning...so I think I'm jaded for the rest of the conference. I'll be judging all other sessions by those ones! I won't blog about those here. If you really want to know about them you'll have to check out my other blog, Librarian on the Loose.

This was a cool look at part of the Minneapolis skyline. I thought the old church, the new mirrored building and then the brown one behind it was... pretty. And then in front is the skyway. The skyway is a glass-enclosed pedestrian bridges at the second floor level. It's over five miles in length and connects over 50 blocks of downtown. 'Cause it gets c-c-c-c-cold here you know!
Tonight we went to another vendor reception, Midwest Tapes. It was muuuuuuuuch better than last night's one by Overdrive. It was really a full dinner with drinks, desert, and a LOT more room to sit.

Lynne, Sheila and I are having a "flair" contest. You know, flair, from the movie "Office Space"? I figure if we have to be geeks to wear those huge ugly badges/lanyards, I'm going to fly my freak flag and embrace my tackiness! So...we're seeing who can put the most "stuff" on them! So far Sheila is winning...but not after tomorrow!!!! :)

PLA!

Well, we arrived in Minnesota. PLA is exciting so far. Of course we've only seen the exhibit hall and gone to the Overdrive reception...but pretty good so far. Here are a couple pictures, but check my PLA gallery for all our pictures. More will be added as the days go by. Here's Sheila, the national conference virgin, checking in.

At the entrance to the exhibit hall there was a polka band playing! It was GREAT!!!!!! :)

And perhaps the best thing we've seen so far is the cart escalator at the 2 story target store across the street from our hotel.

Off to the land of ice and snow...

I leave at 4:45 tomorrow morning for the Public Library Association's annual conference, this year in Minneapolis. It's going to be fun! There are quite a few programs I want to see, and Minneapolis looks interesting too. The conference is Wednesday-Saturday. I'm flying home Monday, 'cause flying home Sat or Sunday was about $200 more expensive! So instead Sheila and I are flying back Monday and going to go to the Mall of America on Sunday.

I'm not really that interested in shopping...I want to see the aquarium and the indoor amusement park and all that! I will do some shopping though...I want new knee-high boots. I will do some blogging from the conference. Minneapolis in March, here I come!