Cravings

I have been having some weird ass cravings lately. Yesterday it was calamari, today it's Fruit Loops. What a strange combination.

Today I am going to have Vietnamese food. It will be my first time ever. Wish me luck!

A Weekend of Rest

People have often asked me if I have trouble sleeping at night. I'm not sure why this question comes up, but it has. I always find it funny because I have never had difficulty sleeping. Once I lay my head on my pillow, I am literally out cold within 3 seconds.

On the go for the past 4-5 weekends, I decided to cancel my trip to Mammoth this weekend and rest. And boy, did I need it. I ended up sleeping in until 1pm Saturday- my first time sleeping past 9am in about 6 weeks. Saturday evening I had plans to hang out, but guess what? I fell asleep again. This lead to me waking up at 11pm with a strong desire to clean my room. Cleaning like a mad person led me to become tired again, and I soon passed out.

Today I woke up at about 11am to let the dog out, but then went back to bed until 12:30pm. Then I went to the gym and ran errands. By the time I came home, it was 5pm and raining. And guess what? I fell asleep AGAIN. This time until 8pm. Now it's 12:02am and I know exactly why I'm awake. The weekends definitely throw me off schedule, but after traveling for the past 5 weekends with no rest, I was due for some much needed, quality zzzz's. I'm sure this weekend's gloomy weather helped.

I could never live in an area where it rains a lot. Forget surfing and snowboarding, sleeping would be my hobby!

And for the record, no I don't have mono. Been there done that.

Tragedy

My heart goes out today to those at Virginia Tech. Why do school shootings seem to always fall during this week in April? I mean there are only two but that is still two too many.

It just doesn't seem right to me for an educational facility, a place of learning, to be a target for this type of violence. But tragedy can strike anywhere at any time. Just yesterday there was a deadly shooting here in Van Nuys in the parking lot of a DMV. Two months ago I was at that same exact DMV and parked in that parking lot while I got my new license. Anywhere. Anytime.

My question is why the campus police did not send out an immediate emergency notification about this alert. I mean, shit, when I was in the dorms or in a lecture hall at college, we'd be evacuated simply if the fire alarm randomly went off. I know people don't want to interrupt classes without good reason, but this seemed like a damn good reason to me.

I can't wrap my head around why someone would want to do something like this. Then again, I can't imagine someone being so messed up in the head to even think about let alone commit such an act.

Another thought that keeps running through my head are the local hospitals. These types of tragic events are what medical centers always train and prepare for, yet secretly I'm sure they always hope they never are in a situation where they have to use their skill set. It's like when I took tae kwon do for 10 years. I always had the confidence to know I would be able to defend myself if attacked, yet I always hoped I would NEVER have to.

Our world can be a scary place. I hope you are all safe. Feel free to comment and speak your mind on this subject. As always, I'd love to hear what you have to say.

LT

"You're the Inspiration," Chicago Style

I am constantly in awe at the amazing things I am exposed to each day of my life. Here are some things I am into right now that I believe are worth checking out:


Goodsearch.com

This is all something everyone should look into. Basically it's a search engine that donates a penny from every keyword search to a charity of your choice. I know a penny seems nominal, but if word spreads like wildfire it could blow up! Imagine if all schools, libraries, and workplaces used this site as their default search engine. Plus it's powered by Yahoo so you aren't getting crappy results.

I first learned about Goodsearch from my friend Jon. He was struck with a rare blood disease a few years ago and almost lost his life. He's a baller now, working at Smith Barney and doing loads of charity work on the side. He told my friend Michelle about it and now she's looping in the ALS foundation. Last Saturday I was at a fundraiser for Boarding for Breast Cancer and now we're getting them involved with the cause. This has tremendous potential and could really help a lot of people! My friends inspire me to do good things.

Eastside K-9

I'm obsessed with golden retrievers. It probably has something to do with the fact that when I was brought home from the hospital as a newborn, I was introduced to my parent's 4 year old golden retriever. Last weekend while I was up in Mammoth, I walked by the Ski Patrol office and I saw a beautiful golden retriever laying down in a bed placed on the carpet. I knew exactly who it was-- King, mammoth's first avalanche dog. I remember hearing about him when he was a puppy so it was amazing to see him up close and in person. I wanted to pet him but he was "on duty." It's amazing that dogs have the ability to save lives like this. Mammoth is currently raising money to support their avalanche dog program by selling t-shirts and sweatshirts at the ski patrol station by the top of the gondola. I think it's great and I'm really happy they've chosen goldens over labs :)

If anyone else has been inspired by cool things lately, write me a comment and telll me about them!