Originally I had planned on going to another hearing with the House Finance Committee but it started at 8 am and I just couldn't get outta bed to do it. I was so tired and when I get tired too many days in a row I end either getting sick or being the worst bi. Plus I had to come in a bit early for work today. So what I opted for instead was to go help out at the NAMI office. They needed volunteers to help get 3000 postcards out to NAMI members today. Well I rocked it. There were just 2 of us to start and then another guy came and then another girl and another guy about an hour later. The had to handstamp the NAMI address, stick on the non profit postage and stick the address label in, then put it in the correct mailing box (according to zip code). Nothing hard mind you but time consuming. So once there were 3 of us, I decided that I would do all the hand stamping, one other person would do labels and one other would do the postage stamp. And yes, for just the 2 hours I was there, I handstamped all 3000 cards! I was so happy I could contribute a lot since I was only there for 2 hours before I had to go to work,
At work today we had Cisco Network Training on MPLS - Multi Protocol Layer Switching. It was very interesting though near the end my eyeballs were swirling around in my head. But this is what I love about my new position. They do a lot more Cisco training, etc. Of course, Cisco should kiss our dupas since I am sure the bank spends mucho bucks.
Been riding my bike to work so that is always a good thing.
Oh and I checked my mail yesterday....yep got a 25 dollar administration fine from Budget Car Rental from Sedona back in Feb and March. According to them the Phoenix po po clocked me with one of their asinine cameras that they have posted everywhere. I usually go about 8 over the speed limit so I was hoping to see what they had me clocked at but if course I couldn't see anything. So that is lame. It just tells me the ticket reference number but no image. Hmmm. Anyway, I haven't received a ticket from the po po as of yet and am crossing my fingers that they won't after they find it was a rental car. Although it was the day I was taking Julie and David back to Sedona and we got turned around (well I did) because you know, I assssssuuuummmeedddd I could just backtrack the directions. Didn't work. So yes people, next time you are in Arizona don't assume you can backtrack the directions and watch out for those darn cameras!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Oh I have a total Hilarious....
I took a picture of my bike Stella to show to my Monday night professor Rafael. He noticed I brought my helmet into class and asked me last week if I rode. I told him yes, I just got the bike last Sept or Oct so haven't had much chance to ride. Then I thought to myself why don't I have a picture of Stella on my cell phone? So Monday I showed the pic to Rafael and he really liked it. Then I showed to my friend Barbara in the class and she said, and I quote, "You're such a little peanut, you can ride that big thing?" Now one thing I have never been called in my lifetime is a peanut and I wanted to burst out laughing. But instead I just said well I'm really not a peanut and the seat sits low to the ground so I can touch with both feet. I figured I better put this in writing in case it never happens again; I am not counting on it.
I finished my LAST math assignment (I hope) for the semester. I am feeling exhausted and the summer break which starts next Tuesday will be more than exciting for me. I can't wait to not have classes.
Today I went to the State Office Building to sit in on a hearing for the Health and Human Services Committee. Of course mental health is getting whacked to the hilt. I could barely stand to sit there and listen. I don't know why mental health is always the fall guy. I suppose because it isn't an illness that can be seen or is accepted like diabetes, heart disease or the plethera of a million other things, no one believes it is real. Meanwhile, the majority of criminals in our system have mental illnesses, the homeless have mental illnesses...so yeah, let's ignore the root cause and just jail or let people sleep under the bridges. It truly sickens and disgusts me.
This is what is happening:
The House and Human Services budget cuts $154 million in human services. In nearly every area – except mental health services and funds to counties– the house restored some of the cuts that were proposed by the Governor. The House proposed an additional $15 million in cuts to community mental health services and an additional $48 million to counties.
NAMI members need to remember that the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) compromise bill that was signed into law included cuts of $400,000 each biennium for adult mental health specialty care grants; $400,000 each biennium for children’s mental health specialty care grants; $513,000 one biennium and $2,346,000 the next by delaying youth ACT teams; and $7,704,000 in this biennium for adult mental health care grants. So before the house even released their bill, mental health had lost over $9 million in funding for the remainder of this biennium, and that does not include the loss of GAMC funding for community mental services, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams, crisis teams, crisis homes and Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS).
The House bill includes the following cuts:
Reduces children’s mental health case management funding by $1.2 million each fiscal year for three years, representing 50% of the funding.
Eliminates the total funding ($4,770,000 per year) for all the school based mental health grants for this Fiscal Year and next two Fiscal Years. This program has provided mental health services to over 6,000 children, 49% of whom had never received services before.
Cuts Adult Mental Health Care Grants by $6 million each year for the next three years. This is in addition to a $7 million cut in the GAMC bill, representing a 26% cut to these grants. This funding covers mental health treatment of the uninsured, drop-in centers, crisis services, housing, community support programs, ARMHS, IRTS, ACT and case management.
Eliminates all funding for evidence based practices ($750,000) which funds intensive community rehabilitation services, essentially ACT teams in rural areas.
Cuts all money for cultural specific treatment ($300,000) and the Department had just awarded funds to begin to develop providers in the African American, Latino, American Indian and other underserved communities.
Reduces one total year of funding of $2.65 million funding used to subsidize community hospitals in greater Minnesota to provide inpatient services to people who are dual eligible (Medical Assistance and Medicare), are uninsured or have medical problems or complex behaviors These were developed in areas that don’t have a Community Behavioral Health Hospital. Hospitals impacted include Miller Dwan, Avera, Mesabi, Northwest, St. Cloud, Winona, Cambridge, New Ulm, and Owatonna.
Eliminates all the money for children’s mental health respite care grants for this fiscal year totaling $1,024,000. Respite care is so important for families who have children with serious mental illness so that they get a break and get their batteries recharged.
Eliminates total fund for the Early Intervention Children’s Mental Health grants for a total loss of $1,024,000. Early Intervention is the key to reverse the effects of adverse early experiences. These funds pay for clinical services for uninsured and underinsured children ages 0-5 and assist mental health agencies and their communities in building an early childhood mental health infrastructure.
There are no proposed cuts to State Operated Services. Remember, they were looking at cutting $17 million as part of their redesign. But this means that Community Behavioral Health Hospitals that aren’t serving hardly any people will stay open. It is not right to make deep cuts to the community mental health system – where most of the people are served – while holding state operated services harmless.
Restores $460,000 for People Inc.’s Safe Haven program for people wit mental illnesses who are homeless.
Cuts the Children and Community Services block grant by $9.9 million each of the next three years and this is in addition to the governor’s $22 million unallotment. About 16% of these funds went to children’s mental health and another 6% to adult mental health services. So the mental health system loses another $2.2 million per year.
People on the Medical Assistance program for Employed People with Disabilities will have their premiums increased.
Any providers whose Medical Assistance payment rates are higher than their Medicare rate will have their payment rate dropped to Medicare levels. As part of the 2007 MH initiative payment rates were increased by 25% to bring up to MA rates. Individual psychotherapy and diagnostic assessments stand to lose about $5-10 per visit.
Lowers non-emergency ER visit co-pays from $6 to $3.50, but increases the total monthly co-pays for medication from $7 to $12. (These are people living on less than 7500 dollars I year)
Requires health plans to cover services for children with autism but includes a long list of evaluation and assessment requirements and an equally long list of what services and treatments are covered.
Cuts payments for inpatient hospital rates by 7%, including in-patient psychiatric care. This applies only to Metro Area hospitals for first year than all hospitals in second year. Psychiatric units they have a much larger percentage of patients on public programs (Medical Assistance, Medicare, MinnesotaCare) so they don’t have private insurance funding to help balance it out, plus there is no longer GAMC per patient funding.
The only good thing in the bill is that they try to implement the new expansion of Medical Assistance that is allowed under the new federal health care bill so people who were on GAMC could be covered under Medical Assistance sometime in the future.
As NAMI members can see, between this proposal and the GAMC compromise, we will have lost nearly $53 million in funding for mental health services for this and the next biennium. Remember that we had $34 million in new funding in 2007 – the largest amount of new funding in our state’s history. Looks like we just made another record – this time in the wrong direction.
I finished my LAST math assignment (I hope) for the semester. I am feeling exhausted and the summer break which starts next Tuesday will be more than exciting for me. I can't wait to not have classes.
Today I went to the State Office Building to sit in on a hearing for the Health and Human Services Committee. Of course mental health is getting whacked to the hilt. I could barely stand to sit there and listen. I don't know why mental health is always the fall guy. I suppose because it isn't an illness that can be seen or is accepted like diabetes, heart disease or the plethera of a million other things, no one believes it is real. Meanwhile, the majority of criminals in our system have mental illnesses, the homeless have mental illnesses...so yeah, let's ignore the root cause and just jail or let people sleep under the bridges. It truly sickens and disgusts me.
This is what is happening:
The House and Human Services budget cuts $154 million in human services. In nearly every area – except mental health services and funds to counties– the house restored some of the cuts that were proposed by the Governor. The House proposed an additional $15 million in cuts to community mental health services and an additional $48 million to counties.
NAMI members need to remember that the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) compromise bill that was signed into law included cuts of $400,000 each biennium for adult mental health specialty care grants; $400,000 each biennium for children’s mental health specialty care grants; $513,000 one biennium and $2,346,000 the next by delaying youth ACT teams; and $7,704,000 in this biennium for adult mental health care grants. So before the house even released their bill, mental health had lost over $9 million in funding for the remainder of this biennium, and that does not include the loss of GAMC funding for community mental services, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams, crisis teams, crisis homes and Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS).
The House bill includes the following cuts:
Reduces children’s mental health case management funding by $1.2 million each fiscal year for three years, representing 50% of the funding.
Eliminates the total funding ($4,770,000 per year) for all the school based mental health grants for this Fiscal Year and next two Fiscal Years. This program has provided mental health services to over 6,000 children, 49% of whom had never received services before.
Cuts Adult Mental Health Care Grants by $6 million each year for the next three years. This is in addition to a $7 million cut in the GAMC bill, representing a 26% cut to these grants. This funding covers mental health treatment of the uninsured, drop-in centers, crisis services, housing, community support programs, ARMHS, IRTS, ACT and case management.
Eliminates all funding for evidence based practices ($750,000) which funds intensive community rehabilitation services, essentially ACT teams in rural areas.
Cuts all money for cultural specific treatment ($300,000) and the Department had just awarded funds to begin to develop providers in the African American, Latino, American Indian and other underserved communities.
Reduces one total year of funding of $2.65 million funding used to subsidize community hospitals in greater Minnesota to provide inpatient services to people who are dual eligible (Medical Assistance and Medicare), are uninsured or have medical problems or complex behaviors These were developed in areas that don’t have a Community Behavioral Health Hospital. Hospitals impacted include Miller Dwan, Avera, Mesabi, Northwest, St. Cloud, Winona, Cambridge, New Ulm, and Owatonna.
Eliminates all the money for children’s mental health respite care grants for this fiscal year totaling $1,024,000. Respite care is so important for families who have children with serious mental illness so that they get a break and get their batteries recharged.
Eliminates total fund for the Early Intervention Children’s Mental Health grants for a total loss of $1,024,000. Early Intervention is the key to reverse the effects of adverse early experiences. These funds pay for clinical services for uninsured and underinsured children ages 0-5 and assist mental health agencies and their communities in building an early childhood mental health infrastructure.
There are no proposed cuts to State Operated Services. Remember, they were looking at cutting $17 million as part of their redesign. But this means that Community Behavioral Health Hospitals that aren’t serving hardly any people will stay open. It is not right to make deep cuts to the community mental health system – where most of the people are served – while holding state operated services harmless.
Restores $460,000 for People Inc.’s Safe Haven program for people wit mental illnesses who are homeless.
Cuts the Children and Community Services block grant by $9.9 million each of the next three years and this is in addition to the governor’s $22 million unallotment. About 16% of these funds went to children’s mental health and another 6% to adult mental health services. So the mental health system loses another $2.2 million per year.
People on the Medical Assistance program for Employed People with Disabilities will have their premiums increased.
Any providers whose Medical Assistance payment rates are higher than their Medicare rate will have their payment rate dropped to Medicare levels. As part of the 2007 MH initiative payment rates were increased by 25% to bring up to MA rates. Individual psychotherapy and diagnostic assessments stand to lose about $5-10 per visit.
Lowers non-emergency ER visit co-pays from $6 to $3.50, but increases the total monthly co-pays for medication from $7 to $12. (These are people living on less than 7500 dollars I year)
Requires health plans to cover services for children with autism but includes a long list of evaluation and assessment requirements and an equally long list of what services and treatments are covered.
Cuts payments for inpatient hospital rates by 7%, including in-patient psychiatric care. This applies only to Metro Area hospitals for first year than all hospitals in second year. Psychiatric units they have a much larger percentage of patients on public programs (Medical Assistance, Medicare, MinnesotaCare) so they don’t have private insurance funding to help balance it out, plus there is no longer GAMC per patient funding.
The only good thing in the bill is that they try to implement the new expansion of Medical Assistance that is allowed under the new federal health care bill so people who were on GAMC could be covered under Medical Assistance sometime in the future.
As NAMI members can see, between this proposal and the GAMC compromise, we will have lost nearly $53 million in funding for mental health services for this and the next biennium. Remember that we had $34 million in new funding in 2007 – the largest amount of new funding in our state’s history. Looks like we just made another record – this time in the wrong direction.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Saturday
Sharon and moi
Justin, Don and Joey
Joey, Jeremy and Adam
Adam and Niner
Today was the quarterly Nordin breakfast. Luckily the diehards continue to show up! It was Jon, Genevieve, Penelope, Julie, Don, Joey, Adam, Niner, Jake and me. We still had some good laughs and I got to spend lots of good time today with my Miss Penelope.
After breakfast at the Old Country Buffet I dropped Jake off at home and had an appointment with Lisa. I totally needed it today. There have been things going on the last week and a half since I have seen her that have made me very angry. I am dealing with it better but boy is it ever a task. I am tired of getting pissed off and angry. And please everyone don't ask me anything. I am working on it through therapy but it will take time. And I thank my lucky stars for getting lucky again with an awesome therapist. I am working on using what DBT skills I have learned but I am just at the beginning. I never realized though how much doing some deep breathing can really release the angst! Damn it! Lisa was right! DBT is goodddddd. I am anxious to start the classes. I will start the first week of May and it will be on Wednesday nights. I praise Jeebus that I have a super understanding manager. I didn't tell her I am bipolar but she knows I am in therapy. I just told her that my therapist wants me to do some intensive outpatient therapy...which is what the DBT stuff is.
After my session I hung out at mom and Greg's during the afternoon. Jon and Genevieve brought Penelope over and so I got to spend even more bonding time with her. I have said this before but I love her so much. I don't want kids at this point in my life (well as in birthing them which I can't do anyway) but while I love spending time withe Penelope and all my nieces and nephews it makes me somewhat melancholy from time to time. Until of course I take my next trip or do whatever! But I can't deny there are times I wish I had kids. I would not want to be a single parent though so it is what it is.
And dammit anyway! I know we need rain but I neeedddd sunnnnn and more sun! This cloudy weather totally affects my mood.
Jon, Gen, Pen, Mom, Greg and I then went to dinner at Joseph's Grill in St Paul off hiway 52 and Plato. The atmosphere was great and the food was okay. I do have to admit that since gastric bypass surgery (coming up on a year) eating is just not exciting. I mean, I guess that's a good thing but that was something I used to enjoy so much (obviously). These days, there are few places that I get excited about in terms of food. I know that is a good thing, but sometimes I get a bit bummed about it. I always enjoyed cooking and eating really good food and it's just not exciting anymore.
After dinner Julie, Don, Sharon, Joey, Adam, Niner, and two of Joey's work friends - Justin and Jeremy all met at the Liffey before the last Swarm game of the season. Sharon had got free tickets at work for me, Julie and Don. I don't know if it was because it was hot inside the Liffey or what (at least hot to me) but I kept sweating and then my stomach started acting up and so wellll here I am. Maybe I was just tired from the day. I don't know. But I know tonight would have been a totally awesome night if I was feeling better. I do know that the Wilebski boys and the Benicks will keep things rolling though!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Misc
1 more math class left. Hooray! I finally tallied up all my healthcare bills and I owe around 8k. Butttt I have a 4600 dollar out of pocket max. So believe it or not - because I hate having to deal with any type of paperwork crap - I actually called Blue Cross today. Come to find out, the numbers don't match up with my plan! So the customer service lady is going to enter them manually and then re-run them again in the system and see what happens. I don't mind paying the bills but I just want to make sure that I am only paying for what is my responsibility. I already got hosed on some mental health bills from last year because they said my provider didn't get the paperwork in on time and so they wouldn't backcover the claims. So I am still freaking paying on stuff from last year. And the thing that pisses me off about that is the fact that the clinic called right away when they found out my limits got maxed they called BCBS and got more claims approved. However because Blue Cross screwed up on their paperwork they aren't covering those. Insurances always have a$$ excuses.
Oh the insanity of it all.
But the fun thing today was getting this email from MetroState (it was sent to all students)
The University Foundation is sponsoring our 1st annual motorcycle ride
with proceeds creating student scholarships. This ride will bring
students, faculty, staff and invited guests together in support of our
common goals for education.
We are expanding our committee to those riders, and non-riders, who
would like to participate in organizing the ride. Please respond to
this e-mail if you would like to be considered for the ride committee.
Discussions will range from ride routes, dates, times, donations, cost,
food, Website info, raffle tickets, controlled inner sections, marketing
and of course - convincing our university president to light up her
tire... yes, she rides.
For those riders not interested in committee participation, we are
still interested in hearing from you! We are looking for an estimate of
interested ridership and ask that you respond to this e-mail as
"rider".
We look forward to an exciting event and remember to keep the shiny
side up (rubber to the road?).
Thank you.
I joined the committee! I think it will be a blast!
Oh the insanity of it all.
But the fun thing today was getting this email from MetroState (it was sent to all students)
The University Foundation is sponsoring our 1st annual motorcycle ride
with proceeds creating student scholarships. This ride will bring
students, faculty, staff and invited guests together in support of our
common goals for education.
We are expanding our committee to those riders, and non-riders, who
would like to participate in organizing the ride. Please respond to
this e-mail if you would like to be considered for the ride committee.
Discussions will range from ride routes, dates, times, donations, cost,
food, Website info, raffle tickets, controlled inner sections, marketing
and of course - convincing our university president to light up her
tire... yes, she rides.
For those riders not interested in committee participation, we are
still interested in hearing from you! We are looking for an estimate of
interested ridership and ask that you respond to this e-mail as
"rider".
We look forward to an exciting event and remember to keep the shiny
side up (rubber to the road?).
Thank you.
I joined the committee! I think it will be a blast!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday
So tomorrow (Thursday) is my second to last day of Algebra. And the odd thing is we have been working on logarithms and for some crazy reason I understand how to do them. Not that I will ever use them in my lifetime but they have been the easiest thing I have done so far. So I hope that means that I will do okay on the last math test. I haven't done so well on the prior 2. But those were during my days of super depressed and skipped some classes or was in the hospital for my depression. I think that if I had been in a better frame of mind I would have done much better. So I guess I will see what happens with the last test. The thing is, for homework it always tells you what you need to do....and on the tests it is just equations and I am not always sure what she is looking for. When it comes to Math I need more direction and what they (as in any math teacher) are looking for. Perhaps I should just know, but my brain does not think in mathematical terms, hence why I need to be told what outcome they want.
That will be the reason why I would never want to be a programmer of any kind. I just have a hard time grasping numbers and codes. I think overall I am detail oriented when it comes to tasks - but not numbers.
Saturday is another Nordin breakfast and then the Swarm game at night with the Wilebski boys, Niner, Julie, Don and another friend Sharon. Should be a grand day!
That will be the reason why I would never want to be a programmer of any kind. I just have a hard time grasping numbers and codes. I think overall I am detail oriented when it comes to tasks - but not numbers.
Saturday is another Nordin breakfast and then the Swarm game at night with the Wilebski boys, Niner, Julie, Don and another friend Sharon. Should be a grand day!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tuesday already
Dang, been another four days since I last updated. Saturday I went to the Swarm game with cousin Adam. We met at The Liffey first (an Irish pub attached to the Holiday Inn Express across from the Excel Center) and then headed over to the game. And scored once again on seats. We got 5th row seats for 10 bucks from a scalper.
Sunday was just another work day though it has been beautiful enough for me to ride my bike to work! Monday was class...only 2 more left for this semester of my POL301 class and then a summer break. I stopped by and hung at mom's after class for awhile. Greg had rotator cuff surgery on his right arm so she took some time off to be with him for his recovery. I think she goes back to work on Thursday this week.
And now it's already Tuesday and another work day. Maybe I haven't been blogging as much because I haven't had much to say? I dunno.
I did have an intake appointment though at the MN Mental Health Clinic where I see Lisa and Dr Gulden (psychiatrist that prescribes my meds). Lisa set up the appt for me on Saturday when I saw her. I needed an intake appt to get into the DBT classes. I will start those the first week of May when I am done at Metro State. And for the fall semester at Metro I opted for 2 online classes to see if not having to commit to attending a class will be less stressful (though I will miss meeting the other students).
The DBT classes are on Wednesdays from 5-8 so I will be working the next 24 Wednesdays from 8:30 - 6:30 am. At least I think that will be the plan. I will need to talk with my manager Tim now because I had talked to Deb about it before I knew of this re-org. But I can handle one night a week. Since it's not long term! And since I don't actually have classes that I have to be at.
Well that's about all I have! Catch ya later.
Sunday was just another work day though it has been beautiful enough for me to ride my bike to work! Monday was class...only 2 more left for this semester of my POL301 class and then a summer break. I stopped by and hung at mom's after class for awhile. Greg had rotator cuff surgery on his right arm so she took some time off to be with him for his recovery. I think she goes back to work on Thursday this week.
And now it's already Tuesday and another work day. Maybe I haven't been blogging as much because I haven't had much to say? I dunno.
I did have an intake appointment though at the MN Mental Health Clinic where I see Lisa and Dr Gulden (psychiatrist that prescribes my meds). Lisa set up the appt for me on Saturday when I saw her. I needed an intake appt to get into the DBT classes. I will start those the first week of May when I am done at Metro State. And for the fall semester at Metro I opted for 2 online classes to see if not having to commit to attending a class will be less stressful (though I will miss meeting the other students).
The DBT classes are on Wednesdays from 5-8 so I will be working the next 24 Wednesdays from 8:30 - 6:30 am. At least I think that will be the plan. I will need to talk with my manager Tim now because I had talked to Deb about it before I knew of this re-org. But I can handle one night a week. Since it's not long term! And since I don't actually have classes that I have to be at.
Well that's about all I have! Catch ya later.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Blog Slacker!
I know! I have been lame! So on Wednesday I took the day off work and Julie, Michele, Jim and I went to our first game as Season Ticket Holders. We fnally got to sit in our seats which are awesome. We also started off the day in the Metropolitan Club which is only for Season Ticket Holders. It was beautiful and the food was awesome and much healthier than the sausages, fried cheese curds, etc. It cost 29 dollars and includes a softdrink or tea or coffee. That really isn't a bad deal for all that you get.
The Twins lost the game and it rained! Luckily Julie brought a rain poncho for me. OMG Julie, that reminds me. Schleprock is alive and well still for outdoor baseball games! Seems like whenever I go to a game it rains! Welllll, at least a large percentage of the time.
After the game we went to the NBA City restaurant (which is changing ownership and becoming Hubert's). We each had a burger and soda then off to Target Center for the last game of the season for the Timberwolves. Julie's connection (Jeff Munneke) gave her Courtside seats for that night since we were supposed to get them at Will Call the night of the OKC trip but Jeff hadn't communicated that to Julie.
Jeff and George came over and said hi (and George gave us hugs too) and another ticket rep named Laura stopped by (I thought Julie knew her but she didn't). She said it looked like we had a ton of fun in OKC. So she recognized us from Jeff's Facebook page I think. She even talked to us for about 15 minutes. I think that Julie and I have become the favorite of the Twolves Season Ticket Holders! hahahah
Thursday was math class and a session with Lisa. Lisa hooked me up with an intake appointment so that I can start DBT classes. (Dialectical Behavior Therapy). I go to that intake appt next Tuesday. Lisa is running in the Boston Marathon again this year (which is on Monday) and I really wanted to be there to cheer her on. Plus I have a friend from US Bank that works downtown Boston and the runners go by her office. I just couldnt' swing the moola after my Sedona trip! Still recovering from that but it was well worth it. So next April, I am going to watch her run. She already qualified for next year. I think my plan will be to fly to Boston, stay in a hotel downtown or with Vicki, and then after the Marathon hop on the train to DC and stay with my friend Debby for a couple days. I already talked to Debby tonight about it and that is the plan!
Just working tonight. Heading to a Swarm game tomorrow with cousin Adam. I know I know, I need to get some pix on here.
The Twins lost the game and it rained! Luckily Julie brought a rain poncho for me. OMG Julie, that reminds me. Schleprock is alive and well still for outdoor baseball games! Seems like whenever I go to a game it rains! Welllll, at least a large percentage of the time.
After the game we went to the NBA City restaurant (which is changing ownership and becoming Hubert's). We each had a burger and soda then off to Target Center for the last game of the season for the Timberwolves. Julie's connection (Jeff Munneke) gave her Courtside seats for that night since we were supposed to get them at Will Call the night of the OKC trip but Jeff hadn't communicated that to Julie.
Jeff and George came over and said hi (and George gave us hugs too) and another ticket rep named Laura stopped by (I thought Julie knew her but she didn't). She said it looked like we had a ton of fun in OKC. So she recognized us from Jeff's Facebook page I think. She even talked to us for about 15 minutes. I think that Julie and I have become the favorite of the Twolves Season Ticket Holders! hahahah
Thursday was math class and a session with Lisa. Lisa hooked me up with an intake appointment so that I can start DBT classes. (Dialectical Behavior Therapy). I go to that intake appt next Tuesday. Lisa is running in the Boston Marathon again this year (which is on Monday) and I really wanted to be there to cheer her on. Plus I have a friend from US Bank that works downtown Boston and the runners go by her office. I just couldnt' swing the moola after my Sedona trip! Still recovering from that but it was well worth it. So next April, I am going to watch her run. She already qualified for next year. I think my plan will be to fly to Boston, stay in a hotel downtown or with Vicki, and then after the Marathon hop on the train to DC and stay with my friend Debby for a couple days. I already talked to Debby tonight about it and that is the plan!
Just working tonight. Heading to a Swarm game tomorrow with cousin Adam. I know I know, I need to get some pix on here.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Oh and just to make it clear
NAMI nor I are against a redesign plan at all...it's just that we want the State to involve the people from all over the state in the plan so that the plan doesn't worsen mental health care, but strengthens it.
Chanda was in town
My friend Chanda that owns a condo in the same complex as me but moved to Nashville for a few years for work was in town this weekend. We got to hang out on Saturday and Monday. It was sooo awesome to see her and we had a ton of fun just hanging out. It was beautiful both nights so we chillaxed on my deck.
Tonight I had a NAMI Legislative meeting so snuck away from work since NAMI is about 5 minutes away. I haven't been able to make many of the meetings for this legislative session because of school so it was nice to get back in and get up to date with info.
Since Pawlenty has made drastic cuts to the mental health system so that he can get by with the lie of not raising taxes (just creating fees instead) the State Operated Services have been moving quickly to re-design what they do. State Operated Services is the arm of the state that people with massive mental illness problems turn to when there is nothing else they can do. These people tend to be the ones with perhaps violence problems, housing problems, etc. I had never heard of "SOS" until I became part of the Mental Health Advisory Council.
The problem is, this state service is trying to make this "redesign" with no input from Mental Health Advocacy groups, from the Counties, from local government but most of all, with no mental health consumer input.
Some of the biggest topics for mental health is homelessness and long term care. And even though SOS has supposedly been listening to groups after all the mental health and local governments banded together, they really aren't. They want to shut down multiple mental health buildings and many of them in rural areas. And the problem is, they have not figured out any data to determine how to do that. NAMI's stand is yeah, if it makes sense to save money by closing a CBBH (Community Based Behavioral Health) building then do it. But make sure you have up to date data showing that the CBHH is less than 75% used on average.
I don't know how anyone could create a plan or redesign without having hardcore statistics to assist in making decisions. Again, how do you make decisions without being informed and correctly informed? I am amazed constantly at how ignorantly ran some things are.
Anyway, we have a long way to go yet on mental health, and it's too bad that we get sidetracked. Most of our advocating with the legislature has been about the State Operated Services redesign - this has taken away from other bills we have wanted to work on to improve mental health in Minnesota.
I think I will host a Pawlenty Packing Party in January when he will finally be out of office. Yes, I think that is an excellent plan.
Tonight I had a NAMI Legislative meeting so snuck away from work since NAMI is about 5 minutes away. I haven't been able to make many of the meetings for this legislative session because of school so it was nice to get back in and get up to date with info.
Since Pawlenty has made drastic cuts to the mental health system so that he can get by with the lie of not raising taxes (just creating fees instead) the State Operated Services have been moving quickly to re-design what they do. State Operated Services is the arm of the state that people with massive mental illness problems turn to when there is nothing else they can do. These people tend to be the ones with perhaps violence problems, housing problems, etc. I had never heard of "SOS" until I became part of the Mental Health Advisory Council.
The problem is, this state service is trying to make this "redesign" with no input from Mental Health Advocacy groups, from the Counties, from local government but most of all, with no mental health consumer input.
Some of the biggest topics for mental health is homelessness and long term care. And even though SOS has supposedly been listening to groups after all the mental health and local governments banded together, they really aren't. They want to shut down multiple mental health buildings and many of them in rural areas. And the problem is, they have not figured out any data to determine how to do that. NAMI's stand is yeah, if it makes sense to save money by closing a CBBH (Community Based Behavioral Health) building then do it. But make sure you have up to date data showing that the CBHH is less than 75% used on average.
I don't know how anyone could create a plan or redesign without having hardcore statistics to assist in making decisions. Again, how do you make decisions without being informed and correctly informed? I am amazed constantly at how ignorantly ran some things are.
Anyway, we have a long way to go yet on mental health, and it's too bad that we get sidetracked. Most of our advocating with the legislature has been about the State Operated Services redesign - this has taken away from other bills we have wanted to work on to improve mental health in Minnesota.
I think I will host a Pawlenty Packing Party in January when he will finally be out of office. Yes, I think that is an excellent plan.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Weekend
On Saturday I was out riding my bike all over the place. It was awesome. I rode it to see Lisa then went over to Jon and Genevieve's to spend some time with Miss P. I even gave Penelope her first haircut! (just a trim). Mom and Greg and Julie all stopped over too so we had a mini gathering. We all went outside and watched Penelope swing for a while too. She loves her swing.
My girlfriend Chanda is in town for a few days. She is my friend that owns a condo in the same building as me but at the moment is working in Nashville for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It was so great to see her. She came to my condo and we hung out and talked and ate pizza. She is one of my best friends in Minnesota (well Nashville). We like to do a lot of the same things so it's good when she is around. I am hoping she will make it to a Twins game this year with me.
Other than that, just had to work today and it was very quiet at the office. I am counting the days for this semester to be over at the end of April and really getting a break. I hope I can get my ass into the gym more, get some more golfing in, maybe do some geocaching....anything that will keep me active.
My girlfriend Chanda is in town for a few days. She is my friend that owns a condo in the same building as me but at the moment is working in Nashville for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It was so great to see her. She came to my condo and we hung out and talked and ate pizza. She is one of my best friends in Minnesota (well Nashville). We like to do a lot of the same things so it's good when she is around. I am hoping she will make it to a Twins game this year with me.
Other than that, just had to work today and it was very quiet at the office. I am counting the days for this semester to be over at the end of April and really getting a break. I hope I can get my ass into the gym more, get some more golfing in, maybe do some geocaching....anything that will keep me active.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Weight Loss
Today I went to Lifetime Fitness to meet my personal trainer (my last session for the moment) and I have lost 97 pounds and am down to 29% body fat. The healthy range for a woman is 18-24%. I have been feeling very upbeat and happy lately. And I am trying NOT to mind*uck myself and wonder why...I am just taking it as it is. I really enjoy my job and now that I am not working nights anymore I believe that has made a huge difference in how I feel mentally. And with summer around the corner....it's pretty much all good at the moment for me. I have gotten back into doing some reading too and they are usually self-help books or motivational type books or maybe I should say self-esteem. Anyhoo, when I stay reading on a regular basis that also helps my peabrain stay focused on the moment and that life is good.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
LASIK
I went to Minnesota Eye Consultants today to find out if I am a candidate for LASIK surgery so I can get rid of wearing glasses or contacts. My eyes are healthy! yay. The cost was 2k an eye though and I was hoping it would be less than that. So I called cousin Carrie to see how much she paid and she said it was aroudn 3k total. So I checked with Northwestern Eye consultants but they went up. They charge 1795 an eye. So roughly a 400 dollar difference. I still haven't decided but made an appt for her doctor on Monday. I guess I will go by which doctor I feel more comfortable with and what each has to offer. Me, comparison shop? That is sooo not the norm. I unfortunately tend to be impulsive. As in once I have my mind made up, that is it. I tend to think and mull things over for quite awhile but like I said, once I decide I want to do something there is no stopping me. I think my mother calls that the "stubborn swede" in me.
I do believe that no matter what the cost ends up being, I will be very happy I did it. I might as well get the bills now while I am working and can pay them off!
I signed up for my fall classes and I opted to go all online for that semester. I want to see if that is less stressful. I know the homework won't be any less stressful but perhaps not committing to 2 nights a week where I have to be somewhere will be better. I do love going to the classroom to meet other people but my sanity may or may not do better online. Anyway, figured if I don't try it I won't know.
Reality still hasn't set in that I get to go home and sleep at night. I might have to get different curtains for my bedroom since I don't need it super dark all the time!
Maybe I should get a part time job delivering pizza so I can buy all these things I want :-)
Or perhaps since my birthday is coming up, I wouldn't mind gift cards from my family to Target, or Bed Bath and Beyond, etc etc. *wink wink*
Maybe I should have 2 birthdays a year! :-0
I do believe that no matter what the cost ends up being, I will be very happy I did it. I might as well get the bills now while I am working and can pay them off!
I signed up for my fall classes and I opted to go all online for that semester. I want to see if that is less stressful. I know the homework won't be any less stressful but perhaps not committing to 2 nights a week where I have to be somewhere will be better. I do love going to the classroom to meet other people but my sanity may or may not do better online. Anyway, figured if I don't try it I won't know.
Reality still hasn't set in that I get to go home and sleep at night. I might have to get different curtains for my bedroom since I don't need it super dark all the time!
Maybe I should get a part time job delivering pizza so I can buy all these things I want :-)
Or perhaps since my birthday is coming up, I wouldn't mind gift cards from my family to Target, or Bed Bath and Beyond, etc etc. *wink wink*
Maybe I should have 2 birthdays a year! :-0
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Timberwolves Weekend
First of all, I am still pinching myself and in disbelief that I am NOW getting to sleep in my bed everynight!
So my sister Julie is a Season Ticket Holder for the MN Timberwolves basketball team. Because she renewed her tickets for next year by a certain date she was entered into a drawing for a team trip. She ended up winning! We got to go this past weekend to see the Timberwolves play in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. It was one of the best weekends ever!
Saturday night we watched the Timberwolves play the Miami Heat and left during the third quarter to drive out to the Executive Airport Terminal. I never even knew this little terminal existed. It is one little building that is between the Humphrey Terminal and the Lindbergh Terminal. I will post pictures later (I am at work at the moment). It is really nice inside.
We had to be there by 9:30 so we got to the gate and phoned the guard, telling her that we were with the Timberwolves team and were meeting Jeff Munneke and Ryan Tranke (can't remember the spelling). We got buzzed in and parked the car..for freeeeeee. We went into the terminal and the Captain and Co-Pilot of the chartered Delta plan came in. The Captain was Matt and the co-pilot was John. I told Julie that with half of the Gospel flying us, we should be good. They were both super nice.
Then Jeff and Ryan joined us (they are Client Development people for the Wolves) and also 2 other employees that are season ticket reps won a trip. Their names were Steve and George. The other people that joined us were also Season Ticket Holders (and I think they are just rich and that's why they got to go) named Mike and Janelle. They were really nice.
We loaded up the plane which was super roomy and posh. The players sat in the front half and we had the back half (along with media, broadcasters, massage therapist, equipment dudes, etc). We were served dinner on the plane. We had the option to pick a Shrimp, Catfish or Chicken Buddy Bowl. Basically a Jumbalaya. Julie and I both asked for shrimp and it was delicious! It was even served on real plates with real silverware. They also offered ice cream for dessert and then warm chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies!
We got to OKC in about an hour and a half, then deplaned and hopped on a bus to the Sheraton hotel. The players had their own bus. We didn't get much interaction with the players since it was their business trip so to speak but that was fine. Just seeing them up close was very cool. Although Brian Cardinal did come over and talk to us at the buffet in the morning at the hotel - and shook our hands!
We got to bed late and woke up early to go have brunch with Jeff and whoever else decided to show up. For brunch it was Julie, Steve, Jeff, George, Ryan and me. The buffet was not that great but it was probably our best bet to find food on an Easter morning.
After breakfast Jeff, George, Julie and I went to the OKC Memorial - the Alfred P Murrah building that was bombed on April 19 1995 by McVeigh and Nichols. Julie, George and I all got a little emotional. The Memorial is beautiful. There were 9 floors in the building so they have 9 rows of chairs and on each chair is the name of the person from that floor that was killed. There was a shallow reflecting pool which was very peaceful and serene. At each end of the reflecting pool were 2 big walls. One had the time 9:01 which marks when life was normal and the other wall was 9:03 - when life was changed for all in OKC. There is also a big Elm tree called the Survivor tree which had a beautiful wall with an inscription around it.
The museum didn't open until 1 (and it was hot and humid - like almost 90) so we didn't go into that.
In front of the museum is a wall that was built with tiles that children from all over created to show their support. There was also a chain link wall where people could leave little memorials. I usually have something in my purse that I could have left, but didn't find anything this time because I had acutally cleaned it out!
After the Memorial we walked over to Bricktown which is like the Minneapolis Warehouse District. An area of downtown for entertainment, restaurants and shops. Unfortunately since it was still fairly early in the day and it was Easter, not a lot was open. But we did go to Chileno's mexican restaurant and had chips, salsa and some cocktails. After that Julie and I went to poke around Bricktown. There is a little canal that goes through downtown and they have water taxis. I would definitely love to go back and check it out better. We just went to a store and walked up and down the canal a bit. But since it was so flippin hot and humid we opted to go back to the hotel to chillax before the game.
As we were walking back we saw Brian Cardinal from the Timberwolves again so we did a shout out from across the street to him!
After relaxing for about an hour we took our luggage and went to the lobby to connect with Jeff and Ryan again. We hopped on the bus and headed to Ford Center.
When we got to Ford Center some of the Wolves and Thunder were warming up. We got to sit in the courtside seats and watch them warm up and of course snap pictures. We also met David Kahn who is the General Manager for the Wolves. We snapped a shot with Tom Hanneman who is the Wolves broadcast announcer. And Ryan Hollis looked at me and said Hi! *swoon*
Jeff was also able to score a tour of Ford Center. One of the employees (I think his name was John but I can't remember for sure) showed us the Season Ticket Holder lounge, the suites, the Jack Daniels pub for anyone to go to, etc. etc. It was super cool and fun.
We ended up getting seated in a lounge area on the second level. It is like the Cambria Lounge at Target Center. Basically it's like 6 suites together but with no walls. So there was a free buffet and tables and booths and then in front were the stadium seats. Some of the seats had tv's. Our section had tv's.
We were able to get Chad, Deanna, Jessie and Blake Brewer up in the lounge with us too. So I hung with the Brewers during the game. Julie hung with them and also with Jeff and Ryan in our seats that had the tv's. I am glad we got the Brewers' in because the mascot (which was a Bison) was kinda scary looking and was giving me grief (all in good fun) for wearing a Wolves jersey! But I said hey, I am with my cousins from Tulsa and they are Thunder fans, so I am all good! :-)
I guess some balloon dude came through the lounge so Jessie got a balloon twisted in the shape of a heart and Blake got a balloon in the shape of a banjo. Blake got a marker and wrote "Blake's Bango"...I am sure he doesn't have to type the word banjo all the time. Anyway, so we had fun with that. In fact after the game Deanna texted and said that Blake had wanted to give me the bango! hahaha I told Deanna there is a Bango Museum in OKC we should check out next time! (There really is a banjo museum).
The hours went by way too fast. After the game we went back to the busses and back to the OKC exec terminal (which is not nearly as nice as Minnesota's). Our dinner on the ride home consisted of bbq ribs and sweet potatoes which I thought were quite tasty. Then of course more ice cream and warm cookies for dessert if you wanted them. Oh and I forgot to add, some of the players opted to ride our bus on the way back to the OKC terminal. It was hotter than hell in there. Kevin Love got on the bus and went to the back then came up and asked the dude to turn the air on. The busdriver said he couldn't do that until the Ford Center CEO left the lot. Talk about an ass of an ego I figure! So we had to sit there and sweat until mr CEO left the building. Ri-donkulous I say! Kevin Love walked back and uttered "mother-f****". I found that quite hilarious because he said out loud what we were all thinking!
We got back around 11:15 - pretty much 26 hours after we left. No wonder why it's taking me 2 days to recover!
I am just glad I am back to a fairly regular schedule now where I can sleep in my bed at night.
I will have to say 2010 is really becoming an most excellent year!
So my sister Julie is a Season Ticket Holder for the MN Timberwolves basketball team. Because she renewed her tickets for next year by a certain date she was entered into a drawing for a team trip. She ended up winning! We got to go this past weekend to see the Timberwolves play in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. It was one of the best weekends ever!
Saturday night we watched the Timberwolves play the Miami Heat and left during the third quarter to drive out to the Executive Airport Terminal. I never even knew this little terminal existed. It is one little building that is between the Humphrey Terminal and the Lindbergh Terminal. I will post pictures later (I am at work at the moment). It is really nice inside.
We had to be there by 9:30 so we got to the gate and phoned the guard, telling her that we were with the Timberwolves team and were meeting Jeff Munneke and Ryan Tranke (can't remember the spelling). We got buzzed in and parked the car..for freeeeeee. We went into the terminal and the Captain and Co-Pilot of the chartered Delta plan came in. The Captain was Matt and the co-pilot was John. I told Julie that with half of the Gospel flying us, we should be good. They were both super nice.
Then Jeff and Ryan joined us (they are Client Development people for the Wolves) and also 2 other employees that are season ticket reps won a trip. Their names were Steve and George. The other people that joined us were also Season Ticket Holders (and I think they are just rich and that's why they got to go) named Mike and Janelle. They were really nice.
We loaded up the plane which was super roomy and posh. The players sat in the front half and we had the back half (along with media, broadcasters, massage therapist, equipment dudes, etc). We were served dinner on the plane. We had the option to pick a Shrimp, Catfish or Chicken Buddy Bowl. Basically a Jumbalaya. Julie and I both asked for shrimp and it was delicious! It was even served on real plates with real silverware. They also offered ice cream for dessert and then warm chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies!
We got to OKC in about an hour and a half, then deplaned and hopped on a bus to the Sheraton hotel. The players had their own bus. We didn't get much interaction with the players since it was their business trip so to speak but that was fine. Just seeing them up close was very cool. Although Brian Cardinal did come over and talk to us at the buffet in the morning at the hotel - and shook our hands!
We got to bed late and woke up early to go have brunch with Jeff and whoever else decided to show up. For brunch it was Julie, Steve, Jeff, George, Ryan and me. The buffet was not that great but it was probably our best bet to find food on an Easter morning.
After breakfast Jeff, George, Julie and I went to the OKC Memorial - the Alfred P Murrah building that was bombed on April 19 1995 by McVeigh and Nichols. Julie, George and I all got a little emotional. The Memorial is beautiful. There were 9 floors in the building so they have 9 rows of chairs and on each chair is the name of the person from that floor that was killed. There was a shallow reflecting pool which was very peaceful and serene. At each end of the reflecting pool were 2 big walls. One had the time 9:01 which marks when life was normal and the other wall was 9:03 - when life was changed for all in OKC. There is also a big Elm tree called the Survivor tree which had a beautiful wall with an inscription around it.
The museum didn't open until 1 (and it was hot and humid - like almost 90) so we didn't go into that.
In front of the museum is a wall that was built with tiles that children from all over created to show their support. There was also a chain link wall where people could leave little memorials. I usually have something in my purse that I could have left, but didn't find anything this time because I had acutally cleaned it out!
After the Memorial we walked over to Bricktown which is like the Minneapolis Warehouse District. An area of downtown for entertainment, restaurants and shops. Unfortunately since it was still fairly early in the day and it was Easter, not a lot was open. But we did go to Chileno's mexican restaurant and had chips, salsa and some cocktails. After that Julie and I went to poke around Bricktown. There is a little canal that goes through downtown and they have water taxis. I would definitely love to go back and check it out better. We just went to a store and walked up and down the canal a bit. But since it was so flippin hot and humid we opted to go back to the hotel to chillax before the game.
As we were walking back we saw Brian Cardinal from the Timberwolves again so we did a shout out from across the street to him!
After relaxing for about an hour we took our luggage and went to the lobby to connect with Jeff and Ryan again. We hopped on the bus and headed to Ford Center.
When we got to Ford Center some of the Wolves and Thunder were warming up. We got to sit in the courtside seats and watch them warm up and of course snap pictures. We also met David Kahn who is the General Manager for the Wolves. We snapped a shot with Tom Hanneman who is the Wolves broadcast announcer. And Ryan Hollis looked at me and said Hi! *swoon*
Jeff was also able to score a tour of Ford Center. One of the employees (I think his name was John but I can't remember for sure) showed us the Season Ticket Holder lounge, the suites, the Jack Daniels pub for anyone to go to, etc. etc. It was super cool and fun.
We ended up getting seated in a lounge area on the second level. It is like the Cambria Lounge at Target Center. Basically it's like 6 suites together but with no walls. So there was a free buffet and tables and booths and then in front were the stadium seats. Some of the seats had tv's. Our section had tv's.
We were able to get Chad, Deanna, Jessie and Blake Brewer up in the lounge with us too. So I hung with the Brewers during the game. Julie hung with them and also with Jeff and Ryan in our seats that had the tv's. I am glad we got the Brewers' in because the mascot (which was a Bison) was kinda scary looking and was giving me grief (all in good fun) for wearing a Wolves jersey! But I said hey, I am with my cousins from Tulsa and they are Thunder fans, so I am all good! :-)
I guess some balloon dude came through the lounge so Jessie got a balloon twisted in the shape of a heart and Blake got a balloon in the shape of a banjo. Blake got a marker and wrote "Blake's Bango"...I am sure he doesn't have to type the word banjo all the time. Anyway, so we had fun with that. In fact after the game Deanna texted and said that Blake had wanted to give me the bango! hahaha I told Deanna there is a Bango Museum in OKC we should check out next time! (There really is a banjo museum).
The hours went by way too fast. After the game we went back to the busses and back to the OKC exec terminal (which is not nearly as nice as Minnesota's). Our dinner on the ride home consisted of bbq ribs and sweet potatoes which I thought were quite tasty. Then of course more ice cream and warm cookies for dessert if you wanted them. Oh and I forgot to add, some of the players opted to ride our bus on the way back to the OKC terminal. It was hotter than hell in there. Kevin Love got on the bus and went to the back then came up and asked the dude to turn the air on. The busdriver said he couldn't do that until the Ford Center CEO left the lot. Talk about an ass of an ego I figure! So we had to sit there and sweat until mr CEO left the building. Ri-donkulous I say! Kevin Love walked back and uttered "mother-f****". I found that quite hilarious because he said out loud what we were all thinking!
We got back around 11:15 - pretty much 26 hours after we left. No wonder why it's taking me 2 days to recover!
I am just glad I am back to a fairly regular schedule now where I can sleep in my bed at night.
I will have to say 2010 is really becoming an most excellent year!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Saturday already?
Yay the return of Jacques Jones!
Wednesday I went to Coon Rapids and checked out Todd and Greg's new townhouse and then went to hang with Beth and Peggy Bear. We ended up going out to eat at the Olive Garden...I always love their salad and breadsticks.
The days off fly by so fast. Let's see. Thursday I had a Mental Health Advisory Council meeting in the afternoon and then algebra class that night. I think my last math class is the last week of April and I can't wait for it to be over. I am not taking any classes over the summer. Next fall I am taking 2 online classes. I like sitting in the classroom and meeting others but I want to see how it goes with not being committed to taking up 2 nights of my week. Maybe I will feel less stressed not having to show up for class and being able to do it online.
After class on Thursday I met my friend and co-worker Jaime and his girlfriend Stephanie at Matt's Bar in SE Minneapolis for Juicy Lucy burger (a burger with melted cheese on the inside). I like it better than the the 5-8 restaurant;s Juicy Lucy and then I found out they serve Matt's Juicy Lucy's at Target Field (new Twins stadium). After dinner (it was Jaime's birthday) we went and hung out at their house for a bit. Steph had made a key lime pie for his birthday but I didn't eat any because too much sugar is not my friend.
Friday I slept in and cleaned house and did 4 loads of laundry (yes I had been putting it off) and then Julie and I went to the Twins Exhibition game against the St Louis Cardinals. We ended up sitting in section 126 instead of our seats which is section 102 but that was fine. It was nice to get another view. But I like my seats better. I have section 102 seats 1 and 2 in aisles 30 and 31 and my new rowdy peeps (we sat next to them last night not even knowing them) are in row 33! So it will be a lot of fun. The new friends I met are Brittany and Paul. Brittany lives in Cottage Grove where Michele and Jim live. And my sister Michele is a radiology tech and Brittany works at a company that makes radiology equipment and her friend Paul fixes radiology equipment. Oh yeah, the games will be a lot of fun with them!
This weekend is the weekend that Julie and I will be going to the Timberwolves game tonight at Target Center, then fly on the team plane with the team to Oklahoma City,,,stay at the Sheraton and then watch the game tomorrow in OKC at 6pm then fly home. I think it will be a lottt of fun! My camera battery is fully charged!
Me and hot Olive Garden waiter Emiliano!
Jaime and Stephanie
Bronze Statue of Rod Carew
The new Schweigert weiners are very tasty!
Jason Kubel (or as Brittany says, Kuby dooby do)
Cheese curds in a canoe!
Brittany and Paul
Adam, Jim, Julie and moi
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