Recurring Dreams

This morning I woke up and realized that I have had the same recurring dream for a REALLY long time. Each dream might not be identical - the people I'm with or without may change - but the synopsis is to the T every time.

I am usually on a beach in the most random of places, like I could be in a parking lot one second of an old neighborhood that I lived in when all of a sudden the lot cuts off into a cliff and at the bottom of the cliff is a beach...that I'm on. I'm having fun at the beach for a while when all of a sudden these MASSIVE tidal waves begin to lap onto shore. Some people make it and scatter away unharmed and some get caught and drift away I'm sure, but I'm always clinging to something, like a rock or a pole or something... and I always make it and have to stay clinging and holding my breath periodically as massive wave after wave crashes over me. Last night specifically I was on a beach that I didn't recognize at all and can remember laying out some clothes to change into on the sand and when I went over to tell someone that I was going to change and leave, when I pointed to my clothes, suddenly they were underwater and that's when I looked up and realized the tide had come in and these huge tsunami-like waves were approaching in the far distance, swallowing up a whole bunch of boats on the way and sure enough I clung to the side of a building as the water slammed into me repeatedly.

The funny thing is that this morning was the very first time that when i woke up, I remembered having MANY dreams that were REALLY similar to this in the past. I just never connected that it was a recurring dream until this morning. So when I got to a computer, I looked up the meaning of waves in dreams and here is what DreamMoods.com has to say about:

Recurring Dreams

Most dreams contain messages that serve to teach us something about ourselves. Unfortunately many a times we forget what we dream about as we go about our daily routine. With recurring dreams, the message may be so important and/or powerful that it just will not go away. The frequent repetition of such dreams forces you to pay attention and confront the dream. The dream is trying desperately to tell you something. Such dreams are often nightmarish or frightening in their content, which also helps you to take notice and pay attention to them.

Recurring dreams are quite common and are often triggered by a certain life situation or a problem that keeps coming back again and again. There is usually little variation in the dream content itself. The repetitive patterns in your dream can reveal some of the most valuable information on yourself. It may point to a conflict, situation or matter in your waking life that remains unresolved or unsettled. Or some urgent underlying message in your unconscious is demanding to be understood.

Waves

To hear waves crashing in your dream, indicates tenderness and relaxation.
It also brings about feelings of sensuality and sexuality.

To dream that you are caught in a tidal wave, signifies the strength of your emotions.

HHmmmm - something to think about...

Anything Goes in Mexico - a week later

It's been a few days now since I've returned from the adventures of the Baja 1000 in Ensenada Mexico so I figured I'd take some time now to recap before too much time passes and I end up forgetting details... wait... scratch that... there is NO WAY I could forget the magnitude of fun that I had on this trip. LOL

To begin, let's take a look at the following video intro of what exactly it was that I was there for:



So the Baja 1000 is an annual event held in the Baja peninsula of Southern California / Mexico. Some years they begin in the city of Ensenada and drive straight down to the tip of the peninsula to a city called Cabo. This year was a loop year - meaning it started and ended in Ensenada. It is a 1000 mile race completed by a whole lot of different types of vehicles.

Why was I there? It was simple. A friend of mine was taking part in fulfilling a childhood dream of his by driving one of the BC class of buggies in this year's race. My office manager was bugging the snot out of me to take a real vacation - defined as one where I leave my laptop and blackberry at home and unplug from the real world for a few days, and there turned out to be an extra room available so I jumped on the bandwagon and flew into San Diego at the same day and time that the rest of his family and friends were arriving there and tagged along for the adventure of my life.

So here's a basic recap:

Day 1

• Arrive at San Diego International airport - find the family and friends and the crazy folk who were sent to pick us up. We drive into Ensenada in a van packed with a fully stocked bar in the floorboards. The border into Mexico is a simple traffic light intersection. No muss, no fuss, lots of booze - my vacation officially begins.
• Arrive at HorsePower Ranch - there are Hundreds of people there it seems, all in accordance with the Wide Open Group's class of buggies racing in this event. I meet some cool people and watch a very cool opening presentation with speeches, thank yous, highlights of past races, past (and in some cases deceased) race drivers, and lots and lots of food - including fresh pig on a stick. Funny moment: My buddy came up to me to warn me not to freak out when I see the pigs head front and center on the grill. I laugh and explain to him that growing up as a Puerto Rican, I've probably eaten more parts of a pig than he wants to know... LOL
• All the Wide Open Baja Challenge class of vehicles are lined up for inspection and show and tell - this is where I realize that they really are in fact BIG TOYS FOR BIG BOYS.

• Arrive at our hotel destination (if you would call it a hotel) after about a 45min drive outside of Ensenada in the really dark middle of nowhere, lead by dirt roads. We are greeted by the most interesting lady named Ilene who brings with her presence a sense of peace like I've never known. She is an older lady, thin, with flowing rich white hair that falls down to her elbows. Her voice is quiet and calm and she shows us around a bit and talks about how she came to build such a beautiful oasis in the middle of nowhere. The place is a winery - meaning they grow the grapes and there is wine at hand at all hours of the day and night. Turns out the next morning she confessed to being really drunk the night before when we arrived and not being sure about what we talked about.... who knew? Thinking about it though - if I lived on a winery and wine was my life... I'd probably be drunk all the time too...

Day 2

• I am woken up rather early in the morning by a cat who decided to jump in bed with me and massage my legs (to make himself a comfy spot to lay) and as a result put me back to sleep.
  
• I wake up again and upon seeing the place in daylight for the first time, I realize a few things:
1. I am REALLY in the middle of NOWHERE - the landscape was amazing
2. The place was HUGE - with gardens growing everything you can think of - and of course grape vines everywhere
3. I love Cactus hahaha
4. There are a lot of pets roaming around
5. I'm the last one to wake up
6. Breakfast is being served by a number of lovely ladies who have been slaving in the kitchen all morning
7. It's really hot and sunny outside.

• We head back into Ensenada to discover that it is packed with hundreds of thousands of people in the streets drinking, dancing, buying things from the local vendors and admiring all the different vehicle types and classes lined up on display. Tomorrow is the big race day and the excitement is super contagious.
• We explore the streets a bit and discover some neat little shops and boutiques as well as local talented craftsmen in the streets trying to make a buck with their bracelets, masks, stickers and anything else. I even discover some freebies like free shots of Tequila - yay! LOL Oh I suppose I should share with you one of the funniest T-shirts that I saw all day:

C'mon - it's funny!

• Time flies when you're having fun. Before we know it we have to head back to the hotel to change from our summer clothes into warm clothing if we are going to head back into the city for an outdoor dinner - yes folks - SUPER hot during the day but REDICULOUSLY cold when that sun sets... That just blew my mind actually.
• After changing, we head back yet again into the city and to a restaurant ready to host all of us BC class groups for a final toast in the evening before the big race.
  
• This is where I met up with My buddy's best friends in the whole world - ENTER: TC, JEFF and MICHAEL. Oh no.. MORE super cool guys! As if I wasn't already in enough trouble with the existing crew. I jumped in with these guys in their car to show them the way to the hotel after supper, only to arrive at the hotel with the most soar stomach EVER from laughing SOOOO hard. Guys, I wish you were reading this - YOU ROCK!
• The 3 boys and I find our way through the hills and mountains in the dirt and darkness to the hotel without crashing into bolders in the road - it's miraculous really. We proceed then to find out way to the hot-tub. And yes, that's where I'm stopping with this day's recap.
  

Day 3 = RACE DAY!

• We wake up and chow down our once again amazing breakfast super early and head into the city so we can be there by 8am. We meet up with the drivers at the resort they are staying at and all the buggies are lined up. This was where lots of pictures were being taken by everyone around me (myself included) and those who were going to start the 1st 3rd of the race are going back and forth from the parking lot to the bathroom all morning... I don't blame them... I would have been SOOOO nervous. hahaha
  
• Right on time the helicopter arrives and I am ushered onto it to experience an amazing ride along the coast and over the race course to observe the locals setting up camp along the course. This is where I learn that the locals think it's funny to set boobie-traps all along the course to try to screw up the drivers. For example, if there is an arrow saying they should turn, the locals will turn the arrows to point the wrong way. If there is a fork on the road they will line up and block the correct way to go and indicate that the driver should go the wrong way... in the middle of the freakin dessert! They also dig ditches to try to stop the cars... NOT cool people - NOT cool. Do they do this because they don't want to extra tourism, money and business coming to their town? No. They do this because it amuses them... Sooooo not cool.
  
• The helicopter ride comes to an end and I get back to the resort in time to see the cars begin to drive off to prepare themselves at the starting line of the race. It's at that point where a decision needs to be made. There are options for what I can do to pass the next 24-48hrs. I could A.) Go back up to the hotel and relax in the hot tub, pool, cuddle up to a book, get massages, enjoy a nice dinner that the chef spent the whole day planning, and watch the status of the race on a website via GPS to get an idea of when the car I was rooting for was going to be approaching the finish line in the city so I can be there when it did... B.) Chase the race - Jump in one of the chaser vans and spend all day and night driving in the dessert meeting up with the racers at various vehicle checkpoints, driver exchanges and gasing stations. I was warned that this would be exhausting, cold in the evening and super exciting to be part of the action as the mechanics jump on the cars that arrive at these points and the drivers switch up gear etc... OBVIOUSLY I chose option B. hahaha It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and relaxing didn't sound quite as fun.
  
• I jumped in a van with 4 super cool dudes and made myself comfy in the very back close to the cooler of booze and played bartender for the boys I was riding with (except the driver of course). The hours past and I experienced amazing desert scenery, extreme fluctuations of temperature, the crazy excitement of the driver exhanges and a whole lot of booze... Tired of reading yet? Well if you ARE still reading this, I am extremely flattered and feel it's time to give you a break from reading and a chance to watch instead. Words cannot describe how much fun this was despite my extreme fatigue towards the end but here is a little something to give you an idea of the beginning - at least what I've described so far.:

Day 4 = Race Ends, Recovery Begins...sorta

• At around 7am someone says something about a ride back to the city and i sleepily crawl into this van and squeeze in the back with a few other drivers who have thrown in the towel as well.
  
• Myself and only one other brave soul from the hotel went out on this hunt/chase of the race with these boys, so the 2 of us returned to the hotel around 9am - to find it empty. This threw us for a bit of a loop because we knew that the car we were all rooting for would only come across the finish line around noonish that afternoon (this was an estimate based on what we heard all night and morning on the radios and GPS). Nevertheless, we asked for breakfast when we arrived, ate and went straight to try to sleep.
  
• I succeeded in sleeping for about 2 hrs when I woke up due to the sun shining in my eyes so decided to make the most of it by moving outside to take a nap by the pool.
• Turns out while we were napping, the rest of the crew returned and so after some time we were all regrouped around the hot tub chatting about how much fun we've had so far.
• The next few hours were supposed to be for me to relax and recover but unfortunately I was having too much fun being awake with everyone else by the pool, sharing stories, laughs and experiences from the past 48hrs.
• We had one last fabulous dinner, courtesy of the infamous chef, before select few of us scooted back into the city for the closing ceremony party at the HorsePower Ranch.
  
• We met up with my buddy at that point who had found himself a taxi man willing to spend the night waiting for us while we fled the ranch and proceeded to bar hop. Enter RUBEN. Here is a clip to show you a rough idea of how much fun that last night turned out to be for the bunch of us who braved the evening cold with Mr. Ruben (Greg, I hope you don't mind that I post this!):

http://homepage.mac.com/ghydle/THN/2008/112208_ReubenDoesTheBaja/

As you can see, thanks to Ruben - we all got to run the first leg of the Baha! hahaahaha PRICELESS.

• So to conclude this evening, we all got smashed, convinced my buddy to come back to the Villa with us to check out the beautiful scenery he's been missing, jumped in a cold hot-tub (and then right back out when we realized that we couldn't turn it on), went inside to laugh our drunk asses off for a while and potentially wake up everyone in the house before falling asleep.

Day 5 - Goodbye Mexico

In conclusion, we left Mexico with as much of a bang as we started with. Who needs waiting around in a car for hours at the border the day after the Baha ends? Lineups would be crazy with people trying to leave to go back home... nope... we left in style:


I do know one thing for sure.... ANYTHING GOES IN MEXICO - and I'll be back for more!

Special Thanks to everyone involved with me having a blast - especially the wonderful family and friends of my buddy (you know who you are), Wide Open, Baha Enduro and all the crazy folk I got to meet and spend time with! And of course - Special Thanks to you Bama...

Yoga X

Oh Yoga - how I used to love thee...
All the wonders you used to do for my mind and body...
If only I could have dedicated more time to you... while I loved you...

Hahahaha NOW, I choose to ruin it all.

I've recently been introduced to a side of you I never knew before...

The P90X side of you!

And you know what??? I DON'T LIKE YOU ANYMORE!

So there... until I can get through an entire session of the P90X version of you without wanting to punch a hole in my TV screen... you and I are fighting.

BLAH!

What's in a Dream?

This morning being Sunday..shared with the fact that I had left my workout DVDs in the office over the weekend AND that I had a friend stay the night last night at my place, left me in a rather comfy spot in my bed this morning, sleeping in and dreaming all sorts of crazy things..

My question to you dear reader is this - what does it mean exactly when you dream of far off places that you have never been to?

Point in mind - this morning I was quite vividly and clearly dreaming about Moscow.

Why Moscow?
I know nothing about the place apart from a few historical facts that I may have come across during my schooling years.
I was clearly there though... exploring....searching...and knowing my way around...

Bizzar? Oh I do hope to be able to blog about my dreams more often... Bizzar is SUCH an understatement...

Unofficial Panama Tourism Booster

Yep, that's me. In the past few years I have been bringing all sorts of crazy Canadian folk with me to experience the unique and lovable culture that Panama has to offer. It all started when I found myself living in Panama for months and learning that a Canadian girl was going to be moving there. As soon as she arrived I found myself eager to show her the ropes and introduce her to all the fascinating finds that I experienced when I first arrived.... alone and wide-eyed.

Low and behold... I had a nack for getting people excited about the Panamanian way.

Now this year alone, I been with my best friend in the entire world to Panama 2 or 3 times (losing count), I've brought my Marketing Assistant and fun buddy as well as another colleague from my office here in Canada. I've also had other people from Canada come visit me in Panama in years past. Each and every time that I bring someone to experience the culture and lifestyle of Panama with me, the feedback is only positive.

The week before last was my latest adventure to Panama with the company of one of my managers and this was the very first time ever that I observed the kind of response that he had given... To make a long story short, he nagged me on for not warning him that he should have his shots before going...

My word that never even dawned on me... but I suppose he has a point - there a lots and lots of holes in Panama.

LMAO

A week to Remember - Crazier things have NOT happened

Blogging is trickier than I thought. I always have something to say and so you would think that I would have more entries, more frequently, right? Well it turns out that finding the time to do so is the tricky part. LOL

Anyway this week was a crazy one so I am forcing myself to sit down and blog.
Thanksgiving celebrations (which I chose not to take part in because Turkey won't do for my latest workout routines. hehehe), emotional mini-dramas (which I hate) and a whole lot of work are what took up most of my time this week but one event in particular takes the cake for weirdness.

A man sitting next to me dropped dead.

Yes, perhaps you will need to go back a few words and read that last sentence again. Ok now that you've read it twice, be ready to let it sink in... this is no joke. One second this middle aged man was ok and the next he was not.

It was an average Tuesday morning. The weather is chilly in the mornings these days as it is approaching winter (sadly). I was standing at the streetcar stop on my way to work as I usually do and aside from having the Monday off, it was like any other Tuesday. A girl who is in my boot camp classes with me was also at the streetcar stop and we were chatting away about nothing much. The streetcar was a bit slow that morning and so quite a few people were beginning to accumulate at the stop.

When the streetcar finally arrived, I got in and sat close to the back door. The woman I was talking to sat in the seat in front of me and then I sat in the seat behind her, so we were both in isle seats. As I was chatting with her, I noticed the man who was sitting beside her (so one seat in front of me, against the window) looked like he took a deep breath and then went limp - like he went to sleep. I said to the woman sitting next to him, I said "poor old man I think he just fell asleep - he's gonna miss his stop."

That's when we noticed that he started twitching and every once in a while letting out a whispy gasp for air.

Well holy crap.

We jumped up and told the streetcar driver to stop the car (we werent even like 2 stops away from where we got on to be honest, it happened so fast). To make a long story short, the next few minutes were panicky for some of us - nobody but a woman with a baby strapped to her knew CPR or 1st Aid and made a heroic effort to help the man out. All I did was help her by holding her baby (and yes I am now looking into 1st aid CPR training classes...). By the time the ambulance and fire trucks arrived they had evacuated everyone from the streetcar and I was just there with the woman who turned out to be a nurse, talking with the ambulance people about what happened and what was done.

All I know is that the last I saw of the man, he was not an "alive" color...

So there you have it... the weirdness of all weirdness... who else can say that someone just dropped dead next to them like that on public transit?

Barcelona, Spain - A Lengthy Recap

As of late Friday night, after a super shitty travel experience (consisting of so many delays, over 24hs of no sleep and lost lugggage), I am back home in Toronto, relaxing and trying to re-adjust myself to this time zone. Now that it's Sunday and I'm rested I thought I would take some time to share some of my many amazing experiences in an awesome city that I cannot wait to go back to. Barcelona Spain turned out to surprise me in so many ways. Although I had never been to Europe before this, I had some pre-conceived notions about the area based on tales from many friends who travel just as much as I do. In the end, all of them went down the shitter. Barcelona is an EXCELLENT city which I recommend to anyone who is looking for a nice place to travel to.

To start, let me describe to you a bit about my itinerary and then I will get into the details of interesting findings while I was there:

I landed early on a Sunday morning (their time) and spent all day Sunday roaming around, doing the touristy thing and a whole lot of walking. The plan was to stay up the entire day as late as possible so that I could adjust to their time difference and not spend a week with jet-lag. Amazingly, the plan actually worked. That first day was a beautiful one weather-wise and I walked so much that my legs actually ached when I returned to the hotel that evening. The hotel was really nice with the exception of missing doors on the showers....which I thought was weird because I just couldn't figure out how to shower without making a huge mess with water everywhere. LOL Monday was much the same however we had more specific plans which included a visit to the Temple de la Segrada Familia as well as a bus tour of the city. The difference is that as we began the bus tour and were taken to our first stop, the rain began to fall...and I mean POUR. It actually got to the point where I was so wet that I just started laughing. My tiny one-person umbrella amounted to a big fat nada. So we spent a WHOLE lot more time at the Temple de la Segrada Familia than we had planned (where I walked down the highest flight of tiny spiral stairs that I have ever seen in my life and quite literally almost shit my pants), threw away the rest of the bus tour (since it was an open top bus and it was just raining too damn hard LOL) and then took off in search of a restaurant to call it an early night so we could prepare for the start of work the next day. Yes, Tuesday - Thursday consisted of all day conferences (work-related) at the Convention center. Of course those days turned out to be the most beautiful of all when it came to weather and we were stuck indoors haha but so be it. The conference was a big hit in terms of meeting people and learning what all the current buzzwords in my industry are about these days. In the evenings, we explored a lot of the city via the subway and transit system to find some really cool restaurants, malls, beaches and cool buildings. Somewhere in the mix of all that we also managed to fit in an evening at the Circus which was in town as well as a Football (Soccer) game - both amazing experiences for me. If any of you know anything about soccer, you know how big of a deal the Barcelona team is...and how fanatical the fans are.. hahaha

So as I mentioned in my last post, there were a few things that startled me upon my arrival, including the need for plug adapters, 4-digit pins for debit cards and that Sundays are pretty dead days overall. Here are a few more "observations" that I made throughout my week there (and please, if I am presumptuous or incorrect about anything, feel fee to chime in and correct me if you are more experienced than I - these are based on my personal experience over the course of a week only):

• Such Friendly people - As far as the locals were concerned, anyone I talked to or purchased from wanted to talk and talk and talk.... I felt like I was back on the east coast in Canada in terms of friendliness.

• Super Clean City - No litter, no bums, nothing indicating poverty or dirt anywhere in fact. I heard that this was an effort made by the government to move the poverty outside of the main city and do a huge cleanup for the Olympic games which were there a few years back. Whatever they did, it worked. In fact, I saw signs in English on the beach like this one, about trash, indicating that it was the English speaking tourist who are the dirty ones. LOL On a side note, I got to see the Olympic stadium which was quite impressive.
  

• Super Early and Strong Drinkers - We were out and about at 9:30AM their time, on Sunday when we arrived, looking for a cafe to sit and have a coffee and kill some time before we could check into the hotel. As I ordered and chatted with the waiter, I looked over and saw the table next to us with an open bottle of red wine, drinking and chatting with their morning papers. I looked to other tables, and if there wasn't wine or beer out on their tables, there was brandy that they were pouring into their coffees! The coffee consumption and times of consumption that I observed was also interesting. They drink small tiny cups of super strong coffee and set times throughout the day (I'm guessing as a snack to hold them over till their late meals). Then later that evening, we decided to order a drink with our dinner...Margarita... straight up Tequila on the rocks! When I made a joke with the waitress about how strong it was, she didn't even blink.... which lead me to believe that to her, that was nothing. LOL

• Super Late Suppers - As we were looking to eat around 7 or 8pm, I was quite shocked to find that places were empty. When I inquired about it, the response was that it was too early. In fact, most families eat their supper meals around 10-midnight! Yikes!

• Everyone Smokes - This was the only downfall for me cause anyone who knows me knows just how much I dislike cigarette smoke. Well in Barcelona, everyone smokes and they smoke EVERYWHERE. Inside restaurants, bars, malls, soccer stadiums, you name it...hell, I saw a big greyhound type bus pulled over with the driver sitting in the driver seat, reading a paper and smoking a cigarette right there. Amazing.

• AWESOME BATHROOMS! - Yes, it has to be said. The designs of bathroom toilets, sinks and just overall decor that I saw while I was in Barcelona in the most random places just shocked me over and over... I'd never seen anything so cool! hahaha

• Public Transit and Infrastructure - This deserves a HUGE pat on the back to the Spanish government because until this trip, I thought Toronto had their stuff figured out. Wow was I wrong. Where to start, ok well the first thing I noticed while walking around that first day is The Power of the Pedestrians. For example, the main street that my hotel was on (as well as many other streets I later observed) had two tiny lanes for cars and motorcycles to drive on, separated by a HUGE lane in the center (at least twice the size of the streets) for pedestrians and bicycles only, and of course the street car trails. As far as infrastructure was concerned, I thought that was GENIUS. In fact, what this did was promote people to use alternate methods of travel besides cars (since the streets for cars were so wimpy) and from what I could see it worked! The number of cars on the road there compared to bicycles, scooters, motorcycles and pedestrians was incredible. There was never a time where I could recall seeing heavy traffic. Sticking to the theme of bicycles for a moment, Barcelona managed to find a way to incorporate them with the transit system. Every few blocks you could find giant racks of similar looking bicycles, locked securely, releasable only by the swipe of a transit card. That's right folks, you could purchase a pass to swipe and release one of these bicycles for you to ride all over town and drop off wherever you need to as long as there was room at one of these racks. Theft and damage to the bicycles was minimal simply because these passes that are swiped have some way to identify who you are and what bike you get. :) Are you impressed yet? Lastly, I wanted to make a note of the streetcars and subways. Not only were these the cleanest, newest and most high-tech forms of public transit that I had ever experienced, but they were also the most trusting. In Toronto, to get on a streetcar, you have to get on in the front doors and off using the back doors. The purpose of this is to ensure that nobody gets past the driver without paying to get on. In Barcelona, you can get on or off using any door you want and only have to swipe your transit card though a machine that will punch in the back how many rides you have left on it and what time you swiped. Machines are used to trust that everyone will swipe their cards! Only once did I see a police officer at a stop doing a spot check. Otherwise, its all the trust factor.

• Cell Phones - I just wanted to point out that I still don't know how this is possible, but in Barcelona, no matter how underground you were (i.e. in the subway!) you got cellphone reception...crystal clear cellphone reception. I'm still scratching my head at that one. Everyone was on their phones chatting away while in the deep tunnels of the subways. Weird.

• Ambulances and Emergency Vehicles - The noise was quite different from most ambulances I've heard in most countries in the western hemisphere. I'm not sure if this was a good thing though as I found that the nose emitted from these was anything but urgent sounding... I thought that was interesting.
  

• Bull Fights - No, I did not go and attend a bullfight in person while I was there (although I believe I could have easily done so if I really wanted to). I did however spend a few minutes watching a recap of one on the news in my hotel room one evening. I have to say, it was really interesting to see what all the hype was about. Will I try to attend one in my future? Probably not... but none the less, my interested was peaked.
  

Overall, I can say that Spain, well Barcelona at least, has money. Everything was so high-tech and well kept and as I mentioned before, I saw hardly no poverty. Order and tidyness are two words that I think best describe the scene of Barcelona. Even the streets were built as a perfect grid, making it almost impossible to get lost roaming around. The architecture there is probably what fascinated me the most - such a unique and effective blend of REALLY old and REALLY new. Modernization was everywhere, but with care not to disturb the history of their culture.

So in conclusion, did I have a blast? YES. Did I take advantage of all that I could in the short period of time I had to do so? YES. Would I go back? ALREADY PLANNING TO, in addition with many other Eurpoean countries. :)

September 2008 Travels Flashback - NY, NC, MD and Barcelona, Spain!

That's right folks - a half a world away I am right now.
This month has been AMAZINGLY hectic for me but in so many good ways!

A few weeks ago I chose to spend a weekend in New York, a trip which I will never regret however I will stick to my guns when I say that it was just too short so may have to do it again sometime soon hehehe. I enjoyed all my favorites of the USA like, IHOP for breakfast, Denny's for lunch and (a new favorite -) The CheeseCake Factory for dinner. I was actually carded when I tried to buy a glass of wine! God love that girl for making me feel so young. LOL

Then I followed that up with a week of hard core work in preparation of missing a week to go to Hillsborough, Raleigh and Durham - all in North Carolina - in the presence of my beautiful and funny familia. As a bonus to that trip, as soon as I arrived in NC, I jumped in a car with my mom, dad and uncle for a 5 hour road trip to Maryland (near Washington DC) to visit a cousin who despite having kept in touch with, I unfortunately have not seen in person in almost 20 years. It was sooooo good to see her. She's had an amazingly busy year herself with the addition of a new house, new husband and new bouncing (literally) baby boy and it was great to meet her and her wonderful family. Her baby was 3 weeks old while I was there and I just could not get over how strong and alert he was... blew me away.

So after a day out in MD, we headed back to NC where we played out the remainder of the week with relatives, sight-seeing and visiting museums and university campuses, but most importantly just having a blast. I can't wait to get a few minutes to edit some video footage I have of my family....I think many of you will learn where I get my overall cookiness and admiration for all things musical. During this trip I learned a number of things such as (1) My cousin Alex could quite literally be the tallest high school student I have ever seen, (2) My cousin Leah plays an outstanding guitar and has a beautiful voice and talent for music which is in blossoming stages, (3) my aunt Meg is an amazing woman for holding all the craziness of that household (including putting up with my wacky uncle) together, (4) North Carolina is a place with many dangers...including HIGH-SPEED-BELLY-GOATS! (aka deers) EVERYWHERE (more to come on this topic soon, with video to accompany, I promise) and most importantly (5) BOTH, my uncle AND my father share the zodiac sign of Aries.....Along with my grandfather! How my grandma did it... i have NOOOO idea.

So here I am now in Barcelona after an extremely long journey. I hopped on a plane from Raleigh North Carolina, landed in New Jersey and then boarded for Spain from there. The flight here from New Jersey was about 7ish hours I think. I popped a sleeping pill and slept solid for a good 4-5 hours of that which was AWESOME. When I arrived on this side of the Mediterranean, it was 9:30AM local time....which was approx. 3:30AM back home... so the sun was shining, the streets were bustling and I was not going to sleep anymore. Instead I roamed the streets, took pictures and saw the Cirque Du Soleil (as I pronounce Circus Olay hehe) live, which I've always wanted to do, and just completely exhausting myself to the point where it is now 10pm here (only 4pm back home) and I cannot wait to hit the sack. Some of my first lessons of my European adventures include:

• Bring an adapter for your plug-ins: Duh... didn't think that one through. I got here and couldn't plug in my laptop till I bought an adapter.
• Debit Cards: require a FOUR-digit pin to use in this continent...why didn't anyone EVER tell me that one day my FIVE-digit pin would haunt me? I figured it out after calling a Collect phone # for my bank after trying to use my card at over 10 different machines in the course of the day. Oh well - guess I'm stuck using my Credit Card for the next week.
• Don't Arrive on a Sunday: Everything is closed... At first I thought perhaps it was because of a national holiday but according to locals... ALL Sundays are dead and nobody who IS working at a restaurant or in a taxi on this day can break a large Euro bill if their life depended on it.
  

Well it's just after 10pm and the thunder and lightening outside has begun...that means lullabye for Jenny which means TO BE CONTINUED...

Toronto Traffic Report hahaha

This just in... I have no desire to own a car in Toronto. Between gas and parking, it just doesn't make sense. Now a new element has been added to the mix of reasons why not to own a car here. Of ALL the places on the planet that I have lived, I have NEVER witnessed as many vehicle collisions in any given period of time than I do here in downtown Toronto.

Yes, that's right folks, if the cars are not hitting bicyclists, then they are hitting other cars and even other pedestrians like myself on a daily basis... amazing.

Last night after a particularly long 13hrs of work, I hopped on a streetcar and couldn't wait to get home to just chill and do nothing. The streetcar drops me off at the intersection just in front of my building so it's super convenient. So I was standing at the street car stop waiting for the traffic light to change so I could cross. The lights changes, the cars stopped and the little white man made his appearance to tell me I could start crossing so myself and this other girl started walking... all of a sudden I hear this engine that sounds like it has ZERO intention to stop so I looked up and noticed the lights coming and again... it was not going to stop. My gut reaction kicked in at that point as I stopped in my tracks and took a giant step back. This girl was about 2 paces ahead of me and even though she was a stranger I was ready to reach out and pull her back as well (but luckily she saw the same things happening so she stopped as well) and we both stopped JUST IN TIME to miss being completely blown away by this car that was blowing a red light.

Unfortunately, a white car that was crossing the street at the same time that we were, since he had the Green and all... was not so lucky... Not 5 feet away from me and this other girl (who I later learned was named Stephanie) these 2 cars creamed each other. There's nothing scarier than seeing and hearing the impact of two cars traveling at a pretty high speed, crashing into each other, while standing like 5 feet away.

The first reaction was to walk over to find out if everyone was ok but that's when you realize that obviously they are going to want you to stick around to be a witness, fill out police statements and all that jazz... so it was at that moment that I realized that I wasn't going to get into bed too early that night afterall. LOL

Thank god everyone was ok. It could have been much worse. Some things to note:
- The guy hit (Mr. Andrew) wanted to sell his car soon but now is out of luck...since the damage is enough to deter any buyer but not enough to write off completely.
- The guy who blew the red light had his poor mother in the car with him. Like huh? Am I the only person who drives like there is a baby in the car when their mother is in the car...with extra caution?
- The intersection is quite busy so I'm still baffled about how you miss a red light there...
- The night turned out to be one of the most random and memorable for me in a long time as the three victims in this scene decided to calm our nerves by gathering for a drink... hours later we were still drinking and talking and turns out accidents are a great way to meet nice and interesting people.

So it's official... it doesn't matter if I'm on a bike (as most of you know that I was recently run down by a car on my bike) or on my feet... I'm just not safe with cars in Toronto! hahaha

Hell, have you ever seen a TTC streetcar plow into a car here? I have... amazing.

Panama - Now that I don't live there...

Last week I went to Panama for a week of balancing work and pleasure, which is normally the case when I find myself in that country. This time around I had my best girl Ja with me as well as my Marketing Assistant Kat. Ja had her own reasons for being there. Kat on the other hand, I brought her there for work. Now those of you who know me know that I love what I do in every sense of the word so work is pleasure for me (some may think it's sad, but I think it's bliss). I am a work-a-haulic but I truly don't mind...especially when it entails trips to Panama with some REALLY cool people, like my best girl and my amazing marketing guru.

After many delays in airports, we made it down on a Wednesday night, pretty late. We were staying in a cute little hotel called Hotel Ejecutivo (Executive Hotel), which is not only close to everything we needed (work, bars, shopping etc..) but they have one of my favorite 24hour breakfast menus in the city. After dropping our things in our room we both decided we needed a drink so we went to the bar for a glass of wine and met up with some colleagues who came out for a drink.

The rest of the trip went something like this:
Work, work, more work, Party, party and more party.....eat tacos...sleep for a few hours....back to work....a little shopping...party, party and more party.

I saw so many good friends who I've missed along the way (thanks all you guys who came out with us for some good times!) but I also missed a few good ones who for whatever their reasons had to raincheck me. It's all good though... I'll be back and they know it.

So highlights of the trip:

• Discovering just how well Katrina and Janel got along - never a dull moment with either of those girls.
• Singing... so much drunkin singing outloud...in bars, strip clubs and retaurants...too funny.
• A day at Gamboa - Best Brunch EVER....Crocodiles and monkeys and birds...oh my!
• "Im Canadian, in Panama" - and cantiplatin nat waarin a braa...
• YaggerBombs!
  
• In the strip club...paying absolutely no attention to the strippers.
• Meeting Ja's best man.
• Eating Ceviche...oh how i missed you...
• Visiting Casco Viejo
• Ja, Kat, DimeBag, Antonio, Monica, Lucho, Nari, Osvaldo, Teddie, Jake, Rob, Al, Gena, Michael, Pancho, Bama, Scotty, (sorry if I missed anyone) - you all rock!

In a way I really like visiting there now because not living there means that I take nothing for granted. These days I actually take the time to do touristy things... I love Panama.

xoxo

Biking With Cars - Part 4 - Oh the Possibilities! haha

So here is the final post about my recent accident, I promise. From here on, I move onto other topics as I prepare for yet another trip to Panama to more than likely get into trouble. ;)

This is the last memorable thing that I can recall about the whole accident thing and my colleague reminded me of it today so I thought I'd share.

When Looking Banged Up Can Bring with it....Assumptions

I was still in the hospital 6 long hours after I got there and they had just finished feeding me pain killers, patching my arm up in a sling and at long last...set me free. At that point, the person who I went with had to go but she called in a replacement to fill in for her to make sure that I got home in one piece from the hospital. I had a bookbag with me (that I couldn't carry very well) and after taking 3 pretty white pills all at once, god knows how drunk I was going to be leaving there.

So my designated male (the importance of him being male will come, I promise) bag carrier and I are walking out of the Hospital and I begin to observe the looks around me... you know... the people who try not to stare but the effort they put into trying so hard not to just makes it so obvious that they are trying to? Wait... maybe that's just my paranoia tendencies talking.... Anyway, people were looking.

That's when I smiled and said to my friend "Hey... you know I look like I was beaten up...", to which he replied "yes you do.." in a non-chalant way as we made our way through the crowd. Then I smiled and said "How many of these people here do you think might think that you did this to me?" and proceeded to get this huge devilish grin on my face....

His face went white... "I never thought of that...but now that you say it....geeze..." was his reply...to which I started in a drunken laughing fit as we walked by a swarm of police officers.

Now please don't get me wrong folks. Abusing women is NOT a funny topic at all...in fact, I of all people can contest to that as I have had the unfortunate experience of witnessing first hand the effects that this can have on women...the ultimate battered woman syndrome. Not a laughing matter... I promise. But the look on Jeff's face when I said that.....now THAT was funny.

Walking out and saying loudly in front of all those cops "Now Jeff, Promise me you will NEVER hit me again!" to see the reactions of people watching and listening never crossed my twisted little brain... I swear.

Biking With Cars - Part 3 - Telephone Game

Keeping the theme of my recent accident alive, here is another funny of the whole situation:

The Telephone Game

I am a work-a-haulic. Those who know me know that there is no contesting this point. I have an 800# that forwards straight to my cellphone at all times and as long as I have phone and internet connection, I am working. Well at the time of the accident, I realized that there are probably times that I should just not answer the phone.

It was about 2 hours after I was hit...when i realized that I could no longer move my arm without experiencing excruciating pain. At the time of the hit I got up and knew that my arm was stiff but the doctors say that adrenaline is high at that point so I wouldn't realize pain until later (and in actuality it was the next 2 days that were by far the worst). So I gave in about 2 hours after the accident happened and allowed my assistant to take me to the hospital. I was sitting in my lounge waiting for the car to pull up when my phone rang. I figured I could still answer calls or questions so I answered it. My colleague on the other line was going on and on about an amazing email regarding positive feedback on a project that my team recently completed. He wanted me to see the email right then and there so I told him: "I'm sorry I'm not at my computer at the moment, I was just in an accident and am on my way to the hospital..." which of course started all the questions - how / when / where / are you ok / etc.... which I answered with ease because besides a really soar arm and a shitty looking face, I was fine.

When I got to the hospital, I decided to turn the ringer on my phone off because it was ringing non-stop.

Six hours later, I exited the hospital and decided to check my phone. Of course, 95% of all the missed calls were from Panama so I figured word probably spread. I called the office back and got a hold of my client. The conversation went something like this:

Bama: Jen? Is that you? What the hell happened to you?
Me: Well, I dunno if Simon told you but I was hit by a car riding my bike earlier today so I went to the hospital to get things checked out.
Bama: Huge sigh of relief... Yea Simon told me he spoke to you so I took his word.....but who else did you talk to?
Me: Nobody...why?
Bama: Holy Cow you should have HEARD some of the things I was hearing in the office today! Somehow everyone found out that you were hurt and all hell broke loose!
Me: huh???? I don't follow...
Bama: I walked passed someone outside and they said "Hey Bama did you hear Jen got hit by a BUS!".. Then I walked into another office in another wing of the building and I heard "Hey Bama! Is it true that Jen was involved in an explosion?"... Then I get back to my office and my phone starts ringing with our clients in the U.S. talking about "Hey Bama how come you didn't tell me that Jen was involved in a hostage situation?" Holy Shit Jen! It was amazing! Worse than Ferris Bueller's Day Off! Like WTF??
Me: Laughing my ass off by now telling him to stop making me laugh so hard cause it hurts.
Bama: Seriously Jen, For a minute I was thinking you may have downplayed what happened to Simon cause I know you... you don't make a big deal of anything.
Me: No Bama... really... it was a car and my bike... i have a face that looks like I got into a fight with a boxer and a fractured elbow... I'm going to live.
Bama: Ok so no Bus?
Me: No.
Bama: No explosions?
Me: No.
Bama: No terrorists taking you hostage?
Me: LAUGHING TOO HARD TO SAY NO...
It's like the phone game you play when you're a kid! You sit in a circle and tell one person a story and get them to pass it on all the way around the circle and watch how many details change by the time the story gets back to you... AMAZING!


The moral of this story? I should not have answered my phone at all that day.... LOL

Biking with Cars - Part 2 - The Ballsy Bum

If you read my last post, you know that I was recently hit by a car while riding my bike. Shitty deal all around really but overall I feel lucky because it could have easily been a lot worse. Now that a few days have passed it's time to look back and laugh at some rather humorous things that went down throughout the whole ordeal. Over the next few days I will be writing about the funnies of the whole situation.

Today we start with The Brave Bum...

I was sitting in the back of the police car chatting with the good looking officer while filling out my official statement etc... My bicycle was leaning up against a tree right outside of the car within plain view to us both. There was no lock on the bike but I figured nobody was going to try to steal it while a police car is parked right in front of it. All of a sudden this less than good looking man (he wore stinky and dirty quite well actually), who I could only assume was a bum, came to the front passenger window of the cop's car and tapped on the window. The police officer reluctantly opened the window slightly to let the guy's head peer in. His words made my eyes widen.

The bum said: "Hey if you're here about that bike over there (and pointed to my baby leaning up against the tree in front of us), then it's cool, don't worry. I figure I'll save you the trouble. That's my buddie's bike. I saw him riding it this morning. I'm going to take it out of your way and bring it over to my buddy... I was watching it for him."
The officer's face twisted and he bit his lip and said: "oh is that right?"
The bum said: "Yea yea, it's cool don't worry. I'm going to get it out of your way now ok?"
The officer: "Hey man what did your buddy look like?"
The bum: "UUhhh he's a native american guy..."
The officer: Pointing to me and my wide eyes and huge grin by now in the back seat says "Does he look like this young lady in the back seat?"
The bum sticks his head somewhat in the car to look at me in the back nods (cause by now I guess he realized defeat in the matter) and then proceeds to walk away.
The officer yells: "Man! You better get lost quick!"

I had to stop writing for a minute when that happened cause both the officer and I were laughing too hard at the whole thing. This freakin bum was going to try to steal my bike not 5 minutes after I put it up against that tree and got in the car! AMAZING. Talk about balls.
I gotta say... Toronto has some colorful people in its' streets! LMAO

Bad things happen in Threes...or Fours?

This week seems to have been a not very good week at all for the people in my office, including myself. Monday was a holiday but the long weekend saw no end to work for me. It all started when a very important manager of mine down in Panama quit on me without warning. Saturday he called to say he was giving his 2 weeks notice. Sunday he didn't show up. Monday he called to say he wasn't coming back at all. Unbelievable...at least with 2 weeks he could have been able to train someone to fill his shoes...you think you know a guy. So that left me in a shitty predicament with LOTS of work to do over the weekend.

On Tuesday everyone comes in with a bubbly and rested attitude except myself of course, but I noticed that my Marketing Assistant was also less than bubbly. Turns out a very good friend of hers died over the weekend. Ouch. She was taking it extremely well however and I have already told her that I think she is amazing for that.

On Wednesday I am just starting to turn things around with work (found a solution/replacement for that position in Panama) so things were looking up until I get a phone call in the evening from a staff member to tell me that his father passed away in a sudden freak accident. Once again...Ouch. I am not really good in situations like that so I simply told him to take as much time as needed and do what he has to do and not worry about work.

So we are halfway through the week and we are looking at 2 deaths and a work-related crisis. Great. I was talking to my office manager about the whole thing and remember saying the phrase "Death Happens in 3's"....so they say...or is the saying "Bad Things happen in 3's"? She shrugged and pushed the thought out of her head. I on the other hand kept thinking about it. If it's Death that happens in 3's then I've still got one more to go. If it's Bad Things that happen in 3's then I'm done.... I wonder...

Well yesterday morning I believe I got my answer....

I had just finished meeting with my office manager and a Realtor at a location fairly close to my home. We left the meeting and she jumped on a street car and I jumped on my bike and told her I would meet her at the office. I didn't get 3 blocks up the street when it happened.

I always go on and on about how Toronto seems to have amazing infrastructure for people who ride bikes. It's a rare thing to find a city in North America as big as this one that supports bik-riders.

So I am on the right side (in the designated bike lane) of the rather busy street riding at a comfortable pace when this big black car comes out of a side street to turn onto the same busy street that I am passing on. The driver looked at me and saw me and I could have sworn he was slowing down. When I realized that he wasn't going to stop, I started ringing my little bell and screaming WOAH! but it was too late. The impact happened right at my right leg of the bike. He hit me hard enough to throw me off my bike and into the heavy traffic in the street next to me. THANK GOD a car who saw the whole thing stopped behind me before hitting me a second time and the driver jumped out of the car to help me get out of the road. I was stunned.

Something to note. In Toronto it is not law for adults to wear helmets while on a bike. It is law however to have a bell on your bike... yea well....I'm buying a helmet before I ever get on a bike again...Also, when you are flying in the air, you tend to close your eyes, brace your body and hope for the best... You don't quite remember details about how you landed and what happened to the bike etc... A bunch of witnesses told me the same story. I landed on the right side of my face first and then flipped over onto my left arm. The damage on my body definitely matches that story. At first I thought I was fine but as the minutes passed and the adrenaline in my body began to calm down, I realized that I had damaged my arm pretty badly. After about 2 hours I could not move it at all. After many hours in the hospital, begging for pain-killers (which I eventually got, thank god) and watching my arm visibly swell to twice the size of the other one, turns out I fractured my elbow pretty badly and so have to wear a sling for the next 2-3 weeks.

So in the end, it's all good. It could have been MUCH MUCH worse so I feel lucky. My face looks like shit and my entire body is soar today, including of course my arm...and I'm irritated as shit trying to do things with one hand all the time (including typing this story)...but I'll live.

I tell you what though - as soon as I realized that I was going to be hit, there was one thing going through my mind...it went something like this.... "NO WAY....AM I GOING TO BE #3??"

When Awesome Security Becomes Too Much Security

Today I learned that it is never a good idea to have invested in a ginormous amount of security and no backup plan B to cover your own ass. As is the case with any other day, I found myself in the office working extra hours to get caught up. A new design recruit was with me today because he is scheduled to start work with me on Tuesday. He wanted to come in and take a look at the office in advance so I brought him along.

Because it is a weekend, and most sane Canadians who are not work-a-haulics like myself do not work on weekends (especially long weekends), the office building is in lock-down mode, with access only to limited managers like myself. Let me paint a picture of how the office works on weekends. The main office door on the ground floor opens during off-hours such as this, with an electronic fob. From there, stairs take you to the appropriate floor (in my case the 3^rd floor) and another door, also with fob access needs to be opened in order to reach the hallway in front of my main office door. Both the door at the stairway and my main office doors are rigged up with their own (2 different, that is) security alarm systems which activate if the doors are left open for too long during the off hours. Bathrooms are in the hallway, in between these 2 security systems, as opposed to inside of the office.

So after a few hours of working, my new recruit decided that he was ready to leave and go explore some of downtown Toronto RIGHT when I decided to go to the washroom. So I come out of the washroom and I see him in the hallway waiting for me to ask to borrow my camera… at that point, my face turns white… as I realize that we are both in the hallway…and my camera that he wants to borrow is in the office on my desk, in my purse, alongside all my keys to the office and even to my apartment and my cell phone and my wallet and anything valuable to me…is in the office….and I can’t remember if I unlocked the auto-locks. SHIT. Shawn, did you close the door? – Yes…... SHIT.

We were SOOO locked out. No way in, no way to call anyone (my phone is inside and with the existence of address books in the phone, I’ll be damned if I actually know anyone’s phone numbers by heart), no money to go anywhere (wallet inside) and nowhere to go anyway….cause I don’t know where anyone nearby lives and the keys to my place were locked inside. Hhmmmm I think back to the days when I refused to own a cellphone. That was just over 3 years ago….how did I survive? hahaha

So we sat down on the floor in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Looking back, THANK GOD this guy chose to stop and ask me for the camera before going…had he left without doing so and left me there by myself, I would have been ridiculously screwed. I would have been walking around knocking on doors asking for someone to take me in for the next 2 nights, considering that Monday is a holiday so people won’t arrive at the office till Tuesday. Oh yes, I was in a Royal Tiffle ladies and gents.

He had quarters in his pocket so I told him to go out and find a payphone with a phone book and call a locksmith. I had to stay behind to be able to open the door to the building for him downstairs….easier said than done. Why? Because if I close the door at the top of the stairs, which I explained earlier requires a fob (on my keychain locked inside), I’d be locked out of the 3^rd floor and be even more screwed. So ok, I will leave my shoe in the door upstairs and wait for him at the bottom of the stairs to open that door when he gets back from the payphone….solid plan right? WRONG. Again, if that door is opened for too long, the alarm is triggered..

So what do I do? He leaves to call a locksmith and every 5 minutes I put a shoe in the door and RUN MY ASS OFF down 3 stories, which is actually 6 flights of stairs to check to see if he is there and then, if he’s not (which happened 3 goddamn times), run back up those same 6 flights of stairs and get back to the door to close it before 45 seconds passes and the entire building’s alarm system goes off. That’s right…when was the last time you tried to run up and down 6 flights of stairs in 45 seconds while hearing warning beeps coming from an alarm system that you really don’t want going off? LOL

I didn’t need the extra workout or the feeling like my heart was going to explode multiple times but in the end it worked and when he finally came to the door, it was with a locksmith. $250 later I was home free, sitting at my desk on the phone with a friend laughing about the whole thing.

So what did I learn? 2 things: (1) The security in our building is AWESOME and I won’t EVER have to worry about people breaking in after-hours….and there is the realization that by investing in so much security, I may have been a tad on the paranoid side. Hey, at least it works. (2) I have suddenly found the need to attach a bracelet or something that will attach the keys to me at ALL times.

What a day.

Imagine...The Power of the Mind

If you can imagine it, you can have it. This is the name of the game. This is the lesson to learn. It couldn't be any easier. Reality is not what your eyes show your mind, but what your mind creates for your eyes to see. You are not limited by logic, the past, or the world around you. You are not even of the world around you. You are supernatural, pure spirit. You came first. Magic, miracles, and luck are the consequences of understanding this, the inevitable result of dreaming and acting in spite of appearances.You are ever so close. Simply stay the course. It won't be very much longer.

If you can imagine it, you can have it !

Make it a great day!

A Day at the Spa

I finally decided to cash in on a birthday present and spent an entire day at the spa.
I got a full body swedish masssage, mani-pedi combo....
I now have the prettiest hands and toes in the world.
And yes... THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME.

I AM SUPERWOMAN - YES WE ARE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK8t0gP4isE

"I am a Superwoman
Yes I am
Yes she is
Even when I'm a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes - I'm a Superwoman" - A. Keys

8 Month Reflection: Looking Back at where I was on the 1st glorious day of January this 2008 year, to where I am now.

So in 8 months, I have accomplished the following Professionally:

• Moved and settled into a new condo and set up an office in a city foreign to me, which involved dealing with real-estate agents, lawyers, accountants, electricians, contractors, inspectors etc...
• Met my hiring needs for staff. I now have a team of 5 professional Graphics Designers in both print and web, 4 professional sports writers/content producers, 2 Search Engine Optimization Specialists and 1 Assistant Marketing Coordinator working for me on a full-time basis...and this is only the beginning!
  
• Produced a Direct Mail Package with my team, consisting of brochures, posters, letters, coupons and some super sexy envelopes, worthy of an audience of over 10 MILLION individuals across the U.S. and Canada - from Conceptualization to Design and Content to Print to Packaging to Mailing of this all.
  
• Produced a patented Personal Planning Guide Agenda product with my team as a gift for over 15,000 special individuals in the U.S. and Canada
• Produced our very own 1st Annual 215 page Magazine Publication, another gift for a few thousand special folks across the US and Canada
  
• Helped launch a brand new website Design and User Interface incorporated with an extremely intelligent and tricky CRM software system
• Traveled to places like Montreal, Connecticut and Panama City, Panama for some of the most productive business meetings ever.
  
• Completed negotiations for numerous Advertisement deals in both the print (magazines) and online world (Media Buys and other website properties)
• Learned to talk Tech - This is still a work in progress as well butT I can now hold meaningful, productive conversations with Developers, Programmers and QA people I work with, which is extremely exciting!
  

I have also accomplished the following on a personal level this year alone:

• Learned my way around most of the downtown core of this city at least - and some of the surrounding areas as well (still a long way to go with that though hahaha)
• Completed Anthony Robbins 4 day intense soul-searching program called Unleash the Power Within, which resulted in learning things about myself that may not have been so clear earlier in my life and which will no longer hold any sort of limiting meaning to my life. This also involved walking across a 14-feet bed of burning hot coals BAREFOOT - yes! I am a firewalker!
  
• Focused on ME for once - Removed people and obstacles from my life who proved selfish in their means or had a negative impact on the way that I thought about myself. I now carefully select those who truly like and appreciate me for who I really am to surround me so I can reciprocate that and appreciate them as well. I've also developed a much more independent and healthy lifestyle and attitude which has made me feel better emotionally, mentally and physically. Oh and I lost some weight by dedicating myself to weekly BootCamp Fitness activities, which is always a plus for good health.
  
• Met some new and super exciting people who are quickly becoming great friends, and continue to meet them on a daily basis as I explore this awesome city for fun and adventure everyday.
  
• Became an auntie for the second time (ok, ok that was all my brother's work there hahaha) and I am now taking time for my family as well as friends.
• Spent time with my best girl in the world who I love more than anything (Luvs ya Ja!) and missed so much.
  
• and so much more! I am grateful for so much... We are only July!!
  

What else does this year have in store for me? I cannot wait to find out!

Oh yes folks sing it with me again:
"I am a Superwoman
Yes I am...."

What do I do when I go to Connecticut?

I play with REALLY BIG MACHINES!
*Here is where I do my "Tim the Toolman Taylor" grunt*



This is what a press room looks like while printing MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of brochures and posters for me...

Aloha Toronto! More Fun in the Sun

Sure Looks Good to Me (too)

Life is cheap, bittersweet
But it taste good to me

Take my turn, crash and burn
That's how it's supposed to be

So don’t rain on my parade
Life’s too short to waste one day

I’m gonna risk it all, the freedom to fall
Yes it sure looks good to me

Time passed by and leaves you behind
Take it naturally

Heaven knows - There’s so much more
More than what we see

So don’t rain on my parade
Life’s too short to waste one day

I’m gonna risk it all, the freedom to fall
Yes it sure looks good to me


Deep in my mind Im secure we can find
I wanna see the light before I die or I lie in an empty space,

The darkness comes and I’ve been telling my soul
And me and myself we turn around, we’re getting old,

But the lightning crashing, foolish emotions
From the bruises and the beauty in this moment that we’re feeling,

And I feel like I’m seeing the world inside of me
But I can tell you that I know, it's getting easier to breathe,

There’s a cold in the morning, endless equation
Of who’ve we've become, it’s a complex situation

So live, love, life give love
Live, love, life, give love
Live, love, life, give love
It's who are we anyway

So don’t rain on my parade
Life’s too short to waste one day

I’m gonna risk it all, the freedom to fall
Yes it sure looks good to me
- A. Keys

Now listen to me sing along while watching her live... I don't care how dumb I sounded... I just had to get it out... hahahaha Enjoy!

Dance in the Rain

Delicious Eats and Delicious Beats on a Kick Ass boat with a Kick Ass view and a whole lotta Booze = Delicious, Kick Ass Goodness with a Twist!

Funny how I now live INLAND for the first time in my entire life - meaning, nowhere near the ocean... and NOW I begin to experience ultimate boating and cruise ship fun.
Ok fun is an understatement. I had a BLAST yesterday.
Yes, it may be a fresh water lake but it's so big that i'll be damned if it don't feel just as calming and soothing as the ocean. The only difference - it's toooo cold to even conceive of dipping your toes (trust me, I tried... and will never make that mistake twice).

So I was invited to a party cruise on the Empress of Canada boat for 5 hours of party party party and in the end, everything about that trip exceeded my expectations. I'm already signed up for the next one, and can't wait. During the trip, it rained for about 1.5 of the 5 hours. Did that stop us from partying? Hellz no. This boat thought of it all. As soon as the clouds rolled in, plastic was being wrapped around the enormous sound system. A drop here and a drop there, people began to make their way below or under shelter...what did I do? Call it motivation by an extremely cute young lady...she kept dancing...I kept dancing (hahah Makayla you are so much fun!).

Have you ever danced in the rain? I mean, REALLY danced?
If you have, then you know how amazing of a feeling it is... so fresh, so free, so exposed.
If you haven't...TRY IT... go on, LIVE a little.
If you get cold it's only cause you aren't dancing hard enough to warm up your body. hahaha

Anyway, back to the boat. If you really didn't want to get wet, not to worry...2 floors below provided intense house and trance music, each floor with it's own DJ, that made you forget about any problems in the world, let alone a little water falling from the sky.

No Strings Attached

I love this. Just for having a Google account I can blog for free?
Why didn't I know this sooner?

Some of you may or may not know me from an old site www.jenny.portodiao.com. I blogged as a foreigner living and loving Panama. Well I'm still loving Panama but since I'm no longer living there I decided it was time to move on. My days with PortoDiao are over but my days with 980 are just beginning. For reference, 980 refers to a company that I am setting up and running here in Toronto, Ontario Canada. I've never lived in Toronto before but I can sure see myself growing to love this place too.

Sticking around with the portodiao.com group had implications of strings that I am have decided to cut loose. It's a new day and a new chapter so here goes nothing!