Lowering Expectations

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I learned that Chris Russo, AKA Mad Dog, would be coming on my KNBR show today. I rubbed my hands with glee... how fun will this be in light of my current state of disgust with the Giants?

Chris Russo is a sportscaster at a radio station in NY who touts himself as the only SF Giants baseball fan on the East Coast. (These days, I wouldn't be surprised if he is right!)

Chris is known for his animated banter and has been known to rant and rave on air, especially when the topic is the Giants. As a fan, I have certainly always appreciated his zealousness. I thought this morning, if he gets crazed when the Giants are performing moderately well, he might just combust with anger given the Giants' current situation.

Turns out, he was surprisingly mellow on the show. Oh, don't worry, there was lots of ranting and I heard him say, "we suck" about 10 times.... but for Chris Russo standards, trust me, he was mellow. He actually had some good, constructive advice for management. Also, his message to fans was this: "find the good in the Giants this year." As a rose colored lens kinda gal, I am attracted to statements like this. He made some good points. His suggestion to management is to let the young kids play every day so they can mature into decent players, rather than continuing to let the aging, injury prone veterans play. After all, we've seen all those old guys have to offer.

He also gave the advice to fans, "lower your expectations". Of course!!! Lower expectations. I should have thought of that. I am thinking this is a good approach.... expect them to LOSE every game so that when they win, it is an exciting surprise. Genious! Chris Russo also announced on air that he intends to only watch the games when either Cain or Lincecum is pitching. I think I may adhere to that rule as well.

Thank you Chris Russo for setting me straight! I kinda feel like I just paid to see a therapist.

Snap out of it!

Wow. I just got done reading at least 20 anonymous womens infertility stories online. I feel like a nincompoop for complaining so much cause my situation is ridiculously insignificant compared to theirs. Most of the women I read about have been trying (with drugs, injections, IUI, and other advanced treatments) for over 6 months unsuccessfully. I'm crying to anyone who will listen cause I'm too darn impatient to wait for the freaking ovulation kit to give the "happy baby picture" (that's right, I bought the Mercedes Benz version ovulation kit.... no faded blue lines for me).

My heart goes out to these women who have spent an unbelievable amount of time, energy, and money trying to get pregnant. Many of the stories include mis-carriages. It is just heartwrenching and I cannot even begin to imagine what I would do in their shoes. It amazes me that these women still possess the inner strength to post their stories as well as the compassion to support and advise others in similar positions.

Just goes to show you the strength of a woman. Can you imagine if men had to endure such obstacles?

Things to Ponder

This is great...

Why is the fear of long words called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?

It's gonna be a long year

The Giants lost to their Triple A affiliate team in Fresno yesterday. Triple A Fresno is the minor league team that grooms players for the major league. I can only roll my eyes and laugh. What else is there to say? The G's are pretty much already slotted for last place in the National League and let's just hope they don't embarrass themselves too much this year.

Thank goodness for the Warriors!

My Morning Friends

I have these friends who keep me company on my daily morning walk with Lucy. While Lucy sniffs, explores and chases squirrels in the dark, I am entertained by my friends. They are with me from start to finish, at my command. I don't have to wait for them ever. They each have a unique personality, with different types of humor. I have been known to LOL (at the amusement of other trail walkers, I'm sure) at times. I don't have to talk, just listen and laugh. I know what to expect from each of them and the beautiful thing is I can do no wrong with these friends and they never ask a thing of me in return.

These friends of mine are the crew of the "Murph and Mac" morning show on KNBR 680. They don't know me of course, but oh, do I know them!

There is Brian Murphy (Murph), my favorite and who over the years I've developed a mild crush on. He's a man full of heart and personality. Paul McCaffery (Paulie Mac), is a fun loving, passionate guy with a talent for recording current event appropriate musical renditions for the show. Dan Dibley (Dibs) is their utility guy who does everything from report the daily traffic conditions to running ultra-marathons. Patrick Conner (P-Con) is their ultra talented producer who has a knack for inserting the most perfect sound bytes to complement Murph & Mac's witty dialogue.

My day is not complete without having spent 1 1/2 hours listening to their show. I know the timing of every segment: Top 10 news stories, business, traffic. Of course KNBR is a sports radio station so the majority of the time they are talking about a topic I love! I will have a pretty good idea of topics they will be discussing, based on how the various bay area sports teams performed the day before. If the Warriors win by 1 point at the buzzer, it's gonna be a fun day. If the Giants lose 15-0, it's gonna be a day filled with ranting and raving.

How lucky am I? How many gals can say they have such a great group of boypals?

Hello my name is Sheila. I am an Internet Junkie.

This made me laugh today,

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/87251

It is actually a notion I've thought a lot about and even pondered if I might be afflicted myself. I do have that intense need to be connected at all times. I feel genuinely lost without my "Crackberry" and it makes me crazy if I haven't checked email in the past hour.

Who knows what nuggets of information may be sitting in my inbox as of yet undiscovered?

The reality is, we're usually talking about a marketing email inviting me to check out the newest gadgets at Crate and Barrel or another "MyPoints" email presenting me with yet another opportunity to add 5 points (just for reading!) to my growing loyalty program account.

There is no better feeling than to receive an email from a friend inviting me to lunch, or an email from my favorite "email buddy", Kathy, with an update on what's going on in her life. Akin to winning a hand at BlackJack, I feel like a winner whenever I check for new mail on my cell phone and see the note "inbox: 1 of 5" signifying 5 new messages are coming in!

So, what do you think? Do I need to start thinking about going to Internet Junkies Anonymous? Maybe... but can we meet online instead?

House with the pointy roof

Went out with friends last Saturday. When I asked one of the husbands if they might be interested in meeting up the following day (Easter Sunday), he shook his head and said, "we have the house with the pointy roof tomorrow." Love it! This friend has the best sense of humor and I still laugh when I recall his words.



Yesterday, Amy and I hiked the ridge at the Lafayette reservoir. This is a pretty challenging 2 hour hike. We love it cause it is close to our homes and we can get the hike done in the morning and still have the afternoon for ourselves. Neither of us celebrates Easter so we were glad to have each other to share the day.



At one point in the hike, we noted that being out in the fresh air, breathing, taking in the beautiful scenery, while doing good for our bodies and souls is like being at church for us. Our house with the pointy roof....

Be good to yourself

I am kicking myself today, feeling disappointed. I made a promise to myself that I did not keep. There is definitely no worse sense of disappointment than feeling disappointed in yourself. I need to be stronger and stick to my commitments.



I just read my horoscope too, which actually makes me feel a bit better cause it's almost like it was meant to be, although I am not really much of a believer in astrology. Here it is:



"There is a lot of heavy emotional energy around you today and it could make you start feeling moody and slow. Don't worry about it. So what if you take a little longer to get ready this morning, or you're not quite as talkative as you usually are? The people who know and respect you aren't going to get upset about it, so why should you? Drink all the extra cups of coffee you want, your situation won't change. But in a few days, it will be over."



Guess the best I can do is apologize to myself. As we forgive, forget, and move on when it comes to friends and family, I gotta do the same for myself.

Carrie Fisher

We went to see Carrie Fisher at the Berkeley Rep last Saturday. What a treat! I had no idea she has led such a crazy life.... check out her bio .

The show was well presented and they did a great job of making you feel like you were a guest at Carrie's home listening to her tell her story. The stage was made up like her living room and Carrie dressed in lounge type attire strutted the stage chain smoking clove cigarettes and drinking diet coke. It was an entertaining aut0biography of Carrie's life. It is really quite amazing how sane and positive minded she is in light of all of the tumultuous and destructive events of her life.

At the end of the show, Carrie threw out a few quotes to leave us with. My favorite was: "resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die". Good stuff.