The Long Journey Home

Alas, I am home once again, but not without happy memories and a desire for the Christmas spirit to bite me in the ass!

Unfortunately, I did not have the best in-air experience. Who said people can take cats and dogs on planes. Now look, they banished bags of peanuts for people with peanut allergies, but more people in the world are allergic to dander (and highly allergic to cats) and therefore the cats and dogs should be banished!

Now look, I love animals - I do! However, I just cannot be around them in closed spaces (and just ask my old boss Clare about me in parks with them). I know some of you have pets you need to transport cross-country, but there are other ways.

Luckily, I had a savior names Reiko - the flight attendant who went to bat - and almost to blows - for allergic folks everywhere. I never complained - my eyes swelled up and I had trouble breathing and just tried to sleep through it all, but this woman (the row in front of me) kept taking her dog out of the carrier and petting her vigorously thus releasing tons of dander into the plane - NICE! The woman next to me also had a problem, but she couldn't see the dog, so she had no idea why.

Finally, the passenger put the dog away and kept it away the rest of the flight, but the damage was done. All I could do was thank the flight attendant for her help and hope I made it to Atlanta still breathing!

So I am home and work is gonna be nuts for a couple of weeks, but then the kiddies will be in town for an entire week! How many days left until Christmas??

Tea for Four

My sister-in-law loves to fill up the days and hours with lots of things to do when the family (mostly the parents) are in town for the week, and this time she suggested a Children's Tea. Sounded interesting, but quite the unknown event for me. But it was an afternoon with the ladies (including the littlest lady, Maggie).

We headed to Palo Alto and went to this little tea shop where we were served by two young ladies, one who was only 9 or 10! We each picked our tea (Maggie got her own tea pot with milk in it) and a plate of goodies for each of us. Maggie ended up with 4 little heart-shaped peanut butter sandwiches that she absolutely adored, while the grown-ups had other tea sandwiches, little quiches, tartlets and the like. We had quite a nice time and Maggie was very well-behaved.

This was too much fun - it seemed like such a relaxing way to sit with the girls and talk (and eat) and just enjoy it. I highly recommend it for anyone who might be interested. Now I just have to find tea rooms here AND a group of ladies that might consider making it a monthly event...I can be SUCH a girl sometimes!

A Tale of Two Turkeys

Happy Turkey Day, one and all (unless you are in Canada)!

A hearty dinner and some full bellies later...

In my family, we have a tradition of deep-frying the turkey - I may have Thanksgiving in California, but we are from the South! My brother makes quite the spectacle of lowering that bird into the hot fat - but DAYHUM isn't it right tasty!

So in order for there to be enough for all AND for turkey sandwiches all weekend (on homemade bread, of course), we have to also roast a turkey. I am of the mind that when you cannot find the perfect recipe, take the best aspects of several and create your own. Not only do you end up with tasty vittles, but you can call it your own ;)!

So I roasted a turkey over some stuffing (yes, I said over) and it was delicious - I wish you could have been there to partake. I'd post the menu, but why torture you?

So I hope you all had just as happy a Turkey Day as we did - here's to the Christmas feast in our short futures!

A Day at the Cirque

Theatre Review: Corteo

Corteo, meaning a joyful procession, was just that. This centers around a clown who dreams of his own funeral and is a very light a playful atmosphere. In a carnival-like environment, you really get pulled into the wonderment of it all. Tightrope walkers, jugglers, acrobats, flying bicycles, the works!

The music in this version of Cirque was truly inspirational. It was not intrusive, it flowed well with the feelings portrayed in the work on stage. I highly recommend all Cirque Shows honestly - but I still haven't seen a couple of them.

Saltimbanco
Quidam
Dralion
Alegria
Varekai
Mystere
KA
Corteo
"O" - unseen
La Nouba - unseen
Zumanity - unseen

This one is not my favorite, but it was really amazing and well worth the cost of admission. At least I got to see this one now, instead of waiting a year for it to come to Atlanta!

To Market, To Market

An entire day at the Ferry Building Market and fancy food for lunch - what could be better? Squash Blossoms, Arugula, Asian Pears, Millions of Peppers, my idea of Eden.

So my family and I spent the day on the Bay shopping for fresh fruits and veggies for our Thanksgiving Dinner. We had a pleasant late lunch, including a sampling of breads, chocolates, fruits, and gelatos. And behold, we found the turkey of all turkeys...A Heritage Bourbon Red Turkey! This is the Porshe of turkeys. My brother and I saw red and jumped at the chance. We ordered ourselves one and walked away patting ourselves on the backs for being so alert as to find them.

These turkeys are more along the lines of the original turkeys in this country and have much more flavor then your regular white, almost tasteless birds. However, the deposit we put down on a 14-pound Red was $50...YIKES! So we changed our minds and decided spending $200 for a turkey was a bit extravagant.

Anyway, no worries, it is the Frank household and we can make an extravagant meal without such a bird...but I do want to try it at some point.

Nothing else exciting to report (not that the above is anything to write home about). Ahhhhh, the Bay Area. Oh, how I miss it!

A Well-Deserved Break

Vacation at last! A nice long trip to San Francisco with my family to spend a very happy and fruitful week for Thanksgiving.

I'm leaving work here in a couple of hours and look forward to the long plane ride across the country to see my Peanut (nephew) and my Punkin (niece). Nothing is better than taking a week off from work and cooking and eating good food, right?

Now if everyone would just leave me alone until 1pm, then maybe I can waste my last bit of time without interruption!

tick...tick...tick...tick...

Difficult Times Lie Ahead, Harry

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Let me preface by saying just this - this is the best Harry Potter movie to date. That said, and sicne many people in the world have NOT seen this yet, there are no spoilers ahead, unless you do NOT read the books.

The Dark Mark has re-emerged and this can mean only one thing - Death Eaters! Not only is this the most dangerous time for Harry due to the return of Voldemort's henchmen, but also because people are conspiring to bring Harry face-to-face with the Dark Lord by entering him in the Triwizard tournament - a Wizardy School triathalon pitting the 3 schools against each other (Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang) for the unlimtate prize, the Triwizard cup.

This is by far, the darkest of the movies so far, but this makes sense since it was the darkest (and longest) of the books so far. But honestly, I felt this was one of the truest adaptations. Look, there was nothing about Hermione liberating House Elves, but it was no great loss.

All the tasks were brought to life brilliantly by Mike Newell. I was on the edge of my seat, chearing Harry on, and found myself holding my breath several times during the 2 hours and 45 minutes of the flick.

This is what sequals and adaptations should be - Hollywood, take note. You must see this movie if you have enjoyed any of the previous films or any of the books. This is the reason I love movies and spend my time in the dark theatres. See this film!

A special "shout out" to Leslie for the pleasant surprise in my mailbox. This was the best pass I have received thus far. Thanks for taking such good care of me and my habits!

Land Ho!

I finally am home, have napped a bit and now am wide awake! From Manila, to Tokyo, to LA, to Atlanta - lots of sleep, a few meals and several movies later and it is great to be home!

So there is nothing exciting about this trip home except that I am glad it's over. The most exhausting part of my entire trip was my driver from the airport - Robbie. Wow, that guy can talk! I guess it was good that he kept me awake, but seriously, such a name-dropper...and I am nobody so why does he care?

At least the LA airport provided some entertainment in the form of people watching. The fashions (both clothes and hair) were a sight to see, but seeing poor Kirk Cameron being mobbed by teenage girls and old ladies was the icing on the cake. The guy was just trying to get a Latte at Starbucks. Anyway, his travelling companion was an evangelist of some kind handing out million dollar bills with Christian messages on them. Very odd and somewhat surreal.

Personally, I was much more impressed that I saw a soap star I recognized, Becky Herbst. I'm a girl, what can I say :)

I'm just happy to be home for a minute before I head to SFO for Thanksgiving!

McDo's and McDon'ts

Every country has a different McDonald's menu. While shopping in the mall across from our hotel, Julia said she wanted to go into the restaurant to look at the menu. Little did we know, that such an act would cause such side-splitting laughter for me and Traci.

Introducing the McDo.


Honestly, we had no idea what it was, what was on it, nothing, but the name just sent us into such a fit of laughter, that we had to walk out of the restaurant. Turns out, it is a hamburger with some Honey-Barbecue sauce. Couple that with the McSpaghetti and the Corn-Dipped Ice Cream Cone, and Traci and I would never recover.

I will admit, that most of you needed to be there for this to be so hysterical, but imagine if you will 3 women who were road wearily, sleep deprived and shopping at the equivalent of 11pm in Atlanta. Yeah...we lost it.

The side effects of such an outing were the subsequent conversations about the "McDo Flu," an ailment that apparently causes your ankles to swell, constant laughter and a flightiness that can only be attributed to our crazy gang of CS misfits.

I need sleep!

The Long Road Back Again

Hello my friends. Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, but many things have been happening at work and my job recently got a lot bigger. I have a new boss (yes, Chester is now my peer) and more responsibility. However, I did get a team of my very own and I couldn't be happier. The catch? Well, two people on the new team have not been in customer service at this company before, and therefore have no knowledge of our customer calls, or systems, our agents. Wow, you are thinking my name should be Unlucky Lindy, right? Nope! I have good folks who are eager to learn and absorb and therefore we are in Manila once again!

After a day and a half of travelling (yuck), here we are in the fancy Shangri-La in Makati City living it up! Today, my good friend, Exx, and his girlfriend, Cathy, took us to the mall - Greenhills. Now Traci, one of my newbies, had not been here before, but had heard all about my pearl shopping experience, and therefore that was the first stop. And boy, did I make a dent...in the checkbook, that is.

Traci bought many things, mostly for family and friends, including a watch for her husband and a bag for her sister...she has to learn to buy for herself too! Julia missed out - she is under the weather (some combo of sinuses and migraine) and she decided to stay in bed (smart thinking). Exx, being ever the host, offered to take her again later in the week.

This being my 3rd stay here, apparently that warranted an upgrade to an Executive Suite (ooooo, fancy). I feel SO special!

I'm not sure what the rest of our day will hold, but it should prove interesting. Stay tuned for more from the Philippines!