March Madness!!
No, I didn't suddenly become a sports fan! LOL! I just thought it was a clever title, & also it'll probably end up describing this blog entry after I'm done writing! :">
PARTY & CONCLUSION OF MY NIGHT CLASS
Tonight (March 25) was the last meeting of my MS Office 2007 night class. Gary, the instructor, brought in Round Table Pizza, as is his custom on the last session of his night classes. Gale brought a cake, Nilvia made a fruit salad, and a few other folks brought stuff, even though no one was expected to. It was a delicious & fun "pizza party"! We also completed instructor and class evaluations, went over any last questions about our projects, exchanged contact info and even took pictures! Well, Nilvia's camera took all the pictures, but she recently joined Facebook (YAY!) so I'll be able to see & share them soon. I'll miss her, Gale, Sue & Adele -- the four folks I got to know in the class. :)
The class ran Tuesdays & Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Central County Occupational Center/Metropolitan Adult Education Program (CCOC/MAEP). I learned a lot about Excel & PowerPoint; previously I knew almost nothing of how to use them. *blush* I also brushed up on the more advanced features of Word. Now I'll definitely be more marketable in California's dismal job market! I hope that now I can get affiliated with one or more temp agencies and actually not get laughed out of the sign-up process.
POLICE RESCUE SHARI FROM WOULD-BE CARJACKER!
Don't panic... the "carjacker" was actually a moth! When I was driving home (in the dark) from my MS Office class Tuesday night, I suddenly saw in my rearview mirror what looked like a BIG moth flying around the back shelf. :O I think most folks know how I freak out over the idea of flying insects in my hair, especially moths & craneflies. So to be trapped in a moving car w/ one is almost torture! *blush* Lame but true! However, I'm proud to say I used a cognitive-behavioral technique to calm myself & rationalize that the situation did not warrant panic, & was certainly not worth getting into a collision! I also remembered that almost every night I drive past a certain Light Rail park & ride lot, there are 1 or 2 San Jose police cars sitting there w/ their lights off. I don't know if they're waiting to ambush people up to no good in the lot, or if they just go there for a break & it happens to be when I'm driving past.
So, I drove into the lot, rolled down my window & with great EMBARRASSMENT asked the officer (Bennett was his last name) if he could "save me" from a moth in the car, because I have a phobia & I was afraid I'd cause a car accident. Despite the fact that he looked like he was trying not to giggle out loud, he was very kind & validating. ;D :"> I grabbed a Kleenex box on my way out of the car & gave it to him. He crawled into the back, found the moth and -- get this -- gently caught it in the tissue and set it free outside! How cool is that? :) I thought he'd kill it, since if I wasn't such a stupid baby I would've killed it myself. But he was thoughtful even to a moth. I apologized profusely for the silly situation & said I bet this was the craziest "call" he's ever been on. He grinned and told me this wasn't even close! LOL!
BINGO BELLES' MARCH GAME
Last Friday was the monthly game of my Bingo Belles group. Jenny was nice enough to host again. Or should I say co-host along w/ her daughter, 2 dogs & 1 goldfish? *giggle* There were a lot of gift cards going around this time: Starbucks, CVS (drugstore), McDonald's and Shutterfly! Thanks again Jenny, for hosting, and thank you Freddi, Margaret & Lisa for coming! We all missed Becky R., Becky S., Ina, Jeri & Katheryn & hope to see some or all of you for the April game! :) I'm not sure who will host, but probably Gayle or me. I forgot my camera for our March game, so alas, no pictures.
CELEBRATING THE FIRST OF SPRING WITH SHAWN
On the Spring Equinox, which this year was Saturday, March 20, I was in Redwood City with Shawn. :) Actually I was there for the weekend but I came home Sunday, so Saturday was the day of being out and about. Shawn has become a fan of geocaching, an activity I fell in love with years ago, thanks to beckerbuns. heh Now that Shawn's into it too, and has a very fancy and geocaching-friendly Garmin GPS, I get to cache more often. On the 20th, we went hiking in Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve, not only because it's nearby, beautiful and full of spring wildflowers this type of year, but also because it had several geocaches hidden in it! Shawn & I searched for 4 and found 3 -- not bad! If you're on Geocaching.com , look me up as ScaryShari and you can check out my finds! I have lots of pix of geocache "treasures", wildflowers & other stuff (including us), but so far I only have this photo of California's native giant trilliums (Trillium chloropetalum) to share. Sorry. :( I'll post more soon; there were just sooooooo many to wade thru!! :O
After the geocaching adventures (which also involved avoiding TONS of fresh green poison oak), we stopped at a local deli, got some sandwiches, chips, spud salad, drinks & cookies, and had a picnic in a local Redwood City park. It was very delicious, festive & romantic! We also met a family who was there w/ their elderly golden retriever and their rather young Indian runner duck named Henrietta! She was a real character & I've pix of her too!
THE MARCH FAMILY FEST
The other week, my cousin Ron & his son Joshua were visiting from Texas & staying w/ my aunt Janie in San Leandro. One of the weekend days, the three of them, plus my cousin Julie (Ron's sister) and Julie's son Brandon -- who also live in San Leandro -- all piled into Julie's small sedan and drove down here for lunch. We supplied some of it: high roller ("pinwheel") sandwiches, chicken salad and homemade egg salad. And bread. My aunt Janie brought a big salad, and Julie made a cake that totally looked like a festive B-Day cake, but it wasn't anyone's birthday! *giggle* Oh, and we also had ice cream to serve w/ the cake.
It was so cool to see Ron and Josh again, since if I'm lucky I only see them once a year. *sigh* Josh just turned 10 but seems to have grown a LOT since I last saw him. Hopefully I'll be able to see him and Ron again before another full year passes. I especially enjoyed hanging out with Brandon & Joshua during the family fest; this included watching one of Brandon's SpongeBob SquarePants DVDs and laughing together. I love those boys! :)
And now just a few pix of the event. As usual, please CLICK the pix to view them full-size. Although if you're reading this on Facebook via my LiveJournal beacon/feed thingie, you may have already seen these pix in my "Family & Family Events" album.
The yummy, sprinkley cake!
Joshua & Brandon sharing Brandon's MP3 player.
Me with the boys.
Me with Ron & Julie.
Josh and I being silly for the camera!
"The 5 kids" outside: me, Julie, Josh, Ron and Brandon.
PARTY & CONCLUSION OF MY NIGHT CLASS
Tonight (March 25) was the last meeting of my MS Office 2007 night class. Gary, the instructor, brought in Round Table Pizza, as is his custom on the last session of his night classes. Gale brought a cake, Nilvia made a fruit salad, and a few other folks brought stuff, even though no one was expected to. It was a delicious & fun "pizza party"! We also completed instructor and class evaluations, went over any last questions about our projects, exchanged contact info and even took pictures! Well, Nilvia's camera took all the pictures, but she recently joined Facebook (YAY!) so I'll be able to see & share them soon. I'll miss her, Gale, Sue & Adele -- the four folks I got to know in the class. :)
The class ran Tuesdays & Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Central County Occupational Center/Metropolitan Adult Education Program (CCOC/MAEP). I learned a lot about Excel & PowerPoint; previously I knew almost nothing of how to use them. *blush* I also brushed up on the more advanced features of Word. Now I'll definitely be more marketable in California's dismal job market! I hope that now I can get affiliated with one or more temp agencies and actually not get laughed out of the sign-up process.
POLICE RESCUE SHARI FROM WOULD-BE CARJACKER!
Don't panic... the "carjacker" was actually a moth! When I was driving home (in the dark) from my MS Office class Tuesday night, I suddenly saw in my rearview mirror what looked like a BIG moth flying around the back shelf. :O I think most folks know how I freak out over the idea of flying insects in my hair, especially moths & craneflies. So to be trapped in a moving car w/ one is almost torture! *blush* Lame but true! However, I'm proud to say I used a cognitive-behavioral technique to calm myself & rationalize that the situation did not warrant panic, & was certainly not worth getting into a collision! I also remembered that almost every night I drive past a certain Light Rail park & ride lot, there are 1 or 2 San Jose police cars sitting there w/ their lights off. I don't know if they're waiting to ambush people up to no good in the lot, or if they just go there for a break & it happens to be when I'm driving past.
So, I drove into the lot, rolled down my window & with great EMBARRASSMENT asked the officer (Bennett was his last name) if he could "save me" from a moth in the car, because I have a phobia & I was afraid I'd cause a car accident. Despite the fact that he looked like he was trying not to giggle out loud, he was very kind & validating. ;D :"> I grabbed a Kleenex box on my way out of the car & gave it to him. He crawled into the back, found the moth and -- get this -- gently caught it in the tissue and set it free outside! How cool is that? :) I thought he'd kill it, since if I wasn't such a stupid baby I would've killed it myself. But he was thoughtful even to a moth. I apologized profusely for the silly situation & said I bet this was the craziest "call" he's ever been on. He grinned and told me this wasn't even close! LOL!
BINGO BELLES' MARCH GAME
Last Friday was the monthly game of my Bingo Belles group. Jenny was nice enough to host again. Or should I say co-host along w/ her daughter, 2 dogs & 1 goldfish? *giggle* There were a lot of gift cards going around this time: Starbucks, CVS (drugstore), McDonald's and Shutterfly! Thanks again Jenny, for hosting, and thank you Freddi, Margaret & Lisa for coming! We all missed Becky R., Becky S., Ina, Jeri & Katheryn & hope to see some or all of you for the April game! :) I'm not sure who will host, but probably Gayle or me. I forgot my camera for our March game, so alas, no pictures.
CELEBRATING THE FIRST OF SPRING WITH SHAWN
On the Spring Equinox, which this year was Saturday, March 20, I was in Redwood City with Shawn. :) Actually I was there for the weekend but I came home Sunday, so Saturday was the day of being out and about. Shawn has become a fan of geocaching, an activity I fell in love with years ago, thanks to beckerbuns. heh Now that Shawn's into it too, and has a very fancy and geocaching-friendly Garmin GPS, I get to cache more often. On the 20th, we went hiking in Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve, not only because it's nearby, beautiful and full of spring wildflowers this type of year, but also because it had several geocaches hidden in it! Shawn & I searched for 4 and found 3 -- not bad! If you're on Geocaching.com , look me up as ScaryShari and you can check out my finds! I have lots of pix of geocache "treasures", wildflowers & other stuff (including us), but so far I only have this photo of California's native giant trilliums (Trillium chloropetalum) to share. Sorry. :( I'll post more soon; there were just sooooooo many to wade thru!! :O
After the geocaching adventures (which also involved avoiding TONS of fresh green poison oak), we stopped at a local deli, got some sandwiches, chips, spud salad, drinks & cookies, and had a picnic in a local Redwood City park. It was very delicious, festive & romantic! We also met a family who was there w/ their elderly golden retriever and their rather young Indian runner duck named Henrietta! She was a real character & I've pix of her too!
THE MARCH FAMILY FEST
The other week, my cousin Ron & his son Joshua were visiting from Texas & staying w/ my aunt Janie in San Leandro. One of the weekend days, the three of them, plus my cousin Julie (Ron's sister) and Julie's son Brandon -- who also live in San Leandro -- all piled into Julie's small sedan and drove down here for lunch. We supplied some of it: high roller ("pinwheel") sandwiches, chicken salad and homemade egg salad. And bread. My aunt Janie brought a big salad, and Julie made a cake that totally looked like a festive B-Day cake, but it wasn't anyone's birthday! *giggle* Oh, and we also had ice cream to serve w/ the cake.
It was so cool to see Ron and Josh again, since if I'm lucky I only see them once a year. *sigh* Josh just turned 10 but seems to have grown a LOT since I last saw him. Hopefully I'll be able to see him and Ron again before another full year passes. I especially enjoyed hanging out with Brandon & Joshua during the family fest; this included watching one of Brandon's SpongeBob SquarePants DVDs and laughing together. I love those boys! :)
And now just a few pix of the event. As usual, please CLICK the pix to view them full-size. Although if you're reading this on Facebook via my LiveJournal beacon/feed thingie, you may have already seen these pix in my "Family & Family Events" album.
The yummy, sprinkley cake!
Joshua & Brandon sharing Brandon's MP3 player.
Me with the boys.
Me with Ron & Julie.
Josh and I being silly for the camera!
"The 5 kids" outside: me, Julie, Josh, Ron and Brandon.