This is an exact reanactment of me when Leo is on work travel

While getting my car cleaned

Dramatic Candid

San Francisco, CA

It's interesting going through a heap of photos on my computer and then finding random ones like this one. I don't even remember how or who took the photo.

Palm Springs!

Last time I was in Palm Springs I was 7 years old. 17 years ago! My parents, siblings, and I hiked a trail and rode the tramway. Tomorrow, I'm flying out to the desert with the co-workers and it's going to be sweet. I'm rooming with my co-worker Lily, who happened to be my Hawaii roomy.

We're both guilty for snoring loud so we figured we'd actually do the other girls a favor and keep the snorers in one room. I get really stoked about office outings because the other girls in my office always want to room with me. Makes me feel wanted. Like I'm the popular kid in class.

Anyhow, I don't think I'll get much sleep that night. I have a feeling I'll have tons of girls in my hotel room or I'll probably be dragged to join people at the pool around 10pm. Learned from my Hawaii experience that these trips means less sleep. But I'll make sure I'll have fun for you.

Ciao!

New Shoes

For those of you in the area who would like to come out and watch me look like a dumb ass and my team perform hip-hop, lyrical, jazz/tap, here's the info:

(Enlarge image)

When: April 19, 2008 @ 7:30pm
Where: Louis B. Mayer Theater @ Santa Clara University

E-mail me @ maryannerodis[@]gmail[.]com for ticket info.

L.O.V.E.

Push-Up Contest

The other day, I mentioned on my blog that my office was going to have a push-up-athon. Well, it happened. And I failed. The most I could do was 10. On this video you can see me (well the back of me) wearing a white cardigan and silver shoes trying to do a push up with really really bad form. Holy cow. Not a very proud moment. I'm also the voice behind the camera counting along and laughing. And my boss is the one who does like 60 push ups.

I'm glad we have a really fun office.

Oahu

I can cross off Oahu on my list of islands visited in Hawaii. Although, I've been to Oahu a couple of times, it really doesn't count. That was because it was a connecting flight to the Philippines or to Maui. Aside from all the tourist traps, Oahu has tons of history. I would stay longer just to visit these landmarks, but we only had five days to do anything. Five days is long enough when you're away from your family. I would actually like to go back with Leo some day. Leo being the history buff and all, I think he would enjoy it.

We stayed at the dead center of Waikiki. Meaning we were surrounded by all the tourist crap, malls, crowds, street performers, chain restaurants and whatnot. So the whole islander experience is something that you do not find on the southside of Oahu. That whole area thrives solely on tourism and tourism alone. Unless of course, if you like Prada and Starbucks at every corner, you are in luck. Our hotel overlooked a mall that was open till 10pm to cater to all the Japanese people on Japanese time. I would say 95% of the tourist were Japanese. During my stay at the hotel, I've probably seen 14 non-traditional Japanese weddings. Which is so ironic considering the Japanese totally obliterated that side of the island a few decades ago, killing 2,403 people. But that was hatchet buried a long time ago. It's the fact that Hawaii is only 8 hours away from Japan and that the beauty of Hawaii is too hard to resist.

On Oahu's famous, North Shore, they have this thing called "shaved ice." I know that sounds stupid alone, but it's actually really popular. It's shaved iced with ice cream. I've never had it, but the lady sitting next to me on the plane told me all about it. I thought it was kind of weird that she asked "have you ever had shaved ice." Being the asshole that I am, I gave her a funny look that said, "hey lady, I wasn't born yesterday." So I found a link to better explain what I'm talking about. My co-workers tried it (without me, bastards), and said they loved it. Check it out and see what you think. I didn't live one of my dreams, however. And that would be surfing at North Shore. With the little time we had, it was something I never got to do. Surfers are a lot territorial on that part of the island, according to a local. And the waves aren't something to mess with unless you know what the hell you are doing. So I guess it probably wouldn't be a great idea to go unless I went with someone who knew what the hell they were doing. I can't really rely on my girly-girl co-workers to save my life.

On my previous post, I told you about my shark siting while I was snorkeling with my boss. Well, I did my research and found out that Hawaii has all sorts of sharks (not just great whites, thank god). Harmless and aggressive sharks. Commonly found sharks on Hawaii are the whitetip reef sharks that are found on the sea floor resting beneath the coral reefs. I do believe that is what I swam with and we should just leave it at that. But the fact that the shark was bigger than me, scared me shitless. I can't wait till my boss develops the underwater photos. You can be the judge. Now I can check "swimming with sharks" off of my list of THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE.

Hoping our next island stop will be Kauai. I read and heard how absolutely beautiful it is. It's the kind of island where you sleep on the beach and roll into the water. And plus it's where they filmed Jurrasic Park! Oh yes, and they have lots of sharks for me to swim with.