I know that title sounds a bit redundant. Oh well. Yesterday I went to lunch with a couple of bestie former co-workers. We had  a nice meal at a local restaurant known for a wide variety of salad choices. I hate when you go out to eat and order a salad with your dinner and said salad is nothing more than lettuce and tomatoes. I was able to build a tasty salad with my favorites such as garbanzo beans, eggs, and bell peppers.

Miss G and Miss L are the kind of people that have your back. They care and are among a very few co-workers that I can honestly say give a crap and I can call friends.

One day I lost the diamond out of my engagement ring. It fell out of the setting and needless to say it was an upsetting experience. Miss G went with me to look for the diamond. Can you believe it? She found it in one of four elevators in our building. What are the chances? I call her me little Me-e-can friend. She is Hispanic and I am not stereotyping. She is Mexican and she teaches me about her culture.

Miss L is like a  surrogate mother. Not that I need one. Still, she has offered me money, housing, and wisdom. She tries her best to feed you at every turn. At one point she kept a jar of candy on her desk so the office could indulge. Everyday she would offer candy to me. I am not much of a sweet eating person. I told her to fill the jar with pizza and I would be all over that.

Anyway, we decided to make our lunch date a monthly occurrence. I look forward to luncheon with the ladies. Man, am I getting old or what?

No, just filling my heart.

I like this.

That is all I have to say about that.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I do not usually name the town I live in only saying I live in the Desert Southwest. But, if you were reading my blog one year ago today then I am sure you figured out that I live in Tucson.

One year ago today tragedy struck our town. 13 people were shot and injured and 6 were killed. Among them was nine year old Christina Taylor Green. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the the head and has gone on the make an amazing recovery.

I remember my blog looked more like a twitter feed that day as the news unfolded. We were all glued to the TV listening to the events as they were broad casted.

Tonight Tucson held a candlelight vigil for the victims and survivors of the terrible day. Gabby led the pledge of allegiance with pride and vigor.

Families lit candles in remembrance.

Most importantly, our town has moved forward. Why, because we came together. Tucson may be a small place but it is full of big hearts.

We will never forget.

On January 8th of this year, me and many other Americans watched the horrifying events that unfolded as Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 other people were shot at a Safeway store in Tucson. Six of the victims lost their lives that day. The rest had to embark on the road to recovery to gain what was taken from them that day.

Since I live in the town that that massacre occured I, along with the rest of my fellow citizens felt the profound effects of that day. We all sat glued to our TVs and prayed for those people. This photo touched our hearts and gave us hope, inspiration, and courage.

On Monday night I watched as Diane Sawyer interviewed Gabby and her husband Mark Kelly. We all have points in our lives when we may feel down and out. Everyone has felt sorry for themselves. I am no different. All I can say is Gabby demonstrated a great lesson. Never give up. Oh, I am sure she and her husband had bad days. They are only human too. Still, her story is inspriring.

Yea, Life’s Like a Box of Chocolates. You truly do not know what you are going to get. But sometimes you will be surprised by the sweetness.

Go Gabby. Sweet.

Every morning around 9:30 my internet connection goes out and I have to reset my modem. It took me a few days to figure out that this happens around the same time every day. 9:30. It is frustrating because sometimes I am in the middle of stuff like filling out applications and all of a sudden I have nothing.

I do not know why this happens. I also do not have the patience to sit on the phone with tech support to find out what the problem may be. All I know is that 9:30 just happens to fall after the dog walk/workout/shower routine is over. I guess I could start later but I never seem to think about it at the time.

This morning I got to thinking that maybe the connection has been this way all along because how would I know? I was never here at 9:30 except the weekends and I never really went online that early.

Anyway, I guess I will just have to deal with it. Either that or break down and call my provider. Not.

Was that Chaz Bono doing Rocky? Yes, I do believe it was. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Sort of. I still do not think he has any dancing skills but you have to give him credit for getting out there in the first place.

I think that performance may keep him around another week. But you never know on Dancing With the Stars. I felt sorry for Chynna. She just lost it and never recovered. I liked Rob Kardashian as well as J.R Martinez and Ricki Lake.

But Chaz running up those stairs was definitly a show stopper. Good for him. Good for the underdogs.

And OMG, Richard Simmons! Enough said.

Can’t wait to see what happens tonight.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I was cruising around the interwebs and I ran into this story about an Austrailian family that was visiting the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. They snapped a photo looking down on the waters above the submerged ship. It looks like a face in the water. Two of my children have been to the memorial and both said that you can feel a change as you approach. They could not really describe it but they knew the were in a scared place. You can also smell the fuel that continues to leak into the Pearl Harbor to this day. Here is more on the story.

Unfortunately, last Friday I along with about 50 other people at my company lost our jobs. I was not completely surprised but it was still a bit of a shock. I know that so many Americans are in this boat. I hope to find something soon. I will attend a job fair later today and I applied for unemployment benefits. I know I can not live on this and at this point I am just hoping for the best.

Unemployment is at about 9% in my state. As I looked at the employment ads in the Suday paper I must admit that I was shocked at low amount. I was with my company for 9 years and it has been awhile since I looked for a job. It does not look good. I still have a few other small sources of income but even that is not reliable or steady.

All I can do at this point is hope for the best. I’ve learned over the years that things usually work out and I always look to the positive side of things. It is hard but I will keep my faith and move ahead.

Nothing else I can do.

I have quite a few photos in my camera that need to be edited. For awhile I was so busy that they just got pushed aside. Here are some shots of a vine that suddenly appeared on my back fence. It was a nice surprise this summer especially when the little pink flowers started blooming!

During monsoon season we get some spectacular sunsets. Unfortunately we have to deal with humidity but the cloud paint a wonderful picture nearly every night.