Food Stuffs

While in Jamaica, we saw some great menu items. Feast your eyes!

Self-explanatory on the beach in Oracabessa.

(Incidentally, the place where Ian Fleming wrote several James Bond novels, at his swingin' sixties pad, Goldeneye. Probably the healthy omega oils helped him write about the "best secret agent ever conceived".)

Who wouldn't want this? Pass on the curried goat. (I did try some, and it tasted like lamb, but the curry was bland...ugh). Go for the Vegetable Lunch with rice & peas and vegetables. Or .... you could order it with food.

[So if vegetables aren't food, then how do vegetarians live?]

FYI, rice and peas translates into non-Jamaican English as rice and kidney beans.

The Good Over Evil Ice Cream Delivery Motorbike

Can you read the ingredient list? Man Back Strong Back, Snake Wisp, Royal Wisp, Blood Wisp, Medina, Chainey Wisp, Chainey Root, Sarsaparilla, Iron Wood, Ramoon, and last but not least......All Man Strength Cayenne Pepper.

Yes, I drank it, and yes, it tasted pretty good!

Chicken with the pants leg rolled up.... Whose leg? The chicken's, the diner's, or the chef's? Didn't try, so couldn't tell ya.

This was the Spring Break Special Menu. Many times Juice asked for "2 platters of shaghetty, please!", but none appeared. Very sad. The only flaw we found in Jamaica was that shaghetty seemed to be only available at Spring Break. :-(

Too Fast Food.

Do you see that sign? Musta been a WHOPPER of a truck. (sorry...haha)

Finally, I was in a bar, and the menu offered a Bartender's Special that was "alcohol with liquor, plus a shot of booze." My self-preservation kicked in, so I didn't order one, but sadly, I deleted the menu photo when I was "tired" (aka hung-over).

Cheers, mon.

Musical Interlude

As you are viewing any of my Jamaica stuff, please click on this link, and play this song while you look at the pics and read the stories. It was a huge fave of everyone, and we LOVED it. You'll really get the irie vibe, mon. :-))

http://marangand.wordpress.com/taurus-riley-shes-royal-video-and-lyrics/

Where I'm From 2

I just got back from a trip to Whitehorse, Yukon for Christmas. Nice trip - just visiting, hanging, eating, drinking, watching Planet Earth DVDs on Mom's giant TV, walking the dogs, eating more... And I did get skiing once, when it warmed up to -15 C.

If you've been wondering, it was +30 C daily in Jamaica, and it was minus 20 C and colder in Whitehorse. Here's what it looks like to have a 50 degree temperature difference in a week:

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone !

Surfer Duuuudes

check out the pics my Mom dug up, circa 1980

Locale: Waikiki Beach, Hawaii

Ages: me - just turned 11, brother Alan - 9 and a 1/2

NB. intense concentration on my face, as I attempt to MASTER surfing in my first 5 minutes. Typical Type A eldest child.

NB. relaxed attitude of my brother

Reggae Race Report

me n Juice, at the finish line

The emails I'm receiving have been growing more and more surly, so here it is! The Reggae Race Report.

Overall, I had a really, really tough race. It was humid, I was nauseous, my nutrition went out the window (because the more nauseous I felt, the less I could face eating, therefore the more hypoglycemic and nauseous I felt. See how that works?) And the night before, the locals brought MONSTER speakers to a park about 300m away from us, and played the music so loud Jenn could hear it through her ear plugs! She was actually tapping her foot, with her ear plugs in, while wishing she could be asleep. So yah....4 hours sleep before a big race isn't totally helpful.

But other than that, the race was really good. It was well-organised. It started ON TIME (the only thing on time in Jamaica, as far as I could tell!) at 5:15 AM, in the dark, obviously. Jenn and ran together for the first 4 miles, at a good pace. But at that point, she asked how I was doing: "I'm f'ing dying!"

Oh dear, not good, still 9 miles to go!

Once I passed the 6 mile/10 km mark, I was really feeling gross, but realised I was on holiday, in Jamaica, and this was supposed to be fun! So, I took a good long break to take photos, drink gatorade from a baggie, walk, feel better, and notice that the dawn was INCREDIBLE!! The sky was pink, but the sea was a turquoise that I have never seen before in my life. WOW!

Anyway, the course was flat, the scenery was pretty great, the volunteers were excellent, the organisation was good, so managed to suck it up, and finish the race. NOT my personal best, but hey, it was Jamaica mon!! It was my personal best time on a tropical island paradise! (PBOTIP)

Costume: as we all know, I like to wear a costume in my runs, but I have been getting smarter about this. I wore a Bob Marley bandanna - simple, appropriately themed, kept sweat out of my eyes! And I wore my RunClub shirt from last year's Vegas trip, PLUS a bracelet given to me by my runpal Kerri. Gotta keep my peeps wit me :)

Couple VERY cool things though:

They called the last mile "Bob's Mile", as in Marley. So every 150m or so, they had a sign with a quote from the Reggae King! Since I just needed a way to keep myself carrying on, I took pics!

And the second VERY cool thing was that at the finish, they had Red Stripe BEER for the finishers (admittedly, this nearly killed me) and fresh coconuts. They say the coconut milk is better than gatorade, as it's full of electrolytes, etc. Anyway, it was far more FUN than gatorade :)

The third EXTREMELY cool thing was that once you leave the finish line, you walk across the beach, and I went for the BEST SWIM OF MY LIFE.

Wow, totally earned it, saw a southern sting ray as I was going in, and it was fantastic!!

OK, so my final assessment is that the race made a great excuse to go to Jamaica. the run was FREAKING hard, but it meant that I could eat, drink and be merry with no weight gain. I LOVED Jamaica, so am seriously thinking I might go back next year and do the FULL marathon. Obviously JAMAICA ME CRAZY!!!!

Time flies when you're having rum!

December 6, 2008, Negril, Jamaica
Start of Day: 3:50 am - get up, breakkie
4:15 - catch shuttle to Half Marathon Start
5:15 - Reggae Half Marathon
6:15 - sun rise! (I was at Mile 6 or so in the race)

8:00 - the best swim ever, after having completed 13.1 tough miles (OK, maybe only 10 were tough miles, and 3.1 were easy miles)
9:30 - still not tired, so went to yoga until 10:30

10:45 - FAMISHED so had proper breakfast
12:00 - went to beach. Jenn had negotiated a great price for parasailing, so walked back to the Yoga Centre to get more cash

around 12:45 - parasailing with Jenn. Really fun, and an incredible view!!

1:15ish - had brilliant idea that instead of being taken back to where the boat collected us for parasailing, we'd walk back along the beach. We were never going to get that far down the beach any other way (maybe 4 miles??) ...

1:20ish - shopping

1:40ish - stopped at first 2-for-1 cocktail bar
[time passed without our notice as we slowly rambled from bar to bar, shop to shop, chatting with all sorts of people.]

As a sign said in one the bars we were at: "Time flies when you're having rum!"

6:00 - sunset
6:15 - hey, we better stop for dinner! (Note: still about a mile from Yoga Centre)7:00 - sudden remembrance we were supposed to meet DJ for dinner. Oops.

7:15ish - back at Negril Yoga Centre for quick shower and change, and meet DJ


7:30ish - DJ brought us dinner from his farm in the hills (callaloo, roast bread fruit), so had second dinner. I drank a Red Bull and grew promised wings. We all started dancing like lunatics. DJ did "rasta-robics". Much laughter.
8:45 - arrived at post-run reggae celebration show. Headliner band had already finished (likely the earliest show ever in the history of Jamaica, as the headliner usually starts after midnight). Totally lame so went to meet Jenn's friends at Sun Star Hotel.
9:30 probably - arrived at Sun Star. Good party, but missed Jenn's friends by about 20 minutes. Oops. Good live band though, so danced lots more. Were webcast live on: realnegril.com


12:00 maybe? - time to go home


around 12:30 - bed :)

Jamaica Mon!

OK, as usual, my pace is manic while on holiday..... Gotta dash...got an international businessman waiting to tour me around on his motorbike. Oh, and we'll likely work together sometime!

Yes - been drinking rum

Yes - been drinking beer

Yes - been doing yoga

Yes - went to reggae show

No - have not been diving yet, but do swim in the sea daily

And now, will chill it out a bit to get ready for the big run Sat AM :)

Not Exactly a Moderate....

Here's my horoscope for today:
You're not exactly the soul of patience, diplomacy or moderation at the moment -- and that's putting it very, very lightly.

And here's the travel schedule I organised yesterday:
(I've been sitting on my keister for months, and I am going a bit looney. So..... the Tara Travel Schedule is starting again!)
Nov 30-Dec 15 Jamaica
Dec 16-19 Vancouver for a course
Dec 21-27 Whitehorse
[New Years - probably skiing at Powder King]
Jan 6 - Feb 4 Britain - shopping for real estate and looking for contract work
Feb 8 -13 Snowbird Ski Area, Utah
Feb 13 - a night in VEGAS!!
Feb 16 - 20 follow up cancer testing in Vancouver
Oh, and I've decided to train for a FULL 26.2 mile marathon in June, so my training will be increasing in the New Year!

Trip Tips

This is based on an email I wrote to a friend the other day.... I figure some of my travellin' skills should be shared. Feel free to use this info, share it with others, ask me questions, whatever.

So, when you have a cool trip coming, first thing is have you called Public Health yet, and asked about shots? Even if you're just going to the States, you should make sure your basic boosters are up-to-date. And if you're going anywhere tropical.....Discuss it with the nurse or doc, and they'll tell ya. Oh, and do this really early, like at least a couple months before you go.... You might have to get a buncha jabs, and your shoulders will be thankful if you don't do it all at once.

Next: look into travel insurance. Did you know your regular medical coverage isn't totally in place when you leave the Province? And if you're leaving the country....well, that's obvious. Worst-case scenario is being medevac'ed home, and the cost of that is equivalent to the price of a small house. Oh, and I found out that if you leave the Province for >6 months, you have a serious problem. (Again, determined that thro' tough circumstances. Ooops.)

And stuff to bring with you on your trip: I have pared down my medical kit to the essentials, and here's what I bring: gravol, imodium, ibuprofen, antibiotic cream, duct tape.

When I get sick, with some sort of tummy thing, (which is a good probability, even at an all-inclusive), I first let whatever it is leave my system. So if I'm vomiting, just giver for a while. And if it's the other end, same..... Whatever it is that made you sick, give it a chance to get out of you! Then after a while, take 1 gravol every time you puke. And 1 imodium every time you go to the toilet. (This stuff will REALLY bung you up, so be cautious.) I've been known to get hideously sick, but would never take more than 3 imodiums, as it takes a while to recover.

The most important thing is to stay hydrated, as much as possible. Be VERY careful with your water and ICE CUBE sources. If you are sick, gatorade or coke are excellent choices. Water them down if it's too much on a flippy-floppy tummy. I know lots of people who travel with rehydration salts, but I prefer just to stick to gatorade, OR get some juice, water it down, and add salt. That's basically what the rehydration salts are. You just need fluid, some sugar, and some salt.
If you do get sick while gone, especially if there is blood or scary mucus in your poo, see a doctor, either while you are there, or when you get home. Here's a great website to find a Western-trained, English-speaking doctor ANYWHERE http://www.iamat.org/

The antibiotic cream is for cuts/blisters.
The ibuprofen is for any inflammation. This includes sore muscles, hung-over headache, or FEVER if you get sick. It can be used for nasty sunburn too (your skin is swollen and inflamed). Wear lots of sunscreen, and wear a hat if you go exploring during the day....Watch out for burns AND sunstroke.

And the duct tape? Well, that's for millions of uses, from suitcase repair to blister protection to creative costume use. Maybe the guy in the seat beside you on the place is too damn chatty? Employ the duct tape solution!
Happy travels!

An Early Christmas Miracle

As I mentioned a while ago, I am planning a trip to Jamaica to celebrate the start of my [yikes!!] Fifth Decade. I'm travelling with my superstar acupuncturist, Dr. Tough Love aka Jenn. We'll be staying at the Negril Yoga Centre, across from 7 Mile Beach. It sounds amazing!!!!! Yoga on offer daily, staying in a rustic cabin for super-cheap, walk lots, snorkel daily, and of course we'll run in the Reggae Marathon. Oh yah, and nightly live reggae on the beach. And rum punches. Etcetera. Yah mon. Irie.
There are a couple other activities available too. Jenn wants to try parasailing, which I think sounds like a lovely opportunity for a marine colonic. And I hear the SCUBA diving is terrific too.... which leads me to today's happy miraculous occurence.

I got my dive certification on a holiday to Belize in, ummmm, 2004, and haven't had a chance to use it since. And let's think about how many times I have moved since then.... Yikes! And let's also reflect on my situation - in Smithers I had a house with 3 floors, and about 2500 square feet of space. In Fort St John, I was down to 1190 square feet and a crawl space. Here in Kamloops, I have a bedroom (12x14 feet), and a number of boxes. Oh crap......that's a lot of nooks and crannies where a little plastic card could hide!
I had a few guesses where I'd locate my certification card, but..... yikes. Hmmm, in a drawer in my desk? No. With my old passports in Cousin Kenny's safe? No. Maybe I left it in Africa, thinking that was where I'd most likely use it? Hope not.
OK, so things started getting serious. WHERE was that dang card?!?!? As we already know, I'm not one for pristine organisational systems, so I was really turning over every rock.... I have emptied (and now cleaned out) every drawer in my bedroom. Still nuthin'. Under the bed? Nuthin'!
This morning I tackled my closet. I moved out 6 empty backbacks and other bags, a couple dozen pairs of shoes/boots, a carpet from Turkey, clothes hamper, shoe rack.... and then found a duffle that contained some of the contents from my underwear and sock drawer in FSJ. (Even my dresser drawers here are smaller than I've had in the past!) So, of course I start going through all that stuff, sorting and chukking out, and seeing the stuff I forgot I had. And HEY, there was a bit of paper....
OMG, it was my Dive Log AND my diver certification card!!!!! WHY I would throw that in with old socks and underpants is beyond my reckoning, but.... YAY, I GET TO GO DIVING IN JAMAICA!!!!
I'm on the plane to Montego Bay Sunday, and back in BC on the 15th. The Reggae (Half) Marathon is Dec 6, starting at 5 AM. That's 4 hours ahead of Pacific Time, for insomniacs who want to track it in real time.

Oh, and P.S. Remember how I've been training for bikini photos? I am proud to say that I weigh the same at my 40th birthday, as I did for my 30th. I even have to buy a new bikini, as the ones I bought in July are TOO BIG FOR ME now. FYI, I ran 20km last Sunday. And 8km last night. I'll do 1.5 hours of yoga today, and run 15km tomorrow....Fithotness at 40 is no gimme.

Visa Bought me New Shoes!

When I got back from Europe in August, I had a notice from Visa that they were sending me a new card. By mid-September, I still hadn't received it, so I called to report it lost, and he said, "Ooooh, it's been mailed. Be patient a week or 2." Alrighty.
Then I tried to shop on-line, got sent to the 'Verified by Visa' site, and it wouldn't work! So I called Visa again, to report that I was having problems. "Ooooh," he said, "Your new card is linked to that account, so you can't use verified by visa until you get your new card. Give it another week. Things are a bit slow on this." (This was right around when the credit market was crashing, so I figured maybe the Bank and even Visa was about to declare bankruptcy. Or maybe this was an example of WHY the banks were falling apart. If they can't even get organised to send out new cards so people can wrack up more debt, then they are in pretty dire straits.)
So I finally got around to calling last week, and again reporting my new Visa card lost. "Oh," he said, "Your card was sent a long time ago. It's never been used. I'll cancel it, and send you a new one." [long conversation ensues] The result was that I could pick up my new card at my local bank branch in 5 business days, which was today!

So.....yesterday, my aunt called to let me know that Visa left me an urgent message on her machine. (I receive messages at her house, as things are a bit disorganised with the 2 bachelors.) Anyway, I told her I don't need the number, as I'm going to pick up my card, and I'm SURE there won't be a problem! She wisely convinced me to take it.

Today, I trundled down to my bank, big smiles, to collect my shiny new Visa card. It wasn't there!!!
OK, so I went into the mall to buy some groceries. As I headed for the grocery store, I passed the shoe store. So obviously I went in....
Excellent sale! I found the most awesome black, high, waterproof, leather Rockport boots for $25 (down from $215 - I'm starting to hyper-ventilate just thinking about it!). They also had some really, really great black leather wedges, absolutely work-appropriate, perfect for that sexy librarian/evil negotiator look, for $80. They are also by Rockport, so these 3 inch heels are totally comfy and fabu. Considered not getting them, but because the boots were only $25 but should have been over $100, this meant the shoes were virtually free, so I had to have them. (Girls: I know you understand Shoe Store Math like this very well. Guys: accept this is how it works, so no need to try to put some Outside Shoe Store Logic on this Gordian Knot.)

Anyway, when I got home, I went through some papers in my room. I hate going through all the crap the bank sends, there's always tomes on the Great New Services they offer, yadda yadda, blah blah. In sorting what could go into recycling....I found my card that they sent 7 weeks ago. Ooops. :-0 It's already been cancelled, so I still hadta call, and find out where the replacement card is!
So....... I called Visa. Aaaaah, the guy didn't know why I was calling, so transferred me to Customer Service. I finally talked to a woman, and told her my long story. (Obviously I DID NOT mention the fact that I finally located my new/old card, as it would not be helpful for her to think I'm an idiot.) "Oh, it might take more than 5 business days for these new fancy cards to come. Might be Monday or Wednesday next week." I'm planning a trip next week, and told her such. She got a little stressed, and wound up putting me on hold for approximately a decade. Or a month. Or half an hour. Whatever. She said, "Oh dear. If we'd known you would be a on a trip, we would have sent the card with a rush. Oh dear." The hand-wringing was audible.
[long conversation ensues, involving my saying that I have not been able to shop online for 2 months, seems excessive, perhaps they should have rushed the card to me, blah blah. More hand-wringing from her.]
OK, so it turns out that my trusty OLD Visa card (which I've been using in stores all this time)was set to be inactivated 75 days after they decided to send me a new card. So it could die at any time. And then I really would be left without a Visa. And this is Very Important in Visaland. Hence all the hand-wringing. She informed me that if it stops working, then I must call back, locate a supervisor, and get Special Permission to Use My Old Card, until the new one comes. Aaaaah, well, that would be a pain in the patoot.
So, she suddenly offered up that this is an inconvenience, so she can compensate me with either a) 2500 aeroplan miles on my card, or b) a $75 credit on my balance.
Me: "I`d like the $75 please. That means Visa just bought me new shoes today. What a wonderful company!"
Her: "Thank you for calling Visa."

The Power of One?

For those who did not know, I had thyroid cancer in 2000 and again in 2003. This is a cancer of inconvenience. It is sooooooo not a death sentence. So my doctor amped up my stress levels and scared me, but really, it's because I know what a huge drag it would be to go through it again. Many types of cancer seem to be considered "cured" after 5 years cancer-free, but mine can recur for years, decades. I am 5 years cancer free, and I have no intention of having a party about it.... Luckily recurrence does not affect survival rates for my cancer, so that's good. My biggest "fear" (not really a fear, more like the thing I most want to avoid) is that my physical conditioning would be absolutely demolished if I were to be treated for cancer again. Like, lose all my coordination, gain 25 pounds in 7 weeks, take years to get back to where I am now..... Not a really serious problem, but hey, let's face it - women are judged by our physical appearance, and if I'm fat, people will assume I'm a lazy, undisciplined overeater. The judgement is cruel.

Anyway...... dropped into the doc's office on Tuesday, refusing to leave the Lower Mainland until I got my results (or at least knew that the correct test had been done). As luck would have it, there was a cancellation, so had an appointment. The results are in and they are....... INCONCLUSIVE!!!!!! Yeesh! For the cancer marker, we want the number to be <1. And it's 1. If the number were 5 or 6, we'd be making a treatment plan.

So what does 1 mean? Well, we're not sure, so he wants to do more in depth testing in the near-ish future. Hmmmmm. I am free to take off, do my thing, go where I like, etc. etc. and he'd like to do more in-depth testing sometime. Like in a couple months.

Royally Victorian

On Thanksgiving Sunday, I ran the Royal Victoria Half Marathon. For those paying attention, yes, that`s my second in 2 weeks! No, I haven`t gone mad. I don`t have a hopeless running addiction (there`s still hope for me). My friend Susan was doing her first Half, so I went along to support her and run with her.

The run was AWESOME. Susan thinks this must be "her distance"! She did really well: 2:38.32, which is really great for a) anyone, but especially, b) a first timer, and c) someone who's never gone farther than 15 km before. We were happy, had perfect weather, got hugs from a good friend on the course, no pain, no hard effort, AND she stopped for a beer with the Hash House Harriers on course!!!! WHAT AN ANIMAL! I would have barfed. Apparently Gatorade should come in beer flavour too...

I felt really bad though that her family were not aware what a big deal the race was, so she had no spectators. But I was so proud of her achievement, plus we had a great talk with her younger son about the great feeling of working toward, and then achieving, a goal. (I think that's a really important life lesson, myself.) And her husband did give her big hugs later, so that's great.

She was hardly stiff the next day, and biked to work on Tuesday! An overwhelming success!

Looking great at 15 km!

My next running goal: Reggae (half) Marathon on Dec 6 in Negril, JAMAICA!!!!!!!!

My acupuncturist/running partner has invited me to join her. She's staying at a yoga centre on the beach, and she'll be doing the 10 km race. It's a week before my Big 40, so my intent is to train super-hard, be very strict with diet, and be SAH-MOKIN hot!!!! Oh yes, there will be pictures to memorialise my Hotness at Forty! (The ones with the bikini will be for public consumption, but the others....by invitation only. HA!)