Century Ballroom: Night of Dinner, Cabaret and Salsa Dancing
What a fun night out on Saturday! The idea of starting a dinner club came up last summer and nothing really came out of it. So I am hoping our night out last weekend will be of many more fun gatherings to come.
The evening started of fairly quitely at Havanna, a club/bar on E. Pike. Naomi suggested it, so we met her and Mark there around 4:30 for drinks. We turned out to be the only people there that early, but the place became packed later in the evening (we walked by it again on our way to the car). We were a bit disappointed by the fact that there was no food, but they do have a fairly extensive cocktail list.
Our dinner was supposed to start at 6pm and when I bought the tickets, the instructions emailed to be was that we had to be there at least 30 minutes prior to 6pm to pick up tickets. So we made it over to Century Ballroom around 5:30, just to find the door locked. Some lady there knew the back way and let us in eventually. But when we tried to talk to the people who work there, we were rudely turned away and were told that we were not allowed in until 6pm. That pissed me off, but there was not much we could have done, so we waited.
Once we were in, it got better. We had a 'complimentary' glass of champaign and the food was decent. The show was quite fun: it seemed a bit low-budget and raw, but I am pretty sure that was how the original cabarets were like. The dancers were mostly very good and it was quite enjoyable. After the show, there was the group salsa class for about 30 minutes. And most of us stayed to dance until midnight.
After we left the ballroom, Mae, Demetrios, Dan and I decided to find somewhere for a midnight snack. It was Dan and my first time hanging out at Capitol Hill area and we were quite impressed. We went to a coffee shop on Boradway called Delittante and had some really yummy cakes there. It really reminded us of True Confections in Vancouver.... in fact, the stretch of Broadway we were on was very much like part of Broadway at home!
The funny thing was that when went to look at the cakes on display, I recognize some of them as the cakes Amanda brought to work a couple of days before: her roommate is a baker and she brought home leftovers from the shop. Since I have already tried Mocha Passion (I think that was the name...), I went for the Black Forest Cherry Cake and had an almond steamed milk with it. That was a great combination and we were very proud of ourselves for being out so late!!
I definitely want to go back to the Ballroom for more dancing in the future, but I think we will have dinner elsewhere in the future first. Perhaps we will form a dinner and dance club, just not at the same venue for both!
There is someone out there pretending to be me... how scary is that!
I am so mad that someone stole my credit card info! They tried to buy some kind of web hosting service and the sales person there noticed something fishy, so they called to verify the purchase. As a result, I was alerted to a couple more online purchases. The scariest part is that whoever used my credit card info also has my cell number and my address!
I rushed to the credit union and get my card cancelled and the charges disputed. And tomorrow, some ID fraud case specialist will contact me to start the investigation/reporting process. I don't even know if this is related to my wallet being stolen a year and a half ago or if it is something totally different.... afterall, I got all new account info already... Pissed me off!
I am all for physician-assisted suicide
Dr. Kevorkian was released today from prison in Michigan after serving 8 years for second degree murder. Even though part of his parole conditions is that he would not participate in future assisted suicide, I do hope that he remains a strong voice in support of physician-assisted suicide.
I firmly believe that terminally ill patients should have a say in what happens to them. If I were to become terminally ill, suffering from unstoppable pain, to become brain dead or be paralyzed with a lucid mind with no hope of recovering, I would want to be euthanized. What is worse than waiting to die in pain and/or misery when a simple injection could end it all? Lots of people are against that because of their religious belief, just like they are against abortion. But as far as I am concerned, it's my body and I should have the ultimate say on what happens to it. I don't wish to be an emotional or financial burden to my family or the society if and when the time comes.
Being a veterinarian, as hard and sad as it gets, I do have the ability to relief the suffering of pets that are terminally ill. I have met so many clients over the years that expressed their wish of having someone do that for them when their time comes. Just thinking of our old Lab, Pepper, no matter how I spoiled him with treats, toys, belly rubs and long hikes by the lake, nothing I ever gave him measured up to my ability to put him out of his misery when he was suffering from liver failure.
We went to a couple of really good restaurants in the last week or so. Tavalota, and Italian restaurant in Bell Town was featured in this month's Bon Appetit, so we invited CJ and Mike to join us last week to try it out. The food was yummy! We went all out and had appies, mains and dessert. The wine was really good too... until we saw all the sediments at the bottom of the glasss.... oh well, at least we enjoyed it until then! I ate way too much!!!
Yesterday, Karen, Chris and their friend, James, came to visit for the evening. and we went to try out a fairly new restaurant on Issaquah Highlands called Sip. It was outstanding! The food was good, they had an impressive wine list and the price was quite reasonable for the quality. We then headed to the Brewhouse so that Chris and James could try the beer there. It was a fun evening out and I am looking forward to them visiting again... whenever Karen orders more stuff from the internet!! I think they were pretty impressed with out little town of Issaquah! :)
While waiting for a table at Tavalota, I decided that we should start a dinner club where we go and try out new restaurants regularly. CJ was excited about the idea, so I just need to organize something and start inviting people.
Big White Rocks!
Got home yesterday from a fantastic weekend at Big White. Hock Lai, Sue and children are all there and so are a few of their friends from the IOM, including Marius and his kids whom I last saw 5 years ago! How time flies!!
The weather was gorgeous and it was so warm and sunny that I totally packed the wrong clothes!! Having said that, yesterday morning, there was 3 cm of snow from overnight and it was dumping snow when we left! Now at least I know to be prepared for all kinds of weather up there next time we go. I have not gone spring skiing for a while, and it took me a while to get used to the softer and sticker snow, but it still beats going up to Whistler at this time of the year.
The condo at the Raven is almost ready. Most of the furniture and kitchn stuff are already there. Dan spent an afternoon there doing some work and inspecting the place and found a bunch of little (and not so little) things that need fixing. He took tons of photos both for the promotional website and for the developer. We also met Wendy, the lady who will be managing the unit for us. She gave us good info about how to set things up so that we will be ready to go the moment we officially take over the condo.
Getting back to work is difficult, but it is good to see that I have a busy schedule today and tomorrow... now that we will have another mortgage to pay, got to keep busy!!
Pet Food Toxicity
It has just been confirmed that one of the pets I saw last week is sick due to pet food toxicity. Her name is Baby June, a 12 year-old shepherd cross. She was not very sick, but because of possible exposure to tainted cat food (2 months) ago, sudden illness affecting the kidneys and unusual crystals in the urine consitent with pet food toxicity, I recommended that we started treatment with IV fluid right away. The day after she was admitted, Alpo announced that they are recalling certain products... It turned out that the food Baby June has been eating had the same lot number as the newly recalled diet! Poor owner lost her cat 2 months ago to sudden renal failure (seen elsewhere, but she suspected that it might be the food) and now her other pet is affected as well.
Glad to say that Baby June is doing well clinically; her kidney values in the blood are back to normal but despite improvements, there are still abnormalities in her urine. No one knows if there are long-term effects on the kidneys yet, but with the situation evolving as we speak, all we could do is be very vigilant and proactive about monitoring sick pets and testing any pets that might have been exposed. All I can do is try to save one life at a time!
Gander is a Rock Star
Believe it or not, Gander got 2 qualifying scores for the AKC Rally Novice Title last weekend at the WSOTC Obedience Trial! I was obviously a nervous wreck before the show and did not sleep well Friday night. Saw Linda there and she told me to 'just get over it!' to which Dan just smirked because he has been telling me that the whole time!
Anyway, this was the first time we really did a real course. It was quite straight forward and we had plenty of time to familiarize ourselves with the course (without the dogs). Gander was great when we were practicing with food before our turn, but there were so many yummy smells that he did not get to check out once we were in the ring that it was hard keeping him focused. Nonetheless, he did well for a newbie! I am proud of him and it was nice to know that we could get this far. There were 2 dogs who got disqualified on both days and they seemed like such well-trained dogs outside of the ring! What a shame!
Well, once I get the May schedule, I will know if I could attend the next show in Renton. This has been fun and I even started to relax some!
The first visit at Northaven with Gander was a so-so experience. I was so nervous about the whole ting and he was quite excitable.... not a good combination. He went belly up and got a bit wild ever so often when visiting different people. In the end, Becky didn't think that he was ready for being Reader Greeter yet. It was a bit of a disappointment for me.
However, when Becky told me that the set-up for one of the bookstores would allow him to be further away from the action (i.e. the kids' book section) and we could have a go as being greeters, I jumped at the opportunity. I knew that Gander has always been much better in one-on-one situations with kids than he is with adults; besides, he has been to on so many bookstore visit with me that I knew he would do well.
Sure enough, he was a rock star at Third Place Books last Thursday night. Both Mark and Becky were impressed at how he was. Yes, I did a bit of work with him so that he is no longer rewarded for rolling over without our asking him to do so, but deep down, I knew he would do well in that specific situation.
In fact, he did so well that when I asked Becky if we could be greeters at Borders in Redmond Town Center, she was all for it! He even had permission to get a bit closer to the kids' section; if he gets overwhelmed, we would just move furhter away. Another chance for him to shine! If we keep this up, he just might become a 'Rover' this fall!
Went to a dog show for the first time at the beginning of the month. I wanted to see Rally-O in real life. And after seeing the Rally Excellent competition, I am pretty sure that Gander has the potential to do well in the Novice level. So he is now signed up to be in an obedience trial at the end of the month. It is a 2-day event with 2 different judges for each day. So if he happens to qualify this time, he would have 2 legs towards the AKC RN title. But the goal this time is really to get some experience and have some fun with him. Qualifying would be a bonus, having fun is the mission!
So far, except for today, I have been practicing about 5 to 10 minutes with him everyday. He gets bored after a while, so I need to keep it short and sweet. Even got some soccer orange cones to practice the weaves and figure-of-eights with him.
Also started rowing again at the beginning of the month. Tough getting up so early in the morning, but the new coach, Tina, has been really good. I also fixed the problem I have had towards the end of last season: I can now get my blade out of the water and can comfortably roll up early. Now, I just need to focus on my body prep and lessening the lay-back.
Wow, the esspresso I had at Mike and CJ is really keeping me up! Should really try to go to sleep soon!
