randomness...

for some reason, i've gotten addicted to olives since i've been here...no clue why...but just can't stop eating them...

every couple of weeks, we just get a rotisserie chicken from the local grocery store...its so good and cheap...they have lemon herb, garlic, bbq, and just plain ol' regular there...we still dip it in sweet chilli sauice...mmm mmm...plus, the leftovers make a nice fried rice treat for the day after...also, its gus' favorite meal as well...because it means he gets some pieces here and there...he just sits there staring at us...waiting and wishing and waiting and wishing...

last episode of ER is this week...geez, we're old...

the drink cartons here (OJ, fruit juice, milk, etc..even the gatorade containers) do not have that extra seal when you open up the screw top...you just unscrew the top and the juice is right there? hmmm...why the heck is that...and why do we have that in the U.S. and not here? is it less fresh? contaminated? the first time i opened up a carton, i paused and thought it was already tampered with...i guess i'm used to it...

this headhunter called me "negative nancy" today...i was hurt deeply...

good times with the NHS...

ok...so, my eyes were bothering me and i needed to see a doctor right away...m and i have private insurance (which is a big luxury here apparently), but it was a hassle finding a doctor and making an appointment last minute...so, i did what most fun-loving brits do...i took advantage of the NHS...National Health Service...the UK's publicly funded healthcare system...or in other words, a U.S. Democrat's wet dream...

since m and i pay for the NHS through our taxes, may as well go, especially since there is a whole hospital devoted to Eyecare just a 15 minute walk away from work...so, I took a walk and went straight into the A&E Department (which stands for Accidents and Emergencies...basically, the ER...just another difference between the US and the UK)...

i waited in line for the initial consultation...the nurse took down my symptoms and gave me a card which read:

Green Triage Category
"This category means that you have been assessed as having a less serious problem. Patients with more serious problems will be prioritised in the queue, so you may see people who arrived after you be called in first. You will see a nurse, then either a nurse practitioner or a doctor will provide appropriate treatment and advice."

that basically meant that I had a 3-4 hour wait...great...just great...so, i just sat there listening to my Ipod...i knew i was in the right waiting room because the lights were so dimmed out and half the people were wearing sunglasses!

After about 2.5 hours, I was called in to see a nurse...the nurse took down more symptoms and tested my eyes a little...at that point, she came to the conclusion that i needed to see a doctor...so, she escorted me into ANOTHER waiting room!!!...ahhhhh...

so, i waited for another 45 minutes until one of the doctors finally called my name...he appeared to be one of the head honchos as he referred to himself as the eye surgeon on staff...anyways, he came to the conclusion that i had Viral Conjunctivitis...PINK EYE!...when he figured that out, he immediately ran to the sink to wash his hands...hehehe...

the doc told me that like most viruses, there isn't much he could do...my body just had to fight it off...so, he gave me a prescription for eye drops for comfort and showed me to the pharmacy...

all in all, i spent 7 pounds for the eye drops...and that was it...everything else was completely "free"...so, basically, everyone in britain gets healthcare...so, even if you were homeless or jobless (meaning you don't even pay taxes for the healthcare)...you still get this benefit...good or bad? hmmm...i'll stay away from my political views here...

so, the entire hospital was devoted to eye care...so, i walked through the hospital and noted departments for all sorts of eye problems...four floors and three buildings worth i think...the thing with the NHS is you obviously have to wait in long lines...and when you do make an appointment, it usually is like 2 months out...the equipment they have isn't exactly the most high tech and the facilities are straight from the 70s...oh well...

one thing that remains the same is that the hospital was littered with filipino nurses...they were everywhere!...the two nurses that saw me were filipinas! yikes!

oh gus...ya big ol' heed.

here are a couple of gratuitous pics of gus for your amusement...these were taken last night...he just plopped on the couch and went to sleep which is his regular thing...he curls up into this ball...where his paws are all grouped together...i think he likes to smell all four of his feet at the same time...

Happy Birthday TTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thirty-five years young right??????????????? hehehehe...

Great Eats Swiss-Style (and fresh too…literally!)

So, I wanted to post a separate blog here about the food and service in Zermatt...because it deserves its own posting...it was great...really great...granted, we couldn't find a restaurant that was even close to average priced...average price there is expensive everywhere else...and expensive there is ridiculously expensive everywhere else...

anyways, we bucked up, and just ate well...and it was great...the service was always really good...it was the kind of service where they treated you like you were a guest in their house...and just catered to you and tried to anticipate what else you wanted...good stuff...

for our last night, we ate at this restaurant...Chez Max Julen...that we couldn't get into the night before cause its always packed...so, i wanted to eat seafood cause we hit the red meats pretty hard the other nights...

so, i see trout on the menu...which i would say is rare (you always see bass, cod, salmon, tuna, etc. etc.)...anyways, i tell the waitress that i wanted trout...and she says "you can pick it yourself or i can pick it for you"...at that point, i didn't understand what was going on and just nodded my head and said you can pick it i guess...i thought it was just something lost in translation or something...

we were by one of the windows...i was facing the window and m was against the window facing the restaurant...anyways, behind me, m sees the waitress take out this big ol' net...m was like "what is going on"...i turn back to check it out, and see the waitress dip the net into this big ol' tank (which i didn't even notice at all when we walked in the restaurant) and yank out my TROUT!...i was like "holy shhhhh"...that is going to be really fresh fish!!!

here is the view of the fish tank from where we were sitting...those things are huge...
and...20 minutes later...the fish is on my plate...the waitress deboned it in front of me and everything...tasted spectacular...

an addendum to waterloo's march 24th 1:50pm CST post

...i'm seriously not that afraid of heights, even though the pictures appear differently to all of you. but waterloo and i routinely make the *quivering lip* face whenever we are fake-sad, or fake-scared, or maybe even really sad (ie: whenever we leave gus) or really scared (ie: whenever waterloo is high up in the air). we try to make things into a bigger deal than they are, and it helps take the sadness/scared-ness away.

so the pictures below are just of me imitating how waterloo was really feeling deep inside, but didn't want to show everyone. good ole fear. he's a wimp!

and he's not kidding when he says his hands sweat just thinking about it. it's gross.

Fear of Heights!

Okay…despite all the boarding I have done over the last five or so years…I still can’t ever shake my fear of heights…and being in Zermatt is as freaky a place as any to reinforce my fear…most of the time, we rode on gondolas and sky trams…which can go much much higher than a regular chair lift and usually bridge gaps through these big valleys and crevices (as I type this, my hands just started sweating profusely even thinking about how high we got)…the key is to really just look out in the distance to enjoy the view…but obviously, I always decide to just look straight down every minute or so, at which point my knees buckle a bit, my sweat glands work over time, and I try to figure out my escape route if the darn thing just snaps and falls to the ground (how do I save M? how do I save myself? Do we try to cushion the blow by trying to crowd against the fattest person on the tram? Should I cover my head? Should we use our boards as a sort of shield? If we fall, I hope we fall on a down slope or a place without jagged rocks…maybe a powder stack?)…anyways, this scenario plays itself out at least five times during every lift ride…

So, here are a couple of funny pics of m freaking out on a couple of the lifts…m isn’t generally afraid of heights, but this trip was an exception cause I definitely smelled fear…these pics are ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!