So, with me having Alaska Day off, I made sure dinner was in the oven when Coupon got home. 

We had Artichoke Spinach Lasagna and I added in moose meat (cuz um, we have a whole freezer full).  It was quite delicious. 

Coupon loved it and suggested we cap off dinner with some shared ice cream.

He'd had a headache when he got home, but it wasn't getting any better.  We snuggled a bit and then were ready to get ready to go to the gym and his headache was just coming in waves and waves.  Poor guy . . .

Then, all of a sudden, he threw up!  Thankfully he made it to the toilet, but owie.  Poor Coupon!  He hardly ever gets sick and was thinking the last time he threw up was like 5 years ago.

We did go to the gym, but only for 30 minutes and took it pretty easy. 

He was quite sweet, though, reassuring me that he really did like dinner and that'd felt bad before he even got home. 

Off to go snuggle away his blahs.

-------

In other not-so-hot news.  One of my good friends in Anchorage is experiencing a bad break-up.  I'm glad I can be there virtually for him, but really wish I could still be in town for him.

AND . . . my brother called me tonight.  He's got some stuff going on that I'd rather not talk about yet/right now, but he needs some positive thoughts and vibes right now.

  We've been settling in and getting into some routines. 

- He's been making me work out ALMOST everynight.  He complains that I give him lip, but I know he really is proud of me too, because if I REALLY didn't want to go everynight I wouldn't.  I think I'm a trooper for going like 6 days out of the week and letting him push me.

- This weekend was pretty good.  We went to a breast cancer event put on by the Juneau Rotoract called Fest for Breasts.  It was entertaining and both of us saw a few people we knew.  It was good to go out and be social and I hope we can continue to do that kind of stuff.  One of the radio ads I heard had a great tagline which made it to my subject line for this entry.

- Oh, as part of the Fest for Breasts there was a silent auction.  Coupon's birthday gift to me was to get my car detailed, but I didn't really have time to get that done in Anchorage before I left, and we just haven't had time to think about it here yet.  Well, one of the items was 35 gallons of gas and a car detail from a gas station around here.  Coupon bid on that because he owed me a car detail anyway, and we weren't sure who to use here in J-town.  So, if he won that auction he'd be helping a good cause and making good on his gift to me.  Well, he won!  He won in a way that was a great deal too.  The detail is apparently worth $180 -- and 35 gallons of gas at about $3.40/gal is $119.  Let's just say that Coupon won the auction in a way that made the car detail part of it practically free!  WEEEEE!  Coupon's giving me the car detail AND the gas! 

- I bid on some items, but didn't win them.  We also didn't win a door prize, but that's ok.  It was a fun time overall!

- Tomorrow is Alaska Day, commemorating the day that Alaska was transferred between Russia and the United States, and because I work for a cool non-profit, I get off!  My first job in Alaska I got the day off too (as well as Seward's Day in March commemorating the purchase of Alaska, also known as Seward's Folly), but not at my last job (of course we really didn't get any paid holidays there anyway).  Coupon doesn't get the day off because it is only a legal holiday in Alaska and his job has a lot to do with the markets which will be working as they always do!

Well, I think that's probably it for me for now!  Just wanted to give a quick update.

Here's a paraphrasing of how my interactions with my server at the hotel restaurant for lunch has been.

Palm to head. NOW.

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Keep in mind I am the first person in the restaurant and by the time I order, there is only one other person there. 

ME: "I see you have your version of a Hot Brown on your menu.  Now, I'm from KY, but don't care for the original.  Your version sounds good -- I think I'd like to try that?"

HER: "What?"

ME: "Um, the hot brown, it's right here on your menu."

HER: "What is that?"

ME: "A sandwich you serve."  (NOW QUITE PUZZLED)

HER: "I don't usually work days (mumble mumble) . . . Let me go get my glasses."  "Oh, um, sure, a hot brown . . ."

she proceeds to take my order.

-- Then, a 3rd customer has arrived and is curious about the soup of the day, something I'd meant to ask about.  I overhear them discovering it is cream of tomato.  Sounds good I think.  I am still the only person in her section (I know this because they just divvied up the sections between themselves loud enough so that all three diners could hear).  Do you think being my server's only customer I can get her attention?  Of course not.  So I see hear at the computer station to enter orders and walk up and ask her:

ME:  "Can I also order some cream of tomato soup?  I over heard you talking about it and it sounds good."

HER: "Oh, ok, where are you sitting?"

ME: [very puzzled, again, I am STILL the only person in her section] "Um, right where I was when you just took my order a few minutes ago!?"

HER: "Oh, that lady walked in here and I thought she sat with you." 

[[ Um, a lady did walk in, looking for someone she was supposed to meet who wasn't here, and you seated her back in another lady's section about 2.4 minutes ago]]

ME: "Oh . . . nope, just me."

HER:  "Do you want the soup instead of fries?"

ME: [excited] "Yeah, that'd be awesome, I don't really care for fries." [the other option was coleslaw I really didn't want]

HER: "Oh, he already put them down in the frier."

[[Um, how do you know that?  You have telepathy?  Why did you offer it to me if you knew I couldn't really change it at this point?]]

This is far more stressful than lunch is meant to be.

For a long, long, long time I've had a Coke shaped coin bank.  Such as the one below.
 
I remember that I used to tell myself that when it was full it would fund my college education.

Well, it wasn't anywhere near full when I got to college.  But it came with me to Iowa to school, to Missouri to school, and even to Alaska for jobs.  I had intended to take it to Juneau with me, but the coke bank met its untimely death last night, at just over half full.

It was sad, and my mom (who was helping me back for about five days) said, "You should have seen the look on your face!" 

We poured the pennies (and occasional coin of other denominations that I'm not sure how they got in there!) into some trashcans and I took them to the Coinstar at the nearest Fred Meyer store. 

I had never used one of those before!  How fun!

I opted to get an amazon.com e-certificate instead of the cash voucher (cash they charge a 9.8% fee and with the e-certificates they don't!).

Anyone want to guess how much I had in my just-over-half full penny bank?  I'll give you a hint, I took out all the other coins other than pennies I could find, but 5 dimes made their way in.

In just a few days . . . I'll be co-habitating!  Eep!

Alrighty, I have waited on the Panama trip entry long enough!

After spending lots of hours on planes (Alaska to Chicago to Dallas/Fort Worth to Panama City) we finally landed and got our rental car.  After being gauged in the liver for that (cost way more than they said it would), we were off in Friday night traffic through Panama City to our very swanky hotel. 

Let's just say that driving through Panama City is akin to feeling crowded in a mall with huge sales going on the day after Thanksgiving.  It was wild!  There were two lanes that taxi drivers seem to turn into three.  TONS of honking and truly no open spaces between cars.  Oh and signage?  Riiiiiiiight, it's high up in the air so you see it at the last minute, and it is so worn down that it is no longer reflective which ma˚es it real hard to see in the dark.

Needless to say we did make it to our hotel safely and without fighting too much -- though we definitely did get snippy with each other right off the bat with that driving.  Coupon was my hero though for driving in that madness.

Thankfully the hotel was as beautiful and as fancy as it appeared online!  We got up the next morning and had some breakfast before heading off, west on the main PanAmerican Highway.

Eventually we turned off to the right (north) into the more rural hills towards the rainforesty town of El Valle.  The first place we wanted to stay (Coupon had picked it put) was full, so we found another place (once I'd actually seen online) and they had a room for us.  

It was cute and breakfast was served in the morning under a tent in the yard.  Unfortunately it was already raining. 


While in El Valle we went to the handicraft market, bought some rainbow striped sandals for less than $2, and had some good food!  We attempted to go to the Hot Springs, but it was raining and sort of dismal.  Plus, it was far less fancy than it had sounded.


However, we soon realized that it took longer to drive between cities than we had thought it would, so we couldn't really do much in El Valle before it was of to our next destination, another small, rural mountain city called Santa Fe.

To get there it was back down the road to the PanAmerican Highway, and then headed west some more before we turned off right/north again into the mountains.  Santa Fe is kind of built like a lollipop with the circular part of the lollipop filled with random streets that are difficult to remember which is which.  Fun!


We found a hostel that was in our guidebook after many turns on the same roads over and over trying to find the place by some little handpainted signs.  Eventually we made it to Hostal La Qhia. 

It was cute -- and I now refer to it as the Swiss Family Robinson house.   No a/c, walls made from reeds, no glass or screens in the windows and natural (rooster) alarms! 
 

In the morning over our yummy breakfast we met a guy from California who'd been to Panama multiple times.  We told him we had planned to go to Pedasi next and he wholeheartedly supported that idea and also gave us a hostel recommendation there.

After seeking out Bertha's orchid garden and our Cafe Tute coffee plant tour we were heading south again to the highway.  We were frustrated that we didn't get to do any of the waterfall tours (they were all 4+ hours and we just didn't have that kind of time!), so I insisted on a stop at the queseria that was on our way!  I bought some strawberry flavored cheese for me and jalapeno flavored cheese for Coupon.  He didn't really care for the texture after all and it was too much for me to eat all by myself, but it was fun and quite the stop along the way!

And finally we made it to Pedasi, this time a town south of the highway, on the Azuero Peninsula.  It's near Playa Venao where lots of people go to surf and there are international surfing competitions.

We found the hostel recommended to us easily, on the main drag. 

It's called Dim's Hostal and was pretty cute with the common/dining area being under a large mango tree.

In Pedasi we had our coolest adventure!  Myrna, who owns Dim's was helpful in connecting us with a French couple staying there that also wanted to snorkel and her friend, Lionel, who was willing to be our guide out to Isla Iguana to do just that.

It was ridiculously affordable for us to a) go out to the island, b) snorkel, and c) whale watch.  On the way out to the island we found some of Lionel's friends out fishing and catching a dorado/mahi mahi with his fishing line wrapped around a Chlorox bottle!  Bare hands and that fish is fast and strong - OUCH! 

We also saw lots of whales, including a baby who decided to breech like 6 times!  Too bad it is so hard to capture with a camera.  There was one breaching over and over again about 20 yards from us.  kind of freaky to be that close - but at least it was only a baby!

We were supposed to pay to be on the island as foreigners, but there was no one there to take our money.  We got a "tour" of the small island by a college kid majoring in marine biology, and got to do our snorkelling. 
 
 

I'm no good at snorkeling, but I DID spot the sea turtles before Coupon did!   I definitely got some sun that day, but it was just amazing.  
 

We stayed in Pedasi two nights in all.  After our Isla Iguana adventure we had what we're referring to as a progressive dinner since we hit three different small, cheap, eateries and spent less than $7 at each place for the two of us to eat.  It was entertaining!

The next morning we went down the road to see Playa Venao -- but not without some interesting sites along the way -- and then we headed back to Panama City. 

When we got into Panama City we attempted to find Casco Viejo, an older part of town.  Direction & traffic-wise it was really tough -- which meant we argued, but we made it!

 

That night we were back to the same hotel we'd stayed in before when in Panama City.  We had tried to make reservations at other places, but no one would do it for a Thursday night for some reason.

Anyway, we had a classy dinner at the hotel's restaurant, including Passion Fruit Mousse for dessert. 

The next day we were off into the city again, this time at the Miraflores Locks (and therefore the Panama Canal)
     
and Panama La Vieja, the colonial ruins of the city.  It was hotter than sin, especially because there wasn't really any shade around there, but at least we were smart enough to take a taxi and avoid the drama of driving in the city.
 

That night it was back to the hotel for some swimming in the fancy pool and relaxing on our last full day in Panama!  The next morning -- super early -- we were off to the airport and on our way back to Alaska!
     

I've returned from PANAMA-AH-AH-AH! (says Van Halen)

Anyway, no time to make a big awesome post now, but I will post pictures and highlights hopefully soon!  Here's ONE pic to tease you!

I've been a bad Xangan lately, but you'll have to forgive me for being gone a little longer . . . because I'll be in PANAMA for the next wee˚!

Can't stin˚in' wait -- and even though it would be fun to go for no real reason other than to ma˚e sure we don't want to ˚ill each other at the end of it, we do have two more things to celebrate; Coupon passing his test, and my getting a new job in Juneau!

WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  We leave tonight!

   Ok, I admit that I watched So You Think You Can Dance tonight and one of their musical acts SUCKED and I feel so compelled to write about it.

I do not consider myself prudish or scroogy, but I really think this song is sending the wrong message.  Also the kid can't stinkin' sing live.  I think I could sing better than and I -- well, I just plain can't sing.

--------

When She Turns 18 Lyrics Christian TV

I know you think that i’m worthless
I know you think that you’re sure
it’s not right for
Me and you’re daughter to be
What we want to be

She just wants attention and
you give it to her
Living in detention she’s got to get away
Got her life in a bag and she’s on the run
Girls really do just wanna have fun

When she turns 18 she’ll finally be free to do
What she wants to do
When she turns 18, she’ll choose between me and you
Guess who she’s gonna pick? (0h 0h 0h)
Guess who she’s gonna pick? (0h 0h 0h)
Guess who she’s gonna pick? (0h 0h 0h)
When she turns 18 (Oh oh oh)
When she turns 18 (Oh oh oh)

I know hot to treat her right and I know
She wants to stay the night and
We’ll watch a movie, maybe make plans
I hope you understand

She just wants attention and
you cant give it to her
She’s tryin goblogtainment.com to get to LA
She’s gotta get away
Cause she’s on the run
Girls really do just wanna have fun

When she turns 18 she’ll finally be free to do
What she wants to do
When she turns 18, she’ll choose between me and you
Guess who she’s gonna pick?

Now that the stars align
it’s just you and me
You’ll be my girl, we’ll show the world
We can take our time cause you’re finally free
You’ll be my girl

When she turns 18 (When she turns 18)
(When she turns 18)

When she turns 18
We’re gonna have alot to do
Oh just me and you oooh

Turns 18 she’ll finally be free to do
What she wants to do
When she turns 18, she’ll choose between me and you
Guess who she’s gonna pick?

------------

Ok, there is already enough drama between teenage girls and their parents who are trying to raise them to be responsible adults.  Have we seen Maury? or Steve Wilkos? or Judge Hatchett?  Why would we encourage girls to feel as though they HAVE to choose between her family and her boy -- don't we ideally want everyone to get along and the family to like the boy?  Why have to choose?  Why would someone want to make a catchy song that girls will all want to sing along to by a cute boy encouraging them to essentially say "F*** you" to their parents the second they turn 18 and go run off with some pretty boy?

Umm . . . ok, grandma is going to end her rant now.

Oh, here's the cute little teeny bopper wearing clam diggers on SYTYCD

A)  He passed his big ole test!  Now it is on to Level III (still no fun), but at least he is done with Level II that he took for like three or four years in a row!  SO PROUD OF MY COUPON!  (Coupon is now my name for him).

B)  Had a nifty weekend with Coupon . . . here is some of the evidence:

   "Go Nanooks!" Walking Perseverance Trail in search of salmonberries!
I referred to Coupon as the "berry warrior"

This is not a good look for me but I was *just* off the trail a few feet from the roaring rapids.  notice how blue the water is!
We did pretty good with salmon berries!
The next day we went out for blueberries.  I'd never seen a snail in the wild before.