Weekend Stuff

Friday night was pretty low-key, just a late dinner with my sister at one of my favorite restaurants.

(Totally off-subject, but I used to struggle with the spelling of restaurant...was it restaraunt or resteraunt, I could never remember. However, the aforementioned sister went to Snow College which is way off the beaten path in a tiny town called Ephraim (a.k.a. The Land that Smells Like Turkey Shit). Now, to get to the tiny town, you have to drive through several other even smaller towns, one of which is Chester. Chester is in fact, so small that when you drive through it, you should engage in the "Chester Challenge" which is holding your breath from city limit sign to city limit sign. Even those with poor lung capacity can accomplish this quite easily. ANYWAY, the two main attractions in Chester are the big, green bus, which is a big, green, rusting, old school bus of the side of the road---and the "_ _Esta_ _Ant" which at one point in time was a restaurant that has long since been closed down and the letters have fallen off. So, basically, passing the "Esta Ant" several times in the 2 years she went to school there taught me how to spell restaurant. )

Saturday, I spent the entire morning searching for a scene from Alias: Season Two, where Sydney, against orders, travels to Russia to, I don't know, do some spy stuff. The part I wanted to see was her losing the guy tailing her by going into the drug store, buying a whole bunch of stuff (including cow pattern contact paper) and transforming herself into a sorority girl. I love that scene! But, can never remember what episode it's in.

Saturday night I went to a Grizzlies game. The "Grizz" are our local hockey team, and while they are professional, they aren't NHL (I don't know what league they play in). I had a wonderful time with the Grizz winning during a post-overtime shoot-out. I love attending live sporting events, but (with hockey especially) don't really know all the rules. What I do know about hockey: 1-"icing" is a penalty having something to do with the puck going over too many lines, and 2-pulling the goalie is something rarely done, but I love to yell it! What I learned is: 1-"boarding" is a penalty that means you "drove your opponent into the boards" and they have a penalty with the definition of "engaging in fisticuffs or shoving with an opponent". Fisticuffs...you just don't hear that word everyday... Ooh, I also knew about "high sticking" before the game as well.

Sunday, I had dinner with my folks and watched a documentary called Control Room about the Al-Jazeera news network. It was...Compelling, and sickening, and terrifying, and thought provoking, and humbling, and patriotic, and anti-American, and every other emotion under the sun. I had a picture of it being run by crazy, radical Muslims with no education or sense of morality, but came away with a completely different impression. One of the Al-Jazeera producers, Deema Khatib, had some fascinating things to say. She is most compelling in the "deleted scenes" where she talks about "The United States of Arabia". There is also a scene in her car where she is talking about how Arabs leave themselves open for occupation and liberation. She says that since Arabs won't rise up and defend themselves against dictators, it leaves them open for foreigners to come in and "liberate" them. The comment I found most fascinating: she is quoting President Bush saying there is a price to be paid (in human lives), so why don't the Arabs voluntarily pay the price and control their own destiny? Saddam couldn't kill a million voices rising up together. She comments how she goes to work every day and gets all riled up about what she sees, but in the end she goes home, eats dinner, goes to bed and never does anything about it. Methinks this is not just an Arab state of mind. It is a great documentary that I would highly recommend. You can get it on Netflix. (I really, really love Netflix...it's the greatest invention since sliced bread!)

And now, it's Monday. *sigh* Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment for my wrist. I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel 3 years ago, but it wasn't bad enough to really do anything about. I wear a wrist brace at night, but nothing else. Lately my wrist has ached all the time, with an added bonus of numbness, tingling and burning. Unfortunately, a good scenario would be the carpal tunnel has gotten worse and I need surgery. I am really nervous that it might be Rheumatoid Arthritis since I already have autoimmune issues. We'll see tomorrow....