Garlic Fest 2007

So yesterday was Garlic fest, so we journeyed from Fresno to Gilroy the land of Garlic to see what it was all about. I thought it was awesome, I had wished it was a bit less crowded and a tad less warm but other than that it was good. If i had my way the food would be cheaper and have smaller portions, mainly because I did not get to eat anywhere near as much as I wanted to. I did have garlic sausage and the best garlic fries I have ever had ever. They had so much food there from garlic bread to garlic corn to garlic stuffed mushrooms to garlic ice cream. I did not get to try the garlic ice cream the line was sadly too long :(. Maybe next time I will. I think next time I will go on a Friday and get there right when it opens and head out before it gets uber busy. They had a bunch of places selling garlic items and they had arts and crafts places also. I did manage to get some good items. I got a garlic ginger stir fry mix which is way better than having to do it myself and I got a cajun garlic rub and an all purpose garlic rub for grilling or cooking. I am excited to use those.
Oh and the beer tent was a ridiculous procedure. We had to go and get our IDs checked in one line, then in another line we had to go buy the beer ticket, then go in the beer tent and get the beer. What a pain in the butt.
Overall I give the Garlic Fest an 8 out of 10, losing points for crowdedness which they can not help. I will go back but it will be on a Friday at 10am right when it opens.

On an entertaining note I saw this sign that said " If you are what you eat, then I must be cheap, fast and easy" I think it is hysterical!!!!

On a crappy note Jess and Dave were there and I never noticed my phone during the trip had fallen out of my purse so I didn't get to meet up with them :( sad.

I hate technology!!!!!

So one of my classes this summer had assignments we needed to hand in via internet, which is normally fine but my computer was having one of its many bitchy days the day it was due. It allowed me to do all but one section of my Intake form and then kept shutting down. So in order to avoid tossing my computer off a wall I attached what of the document my computer was letting me see and typed the last remaining section into the email I sent to my professor and wished for the best. Never got an email back from the professor saying that this was or was not ok... so today I get my grade and my corrected Intake form, with ZERO points for the section I had put in the email. To make this even better last week I got an email saying my mailbox for email was full so I deleted almost everything in my email... yes including the email I sent to my professor with the missing information in it. So basically now I am screwed unless by chance my professor still has my email. Sigh... so until then I wait and get nervous about my potential grade, I would prefer not to have an A-.

UPDATE-
while i still do hate technology and my computer most of all but my assignment was received and YAY grade was changed and no A- just an A :)

Harry Potter is Over ( Spoilers)

So I spent my Saturday reading Harry Potter took quite a while but I am glad I locked myself away to do it. Overall it was good, I would have liked more in the ending, I wanted to know about more of the characters but I am glad Harry did not die, I liked the Snape storyline even though I did not like Snape through most of the books. I was a bit upset by some of the deaths but I knew deaths were coming. I do not want to put too much in here in case someone does by chance come across this and read it, not that I think anyone does lol.
I feel weird about it being over, its been many years of my life and now there will be no more Harry Potter books.
I guess I have the movies to look forward to!

On another note the midnight kick off was very interesting, a very strange mix of people, but good for people watching!!

Finally Legal and HP

My little car is finally legal. I switched my registration over forever ago but could not remove the license plates but Toyota did it for me wahoo!!! My car is no longer on the run from the law:)

On a better note, Harry Potter is being released in just over 12 hours and being the dork that I am, I am quite excited. I will probably post about it tomorrow once I read it. It has been years and years and years I have put into Harry Potter, better be a good ending.

Too Much Thinking

So I had an awesome time in Pismo and then came back and reality came back into play... I don't like my current reality much. I came home and talk to a few of my good friends and it makes me miss home so much. According to my bro I have 70 days till I am home but that is so long from now. I never expected to miss everything and everyone so much.
I like school, I like being busy but its not the same, I miss what I had in the form of a life back in Boston. I miss going to shows, and going to see comedy and going to BU hockey and I miss Salem and Marblehead. I miss my old apartment and my porch, I miss being able to walk place, I miss Brookline and I miss Brown Sugar Thai and their Drunken Noodle, I miss sports depot and making fun of Sox Fans. Most of all I miss my family being less then 2 hours away and being able to go home any weekend I could. I miss my bro so much words can not even describe.
I have been doing much better, I am fairly content with my life here but its different... too different sometimes.
I miss dating too, so lame to miss but I dated a quite a bit when I went through phases in Boston and eh not so much here.
Sounds lame, most of the time I am fine with it but sometimes I miss it. First dates are fun I love meeting new people and seeing if you click, and seeing if there will be a first kiss, and if there is... if it will be good!

Enough gripping life is good no more complaining.

Pismo Beach

Just got back from Pismo and I am so sad. It was great in Pismo, nice, relaxing and COOL... I miss cool weather. According to the weather last night it topped at 85 which was awesome and it has been a while since I have felt 85 during the day. It was fun though, it is a cute little beach town. We did dinner at this great place and I am sad because I forgot my leftovers in the fridge sigh. I was more then content to just sit on the upper deck of our hotel, which was right on the beach, and people watch and soak in the ocean smells mmmmm.
As you can see from the pics it was much nicer as the day progressed but I will take foggy ocean weather to nasty hot Fresno weather Anyday!
This last pic is from the upper deck of the hotel this morning and I still didnt want to leave because its the ocean and I love the ocean :(

My PSA

So I just finished watching a Lifetime movie that was actually very good. It was called Girl Positive. It was about HIV and High School, but could easily have been translated to any time. It was pretty good and I think more people should watch it and maybe think about getting tested. I know a lot of people who never have been tested despite high risk behavior and I wish they would. I get tested because it makes me feel better. I generally think I am careful and a bit neurotic about it but I don't think it hurts to get tested.

So here is my little PSA, it is a scary disease.

Here is some info from the movie website.
Although the National Testing Day has passed everyone can still get tested.
National HIV Testing Day Is June 27, 2007

Take the test. Take control. Did you know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 180,000 to 280,000 people nationwide are HIV positive but unaware of their status? And that an estimated 30 percent of new HIV infections are found in women? HIV testing and counseling enables people with HIV to take steps to protect their health and their partner(s), and helps people who test negative to get the information they need to stay uninfected. Think you know the facts? Take this quiz and test your knowledge. To learn more and find your local testing site, visit HIVtest.org or call the CDC's toll-free National AIDS Hotline at 800-CDC-INFO.

Also here is a story from the website. Hopefully they don't get me in trouble for copying and pasting it.
Contracting HIV as a teen motivated Cherrell Edwards to educate others about it and to help those struggling with the disease.
by Gina DiNunno

"In 2003, I had unprotected sex with my boyfriend of three years, even though we had safe sex more often than not," says Cherrell Edwards. "Soon after, I began to get migraines that were keeping me from functioning at school and work, so I went to the emergency room and was admitted." Though she was tested for HIV at the time, the results came back negative, and Edwards was diagnosed instead with gonorrhea. Things went even more wrong after that. "They started treating me for a lot of different things that I didn't have," like hepatitis and pelvic inflammatory disease. A few months later, with her health still suffering, Edwards broke up with her boyfriend and concentrated on trying to take care of herself by staying spiritually grounded, physically fit and maintaining a healthy diet — all while trying to figure out what was causing her physical issues.

In February 2004, a little Internet sleuthing inspired Edwards to get retested for HIV. "The entire time I was sick, I was looking online, trying to figure out what the cause was," she says. "I had symptoms of th
e disease — the swollen lymph nodes, the pain, the diarrhea — so I went back to be tested again." After the results from the second test came back positive, the teen joined a support group of other HIV positive women. "It was a great place, but a few months later, the agency folded, and that's when I began to take the initiative to start another support group for women with HIV."

Now the 22-year-old Edwards is the founder and executive director of her own organization, Collective Care Services, and has made it her mission to educate the community on the disease. "We work with HIV-positive people and do prevention and intervention work, teaching people how to identify their risks and stay safe," she says. "We not only encourage people to get tested and change risky behaviors, but we also work to build self-esteem so people can be independent, love themselves and take care of themselves."

Though Edwards is always dealing with the side effects of her HIV medication, like nausea, diarrhea and severe night sweats, her HIV is well controlled. "My virus is undetectable and I have over 1,000 T cells, which is in the range of that of a person who is HIV negative," she says. Currently, the advocate shares her story across the continent and is a spokesperson for the national HIV Stops With Me campaign, whose aim is to reduce the stigma associated with HIV and to acknowledge the role that people have in ending the epidemic. "If I can find a positive way to help people take care of themselves, then that's what I have to do."