Conor

Last Sunday, I adopted a cat from the Silicon Valley Humane Society. He is a one year old tabby weighing in at a strong 13 pounds. While this seems huge, he's actually quite lean, just very tall and long. His given name was Raider, but as this seems quite violent and since I am a Patriots fan, I renamed him Conor, in keeping with my family's pattern of giving our pets Irish names.

In the one week that he has been Conor, he has adjusted quite well to apartment life. He's a champ with the litter box, hasn't destroyed anything, loves to play, is fearless when it comes to vet visits and meeting new people, and is very affectionate. The only thing Conor hasn't quite yet warmed up to is Levi, my roommate's beagle. Levi approaches Conor with the enthusiasm of a cheerleader trying to be named most popular, but Conor is not yet a fan of the constant barking and attention. Whenever Levi comes within two feet of Conor, Conor lays down his ears and hisses. There have also been a couple of left hooks thrown, which have caused Levi to sprint away. They will figure out how to get along eventually. For right now, Conor spends most of his time sleeping on the fridge whenever Levi is roaming.

As for my adjustment, I was completely stressed out at the beginning of the week as I worried about Conor settling in with the rhythm of our apartment life. This stress didn't last long, however, and now I remember how easy it is to take care of cats. Conor is an absolute joy to have and I hope everyone will have a chance to meet him at some point.

Gas Price Update

Last night I fueled up for a drive up to San Francisco (Giants-As game), and paid $4.49/gallon. Ugh.

When will BART connect San Jose to Fremont and San Francisco so I can stop driving so much?

Sickness

Since I moved to California, I find myself often getting sick. A lot. Let me provide some details:

• September: surprisingly, nothing major, other than the worst allergies of my life kicking in. I grew up in the woods of Maine with never any allergies and only had minor allergies in Boston. One week out here and I'm miserable. Oh, and I immediately gained almost five pounds. Damn cortisol stress hormone! (Just warning you in case you are about to embark on a similar move.)
• October: I develop some sort of sinus infection and spend the eve of my birthday in Urgent Care with a fever. Doctor gives me my first prescription in California for antibiotics. It takes me nearly two weeks to recover.
• late November / early December: somehow I contract a jaw infection. I didn't even know you could get infections in your jaw. The dentist prescribes my second round of antibiotics out here. The jaw and facial pain episode also lasted approximately two weeks. I begin to question if my body is falling apart.
• January: My stomach decides to join to the fun. It's actually just a run-of-the-mill bug, no eating for a couple of days, could hardly move, but I recover fairly quickly from this one.
• February: I come down with an eye infection, receive prescription antibiotic eye drops, and cannot wear my contact lenses for a week. This infection is annoying and doesn't look very good, but it didn't slow me down too much.
• March: oddly enough, I don't think I get sick this month, other than ongoing miserable allergies. I credit my health to my mother: I saw her twice in March - once in California, once in Boston - and she seems to have a way of carrying a wellness aura with her.
• April / May: as detailed in one of the posts below, I went to Maine at the end of April and got very sick from an infected cyst. Round four of antibiotics. The after-effects of this one last into May, I even burst a blood vessel in my eye from the coughing.
• June: I had the cyst removed on June 2, which is actually a fairly minor surgery. Then, on June 8, last Sunday, I got the flu. That day I did nothing except sleep, talk on the phone, and drink water. Well, I took a shower and went to the grocery store, but each of these activities required a prep nap and a recovery nap. I had to decline going out to watch the Celtics playoff game. I was unable to go to work on Monday but forced myself back to the grocery store to buy Gatorade and bread. I slept all day Monday. I made the dumb decision to go to work on Tuesday. Stomach issues developed during the car ride. For the next four hours I was in the bathroom at regular 10 minute intervals. Severe dehydration ensued. I did not leave work until 10:30am due to how bad the morning commute traffic always is - I really couldn't be in a car for more than 20 minutes. I went to the doctor midday Tuesday to ensure this was not salmonella. She confirmed it was viral bug, not bacterial, I received a prescription to calm my intestines, and I proceeded to sleep the rest of Tuesday. On Wednesday I was able to walk upright and had successfully kept down all components of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast), so I went to work. I was absolutely exhausted, had severe muscle pain in my legs, and was obligated to take a nap after lunch, but I made it through the day. Thursday I was definitely feeling stronger, although I had a little relapse of the stomach issues in the afternoon (why did I have a bite of Fran's oatmeal, why?!). Friday morning I felt even better and decided to try a bit of gym action at the apartment (even I knew I still wasn't ready for Club Sport quite yet). I rode the bike - the easiest of all machines - for 12 minutes and nearly passed out. So while I am better, the muscles and endurance aren't quite back yet, and I have missed the gym for a week now. The good part about Friday was that I re-introduced protein to my diet and I suffer no ramifications from my stomach. I think I'm finally on the mend.

Let me confirm for everyone that I never used to get sick that much at all. In my nearly nine months out here, I have filled five prescriptions for these random illnesses, whereas back east I may have had one major bug every year or so. Many people who have been through the same type of cross-country move as I said that being sick regularly is something to expect for the first year. I didn't experience this in my college years in Pennsyltucky or France, but I can say for sure that I most certainly have in California. While it is comforting to know that my regular and varied illnesses do not indicate that my entire immune system has collapsed, I am still frustrated by the constant barrage of viruses.

All suggestions for preventing future rounds of sickness are currently being accepted. Keep in mind that I already take a daily vitamin, drink well over 8 glasses of water a day, eat a minimum of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, work out daily, have taken up meditation, and am being very good about sleeping a minimum of 7 hours a night. But please let me know what else I need to be doing to ensure good health!

Pier 39

I finally did it: I went to San Francisco's #1 tourist trap, Pier 39 (http://www.pier39.com/). In my defense, the purpose of my visit was not to visit the sea lions, buy from the souvenir shops (although I did purchase some salt water taffy), eat at the restaurants, or snap pictures of Alcatraz. The views of the city were in fact great but I was there to see a local San Francisco musical, "Insignificant Others" (http://www.isomusical.com/). I heard about this show via Travelzoo (which, incidentally, is a great source of travel / entertainment deals), and once I read that the premise involved five friends who move to San Francisco from Ohio, I thought I should see it. And after I saw that someone described the show as a cross between "Will and Grace" and "Sex and the City," I definitely thought I should go. The show did not disappoint: it captures San Francisco's unique quirks as well as the importance of friends - particularly following a cross-country move, and it was absolutely hysterical. If you're ever out this way, definitely go see the musical. And I suppose do a quick tour of Pier 39 as well, if only because a tourist is supposed to.