During the past two weeks, I've logged 16,000 flight miles.  Just flew from New York to San Francisco last night, on a flight that was delayed, as usual.  I call in my sushi order at Ebisu's SFO location from my cell phone once I land, and Joe now answers the phone, takes my order, and says, "Christina, right?  See you soon."

And the flying isn't done.  After a 12-hour layover, I am returning to SFO, my second home.  Jeremy and I are finally going on our belated honeymoon to Japan and Vietnam.  We leave for the airport in 45 minutes.  I'm not dressed.  I haven't eaten.  I haven't finished packing.  But I've been through this enough to have the confidence to sit here and type for a few minutes instead of freaking out.  That moment will come in about 40 minutes. 

People are congratulating us as if we just got married, and I explain that we have rescheduled our honeymoon three times, thanks to me wanting to choose what I hope to be the two most dead, inactive weeks in the stock market to travel.  I was concerned about being out of touch for so long, when my boss's boss offered up the option of turning on the international roaming plan for my blackberry.  He said to consider it a weddding present.  I told him that I was quite sure my husband would want to return that gift, if he could. 

Nonetheless, roaming email service will help us stay in touch, so I'm in favor of it.  I'm not the type of person who enjoys completely escaping.  You can run, but you can't hide if something is blowing up.  I'd rather know about it.  And, some of my dad's test results will be coming back next week.  My mom has informed me that my dad has no intention of being sick again.  I hope stage 4 cancer listens.

I'll post photos after the fact, but hopefully I'll be updating the blog regularly during our adventures.  Fingers crossed that the GPS system will work; I've had only moderate luck with it in Boston and no luck in Manhattan.  If during the next two weeks you see a 5'5" woman swimming in a black fleece Sony jacket that's a bit too big and taking pictures throughout Tokyo, Cu Chi, HCMC, Hanoi, and Halong Bay, it's very likely me.  If she pulls out a blackberry, especially when her travel partner has his back turned, and is typing feverishly (I have highly developed thumb skills), it's definitely me.

I spent a lot of time last weekend lying on the couch, watching movies, and eating popcorn. I'm hooked on Dale & Thomas popcorn and try to justify my consumption of it by telling myself it's a healthy source of fiber. So what that it's coated in white chocolate and peanut butter or caramel and chocolate. At the core, it's good for me.

Saturday morning, after a prolonged chomping session, I felt a rough edge in my mouth and figured I had a pesky corn husk stuck between my teeth. I flossed and brushed, and I couldn't get the rough edge to go away. I stuck my hand in my mouth attempting to extract the foreign body, but I was having no luck. In better lighting, I could clearly see it wasn't that I had anything stuck between my teeth. Part of my tooth was now gone! An edge of my filling is now making its way through my body - an extra source of fiber.

I'm supposed to leave for three weeks, starting tomorrow. My dentist is incredibly kind and conveniently located, which means it usually takes months to see her. Not good.

Figuring I should probably take a break from the popcorn, I used our Frisper (www.oliso.com/frisper/) to keep my popcorn fresh for when my teeth resume their full functionality.

I've been logging lots of air miles recently. In fact, this is my home away from home.

It's rare that I drink coffee, despite my very early "dark-thirty" start time to work. I've taken to wearing my running blinky light as I dodge the cars being guided by half-asleep drivers. When I travel, I usually treat myself to a cafe vanilla light frappucino with extra whipped cream. If people can enjoy super-sized value meals at McDonald's, washing down their fries with a Diet Coke, I feel entitled to enjoy the light frap with some whipped cream. It was handy to have my camera with me at the Phoenix airport. I know how to order my drink, yet the folks at the Phoenix airport decided to argue with me and tell me they simply couldn't add whipped cream to my drink because the light frappucino doesn't come with cream. It's light for a reason. My response - it's light so I can have my damn whipped cream. After more back and forth than I really thought was necessary, they gave me some whipped cream. Here's the result.

How pathetic is that tiny squirt of cream? Highly disappointing. I will return to my San Francisco based Starbucks, where one of my favorite drink masters has been known to put my small drink in a large cup (I refuse to endorse that whole tall, venti, blah blah.  It's small, medium, and large.)  And, he fills it to the top with cream. Yes, that is perhaps excessive, but I'm usually indulging in that dessert during the middle of my day, when everyone else who has a normal job is rushing home.  Ah, bliss.

I don't know what the deal is with toes and my family. 

One of the fun things my sister and I did while being confined to a hospital room with our parents was to ask them about their courtship.  And while the events all took place decades ago, they confirmed each other's stories.  (My mom was "a hot dish" and a great cook, and my dad "fell in love with her instantly."  My mom says that my dad was obviously checking her out at a party and lamely attempted to get her contact information three times by asking where she lived - how was she supposed to answer that but to tell him her neighborhood - before he finally asked her for her phone number.)  My dad was a boxer in college and was always into some form of martial arts.  One day, over 16,000 days ago, my dad and my mom were playing around, and when my dad went to fake kick her, my mom blocked the kick and broke his toe.  Not only was she hot, but also feisty.

Fast forward some 16,000 days, and my dad is in the hospital, suffering with a rare form of stage IV cancer, with a shortage of platelets in his system.  I wrote a report in the third grade on blood, which started with, "Blood is vital.  Blood carrries food and oxygen to all parts of your body."  While researching that report, I learned that platelets help to clot bleeding so wounds can heal.  My dad's feet were swollen with fluid, and my mom was his around-the-clock bedside nurse.  At one point, she was helping him and stubbed his little toe and caused him to bleed and bleed.  I suppose she was again exerting her powers and letting my dad know she was the boss, as if any of us need reminding. 

I don't think my mom is to blame for my current toe problem.  I ran the October marathon in lightweight running shoes, and I wonder if I didn't have enough support at the front of my foot.  I've had a lot of pain in my forefoot since the race, and while walknig in Boston a few days ago, in order to avoid a dead rat that was in my path, I quickly jerked my foot in an awkward position and felt the pain intensely.  No, this did not set me back from shopping.  Afterall, there's no sales tax on clothing in Boston.  But, it did cause me to look at my toes to notice a significant swelling on my left side at the base of the toe next to my big toe.

I'm starting my training for Napa this week.  I've got to start sometime.  Let's hope there are no dead rats in my path.

One of the things that Jeremy and I have in common is our interest in eating good food, all the better if it's also cheap food. Don't get me wrong, a year ago today, we enjoyed a decadent meal at The French Laundry. There are a few benefits of my early morning hours. 425 days ago, I was one of the first people to log on to Open Table and search for a reservation at The French Laundry. We had high expectations for our meal, and the restaurant exceeded them that evening. Yum.

Last weekend, we drove up to Tahoe. I own a condo in Tahoe Donner, and we were preparing it for ski season.

Here's Jeremy showcasing the Sony GPS unit while standing in our condo parking lot.

One of the restaurants we enjoy in Truckee is Smokey's. Their bbq and cole slaw are quite good. Jeremy and I ventured there for brunch last Saturday, ordering the corn beef hash and an omelette.

Now, I love salt, and I'm fortunate that my blood pressure is on the lower end of normal, so I tell myself I can indulge. Our corn beef hash was some of the most salty meat I have ever tasted. The first bite was good. The third bite had me reaching for the water. The fifth bite had me "diluting" it with some of the egg from the omelette, since by then, my poached eggs were long gone. Enjoy Smokey's after 11AM when they serve the bbq menu.

Following the Nike Women's Marathon, I had been taking MUNI to work, affording me the opportunity to wear "business appropriate" shoes during my commute instead of the running shoes that my feet prefer.  This morning, I decided to go back to walking the 2.2 mile journey.  I charged up my ipod last night so I could use the Nike+ system to keep me moving forward at a measured pace.  I was surprised that my left IT band is still feeling the torture of the 26.2 miles.  And, I'm supposed to be training for Napa!?!  I guess it's back to the foam roller for me.

Jeremy introduced me to the foam roller on around our third date.  The experience of rolling on the outer sides of my legs for the first time was so excrutiating, I fought my natural inclination to burst into tears, and I wondered what sort of masochist this man was.  After later using the roller with my physical therapist, I realized that Jeremy wasn't crazy for having such a torture device in his house.  Using that firm piece of rounded foam hurts so good.

I was excited to get a call today from "Front Door" (which is how it's programmed into my phone) that UPS was there to drop off a package for me.  I was thrilled to see my box of goodies when I arrived home.  I've opened all of the packages, read all of the directions for the GPS unit and both cameras, and am now anxiously watching the minutes go by as the batteries charge.  I've even already set up the clock on the video camera, since it can charge while you use the unit.

Great timing.  I leave tomorrow morning for a day trip to Arizona, so I'll get to check out how the GPS unit works outside of California.

It feels like I'm always busy, and the next three months won't be any exception.  I am an adventurer with an insane amount of energy and an odd ability to multi-task.  By day, I write investment opinions about stocks.  (I know - you're not yet convinced about my adventuresome spirit.)  My job has me traveling to all parts of the US, meeting with investors to share my ideas and meeting with companies to get smarter about industries on which I focus.  Outside of my day job, I teach an online finance course, manage my real estate investments, travel for fun, and train for marathons.  Recently, my dad was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, so my new list of hobbies, unfortunately, includes making trips to the hospital.

Interestingly, my dad was likely suffering from CLL, a type of blood cancer, for some time, though we had no idea.  He's now been diagnosed with Richter's Transformation, an aggressive form of cancer that occurs in about 5% of CLL cases.  My dad's first sign of illness was when he didn't quite feel right during his daily workouts, which at the age of 71 included hundreds of sit ups, push ups, and pull ups, followed by a 2.6 mile run and 30-60 minutes of elliptical training.  I think that my active lifestyle is a product of my upbringing.  As a child, my dad used to take me on runs with him and quiz me with math problems along the way.  For my third birthday, my treat was to go for a 3 mile run along San Francisco's Marina Green!   As an adult, I now run regularly as a means of stress management, a way to meet people, and an excuse to indulge in the delights my husband cooks for me - I've got to carbo load, right?  This Sunday, I will be running my third Nike Women's Marathon, an event that benefits The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the type of cancer from which my dad will die.  And, this Sunday also marks my dad's 72nd birthday.  So, while I completely stopped training when I learned of my dad's diagnosis, I will be running for him that day.  I've promised my husband not to strain myself to the point of injury (yes, he has a reason to be concern based on some of my previous behavior).  But, I recently read that no matter how much cancer treatment hurts, cancer feels worse.  No matter how much I hurt while out there climbing the hills of San Francisco and struggling at mile 23, my dad feels worse, and that will get me through this Sunday's race.  I don't expect to finish with a fabulous time.  My IT band is causing me some knee pain.  I'm distracted.  I'm still nursing a back injury from two years ago.  But, I expect to finish. 

And with the race behind me, I will be able to focus on other things, like trips up to my condo in Tahoe, a work-related visit or two to New York City, a (third) wedding celebration in Washington DC, my honeymoon to Japan and Vietnam, and a trip to Hawaii.  That list just describes the flurry of activity that's already been booked.

So, check in periodically over the next few months to read what's been happening in my life. I'll also add photos and video clips so you can get a feel for some of what I'm experiencing.  With the Sony GPS system I'll be using, you'll even be able to see the exact location of where all of the drama is taking place.