Case of the Mysterious Exploding Toilet

While we were in Mexico, we got a text message from Petey who was watching our cats for us---"Dood, give me a call when you get this. I just went by your place". We both looked at each other and said "uh-oh". After talking to Petey, we learned that there were blowers inside the condo and that the wood floor in the entryway bathroom was a bit warped.

Apparently, 24 hours after we left to go to Cancun, our toilet in the entryway mysteriously started running...and overflowed as a result. The toilet was completely fine when we left. Not running. Nada. So we can't explain it...but according to our neighbor, about a day after we left, someone noticed a bit of running water coming from the ceiling in the lobby. They traced it to the unit below me which also had water running through its walls...and then eventually to my unit...specifically, the bathroom in the entryway where the toilet was continuously running and overflowing. Fortunately, our wonderful neighbors stopped the running and turned off the water before more damage could have been done.

This last week has been spent calling State Farm, talking to our neighbor, talking to the condo management company and figuring out what the heck are the next steps. The last few days has been on debating who officially signs the work authorization form to fix the common areas that were affected. [sigh] The adjuster came by this morning to look at the damage to my unit. Yup, the whole wood floor in the bathroom is too warped to fix--it has to come out and get replaced...and because the bit of floor that was affected crossed into the entryway a bit, that also has to get fixed. Oh, and because we'd be replacing the wood, we of course need to sand and re-finish the rest of the wood floor so it all matches. Did I mention the ENTIRE REST OF THE WOOD FLOOR? That's my entire lower floor! That means, like, moving out all the furniture and moving out for a few days. Argh...just the perfect thing to have to deal with 2 months before the wedding....lovely. I can only hope we can get this fixed before all the family and out-of-town friends get here....

Back from Mexico

Our trip to Mexico was absolutely wonderful despite it being short-lived. We took a red-eye flight and arrived on Thursday, just a few hours prior to George & Jenn's wedding (George is Matt's cousin). After making our way through the very confusing departure terminal full of people who want to grab you to sit through an hours-long lecture for a timeshare, we found our shuttle and headed over to the Azul Beach Resort where the wedding was. Unlike the last time I came to this part of Mexico, this resort was a small, intimate one with no more than 60 rooms and only 1 suite (the honeymoon one!). It played a perfect host to the small destination wedding we were attending. We arrived to instant hospitality with a complimentary glass of chilled champagne...

After finding our way to the room, we immediately changed, found everyone on the beach and jumped into a game of beach volleyball...

The beach at this resort was made for relaxation. There were hammocks and these wonderful bed cabanas spread throughout the beach...

This was also an all-inclusive resort so EVERYTHING was included: food, service, drinks, non-motorized beach sports...it made the whole trip very relaxing and convenient. Even the 24-hour room service and the daily stocked-up mini bar in the room was included! It was the first time I've ever stayed at an all-inclusive and I must say, I'm hooked! We ended up staying at the resort for our entire stay as a result. The wedding itself was very beautiful and everyone enjoyed themselves. Aside from attending the wedding, we spent our time just relaxing and enjoying the time with family (my soon-to-be family anyway!)

One major highlight for us was a last minute decision to check out the scuba diving. We just signed up with the local divemaster from the hotel and went out early Saturday morning for what ended up being a private dive with just the 2 of us with the divemaster. We have two dives and the first one was the most miraculous as we did things we've never ever done: a) dived the deepest we've ever dived -- 95 feet! b) we went wreck diving. Yup, our divemaster took us to an old military ship wreck not too far off the coast from the hotel. The current right above the shipwreck was extremely strong--fortunately, there was a rope tied to the wreck from the surface and we literally had to pull ourselves down against the current. Once we were down at the wreck, the current was gone and it was like floating in air. This was our first time actually doing warm water diving and it was spectacular. Not only was it really warm (we just wore some thin wetsuits) but it was amazingly clear (from 95 feet below, we could still see quite clearly all the way up). Once reaching the ship wreck, we saw the most amazing creatures. Instantly, we looked up and saw a huge eagle ray...and then swam up to what looked like a WALL of silver fish. There must've been hundreds of them. Off to our right, we looked up and saw a barracuda! Then the divemaster led us into the shipwreck and through the cabins and hallways of the ship. It was a really amazing experience.

Our second dive was to a much more shallow depth--about 30-35 feet--but at the location of a huge coral garden where we saw spectacular fish, coral and other things like a moray eel and lobster. Since the only camera I had was a cheap, underwater one that I bought at the hotel shop which could only withstand up to 50 feet in depth, I only took photos on this 2nd dive. Check out these photos!...

Watched Shooter last night with Matt after eating sushi at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants in town, Red Fin. It was a fun action movie. Definitely a rental. A bit over the top at times but entertaining in the way we wanted it to be at the end of a long work week.

Thursday evening was my last rehearsal with my bellydance troup, Nomaditude, until...oh, nearly August! So sad. Reason being that the next few sessions will be focused on practicing for some upcoming performances that I can't be a part of due to conflicts with a few weddings coming up (including mine!).

Speaking of weddings, we're heading to Mexico in (gulp) a few days! I can't wait to have those few days of total chilling out.

Ah, how time has passed

Man, it's been a month since I last posted anything. I'm way behind in the frequency of my blog posting. I apologize. As it's been awhile, I'll just blog some random updates....

Friend, Sara, from Kansas visited me a couple weeks ago--she's one of my bridesmaids and it was so good to see her. She's probably the one bridesmaid I have that's known me the longest, since junior high for me. She was out here to visit potential medical schools and also just to hang out. I had such a great time hanging out with her, just getting used to seeing her everyday as I came home from work. Miss you chica!

Work has been busy as we've been wrapping up planning for our entire next release. Lots of spec writing and reviews!

Outside of all that, there's wedding planning of course. It's all the little details now. Over this weekend, I.....
- contacted a dance instructor for Matt and I to take private lessons from for our first dance
- picked up 200+ bamboo steamers for our favors in add'l to disposable cameras. I can't believe I caved in and got the cheezy disposable cameras with the wedidng imagery on them...but in the end, I can't resist seeing random photos from guests
- will be picking up our final invitations. Yay!
- completed envelope addressing for the addresses I have
- created a draft of a guest list for the bridal shower

There's also prepping for other weddings---we're heading to Matt's cousin's wedding in Mexico in less than 2 weeks. Being a beach wedding and all, all guests were requested to wear white. More specifically "ladies should wear a white summer dress and men should wear a white shirt with khakis". So today, we headed downtown in search of such attire. Matt easily found the perfect shirt at Banana Republic. I, on the other hand, still don't know what I want after trying on dresses at BCBG and J.Crew.

Tonight, we went to the symphony and saw their performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis which was very well done. Ah, so happy with the symphony. We definitely will subscribe next year. I'm a bit bummed though--I have yet to see a performance in which my fellow Smithie, Carolyn Kuan, conducts.

TV I'm watching....
Lots of great TV coming up with an all new season of The Sopranos and Entourage starting up.
Prison Break ended with Michael Scofield back...in prison.
24 is still rockin' it...though that last scene where President Wayne Palmer suddenly seems to go crazy because he's high on adrenaline was a bit much.
I'm getting tired of Renee from ANTM
Sadly, still watching the Pussycat Dolls show - I think it'll be a showdown between Asia and Melissa R.
Yup, still catching The Apprentice - I think it's obvious that Heidi's gonna win it all.
Did Grey's Anatomy take a huge break? I feel like I haven't seen a new episode in ages. Same with Desperate Housewives.

In the last couple days, been playing with this new service called Twitter that Aaron introduced me to. A bit hard to explain--but you can send in "twitters" (or very short posts about whatever) via text message, IM or directly from the web...and anyone who "follows" you will get updates via the notification method they choose (sms, im or web only). Additionally, it archives all your "twitters" onto your profile page. What makes it cool? I send an update from wherever I am and it goes out to all my followers. It's like a group text message. I feel like I've learned things about people that I normally wouldn't otherwise because it's mundane stuff that someone wouldn't normaly blog about or email about...like, for example, I know that on Friday, Mo played tennis with Abhi and Petey went to watch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and thought it was amazing. I also know that on Saturday, Mo went up to Vancouver for the day for an auto show and that my brother went to watch his friend Laura at a workout competition. I'm not really sure if this is going to totally take off or fall flat on its face...but I must say, after using it for less than 48 hours, I'm definitely intrigued. One related site that's a bit addicting is Twittervision, a mashup of live Twitter posts with Google Maps. Let me know if you have a Twitter account!