Eldarion "LD" Ridge

(April 1, 2003 - May 10, 2006)
Eldarion "LD" Ridge passed away today after a battle with Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP).

LD was born in Newark, DE. He was the only kitten of Arwen Ridge. He and his mother were later adopted by Amanda and Claron Ridge from the Delaware SPCA.

LD spent his first 2 years in Newark, DE and later moved to Santa Barbara, CA in 2005 where he liked to watch birds and lay in the sun on the deck. LD enjoyed playing with stick toys, chasing toy mice, destroying bows and sitting on the couch and in the windows. He will be remembered by his friends as a cat who was always willing to play.

Preceding LD in death was his mother, Arwen, in 2005.

He is survived by Amanda and Claron Ridge, his loving adopted parents, Suzanne and Anthony Vitulli, his grandparents, Julie and Doug Ridge, his grandparents, 5 uncles, 3 aunts, 5 cousins and many, many friends.

Funeral services will not be held.LD's parents will be donating to the Winn Feline Foundation, Bria Fund for FIP research. http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/bria-fund.html

Chivas! Chivas! 050806

**I promise pictures soon! Tonight Daniel and I are going to download everyone's.

Man, what a party! I know that if I don't write this e-mail immediately I will forget tons! And trust me… you don't want to miss this. **I started this e-mail Friday, but got really, really busy so I wrote some notes.
OK… so yesterday was a good day work wise. I got some things done. We got our jerseys, put them on and loaded up the van to go to the soccer game. Chivas (the goats) from Guadalajara were playing the Jaguares from Juarez. What a fun time in the van. We had lots of discussions on different pronunciations… This is fun… If you have any Mexican friends, get them to say the word for female dog and the word for the place with sand and sea… or bear, beer, bird… or sheet and well you know. So we gave pronunciation lessons. We talked about all kinds of fun things on our way across town… For instance, do you know that in cartoons like the Flintstones and the Smurfs all of the names were different?
OK… so the driver drops us off. All you could see all around the stadium was red and white stripes, vendors and people drinking beer everywhere. I know that I have said before that the people look different in Guadalajara and there are some that look much more European. Well I saw a guy that looks just like uncle Lou! Red beard and everything! It was kinda funny though. Some people drank beer from regular bottles but others had these "cups" that looked exactly like really cheap tupperware (the same kind that Chinese food soup comes in). The vendors were selling everything from Chiva wear to peanuts to potato chips. We bought some of the chips. Amazingly, they are EXACTLY like Herr's chips. I couldn't believe it. Claudia (she works for the company and is so super sweet. I really like her. She is around my age.) also got some lime and chili sauce to go with the chips. They weren't super picante, but it really added a nice flavor. We also got some chili flavored peanuts and peanuts that has been coated with something and fried. They were nice too. As we hadn't eaten al day as well, we went and got lonches (it is a type of sandwich.). We got piernas, which are the most popular chiva food… Don't worry, all goats were spared. These were pulled pork on a roll with celery, avocado, and mayonnaise. It was nice… like a pork salad.
We entered the stadium, which is fabricated entirely of concrete and is HUGE! We lumbered up flight after flight of stairs and arrived at our luxury box. Nice, huh? Jose Luis (He is the director of the entire Guadalajara site) was waiting for us with beer and soda and more chips. He is super nice. He is exactly the opposite of what everything thinks of Mexicans in the US. I'd say he is 50ish, extremely well educated, smart as a whip, very much an "executive", and always flawlessly put together.
So, we sat down in the luxury box. I was in the front and waited for the game to start. I figured that the stadium would be packed to capacity, but it wasn't. The nosebleeds were full, but not all of the boxes were taken. Interesting, eh? There was a huge cheering section at the end of the Chivas goal side. They had flags and sang songs and kept going the entire game. Chivas! Chivas! Chivas!
One interesting note, in the stadium, the food wasn't crazy expensive like in the US. You could buy hotdogs or pizza and Chiva cola. Chiva cola is a type of cola that is only sold in Chiva stadium during Chiva games. I bought one for Claron to try.
Well, everyplace you go here you are always learning something. What did I learn most at the Chivas game? I learned all of the things that you hope that your children never come home saying. The first thing we notices is every time the ref did something they didn't like, the entire stadium would start whistling. Hm… whistling! So, I asked Jose Luis (JL) about the whistling… Maybe I shouldn't have… What seemed fairly innocuous, was actually their way from saying FU you F'in A. Sorry. I racked my brain for a way to explain this part of the culture without subjecting everyone to all of the obscenity, but came up empty handed. JL said the words, then the whistle and yes, in fact it was true. Another thing we noticed quickly was when the other goalie was kicking the ball out, the entire stadium started saying something. Early in the game it wasn't too loud, but by the end, it was a ROAR. So… what would you think they would say… well it is another name for a cat. Whoa! I was really just floored. I guess in the US sometimes though when the crowd isn't happy with a ref call, they will shout "A-hole" in unison, but this was way worse!!! In my final "language lesson" the guy in the box next to us was yelling so loud… and yes, they were all in fact obscenities. JL teased me every time a new obscenity came up. I told him that I was going to tell my mom that he was teaching me such fowl language. So, Mom, JL was teaching me bad language (and no, I will not teach you them!).
The game itself was very exciting. In the first half, Chivas had about four attempts on goal that were unsuccessful. Chivas had the ball most of the time. Finally, before the end of the half ended, they scored. The stadium roared! The half time show was so hilarious. Beer girls came out in these teeny tiny outfits and danced around. Then professional wrestlers came out. They played a game where they would choose people to compete for 3000 pesos (300 USD). The person would have to get around all of these obstacles and the professional wresters and get on the stand with the beer girl. These poor guys were getting slammed like no other!! They would never be able to do this in the States for sure! There would be so many lawsuits. Finally, one guy who was really fast, dodged and bobbed his way to the beer girl. It was pretty funny!
The game started again. It seemed like Chivas was just tired. They kept the ball a lot, but they were just SLOW!! The Jaguares got the ball twice and scored both time. RRR! It was 2 to 1 and 6 minutes left, and Chivas scores… so it was 2-2! In the last minute, the Jaguares scored. The entire stadium got up and left. Poor chivas!
On the way out, we had an amazing view of the city. We took tons of pictures. JL said he had to prove to his wife that he was out with the auditors. He was joking though of course. We made our way to the van. I saw one guy selling these awesome Chiva hats. Basically it was like a stuff goat that wrapped around the back of your head and his arms met in the front. They were so cool!
We made our way home. Jose our driver, was actually a US citizen. He said he moved back to G-town b/c he couldn't stand Mexicans in the US. Funny, huh?
We got home super late and I instantly fell into bed. I am getting sick. Stupid sinuses!!! I stopped at Wal-mart and got some medicine though… so no worries!
I have so much to write. This was from Thursday. I promise to try to find some time this weekend.
Cheers,
Amanda
P.S. Chivas played the Jaguares again on Sunday and won! Go Chivas!

Vamos al partido de futbol Chivas! 050406

Buenos dias de Mexico!
I see so many things that I say, "Oh, I definitely need to write about that", but then I forget. I really need to start keeping a diary of notes for these e-mails. Well, overall Mexico has been really great.
My Spanish is improving by leaps and bounds. In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to not throw Spanish words into my english. I am speaking Spanish mostly all of the time. Every day (morning and night), I am having "Yuri-esque" discussions with my driver. He has been super nice. Throughout the day, I compile the things that I want to talk about in Spanish (things that I usually don't talk about… like the tequila fields, the police, ways to reduce graffiti, the elections for president and governor, etc), then we can talk about things that will increase my vocabulary.
The hotel that I'm at makes me feel like family. They are so super nice. Last night, I met some really great people. He is originally from Cuba, now lives in Puerto Vallarta, went to school in DE (Sales), paints watercolors and has the same birthday as me!! How cool! She is from FL, is doing a masters in public health, has been some really cool places (i.e. India and is going to Nairobi), is super curious and amazingly sweet. I always meet the best people when I am traveling. Well, we talked for awhile… about everything from language to parrots. I am sorry I will not have more time to spend with them.
I am changing hotels tomorrow. My new hotel is called, El Mansion del Sol (the mansion of sun). Apparently, it is a converted mansion. One of the other staff is staying there. I will miss Quinta Don Jose, but it is quite a ways from work. I guess I will lose my 40 minutes each way to discuss random things.
The company here is awesome!! They are really, really taking care of us. Tonight we are going to a soccer game. It is a final between two of the cities in Mexico, Guadalajara (Chivas) and Chiapas. They even bought us jerseys!!! Ahora estoy muy emocionado de eso! In english, I am super excited about all of this. It is going to be so great!!! Tomorrow night, we are trying to get together to go salsa dancing, and on Saturday, we are going to the country to see the tequila fields (via train) and see the mariachis! What an awesome trip!
I am now officially the favorite person of Chiquita. She knows that I always have some pechuga (chicken breast) for her. If I don't have it when I come in the first time, then she sits at my door until I come out again. The hotel also has an outdoor aviary with BABIES!!!! Parakeet babies, awwhh.
I've been eating a lot of interesting things-- moles (no, not like the animals), sauces, lots of stuff. It is all pretty good. I haven't gotten sick yet. We went to a great restaurant on Tuesday night with a bunch of people from the company. On the way there, Pablo took me through the city and showed me all of the sights because we were early. I got to see the churches, the governor's mansion, the arch, a bunch of statues, the street of old mansions… How cool!
I will have a lot more to write about after my fun-filled weekend. I will make sure to take my notepad, so I don't forget all of the details!
Better run… we are stretched for time.
Cheers!
Amanda
No, I didn't forget…
Rockin' things about Guadalajara
-This company treats us like friends.
-Claudia, my friend at the company. We go to lunch together. I really like her.
-Pablo, my new Yuri
-Parakeet babies… Awwhh
-Houses are cheap
-The old houses in Centro. They are these "antique mansions." I want one!
-All of the things named "Colon." Hahah… it makes me laugh, i.e. Hotel Colon…
-There are a lot of police by my hotel, but not like federales. They are very friendly and very protective of the tourists. I feel safe.
-There have been a lot of cool festivals this week because of the holiday. There are mariachis, fireworks and parties in the street. Tlaquepaque had one last night.
-Wednesday is a big party night in Guadalajara.
-Mexican Spanish is so clear and easy to understand here.
-I learn at least 5 new words of the day… a lot of slang… i.e. Que honda? (it is like "what's up" in Mexican)
-Pablo takes a new way every day to show me a different part of the city. I like that. I've seen all kinds of neighborhoods… the ghetto to the richest areas.
-The café is better than in Russia and they buy us lunch every day!!!
-My hotel has a deal with all of the restaurants in the area to deliver. It is great!
-Centro Guadalajara feels like a city… even though it is in Mexico.
-I'm learning a new process and the work isn't too bad.
-Toilets with foot flushers.
-Ice with holes in it… OK… Let me explain. The circular ice with holes in it is from the PepsiCo, so you know that it was made with purified water. No holes… beware!
-The company provides us breakfast and afternoon snacks. They are so great!
"What? That is crap!" things about Guadalajara
-Applebee's has invaded… What the heck! Man, my hate of Applebee's increases everyday. Oh and it is right next to Wal-Mart. I don't know what I think of that either.
-Graffiti
-Festivals going until 2 a.m. Stop the firecrackers! I'm trying to sleep. It was no big deal though.
-The food in the café is sometimes scary and the vegetables are always cold.
-Milk in a box… Usually no big deal, but you need scissors to open it.
-Prune flavored yogurt (believe it or not, it is tolerable if you add TONS of granola).
-The device to turn the water on in the bathroom is part of where the water comes from the faucet. This doesn't feel sanitary to me, but I guess the water isn't great anyway.

Bienvenidos a la Guadalajara! 050106

Hola chicos y chicas! Well, I'm officially off of the beach and in Mexico! It was a rough start. I was up until 1 a.m. last night, and my shuttle was set to arrive at 4 a.m. Claron set the alarm for 3:45 a.m. but I was awoken in a panic at 4:15 a.m. by the shuttle driver calling to say that he couldn't find the house. It was okay. I caught the shuttle and the plane.
I am staying in three different hotels during my stay in Guadalajara due to Cinco de Mayo bringing so many people into the city. Right now I am in an awesome little bed and breakfast in Tlaquepaque which is the shopping district right outside of centro Guadalajara. I don't think I am going to want to leave. It is really a sweet little B&B. It is even complete with a little stray dog they adopted named, Chiquita and a cat that could be LD's brother, Cabot. Unfortunately though breakfast doesn't start until 8 a.m. and I am leaving at 7 a.m for work. =-( Today is a holiday in Mexico so most of the shops are closed, but from the ones I've seen, the pottery is awesome. We'll see what I end up buying that I'm not supposed to.
I will be here for three weeks providing internal audit testing assistance to a hardware client. There are also people coming in from the company from San Jose and Scotland. We start work tomorrow, but I'll have my weekends. Claron will be coming to visit during the second weekend.
In addition to the shops being closed, the company that we are working for is also closed, so I had today to romp about. I started at the farmacia. There I marveled at all of the items containing lard. Wow! It was a lot of grasa (fat). I bought some shampoo (another oops) and some batteries for my camera. I then walked the streets for awhile. I looked in all of the shops and marveled at the plants that were different. Sorry to digress for a moment, but I saw some very interesting oleander varieties. The leaves were narrower and thicker and the blooms were way bigger and more abundant. They were lovely.
Finally, I made my way back to the center of Tlaquepaque and walked around all of the restaurants trying to figure out which was the most packed. I finally settled on El Gato Negro. I ordered the Pollo Mignon. I had no clue what that was going to be besides chicken, but I figured it was only $6, I was starving and in an adventurous mood. It turned out to be a piece of chicken drenched in enough butter to make Paula Deen (Paula's Home Cooking) squeal with delight. It was heavenly though. It also came with a baked potato, some rice, some tortillas that I couldn't decide whether they were harina or maiz (but they were awesome) and some vegetables that resembled broccoli without crowns. It was all wonderful (but what an Atkins and South Beach nightmare!). I wrapped up my scraps for Cabot and Chiquita, and I am now officially their favorite person in the hotel.
I took some interesting pictures at El Gato Negro. The restaurants all face into this square where there is a stage. The square is framed by these amazing 50 foot tall trees that have purple trumpet flowers. In the trees there are there things that look like cages made from twigs. I asked the waiter what they were and he said that they are lanterns made from lobster traps.
The city itself is interesting. It is Mexican (with its concrete buildings and bright colors) but it is different than the other areas, to which I have been in Mexico. There are areas where the architecture is stunning. Also, the streets are very narrow and in some manner remind me of parts of Europe.
LD Update: LD has hurt his leg, so he really looks pitiful hobbling around. We have gotten his feline interferon and it appears that it is helping at least a little bit. Even with the limp, he's not looking quite as scraggly. He is still really skinny though. Poor L!
So… lets begin the lists:
Awesome things about Guadalajara:
-It's 90 degrees! Yeah baby!!
-Passion flowers grow like weeds.
-I saw a 20 foot ficus!
-They have a cat that looks almost exactly like LD at the B&B, but he's a super sweetheart!
-There are awesome mariachis everywhere. They have the most amazing harmony. Guadalajara is known for its mariachis.
-There is a good deal of lovely old architecture.
-It is much more "European" than you would think. The further inland you go, I figured the people would look more and more Aztec, but apparently I am mistaken. I've seen light brown haired, green eyed Mexicans here.
-Bonafont Levite. It is this flavored water similar to Propel, but better! I know you won't be able to believe that Shauna, but really! They have some interesting flavors as well. There are some that I can't translate, but other I saw include pear and lime. Mmmm…
-Stuff is CHEAP!! Yea! Mexico!
-Tons of cool little shops.
-The stuff in the shops is different than in Baja. I have seen some of the stuff from Baja, but I've also seen other stuff-- metal working, crystal, mosaics…
-The hotel has wireless internet.
-The hotel has satellite TV from the US. (Claron, this does not mean that you can delete my scheduled DVR recordings)
Things that could stand some improvement:
-Well, it is the third world.
-Habla Ud. Ingles? No! Nadie hablan ingles! Todos espanol. (No one speaks English.)
-I forgot my dictionary… Ooops!
-I forgot my camera cord to download pictures. Double Oops!
-Having to work when I travel. Dude, what is up with that?!
So, to work tomorrow! I'm sure I will have more to share later in the week. I will update the blog http://amandastravel.blogspot.com/
Talk to you soon!
Buenos noches!
Amanda