This is why I own a blender (and I use it)

Hepatitis A exposure at a San Jose Jamba Juice -- eek!

And the adventure begins...(sorta)

I'm slowly counting down to my short leave from work, and the beginning of my travel and pastry adventures. Today, however, my adventures begin right here in SF...at the Vietnam Consulate General. The place was unassuming enough -- regular office suite in the 4th floor of a boring-looking office building on Van Ness. I walk into a tiny rectangular suite, and behold -- a metal detector! Only it's halfway between the entrance and the single service window, and there's a lady sitting at a desk right next to it. (Meaning you could probably just jump over the desk if you really didn't think you'd pass the "test".)

Then there is the waiting process. You sign in at the desk, and wait in the pre-detector/desk area. Then the lady calls you into the post-detector/desk area into an assigned chair. There are no numbers, no tickets, no flashy screens like the Chinese Consulate, and they don't even call your name. It's old fashioned finger pointing and musical chairs. You keep moving from one chair to the next until you get to the chair directly in front of the service window, which of course, has a full pane of bullet-proof glass. Makes you feel *really * safe about this consulate and visiting this country...

Anyway, I'm soon off to Macao, Hong Kong, Thailand (Chiang Mai & Bangkok), Cambodia and Vietnam. This is the first of my "adventures" I'm sure... ;-)