Plans and Worries

I'm a planner.  I want to have a vacation or something fun on the books before the current vacation kicks off. I don't need to have the future fun mapped out, but I do want to know that there is something to look forward to as we are jetting home, or I'm wrapping up all the vacation laundry.  

One of my favorite Amazon purchases last year was a three-year monthly planner.  I have vacations, birthdays, school holidays mapped out from 2022 to 2024.  I'd buy a 2025-2027 planner if they had one available.

One of the first things I put in the current planner was the date to register Lucy for summer camp.  Camps fill up, and to get the week you want you need to be on the ball.  So, on March first, I logged on to the selected camp, paid the deposit and signed that kid up.
This camp is highly recommended for the kid that likes water activities.  It's on the Puget Sound in Edmonds and one of the first things that happens is they issue the kid a wet suit for the week.  Then it's a week of kayaking, swimming, water bikes and paddle boarding.   It sounds wonderful.

Having never dealt with this camp before I didn't know what to expect, so that when a confirmation email wasn't sent after registration I didn't worry.  I knew that they would eventually communicate with us.  From the info on the site it sounds like the folks that run this camp are attorneys who possibly take six weeks in the summer off to run this camp and then jump back to real life.   I wasn't worried about the delays in responses to emails.  The camp didn't "open" until May 1st.  

But, now here it is, six days before drop off and I still haven't heard anything.  
I left messages, emailed earlier in the summer and did get a verbal confirmation that they have Lucy in their system but the lack of a pre-camp email that gives a family time to gather and pack all the necessary stuff is odd.

This is giving me anxiety and worry that we will show up and Lucy won't have a spot.  As a parent, I try not to manage away all the twists and turns that life can throw at a kid.  Dealing with change is how you grow into a capable adult, but having another summer camp yanked away would be really hard.  This isn't a participation trophy - this is a week of independent living with other kids.  

Last night, I texted the number on an email that I received in the winter when I first asked about the camp and woke up to an actual response.   (WHEW!)  We exchanged a bunch of information and she (Kristen) agreed it was strange that I haven't gotten any emails or information since we registered.  

So, now I'm anxiously awaiting her return call with details.   I'm still very worried that our registration didn't stick, and that Lucy won't be headed to camp on Sunday.  However, in a fit of optimism I ordered the required sleeping pad, which will be here Thursday. 
 

Scary Snow Day

Weiners, Liars & Cheaters...oh my

Boys, boys, boys...

Get it together, and by that I mean keep it in your pants!  This simple advice was called out to my prom date as we left his house my senior year.  It didn't make me feel like a princess, but the advice was reasonable.  There are times when you have no business showing your business to others. 

I know, it can be confusing to know when and where certain behaviors are allowed so I've laid out what I think is common sense that might be helpful to you:

1) If you're married and the person you want to show your business to is not your wife or your doctor... the answer is NO.

2) Unless you're being paid to be in a quality magazine like "The Dicks of Capital Hill" don't photograph your penis.

3) Unless it is your only source of income never EVER post images of your penis on the Internet.

4) If you think what you're about to do could cost you your job, that is a strong CLUE that you shouldn't do it.

5) If you have to hide from the media, this is another CLUE you're on the wrong path.

6) If the Onion.com is writing articles about you, you have already screwed up.

7) If you're married and you meet someone who turns your soul on fire, deal with your wife FIRST.  If this new thing is true love, it will still be there after you respectfully deal with the woman who has stood next to you during events like the death of your child.  (You're a slimy douche bag John!)  Word to the wise Miss thing...if he's willing to knock you up while his wife is unaware, don't expect him home for dinner every night.  I think the "once a cheater, always a cheater" line might actually be sound information.

8) If you're a Republican and FOX news is calling you a douche bag you've gone to far.  The same is true for MSNBC and you Democrats. 

9) If you've commented on the morals of others as part of your campaign platform then you should refrain from having sex with the maid, sleeping with your photographer or twittering pictures of your pee pee.  

10)  There is no such thing as discretion when having sexual encounters with anyone but your committed partner. 

Bonus Point  11)  It doesn't matter how 'important' you are, if the woman says no or you have to force the issue it is RAPE.  They teach that rule pretty early here in the US and I thought it was a similar understanding in other civilized parts of the world.  By the way, attacking the character of the woman you've (allegedly) sexually assaulted is a dirty play.  She cleans toilets for a living, do you really expect us to believe that she's running an on the side call girl business? 


So, do you want to know who I think is classy?  Al and Tipper Gore.  They sadly ended their marraige without any (credible) evidence of wrong doing.  They announced together that they were done being married and then both quietly moved on to their own personal lives and we don't have to hear about it.  While I hope they both have new hot lovers making them eggs in the morning, I hope we NEVER have to hear about it.

The rest of you...well, like Danny's dad said:

KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS!

...

The news of Osama Bin Ladens death is welcome in my household.  A trial would have likely only strengthened his place in the al-Qaida mythology, and while I hope that the idea was to raid the compound and take him alive but dead he is.  I hope that whatever afterlife judgment committee he has to face is unpleasant. 

I am very uncomfortable with all the images of people celebrating in the streets of our country.  I felt sick to my stomach after 9/11 at the images of young men dancing in the streets burning our flag and celebrating the horrific deaths of 3000 people who did nothing more egregious  than wake up on a lovely day and go to work.  I feel sick to my stomach when I see people (kids mostly) hoisting the same flag and celebrating the death of this monster.  Images of our celebrations will only fuel the fire of hate burning in the remaining al-Qaida wackos.  The death of Osama Bin Laden doesn't really end anything.   The talking heads on the telly have indicated a strong opinion that our bigger threat is the al-Qaida cells in Yemen and that OBL wasn't a driving influence for those folks.  I am saddened that for us, death commonly results in death.  I'm glad to live in a world without this person, but fireworks and dancing in the streets feels really wrong to me.

I also don't like how politics always seems to creep in.  "Obama didn't thank Bush", "Bush couldn't get him", "Obama seems to be taking credit", "Bush should be the hero."  Osama was a snaky, hard to find and VERY well protected individual.  It does not surprise me that it took this long to resolve the issue, I don't think which ever administration that was in place that sealed the deal should matter.  I'm not now nor never was a Bush fan (I think I was clear on that point) but I don't think on this topic that his administration failed - this resolution is an American one, not a democratic or republican one. The attacks on 9/11 certainly weren't targeted towards stupid liberal Democrats, better than everyone else Republicans, nor Christians, Muslims, Jewish or the fools who dare to not declare or feel a religious preference.  The attacks were on Americans, and the fact that we are all those things and more is what really pisses these crazy people off. 


So, Mr. bin Laden, I hope that your meeting with your maker brings to light how off the mark your life path was, but if there is no such resolution, I'm happy to have you out of our world.  I don't celebrate it, I am saddened that your actions triggered these actions.  Saddened because these actions will likely trigger something else down the road... there is no "win" in this scenario.

(As soon as I hit publish, someone sent this to me: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/story/index.html?story=%2Fopinion%2Fgreenwald%2F2011%2F05%2F02%2Fbin_laden  nice to know I'm not alone in my opinions.)

TP comments on the news

I read an article on CNN.com today about a man who was arrested after slapping a kid (teen)  on a plane who refused to turn his iPhone off during landing.  The man was being charged with assault. 

I don't agree with slapping the kid (even on the hand as the man alleges) but can feel his frustration.  I've noticed plenty of adults on planes who turn their phones onto sleep mode for the take off and landing instead of "powered off" as the flight attendants require.  I'm not sure who makes these rules, but for the most part when it comes to things like flight safety I'm going to abide by the rules.  (I'm going to get hopped up and mad about the possibility of them feeling me up before I get on the flight, but in the end I will comply.)

  ----------

"Husband defends reading wife's e-mail"  Oh no you didn't!  In Detroit a bitter battle is taking place between a man and his now ex-wife.  He cruised her personal email account to discover that she was having an affair with her (second) ex-husband.  After consulting with the first ex-husband, they decided that since hubby #2 was a douche bag that they should involve the courts to protect a child in her home.  (I'm thinking it was the child of husband #1).  Anywho... he claims she had previously provided him with the password to her account and that she had given him permission.  She (and the courts) content that he hacked into the account (new password) to illegally view the mail.  I have to say, that even though Jas has my password and I have his, our emails are our own.   Should I change my password or he change his, any previous "permission" to view is revoked. 

But... she's an idiot.  It is EASY to set up a free email account that the newest soon to be ex-husband wouldn't know about.  How stupid are you to communicate with your lover on your cell phone or main email account?  When plotting and scheming, set up a new account and your address can be "cheatingliar@gmail.com"

NFL Fines Brett Farve $50,000.  Tisk Tisk Tisk. These sports guys need to keep their business in their pants.  The NFL says that Farve failed to cooperate with the investigation that he sent crude messages to a fellow NFL employee.  (oops)  The lesson here is that if you're going to send pictures of your junk to someone make sure they don't work for the same company that you do or not only are you a douche bag, but you can be charged with sexual harassment.   They can't prove anything, but the fine seems to say "we think you did it" so here's a tiny little reminder that we own your @SS!   (I'm sure his wife isn't too thrilled either.)


Kate Middleton showed people's princess flair when she posed with fiance Prince William wearing apparel from some of the United Kingdom's mid-priced retailers - not exclusive designers - for her official engagement photos.  Oh my,  who cares?  She's a pretty girl who is marrying a guy that may (or may not) be King someday.  Together they seem genuinely happy, so why does it matter what she wears?

Oklahoma man says wife's death was sex fantasy accident And then there's this yahoo.  He claims that he and his (now dead) wife commonly used a gun to enhance their sexual play.  Apparently, putting a gun to her head while "giving it to her" was normal in their world.  And holy shit of an oops to find out the darned thing was loaded.  If it's true (which the police seem to be leaning towards) they are both dumb as an ox and it seems wrong that somehow they didn't snuff each other out in this stupid game.   A lesser part of the story and equally disturbing (to me) is the age difference between the grieving husband and his wholly wife - he was 23 she was 50.  Perhaps she SHOULD have known better. 

Keep your EMPHASIS out of the HEADLINES

Each week I cruise through the online version of the old hometown newspaper.  I enjoy catching up and feeling a bit connected to the place I grew up.

The paper is a weekly and for the most part does a good job of balancing the bake sale at the nursing home highlights with the larger news stories.

I noticed a headline related to the Governors budget proposal and take issue with how it is presented.

"deep STATE cuts expected TO HURT LOCAL AREA"   Perhaps its a typo, but the emphasis seems to be a bit "non-neutral" and a tad judgmental.  (hey, conservative voters - you get what you voted for... NOTHING)

It reminded me of a helpful article I read in a management book by Dilbert that talked about creative editing.  The suggestion was that you could edit any statement in anyway and as long as you left the words in the correct order you weren't lying.  The example looked a lot like this:

"The Pope commended Mother Teresa today for her stance on food distribution for the poor.  She is against the stealing of food like potatoes and rice from one region to ship to another region.  Local food should feed local families."

Edited: 
"The Pope commended Mother Teresa today for her stance on food distribution for the poor.  She is against the stealing of food like potatoes and rice from one region to ship to another region.  Local food should feed local families.."

Cleaned up
"Mother Teresa is stealing potatoes from local families."

All the words are there, therefore it must be true. 

(funny how I start on one point and then wander to another... I'm NOT A JOURNALIST, continuity rules may be applied loosely.)

My original point is that every newspaper (and network for that matter) should remember one of the key journalistic principals that Edward R. Murrow brought to the profession - State the facts and be neutral.  Opinions are for the OP-ED page. 

And now, for an actual quote:

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.

-Edward R. Murrow


Anyway, this applies to all news agencies.  I want the facts, I can form my own decision if it is courageous, outrageous or simply not interesting.

Wild Weather

"They" said it was going to be a wild winter.  A La Nina weather pattern promises to bring wet and more wet with some cold.  These last few days have certainly lived up to that prediction.

The "pineapple express" brought lots of wet in a short amount of time which was exciting to be sure.  A weekend dumping of more than 3 inches of rain in areas leaves us with a soggy mess. 

Last night we had a squall whip through the region that hit our house at about 12:30.  The rain on the windows woke me up and then startled my guy (who sleeps with the aid of a C-pap machine that nicely drowns out all other noise such as the snoring of a pregnant lady.)  The rain was loud enough to wake him up. 

I'm a weather nerd and needed to look out the window to "see" the rain and was kind of surprised to see how windy it was.  The big tree across the street was whipping around and I'm thankful that it is a tree that has not been compromised by a lot of modifications to its root system.  That big happy tree has been allowed to grow and grow without anyone paving over or cutting around it.  It still scares me a bit, but it isn't close enough to take out our house but could do some nice damage to our back fence.

As I was watching the rain, the electrical pops started to happen.  First they were far away and then there was the tale tale crack of the transformer that services our house.  Jason and I zipped into action to turn off computers and the back up batteries.  It was an adrenaline filled few moments with lots of devices beeping including the house alarm. 

The squall was gone before we had the computers off, but the damage was done, we were powerless in our own home.

It's odd how quiet it is in the house with no fans or other ambient sounds.  Going back to sleep was a challenge.  In fact I think we both laid there awake until we heard the power pop back on a bit after 2.  I know, I know, there are activities to do in the dark when there's nothing to do, but  we just laid there, talked and then tried to sleep.  Once the power was restored we (Jason) made a sweep through the house resetting the computers and network and then we were finally able to settle down and go to sleep.

It has been raining like cats and dogs on and off today and I wonder if we get another big wind how many more trees will come down.

It's only December...what will January and February bring??

Wow!

This is the Stillaquamish river after our pineapple express hit. 

I need a vacation from our weekend

Seriously, I think both Jason and I need a day off.  This weekend was hectic and busy.  Friday, I arrived home at 6pm from my last San Jose trip until after Lucy arrives and I was spent.  We had planned to go to dinner and Jason had done all the nice things to welcome me home, flowers, a clean kitchen and a nicely made bed.  (Nothing says I didn't miss you like when all the extra pillows are stacked on my side of the bed when I come home.  *giggle* )

Unfortunately, I was feeling tired and rather unrepresentable after my day.  We opted for takeout Chinese food, but by the time I stepped into the house I had taken offense at something Jason did or didn't do (seriously, it doesn't matter) and had my feelings hurt.  We had a silent dinner while I tried to recover.   This pregnancy thing at times is like having the worst PMS ever.  The thing is that when I'm emotional the reasons behind it are real, but I know I'm not reacting like I would on a normal day.  Instead of being able to see things with perspective I get a little lost in the "poor me" place.  Thankfully, these moments are not everyday.  I'm also careful not to get overly tired because that seems to be fuel for the insanity fire.

I did recover, took a nice bath, we talked, watched some tv and went to bed.  In spite of the Pepcid that I'm taking religiously I am still being plagued with heartburn (maybe I need one in the morning and one in the evening) and it woke me up at 4 am and my brain started spinning again.  I had to get out of bed, eat something, and then process the dark moody thoughts that were swirling in my head.  I knew I needed to work it out before morning because it simply isn't fair for anyone to wake up to find that their partner, who less than 12 hours earlier they were anxious to see is mad at them and all they did was go to bed.  Thankfully I was able to wind down again and headed back to bed at 5:30.   Our alarm went off at 7am and all seemed normal in my head.  (I'm not discounting my feelings, but really remembering that the thoughts that start with "you never ever...." are likely not rational.) 

We were up early because we had an appointment with the hospital to get a tour of the baby delivery zone.  We were getting the inside scoop on where to park, what would happen, where to go, what to expect, all those things.  We were in the lobby area with at least 6 other very pregnant women when the receptionist came out from behind her desk and cleared her throat.  (Poor thing)  She then told us that someone forgot to schedule the person who gives the tours and that no one could do it for us.  We would have to call and reschedule.  There was a (pregnant) pause in the room and I swear I heard 6 or more people say with their internal dialog "You've got to be f*cking kidding me!?"  We all looked around, stunned and then I couldn't stop myself from asking "This isn't going to happen when we come to give birth to our actual babies right?"  I know the receptionist was just living a nightmare at that moment not of her own doing, and mistakes happen but HELLO OVERLAKE HOSPITAL - you're running a business and we have a choice as to where Lucy is born.  GRRR


After waddling back to the car Jason and I decided that we were only 40 miles away from the Tulalip outlet mall and that we should zip up there.  (see how shopping soothes the beast?)  We like that mall because it is compact, outdoors and we love the Le Cruset, Kate Spade and Nike Stores.  We zip into other stores too but those are our favorite.  (Jason is less impressed with Kate Spade than I am, but he likes to see me happy.)

We then zipped down to the regular mall at Alderwood and then over to the Costco Business center.  (If you've never made the trip to the CBC and you're planning a party - you should.  AWESOME.)

Eventually we made it home and I was able to sneak in a much needed 1 hour drool festival (nap) before we started getting ready for a holiday party.  The rain started earlier in the day and I have to say a nap on a rainy Saturday is a lovely thing.

We ate a light snack and then headed to Duvall in the dark to our destination.  We made a quick stop at Cousin Marty & Lynne's to provide some IT help with an Xbox, but alas the connection to a MAC renders my mobile IT guy useless.    We mingled and nibbled at the party until after 11 when my pregnant body screamed "NO MASS".  In spite of the rain we made it home in record time and I think I was in a coma by midnight.

Sunday we were up early again, but that was by our choice.  We wanted to go out for breakfast before starting our day.  After eggs and meat cooked by other people we took a harrowing ride into Issaquah.  There are many places along SR900 that don't have good drainage and when mother nature dumps 2 inches of rain in 24 hours the creeks flood as do the roads. 

We joined Doug, Chelsey and little Jordan at their church for Jordan's baptism.   Sweet Jordan who is only fussy when she is hungry waited until the moment that their little family stepped onto the alter to start the "hey, feed me NOW" notification.   She was pleasant as pie after her bottle but silly little monkey was a bit cranky for the ceremony.  After the service our party headed back to Jordan's house for food and a nice visit.

We had a bit of a break before having to get dressed up again for yet another party, this time in Seattle.  I knew we wouldn't be at this party for hours and hours because I was tired before we even left the house.  However it was really nice.   This party was for kids and adults but when Santa arrived it was ALL kids.  We sang carols, had a little show and then Santa sat down for pictures with anyone who wanted them.  Of course, while the Santa show was going on everyone was packed into the living room which made it rather warm.  Thankfully, the fire was roaring... I knew I reached my limit when my head began to melt.    We said our thank yous and then zipped away into the blissfully damp and cool evening.

The party food was light and this momma needs to eat, so what is a girl to do?  DICKS!  It probably wasn't the healthiest choice, but it was happy in my belly.

We were home by 8pm which means - BUBBLE BATH!  Oh how I love that I can still get in and out of my big bathtub.  I'll be sad when it becomes and issue. 

We watched some tv and then headed to bed - exhausted from our busy weekend. The alarm this morning was a mean reminder that we didn't rest enough on our weekend.  We have a very busy week this week, but don't have ANYTHING planned for Saturday.  I think we'll fill the day just fine, but it will be great to sleep in and be on our own schedule. 

Have a great week!

traction tires advised

We didn't need that light pole anyway.

So, I'm settling into my work this morning and heard a significant crunch outside.  I run to the window in our bedroom and see something that looks fishy, then I hop into the bathtub in our master bath and yank the shade to see that a gold pickup has crashed through the neighbors yard taking out the light pole, their happy little tree and has come to rest about 3 feet from our fence.

The kid (probably 16) is ok, walking around his car, and trying to get his mom on the phone.   I do my duty and call the Renton PD (who I'm pleased to say were on the scene in less than 10 minutes even though I said the kid didn't seem hurt.)

The neighbor in the yellow house that you can see in the first picture came storming across the street to yell at the kid for doing 60 on the street.  I didn't see it, so I can't comment other than those damn kids from the high school do tend to drive fast.

I was able to snag a few photos that I thought might be fun, especially considering how LITTLE snow there is, and that the kid is fine.  His airbag deployed, and while his truck is munched, he'll suffer little physical damage other than maybe a smack on the head from his mom.   The Renton Light people were on the scene in less than 15 minutes and are already working out a new light.

This is the kids mom, who arrived in about 22 minutes comforting him with the mom hug.  I didn't realize that I captured this picture, but it is rather sweet. Go MOMS!!!!

I got to meet some of the neighbors and exchanged some phone numbers.  It seems smart.  Thankfully the power pole was there to stop his forward slide or we would be posting (much later) pictures of his truck in our yard.  We've talked about a rock retaining wall and if there's ever another incident we'll certainly move in that direction. 

Oh - I got distracted and took a picture of our house and my flowers in the snow.  How pretty.

Project Runway: Fail

I am a fan of this show.  It is one of only three reality shows I can handle.  Project Runway is a competition show where they bring 12 or 18 or however many clothing designers together and make them cobble together outfits in a day and then whittle down to the top three or four who get to show a collection during fashion week in New York.  It is catty and wonderful. 

The finale was last night and I tell you I am irritated by the winner they chose.  The Interweb is abuzz today with loathing and sadness for the fan favorites. 

Here are a couple of fun, bitchy comments from blog posters:

"I feel like the ultimate backhanded compliment was Jessica telling Gretchen that, 'my sister would love your clothes'. REALLY?!?! Who wants to dress like Ashlee Simpson? "

"Caca couture. Gretchen's line is 100% inside-out Huggies.  "

I know she's a Northwest girl who got dumped by the fella while she was filming the show, but she was unkind and flat out rude to other designers INCLUDING Tim Gunn.  No one messes with Tim Gunn.

  My favorite was Mondo (see the little cutie) his style was unique and fun.  Granted, I can't wear most of his things, but if his prints were translated into ready to wear, I'd be dropping some coin. 

Voting: My opinion of this crazy process

My ballot arrived yesterday and I quickly got to work on my duty as an American and voted.  I hope that the moment the ballot hits the mailbox that the nagging and dreaded political ads will stop. 

I wish that candidates would spend their advertising dollars to tell us what they have done that is noteworthy and not link their opponent to dreaded and dastardly deeds.  I think I would respond better to that.   I'm a Patty Murray fan, I think her efforts to support veterans and to bring earmarks to our state have been beneficial to our community.  Yes, she voted for the banking bailout (which most of the big banks have paid back) and she like every politician alive has taken money from big business and special interest groups - sorry people that's how this crazy system works.  I'm not impressed with Dino Rossi and haven't seen (or paid attention to) his plan to improve things.  His platform seems to be "time for a change".  That's a reasonable idea, but bring something to the table other than "I'm not her".   Both of them need a time out for their nasty and misleading ads.

The real effort in voting this go round are the multitude of initiatives and propositions.  Is it ok to sell booze at the grocery store?  I think yes.  Should we restructure the taxes on booze? I think not.  I don't mind paying a ton of taxes on unnecessary items like booze or cigarettes.  Yes, it is a slippery slope, I mean at what point do my pretty shoes become unnecessary and could be subject to more taxes than someone's work boots? 

Should we repeal the taxes on bottled water, soda pop and candy?  Again, these are taxes I don't mind.  It is a nutty convoluted calculation as to what is considered candy and what isn't, but  for the most part these are items that aren't required to live.  The bottled water issue could be questionable in an emergency situation, but we're typically not in emergency water situations. 

One ad went to town on the issue of certain local foods being subject to taxation that foods manufactured elsewhere weren't subject to.  This turned out to be true but not really accurate.  The local foods were subject to a B&O tax that the out of state items weren't subject to.  B&O is a tax that most, if not all, local business pays on their products and services.  If you hold a Washington State Business License, you pay B&O.  I paid city B&O in Issaquah as well as the portion of my consulting income that I paid to the state.  These out of state food manufactures are not subject to local B&O - they likely pay a similar tax in the location where their business is located.  Taxes like B&O are part of doing business and if you don't like it, move your business to a state or city that has low B&O rates.  (Did anyone notice that Boeing moved it's headquarters to a tax friendly location of Illinois?  Washington Mutual did the same thing when they moved their primary holding company to Arizona or some similar nicely tax friendly location.)   Granted, it is hard to establish a business license in a place where you have no physical presence, but when you're Boeing or formerly WaMu, you can move some poor lackey to the area and hold down an office without having to move your headquarters.   I think Boeing actually moved to Chicago - but none of the execs at WaMu moved to the southwest.

Some of the other issues were not so easy to land on a decision.  Thankfully, Jason and I can cancel each others vote out on topics like income tax for the wealthy.  I'm torn between thinking we need to do something to shore up our finances but am worried that we'll drive our big income families out of our state and open ourselves up to an entire state income tax.  Granted, taxes paid to the state in the form of income tax can be deducted from your federal taxes so our rich friends won't actually be paying MORE taxes we're simply redistributing the flow of money to our state.  But, is that the right thing?  Aaarg.  How are we supposed to know?

When little Lucy says she wants to be President of the US when she grows up I'll be thankful that the likelihood of that actually happening is more remote than my winning Project Runway. 

Jason says that he hates that we have to pay for postage to mail back our ballot.  I do agree that voters might be more likely to participate if they didn't have to find a stamp. (I mean who has STAMPS these days?) His suggestion is that every candidate contribute the cost of one ad to a fund to cover the cost of postage.  I think we need to go farther and require that for every single stinking dollar advocacy groups and candidates spend on advertisements that have any inkling of negativity or are found to be false or misleading that they contribute the cost of the ad (including the cost of printing, or airing the ad) to a fund for a good cause like education.

One thing is for sure, I will never run for office.  I've stated too clearly my distaste for negative ads, my support of equal rights for our gay community and my opinions on silly Lindsay Lohan to ever be taken seriously as a politician.   My inability to get through a debate without a "Frankly Mr. Opponent, You SUCK" would also knock me off the podium pretty quickly.

But, I will endure the season of negative ads and vote.  For this I think I get a cookie!

Boston

I’ve been at a conference in Boston this week. It has been interesting and informative. I really enjoyed the lengthy discussion and overview of the BP oil spill and how their response and missteps with the press can be applied to any event that may occur in our own companies.

without glasses

with glasses

I haven’t been to this conference since early 2008, and I was only about 3 months out from my surgery and thus was still “big Terri” at that point. I have mostly adjusted to my new stature and don’t really think about it anymore in my daily life, but when I encountered some of the folks who knew me before their reaction is kind of funny. The women flat out say, “wow, you lost weight” and the men, who are trained to never EVER comment on someone’s weight, tend to mention the color of my hair or my glasses.

If I known that these eye glasses would make me look 115 pounds thinner I would have purchased them years ago!

A tiny corner of my vain brain wishes I wasn’t just beginning to show the baby bump, so they could see all the progress that I made, or that I was far more obviously pregnant. No matter, anyone who has had any sort of “catch up” conversation gets to hear about my transition from MegaBank to the current loved employer and the personal transformation of the marriage to my very own Mr. Wonderful and the impending arrival of our Lucy.

I get to come home tonight and while I was excited to come, I’m ready to go home. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to get out and explore this lovely and historic city, but the warmth of home is calling my name loudly.

The other trouble I’m having is that I haven’t adjusted in anyway to the east coast time zone. I was up until 2am (11pm at home) the first night and again last night. I’m tired now, that’s for sure. I hope I don’t sleep the whole way home on the plane. I’ve got movies and a book to keep me busy and we’re all aware that a cocktail will not be in my future.

I’d better get back to the conference topic at hand. Although I did choke on my scone this morning when I saw that the Sr. Director from the organization that MegaBank was given to is on the agenda. I don’t have any animosity towards the MoreMegaBank people, but I’d rather not deal with them any more that I have to – seems like a normal reaction.

The other reason to come back to Boston is the food.  The clam chowder fricking ROCKS.  I'm also finding an unusual after dinner treat on the menu at every venue.  The expected Boston Cream Pie is on the menu, but so is a yummy apple crisp.  I had no idea it was a food associated with this region.  I expected lobster, clam chowder and the BCP, but a warm and gooey apple crisp?  That has been a happy find.

HOT!

Yowza...I'm in love!

Check out grampa orange pants, spotted at the Renton Safeway gas station. I'm not sure what I love more, the fanny pack with the dangly keys or the shorty-short orange knit pants.

Either way, this is one hot grampa!

The great disappointments in life

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Each morning I make my way to work (the room across the hall from my bedroom) and log on to work, I check email, check the calendar for the day and start to plan my activities. 

While I am logging on I turn to my personal computer (also on my desk) and check my personal email, and click my hotlink to the Seattle Times where I scan the front page for the daily news and then click the clink to the comics.  Ever since I was a kid I have enjoyed starting my day with the comic strips.  I have had favorites that have retired or started over which is an odd thing, when a strip starts from the beginning it isn't seldom relevant and they generally lose me. 

I am an avid reader of Luann, Sally Forth, Arlo & Janis and 9 Chickweed Lane.  I also read Zits, Pickles and Dilbert. 

Today, I clicked the first link in the listing and anxiously awaited to see what was happening on 9 Chickweed Lane.  All spring and summer  they have been telling the story of the grandmothers experience in WWII and a tragic love story.  It has been fascinating and a little saucy for a comic strip.   So, without paying attention to the link I clicked the first on the list, as 9 Chickweed Lane comes first when alphabetized. 

I was confused when the strip Arlo & Janis popped up.  After reading it, I surfed back over to the main comics listing and... and... 9 Chickweed Lane was NOT ON THE LIST. 

At the top of the page I see this:

Note to readers: You spoke. We listened. This spring, more than 15,000 of you filled out the The Seattle Times' comics survey. Your enthusiastic responses tell us that you value this part of seattletimes.com and the newspaper. Starting this weekend, you'll see some changes that are a result of your feedback.

Then a link to a bigger story.  The bottom line... they dropped my favorite comic strip. 

The loss is confounded by their retention of comic strips that are essentially running re-runs.  Don't get me wrong, For Better or Worse is a great strip, but it they are republishing her work from the beginning.  I suppose it is nice that a new generation gets to follow this family but grrrr I've already done it.  Same with FoxTrot.  Heck they only publish new strips on Sundays.  Monday-Saturday the strips are from the archives.

Those of you who are too erudite to read comics and think my pain is trite can pop back into your corner and leave me alone.  I'm going to pout for a moment.

(YES, I am aware that I can find the comic online elsewhere, but I liked my ritual.)

I want my stuff!!!!

I ordered something on line and have been waiting for it to arrive.  I checked UPS (again) today and am perplexed by what I find.  First, you can find Hodgkins on the map (out side of Chicago) but the weather channel doesn't do weather for that area so you have to use the general area.  I'm not really sure what is so adverse about 80 and cloudy... sounds divine to me.

Adverse Weather - since Monday...

The weather (as it has been since Monday)

On the open waters

Yesterday was so fantastic! A few months ago we (I) bid on a sailing trip at an auction. I hovered around the bid form and at the last minute trumped the poor sap who was bidding against me by $25.00. To be fair, I opened with a solid, and generous bid. I didn’t start at $10. I was in the 3 digit numbers on the onset. (I say I bid, because Jason has more sense than I do in this situation.)

The how we got to go sailing on the most perfect of perfect Seattle summer days is mostly unimportant, other than you should make a mental note of my extreme generosity towards kids with special needs and their desire to go to camp.

After sleeping in until a glorious 8:15 am (Thank you Mr. 6:00 am for passing quietly so I could sleep through you for the first time in a million years) we attended church and explored the connection between the Noah’s Ark parable and parental forgiveness.

At two we met cousins Marty & Phil and their lovely wives at the sailboat of a stranger. We got the mini-tour (this is the deck, this is below, this is the galley, this is the head) and we were off. We left out of the marina and headed into Lake Union. We crossed under the Ballard and Fremont Bridges which raised just for us. Oooh, the power the little 47 foot tall mast brings.

We zipped around the lake looking at the many houseboats, the industrial facilities, the amazing South Lake Union restaurants and dodged many a Kenmore Air float plane on takeoff and landing. In addition to our moderate sail boat the lake was teaming with kayaks, motor boats, two pirate ships and people standing on surfboard looking things with a paddle. To be honest, I think the Kenmore Air Pilots must be drunk all the time to have the guts to take off and land on that lake. At one point when we were under sail (meaning the sail was providing the power, not the engine) a plane had to abort a landing because we had the right of way. That was a bit exciting. And by “exciting” I mean a little poopie in my panties.
The skipper or Captain Chris as I named him commandeered one of the wives (not me) to navigate while he messed with the sail. She had a blast, but there were a few times (three) where we listed (tipped) very dramatically to the port (left) which sent the nice spread of goodies Captain Chris had spread out for our group down below onto the floor. The third time I went below to pick up chips, m&m’s and bowls off the floor, a decision was made to gather everything up and drop it in the sink.

Chris hadn’t really readied his ‘down below’ for a mildly unsteady outing and his books, cactus and knickknacks that live nicely on the table when the boat is tied to the dock didn’t do so well during our outing. I felt bad about the broken vase, but its not like we dropped in and make him take us sailing. He donated the outing and had more than 2 months to clean up before we got there. Still, I hope that vase meant nothing to him.
We all certainly enjoyed our time on deck and the weather was stunning. I can’t recall a more perfect day to be outside on a lake. We took lots of pictures that I will have to upload later.
After we docked, we tried to go to Ray’s Boathouse for dinner, but it wasn’t exactly a novel idea and we scraped it in favor of fish and chips at Totem Fish & Chips. It is true that we didn’t have a water view, but our outside table was scrumptious and the fish was tasty. It was also not a 45 minute wait.
For some reason I was capital “P” pooped when we got home. We cleaned up and retired to watch tv. I was out by 10, but not for long. I was up at 12, 12:50, 1:45, 3:12 and 4:05.

Sadly, last night was one of those nights when I was “awake/asleep.” The clock seemed to move at a snail’s pace, but I wasn’t getting any rest. I wasn’t awake enough to entertain myself back to sleep (a few games of solitaire on the iPhone will generally lull me back to sleep) but I wasn’t really asleep either. I was sad when the alarm rang at 4:30. I did nap a little on the airplane this morning, but as I sit here finishing up my lunch I am entirely zonked. I need a nap like nobody’s business. Somehow taking 30 minutes away from your desk when you work at home is not as noticeable as crawling under your desk in the office environment.

Oh how I wish that a nap under my desk was ok… it is calling to me. “TP… the floor wants you!!!”
The bright side is that I had a wonderful day yesterday and I will sleep like the dead tonight.

It was a simple, sweet wedding

The family wedding of Jason's second cousin Friday was a nice affair. The ceremony was simple, but presided over by both the groom's family priest and the minister from the bride's church. Our young bride (age 20) looked lovely and even pulled out a second wedding dress for the party that was simple and super cute. They chose a happy color of yellow for the bridesmaid dresses and it really worked.

The groom and the grooms dudes wore long tuxedo jackets which I don't personally like, but they seemed happy and 15 seconds into the reception they were in just the cute yellow vests anyway, so the silliness was removed from my vision.

The reception was at the grooms mother & dad's house under a festive cover lit with a bazillion white lights and our disco ball made an appearance to make folks sparkle.

Teresa, who is Jason's cousin as well as the groom's mother gets a medal for hosting a rather large wedding out of her kitchen. When you're the grooms mom aren't you supposed to get to sit back and simply be gorgeous?

I know, I know, today's weddings are far from the traditional by the (Emily Post) book affairs. Who pays for what is often determined by who can or wants to pay for what. Jas & I were happy to host our own wedding with lots of moral and other support from both of our parents. Their participation in every way was and is greatly appreciated.

As it should be, the details of who paid for what for the wedding of the "young uns" is a mystery, but from where I sit (in judgment?) it seems like the grooms mother did a yeoman's amount of work.

I was surprised to see the casual nature of dress of some of the attendants. In addition to the tuxedoed groomsmen and decked out bridesmaids there were people in jeans, a kid (aged 20) in a tuxedo t-shirt. Hey, it's a fancy t-shirt right? There were also some interesting fashion choices that look like an actual attempt to dress up, but that failed miserably.

One gal was in a black tank-top shirt - dress thing (Jen called it a "shress")with three tiers of fluffy ruffles. It was too short to be a dress and too long to be worn as your standard shirt. She wore this ruffled nightmare with tight grey leggings that were stretched to their limit in certain areas. She also wore a 'lovely' bow in her hair. This gal was attractive, but of the rounder variety and as a rounder girl I have learned that what looks good on Heidi Klum does not look good on me. My stick thin, tall, small boobed friend Misty could have pulled off the "shress" and leggings, but she's so fabulous that she can pull of a "shress" and rockin' high heel shoes. (on my quest for the perfect "shress" photo I ran across a blogger who was talking about this very topic and she said: "Why do people need to know that my vag is literally an inch away from the hem of my dress? " I almost spit up on my keyboard. I am happy to know I'm not the only one who finds the shirt-dress (shress) outfit disturbing.

Back to the wedding. It was a country music wedding, so there was no dancing - or at least by the time we hit the road the only people dancing were the flower girls. Thankfully our summer weather held, meaning that it was over 65 degrees and not raining - a Seattle June Miracle! We visited with all sorts of relatives and had a wonderful time.

A Friday wedding seems odd because there's not really a whole day devoted to the bride and groom and yet, how wonderful to have two whole days after the wedding to visit with out of town guests. We had people over Saturday for a rather fun dinner party.

So, other than snarky comments about the dress of some guests and a general feeling that 20 is too young to get married it was a perfect day. I hope the new Mr. & Mrs. enjoyed their special day and have fun on their honeymoon in Mexico.

I reviewed the gifts to find one the size of the gun rack, but nothing of that size stood out. I would be interested to see what they got considering how sparse their registry was, but alas it will (as it should) remain a mystery.

Girlfriend needs a girlfriend

I am aware this is not the most flattering part of my personality, but Friday we spotted a gal in an unflattering outfit that called out for mentioning.

This baby blue 'dress' looked more like a pillow case than anything else.  It was thin and almost transparent.  It was also backless, but thankfully our gal had enough smarts to wear a tank top to cover her much needed bra.

She waswith a group of people that looks stylish. I wonder why no one has ever mentioned that is dress is awful and does nothing to show off her assets (boobs) and totally draws attention away from her genuinely pretty face.

The Grecian Goddess look is hard to pull off and I'm afraid she missed the mark by a long shot.